Divine service was regularly performed and
the Canadians attended and behaved with great decorum although they were
all Roman Catholics and but little acquainted with the language in which
the prayers were read. I regretted much that we had not a French
Prayer-Book but the Lord's Prayer and Creed were always read to them in
their own language.
Our diet consisted almost entirely of reindeer meat, varied twice a week
by fish and occasionally by a little flour, but we had no vegetables of
any description. On the Sunday mornings we drank a cup of chocolate but
our greatest luxury was tea (without sugar) of which we regularly partook
twice a day. With reindeer's fat and strips of cotton shirts we formed
candles; and Hepburn acquired considerable skill in the manufacture of
soap from the wood-ashes, fat and salt. The formation of soap was
considered as rather a mysterious operation by our Canadians and in their
hands was always supposed to fail if a woman approached the kettle in
which the ley was boiling. Such are our simple domestic details.
On the 30th two hunters came from the leader to convey ammunition to him
as soon as our men should bring it from Fort Providence.
The men at this time coated the walls of the house on the outside with a
thin mixture of clay and water which formed a crust of ice that for some
days proved impervious to the air; the dryness of the atmosphere however
was such that the ice in a short time evaporated and gave admission to
the wind as before. It is a general custom at the forts to give this sort
of coating to the walls at Christmas time. When it was gone we attempted
to remedy its defect by heaping up snow against the walls.
January 1, 1821.
This morning our men assembled and greeted us with the customary
salutation on the commencement of the new year. That they might enjoy a
holiday they had yesterday collected double the usual quantity of
firewood and we anxiously expected the return of the men from Fort
Providence with some additions to their comforts. We had stronger hope of
their arrival before the evening as we knew that every voyager uses his
utmost endeavour to reach a post upon or previous to the jour de l'an
that he may partake of the wonted festivities. It forms, as Christmas is
said to have done among our forefathers, the theme of their conversation
for months before and after the period of its arrival.
