At Length, Having Come To A Long Meadow Which The Dogs Could Not Cross That Night, We Halted In An Adjoining Wood And Were Presently Joined By A Canadian Who Was On His Return To The Fort And Who Treated Us With Some Fresh Meat In Exchange For Pemmican.

During the latter part of the day we had seen numerous tracks of the moose, buffalo, and marten.

December 26.

The weather was so cold that we were compelled to run to prevent ourselves from freezing; our route lay across some large meadows which appeared to abound in animals, though the Indians around Slave Lake are in a state of great want. About noon we passed a sulphur-stream which ran into the river; it appeared to come from a plain about fifty yards distant. There were no rocks near it and the soil through which it took its course was composed of a reddish clay. I was much galled by the strings of the snowshoes during the day and once got a severe fall occasioned by the dogs running over one of my feet and, dragging me some distance, my snowshoe having become entangled with the sledge. In the evening we lost our way from the great similarity of appearance in the country and it was dark before we found it again when we halted in a thick wood after having come about sixteen miles from the last encampment. Much snow fell during the night.

At an early hour on the 27th of December we continued our journey over the surface of a long but narrow lake and then through a wood which brought us to the grand detour on the Slave River. The weather was extremely cloudy with occasional falls of snow which tended greatly to impede our progress from its gathering in lumps between the dogs' toes; and though they did not go very fast yet my left knee pained me so much that I found it difficult to keep up with them. At three P.M. we halted within nine miles of the Salt River and made a hearty meal of mouldy pemmican.

December 28 and 29.

We had much difficulty in proceeding owing to the poor dogs being quite worn out and their feet perfectly raw. We endeavoured to tie shoes on them to afford them some little relief but they continually came off when amongst deep snow so that it occupied one person entirely to look after them. In this state they were hardly of any use among the steep ascents of the portages, when we were obliged to drag the sledges ourselves. We found a few of the rapids entirely frozen. Those that were not had holes and large spaces about them from whence issued a thick vapour, and in passing this we found it particularly cold; but what appeared most curious was the number of small fountains which rose through the ice and often rendered it doubtful which way we should take. I was much disappointed at finding several falls (which I had intended to sketch) frozen almost even with the upper and lower parts of the stream; the ice was connected by a thin arch and the rushing of the water underneath might be heard at a considerable distance.

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