I May Here Remark That Our People Had Murmured
A Good Deal At Having To Carry Two Canoes, Though They
Were informed of
the necessity of taking both in case it should be deemed advisable to
divide the party, which
It had been thought probable we should be obliged
to do if animals proved scarce, in order to give the whole the better
chance of procuring subsistence, and also for the purpose of sending
forward some of the best walkers to search for Indians and to get them to
meet us with supplies of provision. The power of doing this was now at an
end. As the accident could not be remedied we turned it to the best
account by making a fire of the bark and timbers of the broken vessel and
cooked the remainder of our portable soup and arrowroot. This was a
scanty meal after three days' fasting but it served to allay the pangs of
hunger and enabled us to proceed at a quicker pace than before. The depth
of the snow caused us to march in Indian file, that is in each other's
steps, the voyagers taking it in turn to lead the party. A distant object
was pointed out to this man in the direction we wished to take and Mr.
Hood followed immediately behind him to renew the bearings and keep him
from deviating more than could be helped from the mark. It may be here
observed that we proceeded in this manner throughout our route across the
barren grounds.
In the afternoon we got into a more hilly country where the ground was
strewed with large stones. The surface of these was covered with lichens
of the genus gyrophora which the Canadians term tripe de roche. A
considerable quantity was gathered and with half a partridge each (which
we shot in the course of the day) furnished a slender supper which we
cooked with a few willows dug up from beneath the snow. We passed a
comfortless night in our damp clothes but took the precaution of sleeping
upon our socks and shoes to prevent them from freezing. This plan was
afterwards adopted throughout the journey.
At half-past five in the morning we proceeded and after walking about two
miles came to Cracroft's River, flowing to the westward with a very rapid
current over a rocky channel. We had much difficulty in crossing this,
the canoe being useless, not only from the bottom of the channel being
obstructed by large stones, but also from its requiring gumming, an
operation which, owing to the want of wood and the frost, we were unable
to perform. However after following the course of the river some distance
we effected a passage by means of a range of large rocks that crossed a
rapid. As the current was strong and many of the rocks were covered with
water to the depth of two or three feet, the men were exposed to much
danger in carrying their heavy burdens across, and several of them
actually slipped into the stream but were immediately rescued by the
others.
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