Robes Of Reindeer Skins Were Also Obtained From The
Indians And Issued To The Men Who Were To Travel As They Were Not Only A
Great Deal Lighter Than Blankets But Also Much Warmer And Altogether
Better Adapted For A Winter In This Climate.
They are however unfit for
summer use as the least moisture causes the skin to spoil and lose its
hair.
It requires the skins of seven deer to make one robe. The finest
are made of the skins of young fawns.
The fishing having failed as the weather became more severe was given up
on the 5th. It had procured us about one thousand two hundred white-fish,
from two to three pounds each. There are two other species of Coregoni in
Winter Lake, Back's grayling and the round-fish; and a few trout, pike,
methye, and red carp were also occasionally obtained from the nets. It
may be worthy of notice here that the fish froze as they were taken out
of the nets, in a short time became a solid mass of ice and, by a blow or
two of the hatchet, were easily split open, when the intestines might be
removed in one lump. If in this completely frozen state they were thawed
before the fire they recovered their animation. This was particularly the
case with the carp and we had occasion to observe it repeatedly as Dr.
Richardson occupied himself with examining the structure of the different
species of fish and was always in the winter under the necessity of
thawing them before he could cut them.
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