They Received The Communication Cheerfully,
Considered The Journey To Be Short, And Left Me In High Spirits To
Arrange Their Own Packages.
The stores, books, etc., which were not
absolutely necessary to be carried were then put up in boxes to be left
en cache here, in order that the men's burdens might be as light as
possible.
The next morning was warm and very fine. Everyone was on the alert at an
early hour, being anxious to commence the journey. Our luggage consisted
of ammunition, nets, hatchets, ice chisels, astronomical instruments,
clothing, blankets, three kettles, and the two canoes, which were each
carried by one man. The officers carried such a portion of their own
things as their strength would permit; the weight carried by each man was
about ninety pounds, and with this we advanced at the rate of about a
mile an hour including rests. In the evening the hunters killed a lean
cow out of a large drove of musk-oxen; but the men were too much laden to
carry more than a small portion of its flesh. The alluvial soil which,
towards the mouth of the river, spreads into plains covered with grass
and willows, was now giving place to a more barren and hilly country, so
that we could but just collect sufficient brushwood to cook our suppers.
The part of the river we skirted this day was shallow and flowed over a
bed of sand, its width about one hundred and twenty yards.
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