We Gained However Ten
Miles By Four O'clock And Then Encamped.
The canoe was unfortunately
broken by the fall of the person who had it in charge.
No tripe de roche
was seen today but in clearing the snow to pitch the tents we found a
quantity of Iceland moss which was boiled for supper. This weed not
having been soaked proved so bitter that few of the party could eat more
than a few spoonfuls.
Our blankets did not suffice this evening to keep us in tolerable warmth;
the slightest breeze seeming to pierce our debilitated frames. The reader
will probably be desirous to know how we passed our time in such a
comfortless situation: the first operation after encamping was to thaw
our frozen shoes if a sufficient fire could be made, and dry ones were
put on; each person then wrote his notes of the daily occurrences and
evening prayers were read; as soon as supper was prepared it was eaten,
generally in the dark, and we went to bed and kept up a cheerful
conversation until our blankets were thawed by the heat of our bodies and
we had gathered sufficient warmth to enable us to fall asleep. On many
nights we had not even the luxury of going to bed in dry clothes for when
the fire was insufficient to dry our shoes we durst not venture to pull
them off lest they should freeze so hard as to be unfit to put on in the
morning and therefore inconvenient to carry.
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