Last Year At The Same Season And Still Later There Had Been
Very Little Snow On The Ground And We Were Surrounded By Vast Herds Of
Reindeer; Now There Were But Few Recent Tracks Of These Animals And The
Snow Was Upwards Of Two Feet Deep.
Winter River was then open, now it was
frozen two feet thick.
When I arose the following morning my body and limbs were so swollen that
I was unable to walk more than a few yards. Adam was in a still worse
condition, being absolutely incapable of rising without assistance. My
other companions happily experienced this inconvenience in a less degree
and went to collect bones and some tripe de roche which supplied us with
two meals. The bones were quite acrid and the soup extracted from them
excoriated the mouth if taken alone, but it was somewhat milder when
boiled with tripe de roche and we even thought the mixture palatable with
the addition of salt, of which a cask had been fortunately left here in
the spring. Augustus today set two fishing-lines below the rapid. On his
way thither he saw two deer but had not strength to follow them.
On the 13th the wind blew violently from south-east and the snow drifted
so much that the party were confined to the house. In the afternoon of
the following day Belanger arrived with a note from Mr. Back stating that
he had seen no trace of the Indians, and desiring further instructions as
to the course he should pursue.
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