December 24 and 25.
We continued along the river, frequently making small portages to avoid
going round to the points, and passed some small canoes which the Indians
had left for the winter. The snow was so deep that the dogs were obliged
to stop every ten minutes to rest; and the cold so excessive that both
the men were badly frozen on both sides of the face and chin. At length,
having come to a long meadow which the dogs could not cross that night,
we halted in an adjoining wood and were presently joined by a Canadian
who was on his return to the fort and who treated us with some fresh meat
in exchange for pemmican. During the latter part of the day we had seen
numerous tracks of the moose, buffalo, and marten.
December 26.
The weather was so cold that we were compelled to run to prevent
ourselves from freezing; our route lay across some large meadows which
appeared to abound in animals, though the Indians around Slave Lake are
in a state of great want. About noon we passed a sulphur-stream which ran
into the river; it appeared to come from a plain about fifty yards
distant. There were no rocks near it and the soil through which it took
its course was composed of a reddish clay. I was much galled by the
strings of the snowshoes during the day and once got a severe fall
occasioned by the dogs running over one of my feet and, dragging me some
distance, my snowshoe having become entangled with the sledge. In the
evening we lost our way from the great similarity of appearance in the
country and it was dark before we found it again when we halted in a
thick wood after having come about sixteen miles from the last
encampment. Much snow fell during the night.
At an early hour on the 27th of December we continued our journey over
the surface of a long but narrow lake and then through a wood which
brought us to the grand detour on the Slave River. The weather was
extremely cloudy with occasional falls of snow which tended greatly to
impede our progress from its gathering in lumps between the dogs' toes;
and though they did not go very fast yet my left knee pained me so much
that I found it difficult to keep up with them. At three P.M. we halted
within nine miles of the Salt River and made a hearty meal of mouldy
pemmican.
December 28 and 29.
We had much difficulty in proceeding owing to the poor dogs being quite
worn out and their feet perfectly raw. We endeavoured to tie shoes on
them to afford them some little relief but they continually came off when
amongst deep snow so that it occupied one person entirely to look after
them. In this state they were hardly of any use among the steep ascents
of the portages, when we were obliged to drag the sledges ourselves. We
found a few of the rapids entirely frozen. Those that were not had holes
and large spaces about them from whence issued a thick vapour, and in
passing this we found it particularly cold; but what appeared most
curious was the number of small fountains which rose through the ice and
often rendered it doubtful which way we should take. I was much
disappointed at finding several falls (which I had intended to sketch)
frozen almost even with the upper and lower parts of the stream; the ice
was connected by a thin arch and the rushing of the water underneath
might be heard at a considerable distance. On the banks of these rapids
there was a constant overflowing of the water but in such small
quantities as to freeze before it had reached the surface of the central
ice so that we passed between two ridges of icicles, the transparency of
which was beautifully contrasted by the flakes of snow and the dark green
branches of the overhanging pine.
Beauparlant complained bitterly of the cold whilst among the rapids but
no sooner had he reached the upper part of the river than he found the
change of the temperature so great that he vented his indignation against
the heat. "Mais c'est terrible," said he, to be frozen and sunburnt in
the same day. The poor fellow, who had been a long time in the country,
regarded it as the most severe punishment that could have been inflicted
on him and would willingly have given a part of his wages rather than
this disgrace had happened; for there is a pride amongst old Voyagers
which makes them consider the state of being frost-bitten as effeminate
and only excusable in a Pork-eater or one newly come into the country. I
was greatly fatigued and suffered acute pains in the knees and legs, both
of which were much swollen when we halted a little above the Dog River.
December 30 and 31.
Our journey these days was by far the most annoying we had yet
experienced but, independent of the vast masses of ice that were piled on
one another, as well as the numerous open places about the rapids (and
they did not a little impede us) there was a strong gale from the
north-west and so dreadfully keen that our time was occupied in rubbing
the frozen parts of the face and in attempting to warm the hands in order
to be prepared for the next operation. Scarcely was one place cured by
constant friction than another was frozen; and though there was nothing
pleasant about it yet it was laughable enough to observe the dexterity
which was used in changing the position of the hand from the face to the
mitten and vice versa.
