or eight in the evening, the same spots at which we had halted on our
outward march at four each day. Thus we were spared the labour of
digging and clearing away the snow, to which, in our enfeebled
condition, we were quite unequal. The stint of food was now so small
that I advised my companions not to eat any quantity at a time, but
to take a piece the size of a nutmeg when hunger was most craving. We
gathered also each day, on our return, about as many partridge berries
as would fill a wine glass apiece, and these we found both refreshing
and nutritive. They had ripened in the autumn, and had been buried under
the snow all the winter, so that they resembled preserved fruit in
flavour, and reminded me of a rich, clarety grape.

"One great privation in this winter travelling is the want of water. We
were obliged to content ourselves with the supply gotten from the snow,
melted by the smoky fire. This water, together with the wind, had the
effect of parching and cracking my swollen lips to such a degree, that
when, after an interval of eight days, I had an opportunity of surveying
my face in a piece of broken glass, I was at a loss to recognise my own
features. The most scorching heat of summer is not so injurious to the
skin as the effect of travelling in the snow at this season.'

"After this tedious fashion, stage by stage, the wanderers slowly
proceeded, until at length, by God's mercy, they reached the place where
the Indian wigwams had been left. During the latter part of their route
they heard continually the noise of the woodpeckers upon the bark of
the trees, which is considered a certain sign of approaching rain, a
downfall of which they much feared. The weather was beginning to soften,
and consequently the ice lost its firmness, and it became both difficult
and dangerous to get so far as this place, but by great effort they
accomplished it. Nor was your grandfather satisfied to trust to the