n; thus our first labour was to make a
solid footing for ourselves from which to launch any raft or make-shift
boat which we might construct. After a great deal of trouble and labour,
we got the waggon-box roughly fashioned into a raft, covered over with
one of our large oil-cloths, and Lashed together with buffalo leather.
This most primitive looking craft we carried down over the ice to where
the dangerous portion commenced; then Daniel,-wielding the axe with
powerful dexterity, began to hew away at the ice until space enough was
opened out to float our raft upon. Into this-we slipped the-waggon-box,
and into the waggon-box we put the half-breed Daniel. It floated
admirably, and on went the axe-man, hewing, as before, with might and
main. It was cold, wet work, and, in spite of every thing, the water
began to ooze through the oil-cloth into the waggon-box. We had to haul
it up, empty it, and launch again; thus for some hours we kept on, cold,
wet, and miserable, until night forced us to desist and make our camp on
the tree-lined shore. So we hauled in the wagon and retired, baffled, but
not beaten, to begin again next morning. There were many reasons to make
this delay feel vexatious and disappointing; we had travelled a distance
of 560 miles in twelve days; travelled only to find ourselves stopped by
this partially frozen river at a point twenty miles distant from Carlton,
the first great station on my journey. Our stock of provisions, too, was
not such as would admit of much delay; pemmican and dried meat we had
none, and flour, tea, and grease were all that remained to us. However,
Daniel declared that he knew a most excellent method of making a
combination of flour and fat which Would allay all disappointment-and I
must conscientiously admit that a more hunger-satiating mixture than he
produced out of the frying-pan it had never before been my lot to taste.
A little of it went such a long way, that it would be impossible to find
a parallel for it in portability; in fact, it went such a long way, that
the person who dined off it found himself, by common reciprocity of
feeling, bound to go a long way in return before he again partook of it;
but Daniel was not of that opinion, for he ate the greater portion of our
united shares, and slept peacefully when it was all gone. I would
particularly recommend this mixture to the consideration of the guardians
of the poor throughout the United Kingdom, as I know of nothing which