Indians, and to
get them to meet us with supplies of provision. The power of doing this
was now at an end. As the accident could not be remedied, we turned it
to the best account, by making a fire of the bark and timbers of the
broken vessel, and cooked the remainder of our portable soup and
arrow-root. This was a scanty meal after three days' fasting, but it
served to allay the pangs of hunger, and enabled us to proceed at a
quicker pace than before. The depth of the snow caused us to march in
Indian file, that is in each other's steps; the voyagers taking it in
turn to lead the party. A distant object was pointed out to this man in
the direction we wished to take, and Mr. Hood followed immediately
behind him, to renew the bearings, and keep him from deviating more than
could be helped from the mark. It may be here observed, that we
proceeded in this manner throughout our route across the barren grounds.

In the afternoon we got into a more hilly country, where the ground was
strewed with large stones. The surface of these was covered with lichens
of the genus _gyrophora_, which the Canadians term _tripe de roche_. A
considerable quantity was gathered, and with half a partridge each,
(which we shot in the course of the day,) furnished a slender supper,
which we cooked with a few willows, dug up from beneath the snow. We
passed a comfortless night in our damp clothes, but took the precaution
of sleeping upon our socks and shoes to prevent them from freezing. This
plan was afterwards adopted throughout the journey.

At half past five in the morning we proceeded; and after walking about
two miles, came to Cracroft's River, flowing to the westward, with a
very rapid current over a rocky channel. We had much difficulty in
crossing this, the canoe being useless, not only from the bottom of the
channel being obstructed by large stones, but also from its requiring
gumming, an operation which, owing to the want of wood and the frost, we
were unable to perform. However, after following the course of the river
some distance we effected a passage by means of a range of large rocks
that crossed a rapid. As the current was strong, and many of the rocks
were covered with water to the depth of two or three feet, the men were
exposed to much danger in carrying their heavy burdens across, and
several of them actually slipped into the stream, but were immediately
rescued by the others. Junius went farther up the river in search of a
bet