t lay in our route. We frequently sunk
under the load of our blankets, and were obliged to assist each other in
getting up. After walking about three miles and a half, however, we
were cheered by the sight of a large herd of rein-deer, and Hepburn went
in pursuit of them; but his hand being unsteady through weakness he
missed. He was so exhausted by this fruitless attempt that we were
obliged to encamp upon the spot, although it was a very unfavourable
one.

Next day, we had fine and clear, but cold, weather. We set out early,
and, in crossing a hill, found a considerable quantity of _tripe de
roche_. About noon we fell upon Little Marten Lake, having walked about
two miles. The sight of a place that we knew, inspired us with fresh
vigour, and there being comparatively little snow on the ice, we
advanced at a pace to which we had lately been unaccustomed. In the
afternoon we crossed a recent track of a wolverene, which, from a
parallel mark in the snow, appeared to have been dragging something.
Hepburn traced it, and upon the borders of the lake found the spine of a
deer, that it had dropped. It was clean picked, and at least one season
old; but we extracted the spinal marrow from it, which, even in its
frozen state, was so acrid as to excoriate the lips. We encamped within
sight of the Dog-rib Rock, and from the coldness of the night and the
want of fuel, rested very ill.

On the 28th we rose at day-break, but from the want of the small fire,
that we usually made in the mornings to warm our fingers, a very long
time was spent in making up our bundles. This task fell to Hepburn's
share, as I suffered so much from the cold as to be unable to take my
hands out of my mittens. We kept a straight course for the Dog-rib Rock,
but, owing to the depth of the snow in the valleys we had to cross, did
not reach it until late in the afternoon. We would have encamped, but
did not like to pass a second night without fire; and though scarcely
able to drag our limbs after us, we pushed on to a clump of pines, about
a mile to the southward of the rock, and arrived at them in the dusk of
the evening. During the last few hundred yards of our march, our track
lay over some large stones, amongst which I fell down upwards of twenty
times, and became at length so exhausted that I was unable to stand. If
Hepburn had not exerted himself far beyond his strength, and speedily
made the encampment and kindled a fire, I must have perished on the
s