in this work, but which have
been the admiration of every one who has seen them. Each of the party
sedulously and separately recorded their observations on the aurora; and
Dr. Richardson contrived to obtain from under the snow, specimens of
most of the lichens in the neighbourhood, and to make himself acquainted
with the mineralogy of the surrounding country.

The Sabbath was always a day of rest with us; the woodmen were required
to provide for the exigencies of that day on Saturday, and the party
were dressed in their best attire. Divine service was regularly
performed, and the Canadians attended, and behaved with great decorum,
although they were all Roman Catholics, and but little acquainted with
the language in which the prayers were read. I regretted much that we
had not a French Prayer-Book, but the Lord's Prayer and Creed were
always read to them in their own language.

Our diet consisted almost entirely of rein-deer meat, varied twice a
week by fish, and occasionally by a little flour, but we had no
vegetables of any description. On the Sunday mornings we drank a cup of
chocolate, but our greatest luxury was tea (without sugar,) of which we
regularly partook twice a-day. With rein-deer's fat, and strips of
cotton shirts, we formed candles; and Hepburn acquired considerable
skill in the manufacture of soap, from the wood-ashes, fat, and salt.
The formation of soap was considered as rather a mysterious operation by
our Canadians, and, in their hands, was always supposed to fail if a
woman approached the kettle in which the ley{4} was boiling. Such are
our simple domestic details.

On the 30th, two hunters came from the leader, to convey ammunition to
him, as soon as our men should bring it from Fort Providence.

The men, at this time, coated the walls of the house on the outside,
with a thin mixture of clay and water, which formed a crust of ice,
that, for some days, proved impervious to the air; the dryness of the
atmosphere, however, was such, that the ice in a short time evaporated,
and gave admission to the wind as before. It is a general custom at the
forts to give this sort of coating to the walls at Christmas time. When
it was gone, we attempted to remedy its defect, by heaping up snow
against the walls.

1821, January 1.

This morning our men assembled, and greeted us with the customary
salutation on the commencement of the new year. That they might enjoy a
holiday{5}, they had yesterday collected