n one
of his excursions, incautiously laid down on the frozen side of a hill
when heated with walking, had caught a severe inflammatory sore throat,
which became daily worse whilst we remained in the tents, but began to
mend soon after he was enabled to confine himself to the more equable
warmth of the house. We took up our abode at first on the floor, but our
working party, who had shown such skill as house carpenters, soon proved
themselves to be, with the same tools, (the hatchet and crooked knife,)
excellent cabinet makers, and daily added a table, chair, or bedstead,
to the comforts of our establishment. The crooked knife generally made
of an old file, bent and tempered by heat, serves an Indian or Canadian
voyager for plane, chisel, and auger. With it the snow-shoe and
canoe-timbers are fashioned, the deals of their sledges reduced to the
requisite thinness and polish, and their wooden bowls and spoons
hollowed out. Indeed, though not quite so requisite for existence as the
hatchet, yet without its aid there would be little comfort in these
wilds.

On the 7th we were gratified by a sight of the sun, after it had been
obscured for twelve days. On this and several following days the
meridian sun melted the light covering of snow or hoar frost on the
lichens, which clothe the barren grounds, and rendered them so tender as
to attract great herds of rein-deer to our neighbourhood. On the
morning of the 10th I estimated the numbers I saw during a short walk,
at upwards of two thousand. They form into herds of different sizes,
from ten to a hundred, according as their fears or accident induce them
to unite or separate.

The females being at this time more lean and active, usually lead the
van. The haunches of the males are now covered to the depth of two
inches or more with fat, which is beginning to get red and high
flavoured, and is considered a sure indication of the commencement of
the rutting season. Their horns, which in the middle of August were yet
tender, have now attained their proper size, and are beginning to lose
their hairy covering which hangs from them in ragged filaments. The
horns of the rein-deer vary, not only with its sex and age, but are
otherwise so uncertain in their growth, that they are never alike in any
two individuals. The old males shed their's about the end of December;
the females retain them until the disappearance of the snow enables them
to frequent the barren grounds, which may be st