il he reached a high clearing on its left bank, near
which grew an abundance of white spruce. He brought up a body of men,
most of whom now received their first lesson in woodcraft. The pale
and flaky-barked aromatic spruce trees were felled and stripped of
their branches. Next, the logs were 'snaked' into the open, where the
dwellings were to be erected, and hewed into proper shape. These
timbers were then deftly fitted together and the four walls of a rude
but substantial building began to rise. A drooping roof was added, the
chinks were closed, and then the structure was complete. When a
sufficient number of such houses had been built, Macdonell set the
party to work cutting firewood and gathering it into convenient piles.

The prudence of these measures became apparent when the frost king
fixed his iron grip upon land and sea. As the days shortened, the
rivers were locked deep and fast; a sharp wind penetrated the forest,
and the salty bay was fringed with jagged and glistening hummocks of
ice. So severe was the cold that the newcomers were loath to go forth
from their warm shelter even to haul food from the fort over the
brittle, yielding snow. Under such {47} conditions life in the camp
grew monotonous and dull. More serious still, the food they had to eat
was the common fare of such isolated winterers; it was chiefly salt
meat. The effect of this was seen as early as December. Some of the
party became listless and sluggish, their faces turned sallow and their
eyes appeared sunken. They found it difficult to breathe and their
gums were swollen and spongy. Macdonell, a veteran in hardship, saw at
once that scurvy had broken out among them; but he had a simple remedy
and the supply was without limit. The sap of the white spruce was
extracted and administered to the sufferers. Almost immediately their
health showed improvement, and soon all were on the road to recovery.
But the medicine was not pleasant to take, and some of the party at
first foolishly refused to submit to the treatment.

The settlers, almost unwittingly, banded together into distinct groups,
each individual tending to associate with the others from his own home
district. As time went on these groups, with their separate
grievances, gave Macdonell much trouble. The Orkneymen, who were
largely servants of the Hudson's Bay Company, were not long in
incurring his {48} disfavour. To him they seemed to have the appetites
of a pack of h