this the river was completely frozen over; and Hudson Bay
itself, as far as the eye could reach, was covered with a coat of ice.
We now settled down into our winter habits. Double windows were fitted
in, and double doors also. Extra blankets were put upon the beds; the
iron stove kept constantly alight; and, in fact, every preparation was
made to mitigate the severity of the winter.

The water froze every night in our basins, although the stove was kept
at nearly a red heat all day, and pretty warm all night; and our
out-of-door costume was changed from jackets and shooting-coats to thick
leather capotes, fur caps, duffle socks, and moccasins.

Soon after this, white partridges showed themselves; and one fine clear,
frosty morning, after breakfast, I made my first essay to kill some, in
company with my fellow-clerk and room-mate Crusty, and the worthy
skipper.

The manner of dressing ourselves to resist the cold was curious. I will
describe Crusty, as a type of the rest. After donning a pair of
deer-skin trousers, he proceeded to put on three pair of blanket socks,
and over these a pair of moose-skin moccasins. Then a pair of blue
cloth leggins were hauled over his trousers, partly to keep the snow
from sticking to them, and partly for warmth. After this he put on a
leather capote edged with fur. This coat was very warm, being lined
with flannel, and overlapped very much in front. It was fastened with a
scarlet worsted belt round the waist, and with a loop at the throat. A
pair of thick mittens made of deer-skin hung round his shoulders by a
worsted cord; and his neck was wrapped in a huge shawl, above whose
mighty folds his good-humoured visage beamed like the sun on the edge of
a fog-bank. A fur cap with ear-pieces completed his costume. Having
finished his toilet, and tucked a pair of snow-shoes, five feet long,
under one arm, and a double-barrelled fowling-piece under the other,
Crusty waxed extremely impatient, and proceeded systematically to
aggravate the unfortunate skipper (who was always very slow, poor man,
except on board ship), addressing sundry remarks to the stove upon the
slowness of seafaring men in general, and skippers in particular. In a
few minutes the skipper appeared in a similar costume, with a
monstrously long gun over his shoulder, and under his arm a pair of
snow-shoes gaudily painted by himself; which snow-shoes he used to
admire amazingly, and often gave it as his opinion that