er; while a
large iron kettle filled with hot water, slightly flavoured with
tea-leaves, brought up the rear. Two tin pots and a tumbler performed
outpost duty, and were soon smoking full of warm tea. We made an
excellent supper, after which the Indians proceeded to solace themselves
with a whiff, while I lay on my blanket enjoying the warmth of the fire,
and admiring the apparently extreme felicity of the men, as they sat,
with half-closed eyes, watching the smoke curling in snowy wreaths from
their pipes, and varying their employment now and then with a pull at
the tin pots, which seemed to afford them extreme satisfaction. In this
manner we lay till the moon waned; and the owl having finished his
overture, we rolled ourselves in our blankets, and watched the twinkling
star, till sleep closed our eyelids.

Next morning, between two and three o'clock, we began to stretch our
limbs, and after a few ill-humoured grunts prepared for a start. The
morning was foggy when we embarked and once more began to ascend the
stream. Everything was obscure and indistinct till about six o'clock,
when the powerful rays of the rising sun dispelled the mist, and Nature
was herself again. A good deal of ice still lined the shores; but what
astonished me most was the advanced state of vegetation apparent as we
proceeded inland. When we left York Factory, not a leaf had been
visible; but here, though only thirty miles inland, the trees, and more
particularly the bushes, were well covered with beautiful light green
foliage, which appeared to me quite delightful after the patches of snow
and leafless willows on the shores of Hudson Bay.

At eight o'clock we put ashore for breakfast--which was just a
repetition of the supper of the preceding night, with this exception,
that we discussed it a little more hurriedly--and then proceeded on our
way.

Shortly afterwards we met a small canoe, about the size of our own,
which contained a postmaster and two Indians, on their way to York
Factory with a few packs of otters. After five minutes' conversation we
parted, and were soon out of sight of each other. The day, which had
hitherto been agreeable, now became oppressively sultry: not a breath of
wind ruffled the water; and as the sun shone down with intense heat from
a perfectly cloudless sky, it became almost insufferable. I tried all
methods to cool myself, by lying in every position I could think of,
sometimes even hanging both legs and