s, I
determined to fall into our night-travelling again, from which we had of
late insensibly deviated. We therefore halted at half past five, the
weather being now very clear and warm, and many of the people's eyes
beginning to fail. We did not set out again till after midnight, with
the intention of giving the snow time to harden after so warm a day; but
we found it still so soft as to make the travelling very fatiguing. Our
way lay at first across a number of loose pieces, most of which were
from five to twenty yards apart, or just sufficiently separated to give
us all the labour of launching and hauling up the boats, without the
advantage of making any progress by water; while we crossed, in other
instances, from mass to mass, by laying the boats over as bridges, by
which the men and the baggage passed. By these means, we at length
reached a floe about a mile in length, in a northern direction; but it
would be difficult to convey an adequate idea of the labour required to
traverse it. The average depth of snow upon the level parts was about
five inches, under which lay water four or five inches deep; but, the
moment we approached a hummock, the depth to which we sank increased to
three feet or more, rendering it difficult at times to obtain sufficient
footing for one leg to enable us to extricate the other. The pools of
fresh water had now also become very large, some of them being a quarter
of a mile in length, and their depth above our knees. Through these we
were prevented taking the sledges, for fear of wetting all our
provisions; but we preferred transporting the boats across them,
notwithstanding the severe cold of the snow-water, the bottom being
harder for the "runners" to slide upon. On this kind of road we were, in
one instance, above two hours in proceeding a distance of one hundred
yards.

We halted at half past six A.M. to dine; and to empty our boots and
wring our stockings, which, to our feelings, was almost like putting on
dry ones; and again set out in an hour, getting at length into a "lane"
of water a mile and a quarter long, in a N.N.E. direction. We halted for
the night at half an hour before midnight, the people being almost
exhausted with a laborious day's work, and our distance made good to the
northward not exceeding two miles and a quarter. We allowed ourselves
this night a hot supper, consisting of a pint of soup per man, made of
an ounce of pemmican each, and eight or ten birds, which we