bodies thrilled with new life.

[Footnote 14: Chocolate from St. Domingue (Haiti) was a favourite form
of portable nutriment among the French Canadians, who also provided a
means of subsistence for long journeys called _praline_. This was made
of roasted Indian corn on which sugar had been sprinkled. It was a
most nourishing food, as well as being an agreeable sweet-meat.]

"Want had lost his dominion over us. At noon we saw the horns of a red
deer, standing in the snow, on the river. On examination we found that
the whole carcass was with them, the animal having broken through the
ice in the beginning of the winter, in attempting to cross the river,
too early in the season; while his horns, fastening themselves in the
ice, had prevented him from sinking. By cutting away the ice we were
enabled to lay bare a part of the back and shoulders, and thus procure
a stock of food amply sufficient for the rest of our journey. We
accordingly encamped, and employed our kettle to good purpose, forgot
all our misfortunes, and prepared to walk with cheerfulness the twenty
leagues which, as we reckoned, still lay between ourselves and Fort
des Prairies. Though the deer must have been in this situation ever
since the month of November, yet its flesh was perfectly good. Its
horns alone were five feet high or more, and it will therefore not
appear extraordinary that they should be seen above the snow."

The next day they reached the Fort des Prairies, established by the
Hudson's Bay people, on the verge of the Assiniboin country. The
journey was resumed in company with Messrs. Patterson and Holmes, and
accompanied by a band of natives. They had entered the bison country,
and were regaled by the Indians with bison tongue and beef.

"Soon after sunrise we descried a herd of oxen (bison) extending a
mile and a half in length, and too numerous to be counted. They
travelled, not one after another, as, in the snow, other animals
usually do, but, in a broad phalanx, slowly, and sometimes stopping to
feed.... Their numbers were so great that we dreaded lest they should
fairly trample down the camp; nor could it have happened otherwise,
but for the dogs, almost as numerous as they, who were able to keep
them in check. The Indians killed several when close upon their tents,
but neither the fire of the Indians nor the noise of the dogs could
soon drive them away." The poor animals were more frightened of the
frightful snowstorm which was raging