ll, I determined now to try whether I could walk or crawl down
the actual stream itself where it had hollowed its way underneath the
drifts which overhung it, making a sort of low-arched tunnel, which I
thought worth trying. I soon found, however, that this was quite
impracticable, and that if I went on I should either be suffocated or
hopelessly imbedded in the snow, and that then my utmost efforts would
fail to extricate me. It also occurred to me somewhat painfully, that if
I lost my life, as I thought I inevitably must do now, my body would not
be found for days, or it might be weeks, if it were buried deep in the
mountain of snow at the bottom of that valley; and I was anxious that
what remained of me might be found soon, and that the dreadful suspense,
which is worse than the most fearful certainty, might thus be spared to
all those who cared about my fate.

I was not, however, quite beat yet; so, retracing my steps, I determined
once more to leave the stream and make for the higher ground. But a new
misfortune now befell me: I lost my boots. They were strong laced boots,
without elastic sides, or any such weak points about them. I had
observed before that one was getting loose, but was unable to do anything
to it from the numbness of my hands; and after struggling out of a deep
drift previous to reascending the hill, I found that I had left this boot
behind. There was nothing for it but to go on without, and as my feet
were perfectly numbed from the cold, and devoid of feeling, I did not
experience any difficulty or pain on this account. That boot was
afterwards found on a ledge of rock near the waterfall. I soon after
lost the other one, or rather, I should say, it came off, and I could not
get it on again, so I carried it in my hand some time, but lost it in one
of my many severe falls. The fact of the loss of my boots has astonished
all those who have heard of it, and I believe has excited more comment
than any other part of my adventure. I have even heard of its being a
matter of fierce dispute, on more than one occasion, whether laced boots
_could_ come off in this way. They do not seem to have become unlaced,
as the laces were firmly knotted, but had burst in the middle, and the
whole front of the boot had been stretched out of shape from the strain
put upon it whilst laboriously dragging my feet out of deep drifts for so
many hours together, which I can only describe as acting upon the boots
like