"It was late in the day when we turned towards the camp; and it
grew rapidly cold as it drew towards night. One of the men became
fatigued and his feet began to freeze, and building a fire in the
trunk of a dry old cedar, Mr. Fitzpatrick remained with him until
his clothes could be dried, and he was in a condition to come on.
After a day's march of twenty miles, we straggled into camp, one
after another, at nightfall; the greater number excessively fatigued,
only two of the party having ever travelled on snowshoes before.

"All our energies were now directed to getting our animals across
the snow; and it was supposed that, after all the baggage had been
drawn with the sleighs over the trail we had made, it would be
sufficiently hard to bear our animals.

"At several places, between this point and the ridge, we had
discovered some grassy spots, where the wind and sun had dispersed
the snow from the sides of the hills, and these were to form resting
place to support the animals for a night in their passage across.
On our way across, we had set on fire several broken stumps and
dried trees, to melt holes in the snow for the camp. Its general
depth was five feet; but we passed over places where it was twenty
feet deep, as shown by the trees.

"With one party drawing sleighs loaded with baggage, I advanced
today about four miles along the trail, and encamped at the first
grassy spot, where we expected to bring our horses. Mr. Fitzpatrick,
with another party, remained behind, to form an intermediate station
between us and the animals.

"Putting on our snowshoes, we spent the afternoon in exploring