The
snow was by this time so soft as to render walking in snow-shoes very
laborious; and though the ground was bare in many places, yet at times, and in
particular places, the snow-drifts were so deep, that we could not possibly do
without them. By the sixth, however, the thaws were so general, and the snows
so much melted, that as our snow-shoes were attended with more trouble than
service, we all consented to throw them away. Till the tenth, our sledges
proved serviceable, particularly in crossing lakes and ponds on the ice; but
that mode of travelling now growing dangerous on account of the great thaws, we
{29} determined to throw away our sledges, and every one to take a load on his
back.[82]
This
I found to be much harder work than the winter carriage, as my part of the
luggage consisted of the following articles, viz. the quadrant and its stand, a
trunk containing books, papers, &c., a land-compass, and a large bag
containing all my wearing apparel; also a hatchet, knives, files, &c.,
beside several small articles, intended for presents to the natives. The
awkwardness of my load, added to its great weight, which was upward of sixty
pounds, and the excessive heat of the weather, rendered walking the most
laborious task I had ever encountered; and what considerably increased the
hardship, was the badness of the road, and the coarseness of our lodging,
being, on account of the want of proper tents, exposed to the utmost severity
of the weather. The tent we had with us was not only too large, and unfit for
barren ground service, where no poles were to be got, but we had been obliged
to cut it up for shoes, and each person carried his own share. Indeed my guide
behaved both negligently and ungenerously on this occasion; as he never made
me, or my Southern Indians, acquainted with the nature of pitching tents on the
barren ground; which had he done, we could easily have procured a set of poles
before we left the woods. He took care, however, to procure a set for himself
and his wife; and when the tent was divided, though he made shift to get a
piece large enough to serve him for {30} a complete little tent, he never asked
me or my Southern Indians to put our heads into it.Beside the inconvenience of being exposed to the open air, night and day, in all weathers, we experienced real distress from the want of victuals. When provisions were procured, it often happened that we could not make a fire, so that we were obliged to eat the meat quite raw; which at first, in the article of fish particularly, was as little relished by my Southern companions as myself.[83]
Samuel Hearne on his Journey to the Coppermine, 1770
Charles William Jefferys/Library and Archives Canada/C-070250
Charles William Jefferys/Library and Archives Canada/C-070250
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