Page:Across the sub-Arctics of Canada (1897).djvu/255

 hours we tramped southward down the coast, with the cutting wind in our faces. During the afternoon we sought shelter, but finding none our course was altered and shaped for the nearest wood, several miles inland.

The great advantage of travelling on the open plain is that there the snow is driven hard, and hence the walking is much better than in the woods, where the snow is soft and deep. Nevertheless, when the weather is rough, as it was on this occasion, the heavy walking is preferable to travelling in the open country in the teeth of the storm.

For the remainder of the day we bore southward, and about sunset made camp on the south bank of a stream known as Sam's Creek, in a lovely snow-laden, evergreen forest—an ideal Canadian winter woodland picture. From this beautiful but chilling scene our tramp was continued next morning at daylight. The low shore of the Nelson was again reached and followed, until about noon a decided change in the character of the land was observed. A boulder clay bank commenced to make its appearance, and this as we advanced rapidly reached an elevation of twenty-five or thirty feet, and as we proceeded up the river became higher and more thickly wooded. The change was a great relief from the level, treeless coast.

We were now well within the mouth of the great Nelson River, and could already, through the rising vapor, dimly see the outline of the opposite shore.

Considerable ice was coming down the river, and on this account we felt some anxiety as to crossing, but we were now within a few miles of the boat of which we had been informed, and it seemed possible that we might