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42 which we found some Beaver lodges; we killed six of these animals. Then we continued our route past three great lakes, in the last of which was an islet; here we slept on the snow, without erecting any cabins.

"The thirteenth day was the most fatiguing of all, for me; we started at three in the morning, by horrible roads, through brushwood so dense that at each step we had to look for a place whereon to put a foot or a snowshoe. I lost myself at various times, because the darkness prevented me from following the tracks of those who went before me. Afterward, we came to lakes that were quite slippery and on which it was very dangerous to walk without snowshoes for fear of falling through the ice; but it was extremely difficult to walk on snowshoes there, because the surface of the lakes was roughened by the freezing of the melted snows. At noon, we halted; and I had the happiness of saying holy Mass. That was my only consolation, and from it I derived strength to endure so much fatigue. To restore my energy, they gave me a morsel of Beaver, that had been