Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 1.djvu/78

Rh where these torments did not abound. But our bodies soon became weary; and the steepness of the way was such that one false step would have proved fatal to us; yet we were not without some relief. Patches of broad-leaved sorrel on the mountain-side refreshed us greatly as we rested, and beds of moss, covered with smiling flowers, served as our temporary couch.

In about two hours we gained the summit, both of us covered with musquitoes, and driven almost to madness by their stings. In vain we tried everything that mind could think of to get rid of them. Nothing availed. We were doomed by these merciless invaders, and our very life's blood was copiously drawn forth to supply their gluttonous desires.

On the other side of the mountain we saw a beautiful little lake; and upon standing by its side, it was found to be clear as crystal, mirroring forth the lofty peaks above us. On its north shore was a low shingly beach, that had been thrown up by the winds coming in this, the only direction they could cross the water. This lake was fed by various small streams that were leaping down from the snowy mountains, and, if it had got no other name, I termed it "William Sterry" Lake. We walked along it, and saw numerous salmon, small trout (three of which we caught with our hands), and many skulls and horns of deer.

It was now dinner time, and our appetite was well sharpened by the exercise we had enjoyed. Accordingly, a fire was lit whereby to cook the fish, though at first I was greatly puzzled how we were to get material for a fire; but Sterry, who had been so much in this arctic region, well knew its resources. Where all looked barren to me, he soon found moss and some low brushwood, like the running hemlock of the States. It is a tough shrub, with small leaves and white blossoms, which produce black berries with red sweet juice. Dwarf willow, heather, and small undergrowth wood of various descriptions are intermixed. The dead wood, the leaves, stalks, and limbs of preceding years, are thickly interspersed with the growing portions of this fuel, and it was with it that