Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/71

 Saskatchewan River. After travelling over the shaggy frozen grass, which bore some recent traces of red-deer, for a few miles, we fell upon a tract of country that the fire had bared to the very soil. The light snowy covering rested on the blackened plain, and our poor dogs once more went on with comparative ease. Far on our right appeared a line of low woods, shooting out from the Nut Hills in an immense curve, the extremity or horn of which we reached at our usual camping hour.

We were now at the commencement of a plain, twenty miles in breadth, which my guide required daylight to cross; we therefore breakfasted, and started at 7 o'clock. The wind blew strongly from the westward; and to face it, where there was not a shrub, or even a blade of grass, to break its force, with a temperature of at least —40°, was a serious undertaking. Muffling up our faces with shawls, pieces of blanket, and leather, in such a manner as to leave only the eyes exposed, we braved the blast. Each eyelash was speedily bedizened with a heavy crop of icicles, and we were obliged, every now and then, to turn our backs to the wind, and thaw off these obstructions with our half-frozen fingers. Early in the afternoon we reached what are called the Cross Woods, where we were glad to make the