96 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES
we were provided with two carioles and two sledges; their drivers
and dogs being furnished in equal proportions by the two Companies.
Fifteen days’ provision so completely filled the sledges, that it was
with difficulty we found room for a small sextant, one suit of clothes,
and three changes of linen, together with our bedding. Notwithstanding
we thus restricted ourselves, and even loaded the carioles
with part of the luggage, instead of embarking in them, we did
not set out without considerable grumbling from the voyagers of
both Companies, respecting the oveflading of their dogs. However
we left the matter to be settled by our friends at the fort, who were
more conversant with winter travelling than ourselves. Indeed the
loads appeared to us so great that we should have been inclined to
listen to the complaints of the drivers. The weight usually placed
upon a sledge, drawn by three dogs, cannot, at the commencement
of a journey, be estimated at less than three hundred pounds, which,
however suffers a daily diminution from the consumption of provisions.
The sledge itself weighs about thirty pounds. When the
snow is hard frozen, or the track well trodden, the rate of travelling
is about two miles and a half an hour, including rests, or about
fifteen miles a day. If the snow be loose, the speed is necessarily
much less and the fatigue greater.
At eight in the morning of the- 18th, we quitted the fort, and
took leave of our hospitable friend, Governor Williams, whose kindness
and attention I shall ever remember with gratitude. Dr.
Kichardson, Mr. Hood, and Mr. Connolly, accompanied us along the
Saskatchawan until the snow became too deep for their walking without
snow shoes. We then parted from our associates, with sincere
regret at the prospect of a long separation. Being accompanied by
Mr. Mackenzie, of the Hudson’s Bay Company, who was going to
Isle a la Crosse, with four sledges under his charge, we formed quite
a procession, keeping in an Indian file, on the track of the man who
preceded the foremost dogs; but, as the snow was deep, we pro