The Snow Was Two Feet Deep And The Ground Much
Broken, Which Rendered The March Extremely Painful.
The whole party
complained more of faintness and weakness than they had ever done before;
their strength seemed to have been impaired by the recent supply of
animal food.
In the afternoon the wind abated and the snow ceased;
cheered with the change we proceeded forward at a quicker pace and
encamped at six P.M. having come eleven miles. Our supper consumed the
last of our meat.
We set out on the 13th in thick hazy weather and, after an hour's march,
had the extreme mortification to find ourselves on the borders of a large
lake; neither of its extremities could be seen and, as the portion which
lay to the east seemed the widest, we coasted along to the westward
portion in search of a crossing-place. This lake being bounded by steep
and lofty hills our march was very fatiguing. Those sides which were
exposed to the sun were free from snow and we found upon them some
excellent berries. We encamped at six P.M. having come only six miles and
a half. Credit was then missing and he did not return during the night.
We supped off a single partridge and some tripe de roche; this
unpalatable weed was now quite nauseous to the whole party and in several
it produced bowel complaints. Mr. Hood was the greatest sufferer from
this cause. This evening we were extremely distressed at discovering that
our improvident companions since we left Hood's River had thrown away
three of the fishing-nets and burnt the floats; they knew we had brought
them to procure subsistence for the party when the animals should fail,
and we could scarcely believe the fact of their having wilfully deprived
themselves of this resource, especially when we considered that most of
them had passed the greater part of their servitude in situations where
the nets alone had supplied them with food.
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