Here there were
multitudes of reindeer feeding on the _Cladina_ lichen and the Indians
with Hearne killed large numbers for the food of the party, and also
for their skins and the marrow in their bones.
[Footnote 2: This word is said to be a corruption or altered form of
_Wishakagami[-u]_, a liquid or broth (Kri language). The drink made
from this shrub or herb (_Ledum palustre_) is now known as Labrador
tea. It is a bitter aromatic infusion.]
The Indian who had volunteered to carry the canoe proved unequal to
his task. But Hearne found another of his carriers who was willing to
take the burden. In order, therefore, to be readier with his gun to
shoot deer, he transferred a portion of his own load to the ex-canoe
carrier. This portion consisted of the invaluable quadrant and its
stand, and a bag of gunpowder. The gunpowder was of such importance to
Hearne and his party that one wonders he made this exchange; for if he
lost this powder he had no means of killing game, and was entirely
dependent for food on the troop of Indians with whom he was
travelling, and whom he knew to be most niggardly and inhospitable.
Judge, therefore, of his horror when, at the end of a day's march,
this weakly Indian porter was missing with his load. All night Hearne
was unable to sleep with anxiety, and the whole of the next day he
spent searching the rocky ground for miles to discover some sign of
the missing man.
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