Nothing is easier when surrounded by comforts than to speak with gaiety
of spending a night in the woods and scarcely anything is more difficult
when in that situation than to unite one object with the pale of its
relation. It may not be improper or uninteresting to give a description
of such a placeThe Canadians call it a hut or encampmentfor
what reason I know notas there is no more comparison, than between
an open space and a well covered house. After selecting a spot sufficiently
large enough to admit the partythe men seperate [sic] to different
employments, some with the snow shoe clearing the snow awayothers
felling large trees for fuelthis one is employed lopping the branches
off the pinethat is, laying them along the ground for a bedwhen
these are ended the fire is kindlednot the least cheering sight
to the travellerthe men assemble, liberate their dogs, suspend
their traces &c on a tree and either dry their frozen shoes or busy
themselves in some requisite occupation till the hour of supper when
they make a prodigious meal, and having a blanket each, sleep soundly
through the night. [Back's words, from C. Stuart Houston, ed. Arctic
Artist: The Journal and Paintings of George Back, Midshipman with Franklin,
1819-1822 (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1994), pp.
28, 30.]