FHANKLIN'S FERST LAND EXPEDITION. 125 



So much time had already been spent in exploring the 

 sounds and inlets, that all hope of reaching Repulse Bay 

 was vain ; both canoes had sustained material injury ; 

 the fuel was expended ; their provisions were sufficient 

 only for three days ; the appearances of the setting ia 

 of the Arctic winter were too unequivocal to be mistaken ; 

 the deer, which had hitherto supplied them with fresh 

 meat, would, it was well known, soon disappear ; the 

 geese and other aquatic birds were already seen winging 

 their way to the southward ; while the men, who had 

 up to this moment displayed the utmost courage, began 

 to look disheartened, and to entertain serious apprehen- 

 sions for their safety. Under these circumstances, the 

 leaders resolved to return. After spending four days 

 in a careful survey of the bay, they terminated their 

 exploration at a spot which, with literal truth, was 

 named Point Turnagain, a distance, reckoning the 

 indentations of the shore, of five hundred and fifty-five 

 geographical miles. To attempt to reach the Copper- 

 mine so late in the season would have been fatal to the 

 whole of the party ; they, therefore, made for Hood's 

 River, discovered by them a few days previously, up 

 which they had ascended to the first rapid by the 26th 

 of August. Two small portable canoes were then con- 

 structed from the two larger ones, for the purpose of 

 crossing rivers on the journey now before them ; and, 

 on the 1st of September, they set off on a straight course 

 for Fort Enterprise, one hundred and fifty miles distant, 

 The fatigues and privations endured on this route art 

 scarcely to be paralleled ; short of food, ill supplied 

 with clothing, and exposed to the howling severity of 

 the climate, the escape of any one of the number appears 

 almost a miracle. Some days, when there was nothing 

 to eat, and no means of making a fire, they passed 

 entirely in bed ; on others, after a weary and exhaust- 



