FRANKLIN'S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION. 127 



and having to construct a raft of willow branches, 

 detained them until the 4th of October. Dr. Richard- 

 son, actuated by the noble desire of making a last effort 

 for the safety of the party, and of relieving his suffering 

 companions from a state of misery, which could only 

 terminate, and that speedily, in death, volunteered to 

 make the attempt to swim across the stream, carrying 

 with him a line by which the raft might be hauled 

 over. 



" He launched into the stream," says Franklin, " with 

 the line round his middle, but when he had got to a 

 short distance from the opposite bank, his arms became 

 benumbed with cold, and he lost the power of moving 

 them ; still he persevered, and, turning on his back, had 

 nearly gained the opposite shore, when his legs also 

 became powerless, and, to our infinite alarm, we beheld 

 him sink. We instantly hauled upon the line, and he 

 came again on the surface, and was gradually drawn 

 ashore in an almost lifeless state. Being rolled up in 

 blankets, he was placed before a good fire of willows, 

 and, fortunately, was just able to speak sufficiently to 

 give some slight directions respecting the manner of 

 treating him. He recovered strength gradually, and, 

 through the blessing of God, was enabled, in the course 

 of a few hours, to converse, and by the evening was 

 sufficiently recovered to remove into the tent. We then 

 regretted to learn that the skin of his whole left side 

 was deprived of feeling, in consequence of exposure to 

 too great heat. He did not perfectly recover the sensa- 

 tion of that side until the following summer. I cannot 

 describe what every one felt at beholding the skeleton 

 which the doctor's debilitated frame exhibited. When 

 he stripped, the Canadians simultaneously exclaimed, 

 'Ah I que nous sommes maigres I ' They were now 

 almost in the last stage of starvation ; and, had it not 



