222 BACK'S LAND EXPEDITION. 



the dogs, unpalatable as it was, were gladly received, 

 and saved many from perishing. "Often," adds Back, 

 " did I share rny own plate with the children, whose 

 helpless state and piteous cries were peculiarly distress- 

 ing. Compassion for the full-grown may or may not 

 be felt, but that heart must be cased in steel which is 

 insensible to the cry of a child for food." 



To add to the distress of Back, he received informa- 

 tion that his friend Augustus, the affectionate Esquimaux 

 interpreter who had accompanied him on a former jour- 

 ney, hearing of his being again in the country, set out 

 from Hudson's Bay, in company with a Canadian and an 

 Iroquois ; they lost their way, were separated, and poor 

 Augustus fell a sacrifice to famine. His remains were 

 found on the barrens not far from the Riviere a Jean. 

 It appeared that the gallant little fellow was retracing 

 his steps to the establishment, when, either exhausted 

 by suffering and privation, or caught in the midst of an 

 open traverse in one of those terrible snow-storms, 

 which may be almost said to blow through the frame, 

 he had sunk to rise no more. " Such," says Back, 

 " was the miserable end of poor Augustus! a faithful, 

 disinterested, kind-hearted creature, who had won the 

 regard, not of myself only, but, I may add, of Sir John 

 Franklin and Dr. Richardson also, by qualities which, 

 wherever found, in the lowest as in the highest forms 

 of social life, are the ornament and charm of humanity." 



At this critical juncture, Akaitcho made his appear- 

 ance with an opportune supply of a little meat, which 

 in some measure enabled Back to relieve the sufferers 

 around him, many of whom, to his great delight, went 

 away with Akaitcho. The stock of meat was soon ex- 

 hausted, and they had to open their pemmican. The 

 officers contented themselves with the short supply of 

 half a pound a day, but the laboring men could not do 



