FRANKLIN'S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION. 129 



A good fire was a luxury seldom enjoyed, for they had 

 scarcely strength to collect wood. 



Eighteen weary days were passed in these painful 

 privations, when the monotony was interrupted by the 

 arrival of Dr. Richardson and Hepburn. Their ema- 

 ciated countenances gave evidence of their debilitated 

 state. " The doctor particularly remarked the sepulchral 

 tones of our voices, which he requested of us to make 

 more cheerful, if possible, unconscious that his own 

 partook of the same key." A partridge which Hepburn 

 had shot was held to the fire, and then divided into six 

 portions. " I and my three companions, " says Frank- 

 lin, " ravenously devoured our shares, as it was the 

 first morsel of flesh any of us had tasted for thirty-one 

 days, unless, indeed, the small, gristly particles which 

 we found occasionally adhering to the pounded bones 

 may be called flesh.' 3 Richardson brought the melan- 

 choly intelligence that Mr. Hood and the Iroquois were 

 both dead. Michel, in a fit of sullen spite, to which 

 uncivilized natures are liable, had shot the young and 

 talented officer at the encampment where they had last 

 parted ; and his demeanor towards the two survivors 

 becoming more and more threatening, the doctor, under 

 the imperious instinct of self-preservation, took upon 

 himself the responsibility of putting the Indian to death 

 by a pistol-shot. As afterwards appeared, there was 

 reason to believe that two of the missing voyageurs had 

 also been murdered by the Iroquois. 



Two others of the wretched party died on the second 

 day after Richardson's arrival at the fort. At last, OB 

 the 7th of November, relief came, borne by three In- 

 dians sent by Mr. Back. The messengers proved them- 

 selves most kind, assiduous attendants, " evincing 

 humanity that would have done honor to the most civil- 

 ized people." And, with good fires and sufficient food, 



