OF THE POLAR SEA. 



453 



that he would set out for the house at once if he knew the way. 

 We endeavoured to soothe him, and to raise his hopes of the In- 

 dians speedily coming to our relief, but without success. He refused 

 to assist us in cutting wood, but about noon, after much solicitation, 

 he set out to hunt. Hepburn gathered a kettle of tripe de roche, 

 but froze his fingers. Both Hepburn and I fatigued ourselves much 

 to-day in pursuing a flock of partridges from one part to another of 

 the group of willows, in which the hut was situated, but we were 

 too weak to be able to approach them with sufficient caution. In 

 the evening Michel returned, having met with no success. 



Next day he refused either to hunt or cut wood, spoke in a very 

 surly manner, and threatened to leave us. Under these circum- 

 stances, Mr. Hood and I deemed it better to promise if he would 

 hunt diligently for four days, that then we would give Hepburn a 

 letter for Mr. Franklin, a compass, inform him what course to pursue, 

 and let them proceed together to the fort. The non-arrival of the 

 Indians to our relief, now led us to fear that some accident had 

 happened to Mr. Franklin, and we placed no confidence in the 

 exertions of the Canadians that accompanied him, but we had the 

 fullest confidence in Hepburn's returning the moment he could ob- 



tain assistance. 



On the 17th I went to conduct Michel to where Variant's blanket 

 was left, and after walking about three miles, pointed out the hills 

 to him at a distance, and returned to the hut, having gathered a 

 bagful of tripe de roche on the way. It was easier to gather this 

 weed on a march than at the tent, for the exercise of walking pro- 

 duced a glow of heat, which enabled us to withstand for a time the 

 cold to which we were exposed in scraping the frozen surface of the 

 rocks. On the contrary, when we left the fire, to collect it in the 

 neighbourhood of the hut, we became chilled at once, and were 



obliged to return very quickly. 



Michel proposed to remain out all night, and to hunt next day 



