Nov. 1858. DEATH OF THE ENGINEER. 185 



CHAPTER XII. 



Death of our engineer — Scarcity of game — The cold unusually trying 

 — Jolly, under adverse circumstances — Petersen's information — 

 Return of the sun of 1859 — Early spring sledge parties — Unusual 

 severity of the winter — Severe hardships of early sledging — The 

 western shores of Boothia — Meet the Esquimaux — Intelligence of 

 Franklin's ships — Return to the 'Fox' — Allen Young returns. 



Nov. >jt7i, Sunday evening. — Brief as is the interval since 

 my last entry, yet how pregnant with warning, and to one 

 of our small company how fatal ! Yesterday Mr. Brand, our 

 engineer, was out shooting as usual, and in robust health ; in 

 the evening Hobson sat with him for a little time. Mr. 

 Brand turned the conversation upon our position and 

 employments last year ; he called to remembrance poor 

 Robert Scott, then in sound health, and the fact of his 

 having carried our " Guy Fawkes " round the ship on the 

 preceding day twelvemonth, and added mournfully, " Poor 

 fellow ! no one knows whose turn it may be to go next." 

 He finished his evening pipe, and shut his cabin door shortly 

 after nine o'clock. This morning, at seven o'clock, his 

 servant found him lying upon the deck, a corpse, having 

 been several hours dead. Apoplexy appears to have been 

 the cause. He was a steady, serious man, under forty years 

 of age, and leaves a widow and three or four children ; what 

 their circumstances are, I am not aware. 



10th. — This morning the remains of Mr. Brand, enclosed 

 in a neat coffin, were buried in a grave on shore. A suit- 



