312 CONCLUSION. 



to be read for the amusement of his companions upon fitting 

 occasions during their journey to the Hudson Bay Terri- 

 tories ; he also took with him a comb and a brush. In all 

 this there is no trace of despondency, nor of departure from 

 ordinary customs — hence it is impossible to resist the infer- 

 ence that their discipline continued perfect, and that they 

 conducted themselves throughout that fearful march like 

 brave men to whom despair was unknown. 



I gladly embrace the present opportunity of filling up 

 an omission in this journal, which the frequent enquiries 

 of friends has shown me exists. I am asked to explain 

 why so few of the bones of our lost countrymen have been 

 found. The answer is simply, because — like those who 

 travelled in search of them — they were compelled to drag 

 their boats and laden sledges upon the sea ice, which affords 

 a level roadway, and which the land does not. 1 And, it is 

 hardly needful to observe that the bodies of those who were 

 overtaken by death upon the ice, found their final rest 

 at the bottom of the sea, upon the summer thaw of 1848. 

 Doubtless also, the snow which thinly covered the coast- 

 line concealed many traces, and perhaps even skeletons, of 

 our lost countrymen, as has already been surmised (pp. 237, 



The supposition that some may have protracted their 

 existence, amongst the Esquimaux or upon the resources 

 of the country, is altogether untenable. 



Upon the whole of King William's Island, and also within 

 the mouth of the Back River, only eight or nine families 

 were met with ; and had they succoured our famishing 



1 Oftentimes the land is impracticable even for light sledges, whilst 

 upon the sea we can march straight from point to point : this may 

 receive illustration from my own experience : out of nearly six thousand 

 miles which I have sledged in the " Franklin Search," not quite three 

 hundred miles have been upon the land, and even this is a very large 

 proportion of land-travel, compared with that of other searchers. 



