154 TROUBLES OF EXPLORER 



Capt. John Franklin — afterwards admiral — speaks of fish being frozen, 

 saying : 



"It may be worthy of notice here, that the fish froze as they were taken 

 out of the nets, and in a short time became a solid mass of ice, and by a blow 

 or two of the hatchet were easily split open, when the intestines might be 

 removed in one lump. If, in this completely frozen state, they were thawed 

 before the fire, they recovered their animation. This was particularly the 

 case Vv'ith the carp; and we had occasion to observe it repeatedly, as Dr. 

 Richardson (one of the party) occupied himself in examining the structure 

 of the different species of fish, and was always, in the winter, under the 

 necessity of thawing them before he could cut them. We have seen a carp 

 recover so far as to leap about with much vigor after it had been frozen for 

 thirty-six hours." 



If such is the effects on fish, what of men? This same Dr. Richardson 

 nearly lost his life while the expedition of which he and Franklin were mem- 

 bers in 1 82 1 was exploring the north coast of America. They traveled for 

 a time in canoes, and their food gave out. Daily they became weaker, and 

 less capable of exertion; one of the canoes was so much broken by a fall, 

 that it was burned to cook a supper; the resource of fishing, too, was denied 

 them, for some of the men, in the recklessness of misery, threw away the nets. 

 Rivers were to be crossed by wading, or in the canoe ; on one of these occasions 

 Franklin took his seat with two of the voyageurs in their frail bark, when 

 they were driven by the force of the stream and the wind to the verge of a 

 frightful rapid, in which the canoe upset, and, but for a rock on which they 

 found footing, they would there have perished. On June 19th, previous to 

 setting out, the whole party ate the remains of their old shoes, and whatever 

 scraps of leather they had, to strengthen their stomachs for the fatigue of 

 the day's journey. "These," adds Franklin, "would have satisfied us in or- 

 dinary times, but we were now almost exhausted by slender fare and travel, 

 and our appetites had become ravenous. We looked, however, with humble 

 confidence to the great Author and Giver of all good for a continuance of the 

 support which had hitherto been always supplied to us at our greatest need." 



Dr. Richardson finally undertook to swim the Coppe'rwire river, carrying 

 a line by which a raft might be hauled over. 



"He launched into the stream," says Franklin, "with the line round his 

 middle, but when he had got to a short distance from the opposite bank, 

 his arms became benumbed with cold, and he lost the power of moving them ; 



