338 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. X. 



charge of northern posts, was convinced of the 

 necessity of proceeding, during the winter, into the 

 Athobasca department, to the northward of the 

 Great Slave Lake; from whence only, guides, 

 hunters, and interpreters were to be procured. He 

 therefore requested Governor Williams that he 

 might be furnished, by the middle of January, 

 with the means of conveyance for three persons, 

 having previously arranged that Messrs. Back 

 and Hepburn should accompany him, whilst Dr. 

 Richardson and Mr. Hood should remain till the 

 spring at Cumberland House. 



This arrangement was quite consistent with the 

 true character of Franklin ; whenever an arduous, 

 severe, or inconvenient service was to be performed, 

 he was always ready to relieve the party he com- 

 manded from the burthen, and to undertake it him- 

 self. 



With this view, on the 18th January, 1820, 

 Franklin, with Back as his companion and the 

 faithful Hepburn, took leave of Dr. Richardson and 

 Mr. Hood, who were to follow with their baggage 

 in the spring. But before taking a brief view 

 of the expedition of the first three to Carlton 

 House, and thence to Fort Chipewyan, it may be 

 expedient to glance over the proceedings of the 

 two latter at Cumberland House, to which a 

 Chapter is separately appropriated in the Narra- 

 tive. The district of Cumberland is stated by Dr. 



