356 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. X. 



Fort Enterprise, a name that, in reference to future 

 events, might with great and deplorable propriety be 

 changed to that of the " House of Misery, Lamenta- 

 tion, and Woe." The anxiety felt by Franklin of 

 getting on to the northward, notwithstanding the 

 opinion of all that the lateness of the season and the 

 probable want of provisions would make such an at- 

 tempt inexpedient, and Akaitcho having positively 

 refused to let his Indians proceed, Franklin remon- 

 strated with this chief; and, continuing to press the 

 matter, he answered with some warmth : — 



" Well, I have said every thing I can urge to dissuade 

 you from going on this service, on which it seems you wish 

 to sacrifice your own lives, as well as the Indians who might 

 attend you : however, if, after all I have said, you are de- 

 termined to go, some of my young men shall join the party, 

 because it shall not be said that we permitted you to die 

 alone, after having brought you hither ; but from the moment 

 they embark in the canoes, I and my relatives shall lament 

 them as dead."— p. 225. 



This speech of the chief did not fail to make an 

 impression on Franklin, who, after communicating 

 to his officers what had passed, it was agreed by 

 all that a party should be sent forward only for the 

 purpose of ascertaining the distance and size of 

 the Copper Mine River ; and the two youngsters, 

 Back and Hood, were despatched on that service in 

 a light canoe, having with them the interpreter, T. 

 Germain, eight Canadians, and one Indian. Frank- 

 lin, however, at all times unwilling to impose a 



