420 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. XL 



feet, and divided into three rooms. To this com- 

 fortable residence for eight or nine months, " the 

 officers," says Franklin, " had done me the honour, 

 previous to my arrival, of giving the name of 

 Franklin, which I felt a grateful pleasure in re- 

 taining at their desire, though I had intended to 

 name it Fort Reliance." 



To pass the winter in a much higher degree of 

 latitude, as Parry did on board ship, was thought 

 nothing of; it required only employment for 

 officers and men, in order to shorten the time of 

 confinement. Franklin was well aware of, and 

 seems to have taken a lesson from, the regulations 

 of Parry. The Canadians and the Indians had 

 plenty of employment for the first four or five 

 months in hunting and fishing for the support of 

 the whole party. The rein-deer were scarce in the 

 autumn, and in the winter deserted them altogether. 

 The fishing was more successful, and during the 

 autumn the nets yielded daily from three to eight 

 hundred fish, of the kind called " herring salmon," 

 also some trout, tittameg, and carp. 



The officers employed themselves in making and 

 registering the various meteorological observations, in 

 copying their journals and remarks, in finishing the 

 charts, drawings, and sketches, and in assisting Dr. 

 Richardson to examine and arrange the numerous 

 objects of natural history that had been collected. 

 But it was equally necessary to find employment 



