392 AKCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. X. 



he says, " we proceeded to the house, and, our minds 

 agitated between hope and fear, we went silently 

 forward, and when we readied the long and ar- 

 dently wished-for Fort Enterprise, to our infinite 

 disappointment and grief, found it a perfectly deso- 

 late habitation ; no provisions — no Wentzel — not a 

 trace of any living animal." A note from Back 

 only stated that he had arrived two days before, and 

 was looking for the Indians. This was so unsatis- 

 factory, that Franklin decided coolly and delibe- 

 rately to go himself in a few days, with Benoit and 

 Augustus,* to Fort Providence. In the meantime 

 it was absolutely necessary to look out for some- 

 thing to subsist upon, and " we were gratified," he 

 says, " to find several deer-skins which had been 

 thrown away during our former residence; the 

 bones were gathered from the heap of ashes ; these, 

 with the skins, and the addition of tripe de roche, 

 we considered would support us tolerably well for a 

 time." In a few clays Franklin set out on his jour- 

 ney, but found himself so weak as to have gone only 

 four miles in six hours ; the next morning he fell 

 between two rocks, and broke his snow-shoes ; 

 finding himself so exhausted, he let his two com- 



* Augustus was not one of the five who proceeded to this 

 place. On their departure Franklin says, " Augustus did not 

 make his appearance, but we felt no alarm at his absence." No 

 doubt he had followed alone to the Fort, and Franklin omitted 

 to notice his arrival. 



