Chap. X. FRANKLIN AND RICHARDSON'S JOURNEY. 395 



heart-felt sorrow with which I was overwhelmed at the loss 

 of so many companions ; especially of my friend Mr. Hood, 

 to whose zealons and able co-operation I had been indebted 

 for so much invaluable assistance during the expedition, 

 whilst the excellent qualities of his heart engaged my warmest 

 regard. His scientific observations, together with his maps 

 and drawings (a small part of which only appear in this 

 work), evince a variety of talent, which, had his life been 

 spared, must have rendered him a distinguished ornament 

 to his profession, and which will cause his death to be felt 

 as a loss to the service." — p. 448. 



The melancholy tale of disasters that had be- 

 fallen the party Franklin left behind is most heart- 

 rending, and is feelingly given in the narrative of 

 Dr. Richardson, which is thus introduced : — 



" Through the extreme kindness and forethought of a 

 lady, the party, previous to leaving London, had been 

 furnished with a small collection of religious books, of which 

 we still retained two or three of the most portable, and they 

 proved of incalculable benefit to us. We read portions of 

 them to each other as we lay in bed, in addition to the 

 morning and evening service, and found that they inspired 

 us on each perusal with so strong a sense of the omnipre- 

 sence of a beneficent God, that our situation, even in these 

 wilds, appeared no longer destitute ; and we conversed, not 

 only with calmness, but with cheerfulness, detailing with 

 unrestrained confidence the past -events of our lives, and 

 dwelling with hope on our future prospects. Had my poor 

 friend been spared to revisit his native land, I should look 

 back to this period with unalloyed delight." — p. 449. 



The same kind of distress and suffering, which 

 afflicted the party at Fort Enterprise, were deeply 



