Chap. XII. BACK'S JOURNEY TO THE POLAR SEA. 463 



from Norway House, where preparations of men 

 and boats and sledges were made under the direc- 

 tion of Governor Simpson, to Slave Lake ; and it 

 would be unjust to slur over altogether a fatiguing 

 journey, through one of the most dangerous and 

 detestable countries on the face of the earth — the 

 numerous sufferings from cold and famine, and 

 other hardships of various descriptions — which he 

 knew from former experience he would have to en- 

 counter, and all of which he bore with a degree of 

 cheerfulness and good humour peculiar to himself. 

 Guided by the noble example of his former col- 

 leagues, Franklin and Richardson, he never shrunk 

 from difficulties, never murmured, never desponded. 

 Like a true British seaman, the greater the danger 

 the more firmly he stuck to the bark, determined 

 to hold on, sink or swim. The praiseworthy object 

 alone which he had in view took full possession of 

 his mind ; and when he found at Norwav House that 

 no less than twenty men, composed of steersmen, 

 carpenters, artillerymen, &c, had been already col- 

 lected to accompany him, he gives vent to this 

 generous burst of exultation : — 



" This was a happy day for me ; and as the canoe pushed 

 off from the bank, my heart swelled with hope and joy. 

 Now, for the first time, I saw myself in a condition to verify 

 the kind anticipations of my friends. The preliminary dif- 

 ficulties had been overcome ; I was fairly on the way to the 

 accomplishment of the benevolent errand on which I had 

 been commissioned ; and the contemplation of an object so 



