NINE MONTHS IN THE ARCTIC. 151 



we should all perish by degrees with starvation ; 

 we came therefore to the conclusion, we could 

 but die if we should venture to travel to the 

 next settlement. 



The haggard and emaciated countenances of 

 our companions told but too plainly that a change 

 must take place in our living, or soon we should 

 " go the way of all the earth." If our friends at 

 home could have looked in upon us in this time 

 of our last extremity, they would neither have 

 known us, nor would they have supposed, from 

 our appearance, that we could long survive our 

 misfortunes. It is Well that we do not always 

 know either the condition or the sufferings of our 

 fellow-men. 



It was about this time, while we were anx- 

 iously considering our state — what should be 

 done, in what direction to seek for life — a report 

 reached us by means of the natives, that a ship 

 had been cast away on the coast, from seventy 

 to one hundred miles distant, as near as we could 

 judge. 



A single ham was brought to the settlement 

 by the natives, which confirmed the truth of the 

 wreck. 



This circumstance greatly encouraged us, and 

 determined the first party, consisting of only two, 

 to leave one morning, and to travel in the direc- 



