276 Thirty Years 



eaten them, as well as the skin ; and several of them 

 had added their old shoes to the repast, Peltier and 

 Vaillant were with them, having left the canoe, which, 

 they said, was so completely broken by another fall, 

 as to be rendered incapable of repair, and entirely use- 

 less. The anguish this intelligence occasioned may be 

 conceived, but it is beyond my power to describe it. 

 Impressed, however, with the necessity of taking it 

 forward, even in the state these men represented it to 

 be, we urgently desired them to fetch it ; but they de- 

 clined going, and the strength of the officers was inade- 

 quate to the task. To their infatuated obstinacy on 

 this occasion, a great portion of the melancholy circum- 

 stances which attended our subsequent progress may, 

 perhaps, be attributed. The men now seemed to have 

 lost all hope of being preserved ; and all the argu- 

 ments we could use failed in stimulating them to the 

 least exertion. After consuming the remains of the 

 bones and horns of the deer we resumed our march, 

 and, in the evening, reached a contracted part of the 

 lake, which perceiving to be shallow, we lorded and 

 encamped on the opposite side. Heavy rain began 

 soon afterwards, and fbntinued all the night, On the 

 following morning the rain had so wasted the snow, 

 that the tracks of Mr. Back and his companions, who 

 had gone before with the hunters, were traced with 

 difficulty ; and the frequent showers during the day 



