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 forded and 
encamped on the opposite side. Heavy rain began 
soon afterwards, and continued 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 
