In the Arctic Regions. 313 
dent he should be successful in hunting, He even 
endeavored to-entice away our other hunter Adam, : 
and proposed to him to carry off the only kettle we 
had, and without which we could not have subsisted 
two days. Adam’s inability to move, however, pre. 
cluded him from agreeing to the proposal, but he 
could assign no reason for not acquainting me with it, 
previous to Belanger’s departure. I was at first in- 
clined to consider the whole matter as a fiction of 
Adam’s, but he persisted in his story without waver- 
ing; and Belanger, when we met again, confessed 
that every part of it was true. It is painful to have 
to record a fact so derogatory to human nature, but I 
have deemed it proper to mention it, to shew the dif- 
ficulties we had to contend with, and the effect which 
distress had in warping the feelings and understanding 
of the most diligent and obedient of our party ; for 
such Belanger had been always esteemed up to this 
time. 
In making arrangements for our departure, Adam 
disclosed to me, for the first time, that he was affect- 
ed with oedematous swellings in some parts of the 
body, to such a degree as to preclude the slightest at- 
tempt at marching ; and upon my expressing my sur- 
prise at his having hitherto concealed from me the ex- 
tent of his malady, among other explanations the de- 
tails of the preceding wa) came out. -It now became 
