OF THE POLAR SEA. 



183 



2d of June. Here we met Mr. Wentzel 

 and the four men who had been sent with 

 him from the mouth of the Copper-Mine 

 River ; and I think it due to that gentleman 

 to give his own explanation of the unfortu- 

 nate circumstances which prevented him 

 from fulfilling my instructions, respecting 

 the provisions to have been left for us at 

 Fort Enterprise.* 



* " After you sent me back from the mouth 

 of the Copper-Mine River, and I had overtaken 

 the Leader, Guides, and Hunters, on the fifth 

 day, leaving the sea-coast, as well as our journey 

 up the River, they always expressed the same 

 desire of fulfilling their promises, although some- 

 what dissatisfied at being exposed to privation 

 while on our return, from a scarcity of animals; 

 for, as I have already stated in my first commu- 

 nication from Moose-Deer Island, we had been 

 eleven days with no other food but tripe de roche. 

 In the course of this time an Indian, with his 

 wife and child, who were travelling in company 

 with us, were left in the rear, and are since 

 supposed to have perished through want, as no 

 intelligence had been received of them at Fort 

 Providence in December last. On the seventh 



