384 



A JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



found on examination that fifteen timbers of the first canoe were 

 broken, some of them in two places, and that the second canoe was 

 so loose in the frame that its timbers could not be bound in the 

 usual secure manner, and consequently there was danger of its bark 

 separating from the gunwales if exposed to a heavy sea. Dis- 

 tressing as were these circumstances, they gave me less pain than 

 the discovery that our people, who had hitherto displayed in fol- 

 lowing us through dangers and difficulties no less novel than ap- 

 palling to them, a courage beyond our expectation, now felt serious 

 apprehensions for their safety, which so possessed their minds that 

 they were not restrained even by the presence of their officers from 

 expressing them. Their fears, we imagined, had been principally 

 excited by the interpreters, St. Germain and Adam, who from the 

 outset had foreboded every calamity ; and we now strongly sus- 

 pected that their recent want of success in their hunting excursions, 

 had proceeded from an intentional relaxation in their efforts to kill 

 deer, in order that the want of provision might compel us to put a 

 period to our voyage. 



I must now mention that many concurrent circumstances had 

 caused me, during the few last days, to meditate on the approach of 

 this painful necessity. The strong breezes we had encountered for 

 some days, led me to fear that the season was breaking up, and 

 severe weather would soon ensue, which we could not sustain in a 

 country destitute of fuel. Our stock of provision was now reduced 

 to a quantity of pemmican only sufficient for three days' con- 

 sumption, and the prospect of increasing it was not encouraging, for 

 though rein-deer were seen, they could not be easily approached on 

 the level shores we were now coasting, besides it was to be appre- 

 hended they would soon migrate to the south. It was evident that 

 the time spent in exploring the Arctic and Melville Sounds, and 

 Bathurst's Inlet, had precluded the hope of reaching Eepulse Bay, 

 which at the outset of the voyage we had fondly cherished ; and it 



