OF THE POLAR SEA. 



417 



back together in search of them. We found they had halted 

 among some willows, where they had picked up some pieces of 

 skin, and a few bones of deer that had been devoured by the wolves 

 last spring. They had rendered the bones friable by burning, and 

 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 useless. 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 declined 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 circumstances 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 almost obliterated them. The 

 men became furious at the apprehension of being deserted by the 

 hunters, and some of the strongest throwing down their bundles, 

 prepared to set out after them, intending to leave the more weak 

 to follow as they could. The entreaties and threats of the officers, 

 however, prevented their executing this mad scheme ; but not before 

 Solomon Belanger was despatched with orders for Mr. Back to halt 



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