ARCTIC VOYAGES, FROM BAFFIN TO M'CLINTOCK. 



347 



success of their Indian hunters. During the summer of 1821 they accom- 

 plished the remaining 334 miles to the mouth of the Coppermine, and on July 

 21 Franklin and his party embarked in two birch-bark canoes on their voyage 

 of exploration. In these frail shallops they skirted the desolate coast of the 

 American continent 555 miles to the east of the Coppermine as far as Point 

 Turnagain, when the rapid decrease of their provisions and the shattered state 

 of the canoes imperatively compelled their return (August 22). And now 

 began a dreadful land-journey of two months, accompanied by all the horrors 

 of cold, famine, and fatigue. An esculent lichen (tripe de roche), with an occa- 

 sional ptarmigan, formed their scanty food, but on very many days even this 

 poor supply could not be obtained, and their appetites became ravenous. Some- 

 times they had the good-fortune to pick up pieces of skin, and a few bones of 

 deer which had been devoured by the wolves in the previous spring. The bones 

 were rendered friable by burning, and now and then their old shoes were added 

 to the repast. On reaching the Coppermine, a raft had to be framed, a task 

 accomplished with the utmost difficulty by the exhausted party. One or two 

 of the Canadians had already fallen behind, and never rejoined their comrades, 

 and now Hood and three or four more of the party broke down and could 

 proceed no farther, Dr. Richardson kindly volunteering to remain with them, 

 while Back, with the most vigorous of the men, pushed on to send succor 

 from Fort Enterprise, and Franklin followed more slowly with the others. 

 On reaching the log house this last party found that wretched tenement desolate, 

 with no deposit of provisions and no trace of the Indians whom they had ex- 

 pected to meet there. "It would be impossible," says Franklin, "to describe 

 our sensations after entering this miserable abode and discovering how we had 

 been neglected ; the whole party shed tears, not so much for our own fate as 

 for that of our friends in the rear, whose lives depended entirely on our sending 

 immediate relief from this place." Their only consolation was a gleam of hope 

 afforded them by a note from Back, stating that he had reached the deserted 

 hut two days before, and was going in search of the Indians. The fortunate 

 discovery of some cast-off deer-skins and of a heap of acrid bones, a provision 

 worthy of the place, sustained their flickering life-flame, and after eighteen miser- 

 able days they were joined by Dr. Richardson and Hepburn, the sole survivors 

 of their party. Lieutenant Hood, a young officer of great promise, having been 

 murdered by a treacherous Canadian, whom Richardson was afterwards obhged 

 to shoot through the head in self-defense. 



" Upon entering the desolate dwelling," says Richardson, " we had the satis- 

 faction of embracing Captain Franklin, but no words can convey an idea of the 

 filth and wretchedness that met our eyes on looking around. Our own misery 

 had stolen upon us by degrees, and we were accustomed to the contemplation 

 of each other's emaciated figures ; but the ghastly countenances, dilated eye- 

 balls, and sepulchral voices of Captain Franklin and those with him were more 

 than we could at first bear." At length, on November 7, when the few sur- 

 vivors of the ill-fated expedition (for most of the voyagers died from sheer ex- 

 haustion) were on the point of sinking under their sufferings, three Indians 

 sent by Back, whose exertions to procure them relief had been beyond all praise. 



