436 
bonsall’s return. 
their provisions nearly gone. I reserve for another 
page the history of their wanderings. My first thought 
was of the means of rescuing and relieving them. 
I resolved to despatch the Esquimaux escort at once 
with such supplies as our miserably-imperfect stores 
allowed, they giving their pledge to carry them with 
all speed, and, what I felt to be much less certain, 
with all honesty. But neither of the gentlemen who 
had come with them felt himself in condition to repeat 
the journey. Mr. Bonsall was evidently broken down, 
and Petersen, never too reliable in emergency, was for 
postponing the time of setting out. Of our own party— 
those who had remained with the brig—McGary, Hans, 
and myself were the only ones able to move, and of 
these McGary was now fairly on the sick list. We 
could not be absent for a single day without jeoparding 
the lives of the rest. 
“ December 8, Friday.—I am much afraid these pro¬ 
visions will never reach the wanderers. We were 
busy every hour since Bonsall arrived getting them 
ready. We cleaned and boiled and packed a hundred 
pounds of pork, and sewed up smaller packages of 
meat-biscuit, bread-dust, and tea; and despatched the 
whole, some three hundred and fifty pounds, by the 
returning convoy. But I have no faith in an Esqui¬ 
maux under temptation, and I almost regret that I 
did not accompany them myself. It might have been 
wiser. But I will set Hans on the track in the morn- 
ing; and, if I do not hear within four days that the 
stores are fairly on their way, coute qui coute , I will be 
