PROSPECTS. 
45 
almost at the time unwelcome; see, still more, how the 
hack has been strengthened to its increasing burden, 
and the heart cheered by some conscious influence of 
an unseen Power. 
Thinking quietly over our condition, I spread out in 
my diary the results which it seemed to point to. 
After reviewing our sick-list and remarking how little 
efficiency thei’e was in the other members of the party, 
my memorandum went on :— 
“We have three months before us of intense cold. 
We have a large and laborious outfit to arrange, boats, 
sledges, provisions, and accoutrements for a journey of 
alternating ice and water of more than thirteen hun¬ 
dred miles. Our carpenter is among the worst of our 
invalids. Supposing all our men able to move, four at 
least of them must be carried by the rest, three in con¬ 
sequence of amputation, and one from frost-wounds; 
and our boats must be sledged over some sixty or per¬ 
haps ninety miles of terrible ice before launching and 
loading them. Finally, a part of our force, whatever 
it may be, must be detailed to guard our property from 
the Esquimaux while the other detachments are making 
their successive trips to the open water. So much for 
the shadow of the picture ! 
«But it has two sides; and, whether from constitu¬ 
tional temperament or well-reasoned argument, I find 
our state far from desperate. I cheer my comrades 
after this fashion :— 
“1. I am convinced, from a careful analysis of our 
disease, that under its present aspects it is not beyond 
