PREPARATIONS. 
79 
and thus sleep and be refreshed. In that case, he can 
easily reach the Esquimaux of Etah Bay, and may as 
easily seize upon the sledge-dogs, rifle, and trading- 
articles. The consequences of such an act would be 
very disastrous; nearly all my hopes of lifting the sick, 
and therefore of escaping in boats to the south, rest 
upon these dogs. By them only can we hunt bear and 
early seal, or rapidly transport ourselves to the tide- 
holes ( polynia ) of the spring, where we can add water- 
fowl to our game-list. I am entirely without a remedy. 
We cannot pursue him, nor could we have well pre¬ 
vented his escape; it is the most culpable desertion 
I ever knew or heard of. Bonsall, Petersen, and my¬ 
self are the only men now on board who can work 
for the rest. Save the warnings of a secret trouble, 
the fox gnawing under the jacket, I do better than the 
rest; but I bear my fox. Bonsall is evidently more 
disabled. 
“March 22, Thursday.—Petersen’s ptarmigan are all 
gone, (five of them,) and of the rabbit but two rations 
of eight ounces each remain. We three, Bonsall, Peter¬ 
sen, and myself, have made up our minds to walk up 
Mary River Ravine until we reach the deer-plains, and 
there separate and close in upon them. To-day is 
therefore a busy one, for we must prepare beforehand 
the entire daily requirements of the sick: the ice for 
melting water must be cut in blocks and laid near the 
stove; the wood, of which it requires one entire day 
to tear enough out for two days, must be chopped and 
piled within arm-reach; the bread must be cooked and 
