We made up our stock to twenty-six, but several of them were
putrid, and scarcely eatable, even by men suffering the extremity of
famine. Peltier and Samandre continued very weak and dispirited,
and they were unable to cut fire-wood. Hepburn had in consequence
that laborious task to perform after he came back. The
Doctor having scarified the swelled parts of Adam’s body, a large
quantity of water flowed out, and he obtained some ease, but still
kept his bed.
After our usual supper of singed skin and bone soup, Dr. Richardson
acquainted me with the afflicting circumstances attending the
death of Mr. Hood and Michel, and detailed the occurrences subsequent
to my departure from them, which I shall give from his own
journal, in his own words; but I must here be permitted to express
the heart-felt sorrow with which I was overwhelmed at the loss of so
many companions; especially of my friend Mr. Hood, to whose
zealous and able co-operation I had been indebted for so much
invaluable assistance during the Expedition, whilst the excellent
qualities of his heart engaged my warmest regard. His scientific
observations, together with his maps and drawings (a small part of
which only appear in this work), evince a variety of talent, which,
had his life been spared, must have rendered him a distinguished
ornament to his profession, and which will cause his death to be felt
as a loss to the service.
Du. RICHARDSON’S NARRATIVE.
After Captain Franklin had bidden us farewell, we remained seated
by the fire-side as long as the willows the men had cut for us before
they departed lasted. We had no tripe de roche that day, but drank
an infusion of the country tear-plant, which was grateful from its
warmth, although it afforded no sustenance. We then retired to
bed, where we remained all the next day, as the weather was stormy,
and the snow-drift so heavy, as to destroy every prospect of success
in our endeavours to light a fire with the green and frozen willows,
which were our only fuel. Through the extreme kindness and forethought
of a lady, the party, previous to leaving London, had been
furnished with a small collection of religious books, of which we still
retained two or three of the most portable, and they proved of incal-
calable benefit to us. We read portions of them to each other as
we lay in bed, in addition to the morning and evening service, and
found that they inspired us on each perusal with so strong a sense
of the omnipresence of a bénéficient God, that our situation, even
in these wilds, appeared no longer destitute; and we conversed, not
only with calmness, but with cheerfulness, detailing with unrestrained
confidence the past events of our lives, and dwelling with
hope on our future prospects. Had my poor friend been spared to
revisit his native land, I should look back to this period with unalloyed
delight.
On the morning of the 9th, the weather, although still cold, was
clear, and I went out in quest of tripe de roche, leaving Hepburn to
cut willows for a fire, and Mr. Hood in bed. I had no success, as
yesterday’s snow drift was so frozen on the surface of the rocks that
I could not collect any of the. weed; but on my return to the tent,
I found that Michel, the Iroquois, had come with a note from