k together in search of them. We found they had
halted among some willows, where they had picked up some pieces of skin,
and a few bones of deer that had been devoured by the wolves last
spring. They had rendered the bones friable by burning, and eaten them
as well as the skin; and several of them had added their old shoes to
the repast. Peltier and Vaillant were with them, having left the canoe,
which, they said, was so completely broken by another fall, as to be
rendered incapable of repair, and entirely useless. The anguish this
intelligence occasioned may be conceived, but it is beyond my power to
describe it. Impressed, however, with the necessity of taking it
forward, even in the state these men represented it to be, we urgently
desired them to fetch it; but they declined going, and the strength of
the officers was inadequate to the task. To their infatuated obstinacy
on this occasion, a great portion of the melancholy circumstances which
attended our subsequent progress may, perhaps, be attributed. The men
now seemed to have lost all hope of being preserved; and all the
arguments we could use failed in stimulating them to the least exertion.
After consuming the remains of the bones and horns of the deer we
resumed our march, and in the evening, reached a contracted part of the
lake, which, perceiving it to be shallow, we forded, and encamped on the
opposite side. Heavy rain began soon afterwards, and continued all
night. On the following morning the rain had so wasted the snow, that
the tracks of Mr. Back and his companions, who had gone before with the
hunters, were traced with difficulty; and the frequent showers during
the day almost obliterated them. The men became furious at the
apprehension of being deserted by the hunters, and some of the strongest
throwing down their bundles, prepared to set out after them, intending
to leave the more weak to follow as they could. The entreaties and
threats of the officers, however, prevented their executing this mad
scheme; but not before Solomon Belanger was despatched with orders for
Mr. Back to halt until we should join him. Soon afterwards a thick fog
came on, but we continued our march and overtook Mr. Back, who had been
detained in consequence of his companions having followed some recent
tracks of deer. After halting an hour, during which we refreshed
ourselves with eating our old shoes, and a few scraps of leather, we set
forward in the hope of ascertaining whether