sted and
generous wish to remove impediments to the progress of the rest. Dr.
Richardson and Hepburn, who were both in a state of strength to keep pace
with the men besides, this motive which they shared with him, were
influenced in their resolution to remain, the former by the desire which
had distinguished his character throughout the Expedition of devoting
himself to the succour of the weak, and the latter by the zealous
attachment he had ever shown towards his officers.

We set out without waiting to take any of the tripe de roche and, walking
at a tolerable pace, in an hour arrived at a fine group of pines about a
mile and a quarter from the tent. We sincerely regretted not having seen
these before we separated from our companions as they would have been
better supplied with fuel here and there appeared to be more tripe de
roche than where we had left them.

Descending afterwards into a more level country we found the snow very
deep and the labour of wading through it so fatigued the whole party that
we were compelled to encamp after a march of four miles and a half.
Belanger and Michel were left far behind and when they arrived at the
encampment appeared quite exhausted. The former, bursting into tears,
declared his inability to proceed and begged me to let him go back next
morning to the tent and shortly afterwards Michel made the same request.
I was in hopes they might recover a little strength by the night's rest
and therefore deferred giving any permission UNTIL morning. The sudden
failure in the strength of these men cast a gloom over the rest, which I
tried in vain to remove by repeated assurances that the distance to Fort
Enterprise was short and that we should in all probability reach it in
four days. Not being able to find any tripe de roche we drank an infusion
of the Labrador tea plant (Ledum palustre) and ate a few morsels of burnt
leather for supper. We were unable to raise the tent and found its weight
too great to carry it on; we therefore cut it up and took a part of the
canvas for a cover. The night was bitterly cold and though we lay as
close to each other as possible, having no shelter, we could not keep
ourselves sufficiently warm to sleep. A strong gale came on after
midnight which increased the severity of the weather. In the morning
Belanger and Michel renewed their request to be permitted to go back to
the tent, assuring me they were still weaker than on the preceding
evening and less capa