two Canadian interpreters now entertained respecting the voyage were also so great, that they requested to be discharged, urging that their services could no longer be requisite, as the Indians were going away; but these were the only two men of the party on whose skill in hunting Captain Franklin could rely, and he therefore peremptorily refused to part with them.
“Our Canadian voyagers,” says he, “were amused with their first view of the sea, and particularly with the sight of the seals that were swimming about near the entrance of the river; hut these sensations gave place to despondency before the evening had elapsed. They were terrified at the idea of a voyage through an icy sea in bark canoes. They speculated on the length of it, – the roughness of the water, – the uncertainty of procuring provisions, – the exposure to cold where we could expect no fuel, – and the prospect of having to traverse the barren grounds, to get to some establishment. The two interpreters (St. Germain and Adam) expressed their apprehensions with the least disguise, and again urgently applied to be discharged. Judging that the constant occupation of their time, as soon as we were enabled to commence the voyage, would prevent them from conjuring up so many causes of fear, and that familiarity with the scenes on the coast would, in a short time, enable them to give scope to their natural cheerfulness, the officers endeavoured to ridicule their fears, and happily succeeded for the present. The manner in which our faithful Hepburn viewed the element that he had been so long accustomed to, contributed not a little to make them ashamed of their fears.
“The despatches being finished, were delivered this evening to Mr. Wentzel, who parted from us at 8 p.m., with the Canadians whom I had discharged for the purpose of reducing our expenditure of provisions as much as possible. The remainder of the party, including officers, amounted to twenty persons. The situation of our encampment was ascertained to be,[errata 1] in lat. 67° 47' 50" N., and long. 115° 36' 49" W.; the variation of the compass 46° 25' 62" E., and the dip of the needle 88° 5' 7".
“It will be perceived, that the position of the mouth of the river, given by our observations, differs widely from that assigned by Mr. Hearne; hut the accuracy of his description, conjoined with Indian information, assured us that we were at the very part he visited. I have, therefore, named the most conspicuous promontory we then saw ‘Cape Hearne’, as a just tribute to the memory of that persevering traveller.”
A strong N.E. gale and a dense fog detained Captain Franklin at this resting place until noon on the 21st of July, when he embarked his party in two canoes, and commenced
Errata:
- ↑ Correction: be, should be amended to be
