only chance of preserving life. Under these circumstances, I could not do otherwise than yield to their desire. Michel was very particular in his enquiries respecting the direction of Fort Enterprise, and the course we meant to pursue; he also said, that if he should be able, he would go and search for Vaillant and Crédit.
“Scarcely were our arrangements finished before Ignace Perrault and Vincenza Fontano were seized with a fit of dizziness, and betrayed other symptoms of extreme debility. Some tea was quickly prepared for them, and after drinking it, and eating a few morsels of burnt leather, they recovered, and expressed their desire to go forward; but other men, alarmed at what they had just witnessed, became doubtful of their own strength, and, giving way to absolute dejection, declared their inability to move. After much entreaty, I got them to set out at ten a.m.
“By the time we had gone about 200 yards, Perrault became again dizzy, and desired us to halt, which we did, until he, recovering, offered to march on. Ten minutes more had hardly elapsed before he again desired us to stop, and, bursting into tears, declared he was totally exhausted, and unable to accompany us further. As the spot at which we rested last night was not more than a quarter of a mile distant, we recommended that he should return to it, and rejoin Belanger and Michel, whom we knew to be still there, from perceiving the smoke of a fresh fire. He readily acquiesced in the proposition, and turned back, keeping his gun and ammunition. During these detentions, Augustus, becoming impatient of the delay, had walked on, and we lost sight of him. The labour we experienced in wading through the deep snow induced us to cross a moderate sized lake, which lay in our track, but we found this operation far more harassing. As the surface of the ice was perfectly smooth, we slipt at almost every step, and were frequently blown down by the wind, with such force as to shake our whole frames.
“Poor Fontano was completely exhausted by the labour of this traverse, and we made a halt until his strength was recruited, by which time the party was benumbed with cold. Proceeding again, he got on tolerably well for a little time; but being once more seized with faintness and dizziness, he fell often, and at length exclaimed that he could go no further. I cannot describe my anguish on the occasion of separating from another companion under circumstances so distressing. There was, however, no alternative. The extreme debility of the rest of the party put the carrying him quite out of the question, as he himself admitted; and it was evident that the frequent delays he must occasion, if he accompanied us, and did not gain strength, would endanger the lives of the whole. By returning he had the prospect of getting to the officers’ tent, where tripe de roche could be obtained, which agreed with him better than with any other of the party, and which he was always very assiduous in gathering. After some hesitation, he determined on going back (instead of remaining where he