er, and the two latter to be lieutenants. At this period, nine more men were employed in bringing up supplies from the southward. On the 27th, Mr. Wentzel returned from the Great Slave Lake, with two Esquimaux interpreters, who had been sent thither by Governor Williams; but the 17th of March arrived before Mr. Back again made his appearance. His journey on foot, in the depth of winter, as far as Fort Chipewyan and back, is among the many instances of extraordinary exertion and determined perseverance which this expedition afforded. He thus concludes his interesting report, from which, in another part of our work, we shall, probably, give some other extracts:–
“I had the pleasure of meeting my friends all in good health, after an absence of nearly five months, during which time I had travelled one thousand one hundred and four miles, on snow-shoes, and had no other covering at night, in the woods, than a blanket and deer-skin, with the thermometer frequently at -40°, and once at -57°; and sometimes passing two or three days without tasting food.”
At Fort Enterprise, the last of the winter’s stock of deers’ meat was expended on the 23d of March, and Captain Franklin was compelled to issue a little pounded meat which he had reserved for making pemmican for summer use. To divert the attention of the men from their wants, he encouraged the practice of sliding, upon sledges, down the steep bank of the river near their residence. These vehicles descended the snowy slope with much velocity, and ran a great distance upon the ice. The officers joined in the sport, and had numerous overturns: on one occasion, when Captain Franklin had been thrown from his seat and almost buried in the snow, a fat Indian woman drove her sledge over him, and sprained his knee severely.
It was not until the 14th of June, that the Indians considered the ice to have sufficiently broken up in the Copper-mine river, to admit of its being navigated by canoes. Dr. Richardson had just before advanced with twenty men, women, and children, to the borders of Point Lake, where he found the snow deeper in many parts than it had been at any
