When I arose the following morning my body and limbs were so swollen that I was unable to walk more than a few yards.  Adam was in a still worse condition, being absolutely incapable of rising without assistance.  My other companions happily experienced this inconvenience in a less degree and went to collect bones and some tripe de roche which supplied us with two meals.  The bones were quite acrid and the soup extracted from them excoriated the mouth if taken alone, but it was somewhat milder when boiled with tripe de roche and we even thought the mixture palatable with the addition of salt, of which a cask had been fortunately left here in the spring.  Augustus today set two fishing-lines below the rapid.  On his way thither he saw two deer but had not strength to follow them.

On the 13th the wind blew violently from south-east and the snow drifted so much that the party were confined to the house.  In the afternoon of the following day Belanger arrived with a note from Mr. Back stating that he had seen no trace of the Indians, and desiring further instructions as to the course he should pursue.  Belanger’s situation however required our first care as he came in almost speechless and covered with ice, having fallen into a rapid and, for the third time since we left the coast, narrowly escaped drowning.  He did not recover sufficiently to answer our questions until we had rubbed him for some time, changed his dress, and given him some warm soup.  My companions nursed him with the greatest kindness and the desire of restoring him to health seemed to absorb all regard for their own situation.  I witnessed with peculiar pleasure this conduct, so different from that which they had recently pursued when every tender feeling was suspended by the desire of self-preservation.  They now no longer betrayed impatience or despondency but were composed and cheerful and had entirely given up the practice of swearing, to which the Canadian voyagers are so lamentably addicted.  Our conversation naturally turned upon the prospect of getting relief and upon the means which were best adapted for obtaining it.  The absence of all traces of Indians on Winter River convinced me that they were at this time on the way to Fort Providence and that, by proceeding towards that post, we should overtake them as they move slowly when they have their families with them.  This route also offered us the prospect of killing deer in the vicinity of Reindeer Lake, in which neighbourhood our men in their journey to and fro last winter had always found them abundant.  Upon these grounds I determined on taking the route to Fort Providence as soon as possible, and wrote to Mr. Back, desiring him to join me at Reindeer Lake and detailing the occurrences since we parted, that our friends might receive relief in case of any accident happening to me.