Next morning the Doctor and Hepburn went out early in search of deer, but though they saw several herds and fired some shots they were not so fortunate as to kill any, being too weak to hold their guns steadily.  The cold compelled the former to return soon but Hepburn persisted until late in the evening.

My occupation was to search for skins under the snow, it being now our object immediately to get all that we would, but I had not strength to drag in more than two of those which were within twenty yards of the house until the Doctor came and assisted me.  We made up our stock to twenty-six but several of them were putrid and scarcely eatable, even by men suffering the extremity of famine.  Peltier and Samandre continued very weak and dispirited and they were unable to cut firewood.  Hepburn had in consequence that laborious task to perform after he came back.  The Doctor having scarified the swelled parts of Adam’s body a large quantity of water flowed out, and he obtained some ease but still kept his bed.

After our usual supper of singed skin and bone-soup Dr. Richardson acquainted me with the afflicting circumstances attending the death of Mr. Hood and Michel, and detailed the occurrences subsequent to my departure from them which I shall give from his Journal in his own words, but I must here be permitted to express the heart-felt sorrow with which I was overwhelmed at the loss of so many companions, especially of my friend Mr. Hood to whose zealous and able cooperation I had been indebted for so much invaluable assistance during the Expedition, whilst the excellent qualities of his heart engaged my warmest regard.  His scientific observations together with his maps and drawings (a small part of which only appear in this work) evince a variety of talent which, had his life been spared, must have rendered him a distinguished ornament to his profession, and which will cause his death to be felt as a loss to the service.

...

DR. RICHARDSON’S NARRATIVE.

After Captain Franklin had bidden us farewell we remained seated by the fireside as long as the willows the men had cut for us before they departed lasted.  We had no tripe de roche that day but drank an infusion of the country tea-plant, which was grateful from its warmth although it afforded no sustenance.  We then retired to bed where we remained all the next day as the weather was stormy, and the snow-drift so heavy as to destroy every prospect of success in our endeavours to light a fire with the green and frozen willows which were our only fuel.  Through the extreme kindness and forethought of a lady the party, previous to leaving London, had been furnished with a small collection of religious books, of which we still retained two or three of the most portable, and they proved of incalculable benefit to us.  We read portions of them to each other as we lay in bed, in addition to the morning and evening service, and found that they inspired us on each perusal with so strong a sense of the omnipresence of a beneficent God that our situation even in these wilds appeared no longer destitute, and we conversed not only with calmness but with cheerfulness, detailing with unrestrained confidence the past events of our lives and dwelling with hope on our future prospects.  Had my poor friend been spared to revisit his native land I should look back to this period with unalloyed delight.