After securing all possible information from the Indians and others, relative to the course of the northern rivers of which he was in search, Captain Back divided his party. Leaving several under the escort of Mr. McLeod, an employee of the Hudson Bay Company, he proceeded with four men in search of the Great Fish River, later named after Back himself.
On August 19, Captain Back began the ascent of the Hoar Frost River, and made his laborious way through woods, swamps, cascades, and rapids. From the summit of a high hill, Back discovered a beautiful lake, studded with islands, to which he gave the name of Aylmer Lake, after the governor-general of Canada at that time. Some of his men were despatched to investigate this lake, and in their absence Back accidentally discovered the source of the river which they had ascended, in Sand Hill Lake.
“For this occasion,” he writes, “I had reserved a little grog, and need hardly say with what cheerfulness it was shared among the crew, whose welcome tidings had verified the notion of Dr. Richardson and myself, and thus placed beyond doubt the existence of the Thleu-ee-choh, or Great Fish River.”
Moving on, they found it was impossible to navigate Musk-Ox Lake in their frail canoes, owing to the force of the rapids. Reaching Clinton Golden Lake, they met with some friendly Indians. At Cat or Artillery Lake the canoes were abandoned, and the rest of their return journey was made on foot over gorges, ravines, and precipitous rocks, where a false step would have proved fatal.
Upon reaching Fort Reliance, they found Mr. McLeod had erected the framework of their winter quarters. All hands immediately turned to, and by the 5th of November they exchanged their cold tents for the more hospitable abode. The winter now set in with unusual severity. The unfortunate Indians of this locality came daily to the camp and implored food for themselves and their starving families. “Famine with her gaunt and bony arm,” writes Back, “pursued them at every turn, withered their energies, and strewed them lifeless on the cold bosom of the snow.
“It was impossible to afford relief to all, and the poor creatures would stand round while the men were taking their meals, watching every mouthful with the most pitiful, imploring look, but never uttering a word of complaint. Seated round the fire, they would take bits of their reindeer garments, roasting these and eagerly devouring them. A few handfuls of mouldy pemmican intended for the dogs, was received with gratitude.
“Often,” adds Back, “did I share my own plate with the children whose helpless state and piteous cries were peculiarly distressing; compassion for the full-grown may, or may not, be felt, but that heart must be cased in steel which is insensible to the cry of a child for food.”
On January 17 the thermometer stood at 70° below zero. Of this extreme cold Captain Back writes:—
“Such indeed was the abstraction of heat, that with eight large logs of dry wood on the fire, I could not get the thermometer higher than 12° below zero. Ink and paint froze, the sextant cases and boxes of seasoned wood, principally fir, all split. The skin of the hands became dry, cracked, and opened into unsightly, smarting gashes, which we were obliged to anoint with grease. On one occasion after washing my face within three feet of the fire, my hair was actually clotted with ice before I had time to dry it.”