At one of the outposts of the Hudson Bay Company, they were again obliged to leave some of their stores under promise that these would be forwarded in the spring, and later, at Swampy Lake, the tenants of the depot gave them a supply of mouldy pemmican, which of course had to be thrown away later. Thus from the outset the expedition laboured under the fatal handicap of insufficient stores.
At Oxford House, Holy Lake, they secured some good pemmican and also fish, and, as the season was advancing, they pushed onward. They finally reached the mouth of the Saskatchewan, and, following the river, they first arrived at Little River, then Pine Island Lake, and at last, on October 23, Cumberland House. Already ice had impeded their journey, and here they determined to winter, at the invitation of Governor Williams.
Impatient to be on his way, and desirous of securing guides, hunters, interpreters, and stores for the journey to the sea, Franklin, accompanied by Back and Hepburn, started, January 19, 1820, for Fort Chipewyan, with provisions for fifteen days. After a winter’s journey of eight hundred and fifty-seven miles, they reached their destination.
The various posts at which they stopped supplied them with only a limited amount of provisions, and the prospect of securing more was most discouraging. Sickness of the Indians in the hunting season foretold a scarcity for the following spring; moreover, the rivalry of the fur companies and the lavish expenditure of their stores in opposition tactics had resulted in greatly depleted food supply, so that provisions expressly intended for Franklin were later consumed before reaching him.
The travellers had suffered greatly from the unaccustomed use of snow-shoes, the weight of several pounds of snow clinging to the shoes having galled and lamed their feet. Yet the journey had not been considered as wearing as that from York Factory to Cumberland House.
The return of geese, ducks, and swans, together with the melting of the snow and ice, now gave indications of approaching spring. Mr. Hood writes of this time:—
“The noise made by the frogs, which this inundation produced, is almost incredible. There is strong reason to believe that they outlive the severity of winter. They have often been found frozen, and revived by warmth; nor is it possible that the multitude which incessantly filled our ears with their discordant notes could have been matured in two or three days.”
Speaking of the resuscitation of fish, Franklin writes:—
“If in this completely frozen state, they were thawed before the fire, they recovered their animation. This was particularly the case with the carp, and we had occasion to observe it repeatedly, as Dr. Richardson occupied himself in examining the structure of the different species of fish, and was always in the winter under the necessity of thawing them before he could cut them. We have seen a carp recover so far as to leap about with much vigor after it had been frozen thirty-six hours.”