About noon, Samandré coming up, informed us that Crédit and Vaillant could advance no farther. Some willows being discovered in a valley near us I proposed to halt the party there whilst Dr. Richardson went back to visit them. I hoped too that when the sufferers received the information of a fire being kindled at so short a distance they would be cheered, and use their utmost efforts to reach it, but this proved a vain hope. The Doctor found Vaillant about a mile and a half in the rear, much exhausted with cold and fatigue. Having encouraged him to advance to the fire, after repeated solicitations he made the attempt, but fell down amongst the deep snow at every step. Leaving him in this situation the Doctor went about half a mile farther back to the spot where Crédit was said to have halted and, the track being nearly obliterated by the snowdrift, it became unsafe for him to go farther. Returning he passed Vaillant who, having moved only a few yards in his absence, had fallen down, was unable to rise, and could scarcely answer his questions. Being unable to afford him any effectual assistance he hastened on to inform us of his situation. When J.B. Belanger had heard the melancholy account he went immediately to aid Vaillant and bring up his burden. Respecting Crédit we were informed by Samandré that he had stopped a short distance behind Vaillant, but that his intention was to return to the encampment of the preceding evening.
When Belanger came back with Vaillant’s load he informed us that he had found him lying on his back, benumbed with cold and incapable of being roused. The stoutest men of the party were now earnestly entreated to bring him to the fire, but they declared themselves unequal to the task, and on the contrary urged me to allow them to throw down their loads and proceed to Fort Enterprise with the utmost speed. A compliance with their desire would have caused the loss of the whole party, for the men were totally ignorant of the course to be pursued, and none of the officers who could have directed the march were sufficiently strong to keep up at the pace they would then walk, besides, even supposing them to have found their way, the strongest men would certainly have deserted the weak. Something however was absolutely necessary to be done to relieve them as much as possible from their burdens, and the officers consulted on the subject. Mr. Hood and Dr. Richardson proposed to remain behind with a single attendant at the first place where sufficient wood and tripe de roche should be found for ten days’ consumption, and that I should proceed as expeditiously as possible with the men to the house and thence send them immediate relief. They strongly urged that this arrangement would contribute to the safety of the rest of the party by relieving them from the burden of a tent and several other articles, and that they might afford aid to Crédit if he should unexpectedly come up. I was distressed beyond description at the thought of leaving them in such a dangerous situation and for a long time combated their proposal, but they strenuously urged that this step afforded the only chance of safety for the party and I reluctantly acceded to it. The ammunition, of which we had a small barrel, was also to be left with them, and it was hoped that this deposit would be a strong inducement for the Indians to venture across the barren grounds to their aid. We communicated this resolution to the men who were cheered at the slightest prospect of alleviation to their present miseries and promised with great appearance of earnestness to return to those officers upon the first supply of food.
The party then moved on; Vaillant’s blanket and other necessaries were left in the track at the request of the Canadians, without any hope however of his being able to reach them. After marching till dusk without seeing a favourable place for encamping, night compelled us to take shelter under the lee of a hill amongst some willows, with which, after many attempts, we at length made a fire. It was not sufficient however to warm the whole party, much less to thaw our shoes, and the weather not permitting the gathering of tripe de roche we had nothing to cook. The painful retrospection of the melancholy events of the day banished sleep, and we shuddered as we contemplated the dreadful effects of this bitterly cold night on our two companions, if still living. Some faint hopes were entertained of Crédit’s surviving the storm as he was provided with a good blanket and had leather to eat.
The weather was mild next morning. We left the encampment at nine and at a little before noon came to a pretty extensive thicket of small willows near which there appeared a supply of tripe de roche on the face of the rocks. At this place Dr. Richardson and Mr. Hood determined to remain with John Hepburn who volunteered to stop with them. The tent was securely pitched, a few willows collected, and the ammunition and all other articles were deposited, except each man’s clothing, one tent, a sufficiency of ammunition for the journey, and the officers’ journals. I had only one blanket which was carried for me and two pair of shoes. The offer was now made for any of the men who felt themselves too weak to proceed to remain with the officers but none of them accepted it. Michel alone felt some inclination to do so. After we had united in thanksgiving and prayers to Almighty God I separated from my companions, deeply afflicted that a train of melancholy circumstances should have demanded of me the severe trial of parting in such a condition from friends who had become endeared to me by their constant kindness and cooperation, and a participation of numerous sufferings. This trial I could not have been induced to undergo but for the reasons they had so strongly urged the day before, to which my own judgment assented and for the sanguine hope I felt of either finding a supply of provision at Fort Enterprise or meeting the Indians in the immediate vicinity of that place, according to my arrangements with Mr. Wentzel and Akaitcho. Previously to our starting Peltier and Benoit repeated their promises to return to them with provision if any should be found at the house or to guide the Indians to them if any were met.
Greatly as Mr. Hood was exhausted, and indeed incapable as he must have proved of encountering the fatigue of our very next day’s journey, so that I felt his resolution to be prudent, I was sensible that his determination to remain was chiefly prompted by the disinterested and generous wish to remove impediments to the progress of the rest. Dr. Richardson and Hepburn, who were both in a state of strength to keep pace with the men besides, this motive which they shared with him, were influenced in their resolution to remain, the former by the desire which had distinguished his character throughout the Expedition of devoting himself to the succour of the weak, and the latter by the zealous attachment he had ever shown towards his officers.
We set out without waiting to take any of the tripe de roche and, walking at a tolerable pace, in an hour arrived at a fine group of pines about a mile and a quarter from the tent. We sincerely regretted not having seen these before we separated from our companions as they would have been better supplied with fuel here and there appeared to be more tripe de roche than where we had left them.
Descending afterwards into a more level country we found the snow very deep and the labour of wading through it so fatigued the whole party that we were compelled to encamp after a march of four miles and a half. Belanger and Michel were left far behind and when they arrived at the encampment appeared quite exhausted. The former, bursting into tears, declared his inability to proceed and begged me to let him go back next morning to the tent and shortly afterwards Michel made the same request. I was in hopes they might recover a little strength by the night’s rest and therefore deferred giving any permission UNTIL morning. The sudden failure in the strength of these men cast a gloom over the rest, which I tried in vain to remove by repeated assurances that the distance to Fort Enterprise was short and that we should in all probability reach it in four days. Not being able to find any tripe de roche we drank an infusion of the Labrador tea plant (Ledum palustre), and ate a few morsels of burnt leather for supper. We were unable to raise the tent and found its weight too great to carry it on; we therefore cut it up and took a part of the canvas for a cover. The night was bitterly cold and though we lay as close to each other as possible, having no shelter, we could not keep ourselves sufficiently warm to sleep. A strong gale came on after midnight which increased the severity of the weather. In the morning Belanger and Michel renewed their request to be permitted to go back to the tent, assuring me they were still weaker than on the preceding evening and less capable of going forward, and they urged that the stopping at a place where there was a supply of tripe de roche was their only chance of preserving life; under these circumstances I could not do otherwise than yield to their desire. I wrote a note to Dr. Richardson and Mr. Hood informing them of the pines we had passed and recommending their removing thither. Having found that Michel was carrying a considerable quantity of ammunition I desired him to divide it among my party, leaving him only ten balls and a little shot to kill any animals he might meet on his way to the tent. This man was very particular in his inquiries respecting the direction of the house and the course we meant to pursue; he also said that if he should be able he would go and search for Vaillant and Crédit; and he requested my permission to take Vaillant’s blanket if he should find it, to which I agreed and mentioned it in my notes to the officers.
Scarcely were these arrangements finished before Perrault and Fontano were seized with a fit of dizziness and betrayed other symptoms of extreme debility. Some tea was quickly prepared for them and after drinking it and eating a few morsels of burnt leather they recovered and expressed their desire to go forward, but the other men, alarmed at what they had just witnessed, became doubtful of their own strength and, giving way to absolute dejection, declared their inability to move. I now earnestly pressed upon them the necessity of continuing our journey as the only means of saving their own lives as well as those of our friends at the tent, and after much entreaty got them to set out at ten A.M. Belanger and Michel were left at the encampment and proposed to start shortly afterwards. By the time we had gone about two hundred yards Perrault became again dizzy and desired us to halt which we did until he, recovering, offered to march on. Ten minutes more had hardly elapsed before he again desired us to stop and, bursting into tears, declared he was totally exhausted and unable to accompany us farther. As the encampment was not more than a quarter of a mile distant we recommended that he should return to it and rejoin Belanger and Michel whom we knew to be still there from perceiving the smoke of a fresh fire, and because they had not made any preparation for starting when we quitted them. He readily acquiesced in the proposition and, having taken a friendly leave of each of us, and enjoined us to make all the haste we could in sending relief, he turned back, keeping his gun and ammunition. We watched him until he was nearly at the fire and then proceeded. During these detentions Augustus becoming impatient of the delay had walked on and we lost sight of him. The labour we experienced in wading through the deep snow induced us to cross a moderate-sized lake which lay in our track, but we found this operation far more harassing. As the surface of the ice was perfectly smooth we slipped at almost every step and were frequently blown down by the wind with such force as to shake our whole frames.
Poor Fontano was completely exhausted by the labour of this traverse and we made a halt until his strength was recruited, by which time the party was benumbed with cold. Proceeding again he got on tolerably well for a little time but, being again seized with faintness and dizziness, he fell often and at length exclaimed that he could go no farther. We immediately stopped and endeavoured to encourage him to persevere until we should find some willows to encamp; he insisted however that he could not march any longer through this deep snow, and said that, if he should even reach our encampment this evening, he must be left there, provided tripe de roche could not be procured to recruit his strength. The poor man was overwhelmed with grief and seemed desirous to remain at that spot. We were about two miles from the place where the other men had been left and, as the track to it was beaten, we proposed to him to return thither as we thought it probable he would find the men still there; at any rate he would be able to get fuel to keep him warm during the night, and on the next day he could follow their track to the officers’ tent and, should the path be covered by the snow, the pines we had passed yesterday would guide him as they were yet in view.
I cannot describe my anguish on the occasion of separating from another companion under circumstances so distressing. There was however no alternative. The extreme debility of the rest of the party put the carrying him quite out of the question, as he himself admitted, and it was evident that the frequent delays he must occasion if he accompanied us and did not gain strength would endanger the lives of the whole. By returning he had the prospect of getting to the tent where tripe de roche could be obtained, which agreed with him better than with any other of the party, and which he was always very assiduous in gathering. After some hesitation he determined on going back and set out, having bid each of us farewell in the tenderest manner. We watched him with inexpressible anxiety for some time, and were rejoiced to find, though he got on slowly, that he kept on his legs better than before. Antonio Fontano was an Italian and had served for many years in De Meuron’s regiment. He had spoken to me that very morning and after his first attack of dizziness about his father, and had begged that, should he survive, I would take him with me to England and put him in the way of reaching home.