fore 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 further. 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
slipt 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 further.