On examining the quantity of provisions I had received, I was not a
little alarmed to find it scarcely sufficient for the consumption of
one year, his Excellency's communication having acquainted me that
it was a supply for two years! Thus we were thrown on the precarious
resources of the country for life or for death; for if those resources
should fail us, we must either remain and starve on the spot, or,
abandoning the settlement, endeavour to escape to Esquimaux Bay and
run the risk of starving by the way. Economy so ill-timed argued
as little in favour of the Governor's judgment as of his humanity.
Admitting our lives were of so trifling a value, the abandonment
of the settlement, with all the goods and furs in it, would have
subjected the Company to a very serious loss. Every precaution,
however, was taken to provide against a contingency which involved
such serious consequences; the men were dispersed in every direction
to shift for themselves, some being supplied with guns and ammunition,
others with nets, a lake of considerable extent having been lately
discovered, which the natives reported to abound with fish. Early
in the month of December my fishermen came in with the mortifying
intelligence of the entire failure of the fishery; and soon after
a messenger arrived from the hunting party to beg a supply of
provisions, which my limited means, alas! compelled me to deny. Not
a deer had been seen, and the partridges had become so scarce of late
that they barely afforded the means of sustaining life. All I could
therefore do for my poor men was to supply them with more ammunition
and send them off again.

While their lot was thus wretched, mine was not enviable; one solitary
meal a day was all I allowed myself and those who remained with me;
and I must do them the justice to say, that they submitted to
these privations without a murmur, being aware that it was only by