So for many tedious days they plodded wearily on, subsisting as best they could upon an occasional partridge and a species of edible lichen called _tripe de roche_, which grew upon the boulders—a poor sustenance for twenty starving men. The lichen, moreover, though it allayed the pangs of hunger for a while, was exceedingly bitter to the palate and positively noxious to several members of the hapless party. [Illustration: CROSSING THE BARREN GROUNDS FROM A DRAWING BY CAPT. BACK] Their physical sufferings grew more and more terrible every day. Hunger was not the only hardship with which they had to contend, for their course was constantly intersected by swamps through which they had to wade, and, as the thermometer was always below freezing point, their wet clothes were instantly frozen as stiff as boards, making walking more painful than ever. Once or twice they were fortunate enough to fall in with a herd of musk-oxen or a stray deer, but the supply was totally inadequate to the demand, and for the most part they were obliged to subsist on _tripe de roche_, which hardly a single member of the little band could now eat without becoming ill. On September 10 they came upon a large lake, and Franklin’s drooping hopes were revived by the prospect of being able to supplement his provisions with a supply of fish. To his dismay, however, he now learnt that the Canadians, with criminal selfishness, had thrown away the nets and burnt the floats in order to decrease the burdens which they had to carry, an action which was all the more amazing seeing that, in their capacity of voyagers to the trading companies, they frequently found themselves in situations where they were obliged to depend on fishing for their means of subsistence.