“It was impossible to afford relief to all, and the poor creatures would stand round while the men were taking their meals, watching every mouthful with the most pitiful, imploring look, but never uttering a word of complaint. Seated round the fire, they would take bits of their reindeer garments, roasting these and eagerly devouring them. A few handfuls of mouldy pemmican intended for the dogs, was received with gratitude. “Often,” adds Back, “did I share my own plate with the children whose helpless state and piteous cries were peculiarly distressing; compassion for the full-grown may, or may not, be felt, but that heart must be cased in steel which is insensible to the cry of a child for food.” On January 17 the thermometer stood at 70° below zero. Of this extreme cold Captain Back writes:— “Such indeed was the abstraction of heat, that with eight large logs of dry wood on the fire, I could not get the thermometer higher than 12° below zero. Ink and paint froze, the sextant cases and boxes of seasoned wood, principally fir, all split. The skin of the hands became dry, cracked, and opened into unsightly, smarting gashes, which we were obliged to anoint with grease. On one occasion after washing my face within three feet of the fire, my hair was actually clotted with ice before I had time to dry it.” Had it not been for the timely assistance of Akaitcho, a friendly Indian chief who had arrived with a supply of men and who brought them game, their sufferings might have had a disastrous ending, but this old brave expressed his sentiments in the noble words:— “The great chief trusts us, and it is better that ten Indians perish than one white man should perish through our negligence and breach of faith.” With the approach of spring, Captain Back began preparations for his intended journey to the sea-coast, but on April 25 a messenger arrived with the welcome news that Captain Ross and the survivors of the _Victory_ were alive and had arrived safely in England. Extracts from the _Times_ and _Herald_ were shown Captain Back to confirm the news. “In the fulness of our hearts, we assembled and humbly offered up our thanks to that merciful Providence, which, in the beautiful language of the Scripture, hath said, ‘Mine own will I bring again, as I did some time from the deeps of the sea.’ The thoughts of so wonderful a preservation overpowered for a time the common occurrences of life. We had just sat down to breakfast: but our appetite was gone, and the day was passed in a feverish state of excitement. Seldom, indeed, did my friend Mr. King or I indulge in a libation, but on this joyful occasion, economy was forgotten, a treat was given to the men, and for ourselves the social sympathies were quenched by a generous bowl of punch.”