The descent of the Coppermine river was then commenced, and the mouth was reached on the 21st of July, 1821. Franklin and his gallant companions then embarked on the polar sea in their frail bark canoes. It was a rock-bound coast, fringed with masses of ice which rose and fell with every motion of the tempestuous sea, and the undertaking was in the highest degree perilous in canoes only fit for lake navigation. Franklin nevertheless persevered in the discovery of the coast-line until the 18th of August, when he felt obliged to begin the return voyage. Their provisions were nearly run out, and they were disappointed at not meeting with any Eskimos, from whom they might have obtained supplies. Their furthest point was named Point Turnagain, and was 6½° of longitude to the east of the mouth of the Coppermine. Franklin decided to land in Arctic Sound, at the mouth of a river he had named after Hood, and make direct for Fort Enterprise, rather than return by the Coppermine. He hoped to find more game by the new route. The canoes were broken up in order to construct smaller and lighter boats for carrying round the portages, and they left the banks of the Hood river on the 3rd of September, making straight for Fort Enterprise. The country proved to be stony and barren, there was no game, and their stock of provisions was soon exhausted. All they had to subsist on was _tripe de roche_, a noxious unwholesome lichen. At last, on the 10th of September, after six days of starvation, a herd of musk oxen was seen, and one was killed. Affairs were so serious that young Back volunteered to make his way to Fort Enterprise and send back Indians with the supplies that had been ordered to be collected there. Back started on the 4th of October, Fort Enterprise being then 24 miles distant. The rest followed, several in a state of extreme weakness. Some of the men got weaker every day. At last it was settled that Dr Richardson, with Hood and Hepburn, should remain with the sick, while Franklin, with the stronger men, went on to Fort Enterprise for help. Franklin, living on _tripe de roche_, took four days to reach Fort Enterprise and, on his arrival, found to his horror and dismay that there were no Indians there, no provisions, and that the place was quite abandoned. There was a hurried note from Back saying that he had gone on in search of Indians, and that if he found none, he intended to walk to Fort Providence. He added that it was doubtful whether, in his debilitated condition, he could make the journey. The temperature at Fort Enterprise was 15° to 20° below zero.