236 ARTICLES FOUND. Chap. XIV. 



made, the snow removed, and every scrap of clothing 

 gathered up. A pocket-book afforded grounds for hope 

 that some information might be subsequently obtained 

 respecting the unfortunate owner and the calamitous march 

 of the lost crews, but at the time it was frozen hard. The 

 substance of that which we gleaned upon the spot may thus 

 be summed up : — 



This victim I supposed to have been a young man, 

 slightly built, and perhaps above the common height ; the 

 dress appeared to be that of a steward or officer's servant, 

 the loose bow-knot in which his neck-handkerchief was tied 

 not being used by seamen or officers. In every particular 

 the dress confirmed our conjectures as to his rank or office 

 in the late expedition — the blue jacket with slashed sleeves 

 and braided edging, and the pilot-cloth great-coat with plain 

 covered buttons. We found, also, a small clothes-brush 

 near, and a horn pocket-comb, in which a few light-brown 

 hairs still remained. This poor man seems to have selected 

 the bare ridge top, as affording the least tiresome walking, 

 and to have fallen upon his face in the position in which we 

 found him. It is probable that, hungry and exhausted, he 

 suffered himself to fall asleep when in this position, and that 

 his last moments were undisturbed by suffering; at least I 

 felt strongly impressed with this idea, and the spectacle be- 

 fore me brought most forcibly to my recollection the extreme 

 danger of being overcome by sleep under intense cold. 



It was a melancholy truth that the old woman spoke 

 when she said, "they fell down and died as they walked 

 along." 



Of this skeleton only a portion of the skull appeared above 

 the snow, and it so strongly resembled a bleached rounded 

 stone that the man I called from the sledge, mistaking it for 

 one, rested his shovel upon it, but started back with horror 

 when the hollow sound revealed to him its true nature. 



