ORIGIN OF CLUNIES-ROSS FAMILY 13 



Eastern merchants. Ross sailed to Bencoolen and took Hare 

 aboard, and tlien steered for the home from which he had so 

 long been absent. At the Cape, Hare was landed, in order 

 that he might make arrangements for the trading schemes of 

 the partners. The first voyage Avas, however, such an ill-success 

 that Ross despaired of making any money by the venture, and 

 since he had for so long been prosperous in the East, he decided 

 that he would take his wife — an Englishwoman named Eliza- 

 beth Dymoke — and his family to some new home. 



The marriage of Ross Primus with Elizabeth Dymoke, 

 like all the doings of his life, had in it a strong element of 

 romance. It was in London that he met her and he en- 

 countered his future wife under rather curious circumstances. 



The times were those of the activity of the Press Gang, and 

 it chanced to young Ross that he nearly fell into the hands of 

 these worthies. But although he had so strong a love of the 

 sea, he had no mind to set out on a voyage in this fashion, 

 and so after a brief encounter he took to his heels and bolted 

 up the street, to avoid being taken by the gang. 



The chase became a hot one, and as he was in some danger 

 of being overtaken, he turned a corner on a sudden and dashed 

 into the nearest house. It happened to be that of Samuel 

 Dymoke, and in it the young man found shelter, for Elizabeth, 

 taking pity on him, hid him and cared for him during the 

 interval in which he dared not show himself abroad. 



Ross fell in love with the girl who had befriended him and 

 saved him from the Press Gang, and he married her. She 

 and her children shared his adventures with him and prepared 

 to start with him for his new land. 



His choice of a new home ranged over many strange 

 places, and in his journal are several interesting reflections 

 upon the various advantages and disadvantages offered by such 

 remote spots as Melville Island, the Falklands, Kerguelen, St. 

 Paul's, Christmas Island, the Poggies, and Cocos-Keeling. Of 

 the Poggy Islands he actually took out a lease in 1821, a 

 " John Christie Esq." being the other lessee, but the Dutch 

 possession prevented him from ever taking advantage of it. 



