302 EXPEDITIONS OF PARRY AND ROSS— 1827 -S3. 



attended with pernicious effects in these regions of the extreme north. 

 Thoroughly convinced of this fact, Eoss gave orders that the usual allow- 

 ance of grog should be stopped, and was gratified, and perhaps a little sur- 

 prised, to find that these orders were received without remonstrance. 

 Before the close of October the roofing-in of the vessel with sails was com- 

 pleted, and the building of a rampart or embankment of snow around it, as 

 a protection from the bitter winds, was being proceeded with. The upper 

 deck was covered with snow to the depth of two feet and a half, and this 

 coating was sprinkled with sand so as to have the appearance of a rolled 

 gravel walk. " The surrounding bank of snow being completed, reached to 

 the ship's gunwale, so that the union of this with the roof formed a perfect 

 shelter from all wind, and thus excluded, very materially, the impressions of 

 the external cold." Every yard of rigging was taken down, cleaned, marked, 

 and stowed away, and arrangements for meals, for work outside the ship, 

 and for carrying on an evening school for instruction in reading, writing, 

 arithmetic, and navigation, were also completed. Reviewing all his arrange- 

 ments, at the close of November, Ross states, that " the system of comfort 

 and economy which had been planned was as perfect as could be desired ; 

 and the satisfaction of the men with these things, with each other, and with 

 their officers, could not have been greater. Under their system of educa- 

 tion they improved with surprising rapidity ; while it was easy to perceive 

 a decided change for the better in their moral and religious characters." 



But Captain Ross's narrative of the first of his five years' sojourn in the 

 ice is almost eventless ; and as we have so much of stirring adventure, of 

 geographical discovery, and scientific research to attract us, in the voyages 

 of later explorers, we dare not linger over the bare annals now under con- 

 sideration. 



Nothing of importance occurred down to January 9th, when information 

 was brought to Captain Ross of the appearance of Eskimos. The captain 

 went out, and after walking some distance, saw four natives near ""a small 

 iceberg, not far from land, and about a mile from the ship. As Ross 

 approached they retreated behind the iceberg, and on his advancing still 

 nearer, " the whole party came suddenly out of their shelter, forming in a body 

 of ten in front and three deep, with one man detached on the land side, and 

 apparently sitting on a sledge." These thirty Eskimos were armed with 

 knives and spears, and they must have had a most formidable appearance. 

 Ross and his party advanced, shouted the Eskimo salutation — Teyma teyma, 

 aja teyma — and threw away their guns. This was at once a friendly greet- 

 ing, and an assurance of peaceful intentions. The blameless Eskimos 

 appreciated the amiable overture, " threw their knives and spears into the 

 air in every direction, returning the shout Aja, and extending their arms to 

 show they also were without weapons. But as they did not quit their 



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