354 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



corned Ross and his gallant band on board ! The scene that now followed can 

 not be better told than in Ross's own words. 



" Though we had not been supported by our names and characters, we should 

 not the less have claimed from charity the attentions that we received ; for nev- 

 er was seen a more miserable set of wretches. Unshaven since I know not when, 

 dirty, dressed in rags of wild beasts, and starved to the very bones, our gaunt and 

 grim looks, when contrasted with those of the well-dressed and well-fed men 

 around us, made us all feel (I believe for the first time) what we really were, as 

 well as what we seemed to others. But the ludicrous soon took the place of 

 all other feelings ; in such a crowd and such confusion, all serious thought was 

 impossible, while the new buoyancy of our spirits made us abundantly willing 

 to be amused by the scene which now opened. Every man was hungry, and 

 was to be fed ; all were ragged, and were to be clothed ; there was not one to 

 whom washing was not indispensable, nor one whom his beard did not deprive 

 of all human semblance. All, every thing too, was to be done at once : it was 

 washing, dressing, shaving, eating, all intermingled : it was all the materials of 

 each jumbled together, while in the midst of all there were interminable ques- 

 tions to be asked and answered on both sides ; the adventures of the * Victory,' 

 our own escapes, the politics of England, and the news, which was now four 

 years old. But all subsided into peace at last. The sick were accommodated, 

 the seamen disposed of, and all was done for us which care and kindness could 

 perform. Night at length brought quiet and serious thoughts, and I trust there 

 w^as not a man among us who did not then express where it was due his grati- 

 tude for that interposition which had raised us all from a despair which none 

 could now forget, and had brought us from the borders of a most distant grave 

 to life, and friends, and civiHzation. Long accustomed, however, to a cold bed 

 on the hard snow or the bare rocks, few could sleej) amidst the comfort of our 

 new accommodations. I was myself compelled to leave the bed which had been 

 kindly assigned me, and take my abode in a chair for the night ; nor did it fare 

 much better with the rest. It was for time to reconcile us to this sudden and 

 violent change, to break through what had become habit, and to inure us once 

 more to the usages of our former days." 



The "Isabella" remained some time longer in Baffin's Bay to prosecute the 

 fishery, and thus our Arctic voyagers did not return to England before October 

 15, 1833, when they were received as men risen from the grave. Wherever Ross 

 appeared, he was met and escorted by a crowd of sympathizers ; orders, medals, 

 and diplomas from foreign states and learned societies rained down upon him. 

 London, Liverpool, Bristol, and Hull presented him with the freedom of their re- 

 spective cities ; he received the honor of knighthood ; and, though last, not 

 least. Parliament granted him £5000 as a remuneration for his pecuniary out^ 

 lay and privations. 



It may easily be imagined that his long-protracted absence had not been al- 

 lowed to pass without awakening a strong desire to bring him aid and assist- 

 ance. Thus, when Captain (afterwards Rear-admiral Sir George) Back, that 

 noble Paladin of Arctic research, volunteered to lead a land expedition in quest 

 of Ross to the northern shore of America, £4000 were immediately raised by 



