94 
FIRST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
there charged him with stealing the articles, and made him 
return them, which he did without the least hesitation. 
Capt. Ross now found fault with Meigack for not bringing his 
wife to see them, when he inquired if the Captain’s nation con¬ 
sisted wholly of men, or if there were women amongst them. 
On this Capt. Ross showed him a portrait of Mrs. Ross, at 
which the whole party seemed much surprised, and for some 
time seemed to think that the picture was alive. A thought 
then suddenly seemed to strike them, that the ladies might be 
in the other ship, upon which they all set off for the Alexander, 
but finding their mistake they soon returned, evidently much 
disappointed. A parcel was in the mean time made up, as a 
present to their king Til loo wall and put into a canvass bag, but 
Sacheuse discovered that there was no great probability of the 
presents being delivered, on account of the pilfering disposition 
of the people, and therefore Capt. Ross determined to deliver 
them in person; the natives left the ship promising to return 
with some specimens of the iron, for which Capt. Ross undertook 
to give them a large harpoon, a lance, and a large piece of a 
broken spar, telling them at the same time that they should not 
be permitted to come on board, nor receive any further presents, 
till they brought it. The natives returned on the following 
day, but brought neither the iron nor the dresses, on which they 
were refused to come on board, when they became noisy and 
impertinent. They said they had been to Inmallick, a headland 
to the northward to procure stones, for the purpose of cutting off 
the iron from the rock, and they also gave the information that 
the water was clear of ice on the northern side of the Cape. 
This intelligence could not fail to raise the spirits of Capt. Ross 
as it inspired him with the hope of making some progress, as 
soon as he might be able to move from his present position. 
On the 16 th the large iceberg, which had so long defended the 
ships from the drift ice, and from the gale separated from the 
land ice, and took a southerly direction. Towards the evening 
the ice had opened sufficiently to warrant an attempt to effect a 
passage to the northward, but Capt. Ross being very anxious 
not to quit his position without some further communication with 
