EXPEDITION OF FOX. 
59 
was impressed upon his mind, that he was eminently superior 
in nautical skill and mental acquirements to any of his predeces¬ 
sors. His very language partakes of this latter trait in his 
character, for in the history of his voyage “he admonishes the 
gentle reader not to expect here, any flourishing phrases, or 
eloquent terms; for this child of mine, begot in the north west’s 
.old clime, where they breed no scholars, is not able to digest 
ihe sweet milk of rhetoric.” 
Fox never reached a higher latitude than 66°, for his progress 
up Hudson’s Strait was greatly impeded by the ice, although in 
size, the masses were “ never bigger than a large church.” He 
claims to himself the honor of being the discoverer of an island, 
to which he gave the name of Sir Thomas Rowe's Welcome, 
and where he found the burying places of the natives. The 
corpse appears to be deposited generally with the head to the 
westward, in a kind of coffin, made of loose plank, and placed 
upon a platform of drift wood, which is sometimes raised to the 
height of two feet. With the bodies were deposited bows, 
arrows, and other warlike instruments. A double tent of spars 
of drift wood, put together closely, is erected over the coffin as 
a covering, to secure the body from the depredations of the foxes, 
bears, and wolves. The rapacity however of these animals, 
enables them in a short time to break through this feeble protec¬ 
tion, and not a vestige of the corpse is then to be found. In 
some instances the coffin and planks are omitted altogether, and 
the corpse then rests simply on the drift wood. 
Fox returned to England in the month of October, full of con¬ 
ceit of the discoveries which he had made, and of the great and 
noble actions which he had achieved, at the same time boasting 
“ that he had not lost one man nor boy, nor any manner of tackling 
having been forth near six months, all glory be to God.” It did 
not however escape observation, that the pride of Fox was 
a ounded by the unfavourable issue of the voyage, although he 
modified his chagrin, by declaring that he had contributed very 
largely to the discovery of the north-west passage, in having been 
the discoverer of the island which he had named Sir Thomas 
