148 
LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
On the following day, they were still further convinced that 
the Esquimaux were in the vicinity, as Commander James and 
the surgeon discovered in one of their walks, a trap very recently 
made by the Esquimaux, for the capture of the smaller animals ; 
this trap Commander Ross baited, and then returned on board. 
The greatest impediment which now existed to their getting in 
closer with the land was an iceberg, which stood direct in their 
passage, and actually seemed as if it were placed designedly to 
obstruct their further progress. It was determined to attempt 
the removal of this obstacle, and all the crew were accordingly 
employed in cutting up the berg for the purpose of getting it 
afloat, and thus the case was to be reversed, that as the berg had 
formerly towed the ship, the ship was now to tow away the 
remnant of the berg, as soon as it had been so far broken up, 
as to render it moveable. It is not to be contradicted that there 
is some merit even in making an attempt, although its execution 
can scarcely be said to be within the range of probability. The 
very attempt to discover the north west passage has something 
meritorious in it, although it may be the firm conviction of nine¬ 
teen out of twenty that it never can be discovered at all; there 
was for the same reason, some merit in the attempt of Capt. Ross, 
to navigate his ship by the power of steam amongst fields and 
floes of ice, for if he had succeeded, he would have put to the 
blush a multitude of carping, cavilling wiseacres, who had the 
presumption to ridicule the attempt, and to consider it rather as 
the absence of common sense in the gallant Captain, than a proof 
of the soundness of his judgement, or the sanity of his intellectual 
capacity. The cutting up of an iceberg, about sixty feet in 
height, and grounded seven fathoms deep in the ocean, bespoke a 
noble confidence in the powers of the projector, and a most laud¬ 
able contempt of those insuperable difficulties, at which the mere 
common plodding man turns prudently and wisely away, from 
the conviction that his time and labour will be lost in the at¬ 
tempt. 
Nevertheless the crew worked stoutly at the destruction of the 
berg, and as one slice flew off after the other, Capt. Ross had 
the proud satisfaction to know that the berg’s bulk was so much 
