150 
LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
officers went on shore on a shooting excursion, and returned with 
two fine hares. A raven, several grouse, and a number of seal 
were seen, but at too great a distance for the shot to take effect. 
The temperature of the air was then two degrees lower than on 
the proceeding day. 
On the following morning it was evident that a bear had paid 
a visit to the ship, as its track could be distinctly seen round the 
ship, and as it w r as conjectured that the animal would pay them 
another visit, it was determined to lie in watch for him, as its 
skin would be no trifling acquisition as a winter clothing. The 
Esquimaux dogs were tried on this day, but they were all young 
dogs, and had never been in a sledge before. Two of them 
dragged the sledge to a short distance, but they seemed quite 
strangers to the work. It was evident that they would require a 
deal of training before they could be rendered quite serviceable. 
The temperature of the air was this day 18 ° below the freezing 
point, the severest cold which had been yet experienced. 
From the state of the weather it was now evident that the 
place were they now were, was destined to be their winter 
quarters, for even the passage by which they had arrived at it, 
was so completely frozen over, that the dogs were driven over 
the young ice, drawing one of the crew in the sledge. This 
opinion was strongly corroborated by the orders issued by Capt. 
Ross to the engineers to take the engine to pieces. This task 
was however found not to be so easy of execution as was sup¬ 
posed, for it was not without great difficulty that some of the 
parts were got asunder, as the frost had the tendency to make 
the iron work fly and snap like glass. The occupation of the 
engine, like that of Othello, may now be said to be gone, for it 
was supposed that when once taken dowfi, it never could be set up 
again, independently of which, no fuel could be obtained for the 
generation of the steam, and therefore the whole of it became a 
mass of useless lumber fit only for ballast, or to be left as a 
present to the first tribe of Esquimaux who might be so fortunate 
as to fall in with it. 
The distance from the land under which the ship was shel¬ 
tered was about seven miles to the southward, and they had now 
