LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
179 
having expended several days in cutting away the ice, in order 
to obtain access to the valuable articles, they considered their 
labour to be entirely thrown away, for the articles themselves 
were not worth the saving. 
On the 5th a visitor came on board, the first it may be said as 
belonging to the country, but it was in the shape of an ermine, 
who had been attracted to the ship either by the scent of some 
particular object, or had selected it as a place of refuge from the 
pursuit of some of its enemies. For some time it concealed itself 
under one of the tanks, but in venturing on the lower deck, it 
was made a prisoner, and some hope was entertained, that as it 
had not sustained any injury either from a gun or trap, they 
should be able to preserve it, but whether from the confinement, 
or the administration of improper food, it lived only four days. 
The weather was now too severe to allow of the crew working 
outside of the ship, and therefore they were employed on board 
picking oakum and making spun yarn. The observatory was 
finished on the 9th, and a flight of steps was made to it, but the 
cutting out of the boilers from the ice appeared an endless task 
to the crew, and they began to suspect that it was a labour im¬ 
posed upon them, more with the view of giving them some sana¬ 
tory exercise, than from any value which was attached to the 
recovery of the articles. Their labour appeared to be that of 
Tisiphon, for on leaving off their work at the expiration of the 
watch, with the full expectation of accomplishing their task on 
the following day, they would find to their mortification that the 
tide had filled up the cavities which they had made; and the 
thermometer standing from 25 to 30 below zero, the articles 
became as it were encased in a fresh body of ice, through which 
they had to perforate before they could arrive at the place, where 
they had finished their labours on the proceeding day. 
Capt. Ross and Commander Ross generally passed their 
mornings at the observatory, the result of which will be found 
in the appendix to this work, but the w r eather was at times so 
boisterous, and the tide so very heavy, as to render the pas¬ 
sage to the observatory impracticable. During the w 'ole 
week, the wind was so excessively boisterous, and the weathe* 
