LAST VOYAGE OF CAtT. ROSS. 
t:n 
and the vest and of the mittens is worn inside. These prepos¬ 
terous lady’s boots are stated to be the most essential part of an 
Esquimaux woman’s dress, forming their pockets, their tool 
boxes, and even their provision cupboards. When the ladies 
were detected in pilfering any . thing on board the Vic¬ 
tory, the pilfered article was sure to be found in their boots, 
[n some respects the female appears to be more stupid and 
ignorant than the male; on coming on board they looked round, 
either with the most stupid indifference, or were struck dumb with 
astonishment, as they had never seen a ship before, nor indeed 
a man besides their own race. They were nothing loth to 
receive whatever present were offered them, and as the intimacy 
increased between them and the ships crew, it was found that 
their favours were to be purchased at a very cheap rate, or by 
a very trifling present, but nevertheless the consent of the husband 
was previously asked and on the condition of receiving part of 
the presents, it was never refused. 
It is the opinion of these Esquimaux, that their race sprang 
from a female beneficent spirit, and that the other creatures of 
the earth, and particularly their dogs are descended from a 
wicked female spirit, who is made accountable for all the acci¬ 
dents, and even the deaths which occur. There is generally a 
conjuror or angckok amongst them, who pretends to possess an 
almost unlimited power over this malignant spirit, and who in 
cases of sickness, is called in to exercise his dominion over the 
spirit, and to compel him to forbear giving any further annoyance 
to the afflicted person, and it not unfrequently happens that 
nature effects the cure, and the merit is given to the conjuror. 
The cold which the crew now endured was intense in the 
highest degree, the thermometer being 40 degrees below zero, 
that is 72 degrees below our freezing point. Capt. Ross tried 
the mercury to see if it would freeze, and in two hours it was a 
solid body. Mercury ought to freeze at 39J. In this extreme 
cold the temperature of the lower deck was seldom higher than 
40, being only 8 degrees above the freezing point, except on those 
days when the oven was lighted for baking, when it rose from 
50 to 57. 
