222 
LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
To Commander James they applied the epithet of Augliecock, 
which implies the bold hunter; and to Mr. Mc’Diarmid the sur¬ 
geon, they gave the name of TooMoo or the reindeer, on account 
of the lightness and agility of his motions. 
With the return of the sun, the officers were enabled to extend 
their excursions further into the country, and Commander Ross 
was sometimes absent from the ship for three or four days toge¬ 
ther ; in fact the whole extent of geographical discovery was 
accomplished by that officer, Capt. Ross himself taking no part 
nor interfering in the slightest degree in any of the expeditions 
that were planned for penetrating into the interior of the country. 
We shall have occasion in a subsequent part of this work to en¬ 
large upon the most extraordinary and contradictory evidence, 
which was given on this subject before the committee of the 
House of Commons, by Capt. Ross and his nephew, in which each 
of them gave a statement so diametrically opposite to the other, 
and so varying in some of the most essential points appertaining 
not only to the general conduct of the expedition, but also to the 
extent of the discoveries that had been made, that it is impossi¬ 
ble for both of them to appear in the public estimation as totally 
exonerated from falsification; at the same time it must be ad¬ 
mitted that the evidence of Capt. Ross is corroborated by Mr, 
Booth, whereas that of Commander Ross has nothing but his 
own immediate affirmation to stand upon. As one proof of the 
extraordinary discrepancy which distinguishes the evidence of 
Capt. Ross and his nephew; the latter was asked if he accom¬ 
panied his uncle on the expedition to the Arctic seas as second 
in command, to which Commander Ross replied, that he did 
not go out precisely as second in command, but in a great mea¬ 
sure sharing with Capt. Ross the chief command, that is to say, 
he had the entire direction of the navigation of the ship, with¬ 
out being under Capt. Ross' command. 
To those who have been accustomed to consider Capt. Ross as 
the conductor of the expedition, and to whom all the merit is to 
be given, if merit there be, of any of the discoveries that were 
made, thefollowingevidence of Commander Ross will be perused 
with some surprise. 
Commander Ross was asked, what was the nature of the 
