238 
LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS, 
for the loss of the property, and tended to convince him that his 
cure was principally owing to the surrender of it to its proper 
owner. 
Although the thermometer stood at 40 and 42 below Zero, the 
men were employed on shore in digging gravel, for the purpose 
of strewing it upon the canal, which as a work of utility was con¬ 
sidered of very trifling value, but as one of exercise for the pre¬ 
servation of the health of the crew, might be extremely proper 
and judicious. 
The cold may at this time be considered to have been at its 
greatest intensity, the thermometer varying from 40 to 45° ; but 
still the Esquimaux visited the ship daily, although the treat¬ 
ment which they now received was very different to that which 
was shown towards them on their first acquaintance ; in fact, the 
conduct of Capt. Ross on this occasion is spoken of, not in the 
mildest terms of censure, but in those of the most severe reproof 
and disgust. It is admitted that one or two of the natives had 
been entrapped in some paltry act of theft; but the experience 
of Capt. Ross must have taught him, that thieving appears to 
be as inseparable from every uncivilized and savage people, as 
any other decided propensity of their nature. The temptation 
to theft was scarcely to be expected to be overcome by a race of 
people, who for the first time in their life, beheld scattered 
around them, some of the choicest articles of human ingenuity, 
and the value of which appeared in their eyes not to be estimated 
by any scale to which they had hitherto been accustomed. A 
nail was to them of great value,and it was an article which they 
could purloin, without the loss of it being felt or discovered ; 
taking into comparison however the extent of the thefts which 
the Esquimaux committed, to those which were perpetrated by 
the natives of the Islands of the Pacific Ocean, when first visited 
by Capt. Cook, it must be admitted that the shades of guilt are 
darker in the latter than the former. We certainly feel disposed 
to acquit Capt. Ross of all obduracy of heart, and are willing to 
believe that his treatment of the Esquimaux was to be attributed 
to some cogent reasons, which he had imbibed for restricting the 
intercourse between them and his crew, but still we know that 
