256 
LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT ROSS. 
abstracting 1 himself as much as possible from all familiar inter¬ 
course with those who were beneath him, and suffering no oppor¬ 
tunity to escape him, by which he could shew to them that he 
was their superior and commander. The men were conscious 
that they owed him obedience ; they were not equally convinced 
that they owed him their respect and esteem. 
To those who have studied the prominent characters of savage j 
life, and have instituted an impartial comparison of the different 
virtues by which that state is distinguished, and those which 
appear most conspicuously amongst a civilized people, the result 
has generally been manifest, that the virtue of gratitude exhibits 
itself with greater force in a state of savage nature, than in that of 
civilization. This position was verified in several instances, in 
the intercourse of the Esquimaux with the comparatively civilized 
Europeans, and further that although they were ignorant of the 
precepts of Christianity as they are written and preached, yet 
that they appeared in several instances to possess the natural dis¬ 
position to practice them, thereby putting to the blush the indi¬ 
viduals, who daily read their bibles and professed to regulate 
their lives according to the precepts contained in it. 
We have seen that the conduct of Capt. Ross towards the na¬ 
tives, although at first kind, friendly and conciliating, degener¬ 
ated by degrees into that of austerity, cruelty and inhumanity. 
He had obtained from them all the information, which they had 
it in their power to give ; he had filled his flour-tubs with their 
valuables; he had by his interested kindness and generosity im¬ 
pressed upon their minds the belief, that he was not only greatly 
their superior in all the extrinsic advantages and benefits of life, 
but that he was also intrinsically blessed with a humane, friendly, 
and benevolent disposition. It is true that the natives had com¬ 
mitted some petty thefts, which may have excited the choler and 
indignation of Capt. Ross, but in his native country, would he not 
have to complain of the theft of his gold, if he had left it care¬ 
lessly exposed to some of the lower classes ? Beyond this venial 
fault, and for which Capt. Ross ought to have been fully pre¬ 
pared, there was not any part of the conduct of the natives in 
the least deserving of reprobation or censure, much less of that 
