LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT, ROSS 
281 
any animal to have dragged it out of the hut, nor were there any 
marks on the outside which could warrant the supposition, that 
an animal had effected its entire removal. The disappearance 
of the body remained a mystery which never was solved; on 
questioning however, some of the tribe, who had built their huts 
on the ice, they shook their heads in a most significant manner, 
and it was evident that they knew of the head having been taken 
away, for one of them drew his hand across his throat, which was 
at once explanatory that they had discovered the abstraction of 
the member, and therefore it was most probable that they had 
removed the remainder altogether, as it was not unlikely that the 
same party, who had taken such a fancy to the head, might have 
also the same longing for an arm or a leg, although to what uses 
they could be applied was a problem, too difficult for their 
limited capacity to solve. 
The specimens of the ingenuity of the Esquimaux had hitherto 
been confined to the manufacture of their bows and arrows, and 
some articles of their apparel, although it was supposed that had 
the necessary materials been forthcoming, they would have been 
able to produce many things fully adequate to prove that their 
inventive powers were not so meagre and limited as the crew of 
the Victory were led to believe. Iron and wood were almost 
wholly wanting; the chief material of all their manufactured 
articles consisting of the bones of the different animals, which 
were indigenous to their country. On the 18 th two women came 
to the ship, bringing with them a basin made of the horn of a 
musk ox, but the workmanship was rude and clumsy in the ex¬ 
treme. The arrival of these women with this new specimen of 
Esquimaux ingenuity was announced to Capt. Ross, and it may 
be easily supposed that he did not let such a favourable oppor¬ 
tunity escape him of adding so valuable an article to his cabinet 
of curiosities. 
It has been said by a great man, that " dire events from trivial 
causes flow,” and every man, who will give himself the trouble 
to take a survey of his own life, will find that the most important 
events of it have sprung, not from circumstances to which he 
attached the greatest importance, but from some trifling incidents 
n. % o 
