282 
LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
which he deemed scarcely worthy of his notice. This position 
has been notably illustrated by Swift, in the case of a great war 
ensuing from the trivial dispute, whether an egg can stand on its 
little end or its big one; and it is well known that the length 
of Cleopatra's nose was the cause of a war, in which it may be 
said, that Caesar and Anthony fought for a world and a woman^ 
and both were lost. When therefore such important events can 
flow from causes so very trivial, is it to be wondered at that 
a civil war should have nearly broken out amongst the tribe of 
Esquimaux, at the mere loss of a basin made of the horn of an ox? 
but so it is written in the chronicles of those days, and the country 
is indebted to Capt. Ross, or more properly speaking to the in¬ 
dividuals, who, contrary to the knowledge and expectation of that 
individual have furnished us with the materials for this work, in 
having been the ^instruments of conveying to this country, an ac¬ 
count of so important an epoch in the history of the Esquimaux 
people. Thus it is written in the chronicles before us, that there 
was in the possession of Ooblooraiak, a certain utensil, which 
after great labour and trouble, he had manufactured from the 
horn of a musk ox, and from which it was his custom to recreate 
himself with copious draughts of seal's blood, or in default of 
that refreshing and gratifying beverage, with water from the 
rivulet or from ice thawed over his lamp. That it was on or 
about the 8th March, 1830, according to the computation of the 
Kabloonas, that the said Ooblooraiak betook himself to a distance 
from his dwelling, to certain holes or cavities in the ice, then 
and there to kill certain seals and walruses for the support of 
his beloved wife Ulunena, and their chubby beautiful offspring, 
and to regale himself on his arrival at home, with a hearty 
potation of the blood of the aforesaid animals, from the cup made 
of the ox's horn. It further appears in the said chronicles, that 
Ooblooraiak , like the husbands in more civilized countries, 
possessed the fullest confidence in the integrity and decorous 
conduct of his beloved Ulunena during his absence, and con¬ 
sequently left her in possession of all his goods and chattels, 
amongst which, was comprised the valuable cup or basin, the 
worth of which to him was greater than its weight in silver or 
