LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
283 
gold, those metals being* to him as mere pieces of shining dross, in 
comparison to the transparent and beautiful solidity of a circular 
piece of horn. Delicately indeed have the said chronicles hinted, 
that many European husbands have been most wofully deceived, 
in the estimate which they have formed of the integrity and 
decorous conduct of their wives, during their temporary absence 
from home, and therefore that it becometh not any Kabloona to 
bespatter with the mud of his censure the wife of Ooblooraiak, 
for any little wandering, which she may have committed from 
the straight forward road of duty, whilst her husband was seal¬ 
ing the fate of a seal, for the gratification of her blubbery appe¬ 
tite. It is the custom of the Kabloona wives on the commission 
of any particular peccadillo to ascribe it to the irresistible tempta¬ 
tion of a certain individual who holds his court in Pandemonium, 
considering that as their amiable and virtuous progenitor Eve, 
could not withstand the seductive and fascinating powers of that 
finished gentleman, it ought not in charity to be attributed to 
them as a crime, if at any time they yielded to an over-powering 
temptation, which might be designedly or accidentally thrown 
in their way. Unfortunately however for Ulunena she could not 
shelter herself under the wings of so accommodating a person¬ 
age for any transgression which she might commit, for she had 
never heard of his existence, and we sincerely hope that her 
ignorance will be everlasting. But that Ulunena was tempted— 
and irresistibly tempted—the chronicles distinctly relate, but 
by what witch, imp, fiend or devil, there is no record existing 
to tell. She had just fulfilled the pleasing occupation of the 
mother, in having satiated the appetite of her children with a 
few pounds of seal’s flesh, and had plentifully lubricated their 
throats with a corresponding quantity of the best rancid oil, 
when our devil (for no other person could have been guilty of 
such a wicked act,) must either by land or by water, (the chron¬ 
icles are certain he did not come from above,) have found his 
way to the hut of Ulunena, and there infused his tempting spirit 
into her hitherto pure and sinless heart: she looked at the 
basin of the ox’s horn—but why did it at this time so particu¬ 
larly attract her attention ? she had frequently and daily looked 
