LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
28 4 
at it, and saw in it no more than the specimen of her dear 
husband’s ingenuity, and the favourite utensil from which he 
quaffed his invigorating potations of the sanguineous fluid of 
the seal—She looked at the basin again, (the devil himself or 
one of his imps, must have been at her elbow,) What! she 
exclaimed (we have translated this monologue literally from the 
original before us,) what ? if I were to take the basin to the 
Rabloonas'i what might I not obtain for it?—some hooks? 
some needles ! and Oh! perchance—a looking glass?—there was 
happiness—there was rapture in the very thought—to behold 
daily and hourly her own beautiful countenance, her black and 
streaming hair, in all its wild and matted confusion—to be able 
to adjust her Togluga (band for the hair,) with becoming grace, 
and to see that her hood was not put on awry; what was the 
worth of an insignificant basin of horn, in comparison to such 
inestimable advantages? Her husband might make another basin, 
but was the opportunity to be lost of obtaining possession of so 
valuable an article as a looking glass, for the Kabloovas might 
never visit their coasts again ; thus like many other daughters of 
Eve, who are about to commit an act which their conscience 
disproves, she argued herself into a clear imputation of all crime 
in the disposal of the basin, and making a confidant of Kak- 
kaakenu , they set forward to the vessel with the devoted article, 
but great and grievous was the mortification of Ulunena, when 
instead of the much wished for mirror, she received only four 
needles and two fish-hooks. 
The sun had just shown his upper limb above the horizon, when 
Ooblooraiak was seen crawling into his hut, dragging after him 
a ponderous seal, from the posterior part of which he anticipated 
a sumptuous feast of some broiled cutlets, and an invigorating 
draught of its serous blood, but in order to obtain the latter, 
it was necessary that the animal should be immediately anato¬ 
mized, or the blood might be so coagulated, as to render it un- 
potable. Into the throat of the animal, Ooblooraiak plunged his 
knife— Ossarsaree mikkee* exclaimed Ooblooraiak, give me the 
* The literal signification of these words, is “Beloved Bitch,” it is however an expression of great 
endearment amongst the Esquimaux, and should a love-sick swain amongst them, ever attempt 
