326 
LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
at the same time he presumptuously dared to hazard an opinion, 
that if it was a buttock, it was the most extraordinary one, which 
had ever been submitted to his culinary powers. To this ob¬ 
jection he was very properly answered, that it could not be 
expected of an Esquimaux, that he could cut a buttock of beef 
with that nicety and elegance, on which tbe butchers of Leaden- 
hall and Newgate pride themselves, and further that the rigor 
of a nine months’ frost upon it, must indisputably have had the 
effect of altering its natural shape, by the shrivelling up of the 
muscles, and the attendant contraction of the fibres. It was im¬ 
possible for the cook to gainsay the profundity of these remarks, 
and having immersed the joint in the seething fluid, he repaired 
to the cabin where divine service was performed, and where he 
heard an excellent and appropriate discourse, from the 4th chapter 
of Leviticus, 8th verse. The hour of dining arrived, the steward 
placed the reeking joint on the table, and all the pleasure of a 
gratified appetite by anticipation, was visible on the countenance 
of every associate of the cabin. The instrument was already 
sharpened, by which the first incision was to be made into the 
joint, and a free vent give to the savory juices which had been 
for the long period of nine months imprisoned within it, when 
lo! an extraordinary exclamation, rather analagous to the 15th 
curse of Ernulphus, burst from the lips of the carver, for the 
discovery burst upon him, that instead of the buttock as had 
been determined upon, the villainous Esquimaux had imposed 
upon him with the entrails of the animal, which had been dex¬ 
terously squeezed and rolled into a globular form, very much 
resembling the buttocks, which are daily to be seen in the win¬ 
dows of the cook-shops of the metropolis. There were some 
on whose countenance the indications of the suppressed laugh 
were visible, whilst on others appeared the dark and gloomy 
frown of anger and disappointment—never did the latter during 
their arctic residence anticipate a more sumptuous feast, and 
never were they more grievously disappointed, Quicker than the 
joint was brought, was the paunch of the animal taken away, 
the laugh went round the ship at the expense of the individual, 
who had given to the value of fourteen pence for a dinner for his 
