LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
329 
sky, or burning under a tropical sun; Capt. Ross felt a pride in 
being the possessor of two of the finest dogs which had yet 
been seen in the country, and after many offers, refusals, compro¬ 
mises, and deductions, the animals were transferred to him as his 
inalienable, and undisputed property: the person who buys a dog, 
buys also with him the certainty, that he has by nature given to 
him an appetite which must be satisfied, and it is similarly 
situated with those, who buy a horse or an ass; but the next 
great important question to be decided, is, whether the animal 
can properly perform the duty for which he was purchased. The 
man who buys a draught horse, expects that he will answer 
to the character that is given of him, and the man who buys a 
roadster, free of all vice, does not expect to be thrown over its 
head by its kicking or plunging, the first time that he mounts 
it. Consistently with this principle, Capt. Ross fully expected 
that his two dogs would shew themselves off to the best advan¬ 
tage in their harness, but to his great mortification, he found that 
to put a dog into harness and to make him draw r , are actions so 
essentially opposite in their nature, that it by no means follows 
that one must be the result of the other, ft may also happen, as 
was the case in the present instance, that if one of the dogs 
were disposed to draw one w r ay, the other dog shewed a strong 
inclination to draw the opposite one, thus the power on each side 
was so justly balanced, that Capt. Ross instead of progressing 
was actually stationary, during which time he might enter with 
himself into a dispassionate disquisition on the difference between 
absolute and relative motion. On a sudden however, the dogs 
took into their heads to be of one accord, but instead of moving 
in a direct, straightforward line, as it was the desire of Capt. 
Ross that they should do, with the exception now and then of 
making a little detour to avoid a hummock of ice, they moved 
in a circular direction by which the sledge appeared as if it were 
placed on a pivot, and Capt. Ross within it, resembling a huge 
tetotum twirled round and round, with the danger of the centri¬ 
fugal force being so great as to throw him out in a tangent, mea¬ 
suring bis length on a hillock of snow, like FalstafF when bun¬ 
dled out of the bucking basket into the Thames. 
14. % u 
