LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
337 
men, each trying to over-reach the other, and secretly triumph¬ 
ing over one another in proportion to the success that was sup¬ 
posed to be obtained. 
On the Kith two parties of Esquimaux came to the ship, one 
from the station at the north east, and the other from that at 
the south east. The latter brought a seal, which Capt. Ross 
purchased, and afterwards he took a fancy to their sledge, as well 
as to some other articles, which they had brought with them. In 
one corner of the cabin lay an old implement, which had once 
been a file, but now rendered nearly useless, and wholly de¬ 
prived of its rasping power, by having been so frequently 
called into action in the repairs of the steam engine. Accord¬ 
ing to the opinion of the sailors, there was generally more than 
one Old file in the cabin, and both of them pretty nearly worn 
out; however it was the determination of Capt. Ross to' get rid 
of one of them, although the sailors had no great prospect of 
getting rid of the other. Taking therefore the worn-out im¬ 
plement in his hand, he displayed it before the owners of the 
sledge, who not being able to appreciate the difference between 
a file that has teeth and a file that has none, and which, like 
those of a sexagenarian dowager cannot be easily replaced, 
except by artificial means, considered that the exchange would 
be greatly in their favor, seeing that it was a matter of no 
great difficulty to construct another sledge, but as to the making 
of a file, it was totally out of the question, and were they to 
allow the present opportunity to slip, they might be without a 
file for the remainder of their life. The bargain was therefore 
soon struck, the file and the sledge exchanged owners, the one 
obtained a useful article, the other a useless one, and yet both 
were satisfied, 
“ Such, an*d so various are the turns of life.’’ 
The fancy for monument-building having subsided, the men 
were put to a more useful occupation of obtaining oil from the 
seals that were brought by the natives, and more than a suffi- 
15 . 2 x 
