338 
LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS, 
ciency was procured for all the purposes of the ship. Until the 
arrival of the Victory, the Esquimaux had a very faint notion of 
the method of extracting oil from the blubber of the seals and 
walrusses, as it was generally used in its raw state without hav¬ 
ing undergone any process whatever ; their lamp or cooking 
place being a large hollow stone, filled with blubber, in which 
are inserted as many wicks of moss as are required for cooking 
or giving light, but the stench arising from this burning of the 
unctuous mass, is to an European insufferable. 
It was a plan by no means impolitic on the part of Capt. 
Ross to attempt to obtain a youth of the Esquimaux nation, who 
might be willing to be brought up according to the European 
manners, and to leave a country of comparative misery and de¬ 
solation, for one of comfort, luxury and splendour. The views 
of Capt. Ross on this head were entirely prospective. In his 
first expedition in search of a North West Passage, he reaped 
considerable benefit from John Sacheuse, a young Esquimaux, 
who, instigated by an ardent desire to visit the country of the 
Europeans, had concealed himself on board the Thomas and 
Anne, Capt. Newton, of Leith; and on his arrival in Scot¬ 
land, through the disinterested kindness of Mr. Nasmyth, the 
eminent artist of Edinburgh, he was put under proper masters 
for teaching him the English language, and other branches of 
useful knowledge. When it was understood that an expedition 
to the arctic regions was about to sail under Capt. Ross, it was ( 
communicated to the admiralty that the services of Sacheuse 
might be advantageously employed on the occasion, and by in¬ 
structions sent to Mr. Nasmyth by the admiralty, he was invited 
on very liberal terms to accompany the expedition. Sacheuse 
appeared very indifferent about the compensation, but readily 
agreed to go, only carefully stipulating that he was not to be 
left in his own country. His great unwillingness to return to 
his native land, after having tasted the comforts and blessings 
of civilized life, seems more easy to account for, than his original 
willingness to leave it. He sailed with Capt. Ross on his first 
expedition, to whose narrative we must refer the reader for an 
account of the eminent services which were rendered by Sa- 
