362 
LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
termination, not to bestow upon them the slightest reward unti 
the swivel was returned. 
The women left the ship not very well satisfied with the re¬ 
sult of their act of honesty, and entertaining a low opinion of 
the justice of the Kabloonas; it was also a new creed to them, 
that their whole tribe were to be punished for the act of a single 
individual, for Capt. Ross gave the women to understand that 
no further negotiations would be entered into with any of them 
in the way of barter, or the purchase of their commodities, until 
the stolen property was restored. 
The crew were now employed in unbanking the ship, the 
severity of the winter having passed, and no further fear existing, 
of the vessel receiving any injury from the heavy drifts of snow, 
against which the embankment was intended to protect her. 
The removal of the bank of snow would also tend to increase 
the circulation of the air about the ship, and prevent that extra¬ 
ordinary humidity, which the melting of the snow would occa 
sion, and which now, as the fine weather was approaching, 
was naturally expected to increase every day. 
It has been mentioned that on the death of Marslin, the ar¬ 
mourer, his will was made by Mr. Light the steward, bequeathing 
the whole of his property to his sister and his children ; it was 
therefore a matter of no little surprise to the crew, when they were 
informed that Capt. Ross had come to the determination to dis¬ 
pose of Marslin’s property, although it would have been a 
difficult task for him to have shown by what right he disposed 
of property, which by will was bequeathed to another. In 
other respects, it could not be expected, even if Capt. Ross him¬ 
self had taken upon himself the character of an auctioneer, that 
the property of the deceased would fetch very high prices, or 
even that any thing like its real value could be obtained. There 
certainly existed no necessity for the disposal of the property, 
for there was no want of room in the Victory to stow it away, 
and when it is considered, that the amount of some of the pur¬ 
chases made by the sailors, was put to the debit account of their 
wages ; we cannot but coincide with the majority of the crew, 
