LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS'. §&8 
the ship : the boots and slippers would have beCn of greater use, 
if they had been warranted water-proof, but, unluckily, the 
stitches were in some places so very like our angels visits, few and 
far between, especially, those that were made for sale on board 
the Victory, that had they been denominated boots on the ven- 
ilating system, for an equal admission of wind and water, they 
would have fully answered the character to which they were 
entitled from the wearing. 
The 28th of March was the only day, that the ship was not 
visited by the Esquimaux, since the acquaintance was estab¬ 
lished; the absence of their visit, was attributed by the crew 
to the violence of the wind, which on that day blew almost a 
hurricane, but the reason was by no means a plausible one, when 
it is considered, that they were punctual in their visits during 
the extreme rigor of the winter, when it was scarcely to be be¬ 
lieved that the physical constitution of a human being could have 
withstood the severity of the cold. On the following day, how¬ 
ever, they seemed determined to make amends for the loss, 
which the crew of the Victory had sustained in the pleasure of 
their company on the preceding one, for the tribes came both 
from the north and the east, and it might be truly characterized 
as a visit of good-will or compliment, for they did not bring a 
single article with them, either of purchase or barter. A cir¬ 
cumstance, however, which occurred this day excited the surprise 
of the crew, which was the removal of an entire family from 
the north station, who came and built their huts on the ice close 
to the ship, seemingly disposed to enter into a more intimate and 
friendly communication with the crew. In some respects, how¬ 
ever, this unexpected display of a desire to iucrease the intimacy 
between the two parties, was by no means satisfactory or agree¬ 
able to Capt. Ross, for although he had no objection to receive 
them as occasional visitors, he, on no account coveted, a perma¬ 
nent acquaintance, or did he wish to have his new friends al- J 
ways contiguous to the ship. With all their savage simplicity 
and ignorance, they had shewn themselves in many instances 
to be most dexterous thieves, and as they had now settled 
themselves almost under the very bows of the ship, many oppor- 
