LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
385 
tour : it was also necessary to provide an extra quantity for the 
two Esquimaux, who certainly would not be great consumers of 
European viands, provided a seal could be killed on the journey, 
and not being very particular whether it was dressed or raw, no 
great anxiety was felt, as to the manner or the means, by which 
their subsistence could be obtained. The Esquimaux in their 
migratory travels are entirely dependent upon chance for their 
support, although they have in particular places their stow-holes 
or magazines, where a supply of food to any extent can be 
obtained, and which are a kind of common property, from which 
any of the tribe that are in need, may extract what quantity they 
please. In regard to the provision that was made for the 
maintenance of the Esquimaux, there was very little difference 
shown between them and the dogs, in fact, they both subsisted on 
the same kind of food, and might have eaten together out of the 
same trough, without the human biped thinking himself in the 
least degraded, by eating in common with the canine quadruped. 
The support of the travelling establishment of Commander Ross, 
was however a subject of serious consideration, for it consisted 
in all of four human beings, and fourteen dogs ; seven being 
harnessed to one sledge, containing Commander Ross, and the 
other seven to another sledge, containing Blankey the mate ; 
the Esquimaux trudging by the side, as if disdaining the ease 
and luxury of the gliding vehicle. 
To those unaccustomed to the motion, the travelling in a 
sledge is by no means a task of easy accomplishment, for, it 
frequently happens that even those, who have been inured to it 
from their infancy are thrown out, although there is little risk 
attending it of a broken neck, or a dislocated limb ; the only 
casualty likely to occur, being a slight contusion by coming into 
contact with a rugged piece of ice, which is generally the cause 
of the sledge been overthrown. The sledge of the Laplander 
and the Esquimaux differs in this respect, that the former is so 
constructed that the person driving cannot be thrown out, as it 
is completely covered in at the top, with the exception of a small 
hole or aperture sufficiently large to admit the body in a sitting 
posture, the lower limbs occupying the fore part of the sledge, 
17. 3d 
