LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
391 
rocket should be let off every night precisely at ten o'clock, and 
that two blue lights should be kept continually burning at the 
top of the jury main-mast, in order to guide him to the ship, 
in case that he should reach its vicinity during the night. In 
conformity therefore with this arrangement, the rocket was 
fired at 10 p.m., and the blue lights hoisted ; but, from the vio¬ 
lence of the wind, it was found scarcely possible to keep them 
alight; a quarter of an hour was the utmost that the lights 
could be kept burning, but in the intervals of their being re¬ 
lighted, a rocket was fired, which rendered it next to an im¬ 
possibility that Commander Ross, if he had arrived in the 
vicinity of the ship, should mistake his route. 
It is impossible to describe the astonishment, which sat upon 
the countenances of the Esquimaux, who had built their huts 
contiguous to the ship, when the rocket ascended. On the first 
night that it was let off, two of them had returned from the 
seal-fishing without success, and at the very moment when 
they had reached their habitation, the rocket w r er»t off, throw¬ 
ing a faint glare over their huts, and giving to the whole scene 
a romantic character, which to their untutored minds, must have 
appeared as the work of some most superior beings, and for 
which it was impossible for them to assign an adequate cause. 
Ignorance and superstition are generally in close alliance with 
each other, and credulity usually steps in to complete the 
triumvirate. In regard to the latter, Capt. Ross had so worked 
upon their natural infirmity, that they entertained the belief, 
that he had in some respects, the very elements under his sub¬ 
jection, and that if it were his gracious pleasure, he could direct 
them to the very spot, where the seals were to be caught. The 
ascent of the rocket was, in their opinion, nothing less than a 
messenger of fire, which Capt. Ross had sent to some of his 
dependent spirits above, to summon them to his presence on 
matters of importance; and so strong is the principle of self 
engrafted in every human being, sage or savage ; that the Esqui¬ 
maux verily believed, that those matters of importance solely re¬ 
lated to some affairs connected with themselves. In verification 
of the opinion which they had formed of Capt. Ross; on the 
