498 
LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
they bailed it with almost the reverence of the Peruvian, who re¬ 
gards it as his god, the dispenser of happiness and health. 
Notwithstanding the cold was at times exceedingly severe, 
Commander Ross omitted not a single day in visiting the obser¬ 
vatory, whilst the chief employment of Capt. Ross was attending 
to the dipping needle. 
The month of February came in very mild, the thermometer 
at 9 above zero. The shooting parties were very successful in 
killing grouse and foxes ; of the former of which, they saw, at 
one time, fifteen in one covey, which was the largest ever seen in 
that part of the country. On the 9th, a fox was caught in the 
glutton trap, with its tongue literally frozen to the grating. 
Not a day elapsed, without the men bringing in several foxes ; 
the skins of which, however, were claimed by Capt. Ross, al¬ 
though the men stood much in need of them, as a protection 
against the cold. On the 17th, one of the young foxes got 
adrift, who had been the inhabitant of the lower deck, during 
the whole of the winter, and who was one of the allies, in their 
attack on the provender of old tom; and although, in one in¬ 
stance, he might have evinced the cunning and sagacity of his 
race, yet, in a subsequent one, he shewed himself rather a fool ; 
for, having obtained his liberty, although he carried away with 
him a badge of his former slavery, by running away with a 
piece of chain round his neck, yet he soon forfeited the advan¬ 
tage he had obtained, for, on the day subsequent to his escape, 
he was again caught in the trap, and carried back in triumph 
to his companions. 
On the 23d, Commander Ross and Blankey commenced the 
dipping needle; and so arduous and enthusiastic was that 
officer, in the search of science, that he never retired to bed for 
three nights, during the whole of which, he was watching the 
needle, with an intensity, as if the very safety of the ship de¬ 
pended upon it, or that it was to be a guide to them, to the 
ultimate object of their labors. 
For some weeks, a great coolness had subsisted between 
Capt. Ross and his nephew; neither of them hardly deigning 
to speak to the other, nor scarcely interchanging with each 
