LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT, ROSS. 507 
ting holes in the lake, for the purpose of measuring the ice, 
which was found to be 5 feet 8 inches thick. The engineer was 
employed in making lamps instead of stoves for the travelling 
party, who were to bring back with them some tallow obtained 
from the musk oxen, by which they would be enabled to husband 
their stock of oil, which had experienced a considerable diminu ¬ 
tion during the preceding winter. The transportation of the 
tallow, from its additional weight upon the sledge, was> however, 
the cause of some serious complaints by the men, whose strength 
was not in that state to enable them to drag a heavy load, especi¬ 
ally over a surface so rugged and uneven as the ice generally 
exhibited itself. 
A great inconvenience having been experienced by the travel¬ 
ling parties, for the want of some vessel or vehicle to transport 
them across the lakes, the carpenter was ordered to construct 
a frame in the shape of a flat-bottomed punt, which was then to 
be covered with stout canvass and painted. These boats were 
in their construction so light, that they could be carried on 
the top of a sledge, whilst at the same time, their buoyancy 
was so complete, and their covering so impervious to water, that 
they served admirably for the navigation of the lakes, and parti¬ 
cularly for those, wh© were employed in the fisheries, for when 
no longer wanted on the lakes, they served as a receptacle, in 
which to sto w away the fish, and to transport them on the 
sledge to the ship, independently of the relief which it gave 
to the men. 
The whole of the 13th and 14th, was employed in getting the 
provisions ready for another expedition: a considerable quantity 
of pork was boiled on the occasion, to be taken by the party in¬ 
stead of preserved meats; all the bones were taken out of the pork, 
in order to render it lighter in the carriage, and it was found, 
that the meat did not freeze so hard if divested of the bone, as 
wfoen allowed to remain in it. 
The friendly intercourse, which had subsisted, for a short time, 
between Capt. Ross and his nephew, now experienced another 
interruption; for, on the 14th, some very high words passed 
between them: and so great was the offence, which the latter 
