LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
511 
and it continued to rain and snow alternately throughout the 
remainder of that day, and part of the next. The ice remained 
stationary, and no immediate prospect of it clearing away. 
Part of the crew were employed in scouring the paint work 
on the mess deck; whilst the remainder were employed in 
finishing the watering of the ship, which, when completed on 
the 18th, exceeded in quantity, rather more than six tons. 
On the 19th, the weather was variable and thick. In the 
evening, Commander Ross went on shore, and killed a hare 
and a plover; he also found the grave of an Esquimaux, and 
brought the skull on board. This skull supplied the place of 
the head of lllictu, which had been left for the benefit of the 
shrimps, in Felix Harbour. 
On the 20th, the wind blew strong from W. S. W. and the 
ice setting N. E. On the following day, however, the wind 
veered suddenly round to the eastward, which, in the situa¬ 
tion in which the Victory then was, was the most adverse wind, 
that could blow, as there was not the slightest shelter for the 
ship. Towards evening, the berg, to which the vessel was fast¬ 
ened astern, floated, and the bower anchor was immediately got 
ready. The Victory w r as now in a very awkward predicament, 
the wind at east, blowing dead upon the land, which drove the 
whole body of the ice direct into the place where the ship lay. 
Fortunately, however, the wind did not continue long in that quar¬ 
ter, for, on the 22nd, it blew fromtq e northward, with all the 
loose ice drifting* in shore. An anchor and a hawser were taken 
to a berg astern, it being aground, and the ship was fastened 
to it. 
On the 25th, five men were sent on Yakkee Hill , to build a 
monument; but as wisdom sometimes comes with the growth of 
age, it was determined by Capt. Ross, that this monument should 
be made of rock; for it appeared, that the Esquimaux in the 
vicinity of Felix Harbour, had discovered the different monu¬ 
ments, which had been erected of snow ; and as their gross and 
unpardonable stupidity could not discover any possible use in 
them, they had committed the sacrilegious act of demolishing 
them; thereby despoiling their country of the handy works of a 
