552 
LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
The same difference existed in regard to the dinners: that of 
the crew, consisting of a small quantity of barley soup, with 
the portion of bread of five ounces, formerly alluded to, and a 
piece of salt pork or beef, or preserved meat, according as the 
day came, appointed for each kind of meat. On those days, 
however, when fish was served out to the men, they had no meat 
at all, on which account, they frequently complained, that they 
were as hungry after their dinner, as they were before it. The 
following s the manner, in which the barley broth was made; 
and some idea may then be formed of the degree of nutrition, 
which it contained ; at all events, a correct judgment may be 
arrived at, whether it were sufficient to keep up the strength of 
the men, without some other additional nutriment. Three pints of 
barley were put into a copper, full of snow, and as the snow 
melted, a further supply was put in, until a sufficiency of water 
was obtained. On the water coming to a boil, a piece of salt 
beef or pork, about the weight of four pounds, was put into it, 
and then it was allowed to boil for three or four hours; or, until 
the dinner hour of the crew, which was 12 o’clock. It was 
then served out to every man, in an equal proportion, almost to 
a grain of barley, and this meagre, stinted fare, was for seven¬ 
teen men!! Their supper consisted of about a pint of cocoa, 
with the aforesaid portion of bread. In several instances, the 
men have been known to eat their weekly portion of bread in 
two days; for when the bread was served out, it was generally 
new, and the men,to use the phrase in the manuscript before us, 
did not then know when to knock off. On the other hand, some 
of them were so desirous o husband their scanty allowance, 
through the week, that they frequently exposed their loaf to the 
frost, in order that it might get so hard, that it could only be cut 
with the hand-saw. 
Before entering into any comments on this truly culpable 
conduct of Capt. Ross towards his men, from whom he 
expected the strength of a Hercules, and the power of a Yffilcan, 
it may be curious to see the opposite side of the picture, in 
which, he himself forms the most prominent character, as, 
seated at the head of his table in the cabin, and casting a 
