572 
LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS, 
fully expected to recover some property, which he could recog¬ 
nize as his own, and which had been abstracted from him, by 
the tiglitokish villainy, perhaps of the bigamist, or one of his 
wives. 
Not with greater pomp nor ceremony could the accredited 
agents set forth, to disembowel the ruins of Herculaneum of 
their precious contents, than were exhibited on board the 
Victory, on the departure of Capt. Ross and his party, to 
recover the stolen property. Four men preceded the officers, 
with spades and pickaxes; a sledge drawn by four dogs, under 
the guidance of Mr. Light, followed in the rear of the men, 
for as it was impossible to guess at the extent of the robbery, 
which had been committed; so it was an act of prudence to 
provide, that those means should be immediately at hand, that, 
however great the number of articles purloined might be, 
they could be instantly conveyed to their original destination. 
That Capt. Ross closed the procession, as the highest personage 
amongst it, is so consistent with the general rules of etiquette, 
as not to require any particular notice. It however happened, 
twice on the route, that the van guard travelled at too quick 
a pace, and they were ordered to halt, and to proceed at a 
slower rate, until he of the rear could overcome the difficulties, 
which presented themselves at every moment, to impede his 
progress, without mentioning the several instances of gross 
treachery on the part of the ice, which, although it presented 
a solid surface, was in many places of too thin a texture to 
endure the superiucumbency of his frame, the consequence of 
which was, that a gun of distress was often heard in the rear, 
when, on the proper attention being paid to it, it was generally 
discovered that the object firing it, was up to his middle in a 
pool of water, to drag him from which, was found to be a task 
of far greater difficulty, than he had even experienced on his 
introduction into it 
It has been generally the fate of all travellers, with the ex¬ 
ception of those engaged in the discovery of the North West 
Passage, to arrive sooner or later at the place of their destina¬ 
tion; even Rubriquis, who went on a journey of discovery, to 
