574 
LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
than the performance of the customary rites, which the natives 
observe in the interment of their children. 
In the attention, which the Esquimaux, belonging* to the coun¬ 
try in the vicinity of Victory Harbour, pay to the dead, the dis¬ 
tinction is most striking as regards the aged and the young, 
the former seldom have the ceremony of sepulture performed 
upon them, but they are suffered to rot away in their deserted 
hut, as if, with their last breath, all ties of kindred, of filial or 
connubial affection, were to be broken for ever. To the young, 
however, a little more regard is paid, but it is, generally, the 
effect of maternal affection. Instances are by no means rare 
amongst these unenlightened beings, that the son has made use 
of the bones of his father, for the pointing of his spears and 
arrows, whilst, with a careless and indifferent look, he has seen 
his dogs gnawingthe flesh from them. A heap of snow is the 
bed as well as the grave of these outcasts of the human race; 
and to them it is a matter of indifference, as no light is to dawn 
upon them in another world, under what circumstances corrupt¬ 
ion claims its tribute. 
Some degree of curiosity was excited amongst the group, 
as they looked upon the stiffened corse of the infant, to 
divine the reason of the natives, for bringing the child to so 
great a distance from their dwellings; and, perhaps, although 
various conjectures were hazarded, not one was, in reality, the true 
one. The question, however, which was now agitated, was, 
whether the infant was to be re-interred, or carried to the ship, 
as a subject for the surgical skill of Mr. Mc’Diarmid : to the 
credit of Capt. Ross be it said, he gave it as his decided opinion, 
that the former course should be adopted, and after a short 
deliberation, the corse was thrown into its snowy grave. The 
snow was thrown upon it, with the same hurry and indifference, j 
as the callous sexton shovels the consecrated earth upon the 
Christian. Where is the difference? the winds of heaven scatter 
again the dust of both ; but it will be gathered together in a place, 
where the mere form of sepulture, or the substance on which the 
head reposed, will not be the subject of inquiry. 
On the morning of the 10th, the wind blew fresh from the i 
