tAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
617 
purpose of giving his herculean strength to the projectile pro¬ 
gress of the load, that was behind him, but that his own body- 
might be carried more easily and comfortably, than could 
possibly be done by the mere exertion of his own locomotive 
powers : the sum total of all which was, that Capt. Ross gave 
the preference to being dragged along, rather than commit any 
act at the latter part of the voyage, by which his crew should 
think that he was an ass, whatever he might have done to im¬ 
press that opinion upon their minds during the former part of it. 
Nevertheless, it was admitted by all the crew, that Capt. Ross 
was a very good draughtsman, as far as drawing the granite 
mountains of Boothia Felix, or the scenery of the identical spot 
where he discovered the position of the magnetic pole, was con¬ 
cerned ; but that, when put to the drawing of a sledge, he was 
the very type of the old mule, which the abbess and the nun 
thumped so lustily,in Sterne’s Sentimental Journey. 
On Thursday the 26th, the gales of wind were so violent, and 
the drifts of snow so thick, that no progress whatever could be 
made in the journey : but severe as was the labor, on which 
the men were employed, they all agreed, that they would give 
the preference to it, rather than to the life, which they led this 
day, in their snow houses. It was misery, in the fullest sense 
of the word: co wring in a corner, they appeared like so many 
beasts in a den—no cordial to cheer their drooping spirits—no 
fuel to invigorate their exhausted frames, the tempest raging 
round their chilly habitation ; and if they ventured to peep out 
Mpon the white wide scene, which lay before them, nothing met 
their view but immense drifts of snow, hurried along by the 
frjpetuosity of the blast, and threatening to bury them under 
their accumulating masses. Whilst dragging the sledges, they 
A ad the thought to cheer them, that every step, which they 
took brought them, perhaps, nearer to their emancipation from 
such a desolate region; but whilst shut up in their snow houses, 
they had scarcely ah object to dwell upon which could throw 
a temporary gleam of happiness over the deep darkness of 
their present situation. 
On Friday the 27th, the weather having moderated, the men 
26. 4 k 
