LAST VUTAUE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
619 
hold upon deck, and making bags to contain the bread and 
biscuit. 
For some days previously to leaving the ship, Capt. Ross was 
busily employed burying some boxes ; and, in order to deceive 
the Esquimaux, he placed at the head and foot of the holes, 
some Esquimaux skulls, meaning thereby to denote, that some 
person was buried there. Not more solicitous could the miser 
exhibit himself about his hoards of buried gold, than Capt. Ross 
showed himself about the contents of his boxes ; not an indivi¬ 
dual could divine the motive of his solicitude, for to every one 
it appeared as a matter of little moment, whether the treasures, 
w hich the boxes contained, fell intolhe hands of the Esquimaux, 
seeing that not the slightest probability existed, of the place 
ever being visited again, the fact being ascertained, that it 
was not the route to the North West Passage; and it was cer¬ 
tain, that the country held forth no other allurement to induce 
the mariner ever again to navigate its seas. A circumstance, 
however, came to the knowledge of the crew, on their journey 
from the ship to Fury Reach, which excited some conjectures in 
their minds, that they had discovered a clue to the motive of 
Capt. Ross, for burying so many articles, as well as his great 
solicitude to keep them from the hands of the Esquimaux ; it, 
however, still remains, in a certain degree, an unsettled point, 
and the charge of extreme selfishness, attached to Capt. Ross, 
stands unrefuted. 
On the day previously to the abandonment of the ship, the 
crew were all assembled in the cabin, and Capt. Ross ha¬ 
rangued them on the arduous duty, which they had to undergo, 
and the severe privations* which they would have to endure. 
He, however, promised them individually, that should they be 
so fortunate as to reach their native country, they should, 
through his influence, be placed in such situations, as to ensure 
them a comfortable provision for life, as a reward for their 
services, and their unflinching steadiness in the hour of trial 
and danger. The manner, in which those promises were ful¬ 
filled, will be hereafter stated. 
It was on the 19th May, 1832, at 7 o’clock in the morning, 
