644 
LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS, 
attempt to obtain a passage over the ice. Commander Ross 
expressed his willingness to try the hazardous experiment, but 
a decided objection was raised to it by Capt. Ross, who felt no 
great inclination to share in the hazard of the enterprise; nor, 
on the other hand, to see himself almost alone in a desolate 
and inhospitable country, with no other chance of escaping 
from starvation, than making his way back to Fury Beach, and 
there making himself as comfortable, during a long and tedious 
winter, as the resources of his own mind would allow him. 
All hope was now abandoned of getting across the sound ; but 
previously to taking a final departure from Monument Beach, 
it was determined to take another survey of the state of the ice, 
and a party was accordingly sent to the summit of a very high 
mountain on the promontory, from which a view could be ob¬ 
tained of Prince Regent’s Inlet, Barrow’s Strait, and Lancaster 
Sound; but, as far as the eye could reach, an impenetrable 
mass of ice presented itself, forming a barrier to all further 
progress in that quarter, which it was in vain to attempt to 
overcome. 
The anxiety and suspense, which now weighed upon every 
mind, may be easier imagined than described; the young ice 
had already assumed an alarming thickness, and the frost of one 
night might so block up the passage to the southward, that even 
the return to Fury Beach would be found impracticable. 
During the stay at Monument Beach, which may be consi¬ 
dered a part of Leopold South Island, in about the latitude of 
73° 56', and longitude 90° west, some slight symptoms of the 
scurvy displayed themselves, and the men were, therefore, 
allowed to take daily excursions on shore, during which they 
killed six foxes, all of which were eaten by the crew. Two 
hares were seen, but they were beyond the reach of the gun. 
The foxes, as well as the hares, were all white. The Aurora 
Borealis was visible almost every night, which enabled them, 
on some occasions, to extend their journeys, which would not 
have been practicable amidst the Cimmerian darkness of the 
northern latitudes. The view, which the crew had from the 
Promontory of Leopold South Island, is represented to have 
