LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
663 
was formed, that lime juice was not the only beverage, with 
which the officers regaled themselves. With some difficulty 
a plum-pudding was concocted ; but the plums were in very 
bad condition, it taking ail the crew a whole day, to pick 
out a sufficiency to make two puddings, one boiled, the other 
baked. 
The new year 1833 came in with strong northerly gales, and 
heavy drift, which confined the men to the house, and protracted 
the recovery of the sick. The duty imposed upon the men was 
very trifling; they were obliged to take exercise whenever the 
weather would permit them, and their principal labor consisted 
in carrying snow to the house, fitted up as its receptacle. 
On the 2d of February, they experienced the indescribable 
Satisfaction of again beholding the sun, which, like a coy and 
modest virgin, just showed them a glimpse of its beauty, and 
then retired. The period of the absence of the sun was eighty 
days; and the feelings of the men, when they first caught a view 
of its upper limb, can only be compared to those of the Peru¬ 
vians, who fall down and worship it as their God; it was to them 
the harbinger of brighter days, and the light, perhaps, that 
was to guide them on their perilous journey to their native 
country. 
On the 7th of February, to the astonishment of the whole 
crew, two rein-deer made their appearance, at some distance 
from the beach. Such a circumstance was never known to occur 
before the latter end of March, or the beginning of April; but to 
be convinced that they were actually rein-deer, Commander Ross 
and Abernethy went after them; the duration of the daylight 
was however so very short, that they were soon obliged to give 
up the chace, but not till they had ascertained the point, by the 
marks of their feet in the snow, that the animals, which they 
had seen, were in reality rein-deer. 
On the 8th of February, Chimham Thomas, the carpenter, 
departed this life, to the particular regret of Capt. Ross, to 
whom his services, in the way of his trade, were invaluable. He, 
however, left an able substitute in Robert Shreeve, but still the 
loss of a man at this juncture, was of the most serious conse- 
