664 
LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
quence, and especially one whose skill, as a ship carpenter, was 
universally acknowledged. He appeared, however, to have died 
without the slightest impression of religion on his mind ; and 
although he had a wife and child in England, he never men¬ 
tioned their name, nor even sent them a dying request. The day 
after his death, he was sewed up in his blanket, and put into 
one of the snow houses, but, before he was removed from his bed- 
place, he was as hard as a rock. He remained in the snow house 
for nine days, before he could be buried; the weather being 
so severe, that the men could not dig his grave. Even after a 
labor of ten days, his grave was not above a foot deep; and on 
the 16th he was buried, the whole of the crew, that were able, 
following the corpse, Capt. Ross leading the funeral procession. 
Whilst reading the burial service, he had his spectacles on, but 
his breath got on the glasses, and becoming immediately frozen, 
prevented him from reading the remainder. He, however, 
managed, after making a few blunders, to finish the service, and 
the corpse was covered over with the gravel of the beach. A 
monument was built on the top of his grave, with a piece of 
wood in the middle, and a small plate of copper nailed to it, 
with his name, age, and trade, engraved upon it, according to 
the best manner of the engineer. No epitaph was attached to 
it, as that particular art of lying had not at that time been in¬ 
troduced into the country, where Fury Beach was situated. 
The crew were now reduced to twenty, and they were in 
daily expectation of losing Buck and Wood, whose constitutions 
were unable to endure the continual fatigue and hardships, to 
which they had lately been exposed, and which had been moie 
trying and severe, than had ever been experienced at any pre¬ 
vious part of the voyage. 
During the time, that the sun was above the horizon, which, 
during the month of February, was not above an hour, the 
crew were obliged to take their regular exercise whenever 
the weather would permit; but when adverse, they amused 
themselves in various romping games inside the house, by which 
they managed to keep their blood in active circulation, at the 
same time that it tended to check the growth of the scurvy, 
