LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
681 
the object of Capt. Humphreys, in penetrating up Lancaster 
Sound, had no reference whatever to the bones of Capt. Ross, 
for although Cobbett might have been convinced that the bones, 
which he was taking out of the ground, were in reality those of 
Thomas Paine, yet, if Capt. Humphreys had taken an inland 
excursion, and been so fortunate as to fall in with a heap of 
bones, we know not by what distinctive marks he could have 
determined, that they were the genuine bones of Capt. Ross, and 
perhaps not being well versed in comparative anatomy, it is 
not improbable that he might have brought home the bones of a 
bear, and they might have been decently interred in conse¬ 
crated ground, as the valuable remains of a bona fide genuine 
Christian. 
In confirmation of the opinion, which we have just expressed, 
it transpired that the Isabella and the William Lee had been in 
company almost during the whole of the season, and been 
as high as Neal Harbour, which is four miles further than Port 
Bowen, where Capt. Parry wintered in the Hecla and Fury. It 
was also certain, that they had been attracted thither by the 
whales, of which they caught a considerable number, and not in 
a joint excursion in search of the bones of Capt. Ross. 
The distance, which the boats travelled from Fury Beach to 
where the crew were picked up by the Isabella, was between 500 
and 600 miles. They had now, as the crew termed it, a ship 
once more under their feet, and, thanks to the Almighty, the 
hope of once more seeing their native country. 
it was on the 2d of September, that the Isabella, on account 
of the thickness of the weather, ran into the ice, and got beset 
on Isabella bank, during which time several ships were seen 
passing to the northward. They were here beset for 12 days, 
and it was owing to the greatest good fortune that they were not 
nipped in two by a heavy pressure, setting the Isabella down on 
a very large piece of ice, which was aground in 70 or 80 fathoms 
of water ; the size of this piece of ice is represented to have been 
as large as the Custom House of London. The pressure, how¬ 
ever, ceased, and the ship cleared the berg, and she drifted with 
the pack, and caught hold of another berg, which was nearer 
29. 4 s 
