2 
SUPPLEMENT. 
on the top of a twelfth-cake, in both of which instances he has 
been cut up, with a dexterity, that must have been highly de¬ 
lightful to his feelings. 
Captain Ross must have been a very gourmand in fame, not 
to have been satisfied with these distinctive marks of the ap¬ 
plause and approbation of his fellow-countrymen, and we con¬ 
sider that we have laid him under an unextinguishable debt of 
gratitude to ourselves, in having been the instruments of fully 
exhibiting the subjects on which that applause and appro¬ 
bation are founded. We have related “ stories of skies darkened 
for months, in which the only indication of mid-day was a glim¬ 
mering streak on the verge of the horizon,—of tribes who never 
drank water or heard of fire,—of unwashed natives squatting on 
beds of eternal ice, waiting for the appearance of a seal, to catch 
him, their only article of food,—of Esquimaux ladies, though 
not exactly belonging to the fair sex, perpetually oiled, if not 
perfumed,—of omens, dreams, and portents,—of expectant wi¬ 
dowers on the ice, and anticipating widows on shore,—of bears 
paying visits occasionally through the roofs of houses concocted 
of snow,*—of a pining after grenery,the want of which prevailed 
to an extent, that would have broken the heart of Leigh Hunt 
and five hundred other pastorals of Hampstead and the adjacent 
parishes. We may also have related some anecdotes of the benefits 
of Booth’s cordial,—of the comforts of a cabin.when the thermome¬ 
ter in the open air was 50° below zero,—of flour-tubs filled with 
Esquimaux dresses, which by this time have reverted to the ori- 
* On this subject we regret that we have exposed ourselves to the animadver¬ 
sion of some of the individuals, who sailed with Captain Ross in his last expedi¬ 
tion, as regarding our narrative of the dreadful encounter of the gallant captain 
with a bear, as related by himself, and in which, but for his fine display of cour¬ 
age and presence of mind, he would not have lived to lionise in his native country 
We considered that every part of the narrative, as written by us, was founded on 
truth. Great were then our surprise and confusion, when the information was 
lately transmitted to us, that on the return of the men to the tent, in which the life 
of Capt. Ross had been placed in such extreme jeopardy, a diligent seareh was 
made for the footsteps of the bear 5 but, wonderful to relate, not a single one could 
be found, either on the roof of the tent or in its vicinity. We must therefore leave 
the public to take which ever version they like of the affair, and to decide whether 
Capt. Ross saw the bear in reality, or in a dream. 
