is
paralysed. Nothing moves and nothing changes, but all is for ever the
same--cheerless, cold, and still."

The explorers little thought that this was to be their home for the
next three years. They spent a fairly cheerful Christmas with mince
pies and "iced cherry brandy" taken from the stores of the _Fury_,
and early in 1830 the monotony was broken by the appearance of Eskimos.
These were tremendously dressed up in furs, a shapeless mass, and Ross
describes one as resembling "the figure of a globe standing on two
pins." They soon became friendly, taking the Englishmen to see their
snow huts, drawing them charts of Boothia Gulf beyond Felix Harbour,
while in exchange the explorers taught English to the little Eskimo
children and ministered to their ailments, the ship's carpenter even
making a wooden leg for one of the natives.

[Illustration: ROSS'S WINTER QUARTERS IN FELIX HARBOUR.]

[Illustration: THE FIRST COMMUNICATION WITH ESKIMOS AT BOOTHIA FELIX,
JANUARY 1830. SIR JOHN ROSS'S EXPEDITION TO THE NORTH MAGNETIC POLE,
1829-1833. From drawings by Ross in his _Narrative of a Second Voyage
in Search of a North-West Passage_.]

So the long winter passed away. A few land journeys with sledges only
ended in disappointment, but at last the vessel was free of ice and
joyfully they hoisted her sails. But worse disappointment was in store.
She had sailed for three miles when they met a ridge of ice, and a
solid sea forbade any further advance. In vain did they try to saw
through the ice. November found the poor _Victory_ hopelessly icebound
and her crew doomed to another winter in the same region.

It was not till May that a journey across the land of Boothia to the
west coast was possible. Ross and his nephew had been calculating the
position of the North Magnetic Pole all the long winter, and with signs
of spring they set forth.

"Our journey had a very new appearance. The mother of two Eskimos led
the way with a staff in her hand, my sledge following with the dogs
and one of the children, guided by one of the wives with a child on
her back. After a native sledge came that of Commander Ross, followed
by more Eskimos. Many halts were made, as our burdens were heavy, the
snow deep, and the ice rough."

After a fortnight's travelling past the chain of great lakes--the
woman still guiding them--the Rosses, uncle and nephew, separated.
James Ross now made for the spot where the Magnetic Pole was supposed
to be. His own