17? 8. THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 26 1 



I was now in one of the houses, but as soon as I 

 heard of this, I went to the field, where I found 

 about a dozen of the natives, each of whom laid 

 claim to some part of the grass that grew in this 

 place. I bargained with them for it, and having com- 

 pleted the purchase, thought we were now at liberty 

 to cut wherever we pleased ; but here, again, it 

 appeared that I was under a mistake, for the liberal 

 manner in which I had paid the first pretended pro- 

 prietors, brought fresh demands upon me from 

 others, so that there did not seem to be a single 

 blade of grass that had not a separate owner ; and 

 so many of them were to be satisfied, that I very soon 

 emptied my pockets. When they found that I really 

 had nothing more to give, their importunities ceased, 

 and we were permitted to cut wherever we pleased, 

 and as much as we chose to carry away. 



Here I must observe, that [ have no where in my 

 several voyages met with any uncivilized nation or 

 tribe, who had such strict notions of their having a 

 right to the exclusive property of every thing that 

 their country produces, as the inhabitants of this 

 sound. At first they wanted our people to pay for 

 the wood and water that they carried on board, and 

 had I been upon the spot when these demands were 

 made, I should certainly have complied with them. 

 Our workmen, in my absence, thought differently, for 

 they took but little notice of such claims, and the 

 natives, when they found that we were determined 

 to pay nothing, at last ceased to apply. But they 

 made a merit of necessity, and frequently afterward 

 took occasion to remind us, that they had given us 

 wood and water out of friendship.* 



* Similar to the behaviour of the natives of Nootka on this 

 occasion, was that of another tribe of Indians farther north, in la- 

 titude 57 18', to the Spaniards, who had preceded Captain Cook 

 only three years in a voyage to explore the coast of America, 

 northward of California. See the journal of that voyage, writ by 

 the second pilot of the fleet, and published by the Honourable 

 Mr. Daines Barrington, to whom the literary world owes so many 

 obligations. Miscellanies, p. 505, 506. 



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