470 cook's VOYAGE TO OCT. 



never seen, nor perhaps had any intercourse with the 

 Russians. Probably a few beads, a little tobacco and 

 snuflj purchase all they have to spare. There are 

 few, if any of them, that do not both smoke and 

 chew tobacco, and take snuff; a luxury that bids fair 

 to keep them always poor. . 



They did not seem to wish for more iron, or to 

 want any other instruments, except sewing-needles, 

 their own being made of bone. With these they not 

 only sew their canoes, and make their clothes, but 

 also very curious embroidery. Instead of thread, 

 they use the fibres of sinews, which they split to the 

 thickness which each sort of work requires. All 

 sewing is performed by the women. They are the tay- 

 lors, shoemakers, and boat-builders, or boat-coverers ; 

 for the men, most probably, construct the frame of 

 wood over which the skins are sewed. They make 

 mats and baskets of grass, that are both beautiful 

 and strong. Indeed there is a neatness and perfec- 

 tion in most of their work that shews they neither 

 want ingenuity nor perseverance. 



I saw not a fire-place in any one of their houses. 

 They are lighted as well as heated by lamps, which 

 are simple, and yet answer the purpose very well. 

 They are made of a flat stone, hollowed on one side 

 like a plate, and about the same size, or rather larger. 

 In the hollow part they put the oil, mixed with a lit- 

 tle dry grass, which serves the purpose of a wick. 

 Both men and women frequently warm their bodies 

 over one of these lamps, by placing it between their 

 legs, under their garments, and sitting thus over it 

 for a few minutes. 



They produce fire both by collision and by at- 

 trition ; the former by striking two stones one against 

 another ; on one of which a good deal of brimstone 

 is first rubbed. The latter method is with two pieces 

 of wood ; one of which is a stick of about eighteen 

 inches in length, and the other a flat piece. The 

 pointed end of the stick they press upon the other* 



