1778. THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 477 



summits of hills, and raise a little hillock over the 

 grave. In a walk into the country, one of the 

 natives who attended me pointed out several of these 

 receptacles of the dead. There was one of them by 

 the side of the road leading from the harbour to the 

 village, over which was raised a heap of stones. It 

 was observed, that every one who passed it, added 

 one to it. I saw in the countrv several stone hillocks 

 that seemed to have been raised by art. Many of 

 them were apparently of great antiquity. 



What their notions are of the Deity, and of a fu- 

 ture state, I know not. I am equally unacquainted 

 with their diversions ; nothing having been seen 

 that could give us an insight into either. 



They are remarkably cheerful and friendly amongst 

 each other, and always behaved with great civility 

 to us. The Russians told us, that they never had 

 any connections with their women, because they 

 were not Christians. Our people were not so scru- 

 pulous ; and some of them had reason to repent that 

 the females of Oonalashka encouraged their addresses 

 without any reserve, for their health suffered by a 

 distemper that is not unknown here. The natives of 

 this island are also subject to the cancer, or a com- 

 plaint like it, which those whom it attacks are very 

 careful to conceal. They do not seem to be long- 

 lived. I no where saw a person, man or woman, 

 whom I could suppose to be sixty years of age, and 

 but very few who appeared to be above fifty. Pro- 

 bably their hard way of living may be the means of 

 shortening their days. 



I have frequently had occasion to mention, from 

 the time of our arrival in Prince William's Sound, 

 how remarkably the natives on this north-west side of 

 America, resemble the Greenlanders and Esqui- 

 maux, in various particulars of person, dress, wea- 

 pons, canoes, and the like. However, I was much less 

 struck with this than with the affinity which we 



