Aug. 1858. A SUMMER VILLAGE. 135 



amounted to only 25 souls : 9 men, the rest women and 

 children. 



All of them evinced extreme delight at seeing us ; as we 

 approached the huts the women and children held up their 

 arms in the air and shouted "Pilletay" (give me), inces- 

 santly ; the men were more quiet and dignified, yet lost no 

 opportunity, either when we declined to barter or when they 

 had performed any little service, to repeat " Pilletay " in a 

 beseeching tone of voice. 



We walked everywhere about the tents and entered some 

 of them, carefully examining every chip or piece of metal ; 

 our visit was quite unexpected. They had only two sledges ; 

 both were made of 2^-inch oak-planks, devoid of bolt-holes 

 or treenails, and having but very few nail-holes. These 

 sledges had evidently been constructed for several years, the 

 parts not exposed to friction were covered with green 

 fungus; one of them measured 14 feet long, the other about 

 9 feet ; we were told the wood came from a wreck to the 

 southward of Pond's Bay. Most of the sledge crossbars 

 were ordinary staves of casks. Amongst the poles and 

 large bones which supported the tents we noticed a painted 

 fir oar. Some pieces of iron hoop and a few preserved- 

 meat tins — one of which was stamped " Goldner," — com- 

 pleted their stock of European articles. 



Petersen questioned all the men separately as to their 

 knowledge of ships or wrecks ; but their accounts only served 

 to confirm the old woman's story. None of them had ever 

 heard of ships or wrecks anywhere to the westward. Both 

 individually and collectively we got them to draw charts of 

 the various coasts known to them, and to mark upon them 

 the positions of the wrecks. The two chiefs, Noo-luk and 

 A-wah-lah, soon made themselves known to me, and, when 

 we desired to go to sleep, sent away the people who were 

 eagerly pressing round our tent. All these natives were 



