PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 257 



that time, having rotted and become offensive on their 

 return to warm latitudes. Our visiters were, as be- 

 fore, dirty, noisy, and impudent. One of them, find- 

 ing he was not permitted to carry off some deep-sea 

 leads that were lying about, scraped off the -reasy 

 arming and devoured it : another, after bargaining 

 some skins for the armourer's anvil, unconcernedly 

 seized it for the purpose of carrying it away; but, 

 much to his surprise, and to the great diversion of the' 

 sailors who had played him the trick, he found its 

 weight much too great for him, and after a good 

 laugh received back his goods. A third amused the 

 young gentlemen very much by his humorous beha- 

 viour. He was a shrewd, observing, merry fellow. 

 For some time he stood eying the officers walking the 

 deck, and at length appeared determined to turn them 

 into ridicule ; seizing therefore a young midshipman 

 by the hand, he strutted with him up and down the 

 deck in a most ludicrous manner, to the great enter- 

 tainment of all present. They quitted us late at night, 

 but renewed their visit at three in the morning, and 

 seemed surprised to find us washing the decks. They 

 probably expected that we should be fast asleep, and 

 that they would have an opportunity of appropriating 

 to themselves some of the moveable articles upon 

 deck. There was otherwise no reason for returning 

 so soon ; and from what we afterwards saw of these 

 people, there is every reason to believe that was their 

 real motive. 



Off the entrance of Kotzebue Sound we were met 

 by a westerly wind, which prevented our making much 

 progress; but on the 18th the breeze veered to the 

 south-westward, with a thick fog, and as I had not 

 seen any thing of the barge, I steered to the north- 



VOL. II. c 



