PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 287 



skins in return for the articles we had left for them. chap. 

 — On examining the ravine in which they had concealed '^— v— ■ 

 themselves, we found one man lying- dead, with his bow ^^p*- 



•' " ' 1827. 



and quiver, containing five arrows, placed under his 

 body, and clothed in the same manner as when he 

 quitted the baidar. The ravine was conveniently 

 adapted to the defence of a party, being narrow, with 

 small banks on each side of it, behind which a party 

 might discharge their arrows without much danger to 

 themselves until they became closely beset ; to obviate 

 which as much as possible, and to sell their lives as 

 dearly as they could, we found they had constructed 

 pits in the earth by scooping out holes sufficiently 

 large to contain a man, and by banking up the mud 

 above them. There were five of these excavations 

 close under the edges of the banks, which were under- 

 mined ; one at the head of the ravine, and two on 

 each side, about three yards lower downti ; the latter 

 had a small communication at the bottom, through 

 which an arrow might be transferred from one person 

 to another, without incurring the risk of being seen 

 by passing it over the top. The construction of these 

 pits must have occupied the man who presented him- 

 self to us with his arms covered with mud : as a de- 

 fence they were as perfect as circumstances would 

 allow, and while they show the resources of the people, 

 they mark a determination of obstinate resistance. 

 The effect of the arrows was fully as great as might 

 have been expected, and, had they been properly 

 directed, would have inflicted mortal wounds. At 

 the distance of a hundred yards a flesh-wound was 

 produced in the thigh, which disabled the man for a 

 time ; and at eight or ten yards another fixed the right 

 arm of a marine to his side : a third buried itself two 



