PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 389 



the ship as was usual. On the return of the boat 

 from Chamisso Island we learned that there was not 

 a drop of water to be had, in consequence of the 

 streams at which we had formerly filled our casks 

 being derived from beds of thawing ice and snow 

 which were now entirely dissolved. 



By the other boat, we found, as we expected, that 

 the cask of flour had been dug up and broken open, 

 that the hoops had been taken away, and that the 

 flour had been strewed about the ground, partly 

 in a kneaded state. Suspicion immediately fell upon 

 the natives encamped upon the peninsula, which was 

 strengthened by the manner in which they came off 

 the next morning, dancing and playing a tambourine 

 in the boats, a conciliatory conduct with which Ave 

 had never before been favoured. When they came 

 alongside, they were shown a handful of flour, and 

 were referred to the island upon which the cask had 

 been buried. Their guilty looks showed that they 

 perfectly understood our meaning ; but they strong- 

 ly protested their innocence, and as a proof that they 

 could not possibly have committed the theft, they 

 put their fingers to their tongues, and spit into the 

 sea with disgust, to show us how much they dis- 

 liked the taste of the material, little considering that 

 the fact of their knowing it to be nauseous was a 

 proof of their having tasted it : but no further notice 

 was taken of the matter, as I wished as much as 

 possible to conciliate their friendship on account of 

 the land expedition. 



The baidars of these people were better made than 

 any we had seen, excepting those of the St. Law- 

 rence islanders, which they resembled in having a 

 flap made of walrus skin attached to the gunwale 



August, 

 1826. 



