294 



A VOYAGE TO 



I77.''- We were clear as to the cxiflcnce of ail the animals al- 



ready mentioned f but there arc two others, bcfidcs, which 

 we could not diftinguifli with fuflicient certainty. Of the 

 firft of thefe we faw none of the Ikins, but what were 

 drciTed or tanned like leather. The natives wear them on 

 fome occafions; and, from the fize as well as thicknefs, 

 they were generally concluded to belong to the elk, or 

 moufe-deer ; though fome of them perhaps might belong 

 to the buffalo. The other animal, which fccms by no 

 means rare, was gueflbd to be a fpecies of tlic wild cat or 

 lynx. The length of the fliins, without the head, which 

 none of them had, was about two feet two inches. They 

 arc covered witli a very fine wool or fur, of a very light 

 brown or whitifli yellow colour, intermixed with long hairs, 

 which on the back, where they are fliortefl, arc blackifh ; 

 on the fxdes, where they are longer, of a filver white; and on 

 the belly, where ihey are longed, of the colour of the wool; 

 but the whitilh, or filver hairs, are often ^o predominant^ 

 that the whole animal acquires a caft of that kind. The tail 

 is only three inches long, and has a black tip. The whole 

 Ikin being, by the natives, called •waiijhcs ; that, mofl pro- 

 bably, is their name for tliis animal. Hogs, dogs, and 

 goats, have not as yet found their way to this place. Nor 

 do the natives feem to have any knowledge of our brown 

 rats, to which, when they faw them on board the fliips, 

 they applied the name they give to fquirrels. And though 

 they called our goats ebieetla, this, moft probably, is their 

 name for a young deer or fawn. 



The fca animals fccn off the coaft, were whales, por- 

 poifcs, and fcals. The laft of thefe fcem only of the com- 

 mon fort, judging from the Ikins which we law here ; their 

 colour being cither Hlvcrly, ycllowifli, plain, or fpotted, with 



black. 



