April. 



T H E P A C I F I C O C E A N. 317 



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But, amidft all the filth and confufion that are found in the '77?; 

 houfes, many of thcin are decorated with images. Thefe 

 are nothing more than the trunks of very large trees, four 

 or five feet high, fet up fingly, or by pairs, at the upper end 

 of the apartment, with the front carved into a human face j 

 the arms and hands cut out upon the iidcs, and varioufly 

 painted; fo that the whole is a truly monflrous figure. The 

 general name of thefe images is Klnnima ; and the names of 

 two particular ones, which flood abreaft of each other, three 

 or four feet afunder, in one of the houfes, were Natchkoa 

 and Matfecta. Mr. Webber's view of the infide of a Nootka 

 houfe, in which thefe images are reprcfented, will convey a 

 more perfect: idea of them than any defcription. A mat, by 

 way of curtain, for the moft part hung before them, which 

 the natives were not willing, at all times, to remove ; and 

 when they did unveil them, they feemed to fpeak of them 

 in a very myfl:erious manner. It fliould feem that they are, 

 at times, accuftomed to make ofiferings to them ; if we can 

 draw this inference from their defiring us, as we interpreted 

 their figns, to give foraething to thefe images, when they 

 drew afide the mats that covered them *. It was natural, 



from 



* It fhould feem, that Mr. Webber was obliged to repeat his offerings pretty fre- 

 quently, before he could be permitted to finifli his drawing of thefe images. The fol- 

 lowing account is in his own words : " After having made a general view of their 

 " habitations, I fought for an infide, which might furnifh me with fufficient matter 

 *' to convey a perfeft idea of the mode in which thefe people live. Such was foon 

 " found. While I was employed, a man approached me with a large knife in his 

 " hand, feemingly diipleafed, when he obferved that my eyes were fixed on two reprc- 

 " fentations of human figures, which were placed at one end of the apartment, carv- 

 " ed on planks, of a gigantic proportion, and painted after their cuftom. However, 

 *' I took as little notice of him as pofTible, and proceeded ; to prevent which, he foon 

 " provided himfelf with a mat, and placed it in fuch a manner as to hinder my having 

 *• any longer a fight of them. Being pretty certain that I could have no future op- 

 " portunity to finifh my drawing, and the object being too interefting to be omitted, 



" I con- 



