T H E P A C I F I C O C E A N. 521 



The people of Oonalafhka bury their dead on the fum- '77s. 



* r ^ Oaobcrr. 



mits of hills, and raife a little hillock over the grave. In a ' * r 



walk into the country, one of the natives, who attended me, 

 pointed out feveral of thefe receptacles of the dead. There 

 was one of them, by the fide of the road leading from the 

 harbour to the village, over which was railed a heap of 

 Hones. It was obferved, that every one who paiTed it, added 

 one to it. I faw in the country feveral (lone hillocks, that 

 fcenied to have been railed by art. Many of them were ap- 

 parently of great antiquity. 



What their notions are of the Deity, and of a futuie ftate, 

 I know not. I am equally unacquainted with their diver- 

 fions ; nothing having been feen that could give us an in- 

 fight into cither. 



They are remarkably cheerful and friendly amongft each 

 other; and always behaved with great civility to us. The 

 Ruflians told us, that they never had any connccT:ions with 

 their women, becaufe they were not Chrillians. Our people 

 were not fo fcrupulous ; and fomc of them had reafon to re- 

 pent that the females ^of OonalaHika encouraged their ad- 

 drefTes without any referve; for their health fuO'ere'd by a dif- 

 temper that is not unknown here. The natives of this ifland 

 are alfo fubjecfl to the cancer, or a complaint like it, which 

 thofe whom it attacks, are very careful to conceal. They do 

 not feem to be long-lived. I no where faw a perfon, man or 

 woman, whom I could fuppofe to be fixty years of age; and 

 but very few who appeared to be above fifty. Probably their 

 hard way of living may be the meansoffhortcning their days. 



I have frequently had occafion to mention, from the time 

 of our arrival in Prince William's Sound, how remarkably 

 the natives, on this North Weft fide of America, refemblc the 



Vol. II. 3 ^ Greenlanders 



