168 cook's second voyage dec. 



quisition we had made overbalanced every other con- 

 sideration, and we sat down with a good appetite to sup- 

 per, on part of what the preceding day had produced. 

 Mr. Pickersgill and his associates had got on board 

 some time before us with fourteen geese ; so that I 

 was able to make distribution to the whole crew r , 

 which was the more acceptable, on account of the 

 approaching festival ; for, had not Providence thus 

 singularly provided for us, our Christmas cheer must 

 have been salt beef and pork. 



I now learnt that a number of the natives, in nine 

 canoes, had been along-side the ship; and some on 

 board. Little address was required to persuade them 

 to either ; for they seemed to be well enough ac- 

 quainted with Europeans, and had, amongst them, 

 some of their knives. 



The next morning, the 25th, they made us ano- 

 ther visit. I found them to be of the same nation I 

 had formerly seen in Success-Bay ; and the same 

 which M. de Bougainville distinguishes by the name 

 of Pecheras ; a word which these had, on every oc- 

 casion, in their mouths. They are a little, ugly, half- 

 starved, beardless race. I saw not a tall person 

 amongst them. They were almost naked ; their 

 clothing was a seal-skin ; some had two or three sewed 

 together, so as to make a cloak which reached to the 

 knees ; but the most of them had only one skin, hard- 

 ly large enough to cover their shoulders; and all their 

 lower parts were quite naked. The women, I was 

 told, cover their nakedness with a flap of a seal-skin, 

 but in other respects are clothed like the men. They, 

 as well as the children, remained in the canoes. I 

 saw two young children at the breast entirely naked ; 

 thus they are inured from their infancy to cold and 

 hardships. They had with them bows and arrows, 

 and darts, or rather harpoons, made of bone, and 

 fitted to a staff*. I suppose they were intended to kill 

 seals and fish ; they may also kill whales with them, 

 as the Esquimaux do. I know not if they resemble 



