116 



•when at war he is their leader, and his authority is then more 

 absolute. 



Their food is generally fish, frequently half putrified and 

 cast on shore, and the flesh of foxes and birds of prey, which 

 they devour raw. Though at their festivals they boil it, and 

 serve it up as a dainty. They eat also some wild roots and 

 sea weed. 



Their cloathing the skins of sea calves, of foxes and of 

 birds. 



Their habitation a ditch 9 feet deep, 18 in breadth, and 

 from 30 to .300 in length ; the sides supported by posts, and 

 covered by a frame, on which earth and grass are laid, with 

 apertures to serve for doors, with a ladder fixed to each, and 

 others to admit air and light, and some to let out smoke 

 when they happen to have fires, which they seldom have, 

 for even without any, the heat is insupportable, and the 

 smell from putrifying fish horrible. From 30 to 500 persons 

 inhabit the same ditch. Each habitation has a separate 

 property annexed to it on the opposite shore. All the fish 

 and shells found on it, and maritime plants, exclusively be- 

 long to the owner of the habitation. 



Their marriages (if they can be called so) last only during 

 pleasure, no previous consent of parents, no contracts, nor 

 portion, nor festivity are required, and polygamy constantly 



practised. 



