316 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNL\ 



was a kind of hill in the middle. I put my Indians a couple 

 of hundred yards apart. I did not know what kind of woman 

 she was, thought she might bite or scratch. We went from 

 one side of the island to the other, and could not see the hill, 

 and she was sitting on the side of the hill watching us. When 

 we got across to the Indians, I said, ' There 's nothing here, let 's 

 go back.' There was a basket and some feathers. She catched 

 shags and had a coat made without sleeves, nicely covered with 

 sealskin. I said to the Indians, ' You go to the hill and scatter 

 the feathers and things in the basket, and if she is aUve she 

 will find them.' The same day we found them all gathered 

 up and put in the basket." 



On the following morning Brown persistently con- 

 tinued the hunt. Toiling up the hill, when he was 

 about half-way up he caught sight of her. She was 

 carrying something heavy, and rested at intervals as 

 she ascended. Presently he came in sight of "three 

 huts made out of whale bone." Perceiving that here 

 was the woman of whom he was in search, he raised 

 his gun with his hat on it as a signal to the Indians 

 to join him hastily, as he did not know but she 

 might "bite or scratch." He thus continues his 

 narration: 



"She had a brush fence, about two feet high, to break the 

 wind, and right in front of me she sat facing me. The sun 

 was coming in her face. She was skinning a seal before I came 

 up to her. The dog, when he noticed me, began to growl. 

 Thinking she might run I stepped round her, and she bowed 

 as if she knew me before, and when the Indians came up they 

 all kneeled." 



The poor creature, when she saw beings of her own 

 color and race, "held out some of her food" to them. 

 She exhibited no fear, and at a sign went without 



