172 TRAVELS IN THE EIGHTIES. 



gling or " chin-music." These curiosities consisted 

 of baskets manufactured out of roots, dyed and plaited 

 into various designs, charms, bows and arrows, carved 

 walrus tusks, and wild goat and sheep-horn spoons. 

 But the greatest treasures of the kind were obtained 

 by one of the officers (who requested me not to make 

 known his name in case the Indians might get wind 

 of it). It is the custom when a medicine man dies to 

 bury all his belongings, charms, and " medicines " 

 with him in his grave, which is a large wooden struc- 

 ture. From one of these he procured two sacks' full 

 of the most extraordinary implements, comprising 

 masks, rattles, and grotesque images, with which evil 

 spirits were exorcised, a shawl of leather trimmed 

 with sea-parrots' bills, and a crown of wild goat's 

 horns. Meanwhile we revelled in wild strawberries, 

 which grew in great profusion, in clams, and in wild 

 fowl, which were abundant along the shore. 



"We also made the acquaintance to our great sur- 

 prise, not expecting to find a white man of a young 

 Swedish trader. He informed us that in a month a 

 small schooner would call and fetch him away. He 

 expressed himself as pleased to see the man-o'-war, 

 because the Indians had lately behaved towards him 

 in a threatening manner, and he had told the medicine 

 man that a warship would soon arrive to chastise them 

 unless they mended their manners. Our timely arri- 

 val had thus acted as a corroboration. 



At length in the evening of July 16th, we weighed 

 anchor for Icy Bay, a point considerably nearer to 



