226 NORTHWEST COAST OF AMERICA. 



of an American vessel that was engaged in the fur-trade, and 

 killed several of the crew. The savages pretended at first 

 that they had come to trade. Our pilot, who has been much 

 among them, also represents them as being a treacherous and 

 savage set. 



This circumstance goes to show that we must have been 

 under the influence of a strong current setting to the eastward, 

 for we had been steering all the preceding night northwest, a 

 course which gave the rocks a berth of between thirty and 

 forty miles. 



At 3 P. M. we passed between the two outer Flattery 

 Rocks, carrying ten fathoms all the way through, and between 

 4 and 5 o'clock passed Cape Flattery proper. 



We now sailed close along the starboard-shore, which gave 

 us an opportunity of forming some idea of it. A chain of 

 small islands and rocks run parallel with it some eight or ten 

 miles after passing the Cape. It had but little beach, became 

 high and broken in the interior, and was covered with a dense 

 forest, apparently composed of the fir-tree. 



A little before sunset several canoes put off from a small 

 bay and pulled toward us, evidently with the intention of 

 paying us a visit, but we had no time to wait for them to get 

 along-side, and after following us some time they turned back. 

 In two of the canoes we observed several women, who seemed 

 to take as active a share in the labors of the paddle as the 

 men. They were all dressed in skins and blankets, and their 

 heads w T ere covered with a green-looking straw T -hat of a conical 

 form, with a very broad base, much resembling those which 

 the Chinese are represented in pictures as wearing. 



The weather during the night was very disagreeable. 



May 1st. The weather continues cold aud rainy. The 

 shore we have passed to-day has been divided into steep cliffs 



