330 CAPTAIN COOK'S VOYAGES 



have bits of mat hung before them to prevent the rain 

 getting in. 



" Their furniture consists chiefly of a great number of 

 chests and boxes of all sizes, which are generally piled upon 

 each other, close to the sides or ends of the house, and 

 contain their spare garments, skins, masks, and other things 

 which they set a value upon. Their other domestic utensils 

 are mostly square and oblong pails or buckets to hold water 

 and other things ; round wooden cups and bowls, and small 

 shallow wooden troughs about two feet long, out of which 

 they eat their food ; and baskets of twigs, bags of matting, 

 fishing implements, etc. 



" The nastiness and stench of their houses are, however, 

 at least equal to the confusion. But amidst all the filth and 

 confusion that are found in the houses, many of them are 

 decorated with images. These are nothing more than the 

 trunks of very large trees, four or five feet high, set up singly 

 or by pairs, at the upper end of the apartment, with the 

 front carved into a human face, the arms and hands cut out 

 upon the sides, and variously painted, so that the whole is 

 a truly monstrous figure. The general name of these images 

 is Klumna ; and the names of two particular ones, which 

 stood abreast of each other, three or four feet asunder, in 

 one of the houses, were Natchkoa and Matseeta. A mat, 

 by way of curtain, for the most part hung before them, 

 which the natives were not willing at all times to remove ; 

 and when they did unveil them, they seemed to speak of 

 them in a very mysterious manner. 



" It was natural, from these circumstances, for us to think 

 that they were representatives of their gods, and yet we had 

 proofs of the little real estimation they were in ; for, with a 

 small quantity of iron or brass, I could have purchased all 

 the gods in the place, and I actually got two or three of 

 the very smallest sort. 



" The chief employment of the men is fishing and killing 

 land or sea animals. The women are occupied in manu- 

 facturing their flaxen or woollen garments, and in preparing 

 the sardines for drying. The young men appeared to be the 

 most indolent or idle set in this community, for they were 

 either sitting in scattered companies, to bask themselves in 

 the sun, or lay wallowing in the sand upon the beach, like 

 a number of hogs, for the same purpose, without any cover- 

 ing. But this disregard of decency was confined to the men. 

 The women were always properly clothed, and behaved with 

 the utmost propriety ; justly deserving all commendation 

 for a bashfulness and modesty becoming their sex, but 

 more meritorious in them, as the men seem to have no 

 sense of shame. 



