THIRD VOYAGE 341 



river in his Majesty's name, and to bury in the ground a 

 bottle, containing some pieces of English coin of the year 

 1772, and a paper, on which was inscribed the names of 

 our ships, and the date of our discovery. 



"We weighed anchor as soon as it was high-water, and 

 with a faint breeze southerly, stood over to the west shore, 

 where the return of the flood obliged us to anchor early 

 next morning. Soon after several large and some small 

 canoes, with natives, came off, who bartered their skins ; 

 after which they sold their garments, till many of them 

 were quite naked. 



" In plying down the river, a good many of the natives 

 came off. Their company was very acceptable ; for they 

 brought with them a large quantity of very fine salmon, 

 which they exchanged for such trifles as we had to give 

 them. Most of it was split ready for drying ; and several 

 hundred-weight of it was procured for the two ships. 



" In the afternoon of the 2nd of June, the mountains, for 

 the first time since our entering the river, were clear of 

 clouds ; and we discovered a volcano in one of those on 

 the west side. It did not make any striking appearance, 

 emitting only a white smoke, but no fire. 



" The wind remaining southerly, we continued to tide it 

 down the river. Before we left this place, six canoes came 

 off from the east shore some conducted by one, and others 

 by two men. They remained at a little distance from the 

 ships, viewing them with a kind of silent surprise, at least 

 half an hour, without exchanging a single word with us, 

 or with one another. At length they took courage and 

 came alongside, began to barter with our people, and did 

 not leave us till they had parted with everything they 

 brought with them, consisting of a few skins and some 

 salmon. 



" Most of the skins which we purchased here were made 

 up into garments. However, some of these were in good 

 condition, but others were old and ragged enough. But as 

 these poor people make no other use of skins but for clothing 

 themselves, it cannot be supposed that they are at the 

 trouble of dressing more of them than are necessary for this 

 purpose. And perhaps this is the chief use for which they 

 kill the animals, for the sea and the rivers seem to supply 

 them with their principal articles of food. It would 

 probably be much otherwise were they once habituated to 

 a constant trade with foreigners. 



" Nothing interesting happened till the 18th, when, 

 having occasion to send a boat on board the Discovery, one 

 of the people in her shot a very beautiful bird of the hawk 

 kind. It is somewhat less than a duck, and of a black 



