THIRD VOYAGE 361 



used by the Greenlanders and Esquimaux, the framing 

 being of slender laths, and the covering of seal-skins. 

 They are about twelve feet long, a foot and a half broad 

 in the middle, and twelve or fourteen inches deep. Upon 

 occasion, they can carry two persons, one of whom is 

 stretched at full length in the canoe, and the other sits 

 in the seat, or round hole, which is nearly in the middle. 



" Their fishing and hunting implements are all made in 

 great perfection of wood and bone, and differ very little 

 from those used by the Greenlanders, as they are described 

 by Grantz. These people are very expert in striking fish, 

 both in the sea and in rivers. They also make use of 

 hooks and lines, nets and weirs. The hooks are composed 

 of bone, and the lines of sinews. 



" The fishes which are common to other northern seas 

 are found here, such as whales, grampuses, porpoises, sword 

 fish, halibut, cod, salmon, trout, soles, flat fish, several 

 other sorts of small fish, and there may be many more that 

 we had no opportunity of seeing. Sea-horses are, indeed, in 



?rodigious numbers about the ice ; and the sea-otter is, 

 believe, nowhere found but in the sea. We sometimes 

 saw an animal, with a head like a seal's, that blew after 

 the manner of whales. It was larger than a seal, and its 

 colour was white, with some dark spots. Probably this 

 was the sea-cow or manati. 



" I think 1 may venture to assert that sea and water 

 fowls are neither in such numbers, nor in such variety, as 

 with us in the northern parts of the Atlantic Ocean. 



" The few land birds that we met with are the same 

 with those in Europe ; but there may be many others 

 which we had no opportunity of knowing. A very beauti- 

 ful bird was shot in the woods at Norton Sound, which, 

 I am told, is sometimes found in England, and known by 

 the name of Chatterer. 



" As our excursions and observations were confined 

 wholly to the sea-coast, it is not to be expected that we 

 could know much of the animals or vegetables of the 

 country. There are no deer upon Oonalashka, or upon 

 any other of the islands. Nor have they any domestic 

 animals, not even dogs. Foxes and weasels were the only 

 quadrupeds we saw. 



" There is a great variety of plants at Oonalashka, and 

 most of them were in flower the latter end of June. The 

 principal one is the saranne, or lily root, which is about 

 the size of a root of garlick ; the taste is not disagreeable, 

 and we found means to make some good dishes with it. 



" We must reckon, amongst the food of the natives, some 

 other wild roots ; the stalk of a plant resembling angelica ; 



