233 



thrown a coarse kind of mat; over (itlicrs, a few loose iManches of trees, 

 shrubs, and grass. None, liowever, appeared to be constructed for protect- 

 ing them, either against the heat of summer or the inclemency of winter. 

 In them were hung up, to be cured by the smoke of the tire they kept con- 

 stantly burning, clams, muscles, and a few other kinds of fish, seemingly 

 intended for their winter's subsistence. The clams perhaps were not all 

 reserved for that purpose, as we frequently saw them strung and worn about 

 the neck, which, as inclination directed, were eaten, two, three, or half a 

 dozen at a time. This station did not appear to have been preferred for the 

 purpose of fishing, as we saw few of the people so employed; nearly the 

 whole of the inhabitants belonging to the village, which consisted of about 

 eighty or a hundred men, women, and children, were busily engaged, like 

 swine, rooting np this beautiful verdant meadow, in quest of a species of 

 wild onion, and two other roots, which, in appearance and taste, greatly 

 resembled the saranna, particularly the largest. The collecting of these 

 roots was most likely the object which attracted them to this spot; they all 

 seemed to gather them with much avidity, and to preserve them with great 

 care, most probably for the pui-pose of making the paste I have already 

 mentioned." 



"These people varied in no essential point from the natives we had seen 

 since our entering the straits. Their ])ersons were equally ill made, and as 

 much besmeared Avith oil and different colored paints, particularly with red 

 oclier and a sort of shining chaffy mica, very ponderous, and in color much 

 resembling black lead. The)^ likewise possessed more ornaments, especially 

 such as were made of copper, the article most valued and esteemed among 

 them." Subsequently, about eighty of the Dwamish \dsited the ship, whose 

 appearance he mentions as more cleanly than that of the people on the 

 island. The latter were undoubtedly there merely temporarily, and for the 

 purpose of digging the roots referred to. 



A party of Indians, it seems, turned Ihe tables on Vancouver, so far as 

 the suspicion of cannibalism is concerned, and, after subjecting some of a 

 venison pastry to a very severe examination, rejected it with great disgust, 

 pointing to their own bodies to indicate their idea of its origin. He satis- 

 fied them of its character with some difficulty, and drew the inference, cer- 



