4 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 8o 



tions. Only slight evidence of divisions within indicated the part 

 occupied by different famiHes. Large chests served to hold " their 

 spare garments, skins, masks, and other things which they set a value 

 upon ; " their various utensils, " 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, etc. 

 Their fishing implements, and other things also, lie or hang up in 

 different parts of the house, but without the least order ; so that the 

 whole is a complete scene of confusion ; and the only places that do 

 not partake of this confusion are the sleeping-benches, that have 

 nothing on them but the mats ; which are also cleaner, or of a finer 

 sort, than those they commonly have to sit on in their boats." 



The interiors of the native houses evidently proved of great interest. 

 Captain Cook referred twice to drawings of interiors having been 

 made by Webber. Fortunately, both of the original pictures are in this 

 collection and are reproduced. The first was made April 22, 1778. On 

 that day Cook visited the village at the entrance of the sound and 

 wrote : " During the time I was at this village Mr. Webber, who had 

 attended me thither, made drawings of everything that was curious, 

 both within and without doors." The sketch reproduced in plate 2 

 is believed to have been made at that time. JMuch interesting detail is 

 shown, including " the construction of the houses, household furniture 

 and utensils, and striking peculiarities of the customs and modes of 

 living of the inhabitants." 



After mentioning the condition of the interiors Captain Cook wrote, 

 that, notwithstanding the confusion, many of the houses " are deco- 

 rated 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 Klumma; and the names of two particular ones, which stood 

 abreast each other, three or four feet asunder, in one of the houses, 

 were Natchkoa and Matsccta. Mr. Webber's view of the inside of a 

 Nootka house, in which these images were represented, will convey 

 a more perfect idea of them than any description." The original view 

 or sketch to which Captain Cook referred is reproduced in plate 3. 



The natives were described as being rather short but not slender. 

 " The women are nearly of the same size, color, and form, with the 

 men ; from whom it is not easy to distinguish them." Men and women 



