62 ■ /. C. lUiHiidl — Expedition to Mount St. Ellas. 



Y'oars Inter. Tlio houses of tlie natives iire deseribed in tlie nar- 

 rative just cited as — 



"The most wretclu'd hovels tliat can ])i)ssil)ly be conceived: a few jwles 

 stnck in tlie gronnd, M'ithout oi-dcr or rct>ularitv, recvossed and covered 

 with loose boards, * * * qnite insufficient to keep out the snow and 

 rain." 



AVhile this description woidd apply to the temporary shelters 

 now used by the ^'akutat Indians when on their summer hunt- 

 inii' and fishing expeditions, it by no means describes the houses 

 in wlneh they pass the winter. Tliese are large and substantially 

 built of planks hewn from spruce trees, and m some instances 

 supported from the inside by four huge posts, carved and painted 

 to represent grotesque figures. In the center of the roof there 

 is a large opening through which the smoke escapes from the 

 fire kindled in an open space in 'the ficxn-. But few of the 

 Indian villages of Alaska, excei)ting perhai)s the homes of 

 the Thlinkets in the Alexandrian archipelago, are better built or 

 more comfortaltle tlum those at Port Mulgrave. 



On the map of Port Mulgrave already referred to, " Point 

 Turner " and " Point C'arrew " appear. The former was named for 

 the second mate of the (^iiccn Vhartottc, who was the first of her 

 oflicers to land ; the second name was ])robat>ly designed to honor 

 another otficer of the expedition, but of this I am not positive. 



Douglas, 1788;* 



In 1788, another trading vessel, the ship Iphigenia, in com- 

 mand of Captain Douglas, visited the southern shore of Alaska 

 and anchored in Vakutat ba}^ ; but no special account of tlie 

 couiitry or the inhabitants is recoi'ded in the narrative of the 

 voyage. 



Malaspina, 17V)2.t 



About a hundred years ago the interest felt by the maritime 

 nations of Europe in a " Northwest passage," connecting the 



* Voyage of the Iphigenia ; Captain Douglas : in Voyages made in the 

 years 1788-1789 from China to the Northwest Coast of America. Jolni 

 Meares, 4°, London, 1790. 



t Relacion del viage hecho por las gt)letas Sutil y Mexicana en el ano de 

 1792 para reconocer el estrecho de Fuca ; con una introduecion en que se 

 da noticia de las exi)ediciones executadas anteriormente por los Espaiioles 

 en busca del paso del noroeste de la America [Por Don Dionisio Alcala 

 Galiauo]. Madrid, 1802 [accompanied by an atlas]. Pp. CXII-CXXI. 



