March 1830. HABITS OF 'THE NATIVES. 543 
stay all night with him. We then gave him some bread, which 
he smelt, and afterwards eat. He offered us some sea-elephant 
blubber, about two inches and a-half thick ; we took it, and 
making signs it was not good, flung it on the fire. As soon as 
it began to melt, he took it from the fire, put one part in his 
mouth, and holding the other drew it back again, squeezing 
out the oil with his teeth, which were nearly shut. He put the 
same piece on the fire again, and, after an addition to it, too 
offensive to mention, again sucked it. Several more pieces were 
served the same way, and the women and children partook of 
them. They drank large draughts of water as soon as they had 
done eating. As it grew dark at about eight o'clock, the man 
began to talk to the women about our ‘ sherroo’ or boat, and 
our men, who he thought were near. They seemed to be 
alarmed, for the women shortly after left the wigwam, and did 
not return. They were quite naked. The man took the 
youngest child in his arms, squatted down with the rest, and 
making signs that he was going to sleep, stretched himself 
by the fire, the children lying between him and the side of the 
wigwam. Soon afterwards another man came in, who seemed 
to be about twenty-two years of age, younger by ten years than 
the first we saw. He had a piece of platted grass round his 
head, in the form of a band. After talking some time with his 
companion, he talked and laughed with us, ate some bread, and 
would have eaten all we had, if we had not kept it from him. 
He ate about two pounds of blubber, broiling and squeezing 
it, as the other had done, and drank three or four pints of 
water. We had only one case knife, which he was very fond of 
borrowing now and then, to cut the blubber, pretending that 
the muscle shells, which he broke for the purpose, were not 
sharp enough. He examined all our clothes, felt our limbs 
and breasts, and would have taken our clothes off, if we had 
jet him. He wanted a knife, and was continually feeling about 
us for one, as we did not let him know that we had only one. 
He opened a rush basket, and took out several trifles, such as 
fire-stone,* feathers, spear-heads, a sailor’s old mitten, part of 
© Tron pyrites. 
