234 



NORTHWEST COAST OF AMERICA. 



them were some -women, who were very good-looking and bet- 

 ter dressed than any we have before seen. They came to ex- 

 change some moccasins and baskets for red paint and looking 

 glasses. The moccasins were neatly and even tastefully 

 made, and found ready market among the officers, who wished 

 to preserve them as specimens of Indian ingenuity and taste. 



July 3d. We reported our return from the so-called Hood's 

 Canal, having been absent from the ship upwards of three 

 weeks; it was found to be an arm of Puget Sound. Its 

 shores are nowhere more than one hundred feet in height, and 

 are formed of stratified clay, with a light gravelly soil, covered 

 with pine and spruce. At Tskutska Point the Canal divides 

 into two branches — one taking a direction nearly northerly, 

 while the other pursues its course to the southwest. At the 

 southern extremity of the canal there is an extensive inlet, 

 called " Black Creek," by which the Indians communicate 

 with the Columbia and Chickelees Rivers. The water in the 

 centre of the canal is too deep for anchorage, but there are 

 several good harbors, of all of which surveys were made. 



We fell in with Indians almost every day, and had con- 

 siderable intercourse with them in the way of trade — they sup- 

 plying us with venison and fish, and we "giving them in ex- 

 change powder, fish-hooks, red paint, and cotton handker- 

 chiefs. The venison, in particular, was sold very cheap — five 

 of the ordinary musket charges of powder being the price of a 

 whole carcass. 



Though these Indians seemed to understand each other, 

 they informed us that they belonged to different tribes. One 

 party called themselves Squamish, another Socomish, and a 

 third party Toandos. The Squamish appeared to be the most 

 numerous, and, according to their own account, could muster 

 two hundred fighting men. The Toandos were the best-look- 



