152 cook's account of the nootkans. [1778. 



notion of their having a right to the exclusive property of every 

 thing that their country produces," which had been remarked, by 

 Bodega and Maurelle, in the natives at Port Remedios, farther 

 north. " At first, they wanted our people to pay for the wood and 

 water that they carried on board ; and, had I been upon the spot 

 when these demands were made, I should certainly have complied 

 with them. Our workmen, in my absence, thought differently, for 

 they took but little notice of such claims ; and the natives, when 

 they found that we determined to pay nothing, ceased to apply. 

 But they made a merit of necessity, and frequently afterward took 

 occasion to remind us that they had given us wood and water out 

 of friendship." 



With regard to the disposition of these people, the English com- 

 mander was, on the whole, inclined to judge favorably. " They 

 seem," he says, " to be courteous, docile, and good natured, but, 

 notwithstanding the predominant phlegm of their tempers, quick in 

 resenting what they look upon as an injury, and, like most other- 

 passionate people, as soon forgetting it." Experience has, how- 

 ever, proved that Led yard read their characters more correctly, 

 when he pronounced them " bold, ferocious, sly, and reserved ; 

 not easily moved to anger, but revengeful in the extreme." 



From the number of articles of iron and brass found among these 

 people, one of whom had, moreover, two silver spoons, of Spanish 

 manufacture, hanging around his neck by way of ornament — from 

 their manifesting no surprise at the sight of his ships, and not being 

 startled by the reports of his guns — and from the strong inclination 

 to trade exhibited by them, — Cook was, at first, inclined to suppose 

 that the place had been visited by vessels of civilized nations before 

 his arrival. He, however, became convinced, by his inquiries and 

 observations during his stay, that this was by no means probable ; 

 for though, as he says, " some account of a Spanish voyage to this 

 coast in 1774 or 1775 had reached England before I sailed, it was 

 evident that iron was too common here, was in too many hands, 

 and the use of it was too well known, for them to have had the first 

 knowledge of it so very lately, or, indeed, at any earlier period, by 

 an accidental supply from a ship. Doubtless, from the general use 

 they make of this metal, it may be supposed to come from some 

 constant source, by way of traffic, and that not of a very late date ; 

 for they are as dexterous in using their tools as the longest practice 

 can make them. The most probable way, therefore, by which we 

 can suppose that they get their iron, is by trading for it with other 



