238 Jour rial of a Voyage through the 



others, who had been attentive tq us. The communication, 

 however, between us was awkward and inconvenient, for 

 it was carried on entirely by signs, as there was not a 

 person with me who was qualified for the office of an in- 

 terpreter. 



We were all of us very desirous to get some fresh sal- 

 mon, that we might dress them in our own way, but could 

 not by any means obtain that gratification, though there 

 were thousands of that fish strung on cords, which were 

 fastened to stakes in the river. They' were even averse to 

 our approaching the spot where they clean and prepare them 

 for their own eating. They had, indeed, taken our kettle 

 from us, lest we should employ it in getting water from 

 the river ; and they assigned as the reason for this precau- 

 tion, that the salmon dislike the smell of iron. At the 

 same time they supplied us with wooden boxes, which were 

 capable of holding any fluid. Two of the men that went 

 to fish, in a canoe capable of containing ten people, return- 

 ed with a full lading of salmon, that weighed from six to 

 forty pounds, though the far greater part of them were 

 under twenty. They immediately strung the whole of 

 them, as I have already mentioned, in the river. 



I now made the tour of the village, which consisted of 

 four elevated houses, and seven built on the ground, be- 

 sides a considerable number of other buildings, or sheds, 

 which are used only as kitchens, and places for curing their 

 fish. The former are constructed by fixing a certain num- 

 ber of posts in the earth, on some of which are laid, and 

 to others are fastened, the supporters of the floor, at about 

 twelve feet above the surface of the ground: their length 

 is from an hundred to an hundred and twenty feet, and 

 they are about forty feet in breadth. Along the centre are 

 built three, four, or five hearths, for the two-fold purpose 

 of giving warmth, and dressing their fish. The whole 

 length of the building on either side is divided by cedar 

 planks, into partitions or apartments of seven feet square, 

 m the front of which there are boards, about three feet 

 wide, over which* though they are not immoveably fixed, 

 the inmates of these recesses generally pass, when they go 

 to rest. The greater part of them are intended for that 

 purpose, and such are covered with boards, at the height 

 of the wall of the house, which is about seven or eight feet, 

 and rest upon beams that stretch across the building. On 

 those also are placed the chests which contain their provi- 



