North-West Continent of America, 



243 



myself, by whom he was kindly received ; they were, he 

 said, the first white people he had seen. They wer- pro- 

 bably the ships commanded by Captain Cook. This ca- 

 noe was built of cedar, forty-five feet long, four feet wide, 

 and three feet and a half in depth. It was painted black 

 and decorated with white figures of fish of different kinds. 

 The gunwale, fore and aft, was inlaid with the teeth of 

 the sea-otter.* 



When I returned to the river, the natives who were to 

 accompany us, and my people, were already in the canoe. 

 The latter, however, informed me, that one of our axes 

 was missing. I immediately applied to the chief, and re- 

 quested its restoration ; but he would not understand me 

 till I sat myself down on a stone, with my arms in a state 

 of preparation, and made it appear to him that I should 

 not depart till the stolen article was restored. The village 

 was immediately in a state of uproar, and some danger 

 was apprehended from the confusion that prevailed in it. 

 The axe, however, which had been hidden under the 

 chief's canoe, was soon returned. Though this instru- 

 ment was not, in itself, of sufficient value to justify a dis- 

 pute with these people, I apprehended that the suffering 

 them to keep it, after we had declared its loss, might have, 

 occasioned the loss of every thing we carried with us, and 

 of our lives also. My people w r ere dissatisfied with me 

 at the moment: but I thought myself right then, and, I 

 think now, that the circumstances in which we were in- 

 volved, justified the measure which I adopted. 



* As Captain Cook has mentioned, that the people of the sea-coast 

 adorned their canoes with human teeth, I was more particular in my 

 inquiries ; the result of which was, the most satisfactory proof, that 

 he was mistaken : but his mistake arose from the very great resem- 

 blance there is between human teeth and those of the sea-otter. 



