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Journal of a Voyage through the 



to the breast, when it requires nourishment. I saw- 

 several whose heads were inclosed in boards covered with 

 leather, till they attain the form of a wedge. The women 

 wear no clothing but the robe, either loose or tied round 

 the middle with a girdle, as the occasion may require, with 

 the addition of a fringed apron, already mentioned, and a 

 cape, in the form of an inverted bowl or dish. To the 

 robe and cap, the men add, when it rains, a circular mat 

 with an opening in the middle sufficient to admit the head, 

 which, extending over the shoulders, throws off the wet. 

 They also occasionally wear shoes of dressed moose-skin, 

 for which they are indebted to their neighbours. Those 

 parts, which, among all civilized nations, are covered from 

 familiar view, are here openly exposed. 



They are altogether dependent on the sea and rivers for 

 their sustenance, so that they may be considered as a sta- 

 tionary people ; hence it is that the men engage in those 

 toilsome employments, which the tribes who support them- 

 selves by the chase, leave entirely to the women. Poly- 

 gamy is permitted among them, though, according to my 

 observation, most of the men were satisfied with one wife, 

 with whom, however, chastity is not considered as a ne- 

 cessary virtue. I saw but one woman whose under-lip 

 was split and disfigured with an appendant ornament. 

 The men frequently bathe, and the boys are continually in 

 the water. They have nets and lines of various kinds and 

 sizes, which are made of cedar bark, and would not be 

 known from those made of hemp. Their hooks consist of 

 two pieces of wood or bone, forming, when fixed toge- 

 ther, an obtuse angle. 



Their spears, or darts, are from four to sixteen feet in 

 length ; the barb, or point, being fixed in a socket, when 

 the animal is struck, slips from it : thus the barb being 

 fastened by a string to the handle, remains as a buoy ; or 

 enables the aquatic hunter to tire and take his prey. They 

 are employed against sea-otters, seals, and large fish. 



Their hatchets are made principally of about fourteen 

 inches of bar-iron, fixed into a wooden handle, as I have 

 already described them ; though they have some of bone 

 or horn : with these, a mallet and wooden wedge, they 

 hew their timbers and form their planks. They must also 

 have other tools with which they complete and polish their 

 work, but my stay was so short, my anxiety so great, and 



