Nortfi-West Continerut of America, 26 9 



my situation so critical, that many circumstances may be 

 supposed to have escaped me. 



Their canoes are made out of the cedar tree, and will 

 carry from eight to fifty persons. 



Their warlike weapons, which, as far as I could judge, 

 they very seldom have occasion to employ, are bows and 

 arrows, spears, and daggers. The arrows are such as 

 have been already described, but rather of a slighter "make. 

 The bows are not more than two feet and an half in length ; 

 they are formed of a slip of red cedar ; the grain being on 

 one side untouched with any tool, while the other is se- 

 cured with sinews attached to it by a kind of glue. 

 Though this weapon has a very slender appearance, it 

 throws an arrow with great force, and to a considerable 

 distance. Their spears are about ten feet long, and point- 

 ed with iron. Their daggers are of various kinds, being 

 of British, Spanish, and American manufactures. 



Their household furniture consists of boxes, troughs, 

 and dishes formed of wood, with different vessels made 

 of watape. These are employed, according to their se- 

 veral applications, to contain their valuables and provi- 

 sions, as well as for culinary purposes, and to carry water. 

 The women make use of muscle-shells to split and clean 

 their fish, and which are very well adapted to that purpose. 



Their ornaments are necklaces, collars, bracelets for 

 the arms, wrists, and legs, with ear-rings, &c. 



They burn their dead, and display their mourning, by 

 cutting their hair short, and blackening their laces. 

 Though I saw several places where bodies had been burn- 

 ed, I was surprised at not seeing any tomb or memorial of 

 the dead, particularly when their neighbours are so super- 

 stitiously attentive to the erection and preservation of 

 them. 



From the number of their canoes, as well as the quan- 

 tity of their chests and boxes, to contain their moveables, 

 as well as the insufficiency of their houses, to guard against 

 the rigours of a severe winter, and the appearance of the 

 ground around their habitations, it^is evident that these 

 people reside here only during the summer or salmon sea- 

 son, which does not probably last more than three months. 

 It may be reasonably inferred, therefore, that they have 

 villages on the sea-coast, which they inhabit during the 

 rest of the year. There it may be supposed they leave 

 the sick, and infirgi, and the aged; and thither they may 



