96 



NATIVES OF MAGELLAN'S STRAIT. 



[1823, 



sides, neatly sewed together with leather thongs or the sinews of 

 animals. The ribs are generally made of slender branches or saplings, 

 split in the centre as coopers do their hoop-poles. These are bent 

 into a semicircle with the flat side outwards, and fastened to the inside 

 of the canoe, which is thus kept distended to its proper shape, and 

 rendered sufficiently strong. The gunwales are formed of the same 

 material, sewed on in the same manner. 



Each of these boats is commonly divided into six distinct compart- 

 ments : viz. the first contains their fishing tackle and apparatus ; the 

 second is occupied by the women, who handle the forward paddles ; 

 the third is their fireplace, having a hearth of sand ; the fourth is the 

 well-room, or place for bailing ; the fifth contains the men, who ply the 

 stern paddles ; and the sixth is the place where their spears, bows and 

 arrows, &c. are carefully deposited. In the management of these frail 

 barks, skill and dexterity are more requisite than physical strength ; 

 and yet they are made to ply to windward at a surprising rate. Some 

 of them are made more square, but are not so easily managed, nor do 

 they move so swiftly. 



Besides the weapons already mentioned, the sling is much used by 

 this people, and with such effect, that the descendants of Benjamin 

 ought no longer to boast of their left-handed progenitors. It is made 

 of the sea-otter's skin, of the usual form, and nearly three feet in length. 

 Their spear-heads are made of hard bone, about six inches long, well 

 pointed, with a barb on each side about three inches from the point. 

 These are attached to straight poles, smoothly finished, and about twelve 

 feet in length. This weapon, which they use in taking seals and sea- 

 otters, is thrown, like the ancient javelin, from a level with the eye, 

 duly balanced in the right hand, and seldom fails of its intended effect. 

 Their bows are made of an elastic wood, which is hard and susceptible 

 of a high polish. They are generally about four feet in length, strung 

 with slips of the otter-skin or plaited sinews. The arrows are made 

 of finely polished wood of great hardness, pointed with a sharp flint of 

 triangular shape, and are about three feet in length. 



The arms of these Indians, however, are no certain indication of their 

 being a warlike people ; my own impression is decidedly that they are 

 not, their habits and manners being timid and pacific. The weapons just 

 described are rather their tools of trade by which they procure a liveli- 

 hood, the flood and the forest being their principal resources for food, 

 which generally consists of shellfish, seal flesh and blubber, sea-otters, 

 shags, and a few wild animals that inhabit the forests, as I have before 

 mentioned. They keep their game until it is nearly putrid before they 

 eat it. 



Their natural complexion is a pale yellow, inclining to copper- 

 colour, as can easily be ascertained by those parts of their bodies which 

 are not daubed over with paints of different colours. I found no diffi- 

 culty in conversing with them by signs, though whenever they were at 

 a loss for my meaning, they invariably imitated my motions and 

 repeated my words, which rendered our intercourse somewhat tedious. 

 It must be admitted that they are sadly deficient in the virtue of per- 

 sonal cleanliness ; but not so " horribly offensive and loathsome" as 



