252 
VOYAGE TO THE 
CHAP. The natives also offered to us for sale various other articles of 
X 
traffic, such as small wooden bowls and cases, and little ivory figures, 
some of which were not more than three inches in length, dressed in 
clothes which w'ere made with seams and edgings precisely similar to 
those in use among the Esquimaux. 
I'he staves of the harpoons and spears were made of pine or 
cypress, in all probability from drift wood, which is very abundant upon 
the shores ; and yet the circumstance of their having lumps of the 
resin in small bags favoured the supposition that they had access to 
the living trees. They had also iron pyrites, plumbago, and red ochre, 
with which the frame of the baidar was coloured. 
The people themselves in their persons, as well as in their manners 
and implements, possessed all the characteristic features of the Esqui- 
maux ; large fat round faces, high cheek bones, small hazel eyes, 
eyebrows slanting like the Chinese, and wide mouths. They had 
the same fashion with their hair as the natives of Schismareff* Inlet, 
cutting it close round the crown of the head, and thereby leaving a 
bushy ring round the lower part of it. Ophthalmia was very general 
with them, and obliged some to wear spectacles, made of wood, with 
a wide slit for each eye to look through, or some other kind of shade. 
At Schismareff Inlet diseases of this nature were, also, prevalent 
among those who visited us. 
The salutation of our visiters was, as before, by a contact of 
noses, and by smoothing our faces with the palms of their hands, but 
without any disgusting practice. When they had parted with all they 
had for sale, they quitted the ship, well pleased with their excur- 
sion, and having pushed off to a little distance, clapped their hands, 
extended their arms, and stroked their bodies repeatedly ; which we 
afterwards found to be the usual demonstration of friendship among all 
their tribe. They then pointed to the shore, and with one consent 
struck the water with their paddles, and propelled their baidars with 
a velocity which we were not prepared to witness. These boats are 
similar in construction to the oomiaks of Hudson’s Bay ; but the model 
differs in being sharp at both ends. They consist of a frame made from 
drift wood, covered with the skins of walruses strained over it, and are 
