PACIFIC AND BEERING’S STRAIT. 
263 
frightened at the discharge of a gun, and no less astonished when a bird CHAP, 
fell close to them, we judged they had had a very limited intercourse 
with Europeans. The oldest person we saw among the party was a August, 
cripple about fifty years of age. The others were robust people above 
the average height of Esquimaux : the tallest man was five feet nine 
inches, and the tallest woman five feet four inches. All the women 
were tattooed upon the chin with three small lines, which is a general 
distinguishing mark of the fair sex along this coast ; this is effected by 
drawing a blackened piece of thread through the skin with a needle, as 
with the Greenlanders. Their hair was done up in lai’ge plaits on each 
side of the head, as described by Captain Parry at Melville Peninsula, 
We noticed a practice here amongst the women, similar to that which 
is common with the Arabs, which consisted of blacking the edges of 
the eyelids with plumbago rubbed up with a little saliva upon a piece 
of slate. All the men had labrets, and both sexes had their teeth much 
worn down, probably by the constant apydication of them to hard sub- 
stances, of which their dresses, implements, and canoes are made. 
They had several rude knives, probably obtained from theTschutschi, 
some lumps of iron pyrites, and pieces of amber strung round their 
neck ; but I could not learn where they had procured them. 
As soon as we finished the necessary observations with the arti- 
ficial horizon, to the no small diversion and surprise of our inquisitive 
companions, we paid a visit to the next valley, where we found a small 
village situated close upon a fine stream of fresh water flowing from a 
large bed of thawing snow. The banks of the brook were fertile, but 
vegetation was more diminutive here than in Kotzebue Sound ; not- 
withstanding which, several plants were found which did not exist there. 
The tents were constructed of skins loosely stretched over a few spars 
of drift-wood, and were neither wind nor water tight. They were, as 
usual, filthy, but suitable to the taste of their inhabitants, who no doubt 
saw nothing in them that was revolting. The natives testified much 
pleasure at our visit, and placed before us several dishes, among which 
were two of their choicest — the entrails of a fine seal, and a bowl of 
coagulated blood. But, desirous as we were to oblige them, there was 
not one of our party that could be induced to partake of their hospi - 
