194 
Canoes. “Some canoes have a little carving, and are decorated by setting seals’ 
teeth on the surface, like studs; as is the practice on their masks and weapons. A few have, 
likewise, a kind of additional head or prow, like a large cutwater which is painted with the 
figure of some animal.” (Vol. II, p. 327.) 
“Their great dexterity in works of wood, may, in some measure, be ascribed to the 
assistance they received from iron tools. For as far as we know, they use no other; at 
least, we saw only one chisel of bone. And though, originally, their tools must have been 
of different materialsj it is not improbable that many of their improvements have been 
made since they acquired a knowledge of that metal, which now is universally used in their 
various wooden works. The chisel and the knife are the only forms, as far as we saw, 
that iron assumes amongst them.” (Vol. II, p. 329.) 
“Most of them we saw were about the breadth and thickness of an iron hoop; and their 
singular form marks that they are not of European make.” (Vol. II, p. 330.) 
“Besides this, it was evident that iron was too common here; was in too many hands; 
and the uses of it were too well known, for them to have had the first knowledge of it so 
very lately; or, indeed, at any earlier period, by an accidental supply from a ship. Doubt- 
less, from the general use they make of this metal, it may l>e supposed to come from some 
constant .source by way of traffic, and that not of a very late date; for they are as dexterous 
in using their tools as the longest practice can make them. The most probable way, 
therefore, by which we can suppose that they get their iron, is by trading for it with other 
Indian tribes, who either have immediate communication with European settlements 
upon that continent, or receive it, perhaps, through several intermediate nations. The 
same might be said of the brass and copj>er found amongst them. 
It is most probable, however, that the Spaniards are not such eager traders, nor have 
formed such extensive connections with the tribes north of Mexico, as to supply them with 
quantities of iron, from which they can spare so much to the people here.^ 
“I .saw nothing that could give the least insight into their notions of religion, besides 
the figures before mentioned, called by them Klumma. Most probably these were idols; 
but as they frequently mentioned the word acweek, when they spoke of them, we may, 
perhaps, be authorized to suppose that they are the images of some of their ancestors, 
whom they venerate as divinities. But all this is mere conjecture; for we saw no act of 
religious homage paid to them; nor could we gain any information, as we had learned little 
more of their language than to ask the names of things, without being able to hold any 
conversation with the natives, that might instruct us as to their institutions or traditions.” 
(Vol. II, p. 334.) 
The use of iron, copper, European beads and articles among the Eskimos of Alaska 
is described in vol. II, pp. 358 (iron), 370 (European beads), 379 (copper and imported 
articles), 380 (copper, early European contacts), 401 (foreign articles), 414 (traces of 
earlier explorations by the Russians), 417 (Ru.'^sian contacts). 
At Bering Strait: “For although the Russians live amongst thefn, we found much less 
of this metal in their possession, than we had met with in the possession of other tribes 
on the American continent, who had never seen, nor perhaps had any intercourse with, 
the Russians.” (Vol. II, p. 511.) 
(2) A Voyage Round the World but More Particularly to the North- 
west Coast of America, Performed in 1785, 1786, 1787, in the 
King George and Queen Charlotte, Captains Portlock and 
Dixon. By Captain George Dixon The Second Edition 
Face paint of the Tlingit. (P. 171.) 
Carvings on hooks. (P. 174.) 
Burial Box: “On getting into the cave, he found the object which attracted his 
attention to be a square box, with a human head in it, deposited in the manner already 
described at Port Mulgrave; the box was very beautifully ornamented with small shells, 
and seemed to have been left there very recently, being the only one in the place.” (P. 181.) 
iThough the two silver tablespoons found at Nootka sound most probably came from the Spaniards in the 
south, there seems to be sufficient grounds for believing that the regular supply of iron comes from a different quarter. 
It is remarkable, that the Spaniards, in 1775, found at Puerto de la Trinidad, in latitude 41® 7i, arrows pointed with 
copper or iron, which they understood were procured from the north. Mr. Daines Barrington, in a note at this 
part of the Spanish Journal, p. 20, says. “I should conceiv^e that the copper and iron, here mentioned, must have 
originally been bartered at our forts in Hudson bay," (Vol. II, pp. 332-333.) 
