198 
ing his clothes, and expressing a great desire to be satisfied as to the colour of the skin 
they covered; making signs that Ms hands and face were painted wMte, instead of being 
black or red like their own; but when convinced of their mistake by opening Ms waistcoat, 
their astonishment was inexpressible. From these circumstances, and the general tenor 
of their behaviour, IVIr. Whidbey concluded they had not before seen any Euroiieans, 
though, from the different articles they possessed, it was evident a communication had 
taken place; probably, by the merns of distinct trading tribes.” (Vol. I, p. 285.) 
“Some fish, their garments, spears, bows, and arrows, to which these people wisely 
added their copper ornaments, comprised their general stock in trade. Iron, in all its 
forms, they judiciously preferred to any other article we had to offer.” (Vol. I, p. 305.) 
“Accompanied by some of the officers, Mr. Menzies, and our new guest Cheslakees, 
I repaired to the village, and found it pleasantly situated on a sloping hill, above the banks 
of a fine freshwater rivulet, discharging itself into a small creek or cove. It was exposed 
to a southern aspect, whilst higher Mils behind, covered with lofty pines, sheltered it 
completely from the northern winds. The houses, in number thirty-four, were arranged in 
regular streets; the larger ones were the habitations of the principal people, who had them 
decorated with paintings and other ornaments, forming various figures, apparently the 
rude designs of fancy; though it is by no means improbable, they might annex some meaning 
to the figures they described, too remote, or hieroglyphical, for our comprehension.” 
(Vol. I, p. 346.) 
“In most of the houses were two or three muskets, wMch, by their locks and mounting, 
appeared to be Spanish. Cheslakees had no less than eight in Ms house, all kept in excel- 
lent order: these, together with a great variety of other European commodities, I presumed 
were procured immediately from Nootka, as, on pointing to many of them, they gave us 
to understand they had come from thence, and in their commercial concerns with us, 
frequently explained that their skins would fetch more at Nootka than we chose to offer. 
Their total number we estimated at about five hundred.” (Vol. I, p. 348.) 
“After dinner, Maquinna entertained us with a representation of their warlike acMeve- 
ments. A dozen men first appeared, armed with muskets, and equipped with all their 
appendages, who took their post in a very orderly manner witMn the entrance of the house, 
where they remained stationary, and were followed by eighteen very stout men, each bear- 
ing a spear or lance sixteen or eighteen feet in length, proportionately strong, and pointed 
with a long flat piece of iron, wMch seemed to be sharp on both edges, and was higMy 
jx>lished; the whole, however, appeared to form but an awkward and unwieldy weapon. 
These men made several movements in imitation of attack and defence, singing at the 
same time several war songs, in which they were joined by those with the muskets. Their 
different evolutions being concluded, I was presented with two small sea-otter skins, and 
the warriors having laid by their arms performed a mask dance, which was ridiculously 
aughable, particularly on the part of Maquinna, who took a considerable share in the 
representation. We were not backward in contributing to the amusements of the day, 
some songs were sung which the natives seemed much to admire, and being provided with 
drum.s and fifes, our sailors concluded the afternoon's diversion with reels and country 
dances.” (Vol. I, p. 396.) 
“In the evening we passed close to the rock on which the vill^e last mentioned is 
situated; it appeared to be about half a mile in circuit, and was entirely occupied by the 
habitations of the natives. These appeared to be well constructed; the boards forming 
the sides of the houses were well fitted, and the roofs rose from each side with sufficient 
inclination to throw off the rain. The gable ends were decorated with curious painting, 
and near one or two of the most conspicuous mansions were carved figures in large logs of 
timber, representing a gigantic human form, with strange and uncommonly distorted 
features. Some of our former visitors again came off, and conducted themselves as before 
with great civility; but these, as well as those of shore, had great objections to our landing 
at their village; the latter making signs for us to keep off, and the former giving us to 
understand that our company was not desired at their habitations. Their numbers, 1 
should imagine, amoimted at least to three himdred. After gratifying our friends with 
some presents, they returned to their rock, and we continued our route homewards.” 
(Vol. II, p. 272.) 
“On the mormng of the 27th they returned down tMs arm, wMch, after Sir Alan Gard- 
ner, I called Gardner’s Canal.” (Vol. II, p. 302.) 
“We stopped to dine about a mile short of the low border of land wMch composed the 
head of the arm. Here we were visited by seven of the natives, who approached us in a 
canoe with much caution, and landed some of their party at a little distance, whilst the 
others advanced, seemingly with no small suspicion of our friendly intentions; this, how- 
i 
