203 
“These works of sculpture cannot undoubtedly be compared, in any respect, to the 
master-pieces of which ancient Rome stripped Greece, and of which Italy, in her tiu'n, 
has been stripped by France; but can we avoid being astonished to find them so numerous 
on an island which is not perhaps more than six leagues in circumference, where popu- 
lation is not extensive, and among a nation of hunters? And is not our astonishment 
increased when we consider the progress this people have made in architecture? What 
instinct, or rather what genius it has required to conceive and execute solidly, without the 
knowledge of the succours by which mechanism makes up for the weakness of the improved 
man, those edifices, those heavy frames of buildings of fifty feet in extent by eleven in 
elevation?. . . . 
.... “When we examine the whole of the operations necessary for contriving to 
finish one of the edifices which I have just described; when we reflect on this assemblage 
of useful arts and of those which are merely agreeable, we are forced to acknowledge 
that these arts have not taken birth in the small island where they are cultivated: they 
come from a greater distance.” (Pp. 401-402-403-404-405.) 
“At some distance from these palaces were perceived several mausolea or tombs which 
l)ear much resemblance to the morals of the islands of the Great Ocean. These monuments 
are of two sorts; the first and more simple are composed only of a single post about ten 
feet in height, and a foot in diameter, on the summit of which are fixed planks forming 
a small platform; and in some this platform is supported by two posts. The body, deposit- 
ed on this platform, is covered with moss and large stones. The chief, whom surgeon 
Roblet questioned respecting one of these tombs which was seen not far from his habita- 
tion, gave him to understand that it was the tomb of one of his children for whom he had 
long mourned. The mausolea of the second .sort are more complex: four posts planted in 
the ground, and rai.sed two feet only above it, bear a sarcophagus wrought with art and 
hermetically closed. It might be supposed that the latter contain the bodies of the 
chiefs of families or tribes.” (Pp. 407-40S.) 
“It could not Ije doubted, from the sight of all the European utensils which this people 
possess, and the clothes of different sorts some of which were already worn out, that they 
had a communication for years past witli English navigators, and had received from them 
frequent visits: the facility with which every individual pronounced the word Englishman, 
which they often repeated, was sufficient to prove this.” (P. 413.) 
A house descril)ed (p. 415). 
“The habitations are, in general, painted and decorated in various ways; but what 
was particularly remarkable in that which the French visited was a picture somewhat like 
those which they had seen in the sort of redoubt erected in the small island of the Strait, 
which occupied the head of the apartment, as is seen suspended in the drawing-rooms 
in Spain, over the Estrado, the picture of the immaculate conception. Siu*geon Roblet 
has described this production of the fine arts of the North West Coast of America. 'Among 
a great number of figures very much varied, and which at first appeared to me,’ says he 
‘to resemble nothing, I distinguished in the middle a human figure which its extraordinary 
proportions, still more than its size, render monstrous. Its thighs extended horizontally, 
after the manner of tailora seated, are slim, long, out of all proportion, and form a car- 
penter’s square with the legs which are equally ill-made; the arms extended in the form of 
a cross, and terminated by fingers, slender and bent. The face is twelve (French) inches, 
from the extremity of the chin to the top of the forehead, and eighteen inches from one 
ear to the other; it is surmounted by a sort of cap. Dark red,’ adds he^ ‘apple green, 
and black, are here blended with the natural colour of the wood, and distributed in sym- 
metrical spots, with sufficient intelligence to afford at a distance an agreeable object.’ 
From the description which Surgeon Roblet gives us of this picture, it might be imag- 
ined that it somewhat resembles those shapeless essays of an intelligent child, who under- 
takes, without principles, to draw the objects which present themselves to his sight: 
I remark, however, that the voyageurs who have frequented the different parts of the North 
West Coast of America, often saw there works or painting and sculpture in which the 
propiortions were tolerably well observed, and the execution of which bespoke a taste and 
perfection which we do not expect to find in countries where the men seem still to have 
the appearance of savages. But what must astonish most, and I shall resume this ob^r- 
vation in the sequel, is to see paintings everywhere, everywhere sculpture, among a nation 
of hunters. 
I have already made known part of the moveables of the habitation that we are 
visiting; of these the cooking utensils appear to form a considerable portion: here are seen 
confounded with wooden vessels and spoons of horn or of whalebone, peculiar to the 
