HUMBOLDT BAY. 
133 
with civilisation by immediately lighting them with some smouldering embers. So far, we 
had succeeded in establishing friendly relations with the natives of Humboldt Bay, although 
their representatives could not be tempted to set foot on the deck of the “Challenger;” and 
after reconnoitring the ship all round, they disappeared in the darkness. 
The rising sun of the 24th revealed one of the most interesting spectacles which it 
had been our good fortune to witness during our whole voyage. It was a fine breezy 
morning, with a few showers passing in the distance. Behind us Point Bonpland and 
Point Caillb lifted their grey cliffs into the cool morning air, while in front the thickly 
wooded promontories of the bay dipped their green edges into the white foam of the surf. 
All round our good old ship were gathered about eighty canoes, each manned by half-a- 
dozen savages in full war-paint, and mostly armed with bows and arrows. We intended 
to anchor at a point further up the bay. As soon as the screw began to turn, some of the 
natives were seen to point their arrows at it, as if they expected some terrible monster to 
rise out of the water. The “Challenger” slowly proceeded amidst the host of warriors, 
who endeavoured to keep up with her, while intoning their low mournful war-song, rendered 
more weird by the sound of the conch-shell. When we had reached our new anchorage 
several attempts were made to effect a landing; but the natives assumed a hostile attitude, 
attacking the boats with the evident intention of plunder, and making a show of resistance 
by pointing arrows at officers and sailors. Strict orders had been given by Captain 
Thomson that no force should be used, except under circumstances of extreme urgency and 
in self-defence. The surveyors, indeed, succeeded in landing on a small deserted island for 
the purpose of taking sights, and later in the day another part of the bay was explored 
with the help of the steam-pinnace, which the savages attempted to follow, but were of 
course unable to keep 
up with. This was 
near a village situated 
behind Point Caille, 
and presenting a per¬ 
fect example of a lake- 
village of primitive 
type, more correctly 
described by the Ger¬ 
man term “ Pfahlbau- 
ten.” Substituting 
wattles for palm-leaves, 
we seemed on our approach to have before us a fac-simile of the lake-dwellings discovered in 
the Lake of Zurich and other Swiss lakes, and an actual illustration of the stone age, for the 
natives of Humboldt Bay were wholly unprovided with iron, their hatchets, similar in shape 
to those of the primitive races of Northern Europe, being pointed with a hard, green-coloured 
stone, capable of nearly as high a polish as jade. By the time the pinnace had arrived close 
VILLAGE IN HUMBOLDT BAY. 
