134 NOOTKA SOUND. 
fofterand finer than that of any others; fo that the difco- 
very of this part of the continent of North America, 
where fo valuable an article of commerce may be obtained, 
cannot be a matter of indifference. Birds are fcarce, both 
as to fpecies and number; and thofe that were feen were 
remarkably (hy, owing perhaps to their being continually 
harraffed by the natives, either to eat them, or to become 
pofTeffed of their feathers to be worn as ornaments. Thofe 
which frequent the woods are crows and ravens, of the 
fame kind with thofe in England, a bluifli jay or magpie, 
common wrens, the Canadian or migrating thrufh, and a 
confiderable number of brown eagles with white heads 
and tails: amongfl thofe which were diflinguifhable by 
their dried fkins, or certain fragments, were a final I, fpe¬ 
cies of hawk, a heron, and the large-crefled American 
king-fifher ; alfo different fpecies of wood-peckers, fome 
fmall birds of the finch kind, the fand-piper, and hum¬ 
ming-birds : off the coafl were feen gulls, and fliags, wild- 
ducks, fwans, and plovers. Fifh arc more plentiful than 
birds, though the variety is not great: the principal forts 
are the common herring and fardine, which come in large 
fhoals, and at Rated feafons; breams, both the filver-co- 
loured and gold-brown coloured, are next to the former 
in quantity ; and fliarks fometimes frequent the found. 
The other marine-animals are a fmall cruciated medufa or 
blubber, ffar-fifh, fmall crabs, and thecuttle-fifh. About 
the rocks are large mufcles, fea-ears, and (hells of large 
chamte ; and the lmaller forts are trochi, mu rices, rugged 
whelks, and fnails. Befides thefe, there are fome fmall 
cockles and limpets. In the found, or upon the coaff, 
there is red coral, as it was found in the canoes of the 
natives. The only animals of the reptile kind obferved 
here, and found in the woods, were brown fnakes, with 
whitifh (tripes on the back and fides, which are harmlefs; 
and brownifh water-lizards. The infe£l-tribe forms a nu¬ 
merous clafs ; but of minerals, no ores of'any metal were 
feen, if we except a coarfe, red, earthy or ochry, fub- 
ftance, ufed by the natives in painting themfelves, which 
may probably contain a little iron ; with a white and 
bluifh pigment, ufed for the fame purpofe. Befides the 
(tone or rock that conftitutes the mountains and (hores, 
which fometimes contains pieces of very coarfe quartz, 
here were found a hard black granite, a greyi(h whet- 
ftone, the common oil-flone of our carpenters. The na¬ 
tives alfo ufe the tranfparent leafy glimmer, or Mufcovy- 
glafs, and rock-cryflal. 
The perfons of the natives are, in general, under the 
common flature, but not (lender in proportion; being 
commonly pretty full or plump, though not mufcular. 
The vifage of mod of them is round and full, and (ome- 
times alio broad, with high prominent cheeks; and, 
above thefe, the face is frequently much deprefl'ed, or 
falling in between the temples; for they have a cuilom, 
fo common in the eaft, of depreffing the head into a taper 
form, which gives them fome refemblance to the Chinefe 
and Tartars. The head of the infant is bound by the mo¬ 
ther with a kind of fillet of feveral folds, as low down as 
the eyes, in order to give it a certain form, which, at this 
tender age, it is capable of receiving. It might be fup- 
pofed that fuch a tight-drawn ligature mufl caufe confi¬ 
derable pain to the child ; but our late voyagers never 
obferved that any of the infants, in fuch a Rate of prepa¬ 
ration for fugar-loaf heads, fullered any vilible pain or 
inconvenience. Though the cufiom of comprefling the 
head in this manner gives them an unpleafant appearance, 
by drawing up the eye-brows, and fometimes producing 
the difagreeable elfehl of fquinting, as well as of flatten¬ 
ing the nofe and diflending the noflrils, they are by no 
means an ill-looking race of people. They have fmall 
eyes, black, and rather languifhing than fparkliog; the 
mouth round, with large round thicki’fli lips; the teeth 
tolerably equal and well (et, but not remarkably white. 
They have either no beards at all,.which is moR commonly 
the cafe, or a fmall thin one upon the point of the chin, 
which is owing not to a natural defeat of hair, but to its 
being plucked out; fome, and particularly the old men, 
have not only confiderable beards all over the chin, but 
whifkers or muflachios. Hence we may conclude, that 
the remarks of M. de Pauw, Dr. Robertfon, and other 
writers, exemplified in the defe<5l of beards among the 
American Indians, are unfounded. Their eye-brows are 
fcanty and narrow ; but the hair of the head is abundant, 
and alf’o very coarfe and Rrong; and, without a ling!e 
exception, black, Rraight, and lank, or hanging down 
over the fhoulders. The neck is fhort; the arms and 
body clutnfy; and the limbs fmall, in proportion to the 
other parts, as well as crooked, or ill-made, with large 
feet badly (haped, and projecting ankles. It is not eaiy 
to diftinguilh their true colour, as their bodies are in- 
cruRed with paint and dirt; but where it could be per¬ 
ceived, the whitenefs of the (kin appeared almoR to equal 
that of the Europeans, efpecially thofe in fouthern lati¬ 
tudes. The whole body of the people feems to be cha- 
rafterifed by countenances exhibiting a dull phlegmatic 
want of exprefiion. The women refemble the men in fize, 
form, and colour, nor are the fexes eafily diRinguifhable; 
of the females, none even of thofe who are in the prime 
of life have the leaR pretenlions to be called handfome. 
Their common drefs is a flaxen garment, or mantle, or¬ 
namented on the upper edge-by a narrow flrip of fur, and 
at the lower edge by fringes or taflels; this paffes under 
the left arm, and is tied over the right (houlder by a Rring 
before and another behind, near its middle. Over this, 
which reaches below’ the knees, is worn a fmall cloak of 
the Tame .fubflance, likewife fringed at the lower part. 
The head is covered with a cap, of the figure of a trun¬ 
cated cone, or like a flower-pot, made of fine matting, 
having the top frequently ornamented, with a round or 
pointed knob, or bunch of leathern taflels, and faRened 
under the chin. Befides this drefs, which is common to 
both fexes, the men frequently throw over their other 
garments the (kin of a bear, wolf, or fea-otter, with the 
hair outw’ard ; in rainy weather they throw a coarfe mat 
about their fhoulders; and they have alfo woollen gar¬ 
ments which are little ufed. As they rub their bodies 
conltantly over with a red paint, made of a clayey or coarfe 
ochry fubflance, mixed with oil, their garments contract 
a rancid oR'enfive fmell, and a greafy naftinefs. Thefe 
garments, and alfo their heads, fwarm with vermin, which 
they pick ofl' with great compofure, and eat. Although 
their bodies are always covered with paint, their faces are 
often Rained with a black, a brighter red, or a white, co¬ 
lour, by way of ornament; and this gives them a ghaflly 
difgufling afpeft. They alfo flrew the brown martial mica 
upon the paint, which makes it glitter. The ears of 
many of them are perforated in the lobe with a large hole, 
and with two others higher up on the outer edge; and in 
thefe holes they hang bits of bone, quills fixed on a lea¬ 
thern Rring, fmall (hells, bunches of woollen taflels, or 
pieces of thin copper. The feptum of the nofe is alfo 
fometimes perforated, through which they draw a piece 
of foft cord; and others wear, in the fame place, fmall 
■thin pieces of iron, brafs, or copper, (haped almofl like a 
horfe-ihoe, the narrow opening of which receives the fep¬ 
tum, fo as that the two points may gently pinch it; and 
the ornament thus hangs over the upper lip. About 
their wrifls they wear bracelets or branches of white bugle 
beads, made of a conic fhelly fubflance, bunches of thongs, 
with taflels, or a broad black (hining horny fubflance of 
one piece. About their ankles they alfo wear many folds 
of leathern thongs, or the finews of animals twilled to a 
confiderable thicknefs. On extraordinary occafions, when 
they exhibit themfelves as flrangers, in vifits of ceremony, 
and when they go to war, they wear the (kins of animals, 
as of bears and wolves, curioudy ornamented; and on 
the head a quantityof withe, or.half-beaten bark wrapped 
about it, with large feathers, particularly thofe of eagles, 
• interfperfed with fmall white feathers. The face is alfo 
varioufly painted, with different colours and galhes, or 
belineared with a kind of tallow, mixed with paint, formed 
into 
