J792- hours had vifited the veffel. The party was evidently reduced, arid thofe
<— -»-— ' who ftill remained having fatisfied their curiolity, or being compelled by
their mode of life, were preparing to depart with all their flock and effects.
Thefe it required little labour to remove, confifting chiefly of the
mats for covering their habitations, wherever it may be convenient to
pitch them; their Ikin and woollen garments, their arms, implements,
and fuch articles o f food as they had acquired during their refidence;
which, with their family and dogs, all find accommodation in a fingle
canoe; and thus the party is ealily conveyed to any flation, which
fancy, convenience, or neceffity, may direct. The dogs belonging to
this tribe of Indians were numerous, and much refembled thofe of Pomerania,
though in general fomewhat larger. They were all fhorn as
clofe to the fkin as fheep are in England; and fo com paft were their
fleeces, that large portions could be lifted up by a corner without cauling
any reparation. They were compofed o f a mixture o f a coarfe kind of
wool, with very fine long hair, capable o f being fpun into yarn. This
gave me reafon to believe, that their woollen clothing might in part be
compofed of this material mixed with a finer kind of wool from fome other
animal, as their garments were all too fine to be manufactured from the
coarfe coating of the dog alone. The abundance.of thefe garments
amongfl the few people we met with, indicates the animal from whence
the raw material is procured, to be very common in this neighbourhood;
but as they have no one domefticated excepting the dog, their fupply of
wool for their clothing can only be obtained by hunting the wild creature
that produces i t ; o f which we could not obtain the leafl information.
The weather continued delightfully ferene and pleafant; the carpenters
had executed their tafk, and the topfail yards were replaced.
Friday 25. In the courfe of the forenoon on friday, fome of our Indian friends
brought us a whole deer, which was the firft intire animal that had
been offered to us. This they had killed on the ifland,- and from the
number of perfons that came from thence, the major part o f the remaining
inhabitants o f the village, with a great number o f their dogs,
feemed to have been engaged in the chafe. This and another deer,
parts
parts of which remained in one of their canoes, had coll all thefe good J792,
people nearly a day’s labour, as they went over to the ifland for this ---- -
purpofe the preceding evening; yet they were amply rewarded for their
exertions by a fmall piece of copper not a foot fquare. This they
gladly accepted as a full compenfation for their venifon, on which the
whole party could have made two or three good meals ; fuch is the
efteem and value'.with which this metal is regarded !
About four in the afternoon,; agreeably to our expectations, the
Chatham was feen from the mall head over the land, and about fun-fet
Ihe arrived and anchored near us. Mr. Broughton informed me, that
the part of the coafl he had been deeded to explore, confilled of an
archipelago, of iflands lying before an extenfive arm of the fea llretching
in a variety of branches between the N . w . north, and n . n . e . Its
extent in the firll direaion was the moll capacious, and prefented an
unbounded horizon.
On due conlideration of all the circumllances that had fallen under
my own obfervation, and the intelligence now imparted b y Mr. Broughton,
I became thoroughly convinced, that our boats alone could enable
us to acquire any correCt or fatisfactory information refpefting this
broken country; and although the execution of fuch a fervice in open
boats would neceffarily be extremely laborious, and expofe thofe fo employed
to numberlefs dangers and unpleafant lituations, that might oc-
cafionally produce great fatigue, and protraCl their return to the (hips ;
yet that mode was undoubtedly the moll accurate, the moll ready, and
indeed the only one in our power to purfue for afcertaining the continental
boundary.
The main arm of the inlet leading towards mount Rainier Hill remained
unexplored. It became evident from the length of time Mr.
Puget and Mr. Whidbey had been abfent, that the inlet they had been
fent to examine, had led them to a confiderable diltance. We had no
time to fpare, and as it was equally evident none ought to be loll, I directed
that Mr. Johnltone in the Chatham’s cutter Ihould accompany me
in the morning in the Difcovery’s yawl, for the purpofe of examining
the main arm; and that Mr. Broughton, on the return of our boats,
M m 2 which