who, he laid, was highly pleafed by the trouble he had taken in paying
■ him this didant vifit; and that, as a proof o f Maquinna’s fincerity, he was
then about to make fome return for the repeated indances of friendfhip
he had experienced, by placing a fea Otter fkin at the feet of Sen1' Alava.
I then received a fimilar compliment, as did Senr- Fidalgo and.Mr. Puget,
after which SenT- Alava and myfelf were each prefented with a fecond
fea otter fkin, which concluded the ceremonies o f this vifit.
The day was not yet far advanced;1 and being fair and pleafant, we
amufed ourfelves in drolling through the village; and found it, although
extenfive, far'from being numeroufly inhabited. This was accounted
for by Maquinna, who dated, that many families were ftill abfgnt, -.not
having yet procured their flock of provifions for the enfuing winter fea-
fon; at which time, if all their habitations are fully occupied, its population
cannot be much lefs than eight or nine hundred perfons. Maquinna's
habitation was confiderably larger than any of the others, and had a
very fuperior advantage over them all by being lefs filthy; it was at pre-
fent not more than half occupied, nor was it intirely covered in, though
it did not appear to have been recently ereifted; but we remained ignorant
of the reafon why fo large a proportion of thé roof remained un-
finifhed. The conftruétion of the Nootka houfes, efpecially with refpeél
to their infide, has been fo fully treated by Captain Cook, as to preclude
any material addition from my pen; yet it is Angularly remarkable,
(although particularly reprefented in Mr. Webber’s drawing of the village
in Friendly cove) that Captain Cook fhould not have taken any
■ notice whatever in his journal, of the immenfe pieces of timber which
are faifed, and horizontally placed on wooden pillars, about eighteen
inches above the roof o f the largefl houfes in that village; one of which
pieces of timber was o f fize fufficient to have made a lower maft for a
third rate man of war. Thefe, together with the large images, were at
that time fuppofed to denote the habitation of the chief, or principal per-
fon of the tribe; and the opinion then formed, has been repeatedly
confirmed by obfervations made during this voyage. One or more
houfes in many of the déferted villages, as well as in moll of the inhabited
ones we had vifited, were thus diftinguilhed. On the houfe of
Maquinna
Maquinna were three of thefe immenfe fpars; the middle piece was the g *994.
larged, and meafured at the but-end nearly five feet'in diameter; this <■ .
extended the whole length of the habitation, which was about an hundred
feet long., It was placed, on pillars of wood; that which fupported
it within the upper end of the houfe was about fifteen feet in circumference,
and on it was carved one of their didorted reprefentations of a
gigantic human figure. We remained totally unacquainted with the intention
of, or the purpofe that was to be anfwered by, thefe lingular roof trees;
but it is natural to fuppofe that they mud be diredled to fome important
objefil, as the raifing of fuch immenfe maffes of timber twelve or fourteen
feet from the ground, and placing them firmly on the pillars by
which they are fupported, mud, to a people fo totally devoid of mechanical
powers, be a mod tedious and laborious operation.
Our curiofity being fatisfied, and our pockets completely emptied by
the unremitting felicitations of the inhabitants of Tahlheis, of the dock
of trinkets with which we had been provided, we proceeded to the upper
end of the arm, which adorded me an opportunity of explaining to
Senr-Alava the manner, in which the numerous canals and branches in
the continent he had feen delineated on our charts, terminated ; as this
ended in the fame way, by a low border of land in the front of a valley,
through ■ which fome fmall dreams of water'were difeharged; but the
adjaeent.fhores were infinitely lefs high than we had been accudomed to
obferve; where having drolled a little about in the darts of the woods,,
we returned-to our encampment. Here we found Maquinna with feve-
ral of our Tahlheian friends, who were very felicitous that we fhould return
and partake in the evening of ah entertainment fimilar to that we
had received in the morning; but as we had appointed to be at home on.
funday morning, and had promifed a vifit to our friend Ckwpancloo-'at
his principal refidenCe called Mooetchee, which was at a confiderable
diftance from Tahlheis, it was not in our power to comply with the civil
folicitations of Maquinna and his fraternity.
We were honored at dinner with the company of Maqumnai mod of
his family, and many of the other chiefs; who, with the mod unequivocal
alfurances of their friendlhip, and with expreffions of the great pleafure
they