$ K B T C M
■which our people were fo paffionately fond of, that they al- tjfe
w ay s came to a good market. But we received moit bene-
fit from fuch o f the natives as vifited us daily. Thefe, a fter
difpofing o f all their little trifles, turned their attention to
fiffiing; and w e never failed to partake o f what they
caught. We alio got from thefe people a confiderable quantity
o f very good animal oil, Which they had referred in
bladders. In this traffic fome would attempt-to cheat us, b y
m ix ing water with the o il j and, once or twice, they had
the addrefs to carry their impoiition fo far, as to fill their
bladders w ith mere water, withou t a Angle drop o f oil. It
was always better to bear with thefe tricks, than to make
them the foundation o f a q u a r re l; for our articles o f traffic
confifted, for the moil part, o f mere trifles; and yet we were
put to our ffiifts to find a conilant fupply even o f thefe.
Beads, and fuch other toys, o f which I had i lill fome left,
were in little eftimation. Nothing would go down with our
vifiters but m e ta l; and brafs had, by this time, fupplanted
iron ; being fo eagerly fought after, that before we le ft this
place, hardly a bit o f it was left in the ihips, except what
belonged to our necefiary inilruments. Whole fuits o f
clothes were ilripped o f every button; bureaus o f their fu r n
itu re ; and copper kettles, tin cannifters, candlefticks, and
the like,' all went to w r e c k ; fo that our American friends
here got a greater medley and variety o f things from us,
than any other nation whom we had vifited in the courfe o f
the voyage.
After a fortnight’s bad weather, the 19th proving a fair Sunday 19,.
day, we availed ourfelves o f it, to get up the top-mails and
yards, and toj fix up the, rig gin g. And, having now finiflred
mo il,o f our h e a v y , work, I fet out the next morning to take Monday 20.
a .view Of the Sound. I firlt went to the Weil point, w here
7 I found