»77*- o f fliot and ball, were received with the rnofl; fignificantr
April. .
i n - y ^ j marks o f their ha vin g no previous ideas on this matter.
Some account o f a Spanifli voyage to this coaft, in 17 74,
or 1775, had reached England before I failed; but the fo re g
o in g circumilances fufficiently prove, that thefe ihips had
not been at Nootka *. Befides this, it was evident that iron
was too common h e r e ; was in too many h a n d s ; and the
ufes o f it were too1 well known, fo r them to have had the
firft knowledge o f it fo very la te ly , or, indeed, at any earlier
period, by an accidental fupply from a lhip. Doubtlefs,
from the general ufe they make o f this metal, it may be fup-
pofed to come from fome conflant fource, by w a y o f traffic,
and that not o f a very late date ; fo r they are as dexterous in
ufin g their tools as the longeft praitice can make them.
T h e moft probable way, therefore, b y which w e can fup-
pofe that they get their iron, is by trading for it with other
Indian tribes, w ho either have immediate communication
with European fettlements upon that continent, or receive
it, perhaps/ through feveral intermediate nations. T he
fame migh t be faid o f the brafs and copper found amongil
them.
Whether thefe things be introduced b y w a y o f Hudfon’s.
Bay and Canada, from the Indians, who deal with our
traders, and fo fucceffively acrofs from one tribe to the others
or whether they be brought from the North Weftern parts
o f Mexico, in the fame manner; perhaps cannot be eaiily
* -We now know that Captain Cook’s conje&ure was well founded’. I t appears,,
from the Journal o f this Voyage, already referred to, that the Spaniards had inter-
courie with the natives o f this coaft, only in three p laces, in latitude 4 10 7" j in latitude
4 70 2 1 ' ; and in latitude 570 18 '. So that they were not within two degrees o f
Nootka ; and it is moft probable,, that the people there never heard o f thefe Spaniih.
ihips.
4 determined.
determined. But it ihould feem, that not only the rude 1778-
materials, but fome articles in their manufactured ftate, - Ap"K ■
find their w ay hither. T h e brafs ornaments for nofes, in
particular, are fo neatly made, that I am doubtful whether
the Indians are capable o f fabricating them. T h e materials
certainly are European ; as no American tribes have been
found, who kn ew the method o f m akin g brafs; though
copper has been commonly met with, and, from its foft-
nefs, might be fafhioned into any fhape, and alfo poliihed.-
I f our traders to Hudfon’s Bay and Canada do not ufe fu ch
articles in their traffic with the natives, the y muft have been
introduced at Nootka from the quarter o f Mexico, from
whence, no doubt, the two filver table-fpoons, met with here,
were originally derived. It is moil probable, however, that
the Spaniards are not fuch eager traders, nor have formed
fuch extenfive con nexion s with the tribes North o f Mexico,
as to fupply them with quantities o f iron, from which they
can fpare fo much to the people here *.
O f the political and religious inftitutions eftabliffied
amongft them, it cannot be fuppofed that we ffiould learn
much. T his we could obferve, that there are fuch men as
Chiefs, who are diftinguiffied by the name or title o f A c-
week, and to whom the others are, in fome meafure, fubor-
dinate. But, I ffiould guefs, the authority o f each o f thefe
great men extends no farther than the fam ily to which he
* Though the two filver table-fpoons, found at Nootka Sound,, moft probably
came from the Spaniards in the South, there feems to be fufficient grounds for believing
that the regular fupply o f iron comes from a different quarter. I t is remarkable,
that the Spaniards, in 17 7 5 , found at Puerto de la Trinidad, in latitude 4 10 j \ arrows
pointed with copper "or iron, which they underjlood were procured from the 'North. Mr.
Daines Barrington, in a note at this part o f the Spaniih,Journal, p. 20. fays, I
“ ihould conceive that the copper and iron, here mentioned,, muft have originally been>
bartered at our forts in Hudfon’s Bay,”
belongs,.