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Avater had been given her, made no attempt to pilfer. One
of the party, Avho seemed more than half an idiot, spit in
my face; bu t as it Avas not apparently done angrily, and he
Avas reproved by his companions, his uncourteons conduct Avas
forgiven.
I f possessed of any furs, they had left them, perhaps concealed,
near their Avigwams : only a feAV arroAVS, a necklace of
shells, and a fillet for the head, made of ostrich feathers, Avcre
obtained by barter. Their canoes Avere paddled by the AVomen,
occasionally helped by the men. One or tAvo of the former Avere
young, and well-featured, but the rest were hideous; and all
Avere filthy and most disagreeable, from the quantity of seal-
oil and blubber, Avith Avhich they had covered their bodies.
After we had obtained, by barter, all the articles they had to
dispose of, I presented them Avith red caps and medals, of
which they were very proud : the latter they requested might
have a hole drilled through them, that they might he suspended
by a string round their necks. Their astonishment was much
excited, and they Avere pleased by hearing a Avatch tic k ; but
I believe I had very nearly, though unintentionally, given great
offence: by cutting off a lock of hair, from the head of one of
the men. Assuming a grave look, he very carefully Avrapped
the hair up, and handed it to a Avoman in the canoe, Avho, as
carefully, stowed it away in a basket, in which she kept her
beads and p a in t: the man then turned round, requesting me,
very seriously, to put aAvay the scissors, and my compliance
restored him to good-humour.
T h e features of these people bore a great resemblance to
those of the Patagonian Indians, b u t in person they were
considerably shorter and smaller. T h e elderly people of both
sexes had hideous fig u re s; the children, hoAvever, and young
men, were Avell-formed; particularly one o f the boys, Avhom they
called ‘Yal-la-ba,’ which, I believe, meant a youth, or a young
T h e Avord ‘ Sherroo’ was used to Avarnor. denote a canoe, or
vessel.
T h ey A v e re ill-clothed, with mantles made of guanaco, or
otter skins, b u t not so neatly as those of the Patagonians.
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