CH AP. St. Lawrence Islanders, thongh of inferior workmanship. The people,
however, differed from them in many respects ; their complexion was
July, darker, their features were more harsh and angular, they were 1826. o > J
deficient in the tattooing of the face; and what constituted a wider
distinction between them was, a custom, which we afterwards found
general on the iVmerican coast, of wearing ornaments in their under
lips. Our visiters were noisy and energetic, but good-natured, laughed
much, and humorously apprized us when we were making a good
bargain.
They willingly sold every thing they had, except their bows and
arrows, which they implied were required for the chase on shore; but
they could not resist “ tawac” (tobacco) and iron knives, and ultimately
parted with them. These instruments differed from those of
the islanders to the southward, in being more slender, but they were
made npon the same principle, with drift pine assisted with thongs of
hide, and occasionally with pieces of whalebone placed at the back of
them neatly bound ronnd with small cord. Their arrows were tipped
with bone, flint, or iron, and they had spears or lances headed with the
same materials. Their dress was the same as that worn by the whole
tribe inhabiting the coast. It consisted of a shirt which reached half
way down the thigh, with long sleeves and a hood to it, made generally
of the skin of the reindeer, and edged with the fur of the gray
or white fox, and sometimes with dog’s skin. The hood is usually edged
with a longer fur than the other parts, either of the wolf or dog. They
have besides this a jacket made of eider drakes’ skins sewed together,
which put on underneath their other dress is a tolerable protection
against a distant arrow, and is worn in times of hostility. In wet weather
they throw a shirt over their fur dress made of the entrails of the
w'hale, which, while in their possession, is quite water-tight, as it is
then, in common with the rest of their property, tolerably well supplied
with oil and grease; but after they had been purchased by us and became
dry, they broke into holes and let the water through. They are
on the whole as good as the best oll-skins in England. Besides the
shirt, they have breeches and boots, the former made of deer’s hide,
the latter of seal’s skin, both of which have drawing strings at the upper
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part made of sea-horse hide. To the end of that which goes round the C H A P ,
waist they attach a tuft of hair, the wing of a bird, or sometimes a fox’s
tail, which, dangling behind as they walk, gives them a ridiculous appearance,
Julv,
1826,
and may probably have occasioned the report of the Tschutschi,
recorded in Muller, that the people of this country have “ tails like
dogs.”
It was at Schismareff Inlet that we first saw the hp ornaments
which are common to all the inhabitants of the coast thence as far
as Point Barrow. These ornaments consist of pieces of ivory, stone,
or glass, formed with a double head, like a sleeve-button, one part of
which is thrust through a hole bored in the under lip. T wo of these
holes are cut in a slanting direction about half an inch below the corners
of the mouth. The incision is made when about the age of puberty, and
is at first the size of a quill; as they grow older the natives enlarge the
orifice, and increase the size of the ornament accordingly, that it may hold
its place: in adults, this orifice is about half an inch in diameter, and wiU,
if required, distend to three quarters of an inch. Some of these ornaments
were made of granite, others of jade-stone, and a few of large blue
glass beads let into a piece of ivory which formed a white ring round
them. These are about an inch in diameter, but I afterwards got
one of finely polished jade that was three inches in length, by an inch
and half in width.
About noon, a breeze springing up, the natives quitted us for the
shore, and we pursued our course to the northward without waiting
to explore further this deep inlet, which has since been a subject of
regret, as the weather afterwards in both years prevented it being
done. I could not, however, consistently with my instructions, wait
to examine it at this moment, as the appointed time of rendezvous
at Chamisso Island was already past*. AVhile becalmed off it, we were
carried slowly to the north-eastward by a current w'hich had been
running in that direction from the time of our quitting St. Lawrence
Island. With a fair wind we sailed along the coast to the northward,
which was low and swampy, w'ith small lakes inland. The ridge of
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* I t has since been surveyed by the Russians.
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