frio-htened at the discharge of a gun, and no less astonished when a bird CHAP.
fell close to them, we judged they had had a very limited intercourse
with Europeans. The oldest person we saw among the party was a A«g-t,
cripple about fifty years of age. The others were robust people above
the average height of Esquimaux: the tallest man was five feet nine
inches, and the tallest woman five feet four inches. All the women
were tattooed upon the chin with three small lines, which is a general
distinguishing mark of the fair sex along this coast; this is effected by
d r a w i n g a blackened piece of thread through the skin with a needle, as
with the Greenlanders. Their hair was done up in large plaits on each
side of the head, as described by Captain Parry at Melville Peninsula^
We noticed a practice here amongst the women, similar to that which
is common with the Arabs, which consisted of blacking the edges of
the eyelids with plumbago rubbed up with a little saliva upon a piece
of slate. All the men had labrets, and both sexes had their teeth much
worn down, probably by the constant application of them to hard substances,
of which their dresses, implements, and canoes are made.
They had several rude knives, probably obtamed from the Tschutschi,
some lumps of iron pyrites, and pieces of amber strung round their
neck ; but I could not learn where they had procured them.
As soon as we finished the necessary observations with the arti-
ficiafhorizon, to the no small diversion and surprise of our inquisitive
companions, we paid a visit to the next valley, where we founda smaU
village situated close upon a fine stream of fresh water flowing from a
laro-e bed of thawing snow. The banks of the brook were fertile, but
ve'etatioii was more diminutive here than in Kotzebue Sound; notwithstanding
which, several plants were found which did not exist theie.
The tents were constructed of skins loosely stretched over a few spars
of drift-wood, and were neither wind nor water tight. They were, as
usual, filthy, but suitable to the taste of their inhabitants, who no doubt
saw nothing iu them that was revolting. The natives testified much
iileasure at our visit, and placed before us several dishes, among which
were two of their choicest-the entrails of a fine seal, and a bowl ot
coao-ulatcd blood. But, desirous as we were to oblige them, there was
not one of our party that could be induced to partake of their hospiil