JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE
approach me, whom the,old man ,macLe me underftand was another of
his Cons. I inftantly ftepped1.fgrwarcLito meet him, and prefented my
hand, whereupon he broke the.firing of a.very haneffome. rp b e p f fsa?
otter fkin, which he had on, and.covqred me with iti<. 5Thisjwas,a.S’ flattering
a reception as, I Gcaild^poffibly receiye, efpecially as I sconfideyed
him to be the elc|eft icmpf the chief, .Indeed it appeared tfc(£mrie,that,'we
had, been detained; her<3; for ,th,e purpofe of, giving him time to bring the
jmbejwrith^which.heliad pre^^ted me* v
The chief now made, figns for u s,to follow him, and jhej c.Qpduftedms
through a narrow.coppice, for feyeral hundred yards, ,t$I ^e came to an
houfe built on, the aground, which was of larger, dimenftpn^andt formed
A better materials tthan any. I had hitherto, feen; it was, his’residence.
We .were jjp: fooner, arrived there, than he dire^ed mat§,,tp( lae ^fpread
.before it, on which we were told, to take^unfeatg, when ^he'men^.oLthe.
village, whocame. to indulge their curiofity, were ordered ,^0 keep^behind
ns. In our front other mats were placed, where the, chief ^ndthis cpjjn-
fellors took their feats. In the intervening fpace, mats,,which,were very
clean, and of a much neater workmanfhip than thofe osf^yhich we fat \vere
alfo fpread,: and a fmall rbaftedrfalmon placed.before ,each„of us. When
we had fatisfied ourfelves with the fifh, one of the people who came with
us from the laft village approached,, with a kind of ladle in one hand,
containing oil, and in the other foipething that refembled the inner rind
of'the cocoa-nyt, but of a lighter colour; |bis he dipped ip. the oil, ant^,
having eat it, indicated by his geftures how palatable he thought it.,, He
then prefented me with a fmall, piece o f it, which I chofeto taftein its. dry
ftate, though the oil was free from any unpleafant fmell. A fquare cake
of
NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. 3 2 7
of this was next produced, wheb a man took it to the water near the *7<J3-
houfe, and having^ thoroughly f&aikfed it, he< returned, and, after he had 1 v ’
pulled it to p i e c e s l i k e oaku'm, put it into a'well-made trough, about three
feet longi nine inches w’i’de, a-n'd five deep.; he then plentifully Tprinkled
it with falmon roik and manifefted- by his own example that we were to
eat of it. I juft tailed it,andfhund the oi| perfeftly fweet, without which
the other ingredient would Jjave been1 very infipidi'H The chief partook
of it virith great avidity, after it had deceived; an additional quantity of
oik : This difh is confidered?by thefe people as,aigreat delicacy;, and on
examination, I difeovered^it to conftft ofifch%4 nner5 rind- o f .the Aemlock
itree, taken off early in fumrrier, and put into a frame, which fhapes it
into cakes-of fifteen inches Idng', ten br^ad, arid half an inch thick ; and
in tllis-iform-1 fhould* fuppofe. it may be preferved for a great length of
time. iThis1 difeoyery-fatisfied me' refpefting' the many hemlock trees
which I had-obferved ftripped-.of their bark.
• Tn thfejfiVtiation we remained'for upwards of three hours, and not one
of the Curiofts natives left us during all that timb/ except a party of ten
Or twelve Of them, whom the "chief ordered to go and catch frfh, tMhich
they did in great abundance, with dipping nets, at the foot of the
Weir.
At ’length we were relieved from' the gazing crowd, and got a lodge
erefted,. arid, bbvered in for our reception during the night. I now prefented
the young chief with a blanketyin return for the robe with which
he.'had favoured me',"and feveral other articles, that appeared 'to be very
gratifying to him. ‘ I alfo prefented fome to his father, and airiongtt them
was