of wood, over which
the skins of seals, or of other larger sea-animals, are stretched, to
compose the outside. It appeared also, that the small canoes of these
people are made nearly of the same form, and of the same materials
with those used by the Greenlanders and Esquimaux; at least the
difference is not material. Some of these, as I have before observed,
carry two men. They are broader in proportion to their length, than
those of the Esquimaux, and the head or fore-part curves somewhat like
the head of a violin.

The weapons, and instruments for fishing and hunting, are the very
same that are made use of by the Esquimaux and Greenlanders; and it
is unnecessary to be particular in my account of them, as they are all
very accurately described by Crantz. I did not see a single one with
these people that he has not mentioned, nor has he mentioned, one that
they have not. For defensive armour they have a kind of jacket, or
coat of mail, made of thin laths, bound together with sinews, which
makes it quite flexible, though so close as not to admit an arrow or
dart. It only covers the trunk of the body, and may not be improperly
compared to a woman's stays.

As none of these people lived in the bay where we anchored, or where
any of us landed, we saw none of their habitations, and I had not time
to look after them. Of their domestic utensils, they brought in their
boats some round and oval shallow dishes of wood, and others of a
cylindrical shape much deeper. The sides were made of one piece, bent
round, like our chip-boxes, though thick, neatly fastened with thongs,
and the bottoms fixed in with small wooden pegs. Others were smaller,
and of a more elegant shape, somewhat resembling a large oval
butterboat, without a handle, but more shallow, made from a piece of
wood, or horny substance. These last were sometimes neatly carved.
They had many little square bags, made of the same gut with their
outer frocks, neatly ornamented with very minute red feathers
interwoven with it, in which were contained some very fine sinews, and
bundles of small cord, made from them, most ingeniously plaited. They
also brought many chequered baskets, so closely wrought as to hold
water; some wooden models of their canoes; a good many little images,
four or five inches long, either of wood, or stuffed, which were
covered with a bit of fur, and ornamented with pieces of small quill
feathers, in imitation of their shelly beads, with hair fixed