reat rate, stopping every now and then to get out and
walk round salmon weirs. Nevertheless, although other Indians ran
before them announcing their approach towards a village, the noise of
which was apparent in the distance, they were received at this place
in a very hostile way, the men rapidly arming themselves with bows and
arrows, spears, and axes. But Mackenzie walked on alone to greet them,
and shook hands with the nearest man. Thereupon an elderly man broke
from the crowd and took Mackenzie in his arms. Another then came and
paid him the same compliment. One man to whom he presented his hand
broke the string of a handsome robe of sea-otter skin and threw it
over Mackenzie.

The chief made signs to the white men to follow him to his house,
which Mackenzie found to be of larger dimensions and better materials
than any he had yet seen. "Very clean mats" were spread in this house
for the chief, his counsellors, and the two white men. A small roasted
salmon was then placed before each person.

"When we had satisfied ourselves with the fish, one of the people who
came with us from the last village approached, with a kind of ladle in
one hand, containing oil, and in the other something that resembled
the inner rind of the cocoanut, but of a lighter colour. This he
dipped in the oil, and, having eaten it, indicated by his gestures how
palatable he thought it. He then presented me with a small piece of
it, which I chose to taste in its dry state, though the oil was free
from any unpleasant smell. A square cake of this was next produced,
when a man took it to the water near the house, and having thoroughly
soaked it, he returned, and, after he had pulled it to pieces like
oakum, put it into a well-made trough, about three feet long, nine
inches wide, and five deep. He then plentifully sprinkled it with
salmon oil, and manifested by his own example that we were to eat of
it. I just tasted it, and found the oil perfectly sweet, without which
the other ingredient would have been very insipid. The chief partook
of it with great avidity after it had received an additional quantity
of oil. This dish is considered by these people as a great delicacy;
and on examination, I discovered it to consist of the inner rind of
the hemlock pine tree, taken off early in summer, and put into a
frame, which shapes it into cakes of fifteen inches long, ten broad,
and half an inch thick; and in this form I should suppose it may be
preserved f