The weather, bad as it was, did not hinder three of the natives from paying us a visit. They came off in two canoes; two men in one, and one in the other; being the number each could carry. For they were built and constructed in the same manner with those of the Esquimaux; only in the one were two holes for two men to sit in; and in the other but one. Each of these men had a stick, about three feet long, with the large feathers or wing of birds tied to it. These they frequently held up to us; with a view, as we guessed, to express their pacific disposition.[[60]]
The treatment these men met with, induced many more to visit us between one and two the next morning, in both great and small canoes. Some ventured on board the ship; but not till some of our people had stepped into their boats. Amongst those who came on board, was a good-looking middle-aged man, whom we afterward found to be the chief. He was clothed in a dress made of the sea-otter’s skin; and had on his head such a cap as is worn by the people of King George’s Sound, ornamented with sky-blue glass beads, about the size of a large pea. He seemed to set a much higher value upon these, than upon our white glass beads. Any sort of beads, however, appeared to be in high estimation with these people; and they readily gave whatever they had in exchange for them; even their fine sea-otter skins. But here I must observe, that they set no more value upon these than upon other skins, which was also the case at King George’s Sound, till our people set a higher price upon them; and even after that, the natives of both places would sooner part with a dress made of these, than with one made of the skins of wild cats or of martins.
These people were also desirous of iron; but they wanted pieces eight or ten inches long at least, and of the breadth of three or four fingers. For they absolutely rejected small pieces. Consequently they got but little from us; iron having, by this time, become rather a scarce article. The points of some of their spears or lances were of that metal; others were of copper, and a few of bone; of which the points of their darts, arrows, &c. were composed. I could not prevail upon the chief to trust himself below the upper deck; nor did he and his companions remain long on board. But while we had their company, it was necessary to watch them narrowly, as they soon betrayed a thievish disposition. At length, after being about three or four hours alongside the Resolution, they all left her, and went to the Discovery; none having been there before, except one man, who at this time, came from her, and immediately returned thither in company with the rest. When I observed this, I thought this man had met with something there, which he knew would please his countrymen better than what they met with at our ship. But in this I was mistaken, as will soon appear.
As soon as they were gone, I sent a boat to sound the head of the bay. For, as the wind was moderate, I had thoughts of laying the ship ashore, if a convenient place could be found where I might begin our operations to stop the leak. It was not long before all the Americans left the Discovery, and instead of returning to us, made their way toward our boat employed as above. The officer in her seeing this, returned to the ship, and was followed by all the canoes. The boat’s crew had no sooner come on board, leaving in her two of their number by way of a guard, than some of the Americans stepped into her. Some presented their spears before the two men; others cast loose the rope which fastened her to the ship; and the rest attempted to tow her away. But the instant they saw us preparing to oppose them, they let her go, stepped out of her into canoes, and made signs to us to lay down our arms, having the appearance of being as perfectly unconcerned as if they had done nothing amiss. This, though rather a more daring attempt, was hardly equal to what they had meditated on board the Discovery. The man who came and carried all his countrymen from the Resolution to the other ship, had first been on board of her; where, after looking down all the hatchways, and seeing nobody but the officer of the watch, and one or two more, he, no doubt, thought they might plunder her with ease; especially as she lay at some distance from us. It was unquestionably with this view that they all repaired to her. Several of them, without any ceremony, went on board; drew their knives; made signs to the officer and people on deck to keep off; and began to look about them for plunder. The first thing they met with was the rudder of one of the boats, which they threw over-board to those of their party who had remained in the canoes. Before they had time to find another object that pleased their fancy, the crew were alarmed, and began to come upon deck armed with cutlasses. On seeing this, the whole company of plunderers sneaked off into their canoes, with as much deliberation and indifference as they had given up the boat; and they were observed describing to those who had not been on board, how much longer the knives of the ship’s crew were than their own. It was at this time, that my boat was on the sounding duty; which they must have seen; for they proceeded directly for her, after their disappointment at the Discovery. I have not the least doubt, that their visiting us so very early in the morning, was with a view to plunder; on a supposition, that they should find every body asleep.
May we not, from these circumstances, reasonably infer, that these people are unacquainted with fire-arms? For certainly, if they had known any thing of their effect, they never would have dared to attempt taking a boat from under a ship’s guns, in the face of above a hundred men; for most of my people were looking at them, at the very instant they made the attempt. However, after all these tricks, we had the good fortune to leave them as ignorant, in this respect, as we found them. For they neither heard nor saw a musket fired, unless at birds.
Just as we were going to weigh the anchor, to proceed farther up the bay, it began to blow and to rain as hard as before; so that we were obliged to bear away the cable again, and lay fast. Toward the evening, finding that the gale did not moderate, and that it might be some time before an opportunity offered to get higher up, I came to a resolution to heel the ship where we were; and with this view, moored her with a kedge-anchor and hawser. In heaving the anchor out of the boat, one of the seamen, either through ignorance or carelessness, or both, was carried overboard by the buoy-rope, and followed the anchor to the bottom. It is remarkable, that, in this very critical situation, he had presence of mind to disengage himself, and come up to the surface of the water, where he was taken up, with one of his legs fractured in a dangerous manner.
Early the next morning we gave the ship a good heel to port, in order to come at and stop the leak. On ripping off the sheathing, it was found to be in the seams, which were very open, both in and under the wale; and, in several places, not a bit of oakum in them. While the carpenters were making good these defects, we filled all our empty water-casks at a stream hard by the ship. The wind was now moderate, but the weather was thick and hazy, with rain.
The natives, who left us the preceding day, when the bad weather came on, paid us another visit this morning. Those who came first were in small canoes; others afterward arrived in large boats; in one of which were twenty women and one man, besides children.
In the evening of the 16th, the weather cleared up; and we then found ourselves surrounded on every side by land. Our station was on the east side of the sound, in a place which in the chart is distinguished by the name of Snug Corner Bay; and a very snug place it is. I went, accompanied by some of the officers, to view the head of it; and we found that it was sheltered from all winds; with a depth of water from seven to three fathoms over a muddy bottom. The land near the shore is low; part clear and part wooded. The clear ground was covered, two or three feet thick, with snow; but very little lay in the woods. The very summits of the neighbouring hills were covered with wood; but those farther inland seemed to be naked rocks, buried in snow.
The leak being stopped, and the sheathing made good over it, at four o’clock in the morning of the 17th, we weighed, and steered to the north-westward, with a light breeze at east-north-east; thinking if there should be any passage to the north through this inlet, that it must be in that direction. Soon after we were under sail, the natives, in both great and small canoes, paid us another visit, which gave us an additional opportunity of forming a more perfect idea of their persons, dress, and other particulars, which shall be afterward described. Our visitors seemed to have no other business but to gratify their curiosity; for they entered into no sort of traffic with us. After we had got over to the north-west point of the arm in which we had anchored, we found that the flood-tide came into the inlet, through the same channel by which we had entered. Although this circumstance did not make wholly against a passage, it was, however, nothing in its favour. After passing the point above mentioned, we met with a good deal of foul ground, and many sunken rocks, even out in the middle of the channel, which is here five or six leagues wide. At this time the wind failed us, and was succeeded by calms and light airs from every direction; so that we had some trouble to extricate ourselves from the threatening danger. At length, about one o’clock, with the assistance of our boats, we got to an anchor, under the eastern shore, in thirteen fathoms’ water, and about four leagues to the north of our last station. In the morning the weather had been very hazy; but it afterward cleared up, so as to give us a distinct view of all the land round us, particularly to the northward, where it seemed to close. This left us but little hopes of finding a passage that way; or indeed, in any other direction, without putting out again to sea.