Natives of Oonalashka and their Habitations.
These people are rather low of stature, but plump and well shaped; with rather short necks; swarthy chubby faces; black eyes; small beards; and long, straight, black hair; which the men wear loose behind, and cut before, but the women tie up in a bunch.
Their dress has been occasionally mentioned. Both sexes wear the same in fashion; the only difference is in the materials. The women’s frock is made of seal skin; and that of the men, of the skins of birds; both reaching below the knee. This is the whole dress of the women. But, over the frock, the men wear another made of gut, which resists water; and has a hood to it, which draws over the head. Some of them wear boots; and all of them have a kind of oval-snouted cap, made of wood, with a rim to admit the head. These caps are dyed with green and other colours; and round the upper part of the rim, are stuck the long bristles of some sea-animal, on which are strung glass beads; and on the front is a small image or two made of bone.
They make use of no paint; but the women puncture their faces slightly; and both men and women bore the under lip, to which they fix pieces of bone. But it is as uncommon at Oonalashka to see a man with this ornament, as to see a woman without it. Some fix beads to the upper lip, under the nostrils, and all of them hang ornaments in their ears.
Their food consists of fish, sea-animals, birds, roots, and berries; and even of sea-weed. They dry large quantities of fish in summer, which they lay up in small huts for winter use; and, probably, they preserve roots and berries for the same time of scarcity. They eat almost every thing raw. Boiling and broiling were the only methods of cookery that I saw them make use of; and the first was probably learnt from the Russians. Some have got little brass kettles; and those who have not, make one of a flat stone, with sides of clay, not unlike a standing pye.
I was once present when the chief of Oonalashka made his dinner of the raw head of a large halibut just caught. Before any was given to the chief, two of his servants eat the gills, without any other dressing, besides squeezing out the slime. This done, one of them cut off the head of the fish, took it to the sea and washed it; then came with it, and sat down by the chief; first pulling up some grass, upon a part of which the head was laid, and the rest was strewed before the chief. He then cut large pieces off the cheeks, and laid these within the reach of the great man, who swallowed them with as much satisfaction as we should do raw oysters. When he had done, the remains of the head were cut in pieces, and given to the attendants, who tore off the meat with their teeth, and gnawed the bones like so many dogs.
As these people use no paint, they are not so dirty in their persons as the savages who thus besmear themselves; but they are full as lousy and filthy in their houses. Their method of building is as follows: They dig in the ground an oblong square pit, the length of which seldom exceeds fifty feet, and the breadth twenty; but in general the dimensions are smaller. Over this excavation, they form the roof of wood which the sea throws ashore. This roof is covered first with grass, and then with earth; so that the outward appearance is like a dunghill. In the middle of the roof, toward each end, is left a square opening, by which the light is admitted; one of these openings being for this purpose only, and the other being also used to go in and out by, with the help of a ladder, or rather a post, with steps cut in it.[[95]] In some houses there is another entrance below; but this is not common. Round the sides and ends of the huts, the families (for several are lodged together) have their separate apartments, where they sleep, and sit at work; not upon benches, but in a kind of a concave trench, which is dug all round the inside of the house, and covered with mats; so that this part is kept tolerably decent. But the middle of the house, which is common to all the families, is far otherwise. For, although it be covered with dry grass, it is a receptacle for dirt of every kind, and the place for the urine trough; the stench of which is not mended by raw hides, or leather being almost continually steeped in it. Behind and over the trench are placed the few effects they are possessed of; such as their clothing, mats, and skins.
Their household furniture consists of bowls, spoons, buckets, piggins or cans, matted baskets, and perhaps a Russian kettle or pot. All these utensils are very neatly made, and well formed; and yet we saw no other tools among them but the knife and the hatchet; that is, a small flat piece of iron, made like an adze, by fitting it into a crooked wooden handle. These were the only instruments we met with there, made of iron. For although the Russians live amongst them, we found much less of this metal in their possession than we had met with in the possession of other tribes on the American continent, who had never seen, nor perhaps had any intercourse with the Russians. Probably a few beads, a little tobacco and snuff, purchase all they have to spare. There are few, if any of them, that do not both smoke and chew tobacco, and take snuff; a luxury that bids fair to keep them always poor.
They did not seem to wish for more iron, or to want any other instruments, except sewing-needles, their own being made of bone. With these they not only sew their canoes, and make their clothes, but also very curious embroidery. Instead of thread, they use the fibres of sinews, which they split to the thickness which each sort of work requires. All sewing is performed by the women. They are the taylors, shoemakers, and boat-builders, or boat-coverers; for the men, most probably, construct the frame of wood over which the skins are sewed. They make mats and baskets of grass, that are both beautiful and strong. Indeed there is a neatness and perfection in most of their work that shews they neither want ingenuity nor perseverance.