A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16

by Robert Kerr

Of these the most common were bears, deer, foxes, and wolves. The bear-skins were in great numbers, few of them very large, but, in general, of a shining black colour. The deer-skins were scarcer, and they seem to belong to that sort called the fallow-deer by the historians of Carolina, though Mr Pennant thinks it quite a different species from, ours, and distinguishes it by the name of Virginian deer.[¹] The foxes are in great plenty, and of several varieties, some of their skins being quite yellow, with a black tip to the tail, others of a deep or reddish yellow, intermixed with black, and a third sort of a whitish grey or ash-colour, also intermixed with black. Our people used to apply the name of fox or wolf indiscriminately, when the skins were so mutilated as to leave room for a doubt. But we got, at last, an entire wolf's skin with the head on, and it was grey. Besides the common sort of martin, the pine-martin is also here, and another, whose skin is of a lighter brown colour than either, with coarser hair, but is not so common, and is, perhaps, only a mere variety arising from age, or some other accidental circumstance. The ermine is also found at this place, but is rare and small, nor is the hair remarkably fine, though the animal appeared to be perfectly white, except an inch or more at the tip of the tail. The racoons and squirrels are of the common sort; but the latter is rather smaller than ours, and has a deeper rusty colour running along the back.

We were clear as to the existence of all the animals already mentioned, but there are two others besides, which we could not distinguish with sufficient certainty. Of the first of these we saw none of the skins, but what were dressed or tanned like leather. The natives wear them on some occasions; and from the size as well as the thickness, they were generally concluded to belong to the elk, or mouse-deer, though some of them perhaps might belong to the buffalo. The other animal, which seems by no means rare, was guessed to be a species of the wild cat or lynx. The length of the skins, without the head, which none of them had, was about two feet two inches. They are covered with a very fine wool or fur, of a very light-brown or whitish yellow colour, intermixed with long hairs, which on the back, where they are shortest, are blackish; on the sides, where they are longer, of a silver white; and on the belly, where they are longest, of the colour of the wool, but the whitish, or silver hairs, are often so predominant, that the whole animal acquires a cast of that kind. The tail is only three inches long, and has a black tip. The whole skin being, by the natives, called wanshee, that, most probably, is their name for this animal. Hogs, dogs, and goats, have not as yet found their way to this place. Nor do the natives seem to have any knowledge of our brown rats, to which, when they saw them on board the ships, they applied the name they give to squirrels. And though they called our goats eineetla, this, most probably, is their name for a young deer or fawn.

The sea-animals seen off the coast, were whales, porpoises, and seals. The last of these seem only of the common sort, judging from the skins which we saw here, their colour being either silvery, yellowish, plain, or spotted with black. The porpoise is the phocena. I have chosen to refer to this class the sea-otter, as living mostly in the water. It might have been sufficient to have mentioned, that this animal abounds here, as it is fully described in different books, taken from the accounts of the Russian adventurers in their expeditions eastward from Kamtschatka, if there had not been a small difference in one that we saw. We, for some time, entertained doubts, whether the many skins which the natives brought, really belonged to this animal, as our only reason for being of that opinion, was founded on the size, colour, and fineness of the fur, till a short while before our departure, when a whole one, that had been just killed, was purchased from some strangers who came to barter; and of this Mr Webber made a drawing. It was rather young, weighing only twenty-five pounds, of a shining or glossy black colour, but many of the hairs being tipt with white, gave it a greyish cast at first sight. The face, throat, and breast were of a yellowish white, or very light-brown colour, which, in many of the skins, extended the whole length of the belly. It had six cutting teeth in each jaw, two of those of the lower jaw being very minute, and placed without, at the base of the two middle ones. In these circumstances, it seems to disagree with those found by the Russians, and also in not having the outer toes of the hind feet skirted with a membrane. There seemed also a greater variety in the colour of the skins, than is mentioned by the describers of the Russian sea-otters. These changes of colour certainly take place at different gradations of life. The very young ones had brown hair, which was coarse, with very little fur underneath; but those of the size of the entire animal, which came into our possession, and just described, had a considerable quantity of that substance, and both in that colour and state the sea-otters seem to remain, till they have attained their full growth. After that, they lose the black colour, and assume a deep brown or sooty colour, but have then a greater quantity of very fine fur, and scarcely any long hairs. Others, which we suspected to be still older, were of a chesnut-brown; and a few skins were seen that had even acquired a perfectly yellow colour. The fur of these animals, as mentioned in the Russian accounts, is certainly softer and finer than that of any others we know of; and, therefore, the discovey of this part of the continent of North America, where so valuable an article of commerce may be met with, cannot be a matter of indifference.[²]

Birds, in general, are not only rare as to the different species, but very scarce as to numbers; and these few are so shy, that, in all probability, they are continually harassed by the natives, perhaps to eat them as food, certainly to get possession of their feathers, which they use as ornaments. Those which frequent the woods, are crows and ravens, not at all different from our English ones, a blueish jay or magpie, common wrens, which are the only singing bird that we heard, the Canadian or migrating thrush, and a considerable number of brown eagles, with white heads and tails, which, though they seem principally to frequent the coast, come into the Sound in bad weather, and sometimes perch upon the trees. Amongst some other birds, of which the natives either brought fragments, or dried skins, we could distinguish a small species of hawk, a heron, and the alcyon, or large-crested American king-fisher. There are also some, which, I believe, are not mentioned, or at least vary, very considerably, from the accounts given of them by any writers who have treated professedly on this part of natural history. The two first of these are species of wood-peckers. One less than a thrush, of a black colour above, with white spots on the wings, a crimson head, neck, and breast, and a yellowish olive-coloured belly, from which last circumstance it might, perhaps, not improperly be called the yellow-bellied wood-pecker. The other is a larger, and much more elegant bird, of a dusky brown colour, on the upper part, richly waved with black, except about the head, the belly of a reddish cast, with round black spots, a black spot on the breast, and the under-side of the wings and tail of a plain scarlet colour, though blackish above, with a crimson streak running from the angle of the mouth, a little down the neck on each side. The third and fourth, are a small bird of the finch kind, about the size of a linnet, of a dark dusky colour, whitish below, with a black head and neck, and white bill; and a sand-piper, of the size of a small pigeon, of a dusky brown colour, and white below, except the throat and breast, with a broad white band across the wings. There are also humming-birds, which yet seem to differ from the numerous sorts of this delicate animal already known, unless they be a mere variety of the trochilus colubris of Linnæus. These, perhaps, inhabit more to the southward, and spread northward as the season advances; because we saw none at first, though, near the time of our departure, the natives brought them to the ships in great numbers.

The birds which frequent the waters and the shores, are not more numerous than the others. The quebrantahuessos, gulls, and shags, were seen off the coast, and the two last also frequent the Sound. They are of the common sorts, the shags being our cormorant or water-crow. We saw two sorts of wild-ducks; one black, with a white head, which were in considerable flocks, the other white, with a red bill, but of a larger size; and the greater lumme, or diver, found in our northern countries. There were also seen, once or twice, some swans flying across the Sound to the northward, but we knew nothing of their haunts. On the shores, besides the sand-piper, described above, we found another, about the size of a lark, which bears a great affinity to the burre, and a plover differing very little from our common sea-lark.

Fish are more plentiful in quantity than birds, though the variety is not very great; and yet, from several circumstances, it is probable, that even the variety is considerably increased at certain seasons. The principal sorts, which we found in great numbers, are the common herring, but scarcely exceeding seven inches in length; a smaller sort, which is the same with the anchovy, or sardine, though rather larger; a white, or silver-coloured bream, and another of a gold-brown colour, with many narrow longitudinal blue stripes. The herrings and sardines, doubtless, come in large shoals, and only at stated seasons, as is common with that sort of fish. The bream of both sorts, may be reckoned the next to these in quantity; and the full-grown ones weighed, at least, a pound. The other fish, which are all scarce, are a small brown kind of sculpin, such as is found on the coast of Norway, another of a brownish red cast, frost-fish, a large one, somewhat resembling the bull-head, with a tough skin, destitute of scales; and now and then, toward the time of our leaving the Sound, the natives brought a small brownish cod, spotted with white, and a red fish of the same size, which some of our people said they had seen in the strait of Magalhaens, besides another differing little from the hake. There are also considerable numbers of those fish called the chimæræ, or little sea-wolves, by some, which is akin to, and about the size of, the pezegallo, or elephant-fish. Sharks, likewise, sometimes frequent the Sound, for the natives have some of their teeth in their possession; and we saw some pieces of ray, or scate, which seemed to have been pretty large. The other marine animals that ought to be mentioned here, are a small cruciated medusa, or blubber, star-fish, which differ somewhat from the common ones, two small sorts of crabs, and two others which the natives brought, one of them of a thick, tough, gelatinous consistence, and the other a sort of membranaceous tube or pipe, both which are probably taken from the rocks. And we, also, purchased from them once a very large cuttle-fish.

There is abundance of large muscles about the rocks, many sea-ears, and we often saw shells of pretty large plain chamæ. The smaller sorts are some trochi of two species, a curious murex, rugged wilks, and a snail, all which are, probably, peculiar to this place, at least I do not recollect to have seen them in any country near the same latitude in either hemisphere. There are, besides these, some small plain cockles, limpets; and some strangers, who come into the Sound, wore necklaces of a small blueish volute or panamæ. Many of the muscles are a span in length, and some having pretty large pearls, which, however, are both badly shaped and coloured. We may conclude, that there is red coral in the Sound, or somewhere upon the coast, some thick pieces, or branches, having been seen in the canoes of the natives.

The only animals of the reptile kind observed here, and found in the woods, were brown snakes two feet long, with whitish stripes on the back and sides, which are harmless, as we often saw the natives carry them alive in their hands; and brownish water-lizards, with a tail exactly like that of an eel, which frequented the small standing pools about the rocks.

The insect tribe seem to be more numerous. For though the season, which is peculiarly fitted to their appearing abroad, was only beginning, we saw four or five different sorts of butterflies, none of which were uncommon, a good many humble-bees, some of our common gooseberry moths, two or three sorts of flies, a few beetles, and some musquitoes, which, probably, may be more numerous and troublesome in a country so full of wood, during the summer, though at this time they did little mischief.

As to the mineral substances in this country, though we found both iron and copper here, there is little reason to believe that either of them belong to the place. Neither were the ores of any metal seen, if we except a coarse, red, earthy, or ochry substance, used by the natives in painting themselves, which probably may contain a little iron, with a white and a black pigment used for the same purpose. But we did not procure specimens of them, and therefore cannot positively determine what are their component parts.