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

by Robert Kerr

Their language seems difficult to be understood at first; not from any indistinctness or confusion in their words and sounds, but from the various significations they have. For they appeared to use the very same word, frequently, on very different occasions; though doubtless this might, if our intercourse had been of longer duration, have been found to be a mistake on our side. The only words I could obtain, and for them I am indebted to Mr Anderson,[³] were those that follow; the first of which was also used at Nootka, in the same sense; though we could not trace an affinity between the two dialects in any other instance.

Akashou,	What's the name of that?
Namuk,	An ornament for the ear.
Lukluk,	A brown shaggy skin, perhaps a bear's.
Aa,	Yes.
Natooneshuk,	The skin of a sea-otter.
Keeta,	Give me something.
Naema,	Give me something in exchange, or barter.
	Of, or belonging to me.—Will
Ooonaka,	you barter for this that belongs to me?
Manaka,
Ahleu,	A spear.
Weena, or Veena,	Stranger—calling to one.
Keelashuk,	Guts of which they make jackets.
Tawuk,	Keep it.
	A piece of white bear's skin, or
Amilhtoo,	perhaps the hair that covered it.
Whaehai,	Shall I keep it? do you give it me?
Yaut,	I'll go; or shall I go?
Chilke,	One.
Taiha,	Two.
Tokke,	Three.
(Tinke,)
Chukelo,[4]	Four?
Koeheene,	Five?
Takulai,	Six?
Keichilho,	Seven?
Klu, or Kliew,	Eight?

As to the animals of this part of the continent, the same must be understood as of those at Nootka; that is, that the knowledge we have of them is entirely taken from the skins which the natives brought to sell. These were chiefly of seals; a few foxes; the whitish cat, or lynx; common and pine-martins; small ermines; bears; racoons; and sea-otters. Of these, the most common were the martin, racoon, and sea-otter skins, which composed the ordinary dress of the natives; but the skins of the first, which in general were of a much lighter brown than those at Nootka, were far superior to them in fineness; whereas the last, which, as well as the martins, were far more plentiful than at Nootka, seemed greatly inferior in the fineness and thickness of their fur, though they greatly exceeded them in size, and were almost all of the glossy black sort, which is doubtless the colour most esteemed in those skins. Bear and seal skins were also pretty common, and the last were in general white, very beautifully spotted with black, or sometimes simply white; and many of the bears here were of a brown, or sooty colour.

Besides these animals, which were all seen at Nootka, there are some others in this place which we did not find there; such as the white bear, of whose skins the natives brought several pieces, and some entire skins of cubs, from which their size could not be determined. We also found the wolverene, or quickhatch, which had very bright colours; a larger sort of ermine than the common one, which is the same as at Nootka, varied with a brown colour, and with scarcely any black on its tail. The natives also brought the skin of the head of some very large animal; but it could not be positively determined what it was; though, from the colour and shagginess of the hair, and its unlikeness to any land animal, we judged it might probably be that of the large male ursine seal, or sea-bear. But one of the most beautiful skins, and which seems peculiar to this place, as we never saw it before, is that of a small animal about ten inches long, of a brown or rusty colour on the back, with a great number of obscure whitish specks, and the sides of a blueish ash colour, also with a few of these specks. The tail is not above a third of the length, of its body, and is covered with hair of a whitish colour at the edges. It is no doubt the same with those called spotted field mice, by Mr Stæhlin,[⁵] in his short account of the New Northern Archipelago. But whether they be really of the mouse kind, or a squirrel, we could not tell, for want of perfect skins; though Mr Anderson was inclined to think that it is the same animal described under the name of the Casan marmot, by Mr Pennant. The number of skins we found here, points out the great plenty of these several animals just mentioned; but it is remarkable, that we neither saw the skins of the mouse nor of the common deer.

Of the birds mentioned at Nootka, we found here only the white-headed eagle, the shag, the alcyon, or great kingfisher, which had very fine bright colours, and the humming-bird, which came frequently and flew about the ship, while at anchor, though it can scarcely live here in the winter, which must be very severe. The water-fowls were geese, a small sort of duck, almost like that mentioned at Kerguelen's Land; another sort which none of us knew; and some of the black seapyes, with red bills, which we found at Van Diemen's Land and New Zealand. Some of the people who went on shore, killed a grouse, a snipe, and some plover. But though, upon the whole, the water-fowls were pretty numerous, especially the ducks and geese, which frequent the shores, they were so shy, that it was scarcely possible to get within shot; so that we obtained a very small supply of them as refreshment. The duck mentioned above is as large as the common wild-duck, of a deep black colour, with a short pointed tail, and red feet. The bill is white, tinged with red toward the point, and has a large black spot, almost square, near its base, on each side, where it is also enlarged or distended. And on the forehead is a large triangular while spot, with one still larger on the back part of the neck. The female has much duller colours, and none of the ornaments of the bill, except the two black spots, which are obscure.

There is likewise a species of diver here, which seems peculiar to the place. It is about the size of a partridge, has a short, black, compressed bill, with the head and upper part of the neck of a brown black, the rest of a deep brown, obscurely waved with black, except the under-part, which is entirely of a blackish cast, very minutely varied with white; the other (perhaps the female) is blacker above, and whiter below. A small land bird, of the finch kind, about the size of a yellow-hammer, was also found; but was suspected to be one of those which change their colour with the season, and with their migrations. At this time, it was of a dusky brown colour, with a reddish tail, and the supposed male had a large yellow spot on the crown of the head, with some varied black on the upper part of the neck; but the last was on the breast of the female.

The only fish we got were some torsk and halibut, which were chiefly brought by the natives to sell; and we caught a few sculpins about the ship, with some purplish star-fish, that had seventeen or eighteen rays. The rocks were observed to be almost destitute of shell-fish; and the only other animal of this tribe seen, was a red crab, covered with spines of a very large size.

The metals we saw were copper and iron; both which, particularly the latter, were in such plenty, as to constitute the points of most of the arrows and lances. The ores, with which they painted themselves, were a red, brittle, unctuous ochre, or iron-ore, not much unlike cinnabar in colour; a bright blue pigment, which we did not procure; and black-lead. Each of these seems to be very scarce, as they brought very small quantities of the first and last, and seemed to keep them with great care.