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

by Robert Kerr

They seemed very fearful and cautious, expressing their desire by signs, that no more of our people should be permitted to come up. On my laying my hand on the shoulder of one of them, he started back several paces. In proportion as I advanced, they retreated backward, always in the attitude of being ready to make use of their spears, while those on the rising ground stood ready to support them with their arrows. Insensibly, myself and two or three of my companions, got in amongst them. A few beads distributed to those about us, soon created a kind of confidence, so that they were not alarmed when a few more of our people joined us, and, by degrees, a sort of traffic between us commenced. In exchange for knives, beads, tobacco, and other articles, they gave us some of their clothing, and a few arrows. But nothing that we had to offer could induce them to part with a spear or a bow. These they held in constant readiness, never once quitting them, except at one time, when four or five persons laid theirs down, while they gave us a song and a dance. And even then, they placed them in such a manner, that they could lay hold of them in an instant, and, for their security, they desired us to sit down.

The arrows were pointed either with bone or stone, but very few of them had barbs, and some had a round blunt point. What use these may be applied to I cannot say, unless it be to kill small animals, without damaging the skin. The bows were such as we had seen on the American coast, and like those that were used by the Esquimaux. The spears, or spontoons, were of iron or steel; and of European or Asiatic workmanship, in which no little pains had been taken to ornament them with carving, and inlayings of brass, and of a white metal. Those who stood ready with bows and arrows in their hands, had the spear slung over their right shoulder by a leathern strap. A leathern quiver, slung over their left shoulder, contained arrows; and some of these quivers were extremely beautiful, being made of red leather, on which was very neat embroidery, and other ornaments.

Several other things, and in particular their clothing, shewed that they were possessed of a degree of ingenuity, far surpassing what one could expect to find amongst so northern a people. All the Americans we had seen since our arrival on that coast, were rather low of stature, with round chubby faces, and high cheek-bones. The people we now were amongst, far from resembling them, had long visages, and were stout and well-made. In short, they appeared to be a quite different nation. We saw neither women nor children of either sex, nor any aged, except one man, who was bald-headed, and he was the only one who carried no arms. The others seemed to be picked men, and rather under than above the middle age. The old man had a black mark across his face, which I did not see in any others. All of them had their ears bored, and some had glass beads hanging to them. These were the only fixed ornaments we saw about them, for they wear none to the lips. This is another thing in which they differ from the Americans we had lately seen.

Their clothing consisted of a cap, a frock, a pair of breeches, a pair of boots, and a pair of gloves, all made of leather, or of the skins of deer, dogs, seals, &c. and extremely well dressed, some with the hair or fur on, but others without it. The caps were made to fit the head very close; and besides these caps, which most of them wore, we got from them some hoods, made of skins of dogs, that were large enough to cover both head and shoulders. Their hair seemed to be black; but their heads were either shaved, or the hair cut close off, and none of them wore any beard. Of the few articles which they got from us, knives and tobacco were what they valued most.

We found the village composed both of their summer and their winter habitations. The latter are exactly like a vault, the floor of which is sunk a little below the surface of the earth. One of them which I examined was of an oval form, about twenty feet long, and twelve or more high. The framing was composed of wood and the ribs of whales, disposed in a judicious manner, and bound together with smaller materials of the same sort. Over this framing is laid a covering of strong coarse grass, and that again is covered with earth, so that, on the outside, the house looks like a little hillock, supported by a wall of stone, three or four feet high, which is built round the two sides and one end. At the other end, the earth is raised sloping, to walk up to the entrance, which is by a hole in the top of the roof over that end. The floor was boarded, and under it a kind of cellar, in which I saw nothing but water. And at the end of each house was a vaulted room, which I took to be a store-room. These store-rooms communicated with the house, by a dark passage, and with the open air, by a hole in the roof, which was even with the ground one walked upon; but they cannot be said to be wholly under ground, for one end reached to the edge of the hill, along which they were made, and which was built up with stone. Over it stood a kind of sentry-box, or tower, composed of the large bones of large fish.

The summer huts were pretty large and circular, being brought to a point at the top. The framing was of slight poles and bones, covered with the skins of sea-animals. I examined the inside of one. There was a fire-place just within the door, where lay a few wooden vessels, all very dirty. Their bed-places were close to the side, and took up about half the circuit. Some privacy seemed to be observed; for there were several partitions made with skins. The bed and bedding were of deer-skins, and most of them were dry and clean.

About the habitations were erected several stages, ten or twelve feet high, such as we had observed on some parts of the American coast. They were wholly composed of bones, and seemed intended for drying their fish and skins, which were thus placed beyond the reach of their dogs, of which they had a great many. These dogs are of the fox kind, rather large, and of different colours, with long soft hair like wool. They are, probably, used in drawing their sledges in winter. For sledges they have, as I saw a good many laid up in one of the winter huts. It is also not improbable, that dogs may constitute a part of their food. Several lay dead that had been killed that morning.

The canoes of these people are of the same sort with those of the Northern Americans, some, both of the large and of the small ones, being seen lying in a creek under the village.

By the large fish-bones, and of other sea-animals, it appeared that the sea supplied them with the greatest part of their subsistence. The country appeared to be exceedingly barren, yielding neither tree nor shrub, that we could see. At some distance westward, we observed a ridge of mountains covered with snow that had lately fallen.

At first, we supposed this land to be a part of the island of Alaschka, laid down in Mr Stæhlin's map before-mentioned. But from the figure of the coast, the situation of the opposite shore of America, and from the longitude, we soon began to think that it was, more probably, the country of the Tschutski, or the eastern extremity of Asia, explored by Beering in 1728. But to have admitted this, without farther examination, I must have pronounced Mr Stæhlin's map, and his account of the new northern archipelago, to be either exceedingly erroneous, even in latitude, or else to be a mere fiction; a judgment which I had no right to pass upon a publication so respectably vouched, without producing the clearest proofs.[¹]