arm; and the master, with two other boats, to examine another arm that seemed to take an easterly direction. Late in the evening they both returned. The master reported, that the arm he had been sent to, communicated with that from which we had last come; and that one side of it was only formed by a group of islands. Mr Gore informed me, that he had seen the entrance of an arm, which, he was of opinion, extended a long way to the N.E.; and that, probably by it, a passage might be found. On the other hand, Mr Roberts, one of the mates, whom I had sent with Mr Gore to sketch out the parts they had examined, was of opinion, that they saw the head of this arm. The disagreement of these two opinions, and the circumstance already mentioned of the flood-tide entering the Sound from the south, rendered the existence of a passage this way very doubtful. And, as the wind in the morning had become favourable for getting out to sea, I resolved to spend no more time in searching for a passage in a place that promised so little success. Besides this, I considered, that, if the land on the west should prove to be islands, agreeably to the late Russian Discoveries, we could not fail of getting far enough to the north, and that in good time, provided we did not lose the season in searching places, where a passage was not only doubtful, but improbable. We were now upward of five hundred and twenty leagues to the westward of any part of Baffin's, or of Hudson's Bay. And whatever passage there may be, it must be, or, at least, part of it, must lie to the north of latitude 72°." Who could expect to find a passage or strait of such

extent ?

10

Having thus taken my resolution, next morning at three o'clock, we weighed, and with a gentle breeze at north, proceeded to the southward down the inlet, and met with the same broken ground, as on the preceding day. However, we soon extricated ourselves from it, and afterward never struck ground with a line of forty fathons. Another passage into this inlet was now discovered to the S.W. of that by which we came in, which enabled us to shorten our way

10 Captain Cook seems to take his ideas of these from Mr Stæhlin's map, prefixed to the account of the Northern Archipelago, published by Dr Maty. London, 1774.-D.

"On what evidence Captain Cook formed his judgment as to this, is mentioned in the Introduction.-D.

way out to sea. It is separated from the other by an island, extending eighteen leagues in the direction of N.E. and S.W.; to which I gave the name of Montagu Island.

In this S.W. channel are several islands. Those that lie in the entrance, next the open sea, are high and rocky. But those within are low ones; and being entirely free from snow, and covered with wood and verdure, on this account they were called Green Islands.

At two in the afternoon, the wind veered to the S.W., and S.W. by S., which reduced us to the necessity of plying. I first stretched over to within two miles of the eastern shore, and tacked in fifty-three fathoms water. In standing back to Montagu Island, we discovered a ledge of rocks, some above, and others under water, lying three miles to the north of the northern point of Green Islands. Afterward, some others were seen in the middle of the channel farther out than the islands. These rocks made unsafe plying in the night (though not very dark); and, for that reason, we spent it standing off and on, under Montagu Island; for the depth of water was too great to come to an anchor.

At day-break, the next morning, the wind came more favourable, and we steered for the channel between Montagu Island and the Green Islands, which is between two and three leagues broad, and from thirty-four to seventeen fathoms deep. We had but little wind all the day, and, at eight o'clock in the evening, it was a dead calm, when we anchored in twenty-one fathoms water, over a muddy bottom, about two miles from the shore of Montagu's Island. The calm continued till ten o'clock the next morning, when it was succeeded by a small breeze from the north, with which we weighed; and, by six o'clock in the evening, we were again in the open sea, and found the coast trending west by south, as far as the eye could reach.

SECTION

SECTION V.

The Inlet called Prince William's Sound.-Its Extent.Persons of the Inhabitants described.-Their Dress.- Incision of the Under-lip.-Various other Ornaments.-Their Boats.-Weapons, fishing, and hunting Instruments.— Utensils.-Tools.-Uses Iron is applied to.-Food.-Language, and a Specimen of it.-Animals.—Birds.-Fish.-Iron and Beads, whence received.

To the inlet, which we had now left, I gave the name of Prince William's Sound. To judge of this Sound from what we saw of it, it occupies, at least, a degree and a half of latitude, and two of longitude, exclusive of the arms or branches, the extent of which is not known.

The natives, who came to make us several visits while we were in the Sound, were generally not above the common height, though many of them were under it. They were square, or strongly-chested, and the most disproportioned part of their body seemed to be their heads, which were very large, with thick, short necks, and large, broad or spreading faces, which, upon the whole, were flat. Their eyes, though not small, scarcely bore a proportion to the size of their faces; and their noses had full, round points, hooked, or turned up at the tip. Their teeth were broad, white, equal in size, and evenly set. Their hair was black, thick, straight, and strong, and their beards, in general, thin, or wanting; but the hairs about the lips of those who have them, were stiff or bristly, and frequently of a brown colour. And several of the elderly men had even large and thick, but straight beards.

Though, in general, they agree in the make of their persons, and largeness of their heads, there is a considerable variety in their features; but very few can be said to be of the handsome sort, though their countenance commonly indicates a considerable share of vivacity, good-nature, and frankness. And yet some of them had an air of sullenness and reserve. Some of the women have agreeable faces; and many are easily distinguishable from the men by their features, which are more delicate; but this should be understood chiefly of the youngest sort, or middle-aged. The complexion

complexion of some of the women, and of the children, is white; but without any mixture of red. And some of the men, who were seen naked, had rather a brownish or swarthy cast, which could scarcely be the effect of any stain ; for they do not paint their bodies.

Their common dress (for men, women, and children are cloathed alike), is a kind of close frock, or rather robe; eaching generally to the ancles, though sometimes only to the knees. At the upper part is a hole just sufficient to admit the head, with sleeves that reach to the wrist. These frocks are made of the skins of different animals; the most common of which are those of the sea-otter, grey fox, racoon, and pine-martin, with many of seal-skins, and, in general, they are worn with the hairy side outward. Some also have these frocks made of the skins of fowls, with only the down remaining on them, which they glue on other substances. And we saw one or two woollen garments like those of Nootka. At the seams, where the different skins are sewed together, they are commonly ornamented with tassels or fringes of narrow thongs, cut out of the same skins. A few have a kind of cape, or collar, and some a hood; but the other is the most common form, and seems to be their whole dress in good weather. When it rains, they put over this another frock, ingeniously made from the intestines of whales, or some other large animal, prepared so skilfully, as almost to resemble our gold-beater's leaf. It is made to draw tight round the neck; its sleeves reach as low as the wrist, round which they are tied with a string; and its skirts, when they are in their canoes, are drawn over the rim of the hole in which they sit, so that no water can enter. At the same time, it keeps the men entirely dry upward. For no water can penetrate through it, any more than through a bladder. It must be kept continually moist or wet, otherwise it is apt to crack or break. This, as well as the common frock made of the skins, bears a great resemblance to the dress of the Greenlanders, as described by Crantz.'

In

'Crantz's History of Greenland, vol. i. p. 136-138. The reader will find in Crantz many very striking instances, in which the Greenlanders, and Americans of Prince William's Sound, resemble each other, besides those mentioned in this Section by Captain Cook. The dress of the people of Prince William's Sound, as described by Captain Cook, also agrees

In general, they do not cover their legs or feet; but a few have a kind of skin-stockings, which reach haif-way up the thigh; and scarcely any of them are without mittens for the hands, made of the skins of bears' paws. Those who wear any thing on their heads, resembled, in this respect, our friends at Nootka, having high truncated conic caps, made of straw, and sometimes of wood, resembling a seal's head well painted.

The men commonly wear the hair cropt round the neck and forehead; but the women allow it to grow long, and most of them tie a small lock of it on the crown, or a few club it behind, after our manner. Both sexes have the about the outer and

ears perforated with several holes, lower part of the edge, in which they hang little bunches of beads, made of the same tubulous shelly substance used for this purpose by those of Nootka. The septum of the nose is also perforated, through which they frequently thrust the quill-feathers of small birds, or little bending ornaments, made of the above shelly substance, strung on a stiff string or cord, three or four inches long, which give them a truly grotesque appearance. But the most uncommon and unsightly ornamental fashion, adopted by some of both sexes, is their having the under-lip slit, or cut, quite through, in the direction of the mouth, a little below the swelling part. This incision, which is made even in the sucking children, is often above two inches long, and either by its natural retraction, when the wound is fresh, or by the repetition of some artificial management, assumes the true shape of lips, and becomes so large as to admit the tongue through. This happened to be the case, when the first person having this incision was seen by one of the seamen, who called out, that the man had two mouths, and, indeed, it does not look unlike it. In this artificial mouth they stick a flat narrow ornament, made chiefly out of a solid shell or bone, cut into little narrow pieces, like small teeth, almost down to the base or thickest part, which has a small projecting bit at each end that supports it when put into the divided lip, the cut part then appearing outward.

with that of the inhabitants of Schumagin's Islands, discovered by Beering in 1741. Muller's words are, “ Leur habillement étoit de boyaux de baleines pour le haut du corps, et de peaux de chiens-marins pour le bas.”— Découvertes des Russes, p. 274.