Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/187

 swallowed the fumes till they became sick, and seemed to revel in a momentary intoxication. Beads, rings, buttons, fire-steels, everything we had, were regarded as inferior to tobacco, a single inch of which was an acceptable equivalent for the most valuable article they possessed. When in the course of this barter some of the younger people became forward and troublesome, the seniors more than once restrained them; using an expression which, to our ears, sounded exactly like the French words "C'est assez," and which, like tawāc, they may also have borrowed from the Russians. Meanwhile the old flag-bearer, whom my fellows nicknamed Mallette, paraded a roll of raw meat, fashioned like a huge sausage, severing therefrom sundry slices, or rather junks, which he imparted most liberally to every one who chose to partake of his good cheer. The whole band were well clothed in seal and reindeer skins. All the men wore labrets, and the tonsure on the crown of the head was universal among both men and boys. The women had their chins tattooed, but did not display the preposterous topknots of hair so fashionable to the eastward. There was nothing else, either in their manners or habits, remarked as differing from the well-known characteristics of the tribe. I could not learn whether there had been any