Page:Voyages in the Northern Pacific - 1896.djvu/98

80 reaches half way down the leg, and a square garment of the same thrown loosely over the shoulders. Their tongues and chins are tattooed; the former is quite black, the latter in stripes. Whether this is considered a mark of beauty or not I cannot tell, but the women here are in general very handsome and well made. We saw a cross on shore, fixed there by the Spaniards many years ago, when there was a Spanish launch driven on shore, and the Indians massacred the whole crew. The different tribes in this bay are always at war with each other; they never met on board, and if the tribe which was on board trading, saw another tribe approaching, they immediately went on shore to protect their wives and property. They all seem to be brave, warlike people. Their canoes are by far the safest I ever saw on the coast, being from 16 to 20 feet long, and from 6 to 8 feet broad, square at both ends and flat bottomed. They have ridges inside about a foot apart, which look exactly like the timbers of a boat, and serve to strengthen them very much. The only words of this tongue we could pick up was, I ai guai, which is a term of friendship, and chilese, which means barter. When they speak they put the tongue to the roof of the mouth, and utter sounds as if their mouth were full. After having bought all the furs here, on the 24th of July we weighed anchor, and, after encountering considerable difficulties, owing to the bad weather, succeeded in getting out. This was fortunate, as, had we gone on shore, (there not being the least shelter in this part of the bay),