The fore-mast being by this time finished, we hauled it alongside; but the bad weather prevented our getting it in till the afternoon; and we set about rigging it with the greatest expedition, while the carpenters were going on with the mizen-mast on shore.  They had made very considerable progress in it on the 16th, when they discovered that the stick upon which they were at work was sprung, or wounded, owing, as supposed, to some accident in cutting it down.  So that all their labour was thrown away, and it became necessary to get another tree out of the woods, which employed all hands above half a day.  During these various operations, several of the natives, who were about the ships, looked on with an expressive silent surprise, which we did not expect; from their general indifference and inattention.

On the 18th, a party of strangers, in six or eight canoes, came into the cove, where they remained, looking at us, for some time, and then retired, without coming alongside either ship.  We supposed, that our old friends, who were more numerous at this time about us, than these new visitors, would not permit them to have any intercourse with us.  It was evident, upon this and several other occasions, that the inhabitants of the adjoining parts of the Sound engrossed us entirely to themselves; or if, at any time, they did not hinder strangers from trading with us, they contrived to manage the trade for them in such a manner, that the price of their commodities was always kept up; while the value of ours was lessening every day.  We also found, that many of the principal natives, who lived near us, carried on a trade with more distant tribes, in the articles they had procured from us.  For we observed that they would frequently disappear for four or five days at a time, and then return with fresh cargoes of skins and curiosities, which our people were so passionately fond of, that they always came to a good market.  But we received most benefit from such of the natives as visited us daily.  These, after disposing of all their little trifles, turned their attention to fishing; and we never failed to partake of what they caught.  We also got from these people a considerable quantity of very good animal oil, which they had reserved in bladders.  In this traffic some would attempt to cheat us, by mixing water with the oil; and, once or twice, they had the address to carry their imposition so far, as to fill their bladders with mere water, without a single drop of oil.  It was always better to bear with these tricks, than to make them the foundation of a quarrel; for our articles of traffic consisted, for the most part, of mere trifles; and yet we were put to our shifts to find a constant supply even of these.  Beads, and such other toys, of which I had still some left, were in little estimation.  Nothing would go down with our visitors but metal; and brass had, by this time, supplanted iron, being so eagerly sought after, that before we left this place, hardly a bit of it was left in the ships, except what belonged to our necessary instruments.  Whole suits of clothes were stripped of every button; bureaus of their furniture; and copper-kettles, tin-cannisters, candle-sticks, and the like, all went to wreck; so that our American friends here got a greater medley and variety of things from us, than any other nation whom we had visited in the course of the voyage.