canoes, and making other very expressive gestures.  At the end of each song, they remained silent a few seconds, and then began again, sometimes pronouncing the word hooee! forcibly, as a chorus.  After entertaining us with this specimen of their music, which we listened to with admiration, for above half an hour, they came alongside the ships, and bartered what they had to dispose of.  Some of our old friends of the Sound were now found to be amongst them, and they took the whole management of the traffic between us and the strangers, much to the advantage of the latter.

Our attendance on these visitors being finished, Captain Clerke and I went, in the forenoon, with two boats, to the village at the west point of the Sound.  When I was there before, I had observed, that plenty of grass grew near it; and it was necessary to lay in a quantity of this, as food for the few goats and sheep which were still left on board.  The inhabitants received us with the same demonstrations of friendship which I had experienced before; and the moment we landed, I ordered some of my people to begin their operation of cutting.  I had not the least imagination, that the natives could make any objection to our furnishing ourselves with what seemed to be of no use to them, but was necessary for us.  However, I was mistaken; for, the moment that our men began to cut, some of the inhabitants interposed, and would not permit them to proceed, saying they must “makook,” that is, must first buy it.  I was now in one of the houses; but as soon as I heard of this, I went to the field, where I found about a dozen of the natives, each of whom laid claim to some part of the grass that grew in this place.  I bargained with them for it, and having completed the purchase, thought that we were now at liberty to cut wherever we pleased.  But here, again, it appeared, that I was under a mistake; for the liberal manner in which I had paid the first pretended proprietors, brought fresh demands upon me from others; so that there did not seem to be a single blade of grass, that had not a separate owner, and so many of them were to be satisfied, that I very soon emptied my pockets.  When they found that I really had nothing more to give, their importunities ceased, and we were permitted to cut where-ever we pleased, and as much as we chose to carry away.

Here I must observe, that I have no where, in my several voyages, met with any uncivilized nation, or tribe, who had such strict notions of their having a right to the exclusive property of every thing that their country produces, as the inhabitants of this Sound.  At first, they wanted our people to pay for the wood and water that they carried on board; and had I been upon the spot, when these demands were made, I should certainly have complied with them.  Our workmen, in my absence, thought differently, for they took but little notice of such claims; and the natives, when they found that we were determined to pay nothing, at last ceased to apply.  But they made a merit of necessity, and frequently afterward took occasion to remind us, that they had given us wood and water out of friendship.[1]