As to the mineral substances in this country, though we found both iron and copper here, there is little reason to believe that either of them belong to the place.  Neither were the ores of any metal seen, if we except a coarse, red, earthy, or ochry substance, used by the natives in painting themselves, which probably may contain a little iron, with a white and a black pigment used for the same purpose.  But we did not procure specimens of them, and therefore cannot positively determine what are their component parts.

Besides the stone or rock that constitutes the mountains and shores, which sometimes contains pieces of very coarse quartz, we found amongst the natives, things made of a hard black granite, though not remarkably compact or fine grained, a greyish whetstone, the common oil-stone of our carpenters, in coarser and finer pieces, and some black bits which are little inferior to the hone-stone.  The natives also use the transparent leafy glimmer, or Muscovy glass, a brown leafy or martial sort, and they sometimes brought to us pieces of rock-crystal, tolerably transparent.  The two first are, probably, found near the spot, as they seemed to be in considerable quantities; but the latter seems to be brought from a greater distance, or is very scarce; for our visitors always parted with it reluctantly.  Some of the pieces were octangular, and had the appearance of being formed into that shape by art.

The persons of the natives are, in general, under the common stature; but not slender in proportion, being commonly pretty full or plump, though not muscular.  Neither doth the soft fleshiness seem ever to swell into corpulence; and many of the older people are rather spare or lean.  The visage of most of them is round and full, and sometimes also broad, with high prominent cheeks; and, above these, the face is frequently much depressed, or seems fallen in quite across between the temples; the nose also flattening at its base, with pretty wide nostrils, and a rounded point.  The forehead rather low, the eyes small, black, and rather languishing than sparkling; the mouth round, with large round thickish lips, the teeth tolerably equal and well set, but not remarkably white.  They have either no beards at all, which was most commonly the case, or a small thin one upon the point of the chin, which does not arise from any natural defect of hair on that part, but from plucking it out more or less; for some of them, particularly the old men, have not only considerable beards all over the chin, but whiskers or mustachios, both on the upper lip, and running from thence toward the lower jaw obliquely downward.[3] Their eye-brows are also scanty, and always narrow; but the hair of the head is in great abundance, very coarse and strong, and, without a single exception, black, straight, and dank, or hanging down over the shoulders.  The neck is short, the arms and body have no particular mark of beauty or elegance in their formation, but are rather clumsy; and the limbs in all are very small in proportion to the other parts, and crooked or ill-made, with large feet badly shaped, and projecting ancles.  Their last defect seems in a great measure to arise from their sitting so much on their hams or knees, both in their canoes and houses.