Their manner of eating is exactly consonant to the nastiness of their houses and persons; for the troughs and platters, in which they put their food, appear never to have been washed from the time they were first made, and the dirty remains of a former meal are only sweeped away by the succeeding one.  They also tear every thing solid, or tough, to pieces, with their hands and teeth; for, though they make use of their knives to cut off the larger portions, they have not, as yet, thought of reducing these to smaller pieces and mouthfuls by the same means, though obviously more convenient and cleanly.  But they seem to have no idea of cleanliness; for they eat the roots which they dig from the ground, without so much as shaking off the soil that adheres to them.

We are uncertain if they have any set time for meals; for we have seen them eat at all hours in their canoes.  And yet, from seeing several messes of the porpoise broth preparing toward noon, when we visited the village, I should suspect that they make a principal meal about that time.

Their weapons are bows and arrows, slings, spears, short truncheons of bone, somewhat like the patoo patoo of New Zealand, and a small pick-axe, not unlike the common American tomahawk.  The spear has generally a long point, made of bone.  Some of the arrows are pointed with iron; but most commonly their points were of indented bone.  The tomahawk is a stone, six or eight inches long, pointed at one end, and the other end fixed into a handle of wood.  This handle resembles the head and neck of the human figure; and the stone is fixed in the mouth, so as to represent an enormously large tongue.  To make the resemblance still stronger, human hair is also fixed to it.  This weapon they call taaweesh, or tsuskeeah.  They have another stone weapon called seeaik, nine inches or a foot long, with a square point.

From the number of stone weapons and others, we might almost conclude, that it is their custom to engage in close fight; and we had too convincing proofs that their wars are both frequent and bloody, from the vast number of human sculls which they brought to sell.

Their manufactures and mechanic arts are far more extensive and ingenious, whether we regard the design or the execution, than could have been expected from the natural disposition of the people, and the little progress that civilization has made amongst them in other respects.  The flaxen and woollen garments, with which they cover themselves, must necessarily engage their first care; and are the most material of those that can be racked under the head of manufactures.  The former of these are made of the bark of a pine-tree, beat into a hempen state.  It is not spun, but, after being properly prepared, is spread upon a stick, which is fastened across to two others that stand upright.  It is disposed in such a manner, that the manufacturer, who sits on her hams at this simple