der the immediate direction and fuperintendence of the fathers, who, by the fame affiduity, had carried the manufacture thus far into execu tion; the produce refulting from their manufactory is wholly applied to the clothing of the converted Indians. I faw fome of the cloth, which was by no means despicable, and had it received the advantage of fulling would have been a very decent fort of clothing. The preparation of the wool, as alfo the fpinning and weaving of it, was, I understood, performed by unmarried women, and female children, who were all refident within the fquare, and were in a state of converfion to the Roman Catholic perfuafion. Befides manufacturing the wool, they were alfo inftructed in a variety of neceffary, ufeful, and beneficial employments, until they marry, which is greatly encouraged; when they retire from the tuition of the fathers, to the hut of theit hufband. By these means it is expected that their doctrines will be firmly established, and rapidly propagated, and the trouble they now have with their prefent untaught flock, will be hereafter recompenfed, by having fewer prejudices to combat in the rifing generation. They likewife confider their plan as effentially neceffary in a political point of view, for infuring their own fafety. The women and girls being the dearest objects of affection amongst thefe Indians, the Spaniards deem it expedient to retain conftantly a certain number of females immediately within their power, as a pledge for the fidelity of the men, and as a check on any improper defigns the natives might attempt to carry into execution, either against the miffionaries, or the establish ment in general.

"By various encouragements and allurements to the children, or their parents, they can depend upon having as many to bring up in this way as they require; here they are well fed, better clothed than the Indians in the neighbourhood, are kept clean, and inftructed, and have every neceffary care taken of them; and in return for thefe advantages, they muft fubmit to certain regulations, amongst which, they are not fuffered to go out of the interior fquare in the day-time without per miffion, are never to fleep out of it at night; and to prevent elopements, this fquare has no communication with the country but by one common door, which the fathers themselves take care of, and fee that it is well fecured every evening, as alfo the apartments of the women, ' who generally retire immediately after fupper.

"If I am correctly informed by the different Spanish gentlemen with whom I converfed on this fubject, the uniform, mild, and kindhearted difpofition of this religious order, has never failed to attach to their interest the affections of the natives wherever they have fat down amongst them; this is a very happy circumftance, for their fituation otherwife would be exceffively precarious, as they are protected only by five foldiers, who refide under the direction of a corporal, in the build ings of the Miffion at fome diftance on the other fide of the church.

The establishment muft certainly be confidered as liable to fome danger. Should these children of nature be ever induced to act an ungrateful and treacherous part, they might eafily conceal fufficient weapons to effect any evil purpofe. There are only three fathers; thefe live by themfelves, and should any attempt be made upon them at night, the very means they have adopted for their fecurity might deprive

H 2

deprive them of any affiftance from the guard until it might be too late; and individually they could make but little refiftance. Should a confpiracy for their deftruction take place, the Miffion would foon fall, and there would be little doubt of the confpirators being joined by the Indians of the village, which is in the vicinity of the Miffion, and which was faid to contain fix hundred perfons; but on visiting it I confidered their number greatly over-rated; the major part of them I understood were converted to the Roman Catholic perfuafion; but I was aftonished to obferve how few advantages had attended their converfion.

66

They seemed to have treated with the most perfect indifference, the precepts and laborious example of their truly worthy and beneyolent paftors; whofe object had been to allure them from their life of indolence, and raife in them a fpirit of emulous industry, which, by fecuring to them plenty of food, and the common conveniences of life, would neceffarily augment their comforts, and encourage them to seek and embrace the bleffings of civilized fociety. Deaf to the important leffons, and infenfible of the promifed advantages, they ftill remained in the most abject state of uncivilization; and if we except the inhabitants of Terra del Fuego, and those of Van Diemen's Land, they are certainly a race of the molt miferable beings I ever faw, poffeffing the faculty of human reafon. Their perfons, generally fpeaking, are under the middle fize, and very ill made; their faces ugly, prefenting a dull, heavy, and stupid countenance, devoid of fenfibility, or the leaft expreffion. One of their greatest averfions is cleanlinefs, both in their perfons and habitations, which, after the manner of their forefathers, were fill without the most trivial improvement. Their houses were of a conical form, about fix or feven feet in diameter at their base (which is the ground) and are constructed by a number of stakes, chiefly of the willow tribe, which are driven erect into the earth in a circular manner, the upper ends of which being small and pliable, are brought nearly to join at the top, in the centre of the circle, and thefe being fecurely faftened, give the upper part of the roof fomewhat of a flattifh appearance; thinner twigs of the like fpecies are horizontally interwoven between the uprights, forming a piece of basket-work about twelve feet high; at the top a fmall aperture is left, which allows the fmoke of the fire made in the centre of the hut to efcape, and admits moft of the light they receive; the entrance is by a small hole close to the ground, through which, with difficulty, one perfon at a time can gain admittance; the whole is covered over with a thick thatch of dried grafs and rufhes.

"Thefe miferable habitations, each of which was allotted for the refidence of a whole family, were erected with fome degree of uniformity, about three or four feet afunder, in ftraight rows, leaving lanes or paffages in right angles between them; but thefe were fo abomina-" bly infefted with every kind of filth and naftiness, as to be rendered not lefs offenfive than degrading to the human fpecies.

Clofe by ftood the church, which for its magnitude, architecture, and internal decorations, did great credit to the conftructors of it, and prefented a ftriking contraft between the exertions of genius, and fuch as bare neceffity is capable of fuggefting. The raifing and deco

rating this edifice, appeared to have greatly attracted the attention of the fathers, and the comforts they might have provided in their humble habitations, feemed to have been totally facrificed to the accomplishment of this favourite object. Even their garden, an object of fuch material mportance, had not yet acquired any great degree of cultivation, though its foil was a rich black mould, and promifed an ample return for any labour that might be bestowed upon it; the whole contained about four acres, was tolerably well fenced in, and produced fome fig, peach, apple, and other fruit trees, but afforded a very scanty fupply of ufeful vegetables; the principal part lying wafte, and overrun with weeds.

"On our return to the convent, we found a moft excellent and abundant repast provided, of beef, mutton, fish, fowls, and fuch vegetables as their garden afforded. The attentive and hofpitable behaviour of our new friends, amply co penfared for the homely manner in which the dinner was ferved; and would certainly have precluded my noticing the diftreffing inconvenience thefe valuable people labour under, in the want of almoft all the common and maft neceffary utenfils of life, had I not been taught to expect, that this colony was in a very different ftage of improvement, and that its inhabitants were infinitely more comfortably circumftanced.

"After dinner we were engaged in an entertaining converfation, in which, by the affiftance of Mr. Dobfon, our interpreter, we were each able to bear a part. Amongst other things, I understood that this Miffion was established in the year 1775, and the Prefidio of St. Francifo in 1778, and that they were the northermott fettlements of any defcription, formed by the court of Spain, on the continental fhore of North-West America, or the islands adjacent, exclufive of Nootka, which I did not confider as coming under that defcription, any more than the temporary establishment, which in the preceding spring had been formed by Sen. Quadra, near Cape Flattery, at the entrance of the ftraits of Juan de Fuca; and which has been already ftated to be entirely evacuated. The excurfions of the Spaniards feemed to be confined to the neighbourhood of their immediate place of refidence, and the direct line of country between one station and another, as they have no veffels for embarkation, excepting the native canoe, and an old rotten wooden one, which was lying near our landing place: had they proper boats on this fpacious fheet of water, their journies would not only be much facilitated, but it would afford a very agreeable variety in their manner of life, and help to pass away many of the folitary and wearifome hours, which they muft unavoidably experience. I understood that the opposite fide of the port had been vifited by fome foldiers on horfeback, who obtained but little information; fome converted Indians were found living amongst the natives of the northern and western parts of the port, who were efteemed by the Spaniards to be a docile, and, in general, a well-difpofed people; though little communication took place between them and the inhabitants of this fide. The millionaries found no difficulty in fubjecting these people to their authority. It is mild and charitable, teaches them the cultivation of the foil, and introduces among them, fuch of the useful arts as are poft cffential to the comforts of human nature and focial life. It is

much

much to be wished that these benevolent exertions may fucceed, though there is every appearance that their progrefs will be very flow, yet they will probably lay a foundation, on which the pofterity of the prefent race may fecure to themselves the enjoyment of civil fociety.

"The next establishment of this nature, and the only one within our reach from our prefent ftation, was that of St. Clara, lying to the fouth eastward, at the diftance of about eighteen leagues, and confidered as one day's journey. As there was no probability of our wood and water being completely on board in less than three or four days, I accepted the offer of Sen. Sal, and the reverend fathers, who undertook to provide us horfes for an expedition to St. Clara the following morning; at the decline of day we took our leave, and concluded a vifit that had been highly interesting and entertaining to us, and had appeared to be equally grateful to our hofpitable friends." P. 9.

The fourth book, which commences at p. 237, vol. ii, is employed in defcribing the fecond vifit of the voyagers to the North, and reprefents a furvey of the whole American Coast, from Fitzhugh's Sound to Cape Decifion, and from Monterrey to the most Southerly extent of the inveftigation which was intended to be made. The following fhort extract describes fingular race of people, and the most extraordinary manners.

"In the afternoon we had the honour of a female party on board, thofe of the women, who appeared of the most confequence, had adopted a very fingular mode of adorning their perfons; and although fome fort of diftortion or mutilation was a prevailing fashion with the generality of the Indian tribes we had seen, yet the peculiarity of that we now beheld, was, of all others, the moft extraordinary, and the effect of its appearance the most indefcribable. A horizontal incifion is made about three tenths of an inch below the upper part of the under lip, extending from one corner of the mouth to the other entirely through the flesh, this orifice is then by degrees ftretched fufficiently to admit an ornament made of wood, which is confined clofe to the gums of the lower jaws, and whofe external furface projects horizontally. These wooden ornaments are oval, and resemble a small oval platter or dish. made concave on both fides; they are of various sizes, but the fmalleft I was able to procure, was about two inches and a half, the largest was three inches and four tenths in length, and an inch and an half broad; the others decreased in breadth, in proportion to their length. They are about four tenths of an inch in thickness, and have a groove along the middle of the outfide edge, for the purpose of receiving the divided lip; these hideous appendages are made of fir and neatly polished, but prefent a moft unnatural appearance, and are a fpecies of deformity, and an inftance of human abfurdity, that would fcarcely be credited without ocular proof.

"It appeared very fingular, that, in the regions of New Georgia, where the princip 1 part of the people's clothing is made of wool, we never faw the animal, nor the skin from which the raw material was procured. And though I had every reafon to believe that thofe aninals were by no means fcarce in this neighbourhood, yet we did not

obferve

obferve one perfon among our present vifitors in a woollen garment; the clothing of the natives here, was either skins of the fea-otter, or garments made from the pine bark; fome of these latter have the fur of the fea-otter very neatly wrought into them, and have a border to the fides and bottom, decorated with various colours. In this only they ufe woollen yarn, very fine, well fpun, and dyed for that purpose, particularly with a very lively and beautiful yellow.

"We at first confidered the inhabitants of this region to be a much finer race of men than those further fouth; the difference however appeared lefs confpicuous when they were feen in greater numbers, probably owing to our having become more familiar with their perfons, and to their having performed a long journey to vifit us in extremely rough rainy weather; their difpofitions, as far as our fhort vifit will authorize an opinion, appeared to be civil, good-humoured, and friendly. The vivacity of their countenances indicated a lively genius, and from their repeated burfts of laughter, it would appear that they were great humourifts, for their mirth was not confined to their own party, or wholly refulting from thence, but was frequently at our expence, fo perfectly were they at eafe in our fociety.

"The chiefs generally approached us with the ceremony of first rowing round the veffels, and departed in the fame manner, finging a fong that was by no means unpleafing, this was fometimes continued till they had retired a confiderable diftance; they seemed a happy cheerful people, and to live in the ftricteft harmony with each other. They were well-verfed in commerce; of this we had manifeft proof in their difpofal of the skins of the fea-otter, and other animals; about one hundred and eighty of the former, I believe, were purchased by different perfons on board in the courfe of their feveral vifits; this number feemed nearly to have exhausted their stock, as most of the chiefs took their leave, as if they had no intention of returning, and in the fame friendly and cheerful manner as before related." P. 280.

In this portion of the work, the account of Mr. Whidbey's boat-excursions excite much curiofity and attention; and the last chapter of the fecond volume is full of interefting matter, and concludes with a fatisfactory, though brief, reprefentation of the Spanish Settlements in New Albion. Among others, we find the following moft curious fact: That between Port St. Francifco and St. Diego, including both establishments, and occupying an extent, in one line, of upwards of 420 nautical miles, the whole Spanish force does not amount to three hundred men, officers included. The author juftly remarks, that credit could hardly be given to the poffibility of fo fmall a body of men keeping in awe, and under fubjection, the natives of fuch a space of country, and that too without reforting to harsh, or unjustifiable measures.

The third volume opens with an account of a third visit made by the voyagers to the Sandwich Islands, and ten chapters are employed in the defcription of the confequent tranf

actions,