Francis Drake, hove in sight. The ships stood
along the coast, now off and now on again, with uncertain weather, till
at length, on March 29, an inlet appeared in latitude 49 degrees 15
minutes North, and longitude 126 degrees 35 minutes East. The ships
sailed up this inlet for several miles, when they cast anchor. Natives
came off in three canoes, shaped like Norway yawls. Having drawn near,
a person stood up in one of them and invited the strangers, in a speech
and by gesture, to land, at the same time strewing handfuls of red
feathers towards them, while his companions threw red dust in the same
way. The next day a large number of people came off, who all behaved in
the most peaceable manner, and offered for sale a number of skins of
bears, foxes, wolves, deer, racoon, polecats, martens, and sea otters.
The difficulty was to find articles to exchange for these really
valuable commodities, for the natives would receive nothing but metal,
and, at last, insisted on having brass. To supply them, whole suits of
clothes were stripped of their buttons, bureaus of their handles, and
copper kettles, tin canisters, and candlesticks went to wreck. The
ships required a great deal of repairs, and even some fresh masts, and
for this purpose they were hauled close into the shore and securely
moored. The natives called this inlet Nootka Sound, but Captain Cook
gave it the name of King George's Sound.

Two persons were on board the ships at this time whose names afterwards
became well-known--Mr Vancouver, then a midshipman of the Resolution,
who afterwards, as Captain Vancouver, made many important discoveries on
the coast then visited, and gave his name to a valuable island, now a
colony of Great Britain; and Corporal Ledyard, whose travels in Siberia
were of a very extraordinary character.

The clothing of the people of Nootka Sound consisted of a dress of flax,
fringed with fur, and reaching to the feet; and over it a cloak of the
same substance, with a hole cut in it, through which the head was
thrust, and which hung down over the shoulders and arms as low as the
waist. The head was covered with a hat like a truncated cone of
matting, with a knob or tassel at the top, and strung under the chin. A
large cloak of bear or wolf skin was occasionally worn over all. They
also, at times, wore wooden masks. Their habitations were made of
planks loosely put together, about seven or eight feet in height in
front, and higher at