sort.

Next day, a family of the natives came near to the place where we were
taking off wood. I know not how many there were at first; but I saw
only the husband, the wife, and their child; and a fourth person who
bore the human shape, and that was all; for he was the most deformed
cripple I had ever seen or heard of. The other man was almost blind;
and neither he nor his wife were such good-looking people as we had
sometimes seen amongst the natives of this coast. The under-lips
of both were bored; and they had in their possession some such
glass-beads as I had met with before amongst their neighbours. But
iron was their beloved article. For four knives, which we had made out
of an old iron hoop, I got from them near four hundred pounds weight
of fish, which they had caught on this or the preceding day. Some were
trout, and the rest were, in size and taste, somewhat between a mullet
and a herring. I gave the child, who was a girl, a few beads; on which
the mother burst into tears, then the father, then the cripple, and
at last, to complete the concert, the girl herself. But this music
continued not long.[4] Before night, we had got the ships, amply
supplied with wood; and had carried on board about twelve tons of
water to each.

[Footnote 4: Captain King has communicated the following account of
an interview with the same family: "On the 12th, while I attended the
wooding party, a canoe, full of natives, approached us; and, beckoning
them to land, an elderly man and woman came on shore. I gave the woman
a small knife, making her understand, that I would give, her a much
larger one for some fish. She made signs to me to follow her. I had
proceeded with them about a mile, when the man, in crossing a stony
beach, fell down, and cut his foot very much. This made me stop; upon
which the woman pointed to the man's eyes, which, I observed, were
covered with a thick, white film. He afterward kept close to his wife,
who apprised him of the obstacles in his way. The woman had a little
child on her back, covered with the hood of her jacket; and which I
took for a bundle till I heard it cry. At about two miles distant we
came to their open skin boat, which was turned on its side, the convex
part towards the wind, and served for their house. I was now made to
perform a singular operation on the man's eyes. First, I was directed
to hold my breath; afterwards, to breathe on the diseased eyes; and,
next, to spit on them. The woman