A strict
prohibition was, at the same time, issued against the smallest
article of the ships' stores being given to the people without
permission, on pain of severe punishment.
At an early hour on the 2d we set out, with a large party, on our
proposed excursion to the huts. The natives received us with great
cordiality, though with somewhat more noisy expressions of
pleasure than before; and we soon began a more minute examination
of their habitations and furniture, in which they readily assisted
us, except that they always sat very closely on the deerskins
which composed their beds, under which were stowed such articles
as they were least willing or able to dispose of. They sold,
however, a great number of their things without reluctance; and it
was, indeed, astonishing to see with what eagerness they would,
for the mere sake of change and variety, barter some of their most
indispensable articles for the veriest trifles in our possession.
For instance, a single sewing-needle, of which they possessed
abundance not much inferior to our own, procured from them a
large, well-sharpened _p=anna_, or man's knife, made of stout
iron, for which, in point of absolute utility, a hundred needles
would not have been a fair equivalent.
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