The common lav is our great inheritance. I call upon you all to maintain it. Common law is ufage. Lose the practice and you will lofe the law; admit a diverfity of law, and you shake the rock of that union which ought to join and confolidate these kingdoms. The fpeech from the throne told you that a community of laws was one of the moft effectual cements of confederacy between us. The right hon. Secretary faw that fentence, and approved it before it / came to us. I call upon him to support his own fentiments therefore, and that of his principal, and of those minifters whom his principal confults, as well as of that monarch whom he reprefents. Let it not be rejected merely because it comes from this fide of the houfe. For me, I defire no reputation from it, nor do I wish to force a propofition on the minifter. Let him take it. I hand it over to him. In open parliament I disclaim the credit of it, and confefs that it ought to belong to him, if by adopting it he will render it effectual. "3. Refolved, that, in despite of all the cosmetic artifices, numerous as they are, men of the least judgment will discover when they are called into play; as the fine native down on a natural face will bear teftimony against - or) and the whole tribe of dealers in rouge and blanc. On fome great points I have differed with administration, but it was only because I differed with them in judgment. It was with reluctance that I did fo. But I have not hung on the measures of government unneceffarily. When has any adminiftrati on ever met with lefs obftruction, confider ing the quality and extent of their measures? On this day let both fides of the house meet, 4. Refolved, that the men are not in one common vindication of one common fuch fools as the women generally believe, right, and of one common intereft. Let and in point of matrimony ufually determine that table which feems to divide, unite us; from intrinfic merit, mental as well as perand let us join hands upon it on this great fonal, and that mere dolls feldom make any fubject, and make it an altar as it were of conquefts worth retaining. conftitutional communion." 5. Refolved, that vive la bagatelle is very agreeable, if not carried too far; To the Editor of the Hibernian Magazine. but that the broad double, or rather fingle en SIR, TH HE infolence of you lords of the creation is infupportable-we, who gave you all birth, are not allowed, by many of your fex, to poffefs more intellectual faculties than a parrot-Lord Chesterfield has pofitively faid he never met with a woman of fenfe in his life; but I confider him in the light of an old woman when he wrote this. His lordship paffed for a genius: but, as Johnson justly observed, he was a "wit amongst lords, and a lord amongst wits." Take the effence, or, if you will, quinteffence of all his Letters to his Son, and to what do they amount? In one word, DUPLICITY. But, peace to his manes! His Letters and himself are both dead; and,' as Zanga fays, " Lions prey not upon carcaffes.' Having thus interred his lordship, accord tendres, which are as naufeous as a female caught at a private clofet taking a cordial before dinner, should be invariably rejected. "6. Refolved, that these Resolutions be tranfmitted to the Editor of the Hibernian Magazine, and that he be requested to infert them in that valuable mifcellany." You find, Sir, from thefe Refolutions that all women are not fools, and that our fociety are capable of making a figure in life as well as you boafted lords of the creation, to whom, howwever, we are willing to fubmit, and capitulate upon terms of honour. I fhall add no more, at prefent, but that Your conftant reader FLAVELLA, not afbamed to own herself, but unwilling to be any longer, a Maid. A Voyage A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, undertaker by the command of his Majesty, for making Discoveries in the Northern Hemifphere, and performed under the Direction of Captains Cook, Clerke, and Gore, of his Majefty's Ships the Refolution and Difcovery in the Years 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779 and 1780. (Continued from page 296.) THE only instruments of mufic (if fuch they may be called) which I saw a mongst them, were a rattle; and a small whistle, about an inch long, incapable of any variation, from having but one hole. They use the rattle when they fing, but upon what occafion they, ufe the whistle I know not, unless it be when they drefs themselves like particular animals and endeavour to imitate their howl or cry. I once faw one of them dreffed in a wolf's fkin, with the head over his own, and imitating that animal by making a fqueaking noife with one of thofe whilftles, which he had in his mouth. The rattles are for the most part, made in the fhape of a bird, with a few pebbles in the belly; and the tail is the handle. They have others, however, hat bear rather more refemblance to a child's rattle. In trafficking with us, fome of them would betray a knavish difpofition, and carry off our goods without making any return; and we had abundant reason to commend the fairness of their conduct. However, their eagerness to poffefs iron and brafs, and, indeed, any kind of metal, was fo great, that few of them could refift the temptation to fteal it, when an opportunity offered. The inhabitants of the South Sea iflands, as appears from a variety of inftances in the courfe of this voyage, rather than be idle, would fteal any thing that they could lay their hands upon, without ever confidering, whether it could be of ufe to them or no. The novelty of the object, with them, was a fufficient motive for their endeavouring, by any indirect means, to get poffeffion of it; which marked that, in fuch cafes, they were rather actuated by a childish curiofity, then by a difhoneft difpofition, regardless of the modes of fupplying real wants. The inhabitants of Nootka, who invaded our property, cannot have fuch apology made for them. They were thieves in the ftricteft fence of the word; for they pilfered nothing from us, but what they knew could be converted to the purposes of private utility, and had a real value according to their eftimation ef things. And it was lucky for us, that nothing was thought valuable by them, but the fingle article of our metals. Linen, and fuch like things, were perfectly fecure Hib. Mag. July, 1785, 345 from their depredations; and we could fafely leave them hanging out afhore all night, without watching. The fame principle which prompted our Nootka friends to pilfer from us, it was natural to fuppofe, would produce a fimilar conduct in their intercourfe with each other. And accordingly, we had abundant reafon to believe, that ftealing is much practifed amongst them; and that it chiefly gives rife to their quarrels; of which we faw more than one inftance. We faw but two villages, the number of whofe inhabitants might be computed at 2000. That, at the entrance, of the Sound ftands on the fide of a rifing ground, which has a pretty steep afcent from the beach to the verge of the wood, in which space it is fituated. The houses are difpofed in three ranges or rows, rifing gradually behind each other; the largeft behind that in front, and the others lefs; befides a few ftraggling or fingle ones, at each end. Thefe ranges are interrupted or disjoined at irregular diftances, by narrow paths, or lanes, that pals upward; but thofe which run in the direction of the houses, between the rows, are much broader. Though there be fome appearance of regularity in this difpofition, there is none in the fingle houses; for each of the divifions, made by the paths, may be confidered either as one houfe or as many; there being no regulation or complete feparation, either without or within, to diftinguish them by. They are built of ve ry long and broad planks, refting upon the edge of each other, faftened by withes of fine bark, here and there; and have only flender pofts, or rather poles, at confiderable diftances, on the outfide to which they alfo are tied; but within are fome larger poles placed aflant. The height of the fides and ends of thefe habitations, is seven or eight feet; but the back part is a little higher, by which means the planks, that compofe the roof, flant forward, and laid on loofe, fo as to be moved about; either to be put clofe, to exclude the rain; or in fair wea ther, to be feparated, to let in the light, and carry out the fmoke. They are, upon the whole, miferable dwellings, and conftructed with little care or ingenuity. For, though the fide-planks be made to fit pretty clofely in fome places, in others they are quite open; and there are no regular doors in them the only way of entrance being either by a hole, where the unequal length of the planks has accidentally left an opening; or, in fome cafes, the planks are made to pafs a little beyond each other, or overlap, about two feet afunder; and the entrance is in this space. There are alfo holes, or windows in the fides of the houfe to look out at; but without any regularity of fhape or difpofiti X X on; and thefe have bits of mat hung before, to prevent the rain getting in. On the infide, one may frequently fee from one end to the other of thefe ranges of building without interruption. For though, in general, there be the rudiments, or rather veftiges, of feparations on each fide, for the accommodation of different families, they are fuch as do not intercept the fight; and often confift of no more than pieces of plank, runing from the fide toward the middle of the houfe; fo that, if they were complete, the whole might be compared to a long ftable, with a double range of ftalls, and a broad paffage in the of each of middle. Clofe to the fides, thefe parts, is a little bench of boards, raised five or fix inches higher than the reft of the floor, and covered with mats on which the family fit and fleep. Thefe benches are commonly feven or eight feet long, and four or five broad. In the middle of the floor, between them, is the fire place, which has neither hearth nor chimney. In one houfe, which was in the end of a middle range, almoft quite feparated from the reft by a high clofe partition, and the moft regular, as to defign, of any that I faw, there were four of thefe; each of which, held a fingle family, at a corner, but without any feparation by boards; and the middle part of the houfe appeared common to them all. Their furniture confifts chiefly of a great number of chefts and boxes of all fizes, which is generally piled upon each other, clofe to the fides or ends of the houfe; and contain their fpare garments, fkin, masks, and other things which they fet a value upon. Some of these are double, or one covers the other as a lid; others faftened with thongs; and fome of the very large ones have a fquare hole, or fcuttle, cut in the upper part; by which the things are put in and taken out. They are of ten painted black, ftudded with the teeth of different animals or carved with a kind of freeze-work, and figures of birds or animals, or decorations. Their other domeftic utenfils are moftly fquare and oblong pails or buckets to hold water and other things; round wooden cups and bowls ; and fmall fhallow wooden troughs, about two feet long, out of which they eat their food: baskets of twigs, bags of matting, &c. Their fifhing implements, and other things alfo, lie or hang up in different parts of the houfe, but without the least order; fo that the whole is a complete fcene of confufion; and the only places that do not partake of this confufion are the fleeping benches, that have nothing on them but the mate; which are alfo cleaner, or of a finer fort than thofe they commonly have to fit on in their boats. The naftinefs and ftench of their houfes, are, however, at leaft equal to the confufion. For as they dry their fifh within doors, they alfo gut them there, which, with their bones and fragments thrown down at meals, and the addition of other forts of filth, lie every where in heaps, and are, I believe, never carried away, till it becomes troublesome, from their fize, to walk over them. In a word, their houfes are as filthy as hog-ftics; every thing in and about them stinking of fish, train-oil and fmoke. But amidst all the filth and confufion that are found in the houses, many of them are decorated with images. Thefe are nothing more than the trunks of very large trees, four or five feet high, fet up fingly, or by pairs, at the upper end of the appartment, with the front carved into a hu man face; the arms and hands cut out upon the fides, and variously painted; fo that the whole is a truly monftrous figure. A mat, by way of curtain for the most part hung before them, which the natives were not willing at all times to remove; and when they did unveil them, they feeméd to fpeak to them in a very myfterious It fhould feem that they are, at manner. times, accustomed to make offerings to them; if we can draw this inference from their defi ring us, as we interpreted their figns, to give fomething to thefe images, when they drew afide the mats that covered them. It was natural, from thefe circumftances, for us to think that they were reprefentatives of thefe goods, or fymbols of fome religious or fuperftitious object! and yet we had proofs of the little real estimation they were in; for with a fmall quantity of iron and brafs, I could have purchafed all the gods (if their images were fuch) in the place. I did not fee one that was not offered to me; and I actually got two or three of the very fmalieft fort. The chief employment of the men feems to be that of fishing, and killing land or fea-animals, for the fuftenance of their families; for we faw few of them doing any thing in the houfes; whereas the Women were occupied in manufacturing their flaxen or woollen garments, and in preparing the fish called Sardine, for drying; which they alfo carry up from the beach in twig-baskets, after the men have brought them in their canoes. The women are alto fent in the fmall canoes to gather muscles, and other shell-fish; and perhaps on fone thefe other occafions; for they manage with as much dexterity as the men; who, when 1 when in the canoes with them,feem to pay little attention to their fex,by offering to relieve them from the labour of the paddle; nor, indeed, do they treat them with any particular refpect or tenderness in other fituations The young men appeared to be the moft indolent or idle fet in this community; for they were either fitting about, in fcattered companies, to bafk themfelves in the fun; or lay wallowing in the fand upon the beach, like a number of hogs, for the fame purpose, without any covering. But this difregard of decency was confined to the men. The women were always properly cloathed, and behaved with the utmoft propriety; juftly deferving all commendation, for a bafhfulness and modefty becoming their fex; but more meritorious in them, as the men feem to have no fenfe of fhame. It is impoffible, however, that we should have been able to observe the exact mode of their domeftic life and employments, from fingle vifit (as the firft quite tranfitory) of a few hours. For it may be cafily fuppofed, that, on fuch an occafion, moft of the labour of all the inhabitants of the village would ceafe upon our arrival, and an interruption be given even to the ufual manner of appearing in their houses, during their more remifs or focial hours, when left to themselves. We were much better enabled to form fome judgment of their difpofition, and, in fome meafure, even of their method of living, from the frequent vifits fo many of them paid us at our hips, in their canoes; in which, it should feem, they spend a great deal of time, at leaft in the fummer feafon. For we obferved that they not only eat and fleep frequently in them, but ftrip off their clothes and lay themselves along to bask in the fun, in the fame manner as we had feen practifed at their village. Their canoes of the larger fort, are, indeed, fufficiently fpacious for that purpofe, and perfectly dry; fo that, under thelter of fkin, they are, except in rainy weather, much more comfortable habitations than their houses. With refpect to food, their greatest reliance feems to be upon the fea, as affording fish, mufcles, and fmaller fhell fifh, and fea-animals. Of the firft, the principal are herrings, fardines, two fpecies of bream, and fmall cod. But the herrings and fardine, are not only eaten fresh, in their feafons, but likewise serve as ftores, which after be ing dried and fmoked, are preserved by being fowed up in mats, fo as to form large bales, three or four feet fquare. The herrings alfo fupply them with another grand refource, which is a vast quantity of roe, very curiously prepared. It is ftrewed upon, or, as it were, incruftated about, fmall branches of the Canadian pine. They alfo prepare it upon a long narrow fea-grafs, which 371 grows plentifully upon rocks, under water. This is kept in bafkets or bags of mat, and ufed occafionally, being firft dipped in water. It may be confidered as the winter bread of these people, and has no difagreeable tafte. They alfo roaft the large kind of mufcles, then flick them upon long wooden fhewers, and taking them off occafionally as wanted, eat them without any other preparation, though they often dip them in oil, as a fauce. Of the fea-animals, the most common in fe amongst them, as food, is the porpoife; the fat or rind of which, as well as the flesh, they cut in large pieces, and having dried them, as they do the herrings, eat them without any farther preparations. They alfo prepare a fort of broth from this animal, in its fresh ftate, in a fingular manner, putting pieces of it in a fquare wooden veffel or bucket, with water, and throwing heated ftones into it. This operation they repeat till they think the contents are fufficiently fewed or feethed. They put in the fresh, and take out the other ftones, with a cleft ftick, which ferves as tongs; the vessel being always placed near the fire, for that pur pofe. This is a pretty common dish amongst them; and, from its appearance, seem to be strong, nourishing food. The oil which they procure from thefe and othor fea-animals, is alfo ufed by them in great quantity; both fupping it alone, with a large scoop or fpoon, made horn; or mixing it with other food, as fauce. Upon the whole, it feems plain, from a variety of circumftances, that thefe people procure almost all their animal food from the fea, if we except a few birds, of which the gulls or fea-fowl, which they fhoot with their arrows, are the moft material. As the Canadian pine-branches and fea-grafs, on which the fish roe is ftrewed, may be confidered as their only winter-vegetables; fo, as the fpring advances, they make ufe of feveral others as they come in feafon. The moft common of thefe, which we obferved, were two forts of liliaceous roots, one fimply tunicated, the other granulated upon its furface, called mabkatte and koohquoppa, which have a mild fweetith tafte, and are mucilaginous, and eaten raw. The next which they have in great quantities, is a root called aheita, refembling, in tafte, our liquorice; and another fern root, whofe leaves were not yet difclofed. They also eat, raw, another small, fweetifn, infipid root about the thickness of farjaparilla; but we were ignorant of the plant to which it belongs; and ako of another root, which is very large and palmated, which we faw them dig up near the village, and afterward eat it. It is alfo probable that, as the feafon advances, they have many others, which we did not fee. For though there be no appearance of cultivation amongst them, there are great quantities of alder, goofeberry and currant bushes, whofe fruits they may eat in their natural state, as we have feen them eat the leaves of the laft, and of the lilies, juft as they were plucked from the plant. It must, however, be obferved, that one of the conditions which they feem to require, in all food, is, that it fhould be of the bland or lefs acrid kind; for they would not eat the leek or garlic, though they brought vaft quantities to fel!, when they understood we were fond of it. Indeed, they feemed to have no relifh for any of our food; and when offered fpirituous liquors, they rejected them as fomething unnatural difgufting to the palate. Voyage of Captain Cook. July, and we had too convincing proofs that their wars are both frequent and bloody, from the vaft number of human fculls which they brought to fell. are far more ingenious, both in defign and Their manufactures, and mechanic arts, execution, than could have been expected from the natural difpofition of the people, and the little progrefs that civilization has made amongst them in other refpect. Their flaxen garments are made of the bark of a pine-tree, beat into a hempen ftate. It is not fpun, but, after being properly prepared, is fpread upon a ftick, which is faftened to two others that ftand upright. It is difpofed in fuch a manner, that the manufacturer, who fits on her hams at this fimple machine, knots it aerofs with fmall baited threads, at Though, by this method, it be not fo clofe the diftance of half an inch from each other. between the knots make it fufficiently imperor firm as cloth that is woven, the bunches vious to the air, by filling the interftices; and it has the additional advantage of being fofter and more pliable. Their woollen Though they fometimes eat fmall marine animals, in their fresh ftate, raw, it their common practice to roaft or broil their food; for they are quite ignorant of our method of boiling; unlefs we allow that of preparing their porpoife broth is fuch; and, indeed, their veffels being all of wood, are quite infufficient for this pur-garments, though probably manufactured in pofe. Their manner of eating is exactly confonant to the naftiness of their houfes and perion; for the troughs and platters, in hich 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 fweeped away by the fucceeding one They alfo tear every thing folid, 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 thefe to fmaller pieces and mouthfuls, by the fame means, though obviously more convenient and cleanly. But they feem to have no idea of cleanlinefs; for they eat the roots which they dig from the ground, without fo much as fhaking off the foil that adheres to them. Their wapons were bows and arrows, fines, fpears, fort truncheons of bone, and a fmall pick-axe not unlike the common American tomahawk. The fpear has geneally a long point, made of bone. Some of the arrows are pointed with iron; but most Commonly their points were of indented The tomahawk is a ftone, fix or ight inches long, pointed at one end, and he other end fixed into a handle refembles he head and neck of the human figure; nd the ftone is fixed in the mouth, to as to prefent an enormoufly large tongue. To ake the refeinblance ftill ftronger, human ir is alfo fixed to it. Done. From the number of flone weapons, d others, we might almoft conclude, that their cuftom to engage in clofe fight; blance to woven cloth. But the various fi the fame manner, have the ftrongest refemgures which are very artificially inferted in them, deftroy the fuppofition of their being wrought in a loom; it being extremely unlikely, that thefe people fhould be fo dexterous as to be able to finish fuch a complex work, unlefs immediately by their hands. They are of different degrees of fineness fome refembling our coarfeft rug or blankets; and others almost equal to our finest forts, or even fofter, and certainly warmer. The wool, of which they are made, feems to be taken from different animals, as the fox and brown lynx; the laft of which is by far the fineft, fort; and, in its natural state, differs little from the colour of our coarser wool; but the hair, with which the animal is alfo covered, being intermixed, its appearance, when wrought, is fomewhat diffethefe garments, which are difpofed with great tafte, are commonly of a different coThe ornamental parts of figures in lour, being died, chiefly, either of a deep brown, or of a yellow; the last of which, when it is new, equals the beft of our carpets as to brightnefs. rent. gures upon their garments, correfponds their fondnets for carving in every thing they To their tafte or defign in working fimake of wood. Nothing is without a kind of freeze-work, or the figure of fome animal upon it; but the moft general reprefentation is that of the human face, which is often figures mentioned before; and even upon cut out upon birds, and the other monstrous their ftone and their bone weapons. The general defign of all thefe things is perfectly fufficient |