mss142-vasilevShishmarev-i4-042

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and wanting to get into communication with them, ordered
Midshipman Hall, in company of three sailors, to go to them
and to try to hold them on the spot. He was able to fulfill
the captain's wish without any trouble. The savages, seeing
that we were not Spaniards, and hoping to get from us all
sorts of trifles and rum, which they like very much, remained
at the place. Seeing the friendly relations of our messengers
toward the Indians, we, too, approached camp. The settlement,
or better to say, their temporary camp, consisted of
seven huts built of wood bark, and were completely similar
to those that we saw of the Koloshi [Tlingit] in Sitka. They
were inhabited by about 20 persons of both sexes.

The Californians are of medium height, lean, but broad-shouldered and muscular. Their complexion is dark chestnut,
and although their features show some moroseness, they are
not at all unpleasant. They dress in blankets woven from
black and white feathers, which they wear over the shoulder
to the knees in the style of a mantle. The middle part of
their bodies is wrapped in mats of their own handiwork, and the other parts remain nude. By nature the savage appeared
to us to be quiet, but the Spaniards asserted that they were
crafty and wicked. Among the women, who dress like the men,
we saw several young ones of rather pleasant appearance.

The weapons of the savages consist of bows and arrows,
very artfully made of some porous and pliable wood. The outside
of the bows is covered with the neck sinews of the deer. They