Note (return) — Chapter IV · TRANSACTIONS AMONGST THE NATIVES OF NORTH AMERICA; DISCOVERIES ALONG THAT COAST AND THE EASTERN EXTREMITY OF ASIA, NORTHWARD TO ICY CAPE; AND RETURN SOUTHWARD TO THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.

Some account of a Spanish voyage to this coast, in 1774, or 1775, had reached England before I sailed; but the foregoing circumstances sufficiently prove that these ships had not been at Nootka.4 Besides this, it was evident, that iron was too common here; was in too many hands; and the uses of it were too well known, for them to have had the first knowledge of it so very lately; or indeed at any earlier period, by an accidental supply from a ship. Doubtless, from the general use they make of this metal, it maybe supposed to come from some constant source, by way of traffic, and that not of a very late date; for they are as dexterous in using their tools as the longest practice can make them. The most probable way, therefore, by which we can suppose that they get their iron, is by trading for it with other Indian tribes, who either have immediate communication with European settlements upon that continent, or receive it, perhaps, through several intermediate nations. The same might be said of the brass and copper found amongst them.