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IT was not much less than eight and fourty hours we were thus upon the watch, when one of our Sentinels gave notice he discovered two of the Zemblans coming down a little Hill towards the
Sea. We disposed our selves immediately with what advantage we could, six of us remain'd in the Cave where we were, five and my self removed farther off into another, and in a quarter of an hours time they passed betwixt our Ambuscades without perceiving any thing of us; one of our party gave the Signal by firing of a Gun, as well to give the other the alarm, as to stop the Zemblans and make them look about them, it succeeded as we de∣sired, and Whilst they were in a maze we leapt both parties from our Ambushment, encompassed them so they could not escape and took them.
Their Vestments were of the skins of Pingoins with the Feathers upon them. They consisted of very strait Breeches which reached no lower than the knees, a Wastcoat of the same, the sleeves reach∣ing no farther than the Elbows, the rest of their Arm being naked; Their Wast∣coats were cut with a Peak, before and behind like a Tail, their Caps upon their Heads were like Sugar-Loav's, their Boots were of the skin of a Sea-Calf, of a red∣dish brown colour, the hair outward.
Though they were both habited alike, we could discern one was a Man and the
other a Woman. The Man was about twenty years old, a broad Face like those we had taken before, of a swarthy brown, his nose big and flat, his eyes little and drawn towards his Temples without ei∣ther Beard or Hair, his Quiver was full of Arrowes at his Back with a hatchet of Fish-Bones, which he carried upon his Shoulder with one hand, and his dart in the other.
The woman was about twenty years old, her hair in two breids hanging down upon her Shoulders, she had blew streaks all along her Chin, and three or four up∣on her forehead, on her ears and under her Nose holes had been made, and blew stones hanged in them in little Rings made of the smal bones of Fish. Those in her Ears were as big as Filbeards those in her nose were like Pease, and to defend her jew∣els she carried a Dart in her hand.
We used all the Artifice we could to have prevailed with them to show us their quarters, but nothing would do, and we were forced to carry them on Board, where we put them to the other two we had taken in the Canoe: we could perceive they knew one another presently, though their habit was different, the first we
took not being clad in Feathers, but in the skins of Sea-Calfs, with the hair out∣ward, their Wastcoats being made of two skins sowed together, with their Tails hanging down one before, and another behind as low as their Thighs, and their Drawers were very strait. The eldest was about fifty years old, with a round Chest-nut coloured Beard, but no hair on his head. His Lady was about thirty, her Ears and nose pierced (like other persons of her quality) and laden with blew stones her Hair was platted in two Locks hang∣ing upon her Shoulders, with blew streaks upon her Chin and her Forehead, in short there was never a Barrel better Herring, one as rich and ill favoured as the other, both little trubs like the Samojedes, Lap∣landers, Borandians, and Siberians, their voice was shrill and squeaking their breath stunk abominably, which we imputed to their Diet, eating their meat without Salt, or else dabbling their Fish in the Oyl of another sort of Fish. They drank no∣thing but water, we could never get them to touch a piece of bread, to eat a bit of our salt meat, or salt Fish, nor swal∣low one drop of Beer. We tempted them a little with our strong water,
but the smell of Toboccco they abhor'd.
All their work was wrought with thread made of Fish-skin, their needles with which they sowed, of the small bones of Fish, the end of their Darts and generally all their tools of their bigger bones,
The wood of their Darts and their Bowes were very heavy, of a kind of a red Brown, but their Arrowes were much lighter, of a Whiter Wood, and they shot them with great dexterity. To make the women compleat they both of them wadled like Ducks.