Returning to Massett I then prepared for a more extended trip, the circumnavigation of the entire group of islands, for the purpose of a preliminary survey of the coast country, to enable me to determine which portion should receive the greatest share of my attention. The canoe which I had used on the comparatively smooth waters of the inlet was old, badly shattered and unseaworthy. I, therefore decided to purchase a new one, and began to canvass through the village, examining those which appeared most suitable for the service required. Though I did this at first without seeing their owners, they soon ascertained the object of my visit, and before I had concluded a bargain every man, woman and speaking child in the village became interested in what to them seemed an important transaction. In matters of trade the Hydas are no exception to the Indian race generally, hesitating to set a price, for fear you might pay more if you should be asked; raising upon their figures if you accept an offer too readily; or backing down altogether, even after delivery, and demanding the article back again. Their extreme cautiousness in dealing with the whites is doubtless due in a great measure to having been so outrageously cheated by many of the early traders. At length, after several refusals on my part to accede to their excessive demands, and consultations of the owner with his people, my offer of $31 for a canoe, thirty feet long, was accepted, which was a larger price than they had at first asked. After strengthening it by putting in cedar ribs, I resumed my travels, accompanied by Mr. Maynard, the well known, enterprising and plucky artist of Victoria, and Thomas, who, besides being so excellent in the management of the canoe, knew the coast very thoroughly as far south as Skidegate, about 100 miles distant.