“Heaps of fish were strewed about; and in this central part of the square, which might properly be called the kitchen, stood large seal-skins filled with oil, from whence the guests were served with that delicious beverage. The trees that supported the roof were of a size which would render the mast of a first-rate man-of-war diminutive on a comparison with them; indeed, our curiosity as well as our astonishment was at its utmost stretch when we considered the strength which must have been required to raise these enormous beams to their present elevation, and how such strength could be commanded by a people wholly unacquainted, as we supposed, with the mechanic powers. “The door by which we entered this extraordinary fabric was the mouth of one of these images, which, large as it may, from this circumstance, be supposed to have been, was not disproportioned to the other features of its colossal visage. We ascended by a few steps on the outside; and, after passing the portal, descended down the chin into the house, where we found new matter for wonder in the number of men, women, and children who composed the family of the chief, which consisted of at least 800 persons. These were divided into groups according to their respective offices, which had distinct places assigned them. “The whole of the interior of the building was surrounded by a bench, about two feet from the ground, on which the various inhabitants sat, ate, and slept. The chief appeared at the upper end of the room, surrounded by natives of rank, on a small raised platform, round which were placed several large chests, over which hung bladders of oil, large slices of whale’s flesh, and proportionable gobbets of blubber. “Festoons of human skulls, arranged with some attention to uniformity, were disposed in almost every part where they could be placed, and, however ghastly such ornaments appeared to European eyes, they were evidently considered by the courtiers and people of Wicananish as a very splendid and appropriate decoration of the royal apartment. “When the English appeared, the guests had made a considerable advance in their banquet. Before each person was placed a large slice of boiled whale, which, with small wooden dishes filled with oil and fish-soup, and a mussel-shell instead of a spoon, composed the economy of the table. The servants busily replenished the dishes as they were emptied, and the women picked and opened some bark, which served the purpose of towels. The guests despatched their messes with astonishing rapidity and voracity, and even the children, some of them not above three years old, devoured the blubber and oil with a rapacity worthy of their fathers. Wicananish, in the meantime, did the honours with an air of hospitable yet dignified courtesy, which might have graced a more cultivated society.”