In the afternoon of the next day I went into the woods with a party of our men, and cut down a tree for a mizen-mast. On the day following, it was brought to the place where the carpenters were employed upon the foremast. In the evening the wind, which had been for some time westerly, veered to the south-east, and increased to a very hard gale, with rain, which continued till eight o’clock the next morning, when it abated, and veered again to the west. The fore-mast being, by this time, finished, we hauled it along-side; but the bad weather prevented our getting it in till the afternoon; and we set about rigging it with the greatest expedition, while the carpenters were going on with the mizen-mast on shore. They had made very considerable progress in it on the 16th, when they discovered that the stick upon which they were at work was sprung, or wounded, owing, as supposed, to some accident in cutting it down. So that all their labour was thrown away; and it became necessary to get another tree out of the woods, which employed all hands above half a day. During these various operations, several of the natives, who were about the ships, looked on with an expressive silent surprize, which we did not expect, from their general indifference and inattention. On the 18th a party of strangers, in six or eight canoes, came into the cove, where they remained, looking at us, for some time; and then retired, without coming alongside either ship. We supposed that our old friends, who were more numerous at this time about us than these new visitors, would not permit them to have an intercourse with us. It was evident, upon this and several other occasions, that the inhabitants of the adjoining parts of the Sound engrossed us entirely to themselves; or if, at any time, they did not hinder strangers from trading with us, they contrived to manage the trade for them in such a manner that the price of their commodities was always kept up, while the value of ours was lessening every day. We also found that many of the principal natives who lived near us, carried on a trade with more distant tribes, in the articles they had procured from us. For we observed that they would frequently disappear for four or five days at a time, and then return with fresh cargoes of skins and curiosities, which our people were so passionately fond of that they always came to a good market. But we received most benefit from such of the natives as visited us daily. These, after disposing of all their little trifles, turned their attention to fishing, and we never failed to partake of what they caught. We also got from these people a considerable quantity of very good animal oil, which they had reserved in bladders. In this traffic some would attempt to cheat us, by mixing water with the oil; and, once or twice, they had the address to carry their imposition so far as to fill their bladders with mere water, without a single drop of oil. It