In the morning my curiosity led me to visit the neighbouring wigwams, in which were only one or two men; the rest of the inhabitants were all women and children. I then proceeded to enquire after Captain Cheap and our Indian guide, whom I found in the wigwam they at first occupied: the authority of the cacique had procured the Captain no despicable entertainment. We could not learn what business the men, whose wives and children were here left behind, were gone out upon; but as they seldom or never go upon fishing-parties (for they have no hunting here) without their wives, who take the most laborious part of this pursuit upon themselves, it is probable they were gone upon some warlike expedition, in which they use bows and arrows sometimes, but always the lance. This weapon they throw with great dexterity and force, and never stir abroad without it. About this time their return was looked for; a hearing by no means pleasant to me; I was, therefore, determined to enjoy myself as long as they were absent, and make the most of the good fare I was possessed of; to the pleasure of which I thought a little cleanliness might in some measure contribute; I therefore went to a brook, and taking off my shirt, which might be said to be alive with vermin, set myself about to wash it; which having done as well as I could, and hung on a bush to dry, I heard a bustle about the wigwams; and soon perceived that the women were preparing to depart, having stripped their wigwams of their bark covering, and carried it into their canoes. Putting on, therefore, my shirt just as it was, I hastened to join them, having a great desire of being present at one of their fishing parties.
It was my lot to be put into the canoe with my two patronesses, and some others who assisted in rowing; we were in all four canoes. After rowing some time, they gained such an offing as they required, where the water here was about eight or ten fathom deep, and there lay upon their oars. And now the youngest of the two women, taking a basket in her mouth, jumped overboard, and diving to the bottom, continued under water an amazing time: when she had filled the basket with sea-eggs, she came up to the boat-side; and delivering it so filled to the other women in the boat, they took out the contents, and returned it to her. The diver, then, after having taken a short time to breathe, went down and up again with the same success; and so several times for the space of half an hour. It seems as if Providence had endued this people with a kind of amphibious nature, as the sea is the only source from whence almost all their subsistence is derived. This element too, being here very boisterous, and falling with a most heavy surf upon a rugged coast, very little, except some seal, is to be got any where but in the quiet bosom of the deep. What occasions this reflection is the early propensity I had so frequently observed in the children of these savages to this occupation; who, even at the age of three years, might be seen crawling upon their hands and knees among the rocks and breakers; from which they would tumble themselves into the sea without regard to the cold, which is here often intense; and showing no fear of the noise and roaring of the surf.