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diff --git a/38010-8.txt b/38010-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c18ea21 --- /dev/null +++ b/38010-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7438 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Adventures of John Jewitt, by John +Rodgers Jewitt, Edited by Robert Brown + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Adventures of John Jewitt + Only Survivor of the Crew of the Ship Boston During a Captivity of Nearly Three Years Among the Indians of Nootka Sound in Vancouver Island + + +Author: John Rodgers Jewitt + +Editor: Robert Brown + +Release Date: November 14, 2011 [eBook #38010] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN JEWITT*** + + +E-text prepared by Moti Ben-Ari and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by +Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 38010-h.htm or 38010-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38010/38010-h/38010-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38010/38010-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + http://www.archive.org/details/adventuresofjohn00jewiuoft + + +Transcriber's note: + + The following notation has been used for letters with macrons + above them that cannot be represented in the Latin-1 encoding: + [=a], [=e], [=i]. These characters are represented correctly + in the UTF-8 and HTML versions of this e-book. + + + + + +[Illustration: Portrait of Dr. Robert Brown] + + +THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN JEWITT + +Only Survivor of the Crew of the Ship _Boston_ +During a Captivity of Nearly Three Years Among +the Indians of Nootka Sound in Vancouver Island + +Edited with an Introduction and Notes + +by + +Robert Brown, Ph.D., M.A., F.L.S. +Commander of the First Vancouver Exploring Expedition + +With Thirteen Illustrations + + + + + + + +Clement Wilson +29 Paternoster Row, London, E.C. +1896 + +[_All Rights Reserved_] + +Morrison and Gibb, Printers, Edinburgh + + + + +IN MEMORY + + +A sad interest attaches to this little book. Although published after +his death, and therefore deprived of his final revision, it was not the +last work which Dr. Robert Brown did. His manuscript was actually +completed many months ago, but at his own request it was returned to him +to receive a last careful overhaul at his hands. This revision had been +practically finished, and the MS. lay ready uppermost among the papers +in his desk, where it was found after his death. Dr. Brown died on the +morning of the 26th of October, 1895, working almost to his last hour. +Before the leader he had written for the _Standard_ on the evening of +the 25th had come under the eyes of its readers, the hand that had +penned it was cold in death. Between the evening and the morning he went +home. He was only fifty-three, but "a righteous man, though he die +before his time, shall be at rest." + +And in one sense Dr. Brown needed rest--ay, even this last and sweetest +rest of all. His life had been one of unremitting work--work well done, +which the busy, hurrying world mostly heeded not, knowing naught of the +hand that did it. Some twenty years ago, when I first knew him, he was a +fair, stalwart Northerner, full of vigour, mirthful also, and apparently +looking out on the voyage of life with the confident, joyous eye of one +who felt he had strength within him to conquer. His latter days were +saddened by incessant toil, performed in weakness of body and jadedness +of brain, and by the feeling that his best work, the work into which he +put his rich stores of knowledge, was neither recognised nor requited as +it should have been. + +To a sensitive man the daily wear and tear of a journalist's life in +London is often murderous, always exhausting--and Dr. Brown was very +sensitive. Beneath the genial exterior, which seemed to indicate a +careless, light-hearted spirit, lay great depths of feeling, and a +tenderness that shrank from expressing itself. The man was too proud and +self-restrained to betray these depths even to those nearest and dearest +to him. This was at once a nobility in him and a weakness. Had he opened +his heart more, he would have chafed and fretted less, little annoyances +would not have become mountain loads of care. But the truth is, Dr. +Brown was not cut out for the life of an everyday journalist, either by +training, habits, or disposition. The ideal post for him would have been +that of a professor at some great university, where he could have had +abundant leisure to pursue his favourite studies, where young men would +have surrounded him and listened with delight to the outpouring of the +wealth of lore with which his capacious intellect was stored. His lot +was otherwise cast, and he accepted it manfully, battling with his +destiny to his last hours, grimly and in silence of soul, intent only on +one thing, to lift his children clear above the necessity for treading +the same rough road upon which he had worn himself out. + +Other and worthier hands than mine may trace, it is to be hoped, the +story of his life, his expeditions in America and Greenland, and his +many literary labours not only in popularising scientific subjects, with +a thoroughness and attractiveness too little recognised, but in walks +apart where the multitude could not judge him. My dominant feeling about +him for many years has been one of regret that he should be wearing his +life away so fast. He never learned to play; to be completely idle for a +day even became, latterly, irksome, almost irritating, to him. His +fingers itched to hold the pen, to handle a book. Although in earlier +times he could enjoy a brief holiday, he ever mixed work with his +pleasure; could, indeed, accept no pleasure which did not imply work +somewhere close to his hand. Thus his various journeys to Morocco, +ostensibly taken, at any rate the earlier of them, to escape from all +kinds of work, and from the sight of the day's newspaper, ended in his +becoming the foremost authority in Great Britain upon the literature, +present social condition, and probable future of that perishing country. +The acquisition of this knowledge was all in his day's enjoyment. + +The testimony of the introduction and notes to this little book is +enough to prove how thoroughly and conscientiously everything that Dr. +Brown undertook was done. The question of payment rarely entered into +his calculations. Some of his very best work was done for nothing, +because he loved to do it. Witness his edition of _Leo Africanus_, +prepared for the Hakluyt Society, and his innumerable memoirs to the +various learned Societies of which he was a member. + +Few of Dr. Brown's London friends were aware that his attainments as a +scientific botanist were of the highest order. Yet in this department of +science alone he had written thirty papers and reports, besides an +advanced text-book of Botany (published by William Blackwood and Sons), +before the summer of 1872, when he was only thirty years of age. These +were entirely outside his contributions to general literature on that +and other subjects, already at that date numerous; and if we add to the +list the various reports, essays, memoranda contributed by him to the +Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh, of which he was President, to the +Royal Geographical Society, of whose Council he was a member at his +death, and to numerous other bodies, as well as to scientific and +popular journals, on geographical, geological, and zoological subjects, +from first to last the total mounts to several hundreds. In these +branches of science his heart lay always, but he laboured for his daily +bread and to give to him that needed. + +The portrait forming the frontispiece to this volume is from a +photograph of Dr. Brown taken in 1870, just after his return from his +last expedition to Greenland, and represents him much as he looked when, +some years later, he first came to London, after failing to obtain the +chair of Botany in Edinburgh University. That was a disappointment which +he cannot be said ever to have entirely surmounted. The memory of it to +some extent kept him aloof from his fellow-labourers in the world of +journalism. What work he had to do he did loyally, manfully, and with +the most scrupulous care; but he lived a man apart, more or less, from +his first coming among us to the end. In his family circle, and where he +was really known, his loss has brought a great sorrow. + + A. J. W. + LONDON, _February 16, 1896_. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + INTRODUCTION. BY DR. ROBERT BROWN 13 + + CHAPTER I + BIRTH, PARENTAGE, AND EARLY LIFE OF THE AUTHOR 43 + + CHAPTER II + VOYAGE TO NOOTKA SOUND 53 + + CHAPTER III + INTERCOURSE WITH THE NATIVES--MAQUINA--SEIZURE + OF THE VESSEL AND MURDER OF THE CREW 58 + + CHAPTER IV + RECEPTION OF JEWITT BY THE SAVAGES--ESCAPE OF + THOMPSON--ARRIVAL OF NEIGHBOURING TRIBES--AN INDIAN FEAST 70 + + CHAPTER V + BURNING OF THE VESSEL--COMMENCEMENT OF JEWITT'S JOURNAL 83 + + CHAPTER VI + DESCRIPTION OF NOOTKA SOUND--MANNER OF BUILDING + HOUSES--FURNITURE--DRESSES 95 + + CHAPTER VII + APPEARANCE OF THE NATIVES--ORNAMENTS--OTTER-HUNTING-- + FISHING--CANOES 112 + + CHAPTER VIII + MUSIC--MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS--SLAVES--NEIGHBOURING + TRIBES--TRADE WITH THESE--ARMY 129 + + CHAPTER IX + SITUATION OF THE AUTHOR--REMOVAL TO TASHEES--FISHING + PARTIES 142 + + CHAPTER X + CONVERSATION WITH MAQUINA--FRUITS--RELIGIOUS + CEREMONIES--VISIT TO UPQUESTA 156 + + CHAPTER XI + RETURN TO NOOTKA (FRIENDLY COVE)--DEATH OF MAQUINA'S + NEPHEW--INSANITY OF TOOTOOSCH--AN INDIAN MOUNTEBANK 172 + + CHAPTER XII + WAR WITH THE A-Y-CHARTS--A NIGHT ATTACK--PROPOSALS TO + PURCHASE THE AUTHOR 185 + + CHAPTER XIII + MARRIAGE OF THE AUTHOR--HIS ILLNESS--DISMISSES HIS + WIFE--RELIGION OF THE NATIVES--CLIMATE 198 + + CHAPTER XIV + ARRIVAL OF THE BRIG "LYDIA"--STRATAGEM OF THE + AUTHOR--ITS SUCCESS 223 + + APPENDIX + I. THE "BOSTON'S" CREW 247 + II. WAR-SONG OF THE NOOTKA TRIBE 248 + III. A LIST OF WORDS 249 + + INDEX 253 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE + PORTRAIT OF DR. ROBERT BROWN (1870) _Frontispiece_ + DR. BROWN'S "BOY" 14 + PORT SAN JUAN INDIANS 16 + OHYAHT INDIAN 24 + INDIAN ENCAMPMENT NEAR THE LANDING-STAGE, ESQUIMAULT 33 + HABITATIONS IN NOOTKA SOUND (TEMP. 1803) 97 + INTERIOR OF A HABITATION IN NOOTKA SOUND 103 + NOOTKA SOUND INDIANS 111 + INDIAN CANOES, VICTORIA, V. I. (TEMP. 1863) 125 + UK-LULAC-AHT INDIAN 135 + SALMON WEAR NEAR THE INDIAN VILLAGE OF QUAMICHAN, V. I. 149 + CALLICUM AND MAQUILLA, CHIEFS OF NOOTKA SOUND + (TEMP. 1803) 159 + INDIAN CHIEF'S GRAVE (TEMP. 1863) 209 + + + + +ADVENTURES OF JOHN JEWITT. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +Many years ago--when America was in the midst of war, when railways +across the continent were but the dream of sanguine men, and when the +Pacific was a faraway sea--the writer of these lines passed part of a +pleasant summer in cruising along the western shores of Vancouver +Island. Our ship's company was not distinguished, for it consisted of +two fur-traders and an Indian "boy," and the sloop in which the crew and +passengers sailed was so small, that, when the wind failed, and the +brown folk ashore looked less amiable and the shore more rugged than was +desirable, we put her and ourselves beyond hail by the aid of what +seamen know as a "white ash breeze." Out of one fjord we went, only to +enter another so like it that there was often a difficulty in deciding +by the mere appearance of the shore which was which. Everywhere the +dense forest of Douglas fir and Menzies spruce covered the country from +the water's edge to the summit of the rounded hills which here and there +caught the eye in the still little known, but at that date almost +entirely unexplored interior. Wherever a tree could obtain a foothold, +there a tree grew, until in places their roots were at times laved by +the spray. Beneath this thick clothing of heavy timber flourished an +almost equally dense undergrowth of shrubs, which until then were only +known to us from the specimens introduced from North-West America into +the European gardens. Gay were the thickets of thimbleberry[1] and +salmonberry[2] wherever the soil was rich, and for miles the ground was +carpeted with the salal,[3] while the huckleberry,[4] the crab-apple,[5] +and the flowering currant[6] varied the monotony of the gloomy woods. In +places the ginseng, or, as the woodmen call it, the "devil's +walking-stick,"[7] with its long prickly stem and palm-like head of +great leaves, imparted an almost tropical aspect to scenery which, seen +from the deck of our little craft, looked so like that of Southern +Norway, that I have never seen the latter without recalling the outer +limits of British Columbia. On the few flat spits where the sun reached, +the gigantic cedars[8] and broad-leaved maples[9] lighted up the scene, +while the dogwood,[10] with its large white flowers reflected in the +water of some river which, after a turbulent course, had reached the sea +through a placid mouth, or a Menzies arbutus,[11] whose glossy leaves +and brown bark presented a more southern facies to the sombre jungles, +afforded here and there a relief to the never-ending fir and pine and +spruce. + +[Illustration: DR. BROWN'S "BOY."] + +A more solitary shore, so far as white men are concerned, it would be +hard to imagine. From the day we left until the day we returned, we +sighted only one sail; and from Port San Juan, where an Indian trader +lived a lonely life in an often-beleaguered blockhouse, to Koskeemo +Sound, where another of these voluntary exiles passed his years among +the savages, there was not a christened man, with the exception of the +little settlement of lumbermen at the head of the Alberni Canal. For +months at a time no keel ever ploughed this sea, and then too frequently +it was a warship sent from Victoria to chastise the tribesmen for some +outrage committed on wayfaring men such as we. The floating fur-trader +with whom we exchanged the courtesies of the wilderness had indeed been +despitefully used. For had he not taken to himself some savage woman, +who had levanted to her tribe with those miscellaneous effects which he +termed "iktas"? And the Klayoquahts had stolen his boat, and the +Kaoquahts his beans and his vermilion and his rice, and threatened to +scuttle his schooner and stick his head on its masthead. And, moreover, +to complete this tale of public pillage and private wrong, a certain +chief, to whom he applied many ornate epithets, had declared that he +cared not a salal-berry for all of "King George's warships." So that the +conclusion of this merchant of the wilds was that, until "half the +Indians were hanged, and the other half badly licked, there would be no +peace on the coast for honest men such as he." Then, under a cloud of +playful blasphemy, our friend sailed away. + +[Illustration: PORT SAN JUAN INDIANS.] + +For if civilisation was scarce in the Western Vancouver of '63, +savagedom was all-abounding. Not many hours passed without our having +dealings with the lords of the soil. It was indeed our business--or, at +least, the business of the two men and the Indian "boy"--to meet with +and make profit out of the barbarous folk. Hence it was seldom that we +went to sleep without the din of a board village in our ears, or woke +without the ancient and most fish-like smell of one being the first +odour which greeted our nostrils. In almost every cove, creek, or inlet +there was one of these camps, and every few miles we entered the +territory of a new tribe, ruled by a rival chief, rarely on terms with +his neighbour, and as often as not at war with him. More than once we +had occasion to witness the gruesome evidence of this state of matters. +A war party returning from a raid on a distant hamlet would be met with, +all painted in hideous colours, and with the bleeding heads of their +decapitated enemies fastened to the bows of their cedar canoes, and the +cowering captives, doomed to slavery, bound among the fighting men. Or, +casting anchor in front of a village, we would be shown with pride a row +of festering skulls stuck on poles, as proof of the military prowess of +our shifty hosts. + +These were, however, unusually unpleasant incidents. More frequently we +saw little except the more lightsome traits of what was then a very +primitive savage life, and the barbarous folk treated us kindly. A +marriage feast might be in progress, or a great "potlatch," or +merrymaking, at which the giving away of property was the principal +feature (p. 82), might be in full blaze at the very moment we steered +round the wooded point. Halibut and dog-fish were being caught in vast +quantities--the one for slicing and drying for winter use; the other for +the sake of the oil extracted from the liver, then as now an important +article of barter, being in ready demand by the Puget Sound saw-mills. +Now and then a fur-seal or, better still, a sea-otter would be killed. +But this is not the land of choice furs. Even the marten and the mink +were indifferent. Beaver--which in those days, after having been almost +hunted to death, were again getting numerous, owing to the low prices +which the pelts brought having slackened the trappers' zeal--would often +be brought on board, and a few hides of the wapiti, the "elk" of the +Western hunter, and the black-tailed deer which swarm in the Vancouver +woods, generally appeared at every village. The natives are, however, +essentially fish-eaters, and though in every tribe there is generally a +hunter or two, the majority of them seldom wander far afield, the +interior being in their mythology a land of evil things, of which wise +men would do well to keep clear. Even the black bear, which in autumn +was often a common feature of the country, where it ranged the +crab-apple thickets, was not at this season an object of the chase. Like +the deer and the wolves, it was shunning the heat and the flies by +summering near the snow which we could notice still capping some of the +inland hills, rising to heights of from five thousand to seven thousand +feet, and feasting on the countless salmon which were descending every +stream, until, with the receding waters, they were left stranded in the +upland pools. So cheap were salmon, that at times they could be bought +for a cent's worth of "trade goods," and deer in winter for a few +charges of powder and shot. A whale-hunt, in which the behemoth was +attacked by harpoons with attached inflated sealskins, after a fashion +with which I had become familiar when a resident among the Eskimo of +Baffin Bay, was a more curious sight. Yet dog-fish oil was the staple of +the unpicturesque traffic in which my companions engaged; while I, a +hunter after less considered trifles, landed to roam the woods and +shores for days at a time, gathering the few flowers which bloomed under +these umbrageous forests, though in number sufficient to tempt the +red-beaked humming-bird[12] to migrate from Mexico to these northern +regions, its tiny nest being frequently noticed on the tops of low +bushes. + +[Sidenote: The Aht Indians.] + +But, after all, the most interesting sight on the shore was the people +who inhabited it. They were the "Indians," whom my friend Gilbert Sproat +afterwards described as the "Ahts,"[13] for this syllable terminates the +name of each of the many little tribes into which they are divided. Yet, +with a disregard of the laws of nomenclature, the Ethnological Bureau at +Washington has only recently announced its intention of knowing them +officially by the meaningless title of "Wakashan." They are a people by +themselves, speaking a language which was confined to Vancouver Island, +with the exception of Cape Flattery, the western tip of Washington, +where the Makkahs speak it. In Vancouver Island, a region about the size +of Ireland, three, if not four distinct aboriginal tongues are in use, +in addition to Chinook Jargon, a sort of _lingua franca_ employed by the +Indians in their intercourse with the whites or with tribes whose speech +they do not understand. The Kawitshen (Cowitchan) with its various +dialects, the chief of which is the Tsongersth (Songer) of the people +near Victoria, prevails from Sooke in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, +northwards to Comox. From that point to the northern end of the island +various dialects of the Kwakiool (Cogwohl of the traders) are the medium +in which the tribesmen do not conceal their thoughts. The people of +Quatseno and Koskeemo Sounds, owing to their frequent intercourse with +Fort Rupert on the other side of the island, which at this point is at +its narrowest, understand and frequently speak the Kwakiool. But after +passing several days entirely alone among these people, I can vouch for +the fact that this dialect is so peculiar that it almost amounts to a +separate language. However, from this part, or properly, from Woody +Point southwards to Port San Juan, the Aht language is entirely +different. + +The latter locality,[14] nearly opposite Cape Flattery, on the other +side of Juan de Fuca Strait, the most southern part, and the only one on +the mainland where it is spoken, is the special territory of the +Pachenahts. When I knew them, they were, like all of their race, a +dwindling people. A few years earlier, Grant had estimated them to +number a hundred men. In 1863 there were not more than a fifth of that +number fit to manage a canoe, and the total number of the tribe did not +exceed sixty. War with the Sclallans and Makkahs on the opposite shore, +and smallpox, which is more powerful than gunpowder, had so decimated +them that, no longer able to hold their own, they had leagued with the +Nettinahts, old allies of theirs, for mutual defence. Quixto, the chief, +I find described in my notes as a stout fellow, terrible at a bargain, +very well disposed towards the whites, as are all his tribe, the husband +of four wives, an extraordinary number for the Indians of the coast, and +reputed to be rich in blankets and the other gear which constitutes +wealth among the aborigines of this part of the British Empire. In their +palmy days they had made way as far north as Clayoquat Sound and the +Ky-yoh-quaht-cutz in one direction, and with the Tsongersth to the +eastward, though that now pusillanimous tribe had generally the best of +them. Their eastern border is, however, the Jordan River, but they have +a fishing station at the Sombria (Cockles), and several miles up both +the Pandora and Jordan Rivers flowing into their bay. Karleit is their +western limit. + +The Nettinahts[15] are a more powerful tribe; indeed, at the period when +the writer of this book was a prisoner in Nootka Sound, they were among +the strongest of all the Aht people. Even then, they had four +hundred[16] fighting men, and were a people with whom it did not do to +be off your guard. They have--or had--many villages, from Pachena +Bay[17] to the west and Karleit to the east, besides three villages in +Nettinaht Inlet,[18] eleven fishing stations on the Nettinaht River, +three stations on the Cowitchan Lake, and one at Sguitz on the Cowitchan +River itself, while they sometimes descend as far as Tsanena to plant +potatoes. They have thus the widest borders of any Indian tribe in +Vancouver Island, and have a high reputation as hunters, whale-fishers, +and warriors. Moqulla was then the head chief, but every winter a +sub-tribe hunted and fished on the Cowitchan Lake, a sheet of water +which I was among the first to visit, and the very first to "lay down" +with approximate accuracy. Though nowadays--_Eheu fugaces, Postume, +Postume, labuntur anni!_--there is a waggon road to the lake, and, I am +told, "a sort of hotel" on the spot where eight-and-twenty years ago we +encamped on extremely short rations, though with the soothing knowledge +that if only the Fates were kindly and the wind favourable, there were +plenty of trout in the water, and a dinner at large in the woods around. +In those days most of the Nettinaht villages were fortified with wooden +pickets to prevent any night attack, and from its situation, Whyack, the +principal one (built on a cliff, stockaded on the seaward side, and +reached only by a narrow entrance where the surf breaks continuously), +is impregnable to hostile canoemen. This people accordingly carried +themselves with a high hand, and bore a name correspondingly bad. + +Barclay--or Berkeley Sound--is the home of various petty +tribes--Ohyahts, Howchuklisahts, Yu-clul-ahts, Toquahts, Seshahts, and +Opechesahts. The two with whom I was best acquainted were the last +named. The Seshahts lived at the top of the Alberni Canal--a long +narrow fjord or cleft in the island--and on the Seshaht Islands in the +Sound. During the summer months they came for salmon-fishing to Sa ha, +or the first rapids on the Kleekort or Saman River,[19] their chief +being Ia-pou-noul, who had just succeeded to this office owing to the +abdication of his father, though the entire fighting force of the tribe +did not number over fifty men. As late as 1859 the Seshahts seized an +American ship, the _Swiss Boy_. The Opechesahts, of whom I have very +kindly memories, as I encamped with their chief for many days, and +explored Sproat Lake in his company, were an offshoot of the Seshahts, +and had their home on the Kleekort River, but, owing to a massacre by +the now extinct Quallehum (Qualicom) Indians from the opposite coast, +who caught them on an island in Sproat Lake, they were reduced to +seventeen men, most of them, however, tall, handsome fellows, and good +hunters. Chieftainship in that part of the world goes by inheritance. +Hence there may be many of these hereditary aristocrats in a very small +tribe. Accordingly, few though the Opechesaht warriors were, three men, +Quatgenam, Kalooish or Kanash, and Quassoon, a shaggy, thick-set, and +tremendously strong individual who crossed the island with me in 1865, +were entitled to that rank; and it may be added that the women of this, +the most freshwater of all the Vancouver tribes, were noted for a more +than usual share of good looks. + +The Howchuklisahts, whose chief was Maz-o-wennis, numbered forty-five +people, including twenty-eight men. They lived in Ouchucklesit[20] +Harbour, off the Alberni Canal; they had also a fishing camp on +Henderson Lake, and two or three lodges on the rapid or stream flowing +out of that sheet of water, which was discovered and named by me. But +they were "bad to deal with." + +[Illustration: OHYAHT INDIAN.] + +The You-clul-ahts of Ucluelt Inlet, ruled by Ia-pou-noul, a wealthy man +in blankets and other Indian wealth, numbered about one hundred. The +chief of the Toquahts in Pipestem Inlet was Sow-wa-wenes, a middle-aged +man, who had an easy task, as his lieges numbered only eleven, so that +they were thirty years ago on the eve of extinction. The Ohyahts of +Grappler Creek were estimated in 1863 to be about one hundred and +seventy-five in fighting strength--which, multiplied by four for women +and children, would make them, for that region, an unusually strong +community. These figures are probably correct, since the man who made +the statement was, after living for years amongst them, eventually +murdered by the savages,[21] whom he had trusted too implicitly. +Kleesheens, a notorious scoundrel, was their chief. In Clayoquat Sound +were the Klahoquahts, Kellsmahts, Ahousahts, Heshquahts, and +Mamosahts--the last a little tribe numbering only five men. Indeed, with +the exception of the Klahoquahts (who numbered one hundred and sixty +men) and the Ahousahts (who claimed two hundred and fifty), these little +septs, all devoured by mutual hatred, and frequently at war with each +other, were even then dwindling to nothingness. But the Opetsahts, +though marked on the Admiralty Chart[22] as a separate tribe, are--or +were--only a village of the Ahousahts. + +In Nootka Sound, the Muchlahts and Mooachahts lived. In Esperanza +Inlet were the villages of two tribes--the Noochahlahts and Ayattisahts, +numbering forty and twenty-two men respectively, and chiefed at that +time by two worthies of the names of Mala-koi-Kennis, and +Quak-ate-Komisa, whom we left in the delectable condition of each +expecting the other round to cut his and his tribesmen's throats. + +North of this inlet were Ky-yoh-quahts, of the Sound of that name +(Kaioquat), numbering two hundred and fifty men. To us they were +exceedingly friendly, though a trader whom we met had a different tale +to tell of their treatment of him. Kanemat, a young man of about +twenty-two, was their chief, though the tribe was virtually governed by +his mother, a notable lady named Shipally, and at times by his pretty +squaw, Wick-anes, and his lively son and heir, Klahe-ek-enes. The +Chaykisahts, the Klahosahts, and the Neshahts of Woody Point are the +other Aht tribes, though the latter is not included among them by Mr. +Sproat. But they speak their language, of which their chief village is +its most northern limit. + +Everywhere their tribes showed such evident signs of decadence that by +this time some of them must be all but extinct. Still, as the whites had +not come much in contact with them--though all of them asked us for +"lum" (rum), but did not get it, it is clear enough what had been the +traders' staple--the "diseases of civilisation" could not be blamed for +their decay. Even then the practical extermination of two tribes was so +recent that the facts were still fresh in their neighbours' memory. +These were the Ekkalahts, who lived at the top of the Alberni Canal, but +were all but killed off in the same massacre by which the Opechesahts +were decimated. The only survivor was a man named Keekeon, who lived +with the Seshahts, most of whom had forgotten even the name of this +vanquished little nationality. The other tribe was the Koapinahts (or +Koapin-ah), who at that time numbered sixty or seventy people, but at +the period to which I refer they were reduced to two adults--a man and a +woman--all the rest having been slaughtered a few years earlier by the +Kwakiools from the other side of the island, in conjunction with the +Neshahts of Woody Point. In after days I learned to know these tribes +very familiarly, crossing and recrossing the island with or to them, +hunting and canoeing with them, in the woods, up the rivers, or on the +lakes, and gathering from their lips + + "This fair report of them who dwell + In that retirement." + +At first sight these "tinkler loons and siclike companie" were by no +means attractive. They were frowsy, and, undeniably, they were not +clean. But it was only after penetrating their inner ways, after +learning the wealth of custom and folk-lore of which they, all +unconscious of their riches, were the jealous custodians, that one began +to appreciate these primitive folk from a scientific point of view. Even +yet, as the writer recalls the days when he was prone to find men more +romantic than is possible in "middle life forlorn," it is difficult not +to associate the most prosaic of savages with something of the +picturesqueness which, in novels at least, used to cling to all their +race. For, as the charm of such existence as theirs unfolded itself to +the lover of woods and prairies, and lakes and virgin streams, the +neglect of soap and of sanitation was forgotten. As Mr. Leland has +remarked about the gipsies: "When their lives and legends are known, +the ethnologist is apt to think of Tieck's elves, and of the Shang +Valley, which was so grim and repulsive from without, but which, once +entered, was the gay forecourt of Goblin-land." + +In those days little was known--and little cared--about any of the +Western tribes, except by the "schooner-men," as the Indians called the +roving traders. Their very names were strange to the majority of the +Victoria people, and I am told that very few of the colonists of to-day +are any better informed. It has therefore been thought fitting that I +should go somewhat minutely into the condition of the Indians, at a +period when they were more primitive than now, as a slight contribution +to the meagre chronicles of a dying race. For if not preserved here, it +is likely to perish with almost the last survivor of a little band with +whom, during the last two decades, death has been busy. + +[Sidenote: Nootka Sound and its memories.] + +Among the many inlets which we entered on the cruise which has enabled +me to edit this narrative of a less fortunate predecessor, was Nootka +Sound. No portion of North-West America was more famous than this spot, +for once upon a time it was the former centre of the fur trade, and a +locality which more than once figured prominently in diplomatic +correspondence. Indeed, so associated was it as the type of this part of +the western continent, that in many works the heterogeneous group of +savages who inhabit the entire coast between the Columbia River and the +end of Vancouver Island was described as the "Nootka-Columbians." More +than one species of plant and animal attest the fact of this Sound +having been the locality at which the naturalist first broke ground in +North-West America. There are, for instance, a _Haliotis Nutkaensis_ (an +ear shell), a _Rubus Nutkanus_ (a raspberry); and a yellow cypress, +which, however, attained its chief development on the mainland much +farther north, bears among its synonyms that of _Chamcæcyparis +Nutkaensis_. For though it is undeniable that Ensign Juan Perez +discovered it as early as 1779, and named it Port San Lorenzo, after the +saint on whose day it was first seen, this fact was unknown or +forgotten, when, four years later, Cook entered, and called it King +George Sound, though he tells us it was afterwards found that it was +called Nootka by the natives. Hence arose the title it has ever since +borne, though this was an entire mistake on the great navigator's part, +since there is no word in the Aht language at all corresponding to +Nootka, unless indeed it is "Nootche," a mountain, which not unlikely +Cook mistook for that of the inlet generally. The proofs of the presence +of earlier visitors were iron and other tools, familiarity with ships, +and two silver spoons of Spanish manufacture, which, we may take it, had +been stolen from Perez's ship. The next vessel to enter the Sound was +the _Sea Otter_, under the command of Captain James Hanna, who made such +a haul in the shape of sea-otter skins that for many years Nootka was +the great rendezvous of the fur-traders who cruised as far north as +Russian America--now Alaska--and, like Portlock, Dixon, and Meares, +charted and named many of the most familiar parts of the British +Columbian coast. Meares built the _North-West America_ by the aid of +Chinese carpenters in Nootka Sound in the winter of 1788-89, this little +sloop being the first vessel, except a canoe, ever constructed in the +country north of California. + +The lucrative trade done by the English and American traders, some of +whom, disposing of their furs in China, sailed under the Portuguese flag +and fitted out at Macao as the port most readily open to them, +determined the Spaniards to assert their rights to the original +discovery. This was done by Don Estevan Martinez "taking possession" of +the Sound, seizing the vessels there, and erecting a fort to maintain +the territory against all comers. A hot diplomatic warfare ensued, the +result of which was the Convention of Nootka, by which the Sound was +made over to Great Britain; and it was while engaged on this mission of +receiving the Sound that Vancouver, conjointly with Quadra, the Spanish +commander, discovered that the region it intersects is an island, which +for a time bore their joint names, but by general consent has that of +Vancouver only attached to it nowadays. + +This was in the year 1795. Being now indisputably British territory, +Nootka and the coasts north and south of it became more and more +frequented by fur-traders, who found, in spite of the increasing +scarcity of pelts, and the higher prices which keener competition +brought about, an ample profit in buying tolerably cheap on the American +coast and selling very dear to the Chinese, whose love for the sea-otter +continues unabated. Many of these adventurers were Americans--hailing, +for the most part, from Boston. Hence to this day an American is +universally known among the North-Western Indians as a "Boston-man," +while an Englishman is quite as generally termed a "Kintshautsh man" +(King George man), it being during the long reign of George III. that +they first became acquainted with our countrymen. Their barter was +carried on in knives, copper plates, copper kettles, muskets, +brass-hilted swords, soldiers' coats and buttons, pistols, tomahawks, +and blankets, which soon superseded the more costly "Kotsaks" of +sea-otter until then the principal garment, though the women wore, as +they do still at times (or did when I knew the shore), blankets woven +out of pine-tree bark. Rum also seemed to have been freely disposed of, +and no doubt many of the outrages which early began to mark the +intercourse of the brown men and their white visitors were not a little +due to this, and to the customs, ever more free than welcome, in which +it is the habit of the mariner to indulge when he and the savage +forgather. At all events, the natives and their foreign visitors seem to +have come very soon into collision. Indeed, it was seldom that a voyage +was completed without some outrage on one or both sides, followed by +reprisals from the party supposed to have been wronged. Thus part of the +crew of the _Imperial Eagle_, under the command of Captain Barclay,[23] +who discovered and named in his own honour the Sound so called, were +murdered at "Queenhythe,"[24] south of Juan de Fuca Strait, which +Barclay was amongst the first to explore, or rather to rediscover. At a +later date, namely, in 1805, the _Atahualpa_ of Rhode Island was +attacked in Millbank Sound, and her captain, mate, and six seamen were +killed. In 1811 the _Tonquin_, belonging to John Jacob Astor's romantic +fur-trading adventure, which is so well known from Washington Irving's +_Astoria_, was seized by the savages on this coast, and then blown up by +M'Kay, the chief trader, with the entire crew and their assailants. The +scene of the catastrophe has been stated to be Nootka, but other +commentators have fixed upon Barclay Sound, and as late as 1863 an +intelligent trader informed me that some ship's timbers, half buried in +the sand there, were attributed by the Indians to some disastrous event, +which he believed to have been the one in question.[25] I am, however, +now inclined to think that in crediting Nahwitti, at the northern end of +Vancouver Island, with this notable event in the early history of +North-West America,[26] Dr. George Dawson has arrived at the truth. + +To this day--or until very recently--the Indians of the North-West +coast are not accounted very trustworthy, and at the period when I knew +them they were suspected of killing several traders and of looting more +than one small vessel, acts which earned for them frequent visits from +the gunboats at Esquimault, and in several instances the undesirable +distinction of having their villages shelled when they refused to +give up the offenders--generally a difficult operation, since it meant +pretty well the entire village. + +[Illustration: INDIAN ENCAMPMENT NEAR THE LANDING-STAGE, ESQUIMAULT.] + +[Sidenote: John Jewitt and the capture of the "Boston" in 1803.] + +But the most famous of all the piracies of the Western Indians is that +of which an account is contained in John Jewitt's Narrative. The +ostensible author of this work was a Hull blacksmith, the armourer of +the _Boston_, an American ship which was seized while lying in Nootka +Sound, and the entire crew massacred, with the exception of Jewitt, who +was spared owing to his skill as a mechanic being valuable to the +Indians, and John Thompson, the sail-maker, who, though left for dead, +recovered, and was saved by the tact of Jewitt in representing him to be +his father. This happened in March 1803, and from that date until the +20th of July 1805, these two men were kept in slavery to the chief +Maquenna or Moqulla, when they were freed by the arrival of the brig +_Lydia_ of Boston, Samuel Hill master. During this servitude, Jewitt, +who seems to have been a man of some education, kept a journal and +acquired the Aht language, though the style in which his book is written +shows that in preparing it for the press he had obtained the assistance +of a more practised writer than himself. Still, his work is a valuable +contribution to ethnology. For, omitting the brief but excellent +accounts by Cook and Meares, it is the earliest, and, with the exception +of Mr. Sproat's lecture, the fullest description of these Indians. It is +indeed the only one treating specially on the Nootka people, with whom +alone he had any minute acquaintance. Some of the habits he pictures are +now obsolete, or greatly modified, but others--it may be said the +greater number--are exactly as he notes them to have been eighty-six +years ago. Besides the internal evidences of its authenticity, the truth +of the adventures described was vouched for at the time by Jewitt's +companion in slavery; and though there is no absolute proof of its +credibility, it may not be uninteresting to state that, thirty years +ago, I conversed with an American sea captain, who, as a boy, distinctly +remembered Jewitt working as a blacksmith in the town of Middleton in +Connecticut. When the book was first published, in the year 1815, +several editions appeared in America, and at least two reprints were +called for in England, so that the Narrative enjoyed considerable +popularity in the first two decades of the century. Writing in 1840, +Robert Green Low, Librarian to the Department of State at Washington, +characterises it as "a simple and unpretending narrative, which will, no +doubt, in after centuries, be read with interest by the enlightened +people of North-West America." Again, in 1845, the same industrious, +though not always impartial, historian remarks that "this little book +has been frequently reprinted, and, though seldom found in libraries, is +much read by boys and seamen in the United States." As copies are now +seldom met with, this is no longer the case, though on our cruise in +1863 it was one of the well-thumbed little library of the traders, one +of whom had inherited it from William Edy Banfield, whose name has +already been mentioned (p. 25). This trader, for many years a well-known +man on the out-of-the-way parts of the coast, furnished a curious link +between Jewitt's time and our own. For an old Indian told him that he +had, as a boy, served in the family of a chief of Nootka, called +Klan-nin-itth, at the time when Jewitt and Thompson were in slavery; and +that he often assisted Jewitt in making spears, arrows, and other +weapons required for hostile expeditions. He said, further, that the +white slave generally accompanied his owner on visits which he paid to +the Ayhuttisaht, Ahousaht, and Klahoquaht chiefs. This old man +especially remembered Jewitt, who was a good-humoured fellow, often +reciting and singing in his own language for the amusement of the +tribesmen. He was described as a tall, well-made youth, with a mirthful +countenance, whose dress latterly consisted of nothing but a mantle of +cedar bark. Mr. Sproat, who obtained his information from the same +quarter that I did, adds that there was a long story of Jewitt's +courting, and finally abducting, the daughter of Waughclagh, the +Ahousaht chief. This incident in his career is not recorded by our +author, who, however, was married to a daughter of Upquesta, an +Ayhuttisaht Indian. + +Apart, however, from Jewitt not caring to enlighten the decent-living +puritans of Connecticut too minutely regarding his youthful escapades, +it is not unlikely that Mr. Banfield's informant mixed up some +half-forgotten legends regarding another white man, who, seventeen years +before Jewitt's captivity, had voluntarily remained among these Nootka +Indians. This was a scapegrace named John M'Kay,[27] an Irishman, who, +after being in the East India Company's Service in some minor medical +capacity, shipped in 1785 on board the _Captain Cook_ as surgeon's mate, +and was left behind in Nootka Sound, in the hope that he would so +ingratiate himself with the natives, as to induce them to refuse furs to +any other traders except those with whom he was connected. This man +seems to have been an ignorant, untruthful braggart, who contradicted +himself in many important particulars. But entire credence may be given +to his statement that in a short time he sank into barbarism, becoming +as filthy as the dirtiest of his savage companions. For when Captain +Hanna saw him in August 1786, the natives had stripped him of his +clothes, and obliged him to adopt their dress and habits. He even +refused to leave, declaring that he had begun to relish dried fish and +whale oil--though, owing to a famine in the Sound, he got little of +either--and was well satisfied to stay for another year. After making +various excursions in the country about Nootka Sound, during which he +came to the conclusion that it was not a part of the American continent, +but a chain of detached islands, he gladly deserted his Indian wife, and +left with Captain Berkeley in 1787. To "preach, fight, and mend a +musket" seems to have been too much for this medical pluralist. His +further history I am unable to trace, though, for the sake of historical +roundness, it would have been interesting to believe that he was the +same M'Kay who twenty-four years later ended his career so terribly by +blowing up the _Tonquin_, with whose son I was well acquainted. + +In all of these transactions the head chief of Nootka, or at least of +the Mooachahts, figures prominently. This was Maquenna or Moqulla +(Jewitt's Maquina), who, with his relative Wikananish, ruled over most +of the tribes from here to Nettinaht Inlet. He was a shifty savage, +endowed with no small mental ability, and, though at times capable of +acts which were almost generous, untrustworthy like most of his race, +and when offended ready for any act of vindictiveness. Wikananish was on +a visit to Maquenna when the _Discovery_ and _Resolution_ entered the +Sound, and among the relics which Maquenna kept for many years were a +brass mortar left by Cook, which in Meares's day was borne before the +chief as a portion of his regalia, and three "pieces of a brassy metal +formed like cricket bats," on which were the remains of the name and +arms of Sir Joseph Banks, and the date 1775--Banks, it may be +remembered, being the scientific companion of Cook. In every subsequent +voyage Maquenna figures, and not a few of the outrages committed on that +coast were due either to him or to his instigation. Some, like his +attempt to seize Hanna's vessel in 1785, are known from extraneous +sources, and others were boasted of by him to Jewitt. The last of his +proceedings of which history has left any record, is the murder of the +crew of the _Boston_ and the enslavement of Thompson and Jewitt, and in +the narrative of the latter we are afforded a final glimpse of this +notorious "King."[28] + +[Sidenote: Changes since Jewitt's time.] + +When I visited Nootka Sound in 1863, fifty-eight years had passed since +the captivity of the author of this book. In the interval many things +had happened. But though the Indians had altered in some respects, they +were perhaps less changed than almost any other savages in America since +the whites came in contact with them. Eighty-five years had passed since +Cook had careened his ships in Resolution Cove, and seventy since +Vancouver entered the Sound on his almost more notable voyage. Yet the +bricks from the blacksmith's forge, fresh and vitrified as if they had +been in contact with the fire only yesterday, were at times dug up from +among the rank herbage. The village in Friendly Cove--a spot which not a +few mariners found to be very unfriendly--differed in no way from the +picture in Cook's _Voyage_; and though some curio-hunting captain had no +doubt long ago carried off the mortar and emblazoned brasses, the +natives still spoke traditionally of Cook and Vancouver, and were ready +to point out the spots where in 1788 Meares built the _North-West +America_ and the white men had cultivated. Memories of Martinez and +Quadra existed in the shape of many legends, of Indians with Iberian +features, and of several old people who by tradition (though some of +them were old enough to have remembered these navigators), could still +repeat the Spanish numerals. And the head chief of the Mooachahts in +Friendly Cove--vastly smaller though his tribe was, and much abridged +his power--was a grandson of Maquenna, called by the same name, and had +many of his worst characteristics. This fact I am likely to remember. +For he had been accused of having murdered, in the previous January, +Captain Stev of the _Trader_, and since that time no whites had ventured +near him. He, however, assured us that the report was simply a scandal +raised by the neighbouring tribes, who had long hated him and his +people, and would like to see them punished by the arrival of a gunboat, +and that in reality the vessel was wrecked, and the white men were +drowned. At the same time, among the voices heard that night at the +council held in Maquenna's great lodge, supported by the huge beams +described by Jewitt, were some in favour of killing his latest visitors, +on the principle that dead men tell no tales. But that the Noes had it, +the present narrative is the best proof. + +So far as their habits were concerned, they were in a condition as +primitive as at almost any period since the whites had visited them. +Many of the old people were covered only with a mantle of woven pine +bark, and beyond a shirt, in most cases made out of a flour sack, a +blanket was the sole garment of the majority of the tribesmen. At times +when they wanted to receive any goods, they simply pulled off the +blanket, wrapped up the articles in it, and went ashore stark naked, +with the exception of a piece of skin round the loins. The women wore +for the most part no other dress except the blanket and a curious apron +made of a fringe of bark strings. All of them painted hideously, the +women adding a streak of vermilion down the middle division of the hair, +and on high occasions the glittering mica sand, spoken of by Jewitt, was +called into requisition. Their customs--and I had plenty of +opportunities to study them in the course of the years which +followed--were in no way different from what they were in Cook's time. +No missionary seemed ever to have visited them, and their religious +observances were accordingly still the most unadulterated of paganism. +Jewitt's narrative is, however, as might have been expected, very vague +on such matters; and, curiously enough, he makes no mention of their +characteristic trait of compressing the foreheads of the children, the +tribes in Koskeemo Sound squeezing it, while the bones are still +cartilaginous, in a conical shape--though the brain is not thereby +permanently injured: it is simply displaced. + +Since that day, the tribesmen of the west coast of Vancouver Island have +grown fewer and fewer. Some of the smaller septs have indeed become +extinct, and others must be fast on the wane. They have, however, eaten +of the tree of knowledge, and the gunboats have now little occasion to +visit them for punitive purposes. Missionaries have even attempted to +teach them better manners. The Alberni saw-mills have long been +deserted, though other settlers have taken possession of the ground, and +several have squatted in Koskeemo Sound, in the hope that the coal-seams +there might induce the Pacific steamers to make that remote region their +headquarters. Finally, an effort is being made to induce fishermen from +the West of Scotland to settle on that coast. There is plenty of work +for them, and the Indians nowadays are very little to be feared. Indeed, +so far from the successors of Moqulla and Wikananish menacing Donald and +Sandy, they will be ready to help them for a consideration; though a +great deal of tact and forbearance will be necessary before people so +conservative as the hot-tempered Celts work smoothly with a race quite +as fiery and quite as wedded to old ways, as the Ahts among whom John +Jewitt passed the early years of this century. + + R. B. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] _Rubus Nutkanus._ + +[2] _Rubus spectabilis._ + +[3] _Gaultheria Shallon._ + +[4] _Vaccinium ovatum._ + +[5] _Pyrus rivularis._ + +[6] _Ribes sanguineum_, now a common shrub in our ornamental grounds. + +[7] _Echinopanax horridum._ + +[8] _Thuja gigantea_, a tree which to the Indian is what the bamboo is +to the Chinese. + +[9] _Acer macrophyllum._ + +[10] _Cornus Nuttallii._ + +[11] _Arbutus Menziesii._ + +[12] _Selasphorus rufus._ It is one of one hundred and fifty-three birds +which I catalogued from Vancouver Island (_Ibis_, Nov. 1868). + +[13] _Scenes and Studies of Savage Life_ (1868), by the Hon. G. M. +Sproat, late Commissioner of Indian Affairs for British Columbia. + +[14] "Pachena" of the Indians. + +[15] Or, as they call themselves in their dialect of the Aht, +"Dittinahts." Nettinaht is a white man's corruption. + +[16] A few years earlier they were estimated at a thousand. + +[17] "Klootis" of the Indians. + +[18] Known to them as "Etlo." + +[19] They were not permitted this privilege until the whites came to +Alberni in August 1860. + +[20] Though the orthography of these names is often incorrect, and not +even phonetically accurate, I have, in order to avoid the mischief of a +confusion of nomenclature, kept to that of the Admiralty Chart. + +[21] This was the Banfield who acted as Indian agent in Barclay Sound. +He was drowned by Kleetsak, a slave of Kleesheens, capsizing the canoe +in which he was sailing, in revenge for a slight passed upon the chief. +I went ashore at the Ohyaht village in the same canoe, and was asked +whether I was not afraid, "for Banipe was killed in it." There was also +a story that the capsize was an accident. + +[22] It may be proper to state in this place that the interior details +of that chart are, with very few exceptions, from my explorations. But +the map on which they were laid down by me has been so often copied by +societies, governments, and private individuals without permission (and +without acknowledgment), that the author of it has long ceased to claim +a property so generally pillaged. The original, however, appeared, with +a memoir on the interior--"Das Innere der Vancouver Insel"--which has +not yet been translated, in Petermann's _Geographische Mittheilungen_, +1869. + +[23] Or Berkeley--for the name is spelt both ways. + +[24] Destruction Island, in lat. 47° 35'. This was almost the same spot +as that in which the Spaniards of Bodega's crew were massacred in 1775, +and for this reason they named it Isla de Dolores--the "Island of +Sorrows." It is in what is now the State of Washington, U.S.A. + +[25] Green Low will even blame Wikananish, who figures in Jewitt's +narrative, as the instigator of the outrage. + +[26] The Nahwitti Indians. Compare the Tl[=a]-tl[=i]-s[=i]--Kwela and +Nekum-ke-l[=i]sla septs of the Kwakiool people. They now inhabit a +village named Meloopa, on the south-east side of Hope Island. But their +original hamlet was situated on a small rocky peninsula on the east side +of Cape Commerell, which forms the north point of Vancouver Island. Here +remains of old houses are still to be seen, at a place known to the +Indians as Nahwitti. It was close to this place that the _Tonquin_ was +blown up.--_Science_, vol. ix. p. 341. + +[27] "Maccay" (Meares); "M'Key" (Dixon). + +[28] There is a portrait of him, apparently authentic, in Meares's +_Voyages_, vol. ii. (1791). That in the original edition of Jewitt's +Narrative, like the plate of the capture of the _Boston_, appears to +have been drawn from description, though there is a certain resemblance +in it to Meares's sketch made fourteen or fifteen years earlier. But the +scenery, the canoes, the people, and, above all, the palm trees in +Nootka Sound, are purely imaginary. + + + + +JOHN JEWITT'S NARRATIVE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +BIRTH, PARENTAGE AND EARLY LIFE OF THE AUTHOR + + +I was born in Boston, a considerable borough town in Lincolnshire, in +Great Britain, on the 21st of May, 1783. My father, Edward Jewitt, was +by trade a blacksmith, and esteemed among the first in his line of +business in that place. At the age of three years I had the misfortune +to lose my mother, a most excellent woman, who died in childbed, leaving +an infant daughter, who, with myself, and an elder brother by a former +marriage of my father, constituted the whole of our family. My father, +who considered a good education as the greatest blessing he could bestow +on his children, was very particular in paying every attention to us in +that respect, always exhorting us to behave well, and endeavouring to +impress on our minds the principles of virtue and morality, and no +expense in his power was spared to have us instructed in whatever might +render us useful and respectable in society. My brother, who was four +years older than myself and of a more hardy constitution, he destined +for his own trade, but to me he had resolved to give an education +superior to that which is to be obtained in a common school, it being +his intention that I should adopt one of the learned professions. +Accordingly, at the age of twelve he took me from the school in which I +had been taught the first rudiments of learning, and placed me under the +care of Mr. Moses, a celebrated teacher of an academy at Donnington, +about eleven miles from Boston, in order to be instructed in the Latin +language, and in some of the higher branches of the mathematics. I there +made considerable proficiency in writing, reading, and arithmetic, and +obtained a pretty good knowledge of navigation and of surveying; but my +progress in Latin was slow, not only owing to the little inclination I +felt for learning that language, but to a natural impediment in my +speech, which rendered it extremely difficult for me to pronounce it, so +that in a short time, with my father's consent, I wholly relinquished +the study. + +The period of my stay at this place was the most happy of my life. My +preceptor, Mr. Moses, was not only a learned, but a virtuous, +benevolent, and amiable man, universally beloved by his pupils, who took +delight in his instruction, and to whom he allowed every proper +amusement that consisted with attention to their studies. + +One of the principal pleasures I enjoyed was in attending the fair, +which is regularly held twice a year at Donnington, in the spring and in +the fall,[29] the second day being wholly devoted to selling horses, a +prodigious number of which are brought thither for that purpose. As the +scholars on these occasions were always indulged with a holiday, I +cannot express with what eagerness of youthful expectation I used to +anticipate these fairs, nor what delight I felt at the various shows, +exhibitions of wild beasts, and other entertainments that they +presented; I was frequently visited by my father, who always discovered +much joy on seeing me, praised me for my acquirements, and usually left +me a small sum for my pocket expenses. + +Among the scholars at this academy, there was one named Charles Rice, +with whom I formed a particular intimacy, which continued during the +whole of my stay. He was my class and room mate, and as the town he came +from, Ashby, was more than sixty miles off, instead of returning home, +he used frequently during the vacation to go with me to Boston, where he +always met with a cordial welcome from my father, who received me on +these occasions with the greatest affection, apparently taking much +pride in me. My friend in return used to take me with him to an uncle of +his in Donnington, a very wealthy man, who, having no children of his +own, was very fond of his nephew, and on his account I was always a +welcome visitor at the house. I had a good voice, and an ear for music, +to which I was always passionately attached, though my father +endeavoured to discourage this propensity, considering it (as is too +frequently the case) but an introduction to a life of idleness and +dissipation; and, having been remarked for my singing at church, which +was regularly attended on Sundays and festival days by the scholars, Mr. +Morthrop, my friend Rice's uncle, used frequently to request me to sing; +he was always pleased with my exhibitions of this kind, and it was no +doubt one of the means that secured me so gracious a reception at his +house. A number of other gentlemen in the place would sometimes send for +me to sing at their houses, and as I was not a little vain of my vocal +powers, I was much gratified on receiving these invitations, and +accepted them with the greatest pleasure. + +Thus passed away the two happiest years of my life, when my father, +thinking that I had received a sufficient education for the profession +he intended me for, took me from school at Donnington in order to +apprentice me to Doctor Mason, a surgeon of eminence at Reasby, in the +neighbourhood of the celebrated Sir Joseph Banks.[30] With regret did I +part from my school acquaintance, particularly my friend Rice, and +returned home with my father, on a short visit to my family, preparatory +to my intended apprenticeship. The disinclination I ever had felt for +the profession my father wished me to pursue, was still further +increased on my return. When a child I was always fond of being in the +shop, among the workmen, endeavouring to imitate what I saw them do; +this disposition so far increased after my leaving the academy, that I +could not bear to hear the least mention made of my being apprenticed to +a surgeon, and I used so many entreaties with my father to persuade him +to give up this plan and learn me his own trade, that he at last +consented. + +More fortunate would it probably have been for me, had I gratified the +wishes of this affectionate parent, in adopting the profession he had +chosen for me, than thus to have induced him to sacrifice them to mine. +However it might have been, I was at length introduced into the shop, +and my natural turn of mind corresponding with the employment, I became +in a short time uncommonly expert at the work to which I was set. I now +felt myself well contented, pleased with my occupation, and treated with +much affection by my father, and kindness by my step-mother, my father +having once more entered the state of matrimony, with a widow much +younger than himself, who had been brought up in a superior manner, and +was an amiable and sensible woman. + +About a year after I had commenced this apprenticeship, my father, +finding that he could carry on his business to more advantage in Hull, +removed thither with his family. An event of no little importance to me, +as it in a great measure influenced my future destiny. Hull being one of +the best ports in England, and a place of great trade, my father had +there full employment for his numerous workmen, particularly in vessel +work. This naturally leading me to an acquaintance with the sailors on +board some of the ships: the many remarkable stories they told me of +their voyages and adventures, and of the manners and customs of the +nations they had seen, excited a strong wish in me to visit foreign +countries, which was increased by my reading the voyages of Captain +Cook, and some other celebrated navigators. + +Thus passed the four years that I lived at Hull, where my father was +esteemed by all who knew him, as a worthy, industrious, and thriving +man. At this period a circumstance occurred which afforded me the +opportunity I had for some time wished, of gratifying my inclination of +going abroad. + + * * * * * + +Among our principal customers at Hull were the Americans who frequented +that port, and from whose conversation my father as well as myself +formed the most favourable opinion of that country, as affording an +excellent field for the exertions of industry, and a flattering prospect +for the establishment of a young man in life. In the summer of the year +1802, during the peace between England and France, the ship _Boston_, +belonging to Boston, in Massachusetts, and commanded by Captain John +Salter, arrived at Hull, whither she came to take on board a cargo of +such goods as were wanted for the trade with the Indians, on the +North-West coast of America, from whence, after having taken in a lading +of furs and skins, she was to proceed to China, and from thence home to +America. The ship having occasion for many repairs and alterations, +necessary for so long a voyage, the captain applied to my father to do +the smith's work, which was very considerable. That gentleman, who was +of a social turn, used often to call at my father's house, where he +passed many of his evenings, with his chief and second mates, Mr. B. +Delouisa and Mr. William Ingraham,[31] the latter a fine young man of +about twenty, of a most amiable temper, and of such affable manners, as +gained him the love and attachment of the whole crew. These gentlemen +used occasionally to take me with them to the theatre, an amusement +which I was very fond of, and which my father rather encouraged than +objected to, as he thought it a good means of preventing young men, who +are naturally inclined to seek for something to amuse them, from +frequenting taverns, ale-houses, and places of bad resort, equally +destructive of the health and morals, while the stage frequently +furnishes excellent lessons of morality and good conduct. + +In the evenings that he passed at my father's, Captain Salter, who had +for a great number of years been at sea, and seen almost all parts of +the world, used sometimes to speak of his voyages, and, observing me +listen with much attention to his relations, he one day, when I had +brought him some work, said to me in rather a jocose manner, "John, how +should you like to go with me?" I answered, that it would give me great +pleasure, that I had for a long time wished to visit foreign countries, +particularly America, which I had been told so many fine stories of, and +that if my father would give his consent, and he was willing to take me +with him, I would go. + +"I shall be very glad to do it," said he, "if your father can be +prevailed on to let you go; and as I want an expert smith for an +armourer, the one I have shipped for that purpose not being sufficiently +master of his trade, I have no doubt that you will answer my turn well, +as I perceive you are both active and ingenious, and on my return to +America I shall probably be able to do something much better for you in +Boston. I will take the first opportunity of speaking to your father +about it, and try to persuade him to consent." He accordingly, the next +evening that he called at our house, introduced the subject: my father +at first would not listen to the proposal. That best of parents, though +anxious for my advantageous establishment in life, could not bear to +think of parting with me, but on Captain Salter's telling him of what +benefit it would be to me to go the voyage with him, and that it was a +pity to keep a promising and ingenious young fellow like myself confined +to a small shop in England, when if I had tolerable success I might do +so much better in America, where wages were much higher and living +cheaper, he at length gave up his objections, and consented that I +should ship on board the _Boston_ as an armourer, at the rate of thirty +dollars per month, with an agreement that the amount due to me, together +with a certain sum of money, which my father gave Captain Salter for +that purpose, should be laid out by him on the North-West coast in the +purchase of furs for my account, to be disposed of in China for such +goods as would yield a profit on the return of the ship; my father being +solicitous to give me every advantage in his power of well establishing +myself in my trade in Boston, or some other maritime town of America. +Such were the flattering expectations which this good man indulged +respecting me. Alas! the fatal disaster that befell us, not only blasted +all these hopes, but involved me in extreme distress and wretchedness +for a long period after. + +The ship, having undergone a thorough repair and been well coppered, +proceeded to take on board her cargo, which consisted of English cloths, +Dutch blankets, looking-glasses, beads, knives, razors, etc., which +were received from Holland, some sugar and molasses, about twenty +hogsheads of rum, including stores for the ship, a great quantity of +ammunition, cutlasses, pistols, and three thousand muskets and +fowling-pieces. The ship being loaded and ready for sea, as I was +preparing for my departure, my father came to me, and, taking me aside, +said to me with much emotion, "John, I am now going to part with you, +and Heaven only knows if we shall ever again meet. But in whatever part +of the world you are, always bear it in mind, that on your own conduct +will depend your success in life. Be honest, industrious, frugal, and +temperate, and you will not fail, in whatsoever country it may be your +lot to be placed, to gain yourself friends. Let the Bible be your guide, +and your reliance in any fortune that may befall you, that Almighty +Being, who knows how to bring forth good from evil, and who never +deserts those who put their trust in Him." He repeated his exhortations +to me to lead an honest and Christian life, and to recollect that I had +a father, a mother, a brother, and sister, who could not but feel a +strong interest in my welfare, enjoining me to write him by the first +opportunity that should offer to England, from whatever part of the +world I might be in, more particularly on my arrival in Boston. This I +promised to do, but long unhappily was it before I was able to fulfil +this promise. I then took an affectionate leave of my worthy parent, +whose feelings would hardly permit him to speak, and, bidding an +affectionate farewell to my brother, sister, and step-mother, who +expressed the greatest solicitude for my future fortune, went on board +the ship, which proceeded to the Downs, to be ready for the first +favourable wind. I found myself well accommodated on board as regarded +my work, an iron forge having been erected on deck; this my father had +made for the ship on a new plan, for which he afterwards obtained a +patent; while a corner of the steerage was appropriated to my +vice-bench, so that in bad weather I could work below. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[29] These fairs are still held, though the dates are now May 26th, +September 4th, and October 27th. + +[30] The companion of Cook, and for many years President of the Royal +Society. + +[31] This William Ingraham must not be confounded with Joseph Ingraham, +who also visited Nootka Sound, and played a considerable part in the +exploration of the North-West American coast. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +VOYAGE TO NOOTKA SOUND + + +On the third day of September, 1802, we sailed from the Downs with a +fair wind, in company with twenty-four sail of American vessels, most of +which were bound home. + +I was sea-sick for a few of the first days, but it was of short +continuance, and on my recovery I found myself in uncommonly fine health +and spirits, and went to work with alacrity at my forge, in putting in +order some of the muskets, and making daggers, knives, and small +hatchets for the Indian trade, while in wet and stormy weather I was +occupied below in filing and polishing them. This was my employment, +having but little to do with sailing the vessel, though I used +occasionally to lend a hand in assisting the seamen in taking in and +making sail. + +As I had never before been out of sight of land, I cannot describe my +sensations, after I had recovered from the distressing effects of +sea-sickness, on viewing the mighty ocean by which I was surrounded, +bound only by the sky, while its waves, rising in mountains, seemed +every moment to threaten our ruin. Manifest as is the hand of Providence +in preserving its creatures from destruction, in no instance is it more +so than on the great deep; for whether we consider in its tumultuary +motions the watery deluge that each moment menaces to overwhelm us, the +immense violence of its shocks, the little that interposes between us +and death, a single plank forming our only security, which, should it +unfortunately be loosened, would plunge us at once into the abyss, our +gratitude ought strongly to be excited towards that superintending Deity +who in so wonderful a manner sustains our lives amid the waves. + +We had a pleasant and favourable passage of twenty-nine days to the +Island of St. Catherine,[32] on the coast of Brazils, where the captain +had determined to stop for a few days to wood and water. This place +belongs to the Portuguese. On entering the harbour, we were saluted by +the fort, which we returned. The next day the governor of the island +came on board of us with his suite; Captain Salter received him with +much respect, and invited him to dine with him, which he accepted. The +ship remained at St. Catherine's four days, during which time we were +busily employed in taking in wood, water, and fresh provisions, Captain +Salter thinking it best to furnish himself here with a full supply for +his voyage to the North-West coast, so as not to be obliged to stop at +the Sandwich Islands. St. Catherine's is a very commodious place for +vessels to stop at that are bound round Cape Horn, as it abounds with +springs of fine water, with excellent oranges, plantains, and bananas. + +Having completed our stores, we put to sea, and on the twenty-fifth of +December, at length passed Cape Horn, which we had made no less than +thirty-six days before, but were repeatedly forced back by contrary +winds, experiencing very rough and tempestuous weather in doubling it. + +Immediately after passing Cape Horn, all our dangers and difficulties +seemed to be at an end; the weather became fine, and so little labour +was necessary on board the ship, that the men soon recovered from their +fatigue and were in excellent spirits. A few days after we fell in with +an English South Sea whaling ship homeward bound,[33] which was the only +vessel we spoke with on our voyage. We now took the trade wind or +monsoon, during which we enjoyed the finest weather possible, so that +for the space of a fortnight we were not obliged to reeve a topsail or +to make a tack, and so light was the duty and easy the life of the +sailors during this time, that they appeared the happiest of any people +in the world. + +Captain Salter, who had been for many years in the East India trade, was +a most excellent seaman, and preserved the strictest order and +discipline on board his ship, though he was a man of mild temper and +conciliating manners, and disposed to allow every indulgence to his men, +not inconsistent with their duty. We had on board a fine band of music, +with which on Saturday nights, when the weather was pleasant, we were +accustomed to be regaled, the captain ordering them to play for several +hours for the amusement of the crew. This to me was most delightful, +especially during the serene evenings we experienced in traversing the +Southern Ocean. As for myself, during the day I was constantly occupied +at my forge, in refitting or repairing some of the ironwork of the +vessel, but principally in making tomahawks, daggers, etc., for the +North-West coast. + +During the first part of our voyage we saw scarcely any fish, excepting +some whales, a few sharks, and flying fish; but after weathering Cape +Horn we met with numerous shoals of sea porpoises, several of whom we +caught, and as we had been for some time without fresh provisions, I +found it not only a palatable, but really a very excellent food. To one +who has never before seen them, a shoal of these fish[34] presents a +very striking and singular appearance; beheld at a distance coming +towards a vessel, they look not unlike a great number of small black +waves rolling over one another in a confused manner, and approaching +with great swiftness. As soon as a shoal is seen, all is bustle and +activity on board the ship, the grains and the harpoons are immediately +got ready, and those who are best skilled in throwing them take their +stand at the bow and along the gunwale, anxiously awaiting the welcome +troop as they come, gambolling and blowing around the vessel, in search +of food. When pierced with the harpoon and drawn on board, unless the +fish is instantly killed by the stroke, which rarely happens, it utters +most pitiful cries, greatly resembling those of an infant. The flesh, +cut into steaks and broiled, is not unlike very coarse beef, and the +harslet in appearance and taste is so much like that of a hog, that it +would be no easy matter to distinguish the one from the other; from this +circumstance the sailors have given the name of the herring hog[35] to +this fish. I was told by some of the crew, that if one of them happens +to free itself from the grains or harpoons, when struck, all the others, +attracted by the blood, immediately quit the ship and give chase to the +wounded one, and as soon as they overtake it, immediately tear it in +pieces. We also caught a large shark, which had followed the ship for +several days, with a hook which I made for the purpose, and although the +flesh was by no means equal to that of the herring hog, yet to those +destitute as we were of anything fresh, I found it eat very well. After +passing the Cape, when the sea had become calm, we saw great numbers of +albatrosses, a large brown and white bird of the goose kind, one of +which Captain Salter shot, whose wings measured from their extremities +fifteen feet. One thing, however, I must not omit mentioning, as it +struck me in a most singular and extraordinary manner. This was, that on +passing Cape Horn in December, which was midsummer in that climate, the +nights were so light, without any moon, that we found no difficulty +whatever in reading small print, which we frequently did during our +watches. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[32] Santa Catharina. + +[33] This is now, so far as Great Britain is concerned, a reminiscence +of a vanished trade: the South Sea whaling is extinct. + +[34] The zoological reader does not require to be told that the +porpoise, a very general term applied by sailors to many small species +of cetaceans, is not a "fish." + +[35] _Porc poisson_ of the French, of which porpoise is simply a +corruption. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +INTERCOURSE WITH THE NATIVES--MAQUINA--SEIZURE OF THE VESSEL AND MURDER +OF THE CREW + + +In this manner, with a fair wind and easy weather from the 28th of +December, the period of our passing Cape Horn, we pursued our voyage to +the northward until the 12th of March, 1803, when we made Woody Point in +Nootka Sound, on the North-West coast of America. We immediately stood +up the Sound for Nootka, where[36] Captain Salter had determined to +stop, in order to supply the ship with wood and water before proceeding +up the coast to trade. But in order to avoid the risk of any molestation +or interruption to his men from the Indians while thus employed, he +proceeded with the ship about five miles to the northward of the +village, which is situated on Friendly Cove, and sent out his chief mate +with several of the crew in the boat to find a good place for anchoring +her. After sounding for some time, they returned with information that +they had discovered a secure place for anchorage, on the western side of +an inlet or small bay, at about half a mile from the coast, near a small +island which protected it from the sea, and where there was plenty of +wood and excellent water. The ship accordingly came to anchor in this +place, at twelve o'clock at night, in twelve fathom water, muddy bottom, +and so near the shore that to prevent the ship from winding we secured +her by a hawser to the trees. + +On the morning of the next day, the 13th, several of the natives came on +board in a canoe from the village of Nootka, with their king, called +Maquina, who appeared much pleased on seeing us, and with great seeming +cordiality welcomed Captain Salter and his officers to his country. As I +had never before beheld a savage of any nation, it may readily be +supposed that the novelty of their appearance, so different from any +people that I had hitherto seen, excited in me strong feelings of +surprise and curiosity. I was, however, particularly struck with the +looks of their king, who was a man of a dignified aspect, about six feet +in height and extremely straight and well proportioned; his features +were in general good, and his face was rendered remarkable by a large +Roman nose, a very uncommon form of feature among these people; his +complexion was of a dark copper hue, though his face, legs, and arms +were, on this occasion, so covered with red paint, that their natural +colour could scarcely be perceived; his eyebrows were painted black in +two broad stripes like a new moon, and his long black hair, which shone +with oil, was fastened in a bunch on the top of his head and strewed or +powdered all over with white down, which gave him a most curious and +extraordinary appearance. He was dressed in a large mantle or cloak of +the black sea-otter skin, which reached to his knees, and was fastened +around his middle by a broad belt of the cloth of the country, wrought +or painted with figures of several colours; this dress was by no means +unbecoming, but, on the contrary, had an air of savage magnificence. His +men were habited in mantles of the same cloth, which is made from the +bark of a tree,[37] and has some resemblance to straw matting; these are +nearly square, and have two holes in the upper part large enough to +admit the arms; they reach as low as the knees, and are fastened round +their bodies with a belt about four inches broad of the same cloth. + +From his having frequently visited the English and American ships that +traded to the coast, Maquina had learned the signification of a number +of English words, and in general could make himself pretty well +understood by us in our own language. He was always the first to go on +board such ships as came to Nootka, which he was much pleased in +visiting, even when he had no trade to offer, as he always received some +small present, and was in general extremely well treated by the +commanders. He remained on board of us for some time, during which the +captain took him into the cabin and treated him with a glass of +rum--these people being very fond of distilled spirits--and some biscuit +and molasses, which they prefer to any kind of food that we can offer +them.[38] + +As there are seldom many furs to be purchased at this place, and it was +not fully the season, Captain Salter had put in here not so much with an +expectation of trading, as to procure an ample stock of wood and water +for the supply of the ship on the coast, thinking it more prudent to +take it on board at Nootka, from the generally friendly disposition of +the people, than to endanger the safety of his men in sending them on +shore for that purpose among the more ferocious natives of the north. + +With this view, we immediately set about getting our water-casks in +readiness, and the next and two succeeding days, part of the crew were +sent on shore to cut pine timber, and assist the carpenter in making it +into yards and spars for the ship, while those on board were employed in +refitting the rigging, repairing the sails, etc., when we proceeded to +take in our wood and water as expeditiously as possible, during which +time I kept myself busily employed in repairing the muskets, making +knives, tomaxes,[39] etc., and doing such ironwork as was wanted for the +ship. + +Meantime more or less of the natives came on board of us daily, bringing +with them fresh salmon, with which they supplied us in great plenty, +receiving in return some trifling articles. Captain Salter was always +very particular, before admitting these people on board, to see that +they had no arms about them, by obliging them indiscriminately to throw +off their garments, so that he felt perfectly secure from any attack. + +On the 15th the king came on board with several of his chiefs; he was +dressed as before in his magnificent otter-skin robe, having his face +highly painted, and his hair tossed with the white down, which looked +like snow. His chiefs were dressed in mantles of the country cloth of +its natural colour, which is a pale yellow; these were ornamented with a +broad border, painted or wrought in figures of several colours, +representing men's heads, various animals, etc., and secured around them +by a belt like that of the king, from which it was distinguished only by +being narrower: the dress of the common people is of the same fashion, +and differs from that of the chiefs in being of a coarser texture, and +painted red, of one uniform colour. + +Captain Salter invited Maquina and his chiefs to dine with him, and it +was curious to see how these people (when they eat) seat themselves (in +their country fashion, upon our chairs) with their feet under them +crossed like Turks. They cannot endure the taste of salt, and the only +thing they would eat with us was the ship bread, which they were very +fond of, especially when dipped in molasses; they had also a great +liking for tea and coffee when well sweetened. As iron weapons and tools +of almost every kind are in much request among them, whenever they came +on board they were always very attentive to me, crowding around me at +the forge, as if to see in what manner I did my work, and in this way +became quite familiar, a circumstance, as will be seen in the end, of +great importance to me. The salmon which they brought us furnished a +most delicious treat to men who for a long time had lived wholly on +salt provisions, excepting such few sea fish as we had the good fortune +occasionally to take. We indeed feasted most luxuriously, and flattered +ourselves that we should not want while on the coast for plenty of fresh +provisions, little imagining the fate that awaited us, and that this +dainty food was to prove the unfortunate lure to our destruction! + +On the 19th the king came again on board, and was invited by the captain +to dine with him. He had much conversation with Captain Salter, and +informed him that there were plenty of wild ducks and geese near +Friendly Cove, on which the captain made him a present of a +double-barrelled fowling-piece, with which he appeared to be greatly +pleased, and soon after went on shore. + +On the 20th we were nearly ready for our departure, having taken in what +wood and water we were in want of. + +The next day Maquina came on board with nine pair of wild ducks, as a +present; at the same time he brought with him the gun, one of the locks +of which he had broken, telling the captain that it was _peshak_,[40] +that is, bad. Captain Salter was very much offended at this observation, +and, considering it as a mark of contempt for his present, he called the +king a liar, adding other opprobrious terms, and, taking the gun from +him, tossed it indignantly into the cabin, and, calling me to him, said, +"John, this fellow has broken this beautiful fowling-piece, see if you +can mend it." On examining it, I told him that it could be done. As I +have already observed, Maquina knew a number of English words, and +unfortunately understood but too well the meaning of the reproachful +terms that the captain addressed to him. He said not a word in reply, +but his countenance sufficiently expressed the rage he felt, though he +exerted himself to suppress it, and I observed him, while the captain +was speaking, repeatedly put his hand to his throat, and rub it upon his +bosom, which he afterwards told me was to keep down his heart, which was +rising into his throat and choking him. He soon after went on shore with +his men, evidently much discomposed. + +On the morning of the 22nd the natives came off to us as usual with +salmon, and remained on board; when about noon Maquina came alongside, +with a considerable number of his chiefs and men in their canoes, who, +after going through the customary examination, were admitted into the +ship. He had a whistle in his hand, and over his face a very ugly mask +of wood, representing the head of some wild beast, appeared to be +remarkably good-humoured and gay, and whilst his people sang and capered +about the deck, entertaining us with a variety of antic trick and +gestures, he blew his whistle to a kind of tune which seemed to regulate +their motions. As Captain Salter was walking on the quarter-deck, +amusing himself with their dancing, the king came up to him and inquired +when he intended to go to sea? He answered, "To-morrow." Maquina then +said, "You love salmon--much in Friendly Cove, why not go there and +catch some?" The captain thought that it would be very desirable to have +a good supply of these fish for the voyage, and, on consulting with Mr. +Delouisa, it was agreed to send part of the crew on shore after dinner +with the seine, in order to procure a quantity. Maquina and his chiefs +stayed and dined on board, and after dinner the chief mate went off with +nine men in the jolly-boat and yawl, to fish at Friendly Cove, having +set the steward on shore at our watering place, to wash the captain's +clothes. + +Shortly after the departure of the boats, I went down to my vice-bench +in the steerage, where I was employed in cleaning muskets. I had not +been there more than an hour, when I heard the men hoisting in the +longboat, which, in a few minutes after, was succeeded by a great bustle +and confusion on deck. I immediately ran up the steerage stairs, but +scarcely was my head above deck, when I was caught by the hair by one of +the savages, and lifted from my feet; fortunately for me, my hair being +short, and the ribbon with which it was tied slipping, I fell from his +hold into the steerage. As I was falling he struck at me with an axe, +which cut a deep gash in my forehead, and penetrated the skull, but in +consequence of his losing his hold I luckily escaped the full force of +the blow, which otherwise would have cleft my head in two. I fell, +stunned and senseless, upon the floor; how long I continued in this +situation I know not, but on recovering my senses, the first thing that +I did was to try to get up, but so weak was I, from the loss of blood, +that I fainted and fell. I was, however, soon recalled to my +recollection by three loud shouts or yells from the savages, which +convinced me that they had got possession of the ship. It is impossible +for me to describe my feelings at this terrific sound. Some faint idea +may be formed of them by those who have known what it is to half waken +from a hideous dream and still think it real. Never, no, never shall I +lose from my mind the impression of that dreadful moment. I expected +every instant to share the wretched fate of my unfortunate companions, +and when I heard the song of triumph, by which these infernal yells was +succeeded, my blood ran cold in my veins. + +Having at length sufficiently recovered my senses to look around me, +after wiping the blood from my eyes, I saw that the hatch of the +steerage was shut. This was done, as I afterwards discovered, by order +of Maquina, who, on seeing the savage strike at me with the axe, told +him not to hurt me, for that I was the armourer, and would be useful to +them in repairing their arms; while at the same time, to prevent any of +his men from injuring me, he had the hatch closed. But to me this +circumstance wore a very different appearance, for I thought that these +barbarians had only prolonged my life in order to deprive me of it by +the most cruel tortures. + +I remained in this horrid state of suspense for a very long time, when +at length the hatch was opened, and Maquina, calling me by name, ordered +me to come up. I groped my way up as well as I was able, being almost +blinded with the blood that flowed from my wound, and so weak as with +difficulty to walk. The king, on perceiving my situation, ordered one of +his men to bring a pot of water to wash the blood from my face, which +having done, I was able to see distinctly with one of my eyes, but the +other was so swollen from my wound, that it was closed. But what a +terrific spectacle met my eyes: six naked savages, standing in a circle +around me, covered with the blood of my murdered comrades, with their +daggers uplifted in their hands, prepared to strike. I now thought my +last moment had come, and recommended my soul to my Maker. + +The king, who, as I have already observed, knew enough of English to +make himself understood, entered the circle, and, placing himself before +me, addressed me nearly in the following words: "John--I speak--you no +say no; You say no--daggers come!" He then asked me if I would be his +slave during my life--if I would fight for him in his battles, if I +would repair his muskets and make daggers and knives for him--with +several other questions, to all of which I was careful to answer, yes. +He then told me that he would spare my life, and ordered me to kiss his +hands and feet to show my submission to him, which I did. In the +meantime his people were very clamorous to have me put to death, so that +there should be none of us left to tell our story to our countrymen, and +prevent them from coming to trade with them; but the king in the most +determined manner opposed their wishes, and to his favour am I wholly +indebted for my being yet among the living. + +As I was busy at work at the time of the attack, I was without my coat, +and what with the coldness of the weather, my feebleness from loss of +blood, the pain of my wound, and the extreme agitation and terror that I +still felt, I shook like a leaf, which the king observing, went into the +cabin, and, bringing up a greatcoat that belonged to the captain, threw +it over my shoulders, telling me to drink some rum from a bottle which +he handed me, at the same time giving me to understand that it would be +good for me, and keep me from trembling bling as I did. I took a +draught of it, after which, taking me by the hand, he led me to the +quarter-deck, where the most horrid sight presented itself that ever my +eyes witnessed. The heads of our unfortunate captain and his crew, to +the number of twenty-five, were all arranged in a line,[41] and Maquina, +ordering one of his people to bring a head, asked me whose it was: I +answered, the captain's. In like manner the others were showed me, and I +told him the names, excepting a few that were so horribly mangled that I +was not able to recognise them. + +I now discovered that all our unfortunate crew had been massacred, and +learned that, after getting possession of the ship, the savages had +broke open the arm-chest and magazine, and, supplying themselves with +ammunition and arms, sent a party on shore to attack our men, who had +gone thither to fish, and, being joined by numbers from the village, +without difficulty overpowered and murdered them, and, cutting off their +heads, brought them on board, after throwing their bodies into the sea. +On looking upon the deck, I saw it entirely covered with the blood of my +poor comrades, whose throats had been cut with their own jack-knives, +the savages having seized the opportunity, while they were busy in +hoisting in the boat, to grapple with them, and overpower them by their +numbers; in the scuffle the captain was thrown overboard, and despatched +by those in the canoes, who immediately cut off his head. What I felt on +this occasion, may be more readily conceived than expressed. + +After I had answered his questions, Maquina took my silk handkerchief +from my neck and bound it around my head, placing over the wound a leaf +of tobacco, of which we had a quantity on board. This was done at my +desire, as I had often found, from personal experience, the benefit of +this application to cuts. + +Maquina then ordered me to get the ship under weigh for Friendly Cove. +This I did by cutting the cables, and sending some of the natives aloft +to loose the sails, which they performed in a very bungling manner. But +they succeeded so far in loosing the jib and top-sails, that, with the +advantage of fair wind, I succeeded in getting the ship into the Cove, +where, by order of the king, I ran her ashore on a sandy beach, at eight +o'clock at night. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[36] By "Nootka," Friendly Cove, or "Yucuaht," is meant; there is no +special place of that name; the word, indeed, is unknown to the natives. +Woody Point, or Cape Cook, is in lat. 50° 6' 31" N. + +[37] The white pine (_Pinus monticola_). This is employed for making +blankets trimmed with sea-otter fur, but the mats used in their canoes +are made of cedar bark (_Thuja gigantea_). + +[38] This is still true. Many years ago, when there was a threat of +Indian trouble at Victoria, Sir James Douglas, famous as the first +governor of British Columbia, and still more celebrated as a factor of +the Hudson Bay Company, immediately allayed the rising storm by ordering +a keg of treacle and a box of biscuit to be opened. Instantly the knives +and muskets were tossed aside, and the irate savages fell to these +homely dainties with the best of goodwill to all concerned. "Dear me! +dear me! there is nothing like a little molasses," was the sage +governor's remark. At the Alberni saw-mills, on the West coast, the +invariable midday meal of the Indians loading lumber was coarse ship's +biscuit dipped in a tin basin of the cheapest treacle, around which the +mollified tribesmen squatted. + +[39] Tomahawks (little hatchets) in more familiar language. + +[40] _Pesh-shuak, Wikoo_, or _Chuuk_ is also used in the same sense, but +the first word is most frequently employed. + +[41] The Indians of the North-West coast and the wooded region protected +by the great rivers always take heads as trophies. The heads are +subsequently fixed on poles in front of their cedar-board lodges. The +prairie Indians and the tribes east of the Rocky Mountains generally +take, and always took, scalps alone, owing, perhaps, to the difficulty +of carrying heads. This is no obstacle to fighting men travelling in +canoes, on the bows of which they are often fastened while the warriors +are returning from hostile expeditions. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +RECEPTION OF JEWITT BY THE SAVAGES--ESCAPE OF THOMPSON--ARRIVAL OF +NEIGHBOURING TRIBES--AN INDIAN FEAST + + +We were received by the inhabitants of the village, men, women, and +children, with loud shouts of joy, and a most horrible drumming with +sticks upon the roofs and sides of their houses,[42] in which they had +also stuck a great number of lighted pine torches, to welcome their +king's return, and congratulate him on the success of his enterprise. + +Maquina then took me on shore to his house, which was very large, and +filled with people--where I was received with much kindness by the +women, particularly those belonging to the king, who had no less than +nine wives, all of whom came around me, expressing much sympathy for my +misfortune, gently stroking and patting my head in an encouraging and +soothing manner, with words expressive of condolence. How sweet is +compassion even from savages! Those who have been in a similar +situation, can alone truly appreciate its value. + +In the meantime all the warriors of the tribe, to the number of five +hundred,[43] had assembled at the king's house, to rejoice for their +success. They exulted greatly in having taken our ship, and each one +boasted of his own particular exploits in killing our men, but they were +in general much dissatisfied with my having been suffered to live, and +were very urgent with Maquina to deliver me to them, to be put to death, +which he obstinately refused to do, telling them that he had promised me +my life, and would not break his word; and that, besides, I knew how to +repair and to make arms, and should be of great use to them. + +The king then seated me by him, and ordered his women to bring him +something to eat, when they set before him some dried clams and +train-oil, of which he ate very heartily, and encouraged me to follow +his example, telling me to eat much, and take a great deal of oil, which +would make me strong and fat. Notwithstanding his praise of this new +kind of food, I felt no disposition to indulge in it, both the smell and +taste being loathsome to me; and had it been otherwise, such was the +pain I endured, the agitation of my mind, and the gloominess of my +reflections, that I should have felt very little inclination for eating. + +Not satisfied with his first refusal to deliver me up to them, the +people again became clamorous that Maquina should consent to my being +killed, saying that not one of us ought to be left alive to give +information to others of our countrymen, and prevent them from coming to +trade, or induce them to revenge the destruction of our ship, and they +at length became so boisterous, that he caught up a large club in a +passion, and drove them all out of the house. During this scene, a son +of the king, about eleven years old, attracted no doubt by the +singularity of my appearance, came up to me: I caressed him; he returned +my attentions with much apparent pleasure, and considering this as a +fortunate opportunity to gain the good will of the father, I took the +child on my knee, and, cutting the metal buttons from off the coat I had +on, I tied them around his neck. At this he was highly delighted, and +became so much attached to me, that he would not quit me. + +The king appeared much pleased with my attention to his son, and, +telling me that it was time to go to sleep, directed me to lie with his +son next to him, as he was afraid lest some of his people would come +while he was asleep and kill me with their daggers. I lay down as he +ordered me, but neither the state of my mind nor the pain I felt would +allow me to sleep. + +About midnight I was greatly alarmed by the approach of one of the +natives, who came to give information to the king that there was one of +the white men alive, who had knocked him down as he went on board the +ship at night. This Maquina communicated to me, giving me to understand +that as soon as the sun rose he should kill him. I endeavoured to +persuade him to spare his life, but he bade me be silent and go to +sleep. I said nothing more, but lay revolving in my mind what method I +could devise to save the life of this man. What a consolation, thought +I, what a happiness would it prove to me in my forlorn state among +these heathens, to have a Christian and one of my own countrymen for a +companion, and how greatly would it alleviate and lighten the burden of +my slavery. + +As I was thinking of some plan for his preservation, it all at once came +into my mind that this man was probably the sail-maker of the ship, +named Thompson, as I had not seen his head among those on deck, and knew +that he was below at work upon sails not long before the attack. The +more I thought of it, the more probable it appeared to me, and as +Thompson was a man nearly forty years of age, and had an old look, I +conceived it would be easy to make him pass for my father, and by this +means prevail on Maquina to spare his life. Towards morning I fell into +a dose, but was awakened with the first beams of the sun by the king, +who told me he was going to kill the man who was on board the ship, and +ordered me to accompany him. I rose and followed him, leading with me +the young prince, his son. + +On coming to the beach, I found all the men of the tribe assembled. The +king addressed them, saying that one of the white men had been found +alive on board the ship, and requested their opinion as to saving his +life or putting him to death. They were unanimously for the latter. This +determination he made known to me. Having arranged my plan, I asked him, +pointing to the boy, whom I still held by the hand, if he loved his son. +He answered that he did. I then asked the child if he loved his father, +and on his replying in the affirmative, I said, "And I also love mine." +I then threw myself on my knees at Maquina's feet, and implored him, +with tears in my eyes, to spare my father's life, if the man on board +should prove to be him, telling him that if he killed my father, it was +my wish that he should kill me too, and that if he did not, I would kill +myself--and that he would thus lose my services; whereas, by sparing my +father's life, he would preserve mine, which would be of great advantage +to him, by my repairing and making arms for him. + +Maquina appeared moved by my entreaties, and promised not to put the man +to death if he should be my father. He then explained to his people what +I had said, and ordered me to go on board and tell the man to come on +shore. To my unspeakable joy, on going into the hold, I found that my +conjecture was true. Thompson was there. He had escaped without any +injury, excepting a slight wound in the nose, given him by one of the +savages with a knife, as he attempted to come on deck, during the +scuffle. Finding the savages in possession of the ship, as he afterwards +informed me, he secreted himself in the hold, hoping for some chance to +make his escape; but that, the Indian who came on board in the night +approaching the place where he was, he supposed himself discovered, and, +being determined to sell his life as dearly as possible, as soon as he +came within his reach, he knocked him down, but the Indian, immediately +springing up, ran off at full speed. + +I informed him, in a few words, that all our men had been killed; that +the king had preserved my life, and had consented to spare his on the +supposition that he was my father, an opinion which he must be careful +not to undeceive them in, as it was his only safety. After giving him +his cue, I went on shore with him, and presented him to Maquina, who +immediately knew him to be the sail-maker, and was much pleased, +observing that he could make sails for his canoe. He then took us to his +house, and ordered something for us to eat. + +On the 24th and 25th, the natives were busily employed in taking the +cargo out of the ship, stripping her of her sails and rigging, cutting +away the spars and masts, and, in short, rendering her as complete a +wreck as possible, the muskets, ammunition, cloth, and all the principal +articles taken from her, being deposited in the king's house. + +While they were thus occupied, each one taking what he liked, my +companion and myself being obliged to aid them, I thought it best to +secure the accounts and papers of the ship, in hopes that on some future +day I might have it in my power to restore them to the owners. With this +view I took possession of the captain's writing-desk, which contained +the most of them, together with some paper and implements for writing. I +had also the good fortune to find a blank account-book, in which I +resolved, should it be permitted me, to write an account of our capture, +and the most remarkable occurrences that I should meet with during my +stay among these people, fondly indulging the hope that it would not be +long before some vessel would arrive to release us. I likewise found in +the cabin a small volume of sermons, a Bible, and a Common Prayer-book +of the Church of England, which furnished me and my comrade great +consolation in the midst of our mournful servitude, and enabled me, +under the favour of Divine Providence, to support with firmness the +miseries of a life which I might otherwise have found beyond my +strength to endure. + +As these people set no value upon things of this kind, I found no +difficulty in appropriating them to myself, by putting them in my chest, +which, though it had been broken open and rifled by the savages, as I +still had the key, I without much difficulty secured. In this I also put +some small tools belonging to the ship, with several other articles, +particularly a journal kept by the second mate, Mr. Ingraham, and a +collection of drawings and views of places taken by him, which I had the +good fortune to preserve, and on my arrival at Boston, I gave them to a +connection of his, the Honourable Judge Dawes, who sent them to his +family in New York. + +On the 26th, two ships were seen standing in for Friendly Cove. At their +first appearance the inhabitants were thrown into great confusion, but, +soon collecting a number of muskets and blunderbusses, ran to the shore, +from whence they kept up so brisk a fire at them, that they were +evidently afraid to approach nearer, and, after firing a few rounds of +grape-shot, which did no harm to any one, they wore ship and stood out +to sea. These ships, as I afterwards learned, were the _Mary_ and _Juno_ +of Boston. + +They were scarcely out of sight when Maquina expressed much regret that +he had permitted his people to fire at them, being apprehensive that +they would give information to others in what manner they had been +received, and prevent them from coming to trade with him. + +A few days after hearing of the capture of the ship, there arrived at +Nootka a great number of canoes filled with savages from no less than +twenty tribes to the north and south. Among those from the north were +the Ai-tiz-zarts,[44] Schoo-mad-its,[45] Neu-wit-ties,[46] +Savin-nars,[47] Ah-owz-arts,[48] Mo-watch-its,[49] Suth-setts,[50] +Neu-chad-lits,[51] Mich-la-its,[52] and Cay-u-quets,[53] the most of +whom were considered as tributary to Nootka. From the south, the +Aytch-arts[54] and Esqui-ates,[55] also tributary, with the +Kla-oo-quates,[56] and the Wickannish, a large and powerful tribe about +two hundred miles distant. + +These last were better clad than most of the others, and their canoes +wrought with much greater skill; they are furnished with sails as well +as paddles, and, with the advantage of a fair breeze, are usually but +twenty-four hours on their passage. + +Maquina, who was very proud of his new acquisition, was desirous of +welcoming these visitors in the European manner. He accordingly ordered +his men, as the canoes approached, to assemble on the beach with loaded +muskets and blunderbusses, placing Thompson at the cannon, which had +been brought from the ship and laid upon two long sticks of timber in +front of the village; then, taking a speaking trumpet in his hand, he +ascended with me the roof of his house, and began drumming or beating +upon the boards with a stick most violently. + +Nothing could be more ludicrous than the appearance of this motley group +of savages collected on the shore, dressed as they were with their +ill-gotten finery in the most fantastic manner, some in women's smocks, +taken from our cargo, others in _Kotsacks_[57] (or cloaks) of blue, red, +or yellow broadcloth, with stockings drawn over their heads, and their +necks hung round with numbers of powder-horns, shot-bags, and +cartouch-boxes, some of them having no less than ten muskets apiece on +their shoulders, and five or six daggers in their girdles. Diverting +indeed was it to see them all squatted upon the beach, holding their +muskets perpendicularly with the butt pressed upon the sand, instead of +against their shoulders, and in this position awaiting the order to +fire. + +Maquina, at last, called to them with his trumpet to fire, which they +did in the most awkward and timid manner, with their muskets hard +pressed upon the ground as above-mentioned. At the same moment the +cannon was fired by Thompson, immediately on which they threw themselves +back and began to roll and tumble over the sand as if they had been +shot, when, suddenly springing up, they began a song of triumph, and, +running backward and forward upon the shore, with the wildest +gesticulations, boasted of their exploits, and exhibited as trophies +what they had taken from us. Notwithstanding the unpleasantness of my +situation, and the feelings that this display of our spoils excited, I +could not avoid laughing at the strange appearance of these savages, +their awkward movements, and the singular contrast of their dress and +arms. + +When the ceremony was concluded, Maquina invited the strangers to a +feast at his house, consisting of whale-blubber, smoked herring spawn, +and dried fish and train-oil, of which they ate most plentifully. The +feast being over, the trays out of which they ate, and other things, +were immediately removed to make room for the dance, which was to close +the entertainment. This was performed by Maquina's son, the young prince +Sat-sat-sok-sis, whom I have already spoken of, in the following +manner:-- + +Three of the principal chiefs, drest in their otter-skin mantles, which +they wear only on extraordinary occasions and at festivals, having their +heads covered over with white down and their faces highly painted, came +forward into the middle of the room, each furnished with a bag filled +with white down, which they scattered around in such a manner as to +represent a fall of snow. These were followed by the young prince, who +was dressed in a long piece of yellow cloth, wrapped loosely around him, +and decorated with small bells, with a cap on his head to which was +fastened a curious mask in imitation of a wolf's head, while the rear +was brought up by the king himself in his robe of sea-otter skin, with a +small whistle in his mouth and a rattle in his hand, with which he kept +time to a sort of tune on his whistle. After passing very rapidly in +this order around the house, each of them seated himself, except the +prince, who immediately began his dance, which principally consisted in +springing up into the air in a squat posture, and constantly turning +around on his heels with great swiftness in a very narrow circle. + +This dance, with a few intervals of rest, was continued for about two +hours, during which the chiefs kept up a constant drumming with sticks +of about a foot in length on a long hollow plank, which was, though a +very noisy, a most doleful kind of music. This they accompanied with +songs, the king himself acting as chorister, while the women applauded +each feat of activity in the dancer, by repeating the words, _Wocash! +Wocash Tyee!_[58] that is, Good! very good, Prince! + +As soon as the dance was finished, Maquina began to give presents to the +strangers, in the name of his son Sat-sat-sok-sis. These were pieces of +European cloth, generally of a fathom in length, muskets, powder, shot, +etc. Whenever he gave them anything, they had a peculiar manner of +snatching it from him with a very stern and surly look, repeating each +time the words, _Wocash Tyee_. This I understood to be their custom, and +was considered as a compliment, which, if omitted, would be supposed as +a mark of disregard for the present. On this occasion Maquina gave away +no less than one hundred muskets, the same number of looking-glasses, +four hundred yards of cloth, and twenty casks of powder, besides other +things. + +After receiving these presents, the strangers retired on board their +canoes, for so numerous were they that Maquina would not suffer any but +the chiefs to sleep in the houses; and, in order to prevent the property +from being pillaged by them, he ordered Thompson and myself to keep +guard during the night, armed with cutlasses and pistols. + +In this manner tribes of savages from various parts of the coast +continued coming for several days, bringing with them blubber, oil, +herring spawn, dried fish, and clams, for which they received in return +presents of cloth, etc., after which they in general immediately +returned home. I observed that very few, if any, of them, except the +chiefs, had arms, which, I afterwards learned, is the custom with these +people, whenever they come upon a friendly visit or to trade, in order +to show, on their approach, that their intentions are pacific.[59] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[42] A common mode of expressing joy. During dancing and singing this +goes on continually. + +[43] In 1863, when I made a special inquiry, the whole number of adult +males in the Mooachaht tribe (the so-called Nootkans) was one hundred +and fifty. + +[44] Ayhuttisahts. + +[45] This name is unknown to me. + +[46] Nahwittis, or Flatlashekwill, an almost vanished tribe, join the +north end of Vancouver Island (Goletas Channel, Galliano Island, and +west-ward to Cape Scott). + +[47] The name of some village, not a tribe. + +[48] Ahousahts. + +[49] Mooachahts. The "Nootkans" proper of Friendly Cove. + +[50] Seshahts, but they are to the south (Alberni Canal) and Barclay +Sound. + +[51] Noochahlahts (lat. 49° 47' 20" N.). + +[52] Muchlahts, or Quaquina arm. + +[53] Ky-yoh-quahts. + +[54] This is probably another spelling of the E-cha-chahts. + +[55] Hishquayahts (lat. 49° 27' 31" N., long. 126° 25' 27" W.). + +[56] Klahoquahts. This and the other tribes mentioned in the text +are no longer tributary to the Mooachahts, and there is no "Wickannish" +tribe. As we have already seen (p. 38), it is the name of an +individual--probably the chief of the Klahoquahts. It is a common name. +The Nettinahts and the Klahoquahts are still renowned in canoe-making. +They chisel them out of the great cedar (_Thuja gigantea_) trees in this +district, for sale to other tribes. But Jewitt, who had no personal +knowledge of the homes of these tribes, makes sad havoc of their names +and the direction from which they came. + +[57] _Kootsik_, the "cotsack" of Meares. _Kootsik-poom_ is the pin by +which the Indian blanket cloak is fastened. In Meares's time the people +dressed in kootsiks of sea-otter skin. But even then they were getting +so fond of blankets, that without "woollens" among the barter, trade was +difficult. In fifteen years they learned a better use for sea-otters +worth £20 apiece than to make cloaks of them. + +[58] The words were really _Waw-kash_ (a word of salutation) and _Tyee_. +This is in most common use in Nootka Sound. The order of salutation to a +man is _Quaache-is_, to a woman _Chè-is_, and at parting _Klach-she_. A +married woman is _Klootsnah_; a young girl _Hah-quatl-is_; an unmarried +woman (whether old or young) _Hah-quatl_--distinctions which Jewitt does +not make in his brief vocabulary. The Indians have many words to express +varieties of the same action. Thus _pâtt[=e]s_ means to wash. But +_pâtt[=e][=e]_ is to wash all over; _tsont-soomik_, to wash the hands; +_tsocuks_, to wash a pan, etc. _Haouwith_, or _Hawilth_, is the original +word for chief, though _Tyee_ is commonly used. + +[59] This is one of the earliest--if not the first--account of these +periodical givings away of property so characteristic of the +North-Western coast Indians, and known to the whites as "Potlatches." An +Indian accumulates blankets and other portable property simply to give +away at such feasts. Then if a poor, he becomes a great man, and even a +kind of minor chief--a Life Peer, as it were. But those who have +received much are expected to return the compliment by also giving a +"potlatch," to which guests come from far and near. I have described one +of these in _The Races of Mankind_ (the first edition of _The Peoples of +the World_), vol. i. pp. 75-90. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +BURNING OF THE VESSEL--COMMENCEMENT OF JEWITT'S JOURNAL + + +Early on the morning of the 19th the ship was discovered to be on fire. +This was owing to one of the savages having gone on board with a +firebrand at night for the purpose of plunder, some sparks from which +fell into the hold, and, communicating with some combustibles, soon +enveloped the whole in flames. The natives regretted the loss of the +ship the more as a great part of her cargo still remained on board. To +my companion and myself it was a most melancholy sight, for with her +disappeared from our eyes every trace of a civilised country; but the +disappointment we experienced was still more severely felt, for we had +calculated on having the provision to ourselves, which would have +furnished us with a stock for years, as whatever is cured with salt, +together with most of our other articles of food, are never eaten by +these people. I had luckily saved all my tools, excepting the anvil and +the bellows, which was attached to the forge, and from their weight had +not been brought on shore. We had also the good fortune, in looking over +what had been taken from the ship, to discover a box of chocolate and a +case of port wine, which, as the Indians were not fond of it, proved a +great comfort to us for some time; and from one of the natives I +obtained a Nautical Almanack which had belonged to the captain, and +which was of great use to me in determining the time. + +About two days after, on examining their booty, the savages found a +tierce of rum, with which they were highly delighted, as they have +become very fond of spirituous liquors since their intercourse with the +whites.[60] This was towards evening, and Maquina, having assembled all +the men at his house, gave a feast, at which they drank so freely of the +rum, that in a short time they became so extremely wild and frantic that +Thompson and myself, apprehensive for our safety, thought it prudent to +retire privately into the woods, where we continued till past midnight. + +On our return we found the women gone, who are always very temperate, +drinking nothing but water, having quitted the house and gone to the +other huts to sleep, so terrified were they at the conduct of the men, +who lay all stretched out on the floor in a state of complete +intoxication. How easy in this situation would it have been for us to +have dispatched or made ourselves masters of our enemies had there been +any ship near to which we could have escaped, but as we were situated +the attempt would have been madness. The wish of revenge was, however, +less strongly impressed on my mind than what appeared to be so evident +an interposition of Divine Providence in our favour. How little can man +penetrate its designs, and how frequently is that intended as a blessing +which he views as a curse. The burning of our ship, which we had +lamented so much, as depriving us of so many comforts, now appeared to +us in a very different light, for, had the savages got possession of the +rum, of which there were nearly twenty puncheons on board,[61] we must +inevitably have fallen a sacrifice to their fury in some of their +moments of intoxication. This cask, fortunately, and a case of gin, was +all the spirits they obtained from the ship. To prevent the recurrence +of similar danger, I examined the cask, and, finding still a +considerable quantity remaining, I bored a small hole in the bottom with +a gimblet, which before morning, to my great joy, completely emptied it. + + +By this time the wound in my head began to be much better, so that I +could enjoy some sleep, which I had been almost deprived of by the pain, +and though I was still feeble from the loss of blood and my sufferings, +I found myself sufficiently well to go to work at my trade, in making +for the king and his wives bracelets and other small ornaments of copper +or steel, and in repairing the arms, making use of a large square stone +for the anvil, and heating my metal in a common wood fire. This was very +gratifying to Maquina, and his women particularly, and secured me their +goodwill. + +In the meantime, great numbers from the other tribes kept continually +flocking to Nootka, bringing with them, in exchange for the ship's +plunder, such quantities of provision, that, notwithstanding the little +success that Maquina met with in whaling this season, and their +gluttonous waste, always eating to excess when they have it, regardless +of the morrow, seldom did the natives experience any want of food during +the summer. As to myself and companion, we fared as they did, never +wanting for such provision as they had, though we were obliged to eat it +cooked in their manner, and with train-oil as a sauce, a circumstance +not a little unpleasant, both from their uncleanly mode of cooking and +many of the articles of their food, which to a European are very +disgusting; but, as the saying is, hunger will break through stone +walls, and we found, at times, in the blubber of sea animals and the +flesh of the dog-fish, loathsome as it generally was, a very acceptable +repast. + +But much oftener would poor Thompson, who was no favourite with them, +have suffered from hunger had it not been for my furnishing him with +provision. This I was enabled to do from my work, Maquina allowing me +the privilege, when not employed for him, to work for myself in making +bracelets and other ornaments of copper, fish-hooks, daggers, etc., +either to sell to the tribes who visited us or for our own chiefs, who +on these occasions, besides supplying me with as much as I wished to +eat, and a sufficiency for Thompson, almost always made me a present of +a European garment, taken from the ship, or some fathoms of cloth, which +were made up by my comrade, and enabled us to go comfortably clad for +some time; or small bundles of penknives, razors, scissors, etc., for +one of which we could almost always procure from the natives two or +three fresh salmon, cod, or halibut; or dried fish, clams, and herring +spawn from the stranger tribes; and had we only been permitted to cook +them after our own way, as we had pots and other utensils belonging to +the ship, we should not have had much cause of complaint in this +respect; but so tenacious are these people of their customs, +particularly in the article of food and cooking, that the king always +obliged me to give whatever provision I bought to the women to cook. And +one day, finding Thompson and myself on the shore employed in boiling +down sea-water into salt, on being told what it was he was very much +displeased, and, taking the little we had procured, threw it into the +sea. In one instance alone, as a particular favour, he allowed me to +boil some salmon in my own way, when I invited him and his queen to eat +with me; they tasted it, but did not like it, and made their meal of +some of it that I had cooked in their country fashion. + +In May the weather became uncommonly mild and pleasant, and so forward +was vegetation, that I picked plenty of strawberries[62] by the middle +of the month. Of this fruit there are great quantities on this coast, +and I found them a most delicious treat. + +My health now had become almost re-established, my wound being so far +healed that it gave me no further trouble. I had never failed to wash it +regularly once a day in sea water, and to dress it with a fresh leaf of +tobacco, which I obtained from the natives, who had taken it from the +ship, but made no use of it. This was all the dressing I gave it, except +applying to it two or three times a little loaf sugar, which Maquina +gave me, in order to remove some proud flesh, which prevented it from +closing. + +My cure would doubtless have been much sooner effected had I have been +in a civilised country, where I could have had it dressed by a surgeon +and properly attended to. But alas! I had no good Samaritan, with oil +and wine, to bind up my wounds, and fortunate might I even esteem myself +that I was permitted to dress it myself, for the utmost that I could +expect from the natives was compassion for my misfortunes, which I +indeed experienced from the women, particularly the queen, or favourite +wife of Maquina, the mother of Sat-sat-sok-sis, who used frequently to +point to my head, and manifest much kindness and solicitude for me. I +must do Maquina the justice to acknowledge, that he always appeared +desirous of sparing me any labour which he believed might be hurtful to +me, frequently inquiring in an affectionate manner if my head pained me. +As for the others, some of the chiefs excepted, they cared little what +became of me, and probably would have been gratified with my death. + +My health being at length re-established and my wound healed, Thompson +became very importunate for me to begin my journal, and as I had no ink, +proposed to cut his finger to supply me with blood for the purpose +whenever I should want it. On the 1st of June I accordingly commenced a +regular diary, but had no occasion to make use of the expedient +suggested by my comrade, having found a much better substitute in the +expressed juice of a certain plant, which furnished me with a bright +green colour, and, after making a number of trials, I at length +succeeded in obtaining a very tolerable ink, by boiling the juice of the +blackberry with a mixture of finely powdered charcoal, and filtering it +through a cloth. This I afterwards preserved in bottles, and found it +answer very well, so true is it that "necessity is the mother of +invention." As for quills, I found no difficulty in procuring them +whenever I wanted, from the crows and ravens with which the beach was +almost always covered, attracted by the offal of whales, seals, etc., +and which were so tame that I could easily kill them with stones, while +a large clam-shell furnished me with an inkstand. + +The extreme solicitude of Thompson that I should begin my journal might +be considered as singular in a man who neither knew how to read or +write, a circumstance, by the way, very uncommon in an American, were we +less acquainted with the force of habit, he having been for many years +at sea, and accustomed to consider the keeping of a journal as a thing +indispensable. This man was born in Philadelphia, and at eight years old +ran away from his friends and entered as a cabin boy on board a ship +bound to London. On his arrival there, finding himself in distress, he +engaged as an apprentice to the captain of a collier, from whence he was +impressed on board an English man-of-war, and continued in the British +naval service about twenty-seven years, during which he was present at +the engagement under Lord Howe with the French fleet in June 1794, and +when peace was made between England and France, was discharged. He was a +very strong and powerful man, an expert boxer, and perfectly fearless; +indeed, so little was his dread of danger, that when irritated he was +wholly regardless of his life. Of this the following will furnish a +sufficient proof:-- + +One evening about the middle of April, as I was at the house of one of +the chiefs, where I had been employed on some work for him, word was +brought me that Maquina was going to kill Thompson. I immediately +hurried home, where I found the king in the act of presenting a loaded +musket at Thompson, who was standing before him with his breast bared +and calling on him to fire. I instantly stepped up to Maquina, who was +foaming with rage, and, addressing him in soothing words, begged him for +my sake not to kill my father, and at length succeeded in taking the +musket from him and persuading him to sit down. + +On inquiring into the cause of his anger, I learned that, while Thompson +was lighting the lamps in the king's room, Maquina having substituted +ours for their pine torches, some of the boys began to tease him, +running around him and pulling him by the trousers, among the most +forward of whom was the young prince. This caused Thompson to spill the +oil, which threw him into such a passion, that, without caring what he +did, he struck the prince so violent a blow in his face with his fist as +to knock him down. The sensation excited among the savages by an act +which was considered as the highest indignity, and a profanation of the +sacred person of majesty, may be easily conceived. The king was +immediately acquainted with it, who, on coming in and seeing his son's +face covered with blood, seized a musket and began to load it, +determined to take instant revenge of the audacious offender, and had I +arrived a few moments later than I did, my companion would certainly +have paid with his life for his rash and violent conduct. I found the +utmost difficulty in pacifying Maquina, who for a long time after could +not forgive Thompson, but would repeatedly say, "John, _you_ +die--Thompson kill." + +But to appease the king was not all that was necessary. In consequence +of the insult offered to their prince, the whole tribe held a council, +in which it was unanimously resolved that Thompson should be put to +death in the most cruel manner. I however interceded so strenuously with +Maquina for his life, telling him that if my father was killed, I was +determined not to survive him, that he refused to deliver him up to the +vengeance of his people, saying, that for John's sake they must consent +to let him live. The prince, who, after I had succeeded in calming his +father, gave me an account of what had happened, told me that it was +wholly out of regard to me, as Thompson was my father, that his life had +been spared, for that if any one of the tribe should dare to lift a hand +against him in anger, he would most certainly be put to death. + +Yet even this narrow escape produced not much effect on Thompson, or +induced him to restrain the violence of his temper. For, not many weeks +after, he was guilty of a similar indiscretion, in striking the eldest +son of a chief, who was about eighteen years old, and, according to +their custom, was considered as a Tyee, or chief, himself, in +consequence of his having provoked him by calling him a white slave. +This affair caused great commotion in the village, and the tribe was +very clamorous for his death, but Maquina would not consent. + +I used frequently to remonstrate with him on the imprudence of his +conduct, and beg him to govern his temper better, telling him that it +was our duty, since our lives were in the power of these savages, to do +nothing to exasperate them. But all I could say on this point availed +little, for so bitter was the hate he felt for them, which he was no way +backward in manifesting both by his looks and actions, that he declared +he never would submit to their insults, and that he had much rather be +killed than be obliged to live among them; adding that he only wished he +had a good vessel and some guns, and he would destroy the whole of the +cursed race; for to a brave sailor like him, who had fought the French +and Spaniards with glory, it was a punishment worse than death to be a +slave to such a poor, ignorant, despicable set of beings. + +As for myself, I thought very differently. After returning thanks to +that merciful Being who had in so wonderful a manner softened the hearts +of the savages in my favour, I had determined from the first of my +capture to adopt a conciliating conduct towards them, and conform +myself, as far as was in my power, to their customs and mode of +thinking, trusting that the same divine goodness that had rescued me +from death, would not always suffer me to languish in captivity among +these heathens. + +With this view, I sought to gain their goodwill by always endeavouring +to assume a cheerful countenance, appearing pleased with their sports +and buffoon tricks, making little ornaments for the wives and children +of their chiefs, by which means I became quite a favourite with them, +and fish-hooks, daggers, etc., for themselves. + +As a further recommendation to their favour, and what might eventually +prove of the utmost importance to us, I resolved to learn their +language, which in the course of a few months' residence I so far +succeeded in acquiring, as to be able in general to make myself well +understood. + +I likewise tried to persuade Thompson to learn it, as what might prove +necessary to him. But he refused, saying that he hated both them and +their cursed lingo, and would have nothing to do with it. + +By pursuing this conciliatory plan, so far did I gain the goodwill of +these savages, particularly the chiefs, that I scarcely ever failed +experiencing kind treatment from them, and was received with a smile of +welcome at their houses, where I was always sure of having something +given me to eat, whenever they had it, and many a good meal have I had +from them, when they themselves were short of provisions and suffering +for the want of them. + +And it was a common practice with me, when we had nothing to eat at +home, which happened not unfrequently during my stay among them, to go +around the village, and on noticing a smoke from any of the houses, +which denoted that they were cooking, enter in without ceremony, and ask +them for something, which I was never refused. + +Few nations, indeed, are there so very rude and unfeeling, whom constant +mild treatment, and an attention to please, will not mollify and obtain +from some return of kind attention. This the treatment I received from +these people may exemplify, for not numerous, even among those calling +themselves civilised, are there instances to be found of persons +depriving themselves of food to give it to a stranger, whatever may be +his merits. + +It may perhaps be as well in this place to give a description of Nootka; +some accounts of the tribes who were accustomed to visit us; and the +manners and customs of the people, as far as I hitherto had an +opportunity of observing them. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[60] It was about this date that Long, an Indian trader, described rum +as the _unum necessarium_ for traffic with the savages. It is still +eagerly asked for, though its sale or gift is illegal. + +[61] For sale, of course, to the Indians. + +[62] Chiefly _Fragaria chilensis_. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +DESCRIPTION OF NOOTKA SOUND--MANNER OF BUILDING +HOUSES--FURNITURE--DRESSES + + +The village of Nootka is situated in between 49 and 50 deg. N. lat.,[63] +at the bottom of Friendly Cove, on the west or north-west side. It +consists of about twenty houses or huts, on a small hill, which rises +with a gentle ascent from the shore. Friendly Cove, which affords good +and secure anchorage for ships close in with the shore, is a small +harbour of not more than a quarter or half a mile in length, and about +half a mile or three-quarters broad, formed by the line of coast on the +east and a long point or headland, which extends as much as three +leagues into the Sound, in nearly a westerly direction.[64] This, as +well as I can judge from what I have seen of it, is in general from one +to two miles in breadth, and mostly a rocky and unproductive soil, with +but few trees. The eastern and western shores of this harbour are steep +and in many parts rocky, the trees growing quite to the water's edge, +but the bottom to the north and north-west is a fine sandy beach of half +a mile or more in extent. + +From the village to the north and north-east extends a plain, the soil +of which is very excellent, and with proper cultivation may be made to +produce almost any of our European vegetables; this is but little more +than half a mile in breadth, and is terminated by the seacoast, which in +this place is lined with rocks and reefs, and cannot be approached by +ships. The coast in the neighbourhood of Nootka is in general low, and +but little broken into hills and valleys. The soil is good, well covered +with fine forests of pine, spruce, beech, and other trees, and abounds +with streams of the finest water, the general appearance being the same +for many miles around. + +The village is situated on the ground occupied by the Spaniards, when +they kept a garrison here; the foundations of the church and the +governor's house are yet visible, and a few European plants are still to +be found, which continue to be self-propagated, such as onions, peas, +and turnips, but the two last are quite small, particularly the turnips, +which afforded us nothing but the tops for eating. Their former village +stood on the same spot, but the Spaniards, finding it a commodious +situation, demolished the houses, and forced the inhabitants to retire +five or six miles into the country.[65] With great sorrow, as Maquina +told me, did they find themselves compelled to quit their ancient place +of residence, but with equal joy did they repossess themselves of it +when the Spanish garrison was expelled by the English. + +[Illustration: HABITATIONS IN NOOTKA SOUND.] + +The houses, as I have observed, are above twenty in number, built nearly +in a line. These are of different sizes, according to the rank or +quality of the _Tyee_, or chief, who lives in them, each having one, of +which he is considered as the lord. They vary not much in width, being +usually from thirty-six to forty feet wide, but are of very different +lengths, that of the king, which is much the longest, being about one +hundred and fifty feet, while the smallest, which contain only two +families, do not exceed forty feet in length; the house of the king is +also distinguished from the others by being higher. + +Their method of building is as follows: they erect in the ground two +very large posts, at such a distance apart as is intended for the length +of the house. On these, which are of equal height, and hollowed out at +the upper end, they lay a large spar for the ridge-pole of the building, +or, if the length of the house requires it, two or more, supporting +their ends by similar upright posts; these spars are sometimes of an +almost incredible size, having myself measured one in Maquina's house, +which I found to be one hundred feet long and eight feet four inches in +circumference. At equal distances from these two posts, two others are +placed on each side, to form the width of the building; these are rather +shorter than the first, and on them are laid in like manner spars, but +of a smaller size, having the upper part hewed flat, with a narrow ridge +on the outer side to support the ends of the planks. + +The roof is formed of pine planks with a broad feather edge, so as to +lap well over each other, which are laid lengthwise from the ridge-pole +in the centre, to the beams at the sides, after which the top is covered +with planks of eight feet broad, which form a kind of coving projecting +so far over the ends of the planks that form the roof, as completely to +exclude the rain. On these they lay large stones to prevent their being +displaced by the wind. The ends of the planks are not secured to the +beams on which they are laid by any fastening, so that in a high storm I +have often known all the men obliged to turn out and go upon the roof to +prevent them from being blown off, carrying large stones and pieces of +rock with them to secure the boards, always stripping themselves naked +on these occasions, whatever may be the severity of the weather, to +prevent their garments from being wet and muddied, as these storms are +almost always accompanied with heavy rains. The sides of their houses +are much more open and exposed to the weather; this proceeds from their +not being so easily made close as the roof, being built with planks of +about ten feet long and four or five wide, which they place between +stancheons or small posts of the height of the roof; of these there are +four to each range of boards, two at each end, and so near each other as +to leave space enough for admitting a plank. The planks or boards which +they make use of for building their houses, and for other uses, they +procure of different lengths as occasion requires, by splitting them out +with hard wooden wedges from pine logs, and afterwards dubbing them down +with their chisels, with much patience, to the thickness wanted, +rendering them quite smooth. + +There is but one entrance; this is placed usually at the end, though +sometimes in the middle, as was that of Maquina's. Through the middle of +the building, from one end to the other, runs a passage of about eight +or nine feet broad, on each side of which the several families that +occupy it live, each having its particular fireplace, but without any +kind of wall or separation to mark their respective limits; the chief +having his apartment at the upper end, and the next in rank opposite on +the other side. They have no other floor than the ground; the fireplace +or hearth consists of a number of stones loosely put together, but they +are wholly without a chimney, nor is there any opening left in the roof, +but whenever a fire is made, the plank immediately over it is thrust +aside, by means of a pole, to give vent to the smoke. + +The height of the houses in general, from the ground to the centre of +the roof, does not exceed ten feet, that of Maquina's was not far from +fourteen; the spar forming the ridge-pole of the latter was painted in +red and black circles alternately, by way of ornament, and the large +posts that supported it had their tops curiously wrought or carved, so +as to represent human heads of a monstrous size, which were painted in +their manner. These were not, however, considered as objects of +adoration, but merely as ornaments.[66] + +The furniture of these people is very simple, and consists only of +boxes, in which they put their clothes, furs, and such things as they +hold most valuable; tubs for keeping their provisions of spawn and +blubber in; trays from which they eat; baskets for their dried fish and +other purposes, and bags made of bark matting, of which they also make +their beds, spreading a piece of it upon the ground when they lie down, +and using no other bed covering than their garments. The boxes are of +pine, with a top that shuts over, and instead of nails or pegs, are +fastened with flexible twigs; they are extremely smooth and high +polished, and sometimes ornamented with rows of very small white shells. +The tubs are of a square form, secured in the like manner, and of +various sizes, some being extremely large, having seen them that were +six feet long by four broad and five deep. The trays are hollowed out +with their chisels from a solid block of wood, and the baskets and mats +are made from the bark of trees. + +From bark they likewise make the cloth for their garments, in the +following manner:--A quantity of this bark is taken and put into fresh +water, where it is kept for a fortnight, to give it time to completely +soften; it is then taken out and beaten upon a plank, with an instrument +made of bone, or some very hard wood, having grooves or hollows on one +side of it, care being taken to keep the mass constantly moistened with +water, in order to separate, with more ease, the hard and woody from the +soft and fibrous parts, which, when completed, they parcel out into +skeins, like thread. These they lay in the air to bleach, and afterwards +dye them black or red, as suits their fancies, their natural colour +being a pale yellow. In order to form the cloth, the women, by whom the +whole of this process is performed, take a certain number of these +skeins and twist them together, by rolling them with their hands upon +their knees into hard rolls, which are afterwards connected by means of +a strong thread, made for the purpose. + +[Illustration: INTERIOR OF A HABITATION IN NOOTKA SOUND.] + +Their dress usually consists of but a single garment, which is a loose +cloak or mantle (called _kutsack_) in one piece, reaching nearly to the +feet. This is tied loosely over the right or left shoulder, so as to +leave the arms at full liberty. + +Those of the common people are painted red with ochre the better to keep +out the rain, but the chiefs wear them of their native colour, which is +a pale yellow, ornamenting them with borders of the sea-otter skin, a +kind of grey cloth made of the hair of some animal[67] which they +procure from the tribes to the south, or their own cloth wrought or +painted with various figures in red or black, representing men's heads, +the sun and moon, fish and animals, which are frequently executed with +much skill. They have also a girdle of the same kind for securing this +mantle or _kutsack_ around them, which is in general still more highly +ornamented, and serves them to wear their daggers and knives in. In +winter, however, they sometimes make use of an additional garment, which +is a kind of hood, with a hole in it for the purpose of admitting the +head, and falls over the breast and back, as low as the shoulders; this +is bordered both at top and bottom with fur, and is never worn except +when they go out. + +The garments of the women vary not essentially from those of the men, +the mantle having holes in it for the purpose of admitting the arms, and +being tied close under the chin instead of over the shoulder. The chiefs +have also mantles of the sea-otter skin, but these are only put on upon +extraordinary occasions; and one that is made from the skin of a certain +large animal, which is brought from the south by the Wickanninish[68] +and Kla-iz-zarts.[69] This they prepare by dressing it in warm water, +scraping off the hair and what flesh adheres to it carefully with sharp +mussel-shells, and spreading it out in the sun to dry on a wooden frame, +so as to preserve the shape. When dressed in this manner it becomes +perfectly white, and as pliable as the best deer's leather, but almost +as thick again. They then paint it in different figures with such paints +as they usually employ in decorating their persons; these figures mostly +represent human heads, canoes employed in catching whales, etc. + +This skin is called metamelth, and is probably got from an animal of +the moose kind; it is highly prized by these people, is their great war +dress, and only worn when they wish to make the best possible display of +themselves. Strips or bands of it, painted as above, are also sometimes +used by them for girdles or the bordering of their cloaks, and also for +bracelets and ankle ornaments by some of the inferior class. + +On their heads, when they go out upon any excursion, particularly +whaling or fishing, they wear a kind of cap or bonnet in form not unlike +a large sugar loaf with the top cut off. This is made of the same +materials with their cloth,[70] but is in general of a closer texture, +and by way of tassel has a long strip of the skin of the metamelth[71] +attached to it, covered with rows of small white shells or beads. Those +worn by the common people are painted entirely red, the chiefs having +theirs of different colours. The one worn by the king, and which serves +to designate him from all the others, is longer and broader at the +bottom; the top, instead of being flat, having upon it an ornament in +the figure of a small urn. It is also of a much finer texture than the +others, and plaited or wrought in black and white stripes, with the +representation in front of a canoe in pursuit of a whale, with the +harpooner standing in the prow prepared to strike. This bonnet is called +_Seeya-poks_. + +Their mode of living is very simple--their food consisting almost +wholly of fish, or fish spawn fresh or dried, the blubber of the whale, +seal, or sea-cow, mussels, clams, and berries of various kinds; all of +which are eaten with a profusion of train-oil for sauce, not excepting +even the most delicate fruit, as strawberries and raspberries. + +With so little variety in their food, no great secret can be expected in +their cookery. Of this, indeed, they may be said to know but two +methods, viz. by boiling and steaming, and even the latter is not very +frequently practised by them. Their mode of boiling is as follows:--Into +one of their tubs they pour water sufficient to cook the quantity of +provision wanted. A number of heated stones are then put in to make it +boil, when the salmon or other fish are put in without any other +preparation than sometimes cutting off the heads, tails, and fins, the +boiling in the meantime being kept up by the application of the hot +stones, after which it is left to cook until the whole is nearly reduced +to one mass. It is then taken out and distributed in the trays. In a +similar manner they cook their blubber and spawn, smoked or dried fish, +and, in fine, almost everything they eat, nothing going down with them +like broth. + +When they cook their fish by steam, which are usually the heads, tails, +and fins of the salmon, cod, and halibut, a large fire is kindled, upon +which they place a bed of stones, which, when the wood is burnt down, +becomes perfectly heated. Layers of green leaves or pine boughs are then +placed upon the stones, and the fish, clams, etc., being laid upon +them, water is poured over them, and the whole closely covered with mats +to keep in the steam. This is much the best mode of cooking, and clams +and mussels done in this manner are really excellent.[72] These, as I +have said, may be considered as their only kinds of cookery; though I +have, in a very few instances, known them dress the roe or spawn of the +salmon and the herring, when first taken, in a different manner; this +was by roasting them, the former being supported between two split +pieces of pine, and the other having a sharp stick run through it, with +one end fixed in the ground; sprats are also roasted by them in this +way, a number being spitted upon one stick; and this kind of food, with +a little salt, would be found no contemptible eating even to an +European. + +At their meals they seat themselves upon the ground, with their feet +curled up under them, around their trays, which are generally about +three feet long by one broad, and from six to eight inches deep. In +eating they make use of nothing but their fingers, except for the soup +or oil, which they lade out with clam-shells. + +Around one of these trays from four to six persons will seat themselves, +constantly dipping in their fingers or clam-shells one after the other. +The king and chiefs alone have separate trays, from which no one is +permitted to eat with them except the queen, or principal wife of the +chief; and whenever the king or one of the chiefs wishes to distinguish +any of his people with a special mark of favour on these occasions, he +calls him and gives him some of the choice bits from his tray. The +slaves eat at the same time, and of the same provisions, faring in this +respect as well as their masters, being seated with the family, and only +feeding from separate trays. + +Whenever a feast is given by the king or any of the chiefs, there is a +person who acts as a master of ceremonies, and whose business it is to +receive the guests as they enter the house, and point out to them their +respective seats, which is regulated with great punctiliousness as +regards rank; the king occupying the highest or the seat of honour, his +son or brother sitting next him, and so on with the chiefs according to +their quality; the private persons belonging to the same family being +always placed together, to prevent any confusion. The women are seldom +invited to their feasts, and only at those times when a general +invitation is given to the village.[73] + +As, whenever they cook, they always calculate to have an abundance for +all the guests, a profusion in this respect being considered as the +highest luxury, much more is usually set before them than they can eat. +That which is left in the king's tray, he sends to his house for his +family by one of his slaves, as do the chiefs theirs; while those who +eat from the same tray, and who generally belong to the same family, +take it home as common stock, or each one receives his portion, which is +distributed on the spot. This custom appeared very singular to my +companion and myself, and it was a most awkward thing for us, at first, +to have to lug home with us, in our hands or arms, the blubber of fish +that we received at these times, but we soon became reconciled to it, +and were very glad of an opportunity to do it. + +[Illustration: NOOTKA SOUND INDIANS.] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[63] The exact position of the village is lat. 49° 35' 31" N.; long. +126° 37' 32" W. + +[64] According to the Admiralty Sailing Directions, the Cove is about +two cables in extent, and sheltered from the sea by a small rocky +high-water island on its east side. It affords anchorage in the middle +for only one vessel of moderate size, though several small vessels might +find shelter. When Vancouver visited it in 1792, no less than eight +ships were in it, most of them small, and secured to the shore by +hawsers. + +[65] This means farther up the Sound; for there are villages in the +interior of Vancouver Island. The Admiralty Sailing Directions declare +that not a trace of the Spanish settlement now exists. This is scarcely +correct, for an indistinct ridge shows the site of houses, and here and +there a few bricks half hidden in the ground may be detected. I have +seen a cannon ball and a Mexican dollar found there. Many of the Nootka +Indians have large moustaches and whiskers, which may possibly be due to +their Spanish blood, and others were decidedly Chinese-looking, a fact +which may be traced to the presence of Meares's Chinese carpenters in +1778-79. Some of them can, or could, thirty years ago, by tradition, +count ten in Spanish; and there is a legend in the Sound to the effect +that the white men had begun to cultivate the ground, and to erect a +stockade and fort; when one day a ship came with papers for the head +man, who was observed to cry, and all the foreigners became sad. The +next day they began moving their goods to the ship. But, as Mr. Sproat +suggests, this might have reference to Meares's settlement. + +[66] This is a good description of the house of Maquina's grandson, as I +saw it fifty-eight years after Jewitt's time. + +[67] Dog's hair. A tribe on Fraser River used to keep flocks of these +curs, which they periodically clipped like sheep. + +[68] Probably the Klayoquahts (see p. 77). + +[69] Klahosahts. + +[70] The outside is made of cedar bark, the inside of white-hair bark. + +[71] I have more than once discussed the identity of this animal with +Indian traders. None of them recognised it, nor, indeed, were acquainted +with the animal by the name Jewitt applies to it. It is, however, not +unlikely the North-Western marmot (_Arctomys pruinosus_), specimens of +which are now and then--though, it must be admitted, rarely--seen in +Vancouver Island; but it is more common farther south. The Alberni +Indians (Seshahts and Opechesahts) used to talk of a beast called +_Sit-si-tehl_, which we took to be the marmot, and Mr. Sproat saw one; I +was not so fortunate. + +[72] In the opinion of the judicious Jewitt, every one who has eaten +food--especially salmon and shell-fish--cooked after this fashion will +coincide. _Experto crede._ + +[73] Or to one or more of the neighbouring tribes, such feasts being +known as _Wawkoahs_. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +APPEARANCE OF THE NATIVES--ORNAMENTS--OTTER-HUNTING--FISHING--CANOES + + +In point of personal appearance the people of Nootka are among the +best-looking of any of the tribes that I have seen. The men are in +general from about five feet six to five feet eight inches in height; +remarkably straight, of a good form, robust and strong, with their limbs +in general well turned and proportioned, excepting the legs and feet, +which are clumsy and ill formed, owing, no doubt, to their practice of +sitting on them, though I have seen instances in which they were very +well shaped; this defect is more particularly apparent in the women, who +are for the most part of the time within doors, and constantly sitting +while employed in their cooking and other occupations.[74] The only +instance of deformity that I saw amongst them was a man of dwarfish +stature; he was thirty years old, and but three feet three inches high; +he had, however, no other defect than his diminutive size, being well +made, and as strong and able to bear fatigue as what they were in +general.[75] + +Their complexion, when freed from the paint and oil with which their +skins are generally covered, is a brown, somewhat inclining to a copper +cast. The shape of the face is oval; the features are tolerably regular, +the lips being thin and the teeth very white and even; their eyes are +black but rather small, and the nose pretty well formed, being neither +flat nor very prominent; their hair is black, long, and coarse, but they +have no beard, completely extirpating it, as well as the hair from their +bodies, Maquina being the only exception, who suffered his beard to grow +on his upper lip in the manner of mustachios, which was considered as a +mark of dignity. + +As to the women, they are much whiter, many of them not being darker +than those in some of the southern parts of Europe. They are in general +very well-looking, and some quite handsome. Maquina's favourite wife in +particular, who was a Wickinninish princess, would be considered as a +beautiful woman in any country. She was uncommonly well formed, tall, +and of a majestic appearance; her skin remarkably fair for one of these +people, with considerable colour, her features handsome, and her eyes +black, soft, and languishing; her hair was very long, thick, and black, +as is that of the females in general, which is much softer than that of +the men; in this they take much pride, frequently oiling and plaiting it +carefully into two broad plaits, tying the ends with a strip of the +cloth of the country, and letting it hang down before on each side of +the face. + +The women keep their garments much neater and cleaner than the men, and +are extremely modest in their deportment and dress; their mantle, or +_kutsack_, which is longer than that of the men, reaching quite to their +feet and completely enveloping them, being tied close under the chin, +and bound with a girdle of the same cloth or of sea-otter skin around +their waists; it has also loose sleeves, which reach to the elbows. +Though fond of ornamenting their persons, they are by no means so +partial to paint as the men, merely colouring their eyebrows black and +drawing a bright red stripe from each corner of the mouth towards the +ear. Their ornaments consist chiefly of ear-rings, necklaces, bracelets, +rings for the fingers and ankles, and small nose-jewels (the latter are, +however, wholly confined to the wives of the king or chiefs); these are +principally made out of copper or brass, highly polished and of various +forms and sizes; the nose-jewel is usually a small white shell[76] or +bead suspended to a thread. + +The wives of the common people frequently wear for bracelets and ankle +rings strips of the country cloth or skin of the metamelth painted in +figures, and those of the king or principal chiefs, bracelets and +necklaces consisting of a number of strings of _Ife-waw_, an article +much prized by them, and which makes a very handsome appearance. This +_Ife-waw_, as they term it, is a kind of shell of a dazzling whiteness +and as smooth as ivory; it is of a cylindrical form, in a slight degree +curved, about the size of a goose quill, hollow, three inches in length +and gradually tapering to a point, which is broken off by the natives as +it is taken from the water; this they afterwards string upon threads of +bark and sell it by the fathom; it forms a kind of circulating medium +among these nations, five fathoms being considered as the price of a +slave, their most valuable species of property. It is principally +obtained from the Aitizzarts, a people living about thirty or forty +miles to the northward, who collect it from the reefs and sunken rocks +with which their coast abounds, though it is also brought in +considerable quantity from the south.[77] + +Their mode of taking it has been thus described to me:--To one end of a +pole is fastened a piece of plank, in which a considerable number of +pine pegs are inserted, made sharp at the ends; above the plank, in +order to sink it, a stone or some weight is tied, and the other end of +the pole suspended to a long rope; this is let down perpendicularly by +the _Ife-waw_ fishers in those places where that substance is found, +which are usually from fifty to sixty fathoms deep. On finding the +bottom, they raise the pole up a few feet and let it fall; this they +repeat a number of times, as if sounding, when they draw it up and take +off the _Ife-waw_ which is found adhering to the points. This method of +procuring it is very laborious and fatiguing, especially as they seldom +take more than two or three of these shells at a time, and frequently +none. + +Though the women, as I have said, make but little use of paint, the very +reverse is the case with the men. In decorating their heads and faces +they place their principal pride, and none of our most fashionable beaus +when preparing for a grand ball can be more particular; for I have known +Maquina, after having been employed more than an hour in painting his +face, rub the whole off, and recommence the operation anew, when it did +not entirely please him. + +The manner in which they paint themselves frequently varies, according +to the occasion, but it oftener is the mere dictate of whim. The most +usual method is to paint the eyebrows black in form of a half-moon and +the face red in small squares, with the arms and legs and part of the +body red; sometimes one half of the face is painted red in squares and +the other black; at others dotted with spots of red and black instead +of squares, with a variety of other devices, such as painting one half +of the face and body red and the other black. + +But a method of painting which they sometimes employed, and which they +were much more particular in, was by laying on the face a quantity of +bear's grease of about one-eighth of an inch thick; this they raised up +into ridges resembling a small bead in joiner's work with a stick +prepared for the purpose, and then painted them red, which gave the face +a very singular appearance. + +On extraordinary occasions the king and principal chiefs used to strew +over their faces, after painting, a fine black shining powder procured +from some mineral, as Maquina told me it was got from the rocks. This +they call _pelpelth_,[78] and value it highly, as, in their opinion, it +serves to set off their looks to great advantage, glittering especially +in the sun like silver. This article is brought them in bags by the +_Newchemass_,[79] a very savage nation who live a long way to the north, +from whom they likewise receive a superior kind of red paint, a species +of very fine and rich ochre, which they hold in much estimation. + +Notwithstanding this custom of painting themselves, they make it an +invariable practice, both in summer and winter, to bathe once a day, and +sometimes oftener; but as the paint is put on with oil, it is not much +discomposed thereby, and whenever they wish to wash it off, they repair +to some piece of fresh water and scour themselves with sand or rushes. + +In dressing their heads on occasion of a festival or a visit, they are +full as particular and almost as long as in painting. The hair, after +being well oiled, is carefully gathered upon the top of the head and +secured by a piece of pine or spruce bough with the green leaves upon +it. After having it properly fixed in this manner, the king and +principal chiefs used to strew all over it the white down obtained from +a species of large brown eagle which abounds on this coast, and which +they are very particular in arranging so as not to have a single feather +out of place, occasionally wetting the hair to make it adhere. This, +together with the bough, which is sometimes of considerable size and +stuck over with feathers by means of turpentine, gives them a very +singular and grotesque appearance, which they, however, think very +becoming, and the first thing they do, on learning the arrival of +strangers, is to go and decorate themselves in this manner. + +The men also wear bracelets of painted leather or copper and large +ear-rings of the latter, but the ornament on which they appear to set +the most value is the nose-jewel, if such an appellation may be given to +the wooden stick which some of them employ for this purpose. The king +and chiefs, however, wear them of a different form, being either small +pieces of polished copper or brass, of which I made many for them in +the shape of hearts and diamonds, or a twisted conical shell about half +an inch in length, of a bluish colour and very bright, which is brought +from the south. These are suspended by a small wire or string to the +hole in the gristle of the nose, which is formed in infancy by boring it +with a pin, the hole being afterwards enlarged by the repeated insertion +of wooden pegs of an increased size, until it becomes about the diameter +of a pipe-stem, though some have them of a size nearly sufficient to +admit the little finger. + +The common class, who cannot readily procure the more expensive jewels +that I have mentioned, substitute for them, usually, a smooth, round +stick, some of which are of an almost incredible length, for I have seen +them projecting not less than eight or nine inches beyond the face on +each side; this is made fast or secured in its place by little wedges on +each side of it. These "sprit-sail-yard fellows," as my messmate used to +call them, when rigged out in this manner, made quite a strange show, +and it was his delight, whenever he saw one of them coming towards us +with an air of consequence proportioned to the length of his stick, to +put up his hand suddenly as he was passing him, so as to strike the +stick, in order, as he said, to brace him up sharp to the wind; this +used to make them very angry, but nothing was more remote from +Thompson's ideas than a wish to cultivate their favour. + +The natives of Nootka appear to have but little inclination for the +chase, though some of them were expert marksmen, and used sometimes to +shoot ducks and geese; but the seal and the sea-otter form the +principal objects of their hunting, particularly the latter. + +Of this animal, so much noted for its valuable skin, the following +description may not be uninteresting:--The sea-otter[80] is nearly five +feet in length, exclusive of the tail, which is about twelve inches, and +is very thick and broad where it joins the body, but gradually tapers to +the end, which is tipped with white. The colour of the rest is a +shining, silky black, with the exception of a broad white stripe on the +top of the head. Nothing can be more beautiful than one of these animals +when seen swimming, especially when on the look-out for any object. At +such times it raises its head quite above the surface, and the contrast +between the shining black and the white, together with its sharp ears +and a long tuft of hair rising from the middle of its forehead, which +looks like three small horns, render it quite a novel and attractive +object. They are in general very tame, and will permit a canoe or boat +to approach very near before they dive. I was told, however, that they +are become much more shy since they have been accustomed to shoot them +with muskets, than when they used only arrows.[81] + +The skin is held in great estimation in China, more especially that of +the tail, the fur of which is finer and closer set than that on the +body. This is always cut off and sold separately by the natives. The +value of a skin is determined by its size, that being considered as a +prime skin which will reach, in length, from a man's chin to his feet. +The food of the sea-otter is fish, which he is very dexterous in taking, +being an excellent swimmer, with feet webbed like those of a goose. They +appear to be wholly confined to the seacoast, at least to the salt +water. They have usually three or four young at a time, but I know not +how often they breed, nor in what place they deposit their young, though +I have frequently seen them swimming around the mother when no larger +than rats. The flesh is eaten by the natives, cooked in their usual mode +by boiling, and is far preferable to that of the seal, of which they +make much account. + +But if not great hunters, there are few people more expert in fishing. +Their lines are generally, made from the sinew of the whale, and are +extremely strong. For the hook, they usually make use of a straight +piece of hard wood, in the lower part of which is inserted, and well +secured with thread or whale sinew, a bit of bone made very sharp at the +point and bearded; but I used to make for them hooks from iron, which +they preferred, not only as being less liable to break, but more certain +of securing the fish. Cod, halibut, and other sea fish were not only +caught by them with hooks, but even salmon. + +To take this latter fish, they practise the following method:--One +person seats himself in a small canoe, and, baiting his hook with a +sprat, which they are always careful to procure as fresh as possible, +fastens his line to the handle of the paddle; this, as he plies it in +the water, keeps the fish in constant motion, so as to give it the +appearance of life, which the salmon seeing, leaps at it and is +instantly hooked, and, by a sudden and dexterous motion of the paddle, +drawn on board. I have known some of the natives take no less than eight +or ten salmon of a morning, in this manner, and have seen from twenty to +thirty canoes at a time in Friendly Cove thus employed. + +They are likewise little less skilful in taking the whale. This they +kill with a kind of javelin or harpoon thus constructed and fitted: the +barbs are formed of bone, which are sharpened on the outer side, and +hollowed within, for the purpose of forming a socket for the staff; +these are then secured firmly together with a whale sinew, the point +being fitted so as to receive a piece of mussel-shell, which is ground +to a very sharp edge, and secured in its place by means of +turpentine.[82] To this head or prong is fastened a strong line of whale +sinew about nine feet in length, to the end of which is tied a bark rope +from fifty to sixty fathoms long, having from twenty to thirty sealskin +floats or buoys attached to it at certain intervals, in order to check +the motion of the whale and obstruct his diving. In the socket of the +harpoon a staff or pole of about ten feet long, gradually tapering from +the middle to each end, is placed; this the harpooner holds in his hand, +in order to strike the whale, and immediately detaches it as soon as the +fish is struck. + +The whale is considered as the king's fish, and no other person, when he +is present, is permitted to touch him until the royal harpoon has first +drawn his blood, however near he may approach; and it would be +considered almost a sacrilege for any of the common people to strike a +whale before he is killed, particularly if any of the chiefs should be +present.[83] They also kill the porpoise[84] and sea-cow[85] with +harpoons, but this inferior game is not interdicted the lower class. + +With regard to their canoes, some of the handsomest to be found on the +whole coast are made at Nootka, though very fine ones are brought by the +Wickinninish and the Kla-iz-zarts, who have them more highly ornamented. +They are of all sizes, from such as are capable of holding only one +person to their largest war canoes, which will carry forty men, and are +extremely light. Of these, the largest of any that I ever saw was one +belonging to Maquina, which I measured, and found to be forty-two feet +six inches in length at the bottom, and forty-six feet from stem to +stern. These are made of pine,[86] hollowed out from a tree with their +chisels solely, which are about three inches broad and six in length, +and set into a handle of very hard wood. + +This instrument was formerly made of flint, or some hard stone ground +down to as sharp an edge as possible, but since they have learned the +use of iron, they have almost all of them of that metal. Instead of a +mallet for striking this chisel, they make use of a smooth round stone, +which they hold in the palm of the hand. With this same awkward +instrument they not only excavate their canoes and trays and smooth +their planks, but cut down such trees as they want, either for building, +fuel, or other purposes, a labour which is mostly done by their slaves. + +The felling of trees, as practised by them, is a slow and most tedious +process, three of them being generally from two to three days in cutting +down a large one; yet so attached were they to their own method, that +notwithstanding they saw Thompson frequently, with one of our axes, of +which there was a number saved, fell a tree in less time than they +could have gone round it with their chisels, still they could not be +persuaded to make use of them. + +[Illustration: INDIAN CANOES, VICTORIA, V. I. (TEMP. 1863).] + +After hollowing out their canoes, which they do very neatly, they +fashion the outside, and slightly burn it, for the purpose of removing +any splinters or small points that might obstruct its passage through +the water, after which they rub it over thoroughly with rushes or coarse +mats, in order to smooth it, which not only renders it almost as smooth +as glass, but forms a better security for it from the weather; this +operation of burning and rubbing down the bottoms of their canoes is +practised as often as they acquire any considerable degree of roughness +from use. The outside by this means becomes quite black, and to complete +their work they paint the inside of a bright red, with ochre or some +other similar substance; the prows and sterns are almost always +ornamented with figures of ducks or some other kind of bird, the former +being so fashioned as to represent the head, and the latter the tail; +these are separate pieces from the canoe, and are fastened to it with +small flexible twigs or bark cord. + +Some of these canoes, particularly those employed in whaling, which will +hold about ten men, are ornamented within about two inches below the +gunwale with two parallel lines on each side of very small white shells, +running fore and aft, which has a very pretty effect. Their war canoes +have no ornament of this kind, but are painted on the outside with +figures in white chalk, representing eagles, whales, human heads, etc. +They are very dexterous in the use of their paddles, which are very +neatly wrought, and are five feet long, with a short handle and a blade +seven inches broad in the middle, tapering to a sharp point. With these +they will make a canoe skim very swiftly on the water, with scarcely any +noise, while they keep time to the stroke of the paddle with their +songs. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[74] Yet they are by no means weak in the legs, a coast Indian being +capable of long travel in the bush without tiring. The Hydahs of Queen +Charlotte Island, and the Tlinkets and Kaloshes of the neighbouring +mainland, are splendid specimens of men, tall, comparatively fair, +large-headed, regularly-featured, and endowed with courage and +intelligence, though their morals leave much to be desired. All the +canoe Indians are very strong-handed, owing to the constant use of the +paddle. In a scuffle with one of them, it does not do to let him get a +grip; better prevent him from coming to close quarters, for in this case +the white man has little chance. The Klahoquahts are the finest-looking +of the Vancouver west coast tribes. + +[75] I have rarely seen a corpulent Indian, and not one idiot, or a +cripple so deformed that he was incapable of earning his livelihood. It +is seldom that they are deformed from birth, and when they are, they +generally disappear, so as not to be a burden on the tribe. As a +facetious old savage remarked to me, when discussing that curious +immunity from helplessness in his tribe, "The climate doesn't agree with +them." The brother of Quisto, chief of the Pachenahts in 1865 (San Juan +Harbour), was much deformed in the legs, but he was an excellent +canoeman. + +[76] Commonly the flattish nacreous portion of the Abelone, or Ear-shell +(_Haliotis Kamschatkiana_), known as _Apats-em_, which is pawned or sold +in times of scarcity. By constant removal and insertion, the septum of +the nose, through which it is fastened, becomes in time so large that it +will admit almost any kind of moderately-sized ornament. Feathers are +frequently inserted, and more than once I have seen an Indian, clad in a +blanket alone, denude himself of his single garment to hold biscuits or +other goods, and dispose of his pipe by sticking it in the hole through +his nasal septum, which, had times been better, would have been occupied +with a piece of shell, either square, oblong, or of a horseshoe shape. + +[77] This is the well-known _Dentalium pretiosum_, or Tooth-shell, +generally known as the _Hioqua_. It is procured chiefly from Cape +Flattery, on the southern side of Juan de Fuca Strait, and from Koskeemo +Sound on the north. The "Aitizzarts" (Ayhuttisahts) probably obtained it +by barter with the tribes on that part of the coast. It is not much used +nowadays.--_The Peoples of the World_, vol. i. p. 60. + +[78] This is powdered mica of the black variety. It is obtained in +various places, from veins exposed, for the most part in the beds of +streams. + +[79] These seem to be the Nimpkish, from the Nimpkish River, south of +Fort Rupert, on the eastern shore of Vancouver Island, who still +frequently cross the island by a chain of rivers and lakes to Nootka +Sound. This is confirmed by Jewitt writing in another place that they +lived somewhat in the interior. It is doubtful whether he knew that the +country in which he lived was an island. At all events, he never +mentions it by that name. This route I have described in "Das Innere der +Vancouver Insel" (Petermann, _Geographische Mittheilungen_, 1869). + +[80] _Enhydra lutris_, or "Quiaotluck," now so rapidly decreasing in +numbers that it can scarcely escape the fate of Steller's Rhytina. + +[81] For an account of the habits and history of these valued animals, +the reader is referred to _The Countries of the World_, vol. i. p. 304. + +[82] The harpoon is at present a little different in construction. Pine +resin, not "turpentine," is used for the purpose described, and the tips +of deers' horns are utilised for the barbs. The most remarkable fact +about the west coast of Vancouver Island whaling is its use of inflated +sealskins to impede the motion of the animal through the water. This is +an Eskimo contrivance in use by the Alaskans and other extreme northern +tribes, from whom the West Vancouverians seem to have borrowed it. In +Sproat's _Scenes and Studies of Savage Life_, p. 226, there is an +excellent description of whaling as practised in that part of Vancouver +Island. The species pursued is usually finbacks, though a "black fish" +with good whalebone is occasionally captured. + +[83] The honour of using the harpoon is a hereditary privilege, enjoyed +by only a few men in a tribe, and previous to the whaling season the +crews have to practise all manner of ascetic practices in order to +ensure good luck in the venture. + +[84] This porpoise Dr. Gray considered, after examining a skull which I +brought to the British Museum in 1866, to differ little, if at all, from +the _Phocæna communis_ of the Atlantic; but Dr. (afterwards Sir) W. H. +Flower (_List of the Specimens of Cetacea_, etc., 1885, p. 16) seems to +be of a different opinion. + +[85] This "sea-cow," of which Meares also speaks as an animal hunted by +the Nootka people, though rarely seen so far south, must, one might +think, be another name for the seal or "sea-calf," were not the latter +expressly referred to by name. The sea-cow, dugong, or manatee is not +found in these seas, and the _Rhytina Stelleri_, once so abundant on +Behring Island in Behring Strait, is generally considered to have been +exterminated in the interval between 1741-1768. This, however, is hardly +in accordance with fact, for, as evidence collected by Nordenskjöld +proves, they were occasionally killed in 1780, while one was seen as +late as 1854. It is therefore by no means improbable that in 1803 a few +stragglers were still waiting their end on the shores of Vancouver +Island. The sea-lion (_Eumetopias Stelleri_) is a seal also verging on +extinction, the _Otaria ursinus_ being now the fur seal of commerce (and +politics) in that part of the North Pacific. + +[86] A species of cedar (_Thuja_) is the wood used. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MUSIC--MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS--SLAVES--NEIGHBOURING TRIBES--TRADE WITH +THESE--ARMY + + +They have a number which they sing on various occasions--at war,[87] +whaling and fishing, at their marriages and feasts, and at public +festivals or solemnities. The language of the most of these appears to +be very different in many respects from that used in their common +conversation, which leads me to believe either that they have a +different mode of expressing themselves in poetry, or that they borrow +their songs from their neighbours; and what the more particularly +induces me to the latter opinion is, that whenever any of the +Newchemass, a people from the northward, and who speak a very different +language, arrived, they used to tell me that they expected a new song, +and were almost always sure to have one. + +Their tunes are generally soft and plaintive, and though not possessing +great variety, are not deficient in harmony. Their singing is generally +accompanied with several rude kinds of instrumental music, among the +most prominent of which is a kind of a drum. This is nothing more than +a long plank hollowed out on the under side and made quite thin, which +is beat upon by a stick of about a foot long, and renders a sound not +unlike beating on the head of an empty cask, but much louder. + +But the two most favourite instruments are the rattle and the pipe or +whistle; these are, however, only used by the king, the chiefs, or some +particular persons. The former is made of dried sealskin, so as to +represent a fish, and is filled with a number of small smooth pebbles; +it has a short handle, and is painted red. The whistle is made of bone, +generally the leg of a deer; it is short, but emits a very shrill sound. +They have likewise another kind of music, which they make use of in +dancing, in the manner of castanets. This is produced by a number of +mussel or cockle shells tied together and shaken to a kind of tune, +which is accompanied with the voice. + + * * * * * + +Their slaves, as I have observed, form their most valuable species of +property. These are of both sexes, being either captives taken by +themselves in war, or purchased from the neighbouring tribes, and who +reside in the same house, forming as it were a part of the family, are +usually kindly treated, eat of the same food, and live as well as their +masters. They are compelled, however, at times to labour severely, as +not only all the menial offices are performed by them, such as bringing +water, cutting wood, and a variety of others, but they are obliged to +make the canoes, to assist in building and repairing the houses, to +supply their masters with fish, and to attend them in war and to fight +for them. + +None but the king and chiefs have slaves, the common people being +prevented from holding them, either from their inability to purchase +them, or, as I am rather inclined to think, from its being considered as +the privilege of the former alone to have them,[88] especially as all +those made prisoners in war belong either to the king or the chiefs who +have captured them, each one holding such as have been taken by himself +or his slaves. There is probably, however, some little distinction in +favour of the king, who is always the commander of the expedition, as +Maquina had nearly fifty, male and female, in his house, a number +constituting about one half of its inhabitants, comprehending those +obtained by war and purchase; whereas none of the other chiefs had more +than twelve. The females are employed principally in manufacturing +cloth, in cooking, collecting berries, etc., and with regard to food and +living in general have not a much harder lot than their mistresses, the +principal difference consisting in these poor unfortunate creatures +being considered as free to any one, their masters prostituting them +whenever they think proper for the purpose of gain. In this way many of +them are brought on board the ships and offered to the crews, from +whence an opinion appears to have been formed by some of our navigators +injurious to the chastity of their females, than which nothing can be +more generally untrue, as perhaps in no part of the world is that virtue +more prized.[89] + +The houses at Nootka, as already stated, are about twenty, without +comprising those inhabited by the Klahars, a small tribe that has been +conquered and incorporated into that of Nootka, though they must be +considered as in a state of vassalage, as they are not permitted to have +any chiefs among them, and live by themselves in a cluster of small +houses at a little distance from the village. The Nootka tribe, which +consists of about five hundred warriors,[90] is not only more numerous +than almost any of the neighbouring tribes, but far exceeds them in the +strength and martial spirit of its people; and in fact there are but few +nations within a hundred miles either to the north or south but are +considered as tributary to them. + +In giving some account of the tribes that were accustomed to visit +Nootka, I shall commence at the southward with the Kla-iz-zarts, and the +Wickinninish, premising that in point of personal appearance there +prevails a wonderful diversity between the various tribes on the coast, +with the exception of the feet and legs, which are badly shaped in +almost all of them from their practice of sitting on them. + +The Kla-iz-zarts are a numerous and powerful tribe, living nearly three +hundred miles to the south, and are said to consist of more than a +thousand warriors.[91] They appear to be more civilised than any of the +others, being better and more neatly dressed, more mild and affable in +their manners, remarkable for their sprightliness and vivacity, and +celebrated for their singing and dancing. + +They exhibit also greater marks of improvement in whatever is wrought by +them; their canoes, though not superior to those of Nootka in point of +form and lightness, are more highly ornamented, and their weapons and +tools of every kind have a much higher finish and display more skill in +the workmanship. Their cast of countenance is very different from that +of the Nootkians, their faces being very broad, with a less prominent +nose and smaller eyes, and the top of the head flattened as if it had +been pressed down with a weight. Their complexion is also much fairer, +and their stature shorter, though they are well formed and strongly set. + +They have a custom which appears to be peculiar to them, as I never +observed it in any of the other tribes, which is to pluck out not only +their beards and the hair from their bodies, but also their eyebrows, so +as not to leave a vestige remaining. They were also in general more +skilful in painting and decorating themselves, and I have seen some of +them with no less than a dozen holes in each of their ears, to which +were suspended strings of small beads about two inches in length. Their +language is the same as spoken at Nootka, but their pronunciation is +much more hoarse and guttural. These people are not only very expert in +whaling, but are great hunters of the sea-otter and other animals, with +which their country is said to abound, and the metamelth, a large animal +of the deer kind, the skin of which I have already spoken of, another of +a light grey colour, with very fine hair, from which they manufacture a +handsome cloth, the beaver, and a species of large wild cat or tiger +cat. + +The Wickinninish,[92] their neighbours on the north, are about two +hundred miles from Nootka. They are a robust, strong, and warlike +people, but considered by the Nootkians as their inferiors in courage. +This tribe is more numerous than that of Nootka, amounting to between +six and seven hundred warriors. Though not so civilised as the +Kla-iz-zarts, and less skilful in their manufactures, like them they +employ themselves in hunting, as well as in whaling and fishing. Their +faces are broad, but less so than the Kla-iz-zarts, with a darker +complexion and a much less open and pleasing expression of countenance, +while their heads present a very different form, being pressed in at the +sides and lengthened towards the top somewhat in the shape of a sugar +loaf. These people are very frequent visitors at Nootka, a close +friendship subsisting between the two nations, Maquina's _Arcomah_ or +queen, _Y-ya-tintla-no_, being the daughter of the Wickinninish king. + +The Kla-oo-quates[93] adjoining them on the north are much less +numerous, their force not exceeding four hundred fighting men; they are +also behind them in the arts of life. These are a fierce, bold, and +enterprising people, and there were none that visited Nootka, whom +Maquina used to be more on his guard against, or viewed with so much +suspicion. The Eshquates[94] are about the same number; these are +considered as tributary to Maquina. Their coast abounds with rivers, +creeks, and marshes. + +[Illustration: UK-LULAC-AHT INDIAN.] + +To the north the nearest tribe of any importance is the Aitizzarts;[95] +these, however, do not exceed three hundred warriors. In appearance +they greatly resemble the people of Nootka, to whom they are considered +as tributary, their manners, dress, and style of living also being very +similar. They reside at about forty miles' distance up the Sound. A +considerable way farther to the northward are the Cayuquets;[96] these +are a much more numerous tribe than that of Nootka, but thought by the +latter to be deficient in courage and martial spirit, Maquina having +frequently told me that their hearts were a little like those of birds. + +There are also both at the north and south many other intervening +tribes, but in general small in number and insignificant, all of whom, +as well as the above-mentioned, speak the same language. But the +Newchemass, who come from a great way to the northward, and from some +distance inland, as I was told by Maquina, speak quite a different +language,[97] although it is well understood by those of Nootka. These +were the most savage-looking and ugly men that I ever saw, their +complexion being much darker, their stature shorter, and their hair +coarser, than that of the other nations, and their dress and appearance +dirty in an extreme. They wear their beards long like Jews, and have a +very morose and surly countenance. Their usual dress is a _kotsuk_ made +of wolf-skin, with a number of the tails attached to it, of which I have +seen no less than ten on one garment, hanging from the top to the +bottom; though they sometimes wear a similar mantle of bark cloth, of a +much coarser texture than that of Nootka, the original of which appears +to be the same, though from their very great filthiness it was almost +impossible to discover what it had been. + +Their mode of dressing the hair also varies essentially from that of the +other tribes, for they suffer that on the back of the head to hang +loose, and bind the other over their foreheads in the manner of a +fillet, with a strip of their country cloth, ornamented with small white +shells. Their weapons are the _cheetolth_, or war-club, which is made +from whalebone, daggers, bow and arrows, and a kind of spear pointed +with bone or copper.[98] They brought with them no furs for sale, +excepting a few wolf-skins, their merchandise consisting principally of +the black shining mineral called _pelpelth_, and the fine red paint, +which they carefully kept in close mat bags, some small dried salmon, +clams, and roes of fish, with occasionally a little coarse matting +cloth. They were accustomed to remain a much longer time at Nootka than +the other tribes, in order to recover from the fatigue of a long +journey, part of which was overland, and on these occasions taught their +songs to our savages. + +The trade of most of the other tribes with Nootka was principally +train-oil, seal or whale's blubber, fish fresh or dried, herring or +salmon spawn, clams and mussels, and the _yama_,[99] a species of fruit +which is pressed and dried, cloth, sea-otter skins, and slaves. From +the Aitizzarts and the Cayuquets, particularly the former, the best +Ife-whaw and in the greatest quantities was obtained. The Eshquates +furnished us with wild ducks and geese, particularly the latter. The +Wickinninish and Kla-iz-zarts brought to market many slaves, the best +sea-otter skins, great quantities of oil, whale sinew, and cakes of the +_yama_, highly ornamented canoes, some Ife-whaw, red ochre and pelpelth +of an inferior quality to that obtained from the Newchemass, but +particularly the so much valued metamelth, and an excellent root called +by the Kla-iz-zarts _Quawnoose_.[100] This is the size of a small onion, +but rather longer, being of a tapering form like a pear, and of a +brownish colour. It is cooked by steam, is always brought in baskets +ready prepared for eating, and is in truth a very fine vegetable, being +sweet, mealy, and of a most agreeable flavour. It was highly esteemed by +the natives, who used to eat it, as they did everything else, with +train-oil. From the Kla-iz-zarts was also received, though in no great +quantity, a cloth manufactured by them from the fur already spoken of, +which feels like wool and is of a grey colour. + +Many of the articles thus brought, particularly the provisions, were +considered as presents, or tributary offerings, but this must be viewed +as little more than a nominal acknowledgment of superiority, as they +rarely failed to get the full amount of the value of their presents. I +have known eighteen of the great tubs, in which they keep their +provisions, filled with spawn brought in this way. On these occasions a +great feast is always made, to which not only the strangers, but the +whole village, men, women, and children, are generally invited, and I +have seen five of the largest tubs employed at such time, in cooking at +the king's house. At these feasts they generally indulge in eating to an +excess, making up in this respect for their want of inebriating liquors, +which they know no method of preparing in any form, their only drink +being water. + +Whenever they came to visit or trade, it was their general custom to +stop a few miles distant, under the lee of some bluff or rock, and rig +themselves out in their best manner, by painting and dressing their +heads. On their first coming on shore, they were invited to eat by the +king, when they brought to him such articles as he wanted, after which +the rest of the inhabitants were permitted to purchase, the strangers +being careful to keep them in their canoes until sold, under strict +guard to prevent their being stolen, the disposition of these people for +thieving being so great, that it is necessary to keep a watchful eye +upon them. + +This was their usual mode of traffic, but whenever they wished to +purchase any particular object, as, for instance, a certain slave, or +some other thing of which they were very desirous, the canoe that came +for this purpose would lie off a little distance from the shore, and a +kind of ambassador or representative of the king or chief by whom it was +sent, dressed in their best manner, and with his head covered with the +white down, would rise, and, after making known the object of his +mission in a pompous speech, hold up specimens of such articles as he +was instructed to offer in payment, mentioning the number or quantity of +each, when, if the bargain was concluded, the exchange was immediately +made. + +On their visits of friendship or traffic, the chiefs alone used to sleep +on shore; this was generally at the house of the king or the head chief, +the others passing the night on board of their canoes, which was done +not only for the preservation of their property, but because they were +not permitted to remain on shore, lest they might excite some +disturbance or commit depredations. + +All these people generally go armed, the common class wearing only a +dagger suspended from their neck behind, with a string of metamelth, and +sometimes thrust in their girdles. The chiefs, in addition to the +dagger, carry the cheetolth, or war-club, suspended in the same manner +beneath their mantles; this, in the hands of a strong man, is a powerful +weapon, in the management of which some of the older chiefs are very +dexterous. It is made from the bone of a whale, and is very heavy. The +blade is about eighteen inches long and three broad, till it approaches +near the point, where it expands to the breadth of four inches. In the +middle, from whence it slopes off gradually to an edge on each side, it +is from one to two inches in thickness. This blade is usually covered +with figures of the sun and moon, a man's head, etc.; and the hilt, +which is made to represent the head of a man or some animal, is +curiously set with small white shells, and has a band of metamelth +fastened to it, in order to sling it over the shoulder. Some of the +tribes have also a kind of spear headed with copper or the bone of the +sting ray, which is a dangerous weapon; this is, however, not usual, and +only carried by the chiefs. The bow and arrow are still used by a few, +but since the introduction of firearms among them, this weapon has been +mostly laid aside. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[87] A specimen of one of their war-songs will be found at the end of +this work. + +[88] This was not the case. Any free-born native, provided he had the +means, could own a slave. + +[89] This is largely a tale of the past. + +[90] It is questionable if there are now as many people in the whole +tribe. Cook estimated the population of Friendly Cove at two thousand. + +[91] This is wrong. The Kla-iz-zarts (Klahosahts) live _north_ of Nootka +Sound. + +[92] In Meares's time (1788) Wickinninish was regarded as the most +powerful chief, next to Maquina or Maquilla, as he calls him. His +residence was usually at "Port Cox" (Clayoquat Sound), but his territory +extended as far south as Nettinaht, his subjects comprising thirteen +thousand people. Meares does not fall into Jewitt's blunder of +confounding the name of the chief with that of his tribe. But Meares +derived his information first hand, while Jewitt obtained it merely from +hearsay, never having visited any other part except the immediate +vicinity of Nootka Sound. + +[93] Klayoquahts. They have now barely two hundred warriors. + +[94] Hishquahts. If they have twenty men, that is all. Thirty years ago +they had only thirty adult males. + +[95] Ayhuttisahts. Thirty years ago they had thirty-six men fit to +fight. + +[96] Ky-yoh-quahts. In 1860 they numbered two hundred and thirty adult +men. + +[97] Namely, the Kwakiool spoken on the east and north coasts of +Vancouver Island from Comox northwards. + +[98] These implements have fallen out of use. + +[99] The salal (_Gaultheria Shallon_), which forms a carpet to the +ground, especially where the soil is poor. + +[100] The bulb of a pretty blue lily (_Gamassia esculenta_), well known +all over North-West America as the "gamass" or "kamass." The digging and +storing of it in summer form one of the most picturesque of Indian +occupations. The gamass camps are always lively, and the skill and +industry which a girl displays in this important part of her future +duties are carefully noted by the young men in search of wives. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +SITUATION OF THE AUTHOR--REMOVAL TO TASHEES--FISHING PARTIES + + +But to return to our unhappy situation. Though my comrade and myself +fared as well, and even better than we could have expected among these +people, considering their customs and mode of living, yet our fears lest +no ship would come to our release, and that we should never more behold +a Christian country, were to us a source of constant pain. Our principal +consolation, in this gloomy state, was to go on Sundays, whenever the +weather would permit, to the borders of a freshwater pond about a mile +from the village, where, after bathing and putting on clean clothes, we +would seat ourselves under the shade of a beautiful pine, while I read +some chapters in the Bible, and the prayers appointed by our Church for +the day, ending our devotions with a fervent prayer to the Almighty, +that He would deign still to watch over and preserve our lives, rescue +us from the hands of the savages, and permit us once more to behold a +Christian land. + +In this manner were the greater part of our Sundays passed at Nootka; +and I felt gratified to Heaven that, amidst our other sufferings, we +were at least allowed the pleasure of offering up our devotions +unmolested, for Maquina, on my explaining to him as well as was in my +power the reason of our thus retiring at this time, far from objecting, +readily consented to it. + +The pond above mentioned was small, not more than a quarter of a mile in +breadth, and of no great length, the water being very clear, though not +of great depth, and bordered by a beautiful forest of pine, fir, +elm,[101] and beech,[101] free from bushes and underwood--a most +delightful retreat, which was rendered still more attractive by a great +number of birds that frequented it, particularly the humming-bird.[102] +Thither we used to go to wash our clothes, and felt secure from any +intrusion from the natives, as they rarely visited it, except for the +purpose of cleansing themselves of their paint. + +In July we at length thought that the hope of delivery we had so long +anxiously indulged was on the point of being gratified. A ship appeared +in the offing; but, alas! our fond hopes vanished almost as soon as +formed; for, instead of standing in for the shore, she passed to the +northward, and soon disappeared. I shall not attempt to describe our +disappointment--my heart sank within me, and I felt as though it was my +destiny never more to behold a Christian face. Four days after, there +occurred a tremendous storm of thunder and lightning, during which the +natives manifested great alarm and terror, the whole tribe hurrying to +Maquina's house, where, instead of keeping within, they seated +themselves on the roof, amid the severest of the tempest, drumming upon +the boards, and looking up to heaven, while the king beat the long +hollow plank, singing, and, as he afterwards told me, begging +_Quahootze_, the name they give to God, not to kill them, in which he +was accompanied by the whole tribe; this singing and drumming was +continued until the storm abated. + +As the summer drew near its close, we began to suffer from the frequent +want of food, which was principally owing to Maquina and the chiefs +being out whaling, in which he would not permit Thompson and myself to +join, lest we should make our escape to some of the neighbouring tribes. +At these times the women seldom or ever cook any provision, and we were +often hungry, but were sometimes fortunate enough to procure secretly a +piece of salmon, some other fish, spawn, or even blubber, which, by +boiling in salt water, with a few onions and turnips, the remains of the +Spanish garden, or young nettles or other herbs, furnished us a +delicious repast in private. + +In the meantime, we frequently received accounts from the tribes who +came to Nootka, both from the north and south, of there being vessels on +the coast, and were advised by their chiefs to make our escape, who also +promised us their aid, and to put us on board. These stories, however, +as I afterwards learned, were almost all of them without any foundation, +and merely invented by these people with a view to get us into their +power, in order to make slaves of us themselves, or to sell us to +others. + +But I was still more strongly solicited to leave Nootka by a woman. This +was a Wickinninish princess, a younger sister of Maquina's wife, who was +there on a visit. I had the good fortune, if it may be so called, to +become quite a favourite with her. She appeared much interested for me, +asked me many questions respecting my country, if I had a mother and +sister at home, and if they would not grieve for my absence. Her +complexion was fairer than that of the women in general, and her +features more regular, and she would have been quite handsome had it not +been for a defect in one of her eyes, the sight of which had been +injured by some accident; the reason, as Maquina told me, why she had +not been married, a defect of this kind being by these savages +considered as almost an insuperable objection. She urged me repeatedly +to return with her, telling me that the Wickinninish were much better +than the Nootkians; that her father would treat me more kindly than +Maquina, give me better food and clothes, and finally put me on board +one of my own country vessels. I felt, however, little disposed to +accompany her, considering my situation with Maquina full as eligible as +it would be with Wickinninish, if not better, notwithstanding all she +said to the contrary. + +On the 3rd of September the whole tribe quitted Nootka, according to +their constant practice, in order to pass the autumn and winter at +Tashees[103] and Cooptee, the latter lying about thirty miles up the +Sound, in a deep bay, the navigation of which is very dangerous, from +the great number of reefs and rocks with which it abounds. + +On these occasions everything is taken with them, even the planks of +their houses, in order to cover their new dwellings. To an European such +a removal exhibits a scene quite novel and strange; canoes piled up with +boards and boxes, and filled with men, women, and children, of all ranks +and sizes, making the air resound with their cries and songs. + +At these times, as well as when they have occasion to go some distance +from their houses, the infants are usually suspended across the mother's +shoulders, in a kind of cradle or hammock, formed of bark, of about six +inches in depth, and of the length of the child, by means of a leather +band inserted through loops on its edges; this they also keep them in +when at home, in order to preserve them in a straight position, and +prevent any distortion of the limbs, most probably a principal cause of +these people being so seldom deformed or crooked. + +The longboat of our ship having been repaired and furnished with a sail +by Thompson, Maquina gave us the direction of it, we being better +acquainted with managing it than his people, and, after loading her as +deep as she could swim, we proceeded in company with them to the north, +quitting Nootka with heavy hearts, as we could entertain no hopes of +release until our return, no ships ever coming to that part of the +coast. Passing Cooptee, which is situated on the southern bank, just +within the mouth of a small river flowing from the east in a narrow +valley at the foot of a mountain, we proceeded about fifteen miles up +this stream to Tashees, between a range of lofty hills on each side, +which extend a great distance inland, and are covered with the finest +forest trees of the country. Immediately on our arrival, we all went to +work very diligently in covering the houses with the planks we had +brought, the frames being ready erected, these people never pretending +to remove the timber. In a very short time the work was completed, and +we were established in our new residence. + +Tashees is pleasantly situated, and in a most secure position from the +winter storms, in a small vale or hollow on the south shore, at the foot +of a mountain. The spot on which it stands is level, and the soil very +fine, the country in its vicinity abounding with the most romantic +views, charmingly diversified, and fine streams of water falling in +beautiful cascades from the mountains. The river at this place is about +twenty rods in width, and, in its deepest part, from nine to twelve +feet. This village is the extreme point of navigation, as, immediately +beyond, the river becomes much more shallow, and is broken into falls +and rapids. The houses here are placed in a line like those at Nootka, +but closer together, the situation being more confined; they are also +smaller, in consequence of which we were much crowded, and incommoded +for room. + +The principal object in coming to this place is the facility it affords +these people of providing their winter stock of provisions, which +consists principally of salmon, and the spawn of that fish; to which may +be added herrings and sprats, and herring spawn. The latter, however, is +always procured by them at Nootka, previous to their quitting it. At the +seasons of spawning, which are early in spring and the last of August, +they collect a great quantity of pine branches, which they place in +different parts of the Cove at the depth of about ten feet, and secure +them by means of heavy stones. On these the herring deposit their spawn +in immense quantities; the bushes are then taken up, the spawn stripped +from the branches, and, after being washed and freed from the pine +leaves by the women, is dried and put up in baskets for use. It is +considered as their greatest delicacy, and eaten both cooked and raw; in +the former case, being boiled and eaten with train-oil, and in the +latter, mixed up with cold water alone. + +The salmon are taken at Tashees, principally in pots or wears. Their +method of taking them in wears is thus:--A pot of twenty feet in length, +and from four to five feet diameter at the mouth, is formed of a great +number of pine splinters, which are strongly secured, an inch and a half +from each other, by means of hoops made of flexible twigs, and placed +about eight inches apart. At the end it tapers almost to a point, near +which is a small wicker door for the purpose of taking out the fish. +This pot or wear is placed at the foot of a fall or rapid, where the +water is not very deep, and the fish, driven from above with long poles, +are intercepted and caught in the wear, from whence they are taken into +the canoes. In this manner I have seen more than seven hundred salmon +caught in the space of fifteen minutes.[104] I have also sometimes known +a few of the striped bass taken in this manner, but rarely. + +[Illustration: SALMON WEAR NEAR THE INDIAN VILLAGE OF QUAMICHAN, V. I.] + +At such times there is great feasting and merriment among them. The +women and female slaves being busily employed in cooking, or in curing +the fish for their winter stock, which is done by cutting off the heads +and tails, splitting them, taking out the back bone, and hanging them up +in their houses to dry. They also dry the halibut and cod, but these, +instead of curing whole, they cut up into small pieces for that purpose, +and expose to the sun. + +The spawn of the salmon, which is a principal article of their +provision, they take out, and, without any other preparation, throw it +into their tubs, where they leave it to stand and ferment, for, though +they frequently eat it fresh, they esteem it much more when it has +acquired a strong taste, and one of the greatest favours they can confer +on any person, is to invite him to eat _Quakamiss_, the name they give +this food, though scarcely anything can be more repugnant to an European +palate, than it is in this state; and whenever they took it out of these +large receptacles, which they are always careful to fill, such was the +stench which it exhaled, on being moved, that it was almost impossible +for me to abide it, even after habit had in a great degree dulled the +delicacy of my senses. When boiled it became less offensive, though it +still retained much of the putrid smell, and something of the taste. + +Such is the immense quantity of these fish, and they are taken with such +facility, that I have known upwards of twenty-five hundred brought into +Maquina's house at once; and at one of their great feasts, have seen +one hundred or more cooked in one of their largest tubs. + +I used frequently to go out with Maquina upon these fishing parties, and +was always sure to receive a handsome present of salmon, which I had the +privilege of calling mine; I also went with him several times in a +canoe, to strike the salmon, which I have attempted to do myself, but +could never succeed, it requiring a degree of adroitness that I did not +possess. I was also permitted to go out with a gun, and was several +times very successful in shooting wild ducks and teal, which are very +numerous here, though rather shy. These they cooked in their usual +manner, by boiling, without any farther dressing than skinning them. + +In many respects, however, our situation was less pleasant here than at +Nootka. We were more incommoded for room, the houses not being so +spacious, nor so well arranged, and as it was colder, we were compelled +to be much more within doors. We, however, did not neglect on Sundays, +when the weather would admit, to retire into the woods, and, by the side +of some stream, after bathing, return our thanks to God for preserving +us, and offer up to Him our customary devotions. + +I was, however, very apprehensive, soon after our arrival at this place, +that I should be deprived of the satisfaction of keeping my journal, as +Maquina one day, observing me writing, inquired of me what I was doing, +and when I endeavoured to explain it, by telling him that I was keeping +an account of the weather, he said it was not so, and that I was +speaking bad about him, and telling how he had taken our ship and killed +the crew, so as to inform my countrymen, and that if he ever saw me +writing in it again, he would throw it into the fire. I was much +rejoiced that he did no more than threaten, and became very cautious +afterwards not to let him see me write. + +Not long after, I finished some daggers for him, which I polished +highly; these pleased him much, and he gave me directions to make a +cheetolth, in which I succeeded so far to his satisfaction, that he gave +me a present of cloth sufficient to make me a complete suit of raiment, +besides other things. + +Thompson also, who had become rather more of a favourite than formerly, +since he had made a fine sail for his canoe, and some garments for him +out of European cloth, about this time completed another, which was +thought by the savages a most superb dress. This was a _kotsuk_ or +mantle, a fathom square, made entirely of European vest patterns of the +gayest colours. These were sewed together in a manner to make the best +show, and bound with a deep trimming of the finest otter-skin, with +which the arm-holes were also bordered; while the bottom was further +embellished with five or six rows of gilt buttons, placed as near as +possible to each other. + +Nothing could exceed the pride of Maquina when he first put on this +royal robe, decorated, like the coat of Joseph, with all the colours of +the rainbow, and glittering with the buttons, which as he strutted about +made a tinkling, while he repeatedly exclaimed, in a transport of +exultation, "_Klew shish Kotsuk--wick kum_ _atack Nootka_."[105]--"A +fine garment--Nootka can't make them." + +Maquina, who knew that the chiefs of the tribes who came to visit us had +endeavoured to persuade me to escape, frequently cautioned me not to +listen to them, saying that, should I make the attempt, and he were to +take me, he should certainly put me to death. While here, he gave me a +book, in which I found the names of seven persons belonging to the ship +_Manchester_, of Philadelphia, Captain Brian--viz. Daniel Smith, Lewis +Gillon, James Tom, Clark, Johnson, Ben, and Jack. These men, as Maquina +informed me, ran away from the ship and came to him, but that six of +them soon after went off in the night, with an intention to go to the +Wickinninish, but were stopped by the Eshquates, and sent back to him, +and that he ordered them to be put to death; and a most cruel death it +was, as I was told by one of the natives, four men holding one of them +on the ground, and forcing open his mouth, while they choked him by +ramming stones down his throat. + +As to Jack, the boy, who made no attempt to go off, Maquina afterwards +sold him to the Wickinninish. I was informed by the Princess Yuqua that +he was quite a small boy, who cried a great deal, being put to hard +labour beyond his strength by the natives, in cutting wood and bringing +water, and that when he heard of the murder of our crew, it had such an +effect on him, that he fell sick, and died shortly after. On learning +the melancholy fate of this unfortunate lad, it again awakened in my +bosom those feelings that I had experienced at the shocking death of my +poor comrades. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[101] These trees are not found in Vancouver Island. Possibly, though +they are not very like, Jewitt mistook them for the Oregon alder and the +American ash, both trees of that locality. + +[102] This is the migratory red-backed species (_Selasphorus rufus_, p. +19). + +[103] "Tashis Canal" of seamen--the Tashis River flows in at its head, +Coptee is at the mouth, Tashis farther up the stream. + +[104] Salmon used to be bought at Alberni at the rate of a cent apiece. +There have been times when the garden at Fort Rupert was manured with +fresh salmon. + +[105] This is a fair specimen of the kind of _lingua franca_ which even +then had begun to spring up in the intercourse of the early traders with +the Indians, and which by now takes the shape of the Chinook Jargon. +For, apart from the imperfectly pronounced Indian words, there is no +such term as Nootka in any language. It was a misconception of the first +visitors there. They probably mistook _Nootchee_, a mountain, for the +name of the country generally (p. 29). + + + + +CHAPTER X + +CONVERSATION WITH MAQUINA--FRUITS--RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES--VISIT TO +UPQUESTA + + +The king, finding that I was desirous of learning their language, was +much delighted, and took great pleasure in conversing with me. On one of +these occasions he explained to me his reasons for cutting off our ship, +saying that he bore no ill will to my countrymen, but that he had been +several times treated very ill by them. The first injury of which he had +cause to complain, was done him by a Captain Tawnington, who commanded a +schooner which passed a winter at Friendly Cove, where he was well +treated by the inhabitants. This man, taking advantage of Maquina's +absence, who had gone to the Wickinninish to procure a wife, armed +himself and crew, and entered the house, where there were none but +women, whom he threw into the greatest consternation, and, searching the +chests, took away all the skins, of which Maquina had no less than forty +of the best; and that about the same time, four of their chiefs were +barbarously killed by a Captain Martinez, a Spaniard.[106] + +That soon after, Captain Hanna, of the _Sea Otter_[107] in consequence +of one of the natives having stolen a chisel from the carpenter, fired +upon their canoes which were alongside, and killed upwards of twenty of +the natives, of whom several were _Tyees_ or chiefs; and that he +himself, being on board the vessel, in order to escape was obliged to +leap from the quarter-deck, and swim for a long way under water. + +These injuries had excited in the breast of Maquina an ardent desire of +revenge, the strongest passion of the savage heart, and though many +years had elapsed since their commission, still they were not forgotten, +and the want of a favourable opportunity alone prevented him from sooner +avenging them. Unfortunately for us, the long-wished-for opportunity at +length presented itself in our ship, which Maquina finding not guarded +with the usual vigilance of the North-West traders, and feeling his +desire of revenge rekindled by the insult offered him by Captain Salter, +formed a plan for attacking, and on his return called a council of his +chiefs, and communicated it to them, acquainting them with the manner in +which he had been treated. No less desirous of avenging this affront +offered their king than their former injuries, they readily agreed to +his proposal, which was to go on board without arms as usual, but under +different pretexts, in great numbers, and wait for his signal for the +moment of attacking their unsuspecting victims. The execution of this +scheme, as the reader knows, was unhappily too successful. + +And here I cannot but indulge a reflection that has frequently occurred +to me on the manner in which our people behave towards the natives. For, +though they are a thievish race, yet I have no doubt that many of the +melancholy disasters have principally arisen from the imprudent conduct +of some of the captains and crews of the ships employed in this trade, +in exasperating them by insulting, plundering, and even killing them on +slight grounds. This, as nothing is more sacred with a savage than the +principle of revenge, and no people are so impatient under insult, +induces them to wreak their vengeance upon the first vessel or boat's +crew that offers, making the innocent too frequently suffer for the +wrongs of the guilty, as few of them know how to discriminate between +persons of the same general appearance, more especially when speaking +the same language. And to this cause do I believe must principally be +ascribed the sanguinary disposition with which these people are +reproached, as Maquina repeatedly told me that it was not his wish to +hurt a white man, and that he never should have done it, though ever so +much in his power, had they not injured him. + +[Illustration: CALLICUM AND MAQUILLA, CHIEFS OF NOOTKA SOUND.] + +And were the commanders of our ships to treat the savages with rather +more civility than they sometimes do, I am inclined to think they would +find their account in it; not that I should recommend to them a +confidence in the good faith and friendly professions of these people, +so as in any degree to remit their vigilance, but, on the contrary, to +be strictly on their guard, and suffer but a very few of them to come on +board the ship, and admit not many of their canoes alongside at a time; +a precaution that would have been the means of preventing some of the +unfortunate events that have occurred, and if attended to, may in future +preserve many a valuable life. Such a regulation, too, from what I know +of their disposition and wants, would produce no serious difficulty in +trading with the savages, and they would soon become perfectly +reconciled to it. + +Among the provisions which the Indians procure at Tashees, I must not +omit mentioning a fruit that is very important, as forming a great +article of their food. This is what is called by them the _Yama_,[108] a +species of berry that grows in bunches like currants, upon a bush from +two to three feet high, with a large, round, and smooth leaf. This berry +is black, and about the size of a pistol shot, but of rather an oblong +shape, and open at the top like the blue whortleberry. The taste is +sweet, but a little acrid, and when first gathered, if eaten in any +great quantity, especially without oil, is apt to produce colics. To +procure it, large companies of women go out on the mountains, +accompanied by armed men to protect them against wild beasts, where they +frequently remain for several days, kindling a fire at night, and +sheltering themselves under sheds constructed of boughs. At these +parties they collect great quantities. I have known Maquina's queen and +her women return loaded, bringing with them upwards of twelve bushels. +In order to preserve it, it is pressed in the bunches between two +planks, and dried and put away in baskets for use. It is always eaten +with oil. + +Of berries of various kinds, such as strawberries, raspberries, +blackberries, etc., there are great quantities in the country, of which +the natives are very fond, gathering them in their seasons, and eating +them with oil, but the yama is the only one that they preserve. + +Fish is, however, their great article of food, as almost all the others, +excepting the yama, may be considered as accidental. They nevertheless +are far from disrelishing meat, for instance, venison and bear's flesh. +With regard to the latter, they have a most singular custom, which is, +that any one who eats of it is obliged to abstain from eating any kind +of fresh fish whatever for the term of two months, as they have a +superstitious belief that, should any of their people, after tasting +bear's flesh, eat of fresh salmon, cod, etc., the fish, though at ever +so great a distance off, would come to the knowledge of it, and be so +much offended thereat as not to allow themselves to be taken by any of +the inhabitants. This I had an opportunity of observing while at +Tashees, a bear having been killed early in December, of which not more +than ten of the natives would eat, being prevented by the prohibition +annexed to it, which also was the reason of my comrade and myself not +tasting it, on being told by Maquina the consequences. + +As there is something quite curious in their management of this animal, +when they have killed one, I shall give a description of it. After well +cleansing the bear from the dirt and blood with which it is generally +covered when killed, it is brought in and seated opposite the king in an +upright posture, with a chief's bonnet, wrought in figures, on its head, +and its fur powdered over with the white down. A tray of provision is +then set before it, and it is invited by words and gestures to eat. This +mock ceremony over, the reason of which I could never learn, the animal +is taken and skinned, and the flesh and entrails boiled up into a soup, +no part but the paunch being rejected.[109] + +This dressing the bear, as they call it, is an occasion of great +rejoicing throughout the village, all the inhabitants being invited to a +great feast at the king's house, though but few of them, in consequence +of the penalty, will venture to eat of the flesh, but generally content +themselves with their favourite dish of herring spawn and water. The +feast on this occasion was closed by a dance from Sat-sat-sok-sis, in +the manner I have already described, in the course of which he +repeatedly shifted his mask for another of a different form. + +A few days after, a second bear was taken, like the former, by means of +a trap. This I had the curiosity to go and see at the place where it was +caught, which was in the following manner:--On the edge of a small +stream of water in the mountains which the salmon ascend, and near the +spot where the bear is accustomed to watch for them, which is known by +its track, a trap or box about the height of a man's head is built of +posts and planks with a flat top, on which are laid a number of large +stones or rocks. The top and sides are then carefully covered with turf, +so as to resemble a little mound, and wholly to exclude the light, a +narrow entrance of the height of the building only being left, just +sufficient to admit the head and shoulders of the beast. On the inside, +to a large plank that covers the top is suspended by a strong cord a +salmon, the plank being left loose, so that a forcible pull will bring +it down. On coming to its usual haunt, the bear enters the trap, and, in +endeavouring to pull away the fish, brings down the whole covering with +its load of stones upon its head, and is almost always crushed to death +on the spot, or so wounded as to be unable to escape.[110] + +They are always careful to examine these traps every day, in order, if a +bear be caught, to bring it immediately, for it is not a little singular +that these people will eat no kind of meat that is in the least tainted, +or not perfectly fresh, while, on the contrary, it is hardly possible +for fish to be in too putrid a state for them, and I have frequently +known them, when a whale has been driven ashore, bring pieces of it home +with them in a state of offensiveness insupportable to anything but a +crow, and devour it with high relish, considering it as preferable to +that which is fresh. + +On the morning of the 13th of December, commenced what to us appeared a +most singular farce. Apparently without any previous notice, Maquina +discharged a pistol close to his son's ear, who immediately fell down as +if killed, upon which all the women of the house set up a most +lamentable cry, tearing handfuls of hair from their heads, and +exclaiming that the prince was dead. At the same time a great number of +the inhabitants rushed into the house, armed with their daggers, +muskets, etc., inquiring the cause of their outcry. These were +immediately followed by two others dressed in wolf-skins, with masks +over their faces representing the head of that animal; the latter came +in on their hands and feet in the manner of a beast, and, taking up the +prince, carried him off upon their backs, retiring in the same manner +they entered. We saw nothing more of the ceremony, as Maquina came to +us, and, giving us a quantity of dried provision, ordered us to quit the +house, and not return to the village before the expiration of seven +days, for that if we appeared within that period, he should kill us. + +At any other season of the year such an order would by us have been +considered as an indulgence, in enabling us to pass our time in whatever +way we wished; and even now, furnished as we were with sufficient +provision for that term, it was not very unpleasant to us, more +particularly Thompson, who was always desirous to keep as much as +possible out of the society and sight of the natives, whom he detested. +Taking with us our provisions, a bundle of clothes, and our axes, we +obeyed the directions of Maquina, and withdrew into the woods, where we +built ourselves a cabin to shelter us, with the branches of trees, and, +keeping up a good fire, secured ourselves pretty well from the cold. +Here we passed the prescribed period of our exile, with more content +than much of the time while with them, employing the day in reading and +praying for our release, or in rambling around and exploring the +country, the soil of which we found to be very good, and the face of it, +beautifully diversified with hills and valleys, refreshed with the +finest streams of water, and at night enjoyed comfortable repose upon a +bed of soft leaves, with our garments spread over us to protect us from +the cold. + +At the end of seven days we returned, and found several of the people of +Ai-tiz-zart with their king or chief at Tashees, who had been invited by +Maquina to attend the close of this performance, which I now learned was +a celebration, held by them annually, in honour of their god, whom they +call _Quahootze_,[111] to return him their thanks for his past, and +implore his future favours. It terminated on the 21st, the day after our +return, with a most extraordinary exhibition. Three men, each of whom +had two bayonets run through his sides, between the ribs, apparently +regardless of the pain, traversed the room, backwards and forwards, +singing war-songs, and exulting in this display of firmness. + +On the arrival of the 25th, we could not but call to mind that this, +being Christmas, was in our country a day of the greatest festivity, +when our fellow-countrymen, assembled in their churches, were +celebrating the goodness of God and the praises of the Saviour. What a +reverse did our situation offer!--captives in a savage land, and slaves +to a set of ignorant beings, unacquainted with religion or humanity, +hardly were we permitted to offer up our devotions by ourselves in the +woods, while we felt even grateful for this privilege. Thither, with the +king's permission, we withdrew, and, after reading the service appointed +for the day, sung the hymn of the Nativity, fervently praying that +Heaven in its goodness would permit us to celebrate the next festival of +this kind in some Christian land. + +On our return, in order to conform as much as was in our power to the +custom of our country, we were desirous of having a better supper than +usual. With this view, we bought from one of the natives some dried +clams and oil, and a root called _Kletsup_,[112] which we cooked by +steaming, and found it very palatable. This root consists of many +fibres, of about six inches long, and of the size of a crow quill. It is +sweet, of an agreeable taste, not unlike the _Quawnoose_, and it is +eaten with oil. The plant that produces it I have never seen. + +On the 31st all the tribe quitted Tashees for Cooptee, whither they go +to pass the remainder of the winter, and complete their fishing, taking +off everything with them in the same manner as at Nootka. We arrived in +a few hours at Cooptee, which is about fifteen miles, and immediately +set about covering the houses, which was soon completed. + +This place, which is their great herring and sprat fishery, stands just +within the mouth of the river, on the same side with Tashees, in a very +narrow valley at the foot of a high mountain. Though nearly as secure +as Tashees from the winter storms, it is by no means so pleasantly +situated, though to us it was a much more agreeable residence, as it +brought us nearer Nootka, where we were impatient to return, in hopes of +finding some vessel there, or hearing of the arrival of one near. + +The first snow that fell this season was the day after our arrival, on +New Year's Day; a day that, like Christmas, brought with it painful +recollections, but at the same time led us to indulge the hope of a more +fortunate year than the last. + +Early on the morning of the 7th of January, Maquina took me with him in +his canoe on a visit to Upquesta, chief of the Ai-tiz-zarts, who had +invited him to attend an exhibition at his village, similar to the one +with which he had been entertained at Tashees. This place is between +twenty and thirty miles distant up the Sound, and stands on the banks of +a small river about the size of that of Cooptee, just within its +entrance, in a valley of much greater extent than that of Tashees; it +consists of fourteen or fifteen houses, built and disposed in the manner +of those at Nootka. The tribe, which is considered as tributary to +Maquina, amounts to about three hundred warriors, and the inhabitants, +both men and women, are among the best-looking of any people on the +coast. + +On our arrival we were received at the shore by the inhabitants, a few +of whom were armed with muskets, which they fired, with loud shouts and +exclamations of _Wocash, wocash!_ + +We were welcomed by the chief's messenger, or master of ceremonies, +dressed in his best garments, with his hair powdered with white down, +and holding in his hand the cheetolth, the badge of his office. This man +preceded us to the chief's house, where he introduced and pointed out to +us our respective seats. On entering, the visitors took off their hats, +which they always wear on similar occasions, and Maquina his outer +robes, of which he has several on whenever he pays a visit, and seated +himself near the chief. + +As I was dressed in European clothes, I became quite an object of +curiosity to these people, very few of whom had ever seen a white man. +They crowded around me in numbers, taking hold of my clothes, examining +my face, hands, and feet, and even opening my mouth to see if I had a +tongue, for, notwithstanding I had by this time become well acquainted +with their language, I preserved the strictest silence, Maquina on our +first landing having enjoined me not to speak until he should direct. + +Having undergone this examination for some time, Maquina at length made +a sign to me to speak to them. On hearing me address them in their own +language, they were greatly astonished and delighted, and told Maquina +that they now perceived that I was a man like themselves, except that I +was white, and looked like a seal, alluding to my blue jacket and +trousers, which they wanted to persuade me to take off, as they did not +like their appearance. Maquina in the meantime gave an account to the +chief of the scheme he had formed for surprising our ship, and the +manner in which he and his people had carried it into execution, with +such particular and horrid details of that transaction as chilled the +blood in my veins. Trays of boiled herring spawn and train-oil were +soon after brought in and placed before us, neither the chief or any of +his people eating at the same time, it being contrary to the ideas of +hospitality entertained by these nations, to eat any part of the food +that is provided for strangers, always waiting until their visitors have +finished, before they have their own brought in. + +The following day closed their festival with an exhibition of a similar +kind to that which had been given at Tashees, but still more cruel; the +different tribes appearing on these occasions to endeavour to surpass +each other in their proofs of fortitude and endurance of pain. In the +morning, twenty men entered the chief's house, with each an arrow run +through the flesh of his sides and either arm, with a cord fastened to +the end, which, as the performers advanced, singing and boasting, was +forcibly drawn back by a person having hold of it. After this +performance was closed, we returned to Cooptee, which we reached at +midnight, our men keeping time with their songs to the stroke of their +paddles. + +The natives now began to take the herring and sprat in immense +quantities, with some salmon, and there was nothing but feasting from +morning till night. + +The following is the method they employ to take the herring. A stick of +about seven feet long, two inches broad, and half an inch thick, is +formed from some hard wood, one side of which is set with sharp teeth, +made from whalebone, at about half an inch apart. Provided with this +instrument, the fisherman seats himself in the prow of a canoe, which is +paddled by another, and whenever he comes to a shoal of herrings, which +cover the water in great quantities, he strikes it with both hands upon +them, and at the same moment, turning it up, brings it over the side of +the canoe, into which he lets those that are taken drop. It is +astonishing to see how many are caught by those who are dexterous at +this kind of fishing, as they seldom fail, when the shoals are numerous, +of taking as many as ten or twelve at a stroke, and in a very short time +will fill a canoe with them. Sprats are likewise caught in a similar +manner. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[106] This was probably Don Estevan Martinez, who, on the 6th of May +1789, arrived in the corvette _Princesa_, to take possession of the +country for his sovereign. He it was who landed materials and artillery, +and began to erect a fort on a small island at the entrance to Friendly +Cove. He seems to have been a most high-handed kind of Don, for he +seized the British vessels _Iphigenia_, _North-West America_, +_Argonaut_, and _Princess Royal_, then trading under the Portuguese +flag, and acted in so arbitrary a manner to the officers and crew, that +it was easy to believe he was not over scrupulous in his dealings with +the Indians. It was during his stay in Nootka Sound that Callicum, a +relation of Maquina's, and next to him in rank, was barbarously murdered +by an officer on board one of the Spanish ships, and his father refused +permission to dive for the body until he had handed over a number of +skins to the white savage. + +[107] Captain James Hanna was the second European to enter Nootka Sound +after Captain Cook had left it. The _Sea Otter_, a vessel under 70 tons, +was fitted out in China, and reached Nootka in August 1785; when +Maquina, presuming upon the inferior size of the craft and the small +number of the crew, made a desperate attack upon her. This was repulsed +by the courage of the ship's company, after which business proceeded on +such friendly terms that he procured five hundred and eighty-five +sea-otter skins in five weeks, which were sold in Canton for 20,600 +dollars. It was Hanna who discovered Fitzhugh Sound, Lance Island, Sea +Otter Harbour, and other now well-known spots on the North-West coast of +America. The incident related by Maquina is not to be found in the +records of the expedition which have descended to us. He made another +voyage in 1786, solely for commercial purposes. + +[108] _Gaultheria Shallon_ (see p. 137). + +[109] These observances are well worth noting in connection with the +others which attach to the bear among nearly all savage races. + +[110] These traps are still in common use. + +[111] _Quawteaht_, the supreme being of all the tribes speaking the +"Aht" language. + +[112] This seems the bracken fern root, which is eaten. But the name +usually applied to it is _Sheetla_. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +RETURN TO NOOTKA (FRIENDLY COVE)--DEATH OF MAQUINA'S NEPHEW--INSANITY OF +TOOTOOSCH--AN INDIAN MOUNTEBANK + + +About the beginning of February, Maquina gave a great feast, at which +were present not only all the inhabitants, but one hundred persons from +Ai-tiz-zart, and a number from Wickinninish who had been invited to +attend it. It is customary with them to give an annual entertainment of +this kind, and it is astonishing to see what a quantity of provision is +expended, or rather wasted, on such an occasion, when they always eat to +the greatest excess. It was at this feast that I saw upwards of an +hundred salmon cooked in one tub. The whole residence at Cooptee +presents an almost uninterrupted succession of feasting and +gormandising, and it would seem as if the principal object of these +people was to consume their whole stock of provision before leaving it, +trusting entirely to their success in fishing and whaling, for a supply +at Nootka. + +On the 25th of February we quitted Cooptee, and returned to Nootka. With +much joy did Thompson and myself again find ourselves in a place where, +notwithstanding the melancholy recollections which it excited, we hoped +before long to see some vessel arrive to our relief, and for this we +became the more solicitous, as of late we had become much more +apprehensive of our safety, in consequence of information brought +Maquina a few days before we left Cooptee, by some of the Cayuquets, +that there were twenty ships at the northward, preparing to come against +him, with an intent of destroying him and his whole tribe, for cutting +off the _Boston_. + +This story, which was wholly without foundation, and discovered +afterwards to have been invented by these people, for the purpose of +disquieting him, threw him into great alarm, and, notwithstanding all I +could say to convince him that it was an unfounded report, so great was +his jealousy of us, especially after it had been confirmed to him by +some others of the same nation, that he treated us with much harshness, +and kept a very suspicious eye upon us. + +Nothing, indeed, could be more unpleasant than our present situation, +when I reflected that our lives were altogether dependent on the will of +a savage, on whose caprice and suspicions no rational calculation could +be made. + + * * * * * + +Not long after our return, a son of Maquina's sister, a boy of eleven +years old, who had been for some time declining, died. Immediately on +his death, which was about midnight, all the men and women in the house +set up loud cries and shrieks, which, awakening Thompson and myself, so +disturbed us that we left the house. This lamentation was kept up during +the remainder of the night. In the morning, a great fire was kindled, +in which Maquina burned, in honour of the deceased, ten fathoms of +cloth, and buried with him ten fathoms more, eight of Ife-whaw, four +prime sea-otter skins, and two small trunks, containing our unfortunate +captain's clothes and watch. + +This boy was considered as a Tyee, or chief, being the only son of +Tootoosch, one of their principal chiefs, who had married Maquina's +sister, whence arose this ceremony on his interment: it being an +established custom with these people, that whenever a chief dies, his +most valuable property is burned or buried with him; it is, however, +wholly confined to the chiefs, and appears to be a mark of honour +appropriate to them.[113] In this instance, Maquina furnished the +articles, in order that his nephew might have the proper honours +rendered him. + +Tootoosch, his father, was esteemed the first warrior of the tribe, and +was one who had been particularly active in the destruction of our ship, +having killed two of our poor comrades, who were ashore, whose names +were Hall and Wood. About the time of our removal to Tashees, while in +the enjoyment of the highest health, he was suddenly seized with a fit +of delirium, in which he fancied that he saw the ghosts of those two men +constantly standing by him, and threatening him, so that he would take +no food, except what was forced into his mouth. + +A short time before this he had lost a daughter of about fifteen years +of age, which afflicted him greatly, and whether his insanity, a +disorder very uncommon amongst these savages, no instance of the kind +having occurred within the memory of the oldest man amongst them, +proceeded from this cause, or that it was the special interposition of +an all-merciful God in our favour, who by this means thought proper to +induce these barbarians still further to respect our lives, or that, for +hidden purposes, the Supreme Disposer of events sometimes permits the +spirits of the dead to revisit the world, and haunt the murderer, I know +not, but his mind, from this period until his death, which took place +but a few weeks after that of his son, was incessantly occupied with the +images of the men whom he had killed. + +This circumstance made much impression upon the tribe, particularly the +chiefs, whose uniform opposition to putting us to death, at the various +councils that were held on our account, I could not but in part +attribute to this cause; and Maquina used frequently, in speaking of +Tootoosch's sickness, to express much satisfaction that his hands had +not been stained with the blood of any of our men. + +When Maquina was first informed by his sister of the strange conduct of +her husband, he immediately went to his house, taking us with him; +suspecting that his disease had been caused by us, and that the ghosts +of our countrymen had been called thither by us, to torment him. We +found him raving about Hall and Wood, saying that they were _peshak_, +that is, bad. + +Maquina then placed some provision before him, to see if he would eat. +On perceiving it, he put forth his hand to take some, but instantly +withdrew it with signs of horror, saying that Hall and Wood were there, +and would not let him eat. Maquina then, pointing to us, asked if it was +not John and Thompson who troubled him. + +"_Wik_,"[114] he replied,--that is, no; "_John klushish--Thompson +klushish_"--John and Thompson are both good; then, turning to me, and +patting me on the shoulder, he made signs to me to eat. I tried to +persuade him that Hall and Wood were not there, and that none were near +him but ourselves; he said, "I know very well you do not see them, but I +do." + +At first Maquina endeavoured to convince him that he saw nothing, and to +laugh him out of his belief, but, finding that all was to no purpose, he +at length became serious, and asked me if I had ever seen anyone +affected in this manner, and what was the matter with him. I gave him to +understand, pointing to his head, that his brain was injured, and that +he did not see things as formerly. + +Being convinced by Tootoosch's conduct that we had no agency in his +indisposition, on our return home Maquina asked me what was done in my +country in similar cases. + +I told him that such persons were closely confined, and sometimes tied +up and whipped, in order to make them better.[115] + +After pondering for some time, he said that he should be glad to do +anything to relieve him, and that he should be whipped, and immediately +gave orders to some of his men to go to Tootoosch's house, bind him, and +bring him to his, in order to undergo the operation. + +Thompson was the person selected to administer this remedy, which he +undertook very readily, and for that purpose provided himself with a +good number of spruce branches, with which he whipped him most severely, +laying it on with the best will imaginable, while Tootoosch displayed +the greatest rage, kicking, spitting, and attempting to bite all who +came near him. This was too much for Maquina, who at length, unable to +endure it longer, ordered Thompson to desist and Tootoosch to be carried +back, saying that if there was no other way of curing him but by +whipping, he must remain mad. + +The application of the whip produced no beneficial effect on Tootoosch, +for he afterwards became still more deranged; in his fits of fury +sometimes seizing a club and beating his slaves in a most dreadful +manner, and striking and spitting at all who came near him, till at +length his wife, no longer daring to remain in the house with him, came +with her son to Maquina's. + + * * * * * + +The whaling season now commenced, and Maquina was out almost every day +in his canoe in pursuit of them, but for a considerable time with no +success, one day breaking the staff of his harpoon, another after having +been a long time fast to a whale, the weapon drawing, owing to the +breaking of the shell which formed its point, with several such like +accidents, arising from the imperfection of the instrument. + +At these times he always returned very morose and out of temper, +upbraiding his men with having violated their obligation to continence +preparatory to whaling. In this state of ill-humour he would give us +very little to eat, which, added to the women not cooking when the men +are away, reduced us to a very low fare. + +In consequence of the repeated occurrence of similar accidents, I +proposed to Maquina to make him a harpoon or foreganger of steel, which +would be less liable to fail him. The idea pleased him, and in a short +time I completed one for him, with which he was much delighted, and the +very next day went out to make a trial of it. + +He succeeded with it in taking a whale. Great was the joy throughout the +village as soon as it was known that the king had secured the whale, by +notice from a person stationed at the headland in the offing. All the +canoes were immediately launched, and, furnished with harpoons and +sealskin floats, hastened to assist in buoying it up and towing it in. + +The bringing in of this fish exhibited a scene of universal festivity. +As soon as the canoes appeared at the mouth of the Cove, those on board +of them singing a triumph to a slow air, to which they kept time with +their paddles, all who were on shore, men, women, and children, mounted +the roofs of their houses to congratulate the king on his success, +drumming most furiously on the planks, and exclaiming _Wocash--wocash, +Tyee!_ + +The whale, on being drawn on shore, was immediately cut up, and a great +feast of the blubber given at Maquina's house, to which all the village +were invited, who indemnified themselves for their Lent by eating as +usual to excess. I was highly praised for the goodness of my harpoon, +and a quantity of blubber given me, which I was permitted to cook as I +pleased; this I boiled in salt water with some young nettles and other +greens for Thompson and myself, and in this way we found it tolerable +food. + +Their method of procuring the oil, is to skim it from the water in which +the blubber is boiled, and when cool, put it up into whale bladders for +use; and of these I have seen them so large as, when filled, would +require no less than five or six men to carry. Several of the chiefs, +among whom were Maquina's brothers, who, after the king has caught the +first whale, are privileged to take them also, were very desirous, on +discovering the superiority of my harpoon, that I should make some for +them, but this Maquina would not permit, reserving for himself this +improved weapon. He, however, gave me directions to make a number more +for himself, which I executed, and also made him several lances, with +which he was greatly pleased. + + * * * * * + +As these people have some very singular observances preparatory to +whaling, an account of them will, I presume, not prove uninteresting, +especially as it may serve to give a better idea of their manners. A +short time before leaving Tashees, the king makes a point of passing a +day alone on the mountain, whither he goes very privately early in the +morning, and does not return till late in the evening.[116] This is +done, as I afterwards learned, for the purpose of singing and praying to +his God for success in whaling the ensuing season. At Cooptee the same +ceremony is performed, and at Nootka after the return thither, with +still greater solemnity, as for the next two days he appears very +thoughtful and gloomy, scarcely speaking to any one, and observes a most +rigid fast. On these occasions he has always a broad red fillet made of +bark bound around his head, in token of humiliation, with a large branch +of green spruce on the top, and his great rattle in his hand. + +In addition to this, for a week before commencing their whaling, both +himself and the crew of his canoe observe a fast, eating but very +little, and going into the water several times in the course of each day +to bathe, singing and rubbing their bodies, limbs, and faces with shells +and bushes, so that on their return I have seen them look as though they +had been severely torn with briers. They are likewise obliged to +abstain from any commerce with their women for the like period, the +latter restriction being considered as indispensable to their success. + + * * * * * + +Early in June, Tootoosch,[117] the crazy chief, died. On being +acquainted with his death, the whole village, men, women, and children, +set up a loud cry, with every testimony of the greatest grief, which +they continued for more than three hours. As soon as he was dead, the +body, according to their custom, was laid out on a plank, having the +head bound round with a red bark fillet, which is with them an emblem of +mourning and sorrow. After lying some time in this manner, he was +wrapped in an otter-skin robe, and, three fathoms of Ife-whaw being put +about his neck, he was placed in a large coffin or box of about three +feet deep, which was ornamented on the outside with two rows of the +small white shells. In this, the most valuable articles of his property +were placed with him, among which were no less than twenty-four prime +sea-otter skins. + +At night, which is their time for interring the dead, the coffin was +borne by eight men with two poles thrust through ropes passed around it, +to the place of burial, accompanied by his wife and family, with their +hair cut short in token of grief, all the inhabitants joining the +procession. + +The place of burial was a large cavern on the side of a hill at a little +distance from the village, in which, after depositing the coffin +carefully, all the attendants repaired to Maquina's house, where a +number of articles belonging to the deceased, consisting of blankets, +pieces of cloth, etc., were burned by a person appointed by Maquina for +that purpose, dressed and painted in the highest style, with his head +covered with white down, who, as he put in the several pieces one by +one, poured upon them a quantity of oil to increase the flame, in the +intervals between making a speech and playing off a variety of buffoon +tricks, and the whole closed with a feast, and a dance from +Sat-sat-sok-sis, the king's son. + +The man who performed the ceremony of burning on this occasion was a +very singular character named Kinneclimmets. He was held in high +estimation by the king, though only of the common class, probably from +his talent for mimicry and buffoonery, and might be considered as a kind +of king's jester, or rather, as combining in his person the character of +a buffoon with that of master of ceremonies and public orator to his +majesty, as he was the one who at feasts always regulated the places of +the guests, delivered speeches on receiving or returning visits, besides +amusing the company at all their entertainments, with a variety of +monkey pranks and antic gestures, which appeared to these savages the +height of wit and humour, but would be considered as extremely low by +the least polished people. + +Almost all the kings or head chiefs of the principal tribes were +accompanied by a similar character, who appeared to be attached to their +dignity, and are called in their language _Climmer-habbee_. + +This man Kinneclimmets was particularly odious to Thompson, who would +never join in the laugh at his tricks, but when he began, would almost +always quit the house with a very surly look, and an exclamation of +"Cursed fool!" which Maquina, who thought nothing could equal the +cleverness of his _Climmer-habbee_, used to remark with much +dissatisfaction, asking me why Thompson never laughed, observing that I +must have had a very good-tempered woman indeed for my mother, as my +father was so very ill-natured a man. + +Among those performances that gained him the greatest applause was his +talent of eating to excess, for I have known him devour at one meal no +less than seventy-five large herrings; and at another time, when a great +feast was given by Maquina, he undertook, after drinking three pints of +oil by way of a whet, to eat four dried salmon, and five quarts of +spawn, mixed up with a gallon of train-oil, and actually succeeded in +swallowing the greater part of this mess, until his stomach became so +overloaded as to discharge its contents in the dish. One of his +exhibitions, however, had nearly cost him his life; this was on the +occasion of Kla-quak-ee-na, one of the chiefs, having bought him a new +wife, in celebration of which he ran three times through a large fire, +and burned himself in such a manner that he was not able to stir for +more than four weeks. These feats of savage skill were much praised by +Maquina, who never failed to make him presents of cloth, muskets, etc., +on such occasions. + +The death of Tootoosch increased still more the disquietude which his +delirium had excited among the savages, and all those chiefs who had +killed our men became much alarmed lest they should be seized with the +same disorder and die like him; more particularly, as I had told Maquina +that I believed his insanity was a punishment inflicted on him by +Quahootze, for his cruelty in murdering two innocent men who had never +injured him. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[113] When an Indian dies, all of his property which has not been given +away, is either buried with him, or, in extreme cases, burned, not for +the purpose of accompanying him to the Spirit Land, but, so the people +have told me, to prevent any temptation to indulge in the bad luck of +mentioning his name. The only things that are exempted from this +practice are the dead man's best canoes, his house-planks, and fishing +and hunting implements, which, with any slaves he may possess, go to his +eldest son. I have known the deceased's house and all its contents to be +burned; but when this is not the case, then the materials are removed +elsewhere, and another building is erected. Around his grave--a box +raised from the ground on pillars, often quaintly carved, or a canoe, or +a box fixed up a tree--are placed various articles belonging to him (or +her). At one time they buried his money with him. But for obvious +reasons this custom has fallen into abeyance. + +[114] _Wik_ actually means "Not I." Good is _Klooceahatli_ or +_Klootakloosch_. + +[115] This, it must be remembered, was in the days before Connolly. +Maquina's remark that if an insane man could not be cured but by +whipping him, he must remain mad, proves that the savage chief was in +advance of his time. Insanity is, however, extremely rare among the +Indians. + +[116] He was, as the Indians say, "making his medicine," a term of very +elastic meaning. + +[117] "Tootoosch" is the Thunder Bird of "Aht" mythology. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +WAR WITH THE A-Y-CHARTS--A NIGHT ATTACK--PROPOSALS TO PURCHASE THE +AUTHOR + + +Our situation had now become unpleasant in the extreme. The summer was +so far advanced that we nearly despaired of a ship arriving to our +relief, and with that expectation almost relinquished the hope of ever +having it in our power to quit this savage land. We were treated, too, +with less indulgence than before, both Thompson and myself being +obliged, in addition to our other employments, to perform the laborious +task of cutting and collecting fuel, which we had to bring on our +shoulders from nearly three miles' distance, as it consisted wholly of +dry leaves, all of which near the village had been consumed. + +To add to this, we suffered much abuse from the common people, who, when +Maquina or some of the chiefs were not present, would insult us, calling +us wretched slaves, asking us where was our Tyee or captain, making +gestures signifying that his head had been cut off, and that they would +do the like to us; though they generally took good care at such times to +keep well out of Thompson's reach, as they had more than once +experienced, to their cost, the strength of his fist. This conduct was +not only provoking and grating to our feelings in the highest degree, +but it convinced us of the ill disposition of these savages towards us, +and rendered us fearful lest they might at some time or other persuade +or force Maquina and the chiefs to put us to death. + +We were also often brought to great distress for the want of provisions, +so far as to be reduced to collect a scanty supply of mussels and +limpets from the rocks, and sometimes even compelled to part with some +of our most necessary articles of clothing in order to purchase food for +our subsistence. + +This was, however, principally owing to the inhabitants themselves +experiencing a great scarcity of provisions this season; there having +been, in the first place, but very few salmon caught at Friendly Cove, a +most unusual circumstance, as they generally abound there in the spring, +which was by the natives attributed to their having been driven away by +the blood of our men who had been thrown into the sea, which with true +savage inconsistency excited their murmurs against Maquina, who had +proposed cutting off our ship. Relying on this supply, they had in the +most inconsiderate manner squandered away their winter stock of +provisions, so that in a few days after their return it was entirely +expended. + +Nor were the king and chiefs much more fortunate in their whaling, even +after I had furnished Maquina with the improved weapon for that purpose; +but four whales having been taken during the season, which closes the +last of May, including one that had been struck by Maquina and escaped, +and was afterwards driven on shore about six miles from Nootka in +almost a state of putridity. + +These afforded but a short supply to a population, including all ages +and sexes, of no less than fifteen hundred persons, and of a character +so very improvident, that, after feasting most gluttonously whenever a +whale was caught, they were several times, for a week together, reduced +to the necessity of eating but once a day, and of collecting cockles and +mussels from the rocks for their food. + +And even after the cod and halibut fishing commenced, in June, in which +they met with tolerable success, such was the savage caprice of Maquina, +that he would often give us but little to eat, finally ordering us to +buy a canoe and fishing implements and go out ourselves and fish, or we +should have nothing. To do this we were compelled to part with our +greatcoats, which were not only important to us as garments, but of +which we made our beds, spreading them under us when we slept. From our +want of skill, however, in this new employ, we met with no success; on +discovering which, Maquina ordered us to remain at home. + +Another thing, which to me in particular proved an almost constant +source of vexation and disgust, and which living among them had not in +the least reconciled me to, was their extreme filthiness, not only in +eating fish, especially the whale, when in a state of offensive +putridity, but while at their meals, of making a practice of taking the +vermin from their heads or clothes and eating them, by turns thrusting +their fingers into their hair and into the dish, and spreading their +garments over the tubs in which the provision was cooking, in order to +set in motion their inhabitants.[118] + +Fortunately for Thompson, he regarded this much less than myself, and +when I used to point out to him any instance of their filthiness in this +respect, he would laugh and reply, "Never mind, John, the more good +things the better." I must, however, do Maquina the justice to state, +that he was much neater both in his person and eating than were the +others, as was likewise his queen, owing, no doubt, to his intercourse +with foreigners, which had given him ideas of cleanliness, for I never +saw either of them eat any of these animals, but, on the contrary, they +appeared not much to relish this taste in others. Their garments, also, +were much cleaner, Maquina having been accustomed to give his away when +they became soiled, till after he discovered that Thompson and myself +kept ours clean by washing them, when he used to make Thompson do the +same for him. + +Yet amidst this state of endurance and disappointment, in hearing +repeatedly of the arrival of ships at the north and south, most of which +proved to be idle reports, while expectation was almost wearied out in +looking for them, we did not wholly despond, relying on the mercy of the +Supreme Being, to offer up to whom our devotions on the days appointed +for His worship was our chief consolation and support, though we were +sometimes obliged, by our taskmasters, to infringe upon the Sabbath, +which was to me a source of much regret. + +We were, nevertheless, treated at times with much kindness by Maquina, +who would give us a plenty of the best that he had to eat, and +occasionally, some small present of cloth for a garment, promising me +that, if any ship should arrive within a hundred miles of Nootka, he +would send a canoe with a letter from me to the captain, so that he +might come to our release. These flattering promises and marks of +attention were, however, at those times when he thought himself in +personal danger from a mutinous spirit, which the scarcity of provisions +had excited among the natives, who, like true savages, imputed all their +public calamities, of whatever kind, to the misconduct of their chief, +or when he was apprehensive of an attack from some of the other tribes, +who were irritated with him for cutting off the _Boston_, as it had +prevented ships from coming to trade with them, and were constantly +alarming him with idle stories of vessels that were preparing to come +against him and exterminate both him and his people. + +At such times, he made us keep guard over him both night and day, armed +with cutlasses and pistols, being apparently afraid to trust any of his +own men. At one time, it was a general revolt of his people that he +apprehended; then three of his principal chiefs, among whom was his +elder brother, had conspired to take away his life; and at length he +fancied that a small party of Klaooquates, between whom and the +Nootkians little friendship subsisted, had come to Nootka, under a +pretence of trade, for the sole purpose of murdering him and his family, +telling us, probably to sharpen our vigilance, that their intention was +to kill us likewise; and so strongly were his fears excited on this +occasion, that he not only ordered us to keep near him armed by day, +whenever he went out, and to patrol at night before his house while they +remained, but to continue the same guard for three days after they were +gone, and to fire, at one and at four in the morning, one of the great +guns, to let them know, if, as he suspected, they were lurking in the +neighbourhood, that he was on his guard. + +While he was thus favourably disposed towards us, I took an opportunity +to inform him of the ill-treatment that we frequently received from his +people, and the insults that were offered us by some of the stranger +tribes in calling us white slaves, and loading us with other opprobrious +terms. He was much displeased, and said that his subjects should not be +allowed to treat us ill, and that if any of the strangers did it, he +wished us to punish the offenders with death, at the same time directing +us, for our security, to go constantly armed. + +This permission was soon improved by Thompson to the best advantage; for +a few days after, having gone to the pond to wash some of our clothes, +and a blanket for Maquina, several Wickinninish who were then at Nootka +came thither, and, seeing him washing the clothes, and the blanket +spread upon the grass to dry, they began, according to custom, to insult +him, and one of them, bolder than the others, walked over the blanket. +Thompson was highly incensed, and threatened the Indian with death if he +repeated the offence, but he, in contempt of the threat, trampled upon +the blanket, when, drawing his cutlass, without further ceremony, +Thompson cut off his head, on seeing which the others ran off at full +speed. Thompson then, gathering up the clothes and blanket, on which +were the marks of the Indian's dirty feet, and taking with him the head, +returned and informed the king of what had passed, who was much pleased, +and highly commended his conduct. This had a favourable effect for us, +not only on the stranger tribes but the inhabitants themselves, who +treated us afterwards with less disrespect. + +In the latter part of July, Maquina informed me that he was going to war +with the _A-y-charts_,[119] a tribe about fifty miles to the south, on +account of some controversy that had arisen the preceding summer, and +that I must make a number of daggers for his men, and cheetolths for his +chiefs, which having completed, he wished me to make for his own use a +weapon of quite a different form, in order to dispatch his enemy by one +blow on the head, it being the calculation of these nations, on going to +war, to surprise their adversaries while asleep. This was a steel +dagger, or more properly a spike, of about six inches long, made very +sharp, set at right angles in an iron handle of fifteen inches long, +terminating at the lower end in a crook or turn, so as to prevent its +being wrenched from the hand, and at the upper in a round knob or head, +from whence the spike protruded. This instrument I polished highly, and, +the more to please Maquina, formed on the back of the knob the +resemblance of a man's head, with the mouth open, substituting for eyes +black beads, which I fastened in with red sealing-wax. This pleased him +much, and was greatly admired by his chiefs, who wanted me to make +similar ones for them, but Maquina would not suffer it, reserving for +himself alone this weapon. + +When these people have finally determined on war, they make it an +invariable practice, for three or four weeks prior to the expedition, +to go into the water five or six times a day, when they wash and scrub +themselves from head to foot with bushes intermixed with briers, +so that their bodies and faces will often be entirely covered +with blood. During this severe exercise, they are continually +exclaiming, "_Wocash, Quahootze, Teechamme ah welth, wik-etish +tau-ilth--Kar sub-matemas--Wik-sish_ _to hauk matemas--I ya-ish +kah-shittle--As-smootish warich matemas_"; which signifies, "Good or +great God, let me live--Not be sick--Find the enemy--Not fear him--Find +him asleep, and kill a great many of them." + +During the whole of this period they have no intercourse with their +women, and for a week before setting out, abstain from feasting or any +kind of merriment, appearing thoughtful, gloomy, and morose, and for the +three last days are almost constantly in the water, both by day and +night, scrubbing and lacerating themselves in a terrible manner. +Maquina, having informed Thompson and myself that he should take us with +him, was very solicitous that we should bathe and scrub ourselves in the +same way with them, telling me that it would harden our skins, so that +the weapons of the enemy would not pierce them, but as we felt no great +inclination to amuse ourselves in this manner, we declined it. + +The expedition consisted of forty canoes, carrying from ten to twenty +men each. Thompson and myself armed ourselves with cutlasses and +pistols, but the natives, although they had a plenty of European arms, +took with them only their daggers and cheetolths, with a few bows and +arrows, the latter being about a yard in length, and pointed with +copper, mussel-shell, or bone; the bows are four feet and a half long, +with strings made of whale sinew. + +To go to A-y-chart, we ascended, from twenty to thirty miles,[120] a +river about the size of that of Tashees, the banks of which are high and +covered with wood. At midnight we came in sight of the village, which +was situated on the west bank near the shore, on a steep hill difficult +of access, and well calculated for defence. It consisted of fifteen or +sixteen houses, smaller than those at Nootka, and built in the same +style, but compactly placed. By Maquina's directions, the attack was +deferred until the first appearance of dawn, as he said that was the +time when men slept the soundest. + +At length, all being ready for the attack, we landed with the greatest +silence, and, going around so as to come upon the foe in the rear, +clambered up the hill, and while the natives, as is their custom, +entered the several huts creeping on all-fours, my comrade and myself +stationed ourselves without to intercept those who should attempt to +escape or come to the aid of their friends. I wished, if possible, not +to stain my hands in the blood of any fellow-creature; and though +Thompson would gladly have put to death all the savages in the country, +he was too brave to think of attacking a sleeping enemy. + +Having entered the houses, on the war-whoop being given by Maquina as he +seized the head of the chief and gave him the fatal blow, all proceeded +to the work of death. The A-y-charts, being thus surprised, were unable +to make resistance, and, with the exception of a very few who were so +fortunate as to make their escape, were all killed, or taken prisoners +on condition of becoming slaves to their captors. I had the good fortune +to take four captives, whom Maquina, as a favour, permitted me to +consider as mine, and occasionally employ them in fishing for me. As for +Thompson, who thirsted for revenge, he had no wish to take any +prisoners, but with his cutlass, the only weapon he would employ against +them, succeeded in killing seven stout fellows who came to attack him, +an act which obtained him great credit with Maquina and the chiefs, who +after this held him in much higher estimation, and gave him the +appellation of "Chehiel-suma-har," it being the name of a very +celebrated warrior of their nation in ancient times, whose exploits were +the constant theme of their praise. + +After having put to death all the old and infirm of either sex, as is +the barbarous practice of these people, and destroyed the buildings, we +re-embarked with our booty in our canoes for Nootka, where we were +received with great demonstrations of joy by the women and children, +accompanying our war-song with a most furious drumming on the houses. +The next day a great feast was given by Maquina in celebration of his +victory, which was terminated, as usual, with a dance by +Sat-sat-sok-sis.[121] + +Repeated applications had been made to Maquina by a number of kings or +chiefs to purchase me, especially after he had showed them the harpoon I +had made for him, which he took much pride in, but he constantly refused +to part with me on any terms. Among these, the king of the Wickinninish +was particularly solicitous to obtain me, having twice applied to +Maquina for that purpose, once in a very formal manner, by sending his +messenger with four canoes, who, as he approached the shore, decorated +in their highest style, with the white down on his head, etc., declared +that he came to buy "Tooteyoohannis," the name by which I was known to +them, for his master, and that he had brought for that purpose four +young male slaves, two highly ornamented canoes, such a number of the +skins of metamelth, and of the _quartlack_,[122] or sea-otter, and so +many fathoms of cloth and of Ife-whaw, while, as he mentioned the +different articles, they were pointed out or held up by his attendants; +but even this tempting offer had no influence on Maquina, who in the +latter part of the summer was again very strongly urged to sell me by +Ulatilla, or, as he is generally called, Machee Ulatilla, chief of the +Klaizzarts,[123] who had come to Nootka on a visit. + +This chief, who could speak tolerable English, had much more the +appearance of a civilised man than any of the savages that I saw. He +appeared to be about thirty, was rather small in his person, but +extremely well formed, with a skin almost as fair as that of an +European, good features, and a countenance expressive of candour and +amiableness, and which was almost always brightened with a smile. He was +much neater both in his dress and person than any of the other chiefs, +seldom wearing paint, except upon his eyebrows, which, after the custom +of his country, were plucked out, and a few strips of the pelpelth on +the lower part of his face. He always treated me with much kindness, was +fond of conversing with me in English and in his own language, asking me +many questions relative to my country, its manners, customs, etc., and +appeared to take a strong interest in my fate, telling me that if he +could persuade Maquina to part with me, he would put me on board the +first ship that came to his country, a promise which, from his +subsequent conduct, I have good reason to think he would have performed, +as my deliverance at length from captivity and suffering was, under the +favour of Divine Providence, wholly owing to him, the only letter that +ever reached an European or American vessel out of sixteen that I wrote +at different times and sent to various parts of the coast, having been +delivered by him in person. So much pleased was I with this man's +behaviour to me while at Nootka, that I made for him a cheetolth, which +I burnished highly, and engraved with figures. With this he was greatly +delighted. I also would have made for him a harpoon, would Maquina have +consented. + +With hearts full of dejection and almost lost to hope, no ship having +appeared off Nootka this season, did my companion and myself accompany +the tribe on their removal in September to Tashees, relinquishing in +consequence for six months even the remotest expectation of relief. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[118] This habit--unfortunately not peculiar to the Indians--is still +occasionally indulged in. The reason they give for it is, that when the +great flood covered the earth--a tradition that is found among other +North-West American Indians--they escaped in their canoes, and had to +eat lice for lack of any other food, and now practise it out of +gratitude. The superstitious observances of these tribes are so numerous +that the merest account of those known would fill a volume. One or two +interesting instances may be mentioned:--Thus, in sneezing, there is +good luck if the right nostril is alone affected. But if the left, then +evil fortune is at hand. When they pare their nails, which is not often, +they burn the parings, and if the smoke from them goes straight up, +their latter end will be good; if not, they will go to the place of +punishment. They used to regard--and perhaps still regard--the whites +not as human beings, but as a sort of demons. + +[119] The E-cha-chets are not at present recognised as a separate tribe. +But there is a large village in Clayoquat Sound on the south end of +Wakenninish Island which bears that name. Like many now all but extinct +tribes, who have become absorbed into greater ones, the E-cha-chets seem +in Jewitt's time to have been more numerous. In Meares's narrative, +"Lee-cha-ett" is mentioned as a village of Wakenninish, but this could +not have been the same place, for Maquina and Wakenninish were at this +period on good terms. The river which the expedition ascended to reach +the summer salmon fishing village of the tribe was probably either the +Bear or the Onamettis, both of which flow through some swampy ground +into the head of Bedwall Arm. But as usual Jewitt exaggerated the +distance up which the canoemen paddled. There is no river in Vancouver +Island navigable for twenty or thirty miles, and few, even when broken +by rapids and falls, quite that length. + +[120] This is an exaggerated estimate. + +[121] This is one of the best descriptions of West Coast warfare with +which I am acquainted. + +[122] "Quiaotluk," Jewitt, with innate cockneyism, inserting an _r_ +after _a_ wherever this is possible. No Indian can pronounce _r_, any +more than a Chinaman can. + +[123] Klahosahts. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +MARRIAGE OF THE AUTHOR--HIS ILLNESS--DISMISSES HIS WIFE--RELIGION OF THE +NATIVES--CLIMATE + + +Soon after our establishment there, Maquina informed me that he and his +chiefs had held council both before and after quitting Nootka, in which +they had determined that I must marry one of their women, urging as a +reason to induce me to consent, that, as there was now no probability of +a ship coming to Nootka to release me, that I must consider myself as +destined to pass the remainder of my life with them, that the sooner I +conformed to their customs the better, and that a wife and family would +render me more contented and satisfied with their mode of living. I +remonstrated against this decision, but to no purpose, for he told me +that, should I refuse, both Thompson and myself would be put to death; +telling me, however, that if there were none of the women of his tribe +that pleased me, he would go with me to some of the other tribes, where +he would purchase for me such a one as I should select. Reduced to this +sad extremity, with death on the one side and matrimony on the other, I +thought proper to choose what appeared to me the least of the two +evils, and consent to be married, on condition that, as I did not fancy +any of the Nootka women, I should be permitted to make choice of one +from some other tribe. + +This being settled, the next morning by daylight, Maquina, with about +fifty men in two canoes, set out with me for Ai-tiz-zart,[124] taking +with him a quantity of cloth, a number of muskets, sea-otter skins, +etc., for the purchase of my bride. With the aid of our paddles and +sails, being favoured with a fair breeze, we arrived some time before +sunset at the village. Our arrival excited a general alarm, and the men +hastened to the shore, armed with the weapons of their country, making +many warlike demonstrations, and displaying much zeal and activity. We, +in the meantime, remained quietly seated in our canoes, where we +remained for about half an hour, when the messenger of the chief, +dressed in their best manner, came to welcome us and invite us on shore +to eat.[125] We followed him in procession to the chief's house, Maquina +at our head, taking care to leave a sufficient number in the boats to +protect the property. When we came to the house, we were ushered in with +much ceremony, and our respective seats pointed out to us, mine being +next to Maquina by his request. + +After having been regaled with a feast of herring spawn and oil, Maquina +asked me if I saw any among the women who were present that I liked. I +immediately pointed out to a young girl of about seventeen, the +daughter of Upquesta, the chief, who was sitting near him by her mother. +On this, Maquina, making a sign to his men, arose, and, taking me by the +hand, walked into the middle of the room, and sent off two of his men to +bring the boxes containing the presents from the canoes. In the +meantime, Kinneclimmets, the master of ceremonies, whom I have already +spoken of, made himself ready for the part he was to act, by powdering +his hair with white down. When the chests were brought in, specimens of +the several articles were taken out, and showed by our men, one of whom +held up a musket, another a skin, a third a piece of cloth, etc. + +On this Kinneclimmets stepped forward, and, addressing the chief, +informed him that all these belonged to me, mentioning the number of +each kind, and that they were offered to him for the purchase of his +daughter Eu-stoch-ee-exqua, as a wife for me. As he said this, the men +who held up the various articles walked up to the chief, and with a very +stern and morose look, the complimentary one on these occasions, threw +them at his feet. Immediately on which, all the tribe, both men and +women, who were assembled on this occasion, set up a cry of +_Klack-ko-Tyee_,[126] that is, "Thank ye, chief." + +His men, after this ceremony, having returned to their places, Maquina +rose, and, in a speech of more than half an hour, said much in my praise +to the Ai-tiz-zart chief, telling him that I was as good a man as +themselves, differing from them only in being white, that I was besides +acquainted with many things of which they were ignorant; that I knew how +to make daggers, cheetolths, and harpoons, and was a very valuable +person, whom he was determined to keep always with him; praising me at +the same time for the goodness of my temper, and the manner in which I +had conducted myself since I had been with them, observing that all the +people of Nootka, and even the children, loved me. + +While Maquina was speaking, his master of ceremonies was continually +skipping about, making the most extravagant gestures, and exclaiming +"_Wocash!_" When he had ceased, the Ai-tiz-zart chief arose, amidst the +acclamations of his people, and began with setting forth the many good +qualities and accomplishments of his daughter; that he loved her +greatly, and as she was his only one, he could not think of parting with +her. He spoke in this manner for some time, but finally concluded by +consenting to the proposed union, requesting that she might be well used +and kindly treated by her husband. At the close of the speech, when the +chief began to manifest a disposition to consent to our union, +Kinneclimmets again began to call out as loud as he could bawl, +"_Wocash!_" cutting a thousand capers and spinning himself around on his +heel like a top. + +When Upquesta had finished his speech, he directed his people to carry +back the presents which Maquina had given him, to me, together with two +young male slaves to assist me in fishing. These, after having been +placed before me, were by Maquina's men taken on board the canoes. This +ceremony being over, we were invited by one of the principal chiefs to +a feast at his house, of _Klussamit_,[127] or dried herring, where, +after the eating was over, Kinneclimmets amused the company very highly +with his tricks, and the evening's entertainment was closed by a new +war-song from our men, and one in return from the Ai-tiz-zarts, +accompanied with expressive gestures, and wielding of their weapons. + +After this our company returned to lodge at Upquesta's, except a few who +were left on board the canoes to watch the property. In the morning I +received from the chief his daughter, with an earnest request that I +would use her well, which I promised him; when, taking leave of her +parents, she accompanied me with apparent satisfaction on board of the +canoe. + +The wind being ahead, the natives were obliged to have recourse to their +paddles, accompanying them with their songs, interspersed with the +witticisms and buffoonery of Kinneclimmets, who, in his capacity of +king's steersman, one of his functions which I forgot to enumerate, not +only guided the course of the canoe, but regulated the singing of the +boatmen. At about five in the morning we reached Tashees, where we found +all the inhabitants collected on the shore to receive us. + +We were welcomed with loud shouts of joy, and exclamations of +"_Wocash!_" and the women, taking my bride under their charge, conducted +her to Maquina's house, to be kept with them for ten days; it being an +universal custom, as Maquina informed me, that no intercourse should +take place between the new married pair during that period. At night +Maquina gave a great feast, which was succeeded by a dance, in which all +the women joined, and thus ended the festivities of my marriage.[128] + +The term of my probation being over, Maquina assigned me as an apartment +the space in the upper part of his house between him and his elder +brother, whose room was opposite. Here I established myself with my +family, consisting of myself and wife, Thompson, and the little +Sat-sat-sok-sis, who had always been strongly attached to me, and now +solicited his father to let him live with me, to which he consented. + +This boy was handsome, extremely well formed, amiable, and of a +pleasant, sprightly disposition. I used to take a pleasure in decorating +him with rings, bracelets, ear-jewels, etc., which I made for him of +copper, and ornamented and polished them in my best manner. I was also +very careful to keep him free from vermin of every kind, washing him and +combing his hair every day. These marks of attention were not only very +pleasing to the child, who delighted in being kept neat and clean, as +well as in being dressed off in his finery, but was highly gratifying +both to Maquina and his queen, who used to express much satisfaction at +my care of him. + +In making my domestic establishment, I determined, as far as possible, +to live in a more comfortable and cleanly manner than the others. For +this purpose I erected with planks a partition of about three feet high +between mine and the adjoining rooms, and made three bedsteads of the +same, which I covered with boards, for my family to sleep on, which I +found much more comfortable than sleeping on the floor amidst the dirt. + +Fortunately, I found my Indian princess both amiable and intelligent, +for one whose limited sphere of observation must necessarily give rise +to but a few ideas. She was extremely ready to agree to anything that I +proposed relative to our mode of living, was very attentive in keeping +her garments and person neat and clean, and appeared in every respect +solicitous to please me. + +She was, as I have said, about seventeen; her person was small but well +formed, as were her features; her complexion was, without exception, +fairer than any of the women, with considerable colour in her cheeks, +her hair long, black, and much softer than is usual with them, and her +teeth small, even, and of a dazzling whiteness; while the expression of +her countenance indicated sweetness of temper and modesty. She would +indeed have been considered as very pretty in any country, and, +excepting Maquina's queen, was by far the handsomest of any of their +women. + +With a partner possessing so many attractions, many may be apt to +conclude that I must have found myself happy,--at least, comparatively +so; but far otherwise was it with me. A compulsory marriage with the +most beautiful and accomplished person in the world can never prove a +source of real happiness; and, in my situation, I could not but view +this connection as a chain that was to bind me down to this savage land, +and prevent my ever again seeing a civilised country; especially when, +in a few days after, Maquina informed me that there had been a meeting +of his chiefs, in which it had been determined that, as I had married +one of their women, I must be considered as one of them, and conform to +their customs, and that in future neither myself nor Thompson should +wear our European clothes, but dress in kutsaks[129] like themselves. +This order was to me most painful, but I persuaded Maquina at length so +far to relax in it as to permit me to wear those I had at present, which +were almost worn out, and not to compel Thompson to change his dress, +observing that, as he was an old man, such a change would cause his +death. + +Their religious celebration, which the last year took place in December, +was in this commenced on the 15th of November, and continued for +fourteen days. As I was now considered as one of them, instead of being +ordered to the woods, Maquina directed Thompson and myself to remain and +pray with them to Quahootze to be good to them, and thank him for what +he had done. + +It was opened in much the same manner as the former. After which, all +the men and women in the village assembled at Maquina's house, in their +plainest dresses, and without any kind of ornaments about them, having +their heads bound around with the red fillet, a token of dejection and +humiliation, and their countenances expressive of seriousness and +melancholy. The performances during the continuance of this celebration +consisted almost wholly in singing a number of songs to mournful airs, +the king regulating the time by beating on his hollow plank or drum, +accompanied by one of his chiefs seated near him with the great rattle. +In the meantime they ate but seldom, and then very little, retiring to +sleep late, and rising at the first appearance of dawn, and even +interrupting this short period of repose by getting up at midnight and +singing. + +The ceremony was terminated by an exhibition of a similar character to +the one of the last year, but still more cruel. A boy of twelve years +old, with six bayonets run into his flesh, one through each arm and +thigh, and through each side close to the ribs, was carried around the +room suspended upon them, without manifesting any symptoms of pain. +Maquina, on my inquiring the reason of this display, informed me that it +was an ancient custom of his nation to sacrifice a man at the close of +this solemnity, in honour of their God, but that his father had +abolished it, and substituted this in its place.[130] The whole closed +on the evening of the 29th, with a great feast of salmon spawn and oil, +at which the natives, as usual, made up for their late abstinence. + +A few days after, a circumstance occurred, which, from its singularity, +I cannot forbear mentioning. I was sent for by my neighbour Yealthlower, +the king's elder brother, to file his teeth, which operation having been +performed, he informed me that a new wife, whom he had a little time +before purchased, having refused to sleep with him, it was his +intention, provided she persisted in her refusal, to bite off her nose. +I endeavoured to dissuade him from it, but he was determined, and, in +fact, performed his savage threat that very night, saying that since she +would not be his wife, she should not be that of any other, and in the +morning sent her back to her father. + +The inhuman act did not, however, proceed from any innate cruelty of +disposition or malice, as he was far from being of a barbarous temper; +but such is the despotism exercised by these savages over their women, +that he no doubt considered it as a just punishment for her offence, in +being so obstinate and perverse; as he afterwards told me, that in +similar cases the husband had a right with them to disfigure his wife in +this way or some other, to prevent her ever marrying again. + +About the middle of December, we left Tashees for Cooptee. As usual at +this season, we found the herrings in great plenty, and here the same +scene of riotous feasting that I witnessed last year was renewed by our +improvident natives, who, in addition to their usual fare, had a +plentiful supply of wild geese, which were brought us in great +quantities by the Eshquates. These, as Maquina informed me, were caught +with nets made from bark in the fresh waters of that country. Those who +take them make choice for that purpose of a dark and rainy night, and, +with their canoes stuck with lighted torches, proceed with as little +noise as possible to the place where the geese are collected, who, +dazzled by the light, suffer themselves to be approached very near, when +the net is thrown over them, and in this manner from fifty to sixty, or +even more, will sometimes be taken at one cast. + +On the 15th of January 1805, about midnight, I was thrown into +considerable alarm, in consequence of an eclipse of the moon, being +awakened from my sleep by a great outcry of the inhabitants. On going to +discover the cause of this tumult, I found them all out of their houses, +bearing lighted torches, singing and beating upon pieces of plank; and +when I asked them the reason of this proceeding, they pointed to the +moon, and said that a great cod-fish was endeavouring to swallow her, +and that they were driving him away. The origin of this superstition I +could not discover. + +[Illustration: INDIAN CHIEF'S GRAVE (TEMP. 1863).] + +Though, in some respects, my situation was rendered more comfortable +since my marriage, as I lived in a more cleanly manner, and had my food +better and more neatly cooked, of which, besides, I had always a plenty, +my slaves generally furnishing me, and Upquesta never failing to send me +an ample supply by the canoes that came from Ai-tiz-zart; still, from my +being obliged at this season of the year to change my accustomed +clothing, and to dress like the natives, with only a piece of cloth of +about two yards long thrown loosely around me, my European clothes +having been for some time entirely worn out, I suffered more than I can +express from the cold, especially as I was compelled to perform the +laborious task of cutting and bringing the firewood, which was rendered +still more oppressive to me, from my comrade, for a considerable part of +the winter, not having it in his power to lend me his aid, in +consequence of an attack of the rheumatism in one of his knees, with +which he suffered for more than four months, two or three weeks of which +he was so ill as to be under the necessity to leave the house. + +This state of suffering, with the little hope I now had of ever escaping +from the savages, began to render my life irksome to me; still, however, +I lost not my confidence in the aid of the Supreme Being, to whom, +whenever the weather and a suspension from the tasks imposed on me would +permit, I never failed regularly on Sundays to retire to the wood to +worship, taking Thompson with me when he was able to go. + +On the 20th of February, we returned to our summer quarters at Nootka, +but on my part, with far different sensations than the last spring, +being now almost in despair of any vessel arriving to release us, or our +being permitted to depart if there should. + +Soon after our return, as preparatory to the whaling season, Maquina +ordered me to make a good number of harpoons for himself and his chiefs, +several of which I had completed, with some lances, when, on the 16th of +March, I was taken very ill with a violent colic, caused, I presume, +from having suffered so much from the cold, in going without proper +clothing. For a number of hours I was in great pain, and expected to +die, and on its leaving me, I was so weak as scarcely to be able to +stand, while I had nothing comforting to take, nor anything to drink but +cold water. + +On the day following, a slave belonging to Maquina died, and was +immediately, as is their custom in such cases, tossed unceremoniously +out of doors, from whence he was taken by some others and thrown into +the water. The treatment of this poor creature made a melancholy +impression upon my mind, as I could not but think that such probably +would be my fate should I die among these heathens, and so far from +receiving a decent burial, that I should not even be allowed the common +privilege of having a little earth thrown over my remains. + +The feebleness in which the violent attack of my disorder had left me, +the dejection I felt at the almost hopelessness of my situation and the +want of warm clothing and proper nursing, though my Indian wife, as far +as she knew how, was always ready, even solicitous, to do everything for +me she could, still kept me very much indisposed, which Maquina +perceiving, he finally told me that if I did not like living with my +wife, and that was the cause of my being so sad, I might part with her. +This proposal I readily accepted, and the next day Maquina sent her back +to her father. + +On parting with me she discovered much emotion, begging me that I would +suffer her to remain till I had recovered, as there was no one who would +take so good care of me as herself. But when I told her she must go, for +that I did not think I should ever get well, which in truth I but little +expected, and that her father would take good care of her and treat her +much more kindly than Maquina, she took an affectionate leave, telling +me that she hoped I should soon get better, and left her two slaves to +take care of me. + +Though I rejoiced at her departure, I was greatly affected with the +simple expressions of her regard for me, and could not but feel strongly +interested for this poor girl, who in all her conduct towards me had +discovered so much mildness and attention to my wishes; and had it not +been that I considered her as an almost insuperable obstacle to my being +permitted to leave the country, I should no doubt have felt the +deprivation of her society a real loss. After her departure, I requested +Maquina that, as I had parted with my wife, he would permit me to resume +my European dress, as, otherwise, from not having been accustomed to +dress like them, I should certainly die. To this he consented, and I +once more became comfortably clad. + +Change of clothing, but, more than all, the hopes which I now began to +indulge that in the course of the summer I should be able to escape, in +a short time restored me to health, so far that I could again go to work +in making harpoons for Maquina, who probably, fearing that he should +have to part with me, determined to provide himself with a good stock. + +I shall not, however, long detain the reader with a detail of +occurrences that intervened between this period and that of my escape, +which, from that dull uniformity that marks the savage life, would be in +a measure but a repetition, nor dwell upon that mental torture I endured +from a constant conflict of hope and fear, when the former, almost +wearied out with repeated disappointment, offered to our sinking hearts +no prospect of release but death, to which we were constantly exposed +from the brutal ignorance and savage disposition of the common people, +who, in the various councils that were held this season to determine +what to do with us in case of the arrival of a ship, were almost always +for putting us to death, expecting by that means to conceal the murder +of our crew and to throw the blame of it on some other tribe. These +barbarous sentiments were, however, universally opposed by Maquina and +his chiefs, who would not consent to our being injured. But, as some of +their customs and traits of national character which I think deserving +of notice have not been mentioned, I shall proceed to give an account of +them. + + * * * * * + +The office of king or chief is, with those people, hereditary, and +descends to the eldest son, or, in failure of male issue, to the elder +brother, who in the regal line is considered as the second person in the +kingdom. At feasts, as I have observed, the king is always placed in the +highest or seat of honour, and the chiefs according to their respective +ranks, which appear in general to be determined by their affinity to the +royal family; they are also designated by the embellishments of their +mantles or kutsaks. The king, or head _Tyee_ is their leader in war, in +the management of which he is perfectly absolute. He is also president +of their councils, which are almost always regulated by his opinion. But +he has no kind of power over the property of his subjects, nor can he +require them to contribute to his wants, being in this respect no more +privileged than any other person. He has, in common with his chiefs, the +right of holding slaves, which is not enjoyed by private individuals, a +regulation probably arising from their having been originally captives +taken in battle, the spoils of war being understood as appertaining to +the king, who receives and apportions them among his several chiefs and +warriors according to their rank and deserts. + +In conformity with this idea, the plunder of the _Boston_ was all +deposited in Maquina's house, who distributed part of it among his +chiefs, according to their respective ranks or degree of favour with +him, giving to one three hundred muskets, to another one hundred and +fifty, with other things in like proportion. The king is, however, +obliged to support his dignity by making frequent entertainments, and +whenever he receives a large supply of provision, he must invite all the +men of his tribe to his house to eat it up, otherwise, as Maquina told +me, he would not be considered as conducting himself like a _Tyee_, and +would be no more thought of than a common man. + + * * * * * + +With regard to their religion.--They believe in the existence of a +Supreme Being, whom they call _Quahootze_, and who, to use Maquina's +expression, was one great _Tyee_ in the sky, who gave them their fish, +and could take them from them, and was the greatest of all kings. Their +usual place of worship appeared to be the water, for whenever they +bathed, they addressed some words in form of prayer to the God above, +entreating that he would preserve them in health, give them good success +in fishing, etc. These prayers were repeated with much more energy on +preparing for whaling or for war, as I have already mentioned. + +Some of them would sometimes go several miles to bathe, in order to do +it in secret; the reason for this I could never learn, though I am +induced to think it was in consequence of some family or private +quarrel, and that they did not wish what they said to be heard; while at +other times they would repair in the same secret manner to the woods to +pray. This was more particularly the case with the women, who might also +have been prompted by a sentiment of decency to retire for the purpose +of bathing, as they are remarkably modest. + +I once found one of our women more than two miles from the village on +her knees in the woods, with her eyes shut and her face turned towards +heaven, uttering words in a lamentable tone, amongst which I distinctly +heard, _Wocash Ah-welth_, meaning "good Lord," and which has nearly the +same signification with Quahootze. + +Though I came very near her, she appeared not to notice me, but +continued her devotions. And I have frequently seen the women go alone +into the woods, evidently for the purpose of addressing themselves to a +superior Being, and it was always very perceptible on their return when +they had been thus employed, from their silence and melancholy looks. + +They have no belief, however, in a state of future existence, as I +discovered in conversation with Maquina at Tootoosch's death, on my +attempting to convince him that he still existed, and that he would +again see him after his death; but he could comprehend nothing of it, +and, pointing to the ground, said that there was the end of him, and +that he was like that.[131] Nor do they believe in ghosts, +notwithstanding the case of Tootoosch would appear to contradict this +assertion, but that was a remarkable instance, and such a one as had +never been known to occur before; yet from the mummeries performed over +the sick, it is very apparent that they believe in the agency of +spirits, as they attribute diseases to some evil one that has entered +the body of the patient. Neither have they any priests, unless a kind of +conjurer[132] may be so considered who sings and prays over the sick to +drive away the evil spirit. + + * * * * * + +On the birth of twins, they have a most singular custom, which, I +presume, has its origin in some religious opinion, but what it is, I +could never satisfactorily learn. The father is prohibited for the space +of two years from eating any kind of meat, or fresh fish, during which +time he does no kind of labour whatever, being supplied with what he has +occasion for from the tribe. In the meantime, he and his wife, who is +also obliged to conform to the same abstinence, with their children, +live entirely separate from the others, a small hut being built for +their accommodation, and he is never invited to any of the feasts, +except such as consist wholly of dried provision, where he is treated +with great respect, and seated among the chiefs, though no more himself +than a private individual. + +Such births are very rare among them; an instance of the kind, however, +occurred while I was at Tashees the last time, but it was the only one +known since the reign of the former king. The father always appeared +very thoughtful and gloomy, never associated with the other +inhabitants, and was at none of the feasts, but such as were entirely of +dried provision, and of this he ate not to excess, and constantly +retired before the amusements commenced. His dress was very plain, and +he wore around his head the red fillet of bark, the symbol of mourning +and devotion. It was his daily practice to repair to the mountain, with +a chief's rattle in his hand, to sing and pray, as Maquina informed me, +for the fish to come into their waters. When not thus employed, he kept +continually at home, except when sent for to sing and perform his +ceremonies over the sick, being considered as a sacred character, and +one much in favour with their gods.[133] + +These people are remarkably healthful, and live to a very advanced age, +having quite a youthful appearance for their years.[134] They have +scarcely any disease but the colic, their remedy for which is friction, +a person rubbing the bowels of the sick violently, until the pain has +subsided, while the conjurer, or holy man, is employed, in the meantime, +in making his gestures, singing, and repeating certain words, and +blowing off the evil spirit, when the patient is wrapped up in a +bearskin, in order to produce perspiration. + +Their cure for the rheumatism, or similar pains, which I saw applied by +Maquina in the case of Thompson, to whom it gave relief, is by cutting +or scarifying the part affected. In dressing wounds, they simply wash +them with salt water, and bind them up with a strip of cloth, or the +bark of a tree. They are, however, very expert and successful in the +cure of fractured or dislocated limbs, reducing them very dexterously, +and, after binding them up with bark, supporting them with blocks of +wood, so as to preserve their position.[135] + +During the whole time I was among them, but five natural deaths +occurred, Tootoosch and his two infant children, an infant son of +Maquina, and the slave whom I have mentioned, a circumstance not a +little remarkable in a population of about fifteen hundred; and as +respects child-birth, so light do they make of it, that I have seen +their women, the day after, employed as usual, as if little or nothing +had happened. + +The Nootkians in their conduct towards each other are in general pacific +and inoffensive, and appear by no means an ill-tempered race, for I do +not recollect any instance of a violent quarrel between any of the men, +or the men and their wives, while I was with them, that of Yealthlower +excepted. But when they are in the least offended, they appear to be in +the most violent rage, acting like so many maniacs, foaming at the +mouth, kicking and spitting most furiously; but this is rather a fashion +with them than a demonstration of malignity, as in their public speeches +they use the same violence, and he is esteemed the greatest orator who +bawls the loudest, stamps, tosses himself about, foams, and spits the +most.[136] + +In speaking of their regulations, I have omitted mentioning that, on +attaining the age of seventeen, the eldest son of a chief is considered +as a chief himself, and that whenever the father makes a present, it is +always done in the name of his eldest son, or, if he has none, in that +of his daughter. The chiefs frequently purchase their wives at the age +of eight or ten, to prevent their being engaged by others, though they +do not take them from their parents until they are sixteen. + +With regard to climate, the greater part of the spring, summer, and +autumn is very pleasant, the weather being at no time oppressively hot, +and the winters uncommonly mild for so high a latitude, at least, as far +as my experience went. At Tashees and Cooptee, where we passed the +coldest part of the season, the winter did not set in till late in +December, nor have I ever yet known the ice, even on the freshwater +ponds, more than two or three inches in thickness, or a snow exceeding +four inches in depth; but what is wanting in snow, is amply made up in +rain, as I have frequently known it, during the winter months, rain +almost incessantly for five or six days in succession. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[124] Ayhuttisaht, also in Nootka Sound. + +[125] This is the custom if the visit of the strangers has not been +announced in advance. + +[126] _Ooshyuksomayts_ is another expression meaning much the same +thing. + +[127] _Kloosmit_ is "herring" (_Meletta cærulea_) generally. _Klooshist_ +is dried salmon, a more common article of food. + +[128] Jewitt's marriage was less ceremonious than is usual with Indians +of any rank, and the ten days' probation was not according to modern +customs. + +[129] _Kutsak_, or _kotsack_, or _kootsick_, or _cotsack_, for all these +forms occur, was the blanket worn cloakwise, rendered familiar to +Europeans in so many pictures and sketches. + +[130] Human sacrifices are quite common among the Northern tribes. But +in Vancouver they were very rare in my time, and are now still less +frequent. In 1863 the burial of a chief was celebrated by the heads of +several tribesmen being fixed about his grave. These were not taken by +force, but surrendered by the trembling tribesmen, the victims being +most likely slaves. In 1788, Meares affirms, on what we believe to be +insufficient evidence, that Maquina (Moqulla) sacrificed a human being +every new moon, to gratify "his unnatural appetite" for human flesh. The +victim was a slave selected by the blindfolded chief catching him in a +house in which a number were assembled. Meares even declares that +Maquina acknowledged his weakness, and that though Callicum, another +chief, avoided cannibalism, he reposed on a pillow filled with human +skulls. If so, the practice has ceased. Yet cannibalism was undeniably +practised at times among the Indians of both the East and West coasts. +There were in 1866 Indians living in Koskeemo Sound, who still talked of +the delights of human flesh. Many years ago, the Bella-Bellas ate a +servant of the Hudson Bay Company, and the Nuchaltaws of Cape Mudge are +affirmed by old traders to have paid the same doubtful compliment to a +sailor who fell into their clutches. + +[131] This, in common with other statements of the kind, is more than +doubtful. The best account of their religion is by Mr. Sproat, but even +he acknowledges that, after two years devoted to the subject, and to the +questioning of others who had passed half a lifetime amongst the "Ahts," +he could discover very little about their faith which could be +pronounced indisputably accurate. Even the Indians themselves are by no +means at one on the subject, people without a written creed or sacred +books being apt to entertain very contradictory ideas on their +theological tenets. I endeavoured to fathom some of their beliefs, and I +had ample opportunities; but I confess to the difficulty of getting +behind these reserved folk, and I did not meet with sufficient success +to make the results worth recording. + +[132] What Jewitt calls a "conjurer" is more commonly known in these +times as a "medicine man," who was, more often than not, a combination +nine parts rogue and one part fool. + +[133] This is entirely different from the views that are entertained by +other tribes. The tribes speaking the language which prevails from Port +San Juan to Comox are so ashamed of twins, that one of the hapless two +is almost invariably killed. I do not remember having ever seen a case. +Most of the Indian birth notions are very curious. + +[134] They are apt to rapidly change from young-looking to old-looking +men, without any of that pleasant "Indian summer" so characteristic of +people in more civilised communities. But advanced years are not common. +In 1864 the oldest man in the little Opechesaht tribe, whose homes are +on the Kleecoot River (flowing out of Sproat Lake into the Alberni +Inlet), was only sixty, so far as he could make out. + +[135] Bilious complaints, constipation, dysentery, consumption, fevers +and acute inflammatory diseases, and (amongst some tribes, but not +amongst the Nootkians), ophthalmia, are common, though rheumatism and +paralysis are infrequent. The "diseases of civilisation," it may be +added, have been known for many years. + +[136] This is still true. When sober they indulge in high words, and are +fond of teasing the women until they get out of temper; but a blow is +rare. Even the children seldom fall out, the necessity of small +communities living together for mutual protection compelling the members +to establish a _modus vivendi_. However, when drunk--and in spite of the +laws against liquor being sold to them, this is by no means +uncommon--they are prone to seek close quarters and act like angry +termagants. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +ARRIVAL OF THE BRIG "LYDIA"--STRATAGEM OF THE AUTHOR--ITS SUCCESS + + +It was now past midsummer, and the hopes we had indulged of our release +became daily more faint, for though we had heard of no less than seven +vessels on the coast, yet none appeared inclined to venture to Nootka. + +The destruction of the _Boston_, the largest, strongest, and best +equipped ship, with the most valuable cargo of any that had ever been +fitted for the North-West trade, had inspired the commanders of others +with a general dread of coming thither, lest they should share the same +fate; and though in the letters I wrote (imploring those who should +receive them to come to the relief of two unfortunate Christians who +were suffering among heathen), I stated the cause of the _Boston's_ +capture, and that there was not the least danger in coming to Nootka, +provided they would follow the directions I laid down, still I felt very +little encouragement that any of these letters would come to hand; when, +on the morning of the 19th of July, a day that will be ever held by me +in grateful remembrance of the mercies of God, while I was employed with +Thompson in forging daggers for the king, my ears were saluted with the +joyful sound of three cannon, and the cries of the inhabitants, +exclaiming "_Weena, weena--Mamethlee!_"--that is, "Strangers--White +men!" + +Soon after, several of our people came running into the house, to inform +me that a vessel under full sail was coming into the harbour. Though my +heart bounded with joy, I repressed my feelings, and, affecting to pay +no attention to what was said, told Thompson to be on his guard, and not +betray any joy, as our release, and perhaps our lives, depended on our +conducting ourselves so as to induce the natives to suppose we were not +very anxious to leave them. We continued our work as if nothing had +happened, when, in a few minutes after, Maquina came in, and, seeing us +at work, appeared much surprised, and asked me if did not know that a +vessel had come. + +I answered in a careless manner, that it was nothing to me. "How, John," +said he, "you no glad go board?" I replied that I cared very little +about it, as I had become reconciled to their manner of living, and had +no wish to go away. He then told me that he had called a council of his +people respecting us, and that we must leave off work and be present at +it. + +The men having assembled at Maquina's house, he asked them what was +their opinion should be done with Thompson and myself, now a vessel had +arrived, and whether he had not better go on board himself, to make a +trade, and procure such articles as were wanted. Each one of the tribe +who wished, gave his opinion. Some were for putting us to death, and +pretending to the strangers that a different nation had cut off the +_Boston_; while others, less barbarous, were for sending us fifteen or +twenty miles back into the country, until the departure of the vessel. + +These, however, were the sentiments of the common people, the chiefs +opposing our being put to death, or injured, and several of them, among +the most forward of whom were Yealthlower and the young chief +Toowinnakinnish, were for immediately releasing us; but this, if he +could avoid it, by no means appeared to accord with Maquina's wishes. + +Having mentioned Toowinnakinnish, I shall briefly observe that he was a +young man of about twenty-three years old, the only son of +Toopeeshottee, the oldest and most respected chief of the tribe. His son +had always been remarkably kind and friendly to me, and I had in return +frequently made for him daggers, cheetolths, and other things, in my +best manner. He was one of the handsomest men among them, very amiable, +and much milder in his manners than any of the others, as well as neater +both in his person and house, at least his apartment, without even +excepting Maquina. + +With regard, however, to Maquina's going on board the vessel, which he +discovered a strong inclination to do, there was but one opinion, all +remonstrating against it, telling him that the captain would kill him or +keep him prisoner, in consequence of his having destroyed our ship. When +Maquina had heard their opinions, he told them that he was not afraid of +being hurt from going on board the vessel, but that he would, however, +as it respected that, be guided by John, whom he had always found true. +He then turned to me, and asked me if I thought there would be any +danger in his going on board. I answered, that I was not surprised at +the advice his people had given him, unacquainted as they were with the +manners of the white men, and judging them by their own; but if they had +been with them as much as I had, or even himself, they would think very +different. That he had almost always experienced good and civil +treatment from them, nor had he any reason to fear the contrary now, as +they never attempted to harm those who did not injure them; and if he +wished to go on board, he might do it, in my opinion, with security. + +After reflecting a few moments, he said, with much apparent +satisfaction, that if I would write a letter to the captain, telling him +good of him, that he had treated Thompson and myself kindly since we had +been with him, and to use him well, he would go. + +It may easily be supposed that I felt much joy at this determination, +but, knowing that the least incaution might annihilate all my hopes of +escape, was careful not to manifest it, and to treat his going or +staying as a matter perfectly indifferent to me. I told him that, if he +wished me to write such a letter, I had no objection, as it was the +truth, otherwise I could not have done it. + +I then proceeded to write the recommendatory letter, which the reader +will naturally imagine was of a somewhat different tenor from the one he +had required; for if deception is in any case warrantable, it was +certainly so in a situation like ours, where the only chance of +regaining that freedom of which we had been so unjustly deprived, +depended upon it; and I trust that few, even of the most rigid, will +condemn me with severity for making use of it, on an occasion which +afforded me the only hope of ever more beholding a Christian country, +and preserving myself, if not from death, at least from a life of +continued suffering. + +The letter which I wrote was nearly in the following terms:-- + + TO CAPTAIN---- + OF THE BRIG---- + NOOTKA, _July_ 19, 1805. + + SIR,--The bearer of this letter is the Indian king by the name + of Maquina. He was the instigator of the capture of the ship + _Boston_, of Boston, in North America, John Salter, captain, and + of the murder of twenty-five men of her crew, the two only + survivors being now on shore--Wherefore I hope you will take + care to confine him according to his merits, putting in your + dead-lights, and keeping so good a watch over him, that he + cannot escape from you. By so doing, we shall be able to obtain + our release in the course of a few hours. + + JOHN R. JEWITT, _Armourer of the "Boston"_ + _for himself, and_ + JOHN THOMPSON, _Sail-maker of the said ship_. + + +I have been asked how I dared to write in this manner: my answer is, +that from my long residence among these people, I knew that I had little +to apprehend from their anger on hearing of their king being confined, +while they knew his life depended upon my release, and that they would +sooner have given up five hundred white men, than have had him injured. +This will serve to explain the little apprehension I felt at their +menaces afterwards, for otherwise, sweet as liberty was to me, I should +hardly have ventured on so hazardous an experiment. + +On my giving the letter to Maquina, he asked me to explain it to him. +This I did line by line, as he pointed them out with his finger, but in +a sense very different from the real, giving him to understand that I +had written to the captain that, as he had been kind to me since I had +been taken by him, that it was my wish that the captain should treat him +accordingly, and give him what molasses, biscuit, and rum he wanted. + +When I had finished, placing his finger in a significant manner on my +name at the bottom, and eyeing me with a look that seemed to read my +inmost thoughts, he said to me, "John, you no lie?" Never did I undergo +such a scrutiny, or ever experience greater apprehensions than I felt at +that moment, when my destiny was suspended on the slightest thread, and +the least mark of embarrassment on mine, or suspicion of treachery on +his part, would probably have rendered my life the sacrifice. + +Fortunately I was able to preserve my composure, and my being painted in +the Indian manner, which Maquina had since my marriage required of me, +prevented any change in my countenance from being noticed, and I replied +with considerable promptitude, looking at him in my turn, with all the +confidence I could muster,-- + +"Why do you ask me such a question, Tyee? Have you ever known me to +lie?" + +"No." + +"Then how can you suppose I should tell you a lie now, since I have +never done it?" As I was speaking, he still continued looking at me with +the same piercing eye, but, observing nothing to excite his suspicion, +he told me that he believed what I said was true, and that he would go +on board, and gave orders to get ready his canoe. His chiefs again +attempted to dissuade him, using every argument for that purpose, while +his wives crowded around him, begging him on their knees not to trust +himself with the white men. Fortunately for my companion and myself, so +strong was his wish of going on board the vessel, that he was deaf to +their solicitations, and, making no other reply to them than "John no +lie," left the house, taking four prime skins with him as a present to +the captain. + +Scarcely had the canoe put off, when he ordered his men to stop, and, +calling to me, asked me if I did not want to go on board with him. +Suspecting this as a question merely intended to ensnare me, I replied +that I had no wish to do it, not having any desire to leave them. + +On going on board the brig, Maquina immediately gave his present of +skins and my letter to the captain, who, on reading it, asked him into +the cabin, where he gave him some biscuit and a glass of rum, at the +same time privately directing his mate to go forward, and return with +five or six of the men armed. When they appeared, the captain told +Maquina that he was his prisoner, and should continue so, until the two +men, whom he knew to be on shore, were released, at the same time +ordering him to be put in irons, and the windows secured, which was +instantly done, and a couple of men placed as a guard over him. Maquina +was greatly surprised and terrified at this reception; he, however, made +no attempt to resist, but requested the captain to permit one of his men +to come and see him. One of them was accordingly called, and Maquina +said something to him which the captain did not understand, but supposed +to be an order to release us, when, the man returning to the canoe, it +was paddled off with the utmost expedition to the shore. + +As the canoe approached, the inhabitants, who had all collected upon the +beach, manifested some uneasiness at not seeing their king on board, but +when, on its arrival, they were told that the captain had made him a +prisoner, and that John had spoke bad about him in the letter, they all, +both men and women, set up a loud howl, and ran backwards and forwards +upon the shore like so many lunatics, scratching their faces, and +tearing the hair in handfuls from their heads. + +After they had beat about in this manner for some time, the men ran to +their huts for their weapons, as if preparing to attack an invading +enemy; while Maquina's wives and the rest of the women came around me, +and, throwing themselves on their knees, begged me with tears to spare +his life; and Sat-sat-sok-sis, who kept constantly with me, taking me by +the hand, wept bitterly, and joined his entreaties to theirs, that I +would not let the white men kill his father. I told them not to afflict +themselves, that Maquina's life was in no danger, nor would the least +harm be done to him. + +The men were, however, extremely exasperated with me, more particularly +the common people, who came running in the most furious manner towards +me, brandishing their weapons, and threatening to cut me in pieces no +bigger than their thumb-nails, while others declared they would burn me +alive over a slow fire suspended by my heels. All this fury, however, +caused me but little alarm, as I felt convinced they would not dare to +execute their threats while the king was on board the brig. + +The chiefs took no part in this violent conduct, but came to me, and +inquired the reason why Maquina had been thus treated, and if the +captain intended to kill him. I told them that if they would silence the +people, so that I could be heard, I would explain all to them. They +immediately put a stop to the noise, when I informed them that the +captain, in confining Maquina, had done it only in order to make them +release Thompson and myself, as he well knew we were with them; and if +they would do that, their king would receive no injury, but be well +treated, otherwise he would be kept a prisoner. + +As many of them did not appear to be satisfied with this, and began to +repeat their murderous threats--"Kill me," said I to them, "if it is +your wish," throwing open the bearskin which I wore. "Here is my breast. +I am only one among so many, and can make no resistance; but unless you +wish to see your king hanging by his neck to that pole," pointing to the +yard-arm of the brig, "and the sailors firing at him with bullets, you +will not do it." + +"Oh no," was the general cry, "that must never be; but what must we do?" +I told them that their best plan would be to send Thompson on board, to +desire the captain to use Maquina well till I was released, which would +be soon. This they were perfectly willing to do, and I directed Thompson +to go on board. But he objected, saying that he would not leave me alone +with the savages. I told him not to be under any fear for me, for that +if I could get him off, I could manage well enough for myself; and that +I wished him, immediately on getting on board the brig, to see the +captain, and request him to keep Maquina close till I was released, as I +was in no danger while he had him safe. + +When I saw Thompson off, I asked the natives what they intended to do +with me. They said I must talk to the captain again, in another letter, +and tell him to let his boat come on shore with Maquina, and that I +should be ready to jump into the boat at the same time Maquina should +jump on shore. I told them that the captain, who knew that they had +killed my shipmates, would never trust his men so near the shore, for +fear they could kill them too, as they were so much more numerous, but +that if they would select any three of their number to go with me in a +canoe, when we came within hail, I would desire the captain to send his +boat with Maquina, to receive me in exchange for him. + +This appeared to please them, and after some whispering among the +chiefs, who, from what words I over-heard, concluded that if the captain +should refuse to send his boat with Maquina, the three men would have no +difficulty in bringing me back with them, they agreed to my proposal, +and selected three of their stoutest men to convey me. Fortunately, +having been for some time accustomed to see me armed, and suspecting no +design on my part, they paid no attention to the pistols that I had +about me. + +As I was going into the canoe, little Sat-sat-sok-sis, who could not +bear to part with me, asked me, with an affecting simplicity, since I +was going away to leave him, if the white men would not let his father +come on shore, and not kill him. I told him not to be concerned, for +that no one should injure his father, when, taking an affectionate leave +of me, and again begging me not to let the white men hurt his father, he +ran to comfort his mother, who was at a little distance, with the +assurances I had given him. + +On entering the canoe, I seated myself in the prow facing the three men, +having determined, if it was practicable, from the moment I found +Maquina was secured, to get on board the vessel before he was released, +hoping by that means to be enabled to obtain the restoration of what +property belonging to the _Boston_ still remained in the possession of +the savages, which I thought, if it could be done, a duty that I owed to +the owners. With feelings of joy impossible to be described did I quit +the savage shore, confident now that nothing could thwart my escape, or +prevent the execution of the plan that I had formed, as the men +appointed to convey and guard me were armed with nothing but their +paddles. + +As we came within hail of the brig, they at once ceased paddling, when, +presenting my pistols at them, I ordered them instantly to go on, or I +would shoot the whole of them. A proceeding so wholly unexpected threw +them into great consternation, and, resuming their paddles, in a few +moments, to my inexpressible delight, I once more found myself alongside +of a Christian ship, a happiness which I had almost despaired of ever +again enjoying. All the crew crowded to the side to see me as the canoe +came up, and manifested much joy at my safety. I immediately leaped on +board, where I was welcomed by the captain, Samuel Hill, of the brig +_Lydia_ of Boston, who congratulated me on my escape, informing me that +he had received my letter off Kloiz-zart[137] from the chief Machee +Ulatilla, who came off himself in his canoe to deliver it to him, on +which he immediately proceeded hither to aid me. I returned him my +thanks in the best manner I could for his humanity, though I hardly knew +what I said, such was the agitated state of my feelings at that moment, +with joy for my escape, thankfulness to the Supreme Being who had so +mercifully preserved me, and gratitude to those whom He had rendered +instrumental in my delivery, that I have no doubt that, what with my +strange dress, being painted with red and black from head to foot, +having a bearskin wrapped around me, and my long hair, which I was not +allowed to cut, fastened on the top of my head in a large bunch, with a +sprig of green spruce, I must have appeared more like one deranged than +a rational creature, as Captain Hill afterwards told me that he never +saw anything in the form of man look so wild as I did when I first came +on board. + +The captain then asked me into the cabin, where I found Maquina in +irons, with a guard over him. He looked very melancholy, but on seeing +me his countenance brightened up, and he expressed his pleasure with the +welcome of "_Wocash_, John," when, taking him by the hand, I asked the +captain's permission to take off his irons, assuring him that, as I was +with him, there was no danger of his being in the least troublesome. He +accordingly consented, and I felt a sincere pleasure in freeing from +fetters a man who, though he had caused the death of my poor comrades, +had nevertheless always proved my friend and protector, and whom I had +requested to be thus treated, only with a view of securing my liberty. +Maquina smiled, and appeared much pleased at this mark of attention from +me. When I had freed the king from his irons, Captain Hill wished to +learn the particulars of our capture, observing that an account of the +destruction of the ship and her crew had been received at Boston before +he sailed, but that nothing more was known, except that two of the men +were living, for whose rescue the owners had offered a liberal reward, +and that he had been able to get nothing out of the old man, whom the +sailors had supplied so plentifully with grog as to bring him too much +by the head to give any information. + +I gave him a correct statement of the whole proceeding, together with +the manner in which my life and that of my comrade had been preserved. +On hearing my story, he was greatly irritated against Maquina, and said +he ought to be killed. I observed that, however ill he might have acted +in taking our ship, yet that it might perhaps be wrong to judge an +uninformed savage with the same severity as a civilised person, who had +the light of religion and the laws of society to guide him. That +Maquina's conduct in taking our ship arose from an insult that he +thought he had received from Captain Salter, and from the unjustifiable +conduct of some masters of vessels who had robbed him, and, without +provocation, killed a number of his people. Besides, that a regard for +the safety of others ought to prevent his being put to death, as I had +lived long enough with these people to know that revenge of an injury is +held sacred by them, and that they would not fail to retaliate, should +we kill their king, on the first vessel or boat's crew that should give +them an opportunity; and that, though he might consider executing him as +but an act of justice, it would probably cost the lives of many +Americans. + +The captain appeared to be convinced from what I said of the impolicy of +taking Maquina's life, and said that he would leave it wholly with me +whether to spare or kill him, as he was resolved to incur no censure in +either case. I replied that I most certainly should never take the life +of a man who had preserved mine, had I no other reason, but as there was +some of the _Boston's_ property still remaining on shore, I considered +it a duty that I owed to those who were interested in that ship, to try +to save it for them, and with that view I thought it would be well to +keep him on board till it was given up. He concurred in this proposal, +saying, if there was any of the property left, it most certainly ought +to be got. + +During this conversation Maquina was in great anxiety, as, from what +English he knew, he perfectly comprehended the subject of our +deliberation; constantly interrupting me to inquire what we had +determined to do with him, what the captain said, if his life would be +spared, and if I did not think that Thompson would kill him. I pacified +him as well as I was able, by telling him that he had nothing to fear +from the captain, that he would not be hurt, and that if Thompson +wished to kill him, he would not be allowed to do it. He would then +remind me that I was indebted to him for my life, and that I ought to do +by him as he had done by me. I assured him that such was my intention, +and I requested him to remain quiet, and not alarm himself, as no harm +was intended him. But I found it extremely difficult to convince him of +this, as it accorded so little with the ideas of revenge entertained by +them. I told him, however, that he must restore all the property still +in his possession belonging to the ship. This he was perfectly ready to +do, happy to escape on such terms. + +But as it was now past five, and too late for the articles to be +collected and brought off, I told him that he must content himself to +remain on board with me that night, and in the morning he should be set +on shore as soon as the things were delivered. To this he agreed, on +condition that I would remain with him in the cabin. I then went upon +deck, and the canoe that brought me having been sent back, I hailed the +inhabitants and told them that their king had agreed to stay on board +till the next day, when he would return, but that no canoes must attempt +to come near the vessel during the night, as they would be fired upon. +They answered, "_Woho, woho_"--"Very well, very well." + +I then returned to Maquina, but so great were his terrors, that he would +not allow me to sleep, constantly disturbing me with his questions, and +repeating, "John, you know, when you was alone, and more than five +hundred men were your enemies, I was your friend, and prevented them +from putting you and Thompson to death, and now I am in the power of +your friends, you ought to do the same by me." I assured him that he +would be detained on board no longer than whilst the property was +released, and that as soon as it was done, he would be set at liberty. + +At daybreak I hailed the natives, and told them that it was Maquina's +order that they should bring off the cannon and anchors, and whatever +remained with them of the cargo of the ship. This they set about doing +with the utmost expedition, transporting the cannon and anchors by +lashing together two of their largest canoes, and covering them with +planks, and in the course of two hours they delivered everything on +board that I could recollect, with Thompson's and my chest, containing +the papers of the ship, etc. + +When everything belonging to the ship had been restored, Maquina was +permitted to return in his canoe, which had been sent for him, with a +present of what skins he had collected, which were about sixty, for the +captain, in acknowledgment of his having spared his life, and allowed +him to depart unhurt. + +Such was also the transport he felt when Captain Hill came into the +cabin, and told him that he was at liberty to go, that he threw off his +mantle, which consisted of four of the very best skins, and gave it to +him as a mark of his gratitude; in return for which the captain +presented him with a new greatcoat and hat, with which he appeared much +delighted. The captain then desired me to inform him that he should +return to that part of the coast in November, and that he wished him to +keep what skins he should get, which he would buy of him. This Maquina +promised, saying to me at the same time, "John, you know I shall be then +at Tashees, but when you come, make _pow_," which means, fire a gun, "to +let me know, and I will come down." When he came to the side of the +brig, he shook me cordially by the hand, and told me that he hoped I +would come to see him again in a big ship, and bring much plenty of +blankets, biscuit, molasses, and rum, for him and his son, who loved me +a great deal; and that he would keep all the furs he got for me, +observing at the same time, that he should never more take a letter of +recommendation from any one, or ever trust himself on board a vessel +unless I was there. Then, grasping both my hands with much emotion, +while the tears trickled down his cheeks, he bade me farewell, and stept +into the canoe, which immediately paddled him on shore. + +Notwithstanding my joy at my deliverance, and the pleasing anticipation +I felt of once more beholding a civilised country, and again being +permitted to offer up my devotions in a Christian church, I could not +avoid experiencing a painful sensation on parting with the savage chief, +who had preserved my life, and in general treated me with kindness, and, +considering their ideas and manners, much better than could have been +expected. + +My pleasure was also greatly damped by an unfortunate accident that +occurred to Toowinnakinnish. That interesting young chief had come on +board in the first canoe in the morning, anxious to see and comfort his +king. He was received with much kindness by Captain Hill, from the +favourable account I gave of him, and invited to remain on board. As the +muskets were delivered, he was in the cabin with Maquina, where was +also the captain, who, on receiving them, snapped a number in order to +try the locks; unluckily one of them happened to be loaded with swan +shot, and, going off, discharged its contents into the body of poor +Toowinnakinnish, who was sitting opposite. On hearing the report, I +instantly ran into the cabin, where I found him weltering in his blood, +with the captain, who was greatly shocked at the accident, endeavouring +to assist him. + +We raised him up, and did everything in our power to aid and comfort +him, telling him that we felt much grieved at his misfortune, and that +it was wholly unintentional; this he told me he was perfectly satisfied +of, and while we dressed and bound up his wounds, in the best manner we +could, he bore the pain with great calmness, and, bidding me farewell, +was put on board one of the canoes and taken on shore, where, after +languishing a few days, he expired. To me his misfortune was a source of +much affliction, as he had no share in the massacre of our crew, was of +a most amiable character, and had always treated me with the greatest +kindness and hospitality. + +The brig being under weigh, immediately on Maquina's quitting us, we +proceeded to the northward, constantly keeping the shore in sight, and +touching at various places for the purpose of trading. + +Having already exceeded the bounds I had prescribed myself, I shall not +attempt any account of our voyage upon the coast, or a description of +the various nations we met with in the course of it, among whom were a +people of a very singular appearance, called by the sailors the +_Wooden-lips_.[138] They have many skins, and the trade is principally +managed by their women, who are not only expert in making a bargain, but +as dexterous in the management of their canoes as the men are elsewhere. + +After a period of nearly four months from our leaving Nootka, we +returned from the northward to Columbia River, for the purpose of +procuring masts, etc., for our brig, which had suffered considerably in +her spars during a gale of wind. We proceeded about ten miles up the +river to a small Indian village, where we heard from the inhabitants +that Captains Clark and Lewis, from the United States of America, had +been there about a fortnight before, on their journey overland, and had +left several medals with them, which they showed us.[139] The river at +this place is of considerable breadth, and both sides of it from its +entrance covered with forests of the very finest pine timber, fir, and +spruce, interspersed with Indian settlements. + +From this place, after providing ourselves with spars, we sailed for +Nootka, where we arrived in the latter part of November.[140] The tribe +being absent, the agreed signal was given, by firing a cannon, and in a +few hours after a canoe appeared, which landed at the village, and, +putting the king on shore, came off to the brig. Inquiry was immediately +made by Kinneclimmets, who was one of the three men in the canoe, if +John was there, as the king had some skins to sell them if he was. I +then went forward and invited them on board, with which they readily +complied, telling me that Maquina had a number of skins with him, but +that he would not come on board unless I would go on shore for him. This +I agreed to, provided they would remain in the brig in the meantime. To +this they consented, and the captain, taking them into the cabin, +treated them with bread and molasses. I then went on shore in the canoe, +notwithstanding the remonstrances of Thompson and the captain, who, +though he wanted the skins, advised me by no means to put myself in +Maquina's power; but I assured him that I had no fear as long as those +men were on board. + +As I landed, Maquina came up and welcomed me with much joy: on inquiring +for the men, I told him that they were to remain till my return. "Ah, +John," said he, "I see you are afraid to trust me, but if they had come +with you, I should not have hurt you, though I should have taken good +care not to let you go on board of another vessel." He then took his +chest of skins, and, stepping into the canoe, I paddled him alongside +the brig, where he was received and treated by Captain Hill with the +greatest cordiality, who bought of him his skins. He left us much +pleased with his reception, inquiring of me how many moons it would be +before I should come back again to see him and his son; saying that he +would keep all his furs for me, and that as soon as my son, who was then +about five months old, was of a suitable age to take from his mother, he +would send for him, and take care of him as his own.[141] + +As soon as Maquina had quitted us, we got under weigh, and stood again +to the northward. We continued on the coast until the 11th of August, +1806,[142] when, having completed our trade, we sailed for China, to the +great joy of all our crew, and particularly so to me. With a degree of +satisfaction that I can ill express, did I quit a coast to which I was +resolved nothing should again tempt me to return, and as the tops of the +mountains sank in the blue waves of the ocean, I seemed to feel my heart +lightened of an oppressive load. + +We had a prosperous passage to China, arriving at Macao in December, +from whence the brig proceeded to Canton. There I had the good fortune +to meet a townsman and an old acquaintance in the mate of an English +East Indiaman, named John Hill, whose father, a wealthy merchant in Hull +in the Baltic trade, was a next-door neighbour to mine. Shortly after +our arrival, the captain being on board of an English ship, and +mentioning his having had the good fortune to liberate two men of the +_Boston's_ crew from the savages, and that one of them was named Jewitt, +my former acquaintance immediately came on board the brig to see me. + +Words can ill express my feelings on seeing him. Circumstanced as I was, +among persons who were entire strangers to me, to meet thus in a foreign +land with one between whom and myself a considerable intimacy had +subsisted, was a pleasure that those alone who have been in a similar +situation can properly estimate. He appeared on his part no less happy +to see me, whom he supposed to be dead, as the account of our capture +had been received in England some time before his sailing, and all my +friends supposed me to have been murdered. From this young man I +received every attention and aid that a feeling heart interested in the +fate of another could confer. He supplied me with a new suit of clothes +and a hat, a small sum of money for my necessary expenses, and a number +of little articles for sea stores on my voyage to America. I also gave +him a letter for my father, in which I mentioned my wonderful +preservation and escape through the humanity of Captain Hill, with whom +I should return to Boston. This letter he enclosed to his father by a +ship that was just sailing, in consequence of which it was received much +earlier than it otherwise would have been. + +We left China in February 1807, and, after a pleasant voyage of one +hundred and fourteen days, arrived at Boston. My feelings on once more +finding myself in a Christian country, among a people speaking the same +language with myself, may be more readily conceived than expressed. In +the post office in that place I found a letter for me from my mother, +acknowledging the receipt of mine from China, expressing the great joy +of my family on hearing of my being alive and well, whom they had for a +long time given up for dead, and requesting me to write to them on +receiving her letter, which I accordingly did. While in Boston I was +treated with much kindness and hospitality by the owners of the ship +_Boston_, Messrs. Francis and Thomas Amory of that place, to whom I feel +myself under great obligations for their goodness to me, and the +assistance which they so readily afforded a stranger in distress. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[137] This seems another variant of Klaosaht. + +[138] These are doubtless the Hydahs and their kindred, the women of +whom insert a wooden or ivory trough in their lower lip. + +[139] Lewis and Clark reached the mouth of Columbia River on the 15th of +November 1805, and wintered at "Fort Clatsop," as they called their +dwelling among the then numerous Clatsop Indians, until the 23rd of +March 1806, when they began the return journey. The Indians have long +ago vanished from the lower Columbia, the remnant of the Clatsops, and +the Chinooks on the opposite side, now wearing out the tribal existence +in inland Reservations. But it is still possible to come across one of +the medals which the explorers distributed amongst them. + +[140] It is clear, therefore, from this statement that Lewis and Clark +had left Fort Clatsop much more than a fortnight before the vessel in +which Jewitt was arrived there; for it is impossible to suppose that the +latter took from April to November to get at spars and make the return +voyage to Nootka. But the journal of Lewis and Clark was not published +until 1814, so that, when Jewitt wrote, he had no ready means of +checking the Indians' statement, though neither he nor his editor seems +to have troubled books much. + +[141] The cavalier manner in which Jewitt abandons his family is quite +in the fur-trader's fashion. It does not seem that he even asked to see +his Indian "princess!" + +[142] If Jewitt's information about the departure of Lewis and Clark +from the Columbia River is even approximately accurate, the date must be +wrong by a year, and the subsequent one quite as far out of the due +reckoning. 1806 may be a misprint for 1807. + + + + +APPENDIX + + +I. THE "BOSTON'S" CREW + + Names of the Crew of the Ship _Boston_, belonging to Boston in + Massachusetts, owned by Messrs. F. and T. Amory, Merchants of + that place--All of whom, excepting two, were on the 22nd of + March, 1803, barbarously murdered by the savages of Nootka. + + John Salter, of Boston, Captain. + B. Delouisa, Ditto, Chief Mate. + William Ingraham, of New York, Second Mate. + Edward Thompson, of Blyth (England), Boatswain. + Adam Siddle, of Hull, ditto, Carpenter. + Philip Brown, of Cambridge (Mass.), Joiner. + John Dorthy, of Situate, ditto, Blacksmith. + Abraham Waters, of Philadelphia, Steward. + Francis Duffield, of Penton (England), Tailor. + John Wilson (blackman), of Virginia, Cook. + William Caldwell, of Boston, Seaman. + Joseph Miner, of Newport, Ditto. + William Robinson, of Leigh[143] (Scotland), Ditto. + Thomas Wilson, of Air,[144] ditto, Ditto. + Andrew Kelly, Ditto, ditto, Ditto. + Robert Burton, of the Isle of Man, Ditto. + James M'Clay, of Dublin, Ditto. + Thomas Platten, of Blackney, Norfolk, Eng. Ditto. + Thomas Newton, of Hull, " Ditto. + Charles Bates, of St. James Deeping, " Ditto. + John Hall, of Newcastle, " Ditto. + Samuel Wood, of Glasgow (Scotland), Ditto. + Peter Alstrom, Norwegian, Ditto. + Francis Marten, Portuguese, Ditto. + Jupiter Senegal (blackman) Ditto. + John Thompson, Philadelphia, Sail Maker, + who escaped--since dead. + John R. Jewitt, of Hull (England), Armourer, + +the writer of the Journal from whence this Narrative is taken, and who +at present, March 1815, resides in Middletown, in the State of +Connecticut. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[143] Leith. + +[144] Ayr. + + + + +II. WAR-SONG OF THE NOOTKA TRIBE + +_Commencing with a Chorus repeated at the end of each line._ + + Hah-yee hah yar har, he yar hah. + Hah-yah hee yar har--he yar hah. + Iye ie ee yah har--ee yie hah. + Ie yar ee yar hah--ee yar yah. + Ie yar ee I yar yar hah--Ie yar ee yee yah! + + Ie-yee ma hi-chill at-sish Kla-ha--Hah-ye-hah. + Que nok ar parts arsh waw--Ie yie-yar. + Waw-hoo naks sar hasch--Yar-hah. I-yar hee I-yar. + Waw hoo naks ar hasch yak-queets sish ni-ese, + Waw har. Hie yee ah-hah. + +Repeated over and over, with gestures and brandishing of weapons. + + +_Note._ + +_Ie-yee ma hi-chill_ signifies, "Ye do not know." It appears to be a +poetical mode of expression, the common one for "You do not know" being +_Wik-kum-atash_; from this, it would seem that they have two languages, +one for their songs and another for common use. The general meaning of +this first stanza appears to be, "Ye little know, ye men of Klahar, what +valiant warriors we are. Poorly can our foes contend with us, when we +come on with our daggers," etc. + +The Nootkians have no songs of an historical nature, nor do they appear +to have any tradition respecting their origin.[145] + + +FOOTNOTE: + +[145] That is not quite true. They have several of a vague order: one, +for example, is that all the Indians are sprung from Quawteaht and the +Thunder Birds. Another is that all the tribes on the West Coast come +from the west; the different tribes having sprung from the canoes full +of migrants stranded by a storm here and there, and so forth. + + + + +III. A LIST OF WORDS + +_In the Nootkian Language, the most in use._[146] + + + Check-up, Man. + Kloots-mah, Woman. + Noowexa, Father. + Hooma-hexa, Mother. + Tanassis, Child. + Katlahtik, Brother. + Kloot-chem-up, Sister. + Tanassis-check-up, Son. + Tanassis-kloots-mah, Daughter. + Tau-hat-se-tee, Head. + Kassee, Eye. + Hap-se-up, Hair. + Neetsa, Nose. + Parpee, Ears. + Chee-chee, Teeth. + Choop, Tongue. + Kook-a-nik-sa, Hands. + Klish-klin, Feet. + Oop-helth, Sun or Moon. + Tar-toose, Stars. + Sie-yah, Sky. + Toop-elth, Sea. + Cha-hak, Fresh water. + Meet-la, Rain. + Queece, Snow. + Noot-chee, Mountain or hill. + Kla-tur-miss, Earth. + Een-nuk-see, Fire or fuel. + Mook-see, Rock. + Muk-ka-tee, House. + Wik, No. + He-ho, Yes. + Kak-koelth, Slave. + Mah-hack, Whale. + Klack-e-miss, Oil. + Quart-lak, Sea-otter. + Coo-coo-ho-sa, Seal. + Moo-watch, Bear. + So-har, Salmon. + Toosch-qua, Cod. + Pow-ee, Halibut. + Kloos-a-mit, Herring. + Chap-atz, Canoe. + Oo-wha-pa, Paddle. + Chee-me-na, Fish-hook. + Chee-men, Fish-hooks. + Sick-a-minny, Iron. + Toophelth, Cloth. + Cham-mass, Fruit. + Cham-mas-sish, Sweet or pleasant to the taste. + Moot-sus, Powder. + Chee-pokes, Copper. + Hah-welks, Hungry. + Nee-sim-mer-hise, Enough. + Chat-ta-yek, Knife or dagger. + Klick-er-yek, Rings. + Quish-ar, Smoke. + Mar-met-ta, Goose or duck. + Pook-shit-tle, To blow. + Een-a-qui-shit-tle, To kindle a fire. + Ar-teese, To bathe. + Ma-mook-su-mah, To go to fish. + Smootish-check-up, Warrior. + Cha-alt-see klat-tur wah, Go off, or go away. + Ma-kook, To sell. + Kah-ah-pah-chilt, Give me something. + Oo-nah, How many. + Iy ah-ish, Much. + Ko-mme-tak, I understand. + I-yee ma hak, I do not understand. + Em-ma-chap, To play. + Kle-whar, To laugh. + Mac-kam-mah-sish, Do you want to buy. + Kah-ah-coh, Bring it. + Sah-wauk, One. + Att-la, Two. + Kat-sa, Three. + Mooh, Four. + Soo-chah, Five. + Noo-poo, Six. + At-tle-poo, Seven. + At-lah-quelth, Eight. + Saw-wauk-quelth, Nine. + Hy-o, Ten. + Sak-aitz, Twenty. + Soo-jewk, One hundred. + Hy-e-oak, One thousand. + + +FOOTNOTE: + +[146] Most of the words in this vocabulary are given with reasonable +correctness, though the transliteration is somewhat primitive. A fuller +and more accurate one may be found in the Appendix to Sproat's _Scenes +and Studies of Savage Life_ (1868), pp. 295-309, so that it is not +necessary to annotate the present one. Those in Cook's _Voyage_ and in +Dawson and Tolmie's _Comparative Vocabularies of the Indian Tribes of +British Columbia_ (1884), are short and imperfect. I have a much fuller +one in manuscript. + + + + +INDEX + + + PAGE + +Aht Indians, The, 19 +---- The various tribes of, 23 + +A-y-chart, Journey to, 193 +---- Natives, conflict with, 194 + + +Bear, Capture of the, 164 +---- Management of the, 163 + +Boston, Arrival at, 244 +---- Reception at, by friends, 245 + +_Boston_, The-- + Burning of, 83 + Capture of, 32, 64 + List of crew of, 247 + Murder of crew of, 68 + + +Canoes, Description of, 124 + +Cayuquets, The, 136 + +China, Arrival at, 244 + +Celebration, A religious, 205 + +Climate, 221 + +Cook and Vancouver, 38 + +Cooptee, Town of, 145, 168 + + +Death, Indian customs observed at, 173 + + +Feast, An Indian, 80 + +Fruit, Various kinds of, 162 + + +Geese, Mode of capture of, 208 + + +Herring, Mode of capture of, 171 + +Hull, Leave-taking at, 51 + + +Klaizzarts, The, 132 + +Kla-oo-quates, The, 134 + +Kletsup Root, Description of, 167 + + +Ife-waw, Method of securing, 116 + + +Jewitt-- + Birth of, 43 + Domestic management, 204 + Early life of, 44 + Illness of, 212 + Marriage of, 201 + Parentage of, 43 + Proposal to release, 232 + Proposal to murder, 214 + Reception of, by savages, 70 + Received by Captain Hill, 235 + Sufferings from cold, 211 + Suspicions of, by Maquina, 228 + Termination of captivity, 234 + +Journal, Jewitt's, Commencement of, 89 + + +King, Privileges of the, 215 + + +Language, Commencement to learn, 93 + +_Lydia_, The, Arrival of, 224 +----Departure of, 241 +----Letter to captain of, 227 + + +_Manchester_, The, 154 + +Maquina--, 59, 188 + Capture and Imprisonment of, 229 + Council concerning, 236 + Release of, 238 + Visit of, to the _Lydia_, 243 + +Mooachats, The, 38 + +Moon, Eclipse of the, in 1805, 208 + + +Newchemass, The, 136 + +Native, Indecent burial of a, 212 + +Natives, Intercourse with, 58 + +Nettinahts, The, 21 + +Nootka Sound, 28, 95 +---- ---- Return to, 72 +---- ---- Voyage to, 53 + +Nootkians, The-- + Complexion and physique, 113 + Diseases of, 220 + Dress of, 105 + Filthiness of, 187 + Food of, 110 + General conduct of, 225 + Houses of, 97 + Mode of living of, 108 + Musical instruments of, 129 + Ornaments and decorations of, 115, 117 + Personal appearance of, 112 + Religion of, 216 + Slaves of, 130 + Sports of, 120 + Superstitions of, 217 + War-song of, 248 + +Nootkian language, List of words, 249 + + +Porpoises, Sea, Capture of, 56 + + +Quahootze, The celebration of, 165 + + +Salmon, Method of capture of the, 121, 148 + +Salter, Captain John, 48, 55 + +Savages, Treatment of, by English Commanders, 156, 161 + +Savagedom in Western Vancouver, 16 + +Sea-otter, Description of the, 120 + +Sundays at Nootka, 142 + + +Tashees, 147 + +Thompson-- + Escape by stratagem of, 74 + Escape from death of, 90 + Reception of, by crew of the _Lydia_, 232 + +Tootoosch-- + Description of, 174 + Death of, 181 + Funeral of, 182 + Singular Derangement of, 176 + +Toowinnakinnish, 235, 240 + +Trade, Articles of, 137 + +Tribes, Arrival of neighbouring, 77 + +Twins, Custom at birth of, 218 + + +Ulatilla, 198 + +Upquesta, Town of, 168 +----Reception at, 169 + + +War, Preparations for, with the A-y-charts, 192 + +Whale, Method of capture of, 122, 178 + +Whale-oil, Method of procuring, 179 + +Whaling, Observances preparatory to, 180 + +Wickinninish Native, Insult of, 191 + +Wife, Departure of Jewitt's, 213 + +Wooden-lips, The, 241 + + +Yama fruit, Species of, 161 + +Yealthlower, Cruelty of, 207 + + +MORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. + + + + + _CLEMENT WILSON'S PUBLICATIONS._ + + The Investors' Review. + EDITED BY A. 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