The Adventures of John Jewitt
by John Rodgers Jewitt · English · Gutenberg #38010 · 399,882 chars · public domain (US)
The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Adventures of John Jewitt
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States,
you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
before using this eBook.
Title: The Adventures of John Jewitt
Author: John Rodgers Jewitt
Editor: Robert Brown
Release date: November 14, 2011 [eBook #38010]
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38010
Credits: 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)
*** 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:
(https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/38010/pg38010-images.html)
or
(https://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 o
Showing first 200,000 characters. Full text: gutenberg.org/ebooks/38010