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NARRATIVE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ADVENTURES AND SUFFERINGS 
 
 OP 
 
 iJOHN JR. tTEWFITT^ 
 
 O^LY SURVIVOR OF THE CREW OF THE 
 
 SHIP BOSTON, 
 
 DURING A CAPTIVITY OF NEARLY THREE YEARS 
 
 AMONG THE 
 
 SAVAGES OF NOOTKA SOUND: 
 
 WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 MJNNERS, MODE OF LIVING, AND RELIGIOUS 
 OPINIONS OF THE NATIVES. 
 
 •ne representing the Ship in possession of the Savages, and the 
 other a Portrait of the- Indian Chief Maqtiina, 
 
 ** Dire scenes of horror on a savage shore, 
 ** In which, a witness sad, a part I bore." 
 
 MIDDLETOWN: 
 
 PRINTED BY LOOMIS AND RICHARDS, 
 
 And Re-printed by Rojtland IIvrst, Wakefield; 
 
 AND FUBLISH£D BY THOMAS TFGG, CHEAPSIDE, LONDON; AND 
 SOLD BY ALL BOOKSELLERS^,- 
 

 M 
 
 ©fttrfct of Comtecttcttt, 0gr* 
 
 BE IT REMEMBERED; That 
 on the eighth day af March^ in the 
 ikirty-nnth year of the Independence 
 
 of the United States of America^ John R. Jewitt, 
 of the said District^ hath deposited in this office^ 
 the title of a Book, the right whereof he claims as 
 proprietor, in the ins or ds following, to wit, 
 
 A narrative of the adventures and sufferings of 
 John R. Jezeitt; only survivor of the crezo of the 
 ship Boston, during a captivity of nearly three 
 years among the savages of Nootka Sound: With 
 an account of the manners, mode of living, and 
 religious opinions of the natives. Embellished with 
 two plates, representing the ship in possesion of the 
 savages, and a portrait of their chief, Maquina. 
 
 *' Dire scenes of horror on a savage shore, 
 *' In which a witness sad, a part 1 bore." 
 
 Jn conformity to an act of the Congress of the' 
 
 United States, entitled, " An Act for the encou- 
 
 ** ragement of learning, by securing the copies 
 
 *' of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the proprietors 
 
 *' oj such copies, during the times therein men' 
 
 »< Honed:' 
 
 HENRY W. EDWARDS, 
 
 Clerk of the District of Connecticut. 
 
 A (rue copy ofrecoi'd, examined and sealed by me^ 
 HExNRY W.EDWARDS, 
 Clerk of the District of Connecticut. 
 
To the JEnglish Reader. 
 
 The following very interesting work 
 has passed through many editions in 
 America, and there can be no doubt 
 but it will excite much sympathy in this 
 country ; more especially as the hero 
 of the narrative was a native of Great 
 Britain. 
 
 The editor of this edition received 
 the copy from the hands of Mr. Jewitt, 
 the author, at Middletown, in the State 
 of Connecticut, in which town he has 
 been some time advantageously settled 
 in business, and at whose house the edi- 
 tor has spent many pleasant hours. His 
 companion in misfortunes, Thompson, 
 on his arrival at Boston, immediately 
 went to Philadelphia, his native place. 
 
IT 
 
 where he was soon after taken ill and 
 died. 
 
 We have many books of fiction in 
 our language, which have been forages 
 read with much avidity by our youth ; 
 many of them, with all the aid of fiction, 
 certainly not equally interesting with 
 this well authenticated narrative. 
 
 Tn many parts the mode of expres- 
 sion in the narrative, might, perhaps, 
 have been improved, but the editor 
 has thought it best for the author to 
 speak at all times for himself. 
 
OF 
 
 JOHN R.JEWITT. 
 
 X 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 child- 
 ren, was very particular in paying every atten- 
 tion 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 io have 
 us instructed in whatever might render us useful 
 and respectable in society. My brothet, who was 
 * B ' 
 
four years older than myself and of a more hardy 
 coDsitution, he destined for his own trade, but 
 to me he had resolved to give an education supe- 
 rior 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, teading, 
 and arithmetic, and obtained a pretty good know- 
 ledge of navigation and of surveying; but my 
 progress in Latin was slow, not only owing to the 
 little inclination 1 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 con- 
 sent, I wholly relinquished the study. 
 
 The period of my «tay 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 pu- 
 pils, who took delight in his instruction, and to 
 whom he allowed €very proper amusement, that 
 consisted with attention to their studies. 
 
One of the principal pleasures I enjoyed was ia 
 attending the fair, which is regularly held twice a 
 year at Donniogton, in the spring and in the fall, 
 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 1 felt at the various shows, exhibi- 
 tions of wild beasts, and other entertainments that 
 they presented; I was^fr*»quently visited by my fa- 
 ther, 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 60 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 Donningfon, a very wealthy man, who, 
 having no children of his own, was very fond of 
 B 2 
 
8 
 
 his nephew, and on his account I was always 
 a welcome visitor at the house. I had a good 
 voice, and an ear for masic, to which I was al- 
 >vay8 passionately attached, though my father en- 
 deavoured to discourage this propensity, considering 
 It, (as is too frequently the case) but an introduc- 
 tion to a life of idleness and dissipation, and hav- 
 ing been remarked for ray singing at church, 
 which was regularly attended on Sundays and 
 festival days by the scholars, Mr. Morthrop, my 
 iriend Rice's uncle, used frequently to request me 
 t.o sing ; he was always pleased with my exhibitions 
 of this kind, audit 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, wiien my father, thinking that 1 had re- 
 ceived a sufficient education for the profession he 
 intended me for, took me from school at Donning- 
 ton in order to apprentice me to Doctor Mason, a 
 surgeon of eminence at Reasby, in the neighbour- 
 hood of the celebrated Sir Joseph Banks. 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 inteuded apprenticeship. The 
 disinclination I ever had fell for the profession my 
 father wished me to pursue, was still further in- 
 creased on my retuin. When a child I v^as al- 
 ways fond of being in the shop, among the work- 
 men, endeavouring to imitate what I saw them 
 do; this disposition so far increased after my leav- 
 ing 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 pursuade him to give up this plan 
 and learn me his own trade, that he at last con- 
 iented. 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 natnral 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 aroia* 
 ble and sensible woman. 
 
 B 3 
 
10 
 
 Aboata year after I had commenced this appren- 
 tieship, my father finding that he could carry oq 
 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 influ- 
 enced 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 numer- 
 ous workmen, particularly in vessel work. This 
 naturally leading me to an acquaintance with the 
 sailors on board sQme of the ships : the many re- 
 markable 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 ia 
 me to visit foreign countries, which was encreased 
 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 
 roan. At this period a circumstance occured which 
 aS'orded me the opportunity I had for some time 
 wished, of gratifying my ioclinatioa of going 
 abroad. . 
 
 Among oar principal customers at Hull, were 
 the Americans who frequented that port, and from 
 whose conversation, my father as well as myself 
 formed the most favorable opiDion of that coud- 
 
11 
 
 try, as affording an excellent field for the exertions 
 of industry, and a flattering prospect for tlie esfab* 
 lishment of a young man iu life. In the summer 
 of the year 1802, during the peace between Eng- 
 land and France, the ship Boston, belonging to 
 Boston, in Massachusetts, and commanded h» 
 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-N^est 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 60 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, 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 io, 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, ami 
 
12 
 
 places of bad resort, equally destructive of the 
 health and morals, while the stage frequently fur- 
 Dishes excellent iessoas of morality aad 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 J 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"? 1 
 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 oii 
 to let you go, and as I want an expert smith for an 
 armourer, the one I have shipped for that purpose 
 Bot being sufficiently master of bis trade, I have 
 DO doubt that you will answer my turn well, as I 
 perceive you are both active and ingeDious, and 
 OQ 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 
 coDseut. He accordingly the next evening that he 
 
13 
 
 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 advan- 
 tageous 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 fel- 
 low, like myself, confined to a small shop in Eng- 
 land, when if I had tolerable success, I might 
 do 80 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 Capt. Salter 
 for that purpose, should be laid out by him on the 
 North-west coast Jn the purchase of furs for my 
 account, to be disposed of in China for such goods 
 as would yield a profit on the return o^the ship; 
 my father being solicitous to give me every advan- 
 tage 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 befel us, not only 
 blasted all these hopes, but involved me in ex- 
 treme distress and wretchedness for a long period 
 after. 
 
14 
 
 The ship having undeT-gone a tliorough repair 
 and been well coppered, proceeded to take on board 
 her cargo, which consisted of English cloths, Dutch 
 blankets, looking glasses, beads, knives, razors, 
 &c. 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, fru- 
 gal, and temperate, and you will not fail, in what- 
 soever 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 
 befal 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 re- 
 peated 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, en- 
 joining me to write him by the first opportunity 
 that should offer to England, from whatever part 
 
IS 
 
 of the world I might be in, more particiiiarly on 
 my arrival iu Boston. This 1 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 alTectionatc 
 farewell to my brother, sister, and step-mother, 
 who expressed the greatest solicitude for my fu- 
 ture fortune, went on board the ship, which 
 proceeded to the Downs, to be ready for the first 
 favourable wind. I found myself well accommo- 
 dated on board as regarded my work, an iron forge 
 Slaving 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. 
 
 On the third day of September, 1 802, we sail- 
 ed 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 iu wet and stormy weather I was oc- 
 
16 
 
 €upied below iu Cling and polishing theni. 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 io 
 and making sail. As I had never before been out of 
 sight of laud, I cannot describe my sensations, 
 after I had recovered from the distressing eflfecfrs 
 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 tumul- 
 tary motions the walery 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 wefuld 
 plunge us at once into the abyss, our gratitude 
 ought strongly to be excited towards that super- 
 intending 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 on 
 the coast of Brazils, where the Captain had de* 
 termined 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 
 
17 
 
 retarned. 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 ia 
 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 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 tweaty-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, expriencing very 
 rough and tempestuous weather in doubling it. 
 
 Immediately after passing. Cape Horn, all oar 
 dangers and ditHcultles seemed to be at an end; the 
 weather became fine, and so little labour was ne* 
 tjessary on board the ship^ that the men soon reco- 
 vered from their fatigue and were in excellent 
 npirits. A few days after we fell in with au Eng- 
 lish South Sea Whaling Ship, homeward bound, 
 which was the only vessel we spoke with on 
 C 
 
18 
 
 our voyage. We now took the trade wind or 
 monsoon, during which we enjoyed the finest wea- 
 ther possible, 80 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 appear- 
 ed the happiest of any people in the world. 
 
 Captain Salter, who had been for many years 
 in the East-India trade, was a ^ost excellent 
 seaman, and preserved the strictest order and disci- 
 pline on board his ship, though he was a maa 
 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 tine band of music, with which on Saturday 
 nighty, 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 experi- 
 enced in traversing the Southern Ocean. As for 
 myself, during the day I was constantly occupied 
 at my forge, in refiUiag or. repairing some of the 
 iron work of the vessel, but principally in mak- 
 ing tomahawks, daggers, &c. for the North West 
 coast. 
 
 During the first part of oar voyage we saw 
 scarcely any fish, excepting some whales, a few 
 
19 
 
 •harks, and flying fish ; but after weathering Cape 
 Horn ue met with numerous shoals of sea por- 
 poises, 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 shaol of these fish presents a very striking 
 and singular appearance ; beheld at a distance com- 
 ing 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 theni 
 take their stand at the bow and along the gunwale 
 anxiously awaiting the welcome troop as they 
 come, gamboling and blowing around the vessel, 
 in search of food. When pierced with the har- 
 poon and drawn on board, unless the fish is in- 
 stantly 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 to 
 this fish; I was told by some of the crew, that if 
 one of them happens to free itself from the grains or . 
 C 2 
 
20 
 
 harpooos, when sfnick, 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 any thing 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 extreraitieft 
 fifteen feet. One thing, however, I must not omit 
 mentioning, as it struck me in a most singular 
 and extraordinary manner. This was, that oa 
 passing Cape Horn in December, which was mid* 
 summer in that climate, the nights were so light, 
 without any moon, that we found no difficulty 
 whatever in reading small print which we fre- 
 quently did during our watches. 
 
 In this manner, with a fair wind and easy wea« 
 tber 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 m%de Woody Point in Nootka Sound on the 
 North-west Coast of America. We immediately 
 stood up the Sound for Nootka, where Captain 
 
21 
 
 Salter Bad 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 
 risque 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 dis- 
 covered 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 hauser to 
 the trees. 
 
 On the morning of the next day, the 13th, seve- 
 ral 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 
 OS, and with great seeming cordjality, 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 
 C 3 
 
22 
 
 appearance, so difTerent from any people that I 
 had hitherto seen, excited in me strong feelings of 
 surprize and curiosity. I was, however, particu- 
 larly struck with the looks of their king, who was 
 a man of a dignified aspect, about six feet in height 
 and extremely strait 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 peo- 
 ple; his complexion was of a dark copper hue, 
 though his face, legs, and arms were, on this occa- 
 sion, so covered with red paint, that their natural 
 colour could scarcely be perceived, his eye-brows 
 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 un- 
 becoming, 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^ and has some resemblance to straw mat- 
 ting, these are nearly square afid have two holes 
 in the upper part large enough to adroit the arms-^ 
 
23 
 
 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 coasts 
 
 Maquina had learned the signification of a num- ' 
 
 ber 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 caa 
 
 offer thenL 
 
 As there are seldom many furs to be purchased 
 at this place and it was not fully the season, Capt* 
 Salter had put in here not so much with an expec- 
 tation of trading as to procure an ample stock 
 of wood and water for the supply of the ship on 
 the coast, thinkiog it more prudent to take it oa 
 board at Nootka, from the generally friendly 
 disposition of the people, thaa to endanger the 
 
u 
 
 safety of his men in sending them on shorie for 
 that purpose among (he 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 oo 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 re- 
 fitting the rigging, repairing the sails, &c. when we 
 proceeded to take in our wood and water as expe- 
 ditiously as possible, during which time I kept my- 
 self busily employed in repairing the muskets, 
 making knives, tomaxes, &c. and doing such iron 
 work as was wanted for the ship. 
 
 Meantime more or less of the natives came ojj 
 board of us daily, bringing with them fresh salmon 
 with which they supplied us in great plenty, re- 
 ceiving 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 
 gecnre from any attack, 
 
 Ob the 15th the king came on board with seve- 
 ral of his chiefs ; he was dressed as before in his 
 magnificent otter skin robe, having his face highly 
 painted, and his hair tossed off with the white down 
 which looked like snow ; his chiefs were dressed in 
 
2& 
 
 mantles of the coantry cloth of its natcural colour, 
 which is a pale yellow ; these were ornamented 
 with a broad border, painted or wroaght ia figures 
 of several colours, representing naen*s heads, va- 
 rious animals, &c. and secured around them by a 
 belt like that of the king from which it was distin- 
 guished 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 tex- 
 ture, and painted red, of one uniform colour. 
 
 Caj^tain 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 ia 
 molasses, they had also a ^reat liking for tea and 
 co£fee, when well sweetened. As iron weapons 
 and tools of almost every kind are in much request 
 among them, whenever thsy 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 
 lirought us furnished a most deliciooi treat to. 
 
26 
 
 Bien who for a ]ong time had lived wholly on salt 
 provisions excepting such few sea fish as we had 
 the good fortune occasionally to take. We in- 
 deed feasted most luxuriously, and flattered our- 
 selves that we should not want while on the coast 
 for plenty of tVesh provisions, little imagining the 
 fate that awaited us, and that this dainty food was 
 to prove the unfortunate lure to our destruction I 
 
 On the ]9th, the king came again on board, and 
 was invited by the Captain to dine with him. He 
 had much conversation with Captain Salter, and in- 
 formed him that there were plenty of wild ducks 
 and geese near Friendly Cove, on which the Cap- 
 tain made him a present of a double-barrelled fowl- 
 ing piece, with which he appeared to be greatly 
 ple&sed, and soon after went on shore. 
 
 On the 20th we were nearly ready for our depar- 
 ture, having taken in what wood and water we 
 were in want of. 
 
 The next day Maqaina came on board with nine 
 pair of wild ducks, as a present, at the same time 
 be bronght with him the gun, one of the locks of 
 which he had broken, telling the Captain that it 
 wsispeshak, 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 
 
27 
 
 the king a liar, adding other opprobrious term*, 
 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 Cap- 
 tain addressed to him. He said not a word in 
 reply, but his countenance sufficiently expressed 
 the rage he felt, though he exerted himself to sup- 
 press it, and I observed hira while the Captaia 
 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 choaking him. He sooa 
 after went on shore with his men, evideatly much 
 discomposed. 
 
 On the morning of the 22d, the natives came off 
 to us as usual with salmon, and remained on board ; 
 when about noon xMaquina came along side, with 
 a considerable number of his chiefs and tiien in tliejr 
 canoes, who after going through the customary 
 examination, were admitted into the sh?p. He 
 had a whistle in his hand, and over his face a 
 very ugly mask of wood, represeai*rig the head of 
 some wild beast, appeared to be remarkably good 
 humoured and gay, and whilst his people sung 
 
28 
 
 and capered about the deck, entertaioiDg us with 
 a variety of antic trick and gestures, he blew his 
 whistle to a kind of tune which seemed to regu- 
 late their motions. As Captain Sailer 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 then 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 pro- 
 cure a quantity. Macquina and his chiefs staid 
 and dined on board, and after dinner the chief mate 
 went oflf 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 Cap- 
 tain'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 long boat, which, in a few 
 minutes after, was succeeded by a great bustle 
 and confusion on deck T immediately ran up 
 the steerage stairs, but scarcely was my head 
 above deck, when I was caught by the hair by 
 
29 
 
 #ne of the savages, and lifted from my feet; for- 
 fuaately for me, ray hair being short, and the rib- 
 bon with which it was iied slipping, I fail from 
 his hold into the steerage. As 1 was falling, he 
 struck at me with an axe, which cwt a deep gash in 
 my forehead, and penetrated the skull, but in conse- 
 quence of his losing his hold, 1 luickily escaped 
 the full force of the blow; which, otherwise, would 
 have cleft my head in two. I fell, stunned 
 aod senseless, upon the floor — how long I conti- 
 nued in this situation I know not, but on recover- 
 ing 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 
 sliouts or yells from the savages, which convinced 
 me that they had got posession 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 ray mind 
 the impression of that dreadful moment. I ex- 
 pected every instant to share the wretched fate of 
 my unforluBate companions*, and when 1 heard the 
 song of triumph, by which these infernal yells was 
 succeeded, my blood ran cold in my veins. 
 
 Having at length sulSciently recovered my senses 
 to look around me, ait»ir wiping the blood from my 
 D 
 
30 
 
 eye»^, 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 arras : while at the same time to 
 prevent any of his men from injuring me, he had 
 the hatch closed. But to me this circumstance wor« 
 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 
 Tery long time, when at length the hatch was open- 
 ed, 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 'veak 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 swpllen from 
 my wound, that it was closed. But what a terific 
 spectacle met ray eyes : six naked savages, stand- 
 ing 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. 
 
31 
 
 The king who. as I have already observed, knew 
 cDough of English to make himself understood, ea 
 tered the circle, and placing himfelf before me, ad- 
 dressed me nearly in the following words — ^* John 
 — I speak — you no say no — You say no- — daggers 
 come V 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 otler 
 questions, to ail 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 alid feet to show 
 my submission to him, which 1 did.-— In the mean 
 time 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 w ith them ; but the king, in 
 the most determined manner, opposed their w ishes, 
 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 at- 
 tack, I was without my coat, and what with the 
 coldness of the weather, my feebleness from loss 
 of blood, the pain of ray wound an4 the extreme 
 agitation and terror that I still felt, I shooklike a 
 leaf, which the king observing, went into the ca- 
 bin, and .bringing up a great coat that belonged 
 to the captain, threw it over my shoulders, telling 
 me to drink some rum from a bottle v^hich he 
 D 3 
 
82 
 
 handed me, at the same time giving me to under- 
 stand that it would be good for me, and keep me 
 from trembling as I did. I took a draught of it, 
 Rl'ter which, taking me by the hand, he led me 
 to the quarter deck, where the most horrid sight 
 presented itself that ever my eyes witnesed — the 
 heads of our unfortunate captain and his crew, 
 to the number of twenty-five, were all arranged 
 in a line, and Maquina ordering one of his people 
 to bring a head, asked me whose it was : I an- 
 swered, the captain's; in like manner the others 
 -were shewed me, and I told him the names, ex- 
 cepting a few that were so horribly mangled that 
 I was not able to recognize 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 them- 
 selves 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, 
 find cutting off their heads, brought them on board, 
 after throwing their bodies into the sea : On look- 
 ing 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 sa- 
 vages having seized the opportunity while they 
 \rere busy in hoisting in the boat, to grapple with 
 
3^ 
 
 them, and overpower them by their numbers ; in 
 the scuflSe the captain was thrown overboard, 
 and dispatched by those in the canoes, who imme- 
 diately 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 ray 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 
 1o loose the sails, which they performed in a very 
 bungling manner. But they succeeded so far la 
 loosing the jib and top-sails, that, with the advan- 
 tage 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. 
 
 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 thej roofs and sides of their houses, 
 
 D 3 
 
34 
 
 in which they had also stuck a great number of 
 lighted pine torches, to welcome their king's re- 
 turn, and congratulate him on the success of his 
 enterprize. 
 
 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 ifiy 
 bead in an encouraging and soothing manner, 
 with words expressive of condolence. How sweet 
 is compassion even from savages I Those who 
 have been in a similar situation, can alone truly 
 appreciate its value. 
 
 In the mean time, all the warriors of the tribe, 
 to the number of five hundred, 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 dissa- 
 tisfied 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 woald not break his word ; and 
 
35 
 
 that besides, I knew how to repair and to make 
 arms, and siiould be of great use to them. 
 
 The king then seated me by him, and ordered 
 his women to bring him something to eat, wheo 
 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 gloomines of my reflections, that I should 
 have felt very little inclination for eating. 
 
 Not satisfied ^^ith 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 himj he returned my attentions with 
 ''1 
 
36 
 
 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 atten- 
 tion 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 roe 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 Ma- 
 quina communicated to me, giving me to under- 
 gtand thai 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 ray 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 
 
S7 
 
 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 preserva- 
 tion, it all at once came into my mind that this 
 man was probably th« 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 t- 
 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 Maquiua to spare his life. To- 
 wards morning I fell into a doze, 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 ob 
 board the ship, and ordered me to accompany him. 
 I rose and followed him, leading with me the young 
 prince, his bod. 
 
 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 deter- 
 ninatiou he made known to me. Having arranged 
 
 ''W^^: 
 
38 
 
 My plan, » I asked him, pointing to the boy, whons 
 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 peopl* 
 what I had said, and ordered me to go on board, 
 and tell the man to come on shore. To my un- 
 speakable joy, on going into the hold, I found 
 that my conjecture was true. Thomson 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 scu£Be. 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 In- 
 
39 
 
 ^ian who came on board iu tiie night, approaching 
 the place where he was, he supposed himself dis- 
 covered, and being determined to sell his life a« 
 Nearly as possible, as soon as he came within h^s 
 reach, he knocked him down, but the Indian imme- 
 diately 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 sup- 
 position 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 
 sailmaker, 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 t© 
 eat. 
 
 On the 24th and 25th, the natives were busily 
 employed'iR taking the cargo out of the ship, strip- 
 ping her of her sails and rigging, cutting away the 
 spars and masts, and in short, rendering her as com- 
 plete a wreck as possible, them uskets, ammunition, 
 
 cloth, and all tlie priacipal 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 
 
40 
 
 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 tliese people, fondly indulging the hope 
 that it would not be long before some vessel would 
 arrive to release us. 1 likewise found in the cabin, 
 a small volume of sermons, a bible, and a common- 
 prayer book of the Church of England, which fur- 
 nished me and my comrade great consolation in ttie 
 midst of our mournful servitude, and enabled me, 
 under the favour of Divine Providence, to sup- 
 port, with firmness, the miseries of a life which 
 1 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 1 still had the key, I without much ditficulty 
 secured. In this I also put some ^mall tools be- 
 longing to the bhip, with several other articles, 
 
41 
 
 particularly a journal kept by the second mate, Mr. 
 lugiaham, and a collection of drawings and views 
 of places taken by him, which 1 had the good for- 
 tune 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 fn New- 
 York. 
 
 On the 26th, two ships were seen standing in for 
 Friendly Cove. At their first appearance the in- 
 habitants were thrown into great confusion, but 
 soon collecting a number of muskets and blunder- 
 busses, ran to the shore, from whence they kept 
 up so brisk a fire at theia, that they were evidently 
 afraid to approach nearer, and after firing a Te^ 
 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 v^ould give information to others in what 
 manner they htid been received, and prevent them 
 from coming to trade with him. 
 
 A few days after hearing of the capture of the 
 sMp, there arrived at Nootka a great number of 
 canoes filled with savages from no less than twenty 
 E 
 
42 
 
 tribes to the North and South. Among those from 
 the North were the Ai-tiz-zarts, Schoo.mad-it3, 
 Neu-wit-ties, Savin-nars, Ah-owz-arts, Mo-watch- 
 its, Suth-setts, Neu-chad-lits, Mich-la-its and Cay- 
 u-quets; the most of whom were considered as tri- 
 butary to Nootka. From tlie South, the Aytch-arts 
 and Esqui-ates also tributary, with the Kla-oo- 
 quates, and the Wickanuish, a large and powerful 
 tribe about two hundred miles dwtant. 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 bat twenty, 
 four hours od their passage. 
 
 Maquina, who was very proud of his Dew ac- 
 quisition, 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 dramming or 
 beating upon the boards with a stick most vio- 
 lently. 
 
 Nothing could be more ludicrous than the ap- 
 pearance of this motly groupe of savages collected 
 
43 
 
 on the shore,, dressed as they were, with their ilU 
 gotten finery, in the most fantastic noanner, some 
 in women's smocks, taken from our cargo, others in 
 Kotsacks^ (or cloaks) of blue, red or yellow broad- 
 cloth, with stockings drawn over their heads, ani! 
 their necks hung round with numbers of powder- 
 horns, shot-bags, and cartouch-boxes, some of them 
 having no less thaa ten muskets a f iece on their 
 shoulders, and five or six dagger* in their girdles. 
 Diverting indeed was it to see them all squatted 
 upon the beach, holding their muskets perpendicu- 
 larly, with the butt pressed upon the sand, instead 
 of against their shoulders, and in this position 
 awaiting the order to fire. Mctqtjkia, at last, cal- 
 led te them with his trumpet. to fire, which they did 
 ia the most awkward and timid manner, with their 
 muskets hard pressed upon the ground aa above- 
 mentioned. At the same moment the cannon was 
 fired by Thompson, immediately on which ihey 
 threw ihemselves back and began to roll and tumble 
 over the sand as if they had been shot, when sud- 
 denly springing up, they began a song of triumph 
 and running backward and for\vard upon the shore, 
 with the wildest gesticulations, boasted of their 
 exploit*, and exhibited as trophies, what they had 
 taken from us. Notwithstanding the unpleasant- 
 ness of my situation, and the feelings that this 
 display ol our spoils excited, I could not avoid 
 laughing at the strange appearance of these la- 
 
44 
 
 rages, their awkward movements, and the sin 
 gular cootrast of their dregs and arms. 
 
 When the ceremony was concluded, Maqufba 
 invited the strangers to a feast at his house, cod- 
 sisting of whale blubber, smoked herring spawn, 
 and dried fish and train oil, of which they eat most 
 plentifully. The feast being over, the trays, out 
 of which they eat, and other things were imme- 
 diately removed to make room for the dance, which 
 was to close the entertainment. This was per- 
 formed by Maquina's son, the young prince Sat- 
 sat-sok-sis, whom I have already spoken of, ia 
 the following manner :— Three of the principal 
 chiefs, drest in their otter-skin mantlei, 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 hiead, to whjch 
 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 
 « small whistle in his mouth and a rattle in his 
 band, with which he kept time to a sort of tune 
 
45 
 
 on his whistle. After passing very rapidJy in this 
 order around the house, each of them seateiJ him- 
 self, 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, 
 Tvhich 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 eRch feat of activity in the 
 dancer, by repeating the words, IVocash! JVocash 
 Ti/ee ! that is good ! very good prince. 
 
 As soon as the dance was finished, Maquina be- 
 gan to give presents to the strangers, in the name 
 of his son Sat-sat-sok-ais. These were pieces of 
 European cloth, generally of a fathom in length, 
 muskets, powder, shot, 6cc. Whenever he gave 
 them any thing, they had a peculiar manner of 
 snatching it from him with a very stern and surly 
 look, repeating ^ each time the words, fVocash 
 Tyee. This I understood to be their custom, and 
 was considered as a compliment, w hich if onnitted, 
 would be supposed as a mark of disregard for the 
 E 3 
 
46 
 
 present. On ihis occasion, Maquina gave away 
 no less than one hundred muskets, the same num- 
 ber of looking-glasses, four hundred yards of cloth, 
 and twenty casks of powder, beside other things. 
 
 After receiving these presents, the strangers re- 
 tired 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 pre- 
 vent the property from being pillaged by them, he 
 ordered Thompson «nd myself to keep guard, dur- 
 ing the night, armed with cutlasses and pistols. 
 
 Tn 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 re- 
 ceived, in return, presents of cloth, &c, 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 friendlp'^isit or to trade, in order 
 to shew, on theijM^^oacb, that their intentions 
 are pacific. '*^^:-. 
 
 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 fire- 
 brand at night ^ the purpose of plunder, som^ 
 
47 
 
 sparks from which fell into the hold, and comiuiz- 
 cicating 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 compa- 
 nioQ and myself, it was a most melancholy sight, 
 for with her disappeared from our eyes every trace 
 of a civilized country •, but the disappointment we 
 experienced, was still more severely felt, for we 
 had calculated on having the provision to oar- 
 selves, which would have furnished us with a stock 
 for years, as whatever is cured with salt, together 
 with most ©f 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 tlio 
 Indiana were not fond of it, proved a great com- 
 fort to OS for some time, and from one of the 
 natives I obtained a nautical almanack, which 
 had belonged io the Captaiay.and vvhich was of 
 great use to me in determining the time. 
 
 About two days after, on exanilning 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 iatefcotirst' 
 
48 
 
 with the whites. This was towards evening, and 
 Maquina having assembled ail 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 frivately 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 ^vere 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 
 eould 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 86 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. Ti}e burning of our ship, 
 which we had lamented so much, as depriving us 
 of so many comfoits, now appeared to us in a 
 very different light, for had the savages got pos- 
 session of the rum, of which there were nearly 
 
4D 
 
 twenty puachtous 6a board, we must inevitably 
 have fallen a sacrifice lo their fury in some of 
 their moments of intoxicatiou. This cask fortu- 
 nately, and a case of gi-i, 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 
 ft small hole to the bottom with a gimblet, which 
 before morning to my great joy completely emp* 
 tied it. 
 
 By this time the wound in my head began to be 
 much bettor, so ilmt 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 safferings, 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 arras, mak- 
 ing use of a large square stone for the aavil, and 
 heating my metal in a common wood fire. This 
 was very gratifying io Maquina, and his women 
 particularly, and secured me their good wiiL 
 
 In the mean ti'rae great numbers from the other 
 tribes kept continually flockipg. io Noolka, bring- 
 ing 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, apd their gluttonous waste, always 
 
50 
 
 eating <o excess when they hare it, regardiesa of 
 the morrow, seldom did the natives experience 
 any want of food during the summer. As to 
 myself and companion, wc 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 an European are very disgusting; but, aa 
 the saying is, hunger will break through stone 
 walla, and we found, at times, in the blubber of 
 sea animals, and the fie^h of tha dog-fish, loath- 
 some as it general 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 cot employed for him, to work for myself in 
 making bracelets and other ornairents of copper, 
 fish-hooks, daggers, &c. 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 Thomp- 
 son, almost always made me a present of an Eu- 
 ropean garment, taken from the ship, or some 
 fathoms of cloth, which were made up by my com- 
 rade, and enabled us to go coipfortably clad for 
 
3ome1iaie, or small buiuiles of penknives, rasors^ 
 scissors, &c. 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 cusioms, par- 
 ticularly 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, era- 
 ployed in boiling down, sea-water into salt, on be- 
 ing told what it was, he was very much dis- 
 pleased, 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 ray 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 by the middle of 
 the mocth. Of this fruit there are great quantities 
 on this coast, and I found them a most deliciouf 
 treat* 
 
My health now had become almost re-estab- 
 lished, my wound being so far healed, that it gave 
 me no fartlier 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 [ 
 gave it, except applying to it two or three times, 
 a little loaf sugar, which Maquina gave me, in 
 order to remove some proud flesb, which prevented 
 it from closing. 
 
 My cure would doubtless have been much sooner 
 effected had I have been in a civilized country, 
 where I could have had it dressed by a surgeon 
 and properly attended to. But alas I I had uj 
 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 misfortuoes, which I indeed 
 experienced from the women, particularly the 
 queen, or favourite wife of Maquina, the mother of 
 Sat sat-soli-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 enquiring in an affectionate man- 
 Bcr, if my head pained me. As for the others. 
 
6S 
 
 some of the chiefs excepted, they caved little what 
 became of me, and probably would have beea gra- 
 tified with my death. 
 
 My health being at length re-established and 
 my wound healed, Thompson became very impor- 
 tunate 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 first 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 tole- 
 rable ink, by boiling the juice of the black-berry 
 with a mixture of finely powdered charcoal and 
 filtering^,it through a cloth. This I afterwards preser- 
 ved 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 diflBculty 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, &c. and 
 which were so tame that I could easily kill them 
 with stones, while a large clam shell furnished me 
 with an ink stand. 
 
 The extreme solicitude of Thompson that«I 
 F 
 
6i 
 
 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 uncom- 
 mon in an America, were we less acquainted with 
 the force of habit, he baving been for many years 
 at sea, and accustomed to consider the keeping of 
 a journal as a thing indispensable. This man was 
 born in Phila|lelphia, 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 arrivail there 
 finding himself in distress, he engaged as an appren- 
 tice 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 fearleis ; indeed so little was his 
 dread of danger, that when irritated he was wholly 
 regardless of his life. Of this the following wili 
 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 Thomp- 
 
 1 
 
66 
 
 gon» 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 suc- 
 eeeded in taking the musket from him and persua- 
 ding him to sit dawn. 
 
 On enquiring into the cause of his auger, 1 learn* 
 ed that while Thompson was lighting the lamps in 
 the king's room, Maquina having subslituted our's 
 for their pine torches, some of the boys began to 
 teaze him, running around him and pulling him by 
 the trowsers, 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 oaring what he did, he struck the priooc 6'> 
 violent a blow in his face with his fist as to knock 
 him down. The sensation excited among the sava- 
 ges 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 on the audacious offender, and had 
 I arrived a few moments later than 1 did, my 
 companion would certainly have paid with his 
 life for his ra^h and violent conduct. I found 
 the utmost difficulty in pacifying Maquina, who 
 F 2 
 
66 
 
 for a long time after could not forgive ThompsoG^ 
 but would repeatedly say, " John, i/ou die — 
 Thompson kill,*' 
 
 But to appease the king was not all that wa8 
 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 1 had gu€-- 
 ceeded 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 iiis 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 consi- 
 dered as a Tyee, or chief himself, in consequence 
 of his having provoked him by calling him a white 
 
67 
 
 slave. This afiFair caused great commotion in tho 
 village, and the tribe was very clamorous for hij» 
 death, but Maquina would not consent. I used 
 frequently to remonstrate with him on the imprii 
 dence 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 ihese savages, to d(t 
 nothing to exasperate them. But all I could say oti 
 this point availed littfe, for so bitter was the hatft 
 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 obli- 
 ged 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 Lad fought ihe 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 
 80 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 aud mode of think- 
 ing, trusting that the same divine goodness that 
 Jbad rescued me from death, would not alwav^ 
 F 3 
 
6& 
 
 sufifer me to languish in captivity among these 
 heathens. With this view, I sought to gain their 
 good-will by always endeavouring to assume a 
 cheerful countenance, appearing pleased with their 
 sports and buffoon tricks, making little ornament» 
 for the wives and children of their chiefs, by which 
 means I became quite a favourite with them, and' 
 fish-hooks, daggers, &c. for themselves. 
 
 As a farther recommendation to their favour, 
 and what might eventually prove of the utmost 
 importance to us, I resolved to learn their lan- 
 guage, which in the course of a few months resi* 
 dence 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 good-will 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 
 J had from them, when they themselves were short 
 of provisions and suffering for the want of them. 
 
59 
 
 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 
 caoking, enter in without ceremony, and ask them 
 for something, which I was never refused. Few 
 nations, indeed, are there so very rude and unfeel- 
 ing, whom constant mild treatment and an atten- 
 tion 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 them* 
 selves civilized, 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. 
 
 The village of Nootka, is situated in between 
 49 and 50 deg. N. lat. at the bottom of Friendly 
 Cove, on the West or North-west side. It con- 
 sists 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? 
 
60 
 
 i« a small harbour of not more thaa 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 liast, and a long point or head land, which 
 extends as much as three leagues into the sound, 
 in nearly a. Westerly direction. 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 pro- 
 duce almost any of our European vegetables ; this 
 is but little more than half a mile in breadth, and 
 is terminated by the sea-coast, which in this place 
 is lined with rocks and reefs, and cannot be ap" 
 proached by ships. The coast in the neighbour- 
 hood of Nootka is in general low, and but little 
 broken into hills and vallies. The soil is good, 
 well covered with fine forests of pine, spruce, beach 
 and other trees, and abounds with streams of the 
 finest water, the general appearance being the 
 same for many miles aroaRd. 
 
61 
 
 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 tur- 
 nips, which afforded us nothing but the tops for eat- 
 ing. 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. With 
 great sorrow, as Maquina told me, did they find 
 themselve-j compelled to quit their ancient place of 
 residence, htkC with eqrar jay did iiiey repossess 
 themselves of it when the Spanish garrison was ex- 
 pelled by the English, 
 
 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 Ti/ee, or chief, who lives in them, each hav- 
 ing 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 
 beiug about one hundred and fifty feet, while the 
 smallest which contain only two families do not ex- 
 ceed forty feet in length, the house of the king is. 
 also distinguished from the others by being higher. 
 
62 
 
 Their method of building, is as follows : they 
 erect Id 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 
 holiowed out at the upper end, they lay a large spar 
 for the ridgepole of tlie building, orif the length of 
 the house requires it, two or more, supporting their 
 ends by similar upright posts ; these spars are some- 
 times 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 circumfereace. M equal distances from these 
 two posts, two others are placed on each side, to 
 form the width of the building; these "^re rather 
 siiC'tSKMS'i/ the ui^^-as^- &a ik 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 com- 
 pletely to exclude the rain. On these they lay 
 large stoned 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 fastenings 
 
63 
 
 «o that in a high storm I have often known all the 
 men obliged to turn out and go upon the roof to pre- 
 vent them from being blown ofT, carrying large 
 stoues 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 wea- 
 ther, 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 io 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 re- 
 quires, by splitting them out, with hard wooden 
 wedges from pine logs^ and afterwards dubbing ttiera 
 down with their chisels, with much patience, to 
 the inickness wanted, rendering them quite 
 smooth. 
 
 There is but one entrance ; this is placed usually 
 at the end, though sometimes in the middle as uas 
 that of Maquiua's. Through the middle of the 
 building from one end to tlie other, runs a passage 
 
6i 
 
 of about eight or nine feet broad, on each side of 
 which, the several families that occupy it, live, 
 each having its particular fire place, but withoutany 
 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 fire place 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 cen- 
 ter 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 orna- 
 ment, and the large posts that supported it had 
 their tops curiously wrought or carved, so as to re- 
 present 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. 
 
 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 parposes, 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, se- 
 cured 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, iu 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 beatea 
 upon a plank, with an instrument made of bone, 
 or some very hard wood, having grooves or hol- 
 lows 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 
 tiiread. These they lay in the air to bleach, and 
 G 
 
66 
 
 afterwards dye them black or red, as suits their 
 fancies, their natural colour being a pale yellow. 
 In order to form the cloth, the womep by whom 
 the whole of this process is performed, take a cer- 
 tain number of these skeins, and twist them to- 
 gether, by rolling them with their hands upon their 
 knees into hard rolls, which are afterwards con- 
 nected by means of a strong thread, made for the 
 purpose. 
 
 Their dress usually consists, of but a single gar- 
 ment, which u a loose cloak or mantle (called 
 Kuisack^ in one piece, reaching nearly to the feet. 
 This is tied loosely over the right or left shoulder, 
 go as to leave the arms at full liberty. 
 
 Those of the common people are painted red 
 with ochre, the better to ke6p out the rain, but the 
 €hiefs 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 which they procure from the 
 tribes to the South, or their own cloth wrought or 
 painted with various figures in red or black, repre- 
 senting 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 tfiis mantle, or Kutsack, around them, 
 which is in general still more highly ornamented, 
 and serves them to wear their daggers and knives 
 
67 
 
 .ia. Iq winter, however, they sometimes make use 
 of aa additional garment, which is a lund of hood, 
 with a hole in it for the purpose of admitting the 
 head, ^d falls over the breast and batk, as low 
 as the shoulders; this is bordered both at top and 
 bottom with fur, and is never worp, 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 
 gea 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 and Kla-iz- 
 zarts. This they prepare by dressing it in warm 
 water, scraping oif the hair and what flesh adheres 
 to it carefully with sharp muscle shells, and spread- 
 ing it out in the sun to dry, on a wooden frame, 
 80 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, &c. 
 
 This skin is called Metamelth, and is probably 
 G 2 
 
68 
 
 got from an animal of the mouse kind, it is highfy 
 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, paint- 
 ed as above, are also sometimes used by them for 
 girdles or the bordering of their cloaks, and also for 
 bracelets and ancle ornaments by some of the infe- 
 rior class. 
 
 On their heads when they go out upon any ex- 
 cursion 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, but is in general of 
 a closer texture and by way of tassel has a long strip 
 of the skin of the Metamelth 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 differant colours. The 
 one worn by the kiug and which serves to designate 
 him from all the others, is longer and broader at the 
 bottom ; the top, instead of being fiat, 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 pre- 
 pared to strike. This bonnet is called Seeya-poks, 
 
 Their mode of living is very simple — their food 
 
09 
 
 consisting almost wholly of fish, or fish 8pawn fresh 
 or dried, the blubber of the whale, seal, or sea- 
 cow, mascles, 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 va- 
 riety in their food, no great secret can be expected 
 io 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 frequent- 
 ly 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 with- 
 ont Rny other preparation than sometimes cutting off 
 the heads, tails and fins, the boiling in the mean 
 time been 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 every thing they eat, no- 
 thing 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 tjalibut, a large fire is kindled, upon which 
 
 they place a bed of stones, which, when the wood 
 
 G 3 
 
70 
 
 is burnt down, becomes perfectly heated. Layers 
 of green leaves or pine boughs, are then placed 
 upon the stones, and the iish, clams, &c. being 
 laid upon them, water is poured over them, and 
 the whole closely covered with mflt?, to keep hi 
 the steam. This is much the best mode of cooking, 
 and clams and muscles done in this manner, are 
 really excellent. 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 dififerent manner; this was 
 by roasting them, the former being supported be- 
 tween 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^ 
 
Tl 
 
 one after the other. The king and chiefs alone 
 have separate trays, from which no one is permitted 
 to eat with them, except the qieen, or principal 
 wife of the chief, and whenever tie king or one of 
 the chiefs wishes to distinguish any of his people 
 with a special mark of fav'oar 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, fareing in this respect 
 as well as their master?, being seated with the fa- 
 mily, and only feeding from separate trays. 
 
 Whenever a feast is given by the king or any of 
 the chiefs, there is^a persoii 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. 
 
 As whenever they cook, they always calculate 
 to have an abundance for all the guests, a profu- 
 gioo ia this respect being considered as the highest 
 
72 
 
 luxury, much more is usually set before them than 
 they caa 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 tiay, and who generally 
 belong to the same fainily. take it iiome as commoa 
 stock, or each one receives his portion, which is 
 distributed on the spot. This custom appeared 
 very singulaii to my companion and myself, and 
 it was a most awkwaul thing for us at first, to 
 have to lug home with us, in our hands or arms, 
 the blnbber or fish that we received at these times, 
 but we soon became reconciled to it, and were very 
 glad of an opportunity to do it. 
 
 In point of personal appearance the people of 
 Nootka are among the best looking of any of the 
 tribe^ that I have seen. The men are in general 
 from about five feet six to five feet eight inches in 
 height; remarkably strait, 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 iliem, though I have seen in- 
 stances in which they Uere 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 cook- 
 ing and other occupations. The only instance of 
 deformity that I saw amongst them was a man of 
 
73 
 
 dvvarfish 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. 
 
 Their complexion, when freed from the paint 
 and oil with which their skins are generally co- 
 vered, is a bi'own, 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 prominjMit ; their hair 
 is black* long and coarse, but they have no beard, 
 completely extirpating it, as well as the hair from 
 their bodies, Maquioa being the only exception, 
 who 8u3"ered his beard to grow on his upper lip, in 
 the manner of raustachioa, 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 un- 
 commonly well formed, tall, and of a majestic 
 
H I 
 
 appearance ; her skin remarkably fair for one of 
 these people, with considerable colour, her features 
 handsome, and her eyes black, soft, and lan- 
 guishing; 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 ; io this they 
 take much pride, frequently oiling and plaiting 
 it carefully into two broad plaits, tying the ends 
 with a atrip 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 mo- 
 dest in their deportment and dress ; their mantle, 
 or Kutsack, which is longer than that of the men, 
 reaching quite to their feet, and completely en- 
 veloping 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 eye-brows 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 ancles, 
 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 brags. 
 
75 
 
 highly polished, and of various forms and sizes; 
 the nose jewel is usnatly a sraail white slieil or 
 bead suspended to a thread. 
 
 The wives of the common people frequently 
 wear for bracelets and ancie rings, strips of the 
 country cloth or skin of the M^tameith painted in 
 figures, and tbo^e of the king or principal chiefs, 
 bracelets and necklaces, consisting of a number of 
 strings of Tfe-waw, an article much prized by them, 
 and which makes a very handsome appearance. 
 This Ife-waw^ as they term it, is d 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 in- 
 ches 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 prin- 
 cipally 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. 
 
 Their mode of taking it has been thus described to 
 me : — To one end of a pole is fastened a piece of 
 
76 
 
 plank, in which a considerable nunnber 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 
 Jfe-waw fishers in those places where that sub- 
 stance is found, which are usually from fifty to 
 sixty fathoms deep. On finding the bottom, they 
 raise the pole up a few feet, and i<t it fall, this 
 they repeat a number of times as if scuoding, when 
 they draw it up, and take olT ihe If e-zcazo which is 
 found adhering to the points. This method of 
 procuring it is very laborious and fatiguing, espe- 
 cially 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 Maqni- 
 na, after having been employed more than an hour 
 in painting his fa<;e, rub the whole off, and re- 
 commence the operation anew, when it did not 
 eBtirely please him. 
 
 The manner in which they paint themselves fre- 
 quently varies, according to the occasion, but it 
 oftener is the mere dictate of whim. The most 
 
7T 
 
 usual method is to paint the eyebrows black, in 
 form of a half moon, and the face red ia small 
 squares, with the arms' and legs and part of ths 
 body red ; sometimes one half of the face is painted 
 red in squares, and the other black; at others, dotted 
 witaspots.of red aad black instead of squares, with 
 a variety of other devices, such as paiating 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 parti- 
 cular 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 resemblino' 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 extraor- 
 dinary occasions, the king and principal chiefs used 
 to strew over their faces, afler painting, a fine black 
 si^iioing powder, procured from some mineral, as 
 :iqu!na told me it was got from the rocks. This 
 they call pelpelth 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 Ne'wchemass, a very savage nation who live a 
 long way to the North, from whom they like-.vise 
 receive a superior kind of red paint, a species of 
 
 ry fine and rich ochre, which they hold ia much 
 
 ■ iination. 
 
 n 
 
I! 
 
 78 
 
 NotvvHhstanding this custom of painting theai- 
 selves, 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 wjish it off, they repair to 
 some piece of fresh water and scour themselves 
 w ith 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. T^he 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 hav- 
 ing 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 io 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 gro- 
 tesque appearance, which they, however, think 
 very becoming, and the first thing they do on 
 learning the arrival of strangers, is to go and de- 
 corate themselves in this manner. 
 
 1 
 
79 
 
 The men also wear bracelets of paioled 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 appella- 
 tiou may be given to the wooden stick which some 
 of them employ for this purpose. The king and 
 chiefs, however, wear them of a dififerent form, 
 being either small pieces of polished copper or brass, 
 of which I made many for them, in tbe shape of 
 hearts and diamonds, or a tw?sted conical shell 
 about half an inch in length of a blueish colour and 
 very bright, which is brought from the South. 
 These are supsended by a small wire or string to the 
 hole, in the gristle of the nose, which is formed in 
 •infancy, by boreing it with a pin, the hole being 
 altervrards ©nlargsfl by the repeated insertion of 
 wooden pegs of an increased size, until it become* 
 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 1 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 oa 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 
 H 2 
 
80 
 
 •ut in this manner, made quite a strange show, and 
 it was his delight, whenever he saw one of them 
 coming towards as with an air of consequence pro- 
 portioned to the length of his stick, to put up hi& 
 liand suddenly as he was passing him, so as to 
 strike the stick, in order, as he said, to hrace hlra 
 up sharp to the wind ; this used to make them 
 very angry, but nothing ^as more remote from 
 Thompson's ideas than a wish to cultivate their 
 favour. 
 
 The natives of Nootka appear to have bat little 
 inclination for the chace, though some of them were 
 expert marksmen, and used sometimes to shoot 
 ducks and geese, hut the seal and the sea-otter 
 form the principal objects of their huaticg, parti- 
 cularly the latter. 
 
 Of this animal, so mifch noted for its valuable 
 ^kin, the following description may not be unin- 
 teresting : The sea-otter is nearly five feet iq 
 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 (he end, which is 
 tipped with white. The colour of the rest is a shin- 
 ing silky black, with the exception of a broad white 
 stripe on the top of the head. Nothing can be 
 more beaatiful 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 abov« 
 
81 
 
 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, ren- 
 der 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 sh(5f*t 
 them with muskets, then when they used only 
 arrows. 
 
 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 feel 
 webbed like those of a goose. They appear to be 
 wholly confined to the sea coast, 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 
 1 have frequently seen them swimming around Jhe 
 mother, when no larger than rats. The flesh is 
 eaten- by the natives, cooked in their usual mode,- by 
 H-3 
 
82 
 
 boiling, and is far pieferable to that of the seal, of 
 which they make much acco-ant. 
 
 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 ex- 
 tremely 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 pre- 
 ferred, 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 follow- 
 ing 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 possi- 
 ble, 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 salmoa of a morning, in this manner, and 
 
83 
 
 have seen from twenty to thirty canoes at a time ia 
 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 whaie sinew, the 
 point being fitted so as to receive a piece of muscle 
 shell, which is ground to a very sharp edge, and 
 secured in its place by means of turpentine. To 
 this head or prong i» fastened a strong lina 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 seal-skin floats 
 or buoys, attached to it at certain intervals, in 
 order to check the motion of the whale, and ob- 
 struct his diving. In the socket of the harpoon a 
 staff or pole of about ten feet long, gradually taper- 
 ing from the middle to each end, is placed ; this 
 the harpooner holds in his hand, ia 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 piesent, is permitted to 
 touch him, until the rayal harpoon has fir^t drawn 
 his blood, however near he may approach; and 
 
84 
 
 it would be considered almost as sacrilege for any 
 of the common people to strike a whale, before he 
 is killed, particularly if any of the chiefs should be 
 present. They also kill the porpoise and sea cow 
 with harpoons, but this inferior game is not inter- 
 dicted the lower class. 
 
 % 
 
 With regard to their canoes, some of the hand- 
 somest to be found on the whole coast are made at 
 Nootka, though very fine ones are brought by the 
 Wickininish and the Kia-iz-zarts, who have them 
 more highly ornamented. They are of all sizes^ 
 from such as are capable of holding only one per- 
 son 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 Macqiiina, which I measured, and found to be 
 forty-tzco feet six inches in length at the bottom, 
 and fortij-six feet from stem to stern. These are 
 made of pine 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 ail of them of that metal. 
 Instead of a mallet for striking this chisel, they 
 saake use of a smooth round stone, which they hold 
 
* 85 
 
 in the palm of the hand. With this saina awk- 
 ward instrument, they not only excavate their 
 canoes and trays, and smooth their plank, 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 treet, as practised by them, ie a 
 slow and most tediong process, three of them being 
 generally from two to three day« in cuttiflf? down a 
 large one; yet go attached were they to their own 
 method, that notwithalanding they saw Thompson 
 frequently with one of cur a>;e8, of which there 
 was a number saved, fell a tree in less time tiiaa 
 Ihey could have g;one round it with their chisels, 
 siill they cotiid aot be persuaded to ttsalie Use of 
 them. 
 
 After hollowing out their canoes, which they do 
 very neatly; they fashion ihe outside, and slightly 
 barn 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 
 fubbing down the bottoms of iheir canoes, is prac- 
 tised as often as they acquire any considerably 
 
86 
 
 Jegvee of roughoess from use. The outside, hf 
 this means, becomes quite black, and to complete 
 their work, they paiot the inside of a bright red, 
 with ochre, or some other similar substance ; the 
 prows and sterns are almost always ornamealed 
 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 ilexible twigs or bark cord. 
 
 Some of these canoes, particularly those employ- 
 ed in whaling, which will hold about ten men, are 
 ornamented within about two inches below the gun- 
 wale, with two parallel lines on each side of very 
 small white shells, fanning fore and aft, which lias 
 a very pretty effect. Their war canoes have no 
 ornament of this kind, but are painted en the out- 
 side with figures in white chalk, representing 
 eagles, whales, human heads, &c. They are very 
 dexterous in the use of their paddles, which are 
 very neatly wrought, and are live feef long, w'ith a 
 short handle, and a blade seven inches broad in th6 
 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 gongs. 
 
 With regard to these, they have a number which 
 
87 
 
 they sing oa various occasions ; as wa*,* 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 them* 
 selves in poetry, or that they borrow their songs 
 from their neighbour; and what the more particu- 
 larly 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 defici- 
 ent in harmony. — Their singing is generally accom- 
 panied with several rude kinds of instrumental 
 music ; among th.e 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, Vut much louder. 
 
 But the two most favourite instruments are the 
 
 * A specimen of one of their war songs will be found at 
 the end of this work. 
 
88 
 
 rJittie aod the pipe or whistle; these are however 
 oaly used by the king, the chiefs, or some particu- 
 lar persons ; the former is made of dried seal-slun, 
 so as to represent a fish, and is filled with a num- 
 ber of small smooth j)ebbles, it has a short handle 
 and is painted red. The wnistle is made o$ 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 muscle or cockle shells tied together 
 and shaken to a kind of tune, which is accompa- 
 nied with the voice. 
 
 Their slaves, as 1 have observed, form their 
 most valuable species of properly. These ajc of 
 bo'h sexes, being either captives taken by them- 
 selves 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 wa- 
 ter, catting wood and a variety of others, but they 
 are obliged to make the canoes, to assist in build- 
 ing and repairing the houses, to supply their mas- 
 ters with fish, .and to attend thera in war and to 
 fight for them. 
 
89 
 
 None b!it the king aod chiefa have slaves, the 
 tammon people being preveated from holding them 
 f^ilher 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, 
 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 favor of the king, who is 
 always the commander of the expedition, as Ma- 
 <^uina 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, &c. and with regard to food and 
 living in general have not a much harder lot thaa 
 their mistresses, the principal difference consisting, 
 in these poor unfortunate creatures being considered 
 as free to any one, their masters prostituting them 
 vrheneverlhey think proper for the purpose of gain. 
 In this way many of them are brought on board the 
 ships and offered to 4he crews, from whence an opi- 
 nion appears to have been formed by some of our 
 navigators, injurious to the chastity of their fe- 
 iimles, than which nothing can be more generally 
 untrue, as perhaps in no part of the world is that 
 virt'je more prized. 
 
 I 
 
90 
 
 The houses at Nootka as already stated, are 
 about twenty, without comprising those inhabited 
 by the Klahars, a small tribe that has been con- , 
 quered and incoporat^d into that of Nootka, though || 
 they must be considered as in a state of vassalage 
 as (hey are not permitted to have any chiefs among 
 themj and live by themselves in a cluster of small 
 houses at a little distance from the village. The 
 Noolka tribe which consists of about five hundred 
 warriors, is not only more numerous than almost 
 any of the neighbouring tribes, but far exceeds them 
 in the strength and martial spirit of it« 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 Wick- 
 ininish, premising that in point of personal appear- 
 ance 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 war- 
 riors. They appear to be more civilized th^a any of 
 
91 
 
 the others, being better and more neatly dresseJ, 
 more mild and affable in their manners, remarkable 
 for their sprightliness and vivacity, and celebrated 
 for their singing and dancing. They exibit 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 vrcai'ona 
 ' and tools of every kind have a much higher finish 
 and display more skill in the workmanship- Their 
 cast of countenence 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 dowa 
 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 peculiav 
 to them, as I never observed it iu any of the other 
 tribes, which is to pluck out not only their beards, 
 and the hair from their bodies, but also their eye- 
 brows, so as not to leave a vestige remaining. 
 They were also in general more skilful in painiing 
 and decorating themsclvesj 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 leoglh. Their language is the 
 same as spoken at Ncotki, but their pronuscialion 
 is much more hoarse and guttural. These people 
 i 2 
 
9^ 
 
 sre not coly very expert ia whaling, but are great 
 banters, of the sea otter and other animals, witlv 
 which their country is said to abound, and the Meta- 
 Bielth a large animal of the deer hind, the skin of 
 which I have already spoken of, another of a light 
 grey colour, with very fine-hair from which they 
 jriacufacture a handsome cloth, the beaver, and a 
 species of large wild cat, or tyger cat. 
 
 The Wickinnish, their neighbours on the Norfh, 
 are about two hundred miles from Nootka. They 
 area robust strong and warlike people, but consif 
 dered by the Nootkians.aa thei» inferiors in courage. 
 This tribe is more numerous than that of Nootka, 
 Rmounting tobetw-een s'ix and seven huudred warri- 
 or?. Though* not so civilized as the Kla-iz zarts 
 aQ(i less skilful in their manufactures, like them 
 Ihey employ themselv'es in hunting as well as ia 
 Tf haling and fishing. Their faces are broa^ but less 
 •so than the Kia-iz-zarts, with a darker complexion, 
 and a much less open and pleasing expression •! 
 countenance, while their heads present a very diffe- 
 tent form, being pressed in at the sides and length- 
 ened 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 Jtrcomah, or Queen». 
 Y-ya-iintla-no^ being the daughter of the Wickinni- 
 nish kins:. 
 
 \ 
 
93 
 
 The Kla-oo-quates adjoiaiug them on the NortI* 
 are much less numerous, their force not exceeding 
 four hundred fighting men ; they are also behind 
 them in th« arts of life. These are a fierce, bold, 
 and enterprizing people, and there were none that 
 visited Nootka, whom Maquina used to be more on 
 bis guard against, or viewed with so much su^pici- 
 on. The Eshquates are about the same number; 
 these are considered as tributary to Maquina : 
 • Their coast abounds with rivers, creeks, and 
 marshes. 
 
 To the North the nearest tribe of any importance 
 is the Aitizzarts ; 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 resile 
 at about forty miles distance op the sound. A con- 
 aiderable way farther to i\)e northward are thd 
 Cai/uqueis', these are a much more numerous tribe 
 thaft 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 aa the above mentioned speak the sarae 
 
94 ■■ 
 
 language. Bat 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, although it is \?ell 
 understood by those of Nootka. These were the 
 *i08t savage looking and ugly men that 1 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 aa 
 extreme. They wear their beards long like Jews, 
 and have a very morose and surly countenace. 
 Their usual dress is a Kootsuk 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, bang- 
 ing from the top to the bottom ; though they some- 
 times weara similar mantle of bark cloth, of a mach 
 coarser texture than that of Nootka, the origioal 
 of which appears to be the same, though from their 
 Tery great filthiness it was almost impossible to dis- 
 cover what it had been. 
 
 Their mode of dressing their hair also varies es- 
 sentially 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 man- 
 lier of a jQUett, with a strip of their country cloth, 
 ornamented with small white shells. Their wea- 
 pons are the CheetooUh^ or war-club, which is 
 made from whale bone, daggers, bow and arrows, 
 and a Kind of spear pointed with bone or copper. 
 
95 
 
 They bronght with them no furs for sale exceplmp: 
 a few wolf skins, their merchandize consisting 
 principally of the blacli shining mineral called pel- 
 peth, and the fine red paiat which they carefully 
 kept in close mat bags. s:ome 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 Ncotka than the other 
 tribes, in order to recover from the fatigue of a 
 long journey, part of which was over land,, and on 
 these pccasioos taught their son^s to our savages. 
 
 The trade of mo»t of the other tribes with Noot- 
 ka, was principally train oil, seal or whale's blub- 
 ber, fish fresh or dried, herring or salmon spawn, 
 clams, and muscles, and the yama, a species of 
 fruit which is pressed and dried, cloth, sea otter 
 skins, and slaves. From the Aitizzarts, and the 
 Caynquets, particularly the former, the best 
 I-whawand in the greatest quantities was obtained. 
 The Eshquates furnished us with wild ducks and 
 geese, particularly the latter. The Wickininish 
 and Kla-iz-^arts brought to market rcany slaves, 
 the best sta otter akins, great quantities of oil, 
 whale sinew, and cakes of the y<ima^ highly 
 ornamented canoes, some Lwhaw, red ochre and 
 pelpeth of an inferior quality to that obtained from 
 the Newchemass, but particularly the so much 
 valued Meiamelth^ and an excellant root called by 
 the Kla-iz-zarts Quawnoose, This is the size of a 
 
m 
 
 small oaioD, but rather longer, being of a tapering 
 form iike 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 
 fiue vegetable, being 8we?t, mealy and of a most 
 agreeable flavour. It was highly esteemed by the 
 natives who used to eat it as they did every thing 
 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 brouglit, particularly 
 the provisions, were considered as presents, or 
 tributary offerings, but this must be viewed as little 
 more than a nominal acknowledgement of superi- 
 ority, as they rarely failed to get the full amount of 
 the value of their presents, I have known etghteen 
 of the great tubs, in which they keep their provisi^ 
 ons, filled with spawn brought in this way. On 
 these oeeasions 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 as 
 excess, making up in this respect for thar want of 
 iniebratiog liquors, which they know no method of 
 preparing in any form, their only drink being 
 watef. 
 
 ( 
 
97 
 
 Whenever they came to visit or trade, it vpas- 
 their general custom, to stop a few miles distant 
 under the Ice of some bluff or rock, and rig them- 
 selves out in their be»t manner, by painting and 
 drftssing their heads. On their first coming on shore 
 they were invited to eat by the king, when they 
 brought to him su«h articles as he wanted, after 
 which the rest of the inhabitants were permitted to 
 purchase, the strangers being careful to keep them 
 io their canoes until sold, under strict guard to 
 prevent ^leir being stolen, the dispositioa of these 
 people for thieving being so great, that it is necessa- 
 ry to keep a watchful eye upon them. 
 
 This was their usual mode oftraiUck, but when- 
 ever 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 repre- 
 sentative of the king or chief by whom it was sent, 
 dressed in their best manoer, and with his head 
 covered with the white down, would rise, and after 
 making known the object of his mission in a pom- 
 pous 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 bar- 
 gain was concluded, the exchange was immediately 
 made. 
 
98 
 
 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 ©n shore, lest they might excite some dis- 
 fturbance or commit depredations. 
 
 All these people generally go armed, the com- 
 mon class wearing only a dagger suspended from 
 their neck behind, with a string of metamelih, and 
 gometiraes thrust in their girdles. Ths chiefs, in 
 addition to the dagger, carry the cheetoUh^ or war 
 club suspended in the same manner beneath their 
 mantles; this in the hands of a strong man, is a 
 powerful weapon, in the management of which, 
 gome of the older chiefs are very dexterous. It is 
 made from the bone of a whale, and is very heavy. 
 The blade is about eighteen inches long and three 
 broad, till it approaches near the point, where it 
 expands to the breadth of four inches. In the 
 middle, from whence it slopes off gradually to 
 an edge on each side, it is from one to two inches 
 in thickness. This blade is usually covered with 
 figures jof the sun and moon, a man^s head, &c, 
 and the hilt, which is made to represent the head 
 of a man or some animal, is curiously set with 
 amall white shells, and has a band of metameltk 
 
09 
 
 fastened lo it in order to sliug it over the ahoulder. 
 Some of the tribes have also a kind of spear headed 
 with copper or the bone of the sting ray, which is a 
 dangerous weapon ; this is, however, not usual, 
 and only carried by the chiefs. The bow and 
 arrow are still used by a few, but sittce the intro- 
 duction of fire-arms among them, this weapon has 
 been mostly laid aside. 
 
 T3ut to return io our unhappy situation. Though 
 -my comrade and myself fared as well, and even 
 better than we could have expected among these 
 people, considering their customs and mode of living, 
 yet oar feass lest no ship would come to our release, 
 and that we should never more behold a Christian 
 country, were io us a source of constant pain. Our 
 principal consolation in this gloomy state, was to 
 go on Sundays, whenever the weather would per- 
 mit, to the borders of a fresh water pond, about a 
 mile from the village, where, after bathing, and 
 putting on clean clothes, we would seat ourselves 
 under the shade of a beautiful pine, while I read 
 some chapters in the Bible, and the prayers ap- 
 {minted by oar Church for the day, ending our 
 devotions with a fervent prayer to the Almighty, 
 that he would deign still io watch over and pre- 
 serve our lives, rescue us from the hands of the 
 savages, and permit us once more to behold a Chris- 
 tian land. 
 
100 
 
 In this manner were the greater part of oar Sun- 
 days passed -at Nootka; and I felt grateful to hea- 
 ven, that amidst our other sufferings, we were at 
 least allowed the pleasure of offering up our devo- 
 tions unmolested, for Maquina, on my explaining 
 to him as well as was in my power the reason of 
 our thus retiring at this time, far from objecting, 
 readily consented to it. The pond above mentioned 
 was small, not more than a quarter of a mile in 
 breadth, and of no great length, the water being 
 I'ery clear, though not of great depth, and bor- 
 dered by a beautiful forest of pine, fir, elm, and 
 and beach, free from bushes and underwood — a 
 most delightful retreat, which was rendered still 
 more attractive by a gr^at number of bitds that 
 frequented it, particularly the4iummiBg bird. Thi- 
 ther we used to go to wash our clothes, and felt 
 secure from any intrusion from the natives, as they 
 rarely visited it, except for the purpose of cleansing 
 themselves of their paint. 
 
 In July we at length thought that the hope of 
 delivery we had so long anxiously indulged, was 
 on the point of being grati&ed. A. ship appeared 
 in the offing; but alas! our fond hopes vanished 
 almost as soon as formed; for instead of standing 
 in for the shore she passed to the northward, and 
 soon disappeared. 1 shall not attempt to describe 
 •our disappointment— my beart sunk within me, and 
 
101 
 
 I felt as thoagh it was my destiny never more to 
 behold a Christian face. Four days after there 
 occurred a tremendous storm of thunder and light- 
 ning, during which the natives manifested great 
 alarm and terror, the whole tribe hurrying to Ma- 
 quina's house, where, instead of keeping within, 
 t^iey seated themselves on the roof, amid the se- 
 verest of the tempest, drumming upon the boards, 
 and looking up to heaven, while the king beat the 
 long hollow plank, singing, and, as he afterwards 
 told me, begging Quahootze^ the name they give 
 to God, not to kill them, in which he was accom- 
 panied by the whole tribe; this singing and drum- 
 ming was continued until the storm abated. 
 
 As the summer drew near its close, we began to 
 suffer from the frequent want of food, which was prin- 
 cipally owing to Maquina and the chiefs being out 
 whaling, in which he would not permit Thompson 
 and myself to join, lest we should make our escape 
 to some of the neighbouring trib'es. At these times 
 the women, seldom or ever cook any provision, and 
 we were often hungry, but were sometimes fortu- 
 nate enough to procure secretly, a piece of salmon, 
 some other fish, spawn, or even blubber, which, 
 by boiling in salt water, with a few onions and 
 turnips, the remains of the Spanisb garden, or 
 young nettles or other herbs, furnished us a deli- 
 cious repast in private. 
 
 K 
 
102 
 
 In the mean time, we frequently received ac- 
 counts from the tribes who came to Nootka, both 
 from the North and South, of there being vessels 
 on the coast, and were advised by their chiefs to 
 make our escape, who also promised us their aid, 
 and to put us on board. These stories, however, 
 as I afterwards learned, were almost all of them 
 without any foundation, and merely invented by 
 these people with a view to get us into their power, 
 in order to make slaves of us themselves, or to sell 
 us to others. ^ 
 
 But I was still more strongly solicited to leave 
 Nootka by a woman. This was a Wickinninish 
 princess, a younger sister of Maquina's wife, who 
 was there on a visit. I had the good fortune, if it 
 may be so called, to become quite a favourite with 
 her. She appeared much interested for me — asked 
 me many questions respecting my country, if I 
 had a mother and sister at home, and if they would 
 not grieve for my absence. Her complexion was 
 fairer than that of the women in general, and her 
 features more regular, and she would have been 
 quite handsome had it not been for a defect in one 
 of her eyes, the sight of which had been injured by 
 some accident, the reason, as Maquina told me, 
 why she had not been married, a defect of this kind 
 being by these savages considered as almost an 
 insuperable objection. She urged me repeatedly to 
 return.with her, telling me that the Wickinninish 
 
10:i 
 
 were mucli better tliau the Nootkians; that her 
 father would treat me more kiudly thaa Maquina, 
 give me better fbod and clothes, and finally, pat 
 me oa board one of my own country .vessels. I 
 felt, however, little disposed to accompaay her, 
 considering my situation wiih Maquina full as 
 eligible as it would be with VVickinQiDish, if not 
 better, notwithstandiDg all she said to the con- 
 trary. 
 
 On the 3d of September, the whole tribe quitted 
 Nootka, according to their constant practice, in 
 order to pass the autumn and winter at Tashees 
 and Cooptee, the latter lying abouMhirty miles up 
 the Sound, in a deep bay, the navigation of which 
 is very dangerous, from the great number of reefs 
 and rocks with which it abounds. On tijcse occa- 
 sions every thing is taken with them, even the 
 planks of their houses, in order to cover their new 
 dwellings. To an European, such a removal exhi- 
 bits a jcene quite novel and strange : canoes piled 
 up with boards and boxes, and filled with men, 
 women and children, of all ranks and sizes, making 
 the air resound with their cries and songs. 
 
 At these times, as well as when they have oeca- 
 
 gioQ to go some distance from their houses, the 
 
 infants are usually suspended across the mother's 
 
 shoulders, in a kind of cradle or hammock, formed 
 
 K 'Z 
 
lOi 
 
 of bark, of aboat six inches in depth, and of the 
 length of the child, by means of a leather baud 
 inserted through loops on its edges; this they also., 
 lieep thorn in vviien at home, in order to preserve 
 them in a straight position, and prevent any dis- 
 tortion of the limbs, most probably a principal 
 cause of these p^eople being so seldom deformed or 
 crcclved. 
 
 The long boat of our ship having been repaired 
 and famished with a sail. by Thompson, Maquina 
 gHve us the direction of it, we being better ac- 
 qudinitd with managing it than his people, and 
 alter leading her as deep as she could swim, we pro- 
 ceeded in company with them to the Norlh, quitting 
 Nootka with heavy hearts, as we could entertain 
 no hopes of release until our return, no ah'rpa 
 ever coming to that pari of the coast. Passing Coop- 
 tee, which is situated on the southern bank, just 
 within the mouth of a small river flowing from 
 the east in a narrow valley at the foot of a mountain, 
 we proceeded about fifteen miles up this stream to 
 Ta&hees, between a range of lofty hills on each side, 
 which extend a great distance inland, and are 
 covered with the finest forest trees of the country. 
 Immediately on our arrival, we all went to work 
 very diligently in covering the houses with the 
 planks we had brought, the frames being ready 
 erected, these people never pretending to remove 
 the timber. In a very sliort time the work was 
 
105 
 
 completed, and we were established iu our new 
 residence. 
 
 Tashees is pleasantly situated and in a most se- 
 cure position from the winter storms, in a small 
 vale or hollow on the south shore, at the foot of a 
 mountain. The spot on which it stands is level, 
 and the soil very fine, the country in its vicinity 
 abounding with the most romantic views, charm- 
 ingly diversified, and fine streams of water falling 
 ia beautiful cascades from the mountains. The 
 river at this place is about twenty rods in width, 
 and, in its deepest part, from nine to twelve feet. 
 This village is the extreme point of navigation, as 
 immediately beyond, the river becomes much more 
 shallow, and is broken into falls and rapids. The 
 houses here are placed in a line like those at Noot- 
 ka, but closer together, the situation being more 
 confined, they are also smaller, in consequence of 
 which, we were much crowded, aad incommoded 
 for room. 
 
 The principal object in coming to this place, is 
 the facility it affords these people of providing their 
 winter stock of provisions, which consists princi- 
 pally of salmon, and the spawn of that fish; to 
 which may be added herrings and sprats, and herring 
 spawn. The latter, however, is always procured 
 by them at Nootka, previous to their quitting it. 
 At the seasons of spawning, which are early ia, 
 K 3 
 
106 
 
 spring and the last of August* they collect a great 
 quantity of pine branches, which they p'ace in dif- 
 ferent parts of the Cove at the depth of about ten 
 feet, and secure them by means of heavy stones. 
 On these the herring deposit their spawn in im* 
 niense quantities ; the bushes are then taken up, 
 the spawn stripped from the branches, and after 
 being washed and freed from the pine leaves by the 
 women, is dried and put up in baskets for use. It 
 is considered as their greatest delicacy, and eaten 
 both cooked and raw : in the former case, being 
 boiled and eaten with train oil, and in the latter, 
 mixed up with cold water alone. 
 
 The salmon are taken at Tashees, principally in 
 pots or wears. Their method of taking thera in 
 wears is thus : — A pot of twenty feet in length, 
 and from four to five feet diameter at the mouth, is 
 formed of a great number of pine splinters which 
 are strongly secured, an inch and a half from each 
 other, by means of hoops made of flexible twigs, 
 and placed abought eight inches apart. At the end 
 it tapers almost to a point, near which is a small 
 wicker door, for the purpose of taking out the fish. 
 This pot or wear is placed at the foot of a fall or 
 rapid, whare the water is not very deep, and the 
 fish driven from above with long poles, are intercep- 
 ted and caught in the wear, from whence they are 
 taken into the canoes. In this manner I have seen 
 more thaa eeveu bandred salmon caught in tho 
 
107 
 
 space of fifteen minutes. I have also sometime* 
 kaowD a few of the striped bass takea iu this mac- 
 ner, bat rarely. 
 
 At such times there is great feasting and merriment 
 among them. The women and female slaves being 
 busily employed in cookinj^, or in curing the fish for 
 their winter stock, which is done by catting off the 
 heads and tails splitting them, taking out the back 
 bone, and hanging them up in their houses to dry. 
 They also dry the halibut and cod, but these in* 
 stead of curing whole, they cut up into small 
 pieces for that purpose, and expose to the sun. 
 The spawn of the salmon, which is a principal 
 article of their provision, they take out, and with- 
 out any other preparation, throw it into their tubs, 
 where they leave it to stand and ferment, for 
 though they frequently eat it Iresh, they esteem it 
 much more when it has acquired a strong taste, and 
 one of the greatest favours they can confer on any 
 peiaon, is to- invite him to eat Quakamiss. the 
 name they give this food, though scarcely any 
 thing can be more repugnant to an European palate, 
 than it is in this state; and whenever they took it 
 out of these large receptacles, which they are 
 always careful to fill, such was the stench which it 
 exhaled, oa being moved, that it was almost impos- 
 sible for me to abide it, even after habit, had in a 
 great degree dulled the delicacy of my sensesx — 
 \^'ilen boiled it became less offensive, though it 
 
108 
 
 3tili retained much of the putrid smeli and some- 
 thing of the taste. 
 
 Such is the immense quantity of these fish, and 
 they are taiien with such facility, that I have 
 known upward^s of twenty-five hundred brought into 
 Maquina's house at once, and at one of their great 
 feasts, have seen one hundred or more cooked in 
 one of their largest tubs. 
 
 I used frequently to go out with Maquina upoo 
 these fishing parties, and was always sure to re- 
 ceive a handsome present of salmon, which I had 
 the privilege of calling mine; I also went with him 
 several times in a canoe, to strike the salmon, 
 which I have attempted to do myself, but could 
 jaever succeed, it requiring a degree of adroitness 
 that I did not possess. I was also permitted to go 
 out with a gun, and was several times very suc- 
 cessful in shooting wild ducks and teal, which are 
 very numerous here, though rather shy. These 
 they cooked in their usual manner, by boiling, 
 without any farther dressing than skinning them. 
 
 In many respects, however, our situation was 
 less pleasant here than at Nootka. We were 
 more incommoded for roona, the houses not being 
 80 spacious, nor so v;eil arranged, and as it was 
 colder, we were compelled to be much more within 
 doors. We, however, did not neglect on Sundays, 
 
109 
 
 when the weather would admit, to retire into the 
 woods, and by the side of some stream, after bath- 
 ing, return our thanks to God for preserving us, 
 and* offer up to him our cdstomary (jcvotioas, 
 
 1 was, however, very apprehensive, soon after 
 our arrival at this place, that I should be deprived 
 of the satisfaction of keeping my journal, as Ma- 
 quiiia one day observing me writing inquired of 
 me whit I was doing, and when I endeavoured 
 to explain it, by telling him that I was keeping aa 
 account of the weather, he said it vas not so, and 
 that I was speaking bad about him, and telling 
 how he had taken our ship and killed the crew, so 
 aa to inform my countrymen, and that if he ever 
 &B.W xne writiog in it again, he would throw it 
 into the fire. I was much rejoiced that he did 
 no more than threaten, and became very cautious 
 afterwards not to let him see me write. 
 
 Not long after I finished some daggers for bim, 
 which I polished highly ; these pleased him much, 
 and he gave me directions to make a cheetoolth, ia 
 which I succeeded so far to his satisfaction, that he 
 gave me a present of cloth sufficient to make me a 
 complete suit of raiment, besides otiier things. 
 Thompson, also, who had become rather more of a 
 favourite than formerly since he had made a fine 
 sail for his canoe, and some garments for him out 
 ^ gj Ituropean cloth, auotil this time compieteu au.> 
 
110 
 
 olher, which was thought by the savages a most 
 superb dress. This was a Kootsuk or mantle, ^ 
 fathom square, made entirely of European vest 
 patterns of the gayest colours. These were sewed 
 together, in a manner to make the best show, and 
 bound with a deep trimming of the finest otter- 
 skin, with which the arm-hoicv^ were also bordered; 
 while the bottom was farther embellished with five 
 or 8*/x rows of gilt buttons, placed as near as possi- 
 ble to each other. Nothing could exceed the pride 
 of Maqaina when he first put oa this royal robe, 
 decorated like«the coat of Joseph, with all the 
 colours of the rainbow, and glittering with the 
 buttons, which as he strutted about made a tink- 
 ling, while he repeatedly exclaimed, in a transport 
 of exultation, Klezo shish Katsuk — wick kum atack 
 Nootka. A fine garment — Nootka can't make 
 them. 
 
 Alaqoina, who knew that i\^e chiefs of the tribes 
 who came to visit us, had endeavoured to per- 
 suade me \o escape, frequently cautioned me not 
 to listen to them, saying that should I make the 
 attempt, and- he were to take me, he should cer- 
 tainly put me to death. While here he gave me a 
 book in which I faund the names of seven persons 
 belonging to the ship Manchester, of Philadelphia, 
 Captain Brian, viz.r— Daniel Smith, Lewis Gillon, 
 James Tom, Clark, Johnson. Ben and Jack These 
 men. as Maquina informed me, ran away from the 
 
Hi 
 
 ship, and came to hira, but that six of theni s&ou 
 after went off in the ni^ht, with an intention to j^o 
 to the Wickinninish, but were stopped by the E?h- 
 quiates, and sent bacii to him, and tliat he oi-dered 
 them to be put to death ; and a most cruel death 
 it was, as I was told by one of the natives, four 
 men holding one of them on the ground, and forcing 
 open his mouth, while they choaked him by ram- 
 ming stones down his throat. 
 
 As to Jack, the boy, who made no attempt to go 
 off, Maquina afterwards sold him to the Wickin- 
 ninish. I was informed by the princess Tuqua, 
 that he was quite a small boy, who cried a great 
 deal, being put to hard labour beyond his strength 
 by the natives, in cutting wood and bringing water, 
 and that when he heard of the murder of our crew, 
 it had such an effect on him, that he fell sick and 
 died shortly after. On learning the melancholy 
 fate of this unforturate lad, it again awakened in my 
 bosom those feelings that I had experienced at the 
 shocking death of my poor comrades. 
 
 The king finding that I was desirous of learning 
 their language, was much delighted, and took 
 great pleasure in conversing with me. On one of 
 these occasions, he explained to me his reasons for 
 cutting off our ship, saying that he bore no ill will 
 to my countrymen, but that he had been several 
 times treated very ill by them. The first injury of 
 
112 
 
 wWcli he had cause to complain, was done him by 
 A Captain Tawnington, who commanded a schooner 
 which passed a winter at Friendly Cove, where he 
 was well treated by the inhabitants. This man 
 taking advantage of Maquina's absence, who had 
 jgone to the Wickinninish to procure a wife, armed 
 himself and crew, and entered the house where there 
 were none but women, whom he threw into the 
 greatest consternation, and searching the chests, 
 took away all the skins, of which Maquina had 
 no less than forty of the best; and that about the 
 same time, four of their chiefs were barbarously 
 killed by a Captain Martinez, a Spaniard. 
 
 That goon after Captain Hanna, of the Sea-Otter 
 in consequence of one of the natives having stolen a 
 chisel from the carpenter, fired upon their caooes 
 which were along side, and killed upwards of 
 twenty of the natives, of whom several were Tijee^ 
 or chiefs, and that he himself being on board the 
 vessel, in order to escape was obliged to leap from 
 the quarter deck, and swiifi for a long way under 
 water. 
 
 These injuries had excited in the breast of ?»Ia- 
 quina, an ardent desire of revenge; the strongest 
 passion of the savage heart, and thDugh many 
 years had elapsed since their comu.ission, still they 
 were not forgotten, and the want of a favourable 
 opportunity alone prevented him from sooner aveng- 
 
113 
 
 ing them. Unfortunately ior as, the long wished 
 for opportunity at length presented itself in our ship, 
 which Maquina finding not guarded with the usual 
 vigilance of the North West Traders, and feeling 
 his desire of revenge rekindled by the insult offered 
 him by Captain Salter, formed a plan for attack- 
 ing, and on his return, called a council of his chiefs, 
 and communicated it to them, acquainting them 
 with the manner in which he had been treated. 
 No less desirous of avenging this affront offered 
 their king, than their former injuries, they readily 
 agreed to his proposal, which was to go on board 
 without arms as usual, but under different pretexts, 
 in great numbers, and wait for his signal for the 
 moment of attacking their unsuspecting victims. 
 The execution of this scheme, as the reader knows, 
 was unhappily too successful. 
 
 And here I cannot but indulge a reflection that 
 has frequently occurred to me on the manner in 
 which otfr |ifeople behave towards the natives. For 
 though they are a theiviah race, yet I have 
 na doubt that many of the melancholy disasters 
 have principally arisen from the imprudent conduct 
 of some of the captains and crews of the ships em- 
 ployed in this trade, in exasperating them by in- 
 sulting, plundering, and even killing them on 
 slight grounds.' This, as nothing is more s^^cred 
 with a savage than the principle of revenge, and no 
 L 
 
114 
 
 people are so impati^^nt under insult, induces them 
 to wreak their vengeance upon the first vessel or 
 boat's crew that offers, making the innocent too 
 frequently suffer for the wrongs of the guilty, as few . 
 of them know how to discriminate between persons 
 of the same general appearance, more especially 
 when speaking the same language. And to this 
 cause do I believe, must principally be ascribed the 
 sanguinary disposition with which these people are 
 reproached, as Maquina repeatedly told me that it 
 was not his wish to hurt a white man, and that he 
 never should have done it, though ever so much in 
 his power, had they not injured him. 
 
 And v/ere the commanders of our ships to treat 
 the savages with rather more civility than they 
 sometimes do, I am inclined to think they would 
 find their account in it ; not that I should recom- 
 inend to them a confidence in the good faith and 
 friendly professions of these people, so as in any 
 .degree to remit their vigilance, but on the contrary, 
 to be strictly on their gaard, and suffer but a very 
 few of ihem to come on board the ship, and aditit 
 sot many of their canoes along side at a time; a 
 precaution that would have been the means of pre- 
 venting some of the unfortunate events that have 
 occurred, and if attended to, may in future, pre- 
 serve many a valuable life. Such a regulation too, 
 from what I know of their disposition and wants, 
 would produce qo serious diflSculty is tradiifjg with 
 
115 
 
 the savages, and they would soon beco«e perfectly 
 reconciled to it. 
 
 Among the provisions which the Indians procure 
 at Tashees, I must not omit mentioning a fruit that 
 is very important, as forming a great article of their 
 food. This is what is called by them the Yama^ a 
 i^pecies of berry that grows in bunches like currants, 
 upon a bush from two to three feet high, with a 
 la rge^ round and smooth leaf. This berry is black 
 and about the size of a pistol shot, but of rather an 
 oblong shape, and open at the top like the blue 
 whortle berry. The taste is sweet, but a little 
 acrid, ftsd when first gathered, if eaten in any great 
 quantity, especially without oil, is apt to produce 
 cholics. To procure it, large companies of women 
 go out on the mountains, accompanied by armed 
 men, to protect thera against wild beasts, where 
 they frequently remain for several days, kindling a 
 fire at night, and sheltering themselves under sheds 
 constructed of boughs. At these parties, they 
 collect great quantities. I have known Maquiua's 
 queen and her women return loaded, bringing with 
 them upwards of twelve bushels. In order to pre* 
 serve it, it is pressed in the bunches between two 
 planks, and dried and put away in baskets for use. 
 It is always eaten wilh oil. 
 
 Of berries of various kinds, such as straw ber- 
 ries, raspberries, black berries, &c. there are great 
 L 2 
 
 1 
 
lie 
 
 qnantities in the country, of which the natives ape 
 very fond, gathering them io their seasons and eaU 
 ingthem with oil, bat the yaina is the only one 
 that they preaerve. 
 
 Fish is, however, their great article of food, as 
 almost all the others, excepting the yama, may be 
 considered as accidental. They nevertheless are 
 far from disrelishing meat, for instance, venison 
 and bear's flesh. With regard to the latter, they 
 have a most siagular custom, which is, that any 
 one who eats of it is obliged to abstain from eating 
 any kind of flesh fish whatever, for the term of 
 two months, as they have a superstitious belief, 
 that shorJd any of their people after tasting bear's 
 flesh, eat of fresh salmon, cod, Ac. the fish, 
 though at ever so great a distance off, would come 
 to the knowledge of it, and be so much offended 
 thereat, as not to allow themselves to be taken by 
 any of the inhabitants. This I had an opportunity 
 of observing while at Tashees, a bear having been 
 killed early in December, of which not more than 
 ten of the natives would eat, being prevented by 
 the prohibilioa annexed to it, which also was the 
 reason of my comrade and myself not tasting it, 
 on being told by Maquina the consequences. 
 
 As there is something quite curious in their ma- 
 nagement of this animal, when they have killed 
 one, I shall give a description of it. Aftor wdl 
 
117 
 
 cleansing the bear from the dirt and blood, with 
 which it is generally covered when killed, it is 
 brought in and seated opposite the king ia an 
 upright posture, with a chief's bonnet, wrought 
 in figures on its head, and its fur powdered over 
 with the white down. A tray of provision is 
 then set before it, and it is invited by words and 
 gestures to eat. This mock ceremony over, the 
 reason of which I could never learn, the animal is 
 taken and skinned, and the flesh and entrails boiled 
 up into a soup, no (fart, but the paunch beiug re- 
 jected. 
 
 This dressing the bear, as they call it, is an oc- 
 casion of great rejoicing throughout the village, all 
 the inhabitants being invited to a great feast at the 
 king's house, though but few of them, in conse- 
 quence of the penalty, will venture to eat of the 
 flesh, but generally content themselves with tlieir 
 favourite dish of iierring spawn and water. The 
 feast on this occasion was closed by a dance firora 
 Sat-sai-sak'Sis, in the manner I have already de- 
 scribed, in the course of which he repeatedly shifted 
 his mask for another of a difl'erent form. 
 
 A few days after a second bear was taken, like 
 the former by means of a trap. This I had the cu- 
 riosity to go aud see at the place where it was 
 caught, which was in the following manner. On 
 the edge of a small stream of water iu the mounr. 
 I. 3 
 
118 
 
 tains, which the salmon ascend, and near the spot 
 where the bear is accustomed to watch for them, 
 which is known by its track, a trap or box about 
 the height of a man's head is built of posts and 
 planks with a fiat top, on which are laid a number 
 of large stones or rocks. The top and sides are 
 then carefully covered with furf, so as to resemble 
 a little mound, and wholly to exclude the light, a 
 narrow entrance of the height of the building only 
 being left, just sufficient to admit the head and 
 shoulders of the beast. On the inside, to a large 
 plank that covers the top, is suspended by a strong 
 cord a salmon, the plank being left loose so that a 
 forcible pull will briag it down. On coming to Us. 
 usual haunt, the bear enters the trap, and in en- 
 deavouring to pull away the fish, brings down thd 
 whole covering with its load of stones upon its 
 head, and is almost always crushed to death on the 
 apot, or so wounded as to be unable to escape. 
 
 They are always careful to examine these traps 
 every day, in order if a bear be caught, to bring it 
 immediately, for it is not a little singular, that 
 these people will eat no kind of meat that is in the' 
 least tainted, or not perfectly fresh, while, on the 
 contrary, it is hardly possible for fish to be in too 
 putrid a state for them, and I have frequently 
 known them when a whale has heen driven ashore, 
 bring pieces of it home with them, in a state of 
 ollensiveaess insupportable to any thing but a crow. 
 
119 
 
 and devour U witli high pelisb, eoDfiideriog it as pre- 
 feraUle to that which is fregh. 
 
 On the morniDj of the ISib of Deceaiber, com- 
 nveticed what to us appeared a most singular farce. 
 Apparently without any previous notice, Maquina 
 discharged a pistol close to bis son's ear, who im- 
 mediately fell down as if killed, upon which all the 
 women of the house set up a most lamentable cry, 
 tearing bandfals of hair from their heads, and ex- 
 claiming that the prince was dead, at the same 
 time a great number of the inhabitants, rushed into 
 the house armed with their daggers, muskets, &c. 
 enquiring the cause of their outcry, these were im- 
 mediately followed by two others dressed in wolf 
 skins, with masks over their faces representing the 
 head of that animal; the latter came in on their 
 hands and feet in the manner of a beast, and takina' 
 up the prince carried him off upon their backs, re- 
 tiring in the same manner they entered. We saw 
 nothing more of the ceremony, as Maquina came 
 to us, and giving us a quantity of dried provision^ 
 ordered us to quit the house and not return to the 
 village before the expiration of seven days, for 
 that if we appeared within that period, he should 
 kill us. 
 
 At any other season of the year such an order 
 would by us have been considered as an indul- 
 gence, in enabling us to pass, our time in whatever 
 
120 
 
 way we wished, and even now, famished as we 
 were, with sufficient provision for that term, it was 
 Dot very unpleasant to us, more particalarly 
 Thompson, who was always desirous to keep as 
 much as possible out of the society and sight of the 
 natives, whom he detested. Taking with as our 
 provisions, a bundle of clothes, and oar axes, we 
 obeyed the directions of Maqaina, and withdrew 
 into the woods, where we boilt oarselves a cabin 
 to shelter us, with the branches of trees, and keep- 
 ing up a good fire, seeared ourselves pretty well 
 from the cold. Here we passed the prescribed pe- 
 riod of our exile, with more content than much of 
 the time while with them, employing the day in 
 reading and praying for our release, or in rambling 
 around and exploring the country, the soil of which 
 we found to be very good, and the face of it, beau- 
 tifuHy diversified with hills and vallies, refreshed 
 with the finest streams of water, and at night en- 
 joyed comfortable repose upon a bed of soft leaves, 
 with our garments spread over us to protect us from 
 the cold. 
 
 At the end of seven days we returned, and found 
 several of the people of A-i-tiz-zart with their king 
 or chief at Tashees, who had been invited by Ma- 
 qaina to attend the close of this performance, which 
 I now learnt was a celebration, held by them an- 
 nually, in honour of their god, whom they call 
 Quahootze, to return him their thanks fpr.his past, 
 
121 
 
 aud itnplore his future favoca. It termiuated oii 
 the 2l8t, the day after our return, with a most ex- 
 traordinary exibition. Three naea, each of whom 
 had two bayonets run through his sides, between 
 the ribs, apparently regardless of the pain, traver- 
 sed the room, backwards and forwards, singing 
 war songs, and exulting in thi* display of finn- 
 ness. 
 
 On tb^ arrival of the Soth, we could not but call 
 to mind, that this being Christmas, was in our 
 country a day of tiie greatest festivity, when oajr 
 fellow countrymen assembled in their churches, 
 were celebrating the goodness of God, and the 
 praises of the Saviour. What a reverse did oar 
 situation offer — captives in a savage land, and 
 slaves to a set of ignorant beings, unacquainted with 
 religion or humanity, hardly were we permitted to 
 offer up our devotions by ourselves in the woods, 
 while we felt even grateful for this privilege. Thi- 
 ther with the king's permission, we withdrew, and 
 after reading the service appointed for the day, 
 sung the hymn of the Nativity, fervently praying 
 that heaven in its goodness, would permit us to 
 celebrate the next festival c/f this kind in some 
 Christian land. 
 
 On our return, in order to conform as much as 
 was in our power to the custom of our country, 
 we were desirous of having a better snpper than 
 
122 
 
 asaal. With this view we bought from one of the 
 natives, some dried clams and oil, andarooteaN 
 led Kleisupf which we cooked by steaming, and 
 found it very palatable. This root consists of many 
 fibres, of a bout six inches long, and of the size of 
 a crow quill. It is svveei, of an agreeable taste, 
 not unlike (he Quanoose, and it is eaten with oil. 
 The plant that produces it I have never seen. 
 
 On the 31 st, all the tribe quitted Tashees for 
 Cooptee, wither they goto pass the remainder of 
 the winter, and complete their fishing, taking off 
 every thing with them in the «ame manner as at 
 Nootka. We arrived in a few hours at Cooptee, 
 whick is about fifteen miles* and immediately g«t 
 about covering the houses, which was soon com- 
 pleted. 
 
 This place, which is their great herring and sprat 
 fishery, stands just within the mouth of the river, 
 on the same side with Tashees, in a very narrow 
 valley at the foot of a high mountain. Though 
 nearly as secure as Tashees from the winter 
 storms, it is by no means so pleasantly situated, 
 though to us it was a much more agreeable resi- 
 dence, as it brought us nearer Nootka, where we 
 were impatient to return, in hopes of finding some 
 vessel there, or hearing of the arrival of one 
 near. 
 
123 
 
 The first snow that fell this season, was the day 
 after our arrival, on New- Years ; a day that like 
 Christmas, brought with it, paiuful recolleclioiis, 
 but at the same time led us to indulge the hope of a 
 more fortunate year than the last. 
 
 Early on the morning of the T(h of January, 
 Maquina took me with him in his canoe on a visit 
 to Upquesta, chief of the A.-i-tiz zarts. who had 
 invited him to attend an exhibition at his village, 
 similar to the one with which he had been enter- 
 tained at Tashees. This place is between twenty 
 and thirty miles distant up the sound, and stands 
 -on the banks of a small river aboui the size of that 
 of Cooptee, just within its entrance, in a valley of 
 much greater extent than that of Tashees; it con- 
 sists of fourteen or fifteen houses, built and dispos- 
 ed in the manner of those at Nootka. The tribe, 
 which is considered as tributary to Maquina, 
 amounts to about three hundred warriors, and the 
 inhabitanis, both men and women, are among 
 the be»t looking of any people on the coast. 
 
 On our arrival we were received at the shore by 
 the inhabitants, a few of whom were armed with 
 muskets, which they fired, with loud shouts and 
 exclamations of TFocash^ wocash. 
 
 We were welcomed by tbe chief's messenger, or 
 master of ceremonies, dressed in his best g;armeat8j 
 
124 
 
 with his hair powdered with white down, and hold 
 ing in his hand the cheetoolth, the badge of his 
 office. This man preceded us to the thief's house, 
 wliere he introduced and pointed out to us our re- 
 spective seats. On entering, the visitors took of 
 their hats, which they always wear on similar oc- 
 casions, and Maquina his outer robes, of which he 
 has several on whenever he pays a visit, and seated 
 himself near the chief. 
 
 As I was dressed in European clothes I became 
 quite an object of curiosity to these people, very 
 few of whom had ever ssen a white man. They 
 crowded around me in numbers, taking hold of my 
 clothes, examining my face, hands and feet, and 
 even opening my mouth to see if I had a tongue, 
 for notwithstanding I had by this time become well 
 acquainted with their language, I preserved the 
 strictest silence, Maquina on our first landing 
 having enjoined me not to speak, until he should 
 direct. 
 
 Having undergone this examination for some 
 time, Maquina at length made a sign to me to 
 speak to them. On hearing me address them in 
 their own language, they were greatly astonished 
 and delighted, and told Maquina that they now 
 perceived that I was a man like themselves, except 
 that I was white and looked like a seal, alluding to 
 Boy blue jacket and trowsers, which they wanted 
 
125 
 
 to persuade me to take off, as they did not like 
 their appearance. Maquina io the mean time gave 
 an account to the chief,^of the scheme he had form- 
 ed for surprising our ship, and the manner in which 
 he and his people had carried it into execution, 
 with such particular and horrid details of that tran- 
 saction as chilled the blood in my veins. Trays of 
 boiled herring spawn and train oil were soon after 
 brought in and placed before as, neither the chief 
 or any of his people eating at the same time, it 
 being contrary to the ideas of hospitality enter- 
 tained by these nation?, to eat any part of the food 
 that is provided for strangers, always waiting un- 
 til their visitors have finished, before they have 
 their own brought in. 
 
 The following day closed their festival with an 
 exhibition of asimilar'*kind, to that which had been 
 given at Tashees, but still more cruel; the diffe- 
 rent tribes appearing on these occasions to endea- 
 vour to surpass each other in their proofs of forti- 
 tude and endurance of pain. In the morning twenty 
 men entered the chief's house, with each an arrow 
 run through the flesh of his sides, and either arm, 
 with a cord fastened to the end, which as the per- 
 formers advanced, singing and boasting, was for- 
 cibly drawn back by a person having hold of it. 
 After this performance was closed, we returned to 
 Cooptee, which we reached at midnight, our men 
 M 
 
126 
 
 keeping iitne with their songs to the stroke of their 
 
 paddleF. 
 
 The natives now began to take the herring 
 and sprat in immense quantities, with some s^almon, 
 and there was nothing tut feasting from morning 
 till night. 
 
 The following is the method they employ to 
 take the herring : A stick of about seven feet 
 long) two inches broad, and half an inch thick, is 
 formed from some hard wood, one side of which is 
 set with sharp teeth, ma^e from whale bone, at 
 about half an inch apart. Provided with this 
 instrument, the fisherman seats himself in the prow 
 of a canoe, which is paddled by another, and 
 whenever he comes to a shoal of herrings, which 
 cover the water in great quantities, he strikes it 
 with both hands upon them, and at the same mo- 
 ment turning it up, brings it over the side of the 
 canoe, into which he lets those that are taken drop. 
 It is astonishing to see how many are caught by 
 those who are dexterous at this kind of fishing, as 
 they seldom fail when the shaols are numerous, of 
 taking as many as ten or twelve at a stroke, and 
 in a very short time will fill a canoe with them. 
 Sprats are likewise caught in a similar manner. 
 
 About the beginning of February, Maquina 
 gave a great feast, at which^were present not only 
 
127 
 
 all the inhabitants, but one hundred persona from 
 A-i-tiz-zart, and a number from VVickinninish, 
 who had been invited to attend it. It is customary 
 with them to give an annual entertainment of this 
 kind, and it is astonishing to see what a quan- 
 tity of provision is expended, or rather wasted 
 on such an occasion, when they alwayg eat to the 
 greatest excess. It was at this feast that I saw 
 upwards of an hundred salmon cooked in one tub. 
 The whole residence at Cooptee presents an almost 
 uninterrupted succession of feasting and gorman- 
 dizing, and it would seem as if the principal object 
 of these people was to consume their whole stock 
 of provision before leaving it, trusting entirely to 
 their success in fishing and whaling, for a supply 
 at Nootka. 
 
 On the 25th of February, we quitted Cooptee, 
 and returned to Nootka. With much joy did 
 Thompson and myself again find ourselves in a 
 flace where, notwithstanding the melancholy re- 
 collections which it excited, we hoped before long 
 io see some vessel arrive to our relief, and for this 
 Ave became the more solicitous, as of late we had 
 become much more apprehensive of our safety, in 
 consequence of information brought Maquina a 
 few days before we left Cooptee, by some of the 
 Cayuquets, that there were twenty ships at the 
 northward, preparing to come against him, with 
 M 2 
 
128 
 
 an intent of desiroyiag him and his whole tribe, 
 for cutting off the Boston. 
 
 Thia story, which was wholly without founda- 
 tion, and discovered afterwards to have been in- 
 vented by these people, for the purpose of dis- 
 quieting him, threw him into great alarm, and 
 notwithstanding all I could say to convince him 
 that it was an unfounded report, so great was his 
 jealc,asy of us, especially after it had been con- 
 firmed to him by some others of the same nation, 
 that he treated us with much harshness, and kept 
 a very suspicious eye upon us. Nothing indeed 
 could be more unpleasant than our present situa- 
 tion, when I reflected that our lives were altogether 
 dependent on the will of a savage, on whose ca- 
 price and suspicions no rational calculation could 
 be mad«. 
 
 Not loBg after our return, a son of Maquina'a 
 sister, a boy of eleven years old, who had been 
 for some time declining, died. Immediately on 
 his death, which was about midnight, all the men 
 and women in the house set up loud cries and 
 shrieks, which awakening Thompson and myself, 
 so disturbed us that we left the house. This 
 lamentation was kept up during the remainder of 
 the night. In the morning, a great fire was kindled, 
 in which Maquina burned in honour of the deceased, 
 ten fathoms of cloth, and buried with him tea 
 
129 
 
 fathoms more, eight of I-\vha\v, four prime sea" 
 otter sking^ and tv70 small trunks, containing our 
 unfortunate captain's clothes and watch. 
 
 This boy was considered as a Tyee or chief, 
 being the only son of Tootooschj one of their prin- 
 cipal chiefs, who had married Maquina's sister, 
 whence arose this ceremony on his interment •, it 
 being an established custom with these people, 
 that whenever a chief dies, his most valuable pro- 
 perty is burned or buried with him; it is, however, 
 wholly confined to the chiefs, and aippears to be a 
 mark of honour appropriate to them. In this in- 
 stance Maquina furnished the articles, in order that 
 his nephew might have the proper honours ren- 
 dered him. 
 
 Tootooch, his father, was esteemed the first war* 
 rior of the tribe, and was one who had been parti- 
 cularly active in the destruction of our ship, having 
 killed two of our poor comrades, who were ashore/ 
 whose names were Hall and Wood. About the 
 time of our removal to Tashees, while in the enjoy- 
 ment of the highest health, he was suddenly seized 
 with a fit of delirium, in which he fancied that he 
 saw the ghosts of those two men constantly stand- 
 ing by him, and threatening him, so that he would 
 take no food, except what was forced iuio his 
 mouth. A short time before this he had lost a 
 daughter of abo«t fifteen years of nge, which 
 M 3 
 
130 
 
 aSEiicted him greatly, and whether his insanity, a 
 disorder very uncommon amongst these savages, 
 DO instance of the kind having occurred within the 
 memory of the oldest man amongst them, proceeded 
 from this cause, or that it was the special interpo- 
 sition of an all-merciful God in oar favour, who 
 by this means thought proper to induce these bar- 
 barians still further to respect our lives, of that 
 for hidden purposes, the Supreme Disposer of 
 events sometimes permits the spirits of the dead to 
 revisit the world, and hauut the murderer, I know 
 not, but his mind from this period, until his death, 
 which took place but a few weeks after that of his 
 son, was incessantly occupied with the images of 
 the men whom he had killed. 
 
 This circumstance made much impression upon 
 the tribe, particularly the chiefs, whose uniform 
 opposition to putting us to death, at the various 
 councils that were held on our account, I could 
 not but in part attribute to this cause, and Ma- 
 quina^ used frequently in speaking of Tootoosch's 
 sickness, to express much satisfaction that hi-s hand« 
 had not been stained with the blood of any of our 
 men. 
 
 When Maquina was ffrst informed by his sister, 
 of the strange conduct of her husband, he imme- 
 diately went to his house, taking us with him; 
 suspecting that his disease had been eaused by u», 
 
131 
 
 and that the ghosts of onr countrymen had been 
 called tMlher by as, to torment hirn. We found 
 him raving about Hall and Wood, saying that they 
 were peshaky that is, bad. Maquina then placed 
 gome provision before him, to see if he would eat. 
 On perceiving it, he pat forth his hand to take 
 some, bat instantly withdrew it with signs of 
 horror, saying that Hall and Wood were there, 
 and would not let him eat. IMaquioa then pointing 
 to us, asked if it was not John and Thompson 
 who troubled him. fVikj he replied, that is, no, 
 John klushish — TJiompson klushish — John and 
 Thompson are both good; t>.ea turning to me, 
 and patting me on the shoulder, he made signs to 
 me to eat. I tried to persuade him that Hall and 
 Wood were not there, and that none were near him 
 but ourselves : he said, I know very well you do 
 not see them, but £ do. 
 
 At first Maquina endeavoured to convince him 
 that he saw nothing, and to laugh him out of his 
 belief, but finding that all was to no purpose, he 
 at length became serious, and asked me if 1 had 
 ever seen any one affected in this manner, and 
 ivhat was the matter with him. I gave him to 
 understand, pointing to his head, that his braia 
 was injured, and that he did not see things as for- 
 merly. 
 
 Being convinced by Tootoosch's conduct, that 
 
132 
 
 we liaJ no agency in his indispositioo, od our re- 
 turn home, Maquina asked me what wfts done in 
 my coantry in similar cases. I told him that such 
 persons were closely confined, and sometimes tied 
 up and whipped, in order to make them better. 
 After pondering for some time, he said that he 
 should be glad to do any thing to relieve him, and 
 that he should be whipped, and immediately gave 
 orders to some, of his men to go to Tootoosch's 
 house, bind him, and bring him to his, in order 
 to undergo the operation. Thompson was the per- 
 son selected to administer this remedy, which he 
 undertook very readily, and for that purpose pro- 
 vided himself with a good number of spruce 
 branches, with which he whipped him most severe- 
 ly, laying it on with the best will imaginable, 
 while Tootoosch displayed the greatest rage, kick- 
 ing, spitting, and attempting to bite all who came 
 near him. This was too much for Maquina, who, 
 at lengh, unable to eiodure it longer, ordered 
 Thompson to desist, and Tootoosch to be carried 
 back, saying that if there was no other way of 
 curing him but by whipping, he must remain 
 mad. 
 
 The application of the whip produced no bene- 
 ficial effect on Tootoosch, for he afterwards be- 
 came still more deranged; in his fits of fury some- 
 times seizing a club, and beating his slaves in a 
 most dreadful manner, and striking and spitting 
 
133 
 
 at all who came near him, till at length hia wii'e> 
 no longer daring to remain in the house with him, 
 came with her son to Maquina's. 
 
 The whalmg season now commenced, and Ma- 
 quina was out almost every day in his canoe, in 
 pursuit of them, hut for a considerable time, with 
 no success, one day breaking the staff of his har- 
 poon, another, after having been a long time fast 
 to a whale, the weapon drawing, owing to the 
 breaking of the shell, which formed its point, with 
 several such like accidents, arising from the imper- 
 fection of the instrument. At these times he always 
 returned very morose and out of temper, up- 
 braiding his men with having violated their obliga- 
 tion to continence preparatory to whaling. In this 
 state of ill humour ho would give us very little to 
 eat, which added to the women not cooking whea 
 ■the men are ^way, reduced us to a very low 
 fare. 
 
 Jn consequence of the. repeated occurrence of 
 similar accidents, I proposed to^ Maquina to make 
 him a harpoon or foreganger of steel, which would 
 be less liable to fail him. The idea pleased him, 
 and in a short time I completed one for him, with 
 which he was much delighted, and the very next 
 day went out to make a trial of it. He succeeded 
 with it in taking a whale. Great was the joy 
 throughout (he village, as soon as it was knowm 
 
134 
 
 that the kiag had secured the whale, by notice from 
 a person stationed at the head-land in the offing. 
 Ail the canoes were immediately lannched, and, 
 furnished with harpoons and seal-skin floats, has- 
 tened to assist in buoying it up, and towiug it in. 
 
 The bringing in of this fish exhibited a scene of 
 universal festivity. As soon as the canoes appeared 
 at the month of the Cove, those on board of them 
 singing a triumph to a slow air, to which they kept 
 time with their paddles, all who were on shore, 
 men, women and children, mounted the roofs of 
 their houses, to congratulate the king on his suc- 
 cess, drumming most furiously on the planks, and 
 exclaimiag IVocash — wocash Tyee. 
 
 The whale on being drawn on shore, was imme- 
 diately cut up, and a great feast of the blubber 
 given at Maquina's house, to which all the village 
 were invited, who indemnified themselves for their 
 lent, by eating as usual to excess. I was highly 
 praised for the goodness of my harpoon, and a 
 quantity of blubber given me. which I was permit- 
 ted to cook as I pleased, this I boiled in salt water 
 with some young nettles and other greens for 
 Thompson and myself, and in this way we found it 
 tolerable food. 
 
 Their method of procuring the oil, is to skim it 
 from the water in wnich the blubber is boiled, and 
 
135 
 
 ; when cool, put it up into whale bladders for use, 
 ! and of these I have seen them so large as, when 
 ! filled, would require no less (haa five or six men to 
 carry. Several of the chiefs, among whom were 
 Maquina^s brothers, who after the king has caught 
 the first whale, are privileged to take them also, 
 were very desirous, on discovering the superiority 
 of my liarpoon, that I should make some for them, 
 but this Maquina would not permit, reserving for 
 himself this improved weapon. He however gave 
 me directions to make a number more for himself 
 which I executed, and also made him several 
 lances, with which he was greatly pleased. 
 
 As these people have some very singular observ- 
 ances preparatory to whaling, an account of them 
 }'. will, I presume, not prove uninlerestvng', especially 
 as it may serve to give a better idea of their manners. 
 A short time before leaving Tashees, the king makes 
 a point of passing a day alone on the mountain, 
 whither he goes very privately early in the morning, 
 and does not return till late in the evening. This is 
 done, as I afterwards learned, for the purpose of 
 singipg and praying to his God for success in whal- 
 ing the ensuing season. At Cooptee the seme cere- 
 mony is performed, and at Nootka after the return 
 thither, with still greater solemnity, as for the ne.xt 
 two days he appears very thoughtful and gloomy, 
 scarcely speaking to any one,, and observes a most 
 rigid last. On these occasions, he has always a 
 
J36 
 
 broad red fillet made of bark, bound around his 
 head, in token of humiliation, vvilh a large branch 
 of green gpruce on the top, and his great rattle in 
 his hand. In addition to this, for a week before 
 commencing their whaling, both himself and the 
 crew of his canoe observe a fast, eating but very 
 little, and going into the water several times in the 
 course of each day (o bathe- singing and rubbing 
 their bodies, limbs and faces with shells and bushes, 
 80 that on their return I have see« them look as 
 though they had been severely torn with briers. 
 They are likewise obliged to abstain from any com- 
 merce with their women for the like period, the 
 latter restriction being considered as indispensible 
 to their success. 
 
 Early in June Tootoosch, the crazj chief, died. 
 On being acquainted with his death the whole 
 village, men, women and children, set up a loud 
 cry, with every testimony of the greatest grief, 
 which they continued for more than three hours. 
 As soon as he was dead, the body, according to 
 their custom, was laid out on a plank, having the 
 head bound round with a red bark fillet, which is 
 with them an emblem of mourning and sorrow. 
 After laying some time in this manner, he was 
 wrapped in an otter skin robe, and three fathoms 
 of I-whaw being put about his neck, he wa« placed 
 in a large coffin or box of about three feet deep, 
 which wag ornamented on the outside with two 
 
137 
 
 row'8 of the small white shells. la this, the most 
 valuable articles of his property were placed with 
 him, among; which were co less thaa tweuJy-foar 
 prime sea otter skias. 
 
 At night, which is their time for ialerriag the 
 dead, the coffin was borne by eight men with two 
 poles, thrust through ropes passed around it, to 
 the place of burial, accompanied by his wife and 
 family, with their hair cut short, in token of ^rief, 
 all the inhabitants joining th« procession. The 
 place of burial was a large cavern on the side of a 
 hill at a little distance from the village, in which, 
 after depositing the coffin carefully, all the at- 
 tendants repaired to Waquina's house,, where a 
 cumber of articles belonging to the deceased, con- 
 sisting of blankets, pieces of cloth, &c. w ere burned 
 by a porsoii appointed by Maquina for thai purpose, 
 dressed and painted in the highest style, with his 
 head covered with white do.»D, who, as he puts 
 in the several pieces, one by one, poured upon 
 them a quantity of oil to increase the fiame, in the 
 intervals between, making a speech and playing off 
 a variety of buffoon tricks, and the w hole closed 
 with a feast, and a dance from Sat-sat-sak-fiis, the 
 king's son. 
 
 The man who performed the cereniony of burning 
 on this occasion, was a vc^ry siugular character, 
 Hrimed Kinncdinmots. lie w as held in h;g!i esti- 
 
 N 
 
138 
 
 matioa by the kiag, though only of the commoD 
 class, proba1)ly from his taleat for mimicry and baf- 
 foonry, and might be considered as a kind of king's 
 jester, or rather as combining in his person the 
 character of a buffoon with that of master of cere- 
 monies and public orator to his majesty, as he was 
 the one who at feasts always regulated the places 
 of the guests, delivered speeches on receiving or 
 returning visits, besides amasing the company at 
 all their entertainments, with a variety of monkey 
 pranks and antic gestures, which appeared to these 
 savages the height of wit and humour, but would 
 be considered as extremely low by the least polished 
 people. Almost all the kings or head chiefs of the 
 principal tribes were accompanied by a similar 
 character, who appeared to be attached to their 
 dignity, and are called in their language, Climmer- 
 habbee. 
 
 This man, Kinneclimmets, was particularly 
 odious to Thompson, who would never join in the 
 laugh at his tricks, but when he began, would al- 
 most always quit the House with a very surly 
 look, and an exclamation of cursed fooll which 
 Maquina, who thought nothing could equal the 
 cleverness of his Climmer -Jiabbee, used to remark, 
 with much dissatisfaction, asking me why Thomp- 
 800 never laughed, observing that I must have had 
 a very good-tempered woman indeed for my mother, 
 as my father was so very ill-natured a man. 
 
139 
 
 Amoog those performances that gained him the 
 greatest applause, was his talent of eating to ex- 
 cess, for I have known him devour at one meal, 
 no less than seventy-five large herrings; and at 
 another time, when a great feast was given by 
 Maquina, he undertook, after drinking three pints 
 of oil by way of a whet, to eat four dried salmon, 
 and five quarts of spawn, naixed np with a gallon of 
 train oil, and actually succeeded in swallowing the 
 greater part of this mess, until his stomach became 
 so overloaded, as to discharge its contents in the 
 dish. One of his exhibitions, however, had nearly 
 cost him his life; this was on the occasion of Kla- 
 quak-ee-na^ one of the chiefs, having bought him a 
 new wife, in celebration of which he ran three 
 times through a large fire, and burned himself in 
 such a manner, that he was not able to stir for 
 more than four weeks. These feats of savage 
 skill were much praised by Maquina, who never 
 filled to make him presents of cloth, muskets, &c. 
 on such occasions. 
 
 The death of Tootoosch increased still more the 
 disquietude which his delirium had excited among 
 the savages, and all those chiefs who had killed 
 our men, became much alarmed, lest they should 
 be seized with the same disorder, and die like him; 
 more particularly, as I had told Maquina, that 
 I believed his insanity was a punishment inflicted 
 
140 
 
 on him by Quahooize^ for his cruelty in murderiug 
 two iDoocent niea, who had Deveriojured hira. 
 
 Oursitctafion had now become unpleasant in l!.e 
 extreme. The summer was so far advanced, that 
 we nearly despaired of a ship arriving to our relief, 
 and with that expectation, almost relinquished the 
 hope of ever having it in our power to quit this 
 savage land. We were treated too with less in- 
 dulgence than before, both Thompson and myself 
 being obliged, in addition to our other employ- 
 ments, to perform the laborious task of cutting and 
 collecting fuel, which we had to bring on our 
 •boulders from nearly three miles distance, as it 
 consisted wholly of dry trees, all of which, near 
 the village, had been consumed. 
 
 To add to this, we suffered much abuse from the 
 common people, who, when Maquina or some of 
 the chiefs were not present, would insult us, calling 
 U8 wretched glaves, asking us where was our Tyee 
 or captain, making gestures sigoiiying that his head 
 had been cut ofiT, and that (hey would do the Uk^ 
 to us; though they generally took good care nt 
 guch times to keep well osit of Thompson's reach, 
 as they had more than once experienced, to their 
 cost, the strength of his fist. This conduct was not 
 only provoking aod grating to our feGiings in the 
 highest degree, but it convinced us of ths ill dispr,- 
 
141 
 
 sitioa of these savages towards as, and rendered us 
 fearful lest they might at some time or other per- 
 suade or force Maquijaa and the chiefs to put us to 
 death. 
 
 We were also often brought to great distress for 
 the want of provisions, so far as to be reduced to 
 collect a scanty supply of muscles and limpets 
 from the rocks, and sometimes even compelled to 
 part with some of our most necessary articles of 
 clothing, in order to purchase food for our sub- 
 sistence. This was, however, principally owing to 
 the inhabitants themselves experiencing a great 
 scarcity of provisions this season; there having 
 been, in the first place, but very few salmon caught 
 at Friendly Cove, a most unusual circumstance, 
 as they generally abound there in the spring, which- 
 was by the natives attributed to their having been 
 driven away by the blood of our men, who had 
 been thrown into the sea, which with true savage 
 inconsistency, excited their murmurs against Ma- 
 quiua, who had proposed cutting off our ship. Re- 
 lying on this supply, they had in the most incon- 
 siderate manner, squandered away their winter 
 stock of provisions, so that in a few days after 
 their return, it was entirely expended. 
 
 Nor were the king and chiefs much more fortu- 
 nate in their whaling, even after I had furnished 
 Maquina with the improved weapon for that pnr-. 
 N 3 
 
142 
 
 pose; bat four whales havinfr been taken during 
 the season, which closes the last of May, including 
 one that had been struck by Maquina and escaped, 
 and was afterwards driven on shore about six miles 
 from Nootka, in almost a state of putridity. These 
 afforded but a short supply to a population, includ- 
 injj all ages and sexes, of no less than fifteen hun- 
 dred persons, and of a character so very improvi- 
 dent, that after feasting most gluttonously whenever 
 a whale was caught, they were several times for a 
 week together, reduced to the necessity of eating 
 but once a day, and of collecting cockles and mus- 
 cles from the rocks for their food. 
 
 And even afteT the cod and halibut fishing com- 
 menced, in June, in which they met with tolerable 
 'success, such was the savage caprice of Maquina, 
 that he would often give us but little to eat, finally 
 ordering us to buy a canoe and fishing implements, 
 and go out ourselves and fish, or we should have 
 nothing. To do this, we were compelled to part 
 with our great coats, which were not only import- 
 ant to us as garments, but of which we made our 
 beds, spreading them under as when we slept. 
 From our want of skill, however, in this new em- 
 ploy, we met with no success; on discovering 
 which, Maquina ordered us to remain at home. 
 
 Another thing, which to me in particular, proved 
 an almost constant source of vexation and disgust, 
 end which living among them had not in the least 
 
143 
 
 reconciled me to, was their extreme filtbiness, not 
 only in eating fish, especially the whale, vviien in 
 a state of offensive putridity, but while at their 
 meals, of making a practice of taking the vermin 
 from their heads or clothes, and eating them, bj 
 turns thrusting their fingers into their hair, and 
 into the dish, and spreading their garments over 
 the tubs in which the provision was cooking, in 
 order to set in motion their inhabitants. 
 
 Fortunately for Thompson, he regarded this 
 much less than myself, and when I used to point 
 oat to him any instance of their fiithiness in this 
 respect, he would laugh and reply, Never mind 
 John, the more good things the better. I must, 
 however, do Maquina the justice to state, that he 
 was much neater both in his person and eating 
 than were the others, as was likewise his queen, 
 owing no doubt to his intercourse with foreigners, 
 which had given him ideas of cleanliness, for I 
 never saw either of them eat any of these animals, 
 but on the contrary they appeared not much to 
 relish this tast.e in others. Their garments, also, 
 were much cleaner, Maquina having been accus- 
 tomed to give his away when they became soiled, 
 till after he discovered tiiat Thompson and myself 
 kept ours clean by washing them, when he used 
 t/> make Thompson do the same for him. 
 
 Yet amidst this state of endurance and disap- 
 
poiatment, in heariag repeatedly of the arrival of 
 ships at the north aod §outh, most of which proved 
 to be idle reports, while expectation was almost 
 wearied out in looking for them, we did not wholly 
 despond, relying on the mercy of the Supreme 
 Being, to ofier up to whom our devotions on the 
 days appointed for his worship, was our chief 
 consoIatioQ and support, though we were some- 
 times obliged, by our task-masters, to infringe 
 upon the Sabbath, which was to me a source of 
 much regret. 
 
 We were, nevertheless, treated at times with 
 much kindness by Maquina, who would give us 
 a plenty of the best that he had to eat, and occa- 
 sionally, some small present of cloth for a garment, 
 promising me, that if any ship should arrive within 
 9 hundred miles of Nootka, he would send a canoe 
 with a letter from me to the captain, so that be 
 might come to our release. These flattering pro- 
 mises and marks of attention, were, however, at 
 those times when he thought himself in personal 
 danger from a mutinous spirit, which the scarcity 
 of provisions had excited among the natives, who, 
 like true savages, imputed all their public cala- 
 mities, of whatever kind, to the misconduct of 
 their chief, or when be was apprehensive of an at- 
 tack from some of the other tribes who were irri- 
 tated with him for cutting off the Boston, as it 
 had prevented ships from coming to trade with 
 
145 
 
 them, and were consfaotly alarniiag him wilh idle 
 stories of vessels that were preparJDg to coino 
 against him, and exterminate both him and his 
 people. 
 
 At such times, he made us keep guard over him 
 both night and day, armed with cutlasses and 
 pistols, being apparently afraid to trust any of his 
 own men. At ontf time, it .was a general revolt 
 of his people that he apprehended; then three of his 
 principal chiefs, among whom was his elder bro- 
 ther, had conspired to take away bis life; and at 
 length, he fancied that a snriall party of Klaoo- 
 quates, between wjiom and the Noolkians, little 
 friendship subsisted, had come to Nootka, under a 
 pretence of trade, for the sole purpose of murdering 
 him and his family, telling us, probably to sharpea 
 our vigilance, that their intention was to kill m 
 likewise; and so strongly were hia fears excited 
 on this occasion, that he not only ordered us to 
 keep near him armed by day, whenever he went 
 out, and to patrole at night before hi^ house while 
 they remained, but to coniinue the same guard for 
 three days after they were gone, and (o fire at ona 
 and at four in the morning, one uf the great guns to 
 let them know, if, as he suspected, they were 
 lurking in the neighbourhood, that he was on bis 
 guard. 
 
 While he was tha?j favourably disposed towards 
 
146 
 
 us, I took aa cpportunity to inform him of the ill 
 treatment that we frequently received from his 
 people, and the insults that were offered us by some 
 of the stranger tribes in calling us white slaves, 
 and loading us with other opprobrious terms. He 
 was much displeased, and said that his subjects 
 should not be allowed to treat us ill, and that if any 
 of the strangers did it, he wished us to punish the 
 offenders with death, at the same time directing ns, 
 for our security, to go constantly armed. 
 
 This permission was soon improved by Thompson 
 io the best advantage; for a few days after, having 
 gone to the pond to wash some of our clothes, and 
 blanket for Maquina, several Wickinninish who 
 were then at Nootka, came thither, and seeing him 
 washing the clothes, and the blanket spread upon 
 the grass io dry, they began according to custom, 
 to insult him, and one of them bolder than the 
 others, walked over the blanket, Thompson was 
 highly incensed, and threatened the Indian with 
 death if he repeated the offence, but he, in contempt 
 of the threat, trampled upon the blanket, when 
 drawing his cutlass, without farther ceremony, 
 Thompson cut oflf his head, on seeing which the 
 others ran off at full speed; Thompson then gather- 
 ing up the clothes and blanket, on which were the 
 marks of the Indian's dirty feet, and taking with 
 him the head, returned and informed the king of 
 what had passed, who was much pleased, and highly 
 
147 
 
 commended his conduct. This had a favourable 
 effect for us, not only on the slranger tribrs, but 
 the inhabitants themselves, who treated us after- 
 wards with less disrespect. 
 
 In the latter part of July, Maquina informed me 
 that he was going to war with the A-ij.charts, a 
 tribe about fifty miles to the south, on account 
 of some controversy that had arisen the preceding 
 summer, and that I must make a Dumber of daggers 
 for his men, and cheetoolths for his chiefs, which 
 having completed, he wished me to make for his 
 own use a weapon of quite a different form, in order 
 to dispatch his enemy by one blow on the head, it 
 being the calculation of these nations on going to 
 war, to surprise their adversaries whiie asleep, — 
 This was a steel dagger, or more properly a spike, 
 of about six inches long, made very sharp, set at 
 right angles in an iron handle of fifteen inches long, 
 terminating at the lower end in a crook or turn, so 
 as to prevent its being wrenched from the hand, and 
 at the upper, in a round knob or head, from whence 
 the spike protruded. This instrument I polished 
 highly, and the more to please Maquina, formed on 
 the back of the knob, the resemblance of a man's 
 head, with the mouth open, substituting for eyes, 
 black beads, which I fastened in with red sealing wax. 
 This pleased him much, and was greatly admired 
 by his chiefs, who wanted me to make similar ones 
 
U8 
 
 for.them, hut Maquina would not suffer it, reserr- 
 iag for himself alone tins weapon. 
 
 When these people, have finally determined on 
 war, Ibey make it an invariable practice for three 
 or four weeks prior to the expedition, to go into the 
 water five or six times a day, when they wash and 
 scrub themselves from head to foot with bushes in- 
 termixed with briars, go that their bodies and faces 
 will often be entirely covered with blood. During 
 this severe exercise, they are continually exclaim- 
 ing, " Wocash Quakootzej 7 eechamme ah uelth^ 
 uik-etish tau- ilih — Kar-sab-m aiem as — J Vik-sish 
 to hauk matemas — / ya-ish kah shittle — As-smoo- 
 iish warich matemas ;'''' which signifies g(!od or 
 great God, let me live — Not be sick — Find the 
 enemy — Not fear him — Find him asleep, and kill 
 a^reat many of them. 
 
 During the whole of this period, they have no in- 
 tercourse with their women, and for a week, 
 before setting out, abstain from feasting or any k:cd 
 of merriment, appearing thoughtful, gloomy, and 
 morose, and for the three last days, are almost 
 constantly In the water, both by day and night, 
 scrubbing and lacerating themselves in a terrible 
 manner. Maquina having iiiformed Thompson 
 and myself that he gliould take us \\ith him, was 
 very solicitous that he should bathe and scrub cur- 
 selves in the sunie way with them, teliing me that 
 
149 
 
 it would harden our skins, so that the weapons of 
 the enemy would not pierce them, but as we felt 
 no great inclination to amuse ourselves in this 
 manner, we declined it. 
 
 The expedition consisted of forty canoes, carrying 
 from ten to twenty men each. Thompson and my- 
 self armed ourselves with cutlasses and pistols, but 
 the natives, although they had a plenty of Eu- 
 ropean arms, took with them only their daggers 
 and cheetoolths, with a few bows and arrows, the 
 latter being about a yard in length, and pointed 
 with copper, muscle shell, or bone: the bows are 
 four feet and a half long, with strings made of 
 whale sinew. 
 
 To go to A-y-cl^rt, we ascended from twenty to 
 thirty miles, a river about the size of that of 
 Tashees, the banks of which are high and covered 
 with wood. At midnight, we came in sight of the 
 village, which was situated on the west bank, 
 near the shore, on a steep hill difScult of access, 
 and well calculated for defence. It consisted of 
 fifteen or sixteen houses, smaller than those at NooS 
 ka, and built in the same style, but compactly 
 placed. By Maquioa's directions, the attack w^s 
 deferred until the first appearance of dawn, as he 
 said that was the time when men slept the soundest. 
 
 At length all being ready for the atlatk, we 
 
150 
 
 landed with the greatest silence, and going around 
 80 as to come apoo the foe in the rear, clambered 
 up the hilJ, and while the natives, as is their 
 custom, entered the several huts, creeping on all 
 fours, ray comrade and myself stationed ourselves 
 without, to intercept those who should attempt to 
 escape, or come to the aid of their friends. 1 
 wished if possible, not to stain my hands in the 
 blood of any fellow creature, and though Thompson 
 would gladly have put to death all the savages in 
 the country, be was too brave to think of attacking 
 a sleeping enemy. 
 
 Having entered the houses, on the vvar-whoop 
 being given by Maquina, as he seized the head of 
 the chief, and gave him the fatal blow, all pro- 
 ceeded to the work of death. The A-y-charts 
 being thus surprized, were unable to make resis- 
 tance, and with the exception of a very few, who 
 were so fortunate as to make their escape, were all 
 kilUd or taken prisoners ou condition of becoming 
 slaves to their captors. I had the good fortune to 
 take four captives, whom Maquina, as a favor, 
 permitted me to consider as mine, and occasionally 
 employ them in fishing for me; as for Thompson, 
 who thirsted for revenge, he had no wish to take 
 any prisoners, but with his tutlass, the only 
 weapon he would employ against them, succeeded 
 in killing seven stout fellows, who came to attack 
 bim, an act which obtained him great credit with 
 
151 
 
 Maquina and the chiefs, who after this, held him 
 in much higher estimation, and gave him the 
 appellation of ChehieUsama-har^ it heing the name 
 of a very celebrated warrior of their nation in anci- 
 ent times, whose exploits were the constant theme 
 of their praise. 
 
 After having put to death all the old and infirm 
 of either sex, as is the barbarous practice of these 
 people, and destroyed the buildings, we re-embark- 
 ed with our booty in our canoes, for Nootka, 
 where we were received with great demonstra- 
 tions of joy by the women and children, accompa- 
 nying our war song with a most furious drumming 
 on the houses. The next day a great feast was 
 given by Maquina, in celebration of his victory, 
 ♦which was terminated as usual with a dance by 
 Sat-sat-sak-sis. 
 
 Repeated applications had been made to Maqui- 
 na, by a number of kings or chiefs, to purchase 
 me, especially after he had shewed them the 
 harpoon I had made for him, which he took much 
 pride in, but he constantly refused to part with me 
 on any terms. — Among these, the king of the 
 Wickinninish was particularly solicitous to obtain 
 mcj having twice applied to Maquina for that 
 purpose, once in a very formal manner, by sending 
 his messenger with four canoes, who as he 
 approached the shore, decorated in their highest 
 O % 
 
152 
 
 sty^e, with the white down on his head, &c. 
 declared that he came to buy Tooteyoohannis^ the 
 name by which 1 was known to them, for his 
 master, and that he had brought for that purpose 
 four young male slaves, two highly ornamented ca- 
 noes, such a number of the skins of metamelth, and of 
 the quartlack, or sea otter, and so many fathoms of 
 cloth and of i-whaw, while as he mentioned the dif- 
 ferent articles, they were pointed out or held up by 
 his attendants, but even this tempting oiTer had no 
 influence on Maquina ; who in the latter part of the 
 summer, was again very strongly urged to sell me 
 by Ulatilla, or as he is generally called Machee 
 Ulatilla, chief of the Klaizzarts, who had come 
 to Nootka on a visit. 
 
 This chief, who could epeak tolerable English, 
 had much more the appearance of a civilized man, 
 than any of the savages that I saw. Reappeared to 
 be about thirty, was rather small in his person, but 
 extremely well formed, with a skin almost as fair 
 as that of an European, good features, and a 
 countenance expressive of candour and amiableness, 
 and which was almost always brightened with a 
 gmile. He was much neater both in his dress and 
 person than any of the other chiefs, seldom wearing 
 paint, except upon his eye-brows, v/hich after the 
 custom of his country, were plucked out, and a 
 few strips of the pelpelth on the lower part of his 
 face. He always treated me with much kindness. 
 
163 
 
 was fond of conversing with rae in English and iu 
 his own language, asking me many questions 
 relative to my country, its manners, customs, &c. 
 and appeared to take a strong interest in my fate, 
 telling me, that if he could persuade Maquina to 
 part with rae, he would put me on board the first 
 ship that came to his country; a promise, which 
 from his subsequant conduct, I have good reason 
 to think he would have performed, as my delive- 
 rance at length, from captivity and suffering was, 
 under the favour of divine providence, ' wholly 
 owing to him, the only letter that ever reached an 
 European or American vessel, out of sixteen that 
 I wrote at different times, and sent to various 
 parts of the coast, having been delivered by him in 
 person. So much pleased was I with this man's 
 behaviour to me while at Nootka, that I made for 
 him a Cheetoolth, which I burnished highly, and 
 engraved with figures; with this he was greatly 
 delighted, I also would have made for him a 
 harpoon would Maquina have consented. 
 
 With hearts full of dejection and almost lost to 
 hope, no ship having appeared off Nootka this 
 season, did my companion and myself accompany 
 the tribe on their removal in September, to Tashees, 
 relinquishing in consequence, for six months, even 
 the jemotest expectation of Telief. 
 
 Soon after our establishment there, Maquina 
 O 3 
 
154 
 
 informed me, that he and his chiefs had held 
 council both before and after quitting Nootka, in 
 which they had determined that I must marry one 
 of their women, urging as a reason to induce me 
 1o consent, that as there was now no probability 
 of a ship coming to Nootka to release me, that I 
 must consider myself as destined to pass the 
 remainder of my life with them, that the sooner I 
 conformed to their customs the better, and that a 
 wife and family would render me more contented 
 and satisfied with their mode of living. I remon- 
 strated against this decision, but to no purpose, for 
 he told me that should I refuse, both Thompson 
 and myself would be put to death, telling me 
 however, that if there were none of the women of 
 his tribe that pleased me, he would go with me to 
 some of the other tribes, where he would purchase 
 for me such a one as I should select. Reduced to 
 this sad extremity, with death on the one side, and 
 matrimony on the other, I thought proper to choose 
 what appeared to me the least of the two evils, and 
 consent to be married, on condition, that'as I did 
 cot fancy any of the Nootka women, I should be 
 permitted to make choice of one from some olher 
 tribe. 
 
 This being settled, the next morning by day light 
 Maquina with about fifty men iu two canoes, set 
 oat with me for A-i-tiz*zart, taking with him a 
 quantity of cloth, a number of muskets, sea otter 
 
166 
 
 skins, &c. for the purchase of my bride. With the 
 aid of our paddles and sails, being favoured with a 
 fair breeze, we arrived some time before sun set at 
 the village. Our arrival excited a general alarm, 
 and the men hastened to the shore, armed with the 
 weapons of their country, making many warlike de- 
 monstrations, and displaying much Zealand activi- 
 ty. We in the m£an time remained quietly seated 
 in ourcaooes, where we remained for about half an 
 hour, when the messenger of the chief, dressed in 
 their best manner, came to welcome us, and invite 
 us on shore to eat. We followed him in procession 
 to the chief's honse, Maquina at our head, taking 
 care to leave a sufficient number in the boats to pro- 
 tect the property. When we came to the bouse, we 
 were ushered in with much ceremony, and our re- 
 spective seats pointed out to us, mine being next to 
 Maquina by his request. 
 
 After having been regaled with a feast of herring 
 spawn and oil, Maquina asked me if I saw any a- 
 mong the women who were present that I liked, I 
 immediately pointed out to a young girl of about 
 seventeen, the daughter of Upquesta^ the chief, who 
 was sitting near him by her mother. On this Ma- 
 quina making a sign to his men, arose and taking 
 me by the hand, walked into the middle of the 
 room, and sent off two of his men to bring ihe boxes 
 containing the presents from the canoes. In the 
 mean time Kinneclimmets, the master of ceremo- 
 
166 
 
 nies, whom I have already spoken of, made himself 
 ready for the part he was to act, by powdering his 
 hair with white down. — When the chests were 
 brought in, specimens of the several articles were 
 taken out, aud shewed by our men, one of whom 
 held up a musket, another a skin, a third a piece 
 of cloth, &c. On this, Kinneclimmets stepped 
 forward, and addressing the chief, informed him 
 that all these belonged to me, mentioning the 
 number of each kind, and that they were oflFered to 
 him for the pui chase of his daughter Eu-stoch-ee-ex' 
 qua, as a wife for me. As he said this, the men 
 who held up the various articles, walked up to the 
 chief, and with a very stern and morose look, the 
 complimentary one on these occasions, threw them 
 at his feet. Immediately on which, all the tribe, 
 both men and women, who were assembled on this 
 occasion, set up a cry of Klack-ko-Tyee, thai is, 
 Thank ye chief. His men, after this ceremony, 
 having returned to their places, Maquina rose, and 
 in a speech of more than hall an hour, said much in 
 my praise to the A-i-tizzart chief, telling him that 
 I was as good a man as themselves, differing from 
 them only in being white, that I was besides 
 acquainted with many things of which they were 
 ignorant; that I ki\ev/ bow to make daggers, 
 cheetoolths, and harpoons, and was a very valua- 
 ble person, whom he was determined to keep always 
 with him ; praising me at the same time for the 
 goodness of my temper, and the rnanner in which 
 
167 
 
 I had conducted myself sioce 1 had been with 
 them, observing that all the people of Nootka, 
 and even the children, loved me. 
 
 9 
 
 While Maqaina was speaking, his master of cere- 
 jnoni'es was continually skipping about, making 
 the most extravagant gestures, and exclaiming 
 IVocash. When he had ceased, the A-i-tiz-zart 
 chief arose amidst the acclamations of his people^ 
 and began with setting forth the many good qua- 
 lities and accomplishments of his daughter; that he 
 loved her greatly, and as she was his only one, 
 he could not think of parting with her. He spoke 
 in this manner for some time, but finally concluded 
 by consenting to the proposed anion, requesting 
 that she might be well used and kindly treated by 
 her husband. At the close of this speech, when 
 the chief began to manifest a disposition to consent 
 to our union, Kinneclimmets ai;ain began to call 
 out as loud as he could bawl, Wocash, cutting a 
 a thousand capers and spinning himself around on 
 his heel like a top. 
 
 When Upquesta had finished his speech, he di- 
 rected his people io carry back the presents which 
 Maquina had given him, to me, together with two 
 young male slaves, to assist me in fishing. These, 
 after havmg been placed before me, were by Ma- 
 quina's men taken on board the canoes- This 
 ceremony being over, we v^ere invited by one of 
 
158 
 
 the priacipal chiefs to a feast, at his house, of 
 Klussamit^ or dried herring, where after the eating 
 was over, Kinneclimmets amused the company 
 very highly with his trtciis, and the evening's en- 
 tertainment was closed by a new war song from our 
 men, and one in return from the A-i-tiz-zarts, ajc- 
 companied with expressive gestures, and wielding 
 of their weapons. 
 
 After this our company returned to lodge at Up- 
 questa's, except a few who were left on board the 
 canoes, to watch the property. In the morning 
 I received from the chief his daughter, with an 
 earnest request that I would use her well, which 
 I promised him; when taking leave of her parents, 
 she accompanied me with apparent satisfaction on 
 board of the canoe. 
 
 The wind being a-head, the natives were obliged 
 to have recourse to their paddles, accompany ibg 
 them with their songs, interspersed with the ^yitti- 
 cisms and buflfoonry of Kinneclimmets, who, in his 
 capacity of king's steersman, one of his functions 
 which I forgot to enumerate, not only guided the 
 course of the canoe, but regulated the singing of 
 the boatmen. At about five in the morning, we 
 reached Tashees, where we found all the inhabi- 
 tants collected on the shore to receive us. We 
 were welcomed with loud shouts of joy, and excla- 
 maliofli of Wocash, and the women taking my 
 
159 
 
 bride under their charge, conducted her to Maquina's 
 house, to be kept with them for ten days; it being " 
 an universal custom, as Maquina informed me, 
 that no intercourse should take place between the 
 new married pair during that period. At night Ma- 
 quina gave a great feast, which was succeeded by a 
 dance, in which all the women joined, and thus ended 
 the festivities of my marriage. 
 
 The term of my probation being over, Maquina 
 assigned me as an apartment, the space in the up- 
 per part of his house, between him and his eider bro- 
 ther, whose room was opposite. Here 1 establish- 
 ed myself with my family, consisting of myself 
 and wife, Thompson, and the little Sat-sat-sak-sis, 
 who had always been strongly attached to me, and 
 now solicited his father to let him live with me, to 
 which he consented. This boy was handsome, 
 extremely well formed, amiable, and of a pleasant 
 sprightly disposition. I used to take a pleasure in 
 decorating him with rings, bracelets, ear jewels, 
 &c. which I made for him of copper, and orna- 
 mented and polished them in my best manner. I 
 was also very careful to keep him free from vermin 
 of every kind, washing him and combing his hair 
 every day. These marks of attention were not 
 only very pleasing to the child, who delighted in 
 being kept neat and clean, as well as in being 
 dressed off in his finery, but was highly gratifying 
 
160 
 
 both to Maquina and his queen, who used to ex- 
 press much satisfaction at my care of him. 
 
 In making my domestic establishment, I deter- 
 mined, as far as possible, to live in a more com- 
 fortable and cleanly manner than the others. — 
 For this purpose, I erected with planks, a partition 
 of about three feet high, between mine and the, 
 adjoining rooms, and made three bedsteads of the 
 same, which I covered with boards, for my family 
 to sleep on, which 1 found much more comfortable 
 than sleeping on the floor amidst the dirt. 
 
 Fortunately I found my Indian princess both 
 amiable and intelligent, for one whose limited 
 sphere of observation must necessarily give rire to 
 but a 4cw ideas. She was extremely ready to 
 agree to any thing that I proposed relative to our 
 mode of living, was very attentive in keeping her 
 garments and person neat and clean, and appeared 
 in every respect, solicitous to please me. 
 
 She was, as I have said, about seventeen, her 
 person was small, but well formed, as were her 
 features, her complexion was, without exception, 
 fairer than any of the women, with considerable 
 colour in Ler cheeks, her hair long^ black, and 
 rriuch softer than is usual with them, and her teeth 
 small, even, and of a dazzling whitecess, while 
 
161 
 
 theexpression of hor couateuauce, indicated sweet- 
 ness of temper and modesty. She would, iodeed, 
 have been considered as very pretty in any country, 
 and excepting Maqaina's queen, was by far the 
 handsomest of any of their women. 
 
 With a partner possessing so many attractions, 
 many may be apt to conclude, that I must have 
 found myself happy, at least comparatively so ; 
 but far otherwise vvas it with me, a compulsory 
 marriage with the most beautiful and accomplished 
 person in the world, can never prove a source of 
 real happiness; and in my situation, I could not 
 but view this connexion as a chain that was to bind 
 me down to this savage land, and prevent my ever 
 again seeing a civilized country; especially, when 
 in a few days after, Maquiqa informed me that 
 there had been a meeting of his chiefs, in which it 
 had been determined, that as I had married one of 
 their women, I must be considered as one of them, 
 and conform to their customs, and that in future, 
 neither myself nor Thompson should wear our Eu- 
 ropean clothes, bat dress in Kutsaks like them- 
 selves. This order was to me most painful, but I 
 persuaded Maquina, at length, so far to relax in 
 it as to permit me to wear those I had at present, 
 which were almost worn out, and not to compel 
 'Thompson to change his dress, observing, that as 
 he was an old man, such a changs would cause his 
 death. 
 
 P 
 
162 
 
 Their religious celebration, which the last year 
 took place in December, was in this commenced on 
 the 15th of November, and continued for fourteen 
 days. As I was now considered as one of them, 
 instead of being ordered to the woods, Maquina 
 directed Thompson and myself to remain, and pray 
 with them to Quahootze to be good to them, and 
 thank him for what he had done. 
 
 It was opened in much the same manner as the 
 former. After which, all the men and women in 
 the viljage a^embled at Maquina's house, in their 
 plainest dresses, and without any kind of ornaments 
 about them, having their heads bound around with 
 the red fillet, a token of dejection and humiliation, 
 and their countenances expressive of seriousness and 
 melancholy. The performances during the conti- 
 nuance of this celebration, consisted almost wholly 
 in singing a number of songs to mournful airs, the 
 king regulating the time by beating on his hollow 
 plank or drum, accompanied by one of his chiefs, 
 seated near him with the great rattle. In the mean 
 time, they eat but seldom, and then very little, 
 retiring to sleep late, and rising at the first appear- 
 ance of dawn, and even interrupting this short 
 period of repose, by getting up at midnight and 
 singing. 
 
 The ceremony was terminated by an exhibition 
 of a similar character to the ona of the last year, 
 
163 
 
 0at still more cruel. A boy of twelve years old, 
 with six bayooets ruu into his flesh, one through 
 each arm aad thigh, and through each side close 
 to the ribs, was carried around the room, suspended 
 upon them, without manifesting any symptoms of 
 pain. Maquina, on my enquiring the reason of 
 this display, informed me that it was an ancient 
 custom of his nation, to sacrifice a man at the close 
 of this 8olemnity,Mn honour of their God, but that 
 bis father had abolished it, and substituted this 
 in its place. The whole closed on the even- 
 ing of the 29tb, with a great feast of salmon 
 spawn and oil, at which the natives, as usual, 
 made up for their late abstinence. 
 
 A few days after, a circumstance occurred, 
 which, from its singularity, I cannot forbear 
 mentioning. I was sent for by my neighbour 
 Yealthlower^ the king's elder brother, to file his 
 teeth, which operation having performed, he in- 
 formed me, that a new wife, whom he had a 
 little time before purchased, having refused to 
 skep with him, it was his intention, provided she 
 persisted in her refusal, to bite oflF her nose. I 
 endeavoured to dissuade him from it, but he was 
 determined, and in fact, performed his savage 
 threat that very night, saying that since she would 
 not be his wife, she should not be that of any other, 
 and in the morning sent her back to her father. 
 P 3 
 
164 
 
 Thia iohaaian act did not, however, proceed 
 from any innate cruelty of disposition, or malice, 
 as he was far from being of a barbarous temper; 
 but such is the despotism exercised by these savages 
 over their women, that he no doubt considered it 
 as a just punishment for her offence, in being so 
 obstinate and perverse; as he afterwards told me, 
 that in similar cases, the husband had a right, 
 with them, to disfigure his wife in this way, or 
 some other, to prevent her ever marrying again. 
 
 About the middle of December, weleftTasiiees 
 for Cooptee. As usual at this season, we found 
 the herrings in great plenty, and here the same 
 scene of riotous feasting that I witnessed last year, 
 was renewed by pur improvident natives, who, in 
 addition to their usual fare, had a plentiful supply 
 of wild geese, which were brought us in great quan- 
 tities by the Esquotes. These, as Maquina in- 
 formed me, were caught with nets made from bark, 
 in the fresh waters of that country. Those who 
 take them, make choice for that purpose, of a dark 
 and rainy night, and with their canoes stuck with 
 lighted torches, proceed with as little noise as pos- 
 sible, to the place where the geese are collected, 
 who, dazzled by the light, suffer themselves to 
 be approached very near, when the net is thrown 
 over them, and in this manner, from fifty to sixty, 
 or even more, will sometimes be taken at one 
 cast. 
 
165 
 
 Oa the 15th of January, 1805, about midnight, 
 I was thrown into consiJerable alarm, in conse- 
 quence of an eclipse of the moon, being awakened 
 from my sleep by a great outcry of the inhabitants. 
 Ofl going to discover the cause of this tumult, I 
 found them all out of their houses, bearing lighted 
 torches, singing and beating upon pieces of plank, 
 and whisn I asked them the reason of this proceed- 
 ing, they pointed to the moon, and said that a 
 great cod-fish was endeavouring to swallow her, 
 and that they were driving him away. The origin 
 of this superstition I could not discover. 
 
 Though, in some respects, my situation was 
 rendered more comfortable since my marriage, as 
 I lived in more cleanly manner, and had my food 
 better and more neatly cooked, of which, besides, 
 I had always a plenty, my slaves generally fur- 
 Dishing me, and Upquesta never failing to send me, an 
 ample supply by the canoes that came from A-i-tiz- 
 zart; still, from my being obliged at this seasoa 
 of the year, to change my accustomed clothing, 
 and to dress like the natives, with only a piece of 
 cloth of about two yards long, thrown loosely 
 around me, my European clothes having been for 
 some time entirely worn out, I suffered more than 
 I can express from the cold, especially as I was 
 compelled to perform the laborious task of cutting 
 and bringing the fire wood, which was. rendered 
 atill more oppressive to me, from my comrade, for 
 P 3 
 
166 
 
 a considerable part of the winter, not having it in 
 his power to lend me his aid, in consequence of an 
 attack of the rheumatism in one of his knees, with 
 which he suffered for more than four months, two 
 or three weeks of which, he was so ill as to be un- 
 der the necessity to leave the house. 
 
 This state of suffering, with the little hope I 
 now had of ever escaping from the savages, begaa 
 to render my life irksome to me, still, however, I 
 lost not my confidence in the aid of the Supreme 
 Being, to whom, whenever the weather and a 
 suspension from the tasks imposed on me, would 
 permit, I never failed regularly, on Sundays, to 
 retire to the wood to worship, taking Thompson 
 with me when he was able to go. 
 
 On the 20th of February, we returned to our 
 gammer quarters at Nootka, but on my part, 
 with far different sensations than the last spring, 
 being now almost in despair of any vessel arriving 
 to release us, or our being permitted to depart if 
 there should. — Soon aftei our return, as prepara- 
 tory to the whaling season, Maquina ordered me to 
 make a good number of harpoons for hirofelf and 
 his chiefs, several of which I had completed with 
 some lances, when on the 16th of March, I was 
 taken very ill with a violent cbolic, caused, I pre- 
 sume, from having suffered so much from the cold, 
 in going without proper clothing. For a number of 
 
167 
 
 hours I was in great pain, and expected to die, 
 and on its leaving me, I was so weak as scarcely 
 to be able to stand, while I had nothing comforting 
 to take, nor any thing to drink but cold water. 
 
 On the day following, a slave belonging to Ma- 
 quina died, and was immediately^ as is their cus> 
 torn in such cases, tossed unceremoniously out of 
 doors, from whence he was taken by some others, and 
 thrown into the water. The treatment of this poor 
 creature made a melancholy impression upon my 
 mind, as I could not but think, that such proba- 
 bly> would be my fate should I die among these 
 heathens, and so far from receiving a decent burial, 
 that I should not even be allowed the common 
 privilege of having a little earth thrown over my 
 remains. 
 
 The feebleness in which the violent attack of 
 my disorder had left me, the dejection I felt at the 
 almost hopelessness of ray situation, and the want 
 of warm clothing and proper nursing, though ray 
 Indian wife, as far as she knew how, was always 
 ready, even solicitous, to do every thing for me 
 she could, still kept me very much indisposed, 
 which Maquina perceiving, he finally told me, 
 that if I did not like living with njy wife, and that 
 was the cause of my being so sad, I might part with 
 her. This proposal I readily accepted, and the 
 next day Maquiua sent her back to her father. 
 
168 
 
 On pirtiog with me, she discovered much eiiio- 
 tiou, beggiug me that I would suffer her to remaiu 
 till I had recovered, as there was no one who 
 would take so good care of me as herself. But 
 vvheu I told her she must go, for that 1 did not 
 think I should ever get well, which in tiuth I but 
 little expected, and that her father would take 
 good care of her, and treat her much more kindly 
 than Maquiua, she took an affectionate leave, 
 telling me that she hoped I should soon get better, 
 and left her two slaves to take care of me» 
 
 Though I rejoiced at her departure, I was 
 greatly affected with the simple expressions of her 
 regard for me, and could not but feel strongly 
 interested for this poor girl, who in all her conduct 
 towards me, had discovered so much mildness, and 
 attention to my wishes; and had it not been that I 
 considered her as an almost insuperable obstacle to 
 my being permitted to leave the country, I should 
 no doubt have felt the deprivation of her society a 
 real loss. After her departure, I requested Maqui- 
 ua, that, as I had parted with my wife, he would 
 permit me to resume my European dress, as, other- 
 wise, from not having been accustomed to dress like 
 them, I should certainly die. To this he consented, 
 and I once more became comfortably clad. 
 
 Change of clothing, but more than all, the hopes 
 which I now began to indulge, that in the course of 
 
16U 
 
 the summer I should be able to escape, in a short 
 time restored me to health, so far, that I could 
 again go to work in making harpoons for Maquina, 
 who probably, fearing that he should have to part 
 with me, determined to provide himself with a good 
 stock. 
 
 1 shall not, however, long detain the reader with 
 a detail of occurrences that intervened between this 
 period, and that of my escape, which, from that 
 dull uniformity that marks tlie savage life, would be 
 in a measure, but a repetition, nor dwell upon 
 that mental torture I endured, from a constant 
 coQiiict of hope and fear, when the former, almost 
 wearied out with repeated disappointment, offered 
 to our sinking hearts no prospect of release, but 
 death, to which we were cca«tantly exposed from 
 the brutal ignorance and savage disposition of the 
 common people, who in the various councils that 
 were held this season to determine what to do with 
 us, in case of the arrival of a ship, were almost 
 always for putting us to death, expecting by that 
 means to conceal the murder of our crew, and to 
 throw the blame of it on some other tribe. These 
 barbarous sentiments were, however, universally 
 opposed by Maquina and his chiefs, who would 
 not consent to our being injured. But as some of 
 tlieir customs and traits of national character, 
 which I think deserving of notice, have not been 
 
170 
 
 menlioned, I shall proceed to giv'« an account oi 
 them. 
 
 « 
 
 The ofHce of king or chief, is, with those people, 
 hereditary, and descends to the eldest son, or in 
 failure of male issue, to the elder brother, who in 
 the regal line, is considered as the second person in 
 the kingdom. At feasts, as I have observed, the 
 king is always placed in the highest, or seat of hon- 
 our, and the chiefs according to their respective 
 ranks, which appear, in general, to be determined 
 by their aflSoity to the royal family, they are also 
 designated by the embellishments of their mantles, 
 or Kutsaks. The king, or head Tyee, is their 
 leader in war, in the management of which he is 
 perfectly absolute. He is also president of their 
 councils, which are almost always regulated by his 
 opinion. But he has no kind of power over the 
 property of his subjects, nor can- he require them 
 to contribute to his wants, being in this respect, no 
 more privileged than any other person. He has ia | 
 common with his ctiiefs. the right of holding slaves, 
 which is not enjoyed by private individuals, a regu- 
 lation probably arising from their having been origi* 
 Dally captives taken in battle, -the spoils of war 
 being understood as appertaining to the king,-' who 
 receives and apportions them among his several^ 
 chiefs and warriors, according to their rank and d«- 
 lerts. 
 
171 
 
 In conformity with this idea, the plunder of the 
 Boston, was all deposited in Maquiaa's house, who 
 distributed part of it among his chiefs, according to 
 th^ir respective ranks or degree cf favour with him, 
 giving to one, three hundred muskets, to another, 
 one hundred and fifty, with other things ia like 
 proportion. The king is, however, obliged to sup- 
 port his dignity by making frequent entertaioments, 
 and whenever he receives a large supply of provi- 
 sion, he must invite all the men of his tribe to his 
 house, to eat it up, otherwise, as Maquina told me, 
 he would not be. consider as conducting like a 
 Tyee, and would be no more thought of than a 
 common man. 
 
 With regard to their religion — They believe in 
 the existence of a Supreme Being, whom they call 
 Qiiahooize^ and who, to use Maqnina's expression, 
 was one great Tyee in the sky, who gave them their 
 fish, and could take them from them, and was the 
 greatest of all king*. Their usual place of worship, 
 appeared to be the Wdter, for whenever they bathed, 
 they addressed so<tie words in fcrai cf prayer to the 
 God above, intreating that he would preserve them 
 in health, give them good success in fishing, &c. 
 These prayers were repeated, with much more ener- 
 gy, on preparing for whaling or for war as I have 
 already mentioned. 
 
 Some of them would sometimes go geveral milfls 
 
172 
 
 to bathe, in order to do it in secret; tlie reason for 
 this I could never learn, though I am induced to 
 think it was in consequence of some family or pri- 
 vate quarrel, and that they did not wish what they 
 said to be heard; while at other times, they would 
 repair in the same secret manner, to the woods, to 
 pray. This was more particularly the case with 
 the women, who might also, have been prompted by 
 a sentiment of decency, to retire for the purpose of 
 bathing, as they are remarkably modest. 
 
 I once found one of our women more than two 
 miles from the village, on her knees in the woods, ' 
 with her eyes shut, and her face tamed towards 
 heaven, uttering words in a lamentable tone, among 
 which I distinctly heard, J^ocush Jh-zcelth, mean- 
 ing good Lord, and which has nearly the same 
 signification with Quahootze. Though 1 came f 
 very near her, she appeared not to notice me, but \ 
 continued her devotions, and I have frequently seen | 
 the women go alone into the woods, evidently for j 
 the purpose of addressing themselves to a superior ; 
 being, and it was always very perceptible on their 
 return, when they had been thus employed, from 
 their silence and melancholy looks. 
 
 They have no belief, however, in a state of fu- 
 ture existence, as I discovered, in conversation 
 with Maquina, at Tootoosch's death, on my at- 
 tempting to convince hira that be still existed, and 
 
173 
 
 that he would again see him after his death : but 
 he could comprehend nothing of it, and pointing 
 to the ground, said, that there was the end of him, 
 and that he was like that. Nor do they believe in 
 ghosts, notwithstanding the case of Tootoosch 
 would appear to contradict this assertion, but that 
 was a remarkable instance, and such a one as had 
 never been known to occur before; yet from the 
 mummeries performed over the sick, it is very 
 apparent that they believe in the agency of spirits, 
 as they attribute diseases to some evil one that has 
 entered the body of the patient. Neither have 
 they any priests, unless a kind of conjurer may he 
 so consitlered, who sings and prays over the sick, 
 to drive away the evil spirit. 
 
 On the birth of twins, they have a most singular 
 custom, which, I presume, has its origin in some 
 religious opinion, but what it is, I could never 
 satisfactorily learn. The father is prohibited for the 
 space of two years from eating any kind of meat, or 
 fresh fish, during which time, he does no kind of 
 labour whatever, being supplied witii wiiat he has 
 occasion for from the tribe. In the mean time, he 
 and his wife, who is also oblig(;d to conform to the 
 same abstinence, with their children, live entirely 
 separate from the others, a small hut being built 
 for their accommodation, and he is never invited to 
 any of the feasts, except such as consist wholly of 
 dried provision, where he is treated with gre;it 
 Q 
 
174 
 
 respect, and seated among the chiefs, though no 
 more himself than a private indii4dual. 
 
 Such birthg are very rare among theB**|"airin- 
 stance of the kind, however, occurred while I was 
 at Tashees the last time, hut it was the only one 
 known since the reign of the former king. The fa- 
 ther always appeared very thoughtful and gloomy, 
 never associated with the other inhabitants, and was 
 at none of the feasts, but such as were entirely of dried 
 provision, and of this, he eat not to excess, and con- 
 stantly retired before the amusements commenced. 
 His dress was very plain, and he wore around his head 
 the red fillet of bark, the symbol of mourning and 
 devotion. It was his daily practice to repair to the 
 mountain, with a chief's rattle in his hand, to sing 
 and pray, as Maquina informed me, for the fish 
 to come into their waters. When not thus em- 
 ployed, he kept continually at home, except when 
 sent for to sing and perform his ceremonies over the 
 sick, being considered as a sacred character, and 
 one much in favouir with their gods. 
 
 These people are remarkably healthful, and live 
 io a very advanced age, having quite a youthful 
 appearance for their years. They have scarcely 
 any disease but the cholic, their remedy for which 
 is friction, a person rubbing the bowels of the sick 
 violently, until the pain has subsided, while the 
 conjuror, or holy man is employed, io the mean 
 
1T5 
 
 ?>me, ^fl^iiifiat^iog his gestures, singing, and repeatiui^' 
 certain vvo^s, a^ifW^WSg off the evil spirit, when 
 the patient llPmpped up in a bear skiu, in order to 
 produce [^rspiration. 
 
 Their ^re for the rheumatisirr, or similar paio^, 
 which I %BiW applied by Maquina, in the case of 
 Thompsotf, to whom it gave relief, is by cutting or 
 icarifying^the part affected. In dressing wounds, 
 they simply wash them with salt water, and bind 
 them up with a strip of cloth, or the bark of a tree. 
 They are, however, very expert and successful 
 in the cure of fractured or dislocated limbs, reducing 
 them very dexterously, and after binding them up 
 with bark, supporting them with blocks of wood, 
 so as to preserve their position. 
 
 During the whole time I was among them, but 
 five natural deaths occurred, Tootoosch and his 
 two infant children, an infant son of Maquina, and 
 the slave whom I have mentioned, a circumstance 
 not a little remarkable in a population of about 
 fifteen hundred; and as respects child-birth, so 
 light do they make of it, that I have seen their 
 women the day after, employed as usual, as if 
 . little or nothing had happened. 
 
 The Nootkians in their conduct towards each 
 other, are in general .-Pacific and inoffensive, and 
 appear by no means an ill tempered race, for I do 
 
 a 2 
 
176 
 
 not recollect any instaDce of a violent quarrel be- 
 tween any of the men, or the men and their wives, 
 while I was with them, that of Yeallhlower, except- 
 ed. But when they are in the least offended, they 
 appear to be in the most violent rage, acting like so 
 many maniacs, foaming at the month, kicking 
 and spitting most furiously ; but this is rather a 
 fashion with them, than a demonatratioa of malig- 
 nity, as in their public speeches, they use the same 
 violence, and he is esteemed the greatest orator, 
 Avho bawls the loudest, stamps, tosses himself 
 about, foams and spits the most. 
 
 Jo speaking of their regulations, I have emitted 
 mentioning, that on attaining the age of seventeen, 
 the eldest son of a chief, is considered as a chiefjiim- 
 self, and that whenever the father makes a present, 
 it is always done in the name of his eldest son, or if 
 he has none, in that of his daughter. The chiefs, 
 frequently purchase their wives at the age of eight 
 or ten, to prevent their being engaged by others, 
 though they do not take them from their parents un- 
 til they are sixteen. 
 
 With regard to climate, th« greater part of the 
 spring, summer, and autumn, is very pleasant, the 
 weather being at no time oppressively hot, and the 
 winters uncommonly mild, for so high a latitude, 
 at least as far as ray experience went. At Tashees 
 and Cooptee, where we passed the coldest part 
 
177 
 
 of the season, the winter did not set io till late in 
 December, nor have I ever known the ice, even. on 
 the fresh water ponds, more than two or three 
 inches in thickness, or a snow exceeding four inches 
 in depth, but what is wanting in snow, is amply 
 made up in rain, as I have frequently known it 
 during the winter months, rain almost incessantly 
 for five or six days in succession. 
 
 It was now past mid-summer, and the hopes we 
 had indulged of our release, became daily more 
 faint, for though we had heard of no less than seven 
 vessels on (he coast, yet none appeared inclined to 
 venture to Nootka. The destruction of the Bos- 
 ton, the largest, strongest, and best equipped ship, 
 with the most valuable cargo of any that had ever 
 been fitted for the North West trade, had inspired 
 the commanders of others with a general dread of 
 coming thither, lest they should share the same 
 fate; and though in the letters I wrote (imploring 
 those who should receive them, to come to the re- 
 lief of two unfortunate Christians who were suflFer- 
 ing among heathen) I stated the cause of the Bos- 
 ton's capture, and that there was not the least dan- 
 ger iii coming to Nootka, provided they woult) fol- 
 low the directions I laid down, still 'l felt very little 
 encouragement, that any of these letters would 
 come to hand, when on the morning of the nine- 
 teenth of July, a day that will be ever held by me 
 in grateful remembrance, of the mercies of God, 
 Q 3 
 
178 
 
 while I was employed with Thompson in forging 
 daggers for the king, my ears were saluted with 
 the joyful sound of three cannon, and the cries of 
 the inhabitants, exclaiming, Weena, weena — Ma- 
 methlee — that is, strangers—white men. 
 
 Soon after several of our people, came running 
 into the house, to inform me that a vessel under full 
 sail was coming into the Tiarbour. Though my 
 heart bounded with joy, I repressed my feelings, 
 andaflFecting to pay no attention to what was said, 
 told Thompson to be on his guard, and not betray 
 any joy, as our release, and perhaps our lives, 
 depended on our conducting ourselves so as to in- 
 duce the natives to suppose we were not very 
 anxious to leave them. We continued our work 
 as if nothing had happened, when in a few minutes 
 after, Maquina came in, and seeing us at work, 
 appeared much surprised, and asked me if I did 
 not know that a vessel bad come. I answered in 
 a careless manner, that it was nothing to me. Hovr, 
 John, said he, you no glad go board. I replied 
 that I cared very little about it, as I had become 
 reconciled to their manner of living, and had no 
 wish to go away. He then told me^ that he had 
 called a council of his people respecting us, 
 and that we must leave off work and be present 
 at it. 
 
 The men having assembled at Maquina's houge^ 
 
179 
 
 he asked them what was their opinion should he 
 done with Thompson and myself, now a vessel had 
 arrived, and whether he had not better go on board 
 himself, to make a trade, and procure such articles 
 as were wanted. Each one of the tribe who wished, 
 gave his opinion. Some were for putting us to 
 death, and pretending to the strangers, that a dif- 
 ferent nation had cut off the Boston, while others, 
 less barbarous, were for sending us fifteen or twen- 
 ty miles back into the country, until the departure 
 of the vessel. These, however, were the senti- 
 ments of the common people, the chiefs opposing 
 cor being put to death, or injured, and several 
 of them, among the most forward of whom were 
 Yaelthlower and the young chief, Toowinnakin- 
 nish, were for immediately releasing us ; but this, 
 if he could avoid it, by no means appeared to ac- 
 cord with Maquina's wishes. 
 
 Having mentioned Toowinnakinnish, I shall 
 briefly observe, that he was a young man of about 
 twenty-three years old, the only son of Toopee- 
 shottee, the oldest and most respected chief of the 
 tribe. His son bad always been remarkably kind 
 and friendly to me, and I had in return frequently 
 made for him daggers, cheetooKhs, arsd other 
 things, in my best manner. He was one of the 
 handsomest men among them, very amiable, and 
 much milder in his manners than any of the others, 
 as well as neater both in his person and house, at 
 
180 
 
 least his apartment, witiiout even excepting Ma- 
 quina. 
 
 With regard, however, to Maquiaa's going oa 
 board the vessel, vrhich he discovered a strong 
 inclination to do, there was but one opinion, all 
 remonstrating against it, telling him that the 
 captain would kill him or keep him prisoner, in 
 'consequence of his haviug destroyed our ship. 
 When Maquina had heard their opinions, he told 
 them that he was not afraid of being hurt from 
 going oa board the vessel, but that he would, 
 however, as it respected that, be guided by John, 
 whom he had always found true. He then turned 
 to me, and asked me if I thought there would be 
 any danger in his going on board. I answered, 
 that I was not surprised at the advice his people 
 had given him, unacquainted as they were with the 
 manners of the white men, and judging them by 
 their own, but if they had been with them as much 
 as I had, or even himself, they would think very 
 different. That he had almost always experienced 
 good and civil treatment from them, nor bad he 
 any reason to fear the contrary now, as they never 
 attempted to harm tho^ie who did not injure them, 
 and if he wished to go oa board, he might do it, 
 in my opinion with security. 
 
 After refiectiug a few moraeats, he said, with 
 much apparent satisfaction, that if I would write 
 
181 
 
 a letter to the captain, telliog him good of him, 
 that he had treated Thompson and myself kindly 
 since we had been with him, and to use him well, 
 he would go. It may easily be supposed that I 
 felt much joy at this determination, but knowing 
 that the least incaution might annihilate all my 
 hopes of escape^ was careful not to manifest it, 
 and to treat his going or staying as a matter perfect" 
 ly indilTerent to me. 1 told him that if he wished 
 me to write such a letter, I had do objection, as 
 it was the truth, otherwise I could not have done 
 it. 
 
 I then proceeded to write the recommendatory 
 letter, which the reader will naturally imagine was 
 of a somewhat different tenor from the one he had 
 required; for if deception is in any case warrantable, 
 it was certainly so in a situation like our's, where 
 the only chance of regaining that freedom of which 
 we had been so unjustly deprived, depended upon 
 it ; and I trust that few, even of the most rigid, 
 will condemn me with severity for making use of it, 
 on an occasion which alTorded me the only hope of 
 ever more beholding a Christian country, and pre- 
 serving myself, if not from death, at least from a 
 life of continued suffenng. 
 
 The letter which I wrote, was nearly in the fol- 
 lowing terms : — 
 
182 
 To Captain 
 
 of the Bill 
 
 ' Nootka, July 19, 1805. 
 
 Sir, 
 The bearer of this letter is the Indian king by the 
 name of Maquina. He was the instigator of the 
 capture of the ship Boston, of Boston, in North 
 America, John Salter captain, and of the murder 
 of twenty five men of her crew, the two only sur- 
 vivors being now on shore — Wherefore I hope you 
 will take care to conSne him according to his merits, 
 putting in your dead-lights, and keeping so good a 
 watch over him, that he cannot escape from you. 
 By so doing we shall be able to obtain our release 
 in the course of a few hours. 
 
 John R. Jewitt, At-ntuurer of the Boston^ 
 for himself^ and 
 
 John Thompson, Sail-maker of the said ship, 
 
 1 have been asked how I dared to write in this 
 manner, my answer is, that from ray long residence 
 among these people, I knew that I had little to ap- 
 prehend from their anger on hearing of their king 
 being confined, while they knew his life depended 
 upon my release, and that they wcJuld sooner have 
 given up five hundred white men, than have had 
 him injured. This will 'serve to explain the little 
 apprehension I felt at their menaces afterwards. 
 
183 
 
 for otherwise, sweet as liberty was to me, I should 
 hardly have veotured oq so hazardous aa experi- 
 ment. 
 
 On my giving the letter to Maquina, he asked 
 me to explain it to him. This I did line by line, as 
 he pointed them out with his finger, but in a sense 
 very different from the real, giving him to under- 
 stand that I had written to the captain, that as he 
 had been kind to me since I had been taken by him, 
 that it was my wish that the captain should treat him 
 accordingly, and give him what mollasses, biscuit 
 and rum he wanted. When I had finished, placing his 
 finger in a significant manner on my nnme at the 
 bottom, and eyeing me with a look that seemed to 
 read ray inmost thoughts, he said to me, '-'- John 
 you no lie ?" Never did I undergo such a scrutiny, 
 or ever experience greater apprehensions than I felt 
 at that moment, when my destiny was suspended 
 on the slightest thread, and the least mark of em- 
 barrassment on mine, or suspicion of treachery on 
 his past, would probaWy have rendered my life the 
 sacrifice. Fortunately I was able to preserve my 
 composure, and my being painted in the Indian 
 manner, which Maquina had since my marriage, 
 required of me, prevented any change in my coun- 
 tenance from being noticed, and I replied with con- 
 siderable promtitude, looking at him in my turn, 
 with all the confidence I could muster, " Why do 
 you ask me such a question, Tyee ? have you ever 
 
184 
 
 known me to lie ?" " No." " Then how can yon 
 suppose I should tell you a lie now, since I have 
 never done it." As I was speaking, he still con- 
 tinued looking at me with the same piercing eye, ^ 
 but observing nothing to excite bis suspicion, he told 
 me that he believed what I said was true, and that 
 he would go on board, and gave orders to get ready 
 his canoe. His chiefs again attempted to dissuade 
 him, using every argument for that purpose, while 
 his wives crowded around him, begging him on 
 their knees, not to trust himself with the white 
 men. Fortunately for my companion and myself, 
 so strong was his wish of going on board the vesssl, 
 that he was deaf to their solicitations, and making 
 no other reply to them, than, '• John no lie," left 
 the house, taking four prime skins with him as a 
 present to the captain. 
 
 Scarcely had the canoe put off, when he ordered 
 his men to stop, and calling to me, asked me if 
 I did not want to go on board with him. Sugpect- 
 ing this as a question merely intended to ensnare 
 me, I replied th*t 1 had no wish to do it, not 
 having any desire to leave them. 
 
 On going on board the brig, Maquina imme- 
 mediately gave his present of skins and my letter 
 to the captain, who on readiug it, asked him into 
 tl e cabin, where lie gave him some biscuitand aglass 
 of rum, at the same time, privately directing his 
 
185 
 
 mate to go forward, and return with five or six of 
 the mea armed. When they appeared, the captain 
 told Maquina that he was his prisoner, and shouid 
 continue so, until the two men, whom he knew to 
 be on shore, were released, at the same time order- 
 ing him to be put in irons, and the windows secur- 
 ed, which was instantly done, and a couple of men 
 placed as a guard over him. Maquina was greatly 
 surprised and terrified at this reception ; he howe* 
 ver, made no attempt to resist, but requested the 
 captain to permit one of his men to come and see 
 him. One of them was accordingly called, and 
 Maquina said something to him which the captain 
 did not understand, but supposed to be an order to 
 release us, when the man returning to the canoe, 
 it %is paddled ofif with the utmost expedition to the 
 shore. As the canoe approached, the inhabitants, 
 who had all collected upon the beach, manifested 
 some uneasiness at not seeing their king on board, 
 hut when on its arrival, they were told that the cap- 
 tain had made him a prisoner, and that John had 
 spoke bad about him in the letter, they all both men 
 and women, set up a loud howl, and ran back- 
 wards and forwards upon the shore like so many lU- 
 natics, scratching their faces, and tearing the hair 
 in handfuls from their heads. 
 
 After they had beat about in this manner for some 
 time, the men ran to their huls for their weapons, 
 as if preparing to attack an invading eLeiriy, v/ijile 
 R 
 
186 
 
 Maquina*s wives and the rest of the women, came 
 around me, and throwing themselves on their knees, 
 begged me with tears to spare his life, and Sat-sat- 
 saksis, who kept constantiy with me, taking me 
 by the hand, wept bitterly, and joined his entreaties 
 to theirs, that 1 would not let the white men kill his 
 father. I told them not to afiBict themselves, that 
 Maquina's life was in no danger, nor would th« 
 least harm be done to him. 
 
 The men were however, extremely exasperated 
 with me, more parlicularly the common people, who 
 came rnnning in the most furious manner towards 
 me, brandishing their weapons, and threatening to 
 cut me in pieces no bigger than their thumb nails, 
 while others declared they vrould burn me alive o- 
 ver a slow fire, suspended by my heeh. All this 
 fury, however, caused me but little alarm, as I 
 felt convinced they would not dare to execute their 
 threats while the king was on board the brig. 
 
 The chiefs took no j)art in this violent conduct, 
 but came to me, and enquired the reason why 
 Maquina had been thus treated, and if the captain 
 intended to kill him. J told them that if they 
 would silence the people, so that I could be heard, 
 1 would explain all to them. They immediately 
 put a stop to the noise, when I informed them that 
 ijiie captain, in confining Maquina, had done it 
 «ilv in order to make them release Thompson and 
 
187 
 
 myself, as he well knew we were with them, and 
 if they would do that, their King would receive uo 
 injury, but be well treated, otherwise he would be 
 kept a prisoner. 
 
 As many of them did not appear to be satisQed 
 with this, and began to repeat their murderous 
 threats — Kill me, said I (o them, if it is your 
 wish, throwing open the bear skin which I wore, 
 here is my breast, I am only oue among so many, 
 and can make no resistance, but unless you wish 
 to see your king hanging by his neck to that pole, 
 pointing to the yard-arm of the brig, and the sailors 
 firing at him with bullets, you will not do it, O 
 no, was the general cry, that mast never be; but 
 what must we do? I told them that their best plaa 
 would be, to send TlifcnpsoQ on hoard, to desire 
 the captain to use Maquina well till I was released, 
 which would- be soon. This they were perfectly 
 willing to do, and I directed Thompson to go qii 
 board. But he objected, saying that he would not 
 leave me alone with the savages. I told him not to 
 be under any fear for me, for that if I could get him 
 off, I could manage well enough for myself, and 
 Hiat I wished him immediately on getting on board 
 the brig, to see the captain and request him-to 
 keep Maquina close till I was released, as I was in 
 no danger while he had him safe. 
 
 When I saw Thompson off, I asked the natives 
 R 2 
 
188 
 
 what they intended to do with me. They said I 
 must talk to the captain again, in another letter, 
 and tell him to let his boat come on shore with Ma- 
 quina, and that I should be ready to jump into the 
 boat at the same time Maquina should jump on 
 shore. I told them that the captain, who knew that 
 they had killed my shipmates, would never trust 
 his men go near the shore for fear they could kill 
 them loo, as they were so much more numerous, 
 hut that if they would select any three of their num- 
 ber to go with me iu a. canoe, when we came with- 
 in hail, I would desire the captain to send his boat 
 with Maquina, to receive me in exchange for him. 
 
 This appeared to please them, and after some 
 whispering among the chiefs, who from what words 
 I o«?rheard, concluded tSt if the captain should 
 refuse to send his boat with Maquina, the three 
 men would have no difficulty in bringing me back 
 with them, they agreed'to my proposal, and select- 
 ed three of their stoutest men to convey me. For- 
 tunately having been for some time accustomed to 
 see me armed, and suspecting no design on my part, 
 they paid no attention to the pistols that I had a- 
 bout me. 
 
 As I was going into the canoe, little Sat-sat-sak- 
 sis, who could not bear to part with me, asked me, 
 with an affecting simplicity, since I was going a- 
 way to leave him, if the white men would not let 
 
189 
 
 his father come on shore, and not kill him. I told 
 him not to be concerned, for that no one should in- 
 jure his father, when taking an alTectiouate leave of 
 me, and again begging me not to let the white men 
 hurt his father, he ran to comfort his mother^ who 
 was at a little distance, with the assurances I had 
 given him. 
 
 On entering the canoe, I seated myself in the 
 prow facing the three men., having determined if it 
 was practicable, from the moment I found Mai|uina 
 Was secured, to get on bbird the vessel before be 
 was released, hoping by that means, to be enabled 
 to obtain the restoration of what property, belonging 
 to the Boston, Mill reme^ined in the possession of 
 the savages, which I thought, if it could be done, a 
 duty that I owed to ti^ owners. With feelings of 
 joy impossible to be described, did I quit the savage 
 shore, confident now that nothing could thwart my 
 escape, or prevent the exejcution of the plan that I 
 had formed, as the nrien appointed to convey and 
 gaard me, were armed with nothing but their pad- 
 dles. 
 
 As we came within hail of the brig, they at once 
 ceased paddling, when presenting my pistols at 
 them, I ordered them instantly to go on, or 1 
 would shoot the whole of them. A proceeding so 
 wholly unexpected, threw them into great coogter« 
 nation, and resuming their paddles, in a few 
 R 3 
 
190 
 
 moments, to my inexpressible delight, I once more 
 found myself along side of a Christian ship, a 
 happiness which I had almost despaired of ever 
 again enjoying. All the crew crowded to the side 
 to see me as the canoe came up, and manifested 
 much joy at my safety. I immediately leaped on 
 board, where I was welcomed by the captain, 
 Samuel Hill, of the brig Lydia of Boston, who 
 congratulated me on my escape, informing me that 
 he had received ray letter off Kloiz-zart, from the 
 chief Machee Ulatilla, who came off himself in his 
 canoe, to deliver it to him, on which he immediate- 
 ly proceeded hither to aid me. I returned him my 
 thanks in the best manner I could for his humanity, 
 though I hardly knew what I said, such was the 
 agitated state of my feelings at that moment, with 
 joy for my escape, thankfulness to the Supreme 
 Being who had so mercifully preserved me, and 
 gratitude to those whom he had rendered instra- 
 mental in my delivery, that I have no doubt, that 
 what with my strange dress, being painted with 
 red and black from head to foot, having a bear-skin 
 wrapped around me, and my long hair, which I 
 was not allowed to cut, fastened on the top of my 
 head in a large bunch, with a sprig of green spruce, 
 I must have appeared more like one deranged than 
 a rational creature, as captain Hill afterwards told 
 me, that he never saw any thing in the form of 
 man, look so wild as I did when I first came on 
 board. 
 
 
191 
 
 The captain then asked me into tlie cabin, where 
 I found Maquioa in irons, with a guard over him. 
 He looked very melancholy, but on seeing me, 
 his countenance brightened up, and he expressed 
 his pleasure with the welcome of " Wocash John;" 
 when taking him by the hand, I asked the captain's 
 permission to take off his irons, assuring him that 
 as I was with him there was no danger of his being 
 in the least troublesome. He accordingly consent- 
 ed, and I felt a sincere pleasure in freeing from 
 fetters, a man, who, though he had caused the 
 death of my poor comrades, had nevertheless, 
 always proved my friend and protector, and whom 
 I had requested to be thus treated, only with a 
 vieWjOf securing my liberty. Maquina smiled and 
 appeared mnch pleased at this mark of attention 
 from me. When I had freed the king from his 
 irons, captain Hill wished to learn the particulars 
 of our capture, observing that an account of the de- 
 struction of the ship and her crew had been received 
 at Boston before he sailed, but that nothing more 
 was known, except that two of the men were living, 
 for whose rescue the owners had offered a liberal 
 reward, and that he had been able to get nothing 
 out of the old man, whom the sailors had supplied 
 so plentifully with grog, as to bring him too much 
 by the head, to give any information. 
 
 I gave him a correct statement of the whole pro- 
 ceeding, together with the manner in which my life 
 
192 
 
 aaJthatof my coiiirade had beea preserved. On 
 hearing my story, he was greatly irritated against 
 Maquica, and said he ought to be killed. 1 obser- 
 ved that however ill he might have acted ia taking 
 our ship, yet that it might, perhaps, be wrong 
 to judge an uninformed savage, with the same 
 severity as a civilized person, who had the light 
 of religion and the laws of society to guide 
 him. That Maquina's conduct in taking our ship, 
 arose from an insult that he thought be had received 
 from captain Salter, and from the unjustifiable 
 conduct of some masters of vessels, who had robbed 
 him, and without provo,cation, killed a number of 
 his people. Besides that, a regard for the safety 
 of others ought to prevent his heing put to death, 
 as I had live^ long enough with these people to 
 know that revenge of an injury, is held sacred by 
 (hem, and that they would not fail to retaliate, 
 should we kill their king, on the first vessel or 
 boat's crew that should give them an opportunity, 
 and that, though he might consider executing him 
 as but an act of justice, it would probably cost the 
 the lives of many Americans. 
 
 The captain appeared i& be convinced from what 
 I said, of the impolicy of taking Maquina's life, 
 and said that he would leave it wholly With roe 
 whether to spare or kill him, as he was resolved 
 to incur no censure in either case. I replied that 
 I most certainly should never take the life of a man 
 
19;^ 
 
 who had preserved mine, had I no other reason, 
 but as there was some of the Boston's property still 
 remaining on shore, I considered it a duty that I 
 owed to those who \vere interested in that ship, to 
 try to save it for them, and with that view I 
 thought it would be well to keep him on board till 
 it was given up. He concurred in this proposal, 
 saying if there was any of the property left, it most 
 certainly ought to be got* 
 
 During this conversation Maquina was in great 
 anxiety, as from what English he knew, he 
 perfectly comprehended the subject of our delibera- 
 tion; constantly interrupting me to enquire what 
 we had determined to do with him, what the 
 captain said, if his life would be spared, and if I 
 did not think that Thompson would kill him. I 
 pacified him as well as I was able, by telling him 
 that he had nothing to fear from the captain, that 
 he would not be hurt, and that if Thompson 
 wished to kill him, he would not be allowed to do 
 it. He would then remind me that I was in- 
 debted to him for my life, and that I onght to do 
 by him, as he had done by me. I assured him 
 that such was my intention, and I requested him 
 to remain quiet, and not alarm himself, as no 
 harm was intended him. But I found it extremely 
 difficult to convince him of this, as it accorded so 
 little with the ideas of revenge enterlaiued by 
 them. I told him however, that he must restore 
 
all the property still in his possesaioD, belongiag 
 to the ehip. This he was perfectly ready to do, 
 happy taescape oq suth terms. 
 
 But as it was now past five, and too late for 
 the articles to be collected, and brought off, I told 
 him that he must content himself to renialD on 
 board with me that night, and in the morning he 
 should be set on shore as soon as the things were 
 delivered. To this he agreed, on condition that 
 I would remain with him in the cabin. I then 
 went upon deck, and the canoe that brought me 
 having been sent back, I hailed the inhabitantp, 
 and (old them that their king had agreed to stay on 
 board till the next day, when lie would return, 
 but that no canoes must attempt to come near the 
 vessel during the night, as they would be fired 
 upon. They answered, IVohOf z^oho — very well, 
 very well. 
 
 I then returned to Maquina, but so great were 
 his terrors, that he would not allow me to sleep, 
 constantly disturbing me with his questions, and 
 repeating, "John, you know when you was alone, 
 and more than five hundred men were your enemies, 
 I was your friend, and prevented them from put- 
 ting yoa and Thompson to death, and now I am 
 in the power of your friends, you ought to do the 
 same by me. I assured hira that he would be 
 detained on board no longer tlian whilst the proper- 
 
l9o 
 
 ty was released, ancl that as soon as it was done 
 he would be set at liberty. 
 
 At day break I hailed the natives, end (old them 
 that it was iVlaquina's order that they should bring 
 off the cannoa, and anchors, and whatever remain- 
 ed with them of the cargo of tlie ship. This they 
 set about doing with the utmost expedition, trans- 
 porting the cannon and anchors by lashing together 
 two of their largest canoes, and covering them with 
 planks, and in the course of two hours, tliey 
 delivered every thing on board that I could recol- 
 lect, with Thompson's and noy chest, containing 
 the papers of the ship, &c. 
 
 When every thing belonging fo the ship had 
 been restored, Maquioa was permitted to rettirn 
 in his canoe, which had been sent for him, with 
 a present of what skins he had collected, which 
 were about sixty, for the captain, in acknowledge- 
 ment of his having spared his life, and allowed 
 bim to depart uniiurt. 
 
 Such was also, the transport he felt when captain 
 Hill came into the cabin, and told him that he was 
 at liberty to go, that he threw off his mantle, which 
 consisted of four of the very best skins, and gave it 
 to him, as a mark of his gratitude, in return for 
 which, the captain presented him with a new great 
 
196 
 
 coat and hat, with which he appeared much delight- 
 ed. The captain then desired me to inform him that 
 he should return to that part of the coast in Novem- 
 ber, and that he wished him to keep what skins he 
 should get, which he would buy of him. This Ma- 
 quina promised, saying to me at the same time, 
 " John, you know I shall be then at Tashees, but 
 when you come raakepozo, which means, fire a gun 
 to let me know, and I will come down." When 
 he came to the side of the brig, he shook me cordial- 
 ly by the hand, and told me that he hoped I would 
 come to see him again in a big ship, and bring much 
 plenty of blankets, biscuit, mollasses and rum, for 
 him and his son who loved me a great deal; and that 
 he would keep all the furs he got for me, observing 
 at the same time, that he should never more take a 
 letter of recommendation from any one, or ever trust 
 himself on board a vessel unless I was there. Then 
 grasping both my hands, with much emotion, while 
 the tears trickled down his cheeks, he bade me fare- 
 well, and stept into the canoe, which immediately 
 paddled him on shore. 
 
 Notwithstanding my joy at my deliverance, and 
 the pleasing anticipation I felt of once more behold- 
 ing a civilized country, and again being permitted 
 to offer up my devotions in a Christian church, I 
 could not avoid experiencing a painful sensation on 
 paring with the savage chief, who had preserved 
 
197 
 
 my life, and in general treated roe with kindness, 
 and considering their ideas and naauners, much 
 better than could have been expected. 
 
 My pleasure was also greatly damped by an un- 
 fortunate accident that occurred to Toowinndkia- 
 nish. That interesting young chief had come on 
 board in the first canoe in the morning, anxious to 
 see and comfort his ki.jg. He was received with 
 much kindness by captain Hill, from the favourable 
 account I gave of him, and invited to remain on 
 board. As the muskets were delivered, he was in 
 the cabin with Maquina, where was also the cap- 
 tain, who on receiving them, snapped a number in 
 order to try the lochs; unluckily on3 of them 
 happened to be loaded with swan shot, and going 
 off, discharged its contents into the body of poor 
 Toowinnakinnisb. who was sitting opposite. Oa 
 hearing the report, 1 instantly ran into the cabin, 
 where 1 found him weltering in his blood, with the 
 captain, who was greatly shocked at the accident, 
 endeavouring to assist him. 
 
 We raised him up, and did everything in oar 
 power to aid and comfort him, telling him that we 
 felt much grieved at his misfortune, and that it was 
 wholly unintentional; this he told me he was per- 
 fectly satisfied of, and while we dressed and bound 
 up his wounds, in the best manner we could, he 
 bore the pain with great calmness, and bidding me 
 S • 
 
198 . 
 
 (arewell, was put on board one of the canoes, and 
 taken on shore, where after languishing a few days, 
 he expired. To me, his misfortune was a source i 
 of much affliction, as he had no share in the mas- \ 
 sacre of our crew, was of a most amiable character, 
 and liad always treated me with the greatest kind- 
 ness and hospitality. 
 
 The brig being under weigh, immediately on 
 Maquiua's quitting us, we proceeded to the north- 
 ward, constantly keeping the shore in sight, and 
 touching at various places for the purpose of 
 trading. 
 
 Having already exceeded the bounds I had pres- 
 cribed myself, I shall not attempt any account of 
 our voyage upon the coast, or a description of the 
 various nations we met with in the course of it, 
 among whom wer« a people of a very singular 
 appearance, called by the sailors the Wooden-lips, 
 They have many skins, and the trade is principally 
 managed by their women, who are not only expert 
 in making a bargain, but are as dexterous in the 
 management of their canoes, as the men are else- 
 where. 
 
 After a period of nearly four months from oar 
 leaving Nootka, we returned from the northward 
 to Columbia river, for the purpose of procuring 
 masts, &c. for oar brig, which had suffered consi- 
 
199 
 
 derably in her spars during a gale of wind. We 
 proceeded about ten miles up the river, to a small 
 Indian village^ where we heard from the inhabi- 
 tants, that captains Clark and Lewis, from the 
 United States of America,, had been there about a 
 fortnight before, on their journey over- land, and 
 had l^ft several medals with them, which they 
 shewed us. The river at this place, is of conside- 
 rable breadth, and both sides of it from its entrance, 
 covered with forests of the very finest pine timber, 
 Hr and spruce, interspersed with Indian settle- 
 ments. 
 
 Firom this place, after providing ourselves with 
 spars, we sailed for Nootka, where we arrived in 
 the latter part of November. The tribe being 
 absent, the agreed signal was given, by firing a 
 cannon, and in a few hours after a canoe appeared, 
 which landed at the village, and putting the king 
 on shore, came off to the brig. — Eoquiry was 
 immediately madeby Kinnecliramits, who was one 
 of the three men in the canoe, if John was there, as 
 the king had some skins to sell them if he was. I 
 then went forward and invited them on hoard, 
 with which they readily complied, telling me that 
 Maquina had a number of skins with him, but tbat 
 he would not come on board unless I would go on 
 flhore for him. This I agreed to, provided they 
 would remain in the brig in the mean time. To 
 this they consented, and the captain taking them 
 S 2 
 
200 
 
 into the cabin, treated them with bread and molas- 
 ses. I then went on shore in the canoe, notwith- 
 standing the remonstrances of Thompson and the 
 captain, who, though he wanted the skins, advised 
 me by no means to put myself in Maquina's 
 power; but I assured him that I had no fear as 
 long as those men were on board. 
 
 As I landed Maquina came up and welcomed 
 me with much joy: on enquiriug for the men^^l 
 told him that tfciey were to remain till my return. 
 " Ah John," said he, " I see you are, afraid to 
 trust me, but if they had come with you, I should 
 not have hurt you, though I should have taken 
 good care not to let you go on board of another 
 vessel.'* He then took his chest of skins, and step- 
 ping into the canoe, I paddled him along-side the 
 brig, where he v/as received and treated by Cap- 
 tain Hill with the greatest cordiality, who bought 
 of him his skins. He left us much pleased with 
 his receplion, enquiring of me how many moons it 
 would be before I should come hack again to see 
 him and his son; saying, that he would keep all 
 his furs for me, and that as soon as my son, who 
 was then about Gve months old, was of a suitable 
 age to take from his mother, he would send for 
 him, and take care of him as his own. 
 
 As soon as Maquina had quitted us, we got 
 under weigh, and stood again to the northward. 
 
101 
 
 W'e contiaued on the coast until the eleventh of 
 August, 1806, when having completed our trade, 
 we sailed for China, to tlie great joy of all our 
 crew, and particularly so \o rae. With a degree 
 of satisfaction that I can ill express, did I quit a 
 'coast, to which I was resolved nothing should 
 again tempt me to return, and as the tops of the 
 mountains sunk in the blue waves of the ocean, 
 I seemed to feel my heart lightened of an oppres- 
 &:ve load* . 
 
 We had a prosperous passage to China, arriving 
 at Macao in December, from whence the Brig pro- 
 ceeded to Canton. There I had the good fortune 
 to meet a townsman and an old acquaintance, in 
 the mate of an English East India man, named 
 John Hill, whose father, a wealthy merchant in 
 Hull, in the Baltic trade, was a next door neighbour 
 to mine. Shortly after our arrival, the captain 
 being on board of an English ship, and mentioning 
 his having had the good fortune to liberate two men 
 of the Boston's crew from the savages, and that one 
 of them was named Jewitt, ray former acquaintance 
 immediately came on board the brig to see me. 
 
 Words can ill express my feelings on seeing 
 him. Circumstanced as I was, among persons who 
 were entire strangers to rae, to meet thus in a 
 foreign land, with one between whom and myself 
 Jt considerable intimacy had subsisted, was a plea- 
 S 3 
 
202 
 
 sure that those alone who have beea ia a simi- 
 lar sitaatioa can properly estimate. He appear- 
 ed on his part, no less happy to see me, whom 
 he supposed to be dead, as the account of our cap- 
 ture had been received in England some time before 
 bis sailing, and all my friends supposed me to have 
 been murdered. From this young man, I received 
 every attention and aid that a feeling heart, inte- 
 rested in the fate of another, could confer. He 
 supplied me with a new suit of clothes, and a hat, 
 a small sum of money for my necessary expences, 
 and a number of little articles for sea stores on my 
 voyage to America. I also gave him a letter for 
 my father, in which I mentioned my wonderful 
 preservation and escape, through the humanity of 
 captain Hill, with whom I should return to Boston. 
 This letter he enclosed to his father, by a ship 
 that was just sailing, in consequence of which it 
 was received much earlier than it otherwise would 
 have been. 
 
 We left China in February, 1807, and after a 
 pleasant voyage of one hundred and fourteen days, 
 arrived at Boston. My feelings on once more 
 finding myself in a Christian country, among a 
 people speaking the same language with myself, 
 may be more readily conceived than expressed. 
 In the Post Office in that place, I found a letter 
 for me from my mother, acknowledging the receipt 
 of mine from China; expressing the great joy of my 
 
203 
 
 family on hearing of my being alive and well, 
 whom they had for a long time given up for dead, 
 and requesting me to write to them on receiving her 
 letter, which I accordingly did. While in Boston, 
 I was treated with much kindness and hospitality 
 by the owners of the ship Boston, Messrs. Francis 
 and Thomas Amory of that place, to whom I feel 
 myself under great obligations for their goodness to 
 me, and the assisance which they so readily afiford'< 
 ed a stranger in distress. 
 
204 
 
 Names of the Crew of the Ship Boston^ belonging to 
 Boston in Massachusetts^ owned hy Messrs and T. 
 Aniory^ Merchants^ of that place — Jll of whom, 
 excepting two, were on the ^1d of March, 1803, bar- 
 barously murdered by the savages of Nootka* 
 
 John Sailer, 
 
 of Boston, 
 
 
 Captain 
 
 B. Delouissa, 
 
 Ditto, 
 
 
 Chief Mate 
 
 William Ingraham, 
 
 of New York, 
 
 
 Second Mate 
 
 Edward Thompson, 
 
 ot Blyih (l,ngland) 
 
 
 Boatswain 
 
 Adam Siddle, 
 
 ot Hull ditto 
 
 
 Carpenter 
 
 Philip Brown, 
 
 of Cambridge, (Mass. 
 
 ) 
 
 Joiner 
 
 John Dorlhy, 
 
 of Situate, ditto 
 
 
 Blacksmith 
 
 Abraham Waters, 
 
 of Philadelphia, 
 
 
 Steward 
 
 Francis Duffield, 
 
 of Penton, (England) 
 
 
 Tailor 
 
 John Wilson, (blackman)of Virginia, 
 
 
 Cook. 
 
 William Caldwell, 
 
 of Boston, 
 
 
 Seama» 
 
 Joseph Miner, 
 
 of Newport, 
 
 
 Ditto 
 
 William Robinscnj 
 
 of Leigh, (Scotland) 
 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Thomas Wilson, 
 
 of Air, ditto 
 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Andrew Kelly, 
 
 Ditto, ditto 
 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Robert Burton, 
 
 of the Isle of Man 
 
 
 Ditto 
 
 James M' Clay, 
 
 of Dublin, 
 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Thomas Flatten, 
 
 of Blackney, Norfolk, 
 
 Eng 
 
 ;. Ditto 
 
 Thomas New ton, 
 
 ofHull, 
 
 do. 
 
 l>itto 
 
 Charles Bates, 
 
 of St James Deeping 
 
 do. 
 
 Ditto 
 
 John Hall, 
 
 of Newcastle 
 
 do. 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Samuel Wood, 
 
 of Glasgow, (Scotland] 
 
 1 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Peter Alstrom, 
 
 Norwegian, 
 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Francis Marten, 
 
 Portuguese, 
 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Jupiter Senegal (blackman) 
 
 
 Ditto 
 
 John Thompson, 
 
 Philadelphia, 
 
 
 Sail Maker, 
 
 who escaped— since dead 
 John II. Jewitt, of Hull, (England) Armourer, 
 
 the writer of the Journal from vx hence this Narrative is taken, and 
 ■who at present, March 18!5, resides io Middletowu, in the State of 
 Connecticut. 
 
205 
 
 WARSONG OF THE NOOTKA TRIBE. 
 
 Commencing with a Chorus repeated at the end of 
 each line. 
 
 Hah-yee hah yar har, he yar hah. 
 
 Hah-yah hee yar har — he yar hah. 
 
 le yie ee yah har — ee yie hah. 
 
 le yaree yar hah — ee yar yah. 
 
 le yar ee [ yar yar hah — Je yar ee yee yah ! 
 
 I-ye ma hi-ehill at-siah Kla-ha — Hah-ye-hah. 
 Que nok ar parts arsh vvaw — le yie- yar. 
 Waw-hoo naks aar hasch — Yarhah. I-yar hee 
 
 I yar. 
 Waw hoo naka ar hasch yak-queetssish ni-ese, 
 Waw har. Hie yee ahhah. 
 
 Repeated over and over with gestures and braadish- 
 iog of weapons. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 le-yee ma hi chill, signifies. Ye do not know. 
 It appears to he a poelical mode of expression, the 
 common one for you do not know, being, Wik- 
 kum-(dash; from this, it would seem that they 
 have two languages, one for their songs and ano- 
 ther for common use The general meaning of 
 this first stanza appears to be. Ye little know ye 
 men of Kiahar, what valiant v^arriors we are. 
 Poorly can our foes contend with us, when we 
 come on with our daggers, &c. 
 
 The Nootkians have no songs of an historical 
 nature, nor do they appear to have any tradition 
 respecting their origin. 
 
206 
 A LIST OF WORDS 
 
 In the Nootki0n Language^ the most in use. 
 
 Check-up, 
 
 Man. 
 
 Klootzmab, 
 
 Woman, 
 
 Noowexa, 
 
 Father. 
 
 Hooma-hexa, 
 
 Mother. 
 
 Tanassis, 
 
 Child. 
 
 Katlahtik, 
 
 Brother. 
 
 Kloot-chem-up, 
 
 Sister. 
 
 Tanassis check-up^ 
 
 Son. 
 
 TaDassi8-kloots-mah> 
 
 Daughter. 
 
 Tau-hat-se-tee, 
 
 Head. 
 
 Kassee, 
 
 Eyes. 
 
 Hap-se up, 
 
 Hair. 
 
 Neetga, 
 
 Nose. 
 
 Parpee, 
 
 Ears. 
 
 Chee-chee, . 
 
 Teeth. 
 
 Choop, 
 
 ToDgUCr 
 
 Kook-a-nik-sa, 
 
 Hands. 
 
 Kiish-klin, 
 
 Feet. 
 
 •Qop-helth, 
 
 Sun or Moon. 
 
 Tar-toose, 
 
 Stars. 
 
 Sie-jah, 
 
 Sky. 
 
 Toop elth. 
 
 Sea. 
 
 Cha-hak, 
 
 Fresh water. 
 
 Meet la, 
 
 Rain. 
 
 Qaeece, 
 
 Snow. 
 
 Noot-chee, 
 
 Mountain or hill 
 
 Kia-tur miss, 
 
 Earth. 
 
 Een-nuk-see, 
 
 Fire or fuel. 
 
 Mook-see, 
 
 Rock. 
 
 Muk-ka tee, 
 
 House. 
 
 VVik 
 
 No. 
 
207 
 
 He-ho, 
 
 Kak-koelth, 
 
 Mah-hack, 
 
 Klack-e-miss, 
 
 Quart lak, 
 
 Coo-coo-ho-sa, 
 
 Moo-watch, 
 
 Sohar, 
 
 Too8ch-qua, 
 
 Pow-ee, 
 
 Kloos a-mit, 
 
 Chap-atz, 
 
 Oo-wha-pa, 
 
 Chee-rae-na, 
 
 Chee-men, 
 
 Sick-a-miany, 
 
 Toophelth, 
 
 Cham- mass, 
 
 Cham-mas-sish, 
 
 Moot-sus, 
 Chee-pokes, 
 Hah-welk8, 
 Nee-sim-mer-hise, 
 Cbat-ta-yek, 
 Klick-er yek, 
 Quish-ar, 
 Mar met ta, 
 Pook 8hit"tle, 
 Een-a-qui- shit- tie, 
 Ar-teese, 
 Ma-mook-sa mab, 
 
 Yes. 
 Slave. 
 Whale. 
 Oil. 
 
 Sea otter. 
 Seal. 
 Bear. 
 Salmon. 
 Cod. 
 . Halibut. 
 Herrmg. 
 Canoe. 
 
 Paddle. 
 
 A fish hook. 
 
 Fish -hooks. 
 
 Iron. 
 
 Cloth. 
 
 Fruit. 
 
 5 Sweet or pleasant to the 
 
 "^ taste. 
 
 Powder. 
 
 Copper. 
 
 Hungry. 
 
 Enough. 
 
 Knife or dagger. 
 
 Rings. 
 
 Smoke. 
 
 Goose or duck. 
 
 To blow. 
 
 To kindle a fire. 
 
 To bathe. 
 
 To go to fish. 
 
 A smootish check' up, A warrior 
 
 Cha -alt-see klat-tar wah,Go oflf, or go away. 
 
 Ma-kook, To sell. 
 
 Kah-ah pah-chilt, Give me something. 
 
 Oo-nah, How many. 
 
 ly-ah-ish, Much. 
 
 Komme-tak) I anderstaDd. 
 
208 
 
 I-yee ma- hak, I do not UDderstand. 
 
 Eni-raa-chap, To play. 
 
 Kle-whar, To Jaugh. 
 
 Mac kam-raah-sish, Do you want to bny. 
 
 Kah ahcoh, Brio^^ it. 
 
 Sah-wauk, O^e," 
 
 Att-Ia, Two. 
 
 Kat-sa, Three. 
 
 Mooh, Four. 
 
 Soo-chah, Five, 
 
 Noo-poo, Six. 
 
 At-tle-poo, Seven. 
 
 At-lah-quelth, Eight. 
 
 Savv-wauk-quelth, Nine. 
 
 Hy-o, Ten. 
 
 Sakaitz, Twenty. 
 
 Soojewk, One hundred. 
 
 Hy-e-oak, One tLoasand. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 Rowland Hurst, Printer, Wakeiield. 
 
 JAN 17 1956 
 

 
 
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