DESCRIPTION OF NOOTKA SOUND—MANNER OF BUILDING HOUSES—FURNITURE—DRESSES

The village of Nootka is situated in between 49 and 50 deg. N. lat.,[63] at the bottom of Friendly Cove, on the west or north-west side. It consists of about twenty houses or huts, on a small hill, which rises with a gentle ascent from the shore. Friendly Cove, which affords good and secure anchorage for ships close in with the shore, is a small harbour of not more than a quarter or half a mile in length, and about half a mile or three-quarters broad, formed by the line of coast on the east and a long point or headland, which extends as much as three leagues into the Sound, in nearly a westerly direction.[64] This, as well as I can judge from what I have seen of it, is in general from one to two miles in breadth, and mostly a rocky and unproductive soil, with but few trees. The eastern and western shores of this harbour are steep and in many parts rocky, the trees growing quite to the water's edge, but the bottom to the north and north-west is a fine sandy beach of half a mile or more in extent.

From the village to the north and north-east extends a plain, the soil of which is very excellent, and with proper cultivation may be made to produce almost any of our European vegetables; this is but little more than half a mile in breadth, and is terminated by the seacoast, which in this place is lined with rocks and reefs, and cannot be approached by ships. The coast in the neighbourhood of Nootka is in general low, and but little broken into hills and valleys. The soil is good, well covered with fine forests of pine, spruce, beech, and other trees, and abounds with streams of the finest water, the general appearance being the same for many miles around.

The village is situated on the ground occupied by the Spaniards, when they kept a garrison here; the foundations of the church and the governor's house are yet visible, and a few European plants are still to be found, which continue to be self-propagated, such as onions, peas, and turnips, but the two last are quite small, particularly the turnips, which afforded us nothing but the tops for eating. Their former village stood on the same spot, but the Spaniards, finding it a commodious situation, demolished the houses, and forced the inhabitants to retire five or six miles into the country.[65] With great sorrow, as Maquina told me, did they find themselves compelled to quit their ancient place of residence, but with equal joy did they repossess themselves of it when the Spanish garrison was expelled by the English.

The houses, as I have observed, are above twenty in number, built nearly in a line. These are of different sizes, according to the rank or quality of the Tyee, or chief, who lives in them, each having one, of which he is considered as the lord. They vary not much in width, being usually from thirty-six to forty feet wide, but are of very different lengths, that of the king, which is much the longest, being about one hundred and fifty feet, while the smallest, which contain only two families, do not exceed forty feet in length; the house of the king is also distinguished from the others by being higher.

Their method of building is as follows: they erect in the ground two very large posts, at such a distance apart as is intended for the length of the house. On these, which are of equal height, and hollowed out at the upper end, they lay a large spar for the ridge-pole of the building, or, if the length of the house requires it, two or more, supporting their ends by similar upright posts; these spars are sometimes of an almost incredible size, having myself measured one in Maquina's house, which I found to be one hundred feet long and eight feet four inches in circumference. At equal distances from these two posts, two others are placed on each side, to form the width of the building; these are rather shorter than the first, and on them are laid in like manner spars, but of a smaller size, having the upper part hewed flat, with a narrow ridge on the outer side to support the ends of the planks.

The roof is formed of pine planks with a broad feather edge, so as to lap well over each other, which are laid lengthwise from the ridge-pole in the centre, to the beams at the sides, after which the top is covered with planks of eight feet broad, which form a kind of coving projecting so far over the ends of the planks that form the roof, as completely to exclude the rain. On these they lay large stones to prevent their being displaced by the wind. The ends of the planks are not secured to the beams on which they are laid by any fastening, so that in a high storm I have often known all the men obliged to turn out and go upon the roof to prevent them from being blown off, carrying large stones and pieces of rock with them to secure the boards, always stripping themselves naked on these occasions, whatever may be the severity of the weather, to prevent their garments from being wet and muddied, as these storms are almost always accompanied with heavy rains. The sides of their houses are much more open and exposed to the weather; this proceeds from their not being so easily made close as the roof, being built with planks of about ten feet long and four or five wide, which they place between stancheons or small posts of the height of the roof; of these there are four to each range of boards, two at each end, and so near each other as to leave space enough for admitting a plank. The planks or boards which they make use of for building their houses, and for other uses, they procure of different lengths as occasion requires, by splitting them out with hard wooden wedges from pine logs, and afterwards dubbing them down with their chisels, with much patience, to the thickness wanted, rendering them quite smooth.

There is but one entrance; this is placed usually at the end, though sometimes in the middle, as was that of Maquina's. Through the middle of the building, from one end to the other, runs a passage of about eight or nine feet broad, on each side of which the several families that occupy it live, each having its particular fireplace, but without any kind of wall or separation to mark their respective limits; the chief having his apartment at the upper end, and the next in rank opposite on the other side. They have no other floor than the ground; the fireplace or hearth consists of a number of stones loosely put together, but they are wholly without a chimney, nor is there any opening left in the roof, but whenever a fire is made, the plank immediately over it is thrust aside, by means of a pole, to give vent to the smoke.

The height of the houses in general, from the ground to the centre of the roof, does not exceed ten feet, that of Maquina's was not far from fourteen; the spar forming the ridge-pole of the latter was painted in red and black circles alternately, by way of ornament, and the large posts that supported it had their tops curiously wrought or carved, so as to represent human heads of a monstrous size, which were painted in their manner. These were not, however, considered as objects of adoration, but merely as ornaments.[66]

The furniture of these people is very simple, and consists only of boxes, in which they put their clothes, furs, and such things as they hold most valuable; tubs for keeping their provisions of spawn and blubber in; trays from which they eat; baskets for their dried fish and other purposes, and bags made of bark matting, of which they also make their beds, spreading a piece of it upon the ground when they lie down, and using no other bed covering than their garments. The boxes are of pine, with a top that shuts over, and instead of nails or pegs, are fastened with flexible twigs; they are extremely smooth and high polished, and sometimes ornamented with rows of very small white shells. The tubs are of a square form, secured in the like manner, and of various sizes, some being extremely large, having seen them that were six feet long by four broad and five deep. The trays are hollowed out with their chisels from a solid block of wood, and the baskets and mats are made from the bark of trees.

From bark they likewise make the cloth for their garments, in the following manner:—A quantity of this bark is taken and put into fresh water, where it is kept for a fortnight, to give it time to completely soften; it is then taken out and beaten upon a plank, with an instrument made of bone, or some very hard wood, having grooves or hollows on one side of it, care being taken to keep the mass constantly moistened with water, in order to separate, with more ease, the hard and woody from the soft and fibrous parts, which, when completed, they parcel out into skeins, like thread. These they lay in the air to bleach, and afterwards dye them black or red, as suits their fancies, their natural colour being a pale yellow. In order to form the cloth, the women, by whom the whole of this process is performed, take a certain number of these skeins and twist them together, by rolling them with their hands upon their knees into hard rolls, which are afterwards connected by means of a strong thread, made for the purpose.

Their dress usually consists of but a single garment, which is a loose cloak or mantle (called kutsack) in one piece, reaching nearly to the feet. This is tied loosely over the right or left shoulder, so as to leave the arms at full liberty.

Those of the common people are painted red with ochre the better to keep out the rain, but the chiefs wear them of their native colour, which is a pale yellow, ornamenting them with borders of the sea-otter skin, a kind of grey cloth made of the hair of some animal[67] which they procure from the tribes to the south, or their own cloth wrought or painted with various figures in red or black, representing men's heads, the sun and moon, fish and animals, which are frequently executed with much skill. They have also a girdle of the same kind for securing this mantle or kutsack around them, which is in general still more highly ornamented, and serves them to wear their daggers and knives in. In winter, however, they sometimes make use of an additional garment, which is a kind of hood, with a hole in it for the purpose of admitting the head, and falls over the breast and back, as low as the shoulders; this is bordered both at top and bottom with fur, and is never worn except when they go out.

The garments of the women vary not essentially from those of the men, the mantle having holes in it for the purpose of admitting the arms, and being tied close under the chin instead of over the shoulder. The chiefs have also mantles of the sea-otter skin, but these are only put on upon extraordinary occasions; and one that is made from the skin of a certain large animal, which is brought from the south by the Wickanninish[68] and Kla-iz-zarts.[69] This they prepare by dressing it in warm water, scraping off the hair and what flesh adheres to it carefully with sharp mussel-shells, and spreading it out in the sun to dry on a wooden frame, so as to preserve the shape. When dressed in this manner it becomes perfectly white, and as pliable as the best deer's leather, but almost as thick again. They then paint it in different figures with such paints as they usually employ in decorating their persons; these figures mostly represent human heads, canoes employed in catching whales, etc.

This skin is called metamelth, and is probably got from an animal of the moose kind; it is highly prized by these people, is their great war dress, and only worn when they wish to make the best possible display of themselves. Strips or bands of it, painted as above, are also sometimes used by them for girdles or the bordering of their cloaks, and also for bracelets and ankle ornaments by some of the inferior class.

On their heads, when they go out upon any excursion, particularly whaling or fishing, they wear a kind of cap or bonnet in form not unlike a large sugar loaf with the top cut off. This is made of the same materials with their cloth,[70] but is in general of a closer texture, and by way of tassel has a long strip of the skin of the metamelth[71] attached to it, covered with rows of small white shells or beads. Those worn by the common people are painted entirely red, the chiefs having theirs of different colours. The one worn by the king, and which serves to designate him from all the others, is longer and broader at the bottom; the top, instead of being flat, having upon it an ornament in the figure of a small urn. It is also of a much finer texture than the others, and plaited or wrought in black and white stripes, with the representation in front of a canoe in pursuit of a whale, with the harpooner standing in the prow prepared to strike. This bonnet is called Seeya-poks.

Their mode of living is very simple—their food consisting almost wholly of fish, or fish spawn fresh or dried, the blubber of the whale, seal, or sea-cow, mussels, clams, and berries of various kinds; all of which are eaten with a profusion of train-oil for sauce, not excepting even the most delicate fruit, as strawberries and raspberries.

With so little variety in their food, no great secret can be expected in their cookery. Of this, indeed, they may be said to know but two methods, viz. by boiling and steaming, and even the latter is not very frequently practised by them. Their mode of boiling is as follows:—Into one of their tubs they pour water sufficient to cook the quantity of provision wanted. A number of heated stones are then put in to make it boil, when the salmon or other fish are put in without any other preparation than sometimes cutting off the heads, tails, and fins, the boiling in the meantime being kept up by the application of the hot stones, after which it is left to cook until the whole is nearly reduced to one mass. It is then taken out and distributed in the trays. In a similar manner they cook their blubber and spawn, smoked or dried fish, and, in fine, almost everything they eat, nothing going down with them like broth.

When they cook their fish by steam, which are usually the heads, tails, and fins of the salmon, cod, and halibut, a large fire is kindled, upon which they place a bed of stones, which, when the wood is burnt down, becomes perfectly heated. Layers of green leaves or pine boughs are then placed upon the stones, and the fish, clams, etc., being laid upon them, water is poured over them, and the whole closely covered with mats to keep in the steam. This is much the best mode of cooking, and clams and mussels done in this manner are really excellent.[72] These, as I have said, may be considered as their only kinds of cookery; though I have, in a very few instances, known them dress the roe or spawn of the salmon and the herring, when first taken, in a different manner; this was by roasting them, the former being supported between two split pieces of pine, and the other having a sharp stick run through it, with one end fixed in the ground; sprats are also roasted by them in this way, a number being spitted upon one stick; and this kind of food, with a little salt, would be found no contemptible eating even to an European.

At their meals they seat themselves upon the ground, with their feet curled up under them, around their trays, which are generally about three feet long by one broad, and from six to eight inches deep. In eating they make use of nothing but their fingers, except for the soup or oil, which they lade out with clam-shells.

Around one of these trays from four to six persons will seat themselves, constantly dipping in their fingers or clam-shells one after the other. The king and chiefs alone have separate trays, from which no one is permitted to eat with them except the queen, or principal wife of the chief; and whenever the king or one of the chiefs wishes to distinguish any of his people with a special mark of favour on these occasions, he calls him and gives him some of the choice bits from his tray. The slaves eat at the same time, and of the same provisions, faring in this respect as well as their masters, being seated with the family, and only feeding from separate trays.

Whenever a feast is given by the king or any of the chiefs, there is a person who acts as a master of ceremonies, and whose business it is to receive the guests as they enter the house, and point out to them their respective seats, which is regulated with great punctiliousness as regards rank; the king occupying the highest or the seat of honour, his son or brother sitting next him, and so on with the chiefs according to their quality; the private persons belonging to the same family being always placed together, to prevent any confusion. The women are seldom invited to their feasts, and only at those times when a general invitation is given to the village.[73]

As, whenever they cook, they always calculate to have an abundance for all the guests, a profusion in this respect being considered as the highest luxury, much more is usually set before them than they can eat. That which is left in the king's tray, he sends to his house for his family by one of his slaves, as do the chiefs theirs; while those who eat from the same tray, and who generally belong to the same family, take it home as common stock, or each one receives his portion, which is distributed on the spot. This custom appeared very singular to my companion and myself, and it was a most awkward thing for us, at first, to have to lug home with us, in our hands or arms, the blubber of fish that we received at these times, but we soon became reconciled to it, and were very glad of an opportunity to do it.