A voyage to the North West Side of America: the Journals of James Colnett, 1786-89

A Voyage to the North West Side of America

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A Voyage to the North West Side of America: The Journals of James Colnett, 1786-89

Edited by Robert Galois

© UBC Press 2004 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written permission of the publisher, or, in Canada, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from CANCOPY (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency), www.cancopy.com. 10 09 08 07 06 05 04

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Printed in Canada on acid-free paper National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Colnett, James, 1755?-1806 A voyage to the north west side of America : the journals of James Colnett, 1786-89 / edited by Robert M. Galois. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0-7748-0855-1 1. Colnett, James, 1755?-1806 – Diaries. 2. Northwest Coast of North America – Discovery and exploration – British. 3. Indians of North America – First contact with Europeans – British Columbia – Pacific Coast. 4. Fur trade – British Columbia – Pacific Coast – History – 18th century. I. Galois, Robert Michael. II. Title. FC3821.3.C64 2003

917.9504’2

C2003-911106-7

UBC Press gratefully acknowledges the financial support for our publishing program of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP), and of the Canada Council for the Arts, and the British Columbia Arts Council. This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada, through the Aid to Scholarly Publications Programme, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and with the help of the K.D. Srivastava Fund. UBC Press The University of British Columbia 2029 West Mall Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2 604-822-5959 / Fax: 604-822-6083 www.ubcpress.ca

To the Evans family: Barbara, Peter, Roseanne, and Michael

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Contents

Maps / ix Abbreviations / x Acknowledgments / xi INTRODUCTION James Colnett / 2 Andrew Bracey Taylor / 5 Origins of Colnett’s Expedition / 6 Vessels and Personnel / 9 Voyage of the Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal / 11 The Contact Process: The Northwest Coast and Hawaiian Islands / 19 Aftermath and Evaluation / 66 The Documents / 70 A Note on the Editing / 73 A VOYAGE TO THE NORTH WEST SIDE OF AMERICA: THE JOURNALS Part 1: Departure and 1787 Season [Preparations and Departure from London] / 77 Route from England to St. Jago and Transactions there / 79 From Cape de Verde to Staten Land / 81 From Staten Land Round Cape Horn to the Equator / 92 From the Equator to Nootka / 94 Transactions at Nootka / 105 A Description of Nootka and Its Inhabitants / 112 Transactions from Nootka to Leaving Port Brooks / 119 From Port Brooks to Charlotte Isles and Transactions there / 125

viii | Contents

From Port St. James to Anchorage on the Eastern Shore / 138 Remarks from America to Owyhee / 166 Part 2: 1788 Season Remarks at Owyhee and Other Sandwich Isles / 169 Route from Oneehow to America / 204 Remarks from Prince William’s Sound to Foggy Harbour / 220 Remarks from Foggy Harbour to Cape Edgecombe / 227 Remarks from Cape Edgecombe to Leaving Charlotte Isles / 234 APPENDICES 1 Route of the Princess Royal in 1788 / 263 2 Gitkxaala Contact Narratives / 267 3 Place Names on the Northwest Coast: Colnett, Duncan, and Johnstone / 276 4 Prince of Wales and Princess Royal Personnel / 289 5 List of Illustrations Originally Appearing in Colnett’s Journal / 291 Notes / 295 Bibliography / 406 Index / 429

Maps

Note: On the maps, place names in bold indicate ethnographic names; place names in parentheses ( ) indicate contemporary names; and place names in roman indicate historic names. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N

Route of the Prince of Wales, 1786-89 / 12 Routes of the vessels, Northwest Coast, 1787 / 99 Routes of the vessels, Nootka Sound area, 1787 / 102 Tribal territories, Nootka Sound area / 103 Tribal territories and routes of the vessels, Nasparti area, 1787 / 120 Routes of the vessels, Queen Charlotte Islands, 1787 / 126 Routes of the vessels, Banks Island area, 1787 / 140 Tribal territories, Banks Island area / 141 Route of the Prince of Wales, Hawaiian Islands, 1788 / 170 Route of the Prince of Wales, Prince William Sound to Sitka Sound, 1788 / 207 Route of the Prince of Wales, Prince William Sound area, 1788 / 209 Route of the Prince of Wales, Sitka Sound to Kildidt Sound, 1788 / 236 Routes of the vessels, Queen Charlotte Islands area, 1788 / 245 (a) Route of the Princess Royal, Northwest Coast, 1788 / 262 (b) Route of the Princess Royal, Northwest Coast, 1788 / 264

Appendix 3

North West America, James Colnett, Map 1 / 285 North West America, James Colnett, Map 2 / 286 Plan of Calamity Harbour, Banks Island, James Johnstone, Map 1 / 287 Etches Sound, Queen Charlotte Islands, Charles Duncan, Map 1 / 288

Abbreviations

Adm. APS ASR BCA BL BT CFR CMC CO DCB DNB DP DRO EBGA EI EIC HBCA HM HO IGI ML MNH NAC NHA NRO OED PM PRO UBCL UBCSC USDC UW VCA YUL

Admiralty American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia Archeological Sites Register British Columbia Archives, Victoria British Library, London Board of Trade Canton Factory Records (EIC) Canadian Museum of Civilization, Ottawa Colonial Office Dictionary of Canadian Biography Dictionary of National Biography (Stephen and Lee) William Duncan Papers Devon Record Office, Exeter Edinburgh Botanical Gardens Archives Essex Institute, Salem East India Company Hudson’s Bay Company Archives, Winnipeg Home Miscellaneous Series (EIC Records) Home Office International Genealogical Index Mitchell Library, Sydney Museum of Natural History, New York National Archives of Canada, Ottawa Nantucket Historical Association, Nantucket Norfolk Record Office, Norwich Oxford English Dictionary Peabody Museum, Salem Public Record Office, London University of British Columbia Library, Vancouver University of British Columbia, Special Collections, Vancouver United States, Department of Commerce University of Washington, Seattle Vancouver City Archives, Vancouver Yale University, Beinecke Library

Acknowledgments

I first encountered James Colnett’s journal some thirty years ago, as a graduate student, during a summer of research in the Public Record Office. This was so long ago, I am forced to reflect, that the Public Record Office was still at Chancery Lane – a different world, indeed. My encounter with Colnett’s manuscript was also one that, in retrospect, was wrapped in irony. I had grown up in the suburbs of London and moved to the west coast of Canada to undertake graduate studies; that summer I had returned to London, in part, to examine a document describing a voyage from London to the Northwest Coast of America. This created something of a personal bond to the manuscript, although I was also struck by the manuscript both as artifact and as text. It was my first encounter with an illustrated eighteenth-century journal, and the impact endured. However, in the immediate aftermath of my research summer in London, my interests led in different directions. Colnett remained a pleasant memory. It was not until some years later, after being involved as an expert witness in R. v. Delgamuukw, a major court case that raised the question of “aboriginal title” in British Columbia, that my intellectual interests turned again to early encounters between Natives and non-Natives on the Northwest Coast. Inevitably, although I can no longer recall the precise trajectory, this led back to Colnett. On my return to this intellectual terrain, I was surprised to find that a source of such interest and potential importance as Colnett’s journal was still not available in a published form. I discussed the possibility of producing an edited version of the Colnett manuscript with Richard Inglis, then of the Royal British Columbia Museum, and Susan Marsden, of the Museum of Northern British Columbia. They encouraged me to proceed. I had hoped they might participate in the project, but they wisely decided that their time could be more usefully spent. Nonetheless, without their initial and continuing encouragement the project would not have been begun, let alone completed. Moreover, the background that these discussions reflected, of a much-expanded interest in the contact process in British Columbia, has been the primary influence in shaping my approach to the editorial process. I have privileged this orientation both in the annotation and the introduction. I began the project, somewhat naively, with the idea that I would restrict my attention to the Northwest Coast section of the journal. But, as time went by,

xii | Acknowledgments

this limitation seemed less and less appropriate. Moreover, as research proceeded, I began to uncover a variety of documents that were related to, or produced by, members of Colnett’s expedition. The most notable of these documents was a second journal of the “voyage,” that kept by Andrew Bracey Taylor. Taylor’s journal provided an invaluable second opinion on many incidents on the voyage, and cast some of Colnett’s perceptions in a different light. Such discoveries, and limited funds, meant that the process of completing the project was not rapid. Inevitably in a project of such protracted gestation I have accumulated a good many debts. I would particularly like to thank the Evans family, Stuart and Louise Birley, and Alan and Lyn Williams. Without their multiple kindnesses, I would not have been able to undertake research at the Public Record Office and other repositories in England. Their hospitality and friendship during my English “Christmases” made the project not only possible, but rewarding. A number of people have read sections of the manuscript and offered advice. In addition to Richard Inglis and Susan Marsden, I would particularly like to thank James Delgado of the Vancouver Maritime Museum, who took time from a very busy schedule to provide information on eighteenth-century nautical matters. John Cross brought valuable advice on Colnett’s dealings with the Spanish. His unique enthusiasm was also much appreciated. A number of present and former colleagues at UBC contributed – either by commenting on sections of the manuscript or in providing an intellectual environment in which questions of the “early” contact process were seen as important intellectual undertakings. Under this heading I would particularly like to thank Cole Harris, Dan Clayton, and Richard Mackie. Less willingly, students in a number of courses have endured my prattling on about Colnett and his voyage; their patience was appreciated. I also need to thank the staff of a number of institutions without whose patience, support, and advice I would still be fumbling around. In particular the archivists at Special Collections, the archive of the University of British Columbia. Found here are the papers of F.W. Howay, who although from a different era and with different concerns, did much to stimulate scholarly interest in the Northwest Coast. In finding my way through these and many other documents I would like to thank Frances Woodward and George Brandak. They, and their able assistants, went beyond the bounds of duty in seeking answers to obscure questions. My dealings with the staff of other archives have been less frequent, but no less worthy of thanks. Here I would particularly like to thank the staff at the Public Record Office, now at Kew; the staff of the British Library; Brian Young and the staff at the British Columbia Archives at Victoria; Adrian Webb and staff at the Hydrographic Office Archives at Taunton; and Jennifer Broomhead and the staff at the Mitchell Library at Sydney. Eric Leinberger, Cartographer at the Geography Department, UBC, designed and produced the elegant maps included in this publication. Eric also facili-

Acknowledgments | xiii

tated the reproduction of the maps and illustrations taken from the original documents. My thanks to him, and to the Geography Department at UBC, for providing the funds necessary for Eric to undertake this work. At UBC Press Jean Wilson provided the initial encouragement that the Colnett journal was worth publishing and in finding the necessary grants to make this possible. She has also endured the various delays with remarkable good grace. My thanks also to Judy Phillips, the copy editor, who helped straighten out some tortured prose and bring consistency to a rather unruly manuscript. Ann Macklem, the production editor at UBC Press, has been responsible for taking the manuscript to printed form. Her meticulousness in this process and her patience in dealing with my foibles and procrastination are much appreciated. The original Colnett journal is on deposit at the National Archives (Public Record Office), London; the original of the Andrew Bracey Taylor journal is on deposit at the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales. I thank both institutions for providing microfilm copies of these documents. The maps on pages 285 and 286 are published by permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office and the UK Hydrographic Office, <www.ukho. gov.uk>. The remaining illustrations are taken from the Colnett manuscript and are published courtesy of the National Archives, <www.nationalarchives. gov.uk>.

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Introduction But surely even you must know of Colnett; everybody knows of Colnett. – Patrick O’Brian, The Far Side of the World

The conclusion of the American War of Independence in 1783 signalled a substantial restructuring of trade and politics in the Atlantic world. Nowhere were the realignments more necessary than Britain, where military defeat and loss of empire were compounded by the emergence of the United States as a new economic and geopolitical competitor. In this uncertain conjuncture imperial and commercial eyes turned to Asia and the Pacific with renewed interest. Here, Captain James Cook’s third voyage (1776-80) had delineated a variety of promising trading opportunities.1 Among the possibilities was a three-cornered trade, linking the Atlantic world with China via the medium of resources on the Northwest Coast of America. Sea otter pelts provided the initial impetus, but the Northwest Coast also offered, according to one enthusiastic account, the possibility “of establishing an important fishery, of supplying the China and India markets with masts, yards, timber, and most kinds of naval stores.”2 Such views, in the decade and a half following Cook’s visit of 1778, helped make the Northwest Coast, although remote and poorly understood in European nations and the United States, the focus of considerable geopolitical competition. The earliest responses to Cook’s third voyage came from Spain and Russia, the two countries with prior territorial claims on the Northeast Coast of the Pacific. Spain, which had made two previous sorties to the region, sent two vessels northwards from San Blas in 1779. The Favorita and Princessa reached as far as the Prince William Sound area but detected no signs of any “foreign encroachment.” Thus, with a false sense of security, Spain suspended northern expeditions for nearly a decade.3 Meanwhile, Russian fur traders, who had been pushing eastwards from Kamchatka since Bering’s voyage (1741-42), established a permanent post on Kodiak Island in 1784.4 This provided a base from which further expansion onto the Alaskan mainland would be launched. Elsewhere, as warfare concluded and more reliable information on Cook’s voyage spread, interest in the commercial possibilities of the Northwest Coast increased. By 1785, plans for expeditions had been made in Austria, France, Great Britain, Spain, Russia, India, and Canton.5 Not all these proposals came to fruition, but among them lay the origins of the “Voyage” (1786-89) undertaken by James Colnett, whose journal is here presented. It is accompanied by extracts from a second journal of the voyage, written by Andrew Bracey Taylor.6

2 | Introduction

James Colnett

James Colnett was born in Devon, at Stoke Damerel (Devonport), in 1753. The location, a major naval dockyard, suggests that the family probably had some naval connections.7 No records have been located to confirm this, but his parents were married at Portsmouth, another naval centre, in 1748, and his mother was a resident of the town in 1790.8 Whatever the cause of the family’s presence in Devon in 1753, the absence of any other records of Colnett births, marriages, or deaths at Stoke Damerel suggests that their stay was of short duration. Moreover, the Colnett family had connections with east London, Stepney in particular. It was here that Colnett’s two elder sisters, Sarah and Martha, were christened in 1749 and 1752; it may also have been the birthplace of his father, James Sr.; finally, it was in the neighbouring district of Mile End that James Jr. would be buried.9 Little more is known of the family or Colnett’s upbringing, save that he was probably the eldest son and had at least one brother, Richard, who also embarked on a nautical career.10 The first definite information about James Colnett’s career comes from 1770, when he joined the Royal Navy as an able-bodied seaman on HMS Hazard. At this stage, Colnett identified himself as being eighteen years of age and born in London. In later naval records this was corrected to reflect his birth in “Plymouth,” but the initial slip is suggestive. Moreover, Colnett joined the Hazard not in Devon but at the Kentish port of Sheerness.11 It seems probable that James, if not other members of the family, had returned to the London area, but the timing of the move cannot be determined. Seventeen or eighteen was a relatively late age to begin naval service, raising the question of possible prior seagoing experience. His brother Richard is known to have gone to sea as a “boy,” in the West Indies trade, at the age of about thirteen c. 1767.12 Notwithstanding this late start, and an entry into naval service as an able-bodied seaman, James Colnett was almost certainly a “gentleman” and intent on becoming an officer.13 A crucial step in confirming this career path came in 1771, when he secured a posting as midshipman on HMS Scorpion under James Cook.14 Within a month, Cook had moved on, to prepare for his second round-the-world expedition, but Colnett was not forgotten. By the end of the year, he had rejoined Cook, as a midshipman on the Resolution. Such an appointment, by contemporary opinion, was “quite a great feather, in a young Man’s Cap” and required “much Intrest,” or patronage to secure.15 The source of Colnett’s support is not clear, but it may have been a “kinsman, Mr Binmer,” who rose to be “first assistant surveyor” of the navy in the 1790s. It is possible that Colnett had had some prior contact with Cook. The latter, since 1763, had been a resident, albeit an intermittent one, of Stepney, just off the Mile End Road. If Colnett had returned to the family parish, as suggested earlier, the two would have been in fairly close proximity; there is also Colnett’s observation that Cook had been his “first commander and patron.”16 Whatever the origin of Colnett’s “interest,” the result was that he spent three and a half years under the tutelage of Cook on “arguably the greatest, most

James Colnett | 3

perfect, of all seaborne voyages of exploration.” At the end of the voyage, Colnett had graduated from the “most demanding of training schools,” thereby joining the fraternity of British Pacific navigators.17 Indeed, it is striking how Colnett’s subsequent activities intertwined with other alumni and backers of Cook’s voyages. These activities would make Colnett an active participant in the widening encounter between Europeans and the indigenous peoples of the Pacific. On returning to England in 1775, Colnett continued his naval career in the context of the Seven Years War. After rising from a position of gunner to master, he obtained a lieutenant’s certificate in 1779 and served at that rank on HMS Bienfaisant until the end of hostilities.18 There followed a brief period on half-pay and a three-year tour of harbour duty on HMS Pégase.19 Although promoted to first lieutenant, such sedentary duty for an ambitious officer must have become tedious, not to say frustrating. At any rate, in the summer of 1786, Colnett began negotiating for an appointment with a “private” expedition. In July, he reached an agreement with the principals, conditional upon his obtaining “leave” from the Admiralty.20 The latter was largely a formality, and Colnett signed on with Richard Cadman Etches & Co. as captain of the Prince of Wales and commander of a two-vessel commercial venture. Late in September, the Prince of Wales and Princess Royal embarked from London for the Northwest Coast of America and Canton. It would be six years before Colnett returned to England.21 The expedition, described in more detail below, reached Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, in July 1787 and spent the remainder of the season on the Northwest Coast. The intervening winter was passed at the Hawaiian Islands before the ships returned to the Northwest Coast for the 1788 season. With the close of trading, Colnett headed for China to dispose of the furs, arriving at Macao on 11 November and Canton on 24 November.22 At this stage, Colnett intended to complete the voyage to England on the Prince of Wales but, during the sojourn at Canton, circumstances changed.23 Supercargo John Etches, brother of Richard, had negotiated an agreement with some local British merchants for an expedition from China to the Northwest Coast and Colnett was persuaded to assume command.24 The story of his voyage on the Argonaut is well known and requires only the briefest commentary. Sailing from Macao on 26 April 1789, Colnett reached Nootka Sound in July. There he found a Spanish settlement, established in furtherance of that nation’s claim to sovereignty on the Northwest Coast. Esteban Martinez, the Spanish commander, promptly arrested Colnett and seized the Argonaut: the Anglo-Spanish “Nootka Crisis” had begun.25 Thanks to diplomatic negotiations, a peaceful resolution was secured, but it was not until May 1790 that Colnett was released by the Spaniards and July before he was able to sail from San Blas in the Argonaut. Thereupon he headed north to resume trading on the Northwest Coast, wintering at Clayoquot. Early in 1791 Colnett paid a final visit to Nootka and, after completing some repairs, sailed for China. An

4 | Introduction

embargo on the import of furs to Canton prompted a visit to Japan and Chusan, where some of the cargo was sold. By November Colnett was back in Canton and succeeded, a month later, in securing a passage on the General Coote, an East India Company (EIC) vessel. He reached England the following April.26 Later in 1792 Colnett was approached about another expedition to the Pacific, on behalf of the Admiralty and private whaling interests.27 The voyage on the Rattler, seeking harbours where whalers could find “refreshment and the security to refit,” occupied 1793 and 1794.28 It prompted the whalers to concentrate for some years in the vicinity of the Galapagos Islands. When Colnett returned to England, however, war with France was underway and he resumed naval service. This encompassed periods of surveying work on the coast of East Anglia, a shipwreck, and imprisonment in France. Although acquitted by the mandatory court martial, it would be another five years before Colnett received a new command.29 His activities during this period are uncertain, but he spent some time in London advocating to the Admiralty a variety of rather grandiose Pacific projects, such as a surprise attack on Spanish settlements in “N. & S. America by way of China” or New South Wales. These schemes reflected Colnett’s personal experiences on the Argonaut expedition and longstanding British geopolitical objectives of encouraging the disintegration of the Spanish empire in the Americas.30 Then, in 1802, Colnett embarked on what would be his final Pacific voyage. Commanding HMS Glatton, he was charged with conveying 400 convicts and a number of free settlers to Australia. He returned to England in September 1803, with a variety of colonial produce and botanical specimens, some of the latter destined to become additions to Banks’ collecting empire.31 Thereafter, while retaining command of HMS Glatton, Colnett was assigned to duties concerned primarily with organizing convoys to the Baltic. In March 1805, he retired on half-pay for the final time but survived for only eighteen months. Colnett died at his “lodgings” in Great Ormond Street, London, in the first half of September 1806; his passing was recorded, briefly, in the periodical literature of the day. Although he was unmarried, Colnett left the bulk of his estate to his daughter, Elizabeth.32 Colnett’s career, two Australian historians have suggested, exemplified the growing British interest in the Pacific – one strand of Harlow’s “swing to the east.” Although the broader economic significance of this reorientation has been questioned by some, there can be no doubt of the importance of the Pacific to Colnett’s career.33 In all, he made five voyages to, from, and across the Pacific. These voyages consumed approximately thirteen years – more than one-third of his documented working life. Moreover, Colnett’s Pacific voyages, and their diverse objectives, clearly illustrate the intimate connections between commerce, politics, and the acquisition of geographical knowledge in lateeighteenth-century Britain. These activities also made Colnett a participant in, and recorder of, the early stages of the contact process in several regions of the Pacific.

Andrew Bracey Taylor | 5

Andrew Bracey Taylor

Taylor was born into a junior branch of a prominent Great Yarmouth family, probably between 1760 and 1765.34 Not surprisingly, he also had significant seafaring connections – both his father and grandfather had been “officers in the navy.” Little more is known of Taylor’s early years, but he entered the Royal Navy about 1776, spending time on North American duty. The first definite information comes from the siege of Gibraltar (1781-83), when Taylor received his first commission, as lieutenant.35 To begin with, he commanded the gunboat Vanguard, charged with preventing “Enemy’s Gun Boats and Mortar Boats from annoying the Garrison and Shiping.”36 This brought several episodes of hostile action before the Vanguard was scuttled for defensive purposes. Taylor transferred to HMS Brilliant, but this vessel suffered a similar fate shortly before the “Grand Attack” of 13 September 1782.37 Five weeks later, Taylor was assigned to HMS San Miguel, where he served, retaining the rank of lieutenant, until the ceasefire of March 1783. The San Miguel returned to England shortly thereafter, arriving in April 1783.38 The company was paid off in the middle of May but within a week Taylor had secured a commission on the Latona. This took him to the West Indies, where he was discharged, perhaps because of ill health, in April 1784.39 After returning to England that summer, Taylor’s activities over the next eighteen months are uncertain. However, late in 1785, while remaining on the Royal Navy half-pay list, he secured a year’s leave to engage in “Merchant Service” to Hamburg.40 Then, in the summer of 1786, after securing further leave from the Navy Board, he signed up for the Etches expedition. Taylor was appointed as third mate on the Prince of Wales, a surprisingly modest rank, given that he was the only member of the expedition, apart from Colnett, who held a commission in the Royal Navy.41 No information is available to explain this discrepancy, but it seems to have coloured his perception of the voyage. Be this as it may, Taylor was promoted to second mate for the final leg to London, as part of the changes made at Canton. Once the voyage was completed, Taylor proceeded to his hometown, Great Yarmouth, where he was married on 22 September 1789.42 The rapidity of this development and comments in Taylor’s journal suggest that some arrangements had been made prior to the voyage. In May 1790, Taylor resumed his naval career. He served initially as fourth lieutenant on HMS Barfleur, followed by stints on two other vessels, the Brunswick and the Sandwich, and promotion to second lieutenant. This period, extending over four years, was spent at a number of stations in the English Channel and on patrol in adjacent waters.43 Then, at the end of 1794, having obtained Admiralty permission, Taylor assumed “Command of the Courier packet Boat, stationed between Harwich & the Coast of Holland.”44 How long he remained at this position is unclear, but it cannot have been more than a year or so. Between 1796 and 1800, he performed a similar role on the Carteret, carrying the mail and a few passengers between Falmouth and the West Indies.45 At a time of war, this was no sinecure and, in March 1799, Taylor

6 | Introduction

was captured by a French privateer; but he was quickly released and rejoined the Carteret at St. Kitts in May. After returning to England in June, he embarked on a final journey on the Carteret in July. The last entry in the log for this voyage is dated 8 September at Tortola Roads in the Leeward Islands.46 What happened next is unclear, but on 13 January 1800, he was at Port Royal, Jamaica, making out his will. Little more than a week later, Taylor was dead, leaving a wife and at least two children.47 Origins of Colnett’s Expedition

The genesis of Colnett’s voyage on the Prince of Wales lay in the revelation that prime sea otter pelts, purchased for “trifles” at Nootka, had sold for astonishing prices in Canton, with rumours of even higher prices in Japan. Some information on this trade was available with the publication of unofficial accounts of Cook’s voyage in the early 1780s.48 By 1783, James Matra, a veteran of Cook’s first voyage, had made a proposal to the British government that linked the establishment of a settlement at New South Wales with the development of the China trade through furs procured in the Aleutian Islands. Prepared with the assistance of Joseph Banks, it was, by one account, in “more or less open circulation.” However, the publication of the official edition of Cook’s third voyage, late in 1784, was of much greater consequence.49 It provided not only a vast array of more reliable and more detailed information but, lest anyone should doubt the potential of the sea otter trade on the Northwest Coast, James King sketched an outline for its development. King argued that “the advantages that might be derived from a voyage to that part of the American coast undertaken with commercial views, appear to me of a degree of importance sufficient to call the attention of the public.”50 Among those prepared to seize this opportunity was Richard Cadman Etches (1744-1817), of Brooks & Etches, London tea and wine merchants.51 The precise origins of Etches’ plans have not been recorded, but his background indicates a familiarity with shipping and the evaluation of commercial intelligence. Family connections brought access to modest amounts of capital and credit – sufficient, at least, to make a response to King’s outline a feasible proposition. According to Etches, the United Company of Merchants Trading to King George’s Sound had a nominal capital of £200,000, with shares of £100, but it seems likely that, at most, only a quarter of this amount was ever subscribed.52 Financial issues aside, the news and rumour of an impending French expedition under La Pérouse may have provided further stimulus for Etches’ actions; it likely improved the reception of his ideas in official quarters.53 Preliminary plans, which included the possibility of opening trade with Japan, had been made by 13 March 1785, when Etches took the crucial step of consulting Joseph Banks about the proposed venture.54 Positioned at the interface of the highest levels of scientific, political, and commercial activity in England, Banks was a key figure whose support would be invaluable. This was forthcoming, at least to the extent of “offers of assistance,” advice, and the promise of further information about Japan. Banks also may have brought Etches

Origins of Colnett’s Expedition | 7

into contact with George Dixon, a veteran of Cook’s third voyage; he certainly suggested that Etches needed a more substantial capital investment, a prescient observation.55 Although encouraged by Banks’ response, Etches still faced the problem common to independent merchants wishing to pursue overseas trade in lateeighteenth-century Britain: the panoply of entrenched privileges retained by long-established chartered trading companies.56 For Etches and his associates, this meant dealing with the East India Company (EIC) and the South Sea Company. The former, economically powerful, politically well connected, and protective of its chartered interests, was the key; the latter largely a coupon clipping operation. Etches, no doubt familiar with the EIC’s operations through his involvement in the tea trade, began by approaching the government with a set of proposals calling for a charter of exclusive trade on the coast of America north of latitude 43°6’N, a settlement at Nootka Sound, a visit to the Sandwich Islands, the development of whaling, and trade with Japan. No charter was forthcoming, but the government did support the general objectives of the undertaking, subject to the approval of the EIC. Thus, in April 1785, Etches forwarded the proposals to the EIC and sought a licence to trade furs, obtained on the Northwest Coast, in China.57 Early in May, the EIC responded by outlining its terms, and agreement was reached shortly thereafter.58 However, the licence was not issued until the EIC had checked with the British government. Approval of the plans, confirming the expedition’s quasi-official status, was communicated to Etches at the end of August.59 By that time, he had secured a licence, for a period of five years, to trade within the “territory” of the South Sea Company.60 Although now fully sanctioned, the Etches expedition had little information about its principal destination. Some information about Bering’s voyage was available and Coxe had provided an updated survey of Russian discoveries – but only as far as the Aleutian Islands. A brief account of the two Spanish expeditions of 1774 and 1775 had been published as an appendix to a pamphlet on the Northwest Passage; more important, Barrington had issued Mourelle’s journal of the latter voyage, which had reached the Washington coast and Bucarelli Bay in Alaska.61 Even the principal sources, the various books and charts produced by Cook and the members of his third expedition, were highly circumscribed, both geographically and ethnographically.62 Cook had spent a month at Nootka Sound before proceeding north to Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet; of the intervening coast he saw little. The insularity of Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands, for example, remained unknown to Europeans. However, Cook’s voyage had established the strategic importance of the Hawaiian Islands as a potential wintering location. In this context of geographical ambiguity, belief in the existence of the Northwest Passage remained widespread. Not surprisingly, Alexander Dalrymple, hydrographer with the EIC and a well-informed, if speculative, interpreter of overseas geographies, was both a believer and a persuasive advocate.63 Richard Etches, in his 1785 proposal to the EIC, shrewdly incorporated a version of the

8 | Introduction

case: “There are a number of inlets in Prince William’s Sound, and Cook’s River, that time would not permit Captain Cook to explore – it is very probable ... that some very essential discoveries may be made and perhaps a communication carried on to Hudson’s Bay ... And likewise to make a further attempt to discover a North West Passage.”64 Etches secured two vessels, the King George and the Queen Charlotte; the former was named by George Rose, the secretary of the Treasury, and the latter by Joseph Banks. Command of the expedition was given to Nathaniel Portlock, and George Dixon was appointed as captain of the Queen Charlotte.65 Portlock was known to Etches from a previous venture but, more importantly, both he and Dixon, as veterans of Cook’s third voyage, possessed personal experience of the Northwest Coast, the Hawaiian Islands, Canton, and the traffic in sea otter pelts.66 The optimism surrounding the departure of the expedition from Deptford (London), on 29 August 1785, was aptly symbolized by the United Company’s colours flying at the mastheads; they contained “the figure of Hope, leaning on an Anchor in an oval, in the center of the Ensign.” A contemporary journal commented that there was “every probability the present enterprize will ... open a new source of commercial wealth of the first consequence to this nation.”67 Portlock and Dixon spent two summers, 1786 and 1787, trading on the Northwest Coast and the intervening winter at the Hawaiian Islands. They arrived at Macao, in November 1787, with a substantial collection of furs to sell, although prices were disappointing.68 But before Etches knew anything about the fate of Portlock and Dixon, he had begun organizing a second expedition.69 Early plans called for a nearly new vessel, a cutter of 250 to 300 tons, to sail at the beginning of August 1786. Application was made to the EIC on 30 June and permission granted on 13 July.70 During this interval, James Colnett was approached to take command of the expedition and, partly on his advice, Etches’ plans were revised. A “small Sloop as a tender to the Ship, for the benefit of Trafficking and Navigating the large Rivers” of the Northwest Coast was added. But, presumably as an economy measure, the principal vessel was reduced to an older, smaller, chartered ship: the Prince of Wales.71 The reasons for the selection of Colnett are unknown, but it was partly a function of his “connections.” At a later date, Colnett stated that he was introduced to Etches by “one of the most eminent merchants of the City of London.”72 Whatever the case, Colnett’s participation required that he secure his discharge from HMS Pégase and a leave of absence from the Admiralty. These formalities were completed by the beginning of September.73 Meanwhile, Etches had added another dimension to the expedition: a sealing party of fifteen men to be landed at Isla de los Estados (Staten Island), off Tierra del Fuego. Information on this addition is sparse, but sealing – for skins and oil – was emerging as an adjunct to the new “Southern Whale Fishery.”74 Equally, the move may have been a way of addressing funding problems, raising additional capital, and spreading the risk of the voyage. Whatever the motivation, Colnett had visited Isla de los Estados with Cook and likely played a

Vessels and Personnel | 9

role in selecting this location for the undertaking.75 These changes, together with repairs to the ship, delayed the expedition’s departure from Deptford until 23 September. Vessels and Personnel

The Prince of Wales was a “River built Ship,” launched about 1752, but newly sheathed for the forthcoming voyage.76 According to Colnett, she displaced 171 tons, carried fourteen guns, and had a complement of thirty-five hands, including officers.77 In addition, John Etches, the brother of Richard and a partner in the company, served as supercargo.78 A full listing of the crew is not available but it included, in addition to Colnett and Etches, a chief mate, second, third, fourth, and probably fifth mates, surgeon, boatswain, gunner, carpenters, sailmakers, armourers, quartermaster, cook, captain’s servant, and seamen.79 The Princess Royal, the tender, was little more than one-third the size of the Prince of Wales. Colnett described her as being 65 tons burthen, rigged as a sloop, with four guns, and a complement of fifteen hands; he later added that she was “a very bad sailor.”80 There is a variety of evidence suggesting that the second Etches expedition was organized in the face of financial constraints. In addition to the late incorporation of the sealing party, Etches also considered, in September 1786, a “handsome offer” from a gentleman for a passage to Tahiti. Nothing came of this plan, but it does suggest concerns other than the efficiency of the voyage. Moreover, some unexpected repairs before the expedition left England caused Andrew Taylor to comment that they had “in some measure shook their [the owners] Credit in Town.”81 Finally, Charles Duncan, who was appointed captain of the Princess Royal, complained about the “many deficiencies even of common necessaries” of his vessel after returning to England. In part, this statement was a product of a dispute with Etches about payments for his services. Etches defended himself against such criticism, but a similar dispute with George Dixon, beginning in 1788, confirms that the financial problems persisted.82 Whatever the deficiencies of funding and equipment, the personnel on the vessels were well qualified. Duncan, like Colnett, Portlock, and Dixon, had prior naval experience, receiving his first warrant as “acting master” on HMS Conqueror in 1779.83 A permanent appointment followed in 1781, and Duncan served on a series of naval vessels during the War of American Independence. Included was a voyage to Norway under James Burney, a veteran of Cook’s second and third expeditions. Whether this encounter influenced Duncan’s appointment is unknown, but the link is suggestive, and there is some evidence of contact between the two men after Duncan returned to England in 1789.84 Irrespective of such connections, the navigational, surveying, and general professional and nautical skills required of an experienced ship’s master were an obvious recommendation for the intended voyage with Colnett. And they were put to good use, as Duncan’s surviving charts testify.85 However, the

10 | Introduction

voyage took its toll on Duncan. Because of ill health, he relinquished command of the Princess Royal at Canton and returned to England on the Prince of Wales.86 Although information on other personnel is incomplete, the expedition included men of considerable ability and further naval connections. The “inferior Officers,” according to Andrew Bracey Taylor, “were all Men who had been generally employed in His Majesty’s Service.”87 Taylor, as noted above, was exemplar as well as author of this remark, but the most notable of the other “inferior Officers” was Archibald Menzies (1754-1842). His appointment as surgeon on the Prince of Wales, thanks to Banks’ intercession, brought skills that were unusual on a commercial voyage. A Scot, Menzies had some university training in medicine, surgery, and botany, in addition to naval experience – most recently as surgeon’s mate on HMS Assistance.88 Moreover, he had been in communication with Joseph Banks about seed collecting since 1784.89 Menzies was “mightily pleased” about the proposed route for the forthcoming voyage, thinking that the Northwest Coast would present “a new & an extensive field for Botanical research as well as other branches of natural history” and promised Banks that he would lose “no opportunity in collecting whatever is new, or rare, or useful, in my branch of natural history.”90 By way of preparation, Menzies spent some time in Banks’ herbarium examining specimens collected at “Oonalaska” and Nootka during Cook’s third expedition.91 Menzies’ scientific efforts on the Colnett voyage were rewarded. Two years after returning to England, he sailed on Vancouver’s expedition (1791-95) to the Northwest Coast, this time as botanist.92 Joining Menzies on the Prince of Wales was a former naval colleague, James Johnstone (b. 1759). Johnstone’s naval career had begun in 1779, as a “Clerk & Steward” and, after serving at various ranks, he joined Menzies on HMS Assistance. The two were shipmates between 1783 and 1786, with Johnstone being appointed master in 1785.93 Discharged in August 1786, Johnstone received his examination ticket as master in September and was appointed chief mate of the Prince of Wales at almost the same time. When Colnett decided to remain at Macao in 1789, Johnstone assumed command of the Prince of Wales for the return to England. Subsequently, Johnstone joined Menzies on Vancouver’s expedition to the Northwest Coast.94 The “second mate” on the Prince of Wales was Thomas Hudson, possibly a former naval colleague of Colnett’s.95 Hudson returned to the Northwest Coast on Colnett’s ill-fated expedition of 1789, as master of the Princess Royal, only to drown near Hesquiat in 1790.96 Thomas Temple, another victim of the same accident, had also served on the Prince of Wales in an unspecified capacity, probably a junior officer; he likely had some naval experience and was probably a family friend of Colnett’s.97 Alex Steward or Stewart, also from a naval family, acted as a mate on the Princess Royal before transferring to the Prince of Wales, as third officer, for the leg of the journey from Canton to London.98 He returned to the Northwest Coast as master of the Jackall, a British fur-trading

Voyage of the Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal | 11

vessel, in 1792-93, then resided on Hawai'i for a period before undertaking a third voyage to the Northwest Coast on the Dove, another British trader.99 The detailed instructions for Colnett’s voyage have not survived, but they can not have differed much from those issued to Nathaniel Portlock the previous year, save that Archibald Menzies was to be given “ample latitude in his pursuits.”100 Little new information was available to Etches, except perhaps an account of Hanna’s voyage of 1785, and Colnett was clearly intended to build on foundations established by Portlock and Dixon.101 Their instructions, with respect to the Northwest Coast, had been suitably vague. After reaching the coast at 45°N, they were to proceed northwards, “entering all the bays, harbours, sounds, creeks, and rivers you shall deem of benefit, and consistent with the true intent of a commercial voyage.” About the only specific requirements were to visit Nootka Sound and to “purchase of the natives” land for the establishment of at least one “factory.” The location of the latter was not specified but, another legacy of Cook’s voyage, the expectation was that the choice would fall on Nootka Sound, “it being centrical [and] ... in every respect consistent with the intent of forming such establishment.”102 Voyage of the Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal

After a lengthy fitting-out at Deptford, the Prince of Wales and Princess Royal sailed on 23 September 1786. The original intention was to proceed to Cowes, where arrangements had been made to take on some additional supplies. On this leg, however, a severe gale damaged the vessels and the ensuing repairs took nearly two weeks to complete. It was not until 16 October, a month later than Portlock’s expedition, that the vessels renewed their journey down the English Channel and headed for the Cape Verde Islands. After a brief stop at Sao Tiago (see map A, p. 12),103 to replenish water and provisions, Colnett continued across the South Atlantic to Isla de los Estados, arriving on 23 January 1787.104 A site for the sealing “Factory” was quickly selected in New Years Harbour and construction begun.105 As soon as a house was erected, the sealing party, fifteen men under Samuel Marshall, and their supplies were landed.106 But it was not until 12 February 1787, after a stay of three weeks, that the Prince of Wales and Princess Royal bid farewell to this “dreary spot” and shaped to “oppose the fury” of the stormy Cape Horn. The vessels reached a latitude of 58°30’S before turning north and entering the Pacific.107 The journey north was long and tedious. Difficulties with the weather were compounded by damage to the vessels, most serious to the Princess Royal’s mast. This detracted further from the sailing qualities of the sloop and slowed the progress of both vessels. Nonetheless, when they crossed the equator on 26 April, the crews were still “healthy,” prompting Colnett to forego the intended visit to the Hawaiian Islands.108 Probably influenced by the various delays the expedition had encountered, Colnett’s decision to head directly for Nootka hastened his arrival at the trading grounds but lengthened the sea journey and brought on the scurvy. Some indications were visible among the seamen in

map A Route of the Prince of Wales, 1786-89

Voyage of the Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal | 13

April and had become significant on the Prince of Wales in the middle of June, with the vessels only at 29°5’N. By the time Vancouver Island was sighted on 5 July, at a latitude of approximately 49°19’N, the crew was in a “sickly condition.” Few seamen were capable of going aloft, due to “the baneful influence of the Scurvy,” obliging the officers, the captain’s servant, and the surgeon to assist.109 Under these circumstances, twenty-one weeks after leaving Isla de los Estados, Nootka Sound was, indeed, a “pleasing sight.”110 (See map B, p. 99.) The Northwest Coast, 1787 Season The following day, 6 July, two Nuu-chah-nulth chiefs visited the vessels, bringing the unwelcome news that a ship was anchored in the sound. This proved to be the Imperial Eagle, a British vessel from Ostend, commanded by Charles Barkley and identified in the texts under the name Loudon.111 Barkley had been at Friendly Cove for twenty-three days and had secured a large portion of the available furs. Equally disappointing was the absence of Portlock and Dixon, or any sign of the factory they had been ordered to establish. These circumstances obliged Colnett to adjust his plans and contemplate a more extensive navigation of the coast, but for the moment he had little choice but to enter Nootka Sound.112 The crews required time on shore to restore their health, and the vessels were in need of repairs. However, rather than anchor alongside Barkley in Friendly Cove, Colnett sailed up Zuciarte Channel. His precise anchorage is difficult to identify, but it was probably at Cheesish, although Mooyah Bay is another possibility (see map C, p. 102). Here the Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal remained for three weeks. Once the crews had recuperated, they were busy completing the repairs, trading, and examining the adjacent territory. The Princess Royal and the ships’ boats were employed in the last of these tasks, a pattern followed at subsequent anchorages.113 Colnett, while disappointed at being preceded and selecting a separate anchorage, was on cordial terms with Barkley. However, shortly before the latter’s departure, on 24 July, Colnett thought it prudent to challenge Barkley’s right to trade in the territory of the South Sea Company without a licence. Colnett received no immediate satisfaction, but his action would be vindicated by subsequent developments. When the Imperial Eagle reached Canton, her owners “found they were not warranted in trading to China and the North West Coast, even under the Austrian flag.” As a result, they were obliged to sell the vessel.114 By the end of July, with repairs completed and trade exhausted in the vicinity of Zuciarte Channel, Colnett prepared for departure. Both vessels crossed over to Friendly Cove, then, on 5 August, headed to sea, bound for Prince William Sound.115 Fog and variable winds hampered progress for the next three days, when Colnett’s luck suddenly changed. On 8 August he encountered George Dixon and the Queen Charlotte. Dixon, completing his second trading season, was just about to head for the Hawaiian Islands and Canton. He possessed vital new information about the geography of the coast and sources of sea otter pelts. Specifically, Dixon recommended that Colnett visit the Queen Charlotte Islands and some sounds on the opposite, mainland coast; he also

14 | Introduction

provided information about the Hawaiian Islands and allowed Colnett to copy some sketches of harbours on the Alaskan coast.116 This encounter revived Colnett’s “lost hopes of making a profitable voyage” and the information shaped his actions in the remainder of the 1787 season and, to some extent, in 1788.117 After parting with Dixon, Colnett made a brief visit to Nasparti Inlet (Port Brooks), where a few skins were procured. The Prince of Wales and Princess Royal then sailed north for the Queen Charlotte Islands (see map E, p. 120).118 Cape St. James was sighted on 18 August, and three days later the vessels anchored in Rose Harbour, Houston Stewart Channel. Colnett was now in the territory of the Kunghit Haida. Although Dixon had traded off this coast, he had not landed, and these were unfamiliar waters for Europeans. Using Rose Harbour as a base, Colnett sent the ships’ boats on a “trafficking expedition” to the north, probably as far as the east coast of Lyell Island (see map F, p. 126).119 The Princess Royal, meanwhile, headed across Hecate Strait to examine the “mainland.” She reached the vicinity of Aristazabal Island but, due to bad weather, procured only the most rudimentary information.120 Nonetheless, Colnett decided to follow Dixon’s recommendation about the potential of the area. On 31 August, both vessels left Rose Harbour, sailing east. A week later, they anchored in a small bay at the south end of Banks Island, named Port Ball by Colnett but, more aptly, Calamity Harbour by the seamen.121 Thanks to a series of misadventures in carrying out repairs to the vessels, this would be their base for the next eleven weeks. What were misfortunes for Colnett became occasions for a fascinating series of encounters with some of the Gitkxaala Tsimshian. It was, by far, the most extended interaction the expedition had with any of the Native peoples on the coast. What makes the accounts by Colnett and Taylor even more valuable is that they, and the crews, were the first Europeans to meet the Tsimshian. The substance of these encounters is discussed below (pp. 45-59). As at other harbours, Colnett used Port Ball as a base for examining the surrounding territory. The boats went on a series of journeys through the complex of waterways extending from Nepean Sound: to the northwest, up Principe Channel, northeast to Douglas Channel, and southeast towards Laredo Sound. From the information they secured, Colnett and Duncan produced the first significant cartographic representations of this part of the coast. Meanwhile, work continued on the vessels. Progress was slow, compounded by new damage to the Prince of Wales incurred when relaunching. It was not until 19 November, with the “Country half cover’d from the summits of its hills to the water’s Edge with snow,” that the Prince of Wales and Princess Royal sailed for winter quarters in the Hawaiian Islands.122 The Hawaiian Islands: Winter, 1787-88 About a third of the way into the passage, due to bad weather, the vessels separated and did not meet up again until early in February 1788.123 Colnett sighted Hawai'i on 1 January and spent the next few days coasting between Hawai'i and Maui before heading west (see map I, p. 170). He sailed north of Maui and

Voyage of the Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal | 15

Moloka'i and anchored off the western point of the latter on 10 January. During a stay of five days, supplies of fresh meat, fruit, and vegetables were purchased, before the Prince of Wales moved west to the south coast of O'ahu.124 After a brief visit to Waikiki, which coincided with the Makahiki festivities, Colnett proceeded to Kaua'i, anchoring at Waimea Bay on 30 January. Here, he was rejoined a week later by Duncan and the Princess Royal.125 The sloop had reached Hawai'i on 25 December and had spent the interval cruising “among the Isles,” reaching Kaua'i on 7 February.126 Reunited, the vessels spent the next four weeks in the vicinity of Kaua'i and Ni'ihau, acquiring a further stock of fresh provisions and giving the crews opportunities to enjoy sexual relationships with local women.127 However, the stay at Waimea Bay was marred by a violent confrontation following the theft of an anchor and an apprehended assault on the ship. Unable to recover his own anchor, Colnett sought to make good his loss by purchasing an anchor, visible on the beach, that had been cut from the King George the previous winter. Ironically, just before landing at Waimea, Colnett had received a letter left by Nathaniel Portlock the previous fall. It contained a warning about the need for precautions in the area but made no reference to a lost anchor.128 Eventually, Colnett’s negotiations were successful: the anchor was purchased for various metal goods, some firearms, and ammunition. The demand for the latter led Colnett to conclude, correctly, that the incident was linked to a pattern of inter-island hostilities.129 Finally, with transactions completed, the vessels left Waimea Bay on 13 March to spend a couple more days trading in the area of Ni'ihau. By this time, a number of islanders, two of whom would eventually reach England, had joined the expedition.130 Then, on 18 March, the vessels headed for the Northwest Coast, shortly thereafter passing the previously unrecorded and uninhabited island of Nihooa.131 The Prince of Wales, 1788 Season: The Northwest Coast In contrast to the previous season, the Prince of Wales and Princess Royal operated separately in 1788. After arranging a series of rendezvous points, the vessels parted company about a third of the way into the voyage from Ni'ihau. The Princess Royal headed to Nootka and the Prince of Wales to the Alaskan Coast.132 Colnett, presumably following advice from Portlock, decided to avoid Cook Inlet and, after a passage of five weeks, reached the vicinity of Prince William Sound (see maps J and K, p. 207 and p. 209).133 Here, Colnett was in relatively well-known waters. Cook’s chart and journal described the region with tolerable accuracy and several traders, including Portlock and Dixon in 1787, had visited. Moreover, within days of Colnett’s departure, separate Russian and Spanish expeditions would traverse the area.134 Sailing west and north of Montague Island, Colnett anchored in Port Etches, Hinchinbrook Island, on 2 May. Continuing the pattern of 1787, he traded with the local population – in this instance the Chugach, a Pacific Yupik people – and used the harbour as a base from which to examine the surrounding territory.135 On 22 May, with minor repairs completed and trade exhausted, the Prince

16 | Introduction

of Wales rounded Cape Hinchinbrook and sailed southeastwards some distance off shore. Near Kayak Island, the long boat was dispatched to undertake a closer examination of the coast to the eastwards, rejoining company on 4 June off Yakutat Bay. The next four days were spent in that vicinity, mostly at anchorage in Port Mulgrave. Here Colnett recognized that he had entered the territory of a “different Nation from those residg. to the North.”136 In fact, he had returned to the Northwest Coast culture area and was in Tlingit territory. Few skins were collected, however, and Colnett resumed cruising south, stopping occasionally to trade with visiting canoes and dispatch the ship’s boats to examine sections of the coast. Four days were spent at Sitka Sound, where the trade again disappointed Colnett’s “expectations,” although he was favourably impressed by the people. Departing from Sitka Sound on 21 June, the Prince of Wales reached Haida territory two days later, this time in the Alaskan Archipelago. The next four days were spent coasting as far as Dall Island, by which time Taylor had become highly critical of this method of proceeding. In his journal, if not publicly, he advocated that a more extended stop should be made at some location. Meanwhile, Colnett, presumably with the agreement of John Etches, headed for the west coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands, hoping to duplicate Dixon’s success in that area (see map L, p. 236).137 This tactic brought only further disappointment as Colnett clearly misconstrued information received from Dixon. Rather than heading to Cloak Bay (Langara Island), the location of Dixon’s greatest trading encounter, Colnett proceeded to the vicinity of Hippa Island. Skins were no more abundant here than farther north but, on 8 July, Colnett received the first news of the activities of the Princess Royal. As a result, he headed round Cape St. James in search of his consort at the first of the prearranged rendezvous points.138 Returning to familiar waters, the Prince of Wales anchored in Houston Stewart Channel on 17 July. Here, courtesy of the local chiefs, Colnett received a letter left by Duncan. It contained news of the arrival of a rival vessel on the southern coast and Duncan’s decision to head south in response to this development. This, in turn, induced Colnett and Etches to modify their plans and “return back to the Northward” for the remainder of the season (see map M, p. 245).139 The Prince of Wales sailed along the eastern coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands, putting into Juan Perez Sound on 20 July. Three days were spent at anchor, but adverse winds frustrated the attempt to continue northwards, prompting Colnett to change plans again. He decided to return south, round Cape St. James, and head north off the western coast of the Queen Charlottes. But this manoeuvre only produced further frustration. After spending a week trying to “beat round the Cape,” and with scurvy threatening on board, Colnett decided to “seek a port” on the eastern shore. This turned out to be Kildidt Sound, where the Prince of Wales anchored on 4 August. Located a little to the south of the areas examined by the boats from Calamity Harbour in 1787, Colnett was again in unfamiliar territory. Over the next two weeks, some visitors were received, and one boat expedition dispatched. Neither produced much

Voyage of the Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal | 17

in the way of trade. Colnett’s primary objective during this period was to prepare the ship for departure from the coast. On August 18, with the requisite tasks completed, Colnett took his leave from the Northwest Coast. The Princess Royal, 1788 Season: The Northwest Coast No journal recording the activities of the Princess Royal in 1788 has survived, but the outlines of her itinerary are known (see maps N [a] and N [b], p. 262 and p. 264).140 After arriving at Nootka on 19 April and carrying out the usual repairs, Duncan headed for the Queen Charlotte Islands on 10 May. His first port of call was Luxaena Bay, a little south of Houston Stewart Channel. Leaving on 19 May, the Princess Royal continued north, trading along the eastern coast, to the vicinity of Skidegate, before heading across Hecate Strait on 31 May. The next three weeks were spent in the waters of Principe Channel and Douglas Channel – areas visited from Calamity Harbour in 1787 (see map G, p. 140). Departing via the north end of Principe Channel, Duncan returned to the Queen Charlottes, arriving at “Trollops River,” probably Skidegate Inlet, on 23 June. Following a brief but successful trade, he headed south, to an anticipated rendezvous with the Prince of Wales. Failing to find Colnett in the vicinity of Juan Perez Sound, Duncan left letters with at least two Haida chiefs and then, on 6 July, sailed across Hecate Strait once more. This time he went farther south than on previous crossings, anchoring in uncharted territory at Milbanke Sound on 14 July. A few days were spent trading with the Heiltsuk, then the Princess Royal continued southwards, passed through Hakai Passage, and anchored in Safety Cove. After a brief stay, Duncan crossed Queen Charlotte Sound to the western coast of Vancouver Island and Nootka, another potential rendezvous point with Colnett.141 While off Nootka, Duncan had a brief encounter with John Meares on the Felice Adventurer. Meares’ published description of this meeting and his pamphlet controversy with George Dixon prompted Duncan to write in support of the latter. Duncan’s letter, incorporated into Dixon’s second pamphlet, is our principal source on the Princess Royal’s movements in 1788.142 Of more immediate significance to Duncan was the news he received that Colnett had not arrived at Nootka. Therefore, Duncan continued south, trading in the vicinity of Clayoquot Sound and the entrance of the Straits of Juan de Fuca.143 On 17 August, having secured the available skins, the Princess Royal departed from the Northwest Coast, heading for the Hawaiian Islands and the final rendezvous with Colnett. According to Taylor, the Princess Royal “had been more successful on the Coast of America” in 1788 than had the Prince of Wales.144 The Hawaiian Islands, Canton, and the Return to England, 1788-89 The Prince of Wales, after a voyage of twenty-three days, reached the coast of Hawai'i on 9 September.145 She spent the next three weeks among the islands, with the route replicating that undertaken on the first visit. From Hawai'i the Prince of Wales sailed north of Maui and anchored off the western end of Moloka'i on 12 September. Here they found the Princess Royal, which had

18 | Introduction

Table 1 Furs traded at Canton: Prince of Wales and Princess Royal, 1789 No. of furs

Type of furs

780 [815] 84 270 24 [31] 10 Total

Prime sea otter Good Old Young Prime otter cloaks Good Indifferent

Est. value each ($)*

Total value ($)*

65 25 12 5 150 80 20

50,700 20,375 1,008 1,350 3,600 2,480 200 79,713

* Spanish dollars. Harlow states that the “dollar or ‘real of eight’” became the standard of international exchange in China and remained so until 1857. R.C. Etches placed the exchange rate at “five shilling and four pence sterling,” although the EIC, after 1619, “invoiced it at 5s, the difference being the cost of laying down the coin” (Harlow 1964: 529n; PRO, Chancery Pleadings, Statement of R.C. Etches, C 12/621/20). Etches’ exchange rate gives a gross return of £21,256/16/-. Source: Etches and Colnett to Browne, 5 Jan. 1789 (BL, EIC, CFR, Canton Consultations, G/12/94), 60-1.

reached the islands about 5 September. The two vessels visited the south side of O'ahu, but their principal anchoring points were off Kaua'i and Ni'ihau, where the time was spent purchasing provisions and generally preparing for the journey to China. They sailed from Ni'ihau on 30 September, arriving at Macao on 12 November; the Prince of Wales continued to Canton on 26 November.146 The combined cargo, after two seasons trading on the Northwest Coast, amounted to “fifteen Cases and nineteen Casks of Furrs.” John Meares, not an entirely reliable source on such matters, thought that they were “in the best condition of any brought to the Canton market.”147 A more precise accounting, together with Colnett’s estimates of the value of his cargo, is shown in Table 1. Colnett’s estimates proved to be overly optimistic. The furs realized only 56,000 dollars, although he also disposed of a small quantity of “Tails, Martin Skins, Pieces of Otter &c, &c for 9520 Dollars” to defray expenses incurred while anchored at Canton.148 The problem, as Dalrymple noted, was the sudden influx of furs to Canton over the previous eighteen months, which had made prices “uncertain.” Nonetheless, Colnett was more successful than any of his predecessors had been. Although Portlock and Dixon collected more skins, they sold for only 50,000 dollars – the largest return of any expedition to that date.149 On 25 January 1789, after nearly two months taken up by negotiations with EIC officials, completing minor repairs, and loading a cargo of China wares and teas, the Prince of Wales left Canton and rejoined the Princess Royal at Macao.150 By this time, John Etches had reached an agreement with Messrs. Cox, Beale & Co., a company of independent merchants at Canton, about another venture to the Northwest Coast. Etches’ previous plans had called for the Princess Royal to return to the Northwest Coast and, probably, a visit to Japan.

The Contact Process | 19

But now the two companies decided to join forces, thereby minimizing competition, maximizing use of their resources, and avoiding legal complications.151 Utilizing the licences obtained by Etches & Co., the Princess Royal and three other vessels – the Argonaut, Iphigenia Nubiana, and North West America – would be sent to the coast for the forthcoming 1789 season.152 Colnett was offered command of the Argonaut and general supervision of the other vessels. He accepted, and a number of other crew members joined the expedition, although Duncan, for health reasons, gave up command of the Princess Royal and joined the Prince of Wales as a passenger. Command of the Prince of Wales was delivered to James Johnstone on 31 January and, the following day, the ship sailed for England.153 The only landings on this journey were at Sumatra, in mid-February, and some five days spent at St. Helena early in May. Supplies of wood and water were replenished at both locations and some fresh provisions acquired at the latter. The Prince of Wales arrived in London about 17 July 1789. Remarkably, after a round-the-world voyage lasting three years, only one crew member had been lost, and even then, he died on the final leg, after Colnett had left the vessel.154 The Contact Process: The Northwest Coast and Hawaiian Islands

Some two centuries after their inscription, it is the accounts of meetings with indigenous peoples that make Colnett’s and Taylor’s journals both valuable and interesting. In this section I begin an examination of these encounters with a discussion of the intellectual context of trade and exploration on the Northwest Coast. This is to establish, in general terms, the ideas and attitudes that Colnett and his party brought with them; ideas and attitudes that shaped what they observed and what they recorded. This leads into a discussion of the parameters of early contact encounters. These encounters, I believe, have to be understood within the context of Native geopolitical landscapes. I explore this claim through a discussion of three specific examples: Colnett’s encounters at Nootka Sound in 1787, along the southeast coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands in 1787 and 1788, and in the vicinity of Banks Island in 1787. These locations were the site of Colnett’s principal sojourns on the Northwest Coast; moreover, at the last two, Colnett was at the opening of the contact process. I add some brief comments on other encounters on the coast. The Intellectual Context Any attempt to discuss the intellectual formation of Colnett and Taylor is confounded by the paucity of information available about their early education and training. It is necessary to turn, therefore, to the general context of Enlightenment ideas and writings about journeys to exotic locations. An obvious starting point is that Europeans had developed a general modus operandi for visiting “unknown” or poorly known regions. By the late eighteenth century, European nations had the accumulated experience of some 300 years of overseas expansion. Empire provided, indeed required, a pragmatic understanding of what to expect in encounters with indigenous peoples of the Americas and

20 | Introduction

the Pacific: what tactics were effective and what should be avoided. Some of the accumulated information was incorporated in the orders and instructions issued to ships’ captains, some was transmitted orally among the maritime fraternity, and some was incorporated into the burgeoning “exploration” literature. Such knowledge also provided the data for more elaborate intellectual constructions and expressions of Europeans’ sense of their own superiority, such as theories of social evolution. Exploration, Hobsbawm has observed, meant not only to “know, but to develop, to bring the unknown and therefore by definition backward and barbarous into the light of civilization and progress.” The description of “savagery” demonstrated the civility of civilization.155 Modes of Recording With the publication of William Dampier’s works, beginning at the close of the seventeenth century, accounts of ocean “voyages” became a popular literary genre in England. Dampier’s narratives, with their “description of natural phenomena, whether plants, beasts, tides, winds or the ways of strange tribes and peoples,” heralded a new interest in, and new ways of describing, the Pacific.156 It was, however, the three voyages of James Cook that brought public interest in such accounts to new heights, and publication, as Hawkesworth’s example so spectacularly demonstrated, could be a profitable exercise.157 Cook’s voyages, and their literary products, became both a model and an incentive for those who sailed in his wake. Especially for those traversing the Pacific, Cook’s experiences helped shape their actions and provided a format for what should be recorded.158 Indeed, the followers’ accounts partake, to some extent, in an ongoing dialogue with Cook and his achievements. Of course, the dialogue was complicated by the uneven availability of what Cook actually wrote, and much has been made of the role of editors in presenting, and distorting, Cook’s journals. However, in terms of a literary model, Cook was largely refining an established one rather than reconstituting it. The basic form was navigational: a chronological account, derived from the ship’s log with its daily entries recording significant events and including a good deal of information about weather and sailing conditions. This was supplemented by summary descriptions of locations where extended sojourns were made.159 At Nootka Sound in 1778, for example, Cook’s account embraced navigation, topography, climate, flora, fauna, geology, inhabitants – including physical characteristics, aspects of their economy, settlements, material culture – and concluded with a word list.160 Topics varied with location and were not systematic, but the results were essays in the human geography of the nodal points. In part, these geographies reflected Cook’s instructions and the avowedly scientific intent of his voyages. For the second and third voyages, his instructions called for careful observation of the “soil & produce thereof,” together with a list of other features to be examined and recorded, including the “Genius, Temper, Disposition and Number of the Natives.”161 Probably the most concise summary of the objectives of such “scientific” voyages came near the

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end of the period. Joseph Banks, exemplar of the English Enlightenment, instructed Archibald Menzies, of the Vancouver expedition (1791-95), to make “an investigation of the whole of Natural History of the Countries you are to visit; as well as an enquiry into the present state and comparative degree of civilization of the inhabitants you meet with.”162 In other words, an inventory of the human and natural resources of the localities visited. In rendering their experiences into publishable form, “voyagers” encountered a further set of pressures. According to Edwards, there was an increasing tension between authors and publishers about the quotients of information and entertainment in the manuscripts. Publishers and editors usually were more concerned with the entertainment component and the attendant commercial prospects. Sailors, however, tended to be more interested in conveying practical data; certainly Colnett made few concessions towards entertainment in his journal, although Taylor was more flexible.163 Emphasis on the practical was reflected in the style of writing. It had become something of a commonplace, well before Cook, for sailors to describe their literary efforts as plain and unadorned.164 Bernard Smith, in discussing Cook’s journals, suggests a broader context for this plain mode of presentation. He links Cook’s style to an empiricism, in which close observation and minimal speculation reflect “the ideals of a new kind of rhetoric, that of plain speaking” advocated by the Royal Society – of which Cook was made a member in 1776. This required “‘a close, naked, natural way of speaking; positive expressions, clear sense; a native easiness, bringing all things as near the mathematical plainness as they can; and preferring the language of Artisans, Countrymen and Merchants before that of wits and scholars.’”165 It would be helpful in evaluating the journals of Colnett and Taylor to know what books, if any, were on board the Prince of Wales and what intellectual preparations were made for the voyage. Unfortunately, such information is sparse. About all that can be said for certain is that both Colnett and Taylor were familiar with some of the exploration literature – Dampier and Anson, as well as Cook. Both make occasional reference to incidents described by Cook and to the charts published in Cook’s third “Voyage”; it seems likely that copies of the latter were on board, if not the four volumes of the “Voyage.”166 Such uncertainties may be compared to Colnett’s preparations for his expedition on the Rattler in 1793, when he “purchased the various voyages of former navigators, and such books on the subjects of natural history, as might assist me in my pursuits, and enable me to furnish instruction in those branches of science connected with my own; and which remote navigation might tend to advance.” Whether this was a lesson learned from omissions on his first voyage remains unclear, although Menzies did record having “but little assistance from Books” in his botanical endeavours.167 Even if there are doubts about Colnett’s literary preparations in 1786, he had the benefit of personal experience of Cook – as a graduate of the second expedition. Writing of this voyage, Beaglehole has suggested that it is difficult

22 | Introduction

to imagine “a better education for a young seaman than three years in the Resolution.”168 One of the midshipmen, John Elliot, recorded some comments on the training he received. Young gentlemen learned the basics required to become “good Sailors, as well as good Officers” – the essential naval skills of command and navigation, including observing, surveying, and drawing. At a time when the instruction of midshipmen was informal and practical, the quality of the commander was crucial; Cook’s abilities in this regard were widely recognized.169 The Resolution also carried a number of scientific supernumeraries – the Forsters and Sparrman – who were practitioners of the Enlightenment agenda of empirical engagement with natural and human history. How much they interacted with midshipmen is unclear, but the orders of astronomer William Wales required that he provide instruction to “such of the Officers” as desired it. Finally, there was the exotic geography and the off-duty experiences – “little parties to go shooting, hunting, fishing” and Native people “coming on board in numbers.”170 Colnett’s own expedition was not “scientific” and does not bear comparison to Cook’s in scale, execution, or description. Nonetheless, Colnett’s journal clearly reflects his mentor’s template. The form is navigational, including a good deal of technical sailing information, with some summary accounts of locations where sojourns were made. Stylistically, too, Colnett embraced the tradition of plain-speaking naval officers. In his introduction to the Rattler’s voyage, he eschewed any “claim to literary quality” and aspired, instead, to manifest “some portion of professional utility.”171 It seems likely that Colnett’s adherence to such “plain rhetoric” contributed to the relative absence of pejorative terminology in his descriptions of Native peoples of the Northwest Coast. The only “savage” recorded was a dog at Nootka, although the labret did produce a “horrid aspect” among Native women.172 Taylor’s journal reflects much the same intellectual universe as Colnett’s. He was familiar with accounts of Cook’s voyages and an admirer of the man, describing him as a “Hero of Circumnavigation.” Nonetheless, Taylor’s journals have a different tone than Colnett’s “official” version and constitute a valuable counterpoint.173 Although it seems likely that they were written with an eye towards publication, the surviving documents have a more personal and literary quality – even breaking into verse on occasion.174 Taylor was also more aware of, or paid more attention to, the world of the seamen. Although shaped by the paternalism of command, and embodying the distinctions of class, his comments were closer to empathy than condescension.175 Finally, Taylor was frequently critical of the way Colnett and, to a lesser extent, Duncan conducted their vessels and the voyage in general – perhaps a reflection of being overqualified for his position on the Prince of Wales. The divergences between the two journals, empiricism and plain rhetoric notwithstanding, serve as a reminder that both are subjective and selective accounts. Such sources, as Edwards reminds us, provide “access to people and events ... through a mist arising from the energy of partisan re-creation.” These

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fragmentary narratives can neither be completed nor rendered impartial; they need to be viewed in their context of “imperial expansion and the collision of cultures.”176 Enlightened Encounters? Enlightenment attitudes towards indigenous peoples were complex, shifting, and in some respects contradictory. For a time, optimism and the desire for knowledge meant that exotic societies could be viewed sympathetically, as sources of information and even moral lessons. Indigenous cultures could be seen “as alternative modes of living,” as particular manifestations of “the natural laws which could be discerned in all human societies.”177 One of the clearest statements of this view was made by J.R. Foster in his account of Cook’s second voyage. Mankind, he thought, ought to be considered as the members of one great family; therefore let us not despise any of them, though they be our inferiors in regard to many improvements and points of civilization; none of them is so dispicable that he should not, in some point or other, know more than the wisest man of the most polished nation. This knowledge may be easily obtained from them by friendliness, kindness, and gentleness; and if so bought it is cheaply obtained.178

There is some evidence that Colnett, although not much given to philosophical speculation, was influenced by such views. In his published account of the Rattler, Colnett reflected on his previous voyages and what he had learned about treating seamen’s diseases such as scurvy. He claimed that he “paid particular attention to the practice of different Indian nations, when an opportunity was afforded me.” Indian, in this context, referred to peoples of the Pacific as well as of the Northwest Coast.179 If Native societies could be sources of useful information, they could also be used to comment critically on European behaviour. There is no evidence of Colnett making such a leap, but Taylor does. At Kaua'i, he fulminated that if Colnett had “visited ye Shore He might have learn’d politeness from ye very People He ill treated, what a pity men of more refin’d & expanded Ideas were not ye only people employed on such Voyages to shew ye Natives some few well timed examples, which might seem to improve their manners & not by impolitical rude carriage, improperly timed endeavours to prove ourselves greater savages than ye Natives we Traffic wth.”180 If this has a Rousseauesque tinge, it was also a product of the time Taylor spent in more informal spaces, away from the vessels and ashore. Colnett, in contrast, rarely left the Prince of Wales.181 Of course, such criticism did not imply any sense of equality between civil society in Europe and the peoples encountered on the periphery. Europeans brought civilization and, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, sought to impart

24 | Introduction

its benefits. Colnett, for example, concluded that the Kunghit Haida had been “much civiliz’d by our visits.” Taylor, too, thought that Northwest Coast societies were capable of improvement. Writing of the same visit, he described two Kunghit Haida chiefs: “Euhah, a stout well made man with the most pleasant open countenance, I saw on ye whole Coast of America and If I may be allowed the expression in this part of ye world He was the Handsomest Man, Yookah excepted whose features must be allowed to surpass all we had seen and even in England if decently clad wou’d be considered both of them on an equality with those the Ladies are pleased to call fine likely fellows.”182 Differences between Europeans and indigenous peoples were a matter of culture, not biology – an innovation of a subsequent era. The Northwest Coast and its population were also inserted into a comparative context that embraced the emerging hierarchy of Pacific peoples. Here, the extremes were marked by Polynesian societies, viewed most favourably, and the peoples of Tierra del Fuego and Australia. Sometimes the comparison was explicit, as when Beresford noted that the Hawaiian Islanders were “kind, friendly and humane, and they undoubtedly approach many degrees nearer to civilization than the poor wretches we met with on the inhospitable coast of America.”183 More often the context was unacknowledged, but it contributed to unfavourable evaluations of the Northwest Coast and its peoples. Criteria such as climate, topography, and cleanliness played a role, but the lack of cultivation was probably the crucial factor. Cultivation had practical implications, in terms of procuring provisions, but it was also diagnostic of the broader question of the progress made towards civilization. At Nootka, Colnett sought to explain the lack of cultivation through the “too frequent wars & from the same cause may arise their having such miserable dwellings.” Later, when he and Taylor did encounter evidence of cultivation on the Northwest Coast, they concluded that it must be the work of Europeans.184 The interpretative circle of expectation, observation, and conclusion was completed. Such views may be compared with the comments Archibald Menzies recorded during Vancouver’s voyage about some patches of cultivation he saw at Angoon:185 the first Dawns of Agriculture excited amongst these savages, not in rearing any article of real utility either to their comfort or support, as might naturally be expected, but in cultivating a mere drug [tobacco] to satisfy the cravings of a fanciful appetite that can be no ways necessary to their existance; hence we perceive how readily man even in a state of nature improves or increases his original wants & thereby gradually advances to luxury & refinement. & from this perhaps a good lesson might be derivd for the tedious process of civilizing these inhabitants, which is first to give them a relish for those articles of luxury the most like to succeed in their climate and soil, & by thus creating artificial wants a spirit of industry & emulation favourable to civilization would not fail to be excited.186

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Trade and the market, in such views, would serve as cultural solvents and evolutionary agents – and a moral justification for imperial endeavours. On Kaua'i, by way of contrast, both Menzies and Taylor were impressed not only by the agriculture already in place but with the capacity of the Hawaiians to adopt new crops: clearly an index of their ability to progress. Taylor thought that they had long been familiar with the cultivation of taro, taking “great pains ... to have their runs of water surround all the Fields.” He also visited “a spot where some English Savoys were arrived at Maturity ... [and they] expressed great pleasure in shewing them to us, Saying they were Britannia.187 When Menzies returned to Kaua'i in 1792, he observed that the Hawaiians had “added to their former stock of vegetables, greens, musk and water melons, which they rear to such perfection and plenty that we had a daily supply of each.”188 If European perceptions of indigenous peoples were varied and contradictory, so were their ideas about how to behave towards such people on the Pacific frontier. As Europeans became convinced of their own progress and enlightenment, they looked for its reflections in their treatment of Native peoples. Nowhere is this better articulated than in the “Hints” provided by Lord Morton, the president of the Royal Society, for Cook’s first voyage. In addition to embodying the optimism and tolerance of the Enlightenment, the document reflected the principles expressed in the Royal Proclamation of 1763. Native peoples, Morton wrote, “are the natural, and in the strictest sense of the word, the legal possesors of the several regions they occupy. No European Nation has a right to occupy any part of their country, or settle among them without their voluntary consent.”189 Distance (and the comforts of Europe) enhanced expectations about the behaviour of Europeans overseas and instructions issued to subsequent expedition commanders often invoked “fair and considerate treatment” of Native peoples. Portlock, for example, was to “establish friendly relations,” admittedly for the purpose of trade rather than science. Moreover, ships’ officers, as gentlemen and authors, might also aspire to humanitarian sentiments – at least for the reading public “at home.”190 Among navigators, naval and otherwise, Cook represented the epitome of an enlightened approach towards Native peoples. John Elliott, a midshipman on the second voyage, recalled that Cook would “land alone unarmed, or lay aside his Arms, and sit down when they threatened with theirs, throwing them Beads, Knives, and other little presents, then by degrees advancing nearer, till by patience and forbearance, he gained their friendship and an intercourse with them, which to people in our situation was of the utmost importance.”191 But this is a retrospective account that embodies an ideal and forgets much of the harsher side of encounters on the periphery. On the same voyage, Cook recorded some rather different reflections on the requirements for “good” relations with the Maori of Queen Charlotte Sound. The best method, he thought, was “first to shew them the use of fire arms and to convince them of the Superiority they give you over them and to be always on your guard; when once they are sencible of these things, a regard for their own safety will deter

26 | Introduction

them from disturbing you or being unanimous in forming any plan to attack you, and Strict honisty and gentle treatment on your part will make it their interest not to do it.”192 Later he ruminated on the asymmetry of such encounters: “We enter their Ports without their daring to make opposition, we attempt to land in a peaceable manner, if this succeeds its well, if not we land nevertheless and mentain the footing we thus got by the Superiority of our fire arms, in what other light can they than at first look upon us but as invaders of their Country.”193 The point here is not to castigate Cook – his progress through the Pacific was a model of restraint compared with predecessors such as Quiros – but to recognize that recourse to violence remained an integral part of the paradigm that Europeans brought to the contact process. Moreover, Cook, like a number of others, had given expression to doubts about the benefits accruing to Native societies. On his second visit to Queen Charlotte Sound, Cook articulated this pessimism: “To our Shame [as] civilized Christians, we debauch their Morals already too prone to vice and we interduce among them wants and perhaps diseases which they never before knew and which serves only to disturb that happy tranquillity they and their fore Fathers had enjoy’d. If any one denies the truth of this assertion let him tell me what the Natives of the whole extent of America have gained by the commerce they have had with Europeans.”194 Even for the “humane” Cook, the display of deadly technology was a necessary component; gentle treatment and the threat of coercion were intertwined and the move from a display of firearms to their use in earnest was all too easy. It was a journey that Cook made, albeit infrequently, on the second voyage, and more often on the third. The manner of his death, at Kealakekua Bay, served as an awful reminder of the dangers to be countered. In these distant imperial ventures, Europeans saw their technological superiority as an essential safeguard. The eighteenth-century ocean-going sailing vessel was a significant manifestation and symbol of this power and ideology. A triumph of technology and technique, it facilitated the global outreach and embodied the hierarchical and coercive values of the society that produced it. Europeans in the eighteenth century remained, as Greenblatt has written of sixteenth-century visitors to America, immensely confident of their own centrality and possessed of “a political organization based on practices of command and submission ... [and] a willingness to use coercive violence on both strangers and fellow countrymen.”195 Enlightenment sages might demure, but violence was built into the decision to send expeditions to exotic parts. Early encounters on the Northwest Coast and Hawaiian Islands reflect these European attitudes. Cook left the Nuu-chah-nulth aware of the power of firearms, and the maritime fur trade was inaugurated with a violent confrontation at Nootka in 1785; farther north, Russian traders at Kodiak Island employed the “tactics of terror.”196 A little later, a French fur trader, Etienne Marchand, made the point in a slightly different manner. In commenting on the dangers of trading muskets to the Haida and the Tlingit, he stated that “the terror which our arms had inspired, should have been maintained: terror constitutes the

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strength and the security of the small number amongst the multitude.”197 And Colnett, too, used technology to dispense disciplinary lessons – mostly to discourage thefts, an issue explored more fully below. At Banks Island, following a series of encounters with the Tsimshian that ended in violence, Taylor concluded: “They now believed our fire arms to be mischievous kinds of things for ’twas evident, not an Indian thought himself safe along side the ship.”198 While he had no doubt as to the necessity of such demonstrations, Taylor was prepared to ascribe at least part of the blame for the problems Europeans encountered to their own behaviour. He thought that punishment of Natives should “never exceed the bounds of reason but ... be guided by the nature of the Crime” and protested, to his journal, about excesses.199 Some of the tensions and ambiguities of encounters on the periphery are evident in a passage Colnett wrote in 1790, reflecting on his voyage on the Prince of Wales. During a stop at Clayoquot, he contemplated taking some hostages and pondered his earlier interactions with Native people. He rationalized the measure by “desperate” circumstances that would “for once plead for me in a breach of Friendship with the Indians.” Hostile action was also justified by earlier encounters with other tribes in which he had endured repeated and unprovoked “Insults and Injuries.” These had gone “unpunished and without the smallest molestation.”200 Parts of this, at best, indicate a considerable capacity for amnesia concerning his first voyage. But the forgetting is selective, revealing a behavioural ideal that reflected current literary fashions and contributed to subsequent “settler” historiography: the heroic explorer who confronted the hard realities of the Northwest Coast.201 Preludes to Appropriation The plain style that Colnett and, to a lesser extent, Taylor, embraced and practised was hardly neutral. Articulated with and supported by a powerful scientific and technological apparatus, it was shaped by the imperatives of dominion and trade. Knowledge was power, and any civilized society failing to pursue such information could “expect to hold an inferior and derivative role in global affairs.” For Banks, exploration and discovery were “particularly enlightened activities” as they produced new knowledge and “further avenues for British commerce.” Hence, as Smith has argued, the congruence in rhetoric between science and commerce.202 A reviewer of John Meares’ book put the matter nicely in 1790. After “ample praise” for naval navigators in adding to “territorial and commercial dominion,” the writer continued: “Some share of attention is due to those men who, engaged in maritime service of private commerce, have omitted no opportunity of promoting, in their professional career, the public advantage.”203 Colnett was fully aware of this relationship and his role in promoting it. His most explicit comment is in the introduction to his voyage on the Rattler: “Though my former voyages were principally undertaken with the views of Commercial advantage, I was never inattentive to the advancement of nautical science: my observation was always awake to every object which might instruct myself and enable me to instruct others; and I

28 | Introduction

constantly committed my thoughts to paper as they arose in my mind of the appearance of things around me or the circumstances, whatever they might be, in which I happened to be involved.”204 To some extent, this represented further massaging of his own image, but the difference between the “scientific” voyages of Cook or Vancouver and the hybrid “commercial” expeditions of Colnett or Portlock was a matter of degree rather than kind. Cook was no more free from commercial concerns than Colnett was monopolized by them, as the interest of Banks, the presence of Menzies, and government approval of his voyage attest. Indeed, many of the early voyages to the Northwest Coast embraced some combination of commercial, scientific, and geopolitical objectives. Only when voyages to the region became more routine did commercial considerations monopolize.205 Within the commercial-scientific ideology articulated by Cook, Colnett, and others, the Northwest Coast was not the centre of anything. Instead, the region and its peoples were displaced – spatially, economically, and culturally – and reconstructed as a periphery for contesting imperialisms.206 Rituals proclaiming sovereignty were a basic and transparent dimension of this imperial jousting; indigenous peoples may have been spectators but the real audience lived half a world away.207 Colnett makes no reference to such ceremonies but supercargo John Etches does. In a flourish of imperial omniscience, he described the area between latitudes 48°N and 57°N as “an extensive cluster of unexplored islands, inhabited by numerous tribes of Friendly Indians, with whom a regular connexion was formed, and a multitude of these valuable islands were taken possession of with the usual forms and ceremonies of original discoveries; particularly Queen Charlotte’s and Princess Royal’s Islands, amounting from fifty to one hundred in number; and many of the chiefs of them were presented with light-horsemen’s caps and medals, on which were your Majesty’s arms.”208 The symbolic repertoire of displacement and subordination also included toponomy and cartography.209 Dalrymple’s recommendation that “native names should always be used when they were available” was less surprising than it may appear. It was a pragmatic response to the confusion resulting from the duplication of names and was largely ignored.210 More pertinent were Cook’s procedures and instructions, like those issued to Portlock, which included requirements to “draft or sketch ... any place you may discover ... and in naming such parts you must particularly recollect our kind patrons.”211 As a result, the Northwest Coast became littered with the names of assorted, mostly British, politicians and naval officers. Colnett and Duncan, like their predecessors, participated fully in this game of geographical honorifics. It represented, in part, the currency of the patronage that lubricated their careers. But such naming carried multiple messages. It was also an act of symbolic appropriation and ideological peripheralization; it served to domesticate the “wilderness” and dismiss the indigenous population. Nor was naming limited to features of the landscape. Pratt argues that the compilation and organization of data on “natu-

The Contact Process | 29

ral history,” the Linnaean project, equally served to efface local knowledge. Menzies’ presence on a “commercial” voyage was no whim.212 European toponomy was usually incorporated within a cartographic framework that served to articulate a graphic “language of power.”213 Certainly publication of the results, in charts or journals, could prove valuable in asserting and legitimizing geopolitical claims against imperial rivals – failure to do so undoubtedly weakened the Spanish case in the Nootka crisis of 1790.214 But practical as well as symbolic issues were involved. “Useful exploration,” in Beaglehole’s phrase, rested upon the navigator knowing “where he was ... well enough to report reliably on it when he reached home – so that he or a successor could find the place again.” Hence, in the second half of the eighteenth century, the emphasis on, and the resources devoted to, the accurate calculation of longitude and the construction of accurate maps.215 These were vital tools in facilitating the repetition of visitations necessary for moving from symbolic to physical appropriation. However, in making this latter step, as Spanish experience on the Northwest Coast would demonstrate, geopolitical power was the real arbiter. The comprehensiveness of Vancouver’s expedition and British maritime supremacy largely effaced earlier cartography and toponomy. Early Encounters on the Northwest Coast and Hawaiian Islands If Colnett and his men had the benefit of considerable personal and secondary experience of encounters with indigenous peoples, the converse did not hold for Northwest Coast peoples. For them, initial contact was largely adventitious. Each group, to a considerable extent, had to work out for itself the parameters and procedures of the encounter with Europeans. Once begun, however, information, rumour, artifacts, and diseases spread ahead of physical encounters. In 1786, the contact process was well underway among some Nuu-chah-nulth and Tlingit; for others, such as the Tsimshian, direct encounters lay in the future. Whatever Natives and non-Natives brought to their meetings, the contact process was no simple two-sided encounter. Rather, it involved a complex intersection of class, status, gender, and ethnicity – mostly with impoverished means of communications. Much of this diversity is beyond recovery, but it is worth noting how limited and particular the perspectives of surviving records are. Colnett provides the view from the quarter deck, written with an eye towards publication and his patron. Much happened that Colnett was either unaware of or chose not to record. Taylor provides supplementary information and a valuable, if partial, corrective. But the perspective of the seamen, responsible for most of the encounters with Northwest Coast Natives, is largely absent. Even more problematic is the Native view. Ethnographic sources provide a substantial body of information on Northwest Coast societies, but they contain – for reasons discussed below – their own interpretative dilemmas. Of particular interest here is a small segment of the ethnographic literature, the

30 | Introduction

first contact narratives. Some, collected from Gitkxaala (Kitkatla) Tsimshian informants, have been taken to refer to Colnett’s visit to the Banks Island area.216 Such narratives are important historical documents, but they call for careful analysis as they operate differently than do standard European accounts. The texts, derived from oral performances in the Tsimshian language, are twice translated, with all the limitations such procedures imply. There are, too, emphases and omissions; the narratives are concerned primarily with the actions of chiefs and are silent, for example, about the encounters with Native women. Nonetheless, they represent an invaluable “window on ways the past is culturally constituted and discussed” in Tsimshian culture.217 Moreover, when viewed together, the narratives and journals inform each other and offer the possibility of a fuller and richer account of early encounters on the Northwest Coast. Nor should it be forgotten that early exchanges took place without a lingua franca, making communication largely nonverbal and the space for misunderstanding considerable.218 Thus, first encounters, in particular, contained an irreducible component of tension and uncertainty, even for Europeans with their accumulated experience. Beresford, off the Queen Charlotte Islands in 1787, thought that the Haida were probably harmless, but “their attempt to persuade us to go on shore, is an additional proof in favour of our suspicion; they certainly wanted to decoy us to the hippah, and there no doubt, we should have been instantly butchered.”219 For Native peoples, the initial anxiety was likely greater. European technology was certainly deployed to entice, amaze, and intimidate.220 In these circumstances, where both sides were often puzzled and perplexed, frustration was common and “sometimes fatal.”221 Northwest Coast Peoples Before attempting to interpret Colnett’s encounters with the indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast, a brief outline of their cultural parameters is necessary. This is by no means an unproblematic undertaking. Although the literature on Northwest Coast cultures is vast, the principal sources remain the ethnographies, long assumed to be descriptions of “pristine” or precontact conditions. However, the data were collected in the late nineteenth century (or more recently), when personal memories of informants extended back only as far as the early years of the century. By that time, the cultures already had experienced a good deal of change, and it is a moot point how far the “memory” ethnographies reflect precontact conditions. Reassessment of these sources is an ongoing process and far from complete, introducing a further layer of uncertainty to current interpretations of early contact situations.222 Here my concern is with a restricted range of topics that relate to the ways in which Northwest Coast peoples intersected with Europeans: language, subsistence, settlements, and social structure, and for these topics, I offer only the barest outline. The Northwest Coast was a single culture area, but there were important internal variations, the most basic being linguistic.223 Speakers of six different language families lived on the coast north of the Straits of Juan de Fuca. Colnett encountered representatives of five: Wakashan, Haida, Tsimshian, Tlingit, and

The Contact Process | 31

Eyak-Athapaskan.224 Farther north, in the Prince William Sound area, beyond the Northwest Coast culture area, were the Pacific Yupik-speaking Chugach. Not surprisingly, this diversity added to the puzzlement of early visitors and compounded the difficulties of communication. Pidgins would develop to fill this void, but only a few word lists, for a few locations, were available to the early followers of Cook. In terms of basic subsistence, the Northwest Coast was a rich but uneven environment.225 The availability of salmon, concentrating energy from a vast area of the North Pacific Ocean, permitted what was probably the densest population of non-agricultural peoples anywhere in the world. Locally, however, the accessibility of salmon runs varied with environmental conditions and, from one year to another, with reproductive cycles. Thus, a considerable array of other marine and land resources was utilized. In some parts of the outer coast, halibut and whales rivalled salmon in importance; elsewhere, oolichan and sturgeon were significant, while shellfish and berries were widely distributed. Harvesting of these resources required considerable mobility. Patterns varied from one region to another but people moved through their territory from a permanent base, usually a winter village, to a sequence of resource sites. These annual rounds reflected seasonal availability and, in most cases, villages were occupied for only part of the year. To some extent, the perceptions of early European visitors were shaped by the timing of their visits – spring to fall – when indigenous populations, in most cases, were widely dispersed. Resource sites, with a few exceptions, were not common property but were owned by specific social groups. Indeed, as Cook had sensed at Nootka Sound in 1778, there were well-developed concepts of ownership and control that governed access to land and resources operating throughout the coast. In most cases, ownership resided at the level of the house group or lineage or even local group. Terminology is inconsistent, but each comprised a set of people linked by blood and marriage who, minimally, occupied a single physical house in a village site. Kenyon, writing of the Nuu-chah-nulth geopolitical landscape, described the local group as “an idealized family, expanded over time, which owned a distinct territory and shared common ceremonial and ritual property. Members of this family were ranked on the basis of primogeniture and it was the highest ranking member who was regarded as the owner of most of the group’s property.”226 Rosman and Rubel, in describing the broadly similar organization of Haida and Tlingit lineages, specify what was owned in more detail. The lineage, they write, “has rights to territories for hunting and fishing, cemetery areas, house sites, and trade routes ... [and] is the unit with corporate legal functions which conducts warfare and participates in feuds, and which makes alliances through marriages.” Trade, like other prerogatives, operated through this proprietary structure and, as in communities farther south, was exercised by the chief on behalf of the membership.227 The composition of a typical Tlingit house group is described by Olson as consisting of “the house chief, his wife, unmarried daughters, sons below eight or ten years of age, and one or more sisters’ sons above that age; several brothers

32 | Introduction

of the house chief, their wives, unmarried daughters, small sons, and nephews; aged persons belonging to that house; slaves.”228 Another way of describing the house group/lineage is that it consisted of a set of ranked names (or titles). Names were permanent; individuals were temporary holders of the names. In theory, then, the “names” recorded by traders such as Colnett should be traceable in the ethnographic literature. In some areas, the ranking system extended between house groups and even embraced larger political units. While the house group/lineage was the maximal political unit in some parts of the coast, the pattern was not uniform. Among the Tsimshian, for example, there were tribes – usually the population of a single winter village. More controversially, among the Nuu-chah-nulth, there were confederacies that coordinated several tribes within a coherent structure.229 Nonetheless, even where such larger entities existed, there was a significant degree of local autonomy. This dispersal, or localization, of power, a basic characteristic of Northwest Coast political structures, was easily misinterpreted by early European visitors. There were other important regional variations in social organization. Among northern peoples (Haida, Tsimshian, and Tlingit), where Colnett spent most of his time, there was no primogeniture and descent was through the maternal line. These same northern peoples were also distinguished by another order of social relationships that crosscut the geographic hierarchy described above. The terminology used varies – clans, phratries, and moieties – but these were matrilineal, exogamous groups, with common origins, that were widely but unevenly distributed. Apart from helping to define marriage patterns, clan membership offered a set of links beyond local communities. There were four such clans among the northern peoples – Killer Whale, Wolf, Raven, and Eagle – but the correspondence between the clans in different language groups was not straightforward.230 Northwest Coast Encounters Nootka Sound The ethnographic literature, following Drucker, indicates that the local groups in Nootka Sound were arranged into three larger geographical “entities”: the Yuquot/Tahsis confederacy, the Tlupana local groups, and the Muchalaht local groups. A little farther south, occupying the southern portion of the Hesquiat peninsula, were the Hesquiaht local groups (map D, p. 103). The role of these last three “entities” is far from clear. They possessed geographical propinquity and, perhaps, some common historical elements, but had little functional significance; the component local groups remained essentially autonomous. The Yuquot/Tahsis confederacy was different. While local groups still existed, they were arranged, for ceremonial and therefore economic activities, in a rank order. Marshall argues that this additional level of political organization made the confederacy the dominant political force in the area prior to contact. Thus the chiefs of the Yuquot/Tahsis confederacy, notably Maquinna, were the dominant political figures in Nootka Sound. This primacy, in turn, was based on a

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more diverse economic base, consisting of territory on the inner sounds and the outer coast.231 Utilization of these distinct regions required seasonal movements to diverse resource sites, with Yuquot, in Friendly Cove at the entrance to Nootka Sound, serving as the “summer” village for the entire confederacy. Among the local groups of the Tlupana, Muchalaht, and Hesquiaht, there were also seasonal movements between resource and village sites, but the geographical compass was much more restricted. The Tlupana and Muchalaht local groups, according to Marshall, were confined to the regions of the inner waterways. The structure of the Hesquiaht local groups, prior to contact, seems to have been much the same, although at least one was located on the outer coast.232 When Colnett arrived at Nootka Sound in July 1787, he was repeating the itinerary of Cook and entering a region with a history of Native/European encounters. Since 1778, five vessels had spent time at Nootka; one, the Imperial Eagle, was anchored at Friendly Cove when Colnett arrived.233 Happenstance made Nootka the datum point and trading centre for early European visitors, and some of the local population were quick to respond. Europeans, identified as important new sources of wealth, were promptly incorporated into the preexisting geopolitical landscape. Like other territorial rights, such as salvage, access to Europeans was restricted.234 By 1787, Maquinna and his family had assumed this prerogative and Yuquot, the summer village of the confederacy, had become the primary locus of trade. This did not mean that nobody else could trade with Europeans, nor that Europeans either understood, or fully conformed with, Nuu-chah-nulth norms. It did mean that Maquinna largely controlled the terms and timing of access to Europeans. This power, there is reason to believe, was resented by some of the other political actors in the region.235 Colnett’s sojourn at Nootka Sound, although he was only dimly aware of it, was clearly shaped by indigenous geopolitical structures and the prior geography of contact. The initial anchorage of the Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal was off Hesquiaht territory, where some canoes of fishers were encountered. Shortly thereafter, the vessels were visited by Maquinna and another chief, probably his brother.236 They may have been fishing also, but it is more likely that their arrival reflected the regional political hierarchy noted above, especially the prerogative of trading with Europeans. Maquinna, according to these precepts, would have expected Colnett to proceed to Yuquot. If so, he would be disappointed. The reason for Colnett’s refusal was the news, brought by Maquinna, that another vessel, the Imperial Eagle, was anchored at Friendly Cove. Colnett’s response to this unwelcome competition was to seek an alternative anchorage up Zuciarte Channel. There is some uncertainty about the location selected, but it was adjacent to the village of one of two Muchalaht local groups: Cheesish (Tcecis) or Mooya (Mo’ya), probably the former. The leading chief of the village was Oughomeize.237 The welcome at Oughomeize’s village was not particularly warm. Duncan, who arrived first in the Princess Royal, almost became embroiled in a conflict. Shortly thereafter, when the Prince of Wales arrived, the ship was surrounded

34 | Introduction

by canoes, one of which contained “several troublesome elderly Men.” One in particular, whom Taylor “took for a Chief, a sourly fellow stood up and harangued the Natives along side for near an hour without ceasing.” While admitting his ignorance as to the purpose of this performance, Taylor thought it represented an expression of discontent. As to the cause of the discontent, he suggested that the vessels were anchored too far from the village or too close to the salmon stream. Matters were made worse, he believed, by the use of boarding netting to limit access to the vessel. There may have been some validity to Taylor’s explanations, but it was hardly the full story. Two other factors need to be considered. First, the prior history of European contact with the Muchalaht local groups; second, that Europeans had been incorporated into the politics of the region – as trading partners, hence “allies,” of Maquinna. In 1778, Cook’s principal anchorage, at Resolution Cove, was just inside Muchalaht territory. However, people from Yuquot had established contact with the vessels as they entered Nootka Sound and, territorial rights notwithstanding, had appropriated control over access to the visitors.238 These developments may have accounted for the unfriendly reception Cook received at an unnamed village – probably Cheesish – during a trip round Bligh Island.239 Nearly a decade later, Alexander Walker’s reception, probably at the same village, was similar. “Upon our Landing,” Walker wrote, “several of the Men armed themselves, and never quitted their spears all the time we stayed. Some of them followed us wherever we went, narrowly watched all our Motions, and treated us with great insolence, prescribing limits to our walks and thrusting us forcibly out of their Houses.”240 Later, in 1786, James Hanna, perhaps responding to similar conditions, exacerbated the problems for subsequent visitors. According to Esteban Martinez, Hanna “went among the villages situated along the NE arm of the Inlet [Zuciarte Channel], where he killed more than fifty Indians.”241 It would be surprising if these incidents did not affect responses to subsequent European visitors. Nonetheless, initial tensions notwithstanding, Colnett’s relationships with the people at Oughomeize’s village soon became more tranquil. The chief, presumably recognizing the opportunity that chance had brought, sought to control access to the vessels; indeed, it is possible that the “harangue,” described by Taylor, was an assertion of precisely that “privilege.” Colnett, while acknowledging that the restricted means of communication produced uncertainty, soon recognized that visiting Natives had limited access to the Europeans. They made “us entirely their guests,” Colnett observed, “not suffering an Indian from any other part of the sound to trade with us but thro’ them.”242 Significantly, when a group of “strangers” appeared off the village a few days later, Colnett met them, not on the Prince of Wales but at the house of Oughomeize. According to Taylor, a procession of canoes “advanced with great order singing, and accompanying their Voices with the musick of their Paddles on the sides of the Canoes with some degree of Harmony.” He concluded that they were “a tribe on friendship with our Neighbours, and were received with distinguished Ceremony”: this was no casual visit.243

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The identity and objectives of the visitors are unclear, but their approach from the south is suggestive. They may have been one of the Tlupana local groups, which had sites south of Zuciarte Channel, or perhaps the Homisaht. According to Drucker, the Homisaht, off whose territory Colnett had anchored on 6 July, were “originally connected with the Muchalat Arm groups, or those of Tlupana Arm.”244 Were the strangers, presumably allies of Oughomeize, seeking to circumvent Maquinna’s usual control of trade with Europeans? Some support for this view is provided by the invitation Colnett received, shortly after the arrival of the strangers, to go “onshore to trade for skins ... [they] had brought.” John Etches, the supercargo, after detaining a hostage, accepted the offer.245 On landing, “he was steer’d into the Chief of the Village’s House thro’ a double rank of arm’d men, their knives held in a posture to strike, & introduced to the stranger, to whom he presented a Grenadier’s Cap & several other articles.” Not seeing any skins and fearful of a trap, Etches abruptly left. Such anxieties, shaped by images of savagery, were part of the ideological baggage that encumbered Europeans, and Colnett, on a second expedition to the village, responded in a like manner. According to Taylor, “several good skins” were traded from these visitors and the local chiefs, but it is unlikely that trade was the principal purpose of the visit.246 These European accounts may be compared with a first contact narrative for Muchalaht territory, given to Drucker in 1935 by Muchalaht Peter. Of interest here is that the encounter with Europeans overlapped with the arrival of a party of Nuu-chah-nulth visitors from the south. After visiting the European vessel, the local people returned to [their] village, & assembled in chief ’s house. While they were still wondering what kind of tcexa247 this [European ship] was, a big fleet of canoes came in, from the manuisatxa.248 They also passed the island and were wondering what it could be. They had come down because a manuisatxa girl was going to be mar[ried] to tcecis,249 and they came for a feast. They began to dance, and got another surprise, for 2 boatloads of whites came ashore and stood looking in the doorway. The capt. gave a hat to the chief of the manuisatxa (who were dancing). But the tcecisatxa became jealous, and said the gift had been meant for them. The manuisatxa surrendered it. Then the whites returned to their ship. When the tcecis people gave a feast, they showed the white-man dance – wrapped legs a la pants, & held burning sticks in mouths. They were sorry hadnt bot the pants to use.250

Calibrated with European records, this should be a description of events associated with Cook’s visit in 1778, but there are doubts. Accounts from Cook’s expedition of this particular encounter are too brief to permit a firm conclusion – positive or negative. On the other hand, the similarities with Colnett’s visit are striking.251 In a discussion of Colnett’s account, anthropologist Turral Moore, unaware of Muchalaht Peter’s narrative, noted the breach of Native

36 | Introduction

etiquette by Etches in making a present to the visitors “without an equally substantial gift to the native host.”252 Perhaps Cook’s party behaved in a similar fashion; perhaps the Muchalaht narrative, as Catherine McClellan has suggested of comparable Tlingit accounts, is a kind of composite of separate encounters. I return to this topic in a discussion of Tsimshian narratives, noting here only that the Muchalaht narrative indicates another potential identity for Oughomeize’s visitors and a purpose for their visit; it also identifies his village as Cheesish.253 For Colnett, of course, the crucial point that emerged from the encounter was commercial: the fur trade at Oughomeize’s village was unsatisfactory. He attributed this situation in large measure to the prior arrival of Captain Barkley and his success in purchasing all the available furs in the region. Therefore, once the crews had recovered from the effects of scurvy, Colnett responded by searching beyond Oughomeize’s territory. The Princess Royal and one of the ship’s boats examined Tlupana Arm and Muchalat Inlet in a largely unsuccessful quest for furs. Such actions, a logical step from the European perspective, represented a violation of Oughomeize’s attempt to establish a trading privilege. Misunderstanding such indigenous protocols, Colnett violated them; his interests, in this respect, were diametrically opposed to those of his host. Colnett’s sojourn at the entrance to Muchalat Inlet involved much more than the fur trade. Access to supplies of foodstuffs and timber for repair work was equally important. Foodstuffs, including fish, meat, berries, and “greens,” were largely procured by trade. Although the Europeans also helped themselves to these resources, and to lumber, with no thought of payment, these exchanges represented a significant realm of what Spate has called “amiable intercourse.”254 In the early stages of Colnett’s stay, when sickness made the crew vulnerable and when European fears and uncertainties were most evident, this must have been particularly welcome. Taylor commented on specific examples of friendly actions: “I was Eye witness to the humanity of one of the Natives in assisting the sick over the Rocks into our Boat. He was an Elderly man and Father of a Family who had his house and occupied a small spot close to the Ship, his business was to attend the weakest of the Seamen one after the other, with great care and fellow feeling using all the tenderness and concern of a Brother or a Father to such as were able to walk without Aid.”255 Taylor also describes attempts by the crew to entertain their hosts with musical instruments – organ, pipes, fife, and drum. Responses varied, but Taylor observed that “we always found” the people “willing to barter friendly and upon all occasions, when we were on Shore among them, they treated us hospitably, and on many occasions behaved with particular attention and humanity.”256 Archibald Menzies, surgeon on the Prince of Wales, also attested to the “friendship ... civility & kindness” of those he encountered during his stay.257 How far sexual relationships with Native women contributed to these views is unclear. Colnett, like Cook and many others writing for publication, was reticent on the topic, commenting only that the “women have a great share of Modesty, nor had we but two instances of their deviating from it.”258 However,

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unpublished accounts of Cook’s visit to Nootka indicate a situation in which the purchase of sexual favours – from slave women – were commonplace. A more nuanced commentary on what was clearly a complex and shifting set of relationships was offered by Walker, following his visit to Nootka Sound in 1786: On our arrival, when the men were absent, which frequently happened, the Women shut us out of their houses, and barricaded the doors with Chests and Planks. This was said to be the effect of the Mens jealousy, although it appeared to me more natural to suppose it to be procured from the fears of the Women, who took this method of freeing themselves from our coarse importunities. After they became better acquainted with us, whether the Men were absent or present, they never shut us out. That the Men watched us suspiciously, I believe, but it never appeared to me, that the liberty of the Women was on that account abridged.259

But “amiable intercourse,” sexual or otherwise, was no guarantee of mutual understanding, or of continued goodwill. In the pattern of relations established at Muchalat Inlet, Oughomeize was clearly a key figure, and some discussion of his position and role is required before proceeding further. Colnett described him as “a free Booter & great Warrior his neighbours standing in great dread of him.”260 In less flamboyant terms, Taylor also recognized Oughomeize’s importance, as “a Man of some Consequence, and authority, among his own Villagers.” One expression of this was Oughomeize’s ability to extract a tribute from people fishing in the vicinity. Some of the canoes, Taylor continued, “endeavoured to get from him, but his canoe haveing the superiority in Paddling, this endeavours were fruitless [60a] and those who strove to shun him appeared to come worst off. One and all were submissive, though when discoursing with them along side, they seemed to disapprove of his conduct, but I should imagine his claims were very just, or such a body of Men would not suffer it.”261 Taylor also saw the limitations of Oughomeize’s power, concluding that he was no more than “Chief of a Fishing tribe, for I never knew him during our stay bring a single Skin for sale, nor do I believe that any of his Tribe are allowed to interfere in Commerce. on the Contrary I suspect his Village is kept under great subjection by the Neighbouring tribes, who will not permit them to have many Skins in their Possession, but confine them chiefly to their Fishery.”262 Maquinna subsequently confirmed some of this to Colnett, but he refused to trade skins until the Prince of Wales had anchored at Yuquot. In other words, Maquinna recognized that Oughomeize, while not of the highest rank, was an independent chief whose territorial rights extended to European visitors anchored near his village.263 Another glimpse of Oughomeize’s position was recorded by Archibald Menzies, when he returned to Nootka in 1792. During a ceremonial visit to Maquinna’s winter village of Tahsis, Menzies “instantly recognized the Wife of Maquinna’s Brother an old acquaintance the daughter of an elderly Chief who

38 | Introduction

had a numerous family & lived in the North East Corner of the Sound & to whose friendship I owed much civility & kindness when I was here about five years ago.”264 Oughomeize, by this account, had established a marriage alliance with Maquinna’s family, but not with the senior line. As befits a family of lesser status, Oughomeize’s alliance was with a younger branch of the family. A couple of other early visitors to Nootka Sound mention Oughomeize, but little more.265 This silence is suggestive: Oughomeize, as Taylor perceived, was not a major player on the unfolding geopolitical landscape of Nootka Sound. The fur trade at Oughomeize’s village was poor, not simply because of the prior arrival of Barkley but because Oughomeize and his people had little, if any, access to sea otter grounds. While the available evidence indicates that early contact had done little for Oughomeize and other chiefs in comparable positions, the same was not true for Maquinna. Already the ranking chief, he had further enhanced his position, both within the confederacy and without. The control and redistribution of wealth emanating from the new European trading partners had added to his status. Taylor noted that Maquinna had developed a trade “with distant tribes for Skins” and spared “no pains in getting them.”266 Moreover, firearms had already entered the trade at Yuquot and apparently were put to use in indigenous disputes. A group of Maquinna’s people, after procuring “a brace of Pistolls & a few charges” from Colnett, set out on a revenge sortie. They took “the fire arms collected from us & other traders to punish the Murder.” The identity of the opponents is not given, but the destination was not “far off as they were soon back the result of this expedition we could not learn.”267 This pattern of raiding was elaborated upon the following year when Robert Haswell, an American trader, learned of a “war” between some of the Yuquot/Tahsis confederacy and “people of the opposite side of the sound” – presumably a reference to one or more of the Muchalaht groups.268 Indigenous geopolitics and the way that Europeans were incorporated were not the only source of misunderstandings and tensions. What Europeans regarded as theft soon became a cause of conflicts at Oughomeize’s village. On 24 July 1787, according to Colnett, “the Natives began to be very daring in their thefts & their too frequent success gave them confidence. my situation being so sickly prevented my punishing them before, but I now determin’d to chastise the first Offender.”269 Several muskets were fired without doing any damage, but the “natives were all much frighten’d and became shy of the Ship for a while.”270 Taylor, who provided the latter observation, also commented on the frequent “petty thefts” but suggested that Captain Barkley’s trading methods had contributed to the situation. This consisted of “laying his Boats in such direction as to intercept any Canoes with good Skins. they then seized the whole and gave the natives what they thought proper, the same along side their Ship when proper opportunity offered, so that the natives were not at liberty to Barter their own way. this was showing them examples for thieving in a very extensive way.”271

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In fact, theft was a persistent problem for Europeans: not just for Colnett, and not just at Nootka. I address the topic more fully below, but for the moment it will suffice to say that Taylor’s observations indicate behaviour that violated Nuu-chah-nulth trading protocols. Such violations undoubtedly contributed to the violence that erupted between Europeans and the peoples of Nootka Sound in the early contact era.272 On this topic, some observations made by Colnett when he returned to the area in 1791, after his release by the Spaniards, are relevant; they also offer a postscript on developments since his first visit. While coloured by his antipathy towards the Spanish, Colnett noted that Oughomeize, like some of Maquinna’s “under Chiefs,” had been involved in conflicts with the Spanish. One, he believed, took place at Oughomeize’s village, where the chief: “drove them [the Spanish] to their launches when they came to unroof the Houses of his Village for the Plank, and only lost one man. Next day they return’d with 2 Four Pounders when the Indians fled to the Mountains, and carried their Plank with them, but left at the Landing Place the Indian they had murdered hanging on a Cross, that their pretended religion, and wanton Cruelty might stare at them in the Face.” Others have questioned Colnett’s identification of location and participants, but not the actions.273 Colnett and the Haida Colnett’s expedition traversed much of Haida territory, but I will limit this discussion to his sojourns on the southeastern portion of the Queen Charlotte Islands. Although not the first Europeans to meet the people of this area (Dixon, and perhaps Hanna, preceded them), Colnett and Taylor offer the first significant description of the Kunghit Haida people.274 In 1787 and 1788, the Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal, and their boats traversed much of the east coast of the archipelago between Cape St. James and Skidegate Inlet. The journals describe three principal encounters involving groups of Kunghit Haida. Two were at Rose Harbour, in Houston Stewart Channel – in August 1787, and again in July 1788. The third meeting took place at Juan Perez Sound in July 1788. Local autonomy, so prevalent among Northwest Coast societies, was particularly clear among the Haida, where “small-scale units (villages and small village groups, or even subsets of one village community) strove against each other.”275 Such geopolitical striving among Haida chiefs is clearly visible in the Colnett and Taylor documents, although a good many details remain ambiguous or obscure: the identity of one Haida chief is uncertain, and ethnographic information about the territories controlled by different lineages is limited and was collected only after a period of substantial population decline and culture change.276 Nonetheless, one important feature is clear: the arrival of Europeans intersected with, and likely exacerbated, indigenous patterns of tension and conflict. At Rose Harbour in 1787 two distinct groups of Haida were present. One, consisting primarily of people who lived in that vicinity, took up residence

40 | Introduction

close to the vessels. These people were headed by three chiefs who visited daily: Coyah, regarded as the most important, Skelkinance, and Yuka. All three were on good terms with one another, and probably interrelated. Skelkinance, an old man, was described as the father (or father-in-law) of Yuka; Coyah, Taylor believed, “was a relation of the other,” presumably Skelkinance. The second group came from a “Northern district” and their chief was Sanjaskulah. He visited the vessels shortly after their arrival at Rose Harbour but soon withdrew, only to reappear about a week later “with a large party.” On the latter occasion there was clearly tension between Sanjaskulah and the “local” chiefs.277 Skelkinance, Yuka, and Coyah approached the Prince of Wales in formal dress “with the emblem of peace in the bow of the canoe.” This ceremonial greeting, after a week of interaction, may well have been to establish an alliance with Colnett and preempt any such move by Sanjaskulah. Taylor provides evidence to support this contention when he notes that Colnett and Skelkinance exchanged names “agreeable to their custom, in token of friendship.”278 Such an alliance would explain the response of the “local” chiefs when they went onboard the Prince of Wales. According to Taylor, when they “came on Deck they appeared greatly surprised to find so large a party with Sanjaskelah. it was easy to discover they were enemies occasionally.”279 Before proceeding further it is necessary to discuss the identity of these Haida chiefs. Coyah is clearly Xo’ya, chief of the Qai’dju qe’gawa-i Raven lineage (R 2a).280 His principal residence was at or near Anthony Island and his territory encompassed all of Kunghit Island. Xo’ya “was the acknowledged chief of Houston Stewart Channel and adjacent sound.” He is also mentioned by a number of other early maritime fur traders.281 It is not surprising, therefore, that he was quick to visit Colnett’s expedition when it arrived at Rose Harbour in August 1787. Acheson identifies Yuka as Wada’, of the Xa’gi la’nas Raven lineage (R 1). His territory was in Skincuttle Inlet, shown as Port Uga on Colnett’s chart.282 The ethnographic record links him to a settlement, Xa’gi lnaga’-i, on the Bolkus Islands.283 Like Xo’ya, “Yuka” appears in the accounts of a number of early traders. The best information comes from Joseph Ingraham, of the American brigantine Hope, who visited Yuka’s village in 1791. Ingraham located it on the south shore of Skincuttle Inlet, in Jedway Bay, facing the Bolkus Islands.284 Sanjaskulah came from “a Northern district,” and his tense relationship with the “Southern” chiefs, evident at Rose Harbour in 1787, became even clearer at Juan Perez Sound in August 1788. Here, in an encounter described below, Taylor referred to Sanjaskulah as “a Chief from the Northd where our Boat had collected Skins last year.” As Colnett’s maps show, this indicated somewhere in the vicinity of Lyell Island. From these pieces of information, and Taylor’s rendition of the name, the most likely candidate is Gina’skilas. He was a chief of the “Town of Djigua People,” an Eagle lineage (E 4), with a town on the north shore of Lyell Island.285 More problematic is the identity of Skelkinance. Gunther, in a rather confused discussion of Colnett’s voyage, suggests that Skelkinance may have been the

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“Kanskeeni” met by Joseph Ingraham at Juan Perez Sound in 1791 and 1792. However, there is good reason to question this identification. Indeed, Ingraham’s journal makes clear that these were two different people by recording encounters with both chiefs. Ingraham’s “Kans’keini,” or “Kanskeeni,” is clearly a rendering of Kia’nskina-i of the Ta’dji la’nas Raven lineage (R 2); his “Kill’ki’nant’s,” or “Sculkinantz,” is a version of the name given by Taylor and Colnett.286 Moreover, Ingraham, who had a good ear for Haida names, refers to “Kanskeeni” on 15 July 1792 and “Sculkinantz” on 16 July, making slippage an improbable explanation.287 According to Swanton’s informants, the original village of Kia’nskina-i’s lineage, the Ta’dji la’nas Raven, was Ata’na lnaga’-i on House Island, near the northern boundary of Kunghit territory; the name was later taken to Ga’idi on Harriet Harbour, and Qai’dju, a town on Benjamin Point.288 At the time of contact, however, Kia’nskina-i seems to have lived in the vicinity of Juan Perez Sound, which Ingraham named Kanskeeni’s Sound. On visiting the area in 1792, he learned that “Old Kanskeeni with most of his tribe ... was up one of the branches of the sound some distance from the sea.”289 “Kanskeeni,” of course, is not named in the accounts of Colnett or Taylor. While this does not mean that he was not present or involved in the actions they describe, there is no reason to believe he was the Skelkinance they do identify. Who then was “Skelkinance”? One candidate is Xi’liñas, identified by Swanton as the chief of Tc!u’uga lnaga’-i, a settlement beyond the west end of Houston Stewart Channel, and probably of the Ga’nxet qe’gawa-i Eagle lineage (E 2).290 The village was located only a short distance from Coyah’s home. Moreover, during the 1788 visit to Rose Harbour, Taylor noted that “a Canoe came from inland with a letter to Capt. Colnett from Capt. Duncan and left in the care of Silkynance.” The circumstances of this meeting are discussed below but, for the moment, Taylor’s observation makes a simple geographical point. The letter came from the west, presumably brought by some member of Skelkinance’s tribe from a summer residence. Taylor also noted the close relationship between Xo’ya and Skelkinance, as did a number of other early visitors. John Kendrick, during his visit to the western end of Houston Stewart Channel in 1791, captured “the two Chiefs Coyah and Schulkinanse” as a reprisal for some thefts.291 Later that same year, Joseph Ingraham, at Skincuttle Inlet (Port Yuca), learned that “Koyah and Kilkinants had joined forces and gone to attack Skulkiss [Skidegate].”292 But the identification of Skelkinance as Xi’liñas leaves a number of questions unresolved. First, Acheson’s test excavation at Tc!u’uga lnaga’-i did not produce any “historical” artifacts.293 More important than such negative evidence is information that “Skelkinance” had some connection or involvement with the area of Carpenter Bay. Colnett’s map places “Skelkinance” in that vicinity. Moreover, Sigismund Bacstrom, who visited the area on a British vessel in 1793, drew a map that shows “Skulkanan’s or Skulkananish village and Sound” in what appears to be Carpenter Bay. Another fur trader, François Peron, met “Skil-Ka-Nance” in this area in 1796 and stated his village was on the north shore.294 Newcombe, probably the best source on Haida settlements, has no

42 | Introduction

site at this location, the nearest being Qai’dju, controlled by Kanskeeni but apparently not utilized at the beginning of contact.295 This omission raises the possibility that Skelkinance’s name has not survived in the ethnographic record. I have found no documentary reference to Skelkinance after Peron’s visit in 1796, and the volatility in the geopolitical order at the western end of Houston Stewart Channel during the early years of contact seems well established.296 Be this as it may, Skelkinance’s involvement with Carpenter Bay in the early contact era seems equally clear. The location, just south of Yuka’s territory in Skincuttle Inlet, may have had something to do with the relationship between the two men – with Skelkinance, according to Taylor, either father (1787) or father-in-law (1788) of Yuka. But this is only speculation. To sum up: of the four chiefs encountered at Rose Harbour in 1787, three can be located in the ethnographic record with reasonable assurance. The identity of Skelkinance remains uncertain. It is clear, moreover, that there was an alliance of the chiefs (and their lineages) who occupied territory from the western end of Houston Stewart Channel to Skincuttle Inlet. Some dispute or tension had developed between them and Sanjaskulah, a chief from farther north. The picture became clearer in 1788 when these four chiefs were encountered again, together with a new and important figure. In July 1788, when the Prince of Wales returned to the eastern end of Houston Stewart Channel, both Xo’ya and Skelkinance were on hand. They had only recently returned from a visit to the vicinity of Juan Perez Sound. There they had met Charles Duncan, on the Princess Royal, and been involved in a conflict with some people from farther north. Taylor “heard a confus’d account of a dust with some Strangers who came to trade, and that Capt. Duncan had taken a part in favour of Silkynance who was wounded in ye fray with a Stab in his thigh & Cap D kill’d ye Chief who gave him the wound and took Silkynance under his care on board ye Sloop.” A letter from Duncan to Colnett, subsequently received via Skelkinance, confirmed the main outlines of the events. The letter has not survived, but Taylor noted that “some Strangers came as describ’d whom Silkynance and Cooyah had fought and Capt Duncan took the Old Chiefs part.”297 The reason for Xo’ya’s and Skelkinance’s presence in Juan Perez Sound and their conflict with people from farther north can be only speculated at, but it may have been the continuation of a preexisting dispute, hinted at during the encounters of 1787. By 1788, however, as Taylor’s comments indicate, European traders, and access to them, had become integrated into the conflict. The nature of the contending parties was further clarified when the Prince of Wales anchored in Juan Perez Sound a few days later. At first only Yuka and his people were in the vicinity. The following day a party under Sanjaskulah arrived from the north. They had no skins to trade and, according to Taylor, Sanjaskulah and Yuka were “on friendly terms” and all was “good harmony.” The situation changed markedly later that day when a party under Skelkinance arrived from the south. This produced “a general alarm on Deck and we expected nothing less than a Battle to commence shortly. All the natives took

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to their Canoes flourishing their Spears and handling their Bows and Arrows. The women were all put into a Canoe by themselves while all parties were employed equiping themselves with their leather jackets, war stays, Caps &c.”298 Significantly, an attempt was made to seek the assistance of the Europeans. Both chiefs, according to Colnett, “solicited our assistance against his Enemy,” although Taylor mentions only Yuka requesting “ye Captain to fire on Sangaskilah party.” Colnett remained neutral but thought “the Northern Indians shewd most fear, keeping their spears in an erect posture.” However, no hostile actions were committed and, as darkness approached, “each party paddled different ways for their Home.” Skelkinance offered an explanation of these developments to Taylor: he, Yuka, and Xo’ya “were still friends and were all combin’d against their general enemy the Chief of ye Rock.” This chief was later identified by Taylor as “Eeyagh,” whose “home” was “about 5 Leagues to ye NW” of the anchorage in Juan Perez Sound.299 This would give a location at or near the northeast side of Lyell Island. There were a number of settlement sites in this area belonging to one of two closely related Eagle lineages headed by Chief Xe-u’. This chief became well known to early fur traders as Clew (Clue, Kloo, and other variants) and his name appears under that guise on Colnett’s charts. When Swanton collected information at the beginning of the twentieth century, Gina’skilas was described as a brother of Xe-u’.300 On 25 July, Eeyagh (Xe-u’) arrived at Colnett’s anchorage near Scudder Point with a small but well-armed party. The reasons for his visit are unclear, but trade was a minor consideration as he brought only a single skin. Information about Colnett’s presence may have been received from Sanjaskulah, but the previous conflict, in which Duncan had participated, likely played some role. While there is nothing to indicate that Eeyagh had been involved personally, it would be surprising if he was unaware of the events. Moreover, Taylor observed that Skelkinance and Eeyagh were “inveterate against each other” and the latter’s approach to the Prince of Wales was cautious.301 It is also worth noting that Colnett identifies his anchorage near Scudder Point, on the southern side of Juan Perez Sound, as “marking the Boundary of the Northern and Southern tribe.” This suggestion places the boundary of the “Southern” or Kunghit people some way south of that given by Acheson. Had the Juan Perez Sound area become an area of contention between Xe-u’ and Skelkinance? Was Xe-u’ endeavouring to expand southwards, or Skelkinance northwards? The Colnett/ Taylor documents on these points are suggestive but no more. Nonetheless, the pattern of contention is consistent with other information about the geopolitical situation of the region. Acheson, for example, has noted that the people of Tanu, including Xe-u’, were the “nearest neighbour and greatest enemy” of the Kunghit Haida; this continued well into the contact-era.302 If Skelkinance and Eeyagh were clearly antagonistic, Yuka’s relationships were more ambiguous. Taylor reported “a great coolness” between Eeyagh and Yuka but later modified his opinion, noting that Yuka, while a member of Skelkinance’s party, acted as something of an intermediary. This pattern was

44 | Introduction

repeated between Yuka and Sanjaskulah. They were “on friendly terms” until the arrival of Skelkinance. “Yookah may be said to be of Seelky’s party,” Taylor concluded, “yet he continues to act rather neutral in this difference entertaining a friendly intercourse with Eeyughs party, tho He appears to gave no great veneration for their principal Chief.”303 Yuka’s ambiguity may reflect his geographical position, located near the boundary between two regional configurations of power. It is possible that the marriage patterns of his house/lineage were superimposed on this spatial dichotomy.304 In one of Taylor’s accounts, it will be recalled, Yuka was the son-in-law of Skelkinance. Tensions and hostilities were not new in this part of Haida territory. The logic of conflict existed within Haida society, as Colnett suspected, and as Haida narratives and the number of fortified places make clear.305 Traders such as Colnett and Duncan, whether they realized it or not, became objects of contention between segments of indigenous societies. Sea otter grounds off the Queen Charlotte Islands were owned and such “proprietary rights,” Acheson observes, “were extended to include access to trading vessels as well, although such claims were invariably challenged by rival lineage groups.”306 This was a variant of the pattern described at Nootka Sound, although the balance of power between indigenous groups was probably more equitable and, as yet, less influenced by trade with Europeans. Equally clearly, trade was a means to other ends. When Ingraham visited Skincuttle Inlet in August 1791 this was even more obvious: Ucah said if I would wait he would go and fight for skins which he would bring and sell us but his success was too precarious to trust to. If the visits of civilized nations among these people has rendered them happier by supplying them with useful implements and necessaries of life, it is no doubt likewise the occasion of great dissension and frequent quarels among them so that the weaker tribes have probably occasion to lament seeing a people who brought among them the temptations to induce their neighbours to rob and oppress them.

Later that month, Ingraham saw Skelkinance and Xo’ya heading even farther north, to Skidegate, on a war expedition.307 Moreover, Swanton collected a narrative describing a complicated conflict of the early contact era between the “Ninstints” (Kunghit) people and those of “Kloo”; the events may well have been some kind of a sequel to those described by Taylor and Colnett.308 This lay in the future, but the foundations were being laid during Colnett’s visits. As at Nootka, indigenous and European objectives only partially coincided, leaving abundant scope on both sides for misunderstanding and conflict. Issues other than indigenous geopolitics also complicated relations between Colnett’s people and the Haida. At Rose Harbour, in 1787, the ubiquitous problem of “thefts” was prominent, culminating in the flogging of one Haida and a display of the power of firearms. More unusual, although perhaps simply left

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unrecorded elsewhere, sexual relationships between the ships’ crews and Haida women contributed to tensions. For young men, cooped onboard ship for weeks on end, the prospect of “amorous Connections” was one of the compensations for the hardships of Pacific voyages. Yet the possibilities for misunderstandings, about who were appropriate partners and under what terms, were considerable.309 In a discussion of Cook’s visit to Tolaga Bay, New Zealand, Salmond offers some comments which, in general terms, are probably applicable to the Northwest Coast: Although these accounts of the sexual behaviour of local women appear to be contradictory, each may in fact be true. High-born women and married women were sexually inaccessible, although a very important guest might be offered an aristocratic sleeping-partner as a gesture of hospitality and honour. Captive women might be made quite freely available to visitors, and young women were generally at liberty to sleep with whomever they pleased, and at this first meeting there was no way of anticipating the dangers of venereal infection from European men.310

Interestingly, it was at Rose Harbour that Colnett produced his only “portrait” of a Northwest Coast resident – a Haida woman. Intended to illustrate the use of the labret, the sketch displays little artistic merit. But, as Smith has suggested, drawings of living people presupposed “cultivating amicable relationships in order to execute accurate visual records.”311 Tsimshian Encounters: The Journals of Colnett and Taylor Colnett and Duncan sailed from Rose Harbour on 31 August 1787, heading eastwards across Hecate Strait. On the eastern shore, the outer islands, from Porcher Island to the Estevan Group, were the territory of the Gitkxaala Tsimshian; the mainland around Douglas Channel and adjacent islands belonged to the closely related Gitk’a’ata Tsimshian. Farther south, around Princess Royal and Swindle Islands, lived a third Tsimshian tribe, the Gidestsu (Kitasoo). The Tsimshian language was quite different from that of the Haida but otherwise the cultures had much in common (see map H, p. 141).312 The vessels reached the west coast of Banks Island at about 53°17’N although foggy weather made navigation difficult and locations uncertain. It was not until 5 September that a suitable harbour was located at Port Ball, at the extreme southern end of the island. No contact had yet been made; however, signs of former Native occupation were found upon landing. From this base, Colnett immediately began the process of sending the ships’ boats to examine the surrounding territory. In all, three boats were available: the whale boat and long boat, of the Prince of Wales, and an unspecified boat belonging to the Princess Royal. Information in the journals about the boat trips is limited, but Colnett’s maps show a series of boat routes – unfortunately without indicating the sequence or timing.

46 | Introduction

The first efforts were made on 6 September, when the Princess Royal’s boat travelled about ten or eleven miles to the northwest and succeeded in locating a salmon stream – either at Kitwalaoo or Keecha (see map G, p. 140).313 The next morning, all three boats were dispatched: the long boat and the Princess Royal’s boat to the east side of the large opening and the whale boat to the southwest side. The former, after travelling along the south side of Pitt Island, returned to Port Ball on 8 September with news that a “village” had been found, about twenty-five miles from Port Ball, and some fifty skins traded.314 The long boat and the Princess Royal’s boat were sent out again the same day. This time they went farther afield, being absent for six and five days respectively, and returned with a further quantity of skins. Neither Colnett or Taylor say much about these trips, but one may have examined the west side of Pitt Island, perhaps as far north as the entrance to Petrel Channel, the other may have returned to the south end of Pitt Island. The boats were dispatched for a third time on 16 September, with orders to take new routes – to the southeast and the northeast. At this stage there is an important divergence between the accounts of Colnett and Taylor. I begin with the former. The long boat had not proceeded far when it returned with a visitor: Seax (Seks), the chief “of the tribe our boats had visited.” On his maps, Colnett shows Cape Seax and a village at locations on the southern end of Pitt Island (between McCreight Point and Union Passage).315 However, on this occasion, given the promptness of their return, the long boat probably encountered Seks somewhere in Nepean Sound. After accompanying Seks to the vessels, the long boat returned to its task of examining the territory to the southeast.316 It is clear from Colnett’s description that Seks’ visit was a planned, ceremonial encounter. Seks “had taken no little pains in dressing himself for this formal visit” and he sang a welcoming song. Colnett invited Seks onboard the Prince of Wales and presented some gifts. But, reflecting the uncertainty of the event, none of the women in the party would venture onboard. From this, and Seks’ surprise at the contents of the vessel, Colnett concluded, no doubt correctly, that although these people possessed a variety of European artifacts, “no European had ever been among them.” One such item attracted Colnett’s particular curiosity: “a weapon of Brass exactly resembling the New Zealand Patoo, with ‘Joseph Banks Esq.’ engrav’d on it & a coat of Arms.” This had been left at Nootka in 1778 during Cook’s third voyage and offered clear demonstration of indigenous trade networks extending European artifacts well ahead of direct contact. The encounter on the Prince of Wales concluded, after the “usual ceremony,” by the trading of a quantity of skins, though not without some difficulty.317 The next significant development took place 21 September, when a “stranger” chief turned up at Port Ball. Colnett was not about to be imposed upon by distributing more presents, but he did welcome the “stranger” on board the Prince of Wales. Meanwhile, Seks arrived alongside in two canoes – a development that was unlikely to have been a matter of chance as Seks and some of his party appear to have taken up temporary residence near the vessels. Colnett immediately detected “a great coldness” between the two chiefs, later adding

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that although the stranger traded a few skins, he “stood in some fear” of Seks and immediately thereafter departed, heading eastwards.318 Taylor’s account of the events between 16 and 21 September is rather sparse. He briefly notes the arrival and reception of the Tsimshian party on 16 September but does not identify the chief. Seks is not mentioned until the encounter of 21 September, when Taylor makes no reference to the “stranger” chief. These discrepancies cannot be resolved with the evidence available, but the journals are in agreement on some basic points regarding the Tsimshian in the vicinity of Port Ball. Seks was the principal chief encountered, and we may assume that he made a formal visit to the Prince of Wales – although the timing is uncertain. Colnett’s account is too detailed to presume invention, and it conforms with evidence from comparable situations elsewhere. It is also clear that there was at least one other Tsimshian chief in the vicinity of the vessels. Colnett does not identify the “stranger” chief and Taylor’s account of 21 September is of no assistance. Subsequently, however, Taylor did learn from Seks that “old Armseit another Chief ” was responsible for “all the Thefts which had been committed and attempted.” Furthermore, “in Consequence of the behaviour of Armseit,” Seks was now “at War with him.”319 If this information is fitted into Colnett’s account, a candidate for the identity of the “stranger” was Hammisit, a Gitkxaala chief of the House of Wakas, Ganhada (Raven) clan; his territory, by one account, was at the southern end of Banks Island.320 Jacinto Caamano, who visited the area in 1792, provides confirmation of some of this. During a month’s sojourn at the southern end of Pitt Island, Caamano had considerable dealings with chief “Jammisit,” (i.e., Hammisit); but his “village” was Citeyats, on Pitt Island, not Banks Island.321 Another possibility, identified in the Gitkxaala first contact narratives discussed below, was Ahlawaels (exlewels). His territory, by one account, was at the southern end of Pitt Island.322 If we accept the validity of Colnett’s version of the encounter with Seks at Port Ball, a number of other observations can be made. To begin with, the arrival of Seks, probably from the Union Pass area of Pitt Island, marked a significant advance in the contact process.323 Although Colnett seems to have viewed the ceremonial encounter with Seks as nothing more than a trading encounter, his behaviour was not inappropriate. For Seks, however, like other chiefs on the Northwest Coast, trade and politics were inextricably intertwined. We may assume that Seks was formally establishing his trading alliance with these unexpected and wealthy visitors.324 This became of considerable importance when the “stranger” chief appeared on the scene. It is clear from Colnett’s account that the stranger, whatever his identity, was less powerful than Seks, as well as resentful of the latter’s presence at Port Ball. One reasonable explanation for this resentment is that Seks had moved beyond his own territory in seeking to establish a trading prerogative with the White visitors. The stranger, on the other hand, probably owned the territory where the vessels were anchored, or where the initial encounter had taken place off Pitt Island, and was seeking to assert his rights. Colnett’s response to the “stranger” chief probably

48 | Introduction

compounded what was already a tense situation and may have contributed to the later difficulties. The refusal to give presents, if viewed by the “stranger” chief as a rejection of gift exchange, would have been not merely rude but overtly hostile and would have shaped the pattern of subsequent interactions.325 At Port Ball, as elsewhere on the coast, it appears that tension and hostility between Native groups were part of the indigenous geopolitical response to the early contact process. I explore this topic more fully below but in terms of European/Tsimshian relations, one further point needs to be made: Seks’ objective, of controlling access to the vessels, stood at variance to Colnett’s aim to maximize trade. Taylor’s later observation that Seks “raised his price” for skins on each subsequent visit to the vessels suggests that his strategy achieved some measure of success.326 None of this boded well for the trajectory of European/Tsimshian relations at Port Ball. And indeed, if we accept Colnett’s chronology of the tensions between Seks and the “stranger” chief, relations between Whites and Natives had already begun to deteriorate. Thereafter, a pattern was established which escalated inexorably over the ensuing weeks and culminated in a series of violent confrontations. From Colnett’s perspective, the cause was a sequence of thefts – whether by Seks’ people or others is unclear. Of course, theft was hardly a new problem for Colnett. Thefts by indigenous peoples were a commonplace of Pacific voyages, including Colnett’s with Cook; moreover, the issue had arisen during stops at Nootka and Rose Harbour.327 Colnett’s responses to this facet of the contact process at Port Ball are worth exploring in more detail. I have suggested earlier that Europeans sought to inculcate discipline in contact situations. Nowhere was this more relevant than in dealing with theft, where initial tolerance faded in the face of repeated failures to “learn.” Indulging “insolent behaviour” was imprudent and a line had to be drawn, particularly in locations where Europeans’ stay was likely to be extended. As anthropologist Turral Moore observed of a violent episode at Nootka in 1778, the issue “was not theft, so much as insubordination.”328 The term is an apt one, encapsulating the Europeans’ sense of their own superiority. Precautions such as the deployment of boarding netting could diminish temptations but punishment was the logical consequence when inferiors behaved badly; more acceptable behaviour would be inculcated by inducing fear and, hopefully, self-discipline.329 The impetus for such measures was compounded when Native thefts reached beyond trivial items such as nails and other small metal objects. At Port Ball, Colnett’s loss of an anchor and a long boat was more than an irritation; it was, perhaps, genuinely threatening. These European attitudes rested, of course, on culturally specific interpretations of property and theft. In the shipboard world of individual property, theft was a serious crime, punishable at mid-eighteenth century with 500 lashes.330 This, in turn, reflected English society, where individual property rights were buttressed by a mounting array of violent legal sanctions.331 On the other hand, Europeans had little understanding of Native concepts of ownership. In part, this was a measure of the power of ideology – evolutionary models and

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the primitivism of nonagricultural societies – to overwhelm empirical reports and direct experience.332 Moore has suggested that Colnett, during his visit to Nootka, viewed “Muchalat territories as a vacant commons whose resources could be appropriated freely”: such Lockean views were part and parcel of imperial repertoires. Frederica De Laguna also points to the divergence between European and Tlingit perceptions of property. For the latter, “rights to exclusive use extended over many resources that Europeans would consider free: fresh water, driftwood, marine mammals and fish, land game, and wild plants.” The failure of Europeans to offer compensation for use of such resources, she suggests, could produce resentment and direct action.333 Some of these contradictions were clearly evident at Port Ball. In fact, Taylor goes so far as to suggest that it was English contravention of Tsimshian property rights that initiated the ensuing “difficulties.” During Seks’ visit to the ship on 21 September, some thefts by members of his party were detected. When challenged, Seks replied that “the Princess Royals Boat stole some planks from their Village.”334 While we may wonder how such information was communicated, given the lack of a common language, Taylor notes that some theft of planks had occurred and that such acts were “improper in the extreme.” He went on to suggest two reasons for this view: “First the injustice of taking the property of any individual, secondly it was impolitick shewing them an example.”335 Nor was this the only example of European thefts of Tsimshian property. Colnett’s men continued to harvest the resources of the area – berries, mussels, clams, salmon – for their own subsistence, without any recorded payment to the owners of the territory. To compound matters, they even destroyed a fishing weir “out of pity for the sickly fish.”336 But the issue involved more than simple retaliation to European provocation. Drucker suggests that the Nuu-chah-nulth responded to Europeans as people outside the normal parameters of trading relationships: “The white men were aliens, and their property was not regarded in the same light as that of fellow tribesmen.” Moore extends the argument, adding that nonkinsmen were potential enemies and, in dealing with them, “sharp practice” was the “order of the day.” Exchanges could range “from hard bargains to outright theft.” He also suggests that the Nuu-chah-nulth may have viewed the failure of Europeans to “pay” for resources as establishing a form of reciprocal obligation. Taking European property, by this account, was a matter of operationalizing the obligations Europeans had created but not fulfilled.337 Taylor seems to have grasped some of the complexities of this issue, commenting that the Nuuchah-nulth were “strictly honest among themselves in one Village, but If visited by Strangers though they receive them with great attention and Ceremony, yet If a proper opportunity offers, I’ve reason to think they will steal and conceal any useful article.” He also thought they knew “full well, when they were doing what they should not.”338 De Laguna, writing of the Tlingit, makes a similar argument, but adds another element. Getting the better of European visitors “in sharp trade,” she suggests, “was simply ordinary Tlingit business practice”; and some early visitors were regarded as “suckers.”339 The latter observation

50 | Introduction

may be related to Tlingit perceptions of variations in the status of the visitors. Trade with persons of distinction – captains, supercargoes, and officers, demarcated by high-status costumes – was conducted with appropriate formality and ceremony. In dealing with inferiors, however, De Laguna suggests that the “seizure of what was desired seems to have been Tlingit custom.”340 Common sailors, viewed through the lens of Northwest Coast social structure, could have been regarded as slaves and treated accordingly. At Port Ball thefts began as early as Seks’ visit of 16 September and became worse thereafter. But Colnett’s difficulties were compounded when he decided, on 26 September, to beach the vessels to carry out necessary repairs. This required unloading most of the cargo and supplies, thereby increasing both the visibility and vulnerability of a cornucopia of goods – both utilitarian and capable of invoking status. On the night of 30 September, Colnett’s apprehensions were realized as the kedge anchor was stolen. Vigilance was increased and the first overtly hostile use of firearms soon followed. Matters were made worse a week later when the Prince of Wales was damaged in the relaunching process. The situation was unenviable. Another, more substantial, round of repairs was required, including another unloading of cargo and supplies. Not surprisingly, the crews were becoming anxious about their safety.341 In this environment, relations with the Tsimshian descended to a new low. On the night of 13-14 October, the long boat and a quantity of provisions were stolen – the former for the iron used in its construction. A successful recovery expedition was mounted, although the long boat had sustained a good deal of damage. Firearms (muskets and pistols) were again used against the Tsimshian and thereafter became a commonplace recourse in encounters – both real and illusory as darkness heightened European imaginations. Inevitably the Tsimshian replied in kind, although their weaponry was limited to bows and arrows. Even so, the threat was sufficient for Taylor to “fortify the Island” where the stores had been unloaded.342 A further escalation occurred on 23 October, when Colnett resorted to using the ship’s cannon. A “load of Pistol & musket Ball” was fired and there was “no doubt,” Colnett thought, “but the gun touch’d some of them.” The dénouement came three days later. Having spotted the smoke from a Tsimshian campfire, an armed expedition was mounted using the Princess Royal’s boat and the long boat. This resulted in the killing of two Tsimshian (one male and one female), the capture of a woman, and the probable wounding of another man. Taylor summed up the mood among the crew in this way: “I conceive ’twas nothing more than proper, and consistent with our own future safety, to convince them when ever they came in future to Steal in the night, that it must be at the risk of their Lives for while they could go on with impunity ’twas better than bartering Skins with us. Yet I have full reason to believe had they not commenced the attack, no man would have suffered.”343 According to Taylor, the responsibility lay with the Tsimshian. The final act in Colnett’s account was yet another surprise: the return of Seks. The old chief had not been seen, or at least recorded, since 29 September,

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when he arrived at the vessels to trade some skins on 1 November. And this was in spite of being fired at by nervous sailors as he approached.344 Perhaps as a result of the greeting, Seks was reluctant to come onboard – doing so only when reassured by the female prisoner. Colnett then complained to Seks “of the depredations that had been committed,” to which Seks “made but a lame excuse blaming his brother Chiefs.” Taylor adds that the principal offender in these “depradations” was identified as Hammisit. But Colnett remained skeptical of the explanation, an opinion that was shared by Taylor. Both assumed that Seks had received his share of the plunder. Neither had much sense of the fragmented geopolitical structure of the Tsimshian world. This final meeting with Seks prompted Colnett to offer some observations that reflect the tension and ambiguity through which he viewed these encounters with the Gitkxaala Tsimshian: “I had long experienced Indians were not to be trusted, it still remain’d a doubt whether it might not be a trap for a more favourable opportunity when some greater object might turn up, his [Seks] being so well man’d & arm’d which never happen’d before, had no good appearance.”345 Tsimshian Narratives: European Encounters I have collected ten written “versions” of the Gitkxaala first contact narrative. Some are fairly direct translations of the information provided by Gitkxaala informants, others are second- or third-hand renditions transmitted by nonNative sources. One or two are brief, others are much fuller; in some cases the informant is known, in others not; some have been published while others remain in manuscript form. The first written account was by missionary William Duncan following a visit to the Gitkxaala winter village in May 1860, a time when it is just possible the informant may have witnessed some of the events; the most recent version dates from 1968 and describes the actions of the informant’s great-grandfather.346 There is a good deal of variation in these narratives but, when viewed as a group, I believe they describe three “sets of events”: Part 1) the first contact, involving Sabaan; Part 2) the intervention of Ts’ibasaa, and the origin of the name of “Hale”; and Part 3) the aftermath of the events described in Part 2. Less obvious is the temporal relationship between these sets of events. Some versions are unproblematic, describing only the events of Part 1; others also include Parts 2 and 3 and, in some cases, appear to treat Parts 1 and 2 as a single continuous sequence. It is not possible here to discuss all the versions, although Appendix 2 gives a full listing of the sources and brief commentaries. I have decided, instead, to concentrate upon the narrative of George McCauley, which exists in two variants, and make occasional references to other versions as circumstances warrant. McCauley’s variants both provide a very full account and clearly raise the question of the temporal relationship between the events of Parts 1 and 2; however, he makes no reference to Part 3. George McCauley, a Ganhada (Raven) of the House of Laoi, told his narrative to William Beynon on two occasions.347 The first variant was recorded during

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Beynon’s fieldwork at Gitkxaala in February 1916, when McCauley was about sixty years old. Information concerning the second variant, however, is sparse; little is known save that it was written down some time between 1916 and 1932.348 I begin with a brief summary of the contents of these variants and then turn to the more difficult question of interpretation. According to McCauley, the first encounter took place during halibut fishing when the weather was foggy. Other versions specify that the encounter followed the oolichan season, suggesting late spring or early summer. This timing diverges from Colnett’s account, although he does note that his men caught some halibut while sailing off the west coast of Banks Island in the fog. Surprisingly, perhaps, there is some variability in the narratives about the location of the first encounter. In 1916, McCauley stated that it took place off the southern end of Pitt Island, where the “people were all living”; in his second variant, he stated that the people were living on Banks Island. Other informants provide further variations, but most place the events in the area of Banks and Pitt Islands.349 McCauley describes the European ship as a large bird or monster with wings; the long boat, which initiated the first encounter, had “many arms” and was thought to be the “child” of the ship. These interpretations were influenced by the fact that the halibut fishing took place at a “spenarnorh,” an “abode of a monster.”350 The Gitkxaala fishermen assumed that the supernatural monster had taken a new form, prompting them to flee. Once ashore, they washed themselves in urine, a standard mode of protection against “ghosts and evil spirits.”351 These precautions were timely as, shortly thereafter, a small group of the “strange beings” landed and indicated their desire for some of the halibut. The key figure in this first meeting was Sabaan, like McCauley, a Ganhada chief. It is through Sabaan’s eyes that the initial Tsimshian reactions to Europeans and their culture are described. Sabaan’s surprise and fears about these strange supernatural beings (ghost people) increased when they demonstrated some of their powers. These were aspects of European technology that possessed clear advantages over their indigenous equivalents and, subsequently, would be absorbed into Tsimshian culture: metal knives and containers as against shell knives and wooden boxes; guns, flint, and powder for lighting instead of a firedrill. The demonstrations of these powers, which caused Sabaan to “die” or faint, took place in connection with the preparation of a meal for the ghost people. The meal commenced with the halibut caught by the Gitkxaala but also included European foods – rice, molasses, and ship’s biscuits – and further emphasized the distance between the two cultures. These European foodstuffs, all described with a mixture of bemusement and repulsion, would be incorporated into the Tsimshian diet and used in feasts.352 Following the meal, the Europeans sought information about Sabaan’s village. Communicating by signs, Sabaan indicated to the Europeans where the village was located and returned home. In his first variant, McCauley gives no further information about the location of the village but identifies its leading chief as exlewels – the highest-ranking Ganhada chief among the Gitkxaala.

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His territory was at the southern end of Pitt Island.353 In his second variant, and rather surprisingly, McCauley identifies the village as at “laxtxal” – a place name for which Beynon, on other occasions, provided two identifications, Banks Island and Bonilla Island.354 Locations aside, a few days after the first encounter, a group of the “strangers” arrived at Sabaan’s village. On landing they were greeted by chief exlewels and, in accordance with customary Tsimshian hospitality, offered food – although the Europeans were reluctant to consume it. Then, responding to the earlier European demonstration of their powers, exlewels shows his own supernatural or “naxnox” power. In some versions, although not in McCauley’s, this causes the Europeans to “die” or faint. The visit ends with exlewels giving a sea otter to the European commander and other gifts to the rest of the party. However, and the point is significant, McCauley makes no mention of these actions establishing trade prerogatives for exlewels; instead he comments that the events took place before those in which the name “Hale” was acquired. In his second variant, however, McCauley adopts a different position. He follows the account of the events of Part 1 with the statement that “next day one of the supernatural beings walked up and made motions with his hands pointing out to where the big naxnox [the ship] was floating. The people knew that they were being invited by the supernatural beings and they talked among themselves[;] the wise men cautioned the people not to go and then a member volunteered to go out[;] all Gitxala men who were going to accompany Tsibasa, the head chief of the Gitxalas and then they paddled out following the messengers out to where the large monster was” [emphasis added]. Thus the events of Parts 1 and 2, in this variant, follow the one from the other, in an uninterrupted sequence. McCauley continues by describing a visit to the ship, including further reference to the “fearsome things” seen, echoing and elaborating upon the earlier account of responses to aspects of European technology. But what is of particular significance here is that the Gitkxaala protagonist in the events of Part 2 is no longer Sabaan. He disappears, without explanation, and is replaced, as the quotation indicates, by Ts’ibasaa. Ts’ibasaa was of a different clan (Gispwudwada) than Sabaan and a much more important figure in the Gitkxaala world. Indeed, for much of the postcontact period, Ts’ibasaa was the highest-ranking Gitkxaala chief, with territory on the central section of Pitt Island, in the vicinity of Curtis Inlet.355 Ts’ibasaa’s visit to the ship prompted a reciprocal visit by the Europeans to the Gitkxaala village. On the latter occasion, Ts’ibasaa, like exlewels, demonstrated his supernatural powers and presented some gifts to his visitors. The conclusion of this encounter, and of the narrative, was an exchange of names between the captain of the ship and Ts’ibasaa. Such exchanges were not uncommon in the early days of the maritime fur trade, usually reflecting the establishment of some kind of political alliance or trading prerogative. According to McCauley, and a number of other versions of the narrative collected after the 1920s, this was how the name “Hale” originated among the Gitkxaala.356

54 | Introduction

George McCauley makes no reference to the events I have called the “aftermath” or Part 3. These events concern the position of Ts’ibasaa in the wider world of the Tsimshian and the role of the Gitkxaalas in the early fur trade. James Lewis put the matter in the following terms: “The gitxala people were the first people in the north to have guns and ammunition. They were the first to use it [sic] to hunt the fur seal and sea otters and were much dreaded by all the other tribes.”357 These comments serve to indicate how the Gitkxaala people incorporated the encounter with Europeans into their history. It contributed to their assertion of primary status in the Tsimshian world, itself a rationale for the retelling of the first contact narrative. The retrospective commentary of Part 3 clearly occupies a position that is temporally distinct from the events of Parts 1 and 2. Even these summary remarks indicate that there are significant discrepancies between the narratives and the records left by Colnett and Taylor. This does not invalidate the narratives as historical accounts, but it does raise questions about the nature of oral narratives and how they should be interpreted. Here the work of anthropologist Viola Garfield provides a useful point of departure. Garfield, who has published the principal ethnographic studies of the Tsimshian, concluded that their narratives contain “actual occurrences but also social ideals, customs, and beliefs concerning the former and present world.” Turning specifically to the Gitkxaala contact narratives, she states they are “an account of the group’s reactions to a new experience and the addition of new crests to the inventory of lineage possessions, cast in familiar literary and ideological form.”358 The Gitkxaala description of Europeans as “ghost people” is an obvious example of this pattern, one which recalls the recent debate between anthropologists Marshall Sahlins and Gananath Obeysekere about Hawaiians’ perception of Captain Cook. Sahlins has argued that Cook was viewed as supernatural, the god Lono. Obeysekere rejects this interpretation, arguing that the Hawaiians, through the operation of “practical reason,” regarded Cook as some form of exotic chief.359 Tsimshian contact narratives, and those from elsewhere on the Northwest Coast, clearly support Sahlins’ view. These sources indicate that the initial Native response was to regard Europeans as some kind of visitors from, or manifestations of, the world of spirits. The Squamish, for example, thought their first European visitors were from “the land of the dead”; the Nuu-chah-nulth thought they were the salmon people or supernatural beings.360 Miller, in a brief discussion of one version of the Gitkxaala narrative, has observed that it represents an account of a “nax nox” experience, that is, an encounter with a spirit form that was “immensely alien and powerful.”361 Less clear is how long such views persisted. At first sight, it does not seem to have been very long among the Gitkxaala. Following the shock of the initial encounter – the recognition of the “powers” of their visitors – normalcy, or equilibrium, is restored when exlewels/Ts’ibasaa demonstrate their “powers” to the visitors – causing the Europeans to “die.” The first written version, collected by

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William Duncan, makes this point particularly clearly: “The Indians turn had now come, to make the white strangers die. They dressed their heads & painted their faces. A nok-nok or wonder-working spirit possessed them. They came slowly & solemnly & seated themselves before the whites: then suddenly lifted off their heads & stared. Their reddened eyes had the desired effect. The whites died.”362 Probably the most striking feature of the Gitkxaala narratives, when compared to the European documents, is the difference in participants: Sabaan, exlewels, and Ts’ibasaa in the former, Seks and Hammisit in the latter. Given the importance of “names” in Tsimshian culture, this discrepancy calls for some discussion. The absence of Sabaan from the European journals is not surprising, as the first meeting between the sailors and the Gitkxaala took place away from the vessels. Neither Colnett nor Taylor were present at the events of Part 1 and their journals provide only brief comments on the activities of the early boat expeditions: that contact had been made – probably at the southern end of Pitt Island – and some skins purchased. The narratives, then, provide the only detailed information available to us about this first encounter and the nature of the Gitkxaala responses. However, it is worth noting that both Colnett and Taylor, in describing a first contact situation at Kildidt Sound in 1788, give brief descriptions that bear a considerable resemblance to the comparable part of George McCauley’s narrative about the Gitkxaala. At Kildidt Sound, according to Taylor, the men in the Prince of Wales’ boat “saw a small Canoe with 4 or 5 Men who took to the woods leaving their Canoe on ye Beach.” Colnett adds that “the Indians not having recover’d from their fright their Canoe remaining on the Beach went with the Boat & put some few articles in her.”363 George McCauley provides more details, stating that the Gitkxaala “drew up their fishing lines, which were made of kelp (mawrh) and paddled in for the shore. There, they thought they would be safe. The man that was sitting in the stern had the rope of the canoe fastened around his waist. Then they landed, the man in the bow of the canoe ran up into the woods, and the man in the stern got up and tried to follow, but failed to untie the rope from his waist.”364 Flight was a logical response to encounters with powerful spiritual forces. The significance of this first encounter in the Tsimshian world, and the reason for the survival of Part 1 of the narrative, is that it describes the origin of the name Sabaan. According to McCauley, “‘They [Europeans] gave me the name Sabaen.’ This is what it sounded like to him, but the white man was thought to have said Soap, because that is what he gave them. They kept it for some time before they found out what it was used for. He then assumed the name of Sabaen and referred it to Sabaehlnahlkuhlehl-hagwilaw’rh, ‘The offspring of Hagwilaw’rh [sea monster] runs suddenly.’”365 Other “firsts” of the contact era, as Olson has noted of the Tlingit, entered the crest system, receiving both material and narrative expression.366 Sabaan was a member of the Ganhada clan, thus the subsequent visit of the ship’s boat to the village of exlewels, the leading Ganhada chief of the Gitkxaala,

56 | Introduction

makes ethnographic sense. Moreover, the location of his “village,” probably a summer resource camp, at the southern end of Pitt Island fits with the geographic information from Colnett and Taylor.367 The role of Hammisit is less clear. Like exlewels, he was a Ganhada chief, but he does not feature in the narratives and the information from European accounts is skimpy. Nonetheless, his presence does fit with the pattern of the involvement of Ganhada chiefs in the events of Part 1 of the narrative. Moreover, Hammisit features prominently in Caamano’s account of his visit to the southern end of Pitt Island in 1792.368 The absence of Seks from the narratives is more significant and more interesting. It links pre- and postcontact histories and illustrates some of the difficulties in interpreting the information contained in the written version of narratives. Two explanations can be put forward to account for the absence of Seks, with the determining factor being the interpretation given to the temporal relationship between Parts 1 and 2 of the narratives. If the view is accepted that Parts 1 and 2 are a continuous sequence, then the critical question becomes how to explain the substitution of Ts’ibasaa for Seks. It is possible, I believe, to provide a plausible rationale for this taking place, one that invokes the close and fluctuating relationship between holders of the two names and the difficulties of finding suitable holders in the historic period as the population plummeted; by the 1930s, one man held the names of Ts’ibasaa, Seks, and Hale.369 However, further reflection, stimulated by the discovery of additional versions of the narrative, suggests a simpler explanation: that Parts 1 and 2 describe two discrete sets of events, probably separated by a number of years. As George McCauley indicated at the end of his first variant, these “Gitrhala are not the same people as Hale met and got his name from, but came before them.” Ts’ibasaa, in this interpretation, was not involved in the first contact encounter and thus there is no discrepancy, between the narratives and journals, to be explained. To sustain this view requires a brief discussion of two issues: the position of Ts’ibasaa in Gitkxaala society, and the circumstances under which some of the narratives were collected. For much of the contact era, Ts’ibasaa was the leading Gitkxaala chief and a fierce competitor for status with Ligeex, the leading chief of the Tsimshian tribes around Metlakatla. In the context of this rivalry, Ts’ibasaa claimed and, with appropriate ceremony, assumed the name Hale. This title served to reflect Ts’ibasaa’s prerogatives and power in the maritime fur trade. Associated with the name was a narrative, of which Part 2 in McCauley’s second variant is an example.370 Thus the name of Hale, and a rise in Ts’ibasaa’s status (Part 3), originated in the first contact encounter. That said, it must be admitted that two versions of the narrative that include the events of Part 2, Ts’ibasaa’s role, make no mention of Hale. However, all the versions that recount Ts’ibasaa’s involvement deal with the political context and implications of his actions. James Lewis’ comments on the claims of Ts’ibasaa and the Gitkxaala’s rise to primacy in the Tsimshian world have already been noted. Another version states: “From this time on Tsibasha became a great chief, and all the other villages looked up to him. It was many years before the other Indians learned about the

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coming of the white men, and the things they brought with them.”371 In an unrelated narrative, Joshua Ts’ibasaa made the same point: “And Tsibese had had the Gitxala people dance in front of the trading white men, who gave Tsibese many gifts, and it was he who first possessed a gun and gun powder and shot was the wealth really stored up by Tsibese. And this was why that Tsibasa rose up and he was much wealthier than all fellow chiefs to all hereabouts.”372 The ambiguous status of these claims is revealed most clearly, perhaps, in William Beynon’s “Ethnical and Geographical” manuscript, drafted for anthropologist Phillip Drucker in 1954. Beynon began his description of the Gitkxaala by noting their claim to be the first among the Tsimshian to “come into contact with the white explorers ... [and] to use or have firearms.” This is followed by Beynon’s summary version of the first contact narrative. It encompasses the events of Parts 1 and 2 and includes the origin of the name Hale.373 The surprising point about this rendition is that Beynon, by this time, was aware of another version of the narrative concerning the origin of the name of Hale, one that cast Ts’ibasaa in a much less favourable light. Indeed, later in the same manuscript, Beynon gave his own account of the unfavourable version, a version that had been given to him on at least two former occasions. Elsewhere, in commenting on the first of these sources, a narrative recorded in 1948-49, Beynon provided some additional information. He noted that there was “another and true version of the origin of this name [Hale], but the Gitrhala were ashamed of it, and would accept the version of the first explorer’s name”; that is the first contact context.374 In the “true” narrative, however, the events took place at a time when the maritime fur trade was well established. But the crucial point was that Ts’ibasaa had been taken captive on a European vessel and had to be ransomed by his tribesmen. Moreover, there is archival information from maritime fur trade sources that shed further light on this topic. Mary Malloy, in a study of American participation in the trade, discusses the vessels that visited “Sebassa” – the trading location of the Gitkxaala. She writes that the Volunteer arrived in 1820 and visited several times. At the end of July the captain of the Volunteer “took on board Chibbashah, the principal chief, and detain’d him as a hostage for the recovery of some debts, which were due by Himself & People.” When the Volunteer got underway a week later he was still on board and the vessel was “visited by a few of the Natives, who appear anxious to redeem their Chief & willing to pay their debts.” On 9 August the ransom was paid and “Chibbashah their Chief was liberated in consequence and left the ship.”375

Some information about these events reached the Metlakatla Tsimshian fairly quickly, but they were not publicly acknowledged among the Gitkxaala until much later.376 It was only in the 1930s, when a dispute arose about the inheritance of the names Seks and Ts’ibasaa, that the “true version” was recorded. By

58 | Introduction

this time, declining populations had made the transmission of names by the correct matrilineal procedures very difficult and one man held the names Seks, Ts’ibasaa, and Hale; moreover, he intended to pass the names on to his adopted son – who was a Heiltsuk by birth. This aroused opposition among the Gitkxaala elders, who were prepared to let the name Hale be transmitted, as it was not an ancient “name,” but not the names Seks or Ts’ibasaa. Thus the “true” version of the origin of the name Hale, including its timing, was recounted.377 It should be added that the linkage of valuable commercial salmon licences, for drag seines, with the ownership of traditional territories added to the economic significance of holding the Ts’ibasaa and Seks names.378 What then are we to make of this body of Gitkxaala narratives? As historical documents, in the traditional academic sense, they are at once tantalizing, complex, and elusive. If Colnett and Taylor chronicle the contents of an alien world and their travails in passing through it – all for an audience “at home,” the narratives are constructed in quite a different manner. One important objective for their retelling over the years was to demonstrate and validate that the “name” Sabaan originated in the first contact encounter. This concern helps explain the absence of Seks, the principal Gitkxaala actor in the journals, in the narratives. However, some of the first contact events were incorporated by Ts’ibasaa into the competition for rank and status in the broader Tsimshian world. They became both an expression of his prominence in the evolving maritime fur trade and an attempt to obscure some less flattering aspects of his role in that commerce. Moreover, concerns about the maintenance or enhancement of status may also account for the absence of the violence described by Colnett and Taylor. Drucker and Curtis, in collecting narratives of early contact among the Nuu-chah-nulth and Lekwiltok, observed that unpleasant memories were often repressed. At Clayoquot, for example, Drucker noted that traditions “delete” the documented burning of their village in 1792.379 Other narrative objectives included recording the return to normalcy, the assertion of indigenous powers, as well as the characteristics of the visitors that impressed the Tsimshian. Without some such purchase, as Ong has observed of oral cultures, “matters of the past without any sort of present relevance commonly dropped into oblivion.” He also reminds us that the past is not a matter of empirical facts, verifiable or otherwise, but rather “the domain of the ancestors, a resonant source for renewing awareness of present existence.”380 Also important in assessing the narratives is some knowledge of the historical geography of the contact process. This is clearly illustrated in a recent study by Wendy Wickwire of Nlkap’amux first contact narratives. After comparing the narratives with available Euro-American sources, she has concluded that they represent an “important and reliable historical record.”381 A key point here is that along the Fraser River there was a distinct temporal gap between the first encounter with Europeans in 1808 and the next, in the 1820s. On the Northwest Coast, however, first encounters were rapidly followed by a flurry of other meetings – of many of which we have no written record. The events of Part 1 of

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the Gitkxaala narratives fall into this category: there is nothing in the European accounts to question the validity of the descriptions given in these narratives. Questions arise, instead, from the variability between different versions, particularly on issues such as the location of the events. One explanation for such variability is suggested by McClellan. Her argument, following an examination of Tlingit contact narratives, rests upon detecting a similarity of “content patterning” – that is, a basic similarity in the content of narratives from different locations. She considers possible explanations but opts for the view that “there would have been ample time for the diffusion of details to take place and for them to become well incorporated into stories about what were basically quite separate occasions.” Although not strictly comparable to the situation at Gitkxaala, where the narratives purport to describe the same set of events, the argument cannot simply be dismissed.382 The Gitkxaala narratives may incorporate information from a series of early encounters rather than solely those involving Colnett. There are a number of other candidates who may have provided the raw material for Part 1: Duncan (1788), Hoskins (1791), Haswell (1792), Caamano (1792), Johnstone (1793), and perhaps Alexander Stewart (1792).383 Turning to the events involving Ts’ibasaa, the situation is equally complex. I have argued that the descriptions of Ts’ibasaa’s activities refer to a set of events that took place probably more than thirty years after the encounter with Colnett. A good deal remains uncertain, but the acquisition of the name Hale was based on a real historical encounter. As for the retellings of the Gitkxaala first contact narratives, there can be little doubt that the changing geopolitical context has influenced the contents of the versions involving Ts’ibasaa. The result has been a process of temporal compression that only becomes apparent when different versions are compared. This contrasts with the journals of Colnett and Taylor, which delineate the passage of time with greater clarity and precision. But this does not make the European accounts objective, comprehensive, or superior. Sabaan, for example, is absent, and there are disagreements about important aspects of the interactions with the Gitkxaala and the actions of Seks. Moreover, the journals are written performances undertaken with an audience very much in mind. If we desire to come to terms with the complex unfolding of the contact process, narrative testimony must be given due weight.384 In the present instance, the Gitkxaala narratives provide invaluable information on how they interpreted their early encounters with Europeans – both at the time and subsequently. Other Encounters Colnett’s voyage extended beyond the Northwest Coast culture area, into that of the Pacific “Eskimo” people of Prince William Sound. Although the Chugach culture was distinct from that of their southern neighbours, there were important similarities. A recent survey has suggested that both were “characteristically North Pacific.”385 In terms of the pattern of contact, the similarities are evident, including traditions of first encounters that involve confusion over

60 | Introduction

elements of European culture and shock at the display of guns.386 And theft, once again, was an important irritant for Europeans. At Port Etches, Colnett described the Chugach as being “addicted much to thieving & very artful in their dealing seldom selling their Furs till they had found means to steal something.” A series of nocturnal visits resulted in the use of firearms, but with no record of the impact.387 The same problem arose in Tlingit territory. At Yakutat Bay, following the theft of some fishing line, one of the sailmakers grabbed a musket and “Shot the Man [a Tlingit].” Colnett distances himself from this peremptory response but took no further action beyond recording it in his journal. It was done, he wrote, “with a degree of cruelty, for he fired twice. I was not on deck my self or would have endeavour’d to prevent it, & those whose busyness it was in my absence, look’d on with the greatest unconcern.”388 Another factor that contributed to European tension was uncertainty about trading conditions on the coast, a concern often reduced to the “fickleness” of Native peoples.389 These Native demonstrations of autonomy, and potential preludes to insubordination, were compounded in European eyes by the geographical diversity of conditions on the coast. Archibald Menzies, after his voyage on the Prince of Wales, captured the frustration that many traders felt in the early years. In reply to an inquiry from Joseph Banks, he used his experience with Colnett to provide a list of articles that would suit the trade on the Northwest Coast: At Nootka we found Copper the Article most sought after & in this we were deficient, having little or none aboard. At Prince William’s Sound the Natives preferred [sic] Iron & put very little value on Copper or anything else – they were so over stocked with Beads as to ornament their Dogs with them. At Queen Charlotte’s Isles & Banks Isles, Iron, Cloth, Beads with Brass & Copper trinkets answered best. At Cape Edgecombe, Iron Frying-pans – Tin Kettles – Pewter basons [sic] and beads formed the chief articles of Trade. Ornamental lofty caps with Brass or Copper would be good presents for the Chiefs & Warriors.

Menzies added that it was necessary to take a blacksmith who could shape “Iron, Copper & Brass into such forms as may best suit the fickle disposition of the Natives.”390 Of all the Northwest Coast peoples encountered, both Colnett and Taylor were most favourably impressed by the Tlingit of Sitka Sound, the Citkakwan.391 Or, more precisely, their relations with the Citkakwan were more amicable than those experienced elsewhere. The brevity of the visit to Sitka Sound likely contributed to this assessment, but the criteria of judgment were the absence of sources of tension and conformity to European expectations. Colnett thought the Citkakwan Tlingit “shewed the honestest & best disposition of any we had before met with, nor did we miss a single article during our stay among them.”392 Taylor, while employing the category of “savage,” recognized their “civility”

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and thought them “by far the most inoffensive Tribe I saw, very civil, nor were they desirous of thieving.”393 Hawaiian Islands Encounters Colnett’s passage through the Hawaiian Islands was shaped by the routes and actions of his predecessors – Cook, on his third expedition, Portlock, and Dixon – as well as by his own Polynesian experiences. The lack of good harbours encouraged the use of established locations, although Colnett avoided Kealakekua Bay, the site of Cook’s grisly end. The bulk of the time was spent at Kaua'i, in the vicinity of Waimea, and at Ni'ihau; thus the discussion here concentrates upon the encounters at those islands.394 If Colnett avoided the geography of Cook’s death, he could not escape its consequences. It cast a shadow over the attitudes of early visitors and contributed to the ambiguity of Euro-Americans towards the Hawaiian Islands.395 Like their predecessors, Colnett and Taylor found much about the islands and their inhabitants to appreciate and praise. Climate and culture provided a welcome change from the Northwest Coast. Taylor’s relish for the sensual pleasures of fresh provisions is clear in his first encounter: “This was a glorious transition for all Hands,” he enthused, and admitted that it would “require a far more able pen than mine to describe the happiness of every Man on board on this sudden change, for my own part I am clear to say I never experienced anything so pleasing before.”396 Agricultural production also carried with it an assumption of finding a greater degree of “civility” among the local population. An integral component of the pleasures of the contact process on the Hawaiian Islands were the encounters with young women. Sexual encounters, stimulated on both sides by prior, although divergent, knowledge, came early and frequently. On 2 January, scarcely after contact was made off Hawai'i, women “were admitted onboard and every Sailor had a Lady in his burth.”397 Such coasting encounters were fleeting and, in terms of the written record, anonymous. Thus, the status of the women and whether they came of their own volition, or at the behest of men, is unclear. Most, if not all, were probably commoners and, it has been suggested that for the earliest such encounters with Cook’s expedition, Hawaiian women acted as they would have done with indigenous leaders – to establish “chiefly connections.” By 1787, however, the pattern of exchanges, involving material returns from sailors, was becoming normalized, providing commoners with an important mode of access to European goods.398 However, during the extended sojourn at Kaua'i, particularly in Taylor’s accounts, some of the women are identified. Menzies’ particular companion, for example, was “Nahoupaio, Sister to Matua.” Such women were important intermediaries between the worlds of ship and shore. None more so than the two young women who provided information about the intended attack on the vessels at Waimea Bay – at some danger to themselves.399 The differential intersection of class and gender across the cultural divide must have compounded the sense of unpredictability.

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For two of the men on the Prince of Wales, the attractions of Kaua'i were sufficient to induce desertion; in both cases, involvement with a local woman seems to have been a crucial factor. Whether the chiefs played any role in encouraging such actions is unclear, but Colnett’s comment that the first such “beachcomber” had “hopes of obtaining the King’s daughter a beautiful Young woman for his wife” is suggestive. Moreover, Ka'eo had earlier “frequently solicited some onboard to stay to Assist him.” Colnett refused the suggestion, but the actions of the seamen took matters out of his hands. Both of these “beachcombers” found that their enthusiasm for island life soon diminished, but they would have many successors.400 As on the Northwest Coast, the issue of theft, at least as perceived by Europeans, brought its quotient of tension and occasional violent episodes. At times both Colnett and Taylor thought that chiefs were implicated in such activities; on occasion they were astonished by sheer bravado of a particular action; mostly though they were perplexed and frustrated and the absence of “thieving” was certainly worthy of note. Nor were Hawaiian attitudes uniform. One chief specifically warned about the need to “be on Guard” against thefts. At Waimea, Taylor records an incident in which two unidentified men warned the chief mate about an impending theft, even going so far as to “shew him in what manner they wou’d perform the theft, placing themselves on one of ye guns and holding his Cloth wrapper over the Hook and cutting the Hook from the Tackle, looking him in the face.”401 In such circumstances, with the memory of Cook’s fate in the background, the potential for violence was seldom absent. The Prince of Wales had recourse to the use of muskets as early as 6 January and, the following day, “some of them did execution.” A few days later it took a mixture of good fortune (a musket misfired) and restraint to avoid a confrontation at O'ahu. The Princess Royal, perhaps because of its diminutive size and perceived vulnerability – by both sides – was involved in the most serious confrontations. After using the muskets at Moloka'i, a far worse incident occurred at Waimea Bay. With rumours swirling of an impending attack on the vessels, between five and fourteen islanders were killed and a number of others wounded, although firing from the Prince of Wales contributed to this number.402 The advent of European traders also contributed to tensions and, on occasion, violence within Hawaiian society, reflecting the divergent interests and capacities of chiefs and the common people. Chiefs were primarily interested in the goods of “status and politics” which were obtained through exchange of gifts. Ka'eo, for example, was given supplies of “Centre Bits, Bung Borers, Hatchets, Shark Hooks” by Colnett, and Taylor noted that Opunui had obtained “Tools of several Professions. Coopers, Carpenters & others” as well as cutlasses, caps, and cloaks from earlier visitors. Nor were high-ranking women excluded from the gift exchanges; the “Ladies” of Ka'eo’s house received “Scissors, Beads and many baubles for ornaments.”403 Commoners were restricted to the sale of provisions, with nails the usual currency of exchange, along with beads and small items such as fish hooks.

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More important, commoners access to European visitors was frequently controlled by the chiefly class – either by force or the kapu (taboo) system. Colnett encountered the former off Hawai'i on 2 January, but on Kaua'i and Ni'ihau it was the latter that prevailed. The workings of the kapu system, a complex set of prohibitions, privileges, and sanctions, was poorly understood by Europeans, and their descriptions must be viewed with some caution. After one particular incident, Taylor admitted his confusion: “Twas difficult to say,” he commented, “how far the Taboo is strictly attended to.” For the common people the chiefly use of the kapu system not only limited their access to Europeans but also extracted a tribute from the trade that they did conduct. Nonetheless, as Taylor’s comment suggests, some people – men and women – were prepared to risk possible sanctions to embrace direct encounters.404 As sources of status and strategic goods, European visitors were drawn inexorably into the nexus of island geopolitics at a time of considerable instability. The principal chiefly concern quickly became securing supplies of firearms and the knowledge of how to use them effectively, although some chiefs, such as Ka'eo, displayed a much more catholic interest in European technology. Such attitudes probably lay behind the apparent welcome, or tolerance, of European “beachcombers.”405 It is unclear whether Colnett began the trade in firearms on the Hawaiian Islands, but he certainly contributed to its development. Initially, Colnett was reluctant to participate, even disabling a pistol in the possession of Ka'eo.406 However, the loss of an anchor at Waimea and the desire to purchase a replacement strengthened Ka'eo’s bargaining position. The purchase price of the anchor included two muskets and two pistols, as well as a supply of powder and ball.407 Moreover, when the Prince of Wales returned to Kaua'i in September, powder, at least, was exchanged with some freedom. So much so that Taylor, by the end of the stay, noted that “they will shortly have a tolerable stock of Musquets Pistols & Powder.” He concluded, with some prescience, that “all Ships in future touching here will be obliged to purchase hogs with Powder.”408 Colnett’s involvement in this morally dubious trade probably shaped his account of his relations with Ka'eo. On the one hand, there was Ka'eo’s presumed involvement in the attempt to capture the vessels and the cutting off of the Prince of Wales’ anchor. Although there were uncertainties about these events, neither was calculated to inculcate an amicable view of Ka'eo and his people. Thus, Colnett’s comments about Ka'eo after purchasing a replacement anchor are notable: The desire of having some of our people, arms &c in his possession & plans laid to obtain them, even Stealing the anchor was excusable, if his whole Isle & Inhabitants safety depended upon it, which I really think was the case. the Friendly method of treating Europeans here to what they had met with at other Isles made it [180v] more frequented & obtaining large Quantity of Iron & other articles great Riches in this Country, had drawn on him the envy & hatred of the King’s of Wahoo & Owhyee, who were making great preparations, & hourly expected to invade the Isle.409

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It is tempting to see this as an attempt by Colnett to excuse his own actions in a cloak of tolerance for Ka'eo’s. Such skepticism is probably valid, but there was some substance to Colnett’s comments about the political instability on Kaua'i at this time. There were two probable sources of hostility towards Ka'eo. The first proceeded from the manner in which Ka'eo became the effective ruler of Kaua'i. In March 1779, when Clerke and King returned to Kaua'i, the nominal ruler was Keawe, by virtue of the position of his mother Kamakahelei. However, Ka'eo had now married Kamakahelei and, over the succeeding years, he pushed his stepson (still only a boy) and stepson’s supporters aside to assume effective control. When Colnett arrived, Ka'eo had installed Kaumuali'i, his own son by Kamakahelei, as the nominal ruler. Significantly, when Taylor met Keawe at O'ahu, in September 1788, he described him as the “Prince who at [the] time had a party fighting for his right to government of Attooi.” After the death of Ka'eo in 1794, Keawe would again contest for Kaua'i, only to die shortly after achieving a victory against Kaumuali'i.410 Another group antagonistic to Ka'eo included Ka'iana, his brother Namakeha, and Nahiolea. They had been involved in Kahekili’s conquest of O'ahu in the early 1780s but soon became dissatisfied and moved to Kaua'i.411 Here, as the testimony of John Meares and William Douglas indicates, they were at odds with Ka'eo by 1788. As is well known, Meares, on leaving Kaua'i in the summer of 1787, took Ka'iana on board and carried him to Canton. Meares says little about the reasons for Ka'iana’s trip but on his second voyage, in 1788, he is more informative. On visiting Waimea in October, Meares commented on the “tyranny of the present government.” He attributed this to the role of Opunui, whom he described as “the deadly foe of Tianna,” and added that Namakeha “had fled with his brother’s [Ka'iana’s] wife to a distant part of the island to escape from the cruel power of Taheo; and that some part of their force was at this time in arms.”412 Further information was provided by William Douglas, who returned Ka'iana, onboard the Iphigenia Nubiana, to the Hawaiian Islands, but to Hawai'i, not Kaua'i. Douglas stated that while Kaua'i had been in a “state of peace” when Ka'iana departed, he now had “every reason to fear that he should find it in a state of war; or at least under the government of an usurped power, which he could not for a moment suppose would be friendly to him.”413 After disembarking Ka'iana and his “treasures” at Hawai'i, Douglas made for Waimea where, after a tense sojourn, he took with him Namakeha, “six of his relations, and four women,” together with “Tianna’s wife and child to Owhyhee.”414 On arriving at Hawai'i, Douglas had some discussion with Ka'iana and Kamehameha about the political situation on the islands. As reported by Meares, Ka'iana stated that Taheo, king of Atooi, and Titeree [Kahekili], the sovereign of Mowee, Ranai [Lana'i], Morotoi, and Woahoo, had entered into a compact with Terreemoweeree,415 the surviving son of Terreeoboo [Kalani'opu'u] ... to

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disposess Tome-homy-haw [Kamehameha] ... That Taheo had been furnished by the Captains Portlock, Dixon, &c with a quantity of arms and ammunition, on an express condition that he would not afford any supplies to Captain Meares and his associates; for the truth of which information, he appealed to the reception which that gentleman [Douglas] had lately found on putting into the island of Atooi, where he could not obtain any refreshment of any kind.

Like Colnett, Douglas used this as a rationale for engaging in the sale of firearms, this time at Hawai'i.416 To sum up: Colnett’s progress through a significant part of the Northwest Coast illustrates much that was common in early European encounters with Native peoples. But there were some notable variations in his experiences, involving as much geography as history. The contact process unfolded at different rates, in somewhat different fashions, in different locations. At Nootka, some basic parameters concerning the way in which Europeans were incorporated into the indigenous political landscape had been established by 1787. Precontact political inequalities in the area seem to have played an important role in shaping outcomes. Colnett’s failure to conform to these established patterns, by not going to Yuquot until the end of his sojourn, probably contributed to his difficulties in the area. Farther north, where the contact process was just beginning, the situation was more fluid and the political organization more localized. Haida and Tsimshian chiefs quickly sought to control access to, and establish alliances with, the new source of wealth and power; but outcomes were far from clear. The Gitkxaala narratives, a fascinating counterpoint to the accounts of Colnett and Taylor, give invaluable glimpses of Native perceptions, priorities, and actions. While confirming some repercussions of inserting Europeans into the fragmented world of the Northwest Coast geopolitics, the narratives do not explain the process. Colnett’s account, with its plain rhetoric, reflects the ambiguity of many early visitors to the coast. Eurocentrism and a sense of superiority were in danger of being subverted by uncertainty about Native intentions and an unfamiliar and potentially hazardous environment. Insubordination, in the form of Native thefts, highlighted this sensibility and called for disciplinary responses. All this in contexts where difficulties of communication shaped both what was reported and what was done. Misunderstandings must have been considerable and contributed to the violence the journals record. On the other hand, Colnett’s encounters were not unremittingly antagonistic; amicable episodes and friendly relations were not mere ideology. Trade opened a space for peaceful interactions. Here, Taylor’s more informal account is valuable, particularly as he spent more time ashore than Colnett. Nonetheless, the indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast were now entangled in the mechanisms of colonialism and there was an irredeemably adventitious dimension to the initial encounters. With hindsight we may see this as an early expression of an imbalance of power that would grow: what was

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adventitious to inhabitants of the coast increasingly became part of rational calculations oceans away. Profit became the measuring rod and when it disappeared so did the vessels: there was no consideration of the impact of this abandonment on Native traders. This asymmetry was fundamental: the difference between homeland and trading location. Colnett viewed the Hawaiian Islands rather differently than he did the Northwest Coast. Left behind were the economic imperatives of the fur trade and the navigational complexity of the latter. In their place lay the prospect of an attractive environment, a more “civil” population, and a refreshing sojourn of comparative ease. But encounters with the Hawaiians contained many of the same elements found on the Northwest Coast; outcomes were different in degree rather than in kind. Sexual encounters probably assumed a greater significance, but theft and misunderstandings still threatened to undermine peaceful relations, more so in some areas than others; trade, in provisions rather than for furs, was conducted with respect for indigenous protocols. European visitors, as potential sources of strategic goods, were incorporated into the local dynastic struggles, and the contrasting perceptions of Colnett and Meares reflect the differential geography of their incorporation (Ka'eo and Kaua'i versus Kamehameha and Hawai'i). Through the trade in firearms and the beginning of the beachcomber tradition, Colnett’s voyage contributed to the way these struggles would unfold. Aftermath and Evaluation

The first news of Colnett’s expedition reached England in the summer of 1788 with the arrival of Portlock and Dixon. At this stage all seemed to bid fair, and Richard Etches had given some preliminary thought to another voyage to the Northwest Coast; the South Sea Company licence ran until 1791 and Meares and Colnett, half a world away, certainly thought another voyage probable.417 But Etches’ plans had taken a more expansive turn. Even before receiving news from Portlock and Dixon, Etches had approached Banks with a proposal to establish a penal settlement on the Northwest Coast. It would, Etches argued, “secure the complete discovery of that extensive and unexplor’d part of the World, but would open, and secure a source of commerce of the most extensive magnitude to this Country.” Nothing came of this proposal, although it resurfaced briefly, in a modified form, during the Nootka Crisis of 1790.418 Undeterred, Etches turned his attention to the Russian government and even more grandiose projects, but he was still considering another voyage to the Northwest Coast as late as 1793.419 Meanwhile, Alexander Dalrymple, his belief in the Northwest Passage reinforced by information from the Etches vessels, had adopted another plan to locate it. He persuaded the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) on the merits of a land and water expedition from the east. George Dixon was to lead the land segment and Charles Duncan the water-borne approach, via Hudson’s Bay.420 The latter had demonstrated his seamanship on the Princess Royal and, in the process, became a believer in the existence of the Northwest Passage. Dixon’s

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expedition was cancelled but Duncan made two voyages in HBC vessels with the “Privity and Approbation of Government”: the first in 1790, the second a year later. Neither voyage was successful, and Duncan finally changed his mind about the existence of the passage. However, the power and persistence of this speculative geography is attested to by another veteran of Colnett’s voyage. Alexander Stewart, back on the Northwest Coast in 1792 in command of the Jackall, expressed “little doubt of meeting Duncan on this side of the continent.” Geography, of course, dictated otherwise.421 As Duncan was preparing to depart on his first voyage for the HBC, the European geopolitical context altered dramatically with news of Colnett’s arrest at Nootka and the ensuing Anglo-Spanish “Nootka Crisis” of 1790.422 Among the early responses considered by the British government was a plan to establish a British colony on the Northwest Coast.423 This option was quickly abandoned and after a good deal of bluster the crisis was resolved peacefully with the signing of the Nootka Convention at the end of October.424 As a result, an official British presence was required at Nootka Sound; moreover, the British government “was anxious to know much more about the area to which it had gained free access.” At this stage, plans for a two-vessel expedition to the South Atlantic, initiated in 1789, were adjusted to address these new requirements and to resolve, finally, the question of the Northwest Passage.425 Command was given to George Vancouver, and the Discovery and Chatham sailed early in 1791. Vancouver returned to England four and a half years later and the results of his expedition, when published in 1798, transformed European understanding of the geography of the Northwest Coast.426 The knowledge and experience derived from Colnett’s first voyage contributed to Vancouver’s remarkable success in surveying the enormous complexity of the coast. James Johnstone, as he had done with Colnett, commanded many of the boat expeditions that did a good portion of the survey work.427 Lamb also notes that “Vancouver was provided with copies of all the journals and charts that might prove useful to him.” These included the maps of individual harbours, by Johnstone and Duncan, that Alexander Dalrymple had published. Colnett’s charts, of course, were not available when the expedition sailed. Nonetheless, we can reasonably assume that Johnstone possessed his own versions, with much of the data contained therein.428 Johnstone may also have been the ultimate source of “a chart ... of the coast” that Archibald Menzies had “made” by the time he arrived in England in 1789; an anonymous map, bearing a close resemblance to that described by Menzies, has survived.429 Menzies also brought first-hand experience and a different kind of expertise to Vancouver’s expedition. As botanist-surgeon, Menzies was in a position to expand the work on the “natural history” of the Northwest Coast begun during Colnett’s voyage. Finally, Duncan’s log and a log of the Prince of Wales were also available when Vancouver’s expedition was organized, but it is not known if any use was made of them.430 Ironically, the very success of the Vancouver expedition overshadowed and obscured the contributions of many of his immediate forebears. George Hewett,

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a surgeon on Vancouver’s expedition, thought that Vancouver deliberately ignored the contribution of his “commercial” precursors. Commenting on the published account, Hewett wrote: Why this attempt to depreciate the Merits of the Several Commanders of Trading Vessels that have been on this Coast when even an Observer with only Common Sense must see that altho those Commanders were not so well provided with instruments &c and came upon the Coast merely to attend to their Commercial Concerns yet with all those disadvantages their Charts are far more accurate than those of Capt. Cooks of the N. West Coast which he went to Survey and even than those of Capt. V. would have been had not he fortunately met with some merchantmen who pointed out even Columbia River which he had passed without seeing ... it should be understood by the Reader that it is impossible a Capt. of Merchantmen can do anything so well as a Capt. in the Navy.431

In the case of Colnett and the 1786-89 expedition, obscurity was further encouraged by the subsequent inaccessibility of his journal, log, charts, and related documentation. One small measure of this historical elision is that only a handful of the place names given by Colnett and his men have survived.432 When compounded by the concentration of scholarly attention on Colnett’s arrest in 1789 and his role in the subsequent “crisis,” the result is an unbalanced picture. Little consideration has been given to Colnett’s earlier activities and he has been evaluated, generally unfavourably, in the light of his actions in 1789 and 1790. Howay’s decision to publish Colnett’s second journal, covering these events, both reflected and reinforced this evaluation.433 Publication of Caamano’s journal, with its criticism of Colnett, offered further confirmation.434 Although overshadowed by Vancouver’s accomplishments, Colnett’s expedition produced a valuable cartographic legacy. Reference has been made above to charts of individual harbours; these were published by Dalrymple as part of a larger series. In all, Dalrymple produced eleven such charts based on surveys by Charles Duncan and James Johnstone from Colnett’s first voyage.435 Two anonymous maps are also of considerable interest. The first, probably the work of Johnstone or Menzies, has already been noted; the second was likely produced by Charles Duncan, who is known to have prepared a “Chart of his Discoveries.” This map, covering part of the Northwest Coast and the Hawaiian Islands, shows the tracks of both the Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal for 1787, but only the course of the latter for 1788. These routes, together with some place names derived from the voyage, appear on John Arrowsmith’s world chart of 1790.436 Some of this information also appeared on Meares’ chart published later in 1790.437 Colnett’s cartographic efforts were largely confined to his journal, but he also produced three manuscript charts of the Northwest Coast. Some place names which appear only on these charts are included in a map of the North Pacific and adjacent coasts published by W. Faden in 1794. Faden also shows the “North West Georgia of Captain Colnet 1793.”438

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Caamano’s voyage in 1792 to the coast of British Columbia, in the vicinity of Banks Island, was also stimulated by information derived from Colnett’s first expedition. During his return to Nootka, on the Argonaut in January 1791, Colnett allowed the Spanish commandant, Francisco de Eliza, to copy a map showing his movements on the coast during the voyage of 1787-88. The map, likely a version of Colnett map 1 (see p. 285), covered the coast from 49°N to 58°N. If so, it showed several “incomplete” inlets in latitude 53°N, the area where De Fonte was supposed to have found his strait or river, as well as Colnett’s speculations on the topic.439 Eliza sent a copy of Colnett’s map to the viceroy in Mexico, who promptly decided to have that area explored: the “result was the Caamano expedition of 1792.”440 Colnett’s voyage, through the involvement of Alexander Stewart, also contributed to a private British expedition. The so-called Butterworth squadron, commanded by William Brown, sailed from London in 1791. It consisted of three vessels – the Butterworth, the Prince Lee Boo, and the Jackall – with Stewart as master of the third. Information on this expedition is sketchy, but it seems to have been based on the model established by Etches.441 Its objectives included establishing a seal fishery at Isla de los Estados (Staten Island) and one or more factories on the Northwest Coast.442 The squadron operated on the coast for three seasons, ranging from Clayoquot as far north as Yakutat Bay, and became involved in a number of violent episodes.443 Stewart, however, left the expedition at Macao at the end of 1793.444 After moving to the Hawaiian Islands, he made two further trips to the Northwest Coast, on the Dove in 1799, and on the Alexander in 1800.445 Finally, thanks to Menzies’ part-time activities, there was a botanical and, much more modest, ethnographic legacy. Eric Groves has estimated that Menzies brought back about “one hundred dried specimens.” Of these, the largest portion went to Joseph Banks (ending up in the British Museum), others went to Sir J.E. Smith (ending up in the Linnean Society of London), some Menzies kept himself (ending up at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh), and some eventually ended up at Oxford. The specimens, together with seeds and some sketches, came from the Isla de los Estados, the Northwest Coast, the Hawaiian Islands, and Sumatra.446 J.C.H. King has suggested that six or seven artifacts from the Northwest Coast and the Hawaiian Islands were given to the British Museum, although the vagaries of time and labelling preclude certainty.447 For the most part, Colnett has been evaluated for his role in the founding “narrative” of settler society on the Northwest Coast – legitimating the British colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia. Now, as interest in the contact process increases, Colnett’s first expedition and the documents assembled here take on renewed historical significance. Colnett’s journal offers accounts of the initial or very early stages of direct contact with groups of Tsimshian, Heiltsuk, Haida, Tlingit, and Eyak, as well comments on the Nuuchah-nulth and Chugach. Of the early European visitors, Colnett met the greatest variety of indigenous peoples and, by the standards of the day, he was a

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fairly acute observer. Frederica De Laguna, in one of the great twentiethcentury ethnographies, was favourably impressed by Colnett’s descriptions of people and places in Prince William Sound and thought his observations about the Yakutat people were “shrewd and illuminating.”448 This assessment can readily be extended. At Kildidt Sound, for example, Colnett recognized he was on the boundary between southern and northern cultural realms. And at Rose Harbour on the Queen Charlotte Islands, he described and sketched a “copper”; the first European visitor to observe one of the major symbols of wealth and status on the Northwest Coast.449 Taylor, too, provides valuable descriptions and additional information. In the Rose Harbour area, he provides the names of several of the chiefs, and describes Haida greeting ceremonies and the musical instruments used therein. In short, the journals of Colnett and Taylor, together with collateral documents, provide a considerable body of ethnohistoric data that has been overlooked for too long. They are important sources for the ongoing reassessment of the geography as well as the history of the early stages of the contact process.450 A contemporary of Colnett’s, in a review of the voyage of the Rattler, offered an assessment that bears repeating: “We recommend this Voyage to the perusal of our readers, as a professional work fraught with information, and executed with the greatest accuracy. It forms a most valuable addition to the labours of Cook, and Vancouver; and is in fact, in many respects, connected with, and explanatory of the latter. In point of nautical acquirements, by long and perilous experience, the name of Colnett should not be far removed from these great lamented circumnavigators.”451 The Documents

Colnett wrote three manuscript journals for presentation purposes and with an eye towards publication. They covered his voyages on the Prince of Wales, the Argonaut, and the Rattler. Of these only the third was published during Colnett’s lifetime.452 Significantly, it was dedicated to Sir Philip Stephens, Secretary of the Admiralty, who also received the manuscript copies of all three journals.453 The Rattler manuscript bears the date 20 August 1795 and contains information that the two earlier manuscript journals had already been presented to Stephens. In outlining his activities prior to the Rattler voyage, Colnett states that on returning to England from Canton in 1792, “the whole of the history alluded to, with charts, drawings &c &c I left in the possession of Philip Stephens Esqr. secretary to the Right honorable Board of Admiralty, the only mark of gratitude I had the power of shewing him for the services he wished to render me.”454 It was this step that assured the preservation and eventual resting place of the journals in the Public Record Office, although not, strictly speaking, government documents. With the exception of an extract from the Prince of Wales journal published in 1849, dealing with the visit to Vancouver Island, Colnett’s manuscripts disappeared from view.455 It was only in 1934 that Donald Angus, who was primarily interested in Hawaiian history, located the journals and brought them to

The Documents | 71

scholarly attention. Angus approached the British Columbian historian F.W. Howay, who had written extensively on the maritime fur trade, for his assistance in attempting to publish the journals of the Prince of Wales and the Argonaut. Howay responded enthusiastically and Angus undertook supplementary research. After an approach to Ryerson Press came to naught, Howay turned to W.S. Wallace and the Champlain Society.456 At this stage, Howay had hopes of publishing both journals and had done some editorial work on the first, describing it as filling “a big gap in our history.” Wallace, however, saw things differently. He was “taken” by the Argonaut journal, which he thought to be of “wider interest” than the first, about which he had “doubts.” This view prevailed and Howay publicly announced the project in a paper delivered to the Royal Society of Canada in May 1939.457 A year later, a scholarly edition of the Argonaut journal was published while the Prince of Wales journal remained largely unknown and inaccessible.458 The manuscript of the Prince of Wales voyage may be described as an unfinished “presentation copy.” In addition to the text, it contains simplified segments of a log and a variety of charts and illustrations; some in watercolour, or ink and wash, most in pencil. The journal ends with the departure from the coast of America, although the log entries continue until 7 November 1788, when the vessel was approximately halfway between the Hawaiian Islands and Canton. However, it is clear that Colnett intended to complete the journal as far as the stay at Canton. Pencil notations on blank folios indicate Colnett’s intentions: “Remarks from America to Sandwich Isles & while among them”; “Remarks from Sandwich Isles to China”; “remarks while at China [remainder illegible].”459 The text also bears signs of some reworking and information on a number of latitudes, longitudes, distances, and bearings is lacking. Moreover, many of the charts and illustrations are unfinished; some of the former are not even begun, while some of the latter contain instructions for the colours to be applied. The folio for one intended illustration contains the notation: “The Drawing Stole by the Spaniards.”460 It seems probable that Colnett was preparing his “presentation copy” from a rough journal (or log) and a sketchbook, when interrupted by press of circumstances – presumably the Rattler voyage, if his remarks in that manuscript are to be believed.461 Whatever the merit of these speculations, we can only regret the circumstances that prevented Colnett from completing his objective, the more so as the manuscript of the Rattler voyage, preserved in the British Library, illustrates just how handsome a completed volume would have been. The Prince of Wales logbook covers the period from the departure from England until the departure from Canton, when Colnett left the vessel. One of the interesting features about this document is that it differs from the log entries contained in Colnett’s journal – for example, there are small, but frequent, differences in the observations of latitude and longitude. It would appear that the Prince of Wales logbook travelled to London with the ship in 1789 and, in accordance with the requirements of the licence from the EIC, was forwarded to the company offices in London.462 The EIC log also contains information

72 | Introduction

absent from the journal which, together with the aforementioned discrepancies, suggests that Colnett did not have the log to hand when writing up his journal. The Prince of Wales logbook is now located in the India Office of the British Library. The Taylor journal, or journals, consists of eight books, seemingly written in at least two different hands. There is some duplication in books three, four, and five, describing the first visit to the Hawaiian Islands, but taken together the journals cover most of the voyage of the Prince of Wales. The exceptions are the final section of the first visit to the Hawaiian Islands and early parts of the second season on the Northwest Coast.463 On the other hand, the Taylor journals provide a much more extensive account of the visits to the Hawaiian Islands. Ignoring the duplication and including the account of the second visit in September 1788, Taylor’s version is more than four times the length of Colnett’s account. Moreover, Taylor takes the voyage beyond the Hawaiian Islands to Canton and the return to England. The first three books of Taylor’s journals appear to be a revised or rewritten copy; the remainder may be rough originals, or perhaps “portions of different copies.” Book seven and book eight, a log from China to London, are likely originals; they use nautical time, whereas the earlier volumes use the civil day. One of Taylor’s descendants took the journals to Australia, where they were purchased by D.S. Mitchell and subsequently deposited in the Mitchell Library, Sydney. Charles Duncan also brought a logbook and journal from the Princess Royal to London in 1789. Two years later, during Dixon’s dispute with John Meares, they were in the possession of Alexander Dalrymple, then hydrographer to the EIC.464 Unfortunately, these documents have subsequently disappeared, leaving Duncan’s brief published account as the principal source for the independent voyage of the Princess Royal in 1788.465 In addition to the documents generated directly by the voyage itself, there is a considerable array of materials produced by collateral and subsequent events that bear on the Colnett expedition. The documents produced by the “Nootka Crisis” and the Vancouver expedition, for example, contain retrospective commentary on earlier events and contextual information.466 Colnett’s journal includes a series of charts, mostly of particular harbours, which supplement those published by Dalrymple. Taylor also drew a rough sketch of Port Etches. More important are three large manuscript maps of the Northwest Coast drawn by Colnett: two extend from the Straits of Juan de Fuca to Cape Edgecombe, the third is limited to a somewhat smaller area. They show the routes followed by the Prince of Wales (1787 and 1789), the Argonaut (1789), and the Princess Royal (1787 and 1788). Even more valuable are the outlines of some of the trips made by the ships’ boats in 1787 and 1788 and a series of annotations which provide supplementary comments on some of the areas visited (Appendix 3).467 In his account of the Rattler, Colnett noted he had “left behind” in England a manuscript chart of the seas north of San Blas; perhaps these maps were similarly located. Currently they are on deposit in the archives of the Hydrographic Office of the Admiralty in Taunton. How they

A Note on the Editing | 73

reached this repository is not recorded, but Map 3 bears the date stamp “Jany 7, 1865.” Nonetheless, it would be surprising if Dalrymple, the first hydrographer to the navy, did not play some role.468 A Note on the Editing

Colnett’s journal extends only as far as the departure of the Prince of Wales from the Northwest Coast in August 1788, although there are intermittent log entries extending to 7 November 1788. The latter portions of the voyage from the Northwest Coast to Hawai'i, Canton, and England are covered in the EIC log of the Prince of Wales and in Taylor’s journals; neither have been included here. Extracts from Taylor’s journals have been incorporated where they provide a valuable supplement or an alternative interpretation of events described by Colnett. They are intercalated at the appropriate locations within the Colnett text and printed in sans serif. I have retained the subdivisions in the text and the titles of the sections given by Colnett. Colnett’s journal uses civil time, except where he specifies “pr Log”; that is the nautical time according to the log. Nautical time, used in the logs and Book 7 of Taylor’s journal, runs from noon to noon. Hence an entry for 5 May commences with information from pm 4 May and continues with am for 5 May.469 I have corrected all dates to civil time, placing the corrections in brackets { }. The log sections of Colnett’s journal have been omitted in the present edition; where the log entries contains supplementary information, this has been incorporated into endnotes. These notes are identified as taken from “Colnett’s log,” to distinguish them from information taken from the EIC log of the Prince of Wales on deposit at the British Library. Where latitudes, longitudes, and bearings are missing from the journal, but available in the logs, they have been added to the text in square brackets [ ].470 As with many eighteenth-century journals, the punctuation used by Colnett and Taylor is inconsistent. I have retained their usage, although it is often difficult to determine the difference between commas and full stops. However, I have modified the paragraph arrangement in some instances, using a new paragraph for the beginning of a new day’s entry. I have retained the original capitalization and abbreviations. Colnett’s journal contains numerous illustrations: charts, maps, and drawings – the latter mostly of topography, artifacts, fauna, and flora. Some of the drawings are watercolours, but many are unfinished pencil sketches. The charts and maps, in ink and pencil, are also often incomplete; in two cases, only the title exists. A full listing of Colnett’s journal illustrations – along with an indication as to which of these have been included in the present edition – is presented in Appendix 5. All of the maps appearing in the journal have been included here, as well as a representative sample of his drawings and sketches. Taylor’s journals contain only one unfinished sketch map – of the Port Etches area, Prince William Sound.

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A Voyage to the North West Side of America

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Part 1: Departure and 1787 Season

[Preparations and Departure from London]

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Having been recommended to a Company of Merchants trading to the NW side of America, the begining of July 1786 I receiv’d a Letter from their Secretary offering me the command of a Cutter to perform a Voyage to KING GEORGE’S or NOOTKA SOUND as soon as I could obtain leave of absence from His M.S. Pégase of which Ship I had been First Lieutenant for three Years.1 I waited on the Governor of the Company & after some little Conversation the first plan was alter’d & he determin’d on Chartering a Ship & purchasing a Smack to accompany her;2 the begining of August a Ship was pitch’d on, & a Smack purchas’d – some doubts ariseing from the age of the Ship, being Thirty six years old, of her ability to make a passage round CAPE HORN. She was regularly survey’d by Carpenters & pronounc’d fit for the purpose; the command of the Ship was given to me & to be call’d the PRINCE of WALES. Burthen one hundred and seventy one Tons pierc’d for fourteen Guns, half Frigate Built & to carry thirty five Hands officers included the Smack was to be commanded by Chas. Duncan a Master in the Royal Navy & to be calld the PRINCESS ROYAL.3 Burthen sixty five Tons to carry Four two Pounders and Fifteen hands in all.4 The Ship was haul’d into Gun Dock in the River Thames, a false keel put on, Bends & water ways cork’d, & some little alterations made, by the 13th was out of Dock.5 The Smack also was cork’d Sheath’d &c, and off the Slip much at the same time we both began to fit out with every expedition but one unforseen business or other prevented our leaving the River till the 23rd of September; on the twenty seventh anchor’d in the Downs the wind being to the westward.6 Capt. Duncan thought he could tide it down Channel to Spithead at which place I was to take Mr. John Etches onboard as supercargo.7 I desired Capt. Duncan to lose no time & I would follow him as soon as the wind would permit, next morning had a light air of wind from the SSE weigh’d & came to sail; before midnight wind flew round to the westwd. blowing strong, by day light in increas’d to a Gale, wore, carrying all the sail we could bear for the Downs at 8 o’clock saw Folkstone at

78 | September, 1786

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Noon the 29th a breast the S. Foreland, it now blowing a Huricane from the NNW which oblig’d us to bring up, where we were, which we accomplish’d with both bowers, as the first anchor we let go had no effect; in this short cruize two of the mizen Shrouds gave way most of the running rops broke, & Ship strain’d greatly & made much water in her upper works & Sides, from the waters edge upwards scarce a seam but the oachum had workd out in the Evening it moderated on heaving the Anchors up to get further into the Downs found a fluke of the Best Bower Anchor sprung. October the 1st weather appearing settled, weigh’d, & came to sail Winds Varble. on the 3rd got to Spithead ran down to Cowes & anchor’d & got the Caulkers to work, new rigg’d the Mizen mast paid the People advance and River pay, & every thing compleat & ready for sailing by the 14th. Captn. Marshall render’d me many services while I lay here, & also Prior to this, in interesting himself to get me this employ, & readyness to serve me at all times has laid me under numberless Obligations to him.8 Captn. Marshall’s son a Lieut. in the Navy was to accompany me part of the way (but not with his Fathers consent). To be landed with fifteen men, stores &c &c at New Years Harbour Staten land to carry on a sea Lion Fishery9 the articles for this so lumber’d us that the Cabin State room & Steerage were so full of provisions and stores that we had scarce room to get into our beds, nor was there room left in any part of the Ship for the smallest article to be taken onboard.10 The Smack arrived at Spithead a few hours before the Ship, she had met with no material accident during the Gale we suffer’d so much in, she lay at Anchor in Dover Roads on the 2nd of October we saw her off Brighthelmstone.11 October the 16th weigh’d with a light air of wind at WSW & varble. to turn down to Yarmouth, the Smack dropt down the day before; soon after under weigh, the wind got round to the Northward & Eastward made a Signal to the Smack to Join Company, made sail, & ran thro’ the needles.

[While at Cowes, Taylor offers the first of many criticisms on the organization and management of the voyage:] (10b) To the Gentlemen concerned in the Ship who were on the spot waiting her arrival it appeard particularly strange that she should require any repair at this place, it was unpleasant in many resepects it caused delay, and it was unexpected, not only that; it in some measure shook their Credit in Town and it must appear rather mysterious to the reader. I shall therefore explain the riddle as far as I am able to judge. The gentlemen Adventurers were not as I am led to believe very able judges of the good or bad qualities of a Ship, they therefore employed some others to inspect her, who pronounced her in every respect equal to undertake the Voyage, therefore I conclude in a few words, those

Route from England to St. Jago | 79

persons were either deficient in abilities for the purpose they were employed for, or what is worse, they must have been governed by some latent motive, probably in favour of the Owner, whose interest it was, no doubt to palm his Ship off is possible, as he was not in the least concerned in the risk of the Voyage. But surely a Vessel intended to circumnavigate the Globe required a minute inspection, as well for the advantage of (11a) those who were venturing their property on board her, as for those who were risking what is far more precious: their lives! and ’tis not easy to reconcile the idea that any man or set of Men, in business of such a serious nature, could suffer themselves to be biased on any account whatever, yet I fear the matter will too clearly speak for itself. From the defects of the Ship, as they had appeared in the late Gale, it was judged highly necessary to Caulk her Top sides, and indeed had this not been done I’ve reason to think most of the Seamen would have declined the Voyage. a Gang of Caulkers, were therefore instantly employed, who in running over their work found many defective places in the plank, under the Fore chains, and round her Bows. I considered the late Gale of wind as one of the most fortunate circumstances which could have happened, as it exposed some of her defects, and afforded an opportunity of finding out others, which were all now repaired in a proper place; during the repairs going on the Seamen were employed in attending to the Rigging, Stowing the Lumber away to the best advantage, and various other Jobs.

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Blank Log [Sketch. “Body of Porto Santo NWbyW 5 Leagues.”] [Sketch. “Madeira WNW 9 Leagues, Deserters 3W Leagues.”] [Sketch. “Palma E by N 9 Leagues.”] [Sketch. “Ferro WbyS 3 Leagues.”] [Sketch. “Bonavista from WNW to NNW 5 or 6 Leagues.”] [Sketch. “Mayo Dist. 3 or 4 Leagues.”] [Sketch. “A View of the [anchoring] place in the Isle of St Jago.”]

Route from England to St. Jago and Transactions there

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The wind continued to blow fresh from the E.wd. The 17th of October at six in the morning the Lizard bore NWbyN four leagues this we took for our departure, it being very Cloudy saw no more of the Land. Lattd. in at Noon by Account 49°39, the wind blew from the S.ward & Eastward till 23rd than became Variable, on the 31st made land which was taken for Madeira at which place I had intended to stop at.12 The Princess Royal’s going much worse than the Ship I thought it would be gaining time by ordering Captn. Duncan to proceed to St. Jago & to Join him there we parted Company this Evening. during the night it fell little wind & Variable, in the morning found we had ran too far to the Southward to

80 | November, 1786

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fetch Madeira, as the wind was. Having no Observation the day before & Hazy weather, had mistook the Deserters for it, wch Occasiond this error we continued plying to windward till November the 3rd & had reachd so far to windward as Porto Sancto but the wind blowing constant from the Northwd. & westward I saw no prospect of reaching Funchall Bay,13 at Noon bore up for St. Jago. Nov. 5th made Palma, the wind being scant for going the N. side of it I passd between it & Ferro14 during the night had the weather very squally & unsettled but early in the morning the 6th. the Breeze blew steady and fresh from the Northward spoke a Ship last from Madeira bound to the West Indies, came out of Funchall roads the morning we made the Isle so I lost no time beating [out] of there our Consort was becalm’d off Teneriff two days. November the 12th in the morning dark cloudy weather; made the Island of Bonavista, at Midnight made the Isle of Mayo, and the 13th at Noon Anchor’d in Porto praya Bay on the SE end of the Island of St. Jago,15 from the Canarys to Bonavista had the winds from North to East and among the Cape de Verd Isles at NE dark squally weather & blowing very Strong. Immediately after anchoring Captn. Duncan came onboard & inform’d me he had arriv’d but a few hours before me; in the afternoon waited on the Governor in Company with Mr. Etches supercargo. Captn. Duncan & Mr Marshall to obtain leave to water; we were receiv’d by the Captn. of the Fort at the Entrance of the town16 & by him conducted to the Governor’s who treated us with every mark of politeness & attention, indeed his whole actions & behavior seem’d to be worthy of a better situation than the Island of St. Jago could afford him, the Governor thro’ Mr Marshall, who was the only person he could converse with, they both understanding the French language well, gave us pressing Invitations to make his house & table our home while we remaind here; in the Eveg. in our way to the Ship calld on the Capt. of the Fort & paid him a Guinea the port fee after which he introduced us to the Merchant who was to supply us with Beef &c. My Ill state of health would not admit of my accepting the Governor’s Friendly offer except once, but some of our gentlemen dined with him every day, for the four days we remain’d here during which time new rigg’d the Topmast the Rigging having given way on the passage, compleated the water, took onbd. three Bullocks & 8 Sheep stocking ourselves also with every thing we could get & of service to us & room to stow the 18th weighd & came to sail, leaving letters with the Governor to be forwarded to my owners.17 The Smack was detaind some little time after us occasiond by their sailmaker a Portugese leaving the Boat & claiming the protection of the Governor, the Mate18 endeavour’d to persuade him to return but all his Rhetorick was of no use & at the same time apprehensive of being detaind onshore as threatend till the man’s things were sent him came off in the way call’d along side a small Schooner belonging to the Isle and prevail’d on the

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Master an Englishman to go the Voyage, before loosing sight of the Bay saw a Snow under Portugese Colours standing in, the Pacquet was daily expected which I suppose was the Vessel. [Sketch. “Fernando Loronho 10 Leagues dist.”] [Sketch. Unidentified bird; notation on 31v: “Description of the Noddy.”] [Untitled sketch. Cuttle fish; notations “Mohi Atooi,” “Ma-rou-ai,” “Cuttle fish Jumpd onbd Decr 22nd.”] [Notation: “Port Egmont Hen (The Drawing Stole by the Spaniards)” in pencil, no drawing].” [Sketch. “Entrance of New Years Harbour taken from Anchorage under New Years Isles bearg SEbyS.”] [Sketch. “Entrance of New Year’s Harbour when bearing ESE.” See Figure 1.]

From Cape de Verde to Staten Land

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We left the Cape De Verd’s with a fresh NE trade & pleasant weather which accompanied us till November the 22nd. Lattd at Noon 5°50’N Longitude 24°40’W much Lightning, and at times heavy rain, winds Variable from SEbyE to ESE & S & brought on the SE Trade 23rd, 24th and 27th Flying Showers.19 On the First of December cross’d the Equator great part of the Afternoon was spent in performing the old & ridiculous ceremony of ducking &c Longitude 30°22’W

[Taylor gives a more detailed and sympathetic account of these ceremonies:] (18a) In the Evening the Customary manoeuvre of Shaving and Ducking the Seamen who had never crossed the Equator was performed in all its Glee. This amusement not only occasions Mirth but exercise which makes the encouragement of it commendable in all Ships from its Salubrious qualities we had many on board who had never paid their devoirs to the Trident Monarch, so that the Crew had their full scope of diversion, and were Issued an allowance of their favourite grog on the merry occasions. The Officers and passengers cheerfully joined in the general harmony and for the time being levelled all distinction. The promotion of Health in long Voyages is most assuredly an object worthy the attention of every man who Commands though too frequently barely thought of and less attended to, Seamen are for the most part naturally prone to idleness, and often prefer Sleeping and lounging about the Decks, when off Duty to dancing or any other diversion. it therefore becomes necessary to rouse them occasionally to Mirth and provided the (18b) Officers do not consider the object in view beneath their notice, they will find no great difficulty in exciting the Crew to various active amusements without exercising any authority.20

figure 1

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December the 4th at 6 pm saw the Island of Fernando de Noronha21 bearing SWBW 12 Leagues Latd. in the preceeding Noon 3°17’S Longitude 30°22’W this makes the Ship to the Westward of our reckoning [blank] most Navigators crossing the Equator to the westward have found an error the same way which is occasion’d by a Current. On the 6th Flying Showers with Thunder & Lightning caught six Bbls of Rain. On the 7th much Lightning on the 8th Lattd, in 9°30’ Longitude 34°2’W in the Evening two of those birds calld by sailors noddies flew onboard & were taken it is said these birds never fly far from land.22 I had every reason to believe it was not far distant, & to expect falling in with it hourly; if our reckoning were right, or Land so far to the E.ward as laid down on most Charts our distce. from the Shore could not be more than [blank] besides the situation our reckonings placed the Ship in the daily difference we had found several Days in our Observations & Lattitude by Account since leaving Fernando de Noranha there was little doubt that the prevailing Current had set the Ship farther to the westward than we had allow’d for I should not have been so far to Leeward but was Oblig’d to keep from the wind on first falling in with the SE trade to enable the Smack to keep Company she proving a very bad sailor being scarce able to keep way with me under single reef ’d Topsails & Foresail. On the 11th December flying showers, on the 12th Latitude 13°37’S Longitude 34°30’W saw large flocks of Birds the Winds today became Variable & blew from the E.ward on the 16th rain on the 18th much Lightning winds very variable Latd. at Noon 25°23’S Longd 38°31’W on the 19th saw several Whales many porpoises & Birds. on the 21st Latd. in 28°52’S Longd 42°16’W flying Showers winds variable & round to the Westward where it fixd. On the 22nd drizling rain, 23rd flying Showers, 24th much lightning & Thunder with rain23 saw many birds on the 27th Albatross’s, Boobys, Cape Hens, Sheer waters, Grey petrels, and Pintada birds seen.24 Latd. in at Noon 35°16’S Longd 44°01’W. From our time of leaving England had not had twenty four hours Calm and the weather in general not to be complaind of, but it now became very unsettled. Hazy, squally, Blowing, and Calm alternately, many birds accompanying us. 1787

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On January 2nd 1787 Latd 41°07’S Longd 49°31’W saw a piece of Rockweed & a Port Egmont Hen, a bird so call’d from a Port in Falklands Isles, were they are found in great plenty, is very remarkable, & spoke of by most who have navigated those seas, it’s about the size of a large Fowl, short wings & tail, colour dusky black, & when

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flying has under each wind a stripe in a circular form of lighter feathers than the rest, its Bill is incurvated, web footed, and said not to go far from Land.25 On the third of January saw a large Shoal of Whales; the Sky this afternoon portended Thunder and lightning with a very Strong sulphureous smell in the air, which affected some onboard in a very strange manner, on the 4th very heavy Thunder and Lightning accompanied with rain, & heavy squalls of wind – for these two days past much sea-weed seen & many Birds on the 7th tryd for soundings, which was continued every four Hours. On the 9th, 10th, & 11th being Moderate weather & Inclinable to Calm the Boat was hoisted out, and many birds were Shot but they all prov’d disagreeable eating. on the 9th three birds were seen not unlike in make or Shape the Gull frequenting the Inland parts in England, but in Colour the Port Egmont Hen.26 on the 11th saw three seals. on the 12th many Whales & seals, & a Bird resembling a sand lark27 flew several times round the Ship Latd. at Noon 46°36’S Longd. 61°18’W. The 14th Pr Log28 at 6 pm the Smack being ahead struck soundings in 68fm fine Brown sand with black specks Lat. in 47°25’S Long 62°17’W deduced from Noon. I intended making Cape Blanco,29 which the wind was very favourable for, but at one in the Morning it Shifted to the SW & blew in very heavy squalls with hail & brought us under a very low sail from first striking soundings, the lead was kept going every two Hours, till four in the morning depth of water from 68 to 80 fathoms, much the same bottom, by Noon the Gale had driven us to the S.ward & E.ward, sounded had no bottom with 140 fathom line. On January 15th at Six pm Pr Log30 saw a sail in the WSW. the sea this Evening was cover’d with a greater number of Luminous particles than I ever saw before31 – by 8 o’Clock it moderated but was very changeable, Hail, rain squalls of wind, & Calms in intervals. on the 19th of January the Princess Royal Struck soundings in 60 fathom, at 4 pm sounded 92 fathoms small black stones, pieces of Coral,Yellow gravel, & a few transparent stones Latd. in the preceeding Noon 49°45’S Longd 63°38’W winds for the night Varbl. from SW to S and moderate Breezes, soundings from 90 to 92 Fathoms much the same bottom the deepest the coarsest. at 6 am saw the W End of Falkland’s Isles bearing SE 7 Leagues Dist. at Noon sound 90 fathoms much the same ground Latd 50°41’ Longd 64°00’W End of Falkland’s Isles ESE 10 or 11 Leagues.32 The W end of Falklands Isles is laid down in Longd. which makes our reckoning [blank] to the [blank] this error I am not at all surprisd at where such constant & irregular Currents are to be met with as is known to be all along the South part of America, and which we often found by the great difference in our Observations & Log; & the nearer to Straits Le Maire & Cape Horn the more so.

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From Falkland Isles shap’d a Course for cape St.Vincent on the coast of Terra Del Fuego. 20th, 21st, & 22nd Soundings from ninety fathoms to one hundred & Twenty five fine grey sand with black specks; winds Varbl. from W. to South. Birds & seals inumerable, & great Beds of seaweed seen. On the 23rd at 8PM pr Log33 our soundings changed to 55 fathoms; we had a fresh breeze of wind ever since our last departure, but it now fell little wind at SWBW at midnight thick hazy weather, & the soundings decreas’d to 80 fathoms, as my distance could be no great way from the land, with such weat. I did not think it safe standing farther in shore; so shortend sail and stood off & on keeping the lead constantly going at 5 am Sounding 47 fathoms still thick & hazy at seven o’Clock it broke a little, made sail half past, saw Cape St.Vincent bearing SbyW 7 or 8 Leagues bore up wind at WNW & steerd ENE for Staten Land at Noon Cape Diego SWBS, Cape Saint Anthony SE½E.34 On the 24 January at 2 pm Pr Log:35 saw new years Isles the weat. still very hazy kept the land close onboard, till a Current from the Northward and Eastward brought me so near the Shore was oblig’d to haul close on a wind it still press’d the Ship much to leeward that it made it doubtfull whether we should not be oblig’d to attempt a passage thro’ between the Isles but on getting on to E.ward, the Current coming round Cape St. John36 forcing its way between the Isles carried us so far to windward that we came round the Eastmost Isle with Studding sail set. on the N. side of the Eastmost of the New Years Isles, & off the East point the sea was heavy much confus’d & broke all around, as if on breakers or foul ground; had I not seen this before & knew it was occasiond by the meeting of the Currents should have been greatly alarmd. I have seen the Tides in the Bay of Fundy North America were they are allowd to be very great, but I think this far exceeds them.37 The Current was setting from the Eastward and Southward, & so strong, though it blew a fresh breeze & every sail we could carry made little or no way against it, but on passing the point of the Isle found the water as smooth as a Mill pond. this sudden change naturally led me to look back. all appeard in the Line from Cape St. John to the Isle one continued reef of Rocks & without the Isle from the mast head the same direction that the Current set in shew as if all entrance to where we were was Impracticable. Came to an Anchor at ½ past 7 nearly were Captn. Cook anchored with the Resolution.38 We had observed the Shore as we came in to be coverd with seals, sea Lions, & Birds, & soon after anchoring the boat was hoisted out, the Supercargo, Mr Marshall, & one of the mates, landed found every part of the shore alive, killd several of the animals & Birds some of them were brought onboard & eaten. We had out carried the smack & towards Evening it falling little wind & tide strong against her, at 10 o’Clock was oblig’d to Anchor without the Isle, & unfortunately lost the Anchor but got within the Isles in the night.

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At day light the smack weigh’d & turn’d into new years Harbour. I thought to save time by sending the boat in to pitch on a place to land the Officers, Men, & Stores for the Fishery; the supercargo, & commanding officer of the Fishery, went onshore also. I hove the Log when the tide seem’d to run at the Strongest took three knots & a half off the Reel. On seeing the boat come out of the Harbour weighd, wind at SW Variable & sqly. by 10 am January 24 fetchd the Ern. point of the Harbour but the tide being spent, & begining to make to the Eastward in the Offing, winds & weather very unsettled, blowing so fresh at times, that it was with dificulty could carry double reefd topsails was driven between two & three Leagues to the Eastward but the tide making to the westward. at four beat up by dark & got to an Anchor with the W. point of the Harbour & the Isles in the Harbours mouth in 35 fathoms sandy bottom while beating between New Years Isles & the main, the lead was kept going; where we lay at anchor was 18 fathom, Gravelly Bottom, two thirds over to the main soundings much the same depth & kind from thence to the main 40, 45 & 50 fm. coarse ground but within a Mile of the Shore 35, 25, & 17 oftner fine sand than coarse the latter soundings close along side the Shore in coming round the West point of the Harbour saw abundance of seals, sea Lions, &c, at Quarter of a Mile within the point is a small Bay with a sandy Beach full of sea weed, passd over the outer Edge of it sounded 17 fathom; Ship being light & workd badly, winds Variable, & unsettled weather, made me determine to warp thro the western Channel within the Isles.39 On January 25 all the forenoon it blew fresh in squalls with snow at times & frequent Showers of Hail, at two in the afternoon it moderated carried out anchors weighd the Bower and began to warp, by six it blew so fresh was obligd to Anchor, came to in 28 fathoms sandy bottom; during the night it fell less wind. On the 26th at four in the morning weigh’d & by Noon got to an Anchor at the Head of the Cove in 6 fathom sandy bottom & steaded the Ship with Stream Cable & Hawser to the Shore – thro’ the morning had frequent squalls of Rain & Hail. In the Mouth of the Harbour are four Isles, three of them full of trees & Shrubs, one of them barren, the W & Southmost the largest & most fertile, on the southmost is a narrow point runing out to the westward which makes the channell very narrow measuring about a Cables length in which are two rocks dry at low water spring tides, but between them you have five & Six fathom the deepest water close to the main.40 From where we weigh’d the depth of water was from 30 to 40 & 45 fm. & close to the Bar which is very narrow 17 & 18 fm. both on the North & South side of it & in the middle of the Harbour 50 fm. which decreases regularly as you nigh either shore. The Cove bears from the Channel; we came thro’ S ¾ of a Mile the Mouth of the Cove a cables width, & half a Mile in depth, the head

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trenching a little way to the N.ward & E.wd. Just sufficient to Shutt in the Entrance. The E.ern Channel into New Years Harbour is much the safest & best; the only Inconvenience if oblig’d to anchor is the depth of water having seldom less on the E.ern Shore near the Mouth of the Harbour than 40 & 50 fathoms, this may be remedied by keeping the western Shore onboard & anchoring under any of the Isles in 20 & 30 fathoms. On Sunday the 28th being a Holiday I went to the Head of the Harbour in the Boat accompanied with Captn. Duncan & the Surgeon with an Intention to walk to the top of a Hill to look for a port which seemd to have an Inlett a little to the westward of this. The second Mate set out with the Long Boat at the same time on an Expedition to the new years Isles for birds & seals;41 it raind so hard & blew strong from the WNW they were oblig’d to return. We landed at the head of the Harbour killd a forlorn seal which the Dog found in a hole of a Rock, lighted a fire under the Bank, & set out on our Journey – found in travelling thro’ the wood several beaten paths, & fresh dung of an Animal supposd to be Otters.42 I believe there are many here, on the Smacks first anchoring one came & sat on the Cable, & many afterwards were seen in the cove & their noise heard in the Bush every night. The more we advancd up the Hill the better the walking and long before reaching the Top which is not above a quarter of a Mile found good travelling in several places thro’ a kind of rushes such as I have seen in Marsh grounds in England,43 had it been dry weather it would have been pleasant for this part. going through the woods Shot a Hawke, & one or two small birds were seen. On reaching the top of the Hill got sight of the Harbour; it had not the least favourable appearance, the entrance about half a mile and in the fair way between the two points some rocks on which the sea broke & sea weed extending from side to side the Entrance bearing North & South from the Body of the second Isle of the New Years Isles from the Eastward.44 The Harbour trenches away to the SE but of no great depth there’s a small bight on the westside shelterd by a small Isle laying [blank] of the middle of it. At the Head of the harbour over an Isthmus of three quarters of a Mile is a Lagoon of fresh water which I named Etches Lagoon45 (from the Supercargo who first saw it, from one of the Hills near where the Ship lay) saw only one brood of Ducks in this water. The badness of the weather made it impossible to make remarks more than the memory afforded. we return’d down the Hill nearly the same track we went up dress’d part of the Seal & by dark got onboard. On the 31st. January, Ships & Smack’s boats went to the new year’s Isles & fetchd over seals & sea Lions & some Blubber of others that they

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killd to make oil for the ships & Smacks sea stores. they also brought great number of Penguin’s which the Isles abounds with.46 By Saturday the 10th of February, having landed all the stores & people for the Factory put onbd of Captn. Duncan the greatest part of the Stores & trade I had in for him; compleated my wood and water;47 I meant to sail the next morning, but at day light it blew a Huricane I remaind till the weather broke up. Sunday Noon the 11th. it fell less wind, weighd & warp’d out of the Cove & came to sail with a light breeze from the S. ward, but the wind dying away Anchd. in 20 fm. fine sand about half a Mile from the Shore off the NE side of the S. most Isle, the W. point of the Harbour Wt. the East point N. Body of the Eastms of the new Years Isles NW. Monday the 12th. at four oClock in the morning weighd with a breeze from the SW & by four oClock in the afternoon Cape Saint John Bore WBN 6 or 7 Leagues, the sea coverd with seals & sea Lions from the time of getting under weigh till sun sett. The head of the Harbour is in many respects preferable to the Cove, it abounds full as well with wood & water for which you cannot go amiss, there is also greater quantity of Birtch & partridge berries & on the top of the Hills which is the lowest & broadest; a run for people in the Cove was impossible being surrounded on all sides with perpendicular hills, attracting every air that blew & convey’d it down in heavy Gusts from all Quarters & made it very unsafe laying with out great attention paid to your moorings the only advantage in the Cove is a beach were a Vessel might lay onshore & were the Princess Royal clean’d & paid her Bottom from what Observations I made at full & Change of the Moon the Tides perpendicular rise is twelve or thirteen feet and high water at three quarters past two. Flood comes from the Eastward & Ebb from the Westward flows seven hours & Ebbs five. Theres a probability the changeable and unpleasant weather, would not so frequently happen at any other part of the Harbour were the hills are not so high, as was here; not a day passd after ten in the morning without rain or Hail & sometimes snow which cover’d the Tops of the Hills for hours, in which time it was disolv’d by the sun. The rain must be very heavy at some seasons of the year or the Flushes very great at the breaking up of the winter by the melting of the snow for the face of the Hills at every few yards are torn in deep gullys; in most of them water runing, in other parts were the torrent appears to have been too great for these Vents, Twenty or Thirty Yards off the foot of the Hill, is swept away, gradually decreasing upwards, every Tree & Shrub, many of which remain’d where they fell, the tops of all the Hills are a Barren Rock & for some distce. down which depends on the heigth of the Hill, all sides and parts of them alike decreasing irregularly from their Base forming a narrow ridge on the Top which ever way the wind blows

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their being so little hold for soil nothing can stand. The highest hills are most barren. the winds in general from WNW to WSW – few intervals of still weather. Staten Isle lays nearly East & West; the West part the Highest & most irregular making a very awful & pleasing prospect; the Et. Part of the Isle which we had the greatest Opportunity of observing is Iron bound, much broken, & of a Moderate heigth, but appears from the sea much higher than it is, from the hills being nearly perpendicular, to the Shore is coverd with trees much the same as were we lay, there are two bights like entrance to harbours to the Eastward of new years Harbour the first about two Miles distant with every appearance of running thro’ to the Southward when bearing from South to SW of you. Theres a small barren Isle in the mouth of the bight & when bearing South half a mile, soundings were 35 fathoms, fine sand; the supercargo who travell’d [blank] to the top of one of the highest hills near the Ship, saw water in that direction but not the Inlett to it also the sea to the Southward. the other bight or harbour is a small distance to the westward of Cape St. John & promises shelter the E. side of the entrance had appearance of the best Channel as the point was high & bold the West a gentle descent runing out to the N.ward and Eastward, making like an Island with a little rising in the middle. On the E. point of the Eastmost of new Year’s Isles is a Rock with a large hole quite thro’ which is seen in many directions & on the S. side of the Isle are many little bays and creeks very handy for landing or hauling up a Boat. New Years Harbour is very handy for going to sea from, with the prevailing winds, which hardly ever vary from the Westward wood and water is to be had in great abundance and convenient to be fetchd;48 the Trees in general of no great growth nor variety, none seem’d fit for either masts or Yards, they are of the same kind as at Christmas Harbour;49 the Winter Bark50 included of which there was a great quantity brought onboard.Vegetables were scarce, a little scurvey grass, & some wild Celery, the latter it being late in the Year was run to seed & prov’d very Indifferent eating. Birtch berries was in great plenty, and some few heath & pa[r]trid[g]e berries.51 Birds seen, were Shags, some few Ducks of different kinds, Sea pies52 & Race Horses a bird so nam’d by our sailors in the Voyage I made with Capt. Cook from our often rowing after them, & not able to catch them, they were then taken for Young Birds till one of them was Shott, are about the size of a goose & not unlike them in make or shape except the wings which are short, their flight is only on the surface of the water their wings serving the same purpose as oars to a Boat, besides the advantage they have in diving should they get disabled & overtaken if near weeds will dive &

90 | February, 1787

hold on till you are tired of waiting which is also the case with their Young when out row’d or sail’d so that you have no chance in getting one of them without its kill’d out right.53 The Birds of every kind got Shy after once firing at them, Penguins excepted of them any number might be killd on the New years Isles.54 The only Quadrupede seen, whose habitation could be call’d on the Land was a mouse.55 Of what Species the animal suppos’d to be the Otter is I cannot say, the largest I saw of them was of the size of an overgrown Cat, some of a grey colour others of a dark brown. Seals & sea Lions are in great abundance, the haslet of them often made us a meal, their resort at this time seem’d to be confind to the Shores near the sea.56 Fish. none were seen but a small [blank, illegible pencil addition] about the length of three Inches; but the Back bone of a fish three feet long, with the tail perfect lay on the beach, I suppose carried there by the Otters; I believe those animals to be very destructive to both birds & fish, which was the reason of our seeing so few; one was seen with a large penguin in his mouth, the head & feet of it we found in a Bush some few days afterwards, nearly a breast were we saw him land, it was of that kind calld the King Penguin,57 there might be fish in some other parts of the Harbour but our employment for the Boats prevented our searching for them. 57r Among the Rocks was caught a Crab which I believe is calld the Horid Crab from its Ugly and disagreeable appearance.58 Limpetts are in great plenty, & Muscles which are very good eating some few shells were found on the Shores of the Cockle or Clam kind, but none with the fish in. there are several other kind of Shells but I have met with them frequently at other places the two which are the scarcest I have sketch’d out. The Face of the Rocks were of a greenish hue, and several pieces of wood, that lay in the runs from the Hills, were impregnated with the same Colour which was nearest to that of Verdigrease. [Untitled sketches. Two shells] 59v-61r Log 62 [Untitled chart. Patagonia, lat. 47°-59°S, long. 61°-76°W.] [Taylor uses verse to comment on the voyage thus far and the prospects of those remaining at New Years Harbour:] Departure from New Years Harbour, Staten Island Farewell thou dreary spot, My Friend adieu! May health attend you busy Tars, and you! Prepared, we snatch, the first propitious gale To weigh the Anchor, and expand each sail Then South, along the Coast, our Course, we shape

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To oppose the fury, of the stormy Capea I’ts Westry gained we Northward point the prow To fairer Climes, where gentler breezes blow Where dismal glooms, and winds, awhile shall Cease And where the restless Bask, may be at peace ’Tis ours from Clime to Clime, to change the Scene Now Cold, now hot, now boisterous, now serene Now scudding swift before a northern breeze And now retarded in the Tropick Seas Devious are the Courses we must Steer But you, my friend, must rest imprisoned here! With anxious toil, to serve a needy few The scene is wild, still merit is your due Whoever first propos’d a plan like this Ne’er thought at all, or surely thought amiss Or ignorance probably was the cause Then ignorance ne’er must expect applause To send a party, with so small a boat When all the business, must be done afloat Was ill contriv’d advent’rous, and unjust For to this boat alone, the Crew must trust By far too small to venture out to Sea Or to perform, what they expect of thee! But where’s the risk, place but the wealth in view How oft we see the bustling crowd pursue Onward they rush unthinking down the stream By fancy buoy’d, while hope emits a gleam Thoughtless of others toils! if they but gain ’Tis quite enough! let others suffer pain. Yet sometimes speculation, leads astray And deep laid scemes, vanish in air away. But better prospects shall await my Friend Your zeal, insures a more auspicious end Success, attend each days assiduous task And crown your hopes, by filling ev’ry caskb Then may the Ship from England safe arrivedc And O’may you! each latent ill survive Till from this gloomy Isle you homeward steer And Albions Coast! your drooping spirits cheer With pleasure may you tread the British Shore When toils and danger, shall be yours no more a b c

Cape Horn The Oil is to be put into Butts till the Ship arrives to them on board A ship was to sail from England at Christmas 1786 to take in the Cargo. Mr Marshall is to Command her on her arrival at Staten Land.59

92 | February, 1787

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[Six sketches. “Colour of Soundings off Cape Blanco [and] from Falklands Isles to Cape St Vincent. The last soundings continued till the water shoaled to 55 fathoms then within 6 or 7 Leagues of the Cape.”] 64v-75v Log 76r [Untitled sketch. Unidentified fish] 77v-80v Log 81r [Untitled chart. Atlantic Ocean, South America, east half North America, British Isles, and part of West Africa.]

From Staten Land Round Cape Horn to the Equator

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We left the land all in good health & Spirits with a favourable wind blowing from the NW quarter & fine weather, this good fortune did not attend us long for by Noon the 13th of February it shifted to the SW quarter blowing Strong and dirty weather accompany’d with heavy westerly swell & kept us under Storm Stay sails till the 15th at Noon, it then moderated, haild from the Princess Royal & informd her main stay had given way in the Gale sprang the Bowsprit and also the mast in the partners supplyd them with a Spar to make another Bowsprit. At midnight the wind Shifted to the Eastward a moderate breeze the Seventeenth of February it got to the Northward and by midnight back again to the westward & brought its old weather with it, the forenoon of the 19th light airs inclining to Calm which was succeeded by a breeze from the SE and Eastward will noon & then got to the westward.60 On the 21st our Longitude was 71°50’W latitude 58°30’S which was the greatest Southing we made. the wind continued to the westward till 22nd at midnight had then a Calm for two hours, a wind at that time Sprang up from the South & South east & lasted till the forenoon of the 24th Latitude in 56°05’ Longitude 79°51’W got the Jibb boom & spritsail yard in board & top Gallant mast on deck to ease the Ship. On the 6th March at 4 pm Pr Log made the Isle of Madre de Dios on the West coast of Patagonia bearing EbyN½N nine or ten Leagues this Land is laid down in Captain Cook’s general Chart in 75W61 our Latitude at this time was 50°54’S Longitude 76°46’W which makes the Ship to the Eastward of the recokoning [blank] Miles. Winds being to the Northward and westward Tack’d & stood to westward & Southward. From the twenty fourth of February to the fourteenth of March the winds fix’d at the North west, seldom ever varying a point during which time had three heavy Gales & Scarce a watch pass’d without rain, hail or snow, & little prospect of either wind or weather changing, the season far advanc’d, every gale gathering fresh strength, and blowing longer, and when a slant of Wind happend, could take no advantage of it from the little sail oblig’d to carry to keep Company with the smack; under these circumstances many onboard got disheartend, this gave me some uneasyness for fear of sickness following.

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We had been very Fortunate in regard of Health as yet, & so little refreshments as we had met with since leaving England, having only one complaining, and he of a hurt he receiv’d onboard at our outfitt. This day the winds began to vary and by Noon blew a fresh breeze from the NE quarter with a prodigious high & irregular sea, at five next morning it fell calm for an hour, the Ship rolling deep carried away the Tiller short in the Rudder head, another was soon fix’d by which time a wind sprang up from the WSW which increasd to a gale and brought us under a low sail and oblig’d to keep the ship away in such a situation as she seem’d easiest in, and had the good luck only to carry away the Iron strap of one of our dead Eyes, these two little misfortunes I readily compounded for as few onboard believ’d we should save our mast. Latitude in at Noon 48°36’S. Longitude 82°31’W. At midnight it became moderate & winds variable which enabled us to make a slant to the Northward. From this time I date our release from constant NW winds, and out of a Climate where we had experienc’d such a Series of uncomfortable weather; the westerly swell still continued which indicates that the wind seldom blows at this season of the year from any other quarter, a heavy Easterly gale for twelve hours never chang’d the swell till it had almost done blowing or on the Eve of the Gale which always caus’d a heavy & confusd sea, & was the occasion of the accidents that befell both us and the Smack, but the Sea soon recovers it’s former state, for in a few hours it’s overcome by the westerly swell. On our passage to here saw very few Birds, whales or porpoises, a storm petrel was our daily attendant, & sometimes a forlorn Albatross or a Blue petrel accompany’d, but never saw more than two or three at a time the Birds and other animals seem’d fully sensible of a Climate doomd to eternal bad weather and chuse a more favourable climate for their abode. We began to make a little progress to the Northward and the westerly swell daily went down, and the fine weather induced me to get the Topgallant mast fidded and Jib boom out.62 Guns were got out of the hold and mounted, small arms fix’d up in the Cabin, sailmakers to work on the sails, Ships Company occasionally on the rigging and carpenters caulking the decks, we had a continuance of fine weather and winds mostly westerly till the 2nd of April. Latd. 28°39’S Longitude 82°44’W saw several small fish & Bonetta,63 & from the first of the [month] weather changing our marine attendance daily encreased, but the Sky for most evenings from the Latitude of 46° South towards the setting of the Sun look’d gloomy and unpleasant as portending bad weather, but we were agreeably deceived, those Clouds generally dispersing a little before or at midnight after producing a few flying Showers. On April the 5th Latitude 27°34’S Longitude 83°02’W the wind blew from the Southward & Eastward & brought on the trade.

94 | April, 1787

I intended, could I make the Gallegos, to touch there for some refreshments, we were all at this time in perfect health, but had had a long passage, and still the Voyage very Young, and every reason to expect some would fall down before it was performd without some change of Diet from the Shore.64 On the 19th [April] receiv’d two men from the Smack, ill of a disorder they contracted in England, with the addition of the scurvey.65 84r On the 20th Latitude in 6°17’S Longitude 100°28’W a bird resembling a Pidgeon in shape and make. on the 20th in the forenoon sixteen Turtle pass’d, struck two with the Grains one of 16 lb weight the other thirty. On the 25th April crossed the Equator Longitude [102°31’W]66 From first seeing the Tropical fish many were taken, and numbers daily surrounded us as well as birds, but to day had a greater number of birds than I had before seen, Boobies, Noddies, Tropic & men of war birds,67 and turtle, became as common as other animals. I expected hourly to see the Land & the Smack for Days pass’d, spread as far as we could discern each other’s signals for the better look out, but without success. From the Latitude of 30° to the Equator we had the most delightful, pleasant, serene, weather, I ever met with, attended with very smooth water, little or no Rain, but most nights a heavy dew. The weather now began to wear a different aspect, Cloudy, Gloomy & Hazy. 85v-87v Log 88r [Sketch. “Booby, 1/9 the size.”] 89v-91v, Log 93v-94v 95r [Sketches. Two unidentified fish.] 96v-101v Log 102r [Untitled chart. North Pacific, and North America, lat. 0°-80°N, long. 90°180°W.] 103v- Log 107v 108r [Untitled sketch. Notation: “This was a former voyage took for snow.”] 109v- Log 110v 111r [Untitled sketch. Coastline, probably in the vicinity of Nootka Sound.] 112r [Untitled chart. Nootka Sound, Tlupana Inlet, and Muchalat Inlet. See Figure 2.] From the Equator to Nootka

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On the twenty fifth of April at Noon our Latitude was Sixteen Miles North, no appearance of Land, in the Evening haul’d up to the NE thinking it might lay in that direction, at Noon the 26th our Latitude was 1°24’N Longitude 101°4’W. I now gave over all hopes of seeing it which I

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account for as said only to be known to the Spaniards who, tenacious of their rights & privileges in these seas, ever Jealous of any navigating them but themselves, conceive it will be to their advantage to confuse an account of any discovery they make where refreshments can be had, and more particularly this, being contiguous to their coast.68

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The Crew continuing healthy and lately having caught plenty of fish, the season so far advanc’d for the progress we had made, I did not think I could answer to my owners for going to Sandwich Isles, which was the nearest place I was certain of finding, & getting refreshments at;69 there were still many Isles on Charts in my way to the Northward but as they were mostly copied from Spanish accounts, I had little hopes of seeing any of them. I determin’d to proceed to Nootka. Brot too, made Capt Duncan’s Signal to Join Company, and at three o’Clock made sail. On the 27th at Midnight going four Knotts thro’ the water, the watch on deck was greatly alarm’d with two heavy shocks the Ship receiv’d, as if striking on a Rock, some thought they saw a large animal rise under the Larboard Quarter; it’s most probable to have been a large Fish that had been a Sleep on the surface. On May the first at Noon Latitude 8° North Longitude 106°58’W. From the time of Crossing the Equator the wind was mostly at SW excessively dark and squally with Thunder, Lightning and frequent showers of heavy Rain & strong current setting to the Northward. Birds, Turtle, & fish Innumerable, many of the Birds of a kind that seldom go far from Land, of those latter the greatest number resembled the Egg bird & St Helena Pigeon.70 On the ninth it fell little wind and variable blowing between the North and West much the Same weather & frequent calms till the thirteenth, during the Calms I observ’d on the surface of the water many small insects like those on Pools of stagnated water in summer months in England. On the fourteenth at 5 pm Pr Log saw Passion or Cliperton Isle bearing NNE four leagues Latitude the preceeding Noon 10°07’N Longitude 109°52’W haul’d on a wind to beat up with an Intention of landing if possible next day.71 through the night the Current drove us so considerably to leeward & no prospect of fetching it at Noon bore up, these last Twenty four hours the greatest number of Birds I ever saw within the Tropic most of them the Booby kind, many white, except the tip of the Wing & had much the resemblance of the gannet, several settled on the yards in the night and were taken, some few birds not unlike a sand piper were also seen. The Isle did not appear to be half a mile round, and from what observation I made out of the Top, with an Excellent Glass the SW side was steep, quite Barren & rugged two small spires of Rocks one at each end with a Hummoc in the middle & separated from the spires by a small notch some thought they saw trees but I could observe nothing that bore the most distant resemblance to them.72 The Showers of rain became now not quite so frequent the sky cleard and the winds seemd to incline to blow from the Northward and Eastward & gave me some hopes of getting the steady trade this did not happen till the 20th. Latitude in 11°08’N now twelve days getting three degrees of Latitude. saw a bird nearly the colour & size of a Hen Blackbird the sea all round as breakers and as far as we could see to the N.ward

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had the same appearance occasiond by a current which seemd to come from that direction.73 On June the first we had a similar Phenomenon & saw a Turtle which happend to be the last we met in those seas, having since we crossd the Equator caught Thirty weighing from ninety pounds to twenty & some were seen not three Inches long & some taken out of a Shark much less. The method we took to catch the Turtle, was by sending a boat to pursue them rowing as gently as possible & when near if they attempted to dive a man was always ready with grains to strike, this did not answer well, as more died of their wounds than we could while sweet. the best plan was, as soon as we discoverd them to row briskly keeping the boat end on, either the noise of the oars so Terrify’d them, they had not power to dive or they took the Boat for fish or Birds, that we scarce ever miss’d one we got sight of. Those seas abound with incredible numbers which is the occasion of such a vast number of birds & fish some feeding on their excrement and others on the Turtle themselves, as two very large ones were seen dead. not a Turtle was caught without sucking fish adhereing to, & if receiv’d a hurt the wound was coverd with maggots so that they provided for both fish & fowl, a circumstance of this we were Eye witnesses to by several sucking fish endeavouring to escape the enemys of their own Element got on the back of the Turtle & immediately became a prey to the Birds we got two sucking fish off the Back of one of them measuring fifteen Inches in length. Another thing I came to the knowledge of which enabled me in some measure to account for the birds we saw who seldom go far from land in a heavy squall. I observ’d one perch on the back of a Turtle who seem’d perfectly easy with his guest & he to make himself welcome was easing him of some of his disagreeable companions which must be excellent food & so good a resting place must be a great inducement to their leaving the land with the turtle. not a day had passd since crossing the Equator without a meal of fresh fish some days twenty large ones were taken & many small ones from Eight to Eighteen inches in length the Smack was more successful than us, we both should have caught many more, had our grains been good, they took hook frequently but we seldom got them inboard the Hook breaking we had a singular circumstance of a Porpoise taking hook. The fish of the smaller kind that followed us were those known to sailors by the names of pilot fish, Grunters,Yellow tails, cuttle fish, Gard fish, Ballaboes, & Barracotoes & flying fish, of the latter so many flew against the Ship side one night that in the morning every two or three foot was spotted with their scales, were their head struck, as if chalk’d.74 Of the Larger kind were Porpoises, Sharks, Bonnetta, & Dolphin, & a fish quite unknown to any of us which seemd to be a bitter enemy of all the others most of them seeking their safety when pursued by rising to the surface & keeping close to the Ship. It swam too deep for me to give any

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description of it from my own knowledge those who had a near view of it said it was about ten foot long, a sharp nose about fourteen Inches in length, Body ribbd with a greenish blue & not shap’d unlike the Dolphin a fin on each side nearly where the Dolphin’s is placed but much larger & longer. The fish in general were very good eating, except an overgrown Bonetta, which made all hands onboard the Smack sick, & a poor Turtle onboard of us had the same effect. On June the first one of Captain Duncan’s men being nearly recoverd return’d onboard. On June the 14th our Latitude was 29°05’ N Longitude 137°29’ W we had now passd all the Isles laid down by the Spaniards and if their situation had anything nearly corresponded to their place on the Chart,75 it’s more than probable we must have seen some of them. Birds & fish all left us except a stragling Dolphin & a few of a smaller kind that kept constantly under the Bottom. The scurvey at this time began to make it’s appearance amongst us having eleven complaining.76 A Regimen of diet was prescribed by the Doctor & follow’d a pint of Bottle porter was given them in lieu of their Grog & every other article the Ship afforded & of service.77 All our hopes of relief from this fatal disease depended on a fair wind & quick passage in this also we were retarded, being oblig’d at times to carry an easy sail for the smack, their crew continued in better health than ours but on the twelfth the head of their mast was discovered to be sprang & oblig’d to get the topmast & topsailyard down and on the seventeenth found it sprang in the wake of the Gaff and for Eighteen feet down for both places I supplyd them with Fishes78 a stout spar for the latter & Oak Plank for the former. with the accident that happend of Cape Horn their mast was wounded from head to heel it became necessary for every attention to be paid in carrying sail which in Justice to Captain Duncan was carefully attended to & no opportunity lost of wind & weather and our sail was regulated by theirs. The wind continued to the Eastward and Northward moderate breezes & fair till the twenty fifth Latitude in 37°39’ Longitude Ob. 145°10’ W their sick had increas’d to thirteen unable to do any work and many more complaining. On the twenty sixth of June the wind got to the Southward & westward, on the 29th the surface of the water was cover’d with a singular kind of Blubber which at a distance resembled snow, also another kind form’d by a Congeries of Barnicles like those growing on the Bottom of a Ship but of a pale brick dust colour & were fix’d on the Skeleton of the former & calld in Chambers’ Dictionary a Polliceps.79 A small blue shell fish was seen not unlike a snail but its covering much thinner. The winds continued to the Southward & westward with fine weather on the Fifth at Noon Latitude 49°19 the Smack being ahead on the look out made the Land which was seen from us much at the same time bearing NE by N twelve or fourteen Leagues.80

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map B Routes of the vessels, Northwest Coast, 1787 (for place name typographical conventions, see p. 9)

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Our Observation being to the Southward of the Port & wind Inclinable to the Northward haul’d up to fall in with the land a little to the Southward of Woody point at four oClock being within six or seven leagues of the land kept away to get in with the Coast near Breaker’s point81 at Eight oClock being within a Mile of the shore Breaker’s point EbyS sounded a quarter less seven fathom gravelly bottom a breast of a long sand Beach it was now too late to run for Nootka and to beat off & on, in our sickly Condition having only Eight including every Body able to stand the deck was impossible,82 this determin’d me to come to an Anchor, at nine came to in seven fathom gravelly bottom about a Mile from the Shore the extremes of the land from [blank] to [blank] Nootka Entrance NE nine or ten Miles.83 As we stood in with the land woody point appeard High & Bold & much rugged an Inlet close round to the S.ward with very high hills at the Back forming a succession of Hummoc’s there appeared two other openings to the S.ward of this one running in as far as the Eye could reach between the N & NE and the other between the NE & E the whole of the coast from the Hills summit to the waters edge was coverd with trees a pleasing sight to us who had not seen a bush for one & twenty weeks the very thought revivd the drooping spirits of those that were not able to crawl on deck to see it for no one remain’d below that was able to get up on their hands & knees or be carried, one man who had been long given over, & the person spoke of that had receivd the hurt in the River with now the addition of the scurvey and from being the stoutest man onboard was reduc’d to bones expressd that he should soon be well again.84 It fell little wind in the night & before morning calm a light was kept all night for the Smack but on her getting in shore & sounding found only five fathoms & bad bottom & none of her People ill Captain Duncan kept under weigh what tide we had was trifling & set to the Southward by the morning the Sloop was driven two Leagues to leeward in that direction. At day light [6 July] several canoes came off brought one or two Skins and that of an Inferior kind their chief Business seemd fishing which they were very expert in though we had the same bait, far preferable Hooks & fish’d with them could not hook a single fish. we were not much disappointed as they were purchasd off the Natives at a very easy rate,85 the method they used was letting a number of lines down with a Bladder float so when any fish was hook’d it was known by the Motion of the Bladder.86 Two Chiefs paid us a visit named McCulagh & Clataluka each of them was presented with a Grenadiers Cap,87 we learnt from them of a Ship in Port much larger than ourselves, at ten oClock a breeze sprang up from the WNW weigh’d & ran down

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within two or three Miles of the shore with regular soundings from 5 to 7 fathoms for four or five Miles but on passing a bed of weed which I take to be fast on a shoal off Breakers point the water deepn’d to 20 fathoms & then no bottom with fifty fathom line where our water first deepn’d was abreast of the South end of the Beach we anchord off the North point was about 3 Miles from where we lay & from the point ran out several small Rocks one of them resembling a boat under sail.88 At the Mouth of the sound a Boat came onboard belonging to a Ship named the Lowden Captain Berkley. they had been here twenty three days & lay at Anchor under the North point of the entrance;89 they informd us of a Man living here nam’d McKay left by a Mr Strange90 who commanded a Vessel here the preceeding season & went to sandwich Isles to winter.91 My not meeting the people here I expected nor factory,92 another Vessel such a length of time before me & unable in our present situation to search for another port was a cutting stroke to the Voyage but there was no remedy; nothing could be done till the recovery of the People & Sloop masted.93 this day most of Captain Duncan’s people complained. I determind to go up the Northeast arm to get some distance from the sea air for the more quick recovery of the People by two o’Clock being half way up came to an Anchor in fifty fathom & steadied to the shore with a hawser till we could find a proper place for both Vessels.94 Captain Berkley having learnt from his Boat our situation sent us some articles & a profer of any thing in his Ship that he could spare.95 many Canoes continued about us thro’ curiosity having little to sell. After dinner accompanyd with Capt Duncan & chief mate I went up the sound to look for a spot to refit at the head of the arm we lay in found one most conveniently situated in an Arm laying NW and SE with an excellent beach for people to walk on, a large run of very good water & plenty of Vegetables.96 In the morning of July the 7 the wind blew a fresh breeze directly down, but before noon the sea breeze set in. Captn. Duncan being much healthier than ourselves spared us most of his men to assist us up. The Smack weighd & got to the anchoring place before us which had like to have prov’d fatal to Captain Duncan & his Vessels as soon as he brought up, his Chief mate & Carpenter went onshore to look for a Mast the Indians by this time had collected in great numbers but as they had receiv’d us in such a friendly manner he had not the least mistrust. they became sensible of the advantage his confidence had given them, & observing no fire arms on deck & only two men with himself onboard began to be refractory & even threatend his life, but at that Instant of time the Ship heaving in sight they Implor’d his forgiveness in a most submissive manner which he granted them.97

map C Routes of the vessels, Nootka Sound area, 1787 (for place name typographical conventions, see p. 9)

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map D Tribal territories, Nootka Sound area (for place name typographical conventions, see p. 9)

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By sun sett the Ship was secured, great quantity of Berries & fish purchas’d off the Natives & our expectations were risen to a great heigth of soon being well and we began to forget the hardships & delays we had experiencd, the unpleasant climes we had passd, & the Vicissitude of weather met with in so long a passage.98 [Taylor provides some additional details about the arrival at the anchorage, located:] (52a) about one mile to the Northward of the principal Village ... Before the Ship was moored we were surrounded by the Natives in their Canoes in one of the larger Canoes were several troublesome elderly Men, one in particular whom we took for a Chief, a sourly fellow stood up and harangued the Natives along side for near an hour without ceasing,99 we were quite ignorant respecting the purport of the oration, yet we were sure He found himself offended at something, and we knew He must be some person of consequence as his Clamour commanded general attention. I was inclined to think they were displeased at our Anchoring so far from their Village as it would enable other tribes occasionally to trade with us, contrary to their wish, or probably the Old Chief did not approve of our Anchoring so near their Salmon wires,100 however we remained ignorant of the cause, but as they were numerous the boarding Netting101 and some small arms were prepared, but when we hoisted the Nettings, it gave general offence, many of them left us indicating by their menaces that we need not expect Skins unless we suffered them on board nevertheless it answered our purpose. they became quiet, and during the Afternoon Trade went on briskly for good pieces of Otter and other Skins, few Whole Skins appeared. This evening such of the sick as cou’d (52b) walk went on shore amusing themselves in collecting a Vegetable similar to Spinach, known by the Name of fat hen! Samphire for pickling102 side abreast of the Ship and we had a level spot of grass, very convenient for the weakest of the Crew, many of the Crew were to bad to be removed till the smell of the land and the Aid of Vegetables, fish &c should bring them round a little.

[And:] This evening I was Eye witness to the humanity of one of the Natives in assisting the sick over the Rocks into our Boat. He was an Elderly man and Father of a Family who had his house and occupied a small spot close to the Ship, his business was to attend the weakest of the (53a) Seamen one after the other, with great care and fellow feeling using all the tenderness and concern of a Brother or a Father to such as were able to walk without Aid. I rewarded his humanity in the best manner I was able. During my evening ramble He and his family requested me to fire a Pistol, and afterwards with permission fired one himself with great timidity & not without causing general fear for his safety throughout his Family. His Hut was filthy in extreme and everything within it, nothing can appear more wretched than a Hut containing a

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Nutka family. They offered me some Fish, which was boiling at a wood fire, and were quite civil to all the Seamen.

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On July the Eighth a tree was fell’d for the Princes Royal’s mast, and the Sick taken on shore abreast the Ship.103 Natives flock’d about us in great numbers their Village being about a Quarter of a Mile from us assisted our men to & from the Boats & seem’d to condole with them for their helpless state, making us entirely their guests, not suffering an Indian from any other part of the sound to trade with us but thro’ them.104 The great quantity of berries & fish purchas’d & Greens procur’d ourselves from the Shore, constant fine weather, being much warmer than in England, tho’ the tops of several inland hills were cover’d with snow, soon enabled most of us to stand on our legs, and on the tenth, feeble as we were we began to work on the Rigging; there was absolute necessity for both Fore & Main top-masts to be Strip’d the trusseltree being sprang and the Hounds given way.105 On the Eleventh of July a Chief in a large Canoe, with several others attending, came in from the Southward pass’d some dist to the westward almost out of hearing, & sight of the usual Song & gestures, which are perform’d on their passage when going a visiting;106 they landed at the Village & soon after two men came off in a Canoe, one a very Old man. on his getting hold of the Rope the other put off paddling in great haste for the Shore the Old man had with him a staff about four feet long, round and about the size of my little finger to within an inch of the Top which was cut in a square of ½ an Inch & on the top a Knob: his busyness was to invite us onshore to trade for skins, he said the strangers had brought;107 I detain’d him as a hostage having some suspicion, as not a single canoe was about the Ship, & the Supercargo & some of the Mates went with the Whale boat, on his landing he was steer’d into the Chief of the Village’s House thro’ a double rank of arm’d men, their knives held in a posture to strike, & introduced to the stranger, to whom he presented a Grenadier’s Cap & several other articles,108 & in return receiv’d a forc’d thanks, & not the least notice of Skins; not liking their Hostile appearance return’d onboard. Capt. Duncan, Chief mate with myself went a little time afterwards but we conceiv’d they did not receive us friendly & soon left them.

[Taylor gives a slightly different account of this encounter and a visit by the mate of the Imperial Eagle on 12 July:] This afternoon a Procession of Canoes with a large Body of Strangers came on a visit to our Villagers, and were received in great form, they were a tribe on friendship with our Neighbours, and were received with distinguished Ceremony; all

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the Canoes left the Ship to welcome the Strangers. We were doubtful sometime respecting the intention of this visit, as the Procession advanced with great order singing, and accompanying their Voices with the musick of their Paddles on the sides of the Canoes with some degree of Harmony. at their appearance a strange Canoe, of whom we had bought some Skins, departed hastily. Soon after the arrival of the Strangers, a small Canoe came off with an invitation for the Captain to pay a Visit to the Chief of the Strangers. Some of the Officers accompanied the Captain taking some small presents to ensure friendship. The Strange Chief and his Company were received in a large Hut, where they were seated in a ring, his attendants (55a) were standing round within the House armed with drawn knives, and War spears. several presents were given to all the Chiefs in company ... The 12th the Chief mate of the Lowden came on board, from him we learnt their method of getting some good Skins in their Possession by laying his Boats in such direction as to intercept any Canoes with good Skins. they then seized the whole and gave the natives what they thought proper, the same along side their Ship when proper opportunity offered, so that the natives were not at liberty to Barter their own way. this was showing them examples for thieving in a very extensive way, however improper we might think this conduct, it proved of great advantage to us. For the Natives rather than have their Skins stole from them where the Lowden lay, chose frequently to come some leagues further to us, where they had the Choice of fair Barter. We continued on friendly terms with the Natives. At Sunset twas our custom to make them all leave the Ship and go home to their houses, and we had but little trouble in making them comply with our wishes the instant we gave them the signal they departed very peaceably. (55b) They generally took great pains to instruct those who were desirous of learning their language, but ’tis extremely difficult to get acquainted with, and I have minded in asking the name of any particular article that in asking six different Men I have received as many different name, but ’tis scarcely fair to say each Man had a different name for the articles it might in consequence of some misunderstanding in the question asked.

By the thirteenth having purchas’d no skins & the Sloops people quite recover’d Captain Duncan was of Opinion some skins might be collected at the head of the sound, & propos’d leaving his Carpenter with me to go on with the mast which we determin’d on & he set out immediately on this expedition the supercargo accompanying. the next day in the morning the second mate went with the Whale Boat up another arm, on the fifteenth the Sloop return’d having had no success, & the Sixteenth the Boat, having been equally unfortunate.109 The Natives having stock’d themselves with little trinkets & Buttons our chief Barter, grew slack, in their supply of fish & Vegetables. but the women observing us fond of Cockles & Clams & they being easyly procur’d brought plenty.

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On the Sixteenth of July haul’d the Seine on the Beach close to the Ship & caught sufficient fish for both crews. we shot the seine most days for the remaining time we lay and with what we purchas’d generally serv’d. Between the 16th & Eighteenth several salmon were bought, & two deer which made excellent Broth for all Hands.

[Taylor offers some additional information about the activities between 13 and 17 July:] (55b) This evening [13 July] we purchased a small Canoe for the Ships use. The Seamen recovered fast from the Scurvy and attended to Rigging the Ship and getting her in readiness for Sea. The Weather now set in delightfully pleasant and healthy. The Natives Continued to supply us with tolerable proportions of Fish. (56a) Early on the morning of the 15th The boat man’d and armed was sent up the Southeast Arm of the Harbour in search of Skins, some few were purchased on board during the Day.110 this evening the Princess Royal returned from her excursion up the Northwest Arm. they went up about twenty miles from the Ship, and purchased only one whole Skin, and sixteen pieces. Captain Duncan gave a very poor account of the property of the natives up the Northwest arm.111 This being Sunday we got no fish, which was the Case on last Sunday which led us to believe they paid some attention to the Day in order to discover whether this really was the case, the Surgeon with a Boy in our Canoe, went on shore to the Village. He was received very cordially by the Natives there was about two hundred present, they placed him on a clean Mat, by the side of Oughomeize,112 the Chief of this district. He remained with them an hour without discovering any religious ceremony or anything worthy of notice, unless ’twas one Woman endeavouring to relieve a sick Child of its pain by friction. this She performed with great affection and tenderness, at the same time singing a doleful song.113 On the 16th The boat returned from her excursion up the Southeast Arm, they went up to the head, about thirty five miles, but twere no more successful than the Princess Royal. The Natives at the different Villages spread clean Matts for them to sleep on, in their Houses.114 (56b) Our Seine being prepared we seldom wanted for we had a convenient Beach and a few hauls caught as many Fish, as were sufficient for both Vessels. Onions and Berries came along side daily, and some time they brought us a Deer for sale, this did not happen often. The Ships Company gained strength rapidly. Of the Deer we always made Soup for all hands, and it proved excellent nourishing food. The frying pan was seldom Cleared of Fish so that our living was far from bad. The Indians required a constant watch to prevent pilfering, nor is it from us alone. I saw an instance of theft committed on a Strange Canoe, when the strangers back was turned. they stole a Paddle from them the theft was detected, and caused great altercation with some blows, yet I believe they are strictly honest among themselves in one Village, but If visited by Strangers though they receive them with great attention and Ceremony, yet If a proper

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opportunity offers, Ive reason to think they will steal and conceal any useful article, they know full well, when they are doing what they should not, and they are often detected by their Countenances, which generally betrays them when guilty. If at any time we suspected a man and put the question to him, his guilt became instantly conspicuous, and they are seized with fear, this indeed was not always the case, as I’ve seen some of them (57a) Saucy when detected and stubborn till the sight of a Pistol silenced, and sent them off. On the 17th A small organ of the Captain’s was played to the Indians, but the musick to them was not so attractive as the small brass pipes, those they conceived would make pretty ornaments for their Ears and Noses. The Drum and fife was also tried, but they disapproved of the Noise115 Oughomeize our Chief paid us frequent visits. He appeared to me to be a man who had raised himself to his Command of the District by his bravery he was a great favourite of mine. This fellow possessed some humour, and could pronounce a number of English words very well. this evening he described to us their method of killing Sea Otters and other animals, by putting on his head a wooden mask resembling feintly the head of some wild animal and covering his body with a Skin, then placing himself on the Deck in the attitude of the Animal he was supposed to pursue.116 in this manner in the Winter Season they hunt in the Woods, mixing occasionally with various animals, and being prepared with daggers, they watch proper opportunity to stab them sometimes they watch in the Woods with long spears, thus ornamented till the animal comes near enough to strike them.117 whether they are expert or industrious at this I cannot say, but should suppose they are, and if this trade is continued, no doubt (57b) ’Twill lead them to a close application for the benefit of Barter.

The few skins & pieces we had collected from the Natives for the length of time we had been here, and the Natives informing me, Captn. Berkley of the Lowden had purchas’d them all, gave me little hopes of being able to make any returns to my Owners; the Ship’s crew being mostly able to do something we began to wood, water, & fit out with every expedition to proceed to the Northward, in hopes of better success. The commander of the Lowden sent his boat twice with some deer, & he being in want of a little paint oil & some black varnish I spared it, & got some dead Eyes from them which we were Short of, the Ship’s crew visited and were on a very friendly footing. Captain Berkley came onboard me the thirteenth,118 I did not mention to him then the Illegality of his trading in the South sea Company’s limits thinking it would have been a breach of Friendship nor did I at that time think our situation so bad as it afterwards prov’d for having no Copper which was the only exchange the Natives took for their Skins he engrossed the whole trade & ruined ours.119 he was not ignorant he had no right here as he fitted out in the River at the time we did & went to Ostend for a Clearance. On the Eighteenth I sent a letter to Captain Berkley, by my chief mate, requesting he would shew him his Authority for trading in the South sea

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Company’s limits; my right for so doing he carried with him, it was refus’d but several letters & Messages pass’d, after this & his clearance from Ostend was shewn, but it being in a language my chief mate could not understand we remain’d as much uninform’d as ever, but himself & Crew being mostly Englishmen which is contrary to act of Parliament it remains to be settled on our return to England.120 The Man named Mackey that had been living on shore some months came one day onboard with one of the Lowden’s Mates but by some mistake I did not see him.121 I had now some thought of staying on the coast another season, & if so, some few of the articles Captain Berkley had offer’d me would be very acceptable to the Ship’s Company & he repeating his services everytime the Boat went, I got him to spare me some little matters with a h[ogs]h[ea]d & Quarter Cask of wine, & twenty Gallons of Brandy to be divided between us & the Sloop sending the Supercargo’ Bill on his Brother the owner, for payment he very politely return’d me ye Bill desiring I would leave it till we met at China taking the mates receipt for the things.122 Captain Berkley’s behaviour was as humane & Generous as I ever met with, and I am sorry his Busyness so clash’d with mine that I was oblig’d to behave in the distant manner I did. On the 24th the Lowden sail’d.123 The Natives began to be very daring in their thefts & their too frequent success gave them confidence.124 my situation being so sickly prevented my punishing them before, but I now determin’d to chastise the first Offender. the first we detected was a Man who stole a drawing knife from the Carpenter’s at work on the mast he was making his escape in a Canoe, but on the alarm being given the Ship & musket fired he landed & was taken by the people onshore, but they were too weak to hold him, the knife was recover’d & the Canoe brought onboard & cut up;125 the next attempt was to wrench the Guard Iron off the smack main chains, & on being discover’d put off Padling away in great haste & Join’d a number going a fishing. several muskets were fired & Captn. Duncan pursued in his boat on their getting some distance from the Vessels they made a stand as if to give him battle but on a Cannon being fired from the Princess Royal & us, it awaken’d their Fears & soon dispersed them; on Captn. Duncan’s coming up they took to the woods carrying their Canoes with them but thinking his danger over too soon launch’d his, which became a prize & was brought onboard; a Chief which I had detain’d till the boat return’d assisted at cutting it up.126

[Taylor offers a more detailed account of the sequence of confrontations:] (57b) On the 19th we were under the disagreeable necessity of quarreling with the Natives, the Circumstances as follows. The Carpenters were at work on shore upon the Princess Royals Mast, when one of the Natives took an opportunity of

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stealing a Drawing knife it was instantly swiped. The thief was known and pursued. Captain Duncan was landing at the time & made the alarm to the Ship, a boat was sent, but ere she arrived at the Spot the Carpenter recovered his knife. the Canoes round the Ship were brought too with Pistols, and detained along side, several Musquets fired to bring the Man too, ’twas quite a sham fight for some Musquets went off, but most of them missed fire. no damage was done, but the natives were all much (58a) frighten’d and became shy of the Ship for a while. Again the following Day [20th] some of the Indians were detected in prising off the guard plate of the Princess Royals Main chains. when discovered they made for the Shore a Boat was Man’d and armed expeditiously and Captain Duncan pursued them up the Northwest Arm127 but could not come near them before they took to the Bush. He seized one of the Canoes and brought on board and She was destroyed immediately. two three Pounders were fired off without doing any damage. Poor Oughomeize the Chief came worst off in this fray. He was on board sometime ere this happened, and when the small arms was fired the Chief became noisy and harangued the Natives in their Canoes along side, but to what purpose none could tell, probably through fear finding himself detained, or whether he was advising those along side to act offensively I could not tell. He was repeatedly desired to hold his Tongue, which he refused, probably from being ignorant of our desires. When the Chief mate gave him a violent blow on the side of his head. His behaviour on the occasion was truly characteristic of the Indian, receiving the blow with a smile of Contempt, then looking on the Chief Mate with a sullen countenance, and expressed his disatisfaction by a Shrug of his Shoulder, as much as to say Ah! is it so! but Ill be revenged. yet He sat (58b) Down and remained quiet till the return of the Boat when he was present at the destruction of the Canoe but appeared little concerned about her, he seemd to be rather meditating revenge for the blow he had received, showing me and others his temple and pointing to the Officer who gave it. Our Conduct respecting the Canoe was in my opinion highly blameable, for twas uncertain whether the Canoe belonged to the person, or persons concerned, or to an innocent Family. though I conceived punishment to be necessary in some degree to deter others from thievery, still the punishment inflicted on those occasions should never exceed the bounds of reason but one should rather be guided by the nature of the Crime taking care to make examples of the guilty only. in this Case the punishment far exceeded the Crime. The Chief came on board in the evening and brought his wife, and several of his Neighbours in his Canoe, when he took the chief Mate by the arm, and requested him to come and look over the side, when he made it known to them that He was the Man, who gave him the blow. yet he was perfectly friendly and seemed to forgive. A few Days after128 one of the Natives stole a piece of Iron, and had got into his Canoe, some of our Men got hold of him in the Canoe, yet he escaped from them jumped over board and swam on Shore. a Boat pursued him, and he recd. several blows from the Seamens Oars, yet he got off. several Musquets were fired at him from the Ship, as he run through the grass, but he was fortunate enough to

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(59a) escape alive, yet I suspect he was wounded when he was running on the Shore he acted very cunningly, in his own opinion no doubt, when he heard the report of a Musquet he fell flat on his Breast, then rose instantly and run this he repeated at the report of each Musquet, till he got to the Bush. The Natives afterwards informed us he was dead, but their intelligence I believe to be false. his Countrymen all pleaded an excuse for him, by putting it on a footing with retaliation, which they deemed allowable. captain Duncan they said had stole all the Boards from the Roof of his house, this indeed was really true, though shameful to relate, as they in attempting to Steal only followed the example before them. This was their third and last quarrel with these People. And our friend Oughomeize deserted us from this time, never once after paying us a visit.

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By the 29th, the Smack got new masted haul’d on shore & clean’d & ready for sea and the thirtyeth sail’d down the North entrance to wait at the mouth of the sound till we join’d.129 on the same day an Indian stole a Bar of Iron Eight foot long and though many of the Crew around him at the time, found means to convey it in the Canoe before it was miss’d; in endeavouring to recover it & get the man in, two Canoes were over set, and he escap’d with swimming but without his prize, several muskets & pistols were fired but none did him any hurt. On the first of August weigh’d & warp’d over to the N. point of the NE arm130 & made fast to the shore for the night at Daylight wednesday morning heavy Rain weigh’d with a light breeze & Boats towing & anchd. in Ship cove;131 thro’ the forenoon bought many Salmon & Should have got many more but the Chief of the Village we had left followed us down boarded most canoes coming towards us, took sometimes all & mostly part of the fish; in the Evening the Supercargo went over with the Boat to the westward found the Smack riding in the Bay the Lowden had left having purchas’d fifteen good skins & many more to be Sold, but insisted on the Ship coming to their town as they dared not offend the Chief whose district we lay in.132

[Taylor adds some information about the Chief of Cheesish/Mo’ya Village:] (59b) On our Passage down the Sound I had an opportunity of observing that our old friend Ougomeize the chief was really a Man of some Consequence, and authority, among his own Villagers. In the Morning when the different Canoes belonging to his Village were coming in from Sea, with Salmon, He came down the Harbour in a large Canoe, well attended, and boarded every Canoe, as they came in, and from each he received tributary Fish agreeable to the number caught, some of the Canoes I saw endeavoured to get from him, but his canoe haveing the superiority in Paddling, this endeavours were fruitless (60a) and those who strove to shun him appeared to come worst off. One and all were submissive, though when discoursing with them along side, they seemed to

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disapprove of his conduct, but I should imagine his claims were very just, or such a body of Men would not suffer it. I do not believe Oughomeize to be of any further Consequence than Chief of a Fishing tribe, for I never knew him during our stay bring a single Skin for sale, nor do I believe that any of his Tribe are allowed to interfere in Commerce. on the Contrary I suspect his Village is kept under great subjection by the Neighbouring tribes, who will not permit them to have many Skins in their Possession, but confine them chiefly to their Fishery.133

on the 2nd. at daylight heavy Rains & winds variable & to the E.ward got under weigh boats towing the Pr. Royal’s boat assisting, by two o’Clock a fresh breeze sprang up. Made sail, but both wind & tide against us, were oblig’d to seek an Anchoring place under some of the Isles in the mouth of the sound,134 it fell little wind during the Night but rain’d very heavy till Eight o’Clock next morning [3 August] & then fresh breeze from the Southward. On Saturday Morning, the fourth, it was Calm weigh’d & towed over into the Bay and Anchor’d in seven fathoms water. Cut up the Cabin stow for trade.135 On the fifth having purchas’d all the skins we could see, weigh’d & tow’d out of the Bay; a breeze soon after springing up from the westward were clear of the Sound by ten o’Clock but the Supercargo thinking they had some skins left return’d with the Whale Boat, & second mate, by noon he came onboard the boat was hoisted in, & we made sail, many of the Canoes attended us out of the sound & several Join’d us that were fishing & enough was purchas’d for two days Stock.136 A Description of Nootka and Its Inhabitants

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The Extent of the head of the Sound, & one of its Branches, the Sketch which I copied from Captain Cook’s, & added the Smack & Boats track & also the Ships in and out, will give a better Idea of, than I can describe in writing;137 the Place we refitted at & the Anchoring place sail’d last from, are both preferable to Ship Cove. the first very convenient for watering, wooding, hauling the Seine, trees, for mast of any size & easily convey’d to the water, the only preference to be given the Bay on the West side the entrance, is its laying so handy for going to sea and trading with the Natives as the Chiefs of that district have large acquaintance on the sea coast, but water you must send some distance for. The Trees are chiefly the Cypress & Canadian pine; the difference is known by their Colours, the Cypress being the palest.138 Vegetable productions are numerous; those that I could not mistake from their Fruits are Strawberries, raspberries, currants, gooseberries, alder, partridge berries, & Apples; the latter about the size of a small Cherry there are several other kinds of berries the best of them are Red & purple ones growing on Bushes a little larger than current a small narrow leaf

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like the Black Thorn & the Fruit about the size of a large sloe those berries are preferable to any of the rest and found in greater plenty. the other sorts that I did not know though eat[en] by the Natives are held in no esteem by them,139 many plants that were found promiscuously on the shore were eaten of and agreed with us. The most common ones us’d were leeks, and a green call’d Lamb’s Quarters this last we were fondest of & most easily procured. I have seen great quantitys growing on the East side of America & in England & eaten of it before.140 The Quadrupedes must be numerous from the different Skins the natives wear, the only ones I saw were Dogs, a small land Otter, & Deer.141 The Sea Animals were Seals, Whales, porpoises, & sea Otters, of the latter great numbers were seen in different parts of the Sound.142 Birds are not numerous & very Shy, Crows, Ravens, White headed Eagles, Fishing Hawks, Herons, King Fisher, wood peckers, a bird like the English Hedge Sparrow, Swallows a small bird of a dirty green colour, sand Piper, Humming birds & Pigeons.143 Sea & water Birds are found in no great plenty & are the Quebrantehuesses,144 Gulls, Shags, Divers, & wild Ducks.145 Fish are in great plenty the Principle sorts are the small sardine, a silver fish like a Breem, also a Gold colour’d one with Blue Longitudinal stripes having from ten to thirty young in them. Salmon, Salmon trout, Flounders, Skate, Eels, Sculpins, Cod146 some of each of these kind of fish were caught in the seine also a large Blubber the natives were very fond of, & Starfish sea Eggs & Crabs haul’d on shore at times.147 Great Quantity of Cockles & Clams are found by digging in the sand at low water, & on the Rocks are abundance of large muscles & a few welks & snails & caught in the seine a very small scallop.148 Of the Reptile kind were snakes Brown Lizards, Centipedes, Caterpillars, & earth worms. Insect tribe common Butterfly, Bumble Bee, small Bee, Wasps, Moths two or three kind of flies, a few Beetles, Musquitoes & Spiders. Besides the Rocks that constitutes the Mountains and the Shores there, a Black one like the Oil Stone of Carpenters & one of a dirty pea Green colour both of which they polish for working tools and war weapons, a piece of Rock Crystal was purchas’d. I believe it to be scarce as it was the only piece seen. Minerals saw none that we have any reason to think are found in this Neighbourhood. Copper they were in posession of small quantity, but their eagerness to possess it is a convincing proof they get it in the way of Barter thro’ the same channel as the Iron.149 They use a red kind of ore to paint their faces & utensils with & set little Value on it nor our vermillion altho’ they prefer’d it would not give the smallest article in exchange they have also black & white which they mark their faces with, the latter gives them a horrid aspect.150 The Inhabitants are of a midling size neither corpulent nor lean, the Visage mostly round and full, and sometimes broad & high prominent Cheeks their nose flatt and wide nostrils the eye small

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and black rather dull than sparkling the mouth round & lips mostly thick, their teeth good & regular, very few young men wear their beards, & scarce an old man without one, the Hair of their Heads is dark inclining to Black & thick & on many of them a good length hanging down over the Shoulders & forehead in a wild manner but when going on a visit, it’s dress’d in different manners ornamented with the white down of Birds. Their complexion when wash’d clear of paint is a Shade whiter than the People of the society Isles151 & the Women had appearance of a Colour in their Cheeks. the Children whose skin had not been died with paint were nearly as white as Europeans but their Mothers have a most unnatural way of treating the Males binding their heads round with a bandage under the Pole & over the Crown forcing the back of the head out to a considerable length this I believe to be a very new custom as I only saw one person arrived at the years of maturity with an uncommon long head.152 The only difference between the men & women in the dress, the outside covering of the men being an Animals skin with the fur cut, but the Women have more of other kinds. a mat is used by both fix’d on the Shoulders by way of a great Coat when it rains.Very few of the Women can be call’d handsome or anything agreeable in their countenance and the small number of those the Chiefs had selected for themselves, their employment (of every Rank of them is making Mats, Baskets, Hats, & other coverings but none of us saw them making the woollen garments they wear. Their Husbands keep them in great subjection treating them with little affection or tenderness for besides making their Clothing & many other useful Articles about the house they gut fish, prepare the Roe & other Victuals, at other times on the Shores to pick or dig Shell fish, & the Woods for berries & Roots; The women have a great share of Modesty, nor had we but two instances of their deviating from it, always decently cover’d & not without taste, was it not for the dirt they contract from the Oil and paint they daub themselves with, which breeds great quantity of vermine & they take no pains to destroy them, except one is troublesome and they get hold of him by chance it’s crack’d between their teeth & swallow’d. this is practic’d also by the Men who are dirtier if possible & void of all Modesty, on a fine day laying naked basking in the sun, which was often practiced in their canoes along side they appear to be very Idle, their chief employment is building houses, making canoes, war weapons, and fishing, the latter they go in great Bodys to. I believe to protect one another and their fish; having no doubt but they both theive & murder when Opportunity Offers. the supercargo was at a house in his Expedition were a man just receiv’d a Stab & had every reason to think his appearance sav’d both the man’s life and property, for the two men that were on this busyness paddled off in great haste. They eat of berries and roots as they come in season, but their chief food is fish having great numbers smoak’d and dry’d for winter, mostly sardine and Salmon, pack’d in Mats making a Bale three or four foot

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square. Deer I don’t think they frequently eat, but kill them for their fat & Skin; Birds are often shot with arrows but of no estimation, as several Pigions were brought along side to sell. the dishes for their food are as nasty as themselves and don’t appear to have been clean’d since first made. Knifes they have plenty never use them when their fingers & teeth will do. There’s no cultivation among them which may proceed from too frequent wars & from the same cause may arise their having such miserable dwellings being so contrived as the covering of them can be carried away Expeditiously, the largest Building is generally in the Middle of the Village & Occupied by the Chief on the two beams which form the length of the House are paintings resembling Human figures & the supporters of these beams are large posts of wood those at each end has a human face carv’d on & in the mouth teeth fix’d. the remainder of their House is made up with a small rafters & boards;153 to account for the number of deserted Villages & Houses in different parts of the sound I cannot, without the greatest number of the Inhabitants have been exterminated by War the remainder joining the conquering party, or oblig’d to Shift their abode on account of their dirt & nastyness which is scarce credible the quantity of fish scales Guts Bones &c surrounding all their Habitations & when encreasing faster than the Crows Ravens & Herons can destroy, rising above the Platform of their Houses which are several feet above the ground must become too great a nuisance for themselfs to bear.154 The canoes are well calculated the largest carrying twenty or thirty people, the smallest two & three, they are form’d out of one tree growing narrower at each end the stern the lowest the Bow having a good rake forward & carried up much higher than the other end some of them have carving & Painting on their Stern and gunnel & the inside cut in Grooves wch. at a distance look like timbers they swim without outriggers & the seats are round sticks.155 Their implements are well contriv’d of every kind except their nets which are very Indifferent. their most curious one & which they are very expert in using is a long piece of wood sharp’d Edged set with large teeth which they pass under a shoal of fish & catch them on or between the teeth.156 They inform’d us land animals were caught in snares placed in their Haunts, and kill’d afterwards with spears & Dogs which resemble the English Fox dog one was taken onboard the Smack young & with every attention paid it, it still retain’d its savage state biting at times its best friends, it was given away at the Sandwich Isles.157 the receiver by the next day finding it of so different a temper to their docile animal brought it back beseeching they would take it again, as he had driven every one out of house & Canoe till his mouth was tied. this animal seldom barks & then very low, but makes a most hideous noise at times, by Howling. I believe the animals of the

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woods are often trepan’d by their dressing themselves in their Skins & Mask running on all fours making the noise of the beast they are in pursuit of by the Example shewn us it’s a most Excellent Deception. Their most common fishing lines are out of sea weed which grows to a great length, is about the size of whip Cord & while kept moist is very strong.158 they have other lines made from Cypress bark & also from the skins & sinews of animals most likely the Whale & many of their implements perhaps from the bone of the same fish.159 I saw none of their Religion the method of disposing of the dead is cutting them up in pieces putting them in a Box burying it a little below the earth’s surface or leaving them above ground in the woods near where some corpse had been inter’d. a Trunk of a tree was set up with a Human face carved on & call’d by the Natives Klumma.160 There was an old man which I took for a priest came off several times & made long Orations to numbers that were collected around the Ship.161 this is the same man that brought the Invitation to trafick on shore with the Strangers, but what was the purport of his harangue the imperfect knowledge we had of their language, made it impossible to tell, I was inclin’d to think it was against us. several days prior to our reception at the Village I observed this person in a small canoe passing & repassing the Ship frequently in great haste as if emply’d express, which latterly never happen’d. Our confidence was greatly destroyed in each other, from the Circumstance that happen’d onboard the Princess Royal on our first arrival. The Chief of the District we lay in was nam’d Vau-maise he was on-board the Smack at the time the man drew a knife on Captn. Duncan.162 he did not speak but we had frequent Opportunitys of observing this daring fellow was his right hand man. no doubt but he brought him there to execute what he threatend, not till we were offended with our reception onshore did not know his consequence on our mentioning what had pass’d his answer was we had not treated him nor his brother well who resided abreast the Ship that the people of his Village had supplyd us with fish and berries & his Brother with water wood & a mast the latter articles we had paid nothing for, had made presents to strangers & given them nothing163 I thought some part of his complaint very Just & a Grenadiers Cap and several other articles was given him and Capt. Duncan gave his brother a similar present on the receival they set up a loud howl a signification of approbation.164 they have few methods of expressing the passions hardly a circumstance excites pleasure in their countenance & then only a faint smile seldom or never laughing. I have seen a man cut several parts of his arm with a knife without shewing the least symptom of pain. the st[r]ongest passion is fear of death which on the sight of fire arms is expressly shewn. they frequently scold & abuse each other but their anger apparently is very superficial have little curiosity, & a high Opinion of their carving, Implements, & ornaments, which

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were prefer’d to our beads. Copper or Brass buttons were in great estimation with them, & stole every thing that could be of use & from the frequent Visits of Europeans they have found many articles of use that were unknown to them before.Vau maise appear’d to be a free Booter & great Warrior his neighbours standing in great dread of him. nor do I think he ever bore us any friendship a convincing proof was his taking the pains to prevent our supplying ourselves with salmon on the day of leaving his Village cruising about in a large canoe well man’d and arm’d taking all or most the fish from any one he saw coming near us thus they tamely submitted to & was call’d capsheitle.165 I have seen this practiced by Individuals after a long scold which ended in the loss of the fish, we accounted for it supposing the person to be a stranger & a forfeit to his encroaching on their libertys.166 The Chief of the Village we lay at last named Maccula,167 he and his people much more civiliz’d and treated us well frequently entertaining us with a song. on our repeating those we had learnt up the sound they seem’s much displeased said they were peshak & belong’d to suma or fishing Merchants168 they had a great desire for fire arms & powder & got a brace of Pistolls & a few charges in exchange for some dresses of furs. A native was seen onshore that had his head cut off by some of their neighbours. they set out while we lay here with the fire arms collected from us & other traders to punish the Murder it could not be far off as they were soon back the result of this expedition we could not learn.169

[Taylor describes “Barclay’s Cove,” that is, Friendly Cove, the village of Yuquot, and makes some observations on the stay in Nootka Sound:] (60a) Barclay’s Cove lays within the Point forming the North west entrance into the Sound, and has the advantage in every respect to our former situation at the Fishing Village with the advantage of a fine Beach and the daily healthy Sea breeze over a low point of Land. The Town which stands very pleasant, the Natives call Nutka. The Village is under the Government of two Chiefs of nearly equal power, they are both keen clever men well acquainted with barter, in all its Stages, as well, with distant tribes for Skins, as with us in the sale of them, and they spare no pains in getting them into their possesion. if their is any difference in their authority Maquilla has the preference, he speaks some English, and is very ready in learning he has a very good notion of singing after the English (60b) manner. The tune of Malbrook and Come then all you social powers were quite familiar to him. The Chiefs are men of strict probity, and the natives in general were less inclined to theft than at Oughomeize’s Village, for which we had reason to believe we might thank Captain Barclay, who had them in such order that they never attempted to thieve on the contrary he could always place full confidence in any of them and sometimes lent them his boats, as they prefered them to go out and kill Whales, and they always returned the boats safe: both Men and Women here, are more cleanly than at our last Anchorage, and considering the distance only about twelve miles between the two Villages,

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figure 3 tis wonderful the difference in their manners and behaviour. the Natives here are much better clad and in general better looking Men. The Women have far the superiority in point of beauty, and good humour. Captain Barclay had been very liberal to them, they shew their presents which his bounty had bestowed on them and treated us very scornfully from parsimony, constantly teazing for earrings &c in such a pleasing manner, the there appeared a cruelty in denying them, but as all articles of trade rested solely within the hands of the Captain and Supercargo ’twas in no other persons power to follow the bent of their own inclinations. they did receive some presents from that quarter, but from the Lowden they received from the Hands. (61a) During our short stay here nothing but Copper would answer for barter, every other article of trade was rejected, and we had no Copper on Board. The funnel of the Cabin stove was cut up, Copper boilers, Tea Kettles and a variety of other utensils. several good Skins were purchased from the Chiefs and from Strangers who came in their Canoes from the Southwards, and the Skins were in good order, some of them had been properly stratched on frames to enhance their value and were free from Vermin, which was not the case with many.170 Exclusive of the Skins of different kinds, Viz. Sea Otters, Bears, Fox’s, Deers, Rackoons, martins, Squirrels &c &c purchased from the Nutkanans.171 they bartered some few articles of their fishing Tackle and some parted with flaxen garments, wooden masks. Their weapons of defence, Bows arrows spears &c

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&c in short any of their furniture or Cloathing were to be purchased by those who were in possession of Trade. I cannot say much for their liberality as they seldom chose to part with the smallest article without being what they conceived well paid, one exception should be made. Whenever we visited them at their Huts they always offered us fresh or dried fish, water or any thing they had to eat or drink. Buttons were still held in the same estimation as When Captain Cook was among them and our Cloaths shared to the same fate to purchase triffling Curiosities.172 The Vegetable productions at this Season are very plentiful, Viz. Fat hen, similar to Spinach, Onions, and Samphire &c (61b) and a great plenty of fruit. Gooseberries, Strawberries and Rasberries, these together with Deer occasionally and Fish in great plenty makes the Nutka an excellent Port of refreshment in this part of the World. In respect to the behaviour of the Natives, guard only against their Pilfering and much may be said in their favour. that they have a great idea of property has been justly said But we always found them willing to barter friendly and upon all occasions, when we were on Shore among them, they treated us hospitably, and on many occasions behaved with particular attention and humanity, in respect to their crimes, great allowance may be made for the temptation to commit them, and which may be always avoided by securing the friendship of the Chiefs, and not suffering the Natives on board unless they bring Skins to Barter, for in my opinion ’tis a cruel indiscretion to suffer them on board idling about the Decks, till some temptation leads them to steal, and you then punish them, for the Crime, which you might prevent. I conceive ’tis necessary to secure the Friendship of such Chiefs only, as are men of property among them, the others are of no use or consequence, when ’tis likely by making them presents, you lose the friendship of those who may render you more essential service, and the presents should be judiciously timed to prevent jealousy. I understand that Maquillas Village, as well as the one under the government of Ougomeize were only Summer habitations, and occupied for the double advantage of fishing and bartering, but in the Winter months they move off. Houses, furniture & utensils into the internal parts.173

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[Untitled sketches. Nineteen Nuu-chah-nulth artifacts. See Nuu-chahnulth whaling hat in Figure 3.] 126r-v Log, 7-10 August 1787

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On the 6th & 7th. wind Variable mostly to the westward at times foggy with drizling Rain and Inclinable to Calm at Noon ye 7th the Lat. by an Indifferent Observation was 49°9.’ at 8 pm the wind veer’d to the Southward and Eastward; light airs at day light set steering sails at 8AM saw a snow Standing to the NE, the Princess Royal going better before the wind than us desired Captn. Duncan to make all sail & speak her.174 Latt

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at Noon the 8th 49°33’ at one pm Capt Duncan fired a Gun & hoisted his Ensign on being answer’d by the strange sail discover’d by her Colours they belong’d to the same owners & on their Joining Company found it to be the Queen Charlotte Captn. George Dixon the Boat was hoisted out & Supercargo and self went onbd; Captn. Dixon & Duncan return’d and din’d, at 3PM bore up with the Snow, steering WSW.175 Learnt from Captain Dixon that himself & Captain Portlock, who saild together the preceeding year, but arrived so late on the coast were not able to Collect any Quantity of furs to make returns equivalent to the outfit, which made them stay another season & had found it answer their expectations; my case being somewhat similar to theirs he recommended it to me to do the same, but my Stock of provisions & Stores badly suiting such advice being calculated at most only for Eighteen months, & all I could get from the Snow was a cask of Molasses ([Colnett] footnote: The Surgeon176 also got what Medicines he was most in want of ) to be divided with Captain Duncan

map E Tribal territories and routes of the vessels, Nasparti area, 1787 (for place name typographical conventions, see p. 9)

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& some few articles for trade his Vessel belonged to the Person I was employd by, but the Ship I was in, Charter’d at a great Expence under these circumstances it made it a delicate point for me to determine on.177 Provisions such as Yams & Pork I could get plentifully supplyd with at the Sandwich Isles, which was absolutely necessary I should go for, as well as to pass away a few Months of the Winter; he also gave me some hopes of falling in with Captain Portlock of the King George whom he left at Prince William’s Sound, & was to rendezvous at Nootka;178 Captn. Dixon also recommended it to me to make some Isles in the Lat. of 53°179 and lent me some sketches to Copy of three ports he anchor’d in to the Northward.180 In the Evening Supercargo went on board with Captn. Dixon, winds for the night were moderate blowing from SE thick rainy weat[her]. in the Morning the Supercargo came onboard & the Queen Charlotte parted Company.181 the wind at this time having shifted to the North & westward its old point, she steer’d to the Southward with a large wind Lat. at Noon the 9th 49°42’ Land Obscur’d by the Haze. I had by this time attentively considered the advantages & disadvantages that might accrue from prolonging the voyage another year and to the best of my Judgement the former greatly outblalanc’d the latter, which If I did not follow would have been making bad use of the confidence my employers had put in me, leaving all matters concern’d the Voyage entirely to myself. I consulted Captain Duncan and Supercargo, both Acquiesced with my Opinion and we all seem’d to recover our lost hopes of making a profitable voyage; the Tacks were haul’d onboard & we stood away to the Northward with a resolution to stay on the Coast as long as we could get any refreshments and weat. would let us with an old Ship. The wind seem’d to be fix’d at NW with no prospect of a Change, & loosing ground by plying to windward made me determine to spend a few days in port, could I find one near where we were. on the 10th at eight in the evening Pr. Log182 a Rock laying a small distance to the Southward of woody point which I namd split Rock, from its appearance, bore N½W 6 or 7 Leagues during the night tack’d occasionally keeping well in with the land.183 at Eight o’clock next morning [10 August] the extreams of the Land bore N50°W to E5°S an opening which we were standing in for NNE keeping the deep sea lead going no Soundings with Sixty fathom line.184 The Rock off Woody point is an excellent mark for knowing the Land, it’s high & barren about a ¼ Mile Base & no great distance from the shore and when on with the main will bear North by Compass & gives woody point a different appearance to what it has in any other direction.185 Shewing a Bluff of moderate heigth, about three Leagues from Woody point commences a white sandy beach interspers’d with rocks & ran up in direction of the Inlet we were running in for its shore had a very pleasing effect close to the beach being cover’d with Trees, but the Land of Woody point has nothing near so much wood on, as other parts of the Coast we had seen. A little to the Northward of the point of this beach

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lay some rocks a wash as they are a small distance from the Shore and I believe shew themselfs at all times of tide & weather;186 we also pass’d a small Rock laying to the Eastward of us it’s about the size of a Boat, above water & from the sea weed around it should suppose it shoal for half a Cables length. there were several signs of Shoals to the Eastward of this and Captain Duncan being farther in that direction saw one or two both going in and coming out.187 We kept the western shore onboard & ran up as high as an Isle, with a few decay’d trees on;188 passd to the Eastward of it & within the Ship’s length, & had soundings at 27 fathoms gravelly bottom which were the first good soundings we had, about half a Mile farther out got ground at 50 fathom but it was Rocky.189 Ran up about two miles above the Isle and anchor’d under the western shore in 27 fathoms muddy Bottom the Isle in the Entrance bearg. [blank – south by west]190 soon after we brought up a squall of wind from the Northward came down off the Land, & the sails loose being calm when we came to, the Ship drove but on being clued up held on, Captain Duncan at this time thinking himself too near the shore slipt & ran higher up.191 Several Indians came onboard, & some few skins were purchas’d.192 The Chief mate went up the Harbour and second mate and Supercargo193 to Seaward to examine the port and trade with the Natives, in the Evening both Boats return’d. At the head of the Harbour a Ship may lay shelterd from all winds in 7 fm. water muddy Bottom plenty of wood and water & a convenient place to haul the seine in the Mouth of the Harbour on the E. side there was good anchoring, shelter’d by some small Isles; there appear’d to be better places on the west side than where we lay, being exposed to the Southerly winds on this same side running up we observ’d a Lagoon of water with a very narrow Entrance.194

[Taylor adds some details about this visit:] (63a) Two Canoes joined us without the harbour, and followed us in as soon as the Vessels were at an Anchor several Canoes came along side; we saw by some beads, that these People Visit Maquillas Village, the Language and customs are exactly alike, indeed the distance is too small to cause a difference as the Harbours are only separated by Woody Point. The Natives offered us some roasted Muscles on skewers and were perfectly civil. we purchased fifteen good skins of them ... [on] the Starboard hand near the entrance [of the harbour] is a Village about fifty Inhabitants had we made a longer stay they promised to bring Skins.195

During the night the squalls came down over the land in violent gusts, got a Hawser ran out to the weather shore.

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At Six in the Morning August the 11th. got under weigh & ran out of the Harbour wind at NW at Noon Woody point [blank – northwest] Southern Extreem of the Land E½S.196 Fresh gales & squally Lat. Observ’d 49°56 Woody point from several Observations we had of it I take to lay in Lat. 50°11’ and the port we left which I named Port Brooks after one of my owners in Lat 50°12’ & Longitude 127°51’W.197 All the afternoon it blew very fresh from the N.W. & clear weat[her]. but towards morning the 12th it became thick, & clear’d away as the sun came to the Meridian; Woody point then bearing NBW½W 7 or 8 Leagues wh was the northmost land we could see.198

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figure 5

Most part of the afternoon a thick fog at Six in the Eve weather continued thick Tack’d and stood off the Land winds for the night from W to NW falling gradually less with a thick fog & Rain at times and by 4 in the Morning the thirteenth Calm; at Six a light breeze sprang up from SE still thick with drizzling Rain, set steering sails at nine heavy rain & in the heigth of it the wind return’d to its old corner the westward; at Noon the Fog & rain clear’d saw the Land thro’ the Haze the Northmost extream NWBW. all the afternoon it continued Hazy; stood in for the Land at 4 the SW end of the Sandy beach in Entrance of Port Brooks bore [blank] & from this point of view appear’d out from under the High Land forming a Low point cover’d with Trees & from this point the Harbour runs in NNE.199

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There are two breaks in the Land which we took for entrance to Ports to the Southward of this, with several small isles200 off, & may be one of the Entrances Observed by Captain Cook when he discover’d Nootka; but the land which he names hope Bay did not shew itself to make that bight he mentions;201 this may be owing to the weather as it has great effect on appearances of Land, & we never had it clear of Haze while off this part of the Coast. the Land to the S. ward of Port Brooks for a few Leagues is not so high as the other parts, & one of the Hills perpendicular with the shore of a White face is very remarkable wh was seen all weat[her] when we could see ye land.202 [Untitled chart. Port Brooks. Notation, “Latd. 50°12’N, Long. 127°52’W, Varn. 22°30’E. See Figure 4.] [Sketch. “Entrance to Port Brooks, NbyE 3 or 4 Miles.”] [Sketch. “Split Rock off Woody Point, NbyW [blank] Leagues.”] [Sketch. “Port Brooks.” See Figure 5.]

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From the time of leaving Port Brooks the wind continued in the NW quarter till the forenoon the seventeenth of August when it inclin’d a little to the Southward of West & our Lat. this day at Noon was 50°39’N & Longitude made 2°54’ so that in seven days we had only got 36 leagues we now made a good Slant to the Northward and next morning [18 August] at Six o’clock Cape St. James’s203 the South point of Charlotte’s Isles bore W by N 9 or 10 Leagues & at Noon our Lat. was 51°50’ & Long. made from Port Brooks 2°55’W. [19 August] Cape S James’s bore S40°W four Leagues204 it was at those Isles Capt. Dixon recommended me to search for Skins & the Smack to go to the East Main the Coast now tended to the NW & wind again fixd to the Western Quarter I saw little probability of getting to windward nor did I think it at all safe to beat in an Inland navigation not at all known & much subject to Fog & thick weat. ([Colnett] footnote: Several of the Crew were not recovered off the Scurvy). those circumstances determin’d me to make the first Port I could. The twentieth at Noon our Lat. 52°11’ Point Saint James S½W five Leagues & an appearance of an opening at the head of a large Bay which we lay up for bearing SW sent the second Mate to see if it was a port.205 the Land to the Northward of us seem’d very much broken & to form Inlets at every two or three Leagues. As we drew in with the Shore the winds became variable & at last Calm & a Canoe paddled to us from seaward, advancing singing, came along side without the least sign of fear,206 had a sea Otter in, & several Halibut, which they readily barter’d for, taking Iron in exchange. At five the Boat returnd having found a Harbour & met several Canoes in their way paddling toward the Ship.207

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map F Routes of the vessels, Queen Charlotte Islands, 1787 (for place name typographical conventions, see p. 9)

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Captain Duncan early in the afternoon having no doubts of finding good anchorage or be able to beat or tow out of the Bay, ran up at six o’Clock it became start Calm Boat a head towing, the Smack having got to an anchor Captain Duncan returnd with his Boat & assisted; at Eleven the tide making strong out, Anchor’d with the Stream anchor in 17 fm about half way up the Bay & about a Mile off the Northern Shore.208 Calm for the Night & Morning at nine oClock the twenty First at Slack tide weigh’d boats a head towing Captn. Duncan with his boat assisting In the Mouth of the Harbour the tide ran so very rapid that on a sudden the Ship was set within her own Breadth of the South Point of the entrance & oblig’d to seek a Passage thro’ a bed of weed & between the Shore & some Rocks which were cover’d, when the Boat went in to search for the port in this disagreeable situation had never less than five Fathoms water & from where we weigh’d to the Mouth of the Harbour from fourteen to twenty one hard Bottom. Anchor’d on the South side in Eleven fathom hard Bottom & Steaded with the stream209 found few natives here and only a Skin or two among them pm the 22nd Pr Log Captain Duncan saild for the Eastern shore to see what prospect there was there and to Join me here.210 am [22 August] the Long Boat set out with the Second Mate to the Northward to see what could be procur’d on the E. side of the Charlotte’s Isles.211

[Taylor adds some information about the arrival at Rose Harbour:] On the Morning of the 22d The Canoes increased, but we could not find any Village near the Ship, nor could we learn from what quarter the Natives came. It was clear however, that they intended to remain near us during our Stay, as they brought with them, their Wives, Children utensils, War dresses, and implements and apparently the whole of their property. At the comeing of each Canoe, they carry a carved figure, on a staff in the Bow as an emblem of Peace, and paddle two or three times round the Ship, singing ere they come along side.212

At three oClock in the Morning Six or seven strange canoes came alongside with many women & Children in;213 they brought a Skin or two & some pieces, but they were of little Value we had notice of their arrival between nine and ten the preceeding evening, by the noise made with their usual song, which they generally sing when paddling on a Visit, would have came along side at that time, seemd much displeasd at being prevented, which we found some difficulty in; making threats answer; in the early part of this forenoon several of the Natives were permitted onboard but taking a fancy to every thing in sight and taking it if Opportunity offer’d I desired the men to go into their Canoes, but no threats nor words would keep them out of the Ship believing our lenity owing to their superiority of arms, & armour, frequently shewing me their Bows &

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spears of twenty foot Long, with Iron fix’d in them, not willing to undeceive them at the Loss of their lives got the Boarding netting up at which they seem’d much displeasd, & in the afternoon the 23rd Pr Log214 the Natives began to be a little refractory at one time thought we should have come to an Open Quarrel. I did not see the beginning of this fresh offence was inform’d it was occasion’d by a Middle aged Woman coming onboard, & not the attention paid her which had been shewn to the Younger females; this slight was owing to the elderly Lady having arrived to the priviledge of her Nation in having a hole cut in her lower lip to take a large piece of wood of an oval Form, which is ornamented in different manners, some inlaid with pearl others with Copper & extends the lip to a considerable size, depending on the size of the wood the Largest lip piece seems to be the most admired, its form & size with a spoon to clean it made of Whale bone the following sketch of a middling one will convey a better Idea than I can describe; the Younger females substitute for this ornament a small peg at what time or season it encreases in size I know not but the Women seem’d at a great age before arriv’d at the heigth of the Fashion.215 [Two sketches of a labret follow.]

[Taylor reacts in a similar fashion to the first sight of the labret and adds some comments on their use and Haida women:] (65a) To salute a Lady of these Islands with her Mouth piece is an unknown business, yet were it not the custom to wear them, they would most of them be considered good looking women. This ornament for the mouth is not worn by all, a great proportion of the Women are without them, and many of them have good features. This was the first port we touched at, where the Women were solicitous to be taken notice of. Chastity here is little esteemed, ’tis no uncommon thing to See the Parent making a bargain for the prostitution of their Daughter.

I was sorry our taste and the Natives disagreed. they paddled off in great haste & Confusion taking little notice of a Canoe upset in their retreat, full of Women & Children; none appear’d as if they could swim, a Boat was order’d round from the Opposite side to their Assistance; pickd up what they could see, some onboard were of Opinion one or two were drown’d; a Canoe return’d from the rest and took them in & the upset Canoe in Tow the others remain’d about a Cable’s Length of putting on their wooden stays & Leather Jackets which are made like a Wagoner’s Frock & of thickness sufficient to protect their Bodies from spears & Arrows; have great Confidence of their security when dress’d in them, from what Animal they procure this Leather Armour its hard to say.216 If their Hostile intentions were against us they were pacified by our attention to the people in the water, but when they took their departure

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from us, pointed to a Canoe to seaward I firmly believe it was against ourselves being entirely Ignorant of fire Arms & frequently signified to me that if they were determin’d to come in we could not hinder them & I found some difficulty in making them leave the Ship this Evening. At Six o’Clock in the Morning the twenty third they came off with their Families, & seem’d peaceable several strangers were among our visitors & not so many Canoes as Yesterday & a piece or two of Skin was bought in the Course of the forenoon their displeasure encreas’d again and from their behaviour it was impossible to Judge what they meant or intended; at one time putting on their war habits, then singing and Dancing at Intervals scolding & Haranguing, some fixing the Iron in the end of their spear staffs others taking them out I believe the Chief of the debate was about warring with us, & required every caution to avoid while the Long Boat was away.217 I believe I had been guilty of a small error on my first arrival by giving a Man calling himself chief of the District we were in, a Light Horse man’s Cap and the Chief that was along side with our present guests claim’d the same as his right; I would readily have comply’d with his request had I not been apprehensive it would have laid me open to fresh impositions.218 Thro’ the Afternoon an Old Woman was along side who talk’d a good deal & when one of her Countrymen was laughing & pointing at our Cannon, shook her head & pointed at the Hole in the Muzzle as if she had seen or heard of the Execution it was capable of making; whether it was this Female Orator pacified them I know not, but we became more friendly & they left the Ship at sun set as desired. In the Morning the 24th the Natives brought us plenty of Black currants, raspberry, & Halibutt which they took trifling articles in exchange for.219 From the time of our anchoring, had light airs from the Westward & pleasant weather but in the night the 24th it blew very fresh from the Northwd. & brought the Bower home and by noon the 25th brought both bower & stream a head, carried out the kedge to warp to the Northward but the squalls growing heavier & Ship driving with three Anchors a head let the Best Bower Anchor go; at two the Princess Royal hove in sight in the Offing; by Four got into the Harbour & anchor’d a stern of us Captain Duncan inform’d me had met with such blowing weather it was impossible for him to keep the sea with any prospect of Joining us again, & that on the E. Coast there was so rapid a tide & confus’d sea, that his Vessel had suffer’d greatly; & off the Shores for Leagues Rocks & Breakers that it was impossible for him to get any intercourse with the Natives if any.220 Invited three of the leading men of the Natives onboard & shew’d them many civilities this had great weight with them & our Friend ship seem’d perfectly establish’d.

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[Taylor identifies three chiefs as regular visitors to the vessels:] (65b) Such of the Natives as were our daily visitors amounting to more than two hundred, and three Chiefs among them, two of these was Skelkanonce221 and an elderly brave Man and Yooycah,222 his Son a fine handsome fellow. And the other whose name is Cooyah,223 I believe is a relation of the other, the latter is a young, brave, Man with all the abilities requisite for the high office he held. it requires an abler pen than mine to describe the amiable qualities of this gallant Indian. his feelings upon all occasions, for the sufferings of his People If they were punished, for stealing, and the pains He took to keep us on our guard, being convinced of the impropriety, & his goodness of heart requires and deserves a description painted in much more lively colours than I am (66a) master of he appeared to me a just Man, with a very susceptable heart. the Natives paid great attention to him and altogether he seemd to me to be more calculated for a Chief than any Man I saw on the Coast of America. Such manly conduct merits our applause And pleasant tis, to treat on such a cause Here courage, zeal, and honesty combine And fair humanity, doth nobly shine At once the Chief, the Guardian, and the Friend His precepts, teach the visions to amend Anxious ever to avert offence His ev’ry action, marks the man of sense Farewell good Chief, Integrity pursue Some abler pen, may haply mention you!

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It moderated in the Evening, hove up the Anchors and warp’d of shore & moor’d, in the Night the 25th it blew very fresh and the Ship brought both anchors a head in the Morning the 26th the Natives visited us again bringing plenty of Berrys & Clams which they continued doing the remainder of the time we lay here. While our crew was at breakfast an Indian got within the netting opposite the Forge and stole the Armourer’s tongs, they were recover’d again, but he receiv’d a severe blow with them on his head which cut him greatly after getting into his Canoe requested one of us to administer something to it, he was call’d onboard & the Doctor224 dress’d the wound. It blew strong all this day so as to prevent us warping the Ship out in the afternoon. Captn. Duncan & self went over to the Northern shore to examine if it afforded any shelter from SE winds found under the North point of the Entrance might lay shelter’d but the Bottom as hard as where we lay; there was plenty of fresh water & sandy beach to land on, but too much sea weed off it for hauling the Seine.225 In the Night it moderated & the 26th in the morning hove up, warpd out, & moord again.226 One of the Natives was caught wrenching the

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Guard Iron off the Princess Royal’s Chains, was taken onboard and flogg’d; when first seiz’d others made great entreatys, offering their Cloths & every thing they had for his releasment from an Idea I believe that nothing but Death was his Lot, but when they perceiv’d the punishment Inflicted on him, became perfectly easy, none even condoling with him & from their Behaviour signified had met what he deserv’d two of the Leading men were onboard the Prince of Wales at the time, and tho’ frequently entreated by those in the Canoes to leave the Ship, paid not the least attention to it. Several musketts & pistols were fired to shew the Natives the use of fire arms wh greatly surpris’d them, & a Chief desired to have a piece of wood Shot thro’ to shew on shore. An Indian was onboard this morning who told us a confus’d story of a Boat, & a Musket he had seen fired out of her.227 Several of the Smacks & Ships people were onshore & well treated by the Natives. In the afternoon & night it blew very strong from the westward, and brought home the Stream; it continued blowing the morning 27th. I went with Captain Duncan to find a spar for his main boom, cut down the only one we saw, & thought fit & found it rotten. I return’d in Company with the surgeon in a Canoe that was passing by with a House & Household Furniture for where they dwell is quite a matter of Indifference to them, being generally confind to where the articles for subsistence are most plentifully & easily procur’d, and the situation they had taken seem’d not to be deficient; and what made it a greater Inducement for them to fix on it as their abode was, our promising to renew our visit at the expiration of Eight Moons.228 greater number of Canoes & Natives than we had seen for days past and at sunset divided themselves in two parties one going to the Northern Shore the other the Southern,229 it blew fresh all this day from the Northward and during the night a very heavy gale 28th August at two in the Morning the Long Boat return’d having been as far to the North as Lat. [blank] met with little or no success saw many Indians & was treated civil by all.230 Compleated our water today & employ’d getting ready for sea, still blowing very fresh. am 29th it moderated & remain’d so all the day. should have gone to sea early this morning, but it was absolutely necessary the Smack should have a new Boom onboard which Capt. Duncan was using every exertion to get forward, & could not get ruff ’d of by Evening. Between twelve and one am the 30th it blew a heavy gale from NW the Ship having little way to drive & bad holding ground let go Best Bower & wore away Cable to bring both Anchors a head; in the Evening it moderated, hove the Best Bower anchor up, & Shorten’d in cable on the small fine weat[her] all the night and Light airs & Variable from the Northward in the Morning 31st: Hove short carried out stream, weigh’d, warp’d out in the Fairway and made sail out of the Harbour231 at Noon a

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fresh breeze from NW Lat. Obs. 52°13’ Extream’s of Land from SbyE to NWbyW a heavy swell from the Northward. Princess Royal a Stern Found our small bower Cable so much rubb’d as to render it almost unserviceable. The mouth of the Port left bore [blank] SW.232

figure 6

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[Taylor describes some other events during these days:] (66a) On the 30th Sanjaskulah, a Chief from a Northern district who paid us a visit on our arrival,233 but who disappeared very soon, came on board with a large party and were taken great notice of, though they brought but little with them, in the Skin way. they had not been long on board, when our daily visitors Skelkanonce Yooycah and Cooyah came on board from the Shore where they generally took up their abode for the night. On this occasion they came along side, with the emblem of peace in the bow of the Canoe, and the Chiefs were Dressed and painted & adorned profusely with birds feathers about the head as a substitute for hair powder. When they came (66b) on Deck they appeared greatly surprised to find so large a party with Sanjaskelah. it was easy to discover they were enemies occasionally. the parties behaved to each other with great reserve, but all treated with the same respect by us, and in the Evening, when they left the Ship all the Chiefs went in the same canoe, this was by an overture of Yooycah’s, yet there did not appear the smallest cordiality. An Indian was this day punished with thirty lashes, for attempting to theive. The Natives along side were very noisy during the punishment, but gave us no trouble. He was regularly seized up hands and feet, but not without some difficulty as he was a powerful man. He bore his punishment without much complaint, though the blood spued copiously from his back, till towards the conclusion of his floging, when the pain produced the usual effect. Had this man been kept out of the Ship, he could not have attempted to steal, so that I conceive we were equally culpable.

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Bay & port St. James’s are conveniently situated for wood, water, & trading, the only inconvenience is foulness of the Bottom but have every reason to believe much better places might be found than where we lay. It’s high water full & change at half past twelve, & perpendicular rise from twelve to fourteen feet the tides are very strong at times which are governd mostly by the winds the Flood coming from the Southward & falling on the Northern shores are forc’d back again in the same direction and when it blows fresh with great rapidity and cause a greater rise than still weat[her] [Chart. “Bay and Port St. James’s, Latd 52°10, Longd 131°W.” Notation: “This [illegible word] the Long to be computed.” See Figure 6.] The first of the Flood and the Ebb passes and returns round the south side of the Isle forming the West side where we lay to and from a long arm runing to the Southward which was suppos’d to go to sea; there is another arm on the North side & by its direction may communicate with the Straights to the Northward.234 There are many small Isles above where we lay cover’d with Trees, as are all the Shores, but few of any size & those were [blank] decay’d to the Shallowness of the Soil Captain Duncan had great difficulty to find a spar to make a main Boom.

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Rocks in this port are not many, nor are they dangerous, at half tide most of them are part dry and at High water surrounded by sea weed which we found to be a never failing guide. The Sketch by Compass in the foregoing page, tho’ it cannot from the manner it was taken have any pretention to accuracy will convey a better Idea than any further written discription. The natives who visited us & took their abode up near the Ship, the men were very little different in their manners, dress or Customs from the Nootka people, excepting their appearing at all times ready for war. Following is a sketch of the Copper Breast plate which is their under armour, & the wooden stays wh. is the second case.235 [Two pencil sketches of Haida armour follow.] The wars must be very frequent & Cruel; one of them shew’d me the scalp of a man he had lately kill’d and several others were seen.236 Their Women might be reckon’d handsome when wash’d clear of paint, having very regular features some colour in their Cheeks & a pleasing and agreeable countenance; but this must be confind to the Younger sort & not the Ladies with the plate in their under lip, for that gives them a most horrid aspect. as to their Chastity it may be compared to those of the Sandwich & Friendly Isles,237 their favours purchas’d at a very easy rate, but this I do not think a common failing of theirs; when we first arrived among them Iron was very scarce, & they had no Skins to purchase it of us, they robbd us of every hook & Thimble out of rigging they could come at but still their wants were great, they soon found that their Women was the next thing coveted to their Furs, and the Men & parents, whom they are under great subjection to readily barter’d them. we soon had many Ladies desirous of disposing of themselves & the numbers so increas’d that they had no purchaser. this happen’d to the Chief ’s Daughter but the Mother took an effectual method to call our attention by bursting into a Violent fit of grief. being ask’d the occasion of her tears she signifyd how ill we had treated her by not paying any attention to her daughter, who was not to be outvied by any of her Countrywomen in Beauty & in Years not exceeding fifteen, the Supercargo Apologiz’d to the Mother for this seeming neglect alledg[in]g it to the Crowd, that surrounded the Ship, & gave her a few articles to pacify. she freely accepted the gifts but still remonstrated in behalf of her child & to stop her entreates she was invited onboard & the Mother recover’d her usual good Humour. The Women have great Affection for their Husbands & Children; I have seen a Mother shed tears for an hour at a hurt a Child receiv’d by a fall, & another faint away on her Husband’s preparing for war to recover the Latter they made use of a Wooden Bird which is hollow to hold stones & shook for a Rattle.238 The Rattling Bird which is used as a Charm on many occasions is also part of their Music when going on a visit the Tail serves as the Handle.

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they have another piece of Music formd by several small Hoops fix’d one within the other, at some little distance with a Cross Bar for a Handle Hung with the Bills of Hawks, & when shook is much better music than their Bird & to the Cloths of the Chief are hung Hawks Bills or deers Hoofs & by constantly throwing themselves about in answer to the singing & other music makes a confus’d noise.239 Ornaments we found among them were European beads, Iron & Copper. The two last articles as well as the Beads are worn round the neck & wrists & in the ears, some of the Iron & Copper for the Neck Twisted like two Strand Rope & worn as a Coller they had Bracelets of the same but in general they were plain another method of wearing the copper was beating it out very thin, fixing it round a piece of wood an inch in Diameter & a foot in length fasten’d round the neck of their Children & Hung down before them none of the small pieces of Copper seem’d to be held in any Estimation, but their breast Plates nothing would Induce them to part with. their Iron & Beads Captn. Dixon supplyd them with,240 but their Copper must be procurd from some distant tribe for I saw not the least sign of any mineral among them,241 they have the red ore which is used as paint in as great plenty as at Nootka & some small Quantity of Black Lead. some of their wooden utensils were stain’d with a pale blue but I did not see the process.242 Their fishing Instruments are confind within a very narrow Compass; besides those for striking Whales243 & Otters, only saw Hooks for catching snapper & Halibut which these Isles abound with & are the only kind found in plenty; great Quantity is cut into thick pieces & dry’d in the sun for their winter’s stock; the method of taking the Halibut is singular & as follows244 [Sketch of halibut hook.] A the stock of the Hook & is part of a Tree retaining its natural curve, a little shaved off to Lessen it & sometimes several parts are ornamented with carving. B the point of the Hook which is fastend to one side of the Hook at C. C by a moulding made out of the Bark of the Cypress. D is a small fine Line made of the intestines of an animal the Bait being put on B which is generally cuttle fish, & covering all the under side of the Hook, the Line D is passd over the point B hauling B down as far as the strength of the Line will admit, which is also calculated for what the point of the Hook will bear on the Fish taking bait he forces the line over the point of the Hook which flying up renders it impossible for him to make his escape. E is the Line its hauld up by Not a cover’d Hut or Habitation was seen, the Natives the Long Boat fell in with Lived on a High Rock surrounded by the water & almost unaccessible; there was a few side poles fixd as if to hang a Mat on to keep the wet of.245 Their domestick utensils had more carving on, than at Nootka but of the same make they had horn spoons shaped like a Muscle shell a little

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bent some of them of an uncommon size with long handles the larger kind us’d as Ladles the Lesser to eat with where or how they get this article I could not Learn.246 The Large canoes in the Broadside stem & stern exactly resemble those of Nootka, the Difference is, at Nootka, they are in one piece & here in six; the Bottom one, two gunnell pieces, & a Stem & Stern piece; they are also Broader the small ones are of two shapes one like the small ones at Nootka the o[ther] resembling a Bean pod.247 [Taylor records the following observations on the Haida:] (66b) The Natives of Queen Charlottes Islands appear to be a more Warlike race than any of the Southern Tribes we had seen, the Men are for the most part, stout and well proportioned, but the Women are low. The Canoes are more commodious, though not so long as those of Nutka, they will contain thirty or more with all the utensils and Weapons. At this place, they may be said to have a good idea of musick, though their instruments are not many, the principal one in use is (67a) made with twigs, formed Circular, a number of them secured together by a cross piece of Wood, and hung over with Birds Bills of a large size, which are left loose for the purpose of rattling,248 to this they add their paddles, accompanied with a long hollow Box by way of Drum.249 The best performers Vocal and instrumental are always in the Chiefs Canoes. Whenever the Chiefs went from, or came to the Ship, we were always entertained with the full Band. When the musick commences, one man leads vocally and at a particular part of the Song the whole join men women and children for awhiles, when some individual again takes the recitative, which is follow’d by the grand Chorus, and so on alternately. Their voices are powerful, but not less harmonious, and the women with the Children occasionally taking their parts softens the whole rendering the concert rather pleasing than otherwise.250 Many of their Spears and knives are shaped like a bayonet, and most of them Iron barbed. They have Bows and arrows among them, but their Spears is their principal Weapon in War. These Islanders If I may so call them, are great gamblers among themselves, for which purpose they have a great variety of Gambling pins among them, from four to six inches long, and from one to two inches and more in Circumference. these pins are in sets agreeable to their different sizes, some have thirty, some more and some less to the set. whether they have any exact number I could not learn, and these pins, which is by (67b) far the neatest article among them, are so nicely turned that one would imagine they were purchased in a toy shop. they are marked, and by them are known as well as we know the different Cards of the Pack. I am not sufficiently acquainted with their game to describe it. I know that one of the pins is secreted, and afterwards put among the whole, which they shuffle with great dexterity, then holding as many as the can in one hand, with the other they produce one by one, on a piece of Skin, and on the appearance of the pin which was hid depends the game.251 The Fish which they catch is nearly confined to one sort, namely

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figure 7 Halibut, some of them are six feet long, and solid in proportion, requiring a Tackle to hoist one into the Ship. they eat very coarse, except the tail part of the smaller fish. The fishing Tackle is stout in proportion to the size of the fish, some of the hooks are of an immense size, of an acute angular form, rudely made of wood some of them are ornamented with the figure of a Bird Carved on the extreme of the line part, they have them of various sizes, the larger sort are more than a foot long, exclusive of these they sometimes use other hooks nearly of a Circular form, twelve and fourteen inches in circumference. During our Stay at this Harbour, the Natives gave us very little trouble, unless occasionally by attempts to steal, this may be easily prevented by keeping them in their Canoes, by use of the Boarding Nettings or other means, and the less communications with the Women (68a) the less will be the quarrels as the women are more dextrous than the Men at petty thefts, particularly If they are suffered below, as was our case. I observed some of the elderly women are subject to fits, and their mode of treating them on such occasions, is not unworthy [of] notice. They use a Rattle which is curiously carved from wood, hollow in the Centre, and takes apart to admit small pebbles, the extremes of this Rattle is ornamented with Birds heads and human figures, on all sides. This they rattle to the womans ear, and at the same time assist the rattle with all the noise they can make till she comes to herself. the remedy

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appears somewhat curious, yet it generally has the desired effect. The rattle is also used in the full band of musick.

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The animal met with which I did not see at Nootka was a Sharp nos’d mouse I think I have met with many of the same kind in England.252 Birds – a Black sea pie with Red bill.253 Curlews & a Beautiful Hawk, the Bill of this Bird is us’d for ornament & Music.254 Besides the Rocks of the shore, & the common stone some of their adzes were made of green stone one that had been an Adze was purchased, it exactly resembled the poenammoo of New Zealand.255 Most of their stone tools are laid aside, & Iron substituted in their Room, & not withstanding the Short time Captn. Dixon had left them, scarce a piece of Iron to be seen, but what was work’d up in their Country Fashion that which was fitted for spears & knives form’d like Bayonets & so neat that it remain’d a doubt with us whether it could be their own work.256 Many little painted round Basketts were offerd for sale wrought of such materials & so close as to contain water, & us’d as a cup to give the Children drink out of.257 [Sketch. “Two canoes & padle of Charlots Isle”; notation: “The James [is]lands & Showing the weed.”]258 [Three sketches. 1) “Cape St. James 12 or 14 Leagues distant”; 2) “Cape St. James dist. 7 or 8 Leagues”; 3) “Entrance to Port St. James SSW 3 or 4 Leagues.”] [Sketch. Unidentified bird.] [Two Sketches. Unidentified birds. See Figure 7.] [Sketch. “Woman of Queen Charlotte Isles.”]

From Port St. James to Anchorage on the Eastern Shore [in pencil]

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The wind kept to the Northward & Westward with pleasant weather, kept plying to windward all night & next day making short Boards at Noon the first September Lat. Observd [blank – 52°22’].259 Extremes of the Land from S23°E, to N56°W. dist off Shore [blank] Miles thro’ the afternoon it became a little wind inclining to Calm & thick weat. at 8 oClock sounded 75 fm Black sand Land from S12°E to N45°W at 9 it became Calm & thick Fog the Thick weather continued all night & most part of next day [2 September] with a light air of wind at times from the SE which help’d us a little to the Northward at 6PM the 3rd Pr. Log260 a light air frm SSW the Fog dispersd a little saw Land frm N57°W to S45°W soundgs 76 fathom sandy bottom, at 10 the weat. Thickend & inclin’d to Calm which continued till 8 o’Clock next morning [3 September], a light air at that time from the SE soundings thro’ the night were 70 & 80 fathoms, but at four o’Clock in the Morning [3 September] shoal’d to 24 & at Noon 27 fm many Geese, ducks & divers, on the water shot a Hawk, passd great Quantity of small drift weed, caught several snappers & Hook’d several

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Halibut; found a Strong tide setting to the Northward at Noon Lat Obs [blank – 52°50’] saw Land on the E.ern. Shore bearg. N45°E & W.ern shore N23°W, the E.ern side very much broken as Isles. at 2 o’Clock the 4th [3rd] pm our water deepend to 44 fm. at 4 o’Clock it became calm & thick hazy weather, at 8 it clear’d a little, saw Land on the E.ern Shore from N12°W to N68°E & on the W.ern Shore from S12°W to S56°W, a heavy Fog Bank in the SE at 11 o’Clock the wind return’d to the NW a Moderate breeze Thick hazy weat. & Fog at times, stood over for the E.ern shore no Soundings at 70 fm. line261 at 8 o’Clock in the Morning [4 September], saw Land on the Eastern Shore Bearg. N56°W to N12°E at 9 o’clock pass’d some barren Rocks wh bore WSW 2 miles at ten o’Clock being within two Miles of the Shore the breeze freshening, our navigation very contracted, strong tides, no soundings, at times very thick weat. & no prospect of a Change of wind determin’d me to seek for a Port to anchor in, bore up & ran down along the shore for that purpose, coast laying ESE & WNW as we proceeded down the shore not observing any Natives fir’d a gun to call their attention, but I had little hopes of this part it not having the most distant prospect of being Inhabited by any animal I did not so much as see a bird the Shores were coverd with driftwood brought there by the SE winds & remain as a Memorial of the Violence they Blow with. The Hills were of a Moderate heigth, thin of wood except in the Vallies, but none of it any size; Shore not steep but Rocky, broken & of a White colour as was the face of some of the Hills. Lat Observd at Noon 53°17’.262 Extremes of Land from WBN to ESE off Shore two Miles at half past one observing a small bight behind some Barren rocks brot’ to, sent the Mate in the Whale Boat to see if it was a place to anchor, soon after their leaving the Ship it became a thick Fog fired guns to direct the Boats return & stood off & on at 3 the boat returnd without success at 4 the Fog clear’d bore up at 5 being off a point forming one of the heads of a Deep bay sent the Boat to examine it,263 by dark the boat returnd reported the Bay one entire bed of Rock soundgs. from 3 to 7 fathoms; the East part of the Bay being form’d by many small Isles coverd with wood, & having many favourable appearances made me encounter another night with this Inhospitable looking coast, in hopes of being more successful in the morning the Fog all cleared this afternoon had very strange appearance from seaward setting in like Mountains Rolling on Mountains & around us for Miles every top of a sea appeard like a small Isle, which was not a little assisted with appearances of breakers by the Quantity of Whales blowing in all Quarters. the Fog clear’d at Times so as to give a respite to our apprehensions & enable us to observe two or three of the small Rocks that lay above water & rectify mistakes which the reflection of the Haze on the water occasion’d & Capt. Duncan sent his Boat to sound on a Large bed of weed which had been taken for a Reef but found no less than 3 fathom water on it. Stood out of the Bay with a light air of wind

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from the Northward;264 at Midnight wind at NNW moderate breezes kept the Starboard Tacks on board till five in the morning [5 September], then wore & stood in for the Bay at Noon the Lat Observd 53°11’ off Shore two miles & an High Isle one ¼ Mile dist. bear. S16°W the surface

map G Routes of the vessels, Banks Island area, 1787 (for place name typographical conventions, see p. 9)

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map H Tribal territories, Banks Island area (for place name typographical conventions, see p. 9)

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of this Isle was coverd with a little Moss.265 The N extrem of Land W16°N & the N point of the Deep Bay N50°E & the S point a little after noon sent the Boat to look for a Harbour at 4 making the signal of having found safe & good anchorage bore up & ran in N by Compass into a Creek from half a Mile to a Mile wide formd by many small Rocks & Isles. Anchord about 2 Miles from the entrance & steaded with a Hawser to the Shore Princess Royal in coming in ran on a Rock, but got off again immediately without any damage.266 [Untitled chart. Hecate Strait area, lat. 51°45’-54°15’N, long. 129°-132°W. Notation: “To main the tacking [?] in the Log. There is some mistake. C.S. James lies in 131.”]

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[Blank] [September 1787] As soon as the Vessels were secured, Supercargo, Captn. Duncan & self went in a Boat up the Creek our sounding regular from seven to two fathoms; sometimes rocky at other times sand & in many places were we could see the Bottom it was cover’d with Clam shells. Landed at the Head of the Creek on a little sand beach walk’d a Quarter Mile into the wood, saw nothing to call our attention but what we had met with at other parts of the Coast except a plant called Labrador Tea.267 Trees were not so large as at Nootka, remains of several Huts were seen but from their decay’d state some time must have elapsed since they were Inhabited; return’d & row’d to the E.ward to look at a Body of water we had observ’d between the Isles coming in, on opening it out, it appear’d to be 3 Leagues wide with several openings on the E.ern shore & extending NW & SE as far as we could see on our return saw a large fire at the head of the Creek,268 this was occasion’d by one of the people lighting a fire were we first landed but I had water thrown on it & thought it quite extinguishd before I left it; the wind was right down our dist. from it about 2 Miles but the Channel & woods very dry not a drop of fresh seen on any part of the Shore, thought it advisable to put it out & went for that purpose, found it had reach’d the top of the Hill & burnt with such fury it was impossible to come near it. It was intended that on the Morning the sixth that the Boats should set out to look for Natives & a good Harbour, it being foggy the Ships boats did not go, at Noon Landed on a Rock at the Mouth of the Creek & Obsd. the Suns Altitude which gave 53°11’ in the afternoon went to sound the Channel to the Eastward, but it came on so thick a Fog was oblig’d to return in Passing the Princess Royal learnt their Boat had been ten or Eleven Miles up the large arm of Water to the NW had seen no natives but met with recent traces of them at every place they landed, & that they had caught with their Hands alone at a Run of fresh water one hundred salmon trout, & whale perch.269 At day light the seventh of September the Long Boat set out to search the E. side of the large opening the Pr. Royal’s boat accompanying270 & the Whale Boat to examine the SW side soon after the Boats departure it became a thick Fog which continued most of the day, in the Evening the Whale Boat return’d.271 Saturday Morning the Eighth the Long boat & Princess Royal’s boat return’d having found Natives & purchas’d some few Skins

[Taylor adds some details about this important trip:] (70b) the Long Boats returned from the Northeast having found a Village and natives in that direction, where some skins were seen, and some were purchased with the Seamens Jackets, others with some pieces of Iron Hoop, as no trade [goods] was carried, but understood the Princess Royal’s Boat was provided

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with Trade and was purchasing. She came soon after with ab. 50 Skins of different qualities. This Village was about seven leagues from the Ship. The Canoes followed our boats some miles & returned. The success of the last boat had nearly occasioned our removal of both Vessels, but difficulties arose, therefore on mature deliberation, it was judiciously resolved not to risk the Vessels towards the Village which lay in the Cod of a Deep Bay, surrounded with sunken rocks &c &c and were Calms were frequent.272 The Boats were therefore armed, and despatched with Trade and refreshments.

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this forenoon [8 September] accompany’d with Captn. Duncan sounded among the Rocks & Isles for a Passage to the Eastward; found the Bottom very foul sounding irregular from 3 to 30 fathoms channel very narrow & a rapid tide these unfavourable circumstances made me give over all thoughts of moving, & as my Lower rigging was in a bad state, bends wanted caulking, the Princess Royal a new Bowsprit, determin’d me to compleat the busyness here, & that no time might be loss’d in cultivating acquaintance with the Natives Both Vessels Boats set out on another Expedition, and Capt Duncan & self set out at Four o’Clock in the morning to look for the Place were his boat had caught the fish;273 we arrived there by seven o’Clock to speak of the numbers of leaping & swimming around us is scarce credible, the run of water was about Twenty foot broad, at the mouth, & did not run in above two boats lengths then becoming about half the breadth every place between the stones wh. the run was full off were there was a foot of water was fill’d with Salmon trout & whale perch that in an hour seven Men caught with their hands above 300 weighing from four to six pounds we carried Hooks lash’d on Sticks but they broke among the Stones; the best way of taking them was by putting a worsted gloves on the Hand & catch them by the tail; those who had no gloves used stockings. many of the fish appear’d sickly & from the Shallowness of the water had receiv’d hurts among the Stones & many were laying on the Shore carried there most probably by the Otters,274 we were not any distance up this run so can say nothing of its source a quarter of a mile from the Foot of it was a wire fix’d as if to take the fish coming down many were in it but they appear’d to be diseased.275

[Taylor, who went on fishing duty on 27 September, records these observations:] (72b) in the Morning I went on the Fishing duty, about nine miles from the Ship, and the weather was very unfavourable. The fall of water from the Rock, and the singular method of catching the Fish afforded a great treat, we caught abundance of Salmon, fourteen and sixteen pound each, some caught by hand with mittens, others with a hook secured on a staff. The Water falls with great violence among the Rocks below, in pursuing the fish, in shoal water among the rocks, we frequently fell in. We had a Dog with us belonging to the Ship, who assisted in

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this business catching a Salmon frequently in his mouth. He afforded no small diversion standing beneath the fall, the noise of which alarmed him, yet his anxiety to catch the Salmon when they endeavoured to Spring from one fall to another made him oftimes slip in, and was of course carried some distance by the stream, yet when he gained the Shore, he took his Station as before.

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The land we were on I had no doubt was an Isle & that the sea had a passage out to the Northward the South end I row’d round, there also appear’d an Opening to the Southward which may be an entrance from seaward, in this Channel which was in the direction of South East as far as I could see & the weather very clear observ’d several Hillocks like small Isles.276 Monday morning September 10th: unbent the sails & went to work for unrigging the mast Carpenters Caulking Sloop’s carpenter assisting. Tuesday morning an animal resembling a Wolf came down on the Shore near the Ship stay’d some few minutes, & return’d into the wood again.277 Wednesday the Princess Royal’s [men] felld the tree for a Bowsprit & unfortunately one of the Limbs fell on the gunnel278 of the Boat stove it & three of the Planks when I landed had made her fast without the reach of the Tree but the tide flowing faster than I expected was the occasion of this accident hauld the Boat up on a small Isle about half a Cable’s length from the Princess Royal, & the Carpenters began to repair her. Thursday [13 September] compleated the rigging forward, in the Evening the Long Boat return’d having purchas’d several good Skins & many pieces.279 Friday morning [14 September] the Princess royal’s Boat returnd with like success280 strip’d the main mast found the Head much decay’d & too bad a state to be trusted any longer Saturday hauld the Long Boat up to get some little matters done, & in the Evening launch’d both Boats. Sunday Sept. 16th Ship’s company onshore picking Berries & Labrador tea. This morning the Long Boat set out & Whale Boat with Pr. Royal’s Crew, having drain’d the Tribe they first saw of all their skins; they were to take a new route one to go to the SE the other to the NE, & the Princess Royal’s boat with a Crew made up from both Vessels set off for the fishery to get salmon;281 for were we lay was not a fish to be caught, nor any fish meal without we made it of Muscles or Clams; this morning early a Canoe with three men was seen padling from up the Harbour & went to the opening to the Eastward; at 8 o’Clock two Canoes came along side from the E.ward with three men in each, after padling round both Vessels return’d the same way, some little dist. & behind a Rock call’d another canoe with Two women & one man and return’d to the Ship they informd us SeaxChief of the tribe our boats had visited was coming,282 by two o’Clock a number of Canoes hove in sight in Company with the Long Boat they came along side singing their usual welcome song;283 I went into the Canoe & by signs for their Language differ’d from any we had heard before,284 invited the Chief who

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was a very respectable old man onboard, he had taken no little pains in dressing himself for this formal visit, & I think it exceeded any I had before seen; I shew’d him every part of the Ship except between decks all which seem’d much to surprise him, & every thing about us seem’d new which made me conjecture no European had ever been among them, & the Officer in the Long Boat inform’d me nothing could equal the consternation they were all in at first sight of the Ship nor would they have been prevail’d on to come near us, had not the Long Boat been with them & on first meeting the Boat & persuaded the Officer to return not rowing so fast as them having two & twenty padles in the Canoe took the Boat in tow till they came near the Ship their canoes are the same built as at Charlottes Isles, one of the Chief ’s attendants had a weapon made of Brass exactly resembling the New Zealand Patoo, with “Joseph Banks” (Esq. [crossed out]) engrav’d on it & a coat of Arms285 but the letters were difficult to discern, it seem’d to be of no great Value among them, Iron being the most desirable article, & what they had very little of, many Inferior chiefs attended this great man, all properly ornamented for the occasion, and one of them had his leg dress which from Variety of Colours not unlike a Highlanders stockings hung with hawks Bills several women were of the party none of them out done by the men in dress, but no present would entice them aboard; they had plates286 in their under lips like the Charlotte Isle Ladies but much more regular featured & the whole of the dress of Both sexes made of Cypress & wool was wrought with greater taste than any we had before seen & the Conical Caps & masks worn by the men had more carving on & inlay of Copper.287 Seax being desirous of a Coat which he offer’d anything in exchange for, even his own dress; I gave him mine with a Shirt & pair of Trowsers he would have return’d anything; but I refused. After the usual ceremony was over, several Skins were purchas’d, and by sun set their curiosity was satisfied & Skins dispos’d of, but the latter not without a good deal of trouble for like Children at a fair, not having skins enough to procure everything they saw they were constantly wishing to change which Indulgence was given them till our patience was worn out,288 and those that had nothing to barter for were not Idle, seizing every thing that had any Iron in, with a View of stealing it by dark all left the Ship; next morning some of them visited us, & two or three skins were bought, in the afternoon Seax brought two or three dresses;289

[Taylor describes the arrival of the Tsimshian chief, but does not identify him as Seax:] On the 16th ... at Noon the Long boat returned, with several Canoes, with natives, who brought some Skins, for sale, from a Village on the Northeast. The Chief commanded some respect among them, by his attendance a degree of order was observed. These were a diminutive race compared with those of Charlottes

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Islands, their method of approaching was nearly similar with all others, with this exception their was far less melody in their musick. The Canoes are capable of holding a number of men, they are some forty or fifty feet long, but in general old. The Females far inferior in point of features ... The Garments of these people at least those of superior Rank must cost great time and trouble, consisting of Red bills of Birds, porcupines quills, Slops of leather &c wrought curious and ornamental on their leather Garments having a very pretty effect, and (71b) shews their industry in this particular. In one of the Canoes was a piece of brass with Sir Joseph Banks name on it, whether it had been left, by Capt. Cook on this side of the Coast, or whether it found its way across the Continent from Hudsons bay was a matter of doubt, probably it was left on the Labrador Coast for experiment. Like all their fraternity we found them very apt in the art of theivery, and their long leather Garments proved very convenient for secreting the Stolen articles.

[Colnett continues:]

this Evening the Tree was cut down for the main mast and Tuesday morning [18 September] got it down on the beach & placed it for the Carpenters working. Wednesday [19 September] got the old mast out & saw’d it up found it decayd from Heel to Head. Thursday Morning [20 September] two Iron bound Tubbs that were on the Isle with Salt fish were missing. Friday morning [21 September] two Canoes visited us. Strangers the Chief I took a good deal of pains with, shewing him the Ship & every thing that could in any ways take his attention, but nothing seem’d to please him, he signified he was as great as Seax & I believe wanted presents made him, but having been so often impos’d on, I would not understand him & finding all his endeavours to make me acquainted with his consequence proved ineffectual, he requested I would show his wife what he had seen, I readily assented, & took a great deal of pains to please her; in return for my attention he offer’d to dress himself & sing me a song & orderd his Chest with his wardrobe in for that purpose. I had some Idea that he thought he had miss’d our presents by not appearing in the formal state Seax had done, but as I expected after it a fresh claim declin’d his offer, & Seax coming along side with two Canoes a great coldness seem’d between them, he got into his Canoe;290 Seax sold some skins on first coming along side, the remainder signify’d he reserv’d to see if we had anything he had not as yet seen, he slept on a beach near the Ship all night & in the morning, saturday [22 September], breakfasted onboard, he desired me to shew him the inside of my bureau, took particular notice of the Locks & keys & hinted if we had no thieves what use were they of? This remark was owing to my complaining of some little thefts his people had committ’d & what detestation it was held in by us. While at breakfast an Ax and a piece of Iron were stolen, I made it known to Seax, he went out onshore where the Strangers were who had also been onboard & recover’d both for me, this was a mark of friendship

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I had not experienced on this coast before; we were perfectly satisfied that none of his people had been concern’d, as many words passed between the two chiefs, before the articles were deliver’d up, & Seax was so much hurt that he return’d home immediately. the other must have stood in some fear of him, as he came to the Ship, sold several skins & pieces which we had not the least Idea he had & padled of to the Eastward. [Taylor records this sequence of thefts but casts a somewhat different light on the process. He also refers to Seax for the first time:] (71b) On the 21st four Canoes came over with a few Skins, twas rather singular their coming as their was a fresh Gale, among them was an Old Chief named Seiiax,291 a very civil Man, one of his attendants attempted to steal an Iron Wedge but was discovered, and sent into his Canoe. The Chief was informed that two half Tubs had been stole from the Princess Royal, To which he replied very cooly, that the Princess Royals Boat Stole some planks from their Village. (72a) This indeed was actually the case, though improper in extreme, and for two reasons, first the injustice of taking the property of any individual, secondly it was impolitick shewing them an example. On the 22d an axe was Stole, but by the authority, zeal and friendship of Seiiax, it was recovered, with a piece of iron unmissed. The weather kept several canoes with us. The Natives, during the night took shelter in the Woods and in the day, onboard us, provided they did not attempt to steal, but as they coolly informed us, they acted by way of retaliation, ’twas necessary to be very watchful, such hints from the very people we condemn and frequently punish, should at least teach unthinking officers to do as they would be done by, and not encourage bad practices, merely for the sake of saving a little trouble.

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At Sun set the Princess Royal’s People return’d with the Whale Boat having been as far to the Northward as 54° coasting many Bays, inletts, creeks & coves without meeting a single native.292 a Canoe with a few Indians took their residence up near the ship. Sunday 23rd Sept. People onshore picking berries, Labrador tea, muscles & Clams; in the afternoon a Canoe came from seaward that had been killing seals & otters, bought four green skins of them.293 From first anchoring our weather was pleasant & as warm as I have found it between the Tropicks with light airs Inclining to Calm & Fog, winds mostly to the Northward mornings & Evenings, & Southward & westward in the middle of the Day, but the middle of this last week Bad weat. began to set in Heavy rain blowing strong winds between NE & SE Monday [24 September] it blew a Hurricane of wind from SE with heavy Rain, having little way to drive & the small Bower much rubb’d let go the Best [bower] & ran the Stream Cable out to the Eastern shore and hove over a little to the Eastward, it continued all day on Tuesday [25 September] but less wind, the Indians left the Creek after selling every

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thing in their Canoes we would purchase & stealing one of the seizings [?] off the End of the Stream Cable in the Afternoon the Long Boat return’d having been as far to the Southward as 52°35’ the Land turning Short round to the E.ward; the only land to be seen to the Southward was two Isles bearing SSE dist. 7 lg [?] & had search’d in Vain for Natives, met with numberless deserted Huts & many Villages. From the Information I collected from the Officer who commanded the Boat on both the Expeditions have endeavoured to show the parts Visited on the Chart Page [blank] I have mark’d it with red Ink.294 Wednesday [26 September] the Princess Royal haul’d onshore in a small Creek on the W side where we lay, to clear her Bottom; at low water I went to look at the place & found it a Bed of mudd. The Ship being very foul Twelve months off the ground it was necessary for the preservation of the Bottom that it should be clean’d, but being of that Built not calculated for taking the ground with her provisions & stores in, & the many Inconveniences that attended putting those articles onshore in the neighbourhood of Indians whose friendship we could have no reliance on & whose predominant failing was Thiefing, which would be giving them a good opportunity of exercising, made it a difficult point for me to determine on Captn. Duncans Opinion with my own & Carpenters, that the Ship might be trusted on the ground with her ground Tier & Ballast in, this was getting over the first Obstacle the latter we had no method of evading but by a good look out. The Sun had cross’d the Equator and left Tempestuous & dirty weat. behind, SE winds & scarce an interval of fair; every hour bringing fresh proofs of an advancing winter; the Tops of the Hills began to Encrease in Snow; Large Flocks of Birds mostly geese taking their Flight to the Southward & not an Object but seem’d to warn us that we had no weather to expect to search any farther to the Northward this Year, so that it was not possible I could have a better opportunity, & when once done would prevent any delay on the Coast next season weighing those circumstances with myself, fix’d on laying the Ship onshore & chose the North side of a small High Isle about a Cable in Circumference & 8 foot water along side of it at low water spring tides to land the Stores on. The Carpenters found the Step of the main mast decay’d & unserviceable. Thursday [27 September] it rain’d & Blew all day, a boat’s Crew made up between the two Vessels, went to the fishery and in the evening returned with a hundred fish;295 rain’d & Blew all night, winds from SE, a Canoe was seen in the night reconnoitering. Friday morning [28 September] still dirty weat. at day light on Saturday [29 September] fair & Moderate light airs from NW hove up the Anchors & with the Flood tow’d up the Creek, let go the Best Bower over on the Eastern Shore & warp’d into our birth; lashd, & cut down Trees for a Brow & began to land the Stores296 at Noon Seax & another Chief paid us a visit & brought us some skins.297

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Sunday September the 30th. it rain’d most of the Day employ’d in the Intervals of fair landing the Stores during the night some Indians found means to steal our kedge anchor which was fixd at Low water mark on a Rock about a Quarter of a Cable from the Ship with the Larboard Quarter fast to. The first of October it blew Hard & rain’d very heavy at times, winds between NE & SE this day being fair got the Main mast in & rigg’d.298 [Taylor provides some information on the period 1-7 October:] (73b) On the 1st of this month [October] the Natives began to Steal on a larger scale, in the Morning we found the Kedge Anchor was gone, with which we were steadied to some flat rocks on the off quarter, some of our People observed the Indians were casting an Eye towards it the last evening, in consequence of which the kedge was moved down to low water mark for safety. The Season of the hawser was cut, and we concluded it must have been stolen about eleven oClock over night at which time the darkness and rain favoured them, two Seamen kept watch at this time and the Kedge lay about 150 yards from the Ship. sundry were our conjectures on this business, yet the general Opinion was that Seiiax, the Chief was (74a) Ignorant of the Theft. And all the Canoes were gone, so that nothing could be done but to keep a better watch in future, though the loss of the Kedge Anchor was by no means inconsiderable. The business of Landing the Stores took up vast time, as the situation of the Vessel took up no small part, in heaving her off, and on, as the Tide rose and fell. On the Evening of the 3d at 9 oClock very Dark, a Canoe was discovered by the watch on Deck hovering near the Ship, a Volley of the Musquets was discharged towards her when they made off hastily, their intention, no doubt, was to steal another kedge, or any other article they could catch. When all the Stores and such provisions were landed as was necessary we had an opportunity of knowing for a certainty the quantity of Provisions remaining on board for the Voyages at the Calculation of five pounds of Bread pr week there remained eleven months provisions of Bread, Beef and Pork, not three months Pease, a small quantity of wheat and sugar, one Hhd of Molasses. On the 6th We got in the new main Mast and the rigging over head, and on the following days went on with ye rigging. A Boat was constantly sent for a supply of Fish, when the weather would permit. (74b) No Indians appeared for some Days.

Sunday Morning [7 October] the Boat went to the fishery man’d as before, & return’d with only one fish Per Man. got the fore top Gallt. mast down on deck lowerd the fore Yard & struck fore & mizzen Topmast. Monday got the Guns & anchors out & Brow onshore. Tuesday Morning October the 9th cast off from the Isle & warp’d in with the tide into the Creek left the 3rd Mate and Six hands to guard stores in the Evening it rain’d hard at low water clean’d the Starboard side of the

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Bottom.299 Wednesday afternoon Burn’d & paid the Starboard side at Midnight heeld, & at day light burnt & paid the Larboard side & Butop with white lead & Tallow & got the Rudder thimbled300 and Thursday noon the 11th cast off from the Shore & warpd down thro’ the worst of the Channel but in winding a sudden puff of wind from the Southward & Eastward forc’d the Ship near the Shore & the Heel of the Rudder took the ground. the water falling fast all our efforts to get off prov’d ineffectual; Capt. Duncan’s Boat & People had been assisting us warping down but on grounding dispatchd her for one of his Bower Anchors he return’d with it and most of his crew his uneasiness at our situation was reciprocal & every method was taken to Heel in shore, & to enable us to heave of next tide anchors & warps were carried out Shores got over Runners & Tackles from the mast heads & Hawsers round the mast to the Trees onshore. at Half Ebb the Ship gave a Violent crack, the comings of the Hatches started, Gunnel & Deck rose, casks in the ground tier thrown out of their place, made us conjecture her main keel was sprung at Low water found the Ship only rested with her Keel on the Rocks in three places that her rudder had taken the ground in the Hollow of a Rock.301 The Stern post on one part of the Rock. Keel a little abaft the fore Chains on another with part of her Bulge here hung the greatest weight for no Rock being between this & the Stem but what was lower than the one in Midships her Keel gave & let the stem down on a Rock & when it happen’d was the occasion of the noise & appearances on deck, a large spring & very open on the False keel & the curve it made had too much reason to fear our apprehensions were true.302 The ship hanging in so tender a manner & trembling at every motion onboard made it dangerous to attempt to lighten till water borne, in the Evening Tempestuous & rainy weat. returned and during the night it blew a Violent gale of wind. at High water the Ship did not Float, while water borne pumped out the ground Tier of water got great part of the Ballast out & Casks lash’d under the Bottom at low water & every thing that time would admit of put onshore was in great Hopes of Floating next High water.303

[Taylor, in addition to describing these events, records the reactions of the crews:] (75a) A Reader who is in the least acquainted with a Ship (75b) will more readily conceive, than I can describe the Doubtful situation of an Old Ship laying on this deplorable state. Then what must be ye dreadful apprehensions of the Crew in this remote part of the Globe. The Boatswain, a Man who might be said to be every Inch a Sailor, and one from his Countenance and manner one would suppose never entertained fear in his Life, came to the Island in the Evening for some Stores, for the Ships use, and upon my asking what

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news on board, he Cryed, like a Child. Tears said I, Dick, can be of no service, keep your spirits up. Sir, replied he, their are few on board who are not in tears. She can never be got off, Serviceable. We are not yet certain of that said I, and If so Dick, We have the Sloop with us. She cannot carry many more than her own Crew answered He, No! that she can not! said every Man who remained with me in the Tent, with their Eyes fixed on the Boatswain. Sympathy and silence! prevailed. ’Twas a moment of profound thought, I think I may venture to assert that the brain of every Man in the Tent, not at work at that moment, thinking how he might contrive to get to Old England.

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Friday Morning October the Twelth the wind got to the Northward & brought fair weather at Noon hove off & warpd along side the Isle, beyond all our expectations the Ship made no water which gave us great hopes our situation was not so bad as we dreaded Captn. Duncan remaind with me most of the time to whom I am much obligd for his assistance & advice & his Crew deserve every thanks for their willingness to assist in what ever they were desired, most of them being onboard the whole time we were on shore. Altho’ the Ship made no water the Carpenters were of Opinion some of the But ends might be started & Futtocks Broke,304 that it became necessary to lay onshore & examine the damage receiv’d Captain Duncan accompany’d me with some of the Officers up the Creek to look for a place pitchd on one on the East side & nearly at the Head & as the Carpenters supposd it would be some [Untitled sketch. The Prince of Wales under repair at Port Ball.] [Untitled chart. Port Ball and vicinity, Banks Island; notation: “By Compass;Varn. 24°30’E. Latd. 53°12, Longd. [blank]. High water full & Change half past 12. Perpendicular rise from 14 to 16 foot.” See Figure 8.] time before they could finish, it was propos’d to move the Stores &c. from the Isle to a point which was thought conveniently situated for that purpose.305 Saturday morning October the thirteenth at day light cast off from the Isle, Hove up the Bower Anchor & dropt it higher up, at a place we meant to lay at when we came off the Ground warp’d up the Creek, the Princess Royal follow’d us and anchor’d off the mouth of it, the Boats were dispatchd to bring up the Salt Provisions the Rest of the Ship’s Company Captain Duncan & Crew assisting clearg the spot away for placing them had given the ship a good heel before we went on shore the Cask us’d to lift the Ship while on the Rocks had got foul of the Keel & not able to clear them being under the Bottom kept her upright got Tackles from the Mast heads to the Shore & hoisted the Princess Royal’s Boat up alongside the Cask Bilgd & she came down to her proper heel.306 The Boats return’d too late with the Provisions to get them Hoisted up on the point sent them along side Captn. Duncan’s Vessel during the night it Blew hard & rain’d incessantly between twelve & one the Whale Boat came from the Princess Royal informing us the Indians had stole the Long Boat with the Provisions & that their Chief mate was gone in pursuit. the Whale Boat was man’d & went in search also, & by four o’Clock not being able to get any tiding return’d, at five Mr. Hudson the second mate set out, & learnt from the People guarding the stores on the Isle that a Canoe had landed on the Shore Opposite to them about twelve o’Clock & by the noise suppos’d the[y] were bailing there boat out, staid but little time & pursued their course round to the Eastward the Winds being to the Southward & Blowing so very strong they could not Cross the large opening but must be among the Isles they fell in with the Princess

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Royal’s boat & parted rowing different sides of the Creeks at 6 am the Princess Royal’s People heard a hammering round a point a little to the westward of them lay in their oars & skuld gently along to prevent an alarm, the Natives on first discovering them were in the act of demolishing the Boat but made a stand as if doubtful whether they should defend so great an acquisition against five men they being ten in number but on discharging two muskets & giving way with their oars to the Shore they fled to the woods leaving their Canoe & several of their most useful utensils; the Officer & two men followed them some distance, & sent the Boat with other two to look for the Whale Boat, on examining they found both Bows & Stem cut down to the Keel, Stern post cut in two where the Iron ring was & the remaining part of the Boat a shell, Provision Casks stove for the Iron Hoops, but most of it was recover’d & brought back in the Canoe & Boats. they arrived on board about Noon.307

[Taylor describes the events from the perspective of Taylor Island:] (76b) it must first be observed that the Ship, and Sloop, lay both out of sight of the Island. For the Princess Royal also warped up near ye Ship. In the Evening of ye 13th two Boats came from the Ship for aload of Provisions each, as it was the Commanders intention to have all the Provisions from the Island, and it was to be landed on Shore near the Ship, considering it safer there than under our small guard, both boats were accordingly laden, but as it was late in the Evening when they got up to the Ship, the Boats were ordered to be moored along side the Princess Royal for the night, as it was considered dangerous to ground the Boats when laden. At midnight the watch under my direction on the Island informed me He thought he heard a Canoe with Indians on the opposite Shore. I listened and it remained doubtful. The Night was very dark. At 2 oClock on the morning of the 14th I was again alarmed by the watch saying a Boat was approaching. This was the Princess Royals Boat, with orders to be strictly on our Guard, for the Long Boat was absolutely stole from along side the Princess Royal with ten Casks of Provisions. The Man who relieved the Watch on board her at midnight was told the Boats were alongside, but did not immediately look, but when the other was gone to Bed, the Watch on Deck in looking round saw only one boat, So that (77a) Indeed, She must have been taken about Eleven oClock and that it was probable our suppositions at midnight were not groundless. This was a dreadful blow to us, as our whole stock amounted to eleven months only, and Ten Casks of Beef and Pork deducted from so small a Proportion, left us little indeed, but one misfortune seemed to follow another, and many of the Seamen began to dispair. Tho’ this loss was occasioned beyond dispute by inattention of the watch on Deck, yet we had every reason to believe he was walking on deck and singing at the very moment, all that can be said in his favour is that such a species of Villainy was never thought of. No Indians were known to be in the neighbourhood

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nor could we have supposed they would have the impudence to go close to the Sloop to cast her off, but the Lofty trees, in the Arm, where the Vessels lay, together with the darkness of the Night, favoured their design, for after Dark ’twas impossible to see the smallest distance. The Loss of the Longboat was of the two worse than the Loss of the Provisions for we knew not as yet what might be expected from the Ship when at Sea, and the Long Boat was an excellent Sea Boat, capable of carrying a number of Men in a case of emergency. From the advantage the Indians had, of the knowledge of the Country and the number of Creeks, Harbours, Coves &c &c &c for many leagues round us ’twas the general (77b) Opinion the Chance was much against seeing Her any more. No time was to be lost in the search. The Provisions we knew was of no value to them, as they never eat any salt Provisions, ’twas the Iron alone would be useful to them. I gave it as my firm opinion that they had brought her down at midnight past our Island on the opposite shore, and they were most likely gone out towards the Fishing River.308 Those on Board were of a different opinion, and seemed to think it more probable they had gone out to Sea through a Creek at the head of the Harbour, and a Boat armed was dispatched immediately through the Creek. At Daylight she returned without Success. When our Whale Boat, in Company with the Princess Royals Boat both well armed, went round the northeast point towards the Fishing River agreeable to the information I gave them. The Wind at this time blew strong from the Southeast with heavy rain. At one, afternoon the Boats returned, and the Long Boat with most of the Provisions with them. The Natives were discovered near the Salmon River, in the act of breaking up the Long Boat for the Iron work, the Provision Casks were already demolished, and the Hoops put in a Bay and in one half Hour more the Long Boat would have been so far Broke up as to have been past repair, they began about her Bows, which were destroyed nearly to the water. When they found (78a) Themselves discovered, they took to the Woods, one excepted who had charge of the bag of Iron. He stood the fire of two musquets from the boat, as she advanced towards them, before he retired, before the Boat reached the Shore. He made off with his treasure, unhurt, as did the whole twelve in number. Our People pursued them into the Woods, but to no purpose. When they returned and took possession of the Long Boat, and the Provisions which they carelessly had thrown about the Beach ’twas fortunate for us that they disregarded our Salt Beef and Pork, or it would have been most likely out of our reach. The Indians left two Canoes on the Beach which our People brought round with them. Perhaps there was never a set of People more elated than we were, on the recovery of our Boat and Provisions, as The Boats approached the Island. They were saluted with three hearty Cheers by my party, and the success of the Morning gave universal satisfaction and raised the desponding spirits of every individual. A Business of a very different nature now took place on Board. The Ships Company, conceiving the accident which had happened in Transporting the Ship, as well as the late accident of the Boat and Provisions was occasioned entirely by the advice of Capt. Dunkan to our Commander, for they were of opinion had our

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Commander been advised by his own officers, The Ship would not have beem moved from the Creek where (78b) She lay to clean her bottom, on such a blowing, Squally Day, nor did they suppose the Provisions would have been removed from my Charge, but by the advice of Capt. Dunkan.

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In the afternoon [of 14 October] the Ship’s Company sent to speak with me, desired they would come into the Cabin there busyness was to enquire my future Intentions concerning the Ship I thought it a very unprecedented method of acting, differing so widely from the service I had been brought up in, for some moments I was at a loss how to answer, but recollecting my situation told them nearly what I intended, could the Carpenters secure the Ship for sea before froze up, I would go to the Sandwich Isles for refreshments & return on the Coast early in the Spring. They also requested I would not remove the stores from off the Isle but let them watch them there, & that Captain Duncan might never give them any orders. The two last propositions I could not answer, the first required some little consideration. I had partly determin’d on the Stores remaining where they were, from the favourable report of the Carpenters by examining the Bottom found it not so bad as expected, & that they should sooner have done the repairs than they first imagin’d. The second was not in my power to set aside which I convinc’d them by reading their articles of agreement.309 After dismissing the Ship’s company sent for the Mates, told them what had passd, the Chief Mate said the Ship’s Company had been with him before they came to me, & that he never met with a more orderly set of people.310 I sent for Capt. Duncan who was present with my two Mates & Supercargo told him what had pass’d as circumstances were at present he agreed the Stores would be better where they were, & the first fine day was to take our birth along side the Isle for the better guarding them.311 At two o’Clock Monday morning [15 October] Indians were heard abreast the Ship I was calld & fired a pistol into the Bush were the noise proceeded from, it raind hard & too dark to see any thing between three & four the watch thought they heard the People from Isle Hail, the Boat was sent but it was a mistake I believe it to have been the Indians in the Woods from where we lay to the Place the Long Boat was found was little Distance over land; we heard the Report of the Muskets Yesterday very plain. all monday it raind & Blew very hard, went onshore in the morning with the Chief mate & four hands to cut spars to build a house for the carpenters to work under.312 The Carpenters onshore cutting timber to repair the Ship with at two oClock we all return’d onboard having done as much as the weather would admit of the winds Southerly & no prospect of their Changing gave up the busyness for the day.

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Tuesday [16 October] the Weather a little more settled wind still at SE got the sails on deck to dry, then went onshore with Supercargo, second mate & one seaman to Build some kind of covering for the Carpenters to work under the rest of the Ship’s Company employd getting Ballast out of the Hold & rafting Cask to the Isle. The Princess Royal also got down this morning. the preceding night was so stormy had blown down the tent & every covering on the Isle & left them quite in a distressd condition several Indians seen on the E.ern shore abreast of them & crawld thro’ the Bushes & stole the Princess Royal’s Carpenters Tools & Jacket that was at work on the Bowsprit. wind continued in the old quarter & in the night it came to blow & Rain very hard & continued so all Wednesday forenoon [17 October] the wind setting on our broadside forced us too much onshore & it blew such a Huricane that the Ship Rock’d like a Cradle & the mizen mast complain’d much; got the gaff & Cross Jack yard down. I was anxious for the end of the gale to give me an opportunity for Shifting my birth for should the Tides set up it would be impossible with all our endeavours to keep her on Blocks for Bolting the Pieces we meant to put inside her Bottom & over the Keel in such a gale. Thursday [18 October] Rain’d all day got the three pieces of Timber down the Carpenters meant to fix as Sleepers & placed them for working on Employd transporting things to the Isle sent the Beef & Pork we recover’d from the Indians which Captain Duncan undertook to see fresh cured for me he also got two guns off I left where the Ship was onshore about Eight o’Clock in the Evening the watch saw Indians on the Eastern side of the Creek were we lay fired several Muskets & heard no more of them. this last tide attempted to heave the Ship a little off but she did not fleet [sic]. Friday the Wind got to SW & the weather more favourable with flying Showers, as nothing we had yet fixed on the Isle would stand tempestuous weat. determin’d to send them spars to build a house with, & as the House began abreast the Ship would be of little service when we removed to the opposite side of the Creek as intended, it was pulld down & sent to the Isle, & people employd cutting more to compleat it. Capt Duncan & self shot three Ducks but lost one of them by his diving, there was not the smallest difference between them & the common tame duck in England,313 we flatter’d ourselves of having a good meal from these Birds & would have been a great treat but being left in the way of a Hog was disappointed. Clams & Muscles was the only Change of Diet any of us could procure. Geese inumerable were constantly passing over us in their way to the Southward accompany’d with swans Ducks & other sea Birds, many rested in the Coves & Creeks, but all too Shy to be Shot. In the Woods, Deer, partridge & a kind of Heath Fowl was seen but they were as wary as the sea fowl and [blank] our old fishery had faild from the encrease of water from the heavy rain the Salmon had all got up the last time the Boat was there (Oct. 12) was not able to take above four

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or five,314 & the weather so bad wind from the SE against them it was with difficulty they reach’d the Ship again. The failing of this fishery was our own fault. the Wire that was fixd in the Run was to prevent the fish from getting too hastily up as well as down, & some of our people out of pity for the sickly fish above broke part of the wire down by which means the fish had a free passage up & when the run encreased nothing to stop them.315 By Friday Evening October the Nineteenth got the keel piece placed for the Carpenters to work on & all the Timber they meant to put in the Ship. Saturday morning [20 October] two o’Clock the watch on deck fired two pistols at the Indians abreast the Ship that came down to steal, they return’d the fire with two Arrows,316 one Stuck an Inch in the comings of the main Hatchway, other in the ship’s side, left us & padled down the Harbour where in a little time heard the fireing of Muskets at day light the supercargo accompany’d me down to the Isle learnt the Indians had landed Eight or ten in number & on fireing at them return’d a Volley of Arrows when padling away a musket of Swan Shot & Slug was fired at them, & was conjectured had wounded some but I thought otherwise for trying a pair of Pistols of nine Inches long, & a bore to take a Ball of half an ounce at three yards distance did but pass thro’ their outer war Jackett. I rather think the Howl they gave was a Triumphal one for the success met with having stole from abreast the ship three frocks & two pairs of Trowsers, & from the Isle a pair of Trowsers and a washing Tub, reinforc’d the Isle with two more men & employ’d Ship’s Company all the Day cutting spars to finish their House & fortify themselves. As we had no proof of an Indian’s having felt the effects of our firearms had every reason to expect being continually Haras’d & most likely by greater numbers whilst they met with any success and all my entreatys would not prevent something being left in their way I at first had hopes the Princess Royal laying along side the Isle would deter them but they always landed on the SW side out of their sight and hid by the Shores in the Shades of the Trees on the water, of a Dark night from their dress & Colour & lowness of their Canoes it was impossible to see them at a very Short distance. In the night we were visited again by them & the watch on deck told me one man had attempted to get up the Stern I waited hours to get a fair opportunity to chastise them for the depredations committed they saw us I believe prepared, & padled of, a Canoe was seen from the Isle and an Arrow was found at day light supposd to be shot from them.317 Sunday October 21st heavy Rain winds at SE killd a Hog our last resourse & gave away the greatest part of it. Carpenters got the Three Sleepers in the Hold. Monday [22 October] rain all day, one Indian had been seen lurking about in the night, in the afternoon people employd picking stones up from the place I meant to Shift the Ship to & fixt two

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poles to shew the spot at High water rain all the night. Tuesday morning [23 October] the same weather Carpenter finish’d the three floor pieces & began working on the keel piece by noon got it down into the Hold attempted to heave the Ship off this morning but did not fleet [?] the reason had been oblig’d to Shift the dry provisions articles of trade & stores that would have ruined to have been landed abaft the main hatchway & clean sweep the Hold for the Carpenters, they having now nearly finish’d to bolting began to trim forward & got the Blocks for the Ship’s Keel cut, at ten in the Evening attempted to heave of but did not fleet [sic] Heavy Rain all the night at three o’Clock in the morning less rain, Heard the report of musket & a great gun from the Isle at day light learnt the Indians had landed on the Isle, but on the snapping of a Musket wh. missed fire discharg’d their arrows & return’d to their Canoe, a Cannon with a large load of Pistol & musket Ball was discharged at them, had the musket gone off for they were within three Yards of the muzzle & well loaded with Ball & swan Shot few out of the ten would have escap’d, there was no doubt but the Gun touch’d some of them. Wednesday October the Twenty fourth winds westerly, frost & fine weat. all this day, hove over to the opposite shore, sent spars enough to the Isle to finish their House & Fortification & with the Two Courses they had for a tent haul’d over it made it a warm & Comfortable habitation. Thursday October 25th wind NW frost & fine weather lashd short pieces of Iron to the Blocks & at flowing tide hove far enough off to place them with Ropes under the Keel at four in the afternoon the Ship was dry & well placed for the Carpenters Boreing & working. On ripping off the sheathing from the places we expected to have receiv’d the most damage in found our greatest Injury in the False keel, the Flood prevented our finishing. Cut down more spars & sent to the Isle318 all the Night & fore part of Day Friday [26 October] wind Northly with Frost & Clear weather finishd the Larboard side got sheers up & lifted the rudder to nail the Heel piece on, at Noon fleeted [?] haul’d over to the Western side of the Creek & Heel’d for driving the Bolts at High water, Ship complain’d much & strain’d so as to spring one of the Diagonal Shores in the Hold, we were now laying on the side receiv’d the Hurt on the Rocks. Supercargo & self din’d onboard the Princess Royal, between four & five in the afternoon a smoke was observed thro’ the Trees, guessd it proceeded from a little Cove about three miles to the Eastward where there was remains of old houses.319 Captain Duncan’s boat was man’d & arm’d with Six men & the Chief Mate, to go after the Indians; I sent to the Ship desiring the Whale Boat to follow with the second Mate we soon heard the fireing of Musketts & in less than an Hour from their setting out the Sloops Boat return’d with a Canoe & one Woman in, the Whale boat met them but went on. They had taken the Indians by surprize, the Chief Mate & four hands landed to get at the back of them & the other two proceeded with the Boat it being rainy weat. matts were

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hung round them which served as an Excellent screen & the Boat was within two Yards before discover’d the supprize put them off their guard & landing getting close to them had render’d their long spears useless, there being four men & two women did not attempt to secure any of them appearing as unconcern’d as possible keeping on their guard to act when the others hove in sight but the Indians gaining confidence from their not acting on the Defensive two of them seiz’d their spears, both men level’d their musketts, one snapt the other fortunately went of & shot a Man thro’ the Head; two of them fled & the musket that miss’d fire was cock’d & shot the remaining one thro’ the Breast, after that he snatch’d the Cutlass from his Opponent’s side & Struck at him several times with it, but the Man that first fired knock’d him down with the But of his Piece, thinking they had dispatched those two, pursued the others. The five men by this time had reach’d the spot were the Action had happen’d seeing no one to give them information, the Man shot thro’ the head as suppos’d, the Ball had gone into his mouth & he had recover’d so as to get on his legs & seeing those men seiz’d a log of wood out of the fire to defend himself & was not got the better of till a cutlass was run thro’ him, & muskets discharged the other that had been left for dead was fled; a person that was crawling thro’ the Bushes was shot which proved to be a woman the remaining one was taken prisoner in a few hours she became quite compos’d & satisfied with her situation, took great fancy to one of the men who had been at the Skirmish, & adopted him for her husband; the Whale Boat row’d to the Place where the Fray had happen’d & saw nothing but the dead woman & dying man. Before the tide made, the Carpenters finishd having Bolted three Sleepers over the Keel & a piece of Timber fore & aft over them on the Top of the Keel as long as the Hatchway would take down being [blank] feet & fix’t a futtock at the Place the Bilge rested on the Rock. At High water warp’d out of the Creek Hove to our Anchor passd the inner end of the Cable to the western shore Stream to the Eastern shore & Hawsers out abaft the Ship making no water we believ’d ourselves much better than we could expect. The SE wind that came Yesterday brought dirty weather with it. Princess Royal’s people Saturday morning went & Buried the two Indians carried the Girl with them, & altho’ very Young not yet having arrived at the age to entitle her to a mouth piece shed but few tears, seemd but little effected & that but momentary.

[Taylor describes the events of 20-27 October from the perspective of the island:] (79a) At three oClock on the Morning of the 20th, The Indians under cover of a very dark night, paid us a visit at the Island for the first time, whether they had one or more Canoes, we were not able to determine, they landed on the Southwest part of the Island among a Cluster of bushes, they were immediately

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observed by the watch, who discharged his Pistol towards them and then alarmed our main guard, each Man flew instantly to the Spot with his Musquet. The Indians by this had just put off their Canoe from the Shore we discharged our musquets at them, but ’twas too dark to take any aim. The Indians had the advantage of us, for the explosion pointed out to them the exact spot where we stood. When with a loud War hoop, peculiar to themselves, they let fly a Shower of Arrows among us, fortunately they directed their fire rather over us, at this time I had two of the Ships Guns charged, but so situated that we could not remove them to that spot in (79b) time so for once they made their escape most likely unhurt. This was the first instance of their Hostile intentions towards us, the same night several of the Indians were heard craw[l]ing about under the Ships Bottom at low water as she lay aground. They seemed determined to practice thievery at all events. How serious their intentions were towards us was Doubtful, but I conceived it prudent to guard more against them, and as no more Men could be spared to strengthen my party. I began to fortify the Island regularly agreeable to my own plan, and fenced round in every direction to be proof against their Arrows & formed proper embrasures, with Empty Casks and Spars, with platforms for the Guns, which were placed in advantageous situations to Command the harbour every way, and drove spikes of Wood in a slanting direction by way of Chevaux de frise all round the Island.320 The Guns I charge with Grape. This was a work of four Days and when finished The Island might be said to be fortified sufficiently well for the Purpose, and the Indians would not be able now to take us by surprise. While this business went on, The Crew of the Princess Royal assisted in building our House. On the 21st I discovered some Blood on the Rocks from which I concluded, the first Indian who had a Pistol discharged at him by the man on guard, must have been wounded. We now continued quiet some nights tho’ the Ship had (80a) Some of them hovering about her every evening and often they wantonly fired arrows on board. Musquets were frequently discharged, but quite at random for the filth and nastiness about them quite corresponded with the colour of the bottom She lay on. They were oftimes heard in the dark but never seen. On the Morning of the 24th at three oClock, when the Moon disappeared a Canoe landed on the Island unobserved, but two Men were constantly on guard together, so that they were soon discovered without our Works and one of the guard attempted to discharge his piece towards them, his piece hung fire and alarmed the Indians, who made hastily to their Canoe, we were all on the Spot by this, I fired a Musquet towards them in a very good direction most of the others hung fire from the Constant Wet but as they retreated I discharged a Gun with Grape, as well directed as the darkness of the night would admit, and I had great reason to believe they were injured, we heard a groan from them, which we judged to be a man dying They had been accustomed to Musqetry some time, and as they frequently missed fire, either from bad flints but more frequently from damp powder, they rather disregarded them, but a discharge of Grape from one of the Ships Guns, was entirely new, and unexpected to

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(80b) Them and no Doubt the explosion would greatly intimidate them, exclusive of the effects, before the Gun was discharged they fired a Volley of Arrows among us but without doing any hurt. We heard no more of them for the night. At Day light we found a number of Arrows without our works. I was happy to find our Labour was not without use, for few of the Arrows came within our garrison, some indeed went clean over, and lodged in the Breast work on the opposite side. They were all pointed with muscle shell, very stout, sharp and thick. On the 25th our House was completed, and our situation became far more comfortable. We could hang our Hammocks up in the House and had the comfort of a good fire to Dry our Bedding, and Cloaths, a Dry Bed was quite a treat, for till now we were always obliged to Sleep in our Cloaths, during our continuance in the Tent I always went to Bed wet footed, and my custom at night, to use the Seamens term, was always to reef my stockings, I learned this same of my People when I went to Bed, I pulled my Stockings about half off so that my feet became comfortable in the Dry part of the Stocking and the feet got dry while I slept from the warmth of the Bed Cloaths. I know not whether the Ladies might chuse to adopt my plan of drying Stockings in wet weather, when no fire could be got, but in cases of necessity, this method answers very well for a sailor. The Crews of both Vessels began to be quite exasperated with the (81a) Indians, who obliged them to Strengthen the night watch, on board as well [as] on Shore, not only that but our People every night walked the Deck at the Hazard of their lives, without having an opportunity of resenting their constant insults, that they waited eagerly for an opportunity of getting hold of them by day light, and threatened even should they come to Barter that they would shoot them instantly. On the 27th We saw some smoke in the Woods to the Northeast, and of course concluded some Indians were preparing a meal. Thoughts on revenge caused a general bustle, an Officer from the Princess Royal and five men armed went in the Boat to reconnoitre the Spot. They rowed round the point, near the place where the smoke was, and with their arms went into the Woods, to use their own words they did not intend hurting any one, provided they were peaceable, but If they found a small party to bring them Prisoners to the Ship, as they entered the woods they divided themselves into two parties, to prevent their escape if possible. Two of the Seamen first discovered the Indians at the foot of a large Tree, clearing away their utensils after a meal, when the Indians discovered our Seamen approaching, one of them instantly grasped his long Spear, and was in the act of throughing it towards one of them, when he was dispatched by a musquet Ball from one of them. He fell (81b) Instantly. By this time our two parties joined. The Indians were only six in number, two of which were women. The Men all armed as much as the circumstances would allow, but seeing one of their party killed, two Men and one woman fled to the woods, one remained and defended himself gallantly. He received a musquet shot through his Shoulder, and a Cutlass through some part of his body, yet he defended himself with a Stick on fire, till knocked down with the Butt end of a musquet, where he was left for Dead. He afterwards rose unobserved and ran into the woods, one of the women was Killed this was not intended, when

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she was shot our People supposed her to be a Man. The other woman was brought away prisoner, and treated with great tenderness by the Man who took her with whom She remained for the present. She attempted to escape to the Woods with the two Men but was caught. This no Doubt was one of the Thieving parties, which hovered about the Ship every night, firing their arrows on board at random. One Man we knew was dead, and ’twas more than probable the Wounded man could not survive, however melancholy, the remedy may appear, it became absolutely necessary to convince them that our fire arms could deal Death when necessity obliged us to use them, for although We had reason to think some of them had suffered before. It was not reduced to a certainty and as the Indians appeared determined to thieve at all events (82a) I conceive ’twas nothing more than proper, and consistent with our own future safety, to convince them when ever they came in future to Steal in the night, that it must be at the risk of their Lives for while they could go on with impunity ’twas better than bartering Skins with us. Yet I have full reason to believe had they not commenced the attack, no man would have suffered.

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From the 27th October to the fourteenth of November the wind continued between the NE & SE mostly very hard gales, heavy Rain & Hail at times with some Snow & Thunder & Lightning, few intervals of fair those had frost which coverd the surface of the water around us with Ice the bad weather greatly retarded our operations321 but by this day the 14th with the assistance of the princess Royal’s people got Ballast wooded waterd Long Boat repaird ship riggd all the stores from the Isle but two Bower anchors & people onboard, but as the Ship got down in the water found her leak much in the lower part of the Bends.322 On the first of November at Noon hail’d from the Princess Royal for a Boat a man having fled thro’ the bush from two others that were cutting wood inform’d them they were suppris’d by Indians, the Whale Boat was loaded with Ballast along side, & their Boat aground with our water Cask, the Canoe that was seiz’d with the Long Boat was man’d & sent to Captain Duncan & went to their Assistance. Whale Boat was expeditiously clear’d to follow, our fears were dispell’d by seeing the two men appear in sight in their Batteau accompany’d by a large Canoe our people came to the Ship & inform’d us Seax our old Indian Friend was in the Canoe and nine men, that on first seeing them both parties were onshore & each took to their Boats, but the Canoe coming with them so fast & expecting no quarters from what had happen’d discharged a Musket loaded with swan Shot but did not do any execution nor were they in the least intimidated by it all hopes of escaping being given over landed sent one man thro’ the woods to hail, Chief mate staid in the Batteau the other landed on the Rock with the Arms, to defend himself & the other on their near approach perceiv’d it to be our old friends & altho’ well arm’d with arrows & spears had not

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the least Hostile Intention but desired the Mate of the Sloop to tell his Chief that he had brought some skins for sale. The supercargo went to Barter with him & every persuation was used to get him to the Ship which he was deaf to till Capt. Duncan carried him the girl, we had new cloathd her, with some of the best garments purchasd from her own Countrymen, besides a pair of Trousers a Ring on each Finger & many beads he appeard to be a little surpris’d at seeing her, took little notice ask’d a few questions which I suppose were favourably answer’d by his coming directly to the Ship on complaining of the depredations that had been committed on us, made but a lame excuse blaming his brother Chiefs. I did not believe he did it himself, nor sent others, but from his Shyness in not coming to the Ship must have been perfectly acquainted with what had happened, & had his share of the plunder, & by that means countinancd the action, had his intentions been bad he never could have so favourable an opportunity of distroying our men as he had this day, & in which he would have been in some degree Justified in by their firing on him first. I had long experiencd Indians were not to be trusted, it still remain’d a doubt whether it might not be a trap for a more favourable opportunity when some greater object might turn up, his being so well man’d & arm’d which never happen’d before, had no good appearance; he sold ten Skins & padled towards Home, the girl directed them were her Companions were buried. Princess Royal’s people return’d for their wood & one man went thro’ the Bushes to see if they perform’d any ceremony over the Corps, only broke two or three Bows & laid over the grave & pull’d off.

[Taylor describes Seax’s visit and adds some information about another Chief, Hammisit:] (82b) On the 2d [1st] of November the Princess Royals Boat went round the Northeast point of the Harbour, to get some firewood with only one Musquet in the boat, and three Men. They were suddenly surprised at the sight of a Canoe with a number of Indians, close to them. From the late skirmish in the Woods The Seamen expected instant Death, they discharged their musquet towards them. and made to the Shore hastily, but ere they reached the land the Canoe was close at their Heels. Two of the Sailors at time [sic] to Jump out, one ran through the Woods to alarm the Vessels, the other trusted to his Musquet and one remained in the boat, not having time to quit her ere the Canoe was on Shore. Old Seeiax the Chief was in the Canoe with ten others When our Sailor pointed his musquet towards the Canoe, The Old Chief in English cryed no, no, at the same time offered his hand to the Sailor in the Canoe, in token of friendship, and at the same time gave them to understand he had Skins to dispose of, and wanted to see the Supercargo. He was not ignorant He said of every thing which had happened, and for which he appeared extemely sorry, and

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weeped abundantly blaming old Armseit [Hammisit] another Chief for all the Thefts which had been (83a) committed and attempted, and that in Consequence of the behaviour of Armseit. He was now at War with him. Our Sailors persuaded him to go round to the Ship, but the Old Chief was fearful, therefore He suffered our Boat to go to the Ship, to acquaint the Captain He would wait there to Trade, and our People were happy to find themselves safe, as they Certainly had a favourable opportunity to retaliate. Whether the Old Chiefs story was true, or not, his behaviour on this occasion did him great Credit & also proved they were not destitute of humanity, nor so vindictive as might have expected. When this information reached the Ship. A Boat man’d and armed went out to Trade with the Chief, carrying the Female prisoner with them, to return Her. And the Chief was prevailed on to go along side the Ship, Where his Skins were purchased among other articles of Barter, He received a Union Jack for which he had always expressed a particular desire. His stay was short, as he passed the Island on his return, I pointed to the Long Boat, and shew him the Arrows, which were fired at us. Twas not him, he said, but Armseit, and that he was going to fetch more Skins, his hasty departure as well as his behaviour during his stay, was sufficient to prove. He did not think himself quite safe among us and I was of opinion, they now believed our (83b) Fire Arms to be mischievous kind of things for ’twas evident, not an Indian thought himself safe along side the Ship.

On the Fifteenth of November wind got to the Northward & brought with it fine weather, got the Bower Anchors on board & a number of small spars for oars the Princess Royal left the Isle & anchord above us, all day the Sixteenth the weather continued fine rove the runing rigging during the night wind got to the Eastward Showers of Rain & Hail & Snow accompanyd it & continued till 8 o’Clock Saturday morning [17 November] wind then hauling a little to the Northward it cleard. Bent sails & got ready for sea during the night winds Variable with Rain Hail & snow at 6 o’Clock sunday morning [18 November] winds at NE & fair Captain Duncan accompany’d me in the Boat to look at the weather to seaward leaving orders to heave the anchor up & get farther down, before we reachd the Mouth of the Port the wind set in from SE, anchord in 6 fm. water a Cable’s length farther to the Southward, Steaded with a Hawser to the Eastern Shore the Southerly wind brought its old weat. & fresh of wind in the night it Calm’d.323 Monday Morning 19th of November wind Northerly & clear weat. went with the Boat to look at the weather to seaward it appear’d favourable hove up the Anchor & made sail at Noon the Entrance of the Port N. 2 Leagues Pr. Royal in Company wind at NW & a fresh breeze the Ship made an average 14 inches in the Twenty four Hours – every care was taken to ease her upper works but putting the Heavy weights in the hold keeping Top gallant mast on deck & no sprit sail Yard across.324

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We saild in good health & if any of the Crew’s spirits had Flagg’d from the late Misfortunes a fair wind, leaving a Country half cover’d from the summits of its hills to the water’s Edge with snow & no refreshments to be had, going to one supply’d with every refreshment a sailor wishd but Grog revived them. All the remarks I had an Opportunity of making on the Natives were very superficial, what I saw differd very little from Charlotts Isles at both Places they chewd a large Quantity of herb mixd with a little of something white like chalk, believe the Herb to be the Labrador tea plant;325 they had small sticks for playing the Game at Hazard with as at that Isle,326 their women had a great degree of modesty or the men more Value for them than at our last place visited as none were barterd for along side but I was informd they deviated from that reserve when they met our people onshore. Seax their Chief is a venerable looking & respectable man capable from the attention paid him by all Ranks of Indians of doing us considerable services, could not understand that he had ever seen Europeans before; he took a great deal of pains to inform me & Captain Duncan something concerning fire arms & pointed to the NE & requested some of ours whither it was any of the Hudson Bay People being only 7 or 8 hundred miles from their settlement at most or their Indians had traded with them I can not say, rather suppose it the latter & that they are Enemys to each other as one of them shew’d a spot where a Bloody Battle had been fought with strangers, which he seemd to shudder to relate;327 fire arms such as pistols & Muskets they stood in no dread of having an armour that would keep out a Musket Ball at forty Yards & perhaps nearer. They have the best calculated Bows I ever saw & it requires a deal of exertion to draw them, with a piece of wood lashd on each quarter to save the Hand from the recoil of the line. I am thoroughly convinc’d he never saw a Ship or Cannon, the latter he seem’d much terrified at when one was fired to shew them the use of it, he had some European Blue Cloth at his Village besides the Brass Patoo seen along side, thro’ what channel he got these articles we are yet to be acquainted with.328 I was very sorry at the little circumstances that lessen’d his confidence in us, for we never saw him after taking the Girl away, several nights the watch on deck thought they heard the Indians in the woods but we never saw them, at another time the Boat was man’d & pulld after what was taken for a Canoe crossing the Creek to the Southward in their way to the west but as the Boat lost sight of the pursuit it was conjectured it was a log of wood drifting out with the Tide. Animals seen besides the Wolf & Deer was a kind of Stoat my Dog killd one it was of a Chesnut colour & about Eighteen inches in length.329 Many otters were about when we first Anchor’d but soon left the place.330

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Sea Birds were very numerous & Shy; two Ducks that I do not recollect to have seen before I have endeavourd to describe on the other side of the next leaf, the maws of most that were killd were fill’d with Shrimps,331 some large prawns were pick’d up on the shore and when digging for Clams a small Craw fish about four Inches long was dug up, shell soft & very Indifferent eating, a small Crab was also found among the Rocks, a Sculpion was caught with Hook & Captain Duncan took a Salmon at the run we waterd from.332 The Shores were Rocky & some of them steep formd by numberless Isles between some of them was sand coves & muddy beds with Clams. Fresh water saw none fit to drink near the water side, till the rain set in the land near & around us of a very moderate heigth thin soil trees of no great growth. On the top of most Hills was collected a Body of Fresh water on some of them extending a mile & in swamps great many toads, besides the Red & Black berries that we procurd at other parts of the Coast Juniper was in great plenty & of the Labrador tea our Crews gatherd large Quantitys & carried to sea for a store.333 The Hills on the E side of the Arm of Water334 were High Barren & their tops coverd with snow. [Untitled Sketch. Entrance to Port Ball; notation, only partly legible: “E Bearg entrance of the Port bearg No. 2 leagues.”] [Drawings of two unidentified birds.]

Remarks from America to Owyhee

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All the Afternoon of leaving our port had a fresh gale from NW & a confusd sea at 4 oClock S. part of Charlotts Isle S by W close reef Topsails and handed mizen topsail at 8 oClock am November the 20th. Charlotts Isles NW by W 22 wind got to the Southward of W. blew hard & brought us under low sail at Noon the 23rd it Moderated, wind more round to the Southward & continued between the SSE & W till am the 29th during which time had two heavy gales of wind dirty weat. Snow & Hail at 8 am it became calm & suceeded by a light air from ENE this did not last an hour going gradually round to the Northward & westward & by now blew from W. it continued Variable between this point & SE blowing Strong & rain at times till Decr. the first at Midnight. it then fell little wind at times, squally, & unsettled by five am fix’d at NW & blew a very heavy gale then steering S by E by nine the sea ran uncommonly high & oblig’d us to keep a point more away in the height of the squall lost sight of the Princess Royal it blew to Hard to bring to & hearing no signal being no distance a stern was not under the least apprehension for her, reefd the foresail & continued our Course Latd. in at Noon [blank] Longd. [blank].335 The wind continued from NW to W till midnight the third then Shifted to the SE this wind blew till midnight the sixth then variable between W

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& SW for a few Hours. by Eight o’Clock in the morning to NE this was of as short duration as the other by 4 am the seventh it got between E & SE & by midnight the S.ward by Noon to WNW, & Calm at four o’Clock in the afternoon December the 9th a breeze sprang up from the E.ward & round again to South by Noon. At midnight to SSW & continued between that point & SSE till 9 am the Eleventh wind flew round to the Northward & Shifted gradually by the way of E till the thirteenth at Noon it became westerly & WNW blew a fresh breeze all day the fourteenth wind varying a little now & then to the Southward of West. Fifteenth & Sixteenth wind in SW Quarter most part of the 17th Calm the 18th wind from SW to W till Noon it then got round to the Northward Latd. 28°17 Longd [129°57’W]. Fair weat. This day I date our relief from the most variable winds, blowing weather, & confus’d sea, I ever saw & on the whole the worst part passage I ever made. from the Time of leaving America wind seldom continuing an Hour from one point more dirt than fair wear. & every shift brought a fresh blast with it, perhaps our apprehensions of the Ship might make us think it worse than it was, but all our fears on this head were groundless, our leak never encreasing.336 Northerly wind, bringing on the trade, & fine weat. except a refreshing shower now & then our troubles seem’d to have an end for some time & Artificers & people occasionally employd pass’d Quick. The first of January 1788 at Noon made the high land of Owhyhee Latd Observed 19°53 Dist. from the Shore 15 or 16 Leagues.337 [Log, 20 November 1787-2 January 1788.]

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Part 2: 1788 Season

Remarks at Owyhee and Other Sandwich Isles

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Our first Sight of the Land being at a great Distance & hazy, was very imperfect but as we drew on to the Westward it cleard, and Mount Kooa was plain to be seen, few onboard thought it the heigth it is, nor would have been convinc’d had not its summit been cover’d with snow;1 at four in the Afternoon January first hauld up for the Northmost end in hopes of falling in with our consort it being our rendezvous. At ten being in the Latd. steerd away to the westward, & at day light haul’d in for the nearest Shore with all sail set at 8 oClock in the Morning January the second the Extreams of the Land from SE to W dist. off Shore five or 6 Miles the Land descended in a Gentle slope from the High mount, surface very uneven & few parts Cultivated; Shores steep, & rocky, with many runs of fresh water. two Canoes heaving in sight, two men in each, shorten’d sail & stood towards them, on their Joining having too much way for their laying along side, being oblig’d to Jump overboard several times to save their Canoes from upsetting, brot’ too, head in shore & began trading for two Hogs & some bread fruit & Tairo.2 they demanded at first a very extravagant price, a Hatchet; but finding we were not disposd to give that, readily took nails between noon, & three & four in the afternoon, it was Inclinable to Calm, & being within 3 Miles of the Shore wore & stood off, many Canoes by this time Join’d & before Evening to the number of thirty carrying from two to four men each few women among them, but out of that number two staid onboard; A man visited us early in the Afternoon nam’d Totaha from the Authority he carried over the rest3 beating & driving them out of the Ship when we became overcrouded occasion’d me to take notice of him, presenting him with an Ax, he staid onboard all the afternoon & by an Accident of a Canoe runing foul of his broke the outrigger & curiosity having brought off the other Canoes too full to accomodate him & his Crew with a Passage onshore requested to have his Canoe triced up along side & remain onboard till morning, which I granted; by dark every Canoe left us, having purchas’d of them fifty Hogs, most of them very small & great numbers of Tarro, some bread fruit & a little sugar cane. At Midnight

map I Route of the Prince of Wales, Hawaiian Islands, 1788 (for place name typographical conventions, see p. 9)

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the winds became variable with rain & light airs at times & a heavy swell Ship roll’d deep & made much water; before 2 o’Clock it blew very fresh, wore & lower’d the Topsails to reef, but the breeze freshen’d & being my worst sails I had bent for this Country before could get them reef ’d almost blew to pieces by four it blew a fresh gale oblig’d to carry close reef fore main topsl. & foresl. to get an Offing; winds from NWBN to NE by N bent storm stay sails, at Noon the third, fresh gales & Hazy Lat. 20°15 shifted the Topsl. & foresail unfortunately for my Indian Guests, by a sea their Canoe was wash’d from along side, on being acquainted with it they were too sea sick to be uneasy, or to great Philosophers to shew it; as the weat. was no ways settled I continued standing off till midnight, then wore & stood in NWbyN till Eight oClock in the morning the fourth of January the weat. was much settled but a good deal of swell & the Ship had made more water this Gale than at any time since leaving the coast of America.4 The Land was scarce discernible thro’ the Haze & it frequently raind in Showers but promis’d fair & I steerd WSW in for the Land, my guests countenances clear’d & they eagerly look’d for the Shore. I was not a little pleas’d myself with the thought of getting rid of them, as Six in Number became very Troublesome Companions with sea sickness in so small a Cabin, as soon as I could get them on deck to clean the Place miss’d two pair of dividers, I had been using to measure [blank] the distance on the Chart with in the Gale, their Bundle not being taken on deck with them, I made free & had it overhaul’d, found the missing articles with several others; had the things taken on deck & shewn the Chief he at first endeavour’d to vindicate himself protesting his innocence & done with out his knowledge & that he would punish the offender, as soon as he reach’d onshore. I would have been perfectly satisfied with this excuse, but it was too great an Imposition, for I had but a few minutes before seen him at the bundle & the articles I had made him a present were intermix’d with those Stolen. I endeavour’d to shew him I was highly offended at this breach of Ingratititude, & requested to take my own name having chang’d for his on our first acquaintance this seem’d to affect him greatly,5 & one of his favourite attendants came down from the Poop, they saluted by putting nose to nose the custom of the Country wrapt themselves round in one mat & wept for some time there was little notice taken of them all the morning ship still standing in for the Land with little wind & Variable from NE to South with frequent showers of Rain. at Noon Lat. Observed [blank] Extr. of Land from S by E to W½N. in the Afternoon a light air of wind came from off the Land about E & ESE as their was a great swell close reef ’d the Topsails to save the sails flapping against the mast the Land about 4 leagues dist. & no prospect of getting in with the Shore put our head to the Northward towards Evening the weather cleard up & we had a fair prospect of mount [blank] much snow seemd to have fallen during

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the late gale & the water was pouring down in torrents from the High Land to the sea & in such Bodies that in one or two Places we took it for sails under the Land, till the Glass undeceiv’d us. Stood off till two oClock in the morning wind at EbyN wore & stood in till four then bore up & ran in for the shore nearly where we left the night of the gale. At ten oClock being within three leagues of the land two Canoes came off, the meeting between my guests & them was accompany’d with many tears on both sides; on signifying I was going to put the Ships head off shore took a friendly leave promising great things If I would stay till next day, but I was perfectly tired of this part of the Coast & if not I have little faith in the promises of Indians; very few canoes coming off at Eleven o’Clock wore & ran in Shore till Noon Saturday January the fifth many more then join’d us with Vegetables & a few Hogs, Extr. of the Land from SEbyE to W off shore 2 Miles, several porpoises & two or three large Sharks along side at a Musket being fired at one of them, all the Indians that came on a theiving expedition made the best of their way onshore, those that had any thing to sell continued along side, & others kept padling for the Ship, our trading continued all the afternoon & great Quantity of Vegetables was bought & the Quantity eat of Greens & Hogs is scarce creditable but great allowances can be given when inform’d we had scarce tasted fresh flesh for fifteen months; in the Evening it was inclinable to Calm; at Six all the Canoes left us. N. end of Mowee6 NWBW S. do WBN N.west end of Owyhee WBS & SE end SEbyE Reefd the Topsails and made sail. While the Indians were alongside this afternoon hook’d and killd three Sharks, many being along side the Natives stand much in dread of this animal by their frequently looking out for him when in the water, but their propensity was so great for our little articles nothing could prevent those whose canoes were not able for the Croud to get along side the ship from jumping overboard & swiming; a Shark had very nearly taken one of the Indians who was so much frightend that he made but one spring from the water into his boat, & one of the women wept bitterly at the sight of a large Shark; one of the Sharks hook’d while the Indians were along side a Native padled a stern, got a rope fast round his Body, another to his tail stopt him to his Canoe the opposite side of his outrigger then ask’d for a knife, when he got it rip’d his Belly up, took the liver out, but the Shark still was too strong for him & another man came to his Assistance; then with great difficulty got the Chain shark Hook cut out of his mouth by that time the animal was near dead & with much trouble got him into their Canoe & Cut up returnd the knife & padled off for the Shore highly pleas’d with their prize. Calm all night at 7 in the morning sunday the sixth a light breeze sprang up from NE made sail & stood inshore soon perceiv’d several Canoes sailing & padling towards us on their Joining brought too, head off Shore. by Noon near thirty Canoes double & single ones Join’d several very good Hogs were purchas’d, with

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plenty of Plantains, Bananas, sugar cane, Tarro and cocoanuts, bread fruit refus’d as the people did not like it, & had great quantity onboard our new Traders which came from the North end of the Isle was more impudent than those we had met before, & more daring in their thefts perhaps their numbers gave them confidence; several things stole I recover’d again by shewing a musket which seem’d a dreadful weapon to them one Climbd up the rudder pendant got his hand thro’ a broken pane in the Cabin windows, stole a Book & got to his Canoe with it, he would have taken several other things had he not been discover’d I apply’d to the Chief to order the Book to be return’d but he would not understand what I meant. a musket soon brought the thief to his recollection; I have great reason to think this Robbery & many others were committed by his order as he took no pains to drive the natives out of the Ship, when I requested it of him. I made two of them a present of an Ax, on their first coming along side taking them for leading men, & as so pointed out to me, they came off in Large Double Canoes fasten’d by arch’d Sticks & on them their Hogs lashd. the Natives began to be so troublesome & one of my Officers displeas’d because I chi’d him for trading for curiositys, order’d the main topsail to be filld & several of the Canoes left us but by bringing to which I did in a little time was as throng’d as ever.7 at 4 oClock stretch’d over to Mowee till seven being within 3 or 4 Miles of the Shore, & expecting to make a long board on my Larboard Tack, starboard side, being my lame side, to ease the Ship double reef ’d the topsails as soon as about many fires were made by the Natives onshore;8 kill’d a Hog for the first tryal of salting; & try’d Captain Cooks experiment to make Beverage from sugar cane;9 during first part of the night the wind continued at NEbyN & at Midnight flew round to E. tack’d & stood off shore. at 3 am Monday January 7th wind return’d to NEbyN & by 8 o’Clock such a vast number of Canoes Joind & hanging on, all efforts to weather the E. point of Mowee was ineffectual at one time 150 Canoes were around us;10 very few Hogs, vegetables, or any thing to sell, the greatest number came off to satisfy their Curiosity, & the remainder to steal; several were detected making very free, & one man had cast off the Stopper of the Bower Anchor,11 another snatchd the knife out of a Mans hand as he was cooking his victuals, jump’d over board & swam of with it, several muskets were fired at him & I believe some of them did execution; this alarm’d all our visitors and they left us all but four men who seem’d to have great Inclination to stay onboad one of them had been very handy all day, bartering for his countrymen alongside him, I gave leave to,12 others I made quit the Ship & stood away to the Southward & Eastward tacking occasionally during the night to weat. Mowee at 6 o’Clock in the morning [8 January] weather’d the East end bore up steering parallel with the Shore at the distance of three or four miles. The East point of Mowee is very low & runs out for 4 or 5 Miles tending a little to the Northward were the sea broke very high on some Rocks

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laying off the Point, to the southward & Eastward of this point is a small Rock of a moderate heighth standing on the Low land appearing at a small dist. as a detach’d Isle. the whole of the East end was well peopled & better cultivated than any part of the land yet seen;13 bought a Quantity of the Indian Rope & Rove it for runing rigging. By Eight o’Clock January the 8th many Canoes padling after us we Shorten’d sail for them & several Large Hogs & vegetables were purchas’d, having got round the East end of the Isle which was out of the district of my visitors the preceeding Evening. the Indian I had onboard when it was too late told me the Canoes I had bespoke the Hogs & Yams of the day before were disappointed by my not staying off that part of the Isle, if I might judge from the Quantity of Yams those Canoes that followd us brought, had I remain’d another night where I was should have procur’d a great Quantity but there was no putting any faith in them, being so often disappointed. The Indians that came onboard to day seem’d to be anxious to know our wants with a promise of largely providing for them on to morrow. I meant to try them for once, by four o’Clock being off the East end of the Deep Bay on the North side of Mowee & off shore about four miles hauld the wind to the Northward intending to stand off & on, under an easy sail for the night wind at ENE.14 My Indian passenger requested I would carry him to Morotoi to see his Father & Mother. It blew so fresh thro’ the night that the fore & mizen topsails were handed & main sail hauld up at day light had fell considerably to leeward of my last nights station, made sail & stretch’d into the Bay Extreams of Mowee from SW to EbyS dist. off shore 5 or 6 Leagues by Eleven o’Clock [9 January] seeing no signs of natives & a great surf on the Shore judged it prevented them from coming off;15 Bore up & ran along the shore to the Westward under Topsails but the Indian discovering two Canoes under sail & pointing them out hove too till they Join’d which was by half past Twelve at Noon Latd. Observd [blank] Extremes of Mowee WSW to SSE off Shor three Miles Extremes of Morotoi from WBS to WBN½N. Mere curiosity brought those people of so far after us having come from the East most part of the Bay & in such blowing weather having very little to dispose of, or else the little articles got from us, must be a very great acquisition one of those Canoes was of the middling size with four men & two girls in with a proper fitted sail after the manner of those Isles the other a much smaller one of the common kind with a temporary sail of a piece of Mat, in which was one woman & three men, after staying half an hour along side & the Ladies had seen every thing they desired, left us. The surf broke very high all throughout the Bay, Which is mostly a sandy beach; the Hills on the E. side has a gradual descent to the Westward appearing to be well cultivated & from the number of fires should suppose stock’d with Inhabitants. the Cod of the Bay is sandy & very low, & barren, did not

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observe a shrub upon it & the Island Tahoorowa plainly to be seen over the Istmus the West side of the Bay is Hilly, rugged, & Iron Bound shore, the Top of the High land Barren, & thinly Inhabited; one or two fires only seen. The Hill descends gradually to the West end of the Isle which is very low & for a Mile off the sea broke on some rocks or foul ground.16 As soon as my visitors took their departure Bore up for the East end of Morotoi;17 the Hills of a Moderate Heigth gradually descending to the Eastward well cultivated & from the numbers of fires, the Inhabitants were desirous of having some of our articles, but at this time I meant to stand farther on & bring to about the middle of the Isle, the North point of the East end of this Isle is a high Bluff and a little to the Southward & Eastward of the East end are two small Barren Rocks one about the size of a Ship, the other much less nam’d by our Indian the Largest Matoanette the smallest Manah the Indian said they were Inhabited by some animal that bit perhaps Seals18 – by broken ground & small Rocks those Islets appear’d to be join’d to Morotoi & in one with the west end of Mowee bore SbyE½E while off the East end four Canoes came off shorten’d sail for them; the Ship had too much way for their holding on, & as they had nothing in, did not heave to, most of the NE part of Morotoi is a perpendicular Rock from the Top of the Hills to the waters Edge the face of it Barren & Bare scarce an appearance of any green upon it; in some places Broken in deep Gullys & indented forming some little coves on the shore down which pour’d torrents of water. In the Valleys was some little vegetation, & a Hut or two; the land had this appearance for several miles about six or 7 from the East point is a small Rock quite barren & about 2 Miles from it ran out a low ragged point with breakers some dist. off,19 from this part of the Coast the land fell in heigth but much indented, between it and the W Point is form’d a Bay. the Western land for Miles was long tabling & not very low the Western extremity a Bluff. At six in the Evening Extremes of the Land from WSW to SEbyE Low ragged point with Breakers off SSW dist. from the Shore three or four Miles. Our stock began to run low, & little prospect of being replenish’d on this side the Isle, I determind to anchor under the West end in the Morning [10 January]. thro the night a very fresh trade & sql. with rain stood off & on under an easy sail at day light bore up Extremes of the land from EbyS to SSW & the Body of a Deep Bay form’d by the W. point & the Land to the Eastward bore [blank] by Eleven reachd the West point sounded had no bottom with 40fm line distant from the Shore 3 or 4 Miles the whole of the Land ran down this morning as well as that in the Bay appear’d quite Barren & thin of Inhabitants the North side of the Bay was a sandy beach which the sea broke very high on, & a considerable distance from the Shore.20 On hauling round the west point & well into the Bay it Bearing NNE & S point S 15° E had 19fm coarse white sand & Coral, runing aCross the Bay towards the South point soundings 17, 19, 20 & 22fm. much the same

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figure 9

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bottom at Noon January 10th anchor’d in 17fm & being a fresh Trade wore almost to a whole Cable before we brought up Extreams of the Land from NNE to S¾E off Shore one Mile & half Woahoo from SWBW to NWBW.21 [Chart. “Sketch By Compass taken from the Ship at [Anchor]” – ink; notation: “Morotoi, Jany. 1788.” Sketch. “Morotoi from Anchorage.” See Figure 9.] I was much deceiv’d in the produce of this Isle and number of Inhabitants while laying here which was five days did not see above 24 Canoes at one time what belong’d to the Bay was humble imitation of those seen at other Isles, & appeard not to have been in the water for months, there were a few Hogs sweet potatoes & plantains but every one of those articles scarce and dear, Hogs that came from our neighbourhood were skin & Bone emblematical of the poverty of the place, which truely answer’d the appearance it presented;22 water was good purchas’d about a Ton of it giving a sixpenny nail for half a Gallon all other refreshment (except water) that was worth purchasing came from more fertile parts of the Isle. On the 14th of January a large sailing Canoe was seen off the South point, at first was taken for the Princess Royal, but said by the Indians along side it was Terreabo, his canoe was the largest I had as yet seen having 24 Rowers on his coming to the ship presented me with a Hog which I made him a suitable return for, and the Supercargo presented his son a Youth about fourteen Years of age with some Valuable presents but I did not

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think from the respect paid the Chief he was so great a Man as he was introduc’d to me for.23 Many Women slept onboard at times, & I believe a good deal out of curiosity; one afternoon four came onbd to see the Ship & were highly offended at the inattention shewn them by the ships Co. & address’d themselves to me, in return I offer’d them beads, they told me that was not what they wanted, they came to see the Ship and were in haste to be gone each of them having left young children onshore, their request was complied with, soon return’d & made the best of their way to the Shore.24 There was no fish caught in the Bay but Sharks, which it abounded with, & so large that they carried away all our Hooks. All our stock of Vegetables ran low, our supply not being near half our consumption, but as our visitors daily encreas’d I had no doubt but in a few days we Should have been plentifully supply’d, but all this afternoon & night a heavy swell setting in from the NNW determin’d me to leave the Bay. Winds while we lay at Anchor Blew thro’ the day from NNE to NE & in the night from ENE more fresh breezes than Calms with rain at times the Currents had no regular guide sometimes setting to windward sometimes to Leeward & when to Leeward the strongest. On the 15th of January weigh’d & made sail for Wahoo at half past ten being within Two or three leagues of the East point Land was of a moderate heigth higher than the Isle left, the Slope of the Hills very rugged & Broken, barren as at Morotoi but rocky the NE coast made like Isles & small rocks between which little bays & Inlets between the E & NE point is a sandy beach for half a mile with little surf on it, & behind for some distance back, was a level spot cover’d with grass.25 Between the E & SE which is dist [blank] Mile the Coast forms a Bay & in the E Corner deep as if a Body of water from the Hills emptied itself there,26 our Latd. at Noon was 21°18 SE point W 4 or 5 Miles & E point ENE 2 Miles the deep Bight in the E part of the Bay NNE½E the SE point is a peninsula, outer point a High Rock with Breakers runing off into the sea for a mile or more on the Top of the Rock was a House the place being barren could be for no other purpose but a look out27 the Bay abreast was well Inhabited & several large buildings with a great number of natives most of them following the Ship as we went on to the westward & carrying something for sale, & among the articles were many Hogs. on hauling round the SE point the Land found a Deep Bay the Two points bearing from each other E5N W5S the Westmost point very Low, the Country on the E part having a delightful pleasant appearance made me determine to Anchor, & on getting into 15 fm sand & Shells came too. the Extremes of the Bay from [East by South+] to [West half North+] Dist. off Shore [two miles+].28 Many natives came & brought Hogs & Coconutts but ask’d a very extravagant price for them; several People among our visitors call’d chiefs

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but I saw little difference among them, made the greatest part of them presents which they were not the least thankful for when the natives began to be troublesome from numbers I apply’d to those who had been pointed out as great men to turn them out of the Ship which they took not the least notice of; their King Titaree29 was on the Poop with many attendants one of them had a piece of Iron six foot long which he told me was a pump spear it was shap’d into a war weapon, & two or three had some lesser ones of Iron & the same make; my Royal guest employ’d all his attendants to thieve & several were detected in the fact; one who seem’d determin’d to have the Poop Lanthorn Brace30 desired him to quit the place which he peremptorily refus’d, but promisd not to touch any thing again, & as the Ship was so full of natives, so as not to be able scarcely to move, & the rest peaceable, prevented my doing any thing that should cause them to quarrel, on my leaving them to go to dinner I took hold of the man they calld their King he push’d me from him, which I laugh’d at as a jest, the supercargo going on deck after dinner, the King was going to force himself into the Cabin, & on being told he should not, gave the Supercargo a Shove, which he return’d & the King went off much displeas’d.31 On returning from dinner I observed my Dog chasing some Indians Round the Binnacle,32 which I took for Play being never known to bite any one before & as the Dog pass’d me said, well done, calling him by his name, & went on the Poop taking no farther notice, a little time after learnt the Dog had bit two or three Indians; & one or two of my most particular friends took great pains in propagating it was my fault, & how Infamous an Action it was; but an honest man who was the first cause of the Dogs runing after them came, & told me of it & aquitted himself from the same Idea I had, of his never biting any one. at Sun set they all left the Ship as desired leaving two women onboard the man that I had detected stealing the Poop Lanthorn Brace & had refus’d to quit the Poop staid later than the rest I caught him again endeavouring to pilfer & insisted on his moving off directly which he very reluctantly did, & not till the Quarter master pointed to the Dog, which was tyd on the Poop & now become a great dread to them. Large Fires and Drums beating on the Shore all night; I knew this music portended no good, & as we parted the preceeding evening on no very good terms, at daylight got the Boarding netting up before eight o’Clock in the morning [16 January] the Ship was surrounded by near a Thousand Indians in double & single Canoes,33 some of the largest carrying fifty people all arm’d, & had every appearance of Hostile intentions not a single article being brought for trafic, & only one or two women, the accident of the Dog was fortunate for them, or few would have return’d on Shore again, nor would I have suffer’d them so near us. I was over persuaded so as to admit one or two of the large canoes along side & to let a Chief or two in to see if it would again renew our friendship I did it,

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& it answerd no other purpose than give them confidence; for had it not been for the Boarding netting should not have been able to keep the others out, or hinder’d them from taking what they pleas’d, we were held very cheap by them at our first acquaintance, & almost to a degree of contempt, from their being the stoutest & most powerful men I ever saw, & our crew in general but small;34 as to myself, some of the stoutest of them requested I would set in the palm of their hands, & many of the Crew they carried about in their arms as Children I now saw there was no prospect of doing any thing here, without putting numbers of them to death. got under weigh while heaving up, a Hog jump’d out of a port which two Indians swam away with. I pointed out to the Chiefs onboard, they either had no authority, or would not make use of it, to recover the Hog & as the anchor was nearly away I waited for the casting of the Ship to punish them or make them return it, but in the Crowd lost the offenders or not certain which they were, some of the Indians attempted to force their way over the Bows & the second Mate35 was oblig’d to make use of the pike once or twice to keep them out. they were so daring as to attempt to snatch it from him wh. was nearly accomplish’d & had not a musket miss’d fire his life would have paid the forfeit for the attempt. after getting under weigh was inform’d the Chiefs I had in behaved very suspiciously & that one of them had pointed a spear, as if in the act of going to strike me, perhaps he was only pointing to Shew those along side who directed the Ship; I am sure they meant us no good as not a Canoe, but had a number of spears in 20 feet long & upwards & was trying the Dist. & heigth often that they would reach on getting under weigh, all left us.36 stood a little way out of the Bay & brought too, & drifted to the westward very few canoes came off, & very little they brought; by Evening seven Canoes along side but on observing two coming from the Eastward they left us in great haste till call’d to by the [blank] the E.most Canoes to return which they did I was a little surpris’d at finding when the two canoes came along side, that the man who took the lead was he that refus’d to quit the Poop. he came onboard saluted me according to the Custom of the Country by touching noses, & promis’d would I return to the Bay should have any thing I wanted, & Sold me a Couple of Hogs a bunch of plantains & some salt & returnd to the shore with great promises for morning. at six o’Clock in the Evening being within two Miles of the Shore wore & dropt the deep sea lead over board, had only 11 fm. Coral & sand the E point of the Bay E3°S Wd W5°N & a Town situated in the Centre of the Bay in a pleasant Valley N17°E,37 had the Bottom been any way good I should have anchor’d here for the night. [blank] brought to head off Shore after drifting about a Cable length sounded had no bottom at 50 fm. line so that with our former soundings must have been on the Tail of the Reef, which runs out off Shore in some places at a considerable distance & where we now where farther than any other part & the land was much lower here.

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Tack’d occasionally during the night to get to the windward, but there being a popling sea lost ground at day light [17 January] brought too; several Chiefs came of in Large Canoes & some hogs & vegetables were purchas’d & great promises for next time one of the Chiefs that came of was calld a priest, attended with Taboo Rods, & a white Flag like a pendant with a stick in the Tack part & seiz’d to a long staff thus [Small sketch in text of a Makahiki image.] at each end of the pendant with a stick was a Bunch of Green Bows.38 Latd. Observd at Noon [blank] Ext. of the Bay [East to West ¾ North+] kept the lead going while the Ships head was towards the Shore found no soundings at three miles off at 60fm. but within a mile of the Breakers had from 50 to 17fm. mostly coarse bottom. at sun set within half a mile of the reef sounded 50fm. so that as yet had found no part of the Bay fit to lay in but where we first anchor’d. Wore & ply’d to windward for the night under an easy sail. Friday Morning very early January 18th wind came from NW & continued so till 10 o’Clock when the sea breeze set in. Latd. Observed [blank] Ex. of the Bay from ENE to WBN off Shore 2 Miles Many Hogs salt, & Roots bought this morning, I had purchas’d every thing the Canoes had in to dispose of & wish’d much to get rid of them told a Chief39 whose people seemd much inclin’d to theive that I wish’d them to be gone wanting to make sail off shore but no hint would do for him nor his crew, others left us, but on making sail off Shore Ship getting fresh way his vessel went a drift & it was some time before I would bring too again, & he quitted us. I was pleas’d when I got rid of him being the person accus’d of having intentions of striking me with his spear; he would have been severely handled had he himself been detected in any crime which I should have been sorry for. lay too, off & on, in the Bay all the afternoon Hogs & many articles were purchas’d; by Sun set it raind in Showers & lookd heavy over the Land. Canoes all left us wore & made sail off shore. Showery all night winds fm. NE to SE tack’d occasionally in the Morning as the sun rose the weat. clear’d. Lay to, off & on trading with the Natives Latd. Observed at Noon 19th 21°13’ Ex. of ye Bay fm ENE to WNW. Lay too all the afternoon trading with the Natives, standing off & on all night, winds thro’ the day between E & NE in the night NW at Sun rise Sunday January 20th bore up for the West point of the Bay40 at Noon Latd. Ob. 21°16’ Extr. of the Land from NWBN to E by N off Shore 2 Miles at 2 o’Clock Hauld more inshore & being abreast of a Sandy beach sounded 25 fm. coral & sand E point of the Bay E, W point of the Bay WBN of the W point 7 or 8 Miles, after runing a little farther to the W.ward hove too within three Quarters of a mile of the Shore sounded 17 fm. sand & Coral.41 The W. point of the Bay anchord in is low Barren, scarce any thing growing on it but a few cocoanut trees & when well in the bay the land runing low, far Back from the sea appears to tend farther out, than it does

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& from the Colour of the water some dist. of it, should suppose it foul ground. The SW end of the Isle is thin of Inhabitants Barren Rocky & shore mostly steep except the places Inhabited which are on small Beaches were a few cocoanutts were growing we procured nothing from these people but fish wh. they sold great Quantitys of, & I believe is their chief subsistence, appearing miserably poor & having wretched Boats.42 At Noon 21st Latd. Observ’d 21°27 Low sandy point ESE 4 Leagues & Northern Extr. NBW off Shore 2 Miles [Taylor provides information on the activities of 21 and 22 January:] Monday 21 January. The Natives we found had strictly attended to our wishes & directions over night agreable to the Articles mentioned. by 9 in the Morning several of them came on Board with Billets of Fire wood water in Calabashes, some Plantains of the inferior kind some little sugar Cane and other triffling articles. This part of the Isle is for the most part wretchedly Barren, tho the Valleys seem only to want Cultivation like the Eastern part of the Island. it is mountainous In the different Bays there are some excellent Beaches and Villages with an excellent patch of Cocoa Nut Trees. (167a) From the numbers I observ’d on the Shore with the Glass and those which came on Board, I shou’d suppose This village contains more than five or six Score, and tho’ on the same Isle they are far inferior in size. Nor do they appear so well fed. some Children came off this morning in the Canoes, with their Bones coming through their skin. They constantly asked for something to eat. Yams & other eatables were thrown over Board affording some diversion to see them Dive, several fathoms under water to pick it up this was practised all Morning. their eagerness for any article which cou’d be ate stinking fish not excepted is sufficient Proof of their miserable Living. I do not suppose they have of [any] hog among them. Their Canoes was of the worst kind we had seen anywhere, and smaller, some scarcely larger than Butchers Trey & by no means so Safe for any but themselves, who are so much at home in as out of the water. The water we received from these People was clear & good. If there had been good Anchorage I’ve little Doubt but we cou’d have water’d quickly at this spot. Here we were again visited by (167b) ye Women as usual. Fish we got of various kinds but not very plentiful. Tuesday 22d January. In the morning Daylight we had drove considerably to the Westd. and being well in the offing cou’d see the Promontory to the Eastd. Low Sandy Point and the Northern extreme also at 7 Promontory E13N Low point N52E the Wt Extreme N14W by 11 we reach’d well in with the Land with a fresh Breeze from the East hove too in order to send three women on shore which had remain’d on Board. three Canoes came off and the Captain wishing to make sail. Desir’d the women might be sent into the Canoes. one of three jumped over Board and swam as we judged to the Canoe where her relations were. The other two Girls were extremely anxious to get on shore fearing they shou’ be carried to sea, but neither of the Canoes wou’d take them in as they did not belong to them

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nor were they related, and positively refused carrying the Poor Girls on Shore, either by their own request, or all we cou’d say in favour of them notwithstanding we told the Men She was going away to ye westd. This they seem’d quite (168a) Careless & Unconcern’d about and in the most unthinking and unflinching manner objected to take them in till rewards was offer’d for their passage on Shore which succeded. when they were away from the Ship I had reason to think they were Base enough to plunder from the Girls such presents has they had received. a Proof of their wild unthinking brutish Disposition – ½ past 11 Bore away with a light air of wind to ye NW Steering between NNW & NWBN on a Parellel with ye Land. purchased some Fish of the Natives and a small quantity of water and wood. The land pretty much Indented, in every direction near the extreme.

[Colnett’s account continues:]

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on the 23 hauld away along shore to the Northward Tacking occasionally at Noon Latd. Observed 21°47 Extremes of the Land from SSE½E to E½S off Shore 2 Leagues all the afternoon night & morning the 24th fresh steady breezes carry’d a press of sail. Tacking occasionally to gain the NW bay anchor’d in by the Resolution, a little before noon fetch’d well into the Bay within two or three Miles of the head of it a very great swell & Surf on the Shore, not a single native to be seen, & only one House though the country had a very fertile appearance N. point of the Bay NEbyE¾E dist. 8 or 9 Miles & South point SWBS¾W & the Bight of the Bay which I took for the River SE bore up for Atooi [Kaua'i].43 January 25th at 6 PM Atooi from WNW to W½S 8 Leagues at 10 oClock brot’ to at Day light bore up for the SE end of the Isle,44 at 10 o’Clock many Canoes joind us with Roots, Hogs, & every produce of their Isle; at Noon Lat. 22°01 extremes of the Land from NNW½W to SW½W off Shore 3 Miles Little wind. Kept plying off the SE end of the Isle & plentifully supply’d with every thing we could expect,45 on the 27th gave leave to two people to go onshore;46 on the 29th they return’d & with them Abenuee a Man of great power in this Isle & Brought me a letter left by Captain Portlock of the King George47 when first under the Stern my people call’d out Capt. Duncan was here & had sent me a letter, the mistake was neither of my people could read I had been uneasy some time for the Princess Royal, & was not a little pleas’d at this information, & it affected me greatly when I found the mistake, we had a good deal of swell & Blowing weat. driven considerably to leeward, as this Isle had been oftener visited than any of the others the natives were more civiliz’d, & friendly all the Chiefs that had visited had partook of our bounty, & were pressing for us to go to Wymeo. next morning Jan. the 30th bore up by 10 o’Clock anchor’d in 40 fm. Rivers mouth NBE Ex. fm NWBW¾W to ESE48 the Ship was soon crowded with natives, men, women, & Children, there was no stirring [?], they did not forget to exert their talents at thieving, found a method to carry of the Anchor fish Hook & several less articles.49

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Friday February 1st detected a Man stealing the long boat’s grips,50 the Canoe was call’d along side but the man sufferd to escape, detain’d the Canoe which was a large double one till it was return’d. our Friend Abenuee did not or would not exert his Authority pleading they were people above the reach of his punishment, but would Taboo the Ship to keep every one out to assist it got the boarding netting up & chain’d the Canoe along side; Abenuee entreated I would let the Canoe go promising they should not theive again; on those terms order’d it to be cast off, but the man unlocking it let the chain go out of his hand, the natives took possession of the Canoe amusing me with promises to bring the chain till out of reach of musket, & then undeceiv’d me by pulling to the Shore with it. Abenuee & another Chief that was onboard must have been privy to this;51 I detain’d them both, threatning them with death was it not return’d, they believ’d me in earnest, & the chain was return’d; the two men that brought it making me understand what trouble they had had, made them a small present, & the chiefs parted with us much dissatisfied. large fires were made on the Shore which were answer’d by others to the Eastward & burnt for several days I was informd by some it was to clear the ground, by others to collect the Natives, & that every thing was tabood onshore.52 this was of no consequence being plentifully stock’d with Hogs, & Roots, women, wood, & water were not in Prohibition; the wind continued so variable did not get moor’d till Sunday 3rd of February small Bower in 50 fathoms Best in 30 fathom Extremes of the Isle from WNW to EbyS ½ S Rivers mouth N ½ E 2 or 3 Miles Latd. of Anchoring place [blank] Body of Oneehow.53 The Taboo continued till this morning, & last night extended to the Ladies; our friendship was again renew’d & one of the Chiefs who I had detain’d for the Boats chain came off, & some of the Officers accompany’d him onshore & several of the Crew. The King Tyo54 & Abenuee came onboard staid some little time, receiv’d presents, & went onshore much pleas’d some strange canoes coming from the Eastward Abenuee order’d the nearest one onshore & dispatchd a Canoe after the others whether it was to prevent their quarelling with us or to engross all the trade to himself, is hard to say;55 in the Evening, liberty people return’d perfectly satisfied; Monday Morning [4 February] the Taboo was taken of & a Trade as formerly, for all our wants; every morning 400 cocoanuts were purchas’d for the crew to drink, & most days two or three hundred more were made a present of, & also consum’d; the King never missd visiting us every day, & our people went onshore by Turns every thing was given the King he askd for, & we could spare. Centre Bits, Bung Borers, Hatchets, Shark Hooks &c. the latter a very necessary article; where some of our people were landing, numbers had gather’d on the Shore, others on swiming Boards to receive them when a Voracious Shark rose & devoured one. it was the occasion of many tears among some, others rage ordering the Canoe to carry the Men of Britain back again, & bring a Hook to catch the Shark

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which they readily comply’d with, but the Shark was gone. Tyo never receiv’d our present without making a return of the best produce of his Isle, cloth made from the Bark of a Tree,56 Large mats, neatly wrought, in different colours of fine Grass, Hogs & Vegetables, & the Ladies of his house were not backward in their presents of the like for which they receivd Scissors, Beads & many Baubles for ornaments which highly pleas’d them – not a man in the Ship but what had been onshore & all pleas’d with their reception. every method was taken to please the Natives in return;57 the Supercargo went onshore & as requested carried the Drum & fife, for the satisfaction of those who were not able to come off.58 our situation was as comfortable as could be expected in this part, & in addition on February the 7th Princess Royal Joind & moor’d astern a little to the westward of us all the Crew in good health but the chief mate who had been treated Ill by the Natives of Morotoi; he had gone on shore with the boat, coming to a Grapline, landed in a Canoe but on returning to the boat a Chief order’d him to be upset without any provocation, & when in the water gave him three deep wounds on the head with their padles the musket going off from the Boat after being snap’d three times was the only thing prevented his being sacrific’d. Capt. Duncan informed me he made Owyhee Dec. the 25th, cruis’d many days among the Isles & anchd. at Morotoi near were we left & on the accident happening to his mate had come to Atooi for the Assistance of our surgeon.59 Tyo continued his daily visits, except on the Taboo borea days, which happen on the different changes of the Moon. as yet I have not been able to ascertain the time they fix them at.60 Abenuee lost a great deal of our favour from his avericious disposition, & to be reveng’d for the loss, all strangers that came when he was a float taboo’d till they had paid their visit to Tyo we endeavour’d to keep the Price of their articles at one standard & took care the taboo should not affect us keeping a large stock of vegetables and Hogs; of the latter had salted a large Quantity. but at last having sufficiently stock’d themselves with small articles could not purchase a large Hog but at their price.61

[Taylor provides a detailed record of the period 8-22 February, dealt with in summary fashion by Colnett:]62 (192b) Friday 8 February A Taboo on Shore few Canoes off the Capt telling the Natives their Taboo was improper & that He wou’d Taboo the Ship tomorrow interferring with their customs and making himself appear very ridiculous. Taiio [Ka’eo] & Abbanuez came along side but not on Board. Cocoa Nuts for constant Drink brought in great abundance wood water & other articles every Day when Taboo but they strictly attend to the Taboo law for several Double Canoes came along side from the weather side of the Island with Pigs. but understanding their was a Taboo on Shore they declin’d selling tho we sometimes experienced exceptions to this rule. our [men] Empd. overhauling and repacking of Pork.

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Taboo Days gave us clear Decks for this work. Three women were on Board & in Consequence of ye Taboo dare not or Did not chuse going on Shore none from the Shore were suffer’d off. a great swell. no People landed from the Ship in consequence of the Surf (193a) Saturday 9th. Visited by Taiio, Enemio63 & others. Memo [?] ... [Taiio] having a small Pistol in his Possession which he said was given him. by some means. he had broke the Lock. and with the same confidence that an Englishman wou’d have had he requested of ye Supercargo when on shore to take ye Pistol off to be repair’d by ye Armourer, accordingly the Pistol was brought on Board & ye Lock repair’d. when the armourer carried it to the Captain he was order’d by him to stop the Touch hole which was complied with & the Pistol consequently rendered totally useless to Taiio. in this state it was again return’d to Taiio. the Captain took great pains to make Taiio believe that the Pistol was good for nothing when He received it & useless. Tho Taiio inform’d us that when it was gave him the Officer kill’d a Hog with it on Shore to Show him the use of it. the Supercargo seem’d to think it was a Pistol of Capt. Portlock. of no great value. tho silver mounted being very old. the Captain was of Opinion he had stolen it. and various were the Conjectures relative to poor Taiio’s Pistol, and fearing He might Kill every European which came into the Bay. with the Pistol. or for some (193b) other wonderful penetrating Idea & judicious forecast the Chiefs Pistol was receiv’d for the purpose of repairing & return’d, (O Shame full Deed) spik’d & useless for ever. Such a narrowness of Soul such unparallel’d meanness I never cou’d have suppos’d wou’d have enter’d the Brain of a Man who has the Honour to wear His Majesty’s Livery. whose Profession as an Officer and whose feeling as a Gentleman I shou’d naturally have supposed wou’d have shudder’d at such an action of Duplicity. particularly to a Man whose greatest Aim was to be thought civil and also Liberal & such He was. whether Taiio was in Possession of any Powder for his Pistol we cou’d not Learn. but tis not unlikely. but Capt. Portlock or any other Gentleman of a Liberal mind. seeing the Mild & Pleasing behaviour of Taiio. but He gave him the Pistol & a small quantity of Powder. Shot indeed in the Hands of an Indian tis not very likely. yet such is the Man. that I shou’d be in the least surpriz’d. If He was also indulged with a few. for the Officers of the Prince of Wales found themselves extremely awkward not being able to make such presents. As ye Chief Desir’d.64 (194a) Sunday. Monday. Tuesday. The Chief Enemo of a neighbouring District now became our Daily visitor & seldom came empty handed his two Daughters. frequently remain’d on Board wt ye Commander by the Desire of ye Chief. The King George & Queen Charlotte in the same employ had made this Chief several Presents. Cap, Cloaks &c with which He often came off.65 Taiioo generally came off Daily if no Taboo on Shore. sometimes brought with Him a little present & sometimes received. He always visited all parts of ye Ship and was very attentive & watchful to every Business going on & frequently desirous of seeing the use of different articles. The Natives [behaved] pretty well no attempts to theive of any consequence. If the Seamen were Careless & encouraged them much below.

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they wou’d sometimes borrow a Knife or pair of Stockings or any loose thing if Possible When kept out in the first of the Morning they lay quiet along side disposing of Cocoa Nuts for ye Daily expenditure. water If wanted Pigs &c But when the Chiefs came towards noon many (194b) mostly came in upon Deck either as attendants or with some triffling present. any excuse for being within Board. but to do them justice they were generally pretty quiet. our Seamen went on Shore almost regularly three or four a Day. and always met with the same attention from Taiio, walking about with the Taboo Master & others to clear the way. they were Allowed to look at Abbanuezs Store. which contained Tools of several Professions. Coopers. Carpenters & others. Cutlasses which shew the Attention of other Vessels to this Chief. while he was Shewing his different Articles to the Seamen. he Danced about & was very Clamorous about the Captain saying he was Eno. but told the Seamen they were Maitai. or all very good. but was greatly disatisfied with our Commanders favours.66 Fish frequently brought for sale of Different sorts. Lobsters. The Seamen catching the Venereal fast and Dumbring gave us to understand we had injurd several Girls residing to windward. Observ’d many Men in a most frightful state with the Dry Pox. Discharging from all Parts of ye Body67 (195a) Tuesday [12th] we understood there was a Taboo on Shore which was not very unlikely from the few Canoes about us all Day. Enemo. the Chief. came off with Terra. & Sugar Cane. some Pigs were purchased. Matua on Board. but not held in that estimation he formerly was.68 Seamen on Shore Natives Civil as usual. Doctor sup. by Cap Dunkan wth Sugar for Medicine. Wednesday 13. Several Canoes from to windward with Pigs & other triffling articles. The Old man who hurt his Ribs came on Board. rather recover’d but Still very weak & Lame. Taiio. Enemo & many other Chiefs on Board. the little Lasses constantly begging Beads & other articles. the Chiefs wives on Board Dayly. Dumbring on Board noticed the false white hair wore as ornament. Abbanuez expressing some Dislike to Capt. Dunkan. knew not the cause, towards the Evening understood some words had passed between Abb. & Cap Dunkan which arose from a frivolous cause. & in consequence of which the Chief said he wou’d Taboo the Women. (195b) Neither of the Captains chose to visit the Shore and therefore treated Abbanuez with impolitical indifference. as it was in his power to make our stay unpleasant tho not hurtful. In the Evening late a Canoe came off to us from the Shore and gave ye Alarm that ye women were Tabooed by Abbanuez. every Man nearly at the time was furnished with a lass for the night. but this alarm caused an immediate Stir. The Girls said they must go on Shore or their Fathers wou’d be Kill’d. The Seamen were unwilling to part with their Girls but the poor Girls Fears prevail’d & most of them jumped over board instantly. this did not however seem to Effect the whole. for others came on board out of other Canoes careless of ye Taboo. & many of those who went over board seeing themselves likely to be rival’d came in board again and the Ship upon examination suffer’d little from ye Taboo. Twas difficult to say how far the Taboo is strictly attended to, but this did not excuse Capt. Dunkan for quarrelling with ye Chiefs through mere Nonsense.

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Thursday 14. Taiio & Enemo on Bd. the Taboo off or never on. Taiio through the Day passing his Time with ye Carpenter between Decks & sometimes wth ye Smiths to Learn what was going on. & seemed happier with them to gain knowledge than in Compy. wth ye Captain.69 the Old Chief very pleasant. was particularly desirous of (196a) having ye Carpenter continue with him. And the Capt. by way of pacifying him improperly promised him to bring two Carpenters from England. to remain with him. but these promises are ungentleman like when there is no intention to perform. Enemo as usual did not come empty handed. the Sloop fir’d at two Natives on Swimming Boards. had we practised this we might have Kill’d our hundreds at Wahoo and several since our arrival here. Boyish Practices. which it seems they repeated frequently at Morotoi. surely no method this of making those very civilliz’d natives substantial Friends, but wonders will never cease. Their method of heating Iron is to set fire to wood & set a number of Men to Play some large pieces of Iron in their possession. one large Hammers. the rest beat with Stones. our Boy went on Shore by himself the [first?] person from either Vessel. the Natives carrying about & wou’d suffer him to walk. such their partiality towards him nothing can exceed their civility. Friday 15. In the Morning a Canoe from the Shore & Tabooed the Sloop in Consequence of their firing at them on Swimming Bds. and [no] Canoe went near her for the Day. this Obliged Capt. Dunkan (196b) to hoist out his Boat and have recourse to us for Cocoa Nuts for his Peoples Drink for ye Day. Taiio paid him a visit in ye Course of ye Day & inform’d Capt Dunkan. The People he fir’d at had stole nothing. no [more] were they theives. & wonder’d as well He might why they fir’d at. He was inform’d all Swimmers on Boards wou’d be fir’d at. thus much for the Absurdity of preventing the Natives from amusing themselves agreeable to their own Customs. Taiio & other Chiefs on Bd us. some Pigs &c purchased. Saturday 16. The Taboo taken off ye Sloop & ye Canoes attended Her as usual. Several Pigs purchased & other articles a Canoe came from Onehow with Yams. Taiio & other Chiefs on Bd. Abbanuez not suffer’d in ye Cabbin. for Tabooing ye Sloop. left ye Ship in a Pout [?]. but when in his Canoe carefully made fast a hog. Taiios Present. This Old Chief treated extremely Ill tho’ recommended by Capt. Portlock. & Deserv’d kind treatment.70 If only for his canoe & labour relative to ye Letter. but Merrit is ill rewarded in all Climes at times. when I reflect on the Old Chiefs attention on Shore I feel very much for him, being ye principal Chief here. Had our Comr. visited ye Shore. he might have learn’d politness from ye very People he ill treated. what a pity men of more refin’d & expanded Ideas were not ye only people employed on such Voyages to shew ye Natives some few well timed examples, which might seem to improve their manners. & not by impolitical rude carriage. improperly timed endeavours to prove ourselves greater savages. than ye Natives we Traffic wth. for ye 15 I was on Bd ye Sloop. I was witness of ye Natives sorrow for ye Vessels being Tabooed. they expressed great uneasiness poor fellows. I said that tomorrow they cd. bring water Cocoa Nuts &c. that Abbanuez had Tabooed them in consequence of ye Firing.

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(197a) Sunday 17. This Morning Tapowynah brought off with him a Shirt of Capt. Cook’s which he inform’d us Capt. Cook was Kill’d in.71 The Shirt had been Carefully taken care of since that Period there was Blood on it several Places, and he shew us the manner of his Death & said he was present when it happen’d & very near him. He is a Native of Owhyhee & says he came to this Island In one of Cooks Vessels. on one shoulder of ye Shirt he shew us is the place where He was stab’d with a Knife. & shew ye manner ye Natives Closed on him. as Capt. Cook fronted him differing from ye Historical account. In the lower part of ye Shirt on ye Fore part was another Slit which He said was occasioned by ye first Stab on his Groin or lower part of his Belly. what seemed rather extraordinary there was little Appearance of Blood near ye Places where he shew ye Different places cut. the Shirt was much wore & had been washed Probably more than once since he had it in his Possession, tho not often. it was Ruffled. He inform’d us the Day before that He had ye Shirt which ye Oronno Nuez was Kill’d in at Owhyhee.72 But whether it was really the same twas Difficult to say, probably it might be one the Commr. had gave as a present to him or some other person and He might have had some of Cap Cooks flesh or a Limb wrapped up in the Shirt agreeable to ye account that the Natives strove all to have part of him. this part Corresponds wth Tapowynah. what rather strengthens the circumstance when we pointed at some of the Whole He said no. no. & Described those holes were wore but those before Describ’d he said was made with a Knife or Dagger. (197b) This far I was convinced that the shirt was once Cap Cooks & had been carefully preserved & little wore from ye Time of His Death. It was mark’d L C N 6. The Sight & account of ye Shirt wth all ye Circumstances fresh awaken’d in every Breast ye too Fatal Death of The Worthy Sufferer. our Seamen were anxious to see & examine ye Shirt when ye Countenances of each was ye True Index of their Hearts and what passed on ye occasion plainly shew that each Sailor however Destitute of feelings on other occasions were Capable of Dropping a sigh when they reflected on ye Loss of a Man so Useful to their Country. In ye Evening a faint account of two English Ships being at Woahoo. also understood from Matua that to morrow Taiio levell’d a general Taboo. as far as we cou’d learn from some Custom of their own. Tapowynah well acquaint’d with Owhyhee & every Circumstance of Capt. Cook Death.73 Monday 18th Feby. Found the account of ye Taboo true. twas called by ye Natives. ye Taboo Bura & happen’d we believed weekly. whether a Religious instruction or otherwise we as yet coud not learn. however we made ourselves easy in respecting ye Taboo being on our account which in all Probability never was practised. we omitted abusing ye Taboo & threatening to Taboo ye Ship &c. this I believe did not effect any Persons but those in ye Villages & near ye Person of Taioo as we were visited by several Canoes. as we judged from ye extremes of ye Bay with Cocoanuts &c yesterday evening our Seamen were paid great attention too by Taiio. treated them with Baked Fish & other matters prepar’d for them. Tuesday 19 the Taboo Bura over. the Canoes numerous along side some Pigs & other matters purchased. Women [in] abundance endeavouring to get husbands &c.

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(198a) Wednesday 20 Feb. Canoes about us as Usual. Taiio & other Chiefs on Bd. Abbanuez receiv’d with favour again in some measure nothing more worthy of notice. Thursday 21 Feby. some Pigs Purchased. understood to Morrow was ye Taboo Bura again. the Surgeon expressed a desire of going on Shore to see it but ye Natives gave him to understand no person wou’d be admitted into Taiios presence. remain’d quite in ye Dark respecting this Taboo. The Girls were not to be prohibited on this account. The Natives remaining civil supplying us wth what articles we wanted Daily & what added to our Comfort we knew of no Attempts to theive. some Seamen on Shore to Day. Visited by old Pyrune whose Back was Hurt. He was much recover’d perform’d Family Duty in publick. with Matua & Tupowyuna. Friday 22 Feby. as we were inform’d the Taboo Bura took place on Shore this Day. so that we had few Canoes & no Women from ye Shore. yet some Canoes which I suppose were not subject to ye Taboo Bura came along & several Decent Hogs were purchased. nothing else material.

[Colnett’s account continues:]

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Friday [23] February a Taboo Borea laid on by Tyo the preceeding Evening Abanuee came of to call the women onshore but few obey’d him; at day light some few canoes came of & in one of them two Girls, one of them had kept constant to her man. she was handsome well made & of a sweet temper Danc’d & Sang so as to be rank’d among the first performers at the Isle, as the Girls ever wish’d to please, dancing they thought was a great treat, & used often to request to exhibit. this Girl was always first in her Solicitations & led the dance, for which she always got some little presents, & attachd greatly to all of us on first coming onboard flew to her husband, bursting into a flood of tears, told him we were all to be kill’d on tomorrow. her husband laughing at it she went to the surgeon who had taken a good deal of pains to make himself acquainted with the Language, & understanding from her that it was plan’d by the natives to take both Ship and Smack by surprise;74 they came into the Cabin & acquainted me with it. sent for the girl having some little knowledge of the Language, from its corresponding with the society Isles where I had been twice.75 learnt from the Girl that in a consultation of Chiefs & priests different plans had been propos’d for our destruction, & the prevailing one, which was propos’d by the Priests was poison, & all the articles they meant to supply us with this day were to partake of it, & they to come onboard in their usual familiar way, watch the first opportunity when sick & off our guard to put their plans in execution; there was not a person onboard but what had an Executioner allotted for him.76 Those for the Officers & Self, the Chiefs that had shared the most of our favours, & put so much confidence in that they had free access to our apartments at all times, when others were forbid. They were all assembled at the Kings House to a feast, & Dance in

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consequence of tomorrow’s business as soon as I receiv’d the Information look’d with the Spy Glass at the Kings dwelling, an immense concourse of people was gather’d together there even the Top of the House was full.77 my Friend who was named Matua never appear’d thro’ the day, but the Steerage Friend came off late in the Evening which before never happen’d being always onboard at day light he seemd not to act with that cordiality he formerly did;78 indeed our confidence was visibly lost on both sides, the Natives by some means or other, perhaps by a little Stir in the Ship seem’d to know we were acquainted with their Intentions & brought us very little that any poison could be conveyd in, but none of the Girls would touch a single article. I had drank of water myself that came from a Shore but long way to windward, from where the scene was to have been acted; they sent us none, which was also singular. We were under no apprehension at present of them; at any time thinking ourselves a sufficient match while kept out of the Ship for the whole Isle. the Mate of the Sloop was onboard to get some Iron cut up order’d him onboard to acquaint Capt. Duncan, & wrote him afterwards what other Information I receiv’d few canoes about us all day at night kept a third watch.79 Sunday Morning [24] February a few Canoes came of in one Matua my friendly Chief. Hanamo a Priest of great note in another, & several other Chiefs I refus’d them admittance.80 Hanamo pulld immediately to the Sloop, spoke a double Canoe there, & then pulld to one fishing astern, spoke them & Return’d in great Haste to the Shore. Matua threw some Roots over board brought as a present, but kept the Drum in the Boat which the Girl inform’d us he was to bring to make the Dance, & that a number of Handsome Young women were to follow him, & in the heigth of it, some were to cut the Cable we rode by; soon after dismissing those people, our small Bower which was our lee Cable appearing Slack underfoot it having blown fresh the preceeding night conjectured we must have drove this was observed between Eight and nine in the morning turn’d to, to heave the Slack Cable in, great was our surprise to see the End of it come in cutt off close to the Clinch,81 & the Anchor laying in 44 fathom water. the few canoes around us fled for the Shore, every thing hourly corresponding exactly to what the girls told us, for which Information providence had been very kind; from the particular attention paid us by the King & inferior chiefs, our confidence in them was daily encreasing. this Morning the supercargo was going onshore with the Surgeon, second mate, Carpenter with four men to fell a Tree for an anchor stock & several other from the Smack & Ship on Liberty. the Cross cut saw the Carpenter had with him & several articles carried by the Supercargo were to be given to Tyo when the busyness onshore was finishd this he was acquainted with, & I have no doubt had plan’d to secure them when he attack’d us. Capt. Duncan came onboard in a double canoe just as the end of the Cable came into the Hawse, he sent a note for his Boat to come & assist

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to sweep for our anchor. it Blew fresh & a great swell set into the Bay so that our endeavours were not attended with success. I should not have given an opportunity of cutting another Cable or forming other Plans against us, had not the winds blown so fresh from the ESE & anchor laying in such great depth of water should have been driven too far into the Bay, before I could get it up so was oblig’d to lay fast till the wind came more of Shore or moderate. Learnt that the Cable was cutt by two men going down with a Coopers drawing knife under the direction of two priests, name Hanamo & Terecremano, & done from canoes that were for this week past under our stern with a pretence of fishing there was never less than twelve or fourteen double ones, but as they never made fast but kept constantly on their padles & observing them catch fish, had no suspicion. I had been advis’d in Capt Portlock’s letter to look after my Cables which I paid great attention to, keeping a person night & day in the fore staysail netting – had he told me that he & the snow had lost their anchors & had reason to think the natives had dived in 44 fm. & cut them, I might have escap’d this misfortune; the Snow’s anchor lay on the Beach where we generally landed, & Captain Portlock’s farther to the Eastward. on asking the King how he came by them, answer’d as presents from the two Captains.82 One of the people in the Canoe that brought Captain Duncan onboard informed me, Tyo had employ’d some people to cut our Cable in the night, which to prevent as soon as dark every Quarter of an hour kept fireing Ball in the direction the Cable grew this had the desired effect. on the second musket’s being discharg’d a Canoe was observed coming from to windward pulling towards the princess Royal. as soon as she came a breast a Cannon whose contents were a hundred musket Ball was discharged at her, & no more seen. the muskets was constantly fired & also onbd. the Smack but none disturbd us any more for the night. many women were onboard both Vessels for the night, & not at all alarm’d at what pass’d. A Dumb man constantly attended us & with out fee or reward chastis’d his country men guilty of any irregularity; he soon attracted our notice, & receiv’d numberless presents, his honesty I had also proved by leaving him frequently in the Cabin alone. On learning the design of his countrymen against us, & loss of anchor; he came onboard & dived for it & much vex’d he could not see it, requested we would revenge ourselves on his Countrymen & he would assist us, then went to Captain Duncan with a mournful face signified his Vessel was small but few in numbers, & not equal to one of their war Canoes, advis’d him to go to sea but on being shewn the muskets, was seizd with an extacy of Joy, cutting many antic capers, endeavouring to explain it was the very thing he thought him in want of, & how he would use them if it was his case.83 Monday Morning [25] February many Canoes off, several Hogs & some Roots bought if those people along side were guilty they carried the busyness

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on with a consummate degree of Impudence, & even the Canoes, I was Inform’d by the girls, had cut our cable were directly over the spot I suppos’d our anchor to be, & carrying on the deception of fishing, but as they really caught some, did not think the Information of the girls sufficient Justification for me putting them to death which was requested by most onboard, also by the people to let them Shoot the Chief who had acted ye part of a friend in the Steerage. this man had long been detested by all the Crew, after informing us he was the man Captain Cook fired the Small Shot at,84 & shewd us several marks which he said it left, also told us he gave him the Blow which occasion’d his Death, producing a shirt Markd I.C No. 6 which he said was the one he fell in & came to his share, & he had made it a present to the King of this Isle. it had some dark colour’d marks as if stain’d with Blood & near the waist a Hole as if made by a Pahea or weapon resembling a Dagger.85 I thought those who stay’d away betray’d themselves, & not those who brought the very articles we wanted; the desire of the girls to revenge ourselves on many they pointed out was as likely to arise from some former quarrel they might have had & disgust taken against them, as any cause of ours; they now had no alternative but leaving the Isle & it was a good opportunity of retaliating. On our anchor coming away dropt thro’ the Body of the canoes as soon as pass’d return’d to the Spot. Capt. Duncan haild as I dropt by him, said he conjectured the natives had got a buoy & a small line on our anchor I paid great attention to them with my glass & observed nothing I could take for such nor a single man in the water but perceiv’d them haul many fish in. it was singular they should chuse this spot for fishing. As we stood out of the Bay the women left us except our two friends whose Mother, sister, & brother were taking an affectionate farewell of & had receiv’d suitable presents on the occasion. Supercargo & Self were happy when this ceremony was over as it affected our sensibility greatly, for the situation of the two Girls who had sacraficd their Home & family for our safety. Three Canoes stay’d along side for some time & in one of them Poheva the Chief that had been at the death of Capt. Cook,86 a heavy fireing from the Princess Royal hastend their departure; but some of the Crew flew to what arms were in their reach & fired a Great gun & musket. I desired them to desist which was immediately comlpy’d with, but a man was kill’d in Poheva’s Canoe instead of him. Capt. Duncan informed me the Natives became so daring after we left the Bay, that it remain’d a doubt with him whether they would not attempt to take his anchor away before he could get it to the Bows, & that a single Canoe was dispatch’d to the Shore & return’d in great haste with a double one man’d with seventeen Stout Rowers making the best of their way to Join the others fishing, & had no doubt from her size was intended to weigh our anchor which he stop’d at this time by killing the greatest number of them telling others the reason.87

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I told Capt. Duncan we would beat up to windward for a day or two but he advis’d me to go to Oneehow before the news, & get our stock of Yams which advice I follow’d.88 In standing over for Oneehow both the N. & S. ends make like separate Isles, the Southmost the largest but both ends form Bays of Low land by which it’s Join’d to the Isle. The wind continued far to the Eastward & dark gloomy weather; at 7 o’Clock in the Evening the S point of the Isle WBN 3 Leagues, shorten’d sail & hauld on a wind for the night at Day light Tuesday [26th] SW point of the Isle NE at 8 oClock bore up & ran down along the Isle dist. fm the Shore from one Mile to two, soundings from 20 to 17 fm coarse Coral & sand, stood for the Bay mentiond in Capt. Cook’s Voyage to lay on the NW side of the Isle89 found the Bottom very indifferent, & worse than what we had pass’d over to the Southward. when going to bring up the man in the chains call’d out a Rock, wore & hove too head off Shore soundings 22 fm finding it was a mistake let go the anchor Extremes [North East by North to South by East off shore one mile & half+]. During the afternoon several small canoes came off & brought as many Yams as they would hold, & in the Evening the two Girls brought from Atooi went ashore; I offer’d to carry them to America in the Ship which they refus’d thinking themselves out of the resentment of Tyo on this Isle.90 Through the night winds Variable & Round to the Northward towards day shifted to the Southward, in the night swell set in heavy in the Bay & caus’d a heavy surf on the beach. Wednesday Morning February 27th many Canoes from all parts of the Isle loaded with Yams, wood, water, salt, salt fish, & fresh fish, which they readily barter’d for small nails, beads, & fish Hooks, all other articles Tyo King of Atooi had Tabood, this Isle being under subjection to him, & govern’d by Abenuee under his direction who, I was inform’d by the Girls Brother who acquainted us with ye conspiracy, that he had come from Atooi with him & every thing was to be tabood on tomorrow.91 but being plentifully supply’d with Yams & rigging well set up, one of the prevailing reasons for anchoring here, his Taboo was of no consequence I had determin’d with myself to get under weigh beat over to Atooi & by some Strategem get the Anchor We saw near Tyo’s house which was nearly the weight of our bower; winds thro’ the day southerly, towards Eveng. more to the Eastward with lightning round the Compass. Thursday morning [28 February] not so much surf but dark gloomy weat. with Showers of Rain; Three Canoes came off & fetch’d the women onshore; Weigh’d & on the Anchor’s coming in Sight one of the Arms was almost of & in fishing broke asunder. made sail Princess Royal in Company. the two Girls came & took leave of us; thro’ the morning winds between E & SE tack’d occasionally at Noon Latd. Observed [blank] SW point of the Isle EbyS 5 Miles NW point NNE rain all the afternoon night & morning with

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lightning winds at SE. at Noon the 29th Latd. Observed [blank] South point of Oneehow NBE 6 or 7 Miles all the afternoon and night heavy rain in Showers, Lightning, frequent squalls of wind Variable from E to S weather and winds continued. [Taylor provides the following description for 1 and 2 March:] (209a) Saturday 1 March very Disagreable Weather turning to Windd. with as much wind as we cou’d manage to carry Double reef’d Topsails. lost sight of ye Princess Royal in ye night. at Noon when ye Wr. rather Clear’d we cou’d see her. The Ship & gain’d ground considerably during ye Night. Winds Var. from ENE to SE with heavy rain. Thunder, Lightning & frequent heavy Squalls & almost constant thick Wr. with a Swell from ye Eastd. Sunday 2 In the afternoon we fetched in to Wymoa Bay at two miles to Leeward of our Anchoring Berth. The wind blowing pretty fresh from ENE hd. & stood off no Canoes attempted to come off. spoke ye Princess Royal & enquir’d If any Canoe at been on Bd. her was Answer’d in ye Negative. in this our Commr was rather Disap. as he seem’d to make no Doubt but the Canoes wou’d come off as usual. that they wou’d be as good Friends as ever Burying our Ill treatment in Oblivion. & seemed secure of getting some of ye Chiefs on B. and by confining them. recover at least one anchor but our mistake is too evident. If nothing had happen’d We Shou’d have been surrounded with Canoes.

[Colnett’s account resumes on 3 March:]

March the 3rd at Noon fetch into Wymea Bay, Atooi three or four miles to windward off where we lay at Anchor, & hove to head off Shore, no signs of any canoes coming of ran down to rivers mouth when I observed the natives onshore waving a piece of white cloth which was answer’d from us.92 A Canoe was put in the water & two men came to the Ship gave each of them a large fish Hook for themselves, & a Hatchet for Tyo, & as much pork & Yam as they could eat; one man remain’d onboard for the night the other went onshore it blowing fresh & a good deal of sea had out workd the Smack, & at two o’Clock this afternoon was three or four leagues to the westward, no change of wind nor weat. next morning [4 March] no sight of the Princess Royal kept plying off & on in the Bay at 10 o’Clock well in with the Land & two miles to Eastward of the River brot’ too, sounded 9 fathom foul Bottom. E point of the Bay ESE, W point WNW & the mouth of the River NNW. Our intercourse began to renew with the Shore. Hogs & Roots were brought for sale & presents, & women remain’d onboard for the night & a bargain for the anchor was on foot.93 [Taylor describes the events of 5 March:]

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(213a) Wednesday 5th March. Baffling Winds preventing us from getting in wth ye Land till about One oClock in ye Afternoon. A great Smoke was observ’d at Wymoa from which we might conjecture the Natives intended coming off. We hove too off Shore about 2 Mile to Leeward of ye Rivers mouth & soon discover’d several Canoes coming from ye Shore. Agreable to yesterdays promise they brought wth them several women. some Sugar Cane. Terro. a few Cocoa Nuts. & two Bunches of Bannanas. being little wind we soon were join’d by more Canoes increasing to a Dozen including three Double ones. two small & one Sizeable hog was Bought. still tho’ this show of Friendship no Chief appear’d or any of ye Suspected persons. Matua sent a small Present of Cloth on Bd to Temple.94 Several of the Females who came off were our Old acquaintances (213b) who were on Bd while at Anchor in the Bay wth ye Seamen among others was Nahoupaio. Sister to Matua. who had been ever strongly attached to ye Physician of ye Squadron & tis not improbable but her presence was ye principal cause of our being favour’d in ye company of many of ye other Females. Twas almost incredible to see the joy painted in ye Countenance of each Female who were known to us. they were unhappy till they cou’d get out of ye Canoes to Salute their Friends and with great anxiety saying they wanted to hony. pointing to their noses. in ye Canoes.95 No reserve was on their side, no apprehension of being Shot no fear, or Shyness whatever. but came on Bd as fast as they cou’d well get out of ye Canoes. Four in no. One Old Man who was on Bd yesterday gave his Sugar Cane as a Matahna:96 & to him the Six Bars of Iron was Shewn the Captain making use of all his Rhetoric to induce him to Bring an Anchor in Barter for it. twas Dificult to judge whether we might expect Success. The old Man who was of some consequence promis’d fair but probably he had little wait wth Taiio. he wish’d to take one Bar to Shew ye King this was refused. They hinted something of ye Firing. but soon seem’d Satisfyed we had little hand in it. from Nahoupaio we Learnt five were kill’d & three wounded in Course of conversation told with little concern. but from a Man who staid to Sleep on Bd. we heard more. he appear’d clear in his Story. (214a) Said 11 were kill’d outright & three Died after being carried on Shore. he also Described in what manner they were kill’d. one he said receiv’d a Shot at ye Back of his head & went out of his Eye. another he spoke of had his head Shot clear off with a round Shot. he appear’d to have his story Clear. These Natives were as good as their word in their Supplies but we expected more hogs. & had we fetched nearer the Rivers Mouth. they wou’d have been more liberal. likely they had a long pull & ye Weather was against them. Tho’ it did not Blow ’Twas very wet & Disagreable wr. more indeed like Bank wr. than such wr. as might be expected in ye Trades. several Men were Desirous of going with us.

[Colnett’s account resumes on 6 March:] March 6th one of the Crew requested to go onshore two chiefs offering to remain in his room, let him go & the anchor was to return with him.97

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March the 7th winds at E & ESE the best appearing morning for some time & prov’d to be the best day since leaving Oneehow; many Canoes off, & several Chiefs, & among the rest Matua & Poheva; learnt our man was well & carefully taken care of, but that we must send a chief before the anchor would come off Mr Temple a Young Gentleman who had come out with me for Information, being a favourite of the King’s offer’d to go, any number of Chiefs offering to remain till his return, gave him a present for the King & let him go detaining Poheva & Metua, our two greatest friends & a native, Tyo had great esteem for. This afternoon a Chief sent of by the King to see the things that were offer’d for the Anchor;98 Sunday March 9th having fetch’d well to windward ran down off the River’s Mouth & by Noon brot to, many Canoes came of & great Quantities of every kind were bought; & a most excellent day for getting the anchor off. I began to be uneasy for our people, & the hostages seem’d to have intentions of quitting the Ship, & I was hourly amus’d with some story or other; I sent two notes to Mr Temple to come of & the man with him; light airs & Calm alternately all the afternoon, & the Ship set into the Bay in 25 fm water, but a breeze springing up stood away to the Southward in the Evening a Canoe brought a note from Mr Temple informing me the King’s son99 & our man were coming of on tomorrow with a list of things demanded for the Anchor; ply’d to windward all night, in the morning bore up ran down into the Bay & brought too; many Canoes Join’d & desired us to get nearer the Shore, & the King’s son would come off with Mr Temple to examine the articles agreed on for the anchor. Monday February [10 March] in the afternoon while runing down the Bay Pohevah one of the Hostages Jump’d over board for want of looking after escap’d being on deck myself would not suffer him to be fired at, as some too hastily were preparing for, the natives around us fled; enticed them back by promises they should not be hurt, & that I was not angry with them & would purchase every thing they had to sell, as I had never deceiv’d them they returnd, but I took care of the other Chief & his companion by keeping them in the Cabin who now began to express their uneasyness by tears; I despatch’d a note to Mr Temple acquainting him of Pohevah’s escape, which he receiv’d, half way off – had any one been so rash as to have kill’d a Native most probable the King’s son would not have proceeded to the ship & their resentment, fallen on the two they had in their Power; it was from the favourable report the man made that carried the note, causd him to continue his course, the Canoe that came off last night to acquaint us of this Royal visit was paddled by Tyo’s favourite servants, which they did not forget to tell us, & at the same time the canoe was also his, & being too late to return to the Shore requested to have it hoisted in, & remain till morning the reception & care that was taken of them & the Boat I believe was not of little service to us.

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Tyo’s son came onboard, & perfectly satisfied with the articles, made & receiv’d several presents. Mr Temple remain’d onboard & three Hostages for our man; the Anchor promis’d in the morning. Ply’d to windward all night at day light March 11th bore up for the Bay when of the E. point it fell little wind. Inclinable to Calm, with rain at times by ten oClock it lookd dirty in the SW & light airs from that Quarter did not think it prudent to stand far into the Bay. many Canoes came off & said I should have the anchor If I got nearer in. I had been so often deceiv’d, that I began to have little hopes, & my Hostages wept incessantly. by Dark a Canoe with three men & two Hogs came off from Tyo, informing me he was very uneasy for his men, that I should have the anchor in the morning. Canoe & Indians stay’d onboard for the night. at day light March the 12th heavy Rain & dirty weat. could not stand in for the Land at 8 o’Clock clearing a little wore & made sail; at Noon the River’s mouth NBE 3 or 4 Leagues it still looking dirty reef ’d topsails & stood off shore at 2 PM moderating made sail for the Bay at 4 the Rivers mouth NE 2 or 3 Leagues several canoes coming off Shortend sail & Brought too. they Brought women & carried others onshore telling me the Anchor was ship’d; by the Countenances of the Hostages, I believ’d it. it blew fresh all night & a good deal of sea & next morning [13 March] fetch’d in to the W. part of the Bay, by nine o’Clock several canoes Join’d & several more coming learnt the Anchor was in one of two Double Canoes to be seen off the mouth of the River, with the Telescope observ’d it in the Largest very full of men & one standing up waving wore & stood for them on their Joining being within three quarters of a Mile of the Shore. wore, Shorten’d sail & brot’ too, this alarm’d the Royal Gentleman fearing I was going to run away with Canoe, Anchor & all, & they paddled away in great haste for the Shore, having 28 Rowers; I could not tell what to make of them. wore & putt our head to the Shore, that did not remove their fears but made signs to Clew our sails up I did it.100 they lay on their paddles & our old friend Matua came along side in a single Canoe affected to be angry at our being so far to leeward being bad Judges of wind, sea & weat. might easily allow’d for that or believ’d our Vessel capable of doing any thing. on being perfectly satisfied with my Answers to all his Questions, call’d the others onboard, a Hawser was given them well forward the End passd round their thwart piece & made fast inboard by which it was impossible for them to get away the fish & Cat being ready, haul’d the Canoe a head Hook’d on, & it was up before they could look round them & when miss’d it, star’d at one another with the greatest mark of astonishment; the things being on deck I agreed for, gave them immediately which allay’d their apprehensions if any that I meant to steal it. the articles were as follows: Five half Bars or Iron weighing 150 wt Two Muskets, two Pistols

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One Musket & one Pistol Cartouch Box full of Ball a Powder Horn of Powder 20 Rounds of Musket & Pistol Ball each a Coopers Beak Iron & a Cross Cutt Saw Double headed Maul & Ship’s speaking Trumpet

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The Canoe was a little hurt in getting the anchor out, some articles were added by way of restitution. To each of the Hostages a piece of Iron 18 in. long, to others a dozen spike gimblets, some pieces of Iron Beads &c. The supercargo sent to Tyo some things he had promis’d him before first leaving the Bay. It took us fifteen days to make this acquisition & a great one it was for this part of the world. I believe for a long time the King never meant we should have it at all, if I might guess from the equivocal messages daily sent, & difficulties hourly started, one of the latter was a very deep one, which he labour’d much to make me believe, that he had no Canoe large enough to bring it off, & our Long boat must fetch it. I guessed his drift, knew it to be no other than to get Possession of arms, Boat & people. I evaded it by asking them how they got it onshore, & that our boats would not swim till repair’d which would take up some time, still persevering, at last accomplishd it. The desire of having some of our people, arms &c in his possession & plans laid to obtain them, even Stealing the anchor was excusable, if his whole Isle & Inhabitants safety depended upon it, which I really think was the case. the Friendly method of treating Europeans here to what they had met with at other Isles made it more frequented & obtaining large Quantity of Iron & other articles great Riches in this Country, had drawn on him the envy & hatred of the King’s of Wahoo & Owhyee, who were making great preparations, & hourly expected to invade the Isle,101 & we were Eye witnesses to many Canoes passing & repassing with embassys. the demands made of him by his neighbouring Kings, from the imperfect knowledge of the Language could not understand but they were too great for him to grant, & had no hopes but of being swallow’d up by superior numbers, but by getting some of our Persons & arms in his possession, which he thought would deter the Invaders from putting their threats in Execution & had frequently solicited some onboard to stay to Assist him. this I could not acquiesce in, but considering we had certainly been accessary to bringg. him into this Dilemma to render him some assistance took pains to instruct his men that remain’d as suretys for our people, the use of the musket which they readily acquired, & found themselves almost reliev’d from a fit of Despair being able as they thought to destroy the leaders of the invasion before they could land. At the end of all our negociations for the Anchor, was reminded that Tyo knew nothing of cutting our cable nor had any such thing happen’d,

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but that it was bit in two by a Shark nam’d To-pe-o-pe-o, appearing not to believe it would have answerd no one end, I allowd it, & it will be as probable a story to some as that they dived fifty fathoms & cut it.102 As soon as the Anchor was out of the Canoes, & things handed in, wore her a stern & made sail from the Land. at Noon March the 13th wore & stood for the Shore to land my Friends, as soon as well in, they took their leave Mr Temple accompanying them to see if he could procure a Stock for the Anchor, & return with the other man in the morning, leaving some of Tyos intimate friends in lieu, the Kings son express’d some uneasyness at a canoe that broke a drift, for fear they should not be able to fetch the Bay I promis’d to stand out after her but falling less wind did not see them have no doubt they reach’d the shore. It blew fresh in squalls all night & till next day at Noon with Showers of Rain & a good deal of sea winds variable between E & NE ply’d to windward under close reef ’d topsails in the morning some natives visited us, brought a few hogs & provisions for the women. A little after Noon the 14th one of the mizen Shrouds gave way; in the afternoon it moderated, several canoes came off, one of them sent by the King with a Log for an Anchor stock, but it was a little too small for that purpose Tack’d occasionally during the night winds from East to NE dark gloomy weather with showers of Rain at times by Eight o’Clock in the morning the fifteenth of March well into the Bay stood of and on, under an easy sail to trade with the Natives on our two people coming onboard, brought too Main topsail to the mast. Tyo & his Eldest son came off, many Hogs cocoanut & Roots brought as presents & for sale, with two large pieces of wood for Anchor stocks; but being too small for that purpose, one of them reserv’d for a spare tiller, by Noon every thing being settled, presents made & receiv’d, from the King, his son, attendant Chiefs & all our Indian friends, we took a friendly leave & Bore up but when the Canoes were some little Distance from the Ship, observed the King to wave his hand, we thought it was to give him three Cheers which we did & he paddled of at this instant an alarm was given that the man who had been so long onshore had gone off in one of the Canoes. as it was a Choice of his own from immoderate fondness for women, & hopes of obtaining the King’s daughter a beautiful Young woman for his wife, & his intentions known to most of the Crew I took no method to recover him the only chance would have been fireing at them & it did not suit my Ideas to kill an Indian on his account.103 after making sail a Canoe join’d with some hogs & roots & another came near the ship, lay on their Paddles and call’d to us, perceiv’d with the Telescope it was Tyo’s daughter’s but the Canoe putting off & acquainting them of our Man’s escape, pull’d in great haste for the Shore. At Sun set S point of Oneehow N 1 Mile colour of the water being much changd sounded 35 fm Tahoroa WSW hauld on a wind for the

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night winds Variable between ENE & NNE with squally dirty weather.104 at day light made sail to work into the NW Bay at 8 o’Clock in the Morning saw the Princess Royal at Anchor. the Mate a little time after came onboard learnt they had found good bottom. By Noon March 16th endeavour’d to bring up with the one arm’d Anchor drove off the Bank & oblig’d to heave it up again, unstock’d it & stock’d the Anchor purchas’d at Atooi many Canoes came off with Yams, Women, sugar cane, wood & water. by three o’Clock in the morning [17 March] fetchd into the Anchoring place, let go the Anchor but it not taking hold drifted onboard the Sloop which Oblig’d Capt. Duncan to cut his Cable & bring up some little distance inshore of us. went onboard with the supercargo, found she had receiv’d little Damage, grapled for his Cable & recover’d it with the loss only of his Grapline for which I gave him a Creeper.105 Capt. Duncan had discoverd since we parted with him off Atooi, his head of his Rudder Rotten, & Oblig’d to be fish’d; employ’d the Armourer to make Bolts for it, in the Course of the Day as many Yams along side as we could stow, & as much water purchas’d as compleated with some few Sticks of wood; this article is very scarce; one piece bought was fir much worn eaten & as if it had been long at sea.106 light airs of wind round the Compass, inclinable to Calm with Showers of Rain a great swell in the Bay & much surf on the Shore. Little winds & Variable with Showers all night at Day light March 18th Clear weat. & moderate breeze great quantity of Yams along side, & many other articles purchas’d all that was of service, & room to put away & Clear’d the Decks for sea at Noon weigh’d, little wind inclinable to Calm. An Indian being desirous of going with me, & his parents consenting took him;107 several small articles were given him to present his Countrymen & women who followed the Ship in their Canoes which they were enabled to with ease as the ship made very little way. Princess Royal in Company, Capt. Duncan had also two Indians with him at their request one from Morotoi other Oneehow.108 Both Crews left those Isles in perfect health, except those who had been so unfortunate as to catch the disease left by the first discoverers, but it’s become of no consequence; constitution & method of diet had almost eradicated it; most of those who caught it had it so gently they were in a little time cured, not above two or three obstinate cases.109 Besides the Roots brought away with us: Salted while we were there Sixteen Barrels & Puncheons of Pork for Sea store & in addition to that, many live Hogs runing about the Decks, sugar cane, Beverage, was very well lik’d, but the sweet Root calld Tea, made the best Beer neither was prefer’d to cocoanut Milk which we always procured plenty of except at Oneehow, were few or none grow, but at this place the greatest Quantity of sweet Root is to be had.110 Besides Hogs & common fowls there are Geese & a variety of Ducks, one kind the Spoon Bill;111 there also were many birds Inhabitants of the

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woods brought for sale, those I do not recollect to have seen before have sketch’d out in the following pages as also the fish.112 Turtle & all other tropical kinds are caught in great pleanty and easly purchas’d this place also abounds with cray fish, & a few Spermaceti Whale seen.113 The greatest curiosity seen while amongst those Isles was a Woman middled aged, with not the least external appearance of her sex from the upwards. Latter part of our time both at Atooi & Oneehow the Natives were daily telling us of two vessels from Britainia at Wahoo.114 Winds while among these Isles was mostly from NE to SE sometimes shifted to the NW & SW quarters wh. brought rain thunder & lightning & not much wind in fine weather the land Breeze constantly blew in the night & got round to the Eastward as the day advanc’d more blowing weather than Calms very seldom the latter an Indian remarked to me it was a sure sign of fine weat. when the Current ran to windward & when to leeward the Contrary. This I often afterwards observ’d [Chart. “Sketch By Compass of a Bay on the NW part of Oneehow taken from the ship at Anchor”; notation: “March 1788.” See Figure 10.] [End of chapter] 182r [Two sketches. 1) “Owhyee N side 7 or 8 leagues Dist.; 2) Mowee Dist 4 Leagues, E end.”] 183r [Three sketches. 1) untitled, O'ahu, notation: “SW point [?] Dist 4 or 5 Miles Wahoo”; 2) “E. End of Atooi dist 3 or 4 leagues”; 3) “Oneehow S end dist 3 Leagues.”] 184r [Sketch. “Atooi from Anchorage.” See Figure 11.] 185r [Sketch. “Oneehow from Anchorage.”] 185v [Untitled sketches of three unidentified birds.] 186r [Untitled sketches of ten unidentified fish. See eight of these in Figure 12.] 187v- Log 196v

figure 11

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figure 12

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Route from Oneehow to America

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Soon after under weigh it fell little Wind from the Northward, being under topsails to keep the princess Royal Company, at Noon next day March the 19th had made little progress; Oneehow E by S 6 Leagues at Six in the Evening the Isle of Oneehow S17°E 4 or 5 Leagues.115 At noon the 20th Lat Observ’d 22°52’ sixteen Sharks, several other kinds of fish & many Birds a heavy Swell from NW, at 6PM saw an Isle bearing WBS 7 or 8 leagues made as a Round Hillock; through the night the Current set us considerably to the Westward wind at NE & Ship kept close too. next morning by 5 oClock the Isle bore SW three Leagues its High & had the following appearance [Untitled sketch. Nihoa island.] I lookd attentively with a Glass, did not observe a single Shrub; in some of the Cracks there was a little green but it was a very small Quantity in the point of View we now had [of] it, it Shewd like two Isles but I think it was Join’d by a low narrow beach. It may be 7 Miles circumference & its greatest extent from E to W the face of the Rock was white or light Colour, perhaps occasion’d by the Dung of Birds its only Inhabitants we saw from the Quantity of them around it must be a great number.116 our Lat. at Noon this day March 21st [23°31’+] Long [161°13’+] the Isles S. 10 Leagues I place it in Lat. [blank] Long [blank]. am the 22nd the Iron work being finishd for Captn. Duncan’s Rudder & Trade, had some thoughts of parting Company sent for Capt Duncan to talk it over, several of his people being Ill of a disorder contracted from Women; it was propos’d not to separate till the Latd of 30° & to assist him, keeping better way with us was to get his Topmast up. all the afternoon, night & best part of the morning 23rd light airs & Calm alternately winds Var. from NE to SSW by noon a fresh breeze, much swell from NNW many birds, & fish seen; the fair wind left us by Midnight having gone gradually round to NWBN. at Noon 24th Lat. 26°20’ heavy swell fm NW. The 25[th] winds in the NW Quarter under an easy sail for our Consort; in the night lost sight of her at Noon had made only 2 Miles Northing; Princess Royal in the SE Quarter; Capt Duncan Join’d before sun set; learnt he had split his mainsail to pieces occasion’d our losing Company; 26, 27, 28th till midnight winds from the N an interval of Calm, it now blew from ENE & at Noon a fresh of wind at Ed. Lat. 26°48’ Long. [162°05’W] Dolphin & most of the birds left us; by the 29th at Noon the wind had gone round to SSE & all the 30th Variable, with Heavy Rain in Showers, some Thunder, & Lightning & much sea this morning a Cock fell overboard which was a great favourite, hoisted the boat out to save his life but was too late, we had now an English forlorn Hen which had also become very domestic, hatch’d five Young but most of them shared the fate of the Cock Captn. Duncan came onboard & Din’d the wind this morning at 10 o’Clock came to the Northward, it was now

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agreed to part Company the First Southerly wind at Midnight March 31st a SE wind succeeded a Calm at Noon our Lat 30°6’ Longd. 161°20’ Hoisted Colours & took leave of each other, & I am sure with hearty wishes for each others safety & success.117 Till the 7th [April] at Midnight wind was generally between the S & E a few Hours of Westerly wind but of no duration weat. mostly Hazy or Cloudy with Rain at times at Noon Lat. 38°03’ Long. [158°16’W] Gulls, sand lark, divers & several other Birds seen & a Shark. winds in the western Quarter, & a good deal of seas; Wind continued between S & W till the 14th at Noon Lat. [49°7’N] Long. [152°0’W] Mostly blowing fresh Thick weat. & frequently Rain & much sea. From the Latd. 36° to Latd. 41° & between the Long. of [blank] & [blank] Seals, Divers in numbers, & many other Birds seen & Colour of sea chang’d every appearance seem’d to indicate being in the neighbourhood of Land but the weather was too unfavourable to see above a league or two; Capt Dixon inform’d me in the same situation had seen the same appearances & try’d for sounding several times.118 A little after Noon the 14th it became calm at ten at night a Breeze from NE which encreas’d to a fresh Gale High sea and Rain at times wind varied between the N & E till 7AM the 18th when it became westerly & fair Modt. weather Latd. at Noon 53°24’ Long. [154°22’W] air remarkably Cold, & smooth water; sea weed, Flocks of Gulls, & several birds resembling the Swift in England, making a noise thro’ the night like the Tropic Bird; wind continued to the westward & fine weat. to the 20th Lat at Noon 55°43’ Long [152°16’W] these last Twenty four Hours, a few snow Showers. Hauld up to the Northward in Hopes of making the Land of Cape [blank] while the weather continued clear. at sun set saw a flock of geese during the night the wind got round to the Southward by day light at SE at 10 o’Clock thick Snow & wind freshen’d; by our distance ran conjectured ourselves to be to the Eastward of our reckonings or its most likely should have seen the Cape, the weather being unfavourable for making land & inclining to the Eastward haul’d up NBE at Noon the 21st the Sleet & Snow were very heavy: by four in the Afternoon wind at E blowing very fresh, & heavy confus’d sea, brought us under fore sail & Storm staysails our situation was not very pleasant as we look’d on ourselves to the Northward of Cape Grevile & no great distance from land every appearance of a heavy Gale & lee shore with a prodigious sea; the cause of which might be the Tide setting out of Cooks River, by 10 o’Clock it moderated;119 wind ESE heavy Rain, sea much gone down, set main Topsail by midnight little wind set fore topsail at Six in the morning wind got to the SSW & clear weat. made sail at Nine o’Clock Cape Whitsunday was seen Bearing WSW 11 or 12 Leagues at Noon Lat. Observ’d 58°14’ April 22nd.120 I had many reasons for not going to Cook’s River, the one most guided by was being inform’d little to be got there the Russians having

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settled in the Neighbourhood,121 it was also too early in the season to encounter a River, most probably frozen or if broke up the rapid Tide would float Bodys of Ice up & Down not only hurtful to both Ship & Cables, but doubtful if able to ride at all, and a small accident might prevent or retard my researches at places, I had reason to believe Quantities of Furs were to be collected at. Fresh Breezes, & hazy, with showers of Sleet & snow at times towards morning the wind got to the Southward and Eastward blowing fresh at ten o’Clock [23 April] saw land, which we took for Montague Isle bearg NEbyE 4 or 5 Leagues weat. still the same wind at ENE, near Noon had a sight of the Sun thro’ the Clouds which gave 59°41’ but could have no dependance on the Observation; Tack’d in Stays, carried away the Main topsail Yard in the Slings, by four o’Clock in the Afternoon it blew a Hurricane; could shew no sail, but storm Stay sails our situation at most as calculated from the land seen could not be more than 5 or 6 Leagues at farthest, by seven in the Evening the gale not abating had no alternative for our preservation but to carry sail. Courses were reef ’d & set, with this sail made but little way the Heavy & confus’d sea drifted us boldly to leeward, a dark & dismal night with sleet, snow & heavy rain, every Instant our ears saluted with the Noise of flocks of Birds, which distress of weather had driven before us to the Shore, and by their Crys warn’d us of our approaching Danger. by ten o’Clock the Gale moderated,122 made sail by four in the Morning wind to SE heavy rain, wore, at day light saw appearances of land bearing WBN we were much disappointed in our expectation of seeing the land & conjectures a tide or some other cause had set us considerably to windward. At Noon April 24th Lat. Observ’d 59°15’ no sight of Land, Dark Hazy weat. by four o’Clock it Cleard, steerd in for the land, at Six saw the Isle first made, bearing NBW 9 or 10 Miles hauld on a wind to the Eastward under an Easy sail for the night Sq[ualls] with Showers of snow at times,123 at three o’Clock next morning April 25th bore up, at six o’Clock close in with the S point. Ran down it to the Northward & E.ward after getting to the North point to our surprise found it to be a small Isle laying in a NNE & SSW direction & in length 7 or 8 Miles & from our calculation afterwards, suppose it to lay in Lat. [blank] Long. [blank] Dist. from the SW end of Montague Isle [blank] it was not seen by Captn. Cook, is quite Barren, except a little green Moss, rather low, & Tabling;124 it’s Shore on the S point forms a Clift, other parts gradually sloping to the waters Edge, it’s surrounded by breakers & off the North & S points extend a Mile & half or two Miles had the following appearance. [Untitled sketch. Middleton Island.] After the Trouble & uneasyness Mistaking this Land had occasion’d & too hazy to see any other, it enabled us to account for our escape on the Stormy night by supposing ourselves to have been set to the Eastward in

map J Route of the Prince of Wales, Prince William Sound to Sitka Sound, 1788 (for place name typographical conventions, see p. 9)

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our course from Cape Grevile, but to ascertain this steer’d away to the Northward till I reachd near the Lat of 60° at Noon our lat. by Observation 59°45’ but the Clouds never broke in the Horizon & such succession of Clouds continually arising that what was taken for land Vanished as soon as discover’d, in the Evening blowing & sq[ually] with Snow, with a very unfavourable appearing night hauld away to the Southward with an Intention of going into the Sound round the SW end of Montague Isle, it continued blowing fresh in squalls with Sleet, Rain, & snow, at times winds to the Eastward,125 at Day light 26th steerd in for the Land at 5 saw Montague Isle from NW to W½N dist 5 or 6 Leagues very squally with sleet & Snow at times so thick as not able to see half a mile by 10, it broke a little saw land towering to a great Heighth cover’d with snow where ever it would lye to the water’s Edge; for the Rock was almost up & down with its summit, every part cover’d with Trees which in defiance to the winter winds & Snow shew their Tops in several places, & the water pouring down in torrents down the gullys. At Noon April 26th Blowing very strong hazy & squally with Showers of Snow wore & stood off shore under close reefd topsails & Storm staysails by two in the afternoon it moderated bore up for SW end of Montague Isle126 wind at NE, after getting within the point, smooth water made sail to work up keeping the deep sea lead going off a small bight in the Land dist from the shore about 2 Miles & four or five miles from the SW end of Montague Isle, sounding from 15 to 21 fathom the latter soundings the best bottom, beat up to the South point of the Bay recommended to me by Captn. Portlock & is about 4 or 5 Leagues from the SW point of the Isle, whether he anchord here or no I cannot tell but I could find no Bottom three Miles from the Shore at fifty fathom,127 it being now eight o’Clock in the Evening winds mostly right down but Variable every five minutes accompany’d with Hail & snow, Channel narrow made it prudent for me to seek for an anchoring place before night, bore up for the place of first soundings, but a mile & half from the N point of ye Bight or notch in the Land having 15 or 19 fm over a Bottom of Mud & Sand brought up during the night the weather was very unsettled blowing strong in squalls with snow & sleet.128 In the Morning 27th wind blowing from the Northward and nearly right down not willing to part with the Anchoring ground till another was found hoisted out the Whale Boat & the Chief mate accompany’d me to sound the Bay bore up from the preceeding Evening from the S point to the North point soundings regular 3 fathom a Quarter of a mile from the Shore gradually encreasing to the N side to 32 & 40 fathoms North side being almost steep to row’d up into the Bay soundings good & regular, it was inclinable to Calm when I left the Ship a light air springing up & the Tide making return’d onboard weigh’d & reach’d the Bay & anchor’d in 23 fathoms, following is a sketch of bay I took in the Boat.129 [Untitled chart. MacLeod Harbour, Montague Island. See Figure 13.]

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map K Route of the Prince of Wales, Prince William Sound area, 1788 (for place name typographical conventions, see p. 9)

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figure 13

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It rain’d all night with a light air from the Northward at day light [28 April] Inclining to Calm, Hoisted out the Long boat. I went with the Whale Boat to sound the coast as far to the Northward, as I suppos’d we should reach this next tide from a Mile to a Mile & half off shore found the soundings good and regular at 10 return’d, weigh’d but falling Calm boats were employ’d a head towing; by Noon a breeze sprang up from the Southward, made sail, at six anchord off Green Isles130 in 20 fathoms muddy bottom dist from the Shore [blank] or [blank] Miles South point of Montague Isle [blank] North point of the largest Green Isle N¼W South Point WBN131 throughout the Day it had been remarkably fine weather & we had an Excellent prospect of the Shore most part of which was form’d by small bays & Beaches & from their similarity to those parts I had sounded off should suppose there is Anchorage all along the Coast, several parts on the Shore had they been robbed of their White would have look’d delightful & in their present state had great beautys. Opposite the N end of the North most green Isle on Montague Island side were appearances of a Deep Bay & Harbour,132 form’d by many Isles cover’d with Trees & clear snow my Anchoring so early this Evening was not having light enough to run for Port Etches, & Capt Cook being oblig’d to beat a whole night off the N end of Montague Isle for want of a Bottom to anchor on.133

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At Day light April 29th wind at SE a Moderate breeze weigh’d by six the weather look’d very unpleasant, grew thick, with Showers of Snow & squally wind inclining to the Eastward & every appearance of an approaching gale, the wind too scant for reaching my port made it necessary to seek for an Anchoring place which I flatter’d myself should find in the Bay I had seen from where we last weigh’d ... hauld in Shore sounding very irregular from 30 to 40 fathoms & sometimes no bottom till within a Mile & half of a High rocky Isle cover’d with trees, & anchord in 22 fms over a Bottom of mudd the N end of the Northmost green Isle [blank] N most Land in sight of Montague Isle [blank] South D[itt]o [blank]134 by the Time our sails were handed, it encreas’d to a fresh gale, blowing very strong in squalls & heavy rain, two small canoes like the Esquimaux kiax came off, two men in each,135 curiosity occasion’d this visit as they brought nothing off to sell; they were invited onboard, but did not come till they made us understand that one of our people must come into their canoe the while;136 several presents were made them, in return for which they gave some arrows & points for spears, those little civilitys gave them confidence & they return’d to the Shore with a promise to bring off some skins, they soon returnd and another Canoe came with them, brought one skin & a garment neatly wrought with wool & thumb’d with slips of fur of the sea Otter, they were too exorbitant in their price for us to deal with them at present,137 they gave me half a dozen dried herrings in a dish neatly made, & clean, far surpassing any thing I had seen this side of america before. but as well as the rest of their Countrymen they shew a great propensity to theiving, & little to benefit by their Company.138 I soon got rid of them, whether these people’s fix’d abode was where we saw them paddle to, I cannot say, I rather think otherwise or should have seen more of them, & got their furs without disposing of, in another Channel which we had no reason to believe being so early on the coast,139 they had not much Iron in their possession the only pieces I saw were procur’d from Captn. Portlock,140 & a dagger shap’d thus [pencil sketch in text] Blade Bayonet fashion & about three foot long by Six oClock in the Evening it blew a very heavy Gale with snow hail & Rain, wind at [blank] let the small Bower go, & wore away to bring both anchors a head. by Eight o’Clock it blew a Hurricane with a continual fall of snow;

[Taylor furnishes some further details about this initial encounter:] (219b) they sang as they advanc’d and when near extended their Hands & Arms, as I judged to inform us their intentions were peaceable in this manner they came along side Hollowing as they approach’d. They were arm’d with Bows Arrows & Spears. the Spears Iron pointed and seem’d to Apprehend no Danger from us. they pronounced the word Nutka frequently this we knew to be the Name of a Vessel that Winter’d on Snug Corner Cove Last Year as we learned

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from Capt. Dixon.141 they also mentioned ye King George which is the Name of Capt. Portlocks Vessel. We endeavour’d to prevail on them to come on Board, but did not succeed till we allow’d one of ye Boys to go into ye Canoe in his room as a Hostage. The Men were Stout & Whiter than any I saw before in America. they were cloathed in Skins, and overall a sort of Bladder to keep of ye Wet. made I suppose from the Gut of some Animal they received some presents and went on shore to get some Skins, which they said were on shore, their knees & legs quite Bear [sic] the Hats like those of Nutka.

at three o’Clock in the morning the thirtyeth, it moderated but still rain’d very hard, as the morning advanc’d it clear’d, became fair & little wind from the Southwd & Eastward hove up the best Bower. South point of Montague Isle South Body of the Bay NE N part of the Land of Montague Isle NBW an Isle in the Mouth of the Bay E a Mile & half Dist. Soundgs twenty seven fathom over a bottom of Mudd at nine o’Clock weighd with a light breeze of wind from SW but had not proceeded a league before it hauld to the E.ward of South & look’d dark & gloomy I should endeavour’d to regain the Anchoring place left; the little knowledge I had acquired of the winds & weather the Short time I had been on the coast was taught the winds Inclining to that Quarter always blew out, but I built on having so recently a heavy gale, that the weather would continue moderate for so short a run as six or seven Leagues this I was mistaken in, for on opening out the NE end of Montague Isle the wind came to NE & variable tack’d & stood inshore to search for Anchorage but the wind soon after wearing round to SE made another attempt to get across the sound but being again baffled by the wind was determin’d to come, fetch’d in with the Shore about 4 or 5 Miles to the Northward of our last anchoring place & opposite a small bight with a sand beach, and Anchor’d in 20 fm over a Bottom of Mudd, the N point of the bay left shut on with Green Isle SSW & the N end of Montague Isle NEbyN off shore ¾ of a Mile,142 the Boat was hoisted out, Supercargo & several of the Officers accompany’d me on shore the Spring had made very little progress not a Currant or rasberry Bush the smallest Bud on, in the woods thro’ the Snow was the Track of Bears, on the water side a few small muscles & winkles with many cockles & Clamshells on the Beach great quantitys of fish Bone & Spawn which had collected together an amazing number of Gulls & other sea birds, but all too shy to suffer us within Shot.143 The Indians paid us a visit, and two fox skins & a bear skin were purchas’d; they had an Otter skin but ask’d two large a price for it,144 during the night a fresh breeze from NE with Snow & Rain. Monday May the first Rain & Sleet throughout; towards evening it clear’d & wind hauld to the Northward caught several large Cod & Hallibut which prov’d very Indifferent eating, being soft & watery. Day light May the second a delightful fine morning wind SSW weigh’d & by nine o’Clock reach’d

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figure 14

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port Etches anchor’d in four fathom muddy bottom & moor’d with both bowers.145 [Two sketches. 1) “Cape Hinchinbrook E by S 2 Leagues”; 2) “High Barren Rock in the Entrance of the Arm leading to port Etches.”] [Untitled chart. Port Etches, Hinchinbrook Island. See Figure 14.] [Two sketches. 1) “a View of the Head of port Etches”; 2) “View of the entrance of the arm off port Etches.”] The Indians soon collected by sun set Eight canoes visited us, brought a few skins these of a very Inferior kind demanding a piece of Iron four foot long so that none were purchas’d,146 next day May the third they fell

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in their price & from that to the ninth continued bartering, by which time the whole of their stock was dispos’d of & did not consist of above two hundred skins & for a day or two past only brought one or two green ones.147 the supercargo propos’d going on a cruise with the Long Boat & endeavour to gain Comptroller’s Bay148 the weather as yet was very unsettled, seldom twenty four hours passing without rain, hail, or snow, the air very Cold in the night but thro’ the day when the Sun was out as warm as this season of the Year in England; the snow had dissolv’d greatly from the Hills since our first anchoring & vegetation was making quick progress, no drink to assist the spirits of the Ships Company but two Quarter Casks of Porter which were given them; I had reserv’d a hogshead of Port wine for this occasion, which Captn. Berkley was so obliging to spare me, but when I came to enquire for it, found it had been suffer’d to be drank out in the Hold. The Twelfth the Boat return’d having met with little success & the winds hanging to the Eastward which had been the prevailing wind since we had made the coast, with unsettled weather, & a great sea prevented their reaching Comptroller’s bay, they enterd a Bar Inlet to the Southward and Eastward of Cape Hinchinbrook, & came out to the Northward in Prince William’s Sound, making the Cape an Isle; in this navigation had seen many bears, & met with numbers of Natives.149 [Taylor gives some more details about this trip:] (223v) at midnight the Long boat return’d having circumnavigated the land under which we lay which they found to be an Island they had sailed along ye Coast nearly NE from Cape Hinchinbroke 30 miles and came out round ye Sound to ye Eastd. of Snug Corner Cove which cove they also visited.150 they had touch’d at one Village in their round where ye Natives treated them with civility and collected upwards of 20 Skins. an Old Chief151 was very desirous of keeping a young Boy with him, for which purpose he made him very generous offers, both of his riches and a Daughter of his & many other inducements. they found Iron was in great plenty among them and Beads which they seem so desirous to obtain were so plentiful among them that their Dogs is seems were ornamented wth. them.152

On the 14th had a very heavy gale between the E & NE with a continual fall of Rain, Hail, & Snow. This was the Winter’s farewell, for it was succeeded by light wind & Showers of Rain, & by the Sixteenth remarkably fine weather which lasted the remainder of the time we staid. In the Bad weather met with off the coast the mizen rigging had given way, & was necessary the mast should be new rigg’d, as well as the others over haul’d; we were not Idle in the necessary repairs altho’ the weather prevented our finishing & getting wood, water, &c a few days would now compleat; the carpenter had found the leak which was occasion’d by a

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Bolt in a But end being decay’d & wood also bad, & the Lower seam of the Wale153 very open this was soon cork’d & paid with Turpentine the only remaining article we had & could use as a substitute for pitch; while this busyness was going on, the supercargo set out on another expedition with a View of going to Comptroller’s Bay, on the 20th the Boat return’d not being able to reach where they Intended, & the natives having fled from their former habitation, did not purchase a skin; [Taylor gives the date of return as 21 May but provides additional information on the expedition:] (224a) in the Afternoon the Long Boat return’d with five Skins only. they endeavour’d to round the Island which I call Etches Isle and to make their passage to the Eastd. towards Comptrollers bay, but when they came to the mouth of ye Inlet to ye NE there was so much Sea on ye Bar and the Boat being very deep they did not get out which obliged them to quit their cruize and return to the Ship the way they went.154 from ye NW the Indians it seems had totally deserted their Village and were building their Huts for their families on a high Rock in ye Channel.155 this they said was on account of the number of Bears which frequented their dwelling and render’d it unsafe for their Children, which may be very probable as the boats Crew saw a vast number of Bears on their way. the Natives was all extremely Shy and excessively alarm’d at their fire Arms. they had no Skins among them that cou’d be seen. I have reason to believe their fears were in a great measure (224b) augmented from the many Thefts they committed on Board us.

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every thing being compleated, Ship painted, spars cut down, to replace those we had carried away, on the 22nd sail’d156 with a light breeze from the NE & Var. after getting a little offing to the southward of the Cape the wind fix’d at SE it being right an end & in a dirty corner, return’d & anchor’d in Captain Cook’s Cove in 13 fathoms dist. ¾ mile from the Shore, Cape Hinchinbrook S N end of Montague Isles W½S.157 The Natives had deserted us several days before we saild, but abreast of our present anchorage were several canoes & many Indians, the second mate [Thomas Hudson] landed to see if they had anything to dispose of, found only a seal skin which was brought off by an Indian who had taken the name of Portlock158 & a constant visitor of ours, he sold his skin & dog; at day light Portlock the Indian paid us another visit & remain’d till noon at four o’Clock a canoe came off & sold a skin;

[Taylor makes rather more of this encounter:] On Friday as we were standing in to come to an anchor we saw Portlock in his Single Canoe coming over a number of natives on Shore with three or four Canoes they appear’d all in a bustle & we conjectur’d they had Skins and were

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endeavouring to make their escape. the Boat was hoisted out man’d & arm’d & sent to examine their baggage. one open Canoe full of women and Children endeavoured to paddle away but the Boat cut them off. examin’d but found no Skins. the Natives on the Beach were all allarm’d and much frighten’d. some of them handled their spears and [sic] act of defence. this however did not prevent the Boats Crew from examining the whole of their baggage, not with a view of finding skins only but also to find if possible any articles miss’d from ye Ship but none was found nor any Skins, but those of no value.

at six a light air from the Northward & westward weighd soon after fell calm got the Boat a head to Tow.159 it continued till two o’Clock in the morning the 24th May when a light air sprang up from the westward but was of no duration & the Flood tide drove us considerably up the sound at four the tide being done a faint air accompany’d us from the westward was preparing to set steering sails when it again fell calm & the Tide set the Ship fast on the Shore in spight of the Boats towing; did not remain long in this unpleasant situation, a Breeze sprang up from ESE Hoisted the boat in & made sail. [Sketch. “Cape Hinchinbrook WbyN 2 or 3 Leagues.”] Port Etches is situated on the E side of the Arm & nearly at the head of it the West side of the Port is form’d by small Isles, one of which & the largest is cover’d with Trees, soundings from 3 to 5 fathoms over a Bottom of Mudd; high water at full & Change half past twelve, perpendicular rise from 12 to 14 foot the Arm leading to it may be known by the Barren rocks laying in the Mouth of it, but coming into the sound thro the Eern Channel round Cape Hinchinbrook there’s a High barren Rock not taken notice of in any Draft, its about ½ Mile Base surrounded by breakers, & bears SSW by Compass from the Cape, Dist 5 or 6 Miles;160 also off the point of the Cape are small rock & breakers a mile or more dist & in the Bight between Kay’s Isle & the Cape at every part where the long boat was, flatts ran a considerable dist. from the Shore.161 Refreshments we found very scarce, crabs, cockles, clams, & muscles were in great plenty & the only article we could procure; we had a chance once of sweeping in the seine a Shoal of Herrings which broke the net, but got more onshore than lasted four days; we had tried the net once before but caught only a Salmon Trout & a singular kind of Flat fish streak’d from head to tail & Studded on the Back with round prickly knobs,162 the Boat also tried with Hook & line in the Mouth of the Arm & caught nothing; in the Woods the Berry trees were in Blossom and many Humming Birds were seen but nothing particular to be met with, but what I had seen on other parts of the Coast; the Trees are not near so large or so good sticks, as on the Southern parts of the Coast, being mostly full of Branches but spars of every kind might be found for a Ship of 200 Tons.

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Bears & Foxes I believe are in great plenty, tracks of the first were seen in the snow on every part of the shore, & several Foxes were observ’d from the Ship feeding on the Beach.163 Montague Isle, place where we lay & all the land in its neighbourhood is of a moderate heighth with their summits coverd with snow, & from the Base upwards full of Trees & Shrubs gradually decreasing, & grow with great strength on the tops of some of the Hills which are not the highest nor expos’d much to the weather. The Natives are much of the same temper & disposition as at other parts of the Coast but in general Broader faced than those to the Southward,164 keep themselves cleaner & their canoes, weapons, & garments made neater & with greater taste; Women I saw but few, & those none of the handsomest but the supercargo saw at their Village some as delicate & fair as any European.165 The Men have a custom of Slitting a Hole in their under lip which they look on as a great addition to their persons, & when not dress’d for a visit is kept extended by a small piece of wood or bone which they amuse themselves playing with the Tongue with it. following is a sketch of one of their dress lip pieces of its full size ornamented with Beads. [Sketch. A labret.] They are addicted much to theiving & very artful in their dealing seldom selling their Furs till they had found means to steal something, also paid us several visits in the night but always discoverd & fired at. appear’d to be lazy inclind or were overstockd with our articles, for we could seldom prevail on them to bring us a fish & when they did asked as great a price for it as a skin, & never visited us but requested we would give them something to eat,166 their Canoes are made of seal skins seew’d to gether & of the following construction some with two Holes & others with one, two sometimes sitting in a Hole Back to back,167 [Sketch. Two-person kayak.] & at other times one will be stow’d away in the bottom, their weapons are Bows, arrows, lances of long pieces of Iron but their spears made to strike fish thus & mostly pointed with bone. [Two sketches. Fishing spear and harpoon. Two notations: “B the mouth of the bladder or float”; the other is illegible, but appears to refer to a harpoon head, marked A.] Their arrows for Shooting birds are slung & fitted like their spears for striking fish except the Bladder they are well cloth’d for the winter from head to foot, with Furs & Bird’s skins, & for wet weather an Oil skin Jackett made of the Intestines of some animal sewd together which covers the whole of them except their face & when stopt to the comings of the Hole of their Canoe prevents any water from getting down, the greatest inconvenience they labour under, is bailing them, not having room to get their

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hands down they suck up the water thro’ a pipe with their mouths & spit it out, this is a laborious task, when their Vessel proves leaky, they have large canoes built after the same contribution as their small ones, but open, & will carry 25 or thirty people;168 neither of them appear to be adapted for war, as a slight stroke would demolish them.

[Taylor gives more extensive descriptions of the small (baidarka) and large (umiak) vessels:] (220a) There was only three Canoes seen at Montague Isle two wth. two Men & one wth. a single Man having the hole for his seat in the Center. they sit on a low stool and wrap their feet in bear skins, the largest Canoe was not twenty feet length they are framed wth. wood and Skins taught over. when the Man is seated the bottom of his Bladder garment hauls taught round ye hole he sets in when the serves as a Nose, which keeps out all wr. tho ever so coarse the Canoes may be seen through nearly. seem perfectly Dry within ... (220b) their workmanship in sewing the Skins over ye Frames of their Canoes is very neat & worthy of notice considering the tools. to drain their Canoes of water they use a wooden machine after ye manner of a Crane, which they place to ye bottom in ye Canoe & suck it up with their breath, then stop ye top with their fingers which keeps ye water in till they hold it over into ye Sea. take their finger away & ye water runs out. when seated they are excessive warm in their Canoes their fix themselves in a Kneeling posture leaning their breach against a low stool ... (222a) we were visited this day [7 May] by one of the Natives large open Canoes with a Family. It was the same construction with ye smaller only on a smaller scale & not cover’d she was about 33 feet in length. the frame made of wood & secur’d chiefly on strong niches round ye frame. the Skins are haul’d taught and secur’d to the upper part of ye frame with board. She was quite open & about six feet broad amidships gradually tapering sharpening both head & stern. in ye stern is a small platform where a man sits to steer tho they appear very commodious. I shou’d imagine a slight blow must make a hole through ye Skins. She contained 18 persons including Babes and young Children, Boys & several women.

The price paid for Skins was a piece of Bar Iron two feet long & two Inches broad & a fathom of small Red beads, any colour was lik’d, but must be transparent, Round & smooth, & not bigger than a large pea they had great quantity of beads not answering this discription which they ornamented their dogs with.169 Many of their arrows were pointed with Copper which was in no Estimation with them, when ask’d where they got it, pointed to Mountains laying to the Northward.170 NB there is a port on the W side of the Arm leading to port Etches, it has a narrow entrance with 3 & 4 fathom at half flood & the same soundings within – see page [blank].171

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[Taylor writes these descriptions of the Chugach of Port Etches:] (220a) they were well Cloaked in Skin Garments. some had mittens & leggins of Skin all were cut under ye lower lip & a hole in ye center & their Nostril to which they hang Beads for ornament. (220b) as well as to their ears. their Faces are all painted red & in that respect are as filthy as most I’ve seen & lousy their vermin they eat as at Nutka they are very low in stature. their Hair Black & dirty tho’ not so cloyed as at Charlotes Isles. their feet are mostly very small & small Legged, broad faced, open countenances frequently repeat Sarlay or Friendship ... hats are neatly work’d small mat work like those of Nutka. their Spears & Arrows lances &c are mostly arm’d with Iron or Copper ... hats are neatly work’d small mat work like those of Nutka. their Spears & Arrows lances &c are mostly arm’d with Iron or Copper ... (221b) The needles which these people make use of tho far inferior to ours yet I believe them to be copied either from us or the Russians a short piece of Iron above half ye length of our darning needles infinitely stouter with an Eye. with these they work extremely neat their outside garment for wet weather is an excellent sample of their needle work as well as small bags made of their Skin bladders &c all of which are work’d very neat. The Boys here are better featured than the Men and by their speech & modest behaviour we took some of them women as yet we saw but one woman. She appear’d in the same dress with ye Men & equally filthy ... (222a) the Hair of ye women is long & Black, some of them good features, their is little difference in ye dress between Men & women being clad in Skin like ye Men, their Noses & slit under ye mouth together with their Ears ornamented with Beads &c & long pieces of fish Bone through their noses. the Children are comely & healthy but some profusely hung with Beads as to be very cumbersome I shou’d suppose. young Babes in [illegible word] of Skins & carefully wrapt up in Skins (222b) & rock’d in ye Canoes by ye elder children. both women & children as well as ye Men were painted variously & ornamented with white feathers above their Hair ye behaviour of ye women modest & of ye Children engaging when they approach’d ye Ship. Men women & elder children join’d in vocal musick & ye voices of Females & children in ye Concert render’d the whole rather musical than otherwise ... a young girl wore a Cap made entirely of green & other beads which must have taken a great labour in making ye beads of ye Nutka Snow.

[And records these fragments of the language:] (223b) Tako – presently or wait a minute Natonyshook – Otter Skins Ahcashid – What is your name Caphauck – Captain or Chief Peeduck – No, No Elahlea – Friendship 172

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[Untitled chart. Kodiak Island to Cape Suckling, lat. 57°-62°N, long. 205°-216°W.] Log from 25 May-3 June

Remarks from Prince William’s Sound to Foggy Harbour173

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May the 24th light airs and Calm all the forenoon; Portlock the Indian came onboard, & requested to go down the Coast with us Lat. Observ’d at Noon 60°11’ Cape Hinchinbrook NNE 3 or 4 Miles & the Rock or Isle SSW 2 Miles; a little after noon a breeze from the Southwd & westward with fine pleasant weather.174 The Indian alter’d his mind, his Canoe was put in the water, & he went onshore,175 gentle Breezes & pleasant weather all night winds from SW to W at day light [May] 25th. Hazy saw but little of the Land Kays Isle ENE 8 or 9 Leagues hauld up for it; at Noon Lat. Obs 59°46’ Kays Isle a head after dinner the supercargo propos’d going into comptroller’s bay with the long Boat, & to Join the Ship at Foggy Harbour; at four in the afternoon set out, going in on the west side. I was to stand into the Eastern Entrance and stay there till next Evening, where they were to endeavour to meet me, if tired of their cruize, or no appearance of Inhabitants;176 it continued light airs & variable all night at 8 oClock in the Morning the 26th the SW end of Kays Isle NNW off shore 2 or 3 Leagues at Noon Lat. Obsd. 59°43’ Kays Isle SW end NW by W 3 or 4 Miles we had now a moderated breeze from SE dark Hazy weather & from the swell had every reason to supppose it would freshen. the wind being right in became a lee shore & when the Boat set out Westly. so that in all probability had gone on the west side of the Bay to coast in round which now became a lee shore so that they would have the whole Bay to pull across. with these Obstacles attending both Ship & Boat, I had little prospect of Joining, however stood in till I open’d the Entrance of the Bay; by this time two o’Clock the Breeze freshening & no sign of the Boat, by four it look’d dark & Gloomy wind inclining to the Eastward with small Rain at times. Tackd & stood to the Southward under single Reefd Topsails & Course; Cape Suckling NWBW 4 or 5 Miles North end of Kays Isle West SW end SW all night the weather look’d very unfavourable,177 winds moderate between the E & NE at 6 o’Clock in the Morning the 27th Ship had set considerably into the Bay at 8 little wind & Variable finding the Ship drive fast to leeward & weather unsettled tackd & stood in for the opening with an intention to anchor, could I find Shelter by 10, within three or four Miles of Cape Suckling soundings as we ran in from 34 to 20 fm. muddy Bottom the two Points that form the Entrance to the Bay are both low but Cape Suckling appear’d to be the Highest; the land spit out into low points & several breakers of them, besides one or two in the Bay, also some Barren Rocks above water in mid channel,178 the land seemd to overlap in the East corner round Cape Suckling

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[Sketch. “Entrance of Comptroller Bay.”] but I conjecture the Low land in the Bight Joind the Northland & tended away to the westward, there appeard two or three Openings but the dist we were off its impossible to say any thing of them, from what I saw the Bay is not a place to anchor in without a Harbour was found had the Long Boat not gone in probably I might have anchord off Cape Suckling & search’d for a port but as circumstances were at present no time on my side was to be lost to prevent the Natives of foggy Harbour disposing of their skins to the Russians as I was informed they had done the Year before.179 Tack’d & stood to the Southward light air of wind from ENE & a heavy ESE swell set the Ship down on Kays Isle; by two o’Clock was within 3 or 4 Miles of the Shore & in 35 fm. muddy Bottom came to with the Coasting Anchor. SW end of Kays Isle 40° W NE N 12° W Barren Rocks in the Channel N 5° W High Land of Cape Suckling N 18° E.180 Kays Isle is about 5 or 6 Leagues Long, High some snow on the Summit & mostly cover’d with wood. off the SW end is a remarkable Rock standing close to the Shore in several points of view appear like a ruinated Castle. off this Rock in a SW direction Breakers & small Rocks run out for two or three Miles.181 [Two untitled sketches. Apparently the coast of Kayak Island.] Between five & six a light air from the westward and sky looking heavy in that Quarter, hove up the Anchor and made sail, setting sterring sails;182 it continued light winds all night & heavy swell from ESE made but little way at 6 o’Clock in the Morning [28 May] Kays Isle WSW 4 Leagues I had hauld off Shore during the night but hauld in with the Land at Noon Lat. Observd 59°47’SW end of Kays Isle W20°S 8 or 9 Leagues the wind gradually died away and by six in the Evening Calm183 which continued all night with dark Cloudy weather & swell from the Southward at four o’Clock in the Morning the 29th a breeze sprang up from the Southward made Sail & set steering sails at Noon Lat. 59°35’’ & by Account Kays Isle W½S 19 Leagues the E most Land NE½E & a small Notch in the Land184 N Dist[ant] from the Shore 4 or 5 Leagues all the Afternoon light winds from ye Westwd & pleasant weat[her] Steering parallel with the Shore, towards evening it clouded & continued all night with light winds;185 at six in the Morning the 30th hauld more in the Shore weat[her] still Cloudy, & spitting now & then with Rain, the Notch or gap in the Land that bore yesterday North, now bore WNW 3 or 4 leagues, & from the East point some low land coverd with trees Streatch’d away to the Eastward; the Coast from this presented a different appearance to that we passd, a few Miles to the Eastward of Cape Suckling the Hills are of a moderate heighth up & down with the sea Coast mostly cover’d with Snow & very few trees to be seen, Hills forming one Ridge & no double land to be seen over it in the dist. we were from the Shore, but the land

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now to the Eastwd form’d a girdle of low land, coverd with Trees & an entrance to a Creek bearg NE by N runing in a Deep Bay.186 Land was also seen bearing E which I took for the S point of the Isles forming foggy Harbour, & making also the SE point of the Bay at Noon by mistaken time lost our Observation by Account I place in Lat. [blank] Long. [blank] The Clouds had dispers’d & made it pleasant weat[her] wind at [blank] smooth water between the Notch first observd to the westward & the Entrance on the W side of the Bay like a Creek the Shore under High land which is mount S Elias187 formd thus [Sketch in text. The coast near Mount St. Elias.] and makes as if the Rising at d [on sketch] was separated by water or a deep Valley from the high land on D were plenty of Shrubs, & the low points trees, the W most part of the Bay made as if the Deepest Gap and the E most the greatest Bight the Coast from it trenchd to the Southward the snow on Mount S Elias & Hills adjoining deceiv’d us in the knowledge of the Mount, it was remarkably clear to day. the Hill we suppos’d for it, thought it had not the least Claim to Heigth or distance in Land Captn. Cook places it. at Eight o’Clock in the evening off the nearest Shore 4 or 5 Miles Mount S Elias N 50° E & the Cod of the Bay N 17° E & the Eastmost land E by N188 thro’ the afternoon the wind was baffling light airs, but now fix’d again to the W & Clear between ten & eleven fell Calm,189 a fire was seen all night on the West side the Bay at four o’Clock in the morning May 31st190 a breeze sprang up from ESE which brought on heavy rain & thick fogg Tackd & stood to the Southward; at nine the winds variable between the SE & E tackd & stood inshore but the breeze fresheng still thick & heavy rain considering myself no great distance from the land did not think it prudent to stand farther on. Tack’d single reefd the topsails & hauld up Courses to wait for Change of wind & weather, by four in the afternoon it fell calm & continued till Eight with heavy rain, & no sight of land, it Rain’d in Showers all night & part of next morning; June the 1st with light airs & Variable at six o’Clock a breeze sprang up from the westward set steering sails the N land on the W side the Bay NNE by 10, the wind left us & became light airs & Variable between the NE & ESE dark Cloudy weather with rain at times at Noon the NE point of the Low land & entrance to a Creek on the West side the Bay NBW & the N point of Broken land cover’d with trees making like Isles on the E side the bay NEbyN & the SE point of the Bay ENE which I lookd on to make one of the Head, of the Entrance to foggy harbour191 at two o’Clock in the afternoon got a light air from the Southwd stood away to the Eastwd: by 4 the Low land on the East side the Bay from NE to SSE dist 4 or 5 Miles it was little wind from the Southward & Eastward thick weather & heavy rain. Tack’d soon after, about blowing fresh & a good deal of sea stood away to Southward under double reefd topsails & Courses to avoid a lee shore, by midnight it moderated wind

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hauld round to the Eastwd. at four o’Clock in the morning June the second ship driven considerably to the westward. Tack’d & stood in shore at 7 it fell Calm with fair & pleasant weat[her] at Noon Lat. Observ’d 59°32’ Mount S Elias N44°W dist from the Shore under it & nearest Shore 8 or 10 Miles N point of the Low land & entrance to a Creek on the W side the Bay N20°E & the Gap to the Westward which we have observ’d some days past N60°W got the main Top Gall[an]t mast fidded & set the sail Royal & steering sail a breeze sprang up from the westward,192 & serene pleasant weather Mod winds inclining to Calm all night runing in for the Land supposd to be foggy Isles at 4 am June 3rd Calm & Hazy off shore 6 or 7 Miles, we had light air & Calms alternately all the Day between 8 & 9 a Canoe with two men came off from the SE end of the Bay some presents were made them, they inform’d us they had got skins, & calld them sauce; Lat. observd at Noon 59°33’ in the Evening a breeze sprang up between the E & SE got the Tack onb[oar]d to beat a few miles to the westward where I supposd the Inlet to Foggy Harbour was; Three Canoes staid onboard till three o’Clock in the morning June the fourth, at which time the Long Boat hove in sight to the Eastward & Southward. by four got onboard had been as far as Cape Fair weather, & seen nothing of a port laying in the direction their Map gave, this was occasion’d by my placing the N point the only harbour resembling the one on the Chart was situated on the E side Bearings Bay Bore up for it at 8 got a breast the SE point soundings from 6 to 9 fathoms stony Bottom, but hauling round the Point to the Eward had no Bottom with 38 fm. line & the wind coming right out of the arm.193 My second Mate [Thomas Hudson] with the Long Boat had been at a place that had a wide entrance to the Nwd of this, & formd a good Harbour as the wind was being able to fetch it bore up but the wind soon after became light airs & variable, soundings very irregular from 7 to 10 fathoms within a Ships length of each other & rocky bottom with these changeable soundings top of High water spring tides, did not think it prudent to ran farther at one o’Clock brought up & sent the Boat to sound the Passage into the Harbour, it rain’d very hard all the afternoon wind & tide against us;194 lay fast till Morning [5 June], Boat found a good Channel for the Ship. SE point of the Bay S½W an opening in the Main which we had not Observ’d before & at the Head of the Bay NNW. off the E Shore ¾ Mile at 6 am Low water weigh’d light winds & variable, Boats towing soundings from 4 to 10 fathoms the tide running out & no wind came to in 4 fathoms;195 several Indians came onboard had nothing but old Skins, several signified they had Had two ships lately among them & purchas’d all they had,196 & that the Crews and Commanders wore large Caps & were remarkably stout, some Canoes the long Boat fell in with to the West ward gave them the same information197 I got to an Anchor within the Isles in the Evening on the turn of the tide but had little prospect from what the Indians shew’d me of Collecting any Skins, determind me

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to get under weigh next morning & go to sea.198 I was promisd great things from my visitors but I had been off this port & at anchor long enough for them to have brought their skins if any; their wishing me to remain might only be a decoy to give them an opportunity to theive, they did not seem so great adepts at it, as our former acquaintance on this coast but we soon grew familiar to them, & they could not divest themselves of the natural failing of all Indians to take what ever they fancyd & opportunity offer’d; this was the case of an Indian that stole the sailmakers fishing line & he too rashly caught up a Musket & Shot the Man, but it was done with a degree of cruelty, for he fired twice.199 I was not on deck my self or would have endeavour’d to prevent it, & those whose busyness it was in my absence, look’d on with the greatest unconcern; a few canoes remain’d along side some time afterwards but next morning only one was to be seen (June 6th) wind Northd. & westd. could not get out of the port without beating and that was not safe were soundings were so very irregular. Man’d both boats & went to sound the Passage to sea within the Isles found it would be attended with great dificulty, & some little hazard having a Bar to pass of 2 & 3 fm at High Water so that I fix’d with myself to go out the way I came in the Eveg hauld the seine & caught a few fish, Salmon trout, whiting & two kind of Flat fish one that singular kind caught at Prince William’s sound.200 June the 7th little wind from NE & Calm at times, weighd & attempted to work out under topsails, staysails, & topgall[an]t sails. Boats a head towing but the wind coming to the North & westward was obligd to bring abreast the Isle in the Entrance the Anchor was let go in 7 fathom water but when half a Cable was wore out, our stern lay in 25 fm at two in the Afternoon wind came to NE weighd but no sooner was the anchor to the Bows but the wind came to the Southward, steerd out of the Harbour when in the Bay wind came to the SW Stretchd away to the Northward & westward when well over on the W side of the Bay the Wind came to the Northwd set steering sails & made sail, when nearly out of the Bay nine o’Clock the wind came right in, kept plying to windward during the night wind fluctuating & at times calm with a heavy swell from the Southward, before leaving the Port the leading man of the Canoe that remain’d with us had a helmet Cap given him.201 In the morning June 8th it clouded in, & Raind at times with fresh breezes in squalls, double reef ’d the Tops[ails] at Noon the E’ern Ext[reme] of the Bay NNE 6 Leagues. Foggy Harbour, so call’d by Capt. Dixon of whom I got the Information, he places in Lat [blank] Long [blank] his lat corresponds, but I do not make it so far to the Eastward.202 it’s situated among many Isles on the E side a Deep Bay running in N & S, and as on the W side the Bay stands Mount S Elias should suppose it is Bearing’s Bay. the E side is such remarkable land being low cover’d with trees & stretching away to the E ward &

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Southward none like it on the Coast its almost impossible to mistake it, but you must be well in before you see the Low land it being Hid by the High land at the back which was cover’d with snow. The large Isle203 that forms the E side the Bay lays N by E & S by W by Compass 7 or 8 Miles in length it’s narrow with 3 or 4 Isthmus’s where the sea nearly meets at high water. the N part of the Isle which we pass’d round to our anchorage bore from Mount S Elias W20°N off this point are rocks coverd at High water a Mile or more from the Shore. From the S point on the East side the Bay, at the Dist of a Mile or little more, is the Entrance leading to Captain Dixon’s anchoring place altho’ the water has a free passage from this round to where we lay in the Channel we sounded it’s only navigable for Boats, but there are numberless Isles and many passages runing away to the Eastward, whether well Inhabited, or where they lead to is impossible to say. There is also a large Inlet in the Cod of the Bay.204 If I might Judge of the Inhabitants from the number I saw there were not above 200; I think their residence is farther to the Southward and Eastward and only here at certain seasons of the year to hunt, fish, and trade,205 we learnt of the natives here & at Prince William sound that they traded with each other, each remarking & with a degree of contempt,206 the Cut lips of the Men to the North & the Large Mouth pieces of the Women to the South all the European articles I saw, was a file, with Hunsberg on, & a pair of Russian or Dutch Scissors. they shewd us very little Iron, but from the familiar method of receiving us, should suppose European visitors were common.207 At this place appears to commence a different Nation from those residg to the North besides;208 the difference of the sex in wearing lip pieces, their Canoes are all wood & of an Opposite Built, & three or four kinds of them;209 & I believe belong to different tribes as there was a Variation also in their Language, several counting numbers not with the same name, & when ask’d where resided pointed different ways210; one kind of their Canoes resembled a neat built skift Galley fashion thus [Sketch in text. Canoe and paddles.] and may hold three or four men the most seen in them three.211 others resembled a half Moses dug out of a Log.212 the two larger kind one Charlotte Isles built the other like a Butchers tray cut out of a solid piece of timber carrying from 20 to 30 people their Baggage women and children are transported in those I suppose in inland navigation for they seem’d greatly alarm’d at the gentlest breeze when any dist from the shore.213 the Women in persons & Customs resemble those of the Charlotte Isles but their language had not the least similarity. Habitations I saw none, but the remains of some Huts on several parts of the Shore temporary dwellings & summer residence.214 on the whole its the pleasantest place I had met with on the coast the shores in every part were full of Currents, Gooseberries, Strawberries, Rasberries, apple Trees, & wild peas215 all in Bloom, & the natives till the man was shot, brought salmon & Halibut. I saw no

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fresh water, but have not the least doubt there was plenty on the High land to the North. [Two sketches. 1) “N. entrance to Foggy harbour as shown (illegible words) to the Eward of Mount St. Elias (illegible words)”; 2) Mount St. Elias N52°W Dist 4 or 6 Miles.”] [Untitled chart. Anchorage,Yakutat Bay. Notations: “Part of this is copied from Capn Dixon’s Sketch,” and “sounding within the Isles in the Harbour Irregular, from 7 to 50 fm in the Bay Hard & Stony in the Harbour 6 fms muddy.” See Figure 15.] Log, 9-16 June 1788

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Remarks from Foggy Harbour to Cape Edgecombe

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June 9th weat[her] dark and Cloudy winds to the Eward & rainy at Noon no Observation South point of Foggy Harbour NBE 4 or 5 Leagues, towards Evening it fell little wind inclining to Calm at 10 a light air from the westward when the Officer of the Watch Informd me a Boat was coming off with a Flag for a long time took it for a Russian launch, but on drawing near prov’d to be a Canoe with three sticks up as masts on two of them were tails of large birds hanging by a String & on the Middle stick a Slip of Skin, some few skins and pieces were bought off them, & another soon join’d us; on both there were 38 Men women & Children; one of the men had his dress trim’d with Chinese money, & also shewd a piece of new stripd Flannel. at Midnight they left us.216 at 8 o’Clock in the Morning June 10th the Breeze freshend from the westwd set steering sails, but a large smoak being observd on a beach shortend sail & hauld in for it, at the same time a Canoe was observd pulling after us with a piece of skin on a staff, hove too; two Canoes Join’d & some skins & pieces were purchas’d; at Noon Lat. Obsd. 59°22’ bore up steering parallel with the shore SE point of Beerings Bay217 WNW 5 or 6 Leagues & the Body of a Bay west side formd by the Low Land of Foggy Isles NE by E 4 or 5 Leagues the land under the High land from the SE point of Beerings bay to the Eastwd for some dist is very low & sandy mostly coverd with wood in the Bight of the Bay that Bore at Noon NE by E the land is lowest & Barren even with the surface of the water in the Bight appears a large Body of Ice as at A.218 [Untitled sketch. The coast, east of Yakutat Bay.] When this sketch was taken B bore NBE 6 or 7 Miles.219 From this to the Eastward & southward the low land seems to rise in different places under the Shore in small hummocks of Trees, & in many places so low the trees appear in the water & make like separate Isles this land is some dist from the high land & a vacant space within as if separated by water the Hill in the Cod of this Bay shew as if separated & only at present connected by the Body of Ice as before mentiond the N and west most of the highest ending as a Bluff & terminates the Ridge from Cape Suckling. The E most a new ridge commences of Broken Hills; if what I take for Ice is really the case, a passage is choakd up to a large Body of water, or level Country behind; for I could see no double Hill over it. Mount S Elias has now quite a different appearance to what we observ’d before, towering to a great heighth & of a Conical form, bearing WBN½N [blank] Leagues.220 The shore from the E side Icy Bay rose in heighth, but night coming on prevented my making any farther remarks, we stood on the E ward – wind WBN. at four o’Clock in the morning June 11th the Shore appear’d

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again to be broken with low land under the High land, but low with the waters Edge; here & there hummocks of Trees like Isles; at 8 o’Clock nearly up with some hummocks, which appeard plainly to be Isles, & the main breaking in a small notch I conjectured that anchorage & shelter might be found; hauld close in till I plainly descried the entrance full of Rocks, not but there might be a passage between them but as I saw no smoak nor signs of Inhabitants made the best use of the fair wind; at Noon Lat. Obs. 58°30’ Cape Fair weather 4 or 5 Leagues.221 The entrance observ’d this morning, is on the Pitch of the Cape as C & when Bearing NW had the [Untitled sketch. The coast in the vicinity of Mount Fairweather; notation: “Mount Fair weather.”] above appearance;222 a little time after the Sun came to the Meridian a Canoe was observd pulling after us with [blank] a Skin on a pole;223 brought too, on their Joining had not the least Inclination to trade requesting us to return back to the westward, at this time a point to the Eward making like an inlet & some smoak on it hoisted a Boat out, & the 2nd Mate went to examine it,224 at 8 the Boat return’d reporting the place to be a small Bay of 3 fm water but unsafe to stop in, so much Ice coming down from a run of water above it; at this place was a house & garden neatly fenc’d in, & European Plants growing, but only saw 8 women a lad & a Boy a Skin & a piece was procured from them this bay is Six or 7 Leagues from Cape Fairweather;225 on the Boat’s return finding nothing would entice the Canoe along side to trade, after detaining us 8 Hours took from them two Skins & some slips, & paid them double what we gave in fair Barter & they left us perfectly satisfied. Hoisted the Boat in, & stood along shore under tops[ails] & main top Gall[an]t sail, Cape Fair weat[her] at WBN dist 7 or 8 leagues the Evening was dark & gloomy, land much overclouded, and light airs from SW at 10, a fire was observ’d a little to the westward of the Bay the Boat landed in Foggy Calm & light airs alternately till morning four o’Clock June the 12th a Canoe came of bought a Skin, and one or two garments;226 at Noon the Fogg broke but still Calm Lat. by Indifferent Observ. 58°20’ Bay the Boat was in N22°W 8 miles a High mount which I take for mount Fair weather on the same bearings227 early in the afternoon a breeze sprang up from ENE accompanied with rain stood to the Northward till within 3 or 4 Miles of the Shore; at three o’Clock tackd and stood to the Southward till 7 the weather now clear & became calm, but was soon succeeded by a Breeze from the NE carried sail to keep the Land onboard at Six oClock in the morning June the 13th got sight of the Entrance to Cross sound. if I had intended it the wind being right out it was impossible to fetch in, by 8 some smoak was discover’d, & a Canoe pulling towards us; Tackd & shorten’d sail, three in all soon join’d us; lay too till noon, no signs of any more Inhabitants, & those people having only three Indifferent skins228 weather dark & Gloomy, wind blowing off Shore & having learnt from

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both Capt. Portlock & Dixon that little was to be collected here, gave up all thought of going into port.229 Lat. by Observation 57°59’ the point that forms the E point of the Entrance to Cross sound at ... D bore NBE 3 leagues – and the Southmost Land ESE [Two untitled sketches. 1) The coast in the vicinity of Cape Cross, shows location D; 2) the coast in the vicinity of Cape Cross, has the notations “Cross Cape NNW 2 leagues” and “Cross Mountain.”] from it,230 to us it appeared as Captn. Cook describes it making all as Isles, & at every few miles, as if an Inlet to a port;231 indeed the whole of the Coast that I have pass’d although nearer to it by leagues than he had an Opportunity of coming, is as minutely described, as if he had been with[in] half a Mile, early in the afternoon wind became Variable with rain ... by four it clear’d and fix’d again at North, hauld in with the Shore to give the Natives an Opportunity of coming off by the Evening a Canoe came off, & two or three skins was purchas’d, during the Night the wind was Southerly & Variable with Rain, tack’d occasionally to clear the Land towards morning June 14th. it clear’d at day light observing some Canoes coming, lay too, or stood off & on occasionally under easy sail to traffic with them; winds Southerly & Var. Lat. Obs. at Noon 57°54232 E point of Cross sound NBW the nearest land to us appearing as an Isle the body of which set Bore NBE 4 or 5 Miles the W point of that Isle NNW 7 or 8 Miles & may be Cross Cape233 the Southmost Land or Cape Edgecomb S56°E and the Northmost land as seen thro’ the Haze NWBW; thro’ the morning had six Canoes along side fifteen skins & some pieces were purchas’d. From a little to the Northward of Cross cape to this day, numbers of dead fish, resembling snappers, had been seen floating on the water, which I cannot account for, without killd by the Ice breaking up in the Body of Water in Cross sound, & brought out by the freshes. At two o’Clock a light air sprang up from the Westward made sail & ran down along shore to the Eward with light breezes & fair pleasant weather234 at Six o’Clock in the Morning June 15th hove too for a Canoe on her joining bore up, by Noon two more join’d & several skins and pieces were purchas’d Lat. Obs. 57°24’ wind Shifted to the Southward & Eward. the Canoes left us Haul’d in Shore; Cape Edgecomb SEbyE Dist. [blank] High land of Cross Cape NW.235 Through the afternoon it was light air inclining to calm, wind varying round to the Wward, some Canoes came off some skins & pieces were bought & several old pieces refus’d, one Canoe staid onboard all night & Morning;236 June 16th winds Variable from NW to ENE & NNE at day light hauld more in shore about Eleven another Canoe Joind at which time taken aback with a squall of Hail and Rain wind Southerly sold their skins & put off in great haste & we reef ’d tops[ails] & hauld to the Southward but before noon it fell Calm Cape Edgecomb 4 or 5 Leagues. SEbyE as F.237

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[Untitled sketch. The coast in the vicinity of Mount Edgecumbe; notation: “Mount Edgecomb.”] The space between Cross Cape & Cape Edgecomb is very properly call’d by Captn. Cook the Bay of Isles,238 from its broken appearance, have no doubt forms numberless Harbours, the Spaniards have anchor’d in two & Capt portlock in another;239 the Natives also very friendly, not a Canoe came along side but invited us to their dwelling promising plenty to eat, and that our Canoe would be sheltered from wind & sea, not that we understood a syllable of their Language, but we had now so long been conversing by signs & tokens that after gaining a little knowledge of their language found we had seldom been mistaken.240 In the afternoon it fell Calm, & by six in the Evening wind blew from the Northward & westward by 10 got within two Miles of the Cape, soundings 24 fm hard bottom, kept beating in the Bay to the Eastward of the Cape all night241 & morning till 8 o’Clock June 17th. it then falling Calm Anchd in 24 fm hard Blank bottom. Cape Edgecomb WSW the other extream of the Bay SSE¾E which was the Southmost land to be seen;242 Hoisted the Boat out & the Chief mate went to sound the Channel, thro’ the morning light airs & Calm alternately winds Variable round the Compass & in the afternoon squally and unsettled at 4 weighd, wind Northerly, but after making a Board or two the wind came from the Southward ran up anchor’d with the Coasting anchor in ½ seven fathom soft Bottom, many Canoes accompanyg us, & several skins bought;243 the Evening became dark & Gloomy with rain wind East & South look’d like a bad night, let the Bower Anchor go under foot in the Morning June the 18th more moderate hove it up, rain throughout the day, a brisk trade for skins & pieces; towards evening it clear’d & wind got round to the Eward & Southward. Moor’d the Centre of a Reef of Rocks SSE½E the Extreams of the Bay from SE by S to S off Shore ¾ of a Mile,244 all night & best part of the day 19th June rain throughout, wind SE, towards Evening it cleard & wind go round to the westward, on the 20th winds & weat[her] variable with some rain. This day the Indians signified we had purchas’d all their stock & not buying their old pieces enquired why we staid. I was much disappointed in my expectations from these people, not collecting from them above 100 skins. The time we lay here, some hands were employ’d wooding, & carpenter cutting some spare Spars, neither party was ever molested, in our dealings with the natives, they shewed the honestest & best disposition of any we had before met with, nor did we miss a single article during our stay among them, they were also easy to trade with, some liking one thing some an[o]th[er] of every article we had to exchange, but kettles & Frying pans were most coveted; they requested if we return’d that the

From Foggy Harbour to Cape Edgecombe | 231

Frying pans might be longer handled to enable them to stand farther from the fire to Cook their fish, their method is boiling them.245 There was not above a family or two resided here, but we were visited by many, & some that traded with us ten or 12 Leagues to the Northward;246 their manners, Custom, dress &c resembled those of the Charlott’s Isles; a kind of Cap thus was a favourite Ornament [Sketch. Tlingit ornamental headdress.] The two uprights a skin of Black seal, hair out, & studded with Copper Buttons, to the outer edges & Tops are fix’d human hair, the band for the forehead a piece of white leather checquer’d with red stripes, with two large pieces of Round Copper in Front;247 I have seen this worn by natives at other parts of the Coast when drest for a visit, & the tails of large Birds when over heated in singing or dancing are us’d as a fan; they had also a long piece of wood hollow’d out, from its resemblance & frequent applying it to the Eye when anything calld their attention at a dist I conjectur’d it was to answer the purpose of a Spy Glass.248 [Taylor was among the shore party of 20 and 21 June. He recorded these observations:]249 (256a) {19 June} PM I was on Shore the natives have one temporary Summer house with little cover near the Beach. they behav’d with great civility and friendly offer’d water for us to Drink, but were very apprehensive respecting their women and friendly [?] admonished us to offer no violence towards them suspecting as they were almost constantly entreated when along side to come on board, that we might take other means on Shore. They are particularly tenacious of their women as we had found them all the way from Prince William sound. do not think the women themselves are so very particular on the contrary I believe many of them to possess the same Idea of Liberality with those of Charlotes Isle, but are restricted by the watchful & tenacious Eye of the Men as I observed many to have inclination to come on board when offer’d presents (256b) The women of Edgcomb Harbour and its vicinity are all cut when young in the under lip and expanded as they advance in years by applying a larger piece in the hole for the purpose of beautifying themselves with a mouth ornament. no Deformity can possibly appear more disgusting to an European many of the women are far from plain provided they were content to let their faces retain their natural form, but in the younger girls particularly nothing can be pictured more horrid than to see the whole of a pretty face distorted by the unnatural practice of expanding the lower lip to introduce by degrees a larger ornament, as it naturally effects the whole countenace and is most conspicuous on a young girl small featured. they have besides a hole through the nostrils for the purpose of hanging a small ornament. the generality of women here are not so profuse in the use of red paint, on the contrary I have seen a Canoe with seven eight and Ten women all Clean faces, with long black hair when free from paint some of them wear their hair qued, others loop which has the most pleasing effect. The

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Men are all smear’d as usual and are the by far the most inoffensive Tribe I saw, very civil. nor were they desirous of theiving. Trade was much briefer here than at any Harbour we had been into. I saw but one Man who was acknowledg’d a Chief every Man appears to be a Chief of his own Family and have their houses scatter’d along the Coast inland between Cross Cape & Cape Edgcomb with out any villages that we were acquainted with.250 their canoes are some of them capable of containing 30 are most [of] them (257a) very old and slight cut from a whole Tree and finish’d with Prow & Stern pieces agreeable to their fancy many of them Clad in a sort of Blanket of their own manufacturing and lined comfortably with Fur & fringed & ornamented as usual, others with various Skins. Their Spears were many of them Iron pointed, but the generality of Bone nor did they seem very desirous of Iron, rather prefering Utensils for Cooking for barter. the Chief and his attendant wore long leather garments ornamented all over with fringes and porcupine quills many of them wore leggings of the Canadian kind but inferior, small Chief hats [?] & most of them provided with a large Sharpe Iron dagger. they were always very musical along side and play’d rattles and jingling symbols of Circular twigs and Birds Bills Divers [?] which they are very partial to. their Songs were accompanied with two or three Men standing performing an antic Dance with wild hoops &c their Babes are clad in warm Skins and kept in a sort of leather basket or a Cradle, constantly rear’d in the open air and are bored & or ornamented at the nostrils while very young. the women do not appear to want affection to their young. All kinds of vegetation was in great forwardness on Shore, all nature wearing its usual appearance. they had small gardens with seeds enclos’d left no doubt by the queen Charlotte251 about half a mile up the woods we found a spot of marshy ground very pleasant with plenty of Labrador Tea growing. (257b) ... we saw no kind of vegetable to eat here tho the Natives seem’d to live entirely on the wild shrubbery growing round them together with Fish. Berries were not yet come to perfection, but the woods inclos’d great abundance we found fresh rain water in several spots & small Springs, but no watering place for a Ship in the Neighbourhood. The Natives supplied us with some little Salmon & at anchor we caught a few Snappers ... This afternoon {June 20} I walk’d about a mile and half to the Southd. along the Beach to some Huts ye Natives had erected since our arrival in order to be near us.252 I saw eight or nine. the materials of their buildings were simply a few short spars lash’d together and Shelter’d with bark of trees not sufficient to keep out the rain but where each Family were happily seated round a Fire in the middle boiling Fish and passing their (258a) time variously.253 the women were many of them employed making small chip baskets for containing their triffling articles, and at which they appeared moody & quiet. The Men were lounging about in the Sun round their Habitations, till roused by curiosity to accompany us. they suffer’d us to came in and be seated with great civility and on making signs that we were Dry. they made great dispatch and procuring us some good water, which they offer’d us in a clean smal [?] basket with great cheerfulness & Friendship. the larger part of each

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Family very numerous those 5 & 6 years of age appear’d to have the sole care of ye Babes & were employed in rocking & quieting them. one party of Men about a Dozen prevail’d on one to set down in the Centre of a Circle which they form’d about me. when they arriv’d themselves in examining my Jackets, Trousers &c and at their request I pull’d off some of my Cloaths. they examin’d my Skin with admiration this indeed was general among all ye Indians I met with my Shoes took their attention mightily & in consequence of which they gave me to understand when we came again they would sell us Skins for Shoes, Jackets &c. they offer’d me a piece of their leather slippers in exchange for my Shoes, but Shoes happen’d to be too scarce an article for me to comply with their request. great abundance of Halibut & other fish fresh caught was hanging to Dry round their Huts which together with oil, paint and their own (258b) natural filth made a very disagreeable effluvia and shorten’d our visit. I saw no utensils among them but small baskets and sundry wooden vessels of their own makes, exclusive of the articles they had secur’d from the Ship in barter. the stouter Boys were learning to throw the spear with small branches of trees. I believe they are kept frequently at this exercise in order to make them useful to themselves and family. that once [?] attain’d they are then furnish’d with all the Education they require to gain their subsistence, or at least tis the principal, for with ye spear they kill seals, otters and many fish. they heave the spears with a short piece of wood with a hole in its end which receives the inner end of ye Spear, while supported with ye left hand. thrusting their spear from them with ye this short machine with great ease and dexterity with the right hand and sends it with greater force than If twere grasped and thrown by the hands only.254 we observ’d them kill one otter in a Canoe early in the Morng. among some weeds. they kept themselves snug in the Canoe. the Man who was going to strike barely shew his head over the gunnel of ye Canoe & when the otter was near enough he struck him with ease and sold us the Skin nothing cou’d exceed their civility considering they were savages. I made them some triffling presents, which were scarcely worth their acceptance but which they received with gratitude.

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The Shore on the East side the Bay was cover’d by drift wood, & in the woods were found very good spars the Tops of the Hills to the northward of Cape Edgecomb & also the mount was mostly cover’d with snow, but to the Southward very little & appear’d as entering a new Climate, in several parts of the Bay was found great quantity of pumice stone, the Natives use it for cleaning the skins with, we saw no fresh water.255 a few snappers were caught, & the natives brought us some Halibut & Salmon; Otters I believe are in great plenty, once or twice a Canoe went away for a few hours, & return’d with one or two. The only advantage of this Port, if bound to the Southward you sail out with a fair wind; in other respects do not think the place of our anchorage at all safe, having only a reef off the SW point of the Harbour to Shelter you from the Southerly winds, the Bottom bad & interspers’d with Rocks; altho’ when we came to the soundings on the lead was soft

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sand, our Cable was much rubb’d & the Anchor hooking a Rock it was with great difficulty we weigh’d it after having try’d & broke the Buoy rope, where the Cable ripp’d in the Hawser was render’d unserviceable & oblig’d to be cut off. The Easterly wind which blew constantly while we lay here having some little fetch caused so great a surf on the shore our boat could never beach. June 21 at four oClock in the morning unmoor’d & hove; short light airs round the Compass at Noon a breeze sprang up from the Northward & westward weighd, first part of the afternoon Calm & light airs alternately a strange canoe join’d us, & sold several skins; at three o’Clock a freesh breeze sprang up from the [blank] made sail.256 [Taylor gives more information on the departure, reiterating his favourable impression of the Sitka Tlingit:] (259b) many of the Natives particularly the women followed us out some few miles from the Shore, disposing of triffling articles and those who had any Skins remaining came & offer’d them for sale and parted with us in great friendship giving the Friendly shout leaving the Ship. Among the various Tribes we had visited none gave us less trouble, not a single instance of theiving was known. on the contrary they were quiet, orderly People very friendly dispos’d and Trading with great good humour.

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[Sketches. “Purple and Crimson Berry.”] Blank Log, 28 June-17 July 1788 Blank [Untitled chart. Cape Edgecumbe to Cape St. James, latitude 51°45’-57°N, longitude 130°-136°W; notation: “Cape St James must be placed in 131.”]

Remarks from Cape Edgecombe to Leaving Charlotte Isles

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We had a fresh Wind all night June [blank] wind [blank] steerd along shore at the dist of 4 or 5 Miles at Eight o’Clock in the morning [22 June] Open’d an Inlet running in, in a NNW direction and no land to be seen at the back of it but appeard as a very large body of water;257 I would have searchd this place for natives but as Captn. Dixon had been in a port a few leagues to the Northward & also travers’d this coast Down,258 I thought it no ways advisable to look for what I was inform’d did not exist, when I had other places to go where he had met the greatest success, such as Hippa on the W side Charlotts Isles, also the Land to the Southward where the natives seem’d to be in greater plenty. at ten o’Clock, pass’d between some high Barren Rocks & the Main, these rocks lay NNE & SSW of the NW

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point or Cape leading to the sound or inlett & dist. 4 or 5 leagues to the N & westward had the following appearance.259 [Untitled sketch. The Hazy Islands.] These Rocks were cover’d with birds & seals, the Coast having very favourable appearance for natives, caus’d me to keep a very sharp lookout on the Shore, & was not half an hour in the day off the deck at one time & the Tellescope constantly at my Eye I neither saw smoke, nor the smallest trace of Inhabitants, at Noon Lat. Observ’d 55°51’ the North point of the Bay to the large Inlet & was also the Northmost land to be seen was N47°W & the Head of the Bay N35°W & the point abreast of us N5°E dist 5 Miles & the Barren Rock S85°W four or 5 Miles & Southern Extreams of land S65°E, at 8 o’Clock in the Evening close in with a point forming the North point of a Bay, soundings 47 fm shingly Bottom, hoisted out the Boat & sent to look if there was any port by nine the Boat returnd their being no place the Ship could anchoring in & the Shores abounding with seals & not at all disturb’d with the visit;260 these animals being both food & clothing for the Natives, would not have been so easy, if ever hunted; this Circumstance & also the Birds seen on the Barren Rock & the numbers seen on this part of the Coast gave me every reason to believe it’s thinly Inhabited if any, & most probable had there been a single family & we passing too Quick or to great a dist from the shore they would have taken the method of the natives on other parts of the Coast, & made a fire to call our attention.261 After the Boat was hoisted in, made sail, steering SE by S for the Southmost land,262 all night hazy & at times fog which continued all the forepart of the morning June the 23rd at 8 oClock in Morning abreast the Land set the preceeding Evening & prov’d to be an Isle coverd with wood at Noon Lat. Observd 54°40’ the Isle as under making two or three Isles & may be from the main [blank] or [blank] Leagues.263 [Untitled sketch. Forrester Island; notation: “N8E 2 or 3 Leagues.”] A point of Land which I take for the N ... point of Charlott’s straights N 62° E & the North end of Charlotte Isles E 35° S rest of the Land obscur’d in the Haze. Just as the Sun came to the Meridian, two Canoes were seen pulling after us, hove too & purchas’d five skins of them;264 [Colnett note: One of these men was prevailed on to go into the Cabin & on looking at a Glass, seeing himself reflected, hallowed and jumped for Joy, supposing one of his Companions had got there before him, but on running up to the Glass, he found the Mistake & ran into his Canoe very much frightened265] they had been on the Isles abreast of us for Birds & Eggs, & procur’d a great Quantity;266 I took a good deal of pains by signs (for their language differ’d from any I had before heard) to learn where their Chief or tribe lived, they either had none or all I could understand was, that they lived themselves on the Isle, or on the main in a line with it bearing NBW.267

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map L Route of the Prince of Wales, Sitka Sound to Kildidt Sound, 1788 (for place name typographical conventions, see p. 9)

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after dismissing these people in high spirits & perfectly pleas’d, guess’d on their reaching the Shore & reporting the favourable reception they had met with, would induce more of their countrymen to visit us. I hauld within the Isle for that purpose, to give them a better opportunity to come of or if any number of them to seek for a port, during night and morning it was foggy with light airs from N & westd & Calms alternately so that at Noon the 24th had made little progress Lat. Obs. 54°42’. Body of the Large Isle which I call Etches Isle (in Honour of my employer) N46°W 2 leagues the NW entrance of Charlotte straights N64°E & N end of Charlotte Isles E25°S Northmost land cover’d in the Haze,268 in the first part of the night a Canoe came off, & ten skins & a good cloak were purchas’d; at day light the 25th Calm, the second mate follow’d the Canoe to look for a Harbour or more Indians Lat. Obs. 54°51’ Ex[treme] of Etches Isle from S20°W to W25°S the Northmost Land N47°W the Entrance the Boat went to E10°N dist. 3 Leagues S point of Land E10°S & between that & the N point many breaks in the Coast. the North end of Charlotte Isles S40°E, early in the afternoon the boat return’d had found a Harbour, but the entrance not a Cable wide, plenty of water, but only one family of Indians, they told them their Chief lived a little to the Southward of a Head land pointed to;269 at three o’Clock saw a Canoe coming from the Northward but on drawing near the Ship ceas’d padling, two people got in the boat to pull them, which as soon as they observ’d, paddled of in great haste for the Shore, & the Boat came back; they again lay on their paddles & for several hours seem’d undertermin’d how to act, sometimes padling from us, other times to us, & then laying too, as if to debate; it was light airs & Calm alternately during the night winds Var. between SE & SW [Taylor adds some details about the encounters of 24 and 25 June and the richness of marine life in the Dixon Entrance area:] we saw a number (262a) Whales about us, many of them engendering close to the Ship of a prodigious size covering the Sea for a mile or more with oil and Birds feeding on the surface in abundance many salmon were leaping early in ye Morn. Wednesday 25 {24} June light air and variable, making use of every advantage to get to the westward between the Island and the main at 8 PM {24 June} Rd. off Shore within 3 miles of ye main no ground 60 fathom body of ye Island bore SW at midnight a Canoe came off from the main it was a strange hour, and not having seen any appearance of Indians in the evening we did not expect to see any. they approached singing consequently were heard some minutes before we saw them. agreeable to the custom at Charlotes Isles they performed the ceremony of Paddling round the Ship three times singing &c they were acquainted with several words in several Languages along Shore and of Charlotes Isle. it was therefore difficult to determine what Tribe they belonged too. they were probably

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situated near difft. Tribes & were acquainted with Charlotes Isle & the Long Shore Language also & were therefore of the Mongrel Specie. we purchased 12 tolerable Skins of them, & as they did not quit the Ship till Day light {25 June}, we had an opportunity of seeing them land in an Inlet at four hoisted ye Boat out and sent in to examine the Inlet ... at 3 PM the Boat returned having examined the Inlet which prov’d a good Harbour with good bottom and convenient Anchorage as well shelter’d and a capacious entrance ... they found one Family only which were those who had been off, from whom they purchased some tails & a Skin or two.

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at four o’Clock in the morning 26th it became thick Fog wind S by E[aster]ly tacks occasionally to keep the land onboard, the Fog continued till between three & four in the afternoon when it clear’d up, found ourselves within three Miles of the Shore bearing of NW end of Etches Isle W10°S SW end W18°S N most land of the Main S55°W & anot[her] point N40°W the Hills being much overspread with Fog made it difficult to know the Coast & appearances of one or two Inletts. sent the Boat away with the second mate to look if there were any Indians, or port, the first row’d to proved to be the S entrance to the harbour the Boat was in Yesterday, it being formd by an Isle in the entrance.270 Two canoes came off, & the Boat return’d after entering a Creek, a little farther to the Southward but the Channel very narrow & no Natives271 little wind & variable all night & morning the 27th at 8 Observ’d two canoes coming off lay too for them, a Skin & some old pieces were purchas’d about 11 two others Join’d, brought two or three pieces,272 & the N most land was N 45° W and a Barren Rock a little above water about the size of the Ship, with breakers round, laying about half way between the main & North end of Etches Isle & North & South of the North end of the Isle bore N20°W two of the Canoes went away a little before dinner & return’d early in the afternoon with fish the spot they fish’d on was between the Barren Rock & the main there must be soundings there, every other part try’d, & within three miles of the Shore no bottom with 145 fm line it continued dark & hazy all the afternoon wind in SE quarter.273 My Stay off here was long enough, had there been any number of Natives, or if those we found had any Skins, to have seen & purchas’d them; by 8 o’Clock in the Evening had made the Circuit of Etches Isles the N end bearing S60°E 4 or 5 Leagues there are several of them all close together appearing as one high, & coverd with wood the larges about [blank] Miles in length and laying in the direction of [blank] Lat. [blank] Long. [blank] I now determin’d to make the best of the way to Hippa.274 [Four sketches. 1) “Etches Isle”; 2) “Main at back of Etches Isle,” notation: “Entrance to the Port the [?] Boats were in”; 3) “Land Making the Entrance of Charlottes Straight”; 4) “N end of Charlottes Isles.”]

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[Taylor comments on this section of the coast and its inhabitants:] This (263b) part of ye main appeared to be very thinly Inhabited,275 and the few Skins among them was scarcely worth the trouble of risking the Ship so near the Land in light winds for. some of the Families the women wore no lip ornaments we had a woman along side with a fine child she appeared about 30 years of age of a comely countenance and good features long Dark hair a handsome nose & Dark Eyes we considered her the Belle of ye Coast & only She & her husband a dapper little fellow was in the canoe her chastity was attempted without success, but we had instances to the contrary in others The Natives If clean are all tolerably white. the women wear leather garments next to the Skins and Bear Skins over all. they were desirous of disposing of their Spoons and other Utensils. some Iron and Copper was in their Possession. their Arrows & spears all barb’d with Bone. The Natives on this part of the Coast were not so well acquainted with trading as their neighbours of Charlote Isle but hove what Skins they had in upon Deck without reserve and were easily satisfied in return of barter. this morning a man attempted to steal a hammer, but was detected & knew very well the fault he was guilty of & entertained the sense of Shame. Slunk into his canoe, but upon the whole we had very little trouble with them on that score some of ye Canoes were large enough to contain 25 in Family with all their Hut furniture, Dresses &c &c.

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All night and Morning June 28th light winds from SE and dark hazy weather at times foggy & small rain276 Lat. at Noon 54°59’ the N point of land [blank] Entrance of Charlotte’s straights, the 29th & 30th little wind & Variable between the S & SW till Noon [Jun 30] Lat. 54°29’ and Body of Etches Isle N44°W N point of Land N19°W & N land of Charlott’s Straights N40°E I steer’d into the Bight Yesterday Evening to get a fair sight of the land & Opening & hauld more to the Southward the N end of Charlott’s Isles is low & Cover’d w[it]h wood.277 The North land, which forms the other point of the Entrance is Barren & shews as at F on the other side.278 I have look’d on the large space between these two lands as an Entrance, & Straight passing out between Cape S James’s & the land to the Southward as from my present situation could see no land in Mid-channel, but as the land on both sides is low, & as Isles, altho’ apparently a considerable dist between them may be joined by a Reef, or very low land.279 In the Afternoon the wind blew between the E & SE fresh Breezes and Rainy weather with double reef ’d Topsails & Courses stretchd away to the Southward between Midnight and July the first it fell calm, and a breeze soon after sprung up from the westward, made sail, by Noon the breeze had considerably freshen’d, Lat. Obs. 54°16’ the N point of Charlotte’s Isles from N70° to N60°E & the S land S55°E & a point of Land on the N side of the Entrance to the Charlotte straights280 N35°E Early in the

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Afternoon wind inclind to the Southward & westward at ½ past one hauld down steering sails & hauld up SE the wind being Variable & inclining to South, & not able to weather a point to the Southward, which stretch’d to the westward hauld on a wind at 6 being within a few Miles of the Shore, Tack’d, the Land of Charlotte’s Isles from N10°E to S47°E winds throughout the night variable from the westward & latterly Inclining to Calm, with Rain at times, at 4 am July the 2nd a Breeze from the Northward & Eward with thick rainy weat.; hauld in for the land by half past nine within two Miles of the Shore, bore up & Steer’d SEbyE at 10 SE when we open’d a small Bight, formd by an Isle laying on the west side, & is the land we could not weather the preceeding Eveg;281 this Isle I call foulweather Isle, from the Bad weather met off it, it rain’d so hard all the morning that nothing was to be seen but the wash of the beach282 at Noon being off the N point of a small bight and weather clearing a little four Canoes padled off hove to for them a Couple of Skins were purchasd283 [Taylor adds further information on this meeting:] Lattd. by account 53°49’N Longd. 133°20’W Coast trends nearly SSE ... (266a) between 1 & 2 PM {2 July} four Canoes were seen following us, hove too immediately blowing very fresh. Double reef’d ye Topsails we did not expect any natives off on account of ye weather. They come along side without ceremony having been accustomed to traffic with ye Snow284 last year a few good Skins were bought and sufficient Halibut to supply all Hands. The Natives are by far the stoutest and best made Men on ye Coast of America. they had no arms with them, the women and the Children in the canoes about 50 in the four Canoes including all come of the women were furnished with the largest Mouth ornaments of any we had yet seen & inlaid with mother of pearl pieces they sold us a quantity of oil in Bladders.285 they pointed to their Houses and made use of every effort in their power to prevail on us to go into the harbour they came from we saw neither Male or female whose faces were familiar to us by our visit among them last year we enquired for our Old acquaintances Yukah & Cooyah with out gaining any satisfactory information tho’ they seemed to know them by name286 they remained along side more than two Hours with some risk to their Canoes from the Sea ... many of the natives particularly the women had a quantity of Copper about their necks wore as a necklace, made into Collars from rings of Copper and some of Iron made also of rings ye size of Curtain rings.287

[Later Taylor returned to the topic of these copper and iron ornaments:] (267a) the Natives Iron and Copper collars are work’d after their own method in a very ingenious manner appearing like a wreathe of copper rings closed into a circle wore round the neck.

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(267b) the women some of them wear three and four Bracelets, some of Iron some of Copper and small pieces of Mother of Pearl of a size of six pence at their nostrils the Men have a method of forming their hair into a Bunch from ye Center of ye Ball [?] bound taught up with leather or some pieces of Skins &c.

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by half past five made sail on a wind under double reefd topsails and Courses, as much sail as we ... could carry to keep the land onboard till more moderate weather, for the natives to come off to trade the wind now had got round to the westward and sq[ual]l[y] weather with rain at times & heavy swell same wind, & weather continued for the night, & Morning July 3rd at 6, stood in for the land at ten it became cloudy haul’d up Courses & wore, but soon after clearing put our head inshore, at Noon Lat. by Indiff[erent] Observation 53°36’ the N point of the Bay the Canoes came of Yesterday N 4° W and the S point N.N.E. Northmost land N18°W the Isle taken for the Hippa288 E10°S and the S most Extream of land as seen thro’ the Haze E27°S at two o’Clock within three or four Miles of the Land, brought to main tops to the mast, but the wind & sea I believe prevented Canoes from coming off. At three made sail off shore, weather very sq[ual]l[y] & unsettled wind in the SE quarter, at Eight in the evening it moderated; stood away to the Northward till ten tack’d; by Midnight the wind encreas’d, & brought us under close reef ’d topsails; at Eight o’Clock in the morning [4 July] it moderated, made sail for the Land, sq[ual]l[y] at times at Noon Lat. 53°47’ the N most land N4°E of Shore 3 or 4 Leagues at half past three within three or four Miles off Shore, tack’d & Lay too, off & on till Eight o’Clock, much sea and a good deal of wind, but did not prevent four Canoes from visiting us, & proved to be the same people that came onbd the 2nd July had nothing to dispose of, but a few bits of old garments289 wind continued in the SE quarter & thick dirty weather all day the 5th July so that I could not come near Land.290

[Taylor provides further information about this meeting:] (267a) {4 July} two Canoes came from the Shore one with 5 the other with 12 natives, Men & women. they dispos’d of a few indifferent Skins and offer’d many old pieces which were refused they were the same people we had off before on Thursday {2 July}. Skins seemed very low with them purchased some oil & a plank for making Cases they offer’d many articles of use among them for sail baskets, small wooden vessels to contain liquids &c &c Stout good canoes of various sizes the Men chiefly naked and scar’d across ye Breast and arms above ye Elbows by way of ornament which remain in hard swellings291 they express’d great desire for us to come into the Harbour before Dark two more came off with very little for sale, but came more from curiosity than otherwise they were the same four Canoes and nearly all the same natives that were off on Thursday.

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Winds that blew with any head, since leaving Prince William’s sound, had been almost constantly from the South & Eward, that had I made the southern coast instead of the Northern should have been able to have run it in 1/3 the time, when the wind came against me, would endeavor’d to have made a port had I known one, in a situation that I could have done to sea with a fair wind. Captn. Dixon got most of his skins beating off the Coast, by following his method had every reason to think should also be successful.292 At Noon the lat. by Indifferent Observation 53°53’ Land Obscured in the Haze weather little more moderate with rain at times. Night and morning July 6th, light winds & variable at Noon Lat. by an Indiff Observ 53°55’ N most land NE by E weather Calm; at three o’Clock in the Morning July 7th a Breeze at NE made sail at Noon Lat 53°48’ N most land N15°E Foulweather Isle N30°E & S ext[reme] of Land E23°S by five within two or three Miles of the Shore, bore up, three Canoes Join’d us, one of them onboard, before another had three Indifferent skins, & the 3rd came too late to trade it being dark.293 Got of the Hippa point by sun set, & within a mile of the Shore no Canoes nor town to be seen, all night the weather & wind was very Variable & fluctuating sq[ual]l[y] Calm, slight airs, alternately Tackd occasionally to keep the shore onboard, being now off the place recommended by Capt. Dixon, but not answering his description,294 for Inhabitants & the Coast in every part shewing as Isles & Harbours had thoughts of Anchoring in an Arm under the N point of a Bay,295 at day light July the Eighth the Chief Mate went with the Boat to sound the Channel at five in the morning a light air sprang up from the Eastward stood off & on for the Boat Six Canoes came along side & on enquiry what was become of their skins answer’d Captn. Duncan had got them, this was perfectly understood by the supercargo & all onboard;296 at ten the Boat return’d had found a Harbour with 40 fm mudd bottom but no fresh water297 at Noon no Observation Ext[reme] of Land NWBW SEbyE weather Cloudy wind at SE at Six oClock in the Evening altho’ a Considerable dist. from the land a Canoe came of with an old garment298 [Taylor adds further information on these encounters:] (268a) in the forenoon {8 July} we had 5 or 6 Canoes off with about 50 Natives not a single Skin was to be seen among them, and all the information we could gather was that they had none we did not see any quantity of Iron or other articles among them which might incline us to believe some vessel was before us. some few of their spears only was Iron barb’d an Adds or two which we concluded they must have got from Capt. Dixon last year, however as they had no Skins, and as we saw so few natives Doubts were entertained about a Vessel being on the other side of the Isles and in this we flatter’d ourselves it was the Sloop.299 I may

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venture to notice this as one of the greatest disappointments During ye Voyage to ye Capt. and Supercargo. their expectations had been very sanguine from the Mart at ye Hippae. Capt Dixon having purchased 500 Skins in 4 Hours last year and mentioned the Natives very numerous whereas we neither saw Skins or natives nor any Prospect (268b) of a single Skin.300 the Natives had scarcely Skins to cover them and were far in every respect inferior to our friends on the side of ye Isle we did not even get a supply of fish and saw no Man like a Chief among Yakah, Cooyah &c were well known to them and their names often repeated. they brought off a few Rasberries but sold them very dear. I cou’d have wish’d they wou’d have brought plenty & fish also. for comparatively speaking we were starving in the midst of plenty not having had more than four or five Days fish this year on a coast that abounds with it, constantly at Sea on salt Provisions and ye Proprietors had reaped little advantage from our Cruizing the last fortnight past or three weeks indeed ... The Natives were free and quite naturalized to a Ship coming on Board and playing about ye Decks with great unconcern. their canoes very Indifferent the women ornamented with Bracelets of Copper and some of Iron purchased nothing from them.

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Tack’d occasionally during the night wind Var. & moderate early in the morning the 9th a Canoe came off & the Indian in a piteous tone told he had no skins having sold them to smokett Duncan;301 as the natives had nothing to sell could easily account for not seeing more of them Lat. at Noon 53°29’ Ex[treme] of land as seen thro’ the Haze from N15°E to E25°S I had no busyness longer off this port, and determin’d to make the best of my way to Join Capt. Duncan as propos’d at the Hippa on the E side Charlotts Isles302 & search the Coast down to the Southward together there being along track of Coast, for all we knew, unexplor’d; & from what we had learnt well Inhabited;303 the winds prevailing almost constantly against me and dirty weat. did not reach Cape S James till the 17th July, early in the morning hauld round the Cape, & soon after brought too for some Canoes, we passd within a Mile of the outer Rock laying off the cape dist. [blank]304 There are Three large ones cover’d with wood & several smaller ones Barren they lay in the direction of [blank] see page [blank]305 as soon as the Indians came nigh & knew us, express’d every marks of Joy; informd us Captn. Duncan had very lately left them, & that their Chief had a letter for me,306 & also many Skins, this Induc’d me to bear up & come to anchor in S James Bay,307 which is South Eight [?] Leagues distant from the Cape. In this run from Cape Edgcomb I cannot make Cape S James’s so far to the E.ward by a degree & some odd Miles of where Captn. Dixon places it his Lat. nearly corresponds.308 For Bay & Harbour see page [blank] By dark numbers of Canoes Joind us with two of our friendly Chiefs & Capt Duncan’s letter, by which I learnt he left this July [blank]309 &

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gone to search the Coast down to the Southward & look into Nootka which was our last place of rendezvous, and also acquaints me of a Snow being off Nootka the 10th of May, & he not being able to trade with the Natives having no Copper quitted the port to search the E side of Charlottes Isles & the opposite Coast of this sea which he had perform’d.310 My further plans for this Year being intirely upset by a Vessel being on the Southern part of the Coast Captn. Duncan gone to search between this & Nootka my following his route would answer no end, it was too early to quit the Coast, & little to be done here. Supercargo & self thought it most adviseable to return back to the Northward to Lat. [blank] & there compleat our little matters for leaving the Coast the winds having prevaild so constantly to the S.wd we thought it no difficult matter By Noon the 18th had purchasd 30 Skins & learnt another Chief of our acquaintance was to the Northward would soon be here & bring more & also a letter.311 The time we lay the Boat was emply’d filling up our water. In the Evening seeing nothing of the Chief, determin’d me to wait no longer than next morning & not seeing him then, as his residence was but a few leagues to the Northward intended going off it with the Ship [Taylor provides important additional information on the events of 17 and 18 July:] (270b){17 July} We were soon visited by five Canoes with many of ye Natives whom we knew last year and learned that Capt. Duncan had been here and sail’d ten Days ago the Chiefs SilkyNance and Cooyah came on board Dress’d for ye visit in Cloth and Blanket garments which they had receiv’d from Cap. Duncan and ornamented few Skins appear’d had reason to suppose the Sloop had purchas’d all. heard a confus’d account of a dust312 with some Strangers who came to trade, and that Capt. Duncan had taken a part in favour of Silkynance who was wounded in ye fray with a Stab in his thigh & Cap D kill’d ye Chief who gave him the wound and took Silkynance under his care on board ye Sloop the Old Chief appear’d very sickly in Consequence of his wound.313 He & Cooyah were taken notice off and receiv’d a Cap each for a present with other articles. Friday 18 {17} PM the Canoes gather’d fast about us and a few Skins purchased in the evening a Canoe came from inland with a letter to Capt. Colnett from Capt. Duncan and left in the care of Silkynance314 from which was culled some particulars of the formentioned fray. it seems some Strangers came as desrib’d whom Silkynance and Cooyah (271a) had fought and Capt Duncan took the Old Chiefs part and gave him an exceeding good Character Capt. D had been ten Days in this Harbour and from hence he said his route was to ye North, and over to Syax’s Village but did not see Syax or any of his family & got very few Skins in that quarter,315 he arrived at Nutka ye 19th of April & when he left Nutka, saw Capt Hannah316 who winter’d on the Coast. Capt. H was going into Nutka it blew a gale of wind therefore they did

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map M Routes of the vessels, Queen Charlotte Islands area, 1788 (for place name typographical conventions, see p. 9)

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not Speak each other Capt mentioned he had not been very successful in Skins. Empd. watering wind to ye SW.

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in the Morning 19 [July] light airs from the S & westward but Calm without did not weigh but dispatchd the Boat for another Turn of water by their return a breeze sprang up, weighd, several canoes came from different parts of the Isle & every distant one was said to have our friend in, hove to; but as soon as convinc’d it was not him ran out of the Bay & lay too off & on;317 all night & morning the 20th wind at SE dirty weather conjecturing the weather prevented his coming off & might be in his way along shore did not make sail till a little after Noon when observing a large smoak in a small Bay to the Noward bore up, & brought too of it; a Canoe came of inform’d us Uka, which was the Chief ’s name, would not be onboard till morning,318 sold a skin & said he had plenty; it blowing fresh and dirty weather there was little probability of being able to keep this situation till day light; appearances of Anchorage in a large Bay or sound to the Northward, the South point low, running out in a long tongue cover’d with wood; bore up as we drew near sounding 9, 10, & 11 fathoms Rocky, much sea weed & a great ripling, long way off the point gave it a good birth sounding very irregular. after hauling round this point which I name shoal point319 & standing up the South side the Bay about a Mile from the Shore soundings from 10 to 17 fathoms mostly rocky & the best was hard bottom anchor’d in 21 fathom but soon after bringing up the Ship trip’d the anchor & got into 35 fm muddy Bottom Ext[reme] of the Bay from NWBN to ESE dist from the Shore 1½ Miles.320 The second Mate went with the Boat to the Indians in the Bay the Canoe came of from, but return’d without purchasing a skin they having none [Untitled chart. Anchorage near Scudder Point, Queen Charlotte Islands. See Figure 16.] wind for the night at ESE squally and frequent Showers towards morning 21st hauld more to the S.ward at five Uka came but no skins the Letter was to the same purport as the one I got before Boat employd thro’ the day watering. Carpenter cutting a spar for a topmast, many Canoes from the Northward but only 8 or 10 Skins purchs’d. Uka & the Northern Chiefs did not seem on the most friendly footing the former frequently getting up the fore rigging looking to the SE I had not an Idea he was expecting a strong party but on some Canoes heaving in sight round the S point of Bay the Northern Indians fled to their canoes putt on their armour & prepar’d for Battle321 I had now an Opportunity of learning what use their Masks were of; a good temper’d humerous fellow, a Bow & arrow man, putting one on resembling a Bear’s, shew’d what antics he could cut, & in what manner he turn’d of stones &c. each Chief solicited our assistance against his Enemy;322 Uka informd us the Canoes coming were our old, and first acquaintance; Skilkenance who

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had receiv’d great Injurys from the N[orth]ern Indians, & also a recent wound thro’ the thigh which I had seen.323 should have been happy to have understood enough of their Language to have made friends between them; as that was not the case & also ignorant of each others injury; suffer’d them to act as they thought proper; on the Canoes being prepared; fell a Stern the Ship Skilkenance advancing a small Canoe passing from each, & another dispatchd to the Shore with our Northern friends women; the Chiefs got close together & very Vociferous; the Northern Indians shewd most fear, keeping their spears in an erect posture but no hostility was committed; growing dark each party paddled different ways for their Home. [Taylor’s account of the journey to Shoal Point and the encounters with Yuka and the Northern Indians reads:] (271a) Saturday 19 July Wind from the southd. empd. watering the Canoes collected to about 15, and the Natives including Men women and Children about Two Hundred not near so numerous as last year, we saw nothing of Yookah whom we often enquir’d after, suspected he was either Kill’d or at variance with his father in law Silkynance and that a party of ye natives had join’d each side, this we learn’d by some, while others contradicted some affirming He was Dead others that he was fighting to ye Northd and it was Difficult to determine I suspect some fray had taken place and a separation of parties by ye smallness of numbers compared [to] last year. they behaved with tolerable regularity, and less attempt to theive the women were solicitous of their favours as before, and this the only Tribe where this was the case, when a boat went for water some of the Canoes attended (271b) on Shore in a very friendly way, all our old acquaintances appear’d pleas’d to see us again got some large Halibut very coarse eating yet considering our long cruizing along Shore entirely on salt Provisions it was certainly to be prefered to salt meat after so shamefully living on salt provisions when almost every Harbour along the Coast afforded plenty of fish preferable to Halibut. The Scurvy appear’d on several towards noon weigh’d and was going to run out when a Canoe hove in sight from the northd. which appear’d to give general alarm to Silkynance and all the natives along side all calling out yookah yookah, and began to flourish their spears and silkynance from his manner seem’d satisfied that we shou’d take his part in this however he was undecided as he was inform’d If yookah came we shou’d receive him. the canoe joined him and was soon follow’d by another. they appear’d to be Silky Nance’s party, and all agreed that yookah was coming one Canoe came along side, we were at a loss to know to which party he belong’d. the Natives here [?] both male and female were known to us last year, but had not been seen along since our arrival. from those we understood yookah would be onboard either late in the evening or in the morning with plenty of skins. Silky Nance with all his canoes put off, hollowing to collect all his party together and pull’d on Shore on the North side. we hove too and let her Drive out of the Harbour.

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figure 16 (272a) Sunday 20th {19th} July PM Wind SSW all we cou’d gather either from their proceedings or various accounts relative to Yookah only serv’d to confound us, and left us room for new surmizes and conjectures we at first expected to have seen the meeting & consequently their battle which however disagreeable the consequences to them, wou’d have made us acquainted with their manner of battle. as I do not imagine we shou’d have taken an active part on either side unless there appear’d a number of Skins on either side in that case I think might have been an inducement. from the various accounts collected we bore away at two oClock and kept our wind along Shore to ye NW at 3 hove too for a Canoe with two women and an old Man. from these we also understood Yookah was coming with Skins 36 Skins were collected in the Harbour. not amiss considering Captain Duncan had searched before us. Lay too off and on within three and five miles of the Shore till noon when we had Drifted about 10 Leagues to ye NW the wind Shifting to ye SE during the night AM {20 July} thick Dark weather with rain and a fresh Wind we had smooth water under the land at 9 AM a Canoe pull’d very near us from the Shore when she pull’d away in Shore again notwithstanding we wore Ship and stood in for Her.

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(272b) Monday 21st {20th} July PM from SE to ESE blowing strong at one a Canoe came off from Shore from which we purchased one Skin the natives agreed in the same story that Yookah was coming with Skins and that he was in a Bay a breast of us at 2 bore away and at 4 came to an anchor under the SE point of a Capacious Sound324 incircled with Islands in 16 fathoms sand Stones about 11 or 12 Leagues from our last and about 15 or 16 Leagues to ye NW of Pt. James with the extremes of the Bay from NWBW to EBN off Shore one mile we carried very irregular soundings round the Et. Pt giving it a good birth from 11 to 6 fathom and some places no ground with ye hand lead, blowing strong without prospect of a very dirty night 17 fathom stony Bottom. at 7 She swung to the lee tide and having little Cable out. Drove into deeper water wore away Cable when She brought up we were 30 fathom rocky Bottom. The Whale boat went to see if Yookah was in ye Eastern Bay as the Natives describ’d, but found him not, they had a few Huts and near a hundred women with only three or four Men, who said Yookah wou’d be on Board after we had slept.325 AM {21 July} Yookah came on Board so that we were now convinc’d all the late accounts were groundless, and understood that yookah liv’d in the forementioned village. He also delivered a letter from Capt. Duncan much (273a) to the same purport as ye other we endeavour’d to learn from Yookah whether he was at variance with Silkynance which he denied and we were therefore at a loss to account for Silkyance! his conduct. no Skins appeared. Capt. Duncan had purchas’d all boat watering. Tuesday 22d {21st} July Sangascilah a Chief from the Northd where our Boat had collected Skins last year with several Attendants came on Board.326 they had no Skins among them the natives were suffer’d freely about the decks and the two parties Yookahs and Sangascilahs appear’d to be on friendly terms, and all was good harmony till about six in the evening {21 July}, When Skilky-nance with a small party appear’d coming round the Bay from ye Eastd which produced a general alarm on Deck and we expected nothing less than a Battle to commence shortly. all the natives took to their Canoes flourishing their Spears and handling their Bows and Arrows. The women were all put into a Canoe by themselves while all parties were employed equiping themselves with their leather jackets, war stays, Caps &c Yookah and his party joind Silkynance and both parties with great clamour pull’d towards the Shore in a sort of line where great altercation took place between the parties, and nothing more. Silky Nance had seven Canoes, Sangaskilah Ten. the numbers in each Canoe were about [blank] upon an average ye strength of Silkys (273b) party was about [blank] and the other [blank] tho Silkynance was weakest in numbers, he advanced towards them with great intrepidity. as I before observ’d they form’d a line near ye Shore and when pretty near each other a Canoe went from each party over to the opposite in order as I suppose to explain matters when they afterwards pull’d close to each other and continued high winds for an hour and then seemed to part friendly. yookah came along side once during the swabble327 and requested ye captain to fire on Sangaskilah

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party, as we believed, but receiv’d no encourgement. I should imagine Silkynance considered a Brave man among, and much dreaded by his enemies indeed his behaviour on this occasion indicated him brave and cool, for tho’ ye strongest part kept flourishing their Spears during the altercation it did not seem to intimidate Silkys party nor did they attempt to flourish their Spears but advanced close to ye enemy with great coolness and bravery. AM {22 July} boat employed watering carpenters cutting sundry spars for yards. its Worthy to Record Yookah was confin’d for ye recovery of theft by which heroic action which will I trust effectually immortalize the Ship Prince of Wales. many thefts were recover’d.

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Thick Fog & Calm all night and morning the 22nd at 8 am it cleard a little sent for a turn of water it continued light winds from SE & ESE & thick at times all the fore noon saw several Canoes coming from the Northward but on their observing the Southern Indians along side, return’d. Weather since noon thick with rain & heavy squalls gave the Ship a whole Cable. Miss’d the handle of the grindstone, some Coopers tools, & a silver spoon; as the Indians had carried them on shore detain’d the Chief till they were return’d. Through the night & morning 23rd it blew very strong with heavy Rain at Noon Moderate & the wind changing to the Westward of South, it ceas’d raining. On overhauling the Log, the winds and weather, at the time of Captn. Duncan’s leaving here were dirty, thick, & wind Southerly, that made it doubtful whether he was able to fall in with the Eastern Shore, in this Lat.328 supercargo and self thought, as the wind was, should be over early next day, & a great satisfaction in seeing if any thing was to be got & make little diff[icul]t[y] in sailing from thence for the Northward. by four weighd & made sail but the tide was so strong ship would not steer with all the sail we could Crowd, little wind Inclining to Calm all night;329 at seven o’Clock in the morning the 24th wind hauld to ESE & SE with Fog at times & by Noon appearances of very dirty weather Lat. Obs. [blank]330 in the Corner the wind was I had no prospect of falling in with the Land any where to the Southwd of where Captn. Duncan had been, & not choosing to beat, stood back for the place left, a little after noon pass’d great numbers of Young Birds of a Dark Brown Colour & size of a pidgeon & many Whales, land scarce discernable thro’ the Fog at ½ past two brought up, under shoal point, in 33 fathoms water S point of the Bay [blank] off Shore two miles N point of the Bay soon after coming too had reason to be pleased with my situation, for before six o’Clock it Blew a Hurricane & raind exceedingly hard; were out a Cable & half, by evening it moderated, but sq[ual]l[y] & dirty throughout the night.331

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[Two sketches. 1) “Shoal point from Anchorage”; 2) “N point of bay from Anchorage.”] July 25th light airs inclining to calm sent for a turn of water weather as yet unsettled; the second mate went with the boat to the Habitation of the Northern Indians to see if they had any more skins;332 at Midnight return’d without any success & the wind being to the Westward at half past 3 am the 26th weighd the bad weather and winds with time lost here made me give up for the present my Idea of going to the Eastern Shore & determin’d me to endeavour to get round Cape S James’s & proceed to the North soon after getting clear of shoal point it fell Calm & continued all the fore Noon; at Noon Shoal point NNW and Bald Rock SEbyE333 little wind & Variable all the afternoon & the tide set us considerably to the Northwd in the Eveng a Breeze from the Southward & westward334 at Noon July 27th Cape S James’s S 50°W dist 8 or 9 Leagues Lat. Obsd. [52°03’N+]335 [Taylor describes the events that occurred between the incidents of 21 July and the departure from Juan Perez Sound area:] (274b) [24 July] our old friend and Warrior Silkynance agreeable to maxims of Cincinatus of old had Sheathed his Dagger and taken upon himself the employ of fishermen and brought us some Fish for sale without any arms or impliments of war in his Canoes from him I clearly understood that Yookah Coyah and himself were still friends and were all combin’d against their general enemy the Chief of ye Rock some other natives that were of his party came along side in their usual manner. the Gale abated towards ye evening, and as the morning approach’d we had light winds all round ye compass AM {25 July} Mod. fair Wr. I went in pursuit of a watering place nearer hand and found a good run abreast of ye Ship, taking its run from ye mountains and discharging itself along a pleasant (275a) Rivulet [illegible word] situated in a delightful valley the spot was the most pleasant and wore the most vernal appearance of any I saw on this coast, abounding with Rasberry bushes. there were long foot paths through the woods, the little lads and a young Girl came down to us. the latter had some Berries for sale but having nothing about me to barter for them they took themselves to ye woods and appear’d much intimidated. those were the only natives I saw on the Shore, but various spots, where fires at [sic] been, so that they frequently stop in this neighbourhood when from home.336 The Natives in several canoes came from ye North and South villages came along side with Fish &c without molesting each other. There are Trees on Shore large enough to Mast a first rate [vessel?] at noon the Boat man’d and arm’d went to ye NW Village or the Rock to see if any skins were in that quarter.337 Saturday 26 July at 3 PM {25 July} a fresh Breeze sprung up from ye SW during ye afternoon the Natives were disposing of Fish Berries &c along side. towards ye evening The Chief from ye NW Village whose name is Eeyagh338

252 | July, 1788

came along side with ten stout fellows well armed. He brought a single indifferent Skin for sale, mentioned having seen our Boat pulling to ye Nd and gave us to understand they wou’d collect no Skins. Cap D collected all. one of his attendants was a chief named Euhah, a stout well made man with the most pleasant open countenance. I saw on ye whole Coast of America and If I may be allowed the expression in this part of ye world He was the Handsomest (275b) Man, Yookah accepted whose features must be allowed to surpass all we had seen and even in England if decently clad wou’d be considered both of them on an equality with those the Ladies are pleased to call fine likely fellows. The Chiefs received some triffling presents and Euhah from his affability and countenance fared the best some of his party committed some little acts of theivery but were detected and chastised, while they were on Board Yookah came along side to dispose of a single green skin. I noticed a great coolness between Eeyugh and him. looks of contempt &c but the rest [of] Eeyughs party and Yookah were very familiar it seems. Seelkynance and Eeyugh are more inveterate against each other and though Yookah may be said to be of Seelky’s party yet he continues to act rather neutral in this difference entertaining a friendly intercourse with Eeyughs party, tho He appears to gave no great veneration for their principal Chief. as the Boat was absent we were not enabled to take ye advantage of a fair fresh breeze to go to ye eastd. wards [sic] & as she did not return till very late we lost twelve Hours fair wind, and it appear’d rather singular having had frequent opportunities of sending the Boats to search to ye Northd. if such was the plan, when no time wou’d have been lost, but it was not even thought of (276a) till the period when a fair wind was expected any moment. I only observe it appears somewhat extraordinary to me, as we were very anxious to get to ye eastd. the boat returned too late for moving it was therefore postponed till Day when ye wind had declin’d to a very light Air from ye Westd. with which we got under way. it was soon after became calm. towards noon we had a light air from the eastd. Observ’d in Latd. 52°25’N the east point of ye Sound where we anchored bore WNW by compass 7 miles, which places the point 52°30’N339 the small Island contiguous to our first and eastern Harbour bore SE 3 Leagues. this lays in 52°16’N.340 The boat went to the Rock about 5 Leagues to ye NW of our Anchoring place, where they found the Natives last year but found the Village deserted.341 tis a proof of the uncertainty of finding them a second time in the same place as they shift occasionally for their convenience. a Tree was measured 30 feet in Circumference. There is only one small Track of Mountains which I observ’d cover’d with Snow away to ye SW of us when at Anchor last. Yookah and Cooyah wash themselves before they fresh paint and paint themselves with great taste.

People of those Isles are much civiliz’d by our visits; & we also began to understand their Language which I thought Easier spoken than any I had heard on the Coast;342 they also pronunc’d our names perfectly, their large horn spoons, from the description of the animal they said it belong’d to, should suppose it to be the Mountain Sheep. Capt. King in his Volume

From Cape Edgecombe to Charlotte Isles | 253

230v

mentioning its Horn weighing twenty pounds,343 none of them live in their Isles but are purchas’d from a Chief, namd Sea-ax, living on the Eastern Shore thro’ the Same Channel also get the Copper but were Sea-ax gets this metal we are yet to be inform’d.344 Price commonly paid for skins was a piece of Iron three foot long & three Inches broad with beads & other trifling articles, but till they have found out some new want; I think few skins will be collected which we had a convincing proof of this year; for not an Indian that had got his long knife & spear of Iron was at pains to have killed a single Otter. Capt. Dixon last year procur’d Six or Eight hundred & Captain Duncan & self did not get one hundred.345 The Bay we last lay in is convenient for trading with the Natives, making the Boundary of the Northern and Southern tribe346 but the place of our anchorage not at all to be recommended, but to stop at; in Southerly winds & dirty weather, being expos’d to the Northerly winds there are parts in ye Bay shelter’d against all winds where the Indians inform’d us Captn. Duncan lay. There’s an incredible number of Whales here, & most days saw large Shoals of Herrings From the 27th July to the 3rd of August I used every effort to beat round the Cape [St. James] & get to the Nwd. but adverse winds, unfavourable weather &c prevented my making any progress;347 at Noon Cape S James N 53°W dist 6 or 7 leagues Lat. Obsd [51°38’N+].348 Two or three of the Crew complaining of the scurvey & a general murmer throughout the Ship, for fear of its spreading among them, no probability of advancing to the Northward, the winds blowing now as constant from that quarter as it had done from the S when coming that way once more determin’d one should it not change by Midnight to bear up and seek a port on the E.ern Shore in the Lat of the Cape [St. James] Wind continuing to the NW, Bore up, all the Morning the 4th dark & Hazy saw nothing of the Land till a little after noon, some small Rocks & Isles NNE 8 or 9 Leagues & a High Round Mount NE by N as we drew in with the Land steering NEbyE as I had done since first bearing up, the Shores thro’ the Haze appear’d very much broken & formd by Isles cover’d with wood & many Barren Rocks; a Remarkable one a head, like a Dome, on the top, & some dist down forming a Circle, cover’d with Trees & from thence to the water’s Edge which may make one third the Rock was white;349 the Rocks on the other shores had also a white appearance, & thro’ the haze without a Glass appear’d as Breakers; by Six o’clock abreast dome Rock, soundings 35 fm sandy Bottom on getting the Bottom had no doubt should find good Anchorage, kept standing in, hauling to the Northward round the Isles the direction the Inlet trended, by 7 o’Clock a Wide space open’d running in N & S soundings very irregular sometimes 12 fm good Bottom & then no ground at 60, dist. from the Shore from one Mile to Mile & half however night was drawing

254 | August, 1788

on fast, flood setting strong to the Northward, little wind, no prospect of getting out, if I wished it, had no alternative left but to come to Anchor, at ½ past seven getting Bottom at 20 fm order’d the Anchor to be let go. before it found Bottom was in about 42 [fm] & about [blank] Mile from the nearest shore350 the Lesser soundings I believe was on a Bar from a small Isle coverd with wood to the E.ward of us running to the Western shore & dist across might be 1½ Mile this situation tho’ open to the S.therly wind was to be preferr’d to any other Choice left me;351 at Midnight had a light air of wind from the Southwd with rain the Surf at the Back of the Isle we lay under made a prodigious noise, as well as in other parts of the Bay but at High water which happen’d at three o’clock in the Morning it ceas’d at day light the 5th sent the Boat to search for a safe port by 8 return’d having found a little to the Northward & seen a Canoe, but the Natives fled to the Bush;352 by Noon got up to the Bay with a light air from the Southwd & boats towing. Anchd w[ith] the Bower & moor’d with Coasting anchor;353 the Indians not having recover’d from their fright their Canoe remaining on the Beach went with the Boat & put some few articles in her, on putting off they gain’d confidence got into their Canoes & pull’d off in the Eveg return’d, & with a deal of inticing & persuasion ventured onboard; from their surprize, must never seen Europeans before, on learning what we wanted, promisd on the Morning to return with some skins.354 [Taylor writes:] (284a) On Wednesday {6 August} AM a Canoe from ye eastern part of ye Sound came along side approaching with great caution they sold one or two skins and departed. Their Language was new to us, many of their words were (284b) similar to Nutka others to Seyax’s Language we afterwards saw some of their women not cut under their Chins or otherwise for ornament.355 I do not suppose they are numerous in this quarter perhaps only a family or two who reside somewhere on the eastern side of this sound They daily supplied us with berries for beads &c but no fish and Skins were very scarce among them.356 If there had been no vessel among them they were not unacquainted with our mode of traffic, which probably they learnt from other neighbouring tribes we were employed overhauling the hold getting all provisions near at hand, cutting and stowing away a quantity of wood for the homeward bound passage. Carpenters making spare F.G. yards or New Miz. Top sails &c and a spare Top mast with other spare spars. a run of water was discovered about a mile from the Ship sufficient for completing our water. Canoes very neat the natives not troublesome we once haul’d ye Seine without success indeed there was no beach in the neighbourhood fit for the purpose but the woods all round us was tolerably well stock’d with Berries so that the Seamen when on Duty had an opportunity always of collecting a pretty good quantity which considering our situation was

From Cape Edgecombe to Charlotte Isles | 255

(285a) a great acquisition on Saturday Evening {9 August} two of our Seamen Viz ye 4th Mate and Mates [?] Add [?] were nearly lost in the woods. the circumstances as follows. I was on shore with a party about a mile from the Ship getting a rough spar to hand for the Carpenters to work to Top mast & as the business was likely to take some time the boat went on board leaving us on shore for ye afternoon when ye Spar was placed in a fair way the Seamen went into the woods to collect berries till ye return of ye Boat in the Evening when ye Boat returned and I was collecting the party to go on board the above two were missing but suspecting they had taken a long range in pursuit of Labrador Tea agreeable to the route I was informed they had taken, I waited patiently expecting their return shortly. the Evening beginning to Close very fast and not hearing them give answer to our repeated hallowing I began to be rather uneasy and requested the Carpenter to take one road and one of ye Seamen another a little way into the woods to hallow for them. the Carpenter who was a pretty safe hand in the Bush made great progress through and we could [tell] by his Voice that he was for advanced to the right of us through ye woods. it was now almost Dark I therefore called the Seamen who [were] within hearing to come (285b) down to ye Boat and then waited some minutes for the Carpenter who was advanced out of hearing then in order to save ye Carpenter a long walk in his return I pulled up another arm to ye right of us frequently calling him to return but got no answer and began to be apprehensive for his safety also. but on returning to our old station he had returned and informed me If they were any where within two isles of us they must have heard him. I was now at a loss how to act the Evening was too far advanced to range the woods with safety, and we began to suspect various accidents at befel our ship mates, as we were all clear If nothing had happend they would have been at ye boat long e’re this. I left ye Carpenters and a Sea man on ye Spot and desired them to wait and frequently hallow till I return with some musquets from the Ship in order to make a report to guide them and also intended kindling a fire in the woods the blaze of which they would see many miles. we pulled expeditiously to the Ship and pass’d a spot where we cut our wood, laid upon our Oar and hallow’d, when very unexpectedly they answer’d. I was extremely hurt that they should have rang’d through the woods to this spot when they must know we shou’d be waiting for them at the other but when we came to them I learnt they were there by (286a) accident and not by design or in other words they conceiv’d themselves fortunate in making so good a landfall. It seems they went into the woods in order to look at a piece of water about a mile from the place where the spar lay supposed to be enclos’d by the Indians,357 but lost their way & after collecting as many berries as they chose they were returning to the Boat as they thought, till they knew by the ground they had gone over they were wrong. it was growing Dark and they still pushed on hallowing as they went to their ship mates but the farther they went the more they began to expect a nights lodgings in the woods and recover’d their knives as their only weapons. what appeared their greatest misfortune they cou’d discover no light whatever through ye Bushes as they were

256 | August, 1788

now in a deep Valley but to remedy this they climbed a tree and discover’d the Sea. they then made towards it and saw the Conic rock at the mouth of ye harbour which they both knew. the only satisfaction this gave them was informing them were they was as they were about three miles from the boat here they secur’d some spars with their handkerchiefs and some pieces of wood for paddles (286b) they transported themselves to ye woody place without knowing exactly where they were going but expecting they shou’d get near ye Ship & when I found them they were preparing a better Catamaran to carry themselves on expecting the boat was gone. they were both somewhat frighten’d which only serv’d for a laugh among their Shipmates and serv’d as a warning for others not to trust too much to their Own pilotage through ye bush.

231r 231v

All Hands were daily employd, over hauling rigging, in the Hold, getting provisions to Hand, repacking trade, wooding & watering. Carpenters cutting spars by the 10th the Busyness being well [Untitled chart. Kildidt Sound and anchorage. Notation: “A Cluster of small Isles covered with wood & deep water in the Channel.” See Figure 17.] forward & the Indians bringing no more of their Neighbours the 2nd Mate went with the Long Boat to search for them.358 Those that we first saw daily visited us bringing a few other Skins & some Berries; it was somewhat singular we had seen no more they were either Jealous of their neighbours possessing any of our Articles & did not acquaint them of our arrival; or else lived at too great a distance. Around where we lay were remains of numerous dwellings & many Corps lying in Boxes; the decay of Both Habitations & Coffins was nearly equal & the time of quitting this place must have been when the Mortality happened.359 This desertion might be accounted for several ways, first after a Battle and defeated, or a severe winter & perish’d by Famine, by the fish quitting the Ground; I think the latter probable on the tops of the Hills were two large Lagoons of water & the Run or outlet to them, seem’d to have been much greater than at present & at that time likely fish were in great plenty, of the Salmon & Whale perch kind as at places some little dist. to the Northward, the Seine was set, in a Small Arm, but only caught half a Bucket of fish.360 From Prince William’s sound to here, many of the Natives on most parts of the Coast this Year look’d sickly & several of our Charlotte Isles Acquaintance so alter’d could hardly recollect them, most likely a Bad winter was the cause.361 August the 13th two strange Canoes came from the Westward among the Isles & brought 20 Skins and 17 Salmon,362 they were acquainted with our old friend Sea-ax that we had traded with last Year, & used much of their Dialect, but our first visitors we could not understand a word, but the name for Iron which nearly corresponded with Nootka.363 Both Parties were onboard at the same time; a great coolness between them, our first acquaintance stealing off, as if apprehensive of their safety, the

From Cape Edgecombe to Charlotte Isles | 257

14th the Long Boat returned without success; had seen a Canoe & several deserted Villages but no Inhabitants, the Rambling disposition of the Natives & smallness of their number in a place to all appearance well calculated & pleasantly situated for a residence is difficult to account for; except being the Frontier of the Northern & Southern Indians & none to be found here but desperadoes warring with each other, there are many reasons for suposing this a Boundary, not only the Language differing, but their Canoes & Custom of the Women, the first being made as if part copied from the Foggy harbour skiff & Nootka large Canoe; I think neater than the latter & not equal to the first, & the Women have not their lips Slit.364 [Taylor adds some information about the longboat trip:] (287a) Monday 15 PM the Long boat return’d she had been up ye Sound to ye NE but saw no more Natives than the one family who visited us occasionally. they pass’d one large deserted Village.365 from its size they judged it must have contained a number of Inhabitants whom by searching they expected to meet with but the weather was much against them almost constant rain. they describ’d various Harbours and much broken Land various Arms their excursion was short. they collected six Skins from the aforementioned Family, saw a vast number of Otters in the waters and met with great plenty of Berries.

232r

I had great hopes from the Sample our new visitors brought us, should have collected many skins here, but their finding means to steal the Blacksmith’s Hammer I fancy deterr’d them from returning to search for them in an endless inland Navigation, & many Channels promis’d little success, & as the time for leaving the Coast was expired on the 18th August weigh’d with the Wind set Royal’s & steering sails,366 which were never hauld down, but when to much wind to carry them, & made Ow[hyhee] in 23 days.367 Winds while we lay here was Variable between the SE & NW when to the Southward heavy rain thick weather and never blew with any heart but the NW winds fresh breezes & fine weather had I continued at sea its a doubt to me If I should have been able to have got where intended & the place now in appeared as likely as any seen on the Coast to be well Inhabited. This port is situated in Lat. [blank]368 & Long [blank] Distant from Cape S James [blank] Bearg [blank] its formd of numberless Isles the sketch in the foregoing page will convey a better Idea than I am able to write. Without a search to investigate the inland navigation which might not improperly be conjecturd to run to Hudson’s Bay from the Depth of water width of Channel & tending to the NE as far as the Eye could

258 | August, 1788

figure 17

From Cape Edgecombe to Leaving Charlotte Isles | 259

reach it will not answer, from the Inhabitants we found for Merchant Ships to seek for trade here without coming to catch otters themselves, which this place abounds with.369 Besides these Openings running to the Northward & Eward & those seen last Year in 53° the Coast from Cross Cape to here is one Body of Isles, & from what we observed from 50°11’ off the port anchord in the preceeding season, the Coast to the North had a similarity of appearance & may have wide Inlets besides the one in 56 [blank] N end of Charlotte’s Isles & the Gulph or Streights Cape S James making the W end. It’s a doubt with me if ever I have seen the Coast of America at all.370 N.B. Buttons are much coveted by the Indians, but it will take a great number to buy a Skin, why they wish to have them is to copy us wearing them on our Cloths when importun’d to give them in exchange for trifling articles on signifying we had none pointed to my Cloths; on making them understand they were necessary to keep the cold out, Judiciously answerd that was not the case with those fixd behind. They fix them in a Circular manner on their garment & some had medals & Chinese money as a substitute. [Three sketches. 1) “Entrance to Port Farewell, dis 3 or 4 leagues,” contains the notation “Mount Farewell”; 2) untitled, notation: “Id from SEbyS”; 3) untitled, notation: “Dixons Isles.”] 233r – Log, 27 July-5 August 1788 235r 236 [Untitled chart. The Northwest Coast, lat. 47°-61°N, long. 120°-159°W.] 239r [Notation. “Chart of Sandwich Isles”; no chart.] 240r – Log, 18 August-9 September 1788 245v 248r – Log, 30 September-7 November 1788 257v 258r – Blank 268v 269r [Notation. “Chart Track of the Route [?]”; no chart.] 269v- Blank 282v

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Appendices

map N (a) Route of the Princess Royal, Northwest Coast, 1788 (for place name typographical conventions, see p. 9)

Appendix 1 Route of the Princess Royal in 1788

Information on the route and activities of the Princess Royal in 1788 is limited. Comments in the journals of Colnett and Taylor and the maps produced by Duncan and Colnett show the movements of the sloop.1 However, the fullest account is a letter written by Charles Duncan to George Dixon. This was published in 1790, as part of a polemic that developed between Dixon and John Meares following publication of the latter’s book. The relevant section of the letter is reproduced below.2 See Maps N (a and b) (pp. 262 and 264). Those who read Lieutenant Meares’s publication, may conclude, that I loitered away the summer of 1788, which he alludes to, at so confined a spot as Queen Charlotte’s Isles.3 I shall refute his misrepresentations, by entering into a short detail of my proceedings that summer. After having spent three of the winter months among the Sandwich Isles, – on the 20th of March I left the Island Onnehow,4 in company with the Prince of Wales, and stood to the northward in order to get on the coast of America as soon as possible.5 On the 31st of March we parted company by consent, the Prince of Wales for Prince William’s Sound and the Princess Royal for Nootka, in which harbour I anchored at 11 o’clock at night, having only made the land at noon that day.6 The head of my rudder having been near wrenched off at the Sandwich Isles, from the violence of the swell while at anchor, I here wanted a new one, which was begun at daylight next morning, by cutting down a tree for that purpose; it was a tedious job for one man, and was not completed so that I could put to sea until the 10th May, when I stood for Queen Charlotte’s Isles, and anchored in Luxaena Bay7 near Cape St. James; sailed on the 19th, and on the 20th anchored in Etches Sound;8 sailed on the 24th, and anchored again on the 25th about 15 leagues farther to the northward9; sailed on the 28th, and anchored again that evening 10 leagues farther north10; sailed on the 31st, and stood over for Princess Royal’s Isles, the weather being bad and the coast dangerous. On the 1st of June I got in amongst Princess Royal’s Isles, and not finding anchorage, made fast to trees, head and stern; boomed the vessel off from the rocks, and on the 2d of June in the evening anchored in the mouth of Ayton’s river11 about 15 leagues north-east off where I had stopt the night before; sailed the next night, and on the 5th made fast to trees on shore again for want of anchorage; on the 6th anchored at some small distance in a small creek. Here I near lost my boat’s crew by the treachery of the natives.12 In this situation I lay until the 10th, and sailed again to the westward down the Sounds which I had come up, and that evening anchored in a small creek in order to trade with a tribe of Indians.13 I here met with a heavy gale

264 | Appendix 1

map N (b) Route of the Princess Royal, Northwest Coast, 1788 (for place name typographical conventions, see p. 9)

Route of the Princess Royal in 1788 | 265

of wind, which prevented my sailing until the 15th in the morning, and that evening I anchored in Port Stephens,14 where I lay until the 19th; sailed in the morning, and in the evening made fast to some trees, there being no anchorage.15 On the 20th in the morning, sailed and stood to the northward along Princess Royal’s Isles; not seeing any signs of Indians left Princess Royal’s Isles, and stood over again for Queen Charlotte’s Isles, to visit a tribe which I had heard of, and anchored on the 23rd off the mouth of Trollop’s River,16 here I was successful in the fur way; sailed from this place the next day, and on the 27th anchored again about 18 leagues farther to the southward and traded17; sailed on the 29th, and on the 2d July anchored in Etches’ Sound; here I expected to have heard of my consort the Prince of Wales but the natives had not heard any thing of her, or any other vessel during my absence; traded for some furs, and on the 6th of July left the Sound, and a letter in care of the Chiefs for Captain Colnett, which he afterwards received.18 I had appointed to meet Captain Colnett at Queen Charlotte’s Isles, but not finding him on my arrival here, I deemed it useless to wait, therefore in my letter I informed him where I had been since we parted, and the route I intended to take, and immediately stood over for Princess Royal’s Isles,19 to the southward of where I had before visited. We had heavy gales of wind, so that I did not get into port again before the 14th where in the evening I anchored in a small cove in Millbank Sound;20 here I traded with the natives for some excellent otter skins, and was obliged to lie still and dry a number of wet skins that I had procured in rainy weather; sailed on the 18th and stood to the southward, anchored on the north end of Calvert’s Island, where I lay night of the 21st, and stood up Sir Charles Middleton’s Sound21 against a strong current for ten hours, sounded 180 fathoms brackish water, no bottom; after driving up and down this sound with calms and counter-tides, I anchored in Port Safety22 on the coast side of Calvert’s Isle; here I hauled the vessel on shore to clean her bottom, it being very foul. The tempestous weather prevented my sailing until the 2d of August, when I sailed and traced the coast down to the southward and anchored off Port Brooks23 on the 5th August; not finding any furs here, I left it the same evening and stood for Nootka, where I had promised to join my consort the following day, and was met by the Felice, Captain John Meares, on the 7th, off Nootka, under Portugese colours; on my first hailing him from whence he came, I was answered, from Lisbon, and that he was commanded by Don Antonio Pedro Manella, or some such stuff, which I knew to be false; however, as I said before, “Mr. Meares and I met friendly and parted the same.”24 My consort not having arrived at Nootka, I stood to the southward along the coast, and anchored off the village of Ahouset on the evening of the 8th, where I lay trading with the natives until the 13th;25 sailed, and on the 15th anchored before the village of Claasit26 on the south side of the straits of Juan de Fuca. Having got what skins the natives had, I left the coast on the 17th, which I should not have done so soon, but that I had made an appointment to meet the Prince of Wales on a certain day at the Sandwich Isles, in order to go in company together to China. Thus I traded the coast of Queen Charlotte’s Isles from Cape St. James (named by you) in latitude 52° along the east side of it up to 54°, and from 54° on Princess Royal’s Isles, down to the latitude of 51°, where they end, and then along the coast to the straits of Juan de Fuca, in the latitude of 48°30’, during which route I was at anchor in nineteen different places, very often at great risque, as the greatest part of them were very unsafe to lie in when it blew hard, and difficult to enter. Without the greatest exertions I could not have collected so fine a cargo of furs as I did.27 I would wish Lieutenant Meares to understand, that I did not come to the coast of America to learn my duty of him or anything else. What you say in regard to his charts being partly made from mine, that I am sure is an absolute fact, as neither Meares or Douglas have but a faint knowledge of the east side of Queen Charlotte’s or Princess

266 | Appendix 1

Royal’s isles, where there appears to be the greatest prospect of a passage to the eastward among the latter. This I assert from knowing that Captain Meares never was on that part of the coast; and from seeing Captain Douglas’s track he appears to have had little communication with the coast either of Queen Charlott’s or Princess Royal’s Isles.28 You will at once perceive that these are only a few heads of the particulars which my log-book and journals contain; they are in possession of Alexander Dalrymple, Esq. where they may be referred to if necessary.29 How far Captain Meares may have misled the public, I have taken no farther notice of, than what relates to myself, and if you think it merits a place in your next publication, you may have my liberty for putting it in I am sincerely yours, Charles Duncan

Andrew Taylor also recorded some information on the activities of the Princess Royal in the Hawaiian Islands. [229b] Friday 12th September run down along the North side of Morotoi [Molokai] steering WBN giving the Shore a good birth at six in the morning we saw the Princess Royal in the NE quarter we hove to and hoisted the Colours within 4 leagues of the west end of Morotoi between 8 and 9 she joined and saluted with three Cheers each. she left the Coast when we did and had been about 5 days at the Islands before us. A very humorous Dialogue commenced between our Sandwich Islander and a fine Boy a countryman of his on Board the Sloop. they hail’d each other in English and strove hard for the prize in genuine Sailors Blackguardism. our native had paid more attention to his Education and therefore had rather the advantage they also endeavour’d to puzzle each other with different languages they had met with on the coast of america which they remember’d each some few words, we understood Capt Duncan had been more successful on the Coast of America than we were, indeed he had adopted methods which were more likely to succeed. He gave an account of a Vessel he was in company with at Nutka, whose [230a] consort was also on the Coast to the Northd. also a tale of a Portugese Factory at Nutka. Cap Barclay carrying 18 hundred Skins from Nutka, and various other wonderful tales. Capt Duncans Crew were all in health. September 14th. “Capt Duncan came with Hail to acquaint us with the news he had collected there had been a Battle between Tyteree and a Chief on the North side of the Island [231b] twas said the northern chief was Brother in law to Taio of Atooi and his Wife made her escape on Bd Capt D requesting his Protection to Attoi. his Native on Bd overheard them say that Tyterree wou’d come on the morrow and give him Battle on her account. She remain’d on Bd the cause of her firing was in consequence of a Mans attempting to fire into his Cabbin windows he afterwards receiv’d an account from the Shore that one was wounded and was since dead. it seems they practised several knowing Manoevures to get on Bd him to theive, but all their intentions were frustrated by the Vigilance of his Natives on Bd who prov’d us valuable very few articles were purchased two or three Hogs a little salt several women slept on Bd and the natives promis’d to bring supplies in the morning. we saw no arms among them & very few double canoes and none of Tyterrees stout warriors concluded they were away to the northd.

Appendix 2 Gitkxaala Contact Narratives

I have located ten written versions of a narrative describing the first contact between the Gitkxaala Tsimshian and European traders; some versions come in more than one variant. The following provides a full bibliographic listing of the various versions, together with some brief comments on the contents and the context of recording, where known. The order is chronological and the versions are identified by the informant. 1. Anonymous version, 1860

a) William Duncan During a visit to the Gitkxaala winter village in May 1860, William Duncan was told a version of the contact narrative and recorded it in an account sent to the Church Missionary Society (UBCL, CMS, Correspondence, A/105). This version is restricted to the events of Part One, but makes no reference to a visit to a Gitkxaala village. It does not identify any of the Tsimshian participants or provide place names for the encounter. It was published, with minor editorial changes, in 1867 and is included in CMS (1871: 63-64). b) Victoria Gazette, 1860 In July 1860, during a visit to Victoria, Duncan addressed a meeting for the “Improvement of the Indians.” In the course of his speech he gave an account of the Narrative he had recently heard at Gitkxaala (Victoria Gazette, 16 July 1860). c) J.W. Arctander In his biography of Duncan, published in 1909, J.W. Arctander included another rendition of the narrative, as transmitted by Duncan. Arctander described it as “one of the traditionary legends of the Tsimsheans, related to Mr. Duncan by the Kithrahtlas, gives the following account of ‘the first visit of the Whites’ to the coast, which plainly refers to one of the several expeditions here mentioned [Bering, Perez and Cook]” (Arctander 1909: 63-65). d) J.T. Walbran Also in 1909, J.T. Walbran published another variant derived from William Duncan. Walbran, unaware of Colnett’s visit to the Gitkxaala area, speculated on the identity of the visitors: “The action of throwing the oars up together described by the Indian would indicate that the vessel was a man of war or at least had a trained crew. Mr Duncan was unable to say whether the narrator had himself seen the strange visitors or not, but is of the opinion he had seen them, judging from the animated and graphic manner in which he related each incident. This would fix the date about 1790, supposing the Indian was a child at the time” (Walbran 1971: 289). He also includes some comments on Seks

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(Seax) and Ts’ibasaa, noting that “they are not rivals, but live and work harmoniously together. The name and dignity of each chief is hereditary and equal, but the chief who exhibits more ambition, more personality and more enterprise takes precedence, hence Shakes was the recognized leader in latter years and was unanimously acknowledged the head of the Sebassa dynasty as well as his own. Shakes died February, 1901” (ibid., 290). W.H. Collison, another Anglican missionary and sometime colleague of Duncan, also recorded a partial version of the contact narrative. How and when he obtained this information is unclear: perhaps from Duncan, more likely from a Tsimshian source; it was published in 1915. Collison’s version is limited to the early sections of Part One and identifies the first European visitors as members of George Vancouver’s expedition (Collison 1981: 4). 2. Anonymous version, c. 1890

Martha Boss (1880-1956) wrote down a series of reminiscences in 1946 that included her recollections of living in the bishop’s house at Ft. Simpson, apparently c. 1890. The source of the narrative was described as Helen, one of the older “Indian girls.” Not surprisingly, this is a rather brief and generalized version; it gives no names of participants and includes only events in Part One (BCA, Add. Mss. 771). 3. George McCauley

a) 1916 version McCauley was the source of two variants. The first was recorded by William Beynon during fieldwork at Gitkxaala in February 1916. Beynon entitled this “‘Origin of the name Sabaen.’ (In the house La’oi, a Kanhade head chief among the Gitrhala)” (APS, Barbeau, Mss #4853, Ada’ox #25). The original is found in CMC B234, file 12; it adds that the recording was done on 9 February 1916; a typescript in B233, file 4 (war texts). This variant includes only the events dealing with Sabaan and exlewels and concludes with the observation that “these Gitrhala are not the same people as Hale met and got his name from, but came before them.” The full narrative is as follows: The people were all living on the south end of Pitt Island. Here they gathered their winter food of halibut and fur animals, seals and otter ... One day, two Gitrhala men set out from their village to fish for halibut and were so absorbed in fishing that they failed to notice a large boat approaching. When one of them looked up, he saw a huge being with many wings approaching towards them. They at once thought it was a monster which lived in the nearby rocks. They were at the time fishing over a spenarnorh (“abode of monster”) from which a huge Raven used to emerge (a crest of ’Arhlawaels, Kanhade).1 They thought that the monster had now taken a new form and was approaching to do them harm. So they drew up their fishing lines, which were made of kelp (mawrh) and paddled in for the shore. There, they thought they would be safe. The man that was sitting in the stern had the rope of the canoe fastened around his waist. Then they landed, the man in the bow of the canoe ran up into the woods, and the man in the stern got up and tried to follow, but failed to untie the rope from his waist. It tightened and he fell down and was overtaken by these strange beings, who resembled human beings. They came up to where he was lying and untied the rope, and he now set up and looked at them and became frightened. To protect himself he urinated in his hand, and rubbed the urine all over his body. The Gitrhala used to protect themselves from monsters and supernatural beings and ghosts, by rubbing themselves with their urine, thus breaking off any

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bad influence of the supernatural beings. If anything appeared to do them harm they would throw their urine at it. The urine was always kept close at hand in their houses and never wasted.2 These strange men now picked him up and made motions for him to come down to the canoe. They pointed first to the canoe and then to the halibut, and then to their mouths. This they kept on doing while saying ‘Soap,’ which they gave him and took a halibut from the canoe. The Gitrhala man thought that they were giving him a name. Then they made signs for him to cut the halibut up for them. So he took his knife of albatross bill and began to cut up the fish. These strangers took the fish from him and cut it up quickly. He was then frightened on seeing their weapons for cutting. These strangers then motioned him to build a fire, and he went down to his canoe and brought out his firing outfit (gyins), and began to build a fire. He worked a long time. Meanwhile, these men had gathered some moss and got their flint-lock revolvers, and set it off. When the Gitrhala man heard the report, he fell right over and “died” (sadaek, suddenly died, meaning fainted away). As he came to, he saw a huge fire burning, and now knew that these men were supernatural. So to give himself double protection, he again urinated in his hand and bathed his body. The men came to him and made motions for him to cook fish. He then went down to his canoe and got his cooking box and set stones in the fire, and filled his box up with water. As soon as the stones were hot, he put the halibut in and then the hot stones in the cooking box and kept on changing the stones. The strangers looked on for a while, and then one of them went down to the boat and got a large pot and put water in it and put the whole halibut in the pot and then boiled it on the fire. The Gitrhala man was now much frightened. When the fish was cooked, the men got out something else out of another pot which the Gitrhala man thought to be maggot (this was rice), and began to eat. They poured upon the rice black stuff which the Gitrhala knew to be the rot of people (this was molasses). They made motions for him to eat, but he was so afraid that he could not move. He now saw that they were eating and that they would not harm him. So he called out to the other man, “Come on down. They are eating. They won’t touch anybody.” They were eating the rot of people, along with maggots, and they were also eating adaeran (a fungus growth on trees) much like a mushroom, very dry, and large. These were biscuits. After these men had finished eating, they made signs to the Gitrhala to show them where they lived. When they understood them, one of them made signs for them to go down to the canoe. The men got into their boat and the Gitrhala in their canoe were towed by these strangers, and they pointed out where was their village. When these strangers let them go they paddled away to their village, and the strangers went away. When the Gitrhala arrived at their home they told all the people what they had seen and where they had left the strangers. Then the Gitrhala man said, “They gave me the name Sabaen.” This is what it sounded like to him, but the white man was thought to have said Soap, because that is what he gave them. They kept it for some time before they found out what it was used for. He then assumed the name of Sabaen and referred it to Sabaehlnahlkuhlehl-hagwilaw’rh, “The offspring of Hagwilaw’rh runs suddenly.” 3 A few days passed by and these strangers landed in the village. Everyone ran away but these two men and the Chief Ahlawaels, a Kanhade, stayed there and entertained them to a hallaeit dance. They first gave them food, but the white men (so they were) would not eat it. Arhlawaels4 then got his narhorh out, which was Alaerem-mekshilk, “Continually moving white weasel,” a headress, and he

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moved out to the centre of the house and began to dance. The weasel was on his hat and to all accounts was dead. The chief moved faster and faster, then the meksihlk came to life and moved up and around the top of the hat. The dancer now danced very hard the meksihlk moved faster and faster then ran out on the arms of the dancer and around his robe. When the dancer slowed down, the weasel moved slower and, as the dancer stopped, the weasel went up again to its former resting place. (The weasel was dead and not alive, but moved around mechanically by strings being pulled). The chief then took a sea-otter robe and gave it to the elder man, who seemed to be in command, and to all the rest, bear robes, seal robes, and mink robes. These Gitrhala are not the same people as Hale met and got his name from, but came before them. b) Undated variant (1916-32?) McCauley’s second variant is included in a typescript of narratives, recorded by Beynon (APS, Boas Papers, Microfim, reel 3, #35, William Beynon, 1939). Only the typescript is known to have survived and the date of recording is not given, but it was probably done before 1932. This variant is notable for its divergence from the narrative given in 1916. The location of the encounter is off Banks Island, and the village visited by the Europeans is given as on Bonilla Island. More significant is that McCauley includes the events of Part Two; Ts’ibasaa is the leading participant and the origin of the name of Hale is described. Apart from the participants, the account of the various encounters is reminiscent of that given by Caamano during his stay at the southern end of Pitt Island in 1792. The full narrative is as follows: At the encampment where the Gitxala caught halibut on Banks Island, it was here that the tribe lived and it was here that the people saw the arrival of the first white people. All were busy fishing and some were hunting the seal close at hand where the others were fishing and there was light fog and because of this the people did not see a large fearsome creature coming towards them swimming, it seemed very fierce and had many arms and on top of it were many human beings and it was approaching very fast. The Gitxala people knew they were fishing in the vicinity of the home of a monster which was now appearing. And the people heard of this being that the people thought was going to destroy them. The people seeing it coming towards them hauled in their fishing lines and paddled to the shore and when they arrived there they went among the trees to hide. When one of them stood up and jumped out of his canoe and ran up to the trees, as he was frightened by being followed by this fearsome monster. He went some distance when suddenly the cedar rope tightened, which was tied around his middle, which caused him to fall and he became unconscious. He had been so panic-stricken he had forgotten to untie this rope and the end was still tied to his canoe. When he came to he saw standing over him many strange people and these were around him and one of them untied the rope from his middle. The man was worried and afraid his name was Sabaen when he saw these white supernatural beings walking about him. He then urinated in his hand and rubbed it over his body as this was the medicine which would destroy the influence of these beings. One of the beings then went down to Sabaen’s canoe and took out a halibut and walked up the beach with it. He took the halibut to where Sabaen sat and then made motions with his hand pointing to the halibut and then to his mouth, Sabaen knew that the supernatural being wanted to eat the halibut. Sabaen took his cutting knife made of the large mussel shell to clean the halibut, this is

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what they used to cut up the halibut with. The supernatural beings saw what he was doing so one of them came and taking his knife from his belt and then he cut the halibut into small pieces. When he finished [he] started making motions with his hands and he seemed to be chief because he seemed different from the others being dressed different also had a long beard, this man started making motions with his hand pointing to the halibut and then to his mouth. The Gitxala man knew by this that the supernatural being wanted him to make a fire so Sabaen took his fire drills as this was used by the people when making the fire. He was a long [time] first gathering together dry moss and after watching Sabaen a long time, one of the supernatural men gathered some dry moss and then took something from it’s box and held it over the moss and then Sabaen heard a sudden noise from the hand of the man and a great fire on the moss Sabaen hearing and seeing this great thing suddenly (fainted) died. When the supernatural being had finished making the fire and Sabaen had awakened from his faint, he saw the fire and he became frightened again and he again urinated into his hand and rubbed this over his body. When the supernatural being saw that Sabaen was again awake he again made motions with his hands pointing to where the halibut lay and then to the fire. Sabaen knew by this that the supernatural being wanted him to cook the halibut. So he took his cooking box to cook in and heated up many stones in the fire to use in heating the water. While he was doing this one of the supernatural beings went down the beach and brought up a large strange thing which he filled with water and into this put the halibut and then he placed it all on the fire, and he took his food box when the halibut was cooked and took it from the fire and the supernatural beings all sat around and they called Sabaen to join them and to eat with them and then Sabaen walked over and saw where one of the supernatural beings took from the box many food (dishes) trays which were very much the shape of a sea urchin (?) and before each place one of these trays and filled each food vessel with maggots and this is what they ate with the halibut. When they had finished eating the halibut, then they distributed a fungus which grows on trees, and in this they poured the rot of people, on the fungus and when they had really finished eating, one of them walked upto the hills and then to Sabaen, by this Sabaen knew that the supernatural beings wanted to see the village. Sabaen knew that it seemed that these were not going to do him any harm to them [sic]. Sabaen then called in a loud voice calling his people down from where they were hidden in the hills. Looking out to sea the people they saw coming towards the shore a great being and they then knew that this was a large monster which was following its child towards shore and the people saw that it had large wings and there were many people on it. When the people saw this they again became frightened and they ran down and got into their canoes fleeing to their village at laxtxal.5 When they started out, the supernatural beings followed behind them and when they (the Gitxalas) came close to their homes one of the Gitxalas shouted out, “Something has happened [to] us and we are accompanied by the ‘Water Being,’ which overtook us on our fishing grounds.” Exl w ls, the Ganhada chief who had stayed behind at the village, came down and it was he who invited the supernatural beings up. When all had been taken into his house he (Exl w ls) then gave a reception dance in front of his guests and used as his headdress his weasel ’amhalait, which was his super being (naxn x) the super weasel. On the dancer’s head was a sitting weasel and while Exl w ls was dancing about, this weasel moved about and seemed to be alive and after ‘Exlawals had been dancing a long time the weasel ran off the dancer’s head and ran around the dancer and when the dancer had finished

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it went back on top of the dancers head (the head of axlaw ls) and again seemed as if it had died. After Exl w ls had finished doing all this giving the reception dance to the supernatural guests, he then placed before them his gifts before each guest where they sat and then the guests returned to the big monster Haqwil’ x from which they had come. Next day one of the supernatural beings walked up and made motions with his hands pointing out to where the big naxnox was floating. The people knew that they were being invited by the supernatural beings and they talked among themselves the wise men cautioned the people not to go and then a member volunteered to go out all Gitxala men who were going to accompany Tsibasa, the head chief of the Gitxalas and then they paddled out following the messengers out to where the large monster was. When the Gitxalas arrived alongside of the large naxnox they heard many people running about on top of the monster, on top of the big naxnox. They then put down many steps for the people to climb up, seeing this the Gitxala people paddled up against these and Tsibasa dressed in his finest climbed up first. He used his woven garment and his headdress representing the sun and walked up the steps and he was met by the great chief of the supernatural beings. All of tsibassa’s companions followed him up the steps and they now all stood about on top of the big canoe. They saw many fearsome things, they saw hanging down among the ropes many human skulls all around this great monster and these skulls had ropes running through the eyes of the skulls and when the ropes moved they gave a groaning and moaning sound. When the Gitxalas saw these things they were very much afraid, but there was no where they could now flee to and they were accompanied by the chief of naxnox and also walking around them were many other naxnox’s, on top of the great monster. After they had been here some time, then one of the men came with his supernatural horn, which he blew and then all of the super beings danced, all dancing around the great chief of the supernatural beings. When they had finished some of them walked among the Gixatlas and distributed to them tree fungus (see note biscuits). This was among the Gitxalas and then they returned to their village. Next day, Tsibasa said, “I will invite these supernatural beings who are visiting us.” So he started in preparing to give a great halait before the great chief of the supernatural beings. When these guests arrived, nis n l met them and accompanied by Qaly mtkwa and these led the guests. They had now been some time when Tsibasa came in using the same costume he had when he had been invited out to the super being, and he came in as the singers on the platform started and danced Tsibasa danced in front of the great chief of the supernatural beings. When he finished he walked to where the great supernatural chief sat and making motions with his hands pointing to himself saying, “I will give my name to the chief of the supernatural beings.” When he finished saying this he placed gifts in front of all the guests and placed garments of sea otter and moose in front of where sat the chief of the supernatural beings. When finished he danced again. When he finished dancing then the supernatural chief stood up and making motions with his hands pointing to himself saying “he.l, he.l” and again placing his hands on top of Tsibasa and again said “He.l, he.l” the people then knew that he was giving his name to Tsibasa, and from that time the people started in to use this name, He.l. 4. Lewis Gray, c. 1923

In 1923, during a visit to Hazelton, Barbeau collected a series of narratives about early contact from Charles Mark and Constance Cox in 1923. Included is a second-hand version of the first ship on the sea coast. Although brief and including neither names

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nor locations, it is clearly a version of the Gitkxaala narrative, but only of the events in Part One (CMC, BF 90.13). 5. John Hayward, 1930

Anthropologist Viola Garfield collected a version from John Hayward, whom she identified as a member of the Gitkxaala tribe. Hayward’s “cousin on Dolphin Island” was reported to be in possession of the “black Kettle” mentioned in the narrative. This version includes Parts One and Two and situates the origin of the name Hale in the first contact situation. The initial contact took place at “qwatltsa,” but I have been unable to identify the location (UW, Garfield Papers, Box 7, New Metlakatla notebook: 36-37). 6. Anonymous version, 1940s

Barbeau collected a pamphlet on the history of Ketchikan that includes a version of the Gitkxaala narrative: “Shabahen and the First White Men” (CMC, BF 182.16). It seems likely that this was collected during field work undertaken in Alaska, either in 1939 or 1947; probably the latter, when Barbeau is known to have visited Ketchikan (Nowry 1995: 337, 400). The informant is not given, but the place of publication suggests that he or she was a resident of New Metlakatla, perhaps Hayward. (On Ts’ibasaa’s move to Metlakatla, see UBCL, Beynon Columbia Series #104.) This is a very full version, including Parts One, Two, and Three. Sabaan appears in Part One and Ts’ibasaa in Part Two, but no mention is made of Hale or the acquisition of that name. However, the narrative does conclude by emphasizing Ts’ibasaa’s geopolitical status, concluding with the observation that, “from this time on Tsibasha became a great chief, and all the other villages looked up to him. It was many years before the other Indians learned about the coming of the white men, and the things they brought with them.” 7. Anonymous version (Beynon)

Between 1948 and 1953, William Beynon collected two versions of a narrative (from Nathan Shaw and Heber Clifton) concerning the origins of the name Hale among the Gitkxaala. These narratives, Beynon thought, were related to a contemporary dispute about the use of the name Hale and prompted him to recount and comment on an earlier version collected in 1916. Beynon introduces this version in the following way: “Regarding the origin of the name of Hale, I remember recording from one of the very old informants in 1916, the following. I will just quote briefly.” What follows is another version of the Gitkxaala first contact narrative. Beynon’s comments would seem to imply that he was quoting from a written version he had retained. However, I think it more likely that he was quoting from memory. This version includes Parts One, Two, and Three. Sabaan appears in Part One, although curiously identified as a prince of the house of Ts’ibasaa. Ts’ibasaa and the origin of the name of Hale are described, but Beynon adds, reflecting his earlier comments, that he had recently obtained an account which indicated that the name of Hale did not originate in the first contact situation. Beynon’s comment follows a narrative by Heber Clifton, of Hartley Bay, collected in 1953, that describes the capture of Ts’ibasaa as the context for the origin of the name Hale. These are found in APS, Beynon & Barbeau, reel 1316: 522-30. This version of the narrative is included in Cove and McDonald (1987: 158-59). 8. James Lewis, Gitkxaaþa, 1953

In 1953, Beynon compiled a series of maps and commentaries on geographical place names of the Tsimshian linguistic area. Among the entries is one for:

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“laxgibao = lax – on; gibao – wolf. Geographical Name Wolf Point.” Beynon comments: “On the extreme southern end of Banks Island was a village site used by the entire gitxala group. It was used as a halibut drying location as halibut fishing abounded here. It was here that the gitxala people saw the first coming of the white man in a huge ship and it is claimed the ship was beached and some pig iron ballast has been left there and may still be seen there. shown at the southern end of Banks Island.” Elsewhere, however, Beynon gives the location of the pig iron ballast as Gale Point, on the east coast of Banks Island (E and G, 6: 47). Beynon’s comments are followed by a transcription of James Lewis’ version of the first contact narrative, recorded in 1953. This version contains Parts One, Two, and Three. Ts’ibasaa appears in Part Two but no mention is made of Hale or the acquisition of that name. The first encounter is located at the southern end of Banks Island, giving the name of Laxgibaaw, or Wolf Point village. However, a map published in the 1920s shows Wolf Point at this location (CMC, BF 40.3, #61; British Columbia, Department of Lands (1924), Grenville Channel, Pre-Emptor’s Series 3P). A slightly edited variant has been published in Marsden (1992: 91-94). The editors comment that “Sabaan is the chief of the Ganhada Clan and he is said to have been the first Tsimshian to meet a white man. The ghost people were most probably the British traders, James Colnett and Charles Duncan, and their crews. Their Ships were named the Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal.” 9. William Beynon

In 1954 Beynon prepared a manuscript, for Philip Drucker, entitled “Tsimsiyan Ethnical and Geographical Locations,” that dealt with all the Tsimshian tribes. The section on the Gitkxaala included a version of the contact narrative, presumably a composite version drafted by Beynon. It includes Parts One, Two, and Three and makes reference to Hale (E and G, 6: 1-6). In a note about the narrative, Beynon comments: “I do not remember this narrative being recorded before. Although I had it in 1915 from Kitkatla during a visit there. I showed it to Dr Barbeau in 1920 but he did not seem interested saying it followed much the same pattern of all discovery narratives}.” Later in the same manuscript (p. 47), in discussing the ownership of territory among the Gitkxaala, Beynon states that Gale Point was the site where the first European vessel beached and left a quantity of pig iron. 10. Dorothy Brown, 1968

John Dunn (1984) states that this version, which he describes as an adauX, was collected from Dorothy Brown, a descendant of Sabaan, at Gitkxaala in 1968. This version deals only with Part One and describes Sabaan’s role. Brown states that the first contact began at Tgwilaaxgiilaxs but gives no indication of where this was located. Another variant of this version, transcribed in 1979, can be found in Hutchingson & Marsden (1992). The editors state that permission was given by her son and Wilfred Jackson, the latter on behalf of the Ganhada of Gitkxaala. 11. Francis Dickie

Francis Dickie was a non-Native writer who prepared a dramatization of a Tsimshian story, which he entitled “The First Explorer.” This was broadcast on radio by the Vancouver station of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on 20 or 27 December 1939. I have been unable to locate a script of this dramatization, but there is little doubt that it was another version of the Gitkxaala first contact narrative. Surviving corre-

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spondence indicates that the events took place in the vicinity of Pitt Island, and there was a reference to “iron ballast” (see versions #8 and #9). Moreover, Dickie’s source of information was William Beynon. For information on this topic, see BCA, Francis Dickie Papers, Add. Mss. 6, Box 2, files 4 and 5; especially Dickie to Ira Dilworth, 31 Dec. 1939, and Dickie to Elsie Gowan, 17 Dec. 1939. Some account of the broadcast seems to have been published in a newspaper or periodical, however, I have been unable to locate this (see UBCSC, Howay Papers, vol. 7, file 3, J.B.W. to Leeson, 22 Mar. 1940). Beynon collaborated with Dickie on at least one other project involving Tsimshian material. This resulted in the publication of two articles about the Tsimshian feast system in the Vancouver Sun; both were accompanied by illustrations drawn by George Clutesi (3 and 10 Apr. 1948; see also BCA, Add. Mss. 6, vol. 4, file 3, Beynon to Dickie, 10 Mar. 1945 and reply, 20 Mar. 1945). The Origin of the Name Hale

In addition to the above narratives, Beynon collected at least three versions of the Origin of the Name Hale. All situate the events some indefinite time after the first contact situation and include accounts of the capture of Ts’ibasaa by the traders. The first two were given by Nathan Shaw, 1948-49, and Heber Clifton, 1953 (APS, Beynon and Barbeau, reel 1316: 506-8, 522-29). The third version, given by James Lewis in 1953, is included in Beynon’s compilation of Tsimshian place names (CMC, BF 131.1, #79). Barbeau (NAC, MG 30/D38, vol. 2, file 8), in an introduction to a discussion of “Hale’s Captivity,” refers to a narrative “recorded in 1953, by William Beynon, his native informant being James Lewis (Gai’mtkwa), member of a Killer-Whale [Gispwudwada] clan, of the Gitrahala tribe.” However, in his summary, Barbeau deals only with the origin of the name Hale, in what is a reworking of the material of Nathan Shaw, and Beynon’s commentary. Addendum

William Downie also recorded a first contact narrative, of similar structure to that I have identified as Part One, but he attributed it to the Nisga’a. The informant and conditions under which the narrative was recorded are unknown and Downie did not publish the account until 1893, although he may have written it down before that. It contains no names and little geographical information and, apart from the attribution to the Nisga’a, bears a considerable resemblance to the version recorded by William Duncan in 1860. Moreover, Downie was at Fort Simpson, with a group of miners, between 28 April and 28 May 1860. Duncan’s trip to Gitkxaala took place between 1-7 May, when he returned to Fort Simpson, before departing for Victoria on 22 May. It is quite possible, therefore, that Duncan was the source of the narrative and Downie has confused matters (BCA, Hudson’s Bay Company, Fort Simpson Journal, 28 Apr.-28 May 1860; UBCL, DP, 1-22 May; UBCL, CMS, Correspondence, A/105; Downie 1893: 296-98).

Appendix 3 Place Names on the Northwest Coast: Colnett, Duncan, and Johnstone

The following is a list of place names shown on the various maps and documents produced by members of Colnett’s expedition. Four of the maps are reproduced in whole or in part at the end of this appendix. The information in the list is arranged in the following manner: Name: [current name of feature] (Manuscript source) {Early published map(s) on which the name appears} Ahouset: {Duncan, Map 4}. Duncan anchored here in 1788. It is not the modern village of Ahouset, on Vargas Island, but a site on Blunden Island; the settlement would have been aa?imqwis (Webster 1983: map; ASR DhSm1). Bald Rocks: [Garcin Rocks] {Johnstone, Map 3}. The Green Rocks of Colnett. Banks Island: [Banks Island] {Duncan, Map 6; Arrowsmith 1790}. Menzies stated that he had given Banks’ name “to a cluster of Islands” around the anchorage used by the Prince of Wales at the southern end of Banks Island. Meares and Arrowsmith, who incorporated a variety of information derived from Duncan, appear to employ the modern usage – although both maps are small scale and therefore imprecise. Sir Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society, had been involved in the preparations of Etches’ first expedition and had christened the Queen Charlotte (UBCSC, Howay Papers, vol. 32, file 16, Menzies to Banks, 14 Jul. 1789, original at Kew; Portlock 1789: 6; Etches 1790a: 2-3; Meares 1790: opp. 1). Banks Island: [Campania Island and Aristazabal Island] (Colnett, Map 2) {Faden 1794}. Colnett applied Banks’ name to what is now recognized as a different group of islands located to the south of the current Banks Island. Banks Islands: [Banks Island and Campania Island] (Anon., Map 2). Barren Rocks: [Wolf Rock] (Colnett, Map 1). Passed by the Prince of Wales on 27 June 1788; described as “almost awash.” Barrington Inlet: [Kildala Arm?] (Colnett, Map 1). Part of the area visited by boat expeditions from Port Ball in 1787 and by the Princess Royal in 1788. Probably named after Admiral Samuel Barrington, who was second in command of the English Channel fleet at the end of the American War of Independence. (DNB, 1: 1211; Gough 1992: 142). Alternatively, Daines Barrington “jurist, antiquarian, naturalist, geographer, and a member of the Council of the [Royal] Society” and a believer in the Northwest Passage (DNB, 1: 1206; Williams 1962: 163; Gough 1992: 31-32; Barrington 1781). Behrings Bay [Yakutat Bay] (Anon., Map 2). The name derives from Cook, but his usage and that of his successors is confusing. In this instance there is no doubt that it was applied to Yakutat Bay. For further details, see Part 2 (this volume), notes 190 and 193.

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Berkleys Cove: [Barkley Sound] (Colnett, Map 1). Named by Charles Barkley, commander of the Imperial Eagle/Loudon, shortly after meeting Colnett at Nootka Sound in July 1787. Colnett may have received information on the location from John Meares. On maps 1 and 2, Colnett notes that the jolly boat had been sent to the area – i.e., in 1790. In his 1790 journal, Colnett uses the name Berkley Cove, but his map in the same document uses Berkley Sound. (PRO, Adm. 55/142; Howay 1940: 178, 187; Hill 1978: 36, 124). Meares (1790: opp. 1) and Arrowsmith (1790) both show Berkley Sound, whereas Faden (1794) shows both cove and sound, with the former located south of the latter. Buckerelly Bay: [Bucarelli Sound] (Colnett, Map 1) {Dalrymple 1789c}. Passed by the Prince of Wales in 1788. Discovered and named by Bodega y Quadra on 24 August 1775. Dalrymple published a chart, based on a Spanish map provided by John Henry Cox. The latter, although departing from China in 1787, was a partner in the consortium that sent Colnett back to the Northwest Coast in the Argonaut. Colnett’s map contains a notation indicating the prior Spanish knowledge of this area (Wagner 1937: 377; Lamb and Bartroli 1989-90: 29). Calamity Harbour: [Un-named bay, Banks Island] {Johnstone, Map 1}. The Port Ball of Colnett located slightly east of the modern Calamity Bay. The name was given by the men of the Prince of Wales and Princess Royal to reflect the circumstances of their sojourn, 5 September-19 November 1787 (Taylor 73a). Calamity Isle: [Banks Island] (Colnett, Map 1) {Faden 1794}. Calamity Harbour was at the southern end of Banks Island, and the name was transferred to the whole island. This usage was adopted by Caamano, who had a copy of Colnett’s chart (Wagner 1937: 378). Calvert’s Island: [Calvert Island] (Anon., Map 1) {Duncan, Map 7; Arrowsmith 1790}. Visited by Duncan on the Princess Royal in July 1788. Walbran suggests it may be after the family name of Lord Baltimore (Appendix 1; Howay 1929a: 110; Walbran 1971: 78; Lamb 1984: 647). Camseways: [Selwyn Inlet/Louise Island?] (Colnett, Map 1). Colnett’s maps show an anchorage, probably on the south side of Louise Island, with the name “Camseways” alongside. Swanton lists Go’msiwa as the Eagle chief of Lqe’nAl lnaga’-i village on Cumshewa Inlet, but he appears also to have operated farther south. Ingraham used Cumshewa’s name for a harbour, at Cumshewa Inlet, and a bay, in the same location as Colnett (Swanton 1905b: 279 #40; Kaplanoff 1971: map opp. 138). Duncan, the probable source of Colnett’s information on this area, anchored in Cumshewa Inlet 27-29 July 1788. Cape Banks: [Southern end of Aristazabal Island] (Colnett, Map 1). See Banks Island. Cape Caldwell: [Cape Knox/Langara Point] (Colnett, Map 1) {Faden 1794}. Shown as the most northwesterly point of the Queen Charlotte Islands, opposite Cape Cornwallis. However, Colnett does not clearly distinguish Langara Island from Graham Island. Perhaps named after Benjamin Caldwell, a career naval officer, who commanded a number of vessels during the American War of Independence. Caldwell eventually reached the rank of admiral (DNB, 3: 700). Cape Claaset: [Cape Flattery] (Anon., Map 1) {Duncan, Map 5; Arrowsmith 1790; Faden 1794}. Visited and named by Duncan in 1788 (Appendix 1; Wagner 1937: 442). See also Cape Flattery. Cape Cornwallis: [Cape Muzon?, Dall Island] (Colnett, Map 1). Located across Dixon Entrance from Cape Caldwell. Probably named after Charles, Lord Cornwallis or Commodore William Cornwallis; not to be confused with the Cornwallis Point of Vancouver (Lamb 1984: 1384; Wagner 1937: 382).

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Cape Dalrymple: [Day Point, Price Island] (Colnett, Map 1) {Dixon 1789}. Named by George Dixon, 1 August 1787, after Alexander Dalrymple, Hydrographer to the EIC and later the Royal Navy (Wagner 1937: 446; Fry 1970). Cape De Touch: [Cape Flattery] (Colnett, Map 1) {Faden 1794}. The Cape Claaset of Duncan. See De Touch Isle. Cape Edgecomb: [Cape Edgecumbe] (Colnett, Map 2; Anon., Map 2) {Cook and King 1784, Atlas: plate 36}. Named by James Cook, 2 May 1778, probably after the Earl of Mount Edgecumbe, vice admiral (Beaglehole 1967: 336). Cape Fitzhugh: [Cape Scott] (Colnett, Map 1) {Faden 1794}. Named after William or Thomas Fitzhugh; Thomas was an expert on the China trade; William was among the supercargoes resident at Canton (Fry 1970: 85n, 201; BL, EIC, G/12/81). Cape Flattery: [Cape Alava?] (Colnett, Map 2; Anon., Map 1){Cook and King 1784}. Having used Cape De Touch for the current Cape Flattery, Colnett has located the latter at a more southerly promontory, probably Cape Alava. This pattern is also found on maps by Meares, Arrowsmith, and Faden. It may reflect the fact that Cook had located Cape Flattery at 48°15’N, some 8’ south of the present Cape; Cape Alava, at 48°10’N, is somewhat closer to the location given by Cook (Cook and King 1784, 2: 263, Atlas: plate 36; Meares 1790: opp. 1; Arrowsmith 1790; Faden 1794; Wagner 1937: 354, 388). Cape Hinchinbrook: [Cape Hinchinbrook, Hinchinbrook Island] (Anon., Map 2) {Cook and King 1784; Johnstone, Map 4; Portlock 1789}. Named by Cook after Viscount Hinchinbrook (Wagner 1937: 392; Beaglehole 1967: 343). Cape Ommaney [Baranof Island] (Anon., Map 2) {Faden 1794}. Menzies states that Johnstone used this name on a chart of his first voyage to the Northwest Coast; probably after Rear-Admiral Cornthwaite Ommanney (UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies Journal, Aug. 22, 1793; DNB, 14: 1067). Vancouver mistakenly attributed the naming to Colnett (Lamb 1984: 1366). Cape Phipps: [Cape Ommaney, Baranof Island] (Colnett, Map 1) {Faden 1794}. Passed by the Prince of Wales in 1788. Constantine John Phipps was a lifelong friend of Banks, naval officer, and politician. After entering the navy, he headed a naval expedition to the arctic in 1773, searching for the Northwest Passage; succeeded to title of Lord Mulgrave in 1775. By 1784 he was also a member of the Board of Control of the EIC and the Privy Council Committee for Trade and Plantations; thus, he attended the christening of the vessels for Etches’ first expedition (DNB, 15: 1117; Etches 1790a: 3; Portlock 1789: 6; Gough 1992: 32; Carter 1988: 220). Not to be confused with the Cape Phipps of Dixon, the current Ocean Cape (Dixon 1789). Cape Pitt: [Cape Addington, Noyes Island] (Colnett, Map 1) {Faden 1794}. Passed by the Prince of Wales in 1788. William Pitt (the younger) was the prime minister when Colnett left London in 1786. Cape Prince of Wales: [Cape Cook?] (Anon., Map 1). The name was probably given by Charles Duncan. Cape St. James: [Southern Point of Kunghit Island] (Colnett, Map 2) {Johnstone, Map 3; Dixon 1789}. Named by George Dixon on St. James Day, 25 July 1787 (Wagner 1937: 407). See also Point St. James. Cape Seax: [McCreight Point, Pitt Island] (Colnett, Map 2). Located to the east of the above. The accompanying village is placed in the vicinity of Union Passage on this map. Cape Seax: [Mollison Point (?), Pitt Island] (Colnett, Maps 1, 2, and 3). Seax (Seks) was a Gitkxaala Tsimshian chief; a village is shown in the vicinity. The area was visited by the ship’s boat, from Port Ball, in 1787.

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Cape Stowe: [Terror Point, Banks Island] (Colnett, Map 1). Stowe, Buckinghamshire, was the home of the Temple family; it may be that Thomas Temple was a member of a junior line of the family and the name given in his honour (Jupp 1985: 4-10). Carmathen Passage: [Gardner Canal?] (Colnett, Map 1). Part of the area visited by boat expeditions from Port Ball in 1787 and by the Princess Royal in 1788. Francis Osborne, Marquis of Carmathen, was Foreign Secretary from 1783-89. He became Duke of Leeds during Colnett’s voyage (Black 1994: 7; Harlow 1964: 812). Chatham Bay: [Un-named bay south of Cape Addington] (Colnett, Map 1). Passed by the Prince of Wales in 1788. Named after William Pitt the elder or John Pitt, first and second Earls of Chatham; the latter became the First Lord of the Admiralty in 1788 (DNB 15: 1230-53; Clowes, 3: 325). Christian’s Sound [Chatham Strait] {Faden 1794}. According to Menzies this name was used by Johnstone on his chart of his first voyage to the Northwest Coast; although Johnstone served under Capt. Hugh Christian, the name does not appear on Anon., Map 2 (UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies Journal, 22 Aug. 1793). Vancouver mistakenly attributed the naming to Colnett (Lamb 1984: 1366). Claaset: [Makah village of di.ya.in, Neah Bay] {Duncan, Map 5; Arrowsmith 1790}. Visited by Duncan in 1788. Claaset is derived from the Nuu-chah-nulth name for the Makah (Renker and Gunther 1990: 422, 429). Clewes Isles: [Ramsay, Murchison, and Lyell Islands] (Colnett, Map 1) {Faden 1794}. The area was visited by the boats in 1787 and by the Princess Royal in 1788. Xe-u’ (Clew, Kloo) was an Eagle chief of the Haida. He is generally identified with the village of Tanu but also owned a village site and a fort on the west coast of Lyell Island (Swanton 1905b: 278). Cliuqut: [Clayoquot Sound] (Colnett, Map 1) {Faden 1794}. This name derives from Colnett’s visit during his second voyage. He renders the name as Cleaquat in his journal of the Argonaut and accompanying map. Duncan visited the area in 1788, but did not use the name. Haswell used Clioquot in 1789 (PRO, Adm. 55/142, Log of the Argonaut; Howay 1941: 77). The name is derived from the principal tribe of the area, rendered as La’o’kwath by Drucker (1951: 240). Comptrollers Bay: [Controller Bay] (Anon., Map 2) {Cook and King 1784}. Named by Cook, 11 May 1778, after Maurice Suckling, Comptroller of the Navy (Beaglehole 1967: 342 and note). Cross Sound [Cross Sound] (Anon., Map 2) {Cook and King 1784}. Named by Cook, after the day of its observation, 3 May 1778 – the day of the “Invention of the Cross” (Cook and King 1784, 2: 345-46; Beaglehole 1967: 337n). De Touch Isle: [Tatoosh Island] (Colnett, Map 1). tutu.ts was a Makah chief; his portrait is reproduced by Cutter (1991: 120; Renker and Gunther 1990: 429; Elyea 1929: 227). Colnett met the chief at Clayoquot in 1790 and renders the name as De touch (Howay 1940: 189, 194-95). Meares rendered this as Tatooche in naming the island (Meares 1790: 156). The Green Island of Duncan. Dixon’s Isles: [Scott Islands] (Colnett, Map 1; Anon., Map 1) {Faden 1794}. Colnett’s map contains the notation “High & Barren with a little green moss on.” Named after George Dixon, commander of the Queen Charlotte. Dome Rock: [Blenheim Island, Kildidt Sound] (Colnett, Maps 1 and 3). The Prince of Wales anchored in the vicinity in 1788. Colnett’s maps contains the notation “A Remarkable Rock of a Modt. hight coverd with Trees & a white Girdle next the surface of the water.” Drakes Inlet: [Gitoyees Inlet?] (Colnett, Map 1). Part of the area visited by boat expeditions from Port Ball in 1787 and the Princess Royal in 1788. Presumably named after

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Sir Francis Drake; Colnett visited and mapped Port Sir Francis Drake in California in 1790 (Howay 1940: 174, 219). Duncan Is.: [Bonilla Island] (Colnett, Map 2) {Faden 1794}. A small but prominent island, off the northern end of Banks Island. It was passed by the Princess Royal in 1788. See Duncan’s Inlet. Duncan’s Inlet: [Principe Channel] {Duncan, Map 6; Faden 1794}. Menzies wrote that it was “named from Mr Duncan being the first navigator who saild through it in the Sloop Princess Royal in the year 1788”; also visited by the boats from Port Ball in 1787 (UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies Journal, 18 Jul. 1793). Dunkins Isle: [Bonilla Island] (Colnett, Map 1). See Duncan Is. Etches Isles: [Forrester Island] (Colnett, Map 1) {Faden 1794}. Visited by the Prince of Wales in 1788 and named by Colnett “in Honour of my employer,” presumably a reference to Richard Cadman Etches, or one of the other members of the Etches family involved in Colnett’s expedition. Colnett’s map contains the notation “High & Cover’d with wood. a Canoe brought off 5 skins.” Etches Sound: [Juan Perez Sound] {Duncan, Map 1}. Visited by the Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal in 1788. See Etches Isles. Green Island: [Tatoosh Island] {Duncan, Map 5}. See De Touch Isle; Appendix 1. Green Isle: [Cleland Island, just west of Vargas Island] {Duncan, Map 4}. Visited by Duncan in 1788. Green Rock: [Garcin Rocks] (Colnett, Map 1). See Bald Rock. Hippah Isles: [Hippa Island] (Colnett, Map 1) {Dixon 1789}. Named by George Dixon 7 July 1787, after a defensive site that was similar to forts he had seen in New Zealand (Dixon 1789: 205-6; Wagner 1937: 392). Hope Bay: (Colnett, Map 1) {Cook and King 1784}. The name given by Cook, 1 April 1778, “to the bay just outside Nootka Sound” (Wagner 1937: 462; Beaglehole 1967: 295). Colnett’s map applies it to the area between Woody Point and the northern end of Nootka Island. However, his usage of Woody Point is inconsistent; see Woody Point. Hudson River: [Kitkatla Inlet?] (Colnett, Map 1). Part of the area visited by boat expeditions from Port Ball in 1787 and by the Princess Royal in 1788. Thomas Hudson was the second mate of the Prince of Wales; he returned to the coast in 1789 in command of the Princess Royal (Howay 1940: 322). Jervis Inlet: [Kitimat Arm?] (Colnett, Map 1). Part of the area visited by boat expeditions from Port Ball in 1787 and by the Princess Royal in 1788. Probably named after John Jervis, later Earl St Vincent. In 1782 he captured the French vessel Pégase which was subsequently commissioned by the Royal Navy; Colnett acted as first lieutenant on HMS Pégase prior to sailing on the Prince of Wales (Clowes, 3: 538-39, 567; PRO, Adm 36/10554. Muster book for HMS Pégase, Apr. 15, 1783-1786). Kayes Island: [Kayak Island] (Anon., Map 2) {Cook and King 1784}. Named by Cook, 11 May 1778; after Revd. Richard Kaye (Beaglehole 1967: 341-42). King George’s Sound [Nootka Sound] (Anon., Map 1). Named by Cook, although it appears on his charts as Nootka (Cook and King 1784, 2: 288, plate 37; Beaglehole 1967: 308, 1103, 1401). Lookout Creek: [Myers Passage? Kitasu Bay?] (Colnett, Map 1). Part of the area visited by boat expeditions from Port Ball in 1787. On Colnett Map 3 this is rendered as Luckomb or Lackomb. Luxaena Bay: [Luxana Bay] (Colnett, Map 1) {Duncan, Map 3}. Visited by Duncan in May 1788. He recorded that “Luxaena ... signifies Handsome Woman” in the Haida language. Newcombe and Newcombe (1914: R133) add that, subsequently, the Haida gave the name as “Kineji.”

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Marshall Isles: [Frederick Island] (Colnett, Map 1) {Faden 1794}. Passed by the Prince of Wales in 1788. In his journal, Colnett names this Foulweather Isle, suggesting that the map was drafted after the journal. Samuel Marshall had been captain of HMS Pégase, Colnett’s previous posting; Marshall’s son, a lieutenant, was taken to Isla de los Estados (Staten Island) on the Prince of Wales and a nephew subsequently served on the Rattler (Howay 1940: xii; Wagner 1937: 470; Colnett 1798: 134; BCA, Newcombe Papers, Add. Mss. 1077, vol. 49, file 3, Menzies to Banks, 11 Feb. 1787). Mears Bay: [Between Parrot Point and Security Point, Dall Island] (Colnett, Map 1) {Faden 1794}. Colnett added this location after his first voyage. William Douglas had visited and named Port Meares in August 1788 (Meares 1790: 328-30). The site is usually given as Port Bazan (the Port Dick of Colnett) or the entrance to Kaigani Strait (Wagner 1937: 472; Orth 1967: 112). Meares Bay is shown south of Port Dick by Faden {1794}. Middleton Sound: [Queen Charlotte Sound] (Colnett, Map 1) {Faden 1794}. Charles Middleton was a member of the board that examined Colnett for his lieutenant’s papers in 1779. He later explored Hudson Bay for the Northwest Passage, was comptroller of the navy at the time of the Nootka Crisis, and made vice admiral in 1805 (Gough 1992: 141; Fry 1970: 78; Clowes 1898-99, 4: 191). Duncan used the name Sir Charles Middleton Sound, but applied it to Fitz Hugh Sound in 1788; this usage was adopted by Arrowsmith 1790, whereas Faden follows Colnett (Appendix 1; Wagner 1937: 516). Middleton’s Island: [Middleton Island] (Anon., Map 2) {Faden 1794}. Menzies states that Middleton’s Island appeared on Johnstone’s manuscript chart, produced following his voyage with Colnett – presumably a version of Anon., Map 2 (Olson and Thilenius 1993: 132-33). Colnett noted, but did not name, the island. Milbank’s Sound: [Milbanke Sound] {Duncan, Map 2}. Duncan uses Milbank’s Sound as the title for the map but does not apply the name to a specific waterway; the map shows the anchorage visited in 1788. The current designation was adopted by Vancouver. Marke Milbanke was a career naval officer; appointed vice admiral in 1780 and second in command of the grand fleet in 1782 (DNB, 13: 369; Clowes, 3: 566). Montagu Island: [Montague Island] (Anon., Map 2) {Cook and King 1784}. Named by Cook after John Montagu, Earl of Sandwich and First Lord of the Admiralty at the time of Cook’s voyage (Clowes, 3: 325; Beaglehole 1967: 355). Mount Farewell: [Namu Range] (Colnett, Map 1) {Faden 1794}. Visible from Port Farewell, the final harbour visited by the Prince of Wales in 1788. On his first voyage, Cook had named his point of departure from New Zealand, Cape Farewell; Colnett had been in that vicinity, on Cook’s second voyage, in May 1773 (Beaglehole 1955: 275-76; 1961: 140-42). Mulgrave Sound: [Chatham Straits] (Colnett, Map 1) {Faden 1794}. Passed by the Prince of Wales in 1788 and described by Colnett as “Large & Deep running NNW by Compass, no sign of Inhabitants.” Named for Lord Mulgrave; see Cape Phipps. Nepean Sound: [Nepean Sound] {Arrowsmith 1790}. The name appears on Meares map and was adopted by Vancouver in 1793. It was applied to a larger area than the contemporary usage, extending east at least as far as Cridge Passage. According to Menzies the name was given by Charles Duncan, after Evan Nepean, who had served in the navy, but became Under Secretary of the Home Office (Meares 1790: opp. xli; UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies Journal, 10 and 18 Jul. 1793; Lamb 1984: 957; DNB, 14: 222). Nitte Nat: [Port San Juan] (Colnett, Map 1) {Faden 1794}. This name and the adjacent section of coast on Colnett’s maps (1 and 2) are a product of his second voyage.

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While at Hawai'i in 1791 Colnett met Manuel Quimper and, surprisingly, they exchanged geographical information. Colnett copied a chart of Quimper’s expedition to the Straits of Juan de Fuca in 1790. As well as incorporating the information in maps (1 and 2), Colnett also produced two charts of the area that are included in his journal of the Argonaut voyage. In these the inlet is shown but not named; on one Cape Nitty Nat is applied to what appears to be Carmanah Point (PRO, Adm 55/142; Howay 1940: 218-19, opp. 182). The use of the name is of interest as it is derived from the Ditidaht, the Nuuchah-nulth people occupying the section of Vancouver Island south of Barkley Sound. Meares recorded the name “Nitta-natt” but, after sending a long boat to the area in 1788, used the name Port Hawkesbury for the present Port San Juan. Spanish maps show this inlet as Port San Juan de Narvaez, after Jose Narvaez who had visited in area in 1789. Hoskins, also in 1789, located Nitenat village at 48°40’N, presumably the present Clo-oose near the mouth of the Nitinat River (Meares 1790: 230-31; Cook 1973: fig. 29; McDowell 1998: 38-39; Howay 1941: 196). Nootka: [Nootka Sound] (Colnett, Map 1; Anon., Map 2) {Cook and King 1784}. Cook took this to be the Nuu-chah-nulth name for the inlet where they lived; it appears on his chart; see King George’s Sound (Cook and King 1784, 2: 288, plate 37; Wagner 1937: 400). Pillar Rocks: [Hazy Islands] (Colnett, Map 1) {Faden 1794}. Passed by the Prince of Wales in 1788. Pinnacle Rock: [Fuca Pillar, Cape Flattery] {Duncan, Map 5; Faden 1794}. Passed by the Princess Royal in 1788. Point St. James: [southern point of the Kerouard Islands] (Colnett, Map 1). See also Cape St. James. Port Ball: [Unnamed bay just east of Calamity Bay, Banks Island] (Colnett, Map 1). See Calamity Harbour. Port Brooks: [Nasparti Inlet] (Colnett, Map 1; Anon., Maps 1 and 2) {Faden 1794}. After Mary Camilla Brooks, a member of the ownership syndicate, or her husband, Robert Hanning Brooks, a former partner of Richard Etches in a wine and tea importing business. Incorrectly located on Meares (1790) and Arrowsmith (1790). See Introduction: p. 6. Port Dick: [Port Bazan] (Colnett, Map 1) {Faden 1794}. Passed by the Prince of Wales in 1788. Sir John Dick, Comptroller of Army Accounts, had been present at the christening of the vessels for Etches’ first expedition and had sent a boy on one of the vessels (Portlock 1789: 6; Etches 1790a: 3; Ehrman 1969: 296). See Mears Bay. Port Dixon: [Port Banks, Whale Bay] (Colnett, Map 1) {Faden 1794}. Colnett’s map contains the notation “Where Capt Dixon anchd. but found no Natives.” Dixon, however, named the location after Joseph Banks (Colnett Journal 127r-v; Dixon 1789: 195, map opp. 193). Port Duncan: [Neah Bay] (Colnett, Map 1). Colnett did not visit this area; the name reflects the visit of Charles Duncan, on the Princess Royal, in 1788; see Claaset. Port Edgecomb: [Sitka Sound] (Colnett, Map 1). Cook named the outer point Cape Edgecumbe in 1778; Dixon used Norfolk Sound, which was adopted by Vancouver (Wagner 1937: 477). See Cape Edgecomb. Port Etches: [Port Etches, Hinchinbrook Island] (Anon., Map 2) {Portlock 1789; Johnstone, Map 4}. Named by Portlock in 1787; visited by the Prince of Wales in 1788 (Portlock 1789: 244). Port Farewell: [Kildidt Sound] (Colnett, Map 1). The final harbour on the Northwest Coast visited by the Prince of Wales, in the 1788 season; see Mount Farewell and Port Wentworth.

Place Names on the Northwest Coast | 283

Port Poverty: At Nootka in May 1793, Puget met an American vessel, the Amelia, that had visited a “Cove called Port Poverty, surveyed & so Called by Mr Duncan.” The context suggests a location south of Nootka, but no records exist of Duncan using this name. However, Haswell used Poverty Cove for Port San Juan in 1789; Boit later stated that the name was Port Poverty. Although Duncan was in the vicinity (13-15 August 1788), the most likely explanation is that the American captain was misinformed (PRO, Adm 55/47, Log of the Chatham, May 5, 1793; Howay 1941: 71, 73; see also St. Mary’s Sound and Appendix 1). Port Safety: [Safety Cove, Calvert Island] {Duncan Map 7; Faden 1794}. An anchorage used by Duncan July 1788 and described as “a commodious Little Harbour for cleaning and refitting.” See Calvert’s Island. Port St. James: [Rose Harbour, Houston Stewart Channel] (Colnett, Map 1) {Johnstone, Map 3; Faden 1794}. This was the anchorage on the Queen Charlotte Islands used by both vessels in 1787. Colnett included a map of the “Bay and Port St. James” in his journal; the former referred to Houston Stewart Channel (Colnett Journal 136r). See Rose’s Harbour. Port Stephens: [Ala Passage] {Duncan, Map 6; Arrowsmith 1790}. Visited by Duncan in 1788; not to be confused with the contemporary Port Stephens, located further south on Pitt Island (Appendix 1). See Stephens Isle. Port Uqua: [Skincuttle Inlet] (Colnett, Map 1). Visited by the boats from Rose Harbour in 1787 and passed by the vessels in 1788. Uqua, or Yuka, was Wada’, a Raven chief of the Kunghit Haida; his village was Xa’gi lnaga’-i, in the Bolkus Islands, Skincuttle Inlet (Swanton 1905b: 277). Port Wentworth: [Kildidt Sound](Anon., Map 2). Menzies, who passed a little south of this area in 1792, stated that the last anchorage of the Prince of Wales in 1788 was called Port Wentworth, “in honour of Governor Wentworth of Nova Scotia” (Newcombe 1923: 104). See Port Farewell. Princess Royal Isles. (Anon., Map 1). This name was applied initially, in a rather indeterminate fashion, to an area extending from north of Pitt Island to Douglas Channel, the present Princess Royal Island, and reaching south to Queen Charlotte Sound. As Colnett’s maps (1, 2, and 3) show, the islands and mainland were imperfectly differentiated at this time. The name appears, for a more restrictive area, on published maps by Meares (1790: opp. xli), Arrowsmith (1790), and Faden (1794); the last two include the notation “discovered by Captn. Duncan 1787.” Current usage of Princess Royal Island refers to an island south of Douglas Channel. Pr[incess] Royal Straights: [Otter Channel-Verney Passage] (Colnett, Map 1) {Faden 1794}. Visited by the boats from Port Ball in 1787 and by the Princess Royal in 1788. Queen Charlots Isles: [Queen Charlotte Islands] (Colnett, Map 1; Anon., Maps 1 and 2) {Dixon 1789}. Named by George Dixon, July 1787 (Wagner 1937: 404). Queen Charlottes Straights: [Hecate Strait] (Colnett, Map 1) {Faden 1794}. The waters between Queen Charlotte Islands and the mainland; traversed by both vessels in 1787 and 1788. Rose’s Harbour: [Rose Harbour, Houston Stewart Channel] (Johnstone, Map 3a) {Johnstone, Map 3}. George Rose, the Secretary of the Treasury, christened the King George at the outset of the first Etches expedition (Portlock 1789: 6; Steven 1983: 2; Etches 1790a: 3). See Port St. James. Round Island: [Langtry Island] {Johnstone, Map 3}. The boats, sailing north from Rose Harbour, passed this area in 1787. S de Fuca: [Straits of Juan De Fuca] (Colnett, Map 1). Colnett sailed past the straits in 1790 and used the name in his Argonaut journal. His depiction of the area is taken from that of Manuel Quimper. Whether he received prior information about the

284 | Appendix 3

straits from Duncan or Meares is unclear (PRO, Adm. 55/142; Howay 1940: 181; Appendix 1). See Nitte Nat. St. Marys Sound: [Barkley Sound] (Anon., Map 1). Apparently entered by the Princess Royal between leaving Ahouset and arriving at Claaset in August 1788. See Appendix 1. Salmon Creek: [East coast of Banks Island, unnamed stream at IR #10 Kitlawaoo or Keecha Creek] (Colnett, Map 1). The salmon stream visited from Port Ball in 1787. Seal Point: [Helm Point, Coronation Island] (Colnett, Map 1) {Faden 1794}. According to Menzies, Johnstone named the island, and perhaps the nearby Spanish Islands, “Charles’s Isles” on the chart of his first voyage to the Northwest Coast (UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies Journal, 22 Aug. 1793; see also Lamb 1984: 1061, 1067). This feature does not appear on Anon., Map 2. Shoal Point: [Scudder Point, Juan Perez Sound] (Colnett, Map 1) {Duncan Map 1}. The Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal anchored nearby, on separate occasions, in 1788 (Appendix 1). See also Colnett’s map (Journal 229r). Sir Charles Middleton’s Straits [Queen Charlotte Sound] (Anon., Map 1). See Middleton Sound. Skelkinans: [Carpenter Bay] (Colnett, Map 1). The boats visited the area in 1787. Skelkinans was a Haida chief they encountered at Rose Harbour in 1787 and 1788. He may have been Xi’liñas, whom Swanton identifies as the chief of Tc!u’uga lnaga’-i, a town beyond the west end of Houston Stewart Channel, and probably of the Ga’nxet qe’gawa-i Eagle lineage (E 2)(Introduction: pp. 40-41; Swanton 1905b: 277). Sky Tuckett: [Skidegate Inlet] (Colnett, Map 1). Sge’dâgits (Skidegate) was a Haida Eagle chief at Skidegate Inlet (Swanton 1905b: 273). The area was visited by the Princess Royal in 1788 (Appendix 1). Split Rock: [Solander Island] (Colnett, Map 1) {Faden 1794}. Named “from its appearance” by Colnett in 1787. Split Rock Point: [Cape Cook] (Colnett, Map 1). See Woody Point. Stephens Isle: [Estevan Group] (Colnett, Map 1) {Faden 1794}. Philip Stephens, Secretary of the Navy (1763-95), to whom Colnett dedicated his published volume and thanked for his “favors” (Colnett 1798). Boats from Port Ball visited the area in 1787. Thrum Cap: [Langtry Island?] (Colnett, Map 1). Passed by the Prince of Wales in July 1788 – but also by the Princess Royal in the same season. Trollop’s River: [Skidegate Inlet] {Arrowsmith 1790}. Visited by the Princess Royal in 1788 and named by Duncan. Henry Trollope was a career naval officer under whom Duncan had served in 1782-83 (Appendix 1; PRO, Adm. 36/9729, #17 and #93). Trollope later achieved the rank of admiral (DNB, 19: 1173; Lamb 1984: 1006). Woody Point: [Cape Cook] (Colnett, Map 1). The name given by Cook and generally applied to the extremity of Brooks Peninsula. In his journal, Colnett employs this usage, but on his maps (1 and 2) he places Woody Point in the vicinity of Actis and uses Split Rock Point for the present Cape Cook. See Part 1 (this volume), notes 81, 183, and 201.

“N.W. America Drawn by J.C. from his own Information and what could be collected from the Sloop Ps. Royal and Boats in the years 1787, 1788 and 1790.” James Colnett, map 1 (extract). © British Crown Copyright 2003

286 | Appendix 3

Untitled map. North West America. James Colnett, map 2 (extract). © British Crown Copyright 2003

Place Names on the Northwest Coast | 287

“Plan of Calamity Harbour,” Banks Island. James Johnstone, map 1.

“Etches Sound,” Queen Charlotte Islands. Charles Duncan, map 1.

Appendix 4 Prince of Wales and Princess Royal Personnel

Prince of Wales

1 2 3 4 5

James Colnett, captain John Etches, supercargo James Johnstone, chief mate Thomas Hudson, second mate Andrew Taylor, third mate; second officer on the trip from Canton to London (CFR, Diary, G/12/95, 133) 6 Fourth mate (Taylor 285a) 7 Archibald Menzies, surgeon 8 Thomas Temple, a young gentleman, rank not stated, perhaps a midshipman or the fourth mate; served as third mate on the Argonaut (Howay 1940: 61n, 65n) 9 Quartermaster (174v); Taylor (280a) 10, 11 Sailmakers (83v) 12, 13 Carpenters (83v); two carpenters (Taylor 175a) 14, 15 Armourers (135r, 181r; log 4 Feb. 1787) 16 Blacksmith (231v) 17 Boatswain (Taylor 75b, 177b) 18 Gunner (Taylor 125a) 19 Cook – John McDonald [?] (BCA, A/A/40/C71) 20 Captain’s servant (Taylor 135b, 278b, at Sandwich Islands and the Northwest Coast); Colnett probably took his “servant” James Poate on the trip – he left HMS Pegase with Colnett in 1786; see Adm. 36/10554 21-35? Seamen. Include Dick Wells and Samuel Hitchcock (Taylor 192a, 238a-b, 248a, 285a; Howay 1941: 150); Elsworthy and John Hutchins were on board in 1788 but their positions are unknown (Taylor 215a; Meares 1790: 316). Princess Royal

1 2

3 4 5 6 7

Charles Duncan, captain Chief mate (117v, 176v, 177r); perhaps Alex Stewart or Steward – described as a mate by Ingraham (21 Jul. 1792); he acted as third officer on Prince of Wales from Canton Mate (24r) Sailmaker (24r) Carpenter (117v) Cooper (Taylor 241a) Wm. Whetman [?] Cook (BCA, A/A/40/C71)

290 | Appendix 4

This may be compared to the Princess Royal’s crew on her second trip to the Northwest Coast, from Canton in 1789 (Howay 1940: 12): Master Mates (2) Boatswain Carpenters (2) Cook Steward Armourer Seamen, able (6)

Appendix 5 List of Illustrations Originally Appearing in Colnett’s Journal

Over eighty illustrations appeared in Colnett’s journal. The majority of these are charts and maps, but there are also many drawings and watercolours of local flora aud fauna. The illustrations reproduced in this volume are indicated by an asterisk in the list below. Quotation marks enclose the wording of the illustration captions as they appeared in the journal. 12r 13r 16r 17r 20r 21r 22r 30r 32r 37r 41r 48r 49r* 50r 57r 62r 63r

76r 81r 88r 95r 102r 108r

Sketch. “Body of Porto Santo NWbyW 5 Leagues” – pen and ink. Sketch. “Madeira WNW 9 Leagues, Deserters 3W Leagues” – pen and ink. Sketch. “Palma E by N 9 Leagues” – pen and ink. Sketch. “Ferro WbyS 3 Leagues” – pen and ink. Sketch. “Bonavista from WNW to NNW 5 or 6 Leagues” – pen and ink. Sketch. “Mayo Dist. 3 or 4 Leagues” – pen and ink. Sketch. “A View of the [Anchoring] place in the Isle of St Jago” – pen and ink. Sketch. “Fernando Loronho 10 Leagues dist.” – pen and ink. Sketch. Unidentified bird – water colour, coloured grey, top of the head white, eye red, webbed feet]; notation on 31v: “Description of the Noddy.” Untitled sketch. Cuttle fish – watercolour; notations: “Mohi Atooi,” “Ma-rouai,” “Cuttle fish Jumpd onbd Decr 22nd.” Notation: “Port Egmond Hen (The Drawing Stole by the Spaniards).” Sketch. “Cape Diego S by E 2 Leagues” – pen and ink. Sketch. “Entrance of New Years Harbour, taken from Anchorage under New Years Isles, bearg SEbyS” – pen and ink. Sketch. “Entrance of new Year’s Harbour when bearing ESE” – pen and ink. Untitled sketches. Two rare shells – water colour. Untitled chart. Patagonia, lat. 47°-59°S, long. 61°-76°W – ink, unfinished. Six sketches. “Colour of Soundings off Cape Blanco [and] from Falklands Isles to Cape St Vincent. The last soundings continued till the water shoaled to 55 fathoms then within 6 or 7 Leagues of the Cape” – water colour. Untitled sketch. Unidentified fish – water colour; [blue and yellow]. Untitled chart. Atlantic Ocean, South America, east half North America, British Isles, and part of West Africa – ink, unfinished. Sketch. “Booby, 1/9 the size” – water colour; shades of grey, eye red. Two sketches. 1) unidentified fish – water colour [top one], blue and white]; 2) unidentified fish – water colour [bottom one] blue and yellow. Untitled chart. North Pacific, and North America, lat. 0°-80°N, long. 90°-180°W. – unfinished, ink. Untitled sketch. Water colour – marine invertebrate [?] – blue and pink; notation: “This was a former voyage took for snow.”

292 | Appendix 5

111r 112r* 125r* 129r* 130r 131r 132r* 134r 136r* 136v 137v 138r 139r

139v 140r*

141r 143r

149r 150r*

156r 157r

173r* 175r 181v* 182r

Untitled sketch. Coastline, probably in the vicinity of Nootka Sound – pen and ink, unfinished. Untitled chart. Nootka Sound, Tlupana Inlet, and Muchalat Inlet – pencil, unfinished. Untitled sketches. Nineteen Nuu-chah-nulth artifacts – pencil, unfinished. Untitled chart. Port Brooks – pencil and ink, unfinished; notation: “Latd. 50°12’N, Long 127°52’W, Varn. 22°30’E.” Sketch. “Entrance to Port Brooks, NbyE 3 or 4 Miles” – pen and ink. Published in Haggarty and Inglis (1997: fig. 1.4). Sketch. “Split Rock off Woody Point, NbyW [blank] Leagues” – pen and ink. Published in Haggarty and Inglis (1997: fig. 1.3). Sketch. “Port Brooks” – pen and ink. Two sketches of a labret – pencil. Chart. “Bay and Port St James’s, Latd 52°10, Longd 131°W” – ink, unfinished; notation: “This [illegible word] the Long to be computed.” Two sketches. 1) Haida Copper – pencil; notations: “Breast Plate”; “One Sixth”; 2) Haida wooden armour – pencil, unfinished. Sketch in text. Haida halibut hook – pencil; notation: “? size.” Sketch. “Two canoes & padle of Charlots Isle” – pencil, unfinished; notation: “The James [is]lands & Showing the weed.” Three sketches. 1) “Cape St James 12 or 14 Leagues distant” – ink; 2) “Cape St James, dist 7 or 8 Leagues” – ink; 3) “Entrance to Port St James SSW 3 or 4 Leagues” – ink. Sketch of unidentified bird – water colour – light and dark blue and grey, unfinished; notation: “½ size.” Two sketches of unidentified birds. Top: Water colour – red beak, unfinished; notation: “The rest of the Bird black,” ¼. Bottom: water colour – grey with a white wing, unfinished; notation: “Both these Birds to be finished Jet Black.” Sketch. “Woman of Queen Charlotte Isles” – pencil and ink, unfinished; shows the labret. Untitled chart. Hecate Strait area, lat. 51°45’-54°15’N, long. 129°-132°W. – ink and pencil, unfinished; notation: “To main the tacking [?] in the Log. There is some mistake. C.S. James lies in 131.” Untitled sketch. The Prince of Wales under repair at Port Ball – pencil, unfinished. Untitled Chart. Port Ball and vicinity, Banks Island – ink; notation: “By Compass; Varn. 24°30’E. Latd. 53°12, Longd. [blank]. High water full & Change half past 12. Perpendicular rise from 14 to 16 foot.” Untitled Sketch. Entrance to Port Ball – pencil, unfinished. Notation, only partly legible: “E Bearg entrance of the Port bearg No. 2 leagues” Two sketches, unidentified birds 1) Water colour, – grey and white, unfinished; notation: “? size.” 2) water colour – head is coloured purple, blue-green and white, beak blue, unfinished; notation: “14” from top of beak to tip of tail [next part illegible] weighs 2 lb.” Chart. “Sketch By Compass taken from the Ship at [Anchor]” – ink; notation: “Morotoi, Jany. 1788.” Sketch. “Morotoi from Anchorage” – pencil, unfinished. Sketch in text. Makahiki image – ink. Published in Sahlins (1995: 89). Chart. “Sketch By Compass of a Bay on the NW part of Oneehow taken from the ship at [Anchor]” – ink; notation: “March 1788.” Two sketches. 1) “Owhyee N side 7 or 8 leagues Dist. – pencil, unfinished; 2) Mowee Dist 4 Leagues, E end” – pencil, unfinished.

List of Journal Illustrations | 293

183r

184r* 185r 185v

186r*

198r 199r 199v* 200v

200r 201r* 201v

202v 203r

204r 208r 208v 209r 210v

211r*

214r 214v 215r

215v

Three sketches. 1) Untitled, Oahu – pencil, unfinished; notation: “SW point [?] Dist 4 or 5 Miles Wahoo”; 2) “E. End of Atooi dist 3 or 4 leagues” – pencil, unfinished; 3) “Oneehow S end dist 3 Leagues” – pencil, unfinished. Sketch. “Atooi from [Anchorage]” – pencil, unfinished. Sketch. “Oneehow from [Anchorage]” – pencil, unfinished. Three sketches of unidentified birds. 1) Water colour [top one] – red, black and white]; 2) water colour [middle one] – grey, brown and yellow at top of legs; 3) water colour [bottom one] – olive and light brown. Ten sketches of unidentified fish. 1) Water colour, yellow; 2-4) water colours, red and white stripes; 5) water colour, brown stripes; 6) water colour, yellow and black; 7) water colour, grey, perhaps unfinished; 8) water colour, brown and cream on back, red and white on face and underbelly; 9-10) pencil, unfinished. Untitled sketch in text. Nihoa – pencil, unfinished. Untitled sketch. Middleton Island – pencil, unfinished. Untitled chart. Macleod Harbour, Montague Island – ink. Two sketches. 1) “Cape Hinchinbrook E by S 2 Leagues” – pencil, unfinished; 2) “High Barren Rock in the Entrance of the Arm leading to port Etches” – pencil, unfinished. Small sketch in text. Iron dagger. Untitled chart. Port Etches, Hinchinbrook Island – ink. Two sketches. 1) “a View of the Head of port Etches” – pencil, unfinished; 2) “View of the entrance of the arm off port Etches” – pencil, unfinished. Both sketches are barely legible. Sketch in text. “Cape Hinchinbrook WbyN 2 or 3 Leagues” – pencil, unfinished. Three sets of sketches in text. 1) A labret – ink, partly colured red; 2) sketch of two-person kayak – pencil; 3) sketches of fishing spear and harpoon head – pencil; two notations: “B the mouth of the bladder or float”; the other is illegible, but appears to refer to a harpoon head, marked A. Untitled chart. Northwest Coast, Kodiak Island to Cape Suckling, lat. 57°-62°N, long. 205°-216°W – pencil, unfinished, barely legible. Sketch. “Entrance of Comptroller Bay” – pencil, unfinished. Two untitled sketches. Apparently the coast of Kayak Island – pencil, unfinished. Untitled sketch in text: the coast near Mount St. Elias – ink. Three sketches in text. 1) Canoe and paddles – pencil; 2) “N. entrance to Foggy harbour as shown [illegible words] to the Eward of Mount St. Elias [illegible words]” – pencil, unfinished; 3) “Mount St Elias N52°W Dist 4 or 6 Miles” – pencil, unfinished. Untitled chart. Anchorage, Yakutat Bay – ink, unfinished; notations: “Part of this is copied from Capn Dixons Sketch,” and “sounding within the Isles in the Harbour Irregular, from 7 to 50 fm in the Bay Hard & Stony in the Harbour 6 fms muddy.” Untitled sketch. The coast, east of Yakutat Bay – pencil, unfinished. Untitled sketch. The coast in the vicinity of Mount Fairweather – pencil, unfinished; notation: “Mount Fair weather.” Two untitled sketches. 1) The coast in the vicinity of Cape Cross – pencil, unfinished, shows location D; 2) the coast in the vicinity of Cape Cross, notations: “Cross Cape NNW 2 leagues” and “Cross Mountain.” Untitled sketch. The coast in the vicinity of Mount Edgecumbe – pencil, unfinished; notation: “Mount Edgecomb.”

294 | Appendix 5

216v 217r

Sketch in text. A Tlingit ornamental headdress – pencil. Sketches. “Purple and Crimson Berry” – 2 water colours – left is purple; right is red], unfinished. 225r Untitled chart. Latitude 51°45’-57°N, longitude 130°-136°W – ink, unfinished; notation: “Cape St James must be placed in 131.” 226r Two untitled sketches in text. 1) The Hazy Islands – pencil, unfinished; 2) Forrester Island – pencil, unfinished; notation: “N8E 2 or 3 Leagues.” 227r Four unfinished sketches. 1) “Etches Isle” – Forrester Island – pencil; 2) “Main at back of Etches Isle” – pencil; notation: “Entrance to the Port the [?] Boats were in”; 3) “Land Making the entrance to Charlottes Straight” – Dixon Straits – pencil; 4) “N end of Charlottes Isles” – pencil. 229r* Untitled chart. Anchorage near Scudder Point, Queen Charlotte Islands – ink. 230r Two Sketches in text. 1) “Shoal point [Scudder Point] from Anchorage” – ink; 2) “N point of bay from Anchorage” – ink. 231r* Untitled chart. Anchorage at Kildidt Sound – ink; notation: “A Cluster of small Isles covered with wood & deep water in the Channel.” 232r Three sketches. 1) “Entrance to Port Farewell dis 3 or 4 leagues” – pencil, unfinished; notation: “Mount Farewell”; 2) untitled – pencil, unfinished; notation: “Id from SEbyS”; 3) untitled, shows “Dixons Isles” [Scott Islands] – pencil, unfinished. 236 Untitled chart. The Northwest Coast, lat. 47°-61°N, long. 120°-159°W – ink and pencil, unfinished. 239r Notation: “Chart of Sandwich Isles” – notation in pencil; no chart. 269r Notation: “Chart Track of the Route [?]” – notation in pencil; folio blank.

Notes

Introduction

1 For a recent overview, see Marshall 1998; for discussions concerned with the Pacific, see Harlow 1964: 419-81; Roe 1958; Frost 1980; Steven 1983; Spate 1979-88, 3; Gough 1992. 2 Etches 1790a: 10-11. The interest in the Northwest Coast, apart from strategic concerns, offered a contribution to the chronic problem of deficits in the China trade. 3 On the Spanish expedition of 1779, see Cook 1973: 93-100; Thornton 1918. Dalrymple (1789c) published a chart of Bucarelli Bay derived from the work of the expedition. The next Spanish vessel on the Northwest Coast was the Princessa in 1788. 4 On the Russian voyages, see Tikhmenev 1978; Shelikhov 1981. 5 On Spanish plans, initially limited to California, see Ogden 1941: ch. 2, Cook 1973: 10711; on Russian plans, see Barratt 1981: ch. 4; on India, see Gough 1989, Frost 1980: 23. An intriguing, if shadowy, figure in early attempts to capitalize on the commercial possibilities revealed by Cook’s third voyage was William Boldt or Bolts. A Dutchman, Bolts resigned from the English East India Company in 1766 and founded his own trading company, the Imperial Company of Trieste for the Commerce of Asia, under Austrian auspices in 1775. From this vantage point Bolts must have gained early information about Cook’s final voyage as, by 1781, he was making plans for an expedition to trade furs on the Northwest Coast and sell the produce at Canton. A vessel of between 500 and 600 tons and a tender, manned with “four English officers, bred under Cook,” were to sail from Trieste. Although plans were well advanced the following summer, they came to naught and the company, following the return of peace and “intrigues” by other directors, was bankrupt in 1784. Bolts, however, was not easily discouraged, and he had taken the precaution of making overtures for support elsewhere. In 1782, he made enquiries to the Russian government. This proved unproductive, and in 1783 or 1784, Bolts seems to have moved his operations to Marseilles; at any rate, he was reported to be building a ship there. By this time, if not earlier, George Dixon, a veteran of Cook’s third voyage, had been hired, presumably to lead the expedition. Information on the undertaking is sketchy and contradictory but it clearly ended in failure. Nonetheless, Bolts’ efforts seem to have had an impact on the French government. He had made approaches to French officials on Mauritius as early as 1780, but without any known result. Later, when operating in France “during the winter of 1784-1785,” Bolts seems to have informed the Ministry of Marine of his trading plans but without any apparent benefit. However, early in 1785, the French government authorized a major circumnavigation expedition under the command of La Pérouse. Sailing from Brest, on 1 Aug. 1785, this was an undertaking in the manner of Cook. Nonetheless, the private instructions indicated important political and commercial objectives, including information on the possibilities of the fur trade on the Northwest Coast (Hallward 1920: 3, 190-95; Dixon 1789: xx; Saletore 1959: 650; Barratt 1981: 89; Milet-Mureau 1799: 11-32;

296 | Notes to pages 1-2

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14 15

Dunmore 1985: 189-95, 217; Spate 1979-88, 3: 157; Furber 1976: 226; BCA, Add. Mss. 223, Bolts Papers; BL, EIC, Home Miscellaneous Series [HM], vol. 494, 359ff.). PRO, Adm. 55/146, Log of the Prince of Wales. The pages are numbered using verso (“Any left-hand page of book,”) and recto; hereafter cited as Colnett. I have worked from a microfilm copy of the Taylor Papers, ML, Mss. A2106, Taylor Papers. The pages of Taylor’s journals are unnumbered, thus, I have used the frames from the microfilm, designating the left hand page as 1a and the right hand page as 1b. Hereafter cited as Taylor. A listing of the journals relating to the voyage of the Prince of Wales is given in Introduction (this volume), note 463. Unless otherwise indicated, information on Colnett’s career is taken from Howay 1940: xi-xvi; Gough, in Halpenny 1983-88, 5: 197-99; and Moeller 1965: vii-xciii. Naval records and Colnett’s own testimony give divergent dates and places of birth, but a baptism record of 18 Oct. 1753 for Stoke Damerel lists his parents as James and Sarah. Stoke Damerel was the parish which contained “Plymouth Dock,” renamed Devonport in 1824. James Colnett Sr. married Sarah Lang at St. Thomas, Portsmouth, in 1748. Their daughter Sarah, James Colnett’s eldest sister, was married at nearby Portsea – to George Poate in 1768. James Poate, presumably their son, served with James Colnett on HMS Pégase and probably went on the voyage to the Northwest Coast as the captain’s servant (IGI, Hampshire, 5768; PRO, Adm. 36/10554, Muster Book of HMS Pégase, #484; Prob 11/1451, #845, will of James Colnett; Taylor 135b, 278b). In 1790, Mrs. Colnett Sr. was living with her daughter and son-in-law; as no mention is made of James Sr., he probably was deceased (BCA, A/A/40/C71, Colnett Letters, Colnett to R.C. Etches and Colnett to Mrs. Colnett, 1 May 1790). IGI, London, 33145-47. A James Colnett was christened at Stepney in 1714. James Jr.’s will specifies his burial place as “Mile End” (PRO, Prob. 11/1451, #845). What appears to be another branch of the family was living in the nearby districts of Bishopsgate and Whitechapel between 1753 and 1762. Martha was a minor beneficiary in Colnett’s will. For details on Richard Colnett, presumably the brother Dick who is mentioned in the correspondence cited in Introduction (this volume), notes 8 and 12. PRO, Adm. 51/441, Log of HMS Hazard; Adm. 36/8265, Muster Book of HMS Hazard, #374 lists Colnett as appearing 28 Jun. 1770. His service on this vessel is conformed by his lieutenant’s certificate (Adm. 107/7). Subsequently, however, Colnett states that he served “on the Quarter-deck of a man of war from the year 1769” and, in 1789, that he had served in the navy for “upwards of twenty years” (Colnett 1798: vii; Howay 1940: 59). Richard Colnett was born 10 Dec. 1754 in Plymouth. He spent time in the “Straits trade” between stints in the navy, beginning as a midshipman (c. 1768) and, in 1780, being commissioned as a lieutenant. Later he was employed by the EIC. Farrington (1999: 166) provides a summary of his career; see also Steel’s Original and Correct List of the Royal Navy, January 1790: 28; PRO, Adm. 6/207, entries for 2 Jun. 1785, 1 Jan. 1787, 19 Feb. 1789; BL, EIC, L/MAR/B 402 I, J, K, T, U logs of King George (1792-98). Beaglehole (1961: 48n), in discussing James Burney, notes that the “boundary between A.B. and midshipman for ‘young gentlemen’ of his type was a very wavering one.” On this and the general complexities of advancement in naval service, see Rodger 1988. PRO, Adm. 36/8376, Muster Book of HMS Scorpion, #23; here Colnett is listed as a midshipman, aged nineteen, and born in Plymouth. Holmes 1984: 6; Beaglehole 1961: xxiv-xxv, xxxvi. John Elliott, one of Cook’s midshipmen, wrote brief characterizations of all the officers and civilians on his ship, noting that they were “in general ‘steady,’ some of them steady and clever as well”; Colnett was described as “Clever & Sober” (Beaglehole 1961: 876). Among his subordinates on this

Notes to pages 2-4 | 297

16

17

18

19

20 21

22 23 24

25

26

voyage, even serving on the same watch, was a “quiet inoffensive young man” named George Vancouver (ibid., 880; Lamb 1984: 16; UBCSC, Howay Papers, vol. 25, file 1, citing Adm. 51/4555). In his will, Colnett requested to be buried “by the side of the late Mr Binmer” PRO, Prob. 11/1451, #845. Binmer may have provided a link, or introduction, to Philip Stephens, Secretary of the Admiralty (1763-95), to whom Colnett presented the manuscript journals of his voyages and dedicated his published volume. The latter thanked Stephens for his “favors ... [and] protection ... which has so often been the encouragement, of my professional exertions.” The manuscript version of the Rattler voyage thanks Stephens for “the singular honour confered on me by obtaining for me the Rank of Commander in the British Navy and bestowing on me other numberless marks of attention and Civilities.” The comment on Cook is brief, in connection with the observance of Christmas at sea (BL, Add. Mss. 30369. James Colnett; Colnett 1798: dedication, xii, 125). On Cook’s London residences, see Beaglehole 1974: 61, 75, 388. The quotations are from Williams (1990: 74; Marshall and Williams 1982: 276). For comments on the esteem with which Cook’s men were held, and the part played by Joseph Banks in maintaining that esteem, see Mackay (1985: 21). PRO, Adm. 107/7, 104f. Colnett’s naval service included a spell under the command of Hugh Dalrymple, brother of Alexander and a friend of Cook (European Magazine and London Review, November 1802, 323; Fry 1970: xix; UBCSC, Howay Papers, vol. 25, file 1). The muster book of HMS Pégase notes that Colnett, along with his servant James Poate, was discharged “p Admty Order” on 17 Aug. 1786 (PRO, Adm. 36/10554, #62 and #484). On duty in Portsmouth Harbour, see captain’s logs, 19 Apr. 1783-30 Apr. 1787 (Adm. 51/ 679 and 678). Such movements between naval and merchant service were not uncommon in periods of peace (Rodger 1988: 269). For Colnett’s account of his hiring, see 6r; see p. 8. Subsequently, in a rare personal comment, Colnett gave some indication of the cost of a sea-faring life. During his absence, death “had deprived” him of his nearest and “many of those friends also whom I left in England ... were now no more” (Colnett 1798: vi). Taylor 299b and 301a. Colnett left Canton on the Prince of Wales at 9 pm, 25 Jan. 1789 (BL, EIC, CFR, G/12/95, Canton Diary, 25 Jan. 1789). The agreement joined the operations of Etches & Co. with those of Beale, Cox & Co. Colnett assumed command of the Argonaut and overall supervision of three other vessels (see pp. 18-19; Howay 1940: 4-7). Beale was acting as Prussian Consul at Macao, but Cox, expelled from Canton by the EIC, was in London preparing for another voyage to the North Pacific. John Meares, who had visited the Northwest Coast and had some share in Beale, Cox & Co., was then a resident of Macao (Lamb and Bartroli 1989-90; Mortimer 1791: 1; Meares 1790: Appendix [B] 1, copy of the Memorial; BL, EIC, CFR, G/ 12/96, Canton Consultations, 28 Mar. 1789; Manning 1905: 296-99). Meares (1790) contains two sets of Appendices, each number 1-5; to differentiate between them I have appended [A] to the first set and [B] to the second. Colnett’s journal of his voyage on the Argonaut has been published (Howay 1940). For other discussions of the Nootka crisis, see Manning 1905; Norris 1955; Cook 1973: 146249; Gough 1992: 127-45; Black 1994: 225-56. For Colnett’s movements in 1790 and 1791, see Howay 1940. The embargo lasted until May 1792. Thus Colnett, and the unsold furs, left Canton aboard the General Coote on 3 Dec. 1791, passing Gravesend on 24 Apr. 1792 (Howay 1940: 284, 290-91; Colnett 1798: v; Morse 1926: 185-86; EIC, G/12/101, Canton Consultations, 113-14; Lloyd’s Evening Post, 23-25 Apr. 1792).

298 | Notes to pages 4-5

27 The principal owner of the Rattler was Samuel Enderby, the leading spokesman for the whaling and sealing industry in Britain (Harlow 1964: 293-328). The voyage was “endorsed” by the British government and embraced scientific considerations (Colnett 1798: x-xvi; Roe 1967: xxxvii-xxxix). Mackay (1985: 41-49) argues that this voyage was the culmination of plans, made initially in 1789, for a voyage to the South Atlantic headed by Henry Roberts. With the intervention of the Nootka Crisis, the vessels were redirected to the Northwest Coast, and George Vancouver appointed in charge; see p. 67. 28 Colnett 1798: viii; Jackson 1978: 108. 29 The surveying work took place in 1795 and 1796. At the end of the year, while captain of the Hussar, Colnett was shipwrecked and captured by the French. The court martial documents contain no record of the proceedings, but Colnett’s letters provide some information on the incident (PRO, Adm. 1/5339, 27 Jun. 1797; Adm. 1/2623, 9 Jun., 12 Jun., and 27 Jun. 1797). 30 On the Pacific projects, see PRO, Adm. 1/5121/22, Colnett to Admiralty, 22 Mar. and 23 Apr. 1801. The most grandiose plan called for sending an army of 50,000 Irish Catholics to help the colonists “escape the Tyranny they Labour under.” For some earlier schemes, see Williamson 1946: 46-50; Cook 1973: 98; Williams 1997: 218, 257. 31 The voyage on the Glatton occupied most of 1802 and 1803; PRO, Adm. 52/3050, Masters Log of HMS Glatton; Adm. 1/1639, Colnett to Admiralty, 2 May, 8 May, 12 May 1804. Some of the activities in Australia are recorded in the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (12 Mar.-22 May 1803). On 5 May, for example, “19 boxes of Plants and Shrubs, procured here, were sent on board the Glatton by His EXCELLENCY [Governor King], to be forwarded to England: many of which, it is supposed are at present wholly unknown to the British Botanist.” 32 Colnett’s will was dated 30 Aug. 1806 and the half-pay lists give his death as 1 Sep.; however, an obituary notice in the Naval Chronicle (16: 264) published on 30 Sep. states he died a “few days since”; the notice in the Gentleman’s Magazine (76: 880) states only “September.” Colnett left an estate in excess of £5,000, bequeathing the bulk of it to Elizabeth, his daughter by Catherine Aulte (PRO, Prob. 11/1451, #845; Adm. 25/151). 33 Roe 1967: xxxviii-xxxix; Atkins 1958: 317. On the “swing to the east,” see Harlow 1952-64, 1: 62-102; Marshall 1998. 34 No baptismal certificate has been located, but his years of naval service indicate this as the most likely date of birth. An uncle, William, was twice mayor in the late eighteenth century. On the Taylor family, see Palmer 1874, 2: 80-81; PRO, Adm. 1/3167. Lieutenant’s Letters (“T” file), Taylor et al. to Chatham, 14 Mar. 1794. 35 Admiral Darby, in reporting Taylor’s appointment as lieutenant, noted that he was “used to those kind of Vessels in America.” Subsequently, following his first season on the Northwest Coast, Taylor compared the climate of the region to that of “Canada,” indicating some knowledge of the latter area (BL, Add. Mss. 38681, Admiral Darby, Letterbook, Darby to Stephens, Britannia at Sea, 22 Apr. 1781; Colnett 84b-85a). 36 PRO, Adm. 1/3167. Lieutenant’s Letters (“T” file), Taylor et al. to Chatham, 14 Mar. 1794; Adm. 6/22, Warrants and Commissions, 1779-82, 443, Adm. 11/65, 375. The commission was dated 5 Apr. 1782, confirming the appointment made on 20 Apr. 1781; Adm. 51/4382, Journal of the Proceedings on Board His Majesty’s Gun Boat the Vanguard from 20 Apr. 1781 to 19 Apr. 1782. The quotation is from a letter from Charles Henry Knowles (Capt. HMS Brilliant) to the Admiralty describing Taylor’s service at Gibraltar and certifying that he had “behaved himself Under my Command, as an Attentive, Active Diligent Gallant good Officer, and has ever Acquitted himself with great Credit during a long and Dangerous Service at Gibraltar, I therefore beg leave particularly to recom-

Notes to pages 5-6 | 299

37

38 39

40

41

42

43

44 45 46 47

48

49

50

51

mend him to your Lordships Notice”(ML, Taylor Papers, book 12, 492b). See Russell 1965 for an account of the siege. On the Vanguard, see Knowles to Admiralty (ML, Taylor Papers, book 12, 492b); on the Brilliant, see PRO, Adm. 36/9241, Muster Book, #402; Adm. 52/2180, Log of HMS Brilliant. PRO, Adm. 36/9483, Muster Book of HMS San Miguel, #34; Adm. 52/2397, #4 and #6, Log of San Miguel. Taylor’s precise rank was second and, later, first lieutenant. The Latona was at Barbados when Taylor was discharged, on 25 Apr. 1784, for “Survey” (PRO, Adm. 36/10640 HMS Latona, Captain’s Log; Adm. 51/527, Muster Book of HMS Latona, #3). PRO, Adm. 25/107-11 entries for Lieutenant Andrew Bracey Taylor; the first entry notes that Taylor “arrived,” presumably in England, on 18 Jun. 1784. For his leave, see Adm. 6/ 207, 5 Nov. 1785. Taylor’s journals (496b-498b) contain a short undated section of questions and answers concerning navigation at the mouth of the Elbe River. For the leave, see PRO, Adm. 6/207, 6 Sep. 1786. The period was two years, for “South Seas in the Merchants Service.” Taylor was the anonymous third mate mentioned by Colnett on 7 Oct. (Colnett 148r). Howay (1940: 8); BL, EIC, CFR, Canton Diary, G/12/95, 133, Manifest of Private Trade on the Prince of Wales; NRO, Great Yarmouth, Marriages. Taylor had informed the navy of his return to England on 29 Jul. 1789 (PRO, Adm. 6/207, entry of 5 Nov. 1788). On the final leg of the trip Taylor wrote a verse about returning to “the Nymph who stole my heart”; she is identified as Mary – presumably Mary Mitchell who became Mrs. Taylor (Taylor 336b). This service was intermittent; almost all of 1792 was spent on the half-pay list: PRO, Adm. 36/10799, 10800, 10820, 11606, 11612, Muster Books of HMS Barfleur, Brunswick, Sandwich; Adm. 51/89, 112, 583 Logs of HMS Barfleur, Brunswick, Sandwich; Adm. 6/24, 22 May 1790; Adm. 25/119-27. PRO, Adm. 1/3167, Taylor to Stephens 16 Dec. 1794, London. ML, Taylor Papers, Books 9 and 10. ML, Taylor Journals, 414a-415b, 435a; London Packet, 14-17 Jun. 1799, 3. According to naval records he died, of unspecified causes, on 22 Jan.; a brief obituary notice adds that he died at Jamaica (PRO, Adm. 25/138, 49; Gentleman’s Magazine, 70: 395). Taylor’s will, dated Port Royal, Jamaica, 13 Jan. 1800, refers to his wife Mary and an unspecified number of children (Prob. 11/1345, #565). A daughter, Marianne, was baptized on 3 Apr. 1795 (NRO, Great Yarmouth, baptisms). See Rickman 1781: 341, 385; Ellis 1782: 215-16; Ledyard 1963: 70, 200. Ledyard, with Banks’ support, had attempted to mount an expedition to the Northwest Coast (Annual Register 1790: 16-17). Also Zimmerman produced a German-language version and Samwell an account of events at Hawai'i. Frost 1980: 10-15; Carter 1988: 163-64, 213-14; the proposal is published in Harlow and Madden 1953: 428-30. Banks, of course, was deeply involved in the publication of Cook’s “Voyage,” see Joppien and Smith 1987: 161-69). The three volumes of text, plus eighty one plates, were published by order of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. King’s plan called for two EIC vessels to approach the Northwest Coast, via Canton, and coast between 56° and 50° (Cook and King 1784, 3: 437-40). For Cook’s observations on the possibilities of the fur trade, see Beaglehole 1967: 371-72. Born in Ashbourn (Derbyshire), Etches moved to London by 1779 and entered into partnership with Robert Hanning Brooks, a tea merchant. The business extended into the wine business and Etches was later described as “the head of an extensive wine

300 | Notes to pages 6-7

52

53

54

55

56 57

58

establishment.” He died “in London, in the year 1817-18” (Anon, n.d.: 41-53; Kent 1778: 29; 1779: 29; 1782: 28; Lowndes 1782: 23, 1783: 23, 1784: 22, 1785: 22, 1786: 37). Commonly known as the King George’s Sound Company (Portlock 1789: 6). On two occasions in 1785, R.C. Etches listed slightly different versions of his partners. Common to both lists were John Hanning – Gentleman, Dawlish (Devon); William Etches – merchant/ironmonger, Ashborne (Derbyshire); Mary Camilla Brooks (née Hanning) – Tea Dealer/widow, London; William Etches – merchant, Northampton; John Etches – merchant, London; Nathaniel Gilmour – Merchant, Gosport, Hants; Nathaniel Portlock – Captain/Lieutenant. George Dixon – Captain is added to the EIC list. Later, R.C. Etches identified himself as the governor and William Etches the younger, of Northampton, as the deputy governor of the company and that they, with William Etches the elder, “were the only proprietors of the ... Capital Stock,” amounting to 25,000 pounds. Dixon, in the context of litigation, questioned whether this amount was ever raised. He, and presumably Portlock, was given the “Sum of Five hundred pounds part of the Capital Stock of the said Company.” This leaves the role of the other “Directors” unclear, but apart from Nathan Gilmour, all were members of the Etches and Brooks/Hanning families, suggesting that the financial resources of the operation were not extensive. (IGI, London, 20,053; BL, Add. Mss. 25578, South Sea Company, Register of Instruments Under Seal, vol. 4; EIC, HM, vol. 190, 247; HM, vol. 494, 362; reproduced in Harlow and Madden 1953: 24, 27-28; PRO, Chancery Pleadings, C 12/621/20, Statement of R.C. Etches, and the Answer of George Dixon). See also p. 9 and Meares 1790: liii. G. Taswell, in a letter to Sydney of 23 Mar. 1785, outlined a plan similar to that of Etches. Part of his rationale included “being possessed of certain information, that an undertaking of this kind is now on foot in France.” After outlining the proposal, Taswell stressed “the necessity of it being entered upon without loss of time, as well from the advance of the season necessary for undertaking it as to prevent our neighbours the French benefitting by the advantage of prior movement” (BL, EIC, HM, vol. 190, 617). The fullest account of the origins of Etches expeditions is in Mackay 1985: 61-69. King had noted that Japan was a market for furs traded in China and speculated on the advantages of a direct trade. British interest in the area is reflected in Blankett’s report of 1784 on the “Seas of Japan” (Cook and King 1784, 3: 370; Frost 1980: 156 and note 6). Etches to Banks, 14 Mar. 1785, in Bartroli 1975: 10-11. Steven (1983: 45) states that Banks had discussed a similar project with James Strange a month earlier, but the source she cites does not substantiate this (cf. statements in Fisher and Bumstead, 1982: note 8). However, Strange did write to Banks in December 1785, as did the principal investor in his voyage, David Scott (Dawson 1958: 743, 793). On Banks’ relationship to Dixon, see Introduction (this volume), note 66; on Strange’s voyage, see Strange 1982, Fisher and Bumstead 1982; on Banks, see Carter 1988. See, Steven 1983: ch. 1. For an example of the costs of evading such licences, see Introduction (this volume), note 114. The Court of Directors of the East India Company (EIC) were informed of the proposals on 29 Apr. 1785 (BL, EIC, HM, vol. 494, 359, reproduced in Harlow and Madden 1953: 21-24). The interest in opening trade with Japan, following the exchange with Banks, persisted. A brief newspaper report of the expedition’s departure emphasized the possibilities of developing such a trade (Daily Universal Register, 5 Oct. 1785). At a meeting on 6 May, the company’s solicitor was instructed to prepare the necessary documents (BL, EIC, Court Minutes, B/101, 50). The EIC terms and conditions, of the same date, are reproduced in Howay (1940: 300-5). The licence has not survived, but company records contain no indications that any changes were made to these terms. See also BL, EIC, Miscellaneous Letters Received, E/1/78, 596, Memorial of Richard

Notes to pages 7-8 | 301

59

60

61

62

63

64 65 66

67 68

69

Cadman Etches, 30 Jun. 1786; HM, vol. 494, 429ff., Dalrymple [?] memo, n.d. For Etches’ comments on the cost of such arrangements, see Howay (1942: 130). BL, EIC, HM, vol. 190, 247, Devayne and Smith to Sydney, 11 Aug. 1785; E/1/77, Miscellaneous Letters Received, Sydney to EIC, 30 Aug. 1785; HM, vol. 494, 359. Elsewhere, Etches stated that the “the proper Licences and Authorities were obtained from the English East India and South Sea Companies and from the Government of this Kingdom” and contemporary magazines described the company as “under the patronage of the present ministry.” Finally, the instructions issued to Portlock required that any dispatches to Etches were to be addressed “under cover, to George Rose, Esq. at the Treasury” (PRO, Chancery Pleadings, C 12/621/20, Statement on behalf of R.C. Etches; Scot’s Magazine, 1785: 462; European Magazine 1785: 236; Etches 1790b: 29). See also John Etches (1790a: 2-4). Incorporated in 1711, the South Sea Company was granted a monopoly of English trade and navigation west of Cape Horn. This closed the Pacific Ocean to unlicensed British vessels (Parry 1974: 140, 347). Etches’ licence, dated 4 Aug. 1785, became operative on 1 Sep. 1786 and ran for five years. Howay (1940: 306-7) included an extract in his edition of Conett’s Argonaut journal. For a full text, see BL, Add. Mss. 25578, South Sea Company, Register of Instruments Under Seal, 18 Feb. 1735-13 Mar. 1856, vol. 4; see also BL, EIC Miscellaneous Letters Received, E/1/78, 596, Memorial of Richard Cadman Etches, 30 Jun. 1786. Perez had made contact with the Haida off Langara Island in 1774, but only a brief account of his voyage was published: see Bolton 1927; Cutter 1969; Beals 1989; Hansen 1993; Cook 1973: 85. On the other voyages, see Lebedev and Grekov 1967; Jefferys 1761; Coxe 1780; Cook 1973: 85; Barrington 1781: 473-525). See Introduction (this volume), note 48. Cook and King (1784, 2: 296) make direct reference to Coxe’s work, although Dixon lamented the “imperfect accounts” available of Russian voyages in 1785 (Dixon 1789: xiii). A new edition was published in 1787, after Colnett’s departure. Dalrymple had assumed the position in 1779; he became the first hydrographer to the Royal Navy in 1795. On his career and advocacy of the Northwest Passage, see Fry 1970; Williams 1962: 221-51. BL, EIC, HM, vol. 494, 359ff., printed in Harlow and Madden 1953: 22. Portlock 1789: 6; Steven 1983: 2. Portlock was the master’s mate on the Discovery and, according to Meares, had been “frequently employed” by Etches & Co. “as master of a trading vessel in their service” (Beaglehole 1967: 1473; Meares 1790: liii). On Portlock’s subsequent career, see DNB, 16: 198-99; Halpenny 1983-88, 5: 686-87. Dixon also served on the Discovery, as an armourer. After returning to England in 1780 he maintained an interest in the Northwest Coast, writing to Banks, in 1784, to propose an “overland crossing by way of Quebec” and the Great Lakes. Early in 1785, Dixon was associated with Bolts’ proposed expedition from Marseille (Dawson 1958: 270; Halpenny 1983-88, 5: 217-18; Fry 1970: 199; BL, EIC, HM, vol. 494, 359ff.). Taylor (62a); the Scots Magazine (1785, 47: 463). Portlock 1789: 7, 323; Dixon 1789: 5. The vessels operated separately for part of the time but obtained the largest yield of furs to that date. See p. 18, also, Howay 1929a and 1942. The profitability of the voyage became an issue in the subsequent litigation between Etches and Dixon. The threat of competition may have stimulated this step as at least one other group of British merchants was making plans for an expedition to the Northwest Coast. Apparently they were unable to secure the necessary licence from the EIC and the South Sea Company (Lloyd and Anderson 1959: 88-89).

302 | Notes to pages 8-9

70 The conditions were the same as for Portlock’s expedition, except that the EIC reduced the freight charges for cargo from Canton to £11 per ton. At a later date Colnett claimed to have a “Licence from the Honourable Admiralty Board of Great Britain” (BL, EIC, E/ 1/78, Miscellaneous Letters Received, 596, R.C. Etches, Memorial, 30 Jun. 1786; B/103, vol. 95, Court Minutes, 13 Jul. 1786, 362; D/32, Committee of Correspondence, 6 Jul. and 13 Jul. 1786, 141; Howay 1940: Appendix 1). 71 Colnett dates his involvement in the expedition from the beginning of July, and it was on 11 Jul. that Etches amended his plans to include a second vessel (BL, EIC, Miscellaneous Letters Received, E/1/79, 45, Memorial of R.C. Etches, 11 Jul. 1786; B/103, vol. 95, Court Minutes, 11 Jul. 1786, 306-7; Colnett 6r, 127v). 72 Colnett (1798: 20n) does not name Etches in this source. 73 Colnett received his discharge from HMS Pégase “p Admty Order” on 17 Aug. 1786 and applied for leave of absence on 7 Sep. He was accompanied from the Pégase by his servant and nephew, James Poate – presumably the son of Sarah Colnett (Colnett 6r; PRO, Adm. 6/207, Adm. 36/10554, Muster Book of HMS Pégase, #62 and #484, Prob. 11/ 1451, #845, will of James Colnett; IGI, Hampshire, 5768; see Introduction [this volume], note 8). 74 Seal oil, being clear and odourless, could be used in foodstuffs and for lighting (Steven 1983: 85). The first shipment of seal oil and skins from the Falkland Islands area reached England in June 1786, virtually coincident with the passage of an Act for Encouragement of the Southern Whale Fishery, with its promise of bonuses. British use of the Patagonia coast, initiated by Colnett’s voyage, was part of the challenge to Spanish sovereignty that culminated in the “Nootka Crisis” of 1790. Often overlooked in descriptions of these events is the significance of Spanish actions in confiscating the harvest of two British sealers in Patagonia in 1789. The Nootka Convention, which resolved the dispute, contained important provisions securing British access to the coasts of Patagonia. Indeed, Mackay has argued that the southern whalers “gained much more from the Convention” than the fur traders (Stackpole 1972: 81-82, 120-22, 147-50; Jackson 1978: 103-5; Mackay 1985: 37-44, 95). See Introduction (this volume), note 105. 75 During the 1775 visit to Staten Island, the “boats returned on board laden with Sea Lions, Sea Bears [Fur Seal] &c. The old Lions and Bears were killed chiefly for the sake of their Blubber or fat to make oil of ” (Beaglehole 1961: 606). Portlock had been ordered to visit the area, but only for “wooding and watering” (Etches 1790b: 19). 76 Colnett (6r) and Report of a Survey [at Canton] taken this 29th Day of Dec. 1788 (BL, EIC, CFR, Canton Consultations, G/12/94, 81-82) both state the vessel was thirty-six years old. This coincidence suggests that Colnett wrote up his journal at Canton, and that the vessel was not built in 1750. Like the King George and Queen Charlotte, the Prince of Wales and Princess Royal were fitted out at Deptford (Portlock 1789: 5; UBCSC, Howay Papers, vol. 32, file 16, Menzies to Banks, 21 Aug. 1786). 77 Colnett 6r-v; on a subsequent occasion, Colnett gave the displacement as 170 tons (BL, EIC, CFR, Canton Consultations, G/12/89, 184-85, Colnett to Browne, 13 Nov. 1788). 78 Dixon 1789: 231-34; Smith 1911: 141. 79 For details see Appendix 4. This may be compared with the crew of the Experiment, a vessel of 150 tons that sailed for the Northwest Coast from Bombay in 1785. Her complement of thirty-seven men was distributed as follows: captain; chief officer; second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth officers; surgeon; boatswain; gunner; carpenter; sailmaker; armourer; cooper; armourer’s mate; carpenter’s mate; two quarter-masters; cook; captain’s servant; and seventeen seamen (Scott [?] to Strange, 1 Sep. 1785, BL, EIC, HM, vol. 494, 419). For accounts of this voyage, see Strange 1982; Fisher and Bumstead 1982. The Queen Charlotte, of 200 tons, carried a complement of thirty-three men, twentyfour of whom were “seamen” (Portlock 1789: 6).

Notes to pages 9-10 | 303

80 In the Board of Trade “Register of Vessels,” she was listed at sixty-one tons (PRO, BT 111/1). Colnett 6v, 51v; Taylor 13a. 81 Taylor 10b. It was probably the same issue that led Etches, as late as Sep. 1786, to consider a “handsome offer” from a gentleman for a passage to Tahiti. Nothing came of this plan (Bartroli 1975: 12). 82 Etches later wrote, “Tho I was highly condemn’d in the outfit of this Vessel yet, I, from the certain information I had, and the Captain and people being confident of their safety, I sent her out. Her voyage hath compleated my most sanguine wishes” (Jackman 1969: 248). The details of Etches’ dispute with Dixon can be traced in Howay 1929a: 106; PRO, Chancery Pleadings, C 12/621/20, Statements of R.C. Etches and George Dixon. 83 PRO, Adm. 36/8036, Muster Book of HMS Conqueror, #1030; Steel’s List of the Royal Navy, 1800. 84 PRO, Adm. 106/2920, Navy Board Register of Masters, Charles Duncan, 1 Nov. 1781; Adm. 36/9549, Muster Book of HMS Latona; Adm. 52/2371, Masters Log of HMS Latona. On Burney, see Beaglehole 1961, 1967; Manwaring 1931: 162-64; Part 1 (this volume), note 71. 85 Colnett 6v; Duncan to Pitt, 3 Jun. 1790 (PRO, HO 28/61, f. 372-73); Rodger 1988: 20; Beaglehole 1974: 26. In 1786, Duncan improved his master’s ticket to cover naval vessels of the “Third Rate” (PRO, Adm. 106/2920, Navy Board, Register of Masters, Charles Duncan, 26 Aug. 1786). A list of Duncan’s charts, published by Alexander Dalrymple, is included in the Bibliography. Taylor (13b) adds that Duncan was married. 86 PRO, HO 28/61, 372-73, Duncan to Pitt, 3 Jun. 1790 (copy in Lamb Papers, box 7, file 2); CFR, Canton Consultations, G/12/94, 79; Howay 1940: 8. Because of a dispute about settling his accounts with John Etches, Duncan “kept back the Ships papers.” 87 Taylor 8b. 88 For Menzies’ early career, see Naish 1996: 45-51; Galloway and Groves 1987: 3-14. Menzies served as assistant surgeon on HMS Nonsuch in 1782 and as Surgeon’s second mate on HMS Assistance between 1784 and 1786 (PRO, Adm. 36/10437, #234). 89 On his communication with, and formal introduction to, Banks, see Hope to Banks, 22 Aug. 1786, published in Smith 1911: 139; Dawson 1958: 605. 90 At this time the combination of surgeon and botanist (or plant collector) was common; botanical instruction was a part of medical education at a time when the “pharmocopia was still largely herbal”(Spate 1979-88, 3: 203; Mackay 1985: 13). Menzies thanked Banks for his efforts in securing the appointment, adding that Richard Etches had promised him “every indulgence the situation of the voyage would permit.” This and the other comments to Banks are contained in a letter written from Sao Tiago, Cape Verde Islands (BCA, Newcombe Papers, Add. Mss. 1077, vol. 49, file 3, Menzies to Banks, 16 Nov. 1786, original, Kew: 1 – 249). See also ibid., letter of 21 Aug. 1786; Smith 1911: 139-41; Dawson 1958: 605-6; EBGA, Menzies to Rutherford, 12 Sep. 1789. 91 BCA, Newcombe Papers, Add. Mss. 1077, vol. 49, file 3, Menzies to Banks, 7 Sep. 1786, original, Kew: 1 – 243; Dawson 1958: 605. 92 Lamb 1984: 30-31 and 258-59. The latter gives a full listing of Menzies’ journals; parts of the journals for 1792, 1793, and 1794 have been published (Newcombe 1923; Olson and Thilenius 1993). 93 PRO, Adm. 36/10026, Muster Book of HMS Keppel, #4; Adm. 106/2927, James Johnstone, Letter of 16 Sep. 1786; Adm. 6/90, James Johnstone, 5 Sep. 1786; Adm. 36/10434, Muster Book of HMS Assistance, #534. He also served on HMS La Fortunée, HMS Formidable, and HMS Queen. 94 Johnstone and Menzies were paid off on 22 Aug. 1786, after HMS Assistance reached Chatham (PRO, Adm. 52/2140, #10, 22 Aug. 1786). On returning to England in 1789,

304 | Notes to pages 10-11

95

96

97

98 99

100 101

102

103

Johnstone was “appointed to superintend a division of Ships in Ordinary” at Plymouth (Lamb 1984: 307n). For further details, see p. 67. A Thomas Hudson served on HMS Pégase for six months before “running” (i.e., deserting), in March 1784. Whether these were one and the same person is unknown (PRO, Adm. 36/10554, #208). For a discussion of the varying significance of “running” and naval responses during peacetime, see Rodger 1988: 188-204. Howay 1940: 8, 189-90. Meares (1790: Appendix [B] 3, Meares to Colnett, 25 Apr. 1789) identifies the mate of the Princess Royal as “Mr Jacques” but adds only that he supplied an American trader with copies of Captain Hudson’s charts. Described by Colnett (179r) as “a Young Gentleman” during the visit to the Hawaiian Islands in 1788. Later, after being captured by the Spanish, Colnett asked his own mother to “Let Mr Temple’s Mother know he was well” (BCA, Colnett Letters, A/A/40/C71, Colnett to Mrs Colnett, 1 May 1790). See Part 2 (this volume), note 94. Stewart’s brother was a midshipman on the Bounty and one of the leading mutineers. The family was from the Orkneys (Dening 1992: 21; Pethick 1980: 255, note 45). BL, EIC, CFR, Canton Diary, G/12/95, 133, Manifest of Private Trade on the Prince of Wales. Joseph Ingraham, an American trader, while anchored at Cumshewa in 1792, wrote: “I inform’d them [Cumshewa and Skatzi] that Stewart commander of the jackall before men’d was one of Capn Duncans mates in the Sloop Prs Royal at the time their tribe made an attempt to take her” (Kaplanoff 1971: 204). The Jackall was part of a three-vessel trading venture, under William Brown, that visited the Northwest Coast between 1792 and 1794. It was a dispute with Brown that lead to Stewart remaining at Hawai'i, although Boit thought that his brother’s involvement in the Bounty mutiny contributed to his contentment there (Kuykendall 1923: 113-16; Hayes 1981: 74). Burling gives a thumbnail sketch of Stewart’s subsequent career and service on the Dove, which was on the Northwest Coast in 1798 and 1799 (Jackman 1978: 52-53, 70-71). For further details on the incident involving Duncan, see Appendix 1. The comment on Menzies is contained in a letter from Etches to Banks of 29 Sep. 1786 (Bartroli 1975: 12). Mackay (1985: 80, n46) states that a “Journal of Hanna’s first voyage appears to have been circulating in England” by September 1786. A brief commentary on the voyage, with few specifics, was also published (Scot’s Magazine, September 1786: 453). Moreover, the EIC almost certainly had received information on the voyage. The Council of Supercargoes at Canton had written to the Court of Directors about Hanna on 28 Feb. 1786: “A small vessel was sent last year from Macao to the North West coast of America, and has had, by what we can learn, some success. Should this trade be persued, we hope it will prove of great Benefit to the Company’s Affairs here, by opening another channel of supply which in the ever increasing state of their Investment, they stand greatly in need of ” (BL, EIC, CFR, Canton Consultations, G/12/82, 8). Colnett provided a partial summary of his orders while at San Blas in 1789. He was “to come no nearer to the Coast of America to the southward of forty five degrees but in stress of weather and obliged to seek a port; or falling in with any foreign Ships, before reaching the Latitude of 45°” (Howay 1940: 76). Portlock’s instructions, from which the quotations are taken, were published by John Etches (1790b: 18-29); an extract is included in Harlow and Madden (1953: 29-30). EIC documents indicate that some thought was given to having the Princess Royal return via Cape Horn, but this was a discretionary matter (Howay 1940: 299). Colnett had visited Sao Tiago, one of the Cape Verde islands then known as St Jago, on the Resolution in 1772 (Beaglehole 1961: 26-31, including chart). During this stay, Menzies wrote to Banks about his preparations for the voyage (BCA, Newcombe Papers, Add. Mss. 1077, vol. 47, file 3, Menzies to Banks, 16 Nov. 1786 – original, Kew: 1 – 249).

Notes to pages 11-13 | 305

104 Staten Island, now known as Isla de los Estados, is located off Tierra del Fuego (Beaglehole 1961: 1012). Colnett had visited Staten Island in 1775, on the Resolution, and anchored at almost the same location in 1787 (Journal 53b; 1798: 20). 105 New Years Harbour was named by Cook, after the date of arrival. Beaglehole (1961: 602-5, fig. 74) includes a sketch of the harbour by Joseph Gilbert. Menzies used his time to collect “many rare & curious plants, some of which are not described even in the 14th Edition of the Linnaean System” (BCA, Newcombe Papers, Add. Mss. 1077, vol. 49, file 3, Menzies to Banks, 11 Feb. 1787, New Years Harbour, Staten Land – original, Kew: 1 – 129). See Part 1 (this volume), note 38. 106 The factory was not a success. John Etches (1790a: 5-6) stated that his brother Richard, in 1787, “equipped a large ship, the Duke of York, to reinforce the settlement on Staten Island, which ship was unfortunately wrecked soon after her arrival there. The experiment sufficiently ascertained the importance of this island for the wooding, watering, and refreshing of ships bound round Cape Horn, but the disaster put an end to the establishment, and the people quitted the island in their boats”; see also Stackpole (1972: 118-20; Mackay 1985: 40). Norris (1955: 565 and note) discusses the role of this establishment in the Nootka negotiations of 1790. See also Introduction (this volume), note 74; Harlow 1964: 293-320; Steven 1983: 64-80. 107 In his account of the Rattler, Colnett (1798: 19-20) notes his 1786 visit to “Staten” land and offers some advice on “the navigation round Cape Horn.” The comments are from Taylor’s poem “Departure from New Years Harbour, Staten Island” (Taylor 34a). 108 The intention of visiting Hawai'i is indicated by Menzies in a letter to Banks from Sao Tiago: “We are this far safe & in good spirits on our voyage to Owyhee &c” (BCA, Newcombe Papers, Add. Mss. 1077, vol. 49, file 3, Menzies to Banks, 16 Nov. 1786, original, Kew: 1 – 249). Portlock, who had been ordered to proceed directly to the Northwest Coast, stopped at the Hawaiian Islands (Etches 1790b: 19; Portlock 1789: 57-60). 109 Colnett 115v; Taylor 40b, 44a-b, 45b. 110 The Princess Royal was in better shape, but Portlock and Dixon had fared far worse. Indeed, Portlock claimed it was his fear of losing “Capt. Dixon & all those affected” that prompted him to visit the Hawaiian Islands and delay his journey to the Northwest Coast (BL, EIC, CFR, Canton Consultations, G/12/86, 167-69, Portlock to The Honble. East India Companies Resident at Canton). Dixon later recommended that vessels rounding Cape Horn should head for the Marquesas Islands “to prevent the fatal effects of the scurvy” (Howay 1929a: 149). For a discussion of scurvy and its treatment at this time, see Lloyd 1979. 111 For an account of Barkley’s voyage, see Hill 1978. 112 Etches (1790b: 18-29); Colnett 117r. Portlock (1789: 129, 141) had intended to winter at Nootka, but owing to adverse weather he abandoned the attempt to enter the sound and proceeded to the Hawaiian Islands instead. James Strange’s expedition also failed to realize a similar objective (Fisher and Bumstead 1982: 66-67). John Etches (1790a: 7) subsequently described the disappointment: “So certain were they of finding an establishment formed there, agreeable to the equipment and orders given to Captains Portlock and Dixon, commanders of the first expedition, that, on discovering a boat coming off, Mr John Etches was persuaded that he recognized the officer sent out to command at the factories; but, to their utter astonishment, they found it to be a boat belonging to the Louden, Captain Berkley, under Imperial colours.” 113 Colnett (1798: 24) later commented that “the greatest part of the cargoes of ships voyaging to the North West Coast of America, have been collected in boats. The long-boat of the ships I commanded in my first voyage thither, coasted from 60° North, many leagues to the Southward, as well as various bays and inlets which the ship could not enter.”

306 | Notes to pages 13-15

114 The owners included EIC directors and supercargoes in China, and Barkley also had Company connections, having served on a number of company vessels. Once the owners’ dilemma became clear, they sold the vessel in Canton, precipitating a financial dispute with Barkley (Hill 1978: 60-62, 124-25; BL, EIC, CFR, G/12/86, 238; Farrington 1999: 43). 115 Dixon 1789: 233. 116 Colnett 127r-v; Taylor B: 173a. (From 4 Jan. to 23 Feb. 1788, Taylor’s journals contain two separate accounts of events. I have distinguished between them by prefixing citations of the first by A and the second B.) 117 Colnett 127v. 118 Meares mistakenly located Port Brooks in the area of Klaskish Inlet. This error was adopted on Spanish charts and accepted by modern scholarship; e.g., Walbran 1971: 64; Howay 1929a: 110; Wagner 1937: 434. 119 The quotation is from the logbook, 22 Aug. 1787; Colnett Maps 1 and 2 (see pp. 285-86). 120 Journal, 134v; Colnett Map 1. 121 Taylor 73a; Johnstone used Calamity Harbour on his chart. The anchorage was a short distance east of the Calamity Bay of current maps; see Colnett 142v, 150r; Colnett Maps 1 and 2 (see pp. 285-86); Johnstone Map 1 (see p. 287). 122 Colnett 155r. 123 Dec. 1787. 124 On 15 Jan., the Prince of Wales sailed for O'ahu (Colnett 173v). 125 On the Makahiki, see Sahlins 1995: 88-91. 126 Colnett recorded that following an incident at Moloka'i, Duncan “had come to Atooi [Kaua'i] for the Assistance of our surgeon” (176v). 127 Colnett 176v, 178v. Women had also slept on board the Prince of Wales during the stay at Moloka'i (Colnett 173v, 177v, 179v). Some of the crew on both vessels contracted venereal disease (Colnett 181v, 198r). 128 There is a good deal of confusion about this incident. Colnett (175v-177v) received Portlock’s letter on 29 Jan., when off Kaua'i, and complained that it made no mention of the theft of the anchor. It had been written the previous October and left with Chief Oponui (Abenuee) after Portlock had learned of Colnett’s and Duncan’s presence on the Northwest Coast from a letter left by Dixon. Portlock’s letter has not survived, and his published account records nothing of its contents. He does refer to a series of incidents involving anchors: none concern the King George at Waimea Bay, on Kaua'i, but an anchor was lost at O'ahu and two at Ni'ihau, although the latter were recovered. It was the anchor lost at O'ahu that Colnett purchased at Kaua'i. The Queen Charlotte also lost a small bower at Kaua'i and another at O'ahu, although the latter was recovered. Some of these incidents Portlock attributed to Native actions, but not all (Portlock 1789: 167-68, 195-96, 199, 307-8; Kirch and Sahlins 1992: 39). Part of the confusion may have derived from the fact that Portlock wrote the letter to Colnett at Ni'ihau, where he had lost two anchors in February 1787. 129 Colnett noted that Ka'eo, the “King” of Kaua'i, was expecting an invasion from O'ahu and Hawai'i, “but by getting some of our Persons & arms in his possession [Ka'eo] ... thought would deter the Invaders from putting their threats in Execution & had frequently solicited some onboard to stay to Assist him” (Colnett 180v). This was part of the process, beginning about 1783, by which Kahekili, elder half-brother of Ka'eo, secured control of all the islands save Hawai'i. A rebellion flared up on O'ahu in 1785 or 1786, which was “put down with bloody reprisals” (Kirch and Sahlins 1992: 36-39). 130 For a discussion of these islanders, see entry for 18 Mar. 1788 and Part 2 (this volume), note 108. 131 Duncan dates the departure on 20 Mar. 1788 (Appendix 1), but the EIC log states the afternoon of the 18 Mar. For further comments on Nihoa, or Bird Island, see p. 204;

Notes to pages 15-18 | 307

132 133 134

135 136 137

138 139 140 141 142 143 144

145 146 147

148

149

150

Lamb (1984: 1203-5; UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies Journal, 15 Mar. 1794; Meares 1790: opp. 80, 360; Kuykendall 1947: 3. See Appendix 1; the vessels parted at midnight 31 Mar. (Colnett 198v). Colnett had learned that “little” could be got in the Cook Inlet area as the Russians had “settled in the area” (Colnett 198v). Cook and King (1784, 2: plate 44, opp. 353); other early visitors are listed in Part 2 (this volume), note 137. Ironically, the Spanish expedition was headed by Esteban Martinez, who, a year later, would arrest Colnett at Nootka and precipitate the Anglo-Spanish “Nootka Crisis.” The Russian expedition was commanded by Izmailov and Bocharov; the former had been the Russian commander at Unalaska at the time of Cook’s visit in October 1778 (Beaglehole 1967: 450). Also termed the Pacific Eskimo: Clark 1984. Colnett 210v. The principal anchorage was called Foggy Harbour by Colnett, following Dixon’s original usage. It is now known as Port Mulgrave. Colnett’s coasting technique may well have been influenced by advice from Dixon, who used that method for trading on the west coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands. Beresford thought it “the best and most expeditious method of trading we could possibly have hit on” (Dixon 1789: 210). As Duncan recorded, a series of rendezvous points were arranged. The first of these was on the east coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands. (See Appendix 1.) Colnett 228r-v. Unless otherwise indicated, the information in this section comes from Duncan’s letter to George Dixon (see Appendix 1, Maps N [a] and N [b]). Taylor (279b, 281b) states that a rendezvous was arranged for 6 or 7 Aug. Meares saw the Princess Royal off Nootka on Aug. and boarded her on 8 Aug. (Meares 1790: 195-201; Howay 1929a; Appendix 1). Duncan Map 4; 1790: 202, chart opp. 113. Taylor (229b). Duncan sailed from the Straits of Juan de Fuca on 17 Aug. to keep “an appointment to meet the Prince of Wales on a certain day at the Sandwich Isles, in order to go in company together to China.” Colnett’s journal does not cover this part of the voyage; information is taken from the Prince of Wales’ log and Taylor’s journals. Taylor 292b, 299b; BL, EIC, CFR, Consultations, G/12/89, 184-85. BL, EIC, CFR, Canton Consultations, G/12/89, 184-85, Colnett to Browne (President of the Select Committee of Super Cargoes), 13 Nov. 1785. The Prince of Wales subsequently sailed up to Whampoa, arriving 26 Nov. (ibid., 208). Meares added that “many applications were made to Mr. J. Etches, the supercargo of these ships, for the disposal of his cargo before he went up to Canton” (Howay, 1929a: 79-80). BL, EIC, CFR, Canton Consultations, G/12/94, 22 and 76, Colnett and Etches to Harrison (President of the Select Committee), 22 Jan. 1789 and Select Committee to Court of Directors, 24 Jan. 1789). Portlock and Dixon brought 2534 sea otter, 452 cub sea otter, and 34 fox skins, plus another 17 sea otter, 13 cubs, and 4 marmot cloaks that were disposed of separately. Dalrymple lists the Canton sales up to the end of the 1787 season but probably underestimates Spanish imports of California furs. The EIC Select Committee at Canton had expressed its doubts about the trade as early as March 1787. (BL, EIC, CFR, Canton Consultations, G/12/84, 186, Select Committee to Court of Directors, 24 Mar. 1787; G/ 12/88, 54 and 101, Portlock and Dixon to Browne, 1 and 19 Jan. 1788; EIC, HM, vol. 494, 429ff.; Dalrymple 1789a: 27; Dixon 1789: 303; Ogden 1941: 15-24). BL, EIC, CFR, Canton Consultations, G/12/94, 80. The Prince of Wales’ cargo is listed in CFR, Canton Diary, G/12/95, 199 and 210; the former indicates a quantity of rhubarb

308 | Notes to pages 19-20

151

152

153 154

155 156

157

158 159

160

161

was also shipped. Details on the repairs, required for fulfillment of the charter to the EIC, are found in CFR, Canton Consultations, G/12/94, 51-2 and 68. The agreement, signed on 23 Jan. 1789, is reproduced in Howay (1940: 4-7). Meares (1790: Appendix [B] 1 Memorial, who had a share in Beale, Cox & Co., described the agreement as “making a joint stock of all the vessels and property employed in that trade.” The details of Etches & Company’s previous plans are uncertain, but Richard Etches noted that they called for a trip to Japan in the summer of 1789. However, when Colnett reached Macao in November 1788, he informed the EIC that the Princess Royal was “meant again to return to the Coast” (BL, EIC, CFR, G/12/89, 184-85; R. Etches to Banks, 8 Aug. 1788, in Bartroli 1975: 13). After trading illegally on the coast in 1788, the Iphigenia Nubiana and North West America had wintered at the Sandwich Islands (Meares 1790: 287ff). The Princess Royal sailed from Macao on 22 Feb. 1789 (Howay 1940: 12-13). PRO, HO 28/61, 372-73f., Duncan to Pitt, 3 Jun. 1790; Howay 1940: 7. Taylor 308b-309a (17-20 Feb. 1789), 334b-335b (7-12 May 1789); EBGA, Menzies to Rutherford, 12 Sep. 1789. The General Evening Post (18-21 Jul. 1789) reported that the Prince of Wales passed Gravesend, heading for London, on 17 Jul. Menzies added that the death occurred about twenty days before reaching England and was the result “of a lingering disease ... contracted at China, in consequence of intemperance” (BCA, Newcombe Papers, Add. Mss. 1077, vol. 49, file 3, Menzies to Banks, 14 Jul. 1789, original, Kew: 1 – 356). Hobsbawm (1975: 51); Spate 1979-88, 3: 221-25; Dutton 1987: 153; Williams 1997: 109; Kiernan 1995: 145-70. Edwards (1994) provides a survey of this literature; see also Washburn 1967: 332; Marshall and Williams (1982: 38-61); Williams 1997. The quotation is from Beaglehole (1966: 166). More than 100 editions of Cook’s voyages, by various authors, were published between 1770 and 1800, and the first edition of the third voyage sold out in three days (Frost 1979: 6-7; Beaglehole 1974: 692). Hawkesworth, for his editorial efforts on various manuscripts, including Cook’s first voyage, received £6,000, “more than was paid for any other literary work of the century.” Edwards even suggests, citing Colnett (1798) as an example, that publication could redeem an otherwise disappointing voyage (Edwards 1994: 85, 126). Mackay 1979: 35-36. Spate (1979-88, 3: 187) notes that there was a “striking family resemblance” among the “voyages” pouring from the presses during these years. In preparing his journal of the second voyage for publication, Cook noted that he had divided it into “Books and Chap. taking the former Voyages and Lord Ansons for my guide.” Quoted in Beaglehole 1974: 466. This is a paraphrase of the chapter headings in the published account; the principal word list, by Anderson, is located at the end of the third volume (Cook and King 1784, 2: 288, 313, and 3: 542). The headings in Cook’s journal are: Nautical remarks, Country and Produce, Animals, Inhabitants their Persons and Habits, Manufacture, Ornaments, Songs, Canoes, Food & Habitations, Food & Cookery, Large Images, Weapons, Fishing Instruments &c, Tools, Government and Religion (Beaglehole 1967: 308-30). The instructions for the second and third voyages are virtually identical; compare with Beaglehole (1961: clxviii; 1967: ccxxiii). They may be compared with the remarkable set of “Hints,” including advice on how to describe Native peoples, issued to Cook for his first voyage. As summarized by Smith (1992: 43-44), Cook “was expected to report on their natural disposition; their progress in arts and science (especially their mechanics, tools and manner of using them); the character of their persons as to features, complexion, dress, habitations, food and weapons; their methods of commerce; their modes

Notes to pages 21-22 | 309

162 163

164 165

166

167

168 169

170 171 172 173 174

175

of religion, morality and government.” The original is printed in full in Beaglehole 1955: 514-19; see p. 25. Mackay 1985: 102; Banks to Menzies, 22 Feb. 1791, in Dillon 1951: 153. Edwards 1994: 8; see also the comments by Dixon (Howay 1929a: 25) and Meares (1790: 117). A reviewer of Vancouver’s book made the point that the author faced the problem that “novelty had been greatly diminished by the relation of preceding circumnavigators” (Naval Chronicle 1: 221). Edwards 1994: 28, 72, 80; Williams 1997: 117-18, 210, 256. Malloy (1994: 132) describes the journals of American fur traders on the Northwest Coast in much the same way. Smith 1979: 160-61; he is quoting the History of the Royal Society (1667) by Thomas Sprat. Williams (1997: 114-16) discusses the role of the Royal Society in publishing early travel journals; see also Frost (1979). Taylor (21a, 26a, 31a, 61a, 299a) refers to Cook, Anson, and some other unspecified accounts; Colnett’s comments about Dampier and Anson are in the journal of the Argonaut; it is highly unlikely that he acquired this knowledge after leaving England in 1786 (Howay 1940: 170, 226). Colnett’s references to Cook’s third voyage include: during his first visit to the Hawaiian Islands, Colnett repeats an experiment undertaken by Cook in making a “Beverage from sugar cane”; later he comments on Cook tacking off the northern end of Montague Island and Cook’s description of the Cross Sound area (Colnett 171v, 200r, 215r; Beaglehole 1967: 478-79). For reference to Cook’s charts, see Colnett 82v (General Chart), 121r (Sketch of Nootka Sound), and 209v (Cape Fairweather area – Chart of Part of the NW Coast of America). Colnett 1798: xiii, 22, 54, 120. The text seems to have been “rewritten for publication.” However, as the work was “Printed for the Author,” Colnett clearly approved the final version. It includes references to the voyages of Anson, Dampier, Churchill, Roggewein, and some unidentified “Buccaneers.” See Introduction (this volume), note 452. On Menzies, see EBGA, Menzies to Rutherford, 19 Oct. 1789. Beaglehole 1974: 299. Holmes 1984: 30. Raigersfeld (1929: 13, 34-36, 67) provides a description of the education of a midshipman in the 1780s. Beaglehole (1961: xxxvii) adds that “the training the young gentlemen got was highly regarded in important circles; for when after the voyage Elliott was appointed to an East India Company ship, his preliminary examination before the Directors consisted in their ‘saying that they suppos’d I had been with Cook, that having been a Pupil of his, I must be a good Sailor; asking me how my Uncle did, and telling me to withdraw.’ Elsewhere he notes that such acceptance extended to the examinations for a lieutenant’s commission (Beaglehole 1974: 699). On Cook as a hydrographer, see Skelton 1954. Beaglehole 1961: 726; Holmes 1984: 30. Colnett 1798: xv-xvi. The journal contains an occasional invocation of the sublime; see Colnett 55v. Colnett 230r. Taylor (278a) assumed that Colnett’s account would be published. Edwards (1994: 10-11) discusses the use of verse in published accounts of voyages; there was also, at the end of the eighteenth century, a genre of “naval poetry”; see, for example, Naval Chronicle 1. In a general discussion of Officers and Seamen, Taylor (19a) stated: “I am sorry to say, though ’tis a known truth that the valuable Tar is often neglected nay frequently spurned at by the very Men who are placed in affluence thorough his industry, through his honest endeavour, his Toils, his Watchings, his sufferings, with all the dangers and vicissitudes attending a Sea life.” He also wrote a humorous poem when the vessels ran out of “grog.”

310 | Notes to pages 23-27

176 177 178 179 180 181

182

183 184 185

186 187

188 189

190 191 192 193 194

195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202

Edwards 1995: 222. Rousseau and Porter 1990: 14; Gascoigne 1994: 171-74. Forster 1996: 376. Colnett 1798: 82-83. Taylor 196b. At Port Ball, Colnett commented on the difference in behaviour between the vessel and the shore. After noting that the Tsimshian women were more “modest” than their Haida neighbours, he adds, “I am informed they deviated from that reserve when they met our people onshore” (Colnett 155r). Taylor (258b-259a) is sometimes critical of Colnett for not venturing afield – mostly on the Hawaiian Islands, but also at Sitka Sound. At the latter he wrote, “neither the Capt or Supercargo ever went on Shore among the Natives to distribute any small presents.” Taylor uses “savage” in describing the Nuu-chah-nulth (Taylor 54a) and Tlingit (Taylor 258b). The quotation is from 275a-b. See also the poem describing Koyah (Taylor 66a). Dixon 1789: 279; see also Flannery 2000: 96. Colnett 214v and Part 2 (this volume), note 225; Taylor 257a. Menzies’ views, presumably, reflect his Scottish education; they certainly exemplify current theories linking the mode of subsistence and social development. On the intellectual history of the stage theory, see Meek 1976. UBCSC, Lamb Papers, box 11, Menzies, 21 Jul. 1794; Olson and Thilenius (1993: 181-82). On Native tobacco, see Part 1 (this volume), note 325. Taylor B: 189b. Colnett (175v), while making no mention of agriculture, commented on the relationship between contact and improvement at Kaua'i: “as this Isle had been oftener visited than any of the others the natives were more civiliz’d & friendly.” UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies Journal, 13 Mar. 1792. Beaglehole (1955: 514-19). The Royal Proclamation, which has occupied an important place in the debates about “aboriginal title” in Canada, was included in the Constitution Act of 1982. Spate 1979-88, 2: 221-25; Etches 1790b: 19. Holmes 1984: 17-18. Beaglehole 1961: 292. At Tana, in 1774: Beaglehole 1961: 493. Edwards (1994: 118), who quotes this passage, adds that “Cannon Douglas must have thought it far too subversive for the British public to read so he cut it out.” See Beaglehole 1961: 175. Greenblatt 1991: 9. Beaglehole (1967: 307, 1350); Galois (1994b); Shelikhov 1981: 11-14. See also Portlock 1789: 114, 223. The phrase is used by Sauer (1971: 301) in connection with De Soto. Among the Tlingit he stated: “I am well aware of the danger of suffering him to grow familiar with the instrument of our power” (Fleurieu 1801: 231, 283). Taylor 83a-b. Taylor 58b. Howay 1940: 190-91. Pearson (1973) argues that Hawkesworth created the “heroic” explorer in his editing of Cook’s journals. On settler historiography, see Smith (1980). Baugh 1990: 5; Gascoigne 1994: 32. Smith (1979: 179) describes the intellectual affinities of Cook and Adam Smith: “In the lectures which Smith delivered in Edinburgh during 1748-49 he became an effective and influential champion of the new rhetoric which insisted upon a plain style, non-artistic arguments, and direct proofs; a style that Cook adhered to firmly in writing up his daily transactions. This is not to say that Cook was

Notes to pages 27-30 | 311

203

204 205 206

207 208

209 210

211 212 213 214 215

216 217 218

219 220

influenced by Smith’s ideas on rhetoric but that he belonged linguistically and temperamentally to the same intellectual movement.” London Times, 30 Nov. 1790, review of Meares (1790). It is also worth noting that, more than a year earlier, Meares had communicated some of the findings of his voyages to the Admiralty. In reply, Phillip Stephens stated that “Their Lordships command me to acquaint you that they are well pleased with the Account you have given of the different Islands & Places you have visited on the North West Coast of America; And that your Journals Charts Observations of the parts you have already visited, as well as those you may hereafter visit will be very acceptable to them” (PRO, Adm. 2/761 Stephens to Meares, 25 Aug. 1789). Colnett 1798: xv. For further comments on Cook as a model for commercial voyages, see Mackay (1985: 59). Goldson (1793) dedicated his book, arguing for the existence of the Northwest Passage, to “the Merchants Trading to the North-West Coast of America.” Cook was known as the “British Columbus” (Frost 1979: 19), testament both to Cook’s renown and the imperial objectives of his voyages. See the comments by Marshall and Williams 1982: 188. For a discussion with reference to the Northwest Coast, see Wagner 1938; on the legal and theological background of these ceremonies, see Green and Dickason 1993. Etches 1790a: 7-8; see also the instructions to Portlock (Etches 1790b: 26). Colnett does record presenting a “Light Horse mans” cap at Rose Harbour (134v) and “grenadiers” caps at Nootka and Yakutat Bay (116v, 118v, 124r, 210r). Moreover, some of the Imperial Eagle’s crew, on reaching London in 1788, reported that two chiefs at Nootka “appear’d with Light Horseman’s Caps on, with the King’s imprint, and they had small Brass Medals (Guineas) hung around their Necks, which they found they had from the Prince of Wales when in the Sound” (Etches to Banks, 30 Jul. 1788, Howay 1942: 1, 135). Portlock and Dixon also carried similar caps (Portlock 1789: 121; Dixon 1789: 208). Said 1994: 221-26; Harley 1988. Fry (1970: 240-41, 268-69) shows that this did result in the name of Nootka Sound, replacing “King George’s Sound.” However, a brief examination of Boas (1969) gives an indication of how much this recommendation was honoured in one part of the Northwest Coast. The Spanish, Russians, French, and Americans, of course, operated no differently. Edwards 1994: 97-99; Etches 1970b: 26. Appendix 3 gives the place names bequeathed by Colnett and Duncan. Rodger 1988: 119-24, 273-302; Obeysekere (1992: 12-13); Pratt 1992: ch. 1. The phrase is taken from Harley 1988: 301. See the comments by Dixon (1789: viii) and Cook (1973: 100, 210). Beaglehole 1974: 109; see also the review of Cook and King (1784) in the European Magazine 5: 427-29. On the wider quest for accurate longitude, see Sobel 1995. Colnett seems to have relied on lunar observations on the Prince of Wales. Garfield and Wingert 1966: 51n; Marsden 1992: 91-94. See Appendix 2. Cruikshank (1992: 14, 247) makes the point in an examination of narratives of Native peoples of the Yukon area. Dutton (1987), albeit based on European accounts elsewhere in the Pacific, provides a suggestive discussion of this topic. For some comments dealing with such communication on the Northwest Coast, see Fisher and Bumstead 1982: 137-38. Dixon 1789: 206. The incident took place off Hippa Island. Pierce captures this combination in his description of Russian activities: “According to Shelikhov, pictures, mirrors, a Kulibin lamp (devised in 1779 by a Russian inventor), books and writing were wonders for the natives by which he won their esteem, trust

312 | Notes to pages 30-33

221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232

233

234

235 236

237

and devotion. He says the natives brought to him their children as hostages and asked him to teach them to speak Russian and to read books ... By this combination of force and persuasion he asserted that he had acquired for Russia 50,000 new subjects” (Shelikhov 1981: 14; see also Dixon 1789: 182-84, 199-200). Cook and Vancouver used fireworks to inspire “wonder and admiration” (Beaglehole 1967: 110, 1018-19; Lamb 1984: 673, 883). For similar comments on first encounters in New Zealand, see Salmond 1991: 431. See Inglis and Haggarty (1987), Acheson (1991), Marshall (1993), Clayton (1995). Drucker (1955) although dated still provides a useful overview. More detailed information on constituent peoples and a guide to more recent literature are found in Suttles (1990). A map of linguistic families is found in Harris and Matthews(1987: plate 66). See Suttles 1990: 16-29 for a summary. Quoted in Inglis and Haggarty (1986: 13). Rosman and Rubel 1986: 35; see also the comments by Duncan (Map 5) and Colnett (118r). Olson 1967: 48. See also Miller 1997: 50. For a contradictory view on the existence of Nuu-chah-nulth confederacies, see Donald 1997: 26-27. For a discussion, see Dunn 1984. Miller (1997: 57), arguing that research has concentrated on “relocated” communities, states that there are direct analogues. Marshall (1993: 191-200) reviews the steps in the formation of the confederacy and argues that it was established some 300 to 400 years ago. On the Hesquiaht, see Drucker 1951: 235-38. Marshall (1993: 196-97) notes that two Tlupana local groups and the matcli from Muchalat Inlet had vague claims to rights along the Hesquiat peninsula. Whether they were operative at the time under consideration is unclear. After Cook’s departure in 1778, the following vessels visited Nootka Sound: Sea Otter (Hanna, 1785), Captain Cook and Experiment (Strange, 1786), Sea Otter (Hanna, 1786), and Imperial Eagle (Barkley, 1787). Drucker (1951: 254) notes that ownership of territory extended to salvage rights, so that “whatever was found derelict in a chief ’s territory stranded on his beach, or lost on his land, was salvage (honi) and belonged to the chief owning the place.” Moore (1977: 98) suggests that the people of Yuquot may have viewed Cook’s vessels “rather as a pair of gigantic whales stranded fortuitously by the tides near Yuquot, to be exploited at the pleasure of the Moachat. Access to this resource was controlled and non-Yuquot were denied the opportunity to barter directly with the British.” Indications of this pattern were apparent during Cook’s visit in 1778; see Moore (1977: 98-99). Colnett called the second chief Clataluka, which may be a rendition of Cuatlazape, Maquinna’s brother, or “catlati,” meaning brother. The latter usage does not necessarily refer to a biological brother but could refer to the second ranking chief in the confederacy – Callicum. On returning to Nootka in 1789, Colnett recorded the murder of Callicum – rendering his name as Caleacan (Howay 1940: 62 and n; Marshall 1993: 153ff., 214; Kendrick 1991: 73; Moore 1977: 143). A sketch map of Nootka Sound in Colnett’s journal, although detailed, does not indicate an anchorage. Colnett’s chart of “Part of North West Georgia” drawn to accompany the log of the Argonaut, shows Wamaise located on Hanna Channel to the north of Muchalat Inlet: in other words, at Cheesish (PRO, Adm, 55/142; published in Howay 1940: opp. 183). Wamaise is Colnett’s rendering of Oughomeize. On the other hand, one of Colnett’s general charts shows an anchorage closer to Mooyah, although the scale is too small to be convincing. The verbal descriptions are no more conclusive: the

Notes to pages 34-36 | 313

238

239

240 241 242 243 244

245 246 247

248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257

anchorage was either one-quarter mile (Colnett) or one mile (Taylor) from a village. Finally, there is the evidence of the Muchalaht narrative discussed p. 35. On Muchalaht territory, see Drucker 1951: 229, 233, 250. Muchalaht local groups may have been the visitors who nearly provoked a conflict on 4 Apr. 1778. See Beaglehole 1967: 299-300, 1092-94; Moore 1977: 68-101, 347. The descriptions suggest Cheesish (Beaglehole 1967: 304-5, 1401). However, maps from Cook’s expedition, by Burney (Adm. 51/4528) and Edgar (Adm. 55/21), show villages at Mooyah, Cheesish, and in the bay north of the latter, perhaps at the mouth of Hanna Creek. Fisher and Bumstead 1982: 66. UBCSC, Martinez, Diary, 207. Information on Hanna is sparse, but other accounts confirm the conflict, if not the geography (Galois 1994b). Both Colnett (118r) and Taylor (50b, 55b) commented on their “imperfect knowledge” of the language and the difficulties of communication. Taylor 54b. Drucker 1951: 237. Drucker (ibid., 232) also states that the Muchalaht groups “once had affiliations with tribes of the outer coast for a matcli tradition refers to whaling rights at homis, towards Esteban Point, a place considered Hesquiat in recent times.” In his unpublished notes, however, Drucker recorded a somewhat different version: “The effect of the decimation and merging of the groups appears in several ways. The mo’yaåth were noted among the Muchalats as sea hunters. They had camp sites as far down as hum’is on the east shore of Nootka Sound. As the [Muchalaht] wars progressed they abandoned these places. hum’is was taken by a Hesquiat family subsequently.” (BCA, Add. Mss. 870, Part 35). As supercargo, John Etches was in charge of trading activities on the voyage. Colnett 118v; Taylor 61a. For a discussion of the attitudes of Euro-American traders, see Clayton 1995: ch. 6. As elsewhere on the Northwest Coast, the Muchalaht initially viewed Europeans as a form of spiritual manifestation – in this case some kind “of an island that had smoke and people on it.” In his published ethnography, Drucker states: “Of much more concern were the many beings (tceha) who peopled Nootka territory, and who might be encountered at any time to man’s benefit or peril, as the case may be. It scarcely needs to be pointed out that these beings had as much place in the Nootkan world as did the neighboring tribes, the fish, and the animals of the forest. One soon learns of them, in talking with elderly people, and hears much of their effect on human lives.” Later he specifies that tceha meant “supernatural being” (Drucker 1951: 152, 162). For other first contact narratives of the Nootka Sound area, see Efrat and Langlois 1978. The Manohisaht inhabited Sydney Inlet, just east of Hesquiat Harbour (Drucker 1951: 238). The village of Cheesish. BCA, Add. Mss. 870, Part 23, vol. 2, Interview of 6 Sep. For accounts of Cook’s visit, see p. 6. Moore 1977: 145-46. McClellan 1970; see pp. 51-59. Spate 1979-88, 3: 213. Taylor 52b-53a. Taylor 57a, 61b. Music had been used by Cook and Strange to promote amiable relations; see the discussion in Moore 1977: 71-72, 126-29. Menzies’ comments were written on the occasion of his return to Nootka Sound in 1792, as a member of Vancouver’s expedition (Newcombe 1923: 117).

314 | Notes to pages 36-39

258 Colnett 122v; Taylor says nothing on the topic. Cook’s objections to the inclusion of such information were expressed during his second voyage, on reaching Cape Town, where he received a copy of Hawkesworth’s edition: see Beaglehole 1961: clxvi; Smith 1992: 198. On unpublished accounts, see Clayton 1995: 121ff.; Moore 1977: 92-93. 259 Fisher and Bumstead 1982: 85; see also Marshall 1993: 223. 260 Colnett 123v-124r. 261 Taylor 59b-60a. This behaviour corresponds with ethnographic descriptions of chiefly powers (Rosman and Rubel 1986: 77-78). 262 Taylor 59b-60a. 263 Oughomeize’s people, although not named, were contemptuously dismissed as “fishing Merchants” (Colnett 124v). On visiting Yuquot to trade, see Colnett 120r. 264 Newcombe 1923: 117. 265 Haswell refers to “Oomes” in 1788 (Howay 1941: 104); Martinez mentions “O-omico,” in 1789, but whether this was the same person is unclear (UBCSC, Martinez, Diary, 212). 266 Taylor 60a. 267 Strange had left a musket and a pair of pistols with MacKay in 1786, but Colnett’s comments indicate that the trade in firearms was established by 1787. When Haswell visited Clayoquot on 31 Aug. 1788, he was mortified to find that “there was nothing in our vessel except muskits would perchace one of them [skins]” (Fisher and Bumstead 1982: 70-71; Howay 1941: 44). See also Engstrand 1991: 70-71; Lamb 1984: 612. 268 See also Taylor 52a. While wintering at Friendly Cove in December 1788, Haswell commented: “to our great amazemt on the morning of the 12th we found the natives had landed and carried of 5 small cannon given to Capt Kendrick by Captain Douglass, 15 water casks besides several things of less importants the water casks were a heavy loss nor knew we aney method to retrieve the indions habitations were far distant from us of course there chiefs and people of consequence were out of reach, the next natives that visited us told us the people of the opposite side of the sound with hoom they were at war were the agressers this story pasafied Captain Kendrick” (Howay 1941: 55). It is only speculation, but could the marriage alliance between the families of Maquinna and Oughomeize, noted by Menzies in 1792, have been part of a “settlement” of this or a related dispute? 269 Colnett 119v. 270 Taylor 57b-58a. 271 Taylor 55a. 272 Inglis and Haggarty 1987: 202-5. 273 Howay 1940: 208-9. Cook accepts the identification of Mozino that the village was that of Tlupananutl; hence Owis, near the junction of Tahsis and Tlupana Inlets. The attack took place in 1790 (Cook 1973: 285; Engstrand 1991: 79; Marshall 1993: 221). 274 Acheson (1983: 74, addendum 1). Information on Hanna’s voyage is sparse but he entered Fitz Hugh Sound and later “proceeded northward, along the coast, as far as 52°20 N. during which time we discovered a number of islands, &c, not before seen, to which we gave the names of our owners and sundry others.” Hanna’s “Chart of Part of the N.W. Coast,” takes the coast to about 52°35’N. and applies the name Nova Hibernia to the area north and west of Fitz Hugh Sound (Lamb and Bartroli 1989-90: 19-25; Galois 1994b). On charts published by Dalrymple in 1789, Nova Hibernia is applied to the Queen Charlotte Islands (Duncan Map 3; Johnstone Map 3). Whether Duncan, Johnstone, or Dalrymple was responsible for this application is unknown, but the usage persisted into the 1790s (Wagner 1937: 477; Faden map). 275 Anderson 1996: 72. 276 The most important study of the Kunghit Haida is by Acheson (1991).

Notes to pages 40-41 | 315

277 There may have been some tension on this occasion also, but the sources are vague. Taylor says little of the first meeting with Sanjaskulah, and Colnett does not identify any of the chiefs. However, he does state: “I believe I had been guilty of a small error on my first arrival by giving a Man calling himself chief of the District we were in [Cooyah?], a Light Horse man’s Cap and the Chief that was along side with our present guests claim’d the same as his right” (Colnett 134v). 278 Taylor 66a, 88b. Duncan is also reported to have exchanged names with “the Son of an Indian Chief,” but no indication of time or location is given (PRO, Home Office Correspondence, HO 42/13, 57). My thanks to Dan Clayton for bringing this document to my attention. 279 Taylor 66b. 280 The numbers of the lineages are those of Swanton 1905b. 281 Acheson 1991: 239. When Haswell visited Houston Stewart Channel in 1789, he approached from the west, anchoring in the vicinity of Anthony Island. Here, a “brisk trade was soon set on foot by Coya the Chief who bartered for all his subjects” (Howay 1941: 97); see also Hayes 1981: 49. 282 Acheson 1991: 236-37. Originally from Xa’gi lnaga’-i (striped town, Swanton 1905b: 277, #15), on the Bolkus Islands. Colnett (1788) states that he lived a few leagues north of Rose Harbour and later adds that Yuka arrived at Juan Perez Sound from the south. See also Howay 1941: 201. 283 Swanton 1905b: 277, #15. 284 Kaplanoff 1971: 114, map opp. 138; Dalzell 1968-73, 2: 178, 181. See also Howay 1941: 201, 211; Hayes 1981: 43, 63; Peron 1971, 2: 16-18. Acheson (1991: 237, 240) identifies the site of this village as South Cove, Carpenter Bay, but the latitude and configuration of Ingraham’s chart suggest otherwise. 285 Swanton 1905b: 93, 272-73, 278. 286 Gunther (1972: 122-23); her identification is also questioned by Acheson (1983: 134, #7). I have not examined the original mss. of Ingraham’s journal, but the typescript at the Beinecke Library (Yale University) offers renderings of some Haida names that are slightly different from those in the published version of Kaplanoff (1971). I have used the typescript where there is a conflict. Gunther, who lists the original manuscript in her bibliography, renders the name as Kansheen. 287 In 1791, Ingraham uses Kill’ki’nant’s or Kilkinants and in 1792 Sculkinants (Kaplanoff 1971: 122, 141, 144, 200-1; YUL, Ingraham Typescript). Physical descriptions of these two are too sparse to confirm the separate identity. Ingraham describes Kanskeeni as “an old man, much emaciated, and had a kind of palsy which I observed many of the old people of the different tribes affected with” (Kaplanoff 1971: 122). Skelkinance a few years earlier was described as old, but decidedly vigorous. Taylor describes Skelkinance as “an elderly brave Man” and later thought him “a Brave man among, and much dreaded by his enemies indeed his behaviour on this occasion indicated him brave and cool.” This fits with his involvement in a series of conflicts and Colnett’s observation in 1788 that “Skilkenance had receiv’d great Injurys from the N[orth]ern Indians, & also a recent wound thro’ the thigh which I had seen” (Taylor 65b and 273b; Colnett 229v). 288 Swanton 1905b: 277, #18; Acheson 1991: 236-37, 408. 289 Kaplanoff 1971: 200. A subsequent holder of the title Kanskeeni was met by visitors to Houston Stewart Channel in 1860, by which time he had moved to either Ninstints or Qai’dju (BCA, Colonial Correspondence, GR 1372, file 347/26a, James Cooper to Colonial Secretary). Acheson (1991: 231ff.) discusses the process of settlement consolidation among the Kunghit.

316 | Notes to pages 41-44

290 Swanton 1905b: 277, #7. He also associates a Raven lineage, “Those born in the Ninstints country” (R 11a), with this village, but provides no further details. 291 Howay 1925a; 1929b; 1941: 240. It was assumed that the conflict took place at Anthony Island, but Acheson (1985) argues for Ta’dasL!in lnaga’-i, a site opposite Gordon Island. 292 Kaplanoff 1971: 144 (31 Aug. 1791); I have used the spelling from the Yale Typescript. 293 Acheson 1991: 133, 398, 430-44. 294 Bacstrom was surgeon on the Butterworth, part of a three-vessel expedition from London, headed by William Brown, which was on the coast between 1792 and 1794 with orders to establish a station on the Queen Charlotte Islands. However, Bacstrom transferred to another English vessel, the Three Brothers, at Nootka in 1792. He sailed in the waters of the Queen Charlotte Islands in 1792 and 1793 but in the latter year is known to have stopped at Houston Stewart Channel. His map, detailed but not very accurate, is reproduced in Vaughan and Holm (1982: 230; see also Cole 1980; Kuykendall 1923; Jane 1971: 93). Peron was on the Otter, an American trader from Boston (Peron 1971, 2: 17). 295 Newcombe prepared the “map of the Southern Part of Queen Charlotte Islands showing location of Indian towns” published in Swanton 1905b. 296 Peron 1971, 2: 17; Acheson 1991: 239-47. The ethnographic horizon of Swanton’s work has been estimated at about 1840-50; Newcombe’s would have been only slightly earlier (Blackman 1973: 86). Duff and Kew (1958: 59), speculating on Coyah, indicate the instability of the area: “Possibly the taint of Kendrick’s insult [in 1791] and the discredit of two defeats [by American traders] had undermined his status, and his successors were not strong-willed enough to continue the struggle to regain lost prestige. At any rate, by a generation or two later, the holder of the name was only a minor chief in one of the lineages of the tribe.” 297 Taylor 270b-271a. A dust was a disturbance or fight. 298 Taylor 273a. 299 Taylor 275a. 300 Swanton 1905b: 93, 272-73, 278. 301 Taylor 275a-b. 302 Acheson 1991: 223, 302. Poole (1972: 227) noted the antagonism in the 1860s. 303 Taylor 275b. 304 Rosman and Rubel (1986: 65) argue that Haida lineages were “paired” with two other lineages of the opposite moiety. 305 Colnett 136v. Acheson (1991: 230) states: “Fortifications were an integral feature of Kunghit settlements. Security from attack emerges as one of two major factors in the choice of village location, a consideration which is not seen to have changed with historic contact.” Newcombe shows at least fourteen forts in the area south of Juan Perez Sound; and there were probably more, as Swanton notes: “In times of internal or external commotion the people of a town generally occupied some steep-sided island or hill along the shore, defended by a stockade, or sometimes only by masses of brushwood. There does not seem to have been any permanence in these forts. A new one might be selected for each new emergency (Swanton 1905b: 71, Map of the Southern part of Queen Charlotte Islands). 306 Acheson 1991: 177. 307 Kaplanoff 1971: 121 (2 Aug. 1791), 141 (27 Aug.). 308 Swanton 1905a: 408-12. The narrative is entitled “War between the people of Kloo and the people of Ninstints.” Among the events described are the shooting of Xe-u’ and the “rise” of Gina’skilas. There is a question of who was “many chiefs”; Kia’nskina-i (Kanskeeni) was killed in vicinity of Anthony Island.

Notes to pages 45-48 | 317

309 Colnett 136v-137r; Taylor (152a) uses the term “amorous connections” during a stay at O'ahu. See Introduction (this volume), note 258, although it is dangerous to generalize from experiences at Nootka Sound to cover the entire coast. 310 Salmond 1991: 175-76. 311 Colnett 141r; Smith 1992: 93-94. Smith is careful to point out that such amicable relationships existed in a context derived from the prior use of force. 312 Archer 1991: 24-25; Miller 1981; Marsden 1992. There is some disagreement about the distribution of Gitkxaala territory. I have used the version recorded by William Beynon (CMC, Beynon, BF 422.10 – 423.1). For other versions, see BF 40.11 and 40.12. 313 IR #10 (Kitwalaoo) or IR #11 (Keecha), on the southeast coast of Banks Island. 314 Taylor 70b; Colnett Maps 1 (see p. 285) and 3. 315 Seax is the rendition of Colnett and Taylor; Seks is the current usage. I employ the latter in my discussion. On the village, see Introduction (this volume), note 322. 316 The whale boat left on 16 Sep., heading to the northeast. It returned on 22 Sep., having gone along Douglas Channel, approximately to 54°N. Colnett states that there had been no contact, but Menzies, who was on the trip, later suggested the contrary (Colnett 146r-147r; UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies, Journal, 1 Jul. 1793). 317 Colnett 146v-147r. Crespi describes a similar reaction to a first contact situation by two Haida (Cutter 1969: 237-38). 318 Colnett 147r. 319 Taylor 82b-83a. The comment was made following Seks’ final visit to the vessels on 2 Nov. 320 There are some variations in accounts of Gitkxaala territories. Unless otherwise indicated, I have relied on CMC, Beynon, map B4 (Gitkxaala 1916); BF 421.5, 423.1. 321 Wagner and Newcombe 1938: 280-81, 287-90. Hammisit, according to Caamano, was an old man with three wives. Caamano also had a dispute with the chief of another “group,” called Gitejon (Git’xon), that Hammisit helped to resolve. For a discussion of these encounters, see Seguin (1985: 28-37). Citeyats may have been the village visited by Colnett’s boats. His maps, albeit small- scale and by no means accurate, show Cape Seax and a village in the general vicinity of Citeyats. Maps 1 (see p. 285) and 3 show Cape Seax and a village at the mouth of Tuwartz Inlet; on Map 2 (see p. 286) cape and village are separated, with the former at what appears to be McCreight Point and the latter in the vicinity of Union Passage. Seguin (ibid.) suggests that Citeyats was probably a “summer camping area, not a winter village.” However, the remains of a “long house” and a house pole have been located in the vicinity (ASR FhTi 1). The contemporary IR #9 contains the site of Citeyats. 322 Map H (p. 141); CMC, Beynon, BF 422.10, #11. 323 Seks’ primary territory was at Lowe Inlet, but he also owned a site on Union Pass – probably a fishing station, just north of Union Passage. See CMC, Beynon, BF 40.12, Edward Gamble; APS, Beynon and Barbeau, 1316 Temlarh’am, #40, Heber Clifton; Part 1 (this volume), note 272. 324 Compare the description given by Caamano, during a visit to Pitt Island in 1792. He was equally unaware of the implications of the ceremonial greeting (Wagner and Newcombe 1938: 280-81, 284). 325 In his general discussion of gift exchange, Mauss (1988: 11) states that to “refuse to give, or to fail to invite, is – like refusing to accept – the equivalent of the declaration of war; it is a refusal of friendship and intercourse.” 326 Taylor 73b. 327 See, for example, the comments by Marshall and Williams (1982: 261), Colnett’s experience with Cook (Beaglehole 1961: 235-36, 255-56, 292, 388-89, 442-43), and Cook’s published account of Nootka (Cook and King 1784, 2: 312).

318 | Notes to pages 48-51

328 Moore 1977: 83. See the discussion in Smith (1992: 216) where he links Cook’s exercise of power to the establishment of markets. 329 See the comments by Taylor 67b-68a. 330 Rodger 1988: 227. 331 Hay et al. 1975: 18-22. 332 See Marshall and Williams 1982: 265-75. Cook’s published account of Nootka in 1778 states: “Here I must observe, that I have no where, in my several voyages, met with any uncivilized nation or tribe, who had such strict notions of their having a right to the exclusive property of every thing that their country produces, as the inhabitants of this Sound. At first, they wanted our people to pay for the wood and water that they carried on board; and had I been upon the spot, when these demands were made, I should certainly have complied with them. Our workmen, in my absence, thought differently; for they took but little notice of such claims; and the natives, when they found that we were determined to pay nothing, at last ceased to apply. But they made a merit of necessity; and frequently afterward, took occasion to remind us, that they had given us wood and water out of friendship” (Cook and King 1784, 2: 284-85; see also Beaglehole 1967: 306). 333 Moore 1977: 149; De Laguna 1972: 119. The discussion is primarily concerned with La Pérouse’s visit to Lituya Bay in 1786. On Locke and the need to mix labour with land to create territorial ownership, see Tully 1995: 71-78. 334 Taylor 71b. 335 Taylor 72a. 336 Colnett 152v. 337 Moore 1977: 77, 87, 354-55; Drucker 1951: 313. 338 Taylor 56b. 339 De Laguna 1972: 119. For Euro-Americans, the issue was not limited to the early contact years, as the comments of another British naval officer, made during at visit to Fort Simpson in 1853, indicate. The Tsimshian, according to William Gordon, “were perpetually round the ship, looking on at the carpenter at low tide, and alongside trading in their canoes at high water being arrant thieves they gave us considerable trouble by stealing whenever they could find anything unwatched. They also constantly attempted to cut our hawsers, and the moorings of the PB Boats, lashings etc. these thefts and attempts led to several quarrels which were sometimes very near becoming serious disturbances for the Indians having no idea of our real power were always ready to commence hostilities and assembled with knives, pistols and muskets, round the ship, in a moment on the least sign of a quarrel. In many cases we were obliged to put up with annoyances and insults from them rather than have a row, which would have put a stop to our working at the bottom or at all counts have rendered it both difficult and dangerous.”(UBCL, Gordon, Journal of Virago: 230). 340 De Laguna (1972: 347) points to this mode of behaviour in dealing with interior peoples, but it may be extended to cover European seamen – viewed as “slaves” of the officers. 341 Taylor (75b) gives a much better account of the mood of the crew during this period, describing their “dreadful apprehensions ... in this remote part of the Globe.” 342 Taylor 79b. He provides a description of the fortifications that took four days to erect. 343 Taylor 82a. 344 Colnett 154v; Taylor 83a. Among his purchases was a “Union Jack for which he had always expressed a particular desire.” 345 Colnett 154v. 346 Duncan sent an account of his trip to Gitkxaala, including the contact narrative, to the Church Missionary Society (UBCL, Church Missionary Society, Correspondence A/ 105). Walbran, who seems to have discussed the narrative with Duncan, published a

Notes to pages 51-54 | 319

347

348 349 350

351 352

353

354

355 356

357 358 359 360

361

variant of this account, adding that “Duncan was unable to say whether the narrator had himself seen the strange visitors or not, but is of opinion he had seen them, judging from the animated and graphic manner in which he related each incident” (Walbran 1971: 289). See Appendix 2. William Beynon (1888-1958), of Welsh and Tsimshian parentage, was at the early stages of his lengthy career an ethnographer of the Tsimshian-speaking peoples. In 1916 he was employed by Marius Barbeau on behalf of what would become the Canadian Museum of Civilization (Halpin 1978). The House of Laoi was a “councillor” or second level of Ganhada houses among the Gitkxaala (Halpin 1973: 288). See Appendix 2. On another occasion, Beynon recorded that McCauley and three other Gitkxaala informants were aged about 60 in January 1916 (CMC, Beynon, BF 419.1). See Appendix 2 for details. The orthography is Barbeau’s. Dunn (1978: #1754) gives this as spanaxnox, a “supernatural being; place where a supernatural being dwells” and notes that such places were “always in the sea.” UBCL, Beynon, Columbia Series, #206: 24; see also E and G, 1: 32. Rice and molasses quickly became bestsellers in the maritime fur trade and feature in other Native accounts of first contact (Gibson 1988: 388; Flannery 2000: 93-95; Dawson 1880: 161B; Emmons 1911; UBCSC, Barnett Papers, file 9, book 1: 17). Nearly a century later, some white visitors to Fort Simpson noted that “a dish of rice and molasses” was a “great luxury” with the Tsimshian. Other visitors in the 1850s were able to trade biscuits for fish (Great Britain, Admiralty, Hydrographic Office, Taunton: Mss. ODC 3, Vancouver Island Pilot, Queen Charlotte Sound to Portland Canal. Supplement 1883, p. 135; UBCL, reel 7719, William E. Gordon, Journal of the Virago: 230). See also the comments by Collins (1974: 183-84). Halpin 1973: 288. In his 1916 account of Gitkxaala territories, Beynon writes: “At the South End of Pitt Island was the village of ‘exlewels royal ganhada and was known as dzawenxtam [point] galdzap [village] (The village in the point)” (CMC, Beynon, BF 423.1). See Map H (p. 141). The relationship of this to Citeyats, visited by Caamano, is unclear (see Introduction [this volume], note 321). In a note on a narrative recorded in 1938, Beynon states Lax-txal “meaning, Lax = on; t’xa.l = flat level (incomplete). Banks Island on one side is mountainous and the other side is all flat muskeg meadows. I give the geographical name. Banks Island (UBCL, Beynon, Columbia Series, #204). Subsequently, in a list of Tsimshian place names, Beynon gives the same translation for the name but states “Geographical name Bonilla Island” (CMC, Beynon, BF 131.1, #80; see also MNH, Beynon, E and G, 6: 1). On Ts’ibasaa, see Mitchell (1981) and Introduction (this volume), note 369. Curtis Inlet, on Pitt Island, enters Ala Passage from the east. Some versions state that it involved an exchange of names with Captain Hale; others give alternative explanations related to the encounter. On the exchange of names, see Introduction (this volume), note 278; Part 1 (this volume), note 221; and Part 2 (this volume), note 158. Lewis, in Appendix 2. Garfield and Wingert 1966: 51-52. See also Garfield 1939. The principal texts are Obeysekere (1992) and Sahlins (1995), but there is a growing body of commentary by others. See Chief Phillip Joe, in Fisher and Johnston (1993: 3) and Efrat and Langlois (1978: 5463). Salmond (1991: 51), after studying Maori accounts of “first encounters,” notes that they “tentatively attributed to the Europeans some supernatural qualities.” Miller 1997: 130-31. Earlier he defines a naxnox as “primordial wonders or spirits” (ibid., 7).

320 | Notes to pages 55-56

362 UBCL, CMS, Correspondence, A/105, Duncan, Diary, 3 May 1860. 363 Colnett 230v; Taylor 283b. 364 Appendix 2, McCauley, variant 1. “Mawrh” is Barbeau’s orthography; Dunn (1978: 74) gives “mok, mog” as kelp. 365 McCauley, variant 1. Dunn (1978: 37) gives hagwilo’ox, hagwilo’og, hakhagwilo’ox as sea monster. 366 Olson 1967: 38. Stearns (1984: 202) also comments on the importance of firsts among the Haida, although with no reference to the contact process. 367 There is also a suggestion that exlewels may have owned the fishing site where the first encounter took place. McCauley states that “a huge Raven used to emerge (a crest of ‘Arhlawaels, Kanhade)” from the site. See Appendix 2: #3a. 368 Wagner and Newcombe 1938. The historical context of Caamano’s voyage is discussed p. 69. 369 Seks and Ts’ibasaa are both ancient names among the Tsimshian, sharing a common origin at Temlaham on the upper Skeena river, probably in the vicinity of Hazelton. Both names belonged to the Gispwudwada (Killer Whale) clan and were held by leading chiefs at Gitkxaala. Their relationship and relative standing clearly fluctuated, at least during the contact period. At the time of Colnett’s visit, and for a few years thereafter, Seks seems to have occupied the leading position. More precisely, other early European visitors to Gitkxaala territory met or reported information on Seks and not Ts’ibasaa: these include Duncan (1788), Ingraham (1791 or 1792) and Bishop, who thought that Seks was about forty years old in 1795 (Appendix 1; Kaplanoff 1971: 144, 230, map opp. 218; Roe 1967: 72, 94). Seguin, in contrast, speculates that the holder of the Seks name may have died not long before Caamano anchored at the southern end of Pitt Island in 1792. However, she offers no evidence to substantiate or permit evaluation of the claim (Seguin 1985: 28). European records, of course, give only occasional glimpses of Gitkxaala territory and say even less about the roles of Seks and Ts’ibasaa. The situation is further complicated by the use of these names among neighbouring groups (see the listing in Halpin 1973: 283ff.). Ts’ibasaa clearly became the principal Gitkxaala participant in the maritime fur trade – superceding Seks – but when this occurred is less clear. In 1799, Samuel Burling, a Boston fur trader, used “Chebasskah,” derived from Ts’ibasaa, as the name for all Tsimshian-speaking people and for the territory at the mouth of the Nass. It should be noted that the Gitkxaala visited the oolachan fishery at the mouth of the Nass, where they owned a fishing site, between early March and the end of May; moreover, their fishery was located closest to the sea and hence the first encountered by visiting Euro-Americans (Mitchell 1981; UBCL, Beynon, Columbia Series, #121, map). The use of “Chebasskah” for this general area suggests that earlier traders had some familiarity with Ts’ibasaa. Nonetheless, the only chief mentioned by Burling is “Shakes” (a rendition of Seks), although reference to a conflict involving his “brother” arouses curiosity. Crocker, another Boston trader, during a visit to Skidegate in 1799, also referred to “Shakes’s on the Main” (Jackman 1978: 90-92; UBCSC, Anonymous, Log of the Hancock, 2 Aug. 1799). However, the fact that Seks was also a prominent name among the Ginaxangiik tribe of the Metlakatla area invites caution when using these sources. In 1802 yet another trader was told about Ts’ibasaa by a Tlingit chief, probably at Clemencitty; there is also a reference to Ts’ibasaa’s brother having been killed by traders in the vicinity of Milbanke Sound (YUL, Haskins, Log of Atahualpa, 15 Feb., 19 Mar. 1802). A decade later, however, the mainland and islands opposite the Queen Charlotte Islands were known as the Sebassa shore and Sebassa is named as a trader. (On Sebassa’s shore, see Howay 1938: 74, 88, 98). Suter met Ts’ibasaa in 1812 and described the Gitkxaala as the “Chibasher Tribe” (UBCSC, Suter, Log of the Atahualpa, 30 Aug., 16 Oct. 1812). By

Notes to page 56 | 321

the 1820s, the primacy of Ts’ibasaa is indisputable; one trader noted that he was piloted into Nyes Harbour, somewhere in the vicinity of the northern end of Banks Island, by Mr. Shebassahs (Essex Institute, Anonymous, Journal of the Griffon, 30 May 1825; pm, Allen, Log of Hamilton, 10-17 Feb. 1821; NHA, Sturgis, Log of Rob Roy, 19-23 Jun., 26-31 Jul., 17-26 Oct. 1822). Jonathan Green, an American missionary who visited the coast in 1829, was informed that Ts’ibasaa had “no less than ten wives”; an exaggeration perhaps, but the indication of wealth and power is clear enough (Lillard 1984: 36). The point is confirmed by A.C. Anderson, writing from Fort McLoughlin in 1834, about the Native peoples living in the vicinity of Milbanke Sound: “Previous to our building here, these Indians [Heiltsuk] were much oppressed by Sebassa, a powerful Chief of the Canal de Principe, indeed the most powerful on the Coast. This Tyrant was in the Habit of coming here for the purpose of trading Skins and Slaves, but generally, on his departure taking a number of the latter with him by stealth. The natives not being then able to cope with them were under the necessity of submitting passively to his tyranny” (HBCA, B 120/e/1, Ft. McLoughlin District Report; see also Mitchell 1981). Narratives from the neighbouring Nuxalk offer further testimony to the power of Sebassa in the mid-nineteenth century (McIlwraith 1992, 2: 346-62). Missionary William Duncan noted that “Seebassah” was the principal chief in 1860, and the situation was the same in 1882 when Peter O’Reilly, the Indian reserve commissioner, also described Seks as the “2nd Chief ” (UBCL, CMS, Correspondence, A/105, 3 May 1860; BCA, O’Reilly, Diary, 15 Sep. 1882; NAC, RG 10 vol. 1275, Indian Reserve Commissioner to Superintendent General of Indian Affairs, 7 Nov. 1882). However, J.T. Walbran, writing of the situation at the end of the nineteenth century, stated: “The name and dignity of each chief is hereditary and equal, but the chief who exhibits more ambition, more personality and more enterprise takes precedence, hence Shakes was the recognized leader in latter years and was unanimously acknowledged the head of the Sebassa dynasty as well as his own. Shakes died February, 1901” (Walbran 1971: 290). Shortly thereafter, the Seks lineage began to lose prestige and became “extinct” at Gitkxaala, though the name was preserved via the paternal line and adoptions. According to Nathan Shaw (a Gispwudwada), some of the Ts’ibasaa family “took possession of the territories and names of Weesaiks [Seks].” In 1919, Beynon informed Barbeau that Seks had “died during the winter, leaving this house extinct. The last holder of the name and position was not of the original house of this royal chief maternally, but as he was related to the house paternally, he was admitted and adopted as the old chief Seks successor. He was of ganhada origin. When the last Seks died during the winter, the house was left without a successor, from either side, excepting a distant paternal cousin of the late seks, but he also was of another origin, but he had to be adopted into the house, in order to perpetuate the house” (CMC, Beynon, BF 40.6, 424.1; Barbeau, ‘Temlarh’am,’ “Other Migrations down the Skeena,” #41: 485; see also Garfield 1939: 218, 252). Garfield and Wingert (1966: 44) note that “Crests sometimes changed hands in compensation for services, upon the extinction of lineages, and as gifts. In the latter case, both the donor and recipient had the right of use.” The narrative may have been among the possessions that changed hands during this period. Unfortunately, the earliest versions of the narrative, which predate these events, contain no Tsimshian names by which to test this view. 370 Beynon later commented that “this was the origin as I recorded it in several accounts while at Gitkxaala, in 1916, and also at Port Simpson.” It should be noted that the versions of the first contact written down before the mid-1920s contain no reference to the events of Part 2, hence to Ts’ibasaa or Hale. On the position of Ligeex, see Marsden and Galois (1995).

322 | Notes to pages 57-58

371 Appendix 2, #6 (anonymous, c. 1940). 372 UBCL, Beynon, Columbia Series, #102. This narrative is undated but a copy was forwarded to Boas in 1935; the informant, Joshua Ts’ibasaa, or Zibasha, died in January 1937 (UBCL, Boas Correspondence, Beynon to Boas. 7 Oct. 1935; BCA, GR 2951, British Columbia Division of Vital Statistics, vol. 21). A slightly different translation is found in Marsden (1992: 97-102). The narrative continues by describing how Ts’ibasaa used guns to overcome an attack by a group of Nuxalk. Beynon supplies the following note on the term used for white man: “An Expression applied to the Tsibese of this time, but has continued to survive and while it is still applied to Tsibese it refers to the Gitxalas, who are the tribesmen of Tsibese. The reference Gamksi-we = white people Tsibese = chief of Gitxala, a proper name. Tsibese is now a white man, this is the meaning implied by the saying. The fact that Tsibese had guns and carried on his warfare in a manner of the white man and so in the minds of his foes, was a white man.” Dunn (1978: #83) renders the word as amksiwah and notes that its meaning, apart from designating Europeans, is driftwood. This illustrates another aspect of Tsimshian perceptions of visiting Europeans – as transients. Finally, it should be added that Caamano, at the southern end of Pitt Island in 1792, makes no mention of Ts’ibasaa or Seks. He did report seeing six or eight muskets – but in the possession of Hammisit’s group (Wagner and Newcombe 1938: 282). 373 MNH, Beynon, E and G, 6: 1, Appendix 2, #9. 374 Beynon’s comment is found at APS, Beynon and Barbeau, reel 1316: 508. The narrative collected in 1948-49 was given by Nathan Shaw; the second version, by Heber Clifton, dates from 1953 (ibid., 501-11, 522-31). Beynon wrote two versions of this narrative, in 1953 and 1954 (CMC, Beynon, BF 131.1, #79; MNH, Beynon, E and G, 6: 9-14). In the former version he locates the events at Curtis Inlet, the “property of tsibaesa” on Pitt Island. 375 Malloy 1998: 197. The source is the log of the Volunteer, which was on the coast in 1819 and 1820. Interestingly, another Boston vessel on the coast in the same years, the Ann, was commanded by Captain James Hale (NHA, Sturgis, Log of the Rob Roy, 7 Jun. 1822; Howay 1934: 16; Gibson 1992: 305). 376 CMC, Beynon, BF 131.1, #79; APS, Beynon and Barbeau, reel 1316: 509, 526-27. 377 Barbeau put the matter this way: “Lately, when the last Weesaiks or Tseebesae died, he named as his successor his adopted son. As the choice was not to the satisfaction of the tribe, they would not consent to his using the true lineage name of Weesaiks or Tseeebesae. But as the name of Hale was not considered an important or lineage name, they agreed to his bearing it” (NAC, Barbeau, MG 30/D38, vol. 2, file 8). Beynon summed up the opposition at Gitkxaala: “The possibility of the new Hale employing his own Bella-Bella people at his new commercial fishing enterprise at Lowe Inlet worried them, and besides he was not well known to the other Tsimsyan tribes. Above all they still feel that he is too headstrong and will not listen to advice on matters concerning the Kitkatla people”(APS, Beynon and Barbeau, reel 1316: 531). The Ts’ibasaa referred to here died in 1946. He had assumed the name of Seks, after the death of the incumbent in the influenza epidemic of 1918, when there were no direct successors remaining at Kitkatla. According to Beynon, he was only a “clan” relative (MNH, Beynon E and G, 6: 13). 378 On the drag seine licences, see Meggs (1991: 105-12). A manuscript version of this study, including detailed footnotes omitted from the published edition, is found at UBCSC, Mss. A4B26. See also MNH, Beynon E and G, 6: 21-23. 379 Drucker 1951: 15n; Curtis (1913: 34n) in describing a Cowichan account of a battle in which they defeated the Lekwiltok states that the “Lekwiltok refuse to discuss this disastrous affair, frankly admitting, when pressed, that they prefer to talk about their victories. This is good evidence that the Cowichan account is not unduly exaggerated.”

Notes to pages 58-64 | 323

380 Ong 1988: 98. 381 Wickwire 1994. 382 McClellan 1970: 123-24. She lists the content as “the initial belief that the ship is Raven (Crow) or some ‘big animal,’ that the men in the rigging are crows; the use of protective eye tubes; the conviction that rice is worms; the unintelligibility of the stranger’s language; the brave leadership of an old man soon to die; the beginnings of trade.” 383 Stewart and Johnstone had been with Colnett in 1787. The former returned to the coast in 1792, commanding the Jackall, part of the expedition headed by William Brown. No account of Stewart’s voyage has survived, but either the Jackall or Prince Lee Boo was seen by Caamano at the southern end of Banks Island. Howay identifies the vessel as the Prince Lee Boo, but the Jackall seems equally likely – given that she was sighted in Hecate Strait on 23 Jul. and Stewart’s visit to the area in 1787 (Wagner and Newcombe 1938: 271; Kaplanoff 1971: 205). Johnstone, with Archibald Menzies onboard, sailed up Principe Channel in one of the boats belonging to Vancouver’s expedition (Lamb 1984: 979-80; UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies Journal, 14-16 Jul. 1793). Shortly thereafter, Vancouver’s expedition encountered all Brown’s vessels just north of Gitkxaala territory (Lamb 1984: 982). Hoskins and Haswell were American traders who were in the vicinity of Banks Island in 1791 and 1792 respectively, see Howay (1940: 211-13, 334). 384 See the recent judgments of the Supreme Court of Canada: Delgamuukw v. British Columbia (1997) and R. v. Marshall (1999). 385 Clark 1984: 185. 386 Birket-Smith (1953: 10-11) summarizes two accounts. 387 Colnett 203r. 388 Colnett 210r. 389 The term is used by John Etches 1790a: 17. 390 Menzies to Banks, 4 Apr. 1790, in Dillon 1951: 155-56. 391 Olson 1967: 3. 392 Colnett 216v. 393 Taylor 256b. 394 Portlock, who made a brief visit to Kealakekua Bay, concluded it was not safe to land without a “strong guard.” Dixon, who was of a similar opinion, may have communicated this information to Colnett when they met off Nootka (Portlock 1789: 61-64). 395 See Portlock’s comments about his return to Kealakekua in May 1786 (Portlock 1789: 60-65; Flannery 2000: 99). 396 Taylor A: 90b. 397 Taylor A: 91a. 398 For a discussion of the distinction between early encounters and the later development of prostitution, see Chappell (1992) and Sahlins (1981: 37-41). 399 Colnett 176v; Taylor A: 130a, 132a; B: 200a. 400 Colnett 180v, 181r. On “beachcombers,” see the discussion in Spate 1979-88, 3: 228-31. 401 Taylor 175a, 176b. This after Johnstone had stated that he would shoot the offenders. 402 Colnett 176v, 177v-178v; Taylor B: 213b-214a. 403 Colnett 176r-v, 178v; Taylor B: 194a. 404 Taylor B: 192b, 195b; Colnett 176v; Sahlins 1985: 8; Ralston 1984: 21-26. 405 See Beaglehole (1967: 578); Meares (1790: 338, 349). 406 John Meares is the other candidate. See Part 2 (this volume), note 64; Taylor B: 193a. 407 Colnett 177r. 408 Taylor 248a-b. 409 Colnett 180r-v. 410 Beaglehole 1967: 1223n, 1224n; Taylor 234a; Kuykendall 1947: 30, 48n; Joesting 1984: 5758; Kamakau 1992: 95.

324 | Notes to pages 64-67

411 412 413 414 415

416 417

418

419

420 421

422

423

424

Fornander 1880: 222, 227; Kamakau 1992: 135-40, 153. Meares 1790: xxxix, 278-79, 341; Joesting 1984: 44-45. Meares 1790: 335. Meares 1790: 351. I take this to be a rendition of Keawema'uhili, who was a younger brother of Kalani'opu'u and a principal adviser of Kiwala'o, Kalani'opu'u’s designated successor. In the ensuing struggle between Kiwala'o and Kamehameha, Keawema'uhili was in opposition to Kamehameha, even after the death of Kiwala'o in 1782. In 1790, when controlling the district of Hilo, Keawema'uhili did support Kamehameha in an invasion of Maui. If Douglas’ information is correct, Keawema'uhili’s realignment was of recent vintage. Be this as it may, Keawema'uhili derived little benefit from his move; he was killed shortly after by Keoua, Kalani'opu'u’s younger son (Kuykendall 1947: 30-36; Kamakau 1992: 108-22). Meares 1790: 354. Meares (1790: Appendix [B] 2), in his instructions to Colnett issued in Macao on 17 Apr. 1789, anticipated another voyage by Etches & Co. Presumably this information came from John Etches. See also Howay 1940: 177. This was from the first of three letters written to Banks in July 1788, shortly before the return of Portlock and Dixon. The newly established penal colony at Botany Bay provided an inspiration to Etches and others (Gough 1992: 105-9; Howay 1942: 130-37; Dunbabin 1951; Dillon 1955). A year later, Dixon suggested to Banks that the British government establish a settlement on the Queen Charlotte Islands, but with no reference to the use of convicts (Dillon 1950: 168-69; see also Portlock 1789: 294). James Strange made a comparable proposal to the East India Company (BCA, Great Britain, India Office, A/A/10/G79M, Strange to Campbell, 22 Feb. 1788, original in BL, EIC, Madras Public Proceedings, Range 241, 5: 603-19). Dixon stated that Etches was in Petersburg, apparently in connection with Russian plans to establish further settlements on the Northwest Coast (PRO, CO 42/72, 243f., Dixon to Nepean). The latter, however, was a front for a bizarre scheme involving a Russian attack on the Ottoman Empire via Suez and the Persian Gulf (Jackman 1969). This is probably the same series of events in which William Etches was described as acting as a “Foreign Office spy with the Russian fleet in the Baltic” (Norris 1955: 569n). On the 1793 proposal, see BCA, Great Britain, Indian Office, East India Company, Extracts, GR 333. Dalrymple (1789a) had updated King’s plan of 1784, adding the HBC to the equation. See also Portlock (1789: 294-95) and Meares (1790: xli-lxvi). Williams 1962: 238-48; Rich 1959, 2: 130-32, 145-46; Fry 1970: 219-20; Kaplanoff 1971: 203. A brief account of Duncan’s activities was published by Goldson (1793: 52-54) as part of an argument, with cartographic evidence, of the existence of the Northwest Passage. After the second voyage to Hudson’s Bay, Duncan “felt the Dissapointment so severely, that whilst on his Voyage home he was attack’d with a Brain Fever” (HBCA, C 7/13, Miscellaneous Papers – Beaver [Brig], 1792-1812). Duncan’s instructions were issued on 18 May 1790, less than a week after Meares “Memorial” had been laid before the House of Commons (Williams 1962: 243n; Meares 1790: Appendix [B] 1). The plan to establish a colony, at Queen Charlotte Sound or Fitz Hugh Sound, of soldiers and deserving convicts from New South Wales never got beyond the drafting stage (Dunbabin 1951: 35-38; Dillon 1955; Lamb 1984: 23-24; Frost 1980: 155). The text, together with subsequent revisions and the agreement for the “mutual abandonment of Nootka,” is published in Manning (1905: 454-56, 467-70).

Notes to page 67 | 325

425 The Discovery and Chatham were prepared, in 1789, for a voyage under Henry Roberts intended to assist the developing Southern Whale fishery. On the origins of Vancouver’s expedition, see Lamb 1984: 21-28; Mackay 1985: 41-45. Its principal objectives were “1st. The acquiring accurate information with respect to the nature and extent of any watercommunication which may tend, in any considerable degree, to facilitate an intercourse for the purposes of commerce, between the north-west coast, and the country upon the opposite side of the continent, which are inhabited by His Majesty’s subjects. 2nd. The ascertaining, with as much precision as possible, the number, extent, and situation of any settlements which have been made within the limits above mentioned, by any European nation, and the time when such settlements was first made” (Lamb 1984: 28384; see also, Grenville to Admiralty, 11 Feb. 1791, in British Columbia, Provincial Archives 1914: V 46). Colnett, in commenting on the waterways to the east of Banks Island, noted “Its the general Opinion of Capt. Duncan & of all that saw those Inlets that they Communicate with Hudson Bay.” See Part 2 (this volume), note 370 for the observations in full; see also Colnett 232r and Duncan’s comments in Appendix 1. 426 Belief in the Northwest Passage died hard. One “Chamber Surveyor,” in a review of Vancouver’s “Voyage,” remarked that it was “by no means yet proved that a N.W. Passage does not exist” (Annual Register, 1798: 496; Craig 1950: 353). 427 Johnstone was appointed as master on the Chatham and raised to second lieutenant by Vancouver in August 1792. Archibald Menzies, in lobbying Joseph Banks for Johnstone’s promotion to command the Chatham, wrote: “Besides his being equally capable to Command her, his long experience & great knowledge of this coast in general, and of Marine Surveying in particular of which the other [Peter Puget] knows little or nothing – should give a decided preference in his favour ... I have been long acquainted with Mr. Johnstone, & know him capable of fulfiling any Station, where professional skill & abilities are required.” Unfortunately only part of one of Johnstone’s journals has survived (Lamb 1984: 29-30, 261, 663, 1621-22; UBCSC, Lamb Papers, box 1, file 1, Menzies to Banks, 14 Jan. 1793). 428 Lamb (1984: 47). For specific references to Duncan’s charts, see ibid., 504-5, 648, 655, 951). Menzies refers to a manuscript map, or maps, by Johnstone which covered at least the Prince William Sound area and the entrance to Chatham Strait (Olson and Thilenius 1993: 75, 132-33). 429 Anon. Map 2 covers the area from Prince William Sound to Nootka and shows the route of the Prince of Wales during both seasons. Menzies informed Banks: “I have given your name to a cluster of Islands round where we was then at anchor [Calamity Harbour]; & in the course of a few days I hope I shall have the honour of pointing out to you their situation and extent, on a chart which I have made of the coast – as also of presenting you with a few mementos from that and other parts of it – till which I am &c.” The map shows Banks Islands and also Port Wentworth, a place name used only by Menzies. Nonetheless, it is impossible to be certain that the map was not the work of Johnstone (BCA, Newcombe Papers, vol. 49, file 3, Menzies to Banks, 14 Jul. 1789, Prince of Wales, off the Isle of Wight – original, Kew: 1 - 356; Appendix 3). 430 Menzies was appointed to the expedition in August 1789, when Henry Roberts was in command and the destination was the South Atlantic; his position was to be that of “Naturalist,” as he had “been accustomed to researches of that nature.” Subsequently, Menzies wrote that he hoped to “devote to the service of my Country that experience I had already gained in a long circumnavigation & particularly on that Coast where those Vessels were to direct their course & perform their operations” (PRO, Adm. 1/4154, Grenville to Lords Commissioners, 3 Oct. 1789, 4155, Menzies to Grenville, 27 May 1790; UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies Journal, f2, December 1790). The log of the Prince of

326 | Notes to pages 68-69

431

432

433 434

435 436

437

438

439 440 441

442

443

Wales has survived, in the British Library; Duncan’s log, once in the possession of Alexander Dalrymple, has disappeared. Hewett wrote extensive, and frequently critical, notes on a copy of the published account; copies in UBCSC, Lamb Papers, box 10, file 6, and BCA, A/A/20/V28H. For a published recognition of the geographic accomplishment of “commercial voyages,” see Goldson 1793. For example, Calvert Island, Port Stephens, Safety Cove, Princess Royal Islands, Banks Island; although not all have survived for the locations initially designated. Wagner (1937) did not have access to much information on Colnett when compiling his monumental study of cartography and place names. See Appendix 3 for a listing of the Colnett, Duncan, and Johnstone place names. Howay 1940. For Howay’s rationale, see p. 71. Some of the criticism concerned Colnett’s views on the location of Fonte’s Straits. The Nootka Crisis, no doubt, influenced Caamano’s comments, which are at times contradictory (Wagner and Newcombe 1938: 269-72, 294, 299-301). A full listing is contained in the bibliography; see also Wagner (1937). Anon. Map 1; Arrowsmith 1790. The latter was published 1 Apr., just before John Meares arrived in England to promote the “Nootka Crisis” (Norris 1955: 569; PRO, Home Office Correspondence, HO 42/13, 47; Wagner and Newcombe 1938: 190). Colnett was acquainted with Arrowsmith, providing information for a subsequent map; Arrowsmith also published Colnett’s maps for his voyage on the Rattler and acted as one of the booksellers for the “Voyage” (Colnett 1798: title page, iv). Meares (1790) included “A Chart of the Northern Pacific Ocean”; the book was published in November. Only the routes of Meares’ vessels are shown, but the mainland coast opposite the Queen Charlotte Islands is derived from Duncan, presumably via Arrowsmith (Appendix 1; Howay 1929a: 71-72). Colnett Maps 1, 2 (see pp. 285-86), and 3. Colnett had been in England between April 1792 and early January 1793. Faden’s map, based on the chart of Henry Roberts, published in 1784, was revised in 1794 by “Mr. De la Rochette” to incorporate the “Interesting Discoveries made by British and American Ships since the first Publication.” North West Georgia, which appears on Colnett’s maps (1 and 2), extends from Yakutat Bay to Queen Charlotte Sound; examples of place names are Mount Farewell and Calamity Island. (Cook and King 1784, Atlas: plate 36, Chart of the North West coast of North America, and North East coast of Asia; Beaglehole 1961: 875, #21; Faden 1794). These speculations are reproduced in Colnett 232r and Part 2 (this volume), note 370. Lamb 1984: 598n; Wagner and Newcombe 1938: 190, 269. The owners were a company of London merchants headed by Alderman Curtis. A number of studies of the maritime fur trade make some reference to Brown and his expedition, but the fullest accounts are Kuykendall (1923), who concentrates on events at the Hawaiian Islands, and Cole (1980), who examines the role of the artist Sigismund Bacstrom in 1792. See Introduction (this volume), note 294. Ingraham reported that the squadron had “a grant from the British government” for this purpose; perhaps a reference to a licence from the EIC or the South Sea Company (Kaplanoff 1971: 201-2). According to Spanish sources, two factories were to be established on the mainland and one on the Queen Charlotte Islands. This is similar to a plan advocated by Joseph Whidbey in 1793 (Cook 1973: 343; Jane 1971: 93; Lamb 1984: 1638). On Isla de los Estados, see Cole 1980: 65; Vaughan and Holm 1982: 172-73. Kaplanoff 1971: 224-26, 1792); Lamb 1984: 983, 987, 1025. Brown was killed at O'ahu in 1794 during another conflict (Kuykendall 1923: 126-30).

Notes to pages 69-70 | 327

444 According to Sturgis, a dispute arose between Brown and Stewart. Brown assumed command of the Jackall for 1794 and sent the Butterworth to England (Jackman 1978: 52-53; Kuykendall 1923: 119). 445 Jackman 1978: 52, 115. In neither case did Stewart command the vessel. The Dove was a British vessel from Macao, the Alexander was American. 446 Menzies almost certainly kept a journal, but it has disappeared and there is no complete list of the collections he made during the voyage of the Prince of Wales. However, Groves (1992, 2001) provides information on specimens from different locations on the Northwest Coast and describes their general post-voyage disposition; on the former, see also Newcombe (1923: Appendix). Godley (1960) lists specimens from Isla de los Estados, most of which ended up at Oxford. After arriving back in England, Menzies refers to specimens from the Hawaiian Islands and Sumatra and Taylor (308b) notes that Menzies went ashore at Sumatra on 17 Feb. 1789 (EBGA, Menzies to Rutherford, 12 Sep. and 19 Oct. 1789). Groves (2001: 107) states that Menzies also brought a specimen sea otter back to England, but the sources cited refer only to Vancouver’s voyage. 447 King (1981: 24-25). The artifacts were primarily concerned with fishing, but may have included a Salish blanket. Menzies may also have sent some “curios” to the “Museum at Edinburgh” (EBGA, Menzies to Rutherford, 12 Sep. 1789). 448 De Laguna 1972: 130. Elsewhere she adds: “Colnett’s manuscript, especially the portion dealing with Prince William Sound and the neighbourhood contains some excellent description of places and peoples, and some neat sketches, although the latter are unfortunately in faint pencil. Some of his sketch maps are fairly good, but on others distances are exaggerated, or important features, the Copper River for example, are omitted” (ibid., 129). 449 Jopling (1989) argues that these were probably a postcontact innovation, likely by the Tlingit. 450 Inaccessibility was long a barrier to effective study. An exception in the 1940s was historian Hugh Carrington; he used the journal as the basis for a chapter on Colnett in a study of John Meares. In the 1960s, taking advantage of the availability of microfilm, Beverley Moeller reproduced the full text, with a short introduction and a limited annotation, as an MA Thesis. However, both of these works remained unpublished, although Moeller did write a short article based upon her thesis (BL, Carrington, typescript, X.705/295; Moeller 1965, 1966). The first effective ethnohistoric usage was by De Laguna (1972), although in the same year Gunther (1972) made some rather garbled references to Colnett and Duncan. 451 Naval Chronicle 1799, 2: 412. The same journal contains a review of Vancouver’s “Voyage.” 452 Taylor (278a) assumed that an account of the Prince of Wales’ voyage would be published. William Combe, who served as the “ghost writer” for John Meares and Alexander Mackenzie, appears to have had some role in the production of the Rattler volume. A list of Combe’s “works” contains the entry: “Translation of Colnett’s Voyage to South America” (Cole 1852: 468; see also Lamb 1984: 229). 453 Colnett’s relationship to Stephens is indicated in a letter written just prior to sailing on the Rattler: “I ... take the last opportunity from England to return my warmest Gratitude for the kind Protection, Assistance & Countenance I have met from you which will ever stimulate me in my present undertaking to deserve & to obtain for the future continuance of your kindeness & at all times to have the honor to subscribe myself ” (PRO, Adm. 1/2804, Colnett to Stephen, 4 Jan. 1793). Similar sentiments are contained in the dedication to Colnett’s published volume.

328 | Notes to pages 70-72

454 BL, Add. Mss. 30369, James Colnett, Colnett 6v; Colnett (1798: v) states that before leaving on the Rattler, a “full account” of his previous “voyage and the circumstances connected with it, together with the charts and drawings made to illustrate it, were left in England when I proceeded.” The Prince of Wales’ journal contains the notation, in an unknown hand, “Presented to Mr P Stephens by Capt Colnett. The first Vol. Was stolen out of the Office.” 455 Nautical Magazine 1849, 18: 80-86. The date coincides with the establishment of the Colony of Vancouver Island, following the Oregon Treaty. The editor observed that “the journal from which these extracts are made, appears to have remained unpublished among the records of the Admiralty for many years; and at the present time, when every kind of information on Vancouvers Island is desirable, the condition in which he found it sixty years ago, may prove interesting.” 456 The discovery of the journals and the steps towards publication are recorded in correspondence in the Howay Papers, beginning with a letter from Angus dated 20 Sep. 1934. Angus “tried every publishing house in the US, Canada and England, without success” before turning to Howay for assistance.” In the midst of the Depression, the project was “hardly within the realm of a commercial publication” (UBCSC, Howay Papers, vol. 1, file 5; vol. 9, files 10, 13, 15, and 17; vol. 24, files 13, 14; the quotation is from vol. 10, file 1, Howay to Meany, 29 Mar. 1941). Angus also approached W.A. Newcombe (BCA, Newcombe Papers, Add. Mss. 1077, vol. 11, file 7). 457 The approach to the Champlain Society is recorded in Howay’s correspondence with Wallace and Angus (UBCSC, Howay Papers, vol. 7, file 7; vol. 9, files 16, 17; vol. 24, file 14). See also Howay (1939). 458 Howay observed that “it remains in Ms and I suppose will so remain” (UBCSC, Howay Papers, Howay to Meany, 29 Mar. 1941). Howay died in 1943 (Lamb 1944). 459 Colnett 237r, 246r, 251r. 460 See Appendix 5. 461 Internal evidence in the text suggests that it was drafted, in part, after Colnett reached Canton. Colnett states that the Prince of Wales was thirty-six years old when leaving London; a survey of the vessel taken at Canton in 1788 offers the same statement. There are also some differences between place names in the journal and those used on the maps – the latter including information from the Argonaut voyage. (Colnett 6r; BL, EIC, CFR, Canton Consultations, G/12/94, 81-82; Appendix 3). 462 Howay 1940: 305. 463 The books cover the following dates: Book 1 - Aug. 1786 to 4 Jul. 1787; Book 2 - 5 Jul. 1787 to 3 Jan. 1788; Book 3 - 4 Jan. 1788 to 19 Feb. 1788; Book 4 - 4 Jan. to 1 Feb. 1788; Book 5 - 2 Feb. 1788 to 6 Mar. 1788; Book 6 - 29 Apr. to 23 May and 10 Sep. to 19 Sep. 1788; Book 7 - 17 Jun. to 9 Sep. and 30 Sep. to 24 Nov. 1788 and 4 Jan. to 13 Apr. 1789; Book 8 - 18 Apr. to 3 Jul. 1789. The latter part of Book 7 and all of Book 8 are in the form of a log. The missing sections are for 7 Mar. to 28 Apr., 24 May to 16 Jun., and 20 Sep. to 29 Sep. 1788. 464 Duncan sided with Dixon in his controversy with John Meares; both also had disputes with Etches over payment for their services: see Appendix 1; Howay 1929a: 106. 465 See Appendix 1. Presumably Menzies also kept a journal but, if so, it has disappeared. On attempts to locate it, see BCA, Newcombe Papers, Vol. 11, file 7, Angus to Newcombe, 16 May 1935. 466 Archibald Menzies’ journals of the Vancouver expedition have survived, but only a small portion of James Johnstone’s log (PRO, Adm. 53/335). Vancouver’s published account includes information derived from both (Lamb 1984). 467 Colnett Maps 1, 2 (see pp. 285-86), and 3. Map 3 is limited to the area between the northern end of Vancouver Island and the southern end of Dall Island; excepting a few

Notes to pages 73-78 | 329

minor variations, the information is the same as that on Map 1. Some indications of the differences between Maps 1 and 2 are noted in Appendix 3. 468 Colnett 1798: 91. Maps 1 and 2 extend only as far south as Cape Flattery. The position of hydrographer was created in 1795. 469 Williams (1997: 176n) states that the distinction persisted until 1805. 470 Data from the EIC log are distinguished by the use of +, otherwise the data are from Colnett’s log. Part 1: Departure and 1787 Season

1 On the origins of Colnett’s voyage, see Introduction, p. 6. He received his discharge from the Pégase on 17 Aug. 1786, and leave of absence for three years on 7 Sep. 2 The principal organizer of the voyage was Richard Cadman Etches. The company was variously known as Etches & Co., the United Company of Merchants trading to King George’s Sound, and the King George’s Sound Co.; see Introduction. 3 A smack was a small vessel rigged as a sloop (i.e., a single mast) and commonly used in the coasting or fishing trade (Falconer: 1780: 270). Charles Duncan had received his first warrant as master in 1779. Full details of his naval service are not known, but he served as acting master on HMS Latona in 1781-82 (Steel’s List of the Royal Navy, 1800; PRO, Adm. 36/9549, Muster Book of HMS Latona, 19 Feb. 1781-30 Apr. 1782). 4 According to Spanish sources, following the capture of Princess Royal in 1789, she was “forty-three feet long on the keel, sixteen on the beam and drew eight feet of water aft and seven and one-half forward. She was sloop rigged, of sixty-five tons burden, and carried four one-pound cannon and eight swivel guns” (Wagner 1933: 15). 5 The dock was at Deptford (BCA, Newcombe Papers, Add. Mss. 1077, vol. 49, file 3, Menzies to Banks, 21 Aug. 1786; original in Banks Letters, British Museum [Kew], Kew: 1 – 239). The Princess Royal was subsequently valued at 3,600 dollars on arriving at Canton in 1788 (Howay 1925b: 17-18). 6 The Downs was an extensive anchorage between the Kent coast and Goodwin Sands (Rodger 1988: 46; Chart of the Downs, 1800). 7 The younger brother of Richard Cadman Etches and one of the partners in the expedition (Howay 1929a: 29). He was presumably the London merchant listed as a partner in the “King George Sound Company” (BL, EIC, HM, vol. 190, 247). Archibald Menzies, the surgeon, also came on board at this station (Carter 1988: 222). 8 Capt. Samuel Marshall was Colnett’s commanding officer on HMS Pégase, 1783-86, stationed at Spithead; he had recommended Colnett for promotion to first lieutenant (PRO, Adm. 1/2124, Marshall to Stephens, 24 Apr. 1783, Adm. 36/10554, #1; Adm. 51/678). However, Colnett (1798: 20) subsequently stated that his introduction to the owner of the Prince of Wales came through “one of the most eminent merchants of the City of London.” 9 Official British interest in this “fishery” was illustrated by the passage, on 7 Jun. 1786, of An Act for Encouragement of the Southern Whale Fishery (Stackpole 1972: 82; Steven 1983: 75). Whether the legislation contributed to Etches’ decision to include the sealing party is unknown, but Colnett’s knowledge of the area probably influenced the choice of a base. He had visited Staten Island, now called Isla de los Estados, with Cook in 1775. Subsequently, John Etches stated that the establishment was for “carrying on a fishery, and for assisting any of the future expeditions bound round Cape Horn. The following spring [1787] Mr Etches equipped a large ship, the Duke of York, to reinforce the settlement on Staten Island, which ship was unfortunately wrecked soon after her arrival there. The experiment sufficiently ascertained the importance of this island for the wooding, watering, and refreshing of ships bound round Cape Horn, but the disaster put an end to the establishment, and the people quitted the island in their boats” (Etches

330 | Notes to pages 78-83

10

11 12

13 14 15

16 17

18

19

20 21

22

1790a: 5-6). At least one member of the party had reached England by July 1788 (Mackay 1985: 40). Colnett (1798: 27) adds that another “body of English Merchants” used the location, a reference to the expedition of William Brown, see p. 8; Part 1 (this volume), note 47. Taylor (17b-18a) comments that “in Consequence of our Supernumeraries for the Fishery many of the Seamen were obliged to Sleep in holes and corners about the Cables &c &c or wherever they Could meet with a soft plank” Brighton. Taylor (14a) comments on the reasons for stopping at Madeira: “Both Vessels left England destitute of antiscorbutics ... no Sour crout, essence of Malt or Spruce no acid, or any other article which might be used in scorbutic cases, except course Sugar and a small proportion of Molasses, but the Surgeon received a very satisfactory answer from the employers who gave him to understand that the Captains had received particular orders to make good every deficiency at Madeira, and the Surgeon was directed by the employers not to leave Madeira without an ample proportion of every article not only for the use of his medicine Chest but also liquids to be used in Common.” Porto Santo is one of the Madeira Islands; Funchal Bay is located on the main island of Madeira. La Palma and Hiero (Ferro) are two of the Canary Islands. Now known as Sao Tiago, the southernmost of the Cape Verde Islands; Boavista and Maio are also part of this group. The settlement is Praia, which Colnett had visited with Cook in August 1772 (Beaglehole 1961: 26-31), as had Portlock and Dixon on the first “Etches” expedition (Portlock 1789: 16ff.). Beaglehole (1961: 28, fig. 13) reproduces a chart drawn by William Wales showing the fort, town, and watering place. A letter written by Menzies to Banks, presumably part of this package, dated Port Praya, 16 Nov. 1786, has survived. He notes that Richard Etches “was kind enough to promise me every indulgence the situation of the voyage would permit, & I have no doubt but opportunities will offer to gratify even my most ardent wishes which I must confess are very sanguine, for the West coast of N. America presents to me a new & an extensive field for Botanical researches as well as other branches of natural history; & I can assure you that I shall loose no opportunity in collecting whatever is new or rare, or useful, in my branch of natural knowledge” (BCA, Newcombe Papers, Add. Mss. 1077, vol. 49, file 3, original, Kew: 1 – 249. For a summary, see Dawson 1958: 605). The chief mate was James Johnstone, about twenty-seven years old, a former master and shipmate of Archibald Menzies on board HMS Assistance. (PRO, Adm. 6/90, 36/ 10434). When captured at Nootka in 1789, Colnett noted the loss of his “Sextant, Charts, and drawing paper and all ... [his] nautical instruments” to Martinez and “a time piece of Mr Arnold’s making ...” to the American, John Kendrick (Howay 1940: 64). It seems safe to conclude that Colnett had this equipment, for the measurement of longitude, while on the Prince of Wales. Later, on the voyage of the Rattler, Colnett also had an Arnold timepiece (Colnett 1798: 3). For a comparison, see the description by Banks (Beaglehole 1962: 176-77). Arquipelago de Fernando de Noronha, some 300 miles off the coast of Brazil, under Portuguese jurisdiction. Colnett (Colnett 30r) includes a sketch. Cook, near the end of his second voyage, had made a detour to determine the longitude of the anchorage there. He gives the longitude as 32°44’30”W, which Beaglehole corrects to 32°25’W (Beaglehole 1961: 668-71). Colnett (32r) drew a sketch of the noddy and Taylor (20a) described it as being “in size superior to a pigeon, dark coloured with a whitish head. these are the most inanimate

Notes to pages 83-85 | 331

23

24

25

26 27

28 29 30 31

32 33 34

of birds remarkably drowsy, they perch on the rigging on the dark of the evening, and generally fall asleep instantly, and are caught.” Pennant (1784-85, 2: 523) notes their “stupidity” and ease of capture on vessels. The comment about the bird’s proximity to land is found in Cook and King (1784, 1: 36). It was either a brown or common noddy, Anous stolidus, or a black noddy, A. minutus. Unless otherwise indicated, information on seabirds is based on Harrison 1987. Colnett does not notice Christmas, but Taylor offers the following description of the celebrations: “On Christmas Day we had dark gloomy weather, Latitude 33°30’ South. in the evening ’twas very squally. Sailors are fond of entering into the Spirit of Christmas day, on Ship board, as well as on shore, when provided with the necessary ingredients, and in this respect our Lads were tolerably provided, as they had carefully husbanded a proportion of fresh Stock, which they had received in exchange for their Cloaths at St. Jago, for the expenditure of this day, and being indulged, as is customary with an additional allowance of grog, they might be said to fare sumptuously considering the situation. Turkies, Geese and Pigs were destroyed in (Colnett 21r) large bodies, and many unfortunate Ducks were known to suffer. an extra allowance of spirits seldom fails to create mirth with honest Jack. the Crew spent the Evening jovially, and the Officers and Passengers endeavoured to spend the Day with as much conviviality as circumstances and situation would admit.” The Cape Hen, named for its abundance at the Cape of Good Hope, was the whitechinned petrel, Procellaria aequinoctialis (Beaglehole 1961: 44n; Hoare 1982: 178n); Pintada bird, from pintado, the Portugese word for spotted or mottled, was the Cape pigeon, Daption capense (Beaglehole 1961: 40n; Hoare 1982: 174n). Taylor (22a) added to the list on 31 Dec.: “we were surrounded with birds, of various species, chiefly the blue Petrel, these are of the same species with the birds in the Northern Seas known by the name of Mother Cary’s Chickens, only somewhat larger, together with numbers of the Albatross.” Mother Carey’s Chicken was a sailor’s name for storm petrels (Lamb 1984: 482n). Colnett (88v) has included a sketch of what appears to be a masked booby, Sula dactylatra. Port Egmont Hen was used by “navigators” for types of skuas; mentioned with some regularity in Cook’s second voyage (Pennant 1784-85, 2: 531-32; Beaglehole 1961: 81 and note). Taylor (22a) reported seeing “two Sea Cuckoo’s by some called cape Petrel. they are no larger than snipes, speckled grey.” Cape petrel is another name for the Cape pigeon, but Taylor’s description hardly fits. Taylor (23b) listed “Shearwaters, Petrel, Storm finches”; the last is a term for storm petrels. Described by Taylor (24a) as “somewhat superior in size to a sterling, and in colour nearly resembling a cock dove with the difference of his wings, and tail being more beautifully variagated, with black, and ash colour on the extremes.” That is 13 Jan. civil time. Cabo Blanco on the Argentinean Coast in latitude 47°S; it is shown on Cook’s “Chart of the Southern Extremity of America” (Cook 1777, 2: opp. 198). That is 14 Jan. civil time. Taylor (23b) reported that Archibald Menzies had a “pail of water drawn, in which then he immersed a slip of clean Linnen for the night with a view of discovering in the morning the insects which are said to be the cause of the emission but the linnen when examined minutely afforded nothing satisfactory.” Taylor (24b) identifies these as the “Jasons Isles,” as does the log; see Gallagher 1964; 42n, plate 2. That is 22 Jan. civil time. Cabo San Diego, the southeast point of Tierra Del Fuego, and Cabo San Antonio on the north side of Isla de los Estados.

332 | Notes to pages 85-89

35 That is 23 Jan. civil time. 36 Now Cabo San Juan, the easternmost point of Isla de los Estados. 37 Colnett had visited the Bay of Fundy on HMS Juno in November 1776 (PRO, Adm. 36/ 7704, Muster Book of HMS Juno, January 1776-April 1777). 38 Cook had passed to the west of Isla de los Estados in 1769, but on his second voyage he anchored between the most easterly of the New Years Isles and New Years Harbour, an inlet on the north coast of Isla de los Estados. The names were derived from the date of Cook’s arrival in 1775. The islands are now known as the Islas Ano Nuevo, with the most easterly designated Isla Observatio, and the inlet is Puerto Ano Nuevo. Puerto Cook is the next inlet to the east. Cook’s anchorage is shown on his “Chart of the Southern Extremity of America (Cook 1777, 2: opp 198; Beaglehole 1961: 602-15; Beaglehole 1955: 41-52). 39 Warps were small ropes used to move “a ship from one place to another in a port, road or river ... [the warps] are attached to buoys; anchors sunk in the bottom; or to certain stations upon the shore as posts, rings trees, &c” (Falconer 1780: 311). 40 Cook’s “Chart of the Southern Extremity of America” shows three smaller islands as well as the two larger ones described by Colnett (Cook 1777, 2: opp 198). 41 Archibald Menzies was the surgeon, Thomas Hudson the second mate. In January 1789, at Canton, Hudson relinquished this post to assume command of the Princess Royal on Colnett’s second expedition to the Northwest Coast (Howay 1940: 8). 42 Taylor (33a) adds “some few Sea Otters, was seen and few tracks of them on the Mountains”; presumably the marine otter (Lutra felina) and/or the southern river otter (Lutra provocax). 43 Probably Marsipposperum grandiflorum; unless otherwise indicated information on the vegetation of Isla de los Estados is taken from Dudley and Crow 1983. 44 The “harbour” is now known as Bahia Colnett and the peninsula forming the western boundary terminates in Cabo Colnett. 45 Presumably the inlet at the head of the eastern part of Bahia San Antonio. 46 The Magellanic Penguin, Spheniscus magellanicus Forster (Beaglehole 1961: 613n; Hoare 1982: 706). 47 The carpenters had erected a house and “out Houses” for the “fishery.” The house, still standing in 1792, is shown in a watercolour drawn by Sigismund Bacstrom (and reproduced in Vaughan 1982). Bacstrom was surgeon, and collector of plants for Joseph Banks, on a three-vessel expedition commanded by William Brown. The vessels operated in various parts of the Pacific, including the Northwest Coast, between 1792 and 1794. In 1794, during his voyage on the Rattler, Colnett met one of them, the Butterworth, near the Galapagos Islands (Cole 1980: 65 and 81; Vaughan and Holm 1982: 173; Kuykendall 1923; Colnett 1798: 150). 48 In his account of the voyage of the Rattler, Colnett (1798: 20) stated that “Staten Land is well situated as a place of rendezvous both for men of war and merchant ships; while the harbours on the North and South sides, which are divided by a small neck, would answer the purpose of ships bound out, and home. But the North side offers the best place for an establishment if it should ever be in the view of our government to form one there.” 49 Christmas Sound, where Cook spent Christmas 1774; his account contains a map of the area and an engraving of a sketch by Hodges (Cook 1777, 2: opp 177). In Devils Bason, a harbour in the Sound, Cook commented on “some tufts of trees fit for little else but fuel” (Beaglehole 1961: 592-98; United States, National Imagery and Mapping Agency, Chart 22032). 50 Drimys winteri, commonly used in the eighteenth century as an antiscorbutic (Beaglehole 1955: 51; 1961: 600n). Menzies commented that the tree was in flower and

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51

52

53

54

55 56

57 58 59

everywhere it “grows loads circumambient air with a most pleasing aromatic odor.” He considered it “an excellent Antiscorbutic” when used to make tea and recommended “all on board to collect a Sea Stock.” It was named after John Winter, commander of the Elizabeth, one of Drake’s vessels, who “first discovered its salutory effects.” Taylor noted that “we used [it] occasionally for severe complaints in the Bowels by steeping a small quantity in brandy or Rum, and using a tea spoonful in a common Glass of Rum and water, which generally removed the pain.” Menzies collected two tubs of “wintera,” for shipment back to Banks, but they were lost in the wreck of the Etches company supply vessel (Taylor 31a-b; BCA, Add. Mss. 1077, Newcombe Papers, vol. 49, file 3, Menzies to Banks, 11 Feb. 1787, original, Kew: 1 – 259; EBGA, Menzies to Rutherford, 12 Sep. 1789; Williams 1997: 24). Colnett’s usage makes identification of the berries uncertain: heath berry (used for crowberry/bilberry), here may be Empetrum rubrum; partridge berry (used for wintergreen), here perhaps Gaultheria antarctica; birch berry may be Pernettya mucronata, the most common “berry” on Isla de los Estados, although Dudley and Crow (1983) list other possibilities. Scurvy grass, usually Cochlearia officinalis, was probably Cardamine glacialis; wild celery, Apium australe. Menzies informed Banks that he had collected “many rare & curious plants, some of which are not described even in the 14th Edition of the Linnaean System.” More specifically, he apprised another informant, the specimens included “six new Genera, besides a number of new Species & a fine collection of Lichens & Musci.” According to Godley, Menzies’ collection from Isla de los Estados included “three flowering plants, two ferns, four mosses, ten liverworts, one seaweed and seven lichens.” Whether this included some seeds from “Staten Land” that Menzies sent to the Edinburgh Botanical Gardens is unclear (BCA, Newcombe Family Papers, Add Mss 1077, vol. 49, file 3, Menzies to Banks, 11 Feb. 1787, New Years Harbour, Staten Land, original Kew: 1-259; EBGA, Menzies to Rutherford, 12 Sep. 1789; Godley 1960: 63). An “old name for oyster catchers” and reported by Cook at Christmas Sound and Staten Island. Beaglehole suggests Quoy’s Black Oyster Catcher for this locality (Beaglehole 1961: 169, 599, 614n, 1008). Identified by Beaglehole (1961: 599n) as the Magellanic steamer duck, Tachyeres pteneres (Forster). Cook, during the stay at Christmas Sound, comments that they were named for “the great swiftness they runs upon the Water for they cannot fly, the wings being too short to support the body in the air.” See also Hoare 1982: 695, 707-8. Taylor (33a-b) was more specific, reporting: “Albatrosses, Blue Petrel, Vultures, Eagles, two kinds of Hawkes, Quebrantahousses, four different kinds of Ducks, two kinds of Shags, Geese, Red bills and Terns, to which may be added Thrushes, Wrens, the Titmouse and a great variety of other small birds.” Pine (1976) identified an indigenous mouse as Akodon llanoi. Four kinds of seals were found in Fuegian waters, but during his stay at New Years Harbour Cook commented on the sea bears, or southern fur seal (Arctocephalus australis Zimmerman). They were “rather larger than a Common Seal; they have none of that long hair which distinguishes the [sea] lion, it is all of an equal length and finer than that of the lion, something like an otters and the general Colour is a kind of Iron grey” (Lothrop 1928: 33; Hoare 1982: 706n; Beaglehole 1961: 612-13). Forster provides a description of the sea lion, which Hoare (1982: 704-5) identifies as the southern sea lion Otaria byronia Blainville. Aptenodytes patagonicus. Presumably a reference to Cancer horridus of Linnaeus, now Daldorfia horrida; however, Colnett was mistaken as this inhabits tropical waters. Taylor 34a-b.

334 | Notes to pages 92-96

60 Taylor (36a) notes that the customary treat of an extra allowance of grog was issued for “doubling the Cape.” 61 Still known by this name, it is located between 50° and 50°45’S and shown by Colnett on his chart “Shewing the Track of the Ship Rattler” (Colnett 1798: opp. xviii). Cook’s “general chart” was prepared by Henry Roberts (Cook and King 1784, Atlas: plate 1, General Chart exhibiting Captain Cook’s discoveries). 62 A fid was a “square bar of wood or iron, with a shoulder at one end ... used to support the weight of the top-mast, when erected at the head of the lower mast.” It was withdrawn when the top mast was lowered (Falconer 1780: 123). 63 Perhaps the Pacific bonito (Sarda chiliensis), although the usage is probably broader. William Wales, in the South Pacific, refers to catching “bonitos,” which Cook calls albacore and Beaglehole identifies as a “name generally applied to any large tunny-like fish” (Beaglehole 1961: 335-36 and note). 64 Hernan Gallego was a Spanish navigator who sailed from Callao in 1567 on an expedition, under Mendana, in search of Terra Australis. In subsequent English cartography, Gallego’s name was commemorated in a mythical string of islands “running southeast from New Guinea across the ocean towards Tierra del Fuego” (Brand 1967: 132-33; Williams 1997: 69-70). By the 1780s, however, this had been reduced to Gallego Island, shown by Roberts west of the Galapagos Islands and about 1°30’N. Between Gallego Island and the Galapagos Islands, Roberts shows two groups of islands just south of the equator and annotated as “Isles known by the Spaniards.” The first group is at approximately 95°W and the other at 100°W. Taylor (40b) commented that the islands extended “from two degrees North to two degrees South Lattd. The Western extremes of the Islands lays in 103 degrees West. Our Commander seemed very desirous of making those Islands, but for what purpose I am at a loss to say. they are generally thought to be uninhabited and almost unknown.” They have disappeared from Colnett’s 1798 chart (Cook and King 1784, Atlas: plate 1, General Chart; Colnett 1798: A Chart Shewing the Track ...”). 65 Taylor (40a-b) states that this occurred on 18 Apr. and adds that the Princess Royal “was unprovided with a Surgeon.” 66 The latitudes and longitudes in square brackets are taken from the log in Colnett’s Journal or, where accompanied by a +, from the EIC log. The latter includes corrected longitudes; these have been used whenever available. 67 Man-of-war birds was a common name for frigate birds, Fregata spp. Colnett (Colnett 88r, 95r) includes a sketch of a “Booby,” probably a masked booby, Sula dactylatra, and two sketches of unidentified fish – one is a pilot fish, Naucrates ductor, and the other is a member of the Carangidae family, probably Seriola peruana <www.fishbase. org>. 68 Colnett’s log indicates that he concluded his fruitless search for “Gallegos” islands on the afternoon of 26 Apr., when he “made the PR Sig. To Join Co, made sail”; see Part 1 (this volume), note 64. 69 The Hawaiian Islands, so named by Cook on his third voyage (Beaglehole 1967: 278). Portlock, and probably Colnett, had been instructed to proceed from “Staten land ... directly to the coast of New Albion” (Etches 1790b: 19). However, because of scurvy, Portlock had visited the Hawaiian Islands “as there was a certainty of our procuring whatever refreshments were wanted” (Portlock 1789: 56-57). 70 Egg bird was a term used for some types of terns (Beaglehole 1967: 261, 819; Hoare 1982: 460). 71 The sighting of Clipperton Island was on the afternoon of 13 May civil time; the correct location is 10°18’N 109°13’W. It is shown on Cook’s general chart as Passion Island, but at a latitude of about 17°N; it is also shown, but not named, on Colnett’s unfinished

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72

73

74

75

76

chart in the Journal (Cook and King 1784, Atlas: plate 1, General Chart; Colnett 1798: opp. xviii). Moreover, when Colnett returned to the area in 1793 he commented that he was unable to find Clipperton Island as the accounts he had “differed so widely in Latitude, that I was at a loss where to look for it.” He added that he had not brought his own “manuscript chart of the seas, &c laying North of Isle Socoro,” although Clipperton island is south of Socoro island. Nonetheless, the chart accompanying Colnett’s book continues to show Passion Island at the location given in Cook’s chart (Colnett 1798: 91, map opp. xviii). John Clipperton had sailed with Dampier on the St. George in 1703 and probably discovered the island in 1705, after parting with Dampier on a captured vessel. Clipperton returned to the Pacific as captain of the Success, part of the Shelvocke expedition (1719-22) (Spate 1979-88, 2: 187-88, 210-12; Williams 1997: 136-41, 197-201). James Burney (1816: 512) described the island as small or a “rock ... seen in 1787, by the English merchant ship Princess Royal, commanded by Mr Charles Duncan.” If Colnett was at Clipperton Island, he has underestimated the size; it is some two and a half miles at its greatest diameter. The island is an atoll, with the volcanic foundations visible and sparse vegetation; for a map and description see, Great Britain, Naval Intelligence Division 1943: 13-17. Taylor (43b-44a) notes that on 28-29 May the vessels had been searching for another island, Roca Partida; Colnett’s log gives the location at noon 29 May as “Lat 17°42’N, long 127°31’W.” Menzies, on returning to the area with Vancouver in 1793, stated that in 1787 he had passed a “little to the eastward” of the location of the Los Majos islands “without observing the least sign of their being in the neighbourhood of any land, and a few days before he [Colnett] passed over the situation of Roca Partida in the same chart [of Cook] without seeing anything of it, so that if either of these islands exist, they must be very erroneously laid down in our charts.” As with Gallego island (see Part 1 [this volume], note 64), the confusion derives from unauthenticated information included on Cook’s general chart, drawn by Henry Roberts. This authority is reflected in Colnett’s unfinished map of the north Pacific where he shows both Roca Partida and the Los Majos islands, although they are not named. Roca Partida does exist, but at 19°01’N, 112°02’W. It is shown at this location on a chart, based on Spanish surveys undertaken in 1789, but drafted by Colnett for his voyage of the Argonaut. Subsequently, during his voyage on the Rattler, Colnett visited and sketched Roca Partida. It is now designated as one of the Islas Revilla Gigedo, Mexican territory (Cook and King 1784, Atlas: plate 1; UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies Journal 3 Feb. 1793; Colnett 102r; Howay 1940: opp. 170; Colnett 1798: 88-90, chart opp. 179; Great Britain, Naval Intelligence Division 1943: 11-13, 679; see also Lamb 1984: 793-95; Portlock 1789: 56). Yellow tail is a loose term that probably referred to members of the Carangidae family, which also included pilot fish; barracatoe, presumably a barracuda, Sphyraenidae family; grunters, perhaps a reference to a kind of grunt fish, Haemilidae family; gard fish may be a garfish/garpike, of the Belonidae family; flying fish, Excotidae family. Colnett (37r) drew a sketch of a cuttle fish, a cephalopod, of the Sepiidae family. Ballaboes or ballahoes not identified. Cook’s general chart shows seven islands, six with Spanish names and one unnamed, located north and west of “Passion” Island, between latitudes 18-25°N and 110-137°W. (Cook and King 1784, Atlas: General Chart). Taylor states that some seamen complained of scurvy as early as 21 Apr. By 5 Jun. it had begun “to gain ground” and four days later the “Officers now felt the approaches of the Scurvy. there was no respect to persons among us as regard to Provisions. the Officers having shared the same fate with the Crews, unless ’twas a small proportion of Tea (The Captain excepted)” (Taylor 40b, 44a-b).

336 | Notes to pages 98-100

77 At Isla los Estados, on Menzies’ recommendation, great care had been taken “by every individual to secure a plentiful supply of Winters bark” for use as an antiscorbutic (Taylor 31a-b; see Part 1 [this volume], note 50). 78 Falconer (1780: 129) describes a fish as “a long piece of oak, concave on one side, and concave on the other ... used to fasten upon the outside of the lower masts ... to reinforce them after they have received some damage.” 79 Vancouver and Menzies encountered the sea blubber in April 1792 in lat. 35°25’, long. 217°24’. On that occasion a specimen was secured which Menzies thought “to agree very nearly with the Medusa velella of Linnaeus – a kind of sea blubber.” Both included a full description of what is now known as the sail jellyfish, Velella velella (Lamb 1984: 482-83; Newcombe 1923: 1-2). Colnett’s reference is to Chambers’ “Cyclopedia; or an Universal Dictionary of the Arts and Sciences,” first published in 1728. Volume 3 of a new edition, edited by D.D. Rees and published in 1783, contains the following entry: “Pollicipes, the toe shell, in Natural History, the name of a genus of shells, the characters of which are these: they are multivalve flat shells, of a triangular figure, each being composed of several laminae, which end in a sharp point. They stand upon pedicles, and are furnished with a great number of hairs. We have only one known species of this genus, and this always found in large clusters” (probably the pelagic goose barnacle, Lepas antifera). 80 During this period Taylor made several comments on the progress of scurvy, culminating with the statement on 4 Jul. that “very few of the Seamen at this period were capable of going aloft, such was the baneful influence of the Scurvy, and the few who continued to their Duty made violent exertions to keep themselves in motion. The Officers continued rather better than the Seamen, not from the smallest indulgence, or difference in their Diet, but probably from a more strict adherence to cleanliness, and possessing in some degree a greater flow of Spirits. yet every Officer was afflicted more or less. The Officers, the Captains Servant and the Surgeon were obliged to go aloft, at reefing Topsails fortunately the Season of the Year was in our favour” (Taylor 45b). 81 Cook gave the latitude of Nootka Sound as 49°33’N. He named both Woody Point and Breaker’s Point, locating the latter at 49°15’N, but it is incorrectly shown on “Sketch of Nootka Sound” in the location of Bajo Point on the north side of Nootka Sound. However, subsequent visitors, including Colnett, had no doubt that Breakers Point was south of Nootka Sound. Cook describes Woody Point as being “in about the latitude of 50°” and the chart of the Northwest Coast is no more precise. The name persisted and became identified with the present Cape Cook, the extreme point of the Brooks Peninsula (Beaglehole 1967: 294 and note; Cook and King 1784, 2: 264, plate 37; Strange 1982: 72; Meares 1790: 134). But this identification was not clear at the time of Colnett’s voyage; moreover, he clearly changed his mind on the question. In his journal, Colnett equates Woody Point with Cape Cook (10 Aug.), but on his maps, Woody Point is located on the north side of Kyuquot Sound, some distance south of the present Cape Cook and Nasparti Inlet (maps 1 and 2, see pp. 285-86). See Part 1 (this volume), notes 183, 189, and 201. 82 Colnett’s log states that there were “Eighteen Sick.” 83 The log states: “We anchord at 9 [pm 5 Jul.] in 7 fathoms over a Gravelly bottom a high round head land bore North West by West Breakers point East North East.” This description, confirmed by Taylor (50b), indicates an anchorage east of Estevan Point. See maps B (p. 99) and C (p. 102). 84 The decision to head directly to the Northwest Coast, rather than call at the Hawaiian Islands, contributed to this situation. Taylor, who claimed to be “an Invalid [for] some weeks” although not yet “confined” to bed, certainly thought so (Taylor 51b). Subsequently, Colnett (1798: 82-83) offered some comments on what he had learned during

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86 87

88

89

90

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his voyages about the treatment of scurvy – including “particular attention to the practice of different Indian nations.” By 1787, the Nuu-chah-nulth peoples of Nootka Sound were familiar with the trading behaviour of Europeans. Vessels previously entering Nootka Sound were: Discovery and Resolution (Cook, 1778); Sea Otter (Hanna, 1785); Captain Cook and Experiment (Strange, 1786); Sea Otter (Hanna, 1786); Imperial Eagle (Barkley, 1787). For a discussion, see Moore 1977; Clayton 1995. However, the identity of these fishers is uncertain. They may have been members of the party under Maquinna (see Part 1 [this volume], note 87). On the other hand, the anchorage was near Estevan Point, placing Colnett off Homisaht territory. The Homisaht were a local group that, under unknown circumstances became part of the Hesquiaht (Drucker 1951: 235-37). Significantly, when Colnett returned to the area in 1790, he referred to “a Place called Ashquehot, a few Miles to the N. of Breakers Point in the Entrance of Nootka and about 6 or 7 Miles” from Friendly Cove and marked on a chart (Howay 1940: 189, opp. 183). Contemporary Hesquiaht elders, although their claims are disputed, state that their territory extended as far north as Split Cape (ASR: DiSp8, DiSp3). Salmon, halibut, and cod were caught using variations of the techniques described by Colnett (Drucker 1951: 22-23; Arima 1983: 28, 54; Stewart 1977: 39, 61). McCulagh is Maquinna (m’okwina according to Arima), the leading chief of the YuquotTahsis confederacy, whose summer residence was at Yuquot. The holder of this name is mentioned by most Euro-American visitors. Clataluka may be Cuatlazape, Maquinna’s “brother,” or a rendering of “catlati,” meaning brother. The latter usage, however, does not necessarily refer to a biological brother but could refer to the second ranking chief in the confederacy – Callicum. On returning to Nootka in 1789, Colnett did encounter Callicum, but renders his name as Caleacan (DCB 4: 567-69; Marshall 1993: 153ff., 214; Kendrick 1991: 73; Engstrand 1991: 101; Moore 1977: 143; Howay 1940: 62). For a cautionary discussion about the problems of making identifications, see Braithwaite 1977. If the anchorage was off Estevan Point, it suggests that Maquinna had succeeded in controlling access to visitors in that area. On the grenadiers cap, see Colnett 118v. The description suggests the beach between Perez Rocks and Estevan Point. The only deep water in the area is some six miles southwest of the latter. The Perez Rocks are named after Juan Perez, who had anchored just to the north in 1774 (Beals 1989: 88-89, 144-49). The Loudon, better known as the Imperial Eagle, was a British ship of 400 tons under the command of Capt. Charles Barkley. She had sailed from Ostend under the Austrian flag to circumvent the trading monopolies of the EIC and the South Sea Company. The former controlled trade with China, the market for furs, and the latter access to the Northwest Coast. Colnett responded to this subterfuge on 18 Jul. (Howay 1942; Hill 1978). The anchorage was at Friendly Cove. Taylor states that the boat contained the chief mate of the Loudon. James Strange commanded a two-vessel trading expedition from Bombay that had been on the coast in 1786. The vessels were the Captain Cook, under J.H. Laurie, and the Experiment, under John Guise (Ayyar 1928; Fisher and Bumstead 1982). On Mackay, see Part 1 (this volume), note 121; Dixon 1789: 232-33; and Meares 1790: 131-32. The Hawaiian Islands, following the example of Portlock and Dixon, became the favourite wintering grounds for early maritime fur traders. Strange, however, after visiting Nootka and Prince William Sound, proceeded directly to China: he did not winter at Hawai'i (Strange 1982: 116-18). The reference is to the first expedition sent out by Etches & Co., under the command of Portlock and Dixon. Their instructions included an order “to establish such factories as you shall see necessary and consistent with the safety of such settlers and your ship’s

338 | Notes to pages 101-4

93 94 95

96

97

98 99 100

company.” Nootka Sound was regarded as the most likely location for such a “factory” (Howay 1929a and 1942). Colnett met Dixon 8 Aug., see Colnett 127r. For accounts of their voyages, see Portlock (1789), Dixon (1789), C.L. (1984), and Anonymous (1789). The Princess Royal had sustained damage to her mast on the passage from Isla de los Estados (Colnett 115v; Taylor 44b). The northeast arm was Zuciarte Channel. The log adds: “At 2 pm [6 Jul.] anchord about half way up the North East Arm in 50 fathoms water.” The articles included “some Bottled gooseberries for the immediate use of the sick a small supply of Poultry for the Captain and a pail of wholesome boild Vegetables, quite hot.” Taylor, by way of criticizing the “Etches” vessels and the route taken to the Northwest Coast, makes some unfavourable comparisons with the “capitally” equipped Loudon, which had come via the Hawaiian Islands (Taylor 51b, 53b). The arm was Hanna Channel, extending southeastwards to Mooyah Bay, but the descriptions, here and below, make precise identification of the anchorage difficult. The most likely site was near Cheesish, with Mooyah Bay as the best alternative: the available evidence is as follows. The anchorage was either one-quarter mile (Colnett) or one mile (Taylor) from a village. Colnett’s most detailed map of the area (112r) is unfinished and shows neither anchorage nor Native villages. However, his chart of “Part of North West Georgia,” drawn to accompany the log of the Argonaut, shows Wamaise located on Hanna Channel to the north of Muchalat Inlet: in other words, at Cheesish (Howay 1940: opp. 183). Wamaise is Colnett’s rendering of the principal chief of the village. On the other hand, one of Colnett’s general charts (Map 2, p. 286) shows an anchorage closer to Mooyah, although the scale is too small to be convincing. See Part 1 (this volume), notes 112 and 162; Map C (p. 102). Cook’s expedition had circumnavigated Bligh Island and met a “Surly chief ” and received a “cold reception” at an unidentified village that may well have been Cheesish; however, King indicates that a large village in a deep bay, clearly Mooyah, was also visited. Maps by Burney (PRO, Adm. 51/4528) and Edgar (PRO, Adm. 55/21) show villages at Mooyah, Cheesish, and in the bay north of the latter, perhaps at the mouth of Hanna Creek. According to King, the population of Cheesish was about 700 and Mooyah about 1000 (Cook and King 1784, 2: 281-82; Beaglehole 1967: 304-5, 1401, 1404). At the time of contact, Cheesish, on IR #15 Cheesish, was the village of an independent local group, the tcecisaht. In the late nineteenth century, however, it was used by the amalgamated Muchalaht as a winter village (Drucker 1951: 232-34; Marshall 1993: 365, map of ASR DkSo6). Mooyah, on IR #16, was also the village of an independent local group, but the site has been severely modified by logging. According to Marshall, Mo’ya was occupied by a single lineage (Drucker 1951: 232-33; Marshall 1993: 193-94, 201). Drucker (1951: 233) shows both Cheesish and Mooyah in Muchalaht territory. Marshall (214) has Cheesish on the border between Tlupana and Muchalaht. As noted above, Cook received an unfriendly welcome near here, but Duncan’s reception probably owed something to the actions of James Hanna in 1785. According to Esteban Martinez, Hanna “went among the villages situated along the NE arm of the Inlet [Zuciarte Channel], where he killed more than fifty Indians” (UBCSC, Martinez, Diary, 207). Information on Hanna is sparse, but other accounts confirm the conflict, if not the geography (Galois 1994b). Colnett returns to this subject below (123v). The log states: “At 10 am [7 Jul.] weighd and ran farther up ... 2 pm anchord in 40 [?] fathoms.” There was a position of orator or “talking chief,” usually filled by kin of the chief (Drucker 1951: 269; Arima 1983: 68). There were two streams in the vicinity of Cheesish, but whether they were used for fisheries is not recorded; in the early twentieth century, the site was described as the

Notes to pages 104-7 | 339

101

102

103

104

105

106

107 108

109

110 111

112

principal village and the “outside sealing and deep sea fishing station.” The Moyah River was used as a fishery in the historic era (Marshall 1992; NAC, MMRC, RG 10, vol. 11021, file 535A; ASR DjSo6, DkSo6). Boarding nets were designed to control access to the ships. During a stay at Kaua'i in January 1788, Taylor (119a) noted that the nets “extended round the Ship from the gunwale six feet towards the yard arms.” A subsequent fur trader described his vessel’s nets as being “made of strong cord ... [and prevented] the Indians from coming over the ship’s sides. When they come to trade, they were admitted a few at a time, through a port hole and all their movements narrowly watched” (Green 1830-31, 27: 33). For an illustration, see Hayes 1981: 131. Fat Hen and Lamb’s Quarters were names for types of goosefoot, also known as wild spinach; here probably a Chenopodium sp. or an orache (Atriplex sp.). Marsh samphire is a glasswort, used in salads, both fresh and pickled; here probably Salicornia virginica (Turner et al. 1983: 13; Olson and Thilenius 1993: 224; Grieve 1931). Taylor (53a) adds that on 8 Jul. “two boats came from the Lowden with Seamen on a Visit bringing with them some presents fm Captain Barclay for our Commander and invitations from several of their Officers.” Controlling access to visiting vessels quickly became a chiefly prerogative. Duncan (Map 5), while in the Neah Bay area in 1788 observed: “All along the Coast I never found any that wished to part with us, or indeed wished us to trade with another Nation, telling us that they were the only People that had anything, or were worth trading with.” Marshall (1993: 209-20) discusses the mechanisms used by Nuu-chah-nulth chiefs; see also Beaglehole 1967: 299; Fisher and Bumstead 1982: 110-11. The hounds were a “projection or cheek” fixed to the mast head “to support the trestletrees.” The latter consisted of “two strong pieces of timber fixed horizontally fore-andaft on opposite sides of the lower mast-head, to support the frame of the top, and the weight of the top-mast”(OED; Falconer 1780: 158, 298). It is impossible to identify these visitors with assurance. According to Drucker (1951: 250), the Tlupana groups held territory to the south of Zuciarte Channel, and visitors from Yuquot could have approached from the same direction. Another possibility is the group encountered at the anchorage of 5-6 Jul. Drucker (1951: 237) notes that the Homisaht local group originally may have been connected with the Muchalat Inlet groups or those of Tlupana Inlet. Finally, a Muchalaht contact narrative indicates that their visitors included the Manohisaht from Sydney Inlet. See p. 35. Taylor indicates that some skins were traded from these people; see p. 118. Portlock and Dixon carried similar caps. The use of presents, as indicated in the meeting with Maquinna, was a standard mechanism for establishing friendly contact (Portlock 1789: 87, 121; Dixon 1789: 208; Etches 1790a: 7-8; Etches 1790b: 26; see Introduction, p. 28). Some of the Loudon’s crew, on returning to London in 1788, reported that two of the chiefs at Nootka “appear’d with Light Horseman’s Caps on, with the King’s imprint, and they had small Brass Medals (Guineas) hung around their Necks, which they found they had from the Prince of Wales when in the Sound” (Etches to Banks, 30 Jul. 1788, in Howay 1942, 1: 135). See Colnett 124r. The sketch map in Colnett’s Journal (112r) and Taylor’s comments (56a) indicate that the sloop went up Hanna Channel and Tlupana Inlet; the whale boat up Muchalat Inlet. The southeast arm was Muchalat Inlet (Colnett map, 112r). The northwest arm was Hanna Channel and Tlupana Inlet (Colnett map, 112r). Drucker shows five villages above Cheesish, but all are near the heads of inlets and Duncan clearly did not see any of them (Drucker 1951: 229). The Vau-maise or Wamaise of Colnett; see Part 1 (this volume), note 162.

340 | Notes to pages 107-9

113 These events may have been among those recalled by Menzies when he returned to Nootka Sound in 1792. At Tahsis, Menzies met the wife of Maquinna’s brother, who was “an old acquaintance the daughter of an elderly Chief [Oughomeize] who had a numerous family & lived in the North East corner of the Sound & to whose friendship I owed much civility & kindness when I was here about five years ago. She & her Sisters were then very young, yet they frequently shewed so much solicitude for my safety, that they often warned me in the most earnest manner of the dangers to which my Botanical rambles in the Woods exposed me, & when they found me inattentive to their entreaties, they would then watch the avenue of the Forest where I enterd to prevent my receiving any insult or ill usage from their Countrymen. But it was not till after I left them that I became sensible how much I owed to their disinterested zeal for my welfare by knowing more of the treacheries & strategems of the Natives on other parts of the Coast” (Newcombe 1923: 117-18). 114 Drucker (1951: 232-33) shows six villages on Muchalat Inlet above Mo’ya, “each of which was the winter home of an independent group.” Marshall (1993: 193-94) includes a seventh village, Clum-hah-kess. See Map D (p. 103). 115 Cook had commented on the fondness of the Nuu-chah-nulth for music and his party had used French horns and fife and drum as a means of cross-cultural communication (Cook and King 1784, 2: 310-11; Beaglehole 1967: 1394-95). Some songs, in fact, were a form of property; a characteristic which James Strange, somewhat fortuitously, used to facilitate trade (Moore 1977: 126-29; Strange 1982: 84-86). 116 Taylor has misconstrued the use of masks; they were for ritual purposes (Drucker 1951: 102-3). 117 Drucker notes that the Muchalaht local groups relied upon land animals than other Nuu-chah-nulth peoples. They used a pike as well as dead-falls for hunting deer and elk (Drucker 1951: 32, 38). 118 Taylor (55b) adds that “Captain Barclay paid us a visit from the Lowden and gave all the officers an invitation on board her.” 119 See the comments by Taylor (61a) on the measures taken to meet this demand. According to John Etches, copper was “almost the only article in request at King George’s Sound” (Dixon 1789: 245). Menzies, when advising Banks on items suitable for trade on the coast, confirmed this observation: “[at] Nootka we found Copper the Article most sought after & in this we were deficient, having little or none aboard” (Dillon 1951: 156). Colnett took the lesson to heart. On returning to Nootka in 1789, he brought a supply of copper sheets, only to have eighty-four of them appropriated by Martinez (Howay 1940: 61). 120 Taylor (57b) was critical of these developments: “The 18th and 19th A Paper Correspondence commenced between Captain Barclay and Captain Colnett. the business was transacted by our Chief mate with the Boat each Day man’d and armed. I am not acquainted with the particulars but judge ’twas to demand reasons why the Lowden appeared on the Coast, and showing our legal authority. whether this was really the Case I am not certain, but I am convinced we might as well be quiet on that head, as the Lowden was in every respect our Superior, be it as it may it did us some injury, as Captain Barclay had very friendly offered to supply any of the Officers with such articles as the Lowden afforded.” However, Colnett’s actions, presumably encouraged by supercargo John Etches, were appropriate. When the Imperial Eagle reached Canton the owners “found they were not warranted in trading to China and the North West Coast, even under the Austrian flag.” They sold the vessel in Canton, an action which produced a dispute with Barkley. It also enabled Meares to obtain a copy of Barkley’s journal and “with the greatest affrontery published and claimed the merits of the

Notes to pages 109-12 | 341

121

122

123 124

125 126

127 128 129 130 131

132

133

discoveries therein contained” (Hill 1978: 60-62, 124-25; UBCSC, Howay Papers, vol. 7, file 5, Walbran to Howay, 9 Jul. 1910). According to Taylor (55b), Barkley found Mackay when he arrived at Nootka. Mackay had been “left by one of the India Ships in order to get hold of the language and to be of use at the arrival of the same Ship on the Coast again, but the expected Ship not having arrived agreeable to his expectation, he made an offer of his services to the Lowden. The natives from his own account treated him with civility and Affection, as they fared so fared He.” Etches, who did meet Mackay, thought him unreliable and “a very ignorant young fellow.” But Beresford, who recorded this information, concluded that “there can be no doubt that Captain Berkley found him extremely useful in managing his traffic with the natives.” Mackay left Nootka on the Imperial Eagle (Dixon 1789: 23233). Moore (1977: 129-34) argues that Mackay’s sojourn with Maquinna helped accelerate the latter’s “role as a ‘big-man.’” The fullest account of Mackay is found in Fisher and Bumstead (1982: 66-72, 177-85). Dixon states that Colnett and Duncan obtained “wine, tobacco and portable soup” from Barkley, for which he paid “near 400 Spanish dollars in China, agreeable to the request of Mr. John Etches” (Howay 1929a: 29). Taylor states the 25th. Barkley headed south, visiting Clayoquot Sound, Barkley Sound, and the entrance of the Straits of Juan de Fuca (Hill 1978: 36-38; Howay 1942: 135-37). Taylor (53a) noted that the thefts began almost as soon as the vessels arrived. “The Princess Royals Grapling was stole this evening [7 Jul.] and many other thefts committed in short every thing went they could clap their hands on secretly, such is their propensity to theft.” The grappling was a small anchor (Falconer 1780: 140). Taylor places this encounter on 19 Jul. According to the log, this confrontation took place on 20 Jul. civil time: “In the afternoon some natives was observd prizing of the gaurd [sic] plate to the main chains of the Princes [sic] Royal finding they were perceivd pulls [balls] of several muskets where fird over the Canoe but having no effect a boat from the Princes Royal went in pursuit of them but after having gone as far as we coud see from the Ship they made their escape into the woods taking their Canoes along with them as the Boat returnd they [saw] some natives padling from the shore who immediately returnd into the wood but had not time to take the canoe it was brought onboard the Princes Royal and cut up in presence of one of the chiefs whom was detaind untill the return of the boat.” The chief was Oughomeize. Hanna Channel. The events described by Colnett under 29 Jul. The log states: “In the afternoon [30 Jul.] the Princes Royal saild up the N.E. arm to the Village where the Lowden lay off ”: i.e., to Yuquot in Friendly Cove. Concepcion Point. Ship Cove, on Bligh Island, was used by Cook in 1778; the anchorage is shown on the published chart (Cook and King 1784, 2: plate 37). It is now known as Resolution Cove; the Nuu-chah-nulth name is Kathni-aktl, “a place of drift wood” (Beaglehole 1967: 296n; Walbran 1971: 420). Colnett has described one of the basic elements of Nootka Sound geopolitics. The reference is to Friendly Cove, the village of Yuquot, and presumably Chief Maquinna. The Princess Royal had sailed to this anchorage on 30 Jul. Colnett, in the Prince of Wales, arrived on 4 Aug. Little is known about the distribution of sea otter hunting grounds, but they were owned and access restricted (Drucker 1951: 247-52; Arima 1983: 69). Haswell confirms the coercive aspects of Nootka Sound geopolitics. When anchored at Friendly Cove in 1788, he

342 | Notes to pages 112-13

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135

136

137

138

139

140

141

142

143

was informed of a war with “the people of the opposite side of the sound”; presumably a reference to the Muchalaht (Howay 1941: 55). Probably the Pantoja Islands. The log states: ”At 2 pm [2 Aug.] weighd and made [sail] intending to beat into the Cove within the point which forms the Northwest entrance of the sound the wind fluctuating and being in a high swell & losing ground we at 5 bore up for a cluster of Islands which lay within the mouth of the south [entrance?] with the assistance of the Boats towing Anchord under one of the outermost Island at 7 in 22 fathoms water.” Presumably a reference to the stove, see Taylor (61a). The log states: “At 4 am [4 Aug.] weighd and towd with the Boats aCross the sound at 10 Anchd in the cove we endeavourd to reach the other day in 7 fathoms water close to the shore where the Sloop had gone to.” The log states: “At 5 am [5 Aug.] weighd and towd out of the cove at 7 stood out to Sea with fresh breeze at West at Noon Woody point bore North West by West.” The latitude under this date is given as 49°22’N. The map in Colnett’s Journal (112r) appears to be based upon Cook’s “Sketch of Nootka Sound,” with the addition of Muchalat Inlet and Tlupana Inlet (Cook and King 1784, 2: plate 37). However, Colnett’s map is unfinished and does not show the tracks of the vessels. His general maps (1 and 2) show routes, but at a very small scale. The cypress is the western red cedar (Thuja plicata Donn), the “most widely employed and most versatile” of plant materials used by Native peoples (Turner 1979: 74). The Canadian pine may be the western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla Raf. Sarg), which is abundant on the west coast of Vancouver Island. See Cook and King 1784, 2: 291ff. A considerable variety of edible fruits were available in the vicinity of Nootka. Among those mentioned by Colnett: strawberries (wild strawberry, Fragaria spp.); raspberries (salmon berries, Rubus spectabilis); gooseberries (wild gooseberry – Ribes divaricatum); alder (perhaps the red elderberry – Sambucus racemosa); apples (crab apples – Pyrus fusca); partridge berries (perhaps kinnickinnick, Arctostaphylus uva-ursi); currants and other berries will have included species of Ribes, Vaccinium, and Gaultheria. Elsewhere Colnett (217r) has drawn incomplete sketches of “Purple” and “Crimson” berries. He gives no indication of the location of his specimens, but they are two forms of Vaccinium; the purple is either V. alaskaense or V. ovalifolium and the red, V. parvifolium. Dewhirst (1980: 12) gives a generalized sequence of seasonal availability at Nootka. See also Turner (1995: 15); Turner et al. 1983. Lamb’s quarters was used for types of goosefoot, also known as wild spinach (see Part 1 [this volume], note 102); leeks may have been the nodding onion, Allium cernuum (Turner 1979: 272; 1995: 40; Turner et al. 1983: 13). The mule or Columbian blacktail deer, Odocoileus hemionus columbianus; the Canadian river otter, Lutra (Lontra) canadiensis mira (Cowan and Guiguet 1973: 332, 366; Nagorsen 1990: 73, 100). Etches informed Dixon (1789: 245) that Nootka Sound “produced as many different sorts of skins as Cook’s River.” Whaling was a notable part of the economy of the Nuu-chah-nulth peoples of the outer coast. The primary species hunted during the summer was probably the humpback, Megaptera novaeangliae; the commonest seal and porpoise were the harbour seal, Phoca vitulina, and the harbour porpoise, Phocaena vomerina; sea otter, Enhydra lutris (Kool 1982; Arima 1983: 38-47; Cowan and Guiguet 1973). The birds probably included the northwestern crow, Corvus caurinus; common raven, Corvus corax; bald eagle, Haliaeetus leucocphalus; great blue heron, Ardea herodias; belted kingfisher, Ceryle alcyon; and rufous hummingbird, Selasphorous rufus. Fish hawk was a name used for the osprey, Pandion halietus, which, along with other hawks, frequents Vancouver Island; sand piper could be a number of shore-waders, including

Notes to pages 113-14 | 343

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146

147

148

149

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the spotted sandpiper, Actitis macularia; pigeon, probably the band-tailed pigeon, Columba fasciata; half a dozen types of woodpeckers and five types of swallows frequented the region (Pearse 1968: 20-27; McAllister 1980; Campbell et al. 1990-2001). Quebrantahuesses was a Spanish name, meaning “bone-breakers,” for the giant petrel of southern oceans and mistakenly applied to birds observed in the north Pacific (Cook and King 1784, 2: 297; Pennant 1785: cxliii; Beaglehole 1961: 614n; 1967: 45n; Hoare 1982: 707n). For the Northwest Coast region Pearse (1968: 157) suggests the short-tailed or the black-footed albatross, Diomeda albatrus, D. nigripes. Gulls would have included the resident glaucous-winged gull, Larus glaucescens, and probably the mew gull, L. canus, as well as some visitors such as the California gull, L. californicus; shag was used for cormorants, here probably the pelagic cormorant, Phalacrocorax pelagicus; divers were loons, Gavia spp.; a considerable variety of “ducks” are found on the west coast of Vancouver Island (Pearse 1968: 20-23, 158; McAllister 1980). There is a faint and illegible addition in pencil here. Small sardines suggests a smelt (Osmeridae spp.) or perhaps immature Pacific herring (Clupea harengus); bream-like fish, probably some kind of sea perch (Embiotcidae spp.); salmon, five species of Oncorhynchus, but August was known as “Spring Salmon” month among the central and northern Nuu-chah-nulth; salmon trout were either steelhead (Salmo gairdneri), cutthroat (Salmo clarkii), or Dolly Varden (Salvelinus malma); cod, including, but not limited to, the Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus); flounders (Pleuronectidae spp. or Bothidae spp.); skate (Raja spp.); sculpin (Cottidae spp.); eels, perhaps the Pacific lamprey, Lampetra tridentatus. See Hart 1973; Drucker 1951: 36ff; Beaglehole 1967: 1324; Arima 1983: 11. Sea eggs were sea urchins (green, red, or purple) (Strongylocentrus spp.) and considered a delicacy among Nuu-chah-nulth peoples; the commonest crab was the purple shore crab, Hemigraspus nudus, whereas the edible Dungeness crab, Cancer magister, was confined to sandy areas; the common or purple starfish, Pisaster ochraceus, is readily observed at low tide (Ellis and Swan 1981). Clams were an important part of Nuu-chah-nulth diets, primarily the butter (Saxidomus giganteus), littleneck (Protothaca staminea) and horse (Tresus nuttalli). The other two most important molluscs at Yuquot were the large California muscle (Mytilus californianus) and the fringed dogwinkle (Nucella lamellosa); cockles, probably Clinocardium nuttalli; the small scallop may have been the spiny scallop, Chlamys bastata, or the reddish scallop, C. rubida, although it was the larger purple-hinged rock scallop that was used by the Nuu-chah-nulth (Ellis and Swan 1981; Clarke and Clarke 1980; Arima 1983: 17-19). European visitors speculated about the origins of metals among Northwest Coast peoples. Iron probably came via indigenous trade routes round the North Pacific Rim or from the occasional wrecked junk from Japan (Quimby 1985; Rickard 1939). Dewhirst (1980: 343) suggests that “iron became common among the Nootkans only for a relatively short time before direct European contact, perhaps within the 18th century.” Copper was comparatively rare among the Nuu-chah-nulth and the situation had not changed much since Cook’s visit when Ledyard reported seeing “a few copper bracelets” (Ledyard 1963: 77; Beaglehole 1967: 322). Arima (1983: 67) states that face and body painting was done using “[r]ed ochre, charcoal and hemlock sap which turns black ... Chiefs put on shiny powdered mica. A base of deer or bear grease underlay the painting.” The Society Isles, primarily Tahiti, exercised a powerful impact on the European imagination following the visits of Wallis, Bougainville, and Cook between 1767 and 1769 (Beaglehole 1966: 201-39). Colnett, having visited twice on Cook’s second voyage, used

344 | Notes to pages 114-16

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153

154

155

156

157

158 159

160

the experience as an ethnographic measuring rod (Beaglehole 1961: 197-239, 381-430). At Kaua'i, he questioned a girl “having some little knowledge of the Language, from its corresponding with the society Isles where I had been twice” (Colnett 177r). Cybulski (1990: 52-53) notes that Boas identified three types of head deformation on the Northwest Coast. The Koskimo type, popularly known as the “sugar loaf,” centred among the Kwakwaka’wakw peoples of the west coast of Vancouver Island. This style was used in a “less intense form” by neighbouring peoples, including the Northern and Central Nootkan tribes. Contrary to Colnett’s description, Nuu-chah-nulth houses at major sites were considerable structures requiring “much ceremony ... [and] a good deal of manpower” to erect. The house frames were permanent, “roofing and siding were movable, but ridge poles, side plates, and their supporting posts were left fixed” (Arima 1983: 61; Drucker 1951: 69). Webber’s sketches of houses at Yuquot, both interior and exterior, are well known (Cook and King 1784, Atlas: plates 41 and 42). However, the highest-ranking households often occupied central locations in villages (Ames and Maschner 1999: 152-53). Early visitors encountered “deserted” settlements with some frequency and speculated on possible explanations. Colnett returns to the question on 14 Aug. 1788, but his account here ignores the role of the annual round in producing seasonal movements between settlements. Boyd (1994: 29-34; 1998: 205-6) has discussed such accounts. At first he argued that the impact of a 1770s smallpox epidemic was the most likely explanation; more recently he is less certain, although still favouring the impact of disease. In some parts of the Northwest Coast, Old World diseases had taken a toll prior to Colnett’s arrival, but not, it would appear, in the vicinity of Nootka. In the most frequented and heavily documented part of the coast, there are no references to smallpox (Clayton 1995: 363). For another interpretation of the timing and geographical reach of the first smallpox epidemic, see Harris (1994). Inglis and Haggarty (1987) discuss the impact of wars in the Nootka area. Arima (1983: 34-38) lists eight different kinds of canoes; the larger types were used for seasonal movements, war, and whaling. He notes that it was the addition of the “high end pieces, the heads, that made the canoe look right.” Nets were made of nettle-fibre. The herring rake was “a long cedar pole an inch and a half thick set with a row of sharp bone pegs for a yard at the end” and was used by “the sternman wielding the pole like a paddle, impaling fish with each stroke and shaking them off into the canoe (Arima 1983: 25). Strange had similar problems with the Nuu-chah-nulth dogs (Fisher and Bumstead 1982: 125-26). Ledyard (1963: 71) notes that the dogs were a source of wool. For a discussion of early Euro-American accounts of dog’s wool and its uses, see Howay 1918. Colnett’s comment indicates that the journal was written up after the visit to the Sandwich Islands. The standard West Coast fishing line was made of “long kelp stems tied together” (Arima 1983: 14). Menzies collected a harpoon and line, which he presented to Banks and which now rests in the British Museum. The label reads: “Fishing line made of species of Fucus by the natives of the west coast of North America ... The inner bark of the cypresus Thugides in its different stages of preparation as manufactured by natives of the west coast of N. America, July 1787” (Gunther 1972: 219, #112). Strange gives the meaning as the “Posts of a House, also the name of the large Images”(Strange 1982: 127). Joseph Ingraham, an American trader, commented at Nootka that “the carv’d wooden Images or what they call Klumma are to represent their departed Friends at least Maquinera the chief of Uquot Inform’d me the one in his House

Notes to pages 116-19 | 345

161 162

163

164 165 166

167 168

169

170 171

172 173

174

was a memorial of his Daughter which had died some time before our arrival” (NAC, MG 23 J13, vol. 1, Ingraham to Martinez, n.d.). See also Beaglehole 1967: 326; Fisher and Bumstead 1982: 47, 290. The description suggests an orator or “talking chief ” rather than a shaman; thus probably a younger brother of Oughomeize (Arima 1983: 68). The Oughomeize of Taylor. He was listed as a chief under the name Oomees by Haswell in 1789. When Colnett returned to Nootka Sound in 1791, he noted that Wa Maise had been involved in a battle, at his village, with the Spanish (Howay 1940: 208-9 and note). See Part 1 (this volume), note 112 and Introduction, p. 33. Colnett should have been aware of the well-developed concept of ownership of land and resources among the Nuu-chah-nulth from Cook’s account. The published version states: “Here I must observe, that I have no where, in my several voyages, met with any uncivilized nation or tribe, who had such strict notions of their having a right to the exclusive property of every thing that their country produces, as the inhabitants of this Sound (Cook and King 1784, 2: 284-85; see also Beaglehole 1967: 306). See Part 1 (this volume), note 108. Arima (1983: 125) gives k’apshitl, meaning thief. Colnett has probably misinterpreted these events and Taylor is closer to the mark. Oughomeize, as “owner” of resources, likely was receiving a “tribute” from users; he would then “feast the group with it” (Arima 1983: 70). Another rendering of Maquinna, the leading chief at Yuquot. Mozino gives Su-ma as fish (Engstrand 1991: 104); here an indication of low status. Arima (1983: 125) renders peshak as p’ishaq, a Nuu-chah-nulth word, meaning bad. It was among the insults directed towards Martinez by Callicum that prompted the Spaniard to shoot the Chief (UBCSC, Martinez, Diary, 144). The term entered the early trading jargon on the coast; Sturgis, for example, lists “Pee,Shack” as a Kaiganee Haida word for bad (Jackman 1978: 108; see also Lamb 1984: 998, Smith 1974: 27n). This usage supports Samarin’s (1988) argument for a Nootka-based jargon which preceded, and was transformed into, the more familiar Chinook jargon. However, there is also evidence that a Haida-based jargon developed on the northern coast; see Part 2 (this volume), note 342. Strange had left a musket and a pair of pistols with Mackay in 1786, but Colnett’s comments indicate that the trade in firearms was established by 1787. When Haswell visited Clayoquot on 31 Aug. 1788, he was mortified to find that “there was nothing in our vessel except muskits would perchace one of them [skins]” (Fisher and Bumstead 1982: 70-71; Howay 1941: 44). See also Engstrand 1991: 70-71; Lamb 1984: 612. These comments support the suggestion that visitors were one of the local groups of the Hesquiaht, Tlupana, or Manohisaht; see Introduction, p. 35, and Map D (p. 103). The fox was not native to Vancouver Island, indicating that some of these skins were traded from peoples with access to the mainland. Bears were Ursus americana vancouveri, unless the skins had been traded from the mainland; racoon, Procyon lotor; martin, Martes americana; red squirrel, Tamiarsciurus hudsonicus (Drucker 1951: 9; Cowan and Guiget 1973). Cook had commented on the eagerness with which the Nuu-chah-nulth purchased brass buttons (Cook and King 1784, 2: 279, 305). Yuquot was a summer site, with the Mowachaht moving inland to Tahsis and Kupti for the fall and winter (Drucker 1951: 229; Marshall 1993: 155-56). However, Drucker (1951: 232) lists Cheesish and Mo’ya as winter villages for independent local groups. Presumably Taylor is in error on the latter point; if not, contemporary interpretations of Muchalaht social organization and geopolitics need revision. The log for 8 Aug. states that the snow was sighted at 10 am.

346 | Notes to pages 120-21

175 The Queen Charlotte and the King George, under Nathaniel Portlock, had left England in August 1785. For Dixon’s version of this meeting, see Dixon (1789: 230-34; Howay 1929a: 28-29). The Prince of Wales’ log for 8 Aug. states: “At 1 pm brought too with the Snow she proving to be the Queen Charlote [sic] Captain Dixon Mr Etches, and Captain Duncan of the Princes Royal went on board whom brought Captain Dixon on board the Prince of Wales at 3 bore up with Queen Charlotte and Princes Royal in Company in the Evening Mr Etches & Captains Dixon & Duncan went on board the snow.” 176 Archibald Menzies, the surgeon, was probably the source for the list of Nuu-chahnulth numbers published by Dixon (1789: 241). 177 This is Colnett’s version of an incident that featured in the dispute between Meares and Dixon (Howay 1929a: 28-29). It lends greater credibility to Meares’ account which, on this question, was probably based on information from Colnett (Meares 1790: 201). Duncan’s attitude may have been coloured by his subsequent dispute with Etches (Howay 1929a: 58 and note, 106 and note). 178 After wintering at the Hawaiian Islands, the King George and Queen Charlotte had returned to the coast at Prince William Sound. The vessels separated on 14 May 1787, with Portlock spending the remainder of the season between Prince William Sound and Portlock Harbour (Dixon 1789: 159-63; Portlock 1789: 201-68). On the way to Canton, Portlock left a letter for Colnett at Kaua'i (Atooi), which was received on 28 Jan. 1788 (Colnett 175v, 177v; see also Colnett 199v). 179 The reference is to the Queen Charlotte Islands. Dixon’s route in these waters is shown on a chart included in the published account of his voyage. Beresford adds that Colnett procured a “chart of the coast” and that Dixon advised him to “make the N.E. side of Queen Charlotte’s Islands, and the opposite land, which we judged to be the main” (Dixon 1789: 234). By another account, Dixon had suggested that the “Vessels he left” on the coast examine the sounds in the “vicinity” of Fitzhugh Sound (Dalrymple 1789a: 21). The latter area had been partially examined by James Hanna in 1786 (Lamb and Bartroli 1989-90; Galois 1994b) and La Pérouse in 1786 (Milet-Mureau 1799: 423-24, Chart 29). 180 The ports were probably Port Mulgrave (Yakutat Bay), Norfolk (Sitka) Sound, and Port Banks (Whale Bay), charts of which were published in Beresford’s account. Colnett also learned that at Prince William Sound, his next intended destination, “no encouragement could be expected.” Duncan also obtained copies of Dixon’s charts and log (C.L., 1789: 111-13; Dixon 1789: 233-34; Howay 1929a: 28-29). 181 Dixon sailed for the Hawaiian Islands, arriving off Hawai'i on 5 Sep. (Dixon 1789: 248). 182 That is 9 Aug. civil time. The log states: “At 6 pm the extremes of the land bore from North East by North to North North West. Split Rock North half West off shore 6 leagues.” 183 Split Rock is Solander Island, off Cape Cook. Colnett’s Journal and a sketch (131r) place it off Woody Point, indicating that Colnett identified Woody Point as Cape Cook. When drawing his general charts, however, Colnett placed Woody Point in the vicinity of Actis, just north of Kyuquot Sound. Taylor also placed Woody Point in this latter vicinity (Maps 1 and 2, see pp. 285-86; Taylor 63a; see p. 122 and Part 1 [this volume], notes 81 and 201). Newcombe and Newcombe (1914: R136-37) comment that Solander Island was known as Tlelchdana by the Klaskino people who, “like the Cheklesets imagine it to be a petrified right whale, and to be haunted by a huge man-eating devil-fish. Each tribe killed sea-lions here in former days.” Later they add that the Klaskino “captured” the site from the Chicklesaht. 184 The log states: “At 8 am the North extreme bore North 50 West, the South extreme East 5 South and [at] 10 stood in for an opening in a Bay bearing North North East At Noon

Notes to pages 121-22 | 347

185

186

187

188 189

190 191 192

193 194 195

entering the Harbour the entrance point of the bay East Twelve North, Woody point South 50 West ... at noon fresh gales at 2 pm anchord in 22 fathoms over a bottom of Mud a small Island in the mouth of the Harbour bore South by West distant 2 miles.” The Vancouver Island Pilot (Great Britain, Admiralty 1864: 238) describes Solander Island as about one mile west of Cape Cook “bare, 580 feet high, and has two sharp summits.” Colnett has rounded Clerke Point, although only about five miles from Cape Cook, and entered Checleset Bay; the rocks are Quineex Reef, about three-quarters of a mile offshore (Colnett Map 1, p. 285). The small rock was probably Cutler Rock, described as “13 feet high ... [and] foul ground extends about 1¼ cables north-north-eastward from it” (Great Britain 1951: 501). It and the nearby Baker Rock are shown on Colnett’s chart of Port Brooks, but the course of the vessel is not indicated. The chart also shows seven islets or rocks in Checleset Bay to the east side of the entrance to Nasparti Inlet. Scarf Island. The vessels had reached Nasparti Inlet; see Map E (p. 120). Johnstone and Colnett produced charts of Port Brooks, which make it clear that the anchorage was south of Cape Cook. However, Meares (1790) and Arrowsmith (1790) in their published charts of the coast show Port Brooks in the area of Klaskish Inlet, north of Cape Cook. It seems likely that Meares saw Colnett’s general chart(s), with Port Brooks to the north of Woody Point, and drafted his own map accordingly. However, Colnett had located Woody Point about the northern side of Kyuquot Sound and not the current Cape Cook (see Part 1 [this volume], notes 183 and 201). Meares’ error was adopted on Spanish charts and accepted by modern scholarship; e.g., Walbran (1971: 64) and Howay (1929a: 110). Wagner (1937: 434) accepted the identification of Klaskish Inlet by Walbran and states it was named by Duncan on 5 Aug. 1788. See Appendix 1. Johnstone (Map 2) shows that the Prince of Wales had anchored on the west side of the inlet, opposite Lorenz Point. Duncan’s anchorage was about two miles farther up, also on the western side, near the mouth of a small unnamed stream. Colnett’s expedition was the first to visit this area, and this may have been a first contact situation. However, the proximity to Nootka meant that the people had some knowledge of Europeans even if no direct experience. See the comments by Taylor. James Johnstone, Thomas Hudson, and John Etches. Johnson Lagoon. The vessels were in what is now Chicklesaht territory; Cape Cook marked the boundary with Kwak’wala speakers to the north and Thomas or Lookout Islands the southern limit (Drucker 1951: 222; Galois 1994a: 347; Kenyon 1980: 44). However, Inglis argues that at the time of contact this area was occupied by the ?uwa?sa?ath, a Nuu-chahnulth local group which later merged with three others (?iqus[?ath], ciqis?ath, and maqcupi?ath) to form the Chicklesaht of anthropological literature (Inglis 1997: 13.6). The descriptions here, indicating a small community, support Inglis’ interpretation. Moreover, Taylor’s account agrees with that of John Hoskins, who visited the area in 1791 and 1792. After anchoring in “Naspahtee or Columbia’s Cove,” just north of Jackobson Point, Hoskins noted that the only settlement on the sound was a “small village called by the natives, Opswis” which contained about “twenty or thirty inhabitants.” A map, drawn in 1792 by a colleague, Robert Haswell, shows this settlement on the eastern shore of the Nasparti Inlet, opposite the anchorage. Hoskins added that the head village of the region was in the next sound, and visible from its entrance. It seems likely that the small “village” was what Haggarty and Inglis describe as a “resource camp”; perhaps EaSv 10, or EaSv20, with its adjacent fish trap, EaSv19. The “head village” was

348 | Notes to pages 123-25

196

197

198 199

200

201

202

203 204 205 206

therefore ?apswis (EaSv3) at the entrance to Malksope Inlet. Hoskins and Haswell had misunderstood the information given them, but the suggestion of a connection between the two settlements remains; perhaps the “resource camp” was part of maqcupi?ath territory (Howay 1941: 190-94, 336-37; 401-2, 406-8; Haggarty and Inglis 1997; Rousseau and Howe 1987). The latitude for Woody Point is too high, the correct figure being 50°08’N, but there is no doubt that here Colnett identifies Woody Point as Cape Cook. The correct latitude for the anchorage in Nasparti Inlet is 50°10’N. The log states: “At 6 am [11 Aug.] weighd and stood out to Sea, at Noon Woody point bore North West distant 3 leagues Southern extreme East half North ... at 6 pm the extremes of the land bearing from North by West distant to North East.” Mary Camilla Brooks, a tea dealer in London, was listed as one of the partners in Richard Cadman Etches & Co. (BL, EIC, HM, vol. 190, 247). She had married Robert Hanning Brooks in 1772 and must have taken over the business on the death of her husband. Etches had operated a wine and tea merchants under the title Brooks and Etches, apparently with Robert Hanning Brooks, at 69 Watling Street (Kent 1778: 29; 1779: 29; 1782: 28; Lowndes 1782: 23; 1783: 23; 1784: 22; 1785: 22; 1786: 37). The log adds: “At 5 pm saw the land bearing North West 8 leagues.” The low point would appear to be Clerke Point. The log adds: “At 1 pm the extremes of the Land from EbyN to NbyW at 7 from East by North half North to North North West, split rock bore North by East 2 Leagues.” Colnett’s maps (1 and 2) show two unnamed inlets north of Woody Point (i.e., the Actis area), which would have been visible entering and leaving Nasparti Inlet. These are Ououkinish Inlet and Malksope Inlet, their entrances separated by the Bunsby Islands. The same maps show two other entrances south of Woody Point which may have been visible on 8 Aug. These would probably be Kyuquot Sound and Esperanza Inlet. Hope Bay was the name given by Cook to a “large bay” between Woody Point and Nootka Sound. The name, now obsolete, appears on Cook’s Chart, but the scale is small and recognizable detail is lacking (Beaglehole 1967: 294-95; Cook and King 1784, Atlas: plate 36, Chart of the North West coast ...). The Spanish regarded Hope Bay as Esperanza Inlet but Colnett, when drawing his general charts, placed it in the area between Woody Point and the northern end of Nootka Island; in 1790 he described Port Brooks as being in the “North Corner.” However, to confuse matters, he had now located Woody Point on the northern side of Kyuquot Sound (Wagner 1937: 462; Colnett Maps 1 and 2 [see pp. 285-86]; Howay 1940: 207). See Part 1 (this volume), notes 81, 183, and 189. Colnett had sailed southeastwards from Nasparti Inlet, at least as far as Kyuoquot Inlet. The “White” hill may be White Cliff Head, the southeast extreme of Union Island, on the north side of Kyuquot Channel, the principal entry into Kyuquot Sound. The head is described as “about 70 feet high, faced to the southward by a remarkable white cliff ... Half a mile within the head is Kyuquot hill, a remarkable summit 740 feet high ... very conspicuous from seaward” (Great Britain, Admiralty 1864: 230). The elevation of Kyuquot summit has been recalculated at 730 feet. Named by Dixon on 25 Aug. 1787, St. James day (Dixon 1789: 214). The date is taken from the log, which adds that the latitude at noon was 52°02’. The vessels were off the eastern end of Houston Stewart Channel, separating Kunghit and Moresby Islands. Taylor commented on the greetings of the Haida on a couple of occasions. Those met on 20 Aug. “approached us in a very musical manner, all of them singing with some degree of Harmony” (Taylor 64a).

Notes to pages 125-28 | 349

207 Taylor (64a) noted the difference in language and that the Kunghit Haida were sea otter hunters: “We could not manage to understand each other so that our Barter went on by signs, and Iron Hoop seemd to attract their notice most, we purchased one Sea Otter from them, it hand been lately killed and was yet warm, this proved to us that they occasionally kill these animals at Sea, as well as on Shore.” 208 Colnett has reached Houston Stewart Channel. The initial anchorage was off Point Langford (Colnett 136r; Johnstone Map 3, 3a). The log for 20 Aug. states: “At 1 pm brought too of the Large Bay to send the Boat on shore to examine for a Harbour they having found a good one at the head of the bay the Boat returnd at 4 when we weighd and run in with a light [breeze] and the assistance of the Boats towing came too in 17 fathoms at 9.” 209 Colnett has anchored in Rose Harbour, a little east of Ellen Island. On 31 Aug. he named the area Port St. James and used St. James Bay for the eastern entrance to Houston Stewart Channel. James Johnstone (Map 3, 3a), however, named the anchorage Rose’s Harbour. George Rose, Secretary of the Treasury, had named Portlock’s vessel, the King George, reflecting governmental interest in the Etches ventures (Portlock 1789: 6; Steven 1983: 2). 210 That is 21 Aug.: the log states: “At 6 pm the Princes Royal saild.” Dixon had traded along the east coast of the Queen Charlotte islands between 27 Jul. and 2 Aug., reaching as far north as 52°59’. Here, likely somewhere off Cumshewa, he had secured some 350 skins and information, or a warning, from a Haida chief about the Tsimshian: “On our pointing to the Eastward, and asking the old man whether we should meet any furs there, he gave us to understand that it was a different nation from his, and that he did not even understand their language, but was always at war with them; that he had killed great numbers, and had many of their heads in his possession ... he closed his relation with advising us not to come near that part of the coast for that the inhabitants would certainly destroy us” (Dixon 1789: 215-23). Conflicts between Haida peoples and neighbouring Tsimshian and Heiltsuk peoples were not uncommon, but such warnings were also designed to discourage Europeans from establishing new trading locations. In other words, they were attempts to retain control over trading activity. Swanton (1905a: 425ff.) includes four narratives involving conflicts between the people of “Kloo” (Tanu) and their mainland neighbours. 211 The log adds that both vessels were sent on “a trafficking expedition.” 212 The initial arrivals were probably Xo’ya’s people. See Part 1 (this volume), note 217. The usual symbols for peace were down or white feathers. Taylor may be describing the chief ’s baton (Niblack 1890: 271-72, 342-43, plate 17). 213 The strangers were probably a group from the north under “Sanjaskulah”; see Taylor (66a) and Introduction (this volume), p. 40. 214 That is 22 Aug. civil time. 215 The labret, an ornament used by many cultures of the Northern Pacific Rim, extending from the Northwest Coast to the Aleutians to Northwestern Alaska (Keddie 1981). It attracted unfavourable comment from many early European visitors. In Heiltsuk territory, among the waterways to the east of Milbanke Sound, in June 1793, Menzies reflected on his prior experience of the ornament. Like Taylor, he noted the link with the status of the women: “This horrid custom of piercing the underlip prevails among the women from Queen Charlotte’s Sound all along the Coast to Admiralty [Yakutat] Bay near Mount St. Elias; What was the origin of such strange deformity we could not learn, but it is now so general amongst them, particularly with women of rank, that they vie with one another in putting their lips upon the utmost stretch round these pieces, at least we observd in our former visit to this Coast that the Chiefs Wives always

350 | Notes to pages 128-30

216

217 218

219

220 221

222

223

had the largest lip pieces, which are sometimes carved or neatly inlaid with pearly shells or bits of Copper” (UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies Journal, 16 Jun. 1793; see Part 2 [this volume], note 355). Gunther (1972: 229-30) lists surviving museum examples from this era. See drawings by Colnett (141r) and Dixon (1789: opp. 226). Tlingit and Haida wooden armour consisted of “cylindrical pieces of wood ... woven together with ‘hempen thread.’” The skins were moose, elk, and occasionally caribou (Gunther 1972: 133; Cutter 1991: 59-60). Maritime fur traders soon became involved in supplying the skins, known as clammons or clammels. Magee, an American trader anchored near Ninstints in 1793, found that the people “would not sell them [sea otter furs] for anything but Moose skins which we had none of. these skins the[y] call Clemmons which if we had would command skin for skin.” After obtaining a quantity at Barkley Sound and along the Washington Coast, Magee returned north. He sold the clammons “at the rate of 3 prime skins for the best sort & 2 for the second” (BCA, Magee, Log: 6 and 26 Jul., 7 and 8 Sep. 1793 and 12 and 25 Feb., 22 Apr. 1794; see also Howay 1941: 32 and 400; Jackman 1978: 34; UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies Journal, 16 Jun. 1793; PRO, Adm. 55/17, Puget Log, 16 Jun. 1793). The sale of firearms gradually eliminated this trade (Biggs 1927, 2: 549). Taylor thought that the “putting on the War Matts ... might be a false alarm respecting some Strangers”; presumably those who had arrived on the 22nd. Colnett’s comment is a fascinating example of his limited understanding of indigenous trading protocols and the contradictory tensions involved in early commercial encounters. See below (Colnett 147r) for a similar response among the Tsimshian. Menzies, in outlining the best trade goods for different locations on the coast, subsequently stated: “At Queen Charlotte’s Isles & Banks Isles, Iron Cloth, Beads with Brass & Copper trinkets answered best” (Dillon 1951: 156). Colnett (Map 1) shows Duncan sailing to the west coast of Aristazabal Island. The log states that the Princess Royal returned on 3 pm 24 Aug. It is curious that Colnett makes no mention of Skelkinance until 1788 as, according to Taylor, they exchanged names. In a note to a poem included in his journal after the entry for 14 Dec. 1787, Taylor (88b) writes: “Skelkynance! The name Captain Colnet [sic] received in exchange for his own, from a Chief on the North west of America, agreeable to their custom, in token of friendship.” The identity of Skelkinance is uncertain. One candidate is Xi’liñas, whom Swanton identifies as the chief of Tc!u’uga lnaga’-i, a town beyond the west end of Houston Stewart Channel, and probably of the Ga’nxet qe’gawa-i Eagle lineage (E 2). For a discussion of this and other candidates, see Introduction, p. 40-41. Acheson identifies Yuka as Wada’, of the Xa’gi la’nas Raven lineage (R 1). His territory was in Skincuttle Inlet, shown as Port Uga on Colnett’s map (1). The ethnographic record links him to a settlement, Xa’gi lnaga’-i, on the Bolkus Islands. Like Coyah, Yuka became familiar to a number of other early traders. The best information comes from Joseph Ingraham, who visited Yuka’s village in 1791, producing a map of the area. At that time it was on the south shore of Skincuttle Inlet, in the bay west of Harriet Harbour. For a discussion, see Introduction, p. 40. Cooyah is clearly Xo’ya, chief of the Qai’dju qe’gawa-i Raven lineage (R 2a). His principal residence was at or near Anthony Island and his territory encompassed all of Kunghit Island. He “was the acknowledged chief of Houston Stewart Channel and adjacent sound.” Like Yuka, Coyah is mentioned by a number of other early maritime fur traders. When Haswell anchored off the west coast of Kunghit Island in 1789, he traded with Chief “Coya” and learned that “these people have been visited by several navigators they spoke of Colinnet and Dunkin” (Howay 1941: 97-98). For a discussion, see Introduction, p. 39-40.

Notes to pages 130-34 | 351

224 The surgeon, Archibald Menzies. 225 Raspberry Cove and Forsyth Point. 226 The log for 26 Aug. states: “Having warpd two cables lengths out of the Bay since yesterday we now lay in 12 fathoms and a bottom of sand and Shells.” 227 On 30 Jul., near lat. 52°30’, hence off Juan Perez Sound, Dixon was involved in an incident with a party of Haida who attempted to steal some furs. Beresford described the response: “to make them sensible that we were able to punish attempts of this sort, even at a distance, we fired several musquets after them, but did not perceive that they were attended with any fatal effects.” C.L. (1789: 108-9), however, reports being visited two days later by a canoe of Haida “to inform us that one of their companions had been shot dead by one of the musket balls which we had fired at them. They strove to make us understand that they harboured no resentment against us” (Dixon 1789: 221). 228 Colnett was clearly formulating plans for 1788. In the event he did not return to Houston Stewart Channel until July, but Duncan anchored in Luxana Bay in May 1788; see Colnett 228v; Appendix 1. 229 Acheson (1991: 387, 410) identifies the southern camp as Na’odas lnagai-i, belonging to Xo’ya. It was an old village site that, in 1787, was occupied probably only for harvesting salmon from the adjacent stream. The northern camp was in Raspberry Cove. 230 The long boat went as far north as the “Clews Isles,” suggesting Tanu Island, but Colnett’s maps (1 and 2) place the name in the vicinity of Ramsay, Murchison, and Lyell Islands (See Map F, p. 126). Presumably the men had met Xe-u’, or some of his people, without reaching Tanu Island. Taylor (68b) notes that the long boat had visited “many of the Harbours or Inlets, which are formed by a number of Larger or smaller Islands & Chains of Rocks.” On visiting Juan Perez Sound in 1788, he added (276a) that the long boat visited “the Rock about 5 Leagues to ye NW” of Scudder Point “where they found the Natives last year but found the Village deserted.” This may be a reference to a village or fort on the southeast coast of Lyell Island. See comments by Colnett (137v) and Taylor (276a). 231 Taylor (68a) states that Xo’ya “bid us adieu, and shook hands with all the Officers and appeared to express great sorrow at our departure was very desirous to know when we should return and promised to procure a quantity of Skins.” However, none of the other Haida “seemed to care” about the departure. 232 The log states: “At 4 am weighd the stream anchor with the boat and carried it out to warp into the fair way weighd the Bower anchor at 6 and at 8 got under way from the stream anchor and with a fresh [breeze] of wind stood out to sea, the extremes of land from North West by West to South by East the Princes Royal astern ... at 7 pm the extremes of the land from West North to South by East at 6 am the extreme of the land North West by North and at Noon from North West by West to South South East.” 233 When the Prince of Wales visited Juan Perez Sound in July 1788, Taylor described Sanjaskulah as “a Chief from the Northd where our Boat had collected Skins last year.” In other words, Sanjaskulah came from some point to the north of Juan Perez Sound. From Taylor’s rendition of the name and ethnographic information, the most likely candidate is Gîtan gia’slas or Gina’skilas. He was a chief of the “Town of Djigua People,” an Eagle lineage (E 4) with territory in the vicinity of Lyell Island (Swanton 1905b: 273, 278). Acheson (1991: 223, 302) adds that the Tanu were the “nearest neighbour and greatest enemy” of the Kunghit Haida. 234 Colnett was correct about the southern arm, which is a continuation of Houston Stewart Channel. But the northern channel, now known as Rose Inlet, is landlocked. 235 This is the first report and portrayal of a Northwest Coast “Copper.” Bill Holm, using Colnett’s sketch, has reconstructed its bear design (De Laguna 1991: Frontispiece). There

352 | Notes to pages 134-35

236

237

238

239

240

241

242

243

244

has been considerable discussion about the origin and use of these artifacts. De Laguna (ibid.: 182-83) accepts Colnett’s description that it was initially used for defensive purposes. Later, the “Coppers” were used as expressions of status and for ceremonial purposes. Jopling, on the other hand, takes the position that the “Coppers” were a product of contact. While recognizing that Colnett’s sketch represents a “fully developed ... example ... displaying complete aesthetic realization,” she argues that “it is unlikely that Coppers were made of native copper before contact” (Jopling 1989: 49-51, 72, 129-32). The logic of this position is questioned by Miller (1997: 154), who argues that copper had “a symbolic value along the coast, fostered by an extensive prehistoric trade in ornaments.” He adds that “Natives agree” that local copper was made into “smaller versions of modern coppers.” On scalping, see Niblack (1890: 341-42). Swanton (1905a: 371-74, 415-17) gives a series of war narratives, two of which concerned the Kunghit people. See also Introduction, p. 44. Colnett had visited the Friendly Islands on Cook’s second voyage. He had not yet been to the Hawaiian Islands, suggesting this is a post hoc comment added when writing up the journal from some other source. Rattles were used for ceremonial and curative purposes. Colnett describes two forms, the bird and the hoop, the latter being the more ancient. On the former, see Niblack 1890: 324, fig. 286-8, 309-18; Dawson 1880: 138B-139B. On the latter, see Niblack 1890: 331, fig 73; Dawson (1880: plate 10, #25). The bills used in the hoop version were usually of tufted puffins, Fratercula cirrhata, or horned puffins, F. corniculata (Pearse 1968: 26, 250-51). See also Taylor’s comments (67a-68a). Beresford described the ceremonial dress of chiefs as including an elkskin coat hung with one or two rows of “berries, or the beaks of birds which made a rattling noise whenever he moves.” The beaks, probably those of the puffin, were also applied to leggings (Dixon 1789: 246; Niblack 1890: 264, plate 10 fig. 36; Cole and Lockner 1989, 2: 479; Gunther 1972: 122). Beresford noted that “toes, at first, were quite a leading article in barter” on the Queen Charlotte Islands. They were “long flat pieces of iron, not much unlike a carpenter’s plane-iron, only narrower.” The term was taken from the language of the Hawaiian Islands, where similar articles had been traded during Cook’s voyage (Dixon 1789: 228, 47-48, 269; Beaglehole 1967: 1150, 1190). Copper had assumed a new strategic importance with its use for sheathing naval vessels. Between 1761 and 1785 virtually every vessel in the Royal Navy was “coppered,” hence Colnett’s curiosity (Jopling 1989: 57; Clowes 1898-99, 3: 336; Frost 1980: 43n). Red, black, and blue-green were the traditional colours of Northwest Coast art. Red was derived from iron-oxides, black from graphite or manganese, and blue-green from celadonite, an iron silicate. The pigment was mixed with a saliva-salmon egg paste (Holm 1970: 26-35; Vaughan and Holm 1982: 37; Garfield and Wingert 1966: 63). The ethnographic literature does not recognize the Haida as whalers but Acheson (1991: 215-16), after reviewing available evidence, concludes that the Kunghit Haida pursued the humpback whale. This agrees with Blackman’s findings at Masset, where she was informed that the “humpback whales were taken because they are relatively small, and they frequent bays and sheltered waters” (Blackman 1975: 22). Colnett goes on to describe the characteristic V-shaped halibut hook; the size of the V was used to regulate the size of fish caught (Rousselot, Fitzhugh, and Crowell 1988: 154). The Haida differed from other Northwest Coast peoples in placing “much greater emphasis” on fishing for halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis) than for salmon (Acheson 1991: 205). The snapper was probably some form of rockfish, Sebastes spp.

Notes to pages 135-38 | 353

245 This is presumably a reference to the fort subsequently described by Taylor (276a; see also Part 1 [this volume], note 230). Many early White visitors recorded descriptions on Native forts, some of which were of considerable antiquity; for a discussion of those in Tlingit territory, see Moss and Erlandson (1992). Haida forts, or “taodji,” for the southern Queen Charlotte Islands are shown in Swanton (1905b: 278 and maps) and Newcombe Papers, vol. 44, file 30; for Duncan’s description of a Tsimshian fort, see Appendix 1; for Kwakwaka’wakw territory, see Galois 1994a. 246 The Haida made ladles and spoons out of mountain goat and mountain sheep horns. The handles were often elaborately carved and the bowls shaped by steaming. See Niblack 1890: 317-18, plate 41. In 1788, Colnett noted that the horns were traded from the Tsimshian, see below (Colnett 230r). 247 Colnett (138r) drew a sketch of two types of canoes. The smaller ones, with an overhanging bow and vertical cutwater, were for hunting and fishing. The larger ones, up to sixty feet in length, were known as “head canoes” and used for transportation and war. Known only from models and drawings, it had a “large, roughly rectangular fin extending from the bow and a similarly large, but tapered fin at the stern.” This style, according to Holm, did not survive the early contact period (Rousselot, Fitzhugh, and Crowell 1988: 156-57, fig. 189; Niblack 1890: 294-96, plates 33 and 34). 248 See Part 1 (this volume), note 238. 249 Portlock (1789: 282), among the Tlingit, described a similar type of drum as “a large old chest, beaten with the hands”; this was quite different from the more familiar circular, skin type. Emmons thought that the box drum “properly belongs to the shaman and is used by him when he gives exhibition dances” (De Laguna 1991: 294). 250 A naval visitor to Skidegate in 1853, who was entertained by Haida singing and dancing, noted that the “singing seemed to be always the same tune, and we were told the words are extempore having relation generally to passing events; the song of today being complimentary to us.” UBCL, Hills, Journal 1853: 199. 251 Swanton (1905b: 58-59, 149-54) gives an account of the Haida “stick game” with illustrations of the designs on a set of seventy “sticks.” See also Curtis 1916: 132-33. 252 The Sitka mouse, Peromyscus sitkensis, was native to Kunghit Island; the equivalent on Moresby Island was the deer mouse, Peromyscus maniculatus, although the taxonomic status of the distinction is still debated (Cowan and Guiguet 1973: 176-88; Nagorsen 1990: 42-43). 253 Sea pie was a common term for oystercatcher; here the black oystercatcher, Haematopus bachmani. 254 The curlew may have been a whimbrel, Numenius americanus (Pearse 1968: 24). The bills of the tufted puffin, Fratercula cirrhata, and horned puffin, F. corniculata were used on rattles and on clothing. Colnett (140r) includes a sketch of the former, but elsewhere he describes the beaks as hawks’ bills – although the bird was commonly known as the “Sea Parrott.” Colnett (139v, 140r) also includes sketches of a Steller’s jay (139v), Cyanocitta stelleri, and a pigeon guillemot, Cepphus columba; both frequent the Queen Charlotte Islands, but Colnett provides no information about the source of his specimens (Niblack 1890: 264; Kaplanoff 1971: opp. 98; see Part 1 [this volume], notes 238 and 239). 255 An adze, “toki pounamu” or “green talk hatchet,” made of greenstone or nephrite, was presented to Cook at Dusky Bay (New Zealand) in April 1773. Later that year, crew members traded for quantities of the greenstone known as “Poenammoo” (Beaglehole 1961: 122 and note 6, 289). 256 Contrary to Colnett’s assumption, some Haida possessed small quantities of iron at contact in 1774 (Bolton 1927: 325; Beals 1989: 78, 101). The supply expanded dramatically

354 | Notes to pages 138-42

257 258 259

260 261

262 263 264

265

266

267

268

with the development of the maritime fur trade; Dixon’s last trading encounter with the Haida was on 30 Jul. (Dixon 1789: 220-21). Water-tight baskets were made of spruce roots, but ethnographic accounts describe the decoration as being done by weaving not painting (Niblack 1890: 314). See Part 1 (this volume), note 247. The dates in this section are rather confusing. I have used the log entries to provide identifications. The log states: “At 6 am the extreme of the land North West by North and at Noon from North West by West to South South East ... the extremes of the Land bore at 6 pm from North West to South by East then soundings with 75 fathoms ground off shore 4 miles.” That is 2 Sep. civil time. The log states: “At 1 pm sounded in 76 fathoms brown sand at 6 saw the land bearing South West.” The log states: “At 6 am sounded in 28 fathoms had stoney bottom at Noon the extremes of the land from North West to North East soundings 27 fathoms ... at 6 pm Charlotts Isles bore from South by West to North West by West the extremes of the land from North East half East to North by West at 8 soundings 60 fathoms” – gives a latitude of 52°50’N. The west coast of Banks Island. The latitude and Colnett’s maps indicate a location between Waller Bay and Grief Point. See Map G (p. 140). The point was Terror Point, or Cape Stowe as Colnett (Map 2, p. 286) called it, and the bay was the entrance into Nepean Sound. The log states: “At 8 am the extremes of Land were from North by East to North West by West at 10 [am] being close in with the land bore up and at the distance of two miles run along shore, at Noon the extremes of the land from East South East to West by North 2 miles of shore ... at 2 pm the boat was sent on shore to look out for an harbour it became such thick fog fired two Guns to direct the boatswain at 4 she came back without being enabled to find one, bore up and made sail along shore at 6 the boat went to examine another but at 7 return with’[out] success wore and made sail from the land.” Colnett’s latitude is too high. The southwest extreme of Banks Island, Terror Point, is at 53°9’30”; the island was probably Joseph Island, some three and a quarter miles southsouthwest of Terror Point, with an elevation of 320 feet. The log states: “At 2 pm despatcht the Boat to search for a harbour and making signal at 4 having found [one] bore up and ran in at 5 Anchord 7 fathoms water.” Johnstone (Map 1, p. 287) shows that the vessels had entered a small bay at the southern end of Banks Island, just east of Calamity Bay, which he named Calamity Harbour. Colnett’s maps are smaller scale but show that he names the harbour Port Ball (Colnett Maps 1 and 2, pp. 286-86). Labrador tea (Ledum groenlandicum) was used on vessels as a substitute for tea. On 10 and 11 Jul. 1793, in the vicinity of Gil Island, Menzies collected a specimen and commented: “The Ledum palustre was found to grow pretty plentifully in the woods round the skirts of the bay & as our stock of tea was nearly expended quantities of the Shrub were now gatherd both by the men & officers to be used as a substitute, & a decoction of its leaves found to be very palatable & salubrious beverage, not inferior perhaps in those qualities to the manufacturd Tea of China” (UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies Journal, 11 Jul. 1793; Groves 2001: 89). Taylor (257b), at Norfolk Sound, commented that “it makes a pleasant Cool drink in warm weather, even without Sugar.” Turner (1995: 7980) describes Aboriginal uses. Colnett had ventured into Nepean Sound, with Principe Channel to the northwest and Estevan Sound to the southeast. Menzies, who returned to the area in 1793, stated

Notes to pages 142-44 | 355

269

270

271 272

273 274 275

276 277 278 279

that Nepean Sound had “been named by Mr. Duncan” and that the current Principe Channel had been named Duncan Channel “from Mr Duncan being the first Navigator who saild through it in the Sloop Princess Royal in the year 1788” (UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies Journal, 10 and 18 Jul. 1793; Lamb 1984: 957; Duncan #6, 1789). Colnett’s maps (1 and 2) show routes taken by undated boat expeditions, but the descriptions make it difficult to be certain when particular trips occurred. In this case, Colnett (Map 1, p. 285) shows the fishery on the east shore of Banks Island, either at Kitlawaoo (IR #10) or Keecha (IR #11). The log states that the “Boats were sent in search of Natives”; Taylor (70b) adds that the “Boats were dispatched with orders to see Inhabitants or better or safer anchorage in the Northeast and Southeast.” See Part 1 (this volume), note 272. The description suggests that the whale boat examined the outer, or west, coast of the Estevan Group of islands. But Colnett’s maps (1 and 2) do not show any trip to this area. The long boat had been across Nepean Sound, through Otter Passage, and along the southern end of Pitt Island, probably to the vicinity of Union Passage. Cod refers to the head or “inmost recess” of the bay (OED). Colnett’s maps (1 and 2) show Cape Seax and a village at two slightly different locations in this vicinity. Seax (Seks) would later visit the vessels and Edward Gamble, in a description of Gitkxaala hunting territories, stated that Seks controlled a small area at Union Passage, although his principal territory was farther north, in the vicinity of Lowe Inlet (CMC, Beynon, BF 40.12; see also APS, Beynon and Barbeau, 1316 Temlarh’am, #40, Heber Clifton). A number of fish traps have been reported in the Union Passage area, together with an undated midden (ASR FiTi1-7). One of the traps is adjacent to IR #7 Tsimtack, described as a fishing station early in the twentieth century. Another possibility is that the village was Citeyats, visited by Caamano in 1792 (see Part 1 [this volume], note 290; Appendix 3; NAC, MMRC, RG 10, vol. 11019, file 504A). The log states the long boat “was despatcht to traffick with the Natives” on 8 Sep.; the whale boat went to the fishery on 9 Sep. For a description of the area see Colnett 152v. Colnett was unfamiliar with the life cycle of the salmon, which were returning to spawn. See Part 1 (this volume), note 314. The reference is to a salmon weir, several types of which were employed by Northwest Coast peoples. This was clearly a form adapted to a relatively small stream and Marc Spencer, a Ganhada chief of the Gitkxaala, stated that “the gitxala people had many villages on what is now Pitt Island and Banks Island, each family group having their own fishing and hunting village at which a special type of salmon trap known as laeqal, it was fixed at the narrowest part of the [stream?] in the form of a lead entering into a wicker work trap [sketch]. Such traps were used by all the gitxala people on Pitt Island and Banks Island ... [one] was at the village of wakaes, ganhada, Banks Island, marked on plan and now known as knc‘wc‘c = knc – place of; ‘wc‘c – snared ‘place of snares’” (CMC, Beynon, BF 132.5; see also Garfield and Wingert 1966: 14). Stewart (1977: 103-9) provides sketches of some examples of river weirs. Simonsen (1973: 24, 31-32, and 71) notes that “tide traps” also existed at Port Stephens and Monckton Inlet. Estevan Sound connects with Caamano Sound and thence Hecate Strait. The long boat would soon examine this area. The wolf, Canis lupus, was found on Banks Island although the status of coastal subspecies is uncertain (Cowan and Guiguet 1973: 282-85; Nagorsen 1990: 67). Gunwale or the upper edge of the boat’s side (Falconer 1780: 142). With “tolerable success,” in Taylor’s opinion. It seems likely that the long boat had returned to the southern end of Pitt Island, perhaps the Union Passage area; see the comments by Colnett (146r) about “having drain’d the Tribe they first saw.”

356 | Notes to pages 144-45

280 The log states that “the Boats returnd from Bartering with the Natives” on 14 Sep. This may have been the occasion when a boat went up Principe Channel, perhaps visiting the entrance of Ala Passage and continuing to a little beyond Anger Island. This route is shown on Colnett’s maps (1 and 2), but with no date indicated. Charles Duncan, on returning to Principe Channel in 1788, anchored in “Port Stephens” and drew a chart showing a fort belonging to Chief Seks. There is some confusion about the location as it was not the Port Stephens of contemporary charts. When Vancouver passed what he took to be Port Stephens, on 15 Jul. 1793, he was farther north, at Ala Passage. Menzies placed the location “about three miles of Latitude to the Southward” of a “large Bay in the Latitude of about 53°30’ North”; this was the latitude given by Duncan (Lamb 1984: 979-80 and note; UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies Journal, 15 Jul. 1793; Duncan, Map 6; Appendix 1). Tsimshian informants also described a defensive site at Curtis Inlet or Ala Passage (CMC, Beynon, BF 422.10, 423.1, Edward Gamble, BF 40.12). 281 The log states that “the Long Boat went again to trade with the Natives” on 17 Sep. 282 Seax (Seks) was a Gispwudwada chief of the Gitkxaala, hence a Tsimshian speaker. His principal territory was in the vicinity of Lowe Inlet, extending to Union Passage at the southern end of Pitt Island (Map H, p. 141). He probably arrived from that direction, as Colnett’s comments suggest. Moreover, Menzies, on returning to the area in 1793, recalled: “One day we had been visited [at Port Ball] by a powerfull Chief named Siax & a large party of the Natives from Nepean’s Sound” (UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies Journal, 18 Jul. 1793). At this time Nepean Sound was applied to waters extending at least as far as Cridge Passage (Lamb 1984: 966n; Arrowsmith 1790). Ingraham shows Syax Harbour at the location of Browning Entrance, i.e., between Principe Channel and Porcher Island, and in the vicinity of the Gitkxaala winter village (Kaplanoff 1971: map opp. 218). 283 Taylor (71a) adds that the canoes were about forty to fifty feet in length. 284 Colnett (215v, 226v) used the same technique in 1788 among the Tlingit and Haida. Dutton (1987) provides an illuminating discussion of the use of signs in first contact situations. 285 Menzies gives a somewhat different account of this incident. He informed Banks that “on the west side of North America, in a remote corner island, the natives had a short warlike weapon of solid brass ... It had a short handle, with a round knowb at the end; and the blade was of an oval form, thick in the middle but becoming thinner toward the edges, and embellished on one side with an escutcheon, inscribing Jos. Bank Esq. The natives put a high value on it; they would not part with it for considerable offers. The inscription, and escutcheonal embellishments, were nearly worn off by their great attentions in keping it clean ... To commemorate this discovery I have given your name to a cluster of islands, round where we were then at anchor. In the course of a few days I shall have the honour of pointing out to you their situation and extent, on a chart which I have made of the coast; as also presenting you with a few mementos from that and other parts of it” (BCA, Add. Mss. 1077, Newcombe Papers, vol. 49, file 3, Menzies to Banks, 14 Jul. 1789, copy, original, Kew: 1 – 356; extract reprinted in Smith 1911: 14142). The artifact was one of the forty replicas of “the replica Maori patu Onewas ... cast by Mrs Eleanor Gyles of Shoe Lane” in March 1772. Engraved with Banks name and the date 1772, ... given to Captain Clerke” when he went on Cook’s third voyage (Carter 1988: 258). Thus, Menzies concluded, “it is probable ... that he left it at Nootka and from thence by the spirit of commerce and barter between different tribes had travelled through the interior parts of the country to this place a distance of nearly 300 miles even the nearest way it could come” (UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies Journal, 18 Jul. 1793). Meares, in 1788, was shown a similar article by Callicum, a chief at Nootka Sound (Meares 1790: 133). For Cook’s description of the Patu, see Beaglehole (1955: 200-1).

Notes to pages 145-48 | 357

286 A labret. 287 When visiting Fisherman’s Cove, Gil Island, in 1793, Menzies recalled some other details of the appearance of the Tsimshian in 1787: “This Tribe were formerly very partial to long hair, so much so that they used to intermix a quantity of false hair with their own to increase it in length & size to a long greasy queue” (UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies Journal, 14 Jul. 1793). 288 Menzies subsequently provided a fuller account of the trading procedure of some Banks Island Tsimshian: “In traficking for some furs & curiosities it was observed that neither of the men would close a bargain let it be ever so advantageous without first consulting the women, & if any of them gave a negative to it or made any objections, the things were instantly handed into the ship” (UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies Journal, 15 Jul. 1793). Comparable observations were made at other parts of the coast; for a discussion, see Littlefield 1987. 289 Taylor describes this visit but makes no mention of Seks. In his version, Seks does not appear on the scene until 21 Sep. See (71b). 290 The identity of the second chief is uncertain. Two potential candidates are suggested by the Gitkxaala narratives, Sabaan and Ahlawaels, and a third, Hammisit (Armseit), by Taylor’s subsequent testimony. All three of these men were of the Ganhada clan with territory at the southern end of Pitt Island or Banks Island. When Caamano visited the southern end of Pitt Island in 1792 he met Hammisit, rendered as Jammsit, and visited his village – Citeyats (IR #9). Caamano also identified one other chief as “Gitejon.” This is a rendering of Git’xon, of the Laxskik clan, which Beynon included as a name in the House of Niashalopus. Significantly, during a stay of a month, Caamano makes no mention of Seks (CMC, Beynon, BF 420.1; Wagner and Newcombe, 1938). Whatever the identity of the second chief, it is very likely that Seks, a Gispwudwada, was attempting to control the trade in the territory of another House and Clan, more than enough to engender “a great coldness.” See p. 163; Introduction, p. 51ff. 291 This is Taylor’s first reference to Seks. His brief account of the meeting of September 16 does not name the chief, who came from a village to the north east. 292 Probably through Otter Channel, past Pitt Island, and into Douglas Channel, but only about as far as Kitkiata Inlet, well south of 54° (Map G, p. 140). Colnett (Map 1, p. 285) shows a village in this location, and Menzies, on returning to Douglas Channel with Vancouver’s expedition in 1793, wrote of Kitkiata Inlet: “Here I came upon known ground, having penetrated thus far in open boats from Banks’s Isles into the interior Country in my former visit to this part of the Coast, for nearing the bending of the Channel we passed an opening on the western shore which I knew to be a large rivulet I formerly examined a considerable way up to a Village where there were then about 300 Inhabitants” (UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies Journal, 1 Jul. 1793). This was Laxgal’tsap, the winter village of the Gitk’a’ata until they moved to Hartley Bay in the late nineteenth century (Campbell 1984: 4-5; Drucker 1943: 80; ASR FjTh3). 293 The outer or west coast of Banks Island was used for sealing camps, as Bishop found on visiting Waller Bay in June 1795 (Roe 1967: 65-67). Beynon recorded that Bonilla Island was “used jointly by all the tsamsiyaen, gitqae’ata, gitxaela and gid’astsu as a camping ground when hunting fur seals and sea otter. It was Gitrhala [?] property.” Aristazabal Island had also been used for camping, by a Gitkxaala group of gam’ayaem, Gispwudwada, “while hunting sea otter and fur seals,” but this territory was lost to the Gidestsu at some unspecified date (CMC, Beynon, BF 131.1, #80, #82). 294 Presumably a reference to the map on 143r, but this is incomplete and contains no such information. However, the description and Colnett’s maps (1, 2, and 3) indicate that the long boat reached Laredo Sound, probably to a point on the west side of Price Island. The maps are far from accurate in this area, but they show two “Indian” villages. The

358 | Notes to pages 148-53

295 296 297 298 299

300

301 302

303

304

305

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307

first appears to be on the west coast of Gil Island, south of IR #13; the second may be in the vicinity of the southern entrance to Whale Channel, perhaps IR #8 or IR #11 (ASR FgTh 1 and 2). Taylor (72b) added that the trip was “without success, all that part of the Coast was broken water, and foul ground, wearing a very inhospitable appearance.” This was the trip described by Taylor (72b), see p. 143. The log states that the ship was “hauld alongside a small Island to land our heavy stores &c previous to our hauling the Ship on shore to clean her bottom.” Taylor places this visit on the 30th, adding that on each visit Seks “raised his price” for furs (Taylor 73b). The log states that this occurred on 6 Oct.: “am got in the New Mainmast [sic] and a new Step the old one found to be much decayd.” The log states: “am haulld into a small creek at high water to take the ground.” Taylor was in charge of this party. He commented (74b): “An Officer with six men remained on the Island to guard the Stores. His Duty Came to my Lot, and a Tent was Erected for the purpose. It may not be unworthy of Note: That upon this occasion, The Officers and Ships Company were pleased to honour me with the appelation of Governor! And the Island was generally known by the name of Taylor’s Island, so much for my appointment.” Burning and paying refers to the process of cleaning and renewing the caulking in the seam between the planks. Thimbles were iron rings used to guide the direction of ropes (Falconer 1780: 291). My thanks to James Delgado for advice on this and other points concerning wooden ship construction. The comings, or coamings, were raised borders around the hatches (Falconer 1780: 83); when they shifted it indicated that the hull was twisting. Colnett has described the position of the ship. The stern post supported the rudder and the stem was a curved extension of the keel at the fore end “into which the ship’s sides are united” (Falconer 1780: 16, 278-79). The log states: “At Noon [11 Oct.] loost off from the shore and having began hauling out of the Creek at 2 pm in endeavouring to wind the ship, she taild upon the shore, the water falling we were not able to heave her off. got shores over on the off side and kept her against the rocks from heeling off, at low water she complaind much her Keel only resting upon three Rocks and her larboard side a little abaft the fore chains rested upon a small rock could discover her keel sprung between the fore mast and main mast and one or two of her futtocks broke abreast at nearly the same place.” Futtocks were part of the structural frame, or ribs, of the vessel. Butt ends were the flat joints between these elements, and starting refers to the opening, or separating, of these joints. Thus Colnett feared significant damage to the vessel (Falconer 1780: 16-17, 57, 135). The log states: “At 2 am [12 Oct.] the tide rising short of the former one could not heave off. all the morning employd starting the ground tier of water buoying her up with empty casks and heaving out ballast ... at 2 pm the Ship floated and we hove off and along side of the Island where our stores lay.” The log states: “8 am [13 Oct.] loost off from the Island and warpd up the Harbour to a creek on the North side to lay on shore whilst the Carpenters repaird Keel and other damages ... at 4 pm [13 Oct.] hauld on shore and securd, in the evening the long Boat and Whale Boat being loaded with Beef and Pork not willing she should lay a ground during the low tide sent them alongside the Sloop Princes Royal for the night.” The log states: “During the night the Natives had caried of the Long Boat unobservd and her Cargoe of Ten casks of Beef and Pork all the Boats and people along shore inquest [sic] of the Boat and Natives ... at 1 pm the Boats returnd with long boat and provisions they came upon the Indians in the act of breaking up the Long boat they

Notes to pages 154-60 | 359

308 309

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311 312 313 314

315

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319

320

had stove the beef and Pork casks for the Iron Hoops upon the first discovery the Indians betook themselves to the Woods.” Along Principe Channel to the fishery on the east coast of Banks Island. Taylor’s account (78b) is more equivocal: “The Articles were produced and read to the People, by which he endeavoured to convince them that they were at all times as much under Captain Dunkan’s direction as his own, this they denied, agreeable to the aforesaid articles, which only said that Capt. D was to Command at the decease of our Commander.” It was not unusual, in the navy of the mid-eighteenth century, for seamen to approach commanding officers with grievances and complaints (Rodger 1988: 229-37). Colnett’s reaction to this tactic suggests that such informality had diminished. One wonders if this contributed to the subsequent antagonism between Duncan and Etches, evident at Canton. See Appendix 1; Howay 1929a: 106. Colnett’s unfinished sketch of the ship on the rocks shows a house (Colnett 149r). The mallard, Anas platyrhynchos. When registered as an archaeological site, the fishery at the mouth of Kooryet River, just north of that used by Colnett’s party, was reported to be occupied “from June 20 till about Aug. 20” (ASR FiTl3). Timing and location (a small stream) suggest that the run harvested by Colnett’s party was of either pink or chum salmon, Oncorhynchus gorbuscha, O. keta (Stewart 1975). Swans were probably the trumpeter swan, Cygnus buccinator, and the most common goose was the Canada goose, Branta canadiensis; on these and other seabirds recorded in the Chatham Sound region in the fall of 1977, see Canadian Wildlife Service (1980). Heath hen was used for the black grouse in England, suggesting here the blue grouse (Dendragapus obscurus); partridge could include the ruffed grouse, Bonasa umbellus, although contemporary sources limit its range to the south coast and the mouth of the Skeena river (Campbell et al. 1990-2001). Such acts, destroying Tsimshian property, undoubtedly contributed to the deteriorating relations of this period. Under Tsimshian laws, fishing sites were owned and such actions would call for the payment of compensation (Garfield and Wingert 1966: 13-15; CMC, Beynon, BF 132.5; Niblack 1890: 298, 335). The British Museum holds two arrows identified as collected from Banks Island by the Vancouver expedition in 1793. Gunther (1972: 239) describes them as “wooden shafts of very long arrows, most slender near the butts and thickest near the center. The butts are nocked and have three feathers bound to them with bark; the space under the feathers is painted crudely in dull red and black. Each has a broader ring of red painted at the upper end, which is hollowed out and bound with bark. One arrow has a small bark binding about twenty seven inches from the butt, close to which is a piece of twostranded cord bound around the shaft. There are no points. Length 56 1/8”-56 3/8.” The log states: “In the night some Indians were observd lurking about the Ship was fird upon when they retire after having fird some arrows on board which did us no injury there was also a party landed on the Island where the stores was the people fird upon them which they returnd with a volley of arrows with[out] doing any injury.” The log states: “am the ship was laid upon chocks to enable the Carpenters to get at her bottom to drive the bolts having fixd three riding floor timbers and one Futtock upon ripping of the sheathing from her keel found it was the false Keel the only part which appeard injurd.” The description suggests the area just north of Deer Point, although this is northeast rather than east. None of Colnett’s maps show any houses and no archaeological sites have been recorded in the vicinity. A defensive arrangement, usually employed against cavalry, consisting of iron spikes set in timber. The name is derived from its originators, the Frisians (OED). This may reflect Taylor’s experience in the siege of Gibraltar.

360 | Notes to pages 162-66

321 The log adds a few details on this period. On 27 Oct.: “Hove out of the creek at high water in the night the Carpenters having finishd her repairs and Anchord in 5 fathoms water”; on 1 Nov.: “Carpenters repairing the long boat.” 322 The log places at least some of these activities on 12 Nov.: “Carpenters repaird the damage done to the long boat launch her and brought her along side the people came in board from the Island the Stores provisions all being brought off.” 323 The log states: “am got underway and with the assistance of the boat towing towd down the Harbour the wind coming from the South East Anchord in 6 fathom.” 324 The log states: “am hove up and with light air from the Northward run out to Sea at Noon the Harbour bore North 2 leagues.” 325 This is a reference to Northwest Coast tobacco, a variety of Nicotiana quadrivalvis. It was cultivated at a number of locations on the Queen Charlotte Islands and by the Tlingit as far north as Yakutat Bay. With the introduction of commercial tobacco, the indigenous variety was abandoned, the process of abandonment being completed about 1880. The native tobacco was mixed with lime and chewed rather than smoked. The Tsimshian, who called this tobacco “wondaw” (wundo), obtained their supplies through trade with the Haida. Two specimens, collected on the Northwest Coast in 1787 by Archibald Menzies and George Dixon have been preserved in the botanical collection of the British Museum, Kew Gardens. The former probably came from the Rose Harbour area, where Hoskins reported seeing some plants in 1791, the later from Yakutat Bay (Turner and Taylor 1972; De Laguna 1991: 153-55; Dixon 1789: 175; Howay 1941: 201; Hall 1924; Dawson 1880: 114-15B; Part 2 [this volume], note 225). 326 On the stick games, see Taylor (67b), p. 136. Boas (1916: 157, 409) makes some brief comments on their use among the Tsimshian. 327 At this time there were no fur trading posts west of the Rocky Mountains. It seems likely that Seks wanted guns for use in conflicts with some neighbours, such as the Gitk’a’ata, Haisla, or Heiltsuk. Colnett makes no reference to trading guns, but Caamano reported that the Gitkxaala of Pitt Island possessed several in 1792 (Wagner and Newcombe 1938: 282). 328 See Part 1 (this volume), note 285. The Patu had undoubtedly travelled through a number of hands, perhaps across Vancouver Island to Nimpkish and then northwards through one of many possible routes. 329 Mule or Sitka deer, Odocoileus hemionus sitkensis; the stoat was presumably a mink, Mustela vison energumenos (Cowan and Guiguet 1973: 320-22, 366-69; Nagorsen 1990: 100). 330 When Menzies returned to the vicinity of Gil Island in 1793, he commented: “We met in mid-channel [probably Lewis Passage] with a vast crowd of Sea Otter consisting of several hundreds basking on the surface of the water with their young & moving with the Tide” (UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies Journal, 10 Jul.). 331 The watercolours (Colnett 157r) appear to be of a bufflehead, Bucephala albeola, and a scaup, probably the greater scaup, Aythya marila (Canadian Wildlife Service 1980). Taylor (84a) adds, “a species of Ducks were seen, and Geese began to make a great show, but uncommonly Shy. Some Shags Ravens, Gulls and other water fowl, there are also great abundance of Eagles, and Vultures together with many other Sea and Land Birds.” 332 Craw fish or crayfish was used for larger crustacea, other than crabs; the reference here is unclear. Sculpion would be a member of the Cottidae family. 333 The western toad, Bufo boreas; juniper, Juniperis communis. Taylor (84a-b) thought the crews “had not reason to consider this a very bad Harbour for refreshments. For though the Natives did not supply us with any we always got plenty of Fish from the River before mentioned, so that we had little occasion to expend our Salt Provisions And in one of the Creeks near at hand, we frequently got a mess of fine, large, white Muscles

Notes to pages 166-74 | 361

334 335

336

337

superior to any in England by far. these together with a constant supply of Spruce Beer, and some Labrador Teas, includes all our refreshments.” Spruce Beer was a commonly used antiscorbutic; see Williams 1991-92; Lloyd 1979. Principe Channel and Pitt Island. The EIC log of the Prince of Wales gives her position on 1 Dec. 1787, the day when “lost sight of the Princes Royal,” as lat. 44°21’N, long. 134°2’W. The vessels did not reunite until 7 Feb. 1788; see below. The trip from the Northwest Coast took some six weeks (19 Nov. 1787-1 Jan. 1788; this may be compared to the same trip in the fall of 1788 which took little more than half that time (17 Aug.-9 Sep.). The island of Hawai'i. See Map I (p. 170). Part 2: 1788 Season

1 Mauna Kea, shown as Mowna Kaah on Cook’s “Chart of the Sandwich Islands,” reaches an elevation of 13,796’ (Cook and King 1784, 3: 1). Since Colnett had approached sailing westwards along the twentieth parallel, he sighted Mauna Kea before Mauna Loa (13,677’), located farther to the southeast, and shown as Mowna Roa by Cook. Cook states that Mauna Kea could be seen from a distance of forty leagues (Cook and King 1784, 3: 102). 2 Taro was the staple of Hawaiian agriculture in wetter regions or where irrigation was possible; this role was taken by the sweet potato in drier, leeward areas. Other important crops, in addition to the breadfruit, were yams, bananas, and coconuts. For a discussion of regional patterns of Hawaiian agriculture, see Kirch (1985: 215-36). 3 Taylor 90b gives the name as Too-ah-too and adds that he was an old man. 4 From 4 Jan. to 23 Feb. 1788, Taylor’s journals contain two separate accounts of events. I have distinguished between them by prefixing citations of the first by A and the second B. The second account is the more extensive. See Introduction (this volume), note 463. 5 Cook had exchanged names with Kalani'opu’u, although this is not mentioned in the published account (Beaglehole 1967: 513, 1168). 6 Maui. 7 The log places this encounter while “laying too of the North West point of Owhyhee,” i.e., ‘Upolu Point); Taylor (A: 99a) states that “several inferior ornaments and Mats” were brought for sale. 8 During the stop at Kaua'i, Colnett speculates on the use of fire; see Colnett 176r. 9 At Hawai'i in December 1778, Cook procured a quantity of sugar cane “and had trial made but a few days before found that a strong decoction of it made very palatable and wholesome beer which was esteemd by every man on board, I ordered some more to be brewed.” (Beaglehole 1967: 478). 10 Taylor (A: 99a) puts the number of visitors as “at least Six hundred.” 11 Stoppers were short pieces of rope knotted at one or both ends; when anchors were “first hoisted up ... [they] are hung to the cat-head by a stopper attached to the latter” (Falconer 1780: 281). 12 Taylor (B: 144b, 152b) subsequently identifies this man as Mahana, a native of Maui; he remained onboard until the Prince of Wales anchored off Moloka'i, apparently to join his brother, on 12 Jan. 13 The easterly point of Maui is Nanu'alele Point, and the detach’d Isle Ka'uiki Head, a crater 390 feet high (United States, Dept. of Commerce, US Coast Pilot 7: 332). Taylor (A: 101a-b) supports Colnett’s observations: “The lower part of the Island of Mowee seems well Cultivated, the Villages on this side are small, but numerous, and straggling some more than half Mountain up”; and, “The North side of Mowee is well occupied two thirds up. I saw many large water falls, discharging themselves from the deep

362 | Notes to pages 174-77

14

15 16

17 18 19 20 21

22

23

24

25

Valleys, down the Hills many spots were delightfully green. The Huts here, as on the other side spread irregularly.” Kirch (1985: 135-36) notes that the eastern or Hana district of Maui was “densely populated” prior to contact but has been little studied.” The Deep Bay on Maui is Kahului Bay. Cook was off this coast 26-27 Nov. 1778; the area is shown on his chart but is unnamed (Cook and King 1784, 2: 530-32; Beaglehole 1967: 474-75). Morotoi is the island of Moloka'i. The north coast of Moloka’i lacks a fringing reef. In February 1779, after the death of Cook, Clerke visited the south side of Maui and the island of Kaho'olawe, shown on Cook’s chart as Tahoorowa; a sketch of the view from the north, at or near Colnett’s location, is in Cook and King, 2: after 530; see also 3: 8385. Keka'a Point is the western extremity of Maui but there are “no offshore dangers”; perhaps Colnett was referring to the area around Hawea Point (United States, Dept. of Commerce, US Coast Pilot 7: 335). Cape Halawa. Mokuho'oniki Island and Kanaha Rock; the former is now a bird refuge. Mokapu Island and the Kalaupapa Peninsula, which ends in Kahi'u Point; Colnett has underestimated the distance from Cape Halawa by about half. The western extremity of Moloka'i is ‘Ilio Point. Colnett’s sketch map shows an anchorage off Pu’uo Kaiaka, about 2½ miles south of ‘Ilio Point; the map also shows three clusters of buildings. The central one, perhaps at the mouth of Kaka’ako Gulch, is described by Taylor (102b) as a small village in the bay. Woahoo, or sometimes Wahoo, is O'ahu. Concerning a heiau at Pu’uo Kaiaka, see Pukui, Elbert, and Mookini 1974: 203. Clerke, who traversed this part of the coast on 26 Feb. 1779, noted that it “has no appearance of fertility”; however the published version simply notes “no appearance of fresh water” (Beaglehole 1967: 571; Cook and King 1784, 3: 86). Taylor confirms that this “elderly chief ” used the name of Terreaboo. However, he was not the man of that name, i.e., Kalani'opu’u/Kalei'opu'u, whom Cook met. The latter, the ruler of Hawai'i, had died in 1782 (Beaglehole 1967: 476, 508n; Kuykendall 1947: 32; Portlock 1789: 61). Taylor’s journals contain two accounts of the encounter; the first is similar to Colnett’s but the second adds: “From Mahana we understood his Name was Tereheooboo, and that he was King of all the Island, that he was Eretaboo [ali’i kapu – sacred chief]. from this account we was led to believe him Tereeboboo of Owhyhee yet it appeared strange. what shou’d bring him to Moratoi, and what appear’d less probable he wore no mark of Distinction. This must certainly be eroneous, his name no Doubt was the same and we had reason to believe he was Chief of Moratoi.” (Taylor A: 104a-b; B: 154b). As Moloka'i was under the control of Kahekili at this time, the chief may have been his eldest son, Kalanikupule. However, Menzies, who treated him in March 1793, makes no mention of a previous meeting and renders his name as “Traittoobore.” Moeller (1965: 141n) suggests Kiwala'o, the son and successor of Kalani'opu'u; however, he had been killed in 1782 (Kuykendall 1947: 33). On Mahana, see Part 2 (this volume), note 12. Taylor (103b) places this event on 12 Jan. His description is fuller, more explicit, and offers a different conclusion. The latter part states: ”The Captain called the Seamen from their duty aloft, to attend to the Duty of their Girls below, the lasses then accepted the Captains beads and retired with their Paramours with gratitude in their countenances, for the Captains civility.” Colnett’s usage here is rather confusing. The eastern point of O'ahu is Makapu'u Point; however, as the next paragraph makes clear, Colnett’s eastern point is Kawaihoa Point, on Koko Head. Presumably his northeastern point is Makapu'u Point and the beach may be Sandy Beach Park (United States, Dept. of Commerce, US Coast Pilot 7: 343-44).

Notes to pages 177-79 | 363

26 The bay is Maunalua Bay, between Koko Head on the east and Kupikipiki'o Point (Colnett’s SE Point, see Part 2 [this volume], note 27), and the “body of water” is Kuapa Pond, now a marina. Portlock and Dixon visited this area twice, 1-5 Jun., and 30 Nov.20 Dec. 1786, the former applying the name King George’s Bay. Dixon returned a third time, 10-13 Sep. 1787 and published a chart of the bay. If either recommended the anchorage to Colnett, he chose to ignore the advice and sailed farther west (Portlock 1789: 69-75, 152-69; Dixon 1789: opp. 54, 252-54; United States, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Chart 19358). 27 Kupikipiki'o Point is at the end of a peninsula extending to the southeast of Diamond Head or Le'ahi crater; the point marks the west end of Maunalua Bay. Kupikipiki'o means “rough (sea)” (Pukui, Elbert, and Mookini 1974: 125). 28 Passing beyond Diamond Head, Colnett entered Mamala Bay, the Queen Charlotte’s Bay of Portlock, with the western extremity at Barber’s Point (Kalaeloa). Pukui restricts the usage of Mamala to the section between Honolulu and Pearl Harbour (Grace 1974: 108; Pukui, Elbert, and Mookini 1974: 144). Colnett’s anchorage is confirmed by Johnstone on his return to O'ahu in 1792; he stated that it “was in this bay (which by the Natives is called Whyteetee [Waikiki]) that we anchored in my former Visit” (PRO, Adm. 53/335, 8 Mar.). The Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal visited “the large bay” again on 15-16 Sep. but did not anchor (Taylor 232a-233b). 29 Kahekili, described by Portlock as the King of Maui, O'ahu, and Moloka'i. Originally the ruler of Maui, he had captured Moloka'i shortly after Cook’s final visit and O'ahu about 1783. This prompted a rebellion by the local chiefs and a reaction by Kahekili in which the “native Oahu aristocracy was almost entirely extirpated” by about 1785 (Fornander 1880: 225-26; Kirch and Sahlins 1992: 36-40). When Portlock arrived, in June 1786, he learned that Kahekili lived in the vicinity of Waikiki, although it was only during a second visit to the area (30 Nov.-20 Dec. 1786) that the two met. At that time, Portlock described Kahekili as “an exceedingly stout well-made man about fifty years old” (Portlock 1789: 73, 153-56). Beresford’s description was similar; he notes that the area west of Point Rose was known as “Whyteetee,” i.e., Waikiki (Dixon 1789: 98, 158). 30 Lanthorn is an old form of lantern, probably derived from the use of horn in making lanterns; the braces were iron bars used to secure the lanterns (OED). Falconer (1780: 171) adds that lanthorns were used “for the purpose of directing the course of other ships in a fleet or convoy.” 31 Taylor makes no mention of Titaree or this incident; he notes only the presence of either three or “one or two” chiefs (A: 105b; B: 156b). 32 The binnacle was a wooden case or box that contained “the compasses, log glasses, watch glasses, and lights to shew the compass at night.” At this time it usually consisted of “three appartments with sliding shutters” (Falconer 1780: 35). 33 Taylor (B: 159a) puts the figure at 1500. 34 Taylor (106a) shared Colnett’s apprehensions, but his description makes clear that this was no casual visit. He states that the visiting chiefs “were each adorned with their full Dress Cloaks, quite new and very elegant made of a fine netting covered with red and yellow feathers, and Basket Cape covered with the same. they had each an Iron Dagger about a foot and a half in length.” These cloaks were spectacular “symbols of prestige and power” in Hawai'i and worn only on “state occasions or during battles.” They entered into trade with Euro-American visitors; for a discussion, see Kaeppler (1970). Taylor (234b) states that a cap and an inferior cloak were purchased at Kaua'i 16 Sep. 1788. 35 Thomas Hudson. 36 Taylor (107b) thought that the “diminutive appearance” of the Prince of Wales may have encouraged “their hostile intentions.” When Johnstone returned to the Waikiki area in

364 | Notes to pages 179-82

37

38

39

40 41

42

43

44

1792, he recalled the “very audacious and apparently hostile” behaviour of the Hawaiians on his first visit. He contrasted this perception with their current conduct, which was “docile and orderly trading fairly without once seeking to visit on board after being denied.” Johnstone attributed the change to “the great superiority which they must have observed in the Ships and the regulations in their government,” more particularly to Vancouver’s decision to admit only the chiefs onboard (PRO, Adm. 53/335, 8 Mar. 1792). Kirch and Sahlins (1992: 38-39) suggest that Johnstone’s first reception was more characteristic of Kahekili’s realms, a factor which served poorly in his geopolitical contest with Kamehamea. The principal settlement, containing the residence of Kahekili, was the village of Waikiki, “probably centered around the mouth of Apuakehau stream.” However, as Vancouver observed in 1792, there were other settlements in the area: “the villages appeared numerous, large and in good repair; and the surrounding country pleasingly interspersed with deep, though not extensive valleys” (McAllister 1933: 76; Kuykendall 1947: 34; Lamb 1984: 453-54; Kanahele 1995: 7-8, 124. See also Portlock 1789: 164). This sketch is reproduced in Sahlins 1995: 89. He uses it as part of a persuasive argument concerning the Hawaiian identification of Cook as Lono. The images described and sketched by Colnett were used only during the Makahiki period, being “dismantled and housed in a temple after the circuit of Lono.” Taylor (109a-b) identifies the priest as “Orono-nuez, or chief Priest.” He adds some details on the pendant: “A staff, eight feet high, on the top of which was a Cross piece of wood three feet long, and to this was secured a piece of Cloth, on the one side white, the other black – hung down the staff, and from the extremes of the cross piece hung bunches of dry Palm leaves, by way of tassel.” Sahlins (1995: 90-91) reproduces this section and comments on Taylor’s observations. See Malo (1951: 189, 201) for a description and sketch. Taylor (A: 110a, B: 163a-b) states the chief was “Tyeena.” It is tempting to identify him as Ka'iana, the Tianna of Meares, who features in a number of early journals. But he was absent from the islands during Colnett’s sojourn, having departed with Meares for Canton on 2 Sep. 1787, only returning, by the Iphigenia Nubiana, in December 1788 (Meares 1790: xxxix, 339, Appendix [A] 5). For details on Ka'iana see Fornander 1880: 222. Barber’s Point. Taylor’s account indicates that they had rounded Barber’s Point and proceeded northwards along the west coast of O'ahu: “In the Afternoon we had 17 fathoms water near the Shore three or 4 miles to the westd. of ye low point which were the only sounding. there was no ground with 40 & 50 fathoms at 6 laying too the extremes of the Land from NNW to SEBE off shore about 2 miles. Stood off and on during the night, after desiring the natives to bring such articles as their village afforded. Brought too off a small village midway between the Extremes of the Land.” The ‘Ewa district, east of Pearl Harbour, is an emerged reef. This, and the leeward location, produced an arid landscape with only scattered settlement (Kirch 1985: 25, 116, fig. 86). Colnett was off the anchorage visited by Cook on 27 Feb. 1779 and shown on the chart of the Sandwich Islands. Colnett’s river is a reference to Cook’s description of a “fine river, running through a deep valley”: the Waimea River (Cook and King 1784, 3: 87; Beaglehole 1967: 572, 581). The log indicates that the position at 6 pm was for 24 Jan. The southeast end of Kaua'i is Makahu'ena Point. It was in this vicinity, on 19 Jan. 1778, that Cook first made contact with the Kauaians (Cook and King 1784, 2: 191-212; Chart of Sandwich Islands). Taylor provides some additional information on the day’s encounters: the visitors included an unnamed chief (probably Opunui) and the eight-year-old son of the King of Kaua'i

Notes to pages 182-83 | 365

45

46

47

48 49

50 51 52

53 54

(Ka'eo). Menzies, on meeting the boy for a second time in 1792, would identify him as Tamooree (Kaumuali'i or “King George”), “about 11 or 12 years of age, with open pleasing features, easy and affable in his behaviour, and remarkably inquisitive.” The Prince of Wales was also visited by women who “came on board without reserve,” of whom about twenty “remained on Board for the night, though they knew the Ship would continue under sail all night” (Taylor A: 113b-114b; UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies Journal, 13 Mar. 1792). On 26 Jan., Taylor (A: 114b) states that “canoes were more numerous than yesterday. Hogs and other refreshments were purchased in great abundance, and the natives were orderly.” In the second version, Taylor (B: 171b-172a) states that the visitors to the ship included “Tyterre,” i.e., Kahekili; presumably this is an error. See Colnett 174r. Taylor (B: 172a) also identifies the seamen as “Allan a Man and a young lad.” The young lad may well have been “Dick,” who subsequently deserted from the Prince of Wales and sojourned at Kaua'i. See Part 2 (this volume), note 103. Portlock had met Opunui in 1778 and 1779, and again in 1786 and 1787. On the latter occasions he was described as governing Ni'ihau in the absence of Ka'eo; Beresford thought he was then aged about fifty. He was probably the unnamed chief mentioned on 25 Jan. by Taylor, who also notes that this “Chief was particularly mentioned to us by Capt. Dixon who lay’d at Anchor at Wymeore Bay near two Months last year”; later Taylor states that he was “recommended by Capt Portlock & Deserv’d kind treatment.” When last heard of at Waikiki, in December 1791, Ingraham describes him as “old Abenooe, second chief of Atooi”; Mills adds that he was “Ka'eo’s ‘pukaua’ or second-incommand (Taylor B: 173a, 196b; Portlock 1789: 83-86, 307-8; Dixon 1789: 118; Beaglehole 1967: 1226-30; Meares 1790: Appendix [A] 5; Kaplanoff 1971: 167; Mills 1996: 80). Waimea Bay, Kaua'i. Taylor (A: 117a; B 174b) provides a much more extensive description of the events of 30 and 31 Jan. The visitors included Typowooah, “an inferior chief,” and Tholalo, a dumb man; both provided warnings about attempts to “steal” ironwork. See Part 2 (this volume), notes 83 and 86. Grips were the mechanisms used to secure the boats on deck (Falconer 1780: 140). The second chief was Matua/Matooah, who came from the windward or east of Waimea (Taylor A: 120a; B: 177a-178a). On returning to Kaua'i in 1792, Johnstone offered another explanation for the use of fire: “In the evening we observed the whole surface of the level land to the eastward of Womea [Waimea] on fire which from the rankness and dryness of the grass burnt with great rapidity and fierceness. I had formerly taken notice of the same conflagrations which I believe is done to consume the old and withered grass that the spring may produce a new growth more tender than the old which I serves them for thatch to their houses this being the only covering” (PRO, Adm. 53/335, Log of Chatham, 12 Mar. 1792; see also, UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies journal, 11 Mar. 1792). The best thatch was from pili grass (Malo 1951: 163n; Kirch 1985: 29). It must have been from this anchorage, where the Prince of Wales remained until 25 Feb., that Colnett (184r) drew his sketch of Kaua'i; see Part 2 (this volume), note 77. Tyo (Taiio of Taylor) was Ka'eo (Ka'eokulani in full), the half brother of Kahekili, ruler of Maui, Moloka'i, and O'ahu. By 1779, Ka'eo had married Kamakahelei, the “queen” of Kaua'i, and soon after assumed control of that island and Ni'ihau, a position he maintained at the time of Portlock’s and Colnett’s visits. Portlock reported that Ka'eo usually lived at “Apoonoo,” the Kawaihau district, and was aged about forty-five. He had assisted Kahekili in the conquest of O'ahu in 1783 and subsequently became involved in the latter’s conflicts with Kamehameha. Ka'eo was killed in the fighting on O'ahu at the end of 1794. (Kuykendall 1947: 30-34, 48n; Beaglehole 1967: 577, 578, 585n, 589, 616n, 625,

366 | Notes to pages 183-84

55

56 57

58 59

1223-24; Portlock 1789: 170, 176; Pukui, Elbert, and Mookini 1974: 193: Kamakau 1992: 159-69). See Part 2 (this volume), notes 44, 63, and 101. The day’s visitors also included Matua, his father Powenee, and “two other Chiefs belonging to Distant Districts the one named Tunemoreava, the [other] Innemo” (Taylor B: 183a-183b); see Part 2 (this volume), notes 61 and 63. The bark cloth, known as kapa, was made from a variety of sources, see Malo (1951: 48-50). Taylor’s account (B: 186b-191b) indicates that the episode with the shark occurred on 5 Feb., when he, Archibald Menzies, and Thomas Temple were heading a party going onshore. In the aftermath they were taken to Ka'eo’s house: “The King was seated by the side of his Door inside and a number of Chiefs & Attendants about him. He received us with an ease peculiar to a well Bred Gentleman, and made signs for us to be seated about him, we then offer’d our Presents agreeable to the Custom, such as we had to offer ... when the Presents [188b] were received and we had separately saluted Taioo, we requested permission to walk about. But we [were] told by Abbanuez [Opunui] who acted as a first Minister receiving and taking care of each present that we must wait a little, while the Kings Present was preparing. during this Interval by the request of Taiio we each of us Striped our Shirt for him & his Attendants to examine of Bodys. And Taiios behaviour was so very polite we cou’d not refuse. Taiio and his guests expressed great admiration at the whiteness of our Skins, and whenever he saw any thing which wore any resemblance of a Scar, He enquired how it came we informed either by shot or Sword. those answers satisfied Him when we apparell’d as before. then came a large present of Cloth for each Person with our Distinction or respect to Persons or authority. these being Deliver’d we were inform’d we might walk wherever we Chose and Taboo Men were appointed to clear the way & attend us, during our excursion round the Country. as soon as we left the Chiefs House The little Girls again join’d us & were suffer’d to walk along with us.” When Menzies met Ka'eo, on Maui in 1793, he expressed his pleasure at seeing “an old friend to whose hospitality & kind offices I had been formerly under many obligations at a time when it was not in my power to repay him with any adequate return: To shew him however that I still entertained a gratefull sense of these obligations & his great merit, I instantly on his coming onboard exposed every little treasure I now possessed to his view, & entreated him to select whatever was most gratifying or useful to him, which he did, & amongst several other things, a piece of red cloth for a long robe was highly acceptable to him ... When the ship Prince of Wales was at Atooi about five years ago, Taio was a great favourite both with the Officers and Crew for his kind attention & friendly behaviour towards them.” (UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies journal, 16 Mar. 1793). Bell’s account of the same visit to Maui contains information about Thomas Temple: “In the Evening we were visited by the joint Kings Titeere [Kahekili} & Tayo [Ka'eo] with Titeeree’s wife & young Child, a fine little Boy, whom they called Tappo – after a gentleman of the name of Temple who had been in the Prince of Wales ... Tyteeree’s wife was a daughter of Tayo’s, and only a few years ago when the Prince of Wales was at Atooi, was one of the handsomest little Girls on the Island” (UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Bell Journal, 13 Mar. 1793). The supercargo’s musical excursion took place 6 Feb. (Taylor B: 191b). Anon. map 1 shows that the route of the Princess Royal, between arriving off the the east end of Hawai'i and reaching the west end of Moloka'i, was much the same as that of the Prince of Wales. Thereafter, two routes are shown, one north and the other south of O'ahu, thence to Kaua'i. Presumably one route was followed in the winter visit to the Hawaiian islands, the other on the return in the fall, but no information is provided. Taylor (B: 192a) adds that the Princess Royal had a boy on board from Moloka'i.

Notes to pages 184-85 | 367

60 Taboo Borea is kapu pule, part of a complex system of rules and regulations which interwove religion and government. The system “regulated the daily life of the different classes of society and insured the subordination of the lower to the higher.” Pule is the term for prayer and regular periods, four a month, were set aside for “rest and prayer” (Kuykendall 1947: 8; Malo 1951: 142; Lamb 1984: 854). Taylor (251a-b) wrote the following description, based on information gathered from a crew member who spent six months living on Kaua'i: “The Taboo Burae are certain Days about five in each month kept regularly strict, on those Days the Men do not & dare not approach the houses of the women. the Day is devoted not to fasting & Prayer but to feasting and Prayer, they sacrifice hogs &c to their gods, the ceremony is as follows the Men collect in vast bodies round the house of sacrifice they are all seated and are silent an[d] attentive, while the Priest holds a young Pig in one hand, and goes through a form of Prayer. when done he instantly thrusts a sharp piece of wood into the belly of the animal with which he makes a small incision. he then rips the belly open, and takes the entrails out. (NB Prior to this he beats the Pigs head against ye ground to deprive it of life). while this is performing another man on the spot is employed kindling a light with two pieces of wood agreeable to their custom by friction, they have a piece of Dry grass at hand which the Priest sets fire to, and singes the Pig. tis then committed to the Stake at the roof of ye house. the Ceremony is then over. Fowls, Dogs and Fish are also sometimes sacrificed, the ceremony lasts about an hour, at particular [252a] parts of the Priests harangue the Natives sit round in long ranks, all rise and shout a short sentence, then instantly squat as before, and again rise at other particular parts, and when the Burae or Prayer is finished the whole give a general Shout and disperse. then commences the hog killing on the spot near the house of Sacrifice. all the natives who attend on the Chief or Priests partake of the Pork when cook’d, the women dare not approach ye spot and are at all times prohibited from sacrificing or Praying to the deity. the Men dare not approach the houses of ye Women, till the Priest takes off the Burae which generally takes place late in the evening. But the Men frequently work when the ceremony of ye Burae is over. tho’ the Burae be not taken off it sometimes happens that there is a much greater Slaughter among the hogs than at other times. The Taboo Burae is held on all Islands the same Day and at each District in the different islands.” 61 Other visitors on 6 and 7 Feb. included Matua, Tunemoreava, Inamoo, and the dumb man, Thalolo. See Part 2 (this volume), notes 63 and 83. 62 A second account, different but less complete, is found in Taylor (A: 128b-130b). 63 Inamoo, the Hanamo of Colnett, had visited the vessel on 3 Feb. and is described by Taylor as a district chief. Colnett (177r), however, refers to him as a “priest of great note.” Fornander (1880: 245) states in “the native accounts” his name was Nakaikua'ana, although “Vancouver calls him always by the name Enemo, and says that his other name was Wakea; and it is said that he was a brother of Kaahumanu, one of Kamehameha’s wives. The real name and the lineage of this chief are unknown to me.” Menzies, in 1792, met Inamoo again, noting that he “instantly recollected me & I had a friendly embrace from all of them, for the old chief & his family attached themselves very much to the Vessel I was on board at these Islands a few years ago, and during our stay in this bay they were our daily and constant visitors.” By this time, Inamoo was acting as guardian of the youthful ruler of Kaua'i, Kaumuali'i, and administering the government. He seems to have died not long after Ka'eo (Fornander 1880; 245; UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies Journal, 10, 13 Mar. 1792; Kuykendall 1947: 48n). 64 The question of trading firearms featured in the Dixon/Meares controversy. Dixon rejected Meares claim, derived from Douglas, that he had engaged in such activity, and I have found nothing in Portlock to substantiate Meares. On the other hand, Meares did

368 | Notes to pages 185-88

65

66

67

68

69

70 71

72 73

admit to trading guns, though whether this took place during his visit to Kaua'i in 1787 is unclear (Meares 1790: 354; Howay 1929a: 34-35, 86). There were, of course, other vessels that visited the Hawaiian Islands about which little is known. Judd and Lynd (1974) provide a list, but omit James Hanna, who visited Hawai'i in 1786, raising the possibility that he did so on his first voyage to the Northwest Coast in 1785 (Galois 1994a). During a visit to Ni'ihau in June 1786, Portlock gave a cap and an “armed chair” to Opunui to be delivered to Ka'eo; other unspecified presents were given in a second visit in December (Portlock 1789: 87, 176). Maitai is maika’i – good, beautiful; Eno is ‘ino – sinful, spoiled, ugly; both terms appear in the vocabulary list of Cook and King (1784, 3: 549ff.); see Pukui and Elbert (1965). There is good evidence that Cook’s expedition had brought venereal diseases and probably tuberculosis and influenza to the Hawaiian Islands (Joesting 1984: 39; Stannard 1989: 69-75). On returning to Kaua'i in September, Taylor (244b) noted indigenous attempts to deal with the first of these: “The Surgeon got a small supply of root [?] & antidote to ye venereal & present’d by Dick. not very good. as Matua appear’d not well [?] who was injur’d last year.” For Colnett’s comments on this topic, see 185v. Taylor first mentions Matua (presumably Makua) on 1 Feb., describing him as “Our Friend the chief ” and later adding that his father was “Poweene” (Taylor 178a, 183a). For similar comments by Colnett, see 177r. On meeting Ka'eo at Maui in 1793, Menzies wrote about his encounters in 1788. Ka'eo “would frequently seat himself near any of the Mechanics that were at work, as he appeard extremely anxious of becoming acquainted with the principal modes of working Iron & Wood into various forms, so that if the Blacksmith was doing anything at the Forge, if the Armourer was cleaning or taking the arms to pieces, or if the Carpenters were doing any little job, he was their constant attendant, & seldom left the spot till they had finishd whatever they were about; On these occasions he paid great attention to the forms & uses of their various tools & seemd always pleased with their dextrous manner of working with them, & whatever he did not perfectly understand he would stop them to enquire for information or to make some judicious remark” (UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies Journal, 16 Mar. 1793. See Part 2 (this volume), note 47. Elsewhere Taylor (A: 129b) describes this man as “an inferior Chief ”; Colnett renders his name as Pohiva. Sahlins (1995: 91) suggests that Typowooah was “perhaps Kalaikoa, one of the Moana people of Ka’awaloa” on Hawai'i. See Part 2 (this volume), note 73. Oronno Nuez is Lono Nui or Great Lono, an affirmation of the identification of Cook with Lono; see Sahlins (1995: 87-97). For Colnett’s account of this encounter, see 178r; a second version, in Taylor’s journals, is as follows: “[A: 129b] On the 17th Typowooah an inferior Chief, brought off a Shirt of Capt. Cook, in which he informed us, that much lamented Officer lost his life. the Shirt had been washed perhaps more times than once, and had several holes in it, and was evidently stained with Blood. He described to us the manner in which he was Stabbed, and how the Natives closed upon Capt Cook and said he, Typowooah was present when he was killed. This man I knew to be a native of Owhyhee therefore part of his story appeared true. The shirt was evidently one of Capt, Cook, being marked I.C.No. 6, but whether the same he lost his life in was doubtful, as ’tis probable it might be one [130a] the Captain gave to some of the Natives agreeable to his custom, for Typowooah’s account of the Captains death differed, from the historical account widely, and the stains in the Shirt might be occasioned by a limb of part of the Body, having been wrapped in it, in this particular, this Chiefs account and history seems to agree that the Natives all strove to obtain some part of him. The sight of the Shirt which we knew was

Notes to pages 189-90 | 369

74

75

76

77

78 79

once his, and all the circumstances related together with the idea of being nearly at that place, brought fresh to our memory the too fatal death of the worthy and unfortunate sufferer. Our Seamen were anxious to examine the Shirt, while each listened to the direful tale and the countenance of each was the true index of the feelings of their susceptible Hearts, indeed what passed on the occasion convinced me that every sailor present, however callous on any other occasion was sensibly affected, and each paid his tributary sigh, at reflecting on the Death of a Man so useful to his Country.” See Part 1 (this volume), note 71. Taylor (A: 130a, 132a) identifies the two women as Naravaron and Katoomatta or Tytoomatta; in the second version, Narahowe or Naraharow is identified as “Smiths Girl.” Other information came from the dumb man and “Temple’s Girl,” who came on board on the evening of the 23rd (Taylor B: 198a, 200a, 208a). The two women were subsequently taken to Ni'ihau; see below (Colnett 178r-v). On Cook’s second voyage, see Introduction (this volume), pp. 2-3, 21-22. Later, however, Colnett admits the limits of his knowledge (180v). Lamb (1984: 447n) states that the Hawaiian language shares about 85 percent of its vocabulary with Tahitian. Taylor (B: 198b) records that the alleged plotters “were Taiio, Matua, Pouyoughah & others, about 15 in Number including Chiefs & Priests.” William Douglas at Waimea Bay in January 1789 also received information of a plot to poison all on the Iphigenia Nubiana and the North West America. He was skeptical, but took the precaution of threatening “that he would not leave a native alive” should there be any truth in the report (Meares 1790: 351). Colnett’s comment is curious given the nature of Hawaiian houses. His sketch (Figure 11) from the anchorage shows some buildings, presumably the village of Waimea, to the west of the mouth of the Waimea river, where Cook landed in 1778. The sketch also shows what appears to be a tower (anu’u), suggesting a heiau; royal residences were often close to such edifices. Webber produced a detailed illustration of a heiau in the vicinity of Waimea, but it is thought to have been located on the west side of the Waimea river, whereas the tower shown by Colnett is on the east side. A better fit is the tower shown in Ellis’ sketch of the Waimea area, and later described by Beresford. This was on the east side of the river, but a short distance from the mouth. Colnett’s sketch, however, suggests a site on the coast. Portlock makes no reference to a heiau but does state that Ka'eo resided in a house on the east side of the Waimea river “when at this part of the island”; later, however, he states that the king had four or five houses at the village of Waimea (Cook and King 1784, Atlas: plate 33; Dixon 1789: 128; Portlock 1789: 178-79, 189; Forbes 1992: 29). For a recent discussion of this evidence, although without using that from Colnett, see Mills (1996: 69-106, 286-89, 304-24). He concludes that “Ka'eo, the paramount chief of Kaua'i in the 1780s and 1790s, also had houses somewhere on the east bank” and suggests that “the east bank of the Waimea River was part of a long standing ritual sphere of Hawaiian life separated from the domestic landscape or the west bank.” Agricultural development on the east side of the Waimea river has inhibited archaeological work in that area; see also Bennett 1931: 104-11, 152). Taylor (B: 199b) identifies the “steerage Friend” as Pouyugah, i.e., Typowyugah, but states that he came on board about noon. See Colnett 178r. Duncan conveyed information about this to John Meares when they met on the Northwest Coast in August. Meares, in turn, included the information in his orders to William Douglas of the Iphigenia Nubiana: “As they [Ka'eo and Opunui] attempted to poison the crews of the Prince of Wales and Princess Royal, you will guard against such a diabolical design, by inspecting the cocoa-nuts, yams, water, &c making the seller taste each ... Should you discover such an attempt, I recommend to you to seize those concerned; and as transactions of this kind cannot take place without the knowledge of

370 | Notes to pages 190-92

80 81 82

83

84

85 86

87

Taheo and Abinui, such wickedness ought to be made an example of ” (Meares 1790: Appendix [A] 5). Hanamo is Enemo/Inamoo; see Part 2 (this volume), note 63. The clinch was the part of the cable “which is fastened to the ring of the anchor” (Falconer 1780: 82). Portlock’s letter has not survived, and his published account records nothing of its contents. He and Beresford describe a series of incidents involving anchors, but none concern the King George at Waimea Bay, on Kaua'i. The snow, the Queen Charlotte, lost a small bower there, and another at O'ahu, although the latter was recovered. The King George lost an anchor at O'ahu and two at Ni'ihau, but the latter were recovered. Finally, the Nootka, under John Meares, lost an anchor at Ni'ihau in September 1787. Some of these incidents Portlock attributed to Native actions, but not all (Portlock 1789: 167-68, 195-96, 199, 307-8; Dixon 1789: 195, 199). Taylor describes this “Dumb man” on 30 Jan., shortly after anchoring at Waimea Bay: “He was allowed nearly as much authority as any Chief among them, and on most occasions he exercised it with more than ordinary severity. He lived at the Village on the East side of the Island, where our two Sailors landed, and was their constant guide, and attendant, and at all times when he came on board while the Ship was under sail, he proved himself a useful, steady friend, always commanding great order among the natives, and on the smallest hint, nay sometimes without it, He would clear the Decks of a hundred or more in an instant. the natives indeed, stood much more in awe of his blows than of the Chiefs Commands. This useful Man The natives called Tholalo, and I am of opinion [117b] that he either maintains his authority from his own hereditary claim, or that the King of the island was pleased to invest him with the power of an Eree [ali’i – chief], from motives of humanity. Be it as it may I observed he was of less consequence here than at Sea, and in the vicinity of his own district, yet he still possessed sufficient authority to clear the Deck when no other Chief was present, at all events his attachment was by no means decreased. He generally took his post at the entrance of the Cabin door, where he preserved great order during his Stay, suffering no one of the natives to go in without the Captains directions, his penetration upon most occasions left me no reason to be surprised, at his having the sanction of the King.” King’s account of this incident is found at Cook and King 1784, 3: 45. For discussions and interpretations of the literature on the death of Cook, see Sahlins (1995); Obeysekere (1992); Kennedy (1978). Taylor identifies the man as Typowooah and describes the encounter over the shirt as taking place on 17 Feb., see (197a), p. 188; Colnett names him Poheva. Pahoa, the Hawaiian term for a dagger; rendered as pahooa in Cook and King, 3: 45; Pukui and Elbert 1965. Poheva is the Powyouah/Typowooah (and variants) of Taylor (B: 205a, 210b); see Part 2 (this volume), note 84. This may be the same man that Dimsdell, a seaman on the Columbia who settled on Hawai'i in 1792, described as claiming to have killed Cook; he was a “strong Raw Boned man above the Common Size” called Pihore. However, Beaglehole points out that “more than one man laid claim later to having struck the fatal blow.” Sahlins opts for Nuha or Kanuha, a prominent Ka’awaloa warrior born about 1750 (Sahlins 1995: 95, 129-30; Howay 1941: 150; Beaglehole 1967: 557n, 1171, 1202). See also Flannery 2000: 83; Lamb 1984: 1164. Taylor (B: 205b) describes Duncan’s actions in more detail: “He Brought his Broadside to Bear & kill’d & wounded ye whole, he believed & some few others in some other Canoes near him. He believed in all he kill’d & wounded a Score. Capt. Duncan to make use of his own Words said ye Seamen of ye Princess Royal saw 5 fall & saw two

Notes to pages 193-96 | 371

88 89

90 91 92 93

94

95 96 97

98

99

dozen over Bd.” This “spirited Behaviour ... fairly secur’d the Hearts of all our Seamen towards him.” On 7 Mar., Taylor (B: 215b) gathered information from two chiefs about the consequence of this incident: “Typowyougha said his Slave was kill’d by ye Musquet from our Ship ... his account was 5 kill’d & three wounded. Matua account differ’d making worse [?] of them. he said one kill’d & one wounded from ye Ship & ten kill’d from ye Sloop. indeed from ye various accounts tis dificult to Determine the exact number kild & woundd.” Colnett has decided to head across Kaulakahi Channel to the island of Ni'ihau. The “well shelter’d” bay, a little north of the west point of Ni'ihau, examined by Bligh in March 1779 and identified by Beaglehole as Nonopapa. Portlock, accompanied by Dixon, returned to the same anchorage in June 1786 and January 1787, naming it Yam Bay. Dixon published a sketch, using this name and showing a latitude of 21°57’N; this, however, is some 5’ too far north (Cook and King 1784, 3: plate 59; Beaglehole 1967: 580-81n; Portlock 1789: 82-83, 183-84, Appendix 9; Dixon 1789: opp. 54). Colnett’s sketch (181v) confirms that he was at the same harbour. The two girls were Narahow and Katoomatta; see Part 2 (this volume), note 74. Narahowe’s brother, who also brought information that Powyougah had not been killed in the confrontation of 25 Feb. (Taylor B: 205a, 208a). The white cloth was probably a sign that a tapu was in effect, see Sahlins (1995: 39). Taylor (B: 211a-213a) provides much more information about the encounters on this date, including attempts to placate the Kauaians after the “Butchery” of 25 Feb.; Native explanations that a shark was responsible for the loss of the anchor; and the first offer to barter a replacement anchor for “five large Bars of Iron.” Thomas Temple was described by Colnett (179r) as a “young gentleman” and was probably a family friend. His rank is not given but he was likely a midshipman or perhaps the fourth mate. He continued with Colnett on the voyage of the Argonaut, where he was described as an “extra Officer” and as “Terceros Pilotes” – third mate – by Martinez. According to Howay, following the dismissal of Robert Duffin as first mate, Temple became second mate. However, Temple was drowned, along with Thomas Hudson, near Hesquiat in October 1790 (BCA, A/A/40/C71, Colnett Letters, Colnett to Mrs. Colnett, 1 May 1790; Howay 1940: 61, 65, and notes 182n, 183, 189). See Part 2 (this volume), note 57; Introduction (this volume), p. 10. Honi is to kiss, that is, to touch noses (Pukui and Elbert 1965). Makana – a gift, a present (Pukui and Elbert 1965); Beresford renders the term as Matano (Dixon 1789: 100). Taylor (B: 215a) identifies the two chiefs: “One prov’d to be Brother to Tupowyougha & a Chief of Woahoo. Namoocara [the other] Taiios Brothers Name Toopeah” and the crew member as “Elsworthy” [?]. Taylor (215b) states that “from Typowyougha we learnt that our Long Boat must go on Shore for ye Anchor or otherwise we cou’d not have it. he also seem’d to say in Friendship to me & privately that he did not think we shou’d obtain ye Anchor for six Bars of Iron, but said not that Taiio particularly wanted more, but that every Chief was concern’d & that for Ten Pieces he believ’d the Anchor wou’d be sent on Bd.” His account ends on this date, thus the only information on 8 Mar. is contained in the log. It states: “At 7 am calm Wymoa Bay bore North distant 3 or 4 leagues ... It continued calm till 10 pm a light [breeze] springing up from the East North East stood in for Atooi.” Here and on subsequent days, Colnett refers to Ka'eo’s son without further identification. The boy may be Kaumuali'i, his own son by Kamakahelei, or Keawe, his stepson. The reference to an “eldest” son (14 Mar.) suggests the latter, as Portlock (1789: 180) the previous year describes meeting Ka'eo’s eldest son “Taaevee, a very fine boy about twelve years of age.”

372 | Notes to pages 197-99

100 Clueing-up the sails was trussing them to the yard (Falconer 1780: 83). 101 The principal geopolitical contest at this time involved Kahekili (O'ahu, Maui, Moloka'i) and Kamehameha (Hawai'i); Ka'eo was aligned with the former, his half brother. It seems unlikely that this was the basis for Colnett’s comments. There were, however, other struggles which may have produced conflict on Kaua'i at this time. One possibility concerns Keawe. The son of Kamakahelei and Kiha, probably born in the mid-1770s, Keawe was the nominal ruler of Kaua'i in March 1779. However, his mother had married Ka'eo, who became the effective ruler. By 1788, Keawe had been replaced by Kaumuali'i, the son of Kamakahelei and Ka'eo. In September, Taylor met Keawe at O'ahu and described him as the “Prince who at time had a party fighting for his right to government of Attooi.” After the death of Ka'eo, Keawe would again contest for Kaua'i, only to die shortly after achieving a victory against Kaumuali'i (Beaglehole 1967: 1223n, 1224n; Taylor 234a; Kuykendal 1947: 30, 48n; Joestling 1984: 57-58). 102 On returning to Kaua'i in September, Taylor (242a) learned from “Dick,” a seaman, that “our Cable was cut by Taios orders. that they got the anchor before we left Oneehow, that it was buried on Shore. But he was prohibited from seeing it. & various other articles relative to us. he mention’d cou’d give no satisfactory account of their intentions last year, but thought they only wanted our anchor.” On the other hand, James Johnstone, on discussing Whidbey’s survey of the Waimea Bay area in 1792, offered an alternative theory: “These proofs of the number of rocks, which lay scattered in this bay give strong reason to suppose that the Cable which we had cut on my former visit to this place was done by them and not by the natives as was then generally believed. No doubt the end of that Cable when it was hove in gave as evident an appearance of its having been cut by an adze tool as anything could possibly be, but as I do not find that the natives have ever recovered the Anchor and it would only be the design of getting possession of it that could induce them to have performed such an extraordinary feat of diving. I am more of opinion that it was [not?] done by them [sic], nor can I well conceive that any men have the capacity of remaining so long under water at the depth of 44 fathoms as to be able to perform so tedious a task as the cutting through a 13 or 14 inch Cable” (PRO, Adm. 53/335, 15 Mar. 1792). 103 “Dick” may be the first Hawaiian “beachcomber,” Euro-Americans who chose (or were forced) to reside on the islands. With the expansion of the sea otter trade, the number of such people increased; some served as advisors to indigenous rulers and their names are well known, for example, John Young and Isaac Davis. For a general discussion, see Spate (1979-88, 3: 228-30); Kuykendall (1947: 20-28). “Dick” may have been Dick Wells mentioned by Taylor (192a) on 7 Feb. When the Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal returned to Kaua'i in September, Dick had assumed a position of some importance and provided a good deal of information. Nonetheless, he decided to rejoin the ship, only to be replaced by another beachcomber from the Prince of Wales (Taylor 248a). In an account of William Douglas’ stay at Waimea in January 1789, Meares (1790: 350) states that the prevailing high prices for provisions “arose principally from the suggestions of a boy, whose name was Samuel Hitchcock, who had run away from Captain Colnett, and was become a great favourite with Taheo himself. Indeed so great was his influence with the King, that one of the natives having stolen from him a small piece of cloth which he wore round his middle, Taheo ordered the culprit to be pursued to the mountains whither he had fled.” Taylor (248a) confirms that a “young Boy ... a good armourer” quit the Prince of Wales as she left Ni'ihau on 29 Sep. 1788. However, Samuel Hitchcock also proved to be a short-term resident, as he was in Canton by November 1789. Howay (1940: 150) shows Samuel Hitchcock signing on as a cook on the Columbia for her return to Boston.

Notes to page 200 | 373

104 Once again, Colnett is proceeding round Kawaihoa Point, the southern extremity of Ni'ihau, to “Yam Bay” on the west coast. Tahoroa is Ka'ula a “rocky islet (540 feet elevation) 22 miles southwest of Ni'ihau” (Pukui, Elbert, and Mookini 1974: 93). 105 A grappling [or grapline] was a form of small anchor “fitted with four or five flukes ... and commonly used to ride a boat or other small vessel”; a creeper was a substitute, “having a shank and four hooks or claws ... [used] to hook and draw up any thing from the bottom which may have been lost” (Falconer 1780: 140, 90). 106 Between O'ahu and Kaua’'i, Vancouver observed a large canoe made of “an exceedingly fine pine-tree,” which he thought originated on the Northwest Coast. He continued, “The circumstance of fir timber being drifted on the northern side of these islands is by no means uncommon, especially at Attowai [Kaua’'i] ... Some logs of timber, with three or four trees of the pine tribe were then found lying on the island, that had at different times been lodged by the sea, but were too much decayed and worm-eaten to be usefully appropriated” (Lamb 1984: 886-87). 107 Taylor identifies Colnett’s passenger as Jack Atoo (Ottoo). He returned to the island in September 1788, disembarking at Ni'ihau on the 29th, as Ka'eo “wanted him to stay and the Seamens Ill treatment urged his departure ... he was expected no Doubt to be very serviceable to Taio for that reason he wish’d his stay.” Jack Atoo’s travels were not over, however. In September 1789, he sailed on the Columbia to Canton and Boston. He returned to the Northwest Coast on the Columbia’s second voyage but declined disembarking at Ni'ihau when the ship called there in 1792. Meanwhile, the Prince of Wales took on board another “little Boy” from Ni'ihau (Colnett 181r-v; Taylor 247b, 291a; Howay 1930: 14-15; Howay 1941: 150, 418-19, 447). See Part 2 (this volume), note 108, for details. 108 John Etches states that the expedition took “several” islanders to the “coast of America the second season [1788]; they were soon trained not only in navigating the ship, but in trafficking with the natives, and were employed in common with the people both on board and on shore.” John Modetroy, one of the islanders who went on board the Princess Royal, continued to Canton. Here he joined Colnett on the Argonaut for the voyage to the Northwest Coast in 1789. After being taken to Mexico, following the capture of the Argonaut at Nootka, Modetroy died at Clayoquot Sound in December 1790. A native of Ni'ihau, Modetroy is described as the son of a “second Rank Chief.” Of the two islanders taken to England, Etches commented that they “seem capable of being taught any art science equally with the youth of any European nation” (Etches 1790a: 21-22; Howay 1930: 17-19; Howay 1940: 104-5, 198; Taylor 236b). Little more is known of the passenger on the Prince of Wales, although Taylor refers to “Tummemotanne” on the final leg to London (Taylor 331a). The islander brought by Duncan was Kualelo (Towarero), called Morotoi Charles by Taylor (236a); his subsequent story was recorded by Archibald Menzies. A native of Moloka'i, Kualelo was 11 or 12 years old when going onboard the Princess Royal. On reaching England, Kualelo spent the first Winter & Spring down at Plymouth under the care and tuition of Mr James Johnstone who ... [was] appointed to superintend a division of Ships in Ordinary at that Port. This gentleman’s first object was to have him inoculated for the small Pox which he underwent with little inconvenience, & then was sent to public school in the neighbourhood where great pains was taken to learn him to read and write. The first it seems could not be accomplished, for although he soon acquired a thorough knowledge & pretty exact pronunciation of the simple letters of our Alphabet, yet no power of art could carry him a step farther & get him to join or mingle these different sounds together in the formation of a word. But in writing he made greater progress, that is, soon acquired a

374 | Notes to pages 200-1

habit of copying whatever was placed before him with great exactness in the same manner he would do a drawing or a picture; indeed to the art of Drawing in general he appeard most partial, & would no doubt in a short time make a great proficiency with the aid of a little instruction, but in this uncultivated state of his mind he seemd fondest of those rude pictures called Caricatures & frequently amused himself in taking off even his friends in imitation of these pieces. The next summer he accompanied Mr Duncan to Hudsons Bay, where that Gentleman was sent to examine the Great Inlets & make discoveries on the interior of that Country, but from reason best known to the Company’s servants abroad he was not duly equippd to enter on his plans of Operation, so he was obligd to return with his Patron till he embarkd on board the Discovery (UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies Journal, 4 Mar. 1792).

109

110

111 112

113

114

Kualelo sailed with Vancouver’s expedition and, after attempting to disembark at Tahiti, landed at Hawai'i in March 1792. The following November, Frances Barkley, on the Halcyon, and Joseph Ingraham, on the Hope, encountered him. The former noted that he used the name Charles, could speak “English perfectly well,” and accompanied the vessel to O'ahu. In 1793, when Vancouver returned to Hawai'i, Puget “found Torarow of infinite use to us in the management of the Natives” (Lamb 1984: 448-49; Kaplanoff 1971: 245-46; PRO, Adm. 55/17, Log of the Chatham, 21 Feb. 1793; Howay 1930: 12-14, 27). For a discussion of the involvement of Hawaiians in the maritime fur trade, although without use of the Colnett documents, see Quimby 1972. Venereal disease was also reported among the crew of the Princess Royal (Colnett 198r). On Cook’s role, see Cook and King 1784, 2: 531; Beaglehole 1967: 266n, 474n. See also the comments by Taylor (194b) and Part 2 (this volume), note 67. The “ti (Cordyline terminalis)” is described by Malo (1951: 43) as a “fleshy root [that] is grubbed up, baked in a huge underground oven overnight until cooked.” The juice became very sweet when cooked but was not a “satisfying food.” Portlock (1789: 84, 91) calls it tee and at O'ahu used it for making beer. See also Beaglehole (1967: 573n). The spoon-bill duck may be the northern shoveller (Anas clypeata), a frequent winter visitor known by the Hawaiian name, Koloa moha (Denny 1999: 39). Colnett (185v) includes three unfinished sketches of unidentified birds. One, coloured red, black, and white, is probably an i’iwi, Vestiaria coccinea, numbers of which, Anderson reports, were sold on Kaua'i in 1778; a second, coloured grey and brown with yellow legs, may be an o’o, Moho braccatus; the third, coloured olive and brown, is perhaps an akialoa, Hemignanthus procerus, although the upper mandible is about three times the length of the lower (Munro 1944; Stresemann 1967; Denny 1999). Colnett (186r) also includes drawings of ten unidentified fish: 1) a butterflyfish, probably Forcipiger flavissimus; 2-3) two kinds of squirrelfish, Sargocentron spp.; 4) a soldierfish, Myripristis sp.; 5) perhaps a damselfish, Pomacentridae sp.; 6) a moorish idolfish, Zanclus cornutus; 7) a cornetfish, Fistularia commersonii; 8) a yellowstripe coris, Coris flavovittata; 9-10) unidentified – light, unfinished pencil sketches only (Tinker 1978: 299-300; Randall 1996; <www.fishbase.org>). Crayfish, likely the Hawaiian spiny lobster, Panulirus marginatus; spermaceti, the sperm whale (Physter macrocephalus), of which Colnett (1798: opp. 176) published an analytical sketch. No other British vessels are known to have been among the Hawaiian Islands at this time. In the late summer and early fall of 1787, three British vessels were in the area. The Queen Charlotte (Dixon) was at O'ahu 10-13 Sep. (Dixon 1789: 251-54, Appendix 2, 31); the King George (Portlock) was among the islands from 28 Sep.-Oct. but did not stop at O'ahu (Portlock 1789: 298-315); Meares on the Nootka was among the islands from 2

Notes to pages 204-6 | 375

115 116

117

118 119

120 121

Aug. to 2 Sep. 1787; he uses the term “Britannee” in connection with Ka'iana’s embarkation (Meares 1790: xxxix). It is possible that Charles Barkley on the Imperial Eagle (Loudon) also paid a brief visit to the islands. He left Nootka on 24 Jul., visited the Straits of Juan de Fuca, went along the Washington coast, and then headed to China, arriving at Macao on 5 Nov. 1787 (see Colnett Journal, 119v; BL, Canton Consultations, G/12/86, 202; Hill 1978: 36-48; Judd and Lind 1974). The log refers to sighting the isle “Tahona [Ka'ula] S6E ½ E 3 Lg of ” at 7 pm.” This was the island of Nihoa. Menzies, on returning with Vancouver in 1794, described the island in a little more detail and noted that it “was first discovered by us in the ship Prince of Wales in the year 1788 & on our return to the [Hawaiian] Islands again in the latter end of the same year, we questioned several of the Natives of Atooi [Kaua'i] & Oneehow [Ni'ihau] concerning it, when all of them declard that they knew nothing of it, & naturally enquired of us the size of it – the distance it was from them – & whether it was inhabited? To the first and last of these questions we could give no satisfactory answers, having passed it at so great a distance that it appeard to us like a small hummock; & though we were of opinion that what we saw could not occupy much space, yet we did not know how far the low land might extend out from the base of it in which case it might probably be inhabited, as it lay in the direction of the other Islands some Canoes might be drifted upon it in stormy weather. As to the distance we told them, that one of their double Canoes in fine weather might reach it in the space of two days. Taio, King of Atooi expressed his design of sending some canoes to explore it, on which account I then left with him a small pocket compass to guide their way, as one of the Natives perfectly understood the use of it, from being with us on a Voyage to the North East [sic] Coast of America & was on board when we discovered the Island. The Natives furnishing Mr Douglas of the Ship Iphigenia [Nubiana] next year with this information he made a point of making this Island & settled its Longitude by Lunar observations with great precision as we find by Meares Voyage, when he gives a very good representation of it in one of the plates under the name of Bird Island, and from the account which he afterwards gave the Natives, of its diminutive size & inaccesible height to any other than the feathered tribe they abandoned their design of visiting it & now universally called by the name of Motoo-manaa which in their language signifies the Island of Birds.” (UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies Journal, 15 Mar. 1794; Meares 1790: opp. 80, 360). The island is shown on a map, probably drawn by Duncan, as Montagu Island, but Vancouver states that Colnett used the name Bird Island (Anon. Map 1; Lamb 1984: 1203-5). Cleghorn (1988) estimates that the island was occupied until about 1700 and describes the environment and settlement sites. The vessels did not meet again until reaching Moloka'i, in the Hawaiian Islands, on 12 Sep. 1788. The portion of the voyage after leaving the Northwest Coast is described only in Taylor’s journals and the Prince of Wales log. For Duncan’s summary account of his activities in 1788, see Appendix 1. See Dixon 1789: 142. Colnett’s log indicates that the Prince of Wales was at lat. 36°15’N, long. 159°13’W on 6 Apr. and at lat. 41°10’N, long. 156°35’W on 9 Apr. 1788. Cook’s River is the present Cook Inlet; Cape Greville is Cape Chiniak, Kodiak Island (Orth 1967: 392). On the naming, see Beaglehole, 1967: 368, 375. At this time, the insularity of Kodiak Island was not recognized; when Dixon and Portlock learned this fact they transferred Cape Greville to the mainland south and west of Kodiak. Cape Whitsunday was named by Cook, June 7, 1778; the current name is Pillar Cape (Orth 1967: 735). Russian fur traders had established a settlement on Kodiak Island in 1784 (Shelikhov 1981: 36-46). There is some uncertainty about the date and location of subsequent Russian settlements but, by 1788, they included forts at Afognak Island, Kenai Peninsula

376 | Notes to pages 206-8

122

123

124

125

126 127

128

(Aleksandrovsk fort), and Kasilov River (Georgievsk fort). A winter house had been built and abandoned at the northern end of Montague Island, and Shelikhov sent a party to construct a fort, possibly at the southern end of the same island, in 1786. By one estimate, there were 462 promyshlenniks between Prince William Sound and Unalashka and six vessels were engaged in the trade (Stewart 1936: 96-98; Fedorova 1973: 115-21, Map 4a; De Laguna 1972: 114). Either Portlock or Dixon, who had encountered some Russians in Cook Inlet in 1786, probably advised Colnett on this point (Dixon 1789: 58-60). The log states: “At 9 am [23 Apr.] saw land which supposd to be Montague Island bearing East North East distant 4 or 5 leagues at Noon the Island bore East 4 or 5 leagues ... First part very fresh Gales and hazy weather with some Sleet middle more moderate latter light winds and clear at 4 pm it began to blow so exceeding hard we were necessitated to haul up the Courses at 7 we were apprehensive we shoud not clear the land laying too under the Storm stay sails & set the reefd Courses at 11 was favord with more moderate weather.” The log states: “At 5 am [24 Apr.] saw the land bearing West by North distant 4 or 5 leagues distant am got up another main topsail yd having carried away the other in the Hard gale when in Stays ... at 6 pm saw land bearing North by West distant 9 or 10 Miles.” Middleton Island, lat. 59°26’N, long. 146°20’W. Colnett has overestimated its length. It appears on Anon. (Map 2) as Middleton’s Island; this map was probably the work of either Menzies or James Johnstone (Olson and Thilenius 1993: 132-33). The first Coast Pilot of Alaska adds that “the shores are craggy, especially on the west side of the island, south of the anchorage. A few huts are scattered on the shore near the anchorage, and serve as a shelter for the natives temporarily sojourning here for the purpose of collecting sea-weeds and hunting seals. Several small lakes, places of refuge for birds of passage, are found along the eastern shore” (Davidson 1869: 147). See Map J (p. 207). The log states: “At 4 am [25 Apr.] bore up and made sail for the land at 8 it bore South East distant 3 miles which provd to be a small flat Island ... at 1 pm to the North East had the appearance of broken water.” Cape Cleare. Before leaving the Hawaiian Islands for China, Portlock received a letter left by Dixon with “Abbenooe” (Opunui) at Waimea Bay on Kaua'i. From this, Portlock learned of Colnett’s and Duncan’s presence on the Northwest Coast and, in turn, wrote a letter to Colnett, care of Opunui (Portlock 1789: 303-8). Colnett received Portlock’s letter on 29 Jan. 1788 (Colnett 175v) but gives no indication of its contents. However, Portlock had anchored at McLeod’s Harbour, Hanning Bay, and Port Chalmers in 1787; his published account includes charts showing anchorages in MacLeod Harbour and Port Chalmers (Portlock 1789: 205-24). Colnett’s description is somewhat misleading here: the bay “4 or 5 Leagues” from Cape Cleare would suggest Hanning Bay. However, the log and Colnett’s chart indicate that the Prince of Wales had only reached the vicinity of MacLeod Harbour before returning to an anchorage probably on the north side of San Juan Bay. The log states: “At 6 am [26 Apr.] saw the land distant 5 or 6 leagues bearing from North West to West half North at Noon the extremes from North North East to West by South of Shore 3 miles ... at 2 pm the weather cleard so as to enable us to see the extremes of land and satisfied us it where Montague Island wore, made sail and hauld close round the Southwest point and intended to gain a bay within 9 or 10 Miles of the point of the West side of the Island being shelterd by the weather shore we plyd windward till sun set without effect we came to anchor in 24 fathoms bottom Mud and sand distant of shore about one mile the bay we wishd to have gaind bore North East by North distant three or 4 Miles the extremes of the Island North by East to South South East 1/4 East the extreme point

Notes to pages 208-11 | 377

129

130 131

132

133 134

135

136

of the Main we could see through the Haze bore South West half West.” See Part 2 (this volume), note 129; Map K (p. 209). Colnett’s chart (Figure 13) indicates that he had anchored in Macleod Harbour. This was visited, mapped, and named (after William McLeod, a mate on the King George) by Portlock on 24 Apr. 1787 (Portlock 1789: 6, 206). The log states: “At Noon [27 Apr.] got underway and stood towards the Bay with the Assistance of the Boats towing and a flood tide ... at 4 pm Anchord in 24 fathoms 9 or 10 miles to the Northward of the south point of Montague Island in the [centre] of a Bay extreme point of the Bay and the Island from North North West & South West by South extreme point of the Main South West by West of shore.” Before the end of the month, Martinez and Haro visited Hanning Bay and Port Chalmers in the Princessa and San Carlos (Stewart 1936: 78). The name, given by Cook, survives as Green Island (Beaglehole 1967: 355; Orth 1967: 391). The log states: “The forenoon [28 Apr.] weighd and stood to the Northward Montague Island to the East and several small ones to the West of us ... at 6 pm Anchord in 20 fathoms over a soft bottom distant from Montague Island 2 or 3 Miles the extremes of which bore from North half West 10 South South West. Southermost of the green Islands West.” The last mentioned is now known as Little Green Island; the anchorage was probably a little south of Port Chalmers. The description suggests that Colnett had reached the vicinity of Port Stockdale in the long boat before returning to the vessels. Colnett’s movements are difficult to interpret for the next few days as he attempts to round the northern end of Montague Island and reach Port Etches. The chart of “Cook’s River” shows the vessels tacking to the northwest of Montague Island on 18-19 May (Cook and King, 1784, 2: opp. 353, 364-65; Beaglehole 1967: 353-55). Colnett is in the vicinity of Port Chalmers. The log states: “At 6 am [29 Apr.] got underway and stood to the Northward at 8 the wind became fluctuating with rain and threatening a Gale came to Anchor in 24 fathoms ground Mud extremes of Montague Island from North by West to South ¾ West the nearest of some dispersd Island laying to the Eastward of us bore East distant one Mile the Southermost of Green Islands South South West.” This is an identification made by Cook suggesting Colnett’s familiarity with the text (Cook and King 1784, 2: 357; Beaglehole 1967: 345; 1974: 596-97). The two-person kayak is known as a baidarka; Colnett describes one in more detail below (203r). He had reached the territory of the Chugach, or “cuatit as they call themselves.” They are a branch of the “Pacific Eskimo,” speakers of a Pacific Yupik language (De Laguna 1956: 9; Clark 1984: 185-89). Montague Island was the territory of the cuqluymiut band, but they “almost certainly” used the Green Islands; cuqlvq was the name for Montague Island (De Laguna 1956: 31-34). On settlements, see Part 2 (this volume), note 139. Their caution, no doubt, was a product of earlier conflicts with European visitors. In 1783, three Russian vessels, with at least 300 men, visited the Prince William Sound area: Aleksandr Nevskii, under Zaikov; Aleksei, under Delarov; Mikhail, under Polutov or Mukhoplev (Bancroft 1959: 186-87; Tikhmenev 1979: 1-6; Makarova 1975: 214-15). The available information on the activities of these vessels is incomplete and contradictory, but they reached as far east as Kayak Island in July. Thereafter, the vessels operated independently but headed west to Prince William Sound. One party examined the lower reaches of the Copper River, another visited Port Etches, and some, at least under Zaikov, wintered at “one of the bays on the north end of Montagu, or Sukluk Island”; it is still named Zaikov Bay (Bancroft 1959: 189n; Orth 1967: 1069). In 1788, however, Narvaez reported seeing a European-style building located on an island in the vicinity of Port Stockdale (Stewart 1936: 85).

378 | Notes to pages 211-12

During the Russians’ stay in Prince William Sound, a series of disputes arose with the Chugach, eventually aided by the Koniag and Tanaina, and resulting in fatalities on both sides (De Laguna 1956: 9). Delarov subsequently stated that, “My own people had been the aggressors; perhaps for the sake of a few skins.” Scurvy took a further toll during the winter, prompting the surviving Russians to withdraw in the spring of 1784. De Laguna (1956: 64) also argues that venereal disease was introduced by this expedition. For accounts of the expedition, see Tikhmenev 1979: 1-6; Dmytryshyn, CrownhartVaughan, and Vaughan 1988: 302-3, 352-53, 386; Bancroft 1959: 186-91; Sauer 1802: 187-90; Shelikhov 1981: 41-42; Makarova 1975: 74-77; Portlock 1789: 223. Meares (1790: xiv) had also shown the Chugach “the power of our cannon,” though he makes mention of fatalities. 137 After reaching Prince William Sound on 28 May 1788, Martinez observed that the Chugach used some English words. On obtaining “news of two other vessels,” he mistakenly thought they were French (Stewart 1936: 81). This was probably a reference to Colnett and, perhaps, to the Russian expedition of Izmailov and Bocharov. The following vessels are known to have traded in the Prince William Sound area up to 1788: 1778: Resolution and Discovery (Beaglehole 1967). 1779: Favorita and Princessa (Thornton 1918; Wagner 1937: 191-96). 1783-84: Aleksandr Nevskii, under Zaikov; Aleksei, under Delarov; Mikhail, under Polutov or Mukhoplev (Bancroft 1959: 186-87; Makarova 1975: 214-15; see Part 2 [this volume], note 136). 1785: Shelikhov sent out a series of expeditions from Kodiak, one of which may have reached Prince William Sound (Shelikhov 1981: 46; Dmytryshyn, CrownhartVaughan, and Vaughan 1988: 308). 1786: Captain Cook and Experiment (Strange 1982: 30 Aug.-14 Sep.); Nootka (Meares 1790: wintered); Sea Otter (Strange 1982: 5-6 Sep.). 1787: King George and Queen Charlotte (Portlock 1789; Dixon 1789). 1788: Prince of Wales.

138

139

140

141

The following vessels visited the area after Colnett’s departure. Three Saints (Shelikhov 1981); Princessa and San Carlos (Stewart 1936); Iphigenia Nubiana (Meares 1790: 315). Taylor has a number of comments on the thefts and attempted thefts. On 6 May, “13 Skins some thefts committed. one discover’d and the Natives chastised with a rope end,” although Taylor (222b) attributed the actions of the Chugach to their having been “much indulged” by the crew of the Nootka. Soon muskets were used: “[on 11 May] the watch believing their intentions were mischievous discharged a Musquet Ball when they made off. when ye Buoy was examined no injury appear’d.” Colnett’s comments are of interest in light of the uncertainty about the mode of occupancy of this area. De Laguna (1956: 31-34) learned of four “permanent” village sites at the northern end of Montague Island. One in Port Chalmers (nunatvnaq or puyuycnit) but she was unable to locate the site; two in Stockdale Harbour (taýuanaq or tayuanaq and uqcilicq), but subsidence and erosion had destroyed most of the sites; one in Zaikoff Bay (matankanat) was not examined. There were also a number of “sea otter camps” on the “outer shore” of Montague Island, but they were of uncertain location and age. Menzies subsequently stated that at “Prince William’s Sound the Natives prefered [sic] Iron & put very little value on Copper or anything else” – they were so overstocked with Beads as to ornament their Dogs with them (Dillon 1951: 155-56). For other discussions of trade in the area, see Stewart (1936: 81); Strange (1982: 102-3); and Fisher and Bumstead (1982: 138-39). The Nootka was John Meares’ vessel, rigged as a snow.

Notes to pages 212-14 | 379

142 On the north side of Stockdale Harbour, perhaps in the vicinity of Graveyard Point. The log states: “At 8 am [30 Apr.] weighd both Anchors and made sail at Noon we were so far to the Northward as to open Cape Hinchinbroke the weather now become so exceeding dark with great falls of snow and Sleet as prevented us from seeing land at a very small distance Tackd and stood to the Southward to shelter ourselves from the unfavourableness of the weather ... at 2 pm anchord within half a mile from Montague Island in 19 fms the extremes of which bore North East by North to South South West. North point of the largest of the Green Islands South West by South.” 143 The spawn was the roe of the Pacific herring, Clupea harengus. 144 Taylor (220a) adds that they offered “their garments and Fishing gear for sale.” 145 The log states: “At 5 am [1 May] got underway and stood towards Cape Hinchinbroke by 9 Anchord in Port Etches on the South Shore in 4 fms.” This was the Puerto Santiago of Arteaga, where Portlock had anchored from 14 May-25 Jul. 1787 and applied the name Port Etches to the present Garden Cove. His published account includes a sketch of the area (Thornton 1918: 85-86, map; Portlock 1789: 226-43). Colnett’s sketch shows he anchored in the same location. See also Shelikhov 1981: 86). Port Etches is now used for the entire inlet and not just the anchorage. 146 Taylor (220a) states nine canoes, whose passengers enquired about Portlock. According to De Laguna (1956: 12-14), Colnett was in the territory of the nutiymiut band of the Chugach. At this time, their principal village was probably on the north coast of Hinchinbrook Island, likely in Anderson Bay. With the construction of a Russian Post in Port Etches, the nutiymiut moved to that area. However, when Portlock (1789: 222, 229, 237-38, 254) was at Port Etches in 1787, his visitors were from several other bands. 147 Taylor (221a-223b) gives the following accounting of the trade: 3 May – 10 skins, 4 May – near 30 skins, 5 May – 10 skins, 6 May – 13 skins, 7 May – about 10 skins, 8 May – about 10 skins, 9 May – between 20 and 30 skins, 10 May – 6 or 7 skins, 11 May – 3 or 4 skins, 12 May – 5 skins, 13 May – 7 or 8 skins, 15 May – 2 or 3 skins, 16-20 May – 3 or 4 skins. He noted that the Chugach wanted green beads, but as none were onboard, the trade was conducted for iron goods. The high prices he attributed to their “Trade with ye Russians.” On 10 May (i.e., 22 May), probably at Montgomery Bay, Latouche Island, Izmailov and Bocharov learned that a three-masted vessel “had recently arrived and was anchored at Tkhalkha (Hinchinbrook) Island in Nuchek Bay (Port Etches).” When the Russians reached Port Etches, they learned that the people “had already exchanged all their trading goods” (Shelikhov 1981: 83-87). 148 Named by Cook and shown on his chart of Cook’s River in the northwest part of America. Vancouver changed the name to Controller Bay (Cook and King 1784, 2: plate 44; Beaglehole 1967: 342 and note). 149 The boat had gone between Hinchinbrook and Hawkins Islands, probably via Hawkins Cutoff, and north to Snug Corner Bay. The bar inlet was Orca Inlet, in the territory of the txa.laymiut (Shallow Water People)(Map K, p. 209). Snug Corner Cove had been named by Cook; a chart, showing the anchorages of the Sea Otter (1786), the Experiment (1786), and the Captain Cook (1786) was published by Dalrymple in March 1789 (Wedgborough 1789; Beaglehole 1967: 345 and 351). 150 When William Douglas, in the Iphigenia Nubiana, anchored there on 10 Jul., a shore party found a couple of trees bearing the inscription “J. Etches, of the Prince of Wales, May 9th, 1788 and John Hutchins” (Meares 1790: 316). 151 This may have been “old” Sheenawa, or Shenoway, chief of the txa.laymiut, who was encountered by Meares and Portlock in 1786 and 1787 (Portlock 1789: 232-33, 237-38; Meares 1790: xxiii, xxvii). The txa.laymiut had a number of settlements on Hawkins Island, the eastern end of Hinchinbrook Island, and the adjacent mainland and islands (De Laguna 1956: 15-21). On the village, see Part 2 (this volume), note 155.

380 | Notes to pages 214-16

152 See the comments by Colnett (203v) and Part 2 (this volume), note 169. 153 The wales were “an assemblage of strong planks extending along a ship’s side, throughout her whole length, at different heighths, and serving to reinforce the decks” (Falconer 1780: 311). 154 The long boat had reversed part of the route of the previous expedition, heading north, round Johnstone Point, into Hawkins Island Cutoff. It then attempted to reach the sea, probably via the passage to the east of Egg Islands, where the contemporary chart indicates rip tides and breakers (Map K, p. 209). 155 From the description it is difficult to identify the specific village. De Laguna states that the principal village was Palugvik, but it was abandoned prior to contact. One possibility, which was occupied in the early contact period, is tauxtvïk, on the south side of Hawkins Island. According to De Laguna, there is a “pyramidical rock in the bight,” but she gives no indication of an archaeological site thereon. Another possibility is suggested by James Johnstone, who may have commanded Etches’ long boat expedition, following a visit to the area in 1794. Johnstone’s account has not survived, but Menzies reported that he saw a “considerable village containing about 200 Natives” on a small island “at the entrance.” This suggests a site on Mummy Island, likely aixaxtalit (De Laguna 1956: 15-21, 48, 255, site #20; Olson and Thilenius 1993: 125). 156 Izmailov and Bocharov reached Port Etches on 19 May (i.e., 31 May), anchoring in a “smallish cove [Garden Cove] ... on the right side, in which according to the local inhabitants, a three-masted foreign vessel had lain” (Shelikhov 1981: 86). The Prince of Wales had left “two days” before the arrival of the Russians, which would give a date of 29 May. A Spanish launch, from the Martinez/Haro expedition at Port Chalmers, reached Port Etches in mid-June (Stewart 1936: 79-86). 157 The log states: “At 2 pm [22 May] got underway and by 6 run out of the bay with the Wind at East but finding it at South East when outside of the Cape tackd and stood in again towards a small Bay a little within Cape Hinchinbroke were [sic] we arrivd by 8 and Anchord in 13 fathoms Cape Hinchinbroke berg. South the North End of Montague Island West half South off Shore half a Mile.” Colnett’s chart (201r) indicates the anchorage of 22-24 May was English Bay, where Cook had anchored on 12 May 1778 (Beaglehole 1967: 343 and note; Cook and King 1784, 2: plate 44, Chart of Cook’s River and Prince William Sound). 158 “Portlock” was Nus-cook-weelick, of the cuqluymiut band of the Chugach, who lived on the north end of Montague Island (Portlock 1789: 237, 254; De Laguna 1956: 31). Such name exchanges were not uncommon in the early days of the maritime fur trade. The name probably enhanced the status of the chief and reflected some form of political/ trading alliance. See, for example, Cunneah/Douglas, a Haida chief; Captain Hanna/Cleaskinah, a Nuu-chah-nulth chief; Nousk/Chanal, a Haida chief; and Jammisit/ Caamano, a Tsimshian chief (Meares 1790: 365-67; Howay 1941: 67; Fleurieu 1801: 30910; Wagner and Newcombe 1938: 281; Lamb and Bartroli 1989-90: 13; CMC, Beynon, BF 394.1). Colnett had prior experience of such exchanges at the Society Islands and on the Queen Charlotte Islands (see Part 1 [this volume], note 221; Beaglehole 1961: 223). 159 The log states: “At 6 pm [23 May] weighd Anchor and towd ahead with the boats.” 160 Seal Rocks. 161 Kays Island, so named by Cook, is now known as Kayak Island (Beaglehole 1967: 34142). In attempting to reach Controller Bay, the long boat had reached the vicinity of the Copper River. In the nineteenth century, this became Eyak territory, but at the time of Colnett’s visit it was evidently controlled by the Chugach (De Laguna 1990a: 189, 195; Birket-Smith and De Laguna 1938: 341). 162 Perhaps a starry flounder, Platichthys stellatus. Izmailov and Bocharov learned from a Chugach informant that the “people who came by ship took red salmon and halibut by

Notes to pages 217-20 | 381

163

164 165 166 167 168 169

170

171

172 173 174

nets in Nuchek Bay.” However, it was early in the season (May to September) for salmon and, like Colnett, Izmailov and Bocharov had little success. By way of contrast, Portlock, in July, caught “not less” than 200 salmon with “each haul” of the seine (Clark 1984: 190; Portlock 1789: 241; Shelikhov 1981: 85-87). The brown, or grizzly bear, Ursus arctos, and the black bear, Ursus americanus, are found in the Prince William Sound area; foxes were presumably the red fox, Vulpes vulpes, although this is not now found in the Prince William Sound area. Clark (1984: 192) refers to “very broad, occipitally flattened heads” as the result of “cradling.” Presumably the village visited by the long boat in the vicinity of Hawkins Cutoff; see Part 2 (this volume), note 155. These comments indicate a growing familiarity with European visitors. See Part 2 (this volume), note 137, for a list of vessels reaching Prince William Sound. See Birket-Smith (1953: 45-49); De Laguna (1956: 245). The umiak. Samwell, at Snug Corner Cove with Cook, had commented on the Chugach fondness for blue and green beads and already possessed a quantity. Menzies confirms Colnett’s observation of the situation in 1788: “[The] Prince William’s Sound the Natives ... were so overstocked with Beads as to ornament their Dogs with them” (Beaglehole 1967: 1108; Dillon 1951: 155-56). However, early in June 1788, Izmailov and Bocharov record giving a Chugach yellow, blue, and green beads as part payment for accompanying them (Shelikhov 1981: 86). The Copper River and the White River were the principal sources of Native copper on the Northwest Coast, but the logistics of the trade are unclear (Jopling 1989: 50-52; De Laguna 1991: 176). One route went via the Port Valdez and Tiekel River (Birket-Smith and De Laguna 1938: 150-51). Other sources indicate a route up the Copper River itself. In 1783, Zaikov learned that the Chugach travelled for twenty days up the “Iullit” or Copper River to trade skins and rugs for Native copper. The inhabitants, the Ahtna, were known by the same name, Iullit (Tikhmenev 1979: 5; Grinev 1993: 56). Johnstone, at Mummy Island in 1794, learned from some Russians that the “Natives found it [copper] some place to the Northeast of them, which they reach’d in two days journey, & went part of the way in their Canoes by some river” (Olson and Thilenius 1993: 127). At the same time, Menzies learned from Russian traders at Port Etches that “the Natives went up [a river to the eastward] in a NNE direction to a Lake which they reachd in about 5 or 6 days, & there found in the rocks considerable veins of native or virgin Copper, which they collected & manufactured into various articles of utility & ornament” (Olson and Thilenius 1993: 142). However, the Eyak are also described as the middlemen in the trade up the Copper River, but this was probably a postcontact development as the Eyak pushed westwards of Cape Suckling after 1800 (Birket-Smith and De Laguna 1938: 150-51; De Laguna 1990a: 189, 195). See also Garfield 1945: 629. Constantine Harbour; called Brooks Harbour by Portlock and Port Brooks by Dixon, presumably after Richard Hanning Brooks or Mary Camilla Brooks (Portlock 1789: map opp. 226; Dixon 1789: general chart; Colnett 201r; Shelikhov 1981: 86; Orth 1967: 235). Portlock (1789: 254-55) gives “Peeduck Naataunasuck” as “I have no more sea-otter skins,” “Lawle” as friendship, “Cus-kuck or Nus-kuck” as “chief.” Foggy Harbour was Port Mulgrave in Yakutat Bay. It was the original name given by George Dixon. See Part 2 (this volume), note 202. The “Rock” was Seal Rocks. The log states: “At Noon [24 May] Cape Hinchinbroke bore North 5 or 6 Miles distant a small [blank- Island?] South South West 3 miles ... at 8 pm Cape Hinchinbroke bore West North West 6 Leagues distant.”

382 | Notes to pages 220-22

175 De Laguna (1972: 129) suggests that Portlock departed “somewhere off the Copper River.” 176 Colnett’s log indicates that the long boat party comprised the “Supercargo, Second Mate and 7 Men.” The log states: “At 9 am [25 May] saw the land the extreme point bearing North East by East at Noon the extreme point bore as before distant 6 leagues ... at 4 pm the long boat with 8 people went to Comptrolers Bay to proceed from thence down the Coast to foggy Harbour (to traffic with the Natives if any) where they were to join the Ship again at 6 the South West point of Kays Island bore North North East 3 or 4 Miles.” 177 After parting from the long boat, the Prince of Wales sailed round Kayak Island to reach Cape Suckling. The name, given by Cook, is the current usage (Beaglehole 1967: 341). The log states: “At Noon [26 May] it [southern point of Kayes Island] bore North West by West distant 3 or 4 Miles ... at 4 pm the South point of kays Island bore West South West distant 4 leagues.” 178 The entrance into Controller Bay, past Le Measurier Point on Kayak Island, is blocked by Okalee Spit. 179 The information came from Dixon, who visited Port Mulgrave in May 1787. Beresford reported seeing “plenty of beads and the same kind of knives and spears we had seen in Prince William’s Sound” and concluded “we only gleaned after more fortunate traders, what furs they brought to sell” (Dixon 1789: 168). De Laguna (1972: 126) argues that Dixon’s was the first European vessel to reach Yakutat Bay and that Beresford was describing the results of Native trading networks extending from Prince William Sound. 180 The Prince of Wales had anchored between Kayak Island and Cape Suckling. Izmailov and Bocharov followed a similar route some two weeks later Shelikhov (1981: 90). The Coast Pilot notes that “Cape Suckling ... is low and wooded. Two miles N of the cape a prominent mountain ridge 1,500 to 2,500 feet high extends about 8 miles NE” (United States, Dept. of Commerce 1979: 54). 181 Pinnacle Rock; Bering landed a little farther north, on the west coast of Kayak Island. For a discussion of the anchorage and landings on Kayak and Wingham Island, see Frost 1992; Golder 1922-25, 1: 95-99, 2: 36ff. 182 The log states: “At 3 am [27 May] it [southern point of Kayes Island] bore South West by West 3 or 4 leagues distance at Noon the South West point bore South West by South the Other extreme North West by North of Shore 3 or 4 miles ... at 2 pm a Calm commencd and a Swell seting on Kays Island Anchord in 30 fathoms the South West point of the Island bearing South West half South the other extreme North by West off shore 2 Miles at 6 got underway with a light air from the Westward at 12 the South West point of kays Island bore South West by West dist. three Leagues.” 183 The log states: “At 6 pm [28 May] the South West point of Kays Island bore West by South distant 12 leagues.” 184 Perhaps Cape Yakataga and Duktoth River; the latter was used as a route to the interior (De Laguna 1972: 100). 185 The log states: “At 4 am [29 May] off shore 3 leagues at Noon 3 or 4 Leagues.” 186 Deep Bay was likely Icy Bay, although with a different location and configuration than at the present day. Orth (1967: 442) states that the Icy Bay “seen and described in the 18th and 19th centuries, seems to have been an indentation of the Malaspina Glacier front located near where the mouth of the Yahtse River is now.” See also De Laguna 1972: 26, Maps 3 and 4; Shelikhov 1981: 92 and 105, n12. 187 Mount St. Elias: at 18,008 ft. it is the highest point on this section of the coast by some margin. It was also the first point of the North American mainland sighted by Bering on 16/27 Jul. 1741. But, as Orth notes, the naming was probably the result of eighteenthcentury mapmakers who borrowed the name from Cape St. Elias and “applied it to the ‘high volcano’ left un-named by its discoverers” (Orth 1967: 825; Golder 1922-25, 1: 92).

Notes to pages 222-23 | 383

188

189 190

191 192

193

194

The English versions of Muller’s map, showing Bering’s voyage, certainly bear out Orth’s claim (Jefferys 1761; Sayer 1775). This contributed to the subsequent confusion over “Bering’s Bay,” see Part 2 (this volume), note 190. Cook had passed this section of the coast some way off shore and, as discussed in Part 2 (this volume), note 190, his account and chart caused difficulties for a number of his followers. There is no mention of Colnett’s “Deep Bay” in Cook’s text, although the chart of the Northwest Coast does show Mount St. Elias at the correct longitude. (Cook and King 1784, 2: 347-48, Atlas: plate 36). The log states: “At Noon [30 May] the extreme of the land East half South off shore 4 Miles ... at 8 pm a high Mount bore North West by West of shore 3 or 4 leagues.” It is difficult to follow Colnett’s movements in this section, but from 31 May to 4 June he is tacking in the area between Icy Bay and Yakutat Bay. The problem of brief and uncertain observations is compounded by changes in the shoreline since the 1780s, changes in place names, and ambiguities in Cook’s chart. Cook shows two bays on this section of the coast; one, unnamed, in the approximate location of Yakutat Bay, the other, about 1° farther east, he named Bering’s Bay on the assumption that this was Bering’s landfall. On the latter point Cook was mistaken on two counts: Bering had landed on Kayak Island, and there was no bay in the location shown, about 139°W. Subsequent opinions about how to interpret Cook’s map and the published account have varied. Dixon, who had been with Cook in 1778, visited Yakutat Bay in 1787, naming it Admiralty Bay, and retained Bering’s Bay in the location given by Cook; Portlock’s chart shows a similar configuration, although his Bering Bay is rather an ill-defined area. Neither Dixon nor Portlock had been much closer to the latter area than Cook. Colnett, as he later makes clear, uses Dixon’s name of Foggy Harbour for Port Mulgrave in Yakutat Bay, and equates the latter with Cook’s Bering’s Bay. Moreover, an anonymous map, probably drawn by James Johnstone or Archibald Menzies, shows the Prince of Wales visiting “Behring’s Bay.” However, the long boat was directed to search for a bay in the location indicated by Cook and Dixon, 139°W (see Part 2 [this volume], note 193; Colnett 210r, chart 211r; Cook and King 1784, 2: 247-48, Atlas: chart 36; Dixon 1789: 167-77, chart opp. title page; Portlock 1789: chart opp. 1; Anon. Map 2; De Laguna 1972: 130; Golder 1922-25, 1: 96-99, 2: 36ff). For comments on divergent scholarly opinions about Cook’s observations, see Beaglehole 1967: 338 and note; Lamb 1984: 1315n; De Laguna 1972: 110-11. The entrance to Yakutat Bay is marked by Ocean Cape on the east side and Point Manby on the west. The log states: “At 4 am [2 Jun.] the extremes of the land bore from East by North to West North West of Shore 4 or 5 leagues at Noon the extreme East 4 leagues ... at 8 pm the extreme of the land bore West North West at Noon a deep bay (formd by two low tracts of land) bore North the point forming the Eastern extreme of the Bay North 32 East distant 4 leagues.” The long boat had departed from the Prince of Wales 25 May, near Kayak Island. It had travelled beyond Yakutat Bay to the vicinity of Cape Fairweather, but the remainder of the passage is difficult to interpret. Apparently the long boat had been looking for the bay, at about 139°W, shown on Cook’s chart (and perhaps on information obtained from Dixon) as Berings Bay. However, Colnett equates Berings Bay with Yakutat Bay and now heads there, in search of Port Mulgrave where Dixon had stopped. See Part 2 (this volume), note 190. The log states: “At 4 am [4 Jun.] the long Boat joind us the Eastern extreme of the Bay bore North by West 2 or 3 leagues this point forming the South West extreme of Foggy harbour at 8 the Wind being light Employd the boats ahead towing till we where in 5 fathoms water over an uneven rocky bottom Anchord about ¾ of a Mile from the

384 | Notes to pages 223-25

195

196

197

198

199

200 201

202

203 204

Shore the Eastern extreme of bay bearing South by West distant about two leagues the boats out sounding the Harbour.” The log gives some additional information about the temporary anchorage, which was off the northern end of Khanatak Island: “At 6 am [5 Jun.] weighd and with boats ahead towing and the Assistance of the tide of flood made a little progress up the bay but the tide assisted only till 9 when we Anchord in 4 fathoms rocky bottom the North end of the long Island which constitutes the Eastern side of the bay bore South South West distant one Mile.” Since only one ship, the Queen Charlotte, is known to have visited Yakutat Bay, De Laguna suggests that the Yakutat people had seen another ship while visiting Prince William Sound (De Laguna 1972: 130). The people met by the long boat were probably Eyak, speakers of an Eyak-Athapaskan language. Their territory extended from east of Yakutat Bay to Cape Suckling and “probably included the mainland shores of Controller Bay.” By 1788, however, the Tlingit had pushed northwards to Yakutat Bay (De Laguna 1990a: 189; see Part 2 [this volume], note 208). The log provides more details about the evening anchorage: “[5 Jun.] weighd and tow’d round the point with a light Air from the North West and anchord in 39 fathoms the point distance One mile bearing West North West.” Colnett had continued round the northern end of Khantaak Island and anchored just inside Strawberry Point (De Laguna 1972: 130). This anchorage is shown on Colnett’s chart of Foggy Harbour (Colnett 211r), which also contains the annotation “Part of this is Copied From Capt. Dixon’s Sketch.” Vancouver, on reaching Port Mulgrave in 1794, noted that “Mr. Johnstone” had visited the bay in 1788; Johnstone Passage was named after him (Lamb 1984: 1335; Orth 1967: 477). Izmailov and Bocharov (Shelikhov 1981: 93-96), when at Yakutat Bay later in June, commented on the familiarity of the people with European goods. They were informed that “in the current spring of 1788 a three-masted vessel called on them and anchored close to the bay among the islands, then, after shooting one of [the] island men from a pistol, went out to sea.” The Prince of Wales had three masts (Colnett 149r). Whiting was probably the walleye pollock, Theragra chalcogrammus; and flat fish, flounders, Pleuronectidae spp. or Bothidae spp. Presumably another of the Grenadier’s Caps; see Part 1 (this volume), note 108. Izmailov and Bocharov commented that “a few [of the people] have hats which they have apparently received from Europeans, like grenadier caps with copper emblems” (Shelikhov 1981: 95). The log states: “At 6 am [7 Jun.] got underway though with the boats ahead towing made but little progress at 10 Anchor nearly in the same place we left ... at 2 pm got underway and workd out of the Bay at 6 stood out to sea Wind at NW at 9 the Eastern extme [sic] of the bay SSE 2 lea[gues].” Dixon subsequently changed the name of the harbour to Port Mulgrave and designated the inlet as Admiralty Bay. He gave the position of Port Mulgrave as lat. 59°32’N and long. 140°W; the correct figures are 59°33’45”N by 139°46’40”W (Orth 1967: 664; Dixon 1789: 170 and chart). Port Mulgrave seems to have covered the area of Monti Bay and the waters behind Khantaak Island. It has survived in current usage but is restricted to the harbour between Point Turner and Pyramid Point, where Dixon anchored (De Laguna 1972: 125; United States, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Chart 16761). When Izmailov and Bocharov reached Yakutat in June, they anchored on the south side of Monti Bay (Makarova 1975: map following 56). Khantaak Island. Now known as Disenchantment Bay, but it was much less extensive in 1788. For a map showing the location of the ice front in 1791, see Cutter 1991: 42.

Notes to pages 225-27 | 385

205 Johnstone put the figure at 150 (Lamb 1984: 1335). Beresford estimated the population of Port Mulgrave at about 70 or 80 “including women and children,” although Dixon’s map shows three separate settlements (Dixon 1789: 171; C.L. 1984: 87). Izmailov and Bocharov, who arrived later in June, estimated the population at about 170, excluding children. Like Colnett, they added that the Tlingit chief visited the area only to trade (Shelikhov 1981: 94). Malaspina, who also arrived late in June, thought the settlement on Khantaak Island near the anchorage contained 80 people and the entire bay about 400 (De Laguna 1972: 143, 153). 206 De Laguna (1972: 213) confirms that the Yakutat and Eyak people had contact with the Chugach prior to the advent of Europeans, although they were “traditional enemies.” 207 Izmailov and Bocharov came to similar conclusions on most of these points, but only Dixon is known to have preceded Colnett. European goods spread eastwards from Prince William Sound through Native intermediaries (Shelikhov 1981: 94-97; Dixon 1789: 17273; De Laguna 1972: 126, 347). 208 Yakutat Bay was originally held by the Eyak. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, however, Tlingit groups, through “trade, inter-marriage, purchase of lands or conquest” moved northwestwards to Yakutat Bay and beyond. By the time Colnett arrived, the leading families at Yakutat, those controlling trade, “were Tlingit or had adopted their speech” (De Laguna 1990a: 189-95). Colnett’s comments, like those by Izmailov and Bocharov, reflect the importance of Tlingit speakers and the mixed population. The latter reported that the “people here are the Koliuzh [Kolosh, i.e., Tlingit],” but the “real residence” of their chief lay to the south east “far past Ltua Bay on the large Chichkat (Chilkat) River” (Shelikhov 1981: 94). Olson (1967: 2) identifies the Tlingit of this area as the Yakudatkwan. 209 On the lip-pieces, see Colnett 203r. De Laguna (1972: 330) lists five types of canoe used in the historic period but adds that they cannot easily be linked to early descriptions. 210 Enquiring about numbers to differentiate between languages seems to have been a commonplace of exploratory voyages; Colnett may have learned it on Cook’s second voyage (Beaglehole 1961: 514-15). Menzies reported using the technique here at Yakutat, at Sitka Sound, and at several locations on his return to the Northwest Coast with Vancouver. Taylor also used the technique at Dall Island (Olson and Thilenius 1993: 34, 42; Newcombe 1923: 84; see Part 2 [this volume], note 267). 211 De Laguna (1972: 330) suggests that this had a “long, low and rather straight top hull having fine ends and, perhaps, sides raised by plank from the stern to a few feet short of the bow – so the canoe looked like a galley.” 212 A moses boat was a “square-sterned rowing boat having a marked rocker in the keel and great sheer.” De Laguna (1972: 333-34) thinks this was likely a smaller version of the canoe pictured by La Pérouse at Lituya Bay. 213 The former were imported from the Haida. De Laguna (1972: 333) thinks the latter had ends that were “rounded off and rounded up, rising only a little above the level of the gunwales, and ... resembled shovel-nosed craft used on rivers.” 214 Dixon’s map shows houses in three different locations: two on Khantaak Island and one at the mouth of the Ankau River, on the west bank (Dixon 1789: opp. 170). The last, judging from the descriptions of Ismailov and Bocharov and members of the Malaspina expedition, appears to have been the site of a winter settlement. Perhaps reflecting the dual origins of the population, two types of winter house are described; a sketch of beams of the Tlingit-style structure has survived (De Laguna 1972: 311-12, 1991: 64-65; Cutter 1991: 57; Shelikhov 1981: 95; Makarova 1975, following 56). 215 Wild peas: the beach pea, Lathyrus japonicus, or the marsh pea, L. palustris. 216 De Laguna (1972: 131) locates this encounter “somewhere between Ocean Cape and Situk River,” a short distance east of Yakutat Bay, and comments that the “hoisting of a

386 | Notes to pages 227-28

217

218

219

220 221

222 223 224

225

226

tuft of white feathers on the end of a long pole, which looked like a white flag at a distance, seems to have been a Tlingit ‘emblem of peace and friendship,’ an invitation to trade.” Beresford and an artist with La Pérouse describe similar encounters at Sitka Sound and Lituya Bay (Dixon 1789: 180; Henry 1984: 144). Colnett has reverted to Cook’s usage, hence the southeast point of “Beering’s Bay” is a reference to Ocean Cape. The latitude places Colnett in vicinity of the Ahrnklin River or the Dangerous River. The description in this and the following section is difficult to follow. If the latitude is correct, Colnett has sketched “what appears to be the Yakutat Glacier, as seen above the lagoon at the mouth of the [Ahrnklin or Dangerous] river” (De Laguna 1972: 131). Another possibility is that he was off the Alsek River and Glacier, but this would involve an error in latitude of some 14’. B refers to what appear to be some clumps of trees and perhaps the mouth of a river flowing from the glacier. The Coast Pilot states that the “From Dry Bay to Yakutat ... is a low wooded plain cut by numerous streams. The principal rivers ... have shifting bars at their entrances and lagoons or tidal basins inside” (United States, Dept. of Commerce 1979: 50). De Laguna adds that the natives used this chain of sloughs and streams for canoe travel (De Laguna 1972: 71). The log states 32 leagues. Colnett has passed Cape Fairweather during the night. The notch observed at 8 am and the anchorage “full of Rocks” was probably Lituya Bay, the “most dreaded” harbour on this section of the coast (Emmons 1911: 294). By noon, the Prince of Wales was south of Lituya Bay and De Laguna (1972: 131) suggests that Colnett may have confused Cape Fairweather with Harbor Point, the southeast entrance to Lituya Bay. When “seen from the south or southeast, [it] ‘is very likely to be mistaken for Cape Fairweather.’ If Colnett did make this mistake, a distance of 12 nautical miles along the coast from Harbor Point would bring him to a possible anchorage at about the correct latitude.” Colnett’s sketch of the cape and Mount Fairweather supports the identification with the entrance to Lituya Bay and his subsequent estimate of the distance between Palma Bay and Cape Fairweather is too short, better fitting the distance to Lituya Bay. However, the log states that the latitude observed at noon was 58°32’N and that the vessel was “then off shore about 5 Miles,” which would place the vessel only about six miles from Harbour Point. The best that can be said is that at noon, the Prince of Wales was a little south of Lituya Bay. The sketch shows the cape, with Mount Fairweather in the background. Colnett’s log states the encounter took place at 11 am and involved two canoes “with a Piece of Skin on a Pole.” Colnett’s log states 1 pm. De Laguna (1972: 131-32) suggests this was probably Palma Bay and adds, “in later days, the Daqdentan from Hoonah used to have a place called Ganexa, east of Icy Point, perhaps at the Kaknau Creek of modern charts.” Colnett’s log states that the whale boat “found a few famillys & purchas’d three Skins.” He was mistaken about the garden, located on the “north or northwest shore.” This was probably an area for the cultivation of Native tobacco (De Laguna 1972: 131-32; 1991: 154). Beresford, at Port Mulgrave in 1787, observed “the Indians are particularly fond of chewing a plant which appears to be a species of tobacco; not content, however, with chewing it in its simple state they generally mix lime along with it and sometimes the inner rind of the pine tree, together with a rosinous substance extracted from it” (Dixon 1789: 175). See Part 1 (this volume), note 325, and Taylor’s (257a) report of some “small gardens” at Sitka Sound. Colnett’s log states the encounter took place at 5 am.

Notes to pages 228-30 | 387

227 The bay from which the canoe appeared was probably Boussole Bay or Astrolabe Bay. Colnett’s log gives the bearing of Mount Fairweather as east by south; presumably it should be east by north. 228 Colnett’s log states that “several skins” were purchased. He was in the territory of the Hoonah Tlingit, the Hunakwan. Their winter villages, at least in the nineteenth century, were located on inland waters. They used the outer coast, about as far north as Lituya Bay, primarily for hunting sea otter. Such usage would have been stimulated in the early contact era (Olson 1967: 2; Goldschmidt and Haas 1946: 87-88, 94-95, Map 8; De Laguna 1990b: 204; 1991: 58). 229 Portlock had been in the vicinity of Cross Sound in September 1786 and August 1787. On neither occasion did he land, but in 1787 he visited Portlock Harbour, some seventeen miles south of Cape Cross. See also Dixon (1789: 73). 230 It is clear from the description, sketches, and observations on 14 Jun. that the cape is the present Cape Bingham, in lat. 58°05’N, named by Vancouver in 1794. Colnett, like Vancouver, recognized that the Cross Cape of Cook was not at the entrance to Cross Sound but farther south, in lat. 57°57’N. It is now the westerly point of Yakobi Island (Lamb 1984: 1361; Orth 1967: 135 and 248; Beaglehole 1967: 337). 231 Cook, when naming Cross Sound on 3 May 1778, added that “it appeared to branch in several arms, the largest of which turned to the Northward” (Cook and King 1784, 2: 345-46). 232 The log gives a latitude of 57°32’, presumably a mistranscription for 57°52’. 233 These comments, repeated in Colnett’s log, confirm the distinction between Cape Cross and the entrance point to Cross Sound. 234 The log states: “At 8 pm Cross Cape bore North West by North distant 6 leagues.” 235 In the vicinity of Salisbury Sound. The log states: “At Noon [15 Jun.] off shore 4 leagues then Calm”; the latitude was 57°22’. 236 Colnett’s log states that at 5 pm, “two Canoes came off with some Skins & Pieces which was purchasd.” 237 The letter F refers to the location of Cape Edgecumbe on the accompanying pencil sketch of Mount Edgecumbe and vicinity. 238 Cook’s usage of Bay of Islands is more restrictive than Colnett suggests; it refers to the vicinity of Salisbury Sound (Cook and King 1784, 2: 345, Atlas: plate 36, Chart of the North West coast ...; Beaglehole 1967: 336n). 239 Presumably a reference to Portlock Harbour, where Portlock spent two weeks (6-21 Aug.) in 1787 (Portlock, 1789: 257-94). Orth (1967: 550, 773) identifies this as Kukkan Bay of the Tlingit, off the west coast of Chichagof Island. Here, Portlock commented on the effects of a smallpox epidemic, attributing it to the visit of the Spanish expedition of 1775. Boyd, in a number of studies, discusses the evidence on this topic. Initially he sided with Portlock, but his latest position is more equivocal. Moreover, Archer, after a review of Spanish archival sources, rejects Spanish responsibility (Boyd 1994, 1998: 23-39; Archer 1999). One of the Spanish harbours, visited by Quadra in 1775, was Puerto de los Remedios, just south of Sea Lion Cove, near Salisbury Sound (Cook (1973: 80). The other may have been Ensenada del Susto. Wagner (1937: 517) states that the name is not mentioned in “Bodega’s narratives [but] is laid down on his map of 1775 showing the results of his expedition. It lies to the east of Cabo del Engano and is probably where Bodega found himself on the night of August 15 with a west wind, and thinking himself near land. Perhaps he was frightened, but I doubt it. It was the entrance to Sitka Sound.” See also Dixon (1789: 183); Milet-Mureau (1799: 244, Chart 26); Thornton (1918: 84); Dalrymple (1789b).

388 | Notes to pages 230-32

240 Colnett has been in Tlingit territory since the visit to Yakutat Bay on 5 Jun. 241 The log states: “At 8 pm [16 Jun.] Cape Edgecombe bore North distant 2 Miles during the Night continued plying to Windward.” 242 Colnett has passed Cape Edgecumbe and is at the entrance of Sitka Sound. Dixon had applied the name Norfolk Sound in June 1787 (Dixon 1789: 179-84), but Colnett designates it as Port Edgecombe on his maps (1 and 2). He seems to have anchored somewhere between the Cape and Shoals Point (United States, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Chart 17325). The log states: “At 8 am [17 Jun.] anchord over a rocky bottom in 30 fathoms Cape Edgecombe bearing West South West the other extreme of the Bay and the extreme of the land South South East ¾ East.“ The southernmost land may have been Biorka Island. 243 Taylor (255b) commented on the trade: “The Natives were chiefly those we had seen at Sea as we came along Shore, some of which had follow’d us many leagues and has sold us several Skins.” 244 The log indicates that the Prince of Wales reached this second anchorage on the evening of 17 Jun.: “At 5 pm [17 Jun.] weighd and run up within the reef and Anchord over a sandy bottom in 7 fathoms the One of the extremes of the bay bearing South the other SE by S the Centre of the rock SSE½E of Shore ¾ of a Mile.” This, and Colnett’s maps (1 and 2), suggests a location near Low Island and north of Shoals Point (United States, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Chart 17326). 245 Menzies, who was among the shore party, subsequently noted that in the vicinity of Cape Edgecumbe, “Iron Frying-pans – Tin Kettles – Pewter basons [sic] and beads formed chief articles of Trade” (Dillon 1951: 155-56). When at Behm Canal, with Vancouver in 1793, he added that their numerals “were exactly the same with those I formerly collected at Cape Edgecumbe & Port Mulgrave” (Olson and Thilenius 1993: 2, 42). 246 The description indicates an area as far north as Khaz Bay. This is the territory of the Citkakwan, Sitka Tlingit (Olson 1967: 3). Goldschmidt and Haas (1946: 103-4, Map 9) recorded two old village sites a little farther north, in the vicinity of Klag Bay. See also the comments by Taylor 256b. 247 De Laguna (1991: 380-81) identifies this as a version of a “bear’s ears” headdress used by Shamans. 248 This was more likely a means of securing spiritual protection. De Laguna (1972: 258) collected an account of first contact at Lituya Bay in which the Tlingit “looked at the Russians through kelp, no skunk cabbage leaves – like a spyglass, because they thought the Russians were land otters. Skunk cabbage would protect them. The Indians thought the Russians were land otters disguised as people.” Emmons, who collected another version of this encounter with the La Pérouse expedition, states that the Tlingit believed the vessel to be a guise of “Yehlh” the Raven Creator. To see Yehlh “with the naked eye was to be turned to stone,” hence the need for the protection of a “telescope” (Emmons 1911; De Laguna 1972: 259; see also the versions in Dauenhauer and Dauenhauer 1987: 292-309, 432-42). 249 In this section Taylor uses nautical time. I have used brackets {} to adjust the dates to civil time. 250 Taylor’s observation agrees with the ethnographic literature, which shows that the “villages” of the Hoonah and Sitka Tlingit were located in sheltered waters, not on the outer coast (Goldschmidt and Haas 1946: Maps 8 and 9). 251 On the gardens, see Part 2 (this volume), note 225. 252 A similar pattern of moving near the vessel was observed at Rose Harbour and Port Ball in 1787.

Notes to pages 232-35 | 389

253 Emmons (De Laguna 1991: 69) described Tlingit summer houses as “often without flooring, built directly on the ground, and covered with slabs of bark instead of boards. Single families lived in them during the fishing season, for they served both as smokehouse and dwelling. In the better structures the frame was permanently put together; in others, it was lashed with withes of spruce roots.” See also Portlock 1789: 28485; Wagner and Newcombe 1938: 207. 254 The atlatl or spear thrower; some examples collected in the early contact era are shown in Vaughan and Holm (1982: 76-79). Taylor’s description is of interest in showing its use in sea otter hunting. 255 Mount Edgecumbe is of volcanic origin. Jones (1914: 191) notes that it features in several Tlingit narratives: “It is claimed that the old woman who supports the world on her shoulders went down this volcano to the underworld ... it is further said that Tachak (the great Eagle) picked up whales out of the ocean and carried them to the top of this distinguished mountain. In verification of this claim, it is said that great heaps of whale bones may be found there.” 256 The log states: “At 10 am [21 Jun.] weighd Anchor and got underway ... 8 pm Cape Edgecombe bore North West by West distant 9 or 10 leagues off shore 3 Miles.” 257 This was Chatham Strait, the entrance to which (between Baranof and Coronation Islands) is known as Christian Sound (Orth 1967: 216); the latitude at noon was 55°52’. According to Vancouver, the northern entrance point “had been seen by Captain Colnett in his mercantile expedition ... [and] by him named Cape Ommaney and the opening ... Christian Sound” (Lamb 1984: 1366). Colnett’s map (1), however, names the point as Cape Phipps and the inlet as Mulgrave Sound; the latter is described as “Large & Deep Running NNW by Compass, no sign of inhabitants.” Johnstone was probably the source of Vancouver’s information, as Menzies noted, “on the outside of it [Cape Decision] is a round Island of a moderate height [Coronation Island] with some small ones intervening which Mr Johnstone in his chart of this part of the Coast in a former Voyage named Charles’s Isles, these form the South East extreme of the entrance of his Christian’s Sound & Cape Ommaney which forms the other point of it was seen to the Northwestward.” Lamb adds that the chart has not survived, however, an anonymous map in the Hydrographic Office is probably a version of the map described by Menzies; it shows “C. Ommaney” but not Christian’s Sound. The Faden map of 1794 shows Cape Phipp’s or Ommaney and Mulgrave or Christian’s Sound (Olson and Thilenius 1993: 75; Lamb 1984: 1067n; Anon. Map 2; Faden 1794). Finally, Johnstone served under Captain Hugh Christian on HMS La Fortunée, 1780-82; Captain Christian also served as a member of the committee that examined Johnstone for his master’s certificate on 5 Sep. 1786 (PRO, Adm. 6/90, Adm. 36/9954-9957). See Map L (p. 236). 258 After leaving Sitka Sound on 23 Jun. 1787, Dixon visited Port Banks, seeing signs of habitation but not making contact (Dixon 1789: 193-95 and chart). It is shown as Port Dixon by Colnett (Map 1, p. 285) and is now known as Whale Bay (Orth 1967: 103). Farther south, Dixon’s examination of the coast had been rather cursory until reaching the Queen Charlotte Islands. His greatest success, apparently unknown to Colnett, was at Cloak Bay, on the west side of Langara Island (Dixon 1789: 192-202). 259 The Barren Rocks, called Pillar Rocks by Colnett, are the Hazy Islands, now a designated national wildlife refuge. He describes them as “High & Barren with many Birds on.” The cape, identified as Seal Point by Colnett (Map 1, p. 285), is Helm Point, the southwest point of Coronation Island, not the mainland. 260 Colnett (Map 1, p. 285) designated the point as Cape Pitt, the present Cape Addington, and the bay as Chatham Bay. Taylor places the inlet examined by the boat in lat. 55°27’N, and notes, “found no anchorage saw no appearance of Natives & very bad Shelter off ye

390 | Notes to page 235

261 262 263

264

265

266

267

Pt.” The log states: “At 7 pm [22 Jun.] brought too mean time the boat was sent on shore to examine for an harbour but returng at 9 without success made sail then off shore 4 or 5 Miles.” The Tlingit villages of this section were located on protected waters, usually close to sockeye stream, and some distance from the outer coast (Langdon 1979: 112-17, Map 1). Colnett (Map 1, p. 285) has marked “Buckarelly Bay of Spaniards,” which he presumably passed during the night. The Prince of Wales was off Forrester Island, so named by William Douglas in 1788 (Jackman 1978: 38). It was located about nineteen miles west of Dall Island, Colnett’s mainland, with a number of small islands nearby. The largest are Petrel Island, to the south, and Lowrie Island, to the north. The log states: “At Noon [23 Jun.] a small Island bore North North East 4 leags.” Taylor (261a-b) noted that the Natives had “Houses” on Forrester Island and “appeared very friendly, one woman in each Canoe & three or four Men. they were willing to have sold a Boy from one Canoe saw no Iron in either canoes. bone Spears a proof of little intercourse with shipping.” In a narrative of Colnett’s encounter with the Tsimshian, John Hayward describes a response to the first sight of a mirror: “First time the chief saw his own face, hid it in his shirt & show as magic at his next feast for those from other villages ... First bro. chief had blanket with mirror in front on his chest. Singers were women with sticks. Opened his blanket & there was fire right in his heart. Knife was just a flash of brightness 2nd shot in the air and the crowd nearly fainted” (UW, Garfield Papers, box 7, New Metlakatla notebook: 36-37). Garfield notes that both the Tlingit and the Haida collected large quantities of eggs on this portion of the coast. Favourable localities, such as on Forrester Island, were owned by families and “inherited with other properties” (UW, Garfield Papers, box 1, file 15: 9; Knapp and Childe 1896: 95; Dawson 1880: 113B; Niblack 1890: 278). On 22 Jun., Colnett had passed from the territory of the Klawak-kwan Tlingit to that of the Kaigani Haida. There is some uncertainty about the precise location of the boundary in the late eighteenth century. Spanish sources reported the Tlingit at Bucarelli Bay in 1779, but the Haida in 1792 (Gunther 1972: 16, 133; Wagner and Newcombe 1938: 221; Langdon 1979: 112-14). Currently the boundary is in the vicinity of Meares Passage (De Laguna 1990b: 204). Dall Island had been captured from the Tantakwan Tlingit by the Haida, probably no more than a century before contact. Rev. Collison thought it took place about 1720, Olson about 1750, Newcombe linked it to some disease, which suggests the smallpox epidemic of the 1770s; and Langdon argues that the Kaigani were still adjusting to their “new environment” at the time of contact. Swanton, on the other hand, speculated that the move may have been a postcontact development and related to overpopulation in the northwest corner of Graham Island. The comments by Colnett and Taylor do not resolve the question of causes but they clearly indicate that the Haida were occupying Dall Island in 1788 (Cole and Lockner 1989: 508; Dawson 1880: 104B; Swanton 1905b: 88-90; Newcombe 1907: 143; Olson 1967: 3, 56; Langdon 1977: 127; 1979: 103; De Laguna 1991: 6; see Colnett 226v). Taylor, like Colnett, was confused initially by the language. Later he added (261b), “Memo. A mistake yesterday as the natives gave the numerals of Charlotes Isle nothing other words cou’d be collected from them either through fear or stupidity.” The problem was caused by the difference in dialect between the Kunghit Haida, whom they had met in 1787, and other Haida peoples (see Colnett 133v). MacDonald (1983: 103) notes that the remoteness of the Kunghit “separated them linguistically from their northern neighbours.”

Notes to pages 237-39 | 391

268 Charlottes Straits are Dixon Entrance, although Colnett included Hecate Strait under this designation. The log states: “At Noon [24 Jun.] small Island bore North West by North distant 4 miles the extremes of the Main East North East about 6 leagues ... at 8 pm the extremes of the Main from East by South to North West at 11 then 4 miles of the small Island sounded with 90 fms of line no ground.” 269 The Prince of Wales has sailed north between Forrester Island and Dall Island. The inlet visited by the boat was Port Bazan. Colnett (Map 1, p. 285) shows it as Port Dick, with the annotation: “Here Canoes came off with 12 Skins. Sent the Boats to look at the Port found the Channel narrow & only 3 Dwellings;” on Colnett Map 3 this note concludes “3 Famillys.” A cable was 100 fathoms, i.e., 600 feet. The log states: “At 4 am [25 Jun.] the Whale boat sent on shore at Noon the Island bore South West distant 2 leagues. Taylor gives the noon latitude as 54°53’.” Jacinto Caamano, who visited Port Bazan on 17 Jul. 1792, left the following description: “Isla Valdes, lying in its mouth, leaves a wide channel on either hand, convenient for entering or leaving, and effectually shelters the interior area from winds all round the compass. Inside, the anchorage is clean and roomy enough for several vessels, besides being very convenient for wooding and watering. I am, however, ignorant as to the natural products and the place appears to be uninhabited” (Newcombe and Wagner 1938: 212-13). 270 Port Bazan and Dolgoi Island. 271 Colnett’s map (1) indicates that the Prince of Wales had sailed towards Dall Island, reaching the vicinity of Parrat Point. South of this, Colnett shows Mears Bay; the narrow channel would be the entrance to Security Cove. It is unclear if Colnett used Mears Bay to indicate the Port Meares visited by William Douglas, 14-16 Aug. 1788 (Meares 1790: 328-29). If so, Colnett did not equate it with Port Bazan, the usual identification (Wagner 1937: 472; Orth 1967: 112). The log states: “At 4 am [26 Jun.] the extremes of the Island from SW to W distant 2 leagues ... at 3 pm the East extreme of the Main East by South distant 5 or 6 miles at 4 the Whale boat was sent on shore to examine for an harbour.” Colnett’s log adds that the boat returned at 9 pm. 272 The Prince of Wales had sailed northwest and is about to round Forrester Island before sailing south (Colnett Map 1, p. 285). The log states: “At 8 am [27 Jun.] the extremes of the Main bore North West to South East by East body of the Island West by South at Noon the extreme of the Main North West North end of the Island South by West.” Colnett’s log adds that two canoes came off at 8 am. 273 The Barren Rock was Wolf Rock, shown on Colnett Map 1 (see p. 285), with the annotation “almost awash.” Colnett’s deductions about the soundings were broadly correct (see United States, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Chart 17400). 274 The Prince of Wales now heads for the west coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands. 275 Kaigani Haida villages were located on inner waterways adjacent to Cordova Bay or Clarence Strait; there were none on the west coast of Dall Island (Langdon 1979: 112-17, Map 1). 276 The log states: “At 8 am [28 Jun.] the extremes of the Island bore from East South East to South East half South distant 3 leagues.” 277 In this section, Taylor criticizes Colnett, in what would become a familiar refrain, for failing to stop for trade and to obtain provisions. For example (264a-b): “This made five Days we had murdered in the most extraordinary manner Possible, had we gone into a Port on Tuesday {July} lst we should have gave the natives an opportunity of collecting ... We had now a Track of Coast for several leagues unexplored, we run between twenty and thirty & had we settled any where there numbers wou’d have soon increas’d to the advantage of Trade. we cou’d also have compleated our water which

392 | Notes to pages 239-41

278 279

280 281 282

283

284 285

286 287

288

289

290

was not yet got at now with out trouble. the Ships Company also requir’d Fish many of them under mercurials constantly on salt Pork in the midst of plenty comparatively speaking.” Cape Muzon, the southern tip of Dall Island, was named by Vancouver (Orth 1967: 667). It is the Cape Pitt of Dixon, Cape Irving of Douglas, and Cape Munoz of Caamano. Colnett’s maps have no name for Dixon Entrance, showing it as a continuation of Queen Charlotte Straits, separating Queen Charlotte Islands from the mainland. The northern coast of Graham Island is left blank. Colnett (Map 1, p. 285) names these two points as Cape Caldwell (Langara Point or Cape Knox) and Cape Cornwallis (Cape Muzon). The log states: “At 8 pm [2 Jul.] the extremes of the land from North 10 West to South 70 East.” Shown as Marshall Isles on Colnett’s map (1) and by Faden (1794); now known as Frederick Island. Dixon had traded in this area on 5-6 Jul 1787 (Dixon 1789: 203-4). According to William Beynon, the island was used during the migration of the “Cape St. James people ... to Prince of Wales Island.” Remnants of “old habitations, house forms” were still visible in 1928 (CMC, Beynon, BF 285.84). Colnett’s log adds that the trading took place between 1 pm and 4 pm. From the descriptions by Colnett and Taylor and Colnett’s maps, the northern point was probably Tian Head; hence, the canoes likely came from Ti’An lnaga-i village (Swanton 1905b: #106; Dalzell 1973: 51). Colnett’s map (1) states: “2nd Four Canoes came off purchased 6 Skins & some pieces.” The ship returned to the area again on 4 Jul. The Queen Charlotte under George Dixon. Dixon had traded some “oil in bladders” off the east coast the previous July. Dawson suggests it was “probably dog-fish oil contained in the hollow bulb-shaped heads of the gigantic sea-tangle (Macrocystis)” (Dawson 1880: 167B-168B). These were Kunghit Haida chiefs that Taylor had met at Rose Harbour in 1787; see p. 130. Several early visitors commented on these copper neck rings; the iron ones may have been manufactured from the “toes” traded by Dixon (De Laguna 1991: 178-79). For a time, the latter were much in demand, and Joseph Ingraham of the brigantine Hope, at Cloak Bay in July 1791, had his blacksmith manufacture a version for trade. They consisted of “three iron rods twisted together about the size of a man’s finger. These I had made from a pattern I saw on a woman’s neck alongside. When finished they weighed from five to seven pounds and would purchase three of their best skins in preference to any thing we had on board” (Kaplanoff 1971: 108; see also Gunther 1972: 125). Colnett was off Athlow Bay. In July 1787, Dixon visited and named Hippa Island, after a fortified site on the island. The name was derived from fortified sites, or paa, of the Maori; for descriptions, see Beaglehole 1961: 157n; Salmond 1991: 415-22; illustrations are shown in Smith 1985: plates 16 and 17. It was at Hippa Island that Dixon traded a number of “excellent cloaks, and some good skins” (Dixon 1789: 205-7, including lithograph). Colnett was clearly aware of this. Both Taylor and Colnett’s log give a latitude of 53°45’N, that of Tian Head. Colnett’s map (1) shows the ship’s course to the south of the point and adds: “Many Canoes came off but brought nothing on 4th.” The log states: “At Noon [4 Jul.] the North extreme of the land bore North by East distant of shore 3 or 4 leags ... at 4 pm the extremes of the land from North North West to South East of shore 2 leagues 5 to 9 lay too to traffic with some Natives.” The log states: “At 5 am [5 Jul.] the extremes of the land bore South East by East distant 3 or 4 leagues.”

Notes to pages 241-42 | 393

291 The Haida were unusual among Northwest Coast peoples in the extensive use of tattooing, elevating it to a “fine art” (Niblack 1890: 257, plate 5). Dawson (1880: 108B) states that the designs were “often hereditary, and represent the totem crest of the bearer.” Curtis (1916: 123-25) adds that it was “done only on the occasion of a house-building, and was a necessary feature of the attendant ceremonies.” He goes on to describe the ceremony. See also Boas, in Jonaitis 1995: 38-39. 292 At this stage, traders were still determining the best trading locations on the Queen Charlotte Islands. Dixon, for example, had spent nearly a month traversing the west coast of the islands. This area would soon be abandoned by traders in favour of more secure harbours and larger settlements on the north and east coast (Dixon 1789: 202-2; Gibson, 1988). 293 Taylor states that the meeting took place about three miles from “Hippae Island.” The Haida name for the island was Nasto. 294 Although there are some discrepancies in the locations given by Dixon and Beresford, there is little doubt that they saw Hippa or Nasto Island. The location of the fort is another matter, however (Dixon 1789: 205, Table IX, Dixon map). Chanal, who visited the area in 1791 in a long boat, also had trouble with Beresford’s description. There were “two small huts” on the east side of Hippa Island, but Chanal “looked in vain” for the fort. Marchand suggested that Dixon may have seen a temporary site, “one of those enclosures of palisades, of those huts, such as Captain Chanal saw in Cox’s Channel [Parry Passage], and the materials of which the natives carry with them when they remove their travelling habitations from one place to another” (Fleurieu 1801: 319). Recent work on “fort” sites supports the view that many were intermittently occupied (Moss and Erlandson 1992). Newcombe lists the name of the fort as La’naxwa, but Swanton and Dalzell both show this site on the mainland opposite Hippa Island (BCA, Newcombe Papers, vol. 44, file 30; Swanton 1905b: Map of Northern Part of Graham Island; Dalzell 1973: 64, 67). The latter sources give three settlements on Hippa Island: Ga’tga ina’ns lnaga’-i, Su’lu stins, and ata’nas (Swanton 1905b: #74, 108, and 110; Dalzell 1973: 64-71). Ga’tga inans lnaga-i is in approximately the location as the huts mentioned by Chanal. 295 The log states: “At 10 am [7 Jul.] the extremes of the land North North East to East South East ... at 8 pm the extremes of the Land from North 45 [blank] to South 55 East soundings 35 fathoms off shore 3 Miles.” The latitude at noon was 53°40’N. 296 Colnett’s map (1) states: “Here the Canoes informed us they had sold their Skins to Duncan” and farther south, “Supposed Passage thro’” which leads to “Sky Tuckett,” that is, Skidegate. Presumably this information was received from the people at Hippa. Dixon’s map does not show the passage, but it is included by Arrowsmith (1790), Meares (1790), and Faden (1794). Since Duncan had confined his trading to places on the east side of the Queen Charlotte Islands between Luxana Bay and Skidegate Channel, Colnett’s comments suggest that the Haida, through internal trade routes, were rapidly adjusting to the uncertain patterns of white visitors (See Howay 1929a: 108-10; Appendix 1). 297 Colnett’s map (1) is not very clear for this area, but Taylor describes the channel as “an Inlet to ye Eastd. of ye Hippae.” Thus, the long boat probably entered Hippa Passage, perhaps reaching Nesto Inlet; the latter does not have a stream flowing into its head. The other alternative, Skelu Bay, has a number of small streams at its head. 298 The log states: “At 4 am [8 Jul.] the boat sent on shore to examine for an harbour at 10 the boat returnd having found one at Noon the extremes of the land from NW by W to SE by E 3 or 4 Miles.” 299 The Princess Royal.

394 | Notes to pages 243-44

300 Taylor is confusing Dixon’s success at Cloak Bay with his visit to Hippa Island. At the former, Dixon traded 300 sea otter in “less than half an hour” (Dixon 1789: 201). 301 Taylor adds that they also knew the name of the mate, probably Alexander Stewart (Appendix 1). Smokett is a rendering of the Tsimshian word for chief – sm’oogyit (Dunn 1978). However, like Colnett, a number of early traders give it as the Haida word for chief; see Jackman 1978: 108; Kaplanoff 1971: 154; Bartlett, Remarks, n.p. Dall (1877: 138) has no listing for the Kaigani Haida but gives “it’la-ga-ta” as the Skidegate Haida word for chief. Dawson (1880: 121B) was informed by a Tsimshian that the Haida had borrowed their religious ceremonies “not a very long time ago” and concluded that this “may account for the use of Tsimshian words in the dances among the Haida, and the high esteem in which the Tsimshian language is held by them.” See Part 2 (this volume), note 342. Taylor (269a) correctly concluded that the Princess Royal was on the east coast of the Queen Charlottes. He speculated that a canoe had come “through ye sound to ye Southd. & eastd. of ye Hippae, tho’ there is in all probability various passages through.” 302 This was the fort observed by the ship’s boat in 1787. The precise site is uncertain, but it was on the north side of Juan Perez Sound. See Colnett 135v; Part 2 (this volume), note 319; Duncan Map 1, p. 288; Appendix 1). 303 Dixon did not stop at any harbours south of Hippa Island along the west coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands, but he did trade in the vicinity of Skidegate Inlet and Houston Stewart Channel. The latter he named Ibbetson’s Sound (Dixon 1789: 207-11, map). Swanton (1905b: 105-6) gives a brief account of a first contact at Chaatl, which may refer to Dixon’s visit to the former area. 304 The log states: “At 4 am [17 Jul.] St. James point bore North North East half East distant 5 leagues at Noon Anchord in 19 fathoms the extremes of the bay bearing from North North East to East South East.” 305 The current location of Cape St. James is on St. James Island, with the Kerouard Islands extending a further three miles to the south. The location intended by Colnett is unclear. His general maps differ: #1 suggests the cape was on the Kerouard Islands; #2 places the cape on Kunghit Island. Johnstone (3) shows the former. See Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Canadian Hydrographic Service, Chart 3825. 306 The description suggests an encounter off Luxana Bay, which Duncan had quit on 19 May. However, he had left letters with Yuka and Skelkinance at the conclusion of his visit to Juan Perez Sound, on 6 Jul. See Appendix 1 and Introduction (this volume), p. 42. 307 Houston Stewart Channel, which Colnett had visited in 1787; see above, Colnett Map 136r; Map M (p. 245). 308 Colnett was correct in his assessment; Dixon gives the latitude as 51°56’N and the longitude as 130°W (Dixon 1789: 214). Taylor (270a) adds that the cape was “a degree or more” farther west; the correct position of the modern Cape St. James is 131°1’W. 309 Taylor identifies the chiefs as Skelkinance and Coyah, who stated that Duncan had “been here and sail’d ten days ago.” But Duncan did not visit Houston Stewart Channel, indicating that the chiefs had been in Juan Perez Sound, which Duncan departed on 6 Jul.; see p. 244. 310 The snow was the Felice Adventurer, burthen 230 tons, from Canton. It was commanded by John Meares but did not trade north of Nootka (Meares 1790: 103). For Duncan’s itinerary in 1788, see Appendix 1. 311 A reference to Yuka, a chief from Skincuttle Inlet; see below. 312 A disturbance or conflict, OED. 313 Duncan’s account is brief and makes no mention of these events, but he is known to have been involved in one other incident during his visits to the Queen Charlotte Islands. This took place a little farther north, at Cumshewa. Whether the two incidents were related is unclear. See Appendix 1 for details.

Notes to pages 244-49 | 395

314 This comment indicates that Skelkinance’s summer residence was to the east of Rose Harbour. 315 Duncan had visited Luxana Bay and Juan Perez Sound, where the conflict must have taken place. The comments about Seax (Seks) confirm that the letter was written after Duncan returned to the Queen Charlotte Islands from the mainland. Seks was the Tsimshian chief met at Port Ball in 1787. See Appendix 1. 316 If correct, this is surprising information. Hanna made two voyages to the Northwest Coast, in 1785 and 1786, but is reported to have died before making a third. John Meares, who met Hanna at Macao late in 1787, wrote: “Before he could engage in a third [voyage], this active and able seaman was called to take that voyage from which there is no return” (cited in Lamb and Bartroli 1989-90: 29). As noted above, the reference should be to Meares and the Felice Adventurer. He wintered on the coast in 1786-87, and arrived at Nootka on 13 May in the midst of a gale. However, he makes no mention of seeing another vessel (Meares 1790: 104-8). Duncan’s own account is silent on this question. 317 Colnett has left Rose Harbour and is heading north to Juan Perez Sound. The log states: “At 10 am [19 Jul.] weighd anchor and stood out of the Bay at Noon the extremes of the bay from South East to North by West ... lay too during the afternoon and Night off and on Shore.” 318 Uka, or Yuka, was Wada’, from the vicinity of Skincuttle Inlet according to Colnett’s map (1). He had visited the vessels at Houston Stewart Channel in 1787, where he was identified by Taylor (65b) but not Colnett. The location of this encounter is difficult to determine, but it was south of Scudder Point. 319 Colnett (Maps 1 and 2) shows Shoal Point, which I believe to be Scudder Point on Burnaby Island. Duncan (Map 1, p. 288) also shows a Shoal Point on his map of “Etches Sound,” although he anchored elsewhere; see Map M (p. 245); Appendix 1). It was sufficiently prominent to be used as a potential rendezvous point for the Argonaut expedition (Howay 1940: 13, 57). Scudder Point was the name given by Dawson for the Kanskeeni’s Point of Ingraham, the Skwa-ikun of Newcombe (Kaplanoff 1971: opp. 218). 320 Colnett’s sketch (229r) shows an anchorage about halfway between Scudder Point and what appears to be Alder Island. The log states: “The fore noon [20 Jul.] run along shore to the North West at Noon the extremes of the land from South East by East 8 leagues to North West off shore 2 Miles ... at 4 pm anchord in 20 fms bottom rocky a sharp low point bearing East 3 or 4 miles the extreme of Charlotts Islands NW.” There is an unnamed stream about one mile west of Scudder Point, and two others opposite Alder Island. Middens are reported near Scudder Point and on Alder Island (ASR FcTt4 and 5). See also the comments by Taylor (274b). 321 Taylor describes the “Northern Indians.” See pp. 251-52, and Introduction, pp. 40-44. 322 Gunther (1972: 122) suggests that the “antic” may have been a war dance performed by a shaman accompanying a war party. 323 Taylor (65b) refers to Skelkinance in August 1787. 324 Juan Perez Sound and the Shoal Point of Colnett. 325 Colnett makes no mention of a village, but it is where the canoe came from that the Prince of Wales, en route to Shoal Point, met on 20 Jul. The site may have been in Poole Inlet, but the Bolkus Islands or the northern side of Skincuttle Inlet seems more likely. Colnett names the latter inlet Port Uga, and Swanton shows two village sites in the area (Swanton 1905b: #14 and #15; ARS FbTt3 and 5). 326 This is Gîtan gia’slas (or Gina’skilas), an Eagle chief who had visited Rose Harbour during the Prince of Wales’ stay in August 1787. See Introduction, p. 40. In 1900, the holder was the brother of Xe-u’ [Kloo] (Swanton 1905b: 278, #28).

396 | Notes to pages 250-52

327 The OED lists swabble as a verb meaning “to sway about” or “to make a noise like that of water moved about.” 328 Colnett’s supposition was correct. Duncan had gone across Hecate Strait to Milbanke Sound; see Appendix 1. 329 The log states: “At 3 pm [23 Jul.] got underway at 8 the point we saild from bore West half North distant 3 leagues.” 330 The log gives the latitude as 52°32’, and Taylor gives it as 52°30’, a location in the vicinity of Juan Perez Sound. Later that day, when at anchor, Taylor (274b) stated: “I place ye East point of ye sound in 52°28’N and as ye coast along shore from point James lays nearly NNW and SSE by the world there is 20 miles + of Longd. between Pt. James and ye east Pt of our anchoring sound. the sound lays about Ten or 11 leagues to ye NNW of Pt James.” The latitude of Scudder Point is 52°27’N. 331 Colnett has returned to the anchorage off Scudder Point. 332 Taylor provides a little more information about this settlement; see p. 252. 333 Johnstone’s chart (3) of Rose’s Harbour shows a “Bald Rocks” off Benjamin Point; probably the present Garcin Rocks. Colnett’s general maps (1 and 2) show Green Island and Thrum Cap in the same area. The latter is probably Langtry Island. 334 The log states: “At 4 am [26 Jul.] got under way at Noon the point of the bay left bore West North West distant 2 or 3 leagues.” 335 The log states: “4 am point St. James distant 7 leagues bearing SW by S at Noon South 50 West distant 5 leagues ... at 6 pm point St. James distant 8 leagues South West half South.” 336 See Part 2 (this volume), note 319. Dawson (1880: 20-21B) described the area near Scudder Point in 1878: “A considerable width of low land stretches back from Scudder Point, covered with an open growth of large but gnarled spruces, the trunks of which are not simple, but fork upwards, as they are often found to do in exposed situations. Little beaches of coarse clean-washed gravel fill the spaces between the low shattered rock masses, which spread widely between high and low water marks, with evidence of the action of heavy surf. In a cove on the north side is a strongly built but abandoned Indian house.” In his diary, Dawson added that the beach of the cove “was not good & Cannot imagine what a house Should be built in Such a place for unless as a stopping place when in rounding the cape winds found adverse” (Cole and Lockner 1989: 461). This is clearly a reference to ARS FcTt4, described as a summer campsite, midden, and possibly a fort; a small stream empties a little to the west of the site. Newcombe, however, stated: “Just inside N.E. end of Burnaby Id. is a fine beach, green & evidently townsite” (BCA, Newcombe Papers, Add. Mss. 1077, vol. 34, file 1, Diary, 1 Aug. 1903). This appears to refer to the area near Alder Island, where Newcombe shows Skwa-ilnagai (Swanton 1905b: map). However, the only archaeological sites in the area, FcTt 5 and 6, are found on Alder Island. Two small streams reach the coast opposite Alder Island. 337 See Part 2 (this volume), note 341. 338 Taylor later identifies Eeyagh as coming from “about 5 Leagues to ye NW” of the anchorage in Juan Perez Sound. This would give a location at or near the northeast side of Lyell Island. There were a number of settlement sites in this area belonging to one of two closely related Eagle lineages headed by Chief Xe-u’. This chief became well known to fur traders as Clew (Kloo), and his name appears in that guise on Colnett’s charts. When Swanton collected information at the beginning of the twentieth century, Gina’skilas (Sanjaskulah) was described as a brother of Xe-u’. 339 Scudder Point, which Taylor had previously calculated at 52°28’N. 340 The latitude gives a location a little north of Carpenter Inlet, in which case the island would be one of the Rankine Islands. But the description suggests that it may be a reference to Langtry Island.

Notes to pages 252-53 | 397

341 The description and Colnett (Map 1) suggest a location on the northeast side of Lyell Island, see Map M (p. 245). Swanton (1905b: 278) gives a town and a fort belonging to Xe-u’ in this vicinity: LK!ia’ lnaga’-i (#26) and Ga-i t!a’odjis (ASR: FeTu2 and 1). Alternatively, it may be the fort shown on Duncan’s Chart of Etches Sound which Newcombe (BCA, Add. Mss. 1077, vol. 38, file 4) locates “opposite a small headland at the southeast extremity of what is now known as Ramsay Island. In its present condition it is still nearly bare of trees and is known to the Indians as xinatagdserdj.” In Swanton (1905b), this is rendered as Xe’nat!a’odjiga-i. 342 Colnett’s comments are interesting in the light of the development of a Haida-based lingua franca, or pidgin, on the northern coast. W.F. Tolmie, an HBC officer, informed James Swan that “a jargon consisting chiefly of broken (Kygani) and (Tshatsinni [Kasaan]) Haida and English was the lingua franca, or medium of communication between the traders and the indians as far south to my knowledge as Milbank Sound” (UBCSC, Swan Papers, box 5, file B 3.5.3, Tolmie to Swan, 30 Dec. 1878). A.C. Anderson (1863: 74), another HBC officer who spent time at Fort McLoughlin, made the same point. No study has been made of a Haida-based jargon, but Samarin (1988) has argued persuasively that a Nootka-based jargon was transmuted into the more familiar Chinook jargon. See Part 1 (this volume), note 168. 343 Cook and King make no mention of mountain sheep in the published accounts of Nootka and Prince William Sound. However, in the description of Kamchatka, they report: “The argali, or wild mountain-sheep, an animal, I believe, unknown in Europe ... Its skin is like a deer’s, but in gait and general appearance, it partakes more of the goat. It has two large twisted horns, sometimes weighing, when at full growth, from twenty-five to thirty pounds ...” (Cook and King 1784, 3: 344). Newcombe, in discussing the manufacture of ladles from the horns of mountain sheep, noted that the Haida obtained the horns from Athapaskan speakers “through the medium of the Tlingit or Tsimshians” (BCA, Add. Mss. 1077, vol. 56, file 1). 344 Swanton (1905b: 77-79) reports that Ts’ibasaa, a Gispwudwada chief at Gitkxaala, and Gida’nsta, a Raven chief at Skedans, considered themselves “as brothers,” that is “they considered themselves to be the same clan.” This would imply close relations, including trade. Henry Collison, of Gitkxaala, noted that formerly the Haida and Gitkxaala frequently visited each other, sometimes hunted together, and exchanged chiefly names: “The Kitkatla chief would give his chief name to one of the Haida chiefs and the Haida chiefs would do the same to the Kitkatlans and they were happy in doing so. And they really were like relatives in doing this” (UBCSC, Beynon, Columbia Series, #230). William Beynon stated that the Tsimshian obtained “native” copper for bracelets and shields from the Copper River, a tributary of the Skeena (Columbia Series, #164: 39n). 345 This is something of an underestimate. According to Beresford, a total of 1821 sea otter skins were purchased by Dixon at the Queen Charlottes, including about 300 in half an hour at Cloak Bay (Dixon 1789: 201, 228; C.L. 1984: 111). 346 Acheson and Zacharias (1985: Map 5) show the boundary of Kunghit Haida territory farther north, including half of Lyell Island and extending to the west coast south of Tasu Inlet. While recognizing that the lineage was the property controlling unit, the accounts of Colnett and Taylor suggest a more southerly boundary. Whether the conflict involving Xe-u’ and Skelkinance had any territorial component is a matter of speculation, but the situation was certainly fluid. When Magee visited the area in 1794, Xe-u’ appeared in connection with Yuka (BCA, Add. Mss. 1428, Magee Log, 1-15 May 1794). See Introduction (this volume), p. 43. 347 The Prince of Wales reached a latitude of 51°06’N on 29 Jul., but two days later was almost level with Point St. James. During this period, Taylor embarks on a sustained

398 | Notes to pages 253-54

348 349

350

351

352

353

354

355

criticism of Colnett’s conduct of the voyage since leaving the Cape Edgecombe area. He continues until the Prince of Wales reached Kildidt Sound. The log states: “At Noon [3 Aug.] North 53 West distant 6 or 7 leagues ... at 8 pm point St. James distant 9 or 10 leagues bearing North West.” Colnett (231r, Maps 1 and 3) shows Dome Rock with the annotation “A Remarkable Rock of a modt hight coverd with Trees & a white Girdle next the surface of the water.” Taylor (283a, 287b) describes it as “moderate height of a circular form with a round woody top whose bushes Grows in a complete half Globular form.” He also gives its location as 51°50’N, corresponding well with its position on Colnett’s map. Menzies, returning to the area in 1792 by sailing westwards through Hakai Passage, recalled the “little round Island off Port Wentworth where the Ship Prince of Wales last Anchord before she left the Coast in the latter end of 1788” (Newcombe 1923: 103-4). This was Blenheim Island which the British Columbia Pilot describes as “235 feet high ... [with] high white cliffs which render the island prominent from southward and westward”; the correct location is 51°47’N, 128°15’W (Great Britain, Admiralty 1960: 189). Taylor states that after passing “through a Cluster of small Isles,” the vessel “came to an anchor about 3 miles within the first between two in 42 fathom sandy Bottom and lay open to ye Sea from SSW to SSE well Sheltered in every other direction” (283b). Colnett’s log adds that there was “a wide Channel running up N.” Colnett’s map (1) and chart (231r) identify the “Inlet” as Port Farewell, the Port Wentworth of Menzies (Newcombe 1923: 103-4). It was Kildidt Sound; the first anchorage was probaby off Manley Island. Cook, on his first voyage, had named his point of departure from New Zealand as Cape Farewell; Colnett had been in the vicinity in May 1773 (Beaglehole 1955: 275-76; 1961: 140-42). Colnett’s log states that the whale boat was under the charge of the chief mate. Taylor (283b) adds: “they saw a small Canoe with 4 or 5 Men who took to the woods leaving their Canoe on ye Beach.” The anchorage was on the west side of Kildidt Sound, perhaps in the vicinity of Brydon Channel. The log states: “At 9 am [5 Aug.] weighd and towd farther up the Sound with the boats ahead at Noon Anchord in 26 fathoms on the Western side of the Sound shelter by several Island.” Taylor (283b) places the anchorage about a mile farther up the sound, on “ye west Shore.” Colnett was probably correct. Hanna and La Pérouse had traversed the coast about as far north as Milbanke Sound in 1786 but saw little (Galois 1994b: 87; Milet-Mureau 1799: 423-24, Chart 29). The subsequent comments by Taylor are more ambiguous. Charles Duncan, in July 1788, anchored in a small cove in Milbanke Sound, then headed south, through Hakai Passage to Fitz Hugh Sound and Safety Cove (Appendix 1). The identity of the people in this area is not clear. Ethnographic sources are few and contradictory. Pomeroy in a recent survey concluded that Kildidt Sound was the territory of the Nulauwidox group of the Heiltsuk (Bella Bella). He adds that it was the area “where many Bella Bella people amalgamated before moving north to their final location at Old and then New Bella Bella.” The latter moves were in connection with the HBC post, established in 1833, but when the amalgamations began is unclear. Later he notes the possibility that the “Nulauwidox, the Quaynoch [Koeye River area] and the Weekenoch [Calvert Island] were one and the same people who, when moving from place to place, changed their names; although skeptical about this, Pomeroy adds that the Weekenoch had closer relations with the Owikeno than Heiltsuk groups (Pomeroy 1980: 55, 62-66, 68-69, 73-75). On the other hand, Drucker (1950: 159) suggests that Nulu was an “Oyalit site on the southern end of Hunter’s Island” that was occupied in early contact years. Nor are matters made any clearer by uncertainty about the location of Nulu, the winter village of the Nulauwidox in Pomeroy’s account. Olson suggested a

Notes to pages 254-56 | 399

356

357 358 359 360

361

362

363

site to the east of Spitfire Island, but Pomeroy failed to locate it in a survey of the area. Instead, he suggested sites in Nalau Passage (ASR EkTa7-11, 17, 18, 21), on Spider Island (ElTb3), or Hurricane Island (ElTb1). Taylor’s observation, repeated by Colnett, about the absence of the labret may bear on this question. It contrasts with Menzies’ report, in 1793 from Bullock Channel, a little farther north, that the Heiltsuk women of that area (Oyalitoch by Pomeroy’s account) wore the labret. Ethnographic literature on the distribution is contradictory. Drucker’s informants for the Heiltsuk make no reference to the use of the labret, while Hilton states the contrary; there is agreement that the feature was absent among the Owikeno (UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies Journal, 16 Jun. 1793; Drucker 1950: 161, 191; Hilton 1990: 315; Keddie 1981: 62-65; Part 1 [this volume], note 215). It may be that Taylor’s observation reflects one of the regional variations in Heiltsuk culture suggested by Harkin; perhaps the people encountered by Taylor in 1788 had links with the Owikeno (Hilton 1990: 315; Harkin 1997: 8). Two sites have been recorded in the vicinity of Watt Bay, opposite Brydon Channel. Both are middens, although one is adjacent to a rock-wall salmon trap (ASR ElTa3 and 4). Perhaps a reference to a salmon trap. The log states: “am [10 Aug.] the long boat sent to search for Natives to traffic.” If Colnett anchored in Brydon Channel, this description may refer to ElTb1, “a large site and the most promising prospect” for the site of Nulu (Pomeroy 1980: 64). In August, the people were likely to be scattered at resource sites, but Colnett’s comments about the fishery seem misguided. A number of fish traps have been recorded in the waters on the north and east side of Kildidt Sound (e.g., ElTa3, 15-16, 21-22), and Olson was informed that “All the people of Hunter Island secured most of their salmon in Kildidt Lagoon” (1955: 320). One site at the northern end of Kildidt Sound (ASR ElTa2) is associated with an attack and “slaughter” by the Haida, but there is no indication of when this took place. The comments in this paragraph have been used in the ongoing debate about disease and depopulation on the Northwest Coast. Boyd (1994: 29; 1998: 205) discusses Colnett’s observations of deserted settlements as part of an argument for a coast-wide smallpox epidemic in the 1770s, noting Colnett’s failure to consider disease as an explanation. It is possible that an epidemic had affected this part of the coast before 1788, but Colnett’s comments must be treated with some caution. As noted earlier, Colnett (123r) gives a similar description of deserted settlements in the Nootka region, where smallpox can be rejected as an explanation. Although smallpox did reach the vicinity of Kildidt Sound, the available evidence points to a date well after contact. Moses Knight stated in 1935 that Lu’xpalis, a village on the north shore of Calvert Island, was “wiped out in a smallpox epidemic.” The published account gives no indication of the date, but Olson suggests that the first epidemic was “about 1860,” hence 1862 (Olson 1955: 320-21). Taylor (286b-287a) states the trade amounted to twenty-three skins as well as “some few ... collected occasionally from our eastern friends ... we also got a very large supply of berries and a meal of Salmon each Mess this was the first fresh meal we got in the Harbour.” The strangers were Tsimshian speakers, whereas the local people, whatever their precise identity, were Wakashan speakers. The nearest Tsimshian settlements belonged to the Gidestsu (Kitasoo) of the Laredo Sound area (Miller 1981). The long boat, in 1787 (17-25 Sep.; Colnett Map 1, p. 285) had reached that vicinity, apparently going as far as Cape Day. Information on this trip is limited, but Colnett’s map (1) has “No natives” on that section of the coast. However, the transmission of Cook’s “Patoo” suggests patterns of interaction along this section of the coast (see Colnett 146v).

400 | Notes to pages 257-63

364 A reference to the labret, see Part 1 (this volume), note 215; Part 2 (this volume), note 355. 365 Presumably through Hakai Passage into Fitz Hugh Sound. Colnett’s map (1) shows that the Princess Royal went through this passage but gives no indication of the movements of the ship’s boat. In 1792, Vancouver found only the ruins of “one miserable hut,” near Restoration Bay, in the section of Fitz Hugh Sound extending into Burke Channel. The following year he encountered about twenty people near the southern entrance to Fisher Channel (Lamb 1984: 650-51, 925). 366 The log states: “At 2 pm {17 Aug.} got underway at 8 the extremes of the land from North 33 West to South 55 East an Island distant 12 to 14 leagues South 46 West harbour mouth North 25 East distant 3 or 4 leagues, an Island at Noon {18 Aug.} bore South South East.” The latitude at noon was 51°17’N; Colnett’s log adds that the longitude was 129°59’W. Taylor states that the departure was at 3 pm on 18 Aug., i.e., 17 Aug. civil time. 367 The log indicates that Hawai'i was sighted on the morning of 9 Sep. and three days later, off Moloka'i, the Princess Royal. 368 Colnett (Maps 1 and 3) shows the anchorage in about 51°54’N; Taylor (287b) gives the location of Dome Rock as 51°50’N and 2°23’E of Cape St. James, hence about 128°40’W. 369 The British Parliament had established a reward of £20,000 for the discoverer of the Northwest Passage; see Beaglehole 1967: xxix-lxv; Williams 1962. 370 On Map 1, drawn after completing the voyage, Colnett returned to the topic of a water route to Hudson Bay and the geography of the central coast: Prince of Wales & Sloops Boat overhauld these Inlets in 1787 & P. Royals in 1788. The openings & Channels appeard to have no End. Sound. at the greatest E[ast]ing they made was 90 fm & then no Bottom. Its the general Opinion of Capt. Duncan & of all that saw those Inlets that they Communicate with Hudson Bay the nearest Settlement of the Hudson Bay Coy. which is Hudson House is Lat. 53° Long [blank] Bears [blank] West dist 400 Leagues. I have also every reason to think that the Straights of Juan de Fuca Joins with all those Inlets to the Northward & that all the Coast of America as far north as Prince William Sound is only a body of Isles & that the Main lays much farther to the E.ward than is generally believed & from the make of the land it shows no great Probability of a large Sea Between these Isles & the Main, in all the Chanels in high water at full & change between twelve & one oclock Perpendicular rise fm 14 to 20 feet. Flood tide comes from the W.ward. Appendix 1: Route of the Princess Royal in 1788

1 The maps include Anon. Map 1, clearly drawn by someone on the Princess Royal, with Charles Duncan as the logical candidate. The sloop’s route is shown from 30 May 1787 to 8 Oct. 1788. 2 The dispute consisted of three pamphlets, two by Dixon and one in response by Meares, which were published in 1790 and 1791; all are reprinted in Howay (1929a). Duncan’s letter, included in Dixon’s “Further Remarks” of 1791, states that he had given his log of the Princess Royal to Alexander Dalrymple, then devising his fur trade plan. Unfortunately, the log has since disappeared (Howay 1929a: 113; Fry 1970: 197n). William Goldson (1793: 134) also published a brief summary of Duncan’s voyage in the vicinity of “Princess Royal’s Islands.” Although identified as referring to events in 1787, it better describes Duncan’s activities in 1788. That said, the account adds little, being concerned with the existence of the Northwest Passage; see below, note 15. 3 Meares (1790: lv) had written that in 1788, “The Princess Royal, Captain Duncan ... enters the channel that separates the Charlottes Isles from the supposed continent, and proceeds exploring both sides; discovering numerous harbours, sounds and inlets, which

Notes to page 263 | 401

4 5 6 7 8

9

10 11

12

13

completely ascertains the Northern Archipelago. He occupies almost a whole summer in this station; and yet, strange as it may appear quits the coast of America without knowing that Captain Douglas [on the Iphigenia Nubiana] had already taken the same course.” Niihau, one of the Hawaiian Islands. Colnett dates the departure as 18 Mar.; the route of the Princess Royal is shown on Anon., Map 1. Taylor (271a) gives the date as 19 Apr. See Map N (pp. 262 and 264). Duncan (Map 3), “Sketch of a Bay at the Southern Part of Nova Hibernia,” shows the anchorage. See Appendix 3. Duncan (Map 1, p. 288) shows two anchorages and comments: “An Indian Village on the Top of this Rock. Vast Numbers of Whales seen in this Sound.” C.F. Newcombe, who “cruised these waters ... using the Duncan Maps identified the Sound” as Juan Perez Sound and I believe the anchorage of 20/24 May to have been in Newberry Cove (UBCSC, Howay Papers, box 46, file 1, Hosie to Howay, 22 Dec. 1927). The “village” was a defensive site, apparently located off the south coast of Ramsey Island; perhaps the Xe’nat!a’odjiga-i of Newcombe (Swanton 1905b: map). See Map M (p. 245). Colnett (Maps 1 and 2) shows two anchorages in the vicinity of Cumshewa Inlet; one just inside the inlet, the other apparently off Skedans Point. The former is in the vicinity of Go’msiwa’s village, Lque’nal on the north shore of Cumshewa Inlet; the latter was near Q!o’na (also known as Skedans) (Swanton 1905b: 279, #40, #34). During a visit to the area in July 1792, Ingraham reported a “conversation today with Cummashewa and Skatzi I informed them that Stewart, commander of the Jackall before mentioned, was one of Captain Duncan’s mates in the sloop Princess Royal at the time their tribe made an attempt to take her and obliged Captain Duncan to fire on them, by which, as I understood, several men were killed. Scatzi answered very quickly, saying none were killed but several wounded, and the balls being cut out they were quite recovered long since.” (Kaplanoff 1971: 203-4). Cumshewa was well known in the fur trade era. Skatzi was Nan na’gage skilxa’ogas, the Eagle chief of Kaisun on the west coast of Moresby Island. Other fur traders rendered his name as Scotseye and the like and were involved in the violent death of two of the holders: in 1795, at Ninstints, and in 1799, at Kaiganee. Acheson, citing Sturgis, states that he held “the title of chief at Cumshewa.” A trail ran from the head of Sewell Inlet to Tasoo Sound (Macdonald 1983: 117; Cole and Lockner 1989: 475, 487; Swanton 1905b: 280, #70; Acheson 1991: 246; Hayes 1981: 49; Jackman 1978: 90-93, 99-101). Colnett (Maps 1 and 2) shows an anchorage in the vicinity of Skidegate Inlet. Howay, following Arrowsmith’s map (1790), identifies Ayton’s River as the Skeena. However, the cartography of the voyage shows that Duncan did not go near the Skeena. After crossing Hecate Channel he skirted some of the islands marking the west side of Chatham Sound, reaching at least as far north as Stephens Island. Turning south, Duncan passed outside Porcher Island and then sailed down Principe Channel; by 2 Jun. he was probably somewhere east of Otter Channel (Colnett, Maps 1 and 2, pp. 285-86; Anon., Map 1). George Ayton served as purser on HMS Rainbow, on which Duncan was master in 1782-83, and later on HMS Assistance with Archibald Menzies and James Johnstone (PRO, Adm. 36/9729, Muster Book of HMS Rainbow, #4; Adm. 36/10434, Muster Book of HMS Assistance, #326). Ingraham, when at Cumshewa Inlet in July 1792, learned from Skatzi that “Cap. Duncan in a skirmish he had with Siaks Tribe of the main had killed a man and wounded severall” (Kaplanoff 1971: 203-4). It is difficult to identify this location from Colnett’s maps, but Duncan is shown visiting the area of Gil Island and Campania Island before heading north to “Port Stephens.”

402 | Notes to page 265

This area had been visited by the boats during the stay at Port Ball in 1787. See Map G (p. 140). 14 Colnett’s maps (1 and 2), Duncan (Map 6), and observations by Menzies indicate that this was at Ala Passage, not the present Port Stephens. Duncan’s map includes the following comments, taken from his journal: I was carried into this Port by an Indian Pilot, to look for a Great Chief, named Siax, who had often visited us last year in Calamity Harbour ... Siax and his Party had all moved off a few days before [18 Jun.], except 8 men, who were left to take care of some baggage. Their habitation was on the top of Rock S which is of a conical form, of a great height, flat a top, only accessible by the help of a ladder which was a Spar with notches cut in it. It seems well adapted for a place of defence as these Nations appear to be often at war ... I left it the 20th June 1788 after lying there three days.

15

16

17

18

Taylor (271a), without specifying dates, states that Duncan went “over to Syax’s Village but did not see Syax or any of his family & got very few Skins in that quarter.” The fort was on a small island, near the western shore, opposite the southern entrance to Wright Inlet. Bishop, in 1795, described what may have been the same site: “An evacuated village built on a Round Perpendicular Rock, with a Fighting stage, all round. There was only the shells of two Large Houses, each Capable of containing about 400 natives. This one is Shakes stronghold in War, and erected with no small degree of military skill” (Roe 1967: 94). Goldson’s (1793: 134) version of Duncan’s visit to the Princess Royal Islands states that he “proceeded among [them] ... in a north-east direction, until he found a scarcity of sea otter skins ... when he was obliged reluctantly to return. These islands, he says, are so very mountainous that the snow remains perpetually upon their summits, and the sea is so deep close to shore, that he very seldom came to an anchor, but made his sloop fast to the trees near the water. These trees were generally fir, of the first quality for masts. As he entered the archipelago, the mountains gradually encreased in height, towering above each other; but he observed, at the extent of his researches, that they gradually decreased to the eastward of him.” The present Skidegate Inlet. It appears on Colnett’s map (1) as Sky Tuckett and is also shown by Meares (1790: Chart of the NW Coast). The Meares map, undoubtedly using information from Duncan, is the first to portray the insularity of Graham and Moresby Islands. This is implicit in the designation of “Supposed Passage” on Colnett’s maps (1 and 2). Henry Trollope was captain of HMS Rainbow, on which Duncan served as master in 1782-83 (PRO, Adm. 36/9728, #17 and #93; see also Clowes 1898-99, 4: 86, 283, and 501). Colnett (Maps 1 and 2) shows an anchorage, probably in Laxskeek Bay on the south side of Louise Island, with the name “Camseways” alongside. However, Swanton lists Go’msiwa, an Eagle chief, of a village on Cumshewa Inlet; see Appendix 1, note 9. I believe Duncan’s anchorage was off the north shore of Huxley Island; see Map L (p. 236). Colnett reported receiving two letters “of the same purport” that were written early in July. One was delivered during a stay near Scudder Point, Juan Perez Sound, the other at Rose Harbour. At the latter location, Taylor (270b) was informed that Duncan had left ten days earlier, i.e., 7 Jul. However, Colnett’s maps (1 and 2), like Duncan’s account, show that the Princess Royal did not visit south of “Port Etches” in July. Thus, we can conclude that the chiefs had visited Juan Perez Sound: see Colnett Journal, 17, 18, and 21 Jul. 1788. Colnett also selected Shoal (Scudder) Point as a potential rendezvous for his ill-fated Argonaut expedition (Howay 1940: 12, 57).

Notes to page 265 | 403

19 Duncan’s usage refers to the islands east and south of Banks Island. Contemporary usage derives from Vancouver (Arrowsmith 1790; Faden 1794; Lamb 1984: 1063). 20 See Duncan (Map 2). When Vancouver visited the area in 1793 he commented that “on comparing [the inlet] ... with some printed sketches on board, no doubt remained of its being the same that had been discovered by Mr. Duncan, and named Milbank’s sound. The delineation of the shores by Mr. Duncan, bore a strong resemblance to those before us, although we materially disagreed with him in latitude; there could, however, be no doubt as to the identity of the place, and I have continued the name given to it by Mr. Duncan” (19 Jun. 1793; Lamb 1984: 951; see also: UBCSC, Lamb Papers, Menzies Journal, 20 Jun. 1793). Vancouver’s map shows that he extended Milbanke Sound to include the present Seaforth Channel. The location of Duncan’s anchorage is less clear. Duncan shows it in a cove, the head of which “abounded with excellent muscles and clams”; the latitude is given as 52°14’N. One possibility is Kynumpt Harbour on the south side of Seaforth Channel; it was subsequently used as an anchorage and trading location by Boston traders (Walbran 1971: 294). Another possibility is that Duncan reached Lama Passage. Anthropologist Ronald Olson was informed in 1935 that the Heiltsuk were living at Enkyak “just S of Bella Bella Cannery ... when they first saw the Whites”; thus on the NW end of Denny island on the east side of Lama Passage. Duncan was the first European known to have encountered the Heiltsuk, but the information recorded by Olson, while tantalizing, is too brief to be conclusive (UCB, Olson Notebooks: item 116, vol. 2, Heiltsuk 1935: 9, list of tribes). 21 Sir Charles Middleton Sound is Fitz Hugh Sound, named by James Hanna in 1786; Calvert Island is one of the few place names given by Duncan that has survived in contemporary usage (Galois 1994b; Lamb 1984: 647; Wagner 1937: 388; Arrowsmith 1790; Duncan Map 7; Anon., Map 1). 22 Colnett (Map 1) shows that the Princess Royal passed through Hakai Passage, put into a harbour, perhaps Goldstream Harbour, went north to the vicinity of Warrior Cove and Koeye Point, then sailed south to the area of Convoy Passage and Phillip Inlet before heading across to anchor in Safety Cove. Duncan (Map 7) shows his anchorage, near the southern shore, about halfway from the entrance and notes that it is “a commodious Little Harbour for cleaning and refitting.” Vancouver had difficulty reconciling Duncan’s map with the location and appearance of Safety Cove. The topic occasioned some debate on board the Discovery: Notwithstanding this manifest disagreement, there were those amongst us [Menzies and Johnstone?], who having heard Mr Duncan’s discourse on this subject, insisted upon the certainty of its being his port Safety. In this opinion however, I could not concur ... and was more inclined to suppose, that the opening I had seen when in the boats on this shore [Kwakshua Channel], to the south of that which led to the sea, was Mr Duncan’s port Safety, as that corresponded nearer in point of latitude, and had more the appearance of a port than this small cove: it however is the first place that affords safe and convenient anchorage on the western chore, within the south entrance into Fitzhugh’s sound” (Lamb 1984: 655-56; Duncan Map 7). 23 Port Brooks was Nasparti Inlet, visited by both vessels in August 1787. Colnett (Maps 1 and 2, pp. 285-86) shows Duncan’s 1788 anchorage to be on the west side of Clerke Point. 24 Meares (1790: 195-201) reports sighting the Princess Royal off Nootka Sound on 6 Aug. He sailed on 8 Aug. and boarded the Princess Royal that evening. The meeting with Duncan was friendly, and a small quantity of supplies was exchanged. Duncan passed on to Meares both information and a warning about his experiences at the Hawaiian

404 | Notes to page 265

Islands earlier in the year. This information has been preserved in Meares’ instructions to Douglas (Meares 1790: Appendix [A] 5). However, Meares interpreted some other remarks by Duncan, about George Dixon, in a disparaging light. Publication of the latter comments prompted Dixon’s pamphlet and Duncan’s letter to Dixon (Howay 1929a: 28, 105-8). Taylor (229b-230a) also recorded a somewhat garbled account of Duncan’s visit to Nootka: “He gave an account of a Vessel [Felice] he was in company with at Nutka, whose (230a) consort [Iphigenia Nubiana] was also on the Coast to the Northd. also a tale of a Portuguese Factory at Nutka. Cap Barclay carrying 18 hundred Skins from Nutka, and various other wonderful tales ... and we heard a fast fund of China news most of which concern’d our Fur business.” The Portuguese factory was the establishment erected by Meares. At this stage, Meares was more concerned with evading the rights of the South Sea Company than establishing claims of British sovereignty at Nootka. 25 Duncan (Map 4) shows the village of Ahouset and the course of the Princess Royal. However, he has confused the “tribal” name, Ahouset, with that of the village. Although there was a village named ahous on the west coast of Vargas island, Duncan shows it on Blunden Island. The settlement would have been aa?imqwis, with five, and possibly seven, house sites (Webster 1983: map; ASR DhSm1). On 10 Aug., Meares passed Duncan, anchored at the village of Hanna, the chief of Ahouset (1790: 202, chart opp. 113; Marshall 1993: 217). The boat of the Princess Royal accompanied Meares into Clayquot Sound, returning by “passing through the channels between the islands and the main, the distance being about 15 miles.” Later in August, Haswell met Wickaninnish, the Clayoquot chief, who “spoke of Capt. Barkley, Capt. Hannah, Capt. Dunkin and Capt. Duglas.” No further details are given, but it would appear that Duncan encountered Wickaninnish, who dominated trade throughout the Clayoquot Sound area (Drucker 1951: Maps 7 and 8; Marshall 1993: 216-18). When Haswell arrived, Wickaninnish still had a substantial supply of furs but would trade only for muskets (Howay 1941: 44-45). 26 Anon., Map 1, indicates that the Princess Royal sailed into the Barkley Sound area before reaching Claaset. Barkley, in 1787, and Meares, in June 1788, had preceded Duncan to the latter area (Meares 1790: lv, 155-57). Duncan’s published map, showing the village, includes a sketch of the entrance of the Straits of Juan de Fuca. Walbran argues that this sketch was pirated by Meares and included as a plate in his book (Duncan Map 5; UBCSC, Howay Papers, box 7, file 5, Walbran to Howay, n.d. [1910-11]; Meares 1790: opp. 156). Duncan’s map includes an extract from his journal (see Appendix 1, note 2): The Village ... stands in a Valley having a Run of Water at the West end of Village where they catch Salmon. This is a large Village; the Houses appear’d in better order, on the outside, than those at Nootka ... The Natives spoke two languages, & appeared to differ something from those on the North Side of the Strait. The Indians of Claaset said that they knew not of any Land to the Eastward; & that it was A’aas toopulse which signifies a Great Sea: they pointed that the Sea ran a great way up to the Northward; and down to the Southward. On the East Side, they likewise said that a good distance to the Southward, I should find Men that had Guns, as well as I had; whether they meant that to frighten me, or not, I cannot tell: for all along the Coast i never found any that wished to part with us, or indeed wished us to trade with another Nation, telling us that they were the only People that had anything, or were worth trading with. The Men of Claaset are expert Whalers. Pinnacle Rock [Fuca Pillar] appears to be about 34 fathoms high ... Green Island [Tatoosh Island] or TaTouches is about ¼ mile in length; covered over with green

Notes to pages 265-91 | 405

Grass; On the West Side is a small Cove, very narrow & only navigable for Boats; I saw some Canoes go in and out; and many Indians on the Beach; On the East Side is a large Village, & from the Number of Canoes that came to us from thence, I suppose it to be well inhabited. It was this information that contributed to Duncan’s firm belief in the Northwest Passage (Williams 1962: 219-20). The people were Makah, Wakashan speakers, and the village was probably di.ya in Neah Bay (Renker and Gunther 1990: 422-23). Colnett (Map 2) named the harbour Port Duncan. 27 There is no separate account of the furs traded by the Princess Royal, but the two vessels secured 1959 skins, plus 55 cloaks; see Introduction, Table 1. 28 The reference is to Meares’ maps and accounts of Douglas’ voyage on the Iphigenia Nubiana. Douglas had passed through Hecate Straits and Dixon Entrance in August 1788 and again in June 1789. Meares’ map shows Douglas as visiting the northern end of Banks Island but the written account contains no information on this. Douglas did visit Massett, however (Meares 1790: 327-32, 361-67). As noted elsewhere, Meares had appropriated cartographic information on “Princess Royal’s Isles” from either Colnett or Duncan. 29 Following a dispute with John Etches, and contrary to licence from the EIC, Duncan had retained the “Ships papers” from the Princess Royal (PRO, HO 28/61, 372-73, Duncan to Pitt, 3 Jun. 1790; copy in UBCSC, Lamb Papers, box 7, file 2; Howay 1929a: 106). Dalrymple (1789b) stated that he intended to lay the “substance” of Duncan’s journal “before the publick”; unfortunately he did not do so. Appendix 2: Gitkxaaþa Contact Narratives

3 Dunn (1979: #1754) gives this as spanaxnox, a “supernatural being; place where a supernatural being dwells,” and notes that such places were “always in the sea.” 2 Elsewhere Beynon states: “Then of course the most prevalent amulet for one’s protection from all evil influence is one’s own urine. But for a more powerful protection urine was saved and kept in the house as a protection against ghosts and evil spirits” (Columbia Series, #206: 24; see also E and G, 1: 32). 3 Dunn (1978: 37) gives hagwilo’ox, hagwilo’og, hakhagwilo’ox as sea monster. 4 On Arhlawaels, see the narrative by Maude Venn, in NAC, MG 30/D38, file 8. She was a member of the House of ‘Arhlawaels. 5 Beynon gives two locations for this name: as Bonilla Island (E and G, 6: 1; see also BF 130.1, #80) and as Banks Island (Columbia Series, #204). Appendix 5: List of Illustrations

1 Atooi is Kauai; moi is Threadfish (Polydactylussexfilis); Malolo is the “general term for Hawaiian flying fish” (Pukui and Elbert 1965).

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Maps

Anonymous (1). Untitled; shows the track of the Prince of Wales and Princess Royal (1787), Princess Royal (1788); NW Coast and Hawaiian Islands, 18°-54°30’N, 119°-180°W. Hydrographic Office (Taunton), Rose Atlas, Map 12. Probably drawn by Charles Duncan. (Cited as Anon. 1.) –. (2). Untitled; shows the track of the Prince of Wales in 1787 and 1788, NW Coast: 49°61°N, 125°-150°W. Hydrographic Office (Taunton), Rose Atlas, Map 13. Probably drawn by James Johnstone or Archibald Menzies. (Cited as Anon. 2.) Arrowsmith, Aaron (1790). “Chart of the world on Mercators projection, exhibiting all the new discoveries to the present time: with the tracks of the most distinguished navigators since the year 1700 ... 8 sheets, April 1, 1790.” Map CM/X12, BCA. Beynon, William. “Gitxa’ta [Gitkxaala] 1916.” Map B 4, CMC. British Columbia. Department of Lands. “Grenville Channel, Preliminary Map, PreEmptors Series 3P, Map 624gbbd, 3P, 1924.” UBC Map Library. Burney, James. “Sketch of King George’s Sound.” Adm. 51/4528, PRO. Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Canadian Hydrographic Service, Chart 3825. Colnett, James (1). “N.W. America Drawn by J.C. from his own Information and what could be collected from the Sloop Ps. Royal and Boats in the years 1787, 1788 and 1790.” Mss. map p. 23, Hydrographic Office, Taunton. –. (2). Untitled (a fair drawing of p. 23). Mss. map p. 24, Hydrographic Office, Taunton. –. (3). Untitled (a copy of p. 23 but limited to the area between the northern end of Vancouver Island and the southern end of Dall Island; shows the routes of the Prince of Wales and Princess Royal). Mss. map, D 7803, Hydrographic Office, Taunton. Dalrymple, Alexander (1789c). “Plan of the Inlet of Bucareli ... from a Spanish M.S. communicated by John Henry Cox.” London: Alexander Dalrymple, 17 Jan. 1789. Duncan, Charles (4). “A Sketch of Ahouset.” London: Alexander Dalrymple, 17 Dec. 1789. –. (6). “Sketch of Port Stephens.” London: Alexander Dalrymple, 17 Dec. 1789. –. (2). “Milbank’s Sound.” London: Alexander Dalrymple, 24 Dec. 1789. –. (7). “Sketch of Port Safety.” London: Alexander Dalrymple, 29 Dec. 1789. –. (1). “Etches Sound.” London: Alexander Dalrymple, 1 Jan. 1790. –. (3). “Sketch of a Bay at the Southern Part of Nova Hibernia.” London: Alexander Dalrymple, 1 Jan. 1790. –. (5). “Sketch of the Entrance of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.” London: Alexander Dalrymple, 14 Jan. 1790. Edgar, Thomas. “A Plan of King George’s Sound.” Adm. 55/21, PRO. Faden W. (1794). “Chart of the N.W. Coast of America & the N.E. Coast of Asia.” 2nd ed., 1 Jan. 1794. London: W. Faden. Map G 9235/1779/RG/1794, UBCSC. Great Britain, Admiralty, Hydrographic Office. “Chart of the Downs, 1800.” Reproduction ARC 5434. Johnstone, James (4). “Port Etches.” London: Alexander Dalrymple, 4 Oct. 1789. –. (2). “Plan of Port Brooks.” London: Alexander Dalrymple, 15 Oct. 1789. –. (3). “Plan of Rose’s Harbour.” London: Alexander Dalrymple, 15 Oct. 1789. –. (3a). Rose’s Harbour, NW Coast, 1787. Mss Map 220, Hydrographic Office, Taunton. This is the original of the published version, Johnstone (3). –. (1). “Plan of Calamity Harbour.” London: Alexander Dalrymple, 23 Oct. 1789. Sayer, Robert (1775). The Russian Discoveries, from the Map Published by the Imperial Aacademy of St. Petersburg. London: Robert Sayer. United States, National Imagery and Mapping Agency. Chart 22032 (Strait of Magellan to Islas Ildefonso).

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United States, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of Coast Survey. Charts 16761 (Yakutat Bay and Harbour), 17325 (South and West Coasts of Kruzof Island), 17326 (Crawfish Inlet to Sitka-Baranof Island), 17400 (Dixon Entrance to Chatham Strait), 19358 (Oahu-Waimanalo Bay to Diamond Head). Wedgborough, S. (1789). “Plan of Snug Corner Cove, Prince William’s Sound.” London: Alexander Dalrymple, 24 Mar. 1789.

Index

Note: “(f)” after a number denotes a figure; “(m)” a map; “(t)” a table Abenuee (Kaua'i). See Opunui Ahlawaels (Exlewels - Tsimshian), 47, 52-6, 267-75 passim Ahouset, 262(m), 263-6 passim, 276-84 passim anchors: cutting cables of, Kaua'i, 190-2, 198; purchase of replacement, Kaua'i, 195-9; theft of, 149, 198 Anglo-Spanish relations, Nootka Crisis (1790), 3, 29, 66-8, 72, 307n134. See also Colnett, James; Meares, John Anson, George: voyage of, 2, 308n159 antiscorbutics, 98, 104, 166, 330n12, 332n50, 338n95 armour, Northwest Coast, 127-8, 134, 165, 246 armourers, 9, 185, 200, 289-90, 368n69, 372n103 Armseit. See Hammisit Arrowsmith, John, 68, 263-6 passim, 276-84 passim, 347n189, 393n296 Atlantic Ocean, 79-85, 92; birds, 83-5; marine mammals, 83-5. See also Isla de los Estados (Staten Land) Atooi. See Kaua'i Bacstrom, Sigismund, 41, 316n294, 332n47 bananas, 173, 195 Banks, Joseph: botanical collections, 4, 10-1, 21, 69, 297n17, 303n90, 330n17, 332n47, 333n50, 333n51; Colnett, 4; Cook’s expeditions, 6, 46, 145-6, 297n17, 299n49; Etches’ expeditions, 6-8, 10, 28, 66, 276-84 passim, 326n418; ethnographic collections, 344n159;

science, commerce, and exploration voyages, 21, 27-8, 60, 299n48, 300n55, 301n66, 325n427, 340n119. See also Menzies, Archibald Banks Island area, 45-59, 138-66, 140(m), 263-75 passim; birds, 148, 156, 166; fauna, 147, 156, 165; fish, 166; flora, 144, 147, 166; fortification, constructed by Colnett, 50, 157-8, 160; marine mammals, 139, 147, 165; salmon fishery, Colnett’s use of, 142-4, 148-9, 157; shellfish, 144, 147, 156, 166. See also Pitt Island; Port Ball; Tsimshian under Native peoples, Northwest Coast Barbeau, C. Marius, Tsimshian ethnography, 267-75 passim, 319n347, 322n377 Barkley, Charles: actions at Nootka, 13, 38, 101, 106, 108-9, 117-8, 263-6 passim. See also Imperial Eagle under vessels, British beachcombers (European deserters at Hawaiian Islands), 62, 63, 66, 199, 365n46 Beresford, William (author of Dixon’s Voyage), 24, 30, 341n121, 346n179, 351n227, 352n239, 352n240, 365n47, 370n82, 382n179, 385n205, 386n225. See also Dixon, George Bering, Vitus: voyage of, 1, 7, 17, 382n181, 382n187, 383n190 Bering Bay: uncertain identity of, 223, 224, 383n190, 383n193 Beynon, William: maps, 141(m), 317n320; Tsimshian ethnography, 51-3, 57, 26775 passim, 321n369, 321n370, 322n377, 357n290, 357n293, 392n282, 397n344

430 | Index

boarding netting, 34, 48, 104, 128, 130, 137, 178-9, 183 Bolts, William, 295n5, 302n66 breadfruit, 169, 173 British Museum, Northwest Coast artifacts, 69, 344n159, 359n316 Brooks, Mary, 300n52, 348n197, 381n171 Brooks and Etches, tea dealers, 6, 348n197 Brown, William, expedition of, 69, 304n99, 316n294, 323n383, 326n443, 327n444, 332n47 Bucarelli Bay, 7, 295n3, 390n267 Calamity Harbour. See Port Ball canoes: Hawaiian Islands, 173-4, 176, 181; Northwest Coast, 115, 136, 145-6, 169, 225, 227, 232, 239, 257, 356n283; Prince William Sound, skin canoes, 211, 216, 217-8 Canton, 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 13, 17-8, 71; Hawaiian Islanders at, 64, 364n39, 373n107, 373n108 Cape Blanco, 84 Cape Cook, 100, 121-3, 278, 284, 342n136, 348n200, 348n201 Cape Edgecumbe (Edgecomb), 60, 72, 229-30, 233 Cape Fairweather, 228, 383n193 Cape Horn, 11, 77, 84, 91, 92 Cape St. James, 14, 16, 39, 125, 138, 234, 263-6 passim, 278 Cape Verde Islands, 11, 80-1 captives/hostages, Native, 27, 35, 50-1, 57, 105, 159, 161-2, 164, 195-8, 267-75 passim carpenters, 289-90; instructing Natives, 187; procuring timber, 101, 106, 109, 155, 190, 230, 246, 250, 254-6; repairs and maintenance to Prince of Wales, 93, 144, 146, 148, 152, 155-9, 214, 254 cartography, 276-84 passim; Hawaiian Islands, 366n59, 375n116; Northwest Coast, 14, 41, 67-9, 223, 314n274, 347n195, 350n222, 376n124, 377n129, 382n187, 383n190, 384n204, 387n239, 389n257, 393n296; useful knowledge and imperial rivalry, 29. See also Arrowsmith, John; Bacstrom, Sigismund; Colnett, James; Dalrymple,

Alexander; Duncan; Faden, W.; Johnstone, James Chatham Strait, 234, 325n428 China, and maritime fur trade, 1, 3, 6, 7, 18, 295n2 Claaset. See Neah Bay Clatlaluka (Nuu-chah-nulth), 100, 312n236 Clayoquot Sound area, 3, 17, 27, 58, 69, 263-6 passim, 276-84 passim, 341n123, 345n169 Clew, Kloo/Eeyagh (Xe-u - Haida), 43, 44, 251-2, 351n230, 397n346 Clipperton Island, 96 Cloak Bay. See Langara Island coconuts, 173, 177, 180-1, 183, 184, 186, 187, 188, 195, 199 Colnett, James: antagonism towards Spain, 3, 4, 39, 71, 95; background and early career, 2; career after the voyage of the Prince of Wales, 3-4; charts and maps, 40, 41, 45, 46, 67-9, 72-3, 263-6 passim, 285(m), 286(m), 291-94, 312n237, 317n321, 327n448, 335n73, 336n81, 338n96, 342n137, 348n200, 348n201, 351n230, 354n266, 355n269, 355n271, 355n272, 356n280, 357n294, 361n21, 388n242, 388n244, 389n257, 391n269, 391n271, 391n272, 391n273, 392n279, 392n282, 392n283, 392n289, 393n295, 393n296, 394n305, 395n318, 395n319, 396n333, 398n349, 398n351, 399n363, 400n365, 400n368, 400n370; historical significance of first expedition and journal, 14, 19, 69-70; manuscript journals, 70-2; voyage on the Argonaut, 3-4, 19, 27, 39, 68, 69, 70, 309n166, 330n19, 371n94, 373n108, 395n319; voyage on the Glatton, 4; voyage on the Rattler, 4, 21-3, 27, 70-1, 305n107, 332n47, 332n48. See also Banks, Joseph; De Laguna, Frederica; Dixon, George; Etches, John; Etches, Richard; Japan, plans for Colnett to visit; Johnstone, James; Menzies, Archibald; Prince of Wales under vessels, Colnett expedition; Society Islands, Colnett’s experience at; Taylor, Andrew Bracey; Vancouver, George

Index | 431

contact process: ceremonial greetings, 40, 70, 105, 127, 133, 136, 144-5, 211, 237, 348n206, 363n34; colonial consequences, 65-6; European involvement in indigenous conflicts, 43, 44, 62, 66, 198, 244, 250; European technology, use in contact process, 26-7 (see also firearms); exchange of names, 40, 53, 56, 171, 215, 267-75 passim, 350n221, 380n158; first encounters, Native perceptions, 35, 52, 54-5, 58-9, 267-75 passim, 388n248; –, by Europeans, 28, 35-6, 46, 48, 57, 60, 62, 100, 105-6, 116, 118-9, 129, 134, 145-6, 159, 171, 173, 178, 183-5, 189, 191-2, 199-200, 211-2, 223, 231, 233, 244, 252, 310n181; gifts, by Natives, 53, 173, 183-4, 186, 190, 194-5, 197, 199, 211, 368n67; Hawaiian Islands, 61-5, 66, 169-201; –, Hawai'i, 61, 63, 64, 169-73; –, Kaua'i, 61-5, 182-200; –, Maui, 173-5; –, Moloka'i, 62, 175-7; –, Ni'ihau, 63, 187, 193, 200; –, O'ahu, 62, 177-89; language and problems of communication, 30, 49, 106, 109, 116, 144, 198, 219, 230, 247, 252, 254, 256, 349n207, 356n284, 390n267; –, pidgins, 31, 397n342; –, use of numerals, 225, 385n210, 388n245, 390n267; –, use of signs, 144, 230, 232, 235, 267-75 passim, 349n207; music, European use of, 36, 108, 117, 184; Native “fickleness”, 60, 145; Northwest Coast, 32-59, 65; –, Alaskan coast, 60, 223-5, 227-35; –, Banks Island area, 45-59, 141-65, 263-6 passim, 276; –, Kildidt Sound area, 254-7; –, Nootka Sound area; 32-39, 263-6 passim; –, Prince William Sound area, 59-60, 211-9; –, Queen Charlotte Islands, 39-45, 125-38, 24053, 263-6 passim; passengers on board vessels, 173, 192-3, 200, 366n59 (see also Canton; Kualelo); sexual relationships (see Native women); “theft” and European responses, 38-9, 44, 48-51, 60, 62, 66, 107, 109, 110-1, 117, 119, 130-1, 133-4, 137, 145-9, 152-4, 156, 157, 162, 171-3, 178, 182-3, 187, 211, 217, 224, 239, 247, 250, 252, 257, 263-6 passim (see also anchors; firearms; ship’s boats); trade, Native protocols and preroga-

tives, 31, 33-7, 39, 42, 44, 47-8, 50, 53, 56, 63, 65-6, 104-5, 107, 263-6 passim, 315n281, 337n87, 349n210, 357n290, 385n208; trade and peaceful interaction, 37, 65. See also Native peoples, Northwest Coast, resource ownership systems; trade goods Controller (Comptrollers) Bay, 214-5, 220, 279 Cook, James: death of, 26, 61, 188, 192; –, seen as Lono, 54, 188, 364n38; second voyage, 2-3, 21-2, 23, 25, 85, 114, 305n104, 305n105, 330n15, 332n38, 332n49, 352n237; third voyage, charts, 92, 112, 313n239, 338n96, 361n1, 383n190; –, consequences, 1, 6, 11, 61; –, journals and editing for publication, 20; –, published account, 6, 15, 20, 2523; –, visit to Alaskan coast, 210, 215, 222, 229, 230, 377n135(see also Bering Bay); –, visit to Nootka Sound, 31, 33, 46, 48, 356n285; –, visits to Hawaiian Islands, 61, 63, 173, 182, 188, 192-3, 200 Cook Inlet (Cook’s River), 205 copper: European trade of, 60, 108, 117-8, 340n119, 350n219; Native trade in, 113, 135, 218, 253, 351n235; use in Native artifacts, 70, 128, 134-5, 145, 218-9, 231, 240-1, 243 Copper River, 381n170 Cox, John Henry, 18, 297n24 Coyah (Xo-ya - Haida), 40, 130, 133, 240, 243, 244 Cross Sound, 228-9 cultivation: Hawaiian Islands, 169, 174-5, 181, 361n13 (see also individual crops); index of social evolution, 24-5; use of fire, 183. See also tobacco, Northwest Coast Cumshewa (Go’msiwa - Haida), 263-6 passim, 277, 304n99 Cumshewa Inlet, 263-6 passim, 277, 304n99, 349n210, 394n313 Dall Island area, 16, 235-9 Dalrymple, Alexander: fur trade, 18; hydrography and cartography, 28, 67-8, 263-6 passim, 276-84 passim, 303n85, 314n274; Northwest Passage, 7-8, 66

432 | Index

Dalrymple, Hugh, 297n18 Dampier, William, voyage literature, 20-1 De Laguna, Frederica: Chugach ethnography, 70, 378n136, 378n139, 379n146, 380n155; Colnett voyage, 70, 351n235, 382n175, 385n216, 386n218, 386n221, 386n224; Tlingit ethnography, 49-50, 70, 351n235, 384n196, 385n206, 385n209, 385n211, 385n212, 385n213, 386n219, 388n247, 388n248 disease: Native peoples and demography, 39, 56, 58, 256-7, 344n154, 387n239, 399n361; scurvy, 11, 13, 16, 23, 36, 94, 98, 100, 104, 107, 125, 247, 253; venereal, 45, 186, 200, 204, 378n136 Dixon, George: charts, 385n205, 385n214, 393n296; Cook, 7-8; dispute with John Meares, 17, 263-6 passim; place names, 276-84 passim; voyage of Queen Charlotte, 8, 9, 11, 18, 66; –, encounter with Colnett, 13, 119-21; –, Hawaiian Islands, 61, 65, 185; –, Northwest Coast, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 39, 125, 135, 138, 205, 212, 224, 228-9, 234, 242-3, 253. See also Beresford, William; Queen Charlotte under vessels, British Dixon Entrance, 237, 238-9, 240, 277 dogs: Native, 60, 113, 115, 214, 215, 218, 367n60; ship’s, 87, 143, 165, 178 Douglas, William: Hawaiian Islands, 645, 367n64, 369n79, 375n116; Northwest Coast, 263-6 passim, 379n150, 380n158, 390n263, 391n271. See also Iphigenia Nubiana under vessels, British Douglas Channel, 14, 17, 45, 140(m), 141(m), 263-6 passim, 283, 286(m), 317n316, 357n292 Drucker, Phillip: Heiltsuk ethnography, 398n355; Nuu-chah-nulth ethnography, 32, 35, 49, 58, 338n96, 339n106, 339n111, 340n114, 340n117, 345n173 Duncan, Charles: background and early career, 9-10; charts, 14, 67-8; criticism of, by crew, 22, 155; disappearance of journal, 72; dispute with Etches, 303n86, 328n464, 359n311; encounter and dispute with Meares, 17, 263-6 passim; place names, 28, 276-84 passim; return to England (1789), 19; voyage of Princess Royal (1786-8); –, Hawaiian Islands (1788), 15, 16, 182,

184, 186-7, 190-3, 200, 204; –, Northwest Coast (1787), 33, 45, 100, 101, 105, 106, 107, 109-11, 116, 119-22, 127, 129, 130, 131, 133, 139, 142, 143, 148, 152, 1545, 156, 162-3, 164, 165, 166; –, Northwest Coast (1788), 17, 41, 42, 43, 73, 215, 242, 243-4, 248, 249, 250, 253, 2636 passim, 379n150; –, outward voyage (1786-7), 77, 79, 80, 87, 88, 96, 98; voyages to Hudson Bay, 66-7. See also Princess Royal under vessels, Colnett expedition Duncan, William, 51, 55, 267-75 passim East India Company, 4, 7-8, 13, 18-9, 71-2, 263-6 passim, 296n12, 297n24, 299n50, 301n69, 302n70, 304n101, 304n102, 309n169, 324n418, 326n442, 337n89 Eeyagh (Haida). See Clew, Kloo/Eeyagh eggs, birds’, 235 empire and exploration, 1, 6-9, 19-29, 6670. See also Banks, Joseph; Cook, James; Etches, Richard; La Pérouse, Jean-François de; Menzies, Archibald; Spanish voyages; Vancouver, George Enderby, Samuel, 298n27 Enemo. See Hanamo/Enemo equator, crossing ceremony, 81 Etches, John, 263-6 passim; supercargo on Colnett expedition, 3, 9, 28, 77, 80; –, Canton, 18-9; –, Hawaiian Islands, 176, 178, 184, 185, 190, 192, 198, 200; –, Isla de los Estados, 85-6, 87, 89, 305n106, 329n9; –, Northwest Coast (1787), 35-6, 105, 106, 109, 111, 112, 114, 118, 120, 121-2, 134, 142, 155-6, 157, 158, 163, 305n112, 342n141; –, Northwest Coast (1788), 16, 212, 214, 215, 217, 220, 242-3, 244, 250 Etches, Richard Cadman, 276-84 passim; expedition of Portlock and Dixon, 68; financial problems, 9, 78; instructions for expeditions, 11, 305n112, 334n69, 337n92; planning the Colnett expedition, 3, 8-9, 77, 303n90; plans for further expeditions, 66, 329n9; United Company of Merchants Trading to King George’s Sound, 6, 77 Etches Isle. See Forrester Island (Etches Isle); Hinchinbrook Island (Etches Isle)

Index | 433

Etches Sound. See Juan Perez Sound area European perceptions of Native peoples, 23-7; social evolution, and hierarchy of peoples, 20, 21, 23-5, 35, 48, 49, 60-1, 65-6. See also contact process; Native peoples exploratory voyages, intellectual context, 19-29; science and exploratory voyages, 20-22; scientific and commercial voyages, 4, 10, 25, 27-9, 66, 68; techniques (see ship’s boats). See also Banks, Joseph; Cook, James; Menzies, Archibald; Vancouver, George Factory: Isla de los Estados, 11, 69, 88; Nootka Sound (projected) 11, 13, 69, 101; –, Meares, 263-6 passim Faden, W., 68, 389n257. See also cartography Falkland Islands, 84-5 Fernando de Noronha, 83 firearms: Native fatalities by, 159, 161-2, 192, 195; Native use of, 38, 104, 117; trade in, 26-7, 38, 63, 65, 117, 185, 197-8, 263-6 passim, 322n372; use against Native people, 38-9, 44, 50, 60, 62, 10811, 131, 149, 153-63, 173, 179, 184, 187, 1912, 224, 378n138 fishing technology, 267-75 passim; European, 60, 107, 122, 130, 216, 224, 254, 256; halibut, 55, 135, 137; salmon weir, 143, 156, 399n357; unspecified, 100, 116, 137, 217 Foggy Harbour. See Port Mulgrave/ Foggy Harbour Forrester Island (Etches Isle), 235, 237-8, 239, 245(m), 280 forts and fortifications: Native, Northwest Coast, 263-6 passim, 316n305, 351n230, 353n245, 356n280, 392n288, 393n294, 394n302, 396n336, 397n341; Russian, 375n121 Frederick Island, 245(m), 392n282 Friendly Cove. See third voyage under Cook, James; Nootka Sound area; Yuquot Galapagos Islands, 4, 332n47, 334n64 Gallegos Islands, 94

Garfield, Viola, Tsimshian ethnography, 54, 267-75 passim gifts. See contact process Hakai Passage, 17, 263-6 passim, 398n349, 398n354, 400n365 Hale (He.l - Tsimshian), 51, 53, 56-9, 26775 passim halibut, 31, 52, 125, 129, 135, 136-7, 212, 225, 233, 240, 247, 267-75 passim, 337n86 Hammisit (Tsimshian), 47, 51, 55-6, 1634, 267-75 passim, 357n290, 380n158 Hanamo/Enemo (Kaua'i), 185-7, 190-1 Hanna, James: charts, 314n274; report of by Taylor, 244; voyage (1785), 11; voyage (1786), 34, 39, 263-6 passim, 276-84 passim, 338n97, 346n179, 368n64, 380n158, 398n354. See also Sea Otter under vessels, British Haswell, Robert, 38, 59, 263-6 passim, 315n281, 341n133, 345n162, 345n169, 347n195, 350n323. See also Columbia under vessels, American Hawai'i (Owhyhee), 11, 14-5, 17, 61, 63, 64-5, 66, 167-73, 366n59, 368n64, 372n101, 374n108 Hawaiian Islands: birds, 200-1; Colnett’s visit (winter 1788), 14-5, 167-204, 170(m); Colnett’s visit (September 1788), 17-8, 372n101, 372n102, 372n103, 373n107; fish, 172, 177, 181, 183-4, 201, 203(f); flora, 200-1; marine mammals, 172, 201; position in the fur trade, 7, 61, 96, 101, 121, 155, 308n152; shellfish, 186; similarity to Society Islands, 189; turtles, 201. See also contact process; cultivation; individual islands; Native people; third voyage under Cook, James Hazy Islands, 235 Hesquiat peninsula, 10, 32 Hewett, George, commercial and scientific voyages, 67-8 Hinchinbrook Island (Etches Isle), 15-6, 213-20, 280. See also Port Etches; Prince William Sound area Hippa Island, 16, 234, 238, 241-3, 245(m), 311n219 Hoskins, John, 59, 323n383, 347n195, 360n325. See also Columbia under vessels, American

434 | Index

Houston Stewart Channel. See Rose Harbour (Port St. James) area Howay, F.W., publication of Colnett manuscripts, 68, 70-1 Hudson, Thomas, 10, 87, 106, 112, 122, 125, 127, 152, 156, 158, 179, 190, 215, 223, 237, 238, 246, 251, 276-84 passim, 371n94 Hudson’s Bay Company, 66, 165, 400n370 Icy Bay, 207(m), 227, 382n186, 383n190 Ingraham, Joseph, 41, 44, 263-6 passim, 304n99, 315n284, 320n369, 344n160, 350n222, 356n282, 365n47, 374n108, 392n287. See also Hope under vessels, American iron goods, Native possession of, 63, 113, 128, 129, 134-6, 138, 145, 178, 186-7, 198, 211, 214, 217, 219, 225, 232, 239-41, 2423, 256. See also contact process; metal goods under trade goods Isla de los Estados (Staten Land), 11, 12(m), 69, 85-91; birds, 87-90; fauna, 90; fish, 90; flora, 86, 88, 89; marine mammals, 87-8, 90; shellfish, 90. See also New Years Harbour Japan, plans for Colnett to visit, 4, 6-7, 18, 308n151 Johnstone, James: charts, 67-8, 287, 383n190, 389n257; chief mate on Prince of Wales, 10, 62, 242, 398n352; –, Nootka, 101, 105, 108-9, 110, 122; –, Banks Island, 155, 158, 162; –, Prince William Sound, 208; –, Alaskan archipelago, 230; command of Prince of Wales, 19; Hawaiian Islanders in England, 373n108; journals, 328n466; place names, 276-84 passim; Vancouver’s voyage, 59, 67, 325n427, 363n28, 363n36, 365n52, 372n102, 384n198, 389n257 Juan de Fuca, Straits of, 17, 72, 263-6 passim, 341n123, 400n370 Juan Perez Sound area, 16, 17, 39, 40-1, 42-3, 236(m), 245(m), 248-52, 263-6 passim, 280, 288(m), 351n230, 351n233, 395n319. See also Scudder Point (Shoal Point)

Ka'eo (Tyo, Taiio - Kaua'i), 62-4, 66, 18390, 197-9, 263-6 passim, 306n129, 364n44, 365n47, 371n99, 373n107; Ni'ihau, 193 Kahekili (Titaree - O'ahu), 64, 178, 263-6 passim, 306n129, 362n23, 363n29, 364n36, 364n37, 365n54, 366n57, 372n101 Kaho'olawe (Tahoorowa), 175 Ka'iana (Tianna - Kaua'i), 64, 364n39, 375n114 Kalani'opu'u (Hawai'i), 64, 361n5, 362n23 Kamakahelei (Kaua'i), 64, 365n54, 371n99, 372n101 Kamehameha (Hawai'i), 64-5, 66, 365n54, 367n63, 372n101 Kanskeeni (Kia’nskina-i - Haida), 41-2, 316n308 Kaua'i (Atooi), 15, 18, 23, 25, 61-5, 66, 170(m), 182-92, 194-9, 202(f), 263-6 passim, 339n101, 363n34, 365n47, 375n116, 376n127 Kaumuali'i (Kaua'i), 64, 365n44, 367n63, 371n99, 372n101 Kayak (Kay’s) Island, 16, 216, 220-1, 377n136, 383n190 Keawe (Kaua'i), 64, 371n99, 372n101 Keecha, Banks Island, 46, 355n269 Kildidt Sound area, 16, 55, 70, 253-9, 258(f), 288(m) King, James, 6, 252-3, 338n96 King George’s Sound. See Nootka Sound area Kitasoo. See Gidestsu under Native peoples, Northwest Coast, Tsimshian Kitwalaoo, Banks Island, 46, 355n269 Kodiak Island, 15, 26, 375n119, 375n121 Kualelo (Towarero), 373n108 Kunghit Island. See Luxana Bay; Rose Harbour (Port St. James) area La Pérouse, Jean-François de: visit to Northwest Coast, 318n333, 346n179, 385n212, 386n216, 388n248, 398n354; voyage as a stimulus to British voyages, 6, 295n5 Labrador Tea, 142, 144, 147, 165, 166, 232, 255 labret: female, 22, 45, 128, 145, 225, 254, 257; male, 217, 225

Index | 435

Langara Island, 16, 301n61, 389n258, 392n287, 394n300, 397n345 Lewis, James (Tsimshian), 54, 56, 267-75 passim Ligeex (Tsimshian), 56 literature of the voyage, 6, 20-2, 25, 27. See also Cook, James; Dampier, William, voyage literature Lituya Bay, 207(m), 386n221, 387n228 Luxana Bay, 17, 263-6 passim, 280, 351n228, 393n296, 394n306 Lyell Island, 14, 40, 43, 126(m), 236(m), 245(m), 279, 351n230, 351n233, 396n338, 397n341, 397n346 Macao, 3, 8, 10, 18, 324n417 Mackay, John: left at Nootka by James Strange, 101, 109, 314n267, 341n121, 345n169 MacLeod Harbour, 208, 209(m), 210(f), 276-84 passim Maquinna (M’okwina - Nuu-chahnulth), 33, 37-8, 100, 117 Marchand, Etienne, 26, 393n294 Marshall, Capt. Samuel, 11, 78 Marshall, Lieutenant, sealing party, 78, 80, 85-6, 91 Marshall Isles. See Frederick Island Matra, James, 6 Matua (Kaua'i), 61, 186, 188-90, 195-6, 197, 365n51, 366n55, 367n61, 371n87 Maui, 14, 17, 173-5, 324n415, 363n29, 366n57, 368n69, 372n101 McCauley, George (Tsimshian): Tsimshian first contact narrative, 51-6, 268-72 Meares, John: Alaska, 378n137, 378n141, 379n151; Canton and Macao, 18, 297n24, 395n316; charts, 68, 263-6 passim, 276-84 passim, 306n118, 311n203, 326n437, 347n189, 393n296; dispute with Dixon, 263-6 passim, 367n64; encounter with Charles Duncan, 17, 72, 263-6 passim, 369n79, 394n310; Hawaiian Islands, 64-5, 66, 364n39, 370n82, 374n114, 375n116; involvement with Etches & Co., 18-9, 66; published accounts, 27, 263-6 passim, 276-84 passim, 324n422, 327n452, 340n120. See also Anglo-

Spanish relations, Nootka Crisis (1790) Menzies, Archibald, 276-84 passim; attitudes towards Native peoples, 25, 36, 349n215; background and early career, 10; botanical and natural history work, 11, 21, 29, 67, 69, 305n105, 330n17, 331n31, 332n50, 333n51, 360n325; charts, 67-8, 376n124, 383n190; ethnographic collection, 69, 344n159; relationship with Joseph Banks, 10, 21, 28, 60, 69, 304n103, 305n108, 308n154, 325n427, 325n429, 330n17, 340n119, 344n159, 356n285; surgeon on Prince of Wales, 10, 13, 61, 87, 107, 120, 131, 184, 189, 190, 195, 317n316, 329n7, 330n12, 336n77, 336n80, 368n67; voyage with Vancouver (1790-5), 24, 37-8, 67, 263-6 passim, 313n257, 323n383, 335n73, 336n79, 340n113, 354n267, 354n268, 356n280, 356n282, 357n287, 357n288, 357n292, 360n333, 362n23, 365n44, 366n57, 367n63, 368n69, 373n108, 375n116, 380n155, 381n170, 385n210, 388n245, 389n257, 398n349, 398n351, 399n355 Middleton Island, 206, 209(m) Milbanke Sound, 17, 263-75 passim, 264(m), 281, 320n369, 396n328, 397n342, 398n354 Moloka'i (Morotoi), 15, 17, 62, 64, 174-7, 176(f), 184, 187, 263-6 passim, 361n12, 363n29, 372n101, 375n117, 400n367 Montague Island, 15, 206, 208, 209(m), 210-2, 215, 217-8, 281 Moresby Island, 126(m), 263-6 passim. See also Queen Charlotte Islands Morotoi. See Moloka'i Mount Fairweather, 228 Mount St. Elias, 222-3, 224-7, 349n215 mountain goat/sheep, 353n246, 397n343 Mowee. See Maui Muchalaht Peter (Nuu-chah-nulth), narrative by, 35 Nahiolea (Kaua'i), 64 Nahoupaio (Kaua'i), 61, 195 Namakeha (Kaua'i), 64 Nasparti Inlet, 14, 120(m), 336n81. See also Port Brooks

436 | Index

Native peoples, Hawaiian Islands: bark cloth, 184, 195; cloaks, 363n34; geopolitics, 63-4, 198; Hawai'i, 61, 63-4, 169-73; Kapu and Kapu Borea, 63, 180, 183-9, 193-4, 366n57, 367n60; Kaua'i, 15, 25, 61-4, 182-92, 194-200; Makahiki ceremony, 15, 180; Maui, 173-5; Moloka'i, 62, 175-7; Ni'ihau, 63, 187, 193, 200; O'ahu, 62, 177-82; swimming boards, 187. See also canoes; contact process; cultivation; disease; names of individuals Native peoples, New Zealand, 25-6, 319n360, 356n285, 392n288 Native peoples, Northwest Coast: Chugach, 15, 31, 59-60, 69, 209(m), 211-20, 385n206; Eyak, 69, 380n161, 381n170, 384n197, 385n208; gambling games, 136, 165; Haida, 16-17, 26, 39-45; –, Alaskan archipelago, 235-7; –, Kunghit Haida, 14, 24, 39-44, 125-38, 243-50, 263-6 passim; –, Queen Charlotte Islands, west coast, 240-3; –, Queen Charlotte Islands, east coast, 246-53, 263-6 passim, 349n210; Heiltsuk, 17, 55, 69, 70, 254-7, 263-6 passim, 321n369, 349n215; inter-tribal trade, 38, 46, 113, 117, 145, 165, 225, 253, 345n171, 352n235, 353n246, 381n170, 399n363 (see also copper); Makah, 263-6 passim, 276-84 passim; Nuuchah-nulth, 6, 32-9, 100-22, 103(m), 118(f), 263-6 passim (see also Nasparti Inlet; Nootka Sound area); –, comparison with other Native peoples, 134, 135-6, 212, 219, 254, 256, 257; –, comparison with Ahouset, 263-6 passim; –, comparison with Chicklesaht, 120(m), 122; –, comparison with Ditidaht, 276-84 passim; –, comparison with Hesquiaht, 32-3, 337n85; –, comparison with Homisaht, 35, 337n85, 345n170, 339n106; –, comparison with Muchalaht, 32-6, 38, 101-16, 119, 338n96, 345n173; –, comparison with Tlupana, 32-3, 35, 314n273, 338n96, 339n106, 345n170; –, comparison with Yuquot/Tahsis confederacy, 32-3, 38, 100, 112, 116-7; resource ownership systems, 31, 44, 48-9, 58, 111,

116-7, 119, 357n293, 359n315, 390n266; Tlingit, 16, 26-7, 29, 30-2, 36, 49-50, 55, 59, 69, 223-35, 310n182, 320n369, 327n449, 350n216, 353n245, 353n249, 360n325, 397n343; –, Alaskan archipelago, 60, 229-35; –, Yakutat Bay, 60, 223-5; –, Yakutat Bay to Cross Sound, 227-9; trading protocols and prerogatives, 31, 33-7, 39, 42, 44, 47-8, 50, 53, 56, 66, 104-5, 107, 263-6 passim, 315n281, 357n290, 385n208 (see also ceremonial greetings and exchange of names under contact process); Tsimshian, 14, 27, 29-30, 32, 36, 45-59, 65, 69, 142-65, 263-84 passim, 349n210, 380n158, 390n265, 394n301, 395n315, 397n343, 397n344, 399n363; –, Gidestsu, 45, 141(m), 399n363; –, Gitkxaala, 14, 27, 30, 45-59, 141(m), 142-65, 263-75 passim; –, Gitk’a’ata, 45, 141(m), 357n292, 357n293, 360n327; –, Metlakatla, 56-7 (see also Banks Island area). See also contact process; names of individuals Native women: beachcombers, relationships with, 62-3, 199; captives/ hostages, 50-1, 159, 162, 164; cultural intermediaries, 61; descriptions of, 22, 45, 114, 118, 128, 129, 134, 136, 145, 146, 165, 201, 217, 219, 225, 231-2, 239, 240-1, 243, 254, 257; involvement in trading, 129, 174, 234, 241; Kapu system, 186, 189; presence with children, 127-8, 134, 136, 181-2, 216, 218-9, 227, 239, 240, 247, 366n57; sexual relations and presence on board vessels, 15, 36-7, 45, 61-2, 128, 134, 137, 169, 177-8, 181-2, 185-6, 189, 191-5, 197, 199, 200. See also contact process; disease, venereal nautical time and journals, 73, 388n249 Neah Bay, 263-6 passim, 279, 282, 339n104 New Years Harbour, 11, 78, 82(f), 86, 87, 89-90, 305n105, 332n38 New Years Islands, 85-6, 87-90 New Zealand, as point of comparison, 45, 138, 145, 280, 281 Nihooa, 15, 204 Ni'ihau (Oneehow), 15, 17, 61, 63, 183, 193-4, 199-201, 204, 365n47, 365n54, 368n65, 370n82

Index | 437

Nootka Sound area: birds, 113, 115; Colnett’s visit (1787), 3, 11, 13, 19, 24, 33-9, 48-9, 65, 95(f), 96, 99(m), 10019, 102(m), 103(m); Colnett’s visits (1789-91), 3, 39, 69, 307n134, 312n236, 312n237, 337n87, 340n119, 345n162; Cook’s visit (1778), 7, 10, 20, 31, 33-4, 46, 48, 125, 336n81, 348n201, 356n285; Duncan’s visit (1788), 17, 244, 263-6 passim; examination of by Colnett’s boats and Princess Royal, 102(m), 106, 107; fauna, 107, 113, 115, 118; fish, 107, 113, 114; flora, 105, 107, 112-3, 119; fur traders rendezvous, 7, 11, 33, 101, 1089, 117, 121, 316n294, 324n424, 347n192, 395n316; marine mammals, 108, 113, 117; Menzies’ visit (1792), 36, 60, 340n113; mineral resources, 113; shellfish, 106, 113; Spanish presence, 3, 34, 39, 340n119, 345n168. See also contact process; Native peoples, Northwest Coast; Resolution Cove; Yuquot; Zuciarte Channel Norfolk Sound. See Sitka Sound area Northwest Coast culture area: compared with Hawaiian Islands, 24, 66, 134; ethnography, 30-2. See also Native peoples, Northwest Coast Northwest Passage: Colnett’s observations on, 400n370; Duncan’s observations on, 263-6 passim; speculation about, 7-8, 66-7 O'ahu (Wahoo), 15, 18, 62-4, 176-82, 187, 198, 201, 317n309, 326n443, 365n54, 366n59, 370n82, 374n110 Oneehow. See Ni'ihau Opunui (Abenuee - Kaua'i), 61, 182-4, 186-7, 189, 376n127; Ni'ihau, 193 oral narratives, 29-30, 44, 58-59, 267-75; Chugach, 59; Haida, 44, 349n210; Nlkap’amux, 58; Nuu-chah-nulth, 58; Tlingit, 59; Tsimshian, 51-9, 267-75 passim. See also McCauley, George; Muchalaht Peter Oughomeize/Vau-maise/Waumaise (Nuu-chah-nulth), 33-9, 107-8, 110-1, 112, 116-7, 312n237, 339n96 Owhyhee. See Hawai'i (Owyhee)

Pacific Ocean, 92-8, 166-7, 204-5; birds, 93-4, 96-8, 204-5; fish, 93-4, 96-8, 205; marine mammals, 93, 97-8, 204-5; turtles, 96-7. See also Hawaiian Islands Peron, François, 41-2 pigs, 169, 172-4, 176-7, 179-80, 182-4, 1869, 191, 194-5, 197, 199-200, 263-6 passim, 367n60 Pitt Island, 46-7, 52-3, 55-6, 138-66, 140(m), 141(m), 263-75 passim, 322n372, 322n374, 355n272, 355n275, 355n279, 356n282, 357n290, 360n327, 361n334. See also Port Stephens; Tsi’basaa place names: Northwest Coast, 276-84; symbolic appropriation, 28-29 plantains, 173, 176, 179, 181 Poheva (Kaua'i). See Typowooah/ Poheva population estimates, Northwest Coast, 338n86, 385n205 Port Ball, 14, 17, 45-51, 140(m), 141-68, 151(f), 287(m); seamen’s protest at, 155. See also Banks Island area Port Brooks, 14, 119-25, 123(f), 124(f), 262(m), 263-6 passim, 285(m) Port Edgecomb. See Sitka Sound area Port Etches, 15, 209(m), 210, 212-9, 213(f). See also Prince William Sound area Port Farewell. See Kildidt Sound area Port Mulgrave/Foggy Harbour, 16, 221, 223-7, 226(f), 346n180, 386n225, 388n245 Port Safety. See Safety Cove Port St. James. See Rose Harbour (Port St. James) area Port Stephens, 264(m), 263-75 passim, 326n432, 355n275, 356n280. See also Pitt Island Port Yuka/Uga. See Skincuttle Inlet, Port Yuka Portlock, Nathaniel: Cook, 8; place names, 276-84 passim; voyage of King George, 8, 11, 18, 25, 28, 66; –, to Hawaiian Islands, 15, 25, 61, 65, 182, 185, 187, 191, 334n69; –, to Northwest Coast, 13, 15, 120-1, 201, 208, 210, 211-2, 215, 228-9, 230. See also King George under vessels, British

438 | Index

presents. See contact process Prince William Sound area, 15, 206-20, 207(m), 209(m); birds, 212, 216; fauna, 212, 215, 217; fish, 212, 216; flora, 212, 216-7; shellfish, 212, 216. See also contact process; Native peoples, Northwest Coast; Port Etches Princess Royal Island(s), 28, 263-6 passim, 264(m), 283, 326n423 provisions: Hawaiian Islands, 169, 172-4, 176-7, 179-83, 186-9, 191, 193-5, 199-200; trade by Natives, Northwest Coast, 15, 18, 19, 24, 61, 62, 66, 106-7, 111, 122, 125, 129, 211, 225, 232, 233, 240, 247, 256, 399n362 Pyrune (Kaua'i), 190 Queen Charlotte Islands, 7, 13-4, 16-7, 19, 28, 30, 39-45, 60, 125-38, 126(m), 236(m), 237-53, 245(m), 263-6 passim, 264(m), 283, 324n418, 326n442, 346n179, 360n325, 389n258. See also Cape St. James; Juan Perez Sound area; Langara Island; Luxana Bay; Lyell Island; Haida under Native peoples, Northwest Coast; Rose Harbour (Port St. James) area Queen Charlotte Sound: British Columbia, 17, 281, 283, 324n423; New Zealand, 25-6 rattles, Northwest Coast, 134-5, 137 Resolution Cove, 111-2 rice and molasses, 52, 267-75 passim, 323n382 Rose, George, 8, 349n209 Rose Harbour (Port St. James) area, 14, 16, 17, 39-42, 44, 45, 48, 70, 125-37, 126(m), 132(f), 236(m), 243-6, 245(m), 263-6 passim, 283; birds, 137(f), 138; fauna, 138; fish, 125, 129, 135, 136-7; flora, 129, 130; marine mammals, 125, 135; shellfish, 130. See also Haida under Native peoples, Northwest Coast Royal Proclamation of 1763, 25 Russian posts, Alaska, 205-6 Russian voyages, 1, 7, 15, 377n136, 378n137. See also Bering, Vitus Sabaan (Tsimshian), 51-3, 55, 58, 59, 26775 passim

Safety Cove, 17, 262(m), 263-6 passim, 283, 326n432 salmon: availability, 113, 156, 237, 256; European use of, 46, 49, 107, 111, 142-4, 166, 225, 232, 233, 256; Native economies, 31, 58, 111, 114, 117 Sandwich Islands. See Hawaiian Islands Sanjaskulah (GinA’skilas - Haida), 40, 42-4, 133, 249-50, 349n213 Scudder Point (Shoal Point), 43, 126(m), 236(m), 245(m), 246, 248(f), 249, 2501, 288(m). See also Juan Perez Sound area scurvy. See disease sea otter: development of fur trade, 1, 6, 8, 13; hunting and hunting grounds, 38, 44, 108, 112-3, 147, 233, 349n207, 357n293, 360n330, 378n139, 387n228; skins traded by Colnett’s expedition, 14, 16, 18, 35, 46-8, 51, 100, 104, 106, 107, 108, 111-2, 118, 122, 125, 127, 129, 142-8, 163-4, 214-5, 218, 227-30, 233-5, 237-42, 244, 246, 248-9, 252-4, 256-7, 263-6 passim; zoological specimen, 327n446 sealing, Isla de los Estados (Staten Island), 8-9, 11, 69, 78, 86-8, 91 Seax (Seks - Tsimshian), 46-51, 55, 56, 578, 59, 144-8, 162-5, 244, 253, 256, 263-75 passim sharks, 97, 172, 177, 183-4, 199, 204, 205, 371n93 Ship Cove. See Resolution Cove ship’s boats: theft of, 152-4; use in exploration, 102(m), 106-7, 122, 125, 126(m), 127, 131, 135, 139, 140(m), 141-5, 147, 148, 207(m), 208, 209(m), 210, 214-5, 220, 221, 223, 237, 238 Shoal Point. See Scudder Point (Shoal Point) Sitka Sound area, 16, 60, 207(m), 230-4, 236(m), 245(m), 310n181, 346n180, 354n267, 386n216, 386n225, 387n401 Skelkinance, Silkynance (Haida), 40-4, 130, 133, 244, 246-7, 249-50, 251, 394n306, 394n309, 397n346 Skidegate (Sge’dâgits - Haida), 41 Skidegate Inlet area, 17, 39, 44, 263-6 passim, 264(m), 284, 320n369, 353n250, 393n296, 394n303 Skincuttle Inlet, Port Yuka, 40-2, 44, 350n222, 395n325

Index | 439

Snug Corner Cove, 209(m), 211, 214, 381n169 Society Islands, Colnett’s experience at, 114, 189 South Sea Company, 7, 13, 66, 108-9, 2636 passim, 301n69, 326n442, 337n89 sovereignty ceremonies, 28 Spanish voyages: Bodega y Quadra, J.F., 387n239; Caamano, Jacinto, 47, 56, 689, 319n353, 322n372, 323n383, 355n372, 357n290, 360n327, 380n158, 390n269, 392n278; Martinez, Esteban (Princessa), 307n134, 377n129, 378n137, 380n156; Perez, Juan, 301n61, 337n88. See also vessels, Spanish Staten Island. See Isla de los Estados (Staten Land) Stephens, Phillip, 276-84 passim; Colnett, 70, 297n16; Meares, 311n203 Stewart (Steward), Alex: Colnett expedition, 10-11; later activities, 67. See also chief mate on under vessels, Colnett expedition, Princess Royal Strange, James: origins of expedition, 300n55; visit to Nootka (1786), 37, 101, 305n112, 313n256, 314n267, 324n418, 340n115, 344n157, 344n157, 344n160, 345n169. See also Experiment and Captain Cook under vessels, British sugar cane, 169, 173, 181, 186, 195, 200 Swanton, John: Haida ethnography, 41, 43-4, 316n296, 349n210, 350n221, 390n267, 393n294, 395n325, 396n338 sweet potatoes, 176, 361n2 taboo. See Kapu and Kapu Borea under Native peoples, Hawaiian Islands Tahsis, 37, 340n113, 345n173 taro, 25, 169, 173, 186, 195, 361n2 Taylor, Andrew Bracey; background and early career, 5; career after the voyage of the Prince of Wales, 5-6; chart, 72, 73; criticism of Colnett expedition, 9, 16, 22, 23, 78-9, 110, 133, 147, 185-7, 194, 243, 247, 330n10, 338n95, 340n120, 391n277, 397n347; journals, scope and format, 1, 72-3, 306n116, 307n145, 361n4, 375n117; –, historical significance, 14, 19, 69-70, 72; –, relation to voyage literature, 21-2, 27, 29, 327n452; observations concerning, Alaskan

archipelago, 60, 231-4, 237-9, 385n210, 388n243, 389n260, 390n264, 390n267; –, Banks Island, 46-51, 54-6, 58-9, 1427, 149-51, 153-5, 159-64, 358n294, 358n297, 360n331, 360n333; –, departure from England, 78-9; –, Hawaiian Islands, 61-5, 181-2, 184-9, 194-5, 263-6 passim, 361n3, 361n7, 361n10, 361n12, 361n13, 362n21, 362n23, 362n24, 363n31, 363n33, 363n34, 363n36, 364n38, 364n39, 364n41, 365n51, 369n78, 370n83, 370n84, 370n87, 371n98, 372n101, 372n102, 372n103, 373n107, 373n108; –, Kildidt Sound, 254-7, 398n349; –, Nasparti Inlet, 122, 346n183; –, Nootka Sound, 34-9, 10411, 117-9, 336n83, 336n84, 337n89; –, outward voyage, 81, 90, 330n12, 330n22, 331n23, 331n24, 331n25, 331n26, 331n27, 331n31, 331n32, 332n42, 333n50, 333n54, 334n60, 334n64, 334n65, 335n73, 335n76, 336n77, 336n80; –, Prince William Sound, 211-2, 214-6, 218-9, 379n146, 379n147; –, Queen Charlotte Islands, 39-44, 127-8, 130, 133, 136-8, 240-4, 246-52, 348n206, 348n207, 350n217, 351n230, 351n231, 352n238, 353n245; –, return voyage, 327n446; poetry, 22, 90-1, 130, 299n42 Temple, Thomas, 10, 195, 196-7, 199, 366n57, 369n74 Terecremano (Kaua'i), 191 ti, 200, 374n110 tobacco, Northwest Coast, 24, 165, 228, 360n325 Totaha (Hawai'i), 169 Towarero. See Kualelo (Towarero) trade goods: beads, buttons, and trinkets, 60, 62, 106, 108, 117, 119, 122, 129, 135, 184, 193, 218-9, 253-4, 259, 379n147, 388n245; European clothing and blankets, 60, 119, 142, 165, 244, 259, 350n219; metal goods, 15, 60, 112, 118, 125, 142, 169, 176, 183-4, 193, 197-8, 213, 218, 2302, 253, 350n219, 352n240, 392n287, 379n147, 388n245; Native status and wealth, 33, 38, 50, 56-7, 62-3, 65; rice and molasses, 267-75 passim, 319n352. See also exchange of names under contact process; copper; firearms; iron goods, Native possession of

440 | Index

Ts’ibasaa (Tsimshian), 51, 53-5, 56-9, 27684 passim, 397n344. See also Hale Tyeena (O'ahu), 364n39 Typowooah/Poheva (Kaua'i), 188-9, 192, 196 Vancouver, George: relationship to Colnett, 296n15, 298n27; voyage (1790-5), 28-9, 67-8, 72; –, Hawaiian Islands, 364n37, 367n63, 373n106, 374n108, 375n116; –, links with Colnett expedition, 10, 67-8, 70, 72, 389n257; –, Northwest Coast, 263-6 passim, 276-84 passim, 297n15, 298n27, 312n220, 323n383, 325n427, 336n79, 356n280, 359n316, 379n148, 384n198, 387n230, 389n257, 392n278, 400n365 (see also Johnstone, James; Menzies, Archibald) Vau-maise. See Oughomeize/Vau-maise/ Waumaise vessels, American: Columbia (Haswell and Hoskins), 370n86, 372n103, 373n107; Hope (Ingraham), 40; Volunteer, 57 vessels, British: Argonaut (Colnett), 4, 19; Butterworth (Brown), 69, 316n294, 332n47; Experiment and Captain Cook (Strange), 312n233, 337n85, 337n90, 378n137, 379n149; Felice Adventurer (Meares), 17, 19, 263-6 passim, 394n310, 395n316; Imperial Eagle/ Loudon (Barkley), 6, 13, 33, 101, 375n114; Iphigenia Nubiana (Meares), 19, 64, 263-6 passim, 369n76, 369n79, 378n137; Jackall (Stewart), 10, 67, 69, 323n383; King George (Portlock), 8, 15, 121, 185, 212, 302n76, 346n175, 346n178, 349n209, 365n144, 374n114, 378n137; Nootka (Meares), 211, 219, 378n137; North West America (Meares), 19, 369n76; Prince Lee Boo (Brown), 69, 323n383; Princess Royal, 2nd voyage (1789) (Hudson), 10, 18-9, 332n41; Queen Charlotte (Dixon), 8, 13, 120-1, 185, 240, 302n76, 302n79, 306n128, 370n82, 374n114, 378n137; Rattler (Colnett), 21; Sea Otter (1785) (Hanna), 312n233, 337n85; Sea Otter

(1786) (Hanna), 312n233, 337n85; Sea Otter (Tipping) (1786), 378n137, 379n149; Three Brothers, 316n294 vessels, Colnett expedition: furs traded, 18(t) (see also sea otter); personnel, 289-90; Prince of Wales, 9; –, Canton and return to England, 18-9; –, Hawaiian Islands, 2nd visit (1788), 178, 363n28, 372n101-3, 373n107, 400n367; –, preparations, 77, 78-9; –, repairs to, 78-9, 105, 111, 143-4, 146, 148-62, 214-5, 254-6; –, route of voyage, 12(m); Princess Royal (1788 season), 17, 42, 72, 242-3, 244, 248, 249, 250, 253, 262(m), 263-6, 264(m); –, chief mate on, 152, 184; –, damage to, 92; –, description and preparations, 9, 77, 78-9; –, at Hawaiian Islands, 166, 182, 184, 191-4, 200, 204; –, repairs to, 101, 105, 143, 148, 200, 204. See also ship’s boats vessels, Royal Navy: HMS Assistance, 10, 263-6 passim, 330n18; HMS Bienfaisant, 3; HMS Brilliant, 5; HMS Conqueror, 10; HMS Glatton, 4; HMS Hazard, 2; HMS Juno, 332n37; HMS Latona, 5, 329n3; HMS Pégase, 3, 8, 77, 296n8, 329n8; HMS Rainbow, 263-6 passim; HMS San Miguel, 5; HMS Vanguard, 5. See also Colnett, James; Cook, James; Duncan, Charles; Johnstone, James; Menzies, Archibald; Taylor, Andrew Bracey; Vancouver, George vessels, Russian: Aleksandr Nevskii, 378n137; Alekseii, 378n137; Mikhail, 378n137; Three Saints, 378n137 vessels, Spanish: Favorita, 1, 378n137; Princessa, 1, 377n129, 378n137; San Carlos, 377n129. See also Spanish voyages Wahoo. See O'ahu (Wahoo) Waikiki area, 177-80. See also O'ahu (Wahoo) Waimea Bay, 15, 61-4, 170(m), 182-92, 194-9, 202(f), 376n127. See also Kaua'i (Atooi) Waumaise. See Oughomeize/Vau-maise/ Waumaise

Index | 441

weapons, Native: Hawaiian Islands, 178, 179, 192; Northwest Coast, 43, 50, 106, 113, 114, 118, 127-8, 129, 136, 138, 159, 161, 162, 165, 211, 217, 219, 232, 233, 239, 242, 249, 253 whales, observed, 83, 84, 93, 113, 139, 201, 237, 250, 253 whaling: Native, 31, 116, 117, 118(f), 135, 263-6 passim, 313n244, 342n142; Pacific whale fishery (British), 4, 7, 8, 302n74, 313n244, 325n425, 329n9 Woody Point. See Cape Cook

Yakutat Bay, 16, 224-7; anchorage, 225, 226(f). See also Port Mulgrave/Foggy Harbour yams, 121, 174, 181, 187, 193, 200, 369n79 Yuka/Yookah (Wada - Haida), 24, 40, 42-4,) 130, 133, 240, 243, 246-7, 24952; village, 126(m) Yuquot, 33, 37-8, 117-9. See also Nootka Sound area Zuciarte Channel, 13, 33, 34, 35, 101, 102(m)

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