Nootka Sound

“ A number of English expeditions visited the place between this date and 1789, as did also several Spanish, French, and American. Only such of them will be discussed as have a direct bearing on the Nootka Sound controversy, and these only at such places in the narrative as their bearing becomes important. A sufficiently full account of the others may be found in the first volume of Bancroft’s “History of the Northwest Coast.”
The first English expedition to claim serious attention is that of 1788. It was commanded by John Meares, [8] a retired [287] lieutenant of the royal navy. ”

“ Preparatory to this rewards were to be offered the first season to men who would reside with different Indian chiefs for the purpose of collecting furs and assuring the natives of the return of the vessels, thus encouraging them to keep back their furs from competitors. The Iphigenia, which went out the preceding year under Meares’s command, and also the North-West America, which he had built on the coast, were to be under the command of Colnett. The rest of the instructions are of no interest to the Nootka Sound Affair. ”

“ As compared with that of the Thlinkeets, the Nootka language is neither harsh nor disagreeable. Its most curious feature is the predominance of labials and dentals over gutturals. The Nootkas possess fine oratorical powers, lending assistance to their words by shaking their head, gesticulating forcibly, and even jumping at each other. A singular sound, and one which it is hardly possible to express by any combination of letters, happens in many of their words. ”

“ In sailing northward from this group they discovered the Sandwich Islands, where they remained ten days; and then, steering still towards the north, arrived without accident in Nootka Sound, where they cast anchor in nearly five hundred fathoms of water. ”

“ On the return of Martinez, late in 1788, from a voyage to Alaska, where he had gone under a royal commission to investigate the Russian settlements on the coast, he reported to Florez, the Viceroy of Mexico, as follows:
Cusmich also told me that, as a result of his having informed his Sovereign of the commerce which the English from Canton are carrying on at Nootka, he was expecting four frigates from Siberia to sail next year for the purpose of making an establishment at Nootka, situated in latitude 49° 36 ́ north and in longitude 20° 15 ́ west from San Blas. ”

“ This vessel was the Iphigenia, which had sailed from China in company with the Felice, under Captain Meares, in the spring of 1788, but which had separated from the latter vessel, had spent the summer in trading on the coast of Alaska and had rejoined her consort in the autumn at Nootka, where they again separated, the Felice, under Meares, sailing for China with the furs collected by both vessels, and the Iphigenia, under Douglas, accompanied by the small vessel, the Northwest America, built at Nootka during the summer, going for the winter to the Sandwich Islands. ”

“ Several bodies are often put in one canoe or box, and the bodies of young children are found suspended in baskets. Property and implements, the latter always broken, are deposited with or near the remains, and these last resting-places of their people are religiously cared for and guarded from intrusion by all the tribes. [336] All the peculiarities and inconsistencies of the 221 Nootka character perhaps have been noted by travelers among the Indians of the Sound, but none of these peculiarities are so clearly marked in the latter people. ”

“ The next occurrence of interest at Nootka was in connection with the North-West America. Mention has been made of Martinez’s futile attempt to get a letter from Douglas ordering Captain Funter to sell the schooner to Martinez. It will be recalled that this vessel, on returning from the Sandwich Islands, had reached Nootka four days later than her consort, the Iphigenia, had been repaired as soon as possible, and had set out on a trading trip before the arrival of the Spanish commander. ”

“ Colnett, who came to Mexico with my consent to present his complaints, will now return to San Blas, where he will receive his ship, the Argonaut. Embarking there with all of the English and Chinese, [179] he will return to Macao or wherever he wishes. At Nootka he will receive from the commandant, Don Francisco Eliza, the sloop Princess Royal, which will be turned over to her master, Thomas Hudson. These foreigners are warned not to delay, trade, nor establish themselves on our Spanish coasts under threat of punishment for violation. ”

“ The common Nootka obtains his one bride from his own rank also by a present of blankets, much more humble than that of his rich neighbor, and is assisted in his overtures by perhaps a single friend instead of being followed by the whole tribe. Courtship among this class is not altogether without the attentions which render it so charming in civilized life; as when the fond girl lovingly caresses and searches her lover's head, always giving him the fattest of her discoveries. ”

“ For even as the northern song of the lark awakens the soft, poetic spell of smiling fields, so, too, the mysterious and still deeply veiled spell of the Nyíka can find expression in its wonderful music.
Small, invisible almost, it rises in the air. Soon it is lost to sight in the sky. Then suddenly a song that, though so often heard before, is still a marvel, comes distinctly on the ear, its notes sharply accented and emphasised as if it were close to us. There is a sharp, rhythmical, clapping sound, as if small laths or pieces of whalebone were being rattled together. ”

“ What a strong and deep impression this world of sound makes upon the traveller at so many hours of the day and night! Every region, every different kind of country has its own characteristic harmony. One does not always hear it—it depends upon the season of the year and the time of the day, on the changes of weather, and much else. But when one has become even to some small extent familiar and conversant with these various voices, one enjoys this music-language Of the Nyíka with a sense of deep delight and ever growing understanding. ”

“ By a strict application, therefore, of 'put yourself in his place' principles, to which most 'good Indians' owe their reputation, Nootka character must not be too harshly condemned. They are not, so far as physical actions are concerned, a remarkably lazy people, but their minds, although intelligent when aroused, are averse to effort and quickly fatigued; nor can they comprehend the advantage of continued effort for any future good which is at all remote. ”

“ But the Nootka amusement par excellence is that of feasts, given by the richer classes and chiefs nearly every evening during 'the season.' Male and female heralds are employed ceremoniously to invite the guests, the house having been first cleared of its partitions, and its floor spread with mats. [307] As in countries more civilized, the common people go early to secure the best seats, their allotted place being near the door. The élite come later, after being repeatedly sent for ”

“ It was the bird's beak that had made Notta laugh in the first place. It was long and blue, and curved so that it could fit over the comical creature's ear like a personal telephone connection.
"But why does it curl?" asked Notta, sitting down and staring at the bird intently.
"So I can hear myself snore," replied the bird. "As soon as I snore in my own ear I wake up and stop snoring." With its claw the Snorer adjusted its beak, much as one would adjust a pair of spectacles, and looked blandly at Notta. "I'm unusual—don't you think?"
"Unusual," whistled the Clown. "I'll say you are! ”

“ The Indian king of Nootka was Maquina. He used to visit the ship, sometimes wearing a wooden mask over his face representing some wild beast. Such masks are still to be found among the Indians of Vancouver. ”

“ The Nootkas are of less than medium height, smaller than the Haidahs, but rather strongly built; usually plump, but rarely corpulent; [279] their legs, like those of 177 all the coast tribes, short, small, and frequently deformed, with large feet and ankles; [280] the face broad, round, and full, with the usual prominent cheek-bone, a low forehead, flat nose, wide nostrils, small black eyes, round thickish-lipped mouth, tolerably even well-set teeth; the whole forming a countenance rather dull and expressionless, but frequently pleasant. ”

“ The Nootkas, using the term in its widest sense, are fairly remote linguistic relatives of the Kwakiutl (including Kwakiutl proper, Bella Bella, and Kitamat) , who occupy the northernmost part of the island and adjoining parts of the mainland of British Columbia as well. Nootka and Kwakiutl are often combined by ethnographers into the “Wakashan” stock.
The Nootka tribes are culturally quite distinct from both the Kwakiutl and the Coast Salish tribes of the southeastern part of Vancouver Island, but have been much influenced, particularly in ceremonial respects, by both. ”

“ Tom has harpooned his fill of seals in the course of his life and, like most other Nootka men of the last generation, has done a considerable amount of commercial sealing for white firms in Behring Sea. He has caught a few sea otters, which are now all but extinct, but no sea lions or whales, though he claims to have the hereditary privilege to hunt these animals, and to possess the indispensable magical knowledge without which their quest is believed by the Nootka to be doomed to failure. ”

“ The guttural sonant heard in the North German tage, or the modern Greek γ, is formed between the back of the tongue and the middle of the soft palate, the tongue being lifted up towards the front of the mouth. As already remarked, it sometimes represents the uvular r; thus, Mr. Sweet says, “when the passage (of the voice) is widened so as to remove all buzzing, the sound of (gh) [162] no longer suggests (kh) [163] or (g) , but rather a weak (r) sound.” Further back in the mouth is formed the Armenian sonant g, corresponding to χ. ”

“ No definite distinction is maintained between the vowel sounds o and u, and one of these letters may be dispensed with. The distinction between hard and soft (or surd and sonant) mutes is not preserved. The sounds of d and t, and those of k and g, are interchangeable. So also are those of l and r, the former sound being heard more frequently in the Oneida dialect and the latter in the Canienga. From the Western dialects,—the Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca,—this l or r sound has, in modern times, disappeared altogether. ”

“ Deep inspiration; the cords are widely separated and a greater extent of the windpipe is visible. (3) During the whisper the vocal cords are separated, leaving free vent for air through the glottis; consequently there is no vibration and no sound produced by the cords. (4) The soft vocal note, or aspirate, shows that the chink of the glottis is not completely closed, and especially the rima respiratoria (the space between the vocal processes of the pyramidal cartilages.) (5) Strong vocal note, produced in singing notes of the lower register. ”

“ We know further that if two different lines of waves run along with one another, their crests and hollows fall together, and their crests become as high again and their hollows as deep again. So two tones from different sources of sound are twice as strong when they are both equally high, and a new tone of the same height added to them will still further increase the sound. But when two agitations of the surface of the water so move that the crests of one fall into the hollows of the other, their movements neutralize each other. ”

“ Quite as regular as the permutations of sounds in the Finnic group is the law of sound-change discovered by Bleek to exist in the Bâ-ntu or Kafir family. The following table gives it for the principal members of the group:—
The Bâ-ntu law of sound-shifting has the advantage over its Aryan analogue, that it deals with actually existing sounds which can still be heard and noted by the scientifically trained ear, whereas many of the Aryan languages and sounds recorded in Grimm’s law are now extinct. ”

“ According to them the being is supposed to be a gigantic Indian, named in the dialects of the various coast tribes Kakaitch, T’hlu-kluts, and Tu-tutsh, the latter being the Nootkan name. He lives in the highest mountains and his food consists of whales. When he goes after food he puts on a great garment, which is made of a bird’s head, a pair of very large wings, and a feather covering for his body, and around his waist he ties the lightning fish, which slightly resembles the sea horse. ”

“ Mediæ are therefore accompanied by the tone of the voice, and this may even, where they begin a syllable, set in a moment before, and where they end a syllable, continue a moment after the opening of the mouth, because some air may be driven into the closed cavity of the mouth, and support the sound of the vocal chords of the larynx. Because of the narrowed glottis, the rush of the air is more moderate, the noise of the air less sharp than with the tenuis, so that a great mass of air may rush at once from the chest. ”

“ O’Hara, when he had heard the bell at least a dozen times.
“It don’t sound like the bell of the Tritonia,” replied Tom Speers, after he had heard it once more. “And all the sounds are from the same bell. If the two schooners were off in that direction, we should hear the bells of both of them.”
“I’ll tell you what it is: the fog makes the difference in the sound from what we are accustomed to hear. We never heard the bell except when we were on the deck where it was rung. ”