Vancouver Island, which forms part of British North America, and
stretches a length of three hundred miles along the coast of the
Pacific, is still little known, although singularly attractive for its
picturesque beauty, its fine climate, and its many interesting objects
in natural history. The writer of this happened to be a resident in
that beautiful island in 1876, and is able to say something of its
scenery and products.
We were particularly struck with the grandeur of the forests. The
huge dimensions of some of the trees fill one with amazement; nor
is there less surprise at the profusion of gem-like berries of many
varieties. The moist alluvial soil produces the delicious salmon-berry,
in appearance a glowing jewel of gold; these, with cranberries,
bramble-berries, currants, and a small black gooseberry, are very
abundant. The most arid and rocky situations are often fairly black
with grape-like bunches of the sweet sellal berry, which grows on a low
hardy evergreen, and defies frosts until late in the season. Another
variety of the gooseberry, larger than the black ones, with a skin
covered with a bitter and glutinous secretion, grows very abundantly on
the dryer soils. Its pulp when ripe is similar to cultivated varieties.
The red huckleberry, strawberry, and raspberry, with some others,
abound in the gravelly pine-lands. Man's constant need of timber is
abundantly met in these forests. The Douglas or red fir, a tough
dense wood, attains a great size, and prevails almost universally.
The red cedar, hemlock, spruce, white pine, balsam pine, and other
useful conifers, are plentiful; while among deciduous trees may be
mentioned maples, beeches, cherries, and oaks, which are more sparsely
distributed.
To the lover of natural scenery few things are more delightful than
a canoe cruise along this coast and among the intricate avenue-like
channels which surround the adjacent islands. The rocky shores, mostly
of a sandstone formation, are for miles wrought and carved by ocean
tides and sands until they resemble fantastic Gothic architecture. The
lofty snow-clad peaks of the neighbouring continent afford a sublime
background to the clear azure sea and verdant graces of the nearer
coasts, whose inviting bays and tiny coves seem to bid the voyager to
land and explore.
Both Siwash and Cloochman, as the males and females of Vancouver Island
are respectively styled, ply the paddle and sail with great dexterity.
Canoeing is their forte. Many families spend more than half their
lives on the water, travelling immense distances, and boldly crossing
wide straits in seas that are often boisterous. Most picturesque in
its details is an Indian encampment, as seen every day in the vicinity
of Nanaimo, Comet, and other settlements on the eastern coast. The
capacious canoe is hauled beyond reach of tides, and if in sunny
weather, carefully shaded, to prevent cracking. Everything needed for
use is removed to the camping-ground. A few poles and rush-mats form
the necessary shelter. In making the mats the squaws (women) are very
skilful, and form an ever-present and prominent adjunct to the Indian
household. If the family have just returned from a successful hunt,
they will probably have four or five deer to skin and dress; besides
a dozen or two of grouse, a few ducks and geese; and often a seal, or
elk, or black bear adds variety to the bill of fare. The skins of the
animals are stretched, dried, and sold, together with such superfluous
meat as can be disposed of. Two or three small wolfish dogs are
generally to be seen tied up and eyeing the butchering operations with
keen interest. Towards evening, presuming the necessary tasks have
been accomplished, men, women and children recline lazily upon their
mats, and for hours make the night hideous with their peculiar clucking
language.
Besides the substantial supplies already enumerated, Ocean furnishes
with no niggardly hand his gleaming luxuries, of which the salmon forms
the chief. In a fragile bark which holds but one, and can be lifted
with one hand, Siwash or Cloochman starts for the salmon-grounds, often
a mile or two from the village. Trolling a line of about twenty yards
with a spoon bait or natural fish attached, he or she paddles at a
moderate pace, carefully avoiding entanglement with sea-weed. The line
being held with the paddle, each stroke of the latter gives the bait
a spasmodic and life-like movement, highly conducive to success. Many
salmon (of inferior quality) are taken in the rivers by spearing; and
though the river-banks are frequently offensive from the number of fish
that have died from injuries received in ascending to and returning
from the spawning-ground, hungry bears and sea-fowl innumerable perform
the scavenger's cleanly offices.
The natives have a peculiar mode of catching a small fish which
resembles a herring, but is inferior to it in size. Taking a lath-like
stick of tough wood, the edge of the end not handled being armed for
several feet with thin iron spikes, they proceed slowly in search
of their prey, using their implement like a paddle, and darting it
rapidly through the finny droves. By this manœuvre a dozen or two are
frequently impaled at a stroke, and adroitly transferred to the canoe
to be used as bait. Herring and herring-_spawn_ are largely eaten,
both fresh and dried, the spawn being obtained by placing fir branches
in the quiet bays which the herring frequent. As soon as the branches
are covered, the spawn is collected and dried in the sun. Halibut
and rock-cod are also caught in these waters. Among shell-fish may
be mentioned a poor apology for the oyster, which seldom attains a
diameter exceeding an inch. Its near neighbour the clam atones for this
deficiency, and is frequently got upwards of a pound in weight. Very
dear to the heart of Siwash is this mud-loving crustacean, which plays
an active part in rustic repasts. The bivalve is often smoked, dried,
and put on long skewers; and together with dried salmon, forms an
unfailing adjunct to the Indian cuisine. Besides the oyster and clam,
the mussel, razor-fish, cockle, and a few others are found on these
coasts.
The Vancouver Islanders are a broad-shouldered, stalwart race, though
perhaps a trifle below the medium stature. On their 'reservations' a
few families raise stock, grain, and potatoes. This result, however,
has not been obtained without much official encouragement. A few are
employed as occasional day-labourers about the Nanaimo coal-mines,
and some are employed more steadily by the miners underground. The
storekeepers avail themselves of their services when they need
porters. Many households also employ the women for washing, &c. A
language called Chinook is learned both by whites and reds, for mutual
convenience in trading and ordinary intercourse. This mixture of many
tongues was introduced by the Hudson Bay Company, but can scarcely
be called a classical language, being far more useful than elegant,
English, French, and native dialects being among its constituent parts.
Another remaining mark of Hudson Bay influence is found in the curious
currency existing among these people. Probably no race has ever had so
bulky a circulating medium as the ordinary blanket, which in the rude
lodges of the richer chiefs is stored up by hundreds, and is everywhere
acknowledged to be the token of wealth.
The squaws are cunning in the manufacture of water-tight baskets, which
are used for many household purposes. Their bark canoe-balers are also
unique though simple in construction. Not only in canoe-building do
the Siwashes display their handicraft, but many of the villages are
ornamented with grotesque carvings, apparently of heathen deities. At
Comox and Nanaimo might be seen a short time ago poles two or three
feet in diameter with fantastic figures carved one over the other
nearly to the top. At the latter place a colossal painting of a fish
resembling a salmon, though perhaps intended for a whale, confronted us
as we approached the village from the water.
Weird and ghostly in appearance is the Indian burial-ground hard by
this spot. Steering up towards the head of the broad Nanaimo Bay until
the rising ground with its heavy forests casts darkling shadows over
the waters, one sees two strange goblin-like figures, hideous with
paint and ghastly protruding eyeballs, apparently keeping guard over
this 'city of the dead.' By the side of each of these wooden figures
are poles supporting white flags, which may be intended as emblems
of that truce to evil thoughts which all humanity observes towards
the dead. These simple children of Nature, like some who claim more
refinement, seem sadly loath to be placed underground, many of the
Indian corpses being laid upon beds and covered with blankets, while a
rude wooden hut is erected around. Within reach of the dead Indian's
hand is often placed a piece of tobacco; and food and water are added
by loving survivors. The Methodists have laboured devotedly here,
together with Episcopalians and Roman Catholics.
The aboriginal tribes of the island, now that they are being brought
face to face with modern civilisation, are rapidly disappearing.
Small-pox has reaped its thousands, and vice and intemperance their
tens of thousands, among these and neighbouring races. In Victoria
and other of the towns and settlements, one remarks the comfortable
European attire of many of the Indians, particularly the younger ones,
who seem to prize such apparel more than most of the Pacific tribes do.
During the long winter evenings, men, women, and children will gather
together in one of their capacious halls and hold their sports far into
the night. The hall, often more than one hundred feet in length and
fifty broad, is brilliantly lighted and warmed by huge fires of bark
or pitch pine; the fires being built on the earthen floor, three in a
row on each side of the interior, and having an attendant specially
detailed to look after them. Seldom more than one person dances at
once. If a Siwash is performing, he is often decorated with a garland
of feathers, with perhaps a panther or bear skin loosely thrown across
the shoulders, and bells fastened around the ankles. His movements
are agile rather than graceful, a succession of high leaps and bounds
being often accompanied with dumb-show and singing, in which latter
the audience join strenuously. When the broad-faced, good-humoured
Cloochman (the literal meaning in Chinook of the last word is goodman!)
appears in the arena, her dress is often of the usual cotton fabric,
her features are daubed with paint, and her thick raven locks absurdly
smothered in white downy feathers. She sometimes jingles an instrument
like a tambourine, and from her movements appears deeply impressed with
the motto 'Excelsior;' but alas! her vast superfluity of adipose tissue
and the forces of gravity combine to extinguish her lofty aspirations.
If mortal eyes could behold a well-fed duck striving earnestly for
gymnastic fame, its performances would probably resemble those of our
lady-friend. No conventional ideas bid her to use the toe more than
the heel in dancing. Upon making careful inquiries, the spectator will
discover that the performers in these dances are generally in a kind of
delirium, the result of severe fasting extended over many days. Their
utterances are regarded as the inspirations of the Great Spirit, and
the dancers doubtless obtain a tribute of reverence from their comrades
in return for their privations.
Another peculiar custom is to hold a potlatch, or free distribution
of gifts, at the principal villages every summer. Potlatch in Chinook
signifies 'to give,' or 'a gift.' These meetings of many tribes are
the scenes of much festivity. Clad in the skins of the bear, panther,
wolf, beaver, eagle, or elk, Indians represent the respective animals,
imitating their peculiar cries and other characteristics with wonderful
fidelity to nature. When the time arrives, the chief and principal men
among the hosts proceed to distribute large supplies of blankets and
muskets, the latter being often thrown into the sea and dived for. Much
honour is accorded to the greatest giver, and the chiefs need to be
large-hearted as well as wealthy to retain their dignity.
When the writer of this sketch left the island, its mineral wealth
was very considerable, and still continues to be so. Many thousand
tons of the best coal on the Pacific coast were exported every month
from Nanaimo and vicinity. Other large veins known to exist, were not
worked, from a lack of capital and for other reasons best known to
the proprietors. The Texada iron mountain, in the Straits of Georgia,
together with other metallic deposits, may in the future claim the
attention they deserve. When finished, the Canadian Pacific Railway
will bring the right kind of emigrants to these shores, and doubtless
more extensive quantities of arable land than are now cultivated will
be found in the interior, when the demand for it is increased. The
present race of settlers are a hardy, hospitable class of men, expert
with the axe, daring and dexterous canoeists, and very ingenious in
meeting the continual difficulties and vicissitudes of backwoods life.
Keen hunters are often to be met among them, men who are so successful
with the rifle that their families keep a full larder without the aid
of butcher or poulterer.
An enlightened system of free schools enables the widely scattered
children of this island and of the other portions of British Columbia
to obtain a substantial education at the public expense; and much
credit is due to the energy and ability of the school superintendent,
whose task it has been to organise and perfect the present satisfactory
educational arrangements. We shall be glad if these sketches help to
stir up an interest concerning this beautiful and productive island.