The Nootka Indians, sometimes known as Aht, are a group of tribes
occupying the west coast of Vancouver Island, from about Cape Cook
south to Sooke Inlet, also the extreme northwest point, Cape Flattery,
of Washington. The Indians of Cape Flattery, generally known as Makah,
are sometimes considered distinct from the Nootka, but their speech
is practically identical with that of the Nitinat, the southern group
of Vancouver Island Nootka. The dividing line between the Nitinat and
northern Nootka (Nootka proper) is a little south of Cape Beale. It
is determined by linguistic considerations, the Nitinat dialects and
those of the northern Nootka being mutually unintelligible groups.
The dialectic differences within the groups are comparatively slight.
Directly north of the northernmost Nootka are the Quatsino, one of
the Kwakiutl tribes; south of the southernmost island Nitinat are the
Sooke, a Coast Salish tribe of the Lkungen-Clallam group; while south
of the Makah are the Quilleute, a Chimakuan tribe.
The total number of Nootkas in 1906 was about 2500, of which over 400
belonged to the Makah. The Nootkas in no sense form a political unit.
They are merely a group of independent tribes, related by language,
inter-tribal marriage, and close cultural inter-influences.
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.
The chief works on the Nootka are:
BOAS F. The Nootka (Report of British Association for the Advancement
of Science, Leeds meeting, 1890, pp. 582-604; reprinted,
pp. 30-52, in Sixth Report on the Northwestern Tribes of
Canada.)
The Nootka ([Religious Ceremonials] pp. 632-644 of The Social
Organization and the Secret Societies of the Kwakiutl
Indians, in Report of U. S. National Museum, 1895).
Sagen der Nutka (pp. 98-128 of _Indianische Sagen von der
Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas_, Berlin, 1895).
HUNT, GEORGE (collector). Myths of the Nootka (pp. 888-935 of Boas,
F.: Tsimshian Mythology, 31st Annual Report of the Bureau
of American Ethnology, 1909-10.)
JEWITT, JOHN R. (also JEWETT) Adventures and Sufferings of John R.
Jewitt, only Survivor of the Crew of the Ship _Boston_
during a captivity of nearly three years among the Indians
of Nootka Sound (Middletown, 1815; Edinburgh, 1824; often
reprinted, see edition of Robert Brown, London, 1896);
also published as The Captive of Nootka, or the Adventures
of John R. Jewett (Philadelphia, 1841).
SAPIR, E. A Flood Legend of the Nootka Indians of Vancouver Island
(_Journal of American Folklore_, 1919, pp. 351-355).
A Girl’s Puberty Ceremony among the Nootka Indians (Transactions
of the Royal Society of Canada, 3rd series, vol. VII,
1913, pp. 67-80).
Some Aspects of Nootka Language and Culture (_American
Anthropologist_, N. S., vol. XIII, 1911, pp. 15-28).
Vancouver Island, Indians of (in Hastings’ Encyclopædia of
Religion and Ethics; deals with Nootka religion).
SPROAT, G. M. Scenes and Studies of Savage Life (London, 1868).
SWAN, JAMES G. The Indians of Cape Flattery (Smithsonian Contributions
to Knowledge, vol. XVI, part 8. pp. 1-106, Washington,
1870).