Mitchell Revised

Portraits TOC NIMPKISH: COMPLEX FORAGERS ON THE NORTHWEST COAST OF NORTH AMERICA Donald Mitchell he lower reaches of the Nimpkish River, from the outlet of Nimpkish Lake to Broughton Strait, are a 7-kilometer (4.4 Tmile) stretch through which pass some of the largest runs of Pacific salmon on the central British Columbia coast. Upwards of 250,000 fish annually enter these waters now and it is likely their numbers in earlier times were even greater. Some, like the pink, chum, and coho salmons, spawn in gravels on the river’s floor; others, like the sockeye and spring salmons, move on through the lake to ascend and deposit their eggs in its feed- er streams. No one lives here now, but in the thick forest that lines its banks and on a grassy bluff near its mouth lie the remains of settlements belonging to the Nimpkish people. While they now dwell nearby, across Broughton Strait on Cormorant Island, a few generations ago Nimpkish existence centered on this river and it was here they lived for much of the year. This chapter focuses on life at that time, specifically between late eighteenth century contact with Europeans and late nineteenth century resettlement at Alert Bay. In those years, the Nimpkish were but one of some twenty- five politically autonomous local groups whose territories lay on northern Vancouver Island and the adjacent mainland, within North America’s Northwest Coast culture area. Anthropologists have long referred to this set of local groups collectively as the Kwakiutl—sometimes, Southern Kwakiutl to distinguish them from linguistic relatives to the north. More recently, acknowl- edging that the term “Kwakiutl” properly applies to but one group, the “Southern Kwakiutl” have encouraged use of the name Kwakwaka’wakw—meaning “those who speak Kwakwala,” the language shared by all twenty-five local groups. Nimpkish territory included the Nimpkish River valley as far inland as the head of Nimpkish Lake (beyond which were the Nenelkenox, one of the rare inland groups of the Northwest Coast), a few kilometers off the Vancouver Island shore to either side of the river’s mouth, an adjacent cluster of small islands lying to the northeast, and fishing grounds stretching several kilometers to the north into the waters of Queen Charlotte Strait. There were extensions to this home territory by rights of seasonal access to more distant streams. Most Nimpkish went each year to the Kingcome River (90 kilometers or about 56 miles away by water and home of the Tsawataineuk), some to the Klinaklini River (141 kilometers or about 88 miles away and within Awaitlala territory),1 to fish for eulachon. And when the 3 4PORTRAITS OF CULTURE salmon were running, members of other local groups joined the Nimpkish at their river fishery for a share of its exceptional harvest. THE ENVIRONMENT AND POPULATION The principal land area occupied and used by the Nimpkish is a narrow coastal plain lying between the mountains of northern Vancouver Island and the protected waters at the head of Queen Charlotte Strait. In elevation, their offshore islands are an exten- sion of this plain. Nimpkish Lake, however, is steep-sided and extends fjord-like deep into the mountainous interior. These mountains provide some protection from the prevailing moisture laden westerlies and leave an only moderately wet territory in an otherwise very damp part of the continent. Immediately west of the mountains, in Nuuchahnulth (Nootka) territory, annual pre- cipitation in some places averages over 500 centimeters (196 inches). Here, it is around 150 centimeters (59 inches). Snow falls each winter, but little accumulates as it soon dwindles with the winter’s rain and frequent warm spells. Dense forests of hemlock, Douglas fir, and cedar clothe the land from shore’s edge to high on the mountain slopes. The canopy of mature evergreen forests of this type blocks light and curbs growth of an understory, with the result that the woods themselves, though carpeted in mosses and ferns, are largely devoid of wildlife. However, summer fires periodically sweep through the timber, forming large tracts of brushland over which deer, elk, and black bear forage. In such areas and along the margins of streams and lakes, trailing blackberries and shrubs like salal, huckleberry, cranberry, and salmonberry thrive. Large land mammals in the area included deer, elk, bear, cougar, and wolves. Near those mainland locations to which the Nimpkish seasonally traveled were grizzly bear and mountain goats. Along the shore or in the woods were smaller mammals like river otter, raccoon, mink, and marten. Sea mammals to be NIMPKISH 5 found in their territory included harbor seal, sea lions, porpoise, killer whale, and the occasional gray whale. Birdlife is plentiful. There are summer resident ducks, geese, and swans and a wide range of migrating shorebirds and water- fowl both spring and fall. A small population of diving birds win- ters in Broughton Strait. Unquestionably, the most important Nimpkish resources were to be found in the sea, on its beaches, and seasonally in its tributary rivers. The sea held such fish as halibut, herring, ling cod, rock cod, perch, and sculpin. To the rivers came five species of salmon (spring, sockeye, chum, coho, and pink) and steelhead and to selected mainland rivers, eulachon. On or in the beaches were littleneck, butter, and horse clams, cockles, mussels, snails, barnacles, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, and crabs. As resources for the region’s human occupants, two important characteristics of many of the economically significant plants and animals were their cyclical (seasonal) availability and nonrandom (geographically specific) distribution. In addition, many resources (including the critical runs of salmon and herring) were unpredictably variable from year to year. The effects of the first two characteristics were met by seasonal moves to specific locations to harvest resources as they became available and by adoption of preservation and storage techniques that permitted stockpiling for lean seasons. The unpredictable nature of certain resources was accommodated partly by the preservation technology, partly by trade, and partly by the common practice of intergroup feasting. The Nimpkish were fortunate in that their river had runs of salmon that were both large and rel- atively stable. Other Kwakwaka’wakw without direct access to the resources of this river might experience the occasional very lean year. The number of Nimpkish supported by this environment at or before contact was likely under two thousand. Captain George Vancouver, who visited the area in July 1792, estimated there were about five hundred in Xwulk, a village at the mouth of the Nimpkish River, but at that time of year others may well have been in residence at either of two settlements further upstream. A Hudson’s Bay Company estimate put the figure for the Nimpkish in 1838 at about 1,990. By 1883 their numbers had fallen to 190,2 a reduction brought about almost entirely by the disastrous effects of disease—most notably smallpox. 6PORTRAITS OF CULTURE THE ANNUAL SUBSISTENCE ROUND Kwakwaka’wakw local groups each consisted of a number of extended households that traditionally gathered in winter at a common village but during the rest of the year might be found at any of a number of settlements within or beyond the home territory. We will follow the moves and activities of one of these Nimpkish house groups during a typical year. The winter season (which we treat as the final chapter in the annual round) was brought to a close with the appearance of the year’s first abundant and important resource: the herring. As early as February or March, vast schools of Pacific herring approach the beaches to spawn. The exact choice of beach is not predictable, but there are areas of greater likelihood, and to one of these our house group, in company with many others who had the right to exploit this resource, would travel. One likely area is in the islands across Broughton Strait, where the seasonal settle- ment of Ksuiladas was situated. For the move, their house at Xwulk, the winter village, was dismantled, leaving only the heavy posts and beams of the framework. The large split cedar planks forming the roof and walls were loaded and lashed cross- ways on pairs of big cedar dugout canoes to form platforms for passengers and possessions and up to four of these affairs for each household, accompanied by smaller canoes, would be pad- dled, on a favorable tide, across the strait and through the islands to Ksuiladas. Here, the cargoes were unloaded onto the beach at one of the three small coves to the north and south of the settle- ment (it extended right across the narrow island) and the planks were set up on a log framework similar to that at the winter village. From this base, parties traveled out each day in the small canoes to search for and observe herring. Once the probable spawning beaches had been determined (the water is whitened by discharged milt), preparations were made for the harvest. Previously cut evergreen boughs were thrust into the beach at low tide to form a miniature temporary forest. When the herring came inshore with the rising tide, they deposited many of their NIMPKISH 7 eggs on these branches, and as the spawn was one of the major desired herring products, harvesting consisted simply of gather- ing the heavily laden branches. The other product was the herring themselves. These were taken by paired fishermen, one at the stern paddling the small canoe through the school of fish, the other at the bow plying a device known as a herring rake. It was a thin, narrow strip of wood, about 1.5 meters (5 feet) long, and for about half the length of one narrow edge set with 4–5 centimeters long slender bone points about 3 centimeters apart.

Load more