BOOK REVIEWS Voyage to the Northwest Coast of and Vancouver were, respectively, America, 1792: Juan Francisco Spanish and British commissioners sent to implement the particulars of de la Bodega y Quadra and the the Nootka Sound Convention. It Nootka Sound Controversy is no surprise that agreement could Juan Francisco de la Bodega not be met for Bodega y Quadra’s y Quadra. Edited by Robin vaunted demands were unacceptable and Vancouver held tenaciously to his Inglis and Iris H.W. Engstrand, own authorized position. It is thus foreword by Michael rather fascinating to read Bodega y Maquinna, translated by Quadra’s narrative alongside that of Freeman M. Tovell Vancouver’s, the latter printed in W. Kaye Lamb’s Voyage of George Vancouver, Norman: University of Oklahoma published in definitive edition by the Press, 2012. 192 pp. Illus. $34.95 cloth. Hakluyt Society. Barry Gough From our own distant viewpoint, the social gathering of mariners from Victoria rival empires meeting at what must have seemed like the ends of the earth, he heart of this work, and its on the margin of a great continent of Traison d’être, is the report of Juan as yet unknown value and one still Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, dated shrouded in geographical mystery, 2 February 1793 at San Blas, Mexico. seems but an enchantment in our time This document is not a diary or journal; and space. Maquinna and the First it was concluded six months after the Nations, observers and participants proceedings recounted and described. in the larger drama, and hosts to the The report was intended for the viceroy visitors in Maquinna’s Big House for of New Spain and for the king of Spain, hereditary dances, speeches of honour, and it is a useful summary from the and a sumptuous feast of the finest position of the Spanish commandant’s foods of ancestral lands and seas, meeting with Captain George could hardly have known that, over the Vancouver at Nootka in late August dinner parties aboard ship in which the the previous year. Bodega y Quadra Spanish supplied the “eatables” and the bc studies, no. 76, Winter /3 155 156 bc studies British the “drinkables,” the destiny of Strait and waters north. There are Vancouver Island was being worked out. few revelations here. But the arrivals The outcome depended on a successful and departures assure us of how busy exchange of letters that might reach an Nootka was in those days for it was agreed conclusion. That proved to be the centre of North Pacific shipping, mission impossible. with tentacles to Alaska, the Hawaiian Bodega y Quadra’s charm exudes Islands, China, and Mexico, to say from this work, and in his opening nothing of European and American sentence he pats himself on the back by ports. The report notes the arrival saying that the king of Spain “thought of Vancouver’s ships, also that of the fit to support this part of America with goletas of Alcalá Galiano and Valdés appropriate honor,” and after consulting and their early departure south. the ranking authority, named Bodega y Evocative and carefully chosen Quadra commandant at Spain’s Pacific illustrations accompany this work, base at San Blas in 1789. When he principally View of the Bay of Friendly reached Vera Cruz, news had arrived Cove from the Spanish Establishment, that Martínez had seized British- courtesy of Archivo y Biblioteca, owned ships and property at Nootka. Ministerio de Asuntos Esteriores y de Bodega y Quadra hastened to San Blas, Cooperación. It shows six sailing vessels readied its warships, examined Russian anchored, with room for more, and a establishments in the far north, and few days later ten vessels were there, the sent means of strengthening Spanish greatest number ever collected together interests at Nootka and in the Strait in this sound. The artist of the cover of Juan de Fuca. It is clear that the illustration on the book is strangely Spanish had been caught flat-footed not signified in this work. Good maps for, having feared the Russians in the and a serviceable index aid the working north, they now found the British scholar and serious student of history. and the Americans trading on the The introduction for this work forms Northwest Coast from the Columbia the first part of the book and dwarfs River north to the Gulf of Alaska. the report itself. Instead of briefly Overcome by events, the Spanish introducing the main characters of this court sent instructions to Bodega y compelling story, with all its dramatic Quadra to proceed to Mexico City for sequence, and then dealing with the consultations and orders. He was told essential differences of the positions of to embark on a frigate for Nootka to Bodega y Quadra and Vancouver, we are meet the British there. Not thinking a treated with a reiterative narrative. That frigate enough, Bodega y Quadra added subject was examined elsewhere to great another frigate, a schooner, and two satisfaction by Warren Cook in Flood goletas, or small schooners. Bodega y Tide of Empire and in Freeman Tovell’s Quadra wanted a show of strength and Far Reaches of Empire, his biography of he arranged it to his satisfaction. In the Bodega y Quadra. A critical edition of afternoon of 29 April 1792 he anchored a document should necessarily provide in Nootka. The report recounts the footnotes to take up and discuss the arrival and departure of vessels, most issues brought forth in the document importantly H.M. storeship Daedalus, as and when they arise. with supplies for Captain Vancouver’s This handsome book takes its ships then making their survey of the rightful place as a classic in Northwest Strait of Juan de Fuca and Georgia Coast history. It is a great credit to Book Reviews 157 a devout team of translators, editors, reference to researchers working on and advisors who have made it into both sides of the border. a first-class book. As Chief Michael In general, the book is a report on Maquinna of Mowachaht First Nation, the analysis of materials collected Tsaxana, British Columbia, rightly during archaeological field school says in the foreword, this work helps investigations carried out in one area to rekindle interest in this period of (Operation D) of the English Camp history: “This publication of the journal site (45SJ24). Initial excavations of 1950, of Bodega y Quadra, an honored guest led by Adan Treganza of San Francisco of my ancestor in 1792, adds significantly State University, were followed by to our shared heritage.” those in 1988, 1990, and 1991 by the University of Washington. The purpose of both series of excavations was to Is It a House? Archaeological test a horseshoe-shaped depression suspected of being the remains of a Excavations at English Camp, Coast Salish house. However, upon San Juan Island, Washington excavation, deposits were found to lack Amanda K. Taylor and Julie house floors, post holes, and hearth features, which are commonly found Stein, editors in other house excavations in the area Seattle: University of Washington (e.g., Grier 2006). Despite the lack of Press, 2011. 182 pp. $30.00 paper. these features, the editors of this book asked all the contributors to consider Duncan Mclaren the spatial distribution of the materials University of Victoria being analyzed for evidence that could be used to determine whether this depression was indeed a house. ynthesizing archaeological Following an extremely brief Sresearch results from the Salish introduction to the volume and a Sea can be a time-consuming task review of household archaeology in the because of the international boundary region (Taylor and Stein), in Chapter 2 that currently divides the region. Faith presents a summary of research This is further complicated by the methods and results from the 1950 rise of cultural resource management field school. Chapter 3 (Parr, Phillips, archaeology on both side of the border, and Stein) provides a description of where few research results are published the research methods used in the and data repositories include state, later field schools. The difference in provincial, and federal agencies, all field methods between these two eras of which have different restrictions is striking. In 1950, no screens were to access. While it is possible for employed, excavation was primarily archaeologists to gain access to most by shovel, and no backfilling was of these documents, the hurdles undertaken. In contrast to this, field involved dissuade most of us from schools conducted in 1988 and 1990 used attempting to do so. For this reason, extremely fine-grained and detailed the publication of Is It a House? provides excavation methods. In 1991, these an easily accessible contribution to the rigorous standards were relaxed so as archaeological record of the region that to complete the excavation units that will undoubtedly be a point of common had been opened. 158 bc studies Site mapping and the stratigraphy are more interpretive material than do presented in Chapter 4 (Stein, Taylor, the other chapters in this volume, and and Daniels). Overall, the stratigraphic her discussion of the sexual division of profile drawings are extremely detailed labour, and the reflection of this in the (every shell in the midden is depicted), lithic assemblage, provides much food but, for the most part, they seem to for thought. The last chapters in the lack clearly differentiated stratigraphic volume are for the most part descriptive divisions, scales, keys, and locations of lists of the objects found during radiocarbon samples. Photographs are excavations, with some consideration included but are black and white and of their spatial distributions. of such a poor quality that little can It is disappointing that the research be gained from them.