Page:Condor14(1).djvu/18

 18 THE CONDOR Vol. XlV of timber, and cove-ed with grass. At the extremity of the peninsula a string of rocky islets extends at right angles into the sound, giving the shelter that forms the cove, a placid, unruffled bay in almost any weather. On the sheltered side is a beach a few hundred yards long, extending nearly the length of the town, an ideal landing for canoes, and in sunny weather a delightful place in which to loaf, bathe, and do laundry work, as we observed. This beach, however, is not of hard sand, but of a yielding, coarse gravel, in which one sinks ankle deep at every step, but on this rocky, precipitous coast one is not apt to be critical of such minor details. Above the beach is a short,. steep rise of a few yards to the level ground beyond. On the seaward side of the peninsula is another fine stretch of beach, about two miles in length, and of the same general character, though with here and there short stretches affording firm, sandy footing. At the northern end of this beach, where the coast becomes more rocky and broken, is a large lagoon, opening into the sea and flooded by the tides, surrounded by grassy meadows, and with several streams flowing into its upper end. Above the outer beach, as elsewhere in the region except for the limited village site, the forest ex- tends nearly to the high tide mark, impassably dense, dark and forbidding. About half a mile from the village, and only a stone's throw from the beach, is a small, shallow, freshwater lake, several acres in extent. This pond figures several times in Jewitt's narrative, but though he describes it as at that time surrounded by open woods, free'from underbrush, we found the forest hereabouts, as elsewhere, choked with undergrowth, while, except in occasional spots, the shores of the lake were overhung and hidden with drooping willows and alders. The town itself and its inhabitants, we found quite as interesting as the animal life we were there to study. Probably in many respects the straggling rows of cabins present an appearance not greatly unlike the village first seen .by Captain Cook, for even in those days the northwestern coast Indians built rather elaborate wooden domiciles. True, many of the houses are now embellished with glass windows, aud a few have more or less elaborate bay windows or even. front porches, but these details cannot be seen at any distance, and at a close view most of the houses are quite satisfyingly old and weatherbeaten in appearance; while some even of the most pretentious, if approached from the rear, are seen to be there of ancient design and workmanship, contrastlug strangely with the more modern and garish "front". It is doubtful if the village is as large as it was when Cook saw it, for he estimated the population at two thousand, and from the number of houses, it appears to be far below that at the present day. I had no other way of forming an estimate, for during the summer most of the able-bodied inhabitants are absent, fishing or working at the canneries, and 'the village had a very deserted aspect at the time of our visit. Some distance behind the town, at the edge of the beach, and nearly hidden in the woods, is the Indian burying-ground, the graves embellished with the most extraordinary decorations. The ancient custom of these people to bury with the departed, or to adorn his tomb with, his most cherished possessions, leads now-a- days to most incongruous combinations. Above the various graves were to be seen among other things, a phonograph with several broken records, a sewing machine, an iron bedstead, and a carefully constructed, miniature full-rigged ship, all very much the worse for the weather they had been through. The Indian tribes of the northwest coast, and the Mooachahts, or so called "Nootka Indians", in particular, as one of the most powerful and warlike, have never been considered very trustworthy. The early history of the settlement of the region, aside from the almost incessant warfare carried on between the various