Written in Stone (17 page)

POTLATCH

The potlatch is the most distinctive custom of the Indians of the Pacific Northwest. It is both a social gathering and an important business event. They were traditionally given by a high-ranking chief to mark an important occasion, such as a birth, death, or marriage. Guests of every social station, and even slaves, were invited to the potlatches, where they were served a lavish feast; entertained with games, contests of strength, songs, and dancing; and presented with multiple gifts. Before outside contact, the gifts were furs, copper, carved masks, Chilkat blankets, and slaves. At the time of my story, a mix of modern and traditional gifts were given. The host of the potlatch would speak, sometimes at great length, about what the feast was honoring. At the birth of a child, for example, a name or names would be given, an inheritance established, regalia received, and the rights to certain songs, stories, dances, and masks described in detail. The guests served as witnesses to the legal transactions announced at the potlatch. The gifts were a payment for their witness, with the expectation that they would remember and uphold the rights established at the potlatch. Both Canada and the United States suppressed potlatching from the 1880s to 1951, confiscating potlatch gifts and arresting those who participated. This forced the practice underground for a few generations, and the details of how a potlatch is given have evolved. For example, they
are now commonly held in school gyms. But the custom of Native people gathering to sing and dance and distribute gifts and remember who they are remains strong from the Olympic Peninsula all the way up the coast to Alaska.

PETROGLYPHS

In the 1920s, logging roads were built all over the Olympic Peninsula, and car ownership was fairly common. However, Ozette Beach was not and still is not connected to a road, so canoe was the primary mode of transportation. There is a small tract of reservation land at Ozette, and the surrounding coastline is part of the Olympic National Park. There are park trails along the beaches where Pearl mended her canoe and discovered her petroglyphs. They are some of the most scenic hikes in the region, but harsh weather and quickly rising tides make them dangerous for inexperienced hikers. The petroglyphs in the story are my own creation, but the Wedding Rock petroglyphs can be seen on the beach about a mile south of Ozette. Rock art of this kind is found all over the Pacific Northwest, although often not in easily accessible places. There is no agreement among Native and non-Native scholars about the purpose of this art form, so the meaning and use of the ancient stone carvings remains a mystery even for those who dwell closest to them.

EPIDEMICS AND ECONOMIC CHANGE

One of the reasons that the meaning of the petroglyphs was lost was the catastrophic death toll among the coastal tribes from unfamiliar diseases. Smallpox came to Neah Bay in the spring of 1853. The disease ravaged the town and surrounding villages for six weeks. There was no count made of the lives lost, but I met a senior at Neah Bay who said his grandfather had told him that when a person sickened with the little red spots, there was no hope. They went right away to the beach to lie down in the sand so that when they died, their body would be carried away by the tide. He said, “There were not enough living to bury the dead.”

The influenza epidemic of 1918, which took Pearl’s mother and baby sister, affected not only Native Americans but the entire world, and caused between 20 million and 40 million deaths. Most of those who fell ill were otherwise healthy adults who succumbed to the disease quickly, sometimes dying within hours of the first symptoms.

Pearl’s desire to keep an object belonging to her mother, and then to her father, and her belief that those objects would speak to her reflect not a cultural practice but an individual and deeply human response to sudden loss and overwhelming grief.

The 1920s and ’30s were a time of great upheaval for
the entire nation, and the tribes of the Pacific Northwest were no exception. Many traditional village sites were abandoned either permanently or intermittently as people moved to find work in the timber and fishing industries. Before labor unions took hold, many of those jobs were fraught with peril for workers of all backgrounds. Sometimes Native and immigrant communities lived and worked together in relative harmony. Other times there was friction. The incident in the movie theater was from my own imagination, yet every Native reader who has read that scene has said, yes, I remember this—both the deliberate shunning and the choice to respond with humor.

ART COLLECTORS AND
NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

I lived in Germany shortly after my time in Taholah, and my neighbors there were intrigued to hear I’d lived on an Indian reservation. Most had read a bit of the history of the American West, an interest sparked by collections of Native American art and artifacts in the museums of France and Germany. Their curiosity got me thinking about and researching how totem poles and canoes and ceremonial robes came to be housed half a world away from their makers. The history of artifact collecting and curio selling is a long and mostly sad one. In setting my
story after the heyday of museum and exhibition collecting, I gave my characters a chance to approach a collector with the benefit of experience, which allows them to see through his ruse and protect not just their regalia but also their natural resources.

There is no Shipwreck Cove on the Olympic coast, although several ships have run aground on its shores. Natural gas, coal, and oil are present in the region but are not abundant enough to make extraction worthwhile. The history of exploitation of Native tribes for their natural resources is also a long and painful one. But one of the things I admire most about the tribes of the Pacific Northwest is their longtime championing of self-determination of natural resources. Joe DeLaCruz was the chairman of the Quinaults when I lived there and was a well-known pioneer in this cause. He was the key player in the showdown at Chow Chow Bridge—a civil-rights story that I very much hope will be written by a Quinault author. An account of the resumption of whaling also cries out for a full telling by a Makah writer. There is a wealth of tales living among the tribes of the Pacific Northwest, along with the centuries-old cedars and pristine waterways. I can’t wait to hear what they have to say in a story of their own.

FOR YOUNG READERS

There are exhibits of art and artifacts from the tribes of the Pacific Northwest in many museums and art galleries around the world. Here are a few you might visit:

FOR OLDER READERS

With two exceptions the non-English words in this book are in the Quinault language. Historically, the Quinaults did not have a written language; however, in the late 1800s when historians came to study the Quinaults and collect their art and cultural artifacts, they also recorded their language using a notation system developed in France by the International Phonetic Association. This system uses Roman letters plus extra characters to represent sounds not found in the Roman alphabet. For example, a question mark is used for the glottal stop—the pause in sound when you say “uh-oh.”

For students in the Taholah School District, Quinault language and culture is a core subject. These students learn Quinault using simplified phonetic spellings, which
I have replicated in the first list of words below. Following that are the Quinault months of the year. These are written in the International Phonetic Alphabet, most commonly used by scholars and researchers.

Chitwin
—Bear

Nah-gwee-nau—
You are loved

Oo-nu-gwee-tu
—Hello

Hamatsa mask
—A group of elaborate and very heavy masks are used in a series of dances that tell the story of a person held by a cannibal spirit. Considerable prestige is associated with the performance of the Hamatsa dances.

Quelans
—“Mind your
quelans
” is a common phrase meaning “mind your manners,” but also “be respectful of your position in the group,” “have respect for yourself,” and “have pride in your culture.”

The numbers from one to ten are:
pau, saali, chakla, muus, tsilax, sitacha, tsoops, tsamus, tagwil, panaaks
.
The Quinaults begin their year in April to coincide with the vernal equinox and the return of the spring salmon runs. The months of the year are:

Pangwuh?am Huhnsha?ha—
Time When the Geese Go By (April)

Panjulashxuhtltu
—Time When the Blueback Return (May)

Pankwuhla—
Time of Salmonberries (June)

Panklaswhas—
Time to Gather Blackberries (July)

Panmuu?lak
—Time of Warmth (August)

Ts okwanpitskitl
—Leaves Are Getting Red on the Vine Maple (September)

Pan?silpaulos
—Time of Autumn (October)

Panitpuhtuhkstista
—Time When Clouds Are Covering (November)

Autxaltaanem
—After the Sun Comes Back (December)

Panpamas
—Time of Cold (January)

Panlaleah-kilech—
Time of the Beach Willow (February)

Panjans
—Time of the Sprouts (March)

Chinook jargon was a trade language used by the tribes of the region and also French and Russian-speaking trappers and traders and English-speaking settlers. Like any trade language, it was grammatically simple, borrowed words from a variety of sources, and was spoken with much local variation. Missionaries and researchers made some effort to record Chinook in the Roman alphabet, but it was never widely used as a written language.

Cheechako—
Newcomer

Skookum—
Powerful

Chinook is no longer spoken. However, many place names in the Pacific Northwest come from this language. For example, the Skookumchuck River means the Swiftwater River.