Totem (12 page)

Trade language was used with diverse language groups since the beginning of the sixteenth century. Toward the end of the nineteenth century it was in extensive use throughout the Pacific Northwest. Even though each tribe spoke is own dialect, all spoke Chinook jargon with strangers. Missionaries made effective use of it, translating hymns and prayers from the bible.

Totem poles not only tell stories, but have them as well. The Haida of Haida Gwaii (formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands) originated the practice that spread down the Pacific Northwest coast to include the Nootka, Kwakiutl, Tsimshian, Tlingit, Bella Coola, and Coast Salish. The poles of the Kwakiutl are those most familiar and accessible to the general public. I am indebted to the painstaking research of Hillary Steward.

The winter villages for these Native groups were located near mouths of rivers, inlets, or on sheltered bays and were always regarded as permanent homes. Here they practiced their gift-giving festivals until the Indian Act prohibited the potlatch tradition.

The first steamer brought out by the Hudson's Bay Company was the S.S.
Beaver
. Built of stout oak, she travelled from Nisqually to Fort Simpson, calling enroute at all Native villages. In 1862 the company replaced the
Beaver
with the larger, more modern
Enterprise
. The British government then chartered the
Beaver
for the purpose of survey work. From time to time, the owners issued memorial tokens with the impression of the
Beaver
on one side and the
Santa
Maria
on the other.

The Canadian government sent Coast Salish children to residential schools on the island of Penelakut in the Southern Gulf Islands off the coast of British Columbia.

My writing group of Anna, Angela, Corinne, Marjorie, and Paula has provided support and criticism thorough the development of this novel. Thanks go to Brenda and Nancy, my avid readers and honest friends, and my husband Stan, always willing to visit museums, historic sites, and places of interest.

Copyright © Jennifer Maruno, 2014

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.

All characters in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Editor: Jennifer McKnight

Design: Courtney Horner

Epub Design: Carmen Giraudy

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Maruno, Jennifer, 1950-, author

Totem / Jennifer Maruno.

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-1-4597-1934-7

I. Title.

PS8626.A785T68 2014 jC813'.6 C2013-907399-X

C2013-907400-7

We acknowledge the support of the
Canada Council for the Arts
and the
Ontario Arts Council
for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the
Government of Canada
through the
Canada Book Fund
and
Livres Canada Books
, and the
Government of Ontario
through the
Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit
and the
Ontario Media Development Corporation
.

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J. Kirk Howard, President

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