Photo Gallery

A log raft in Muchalat Inlet being moved toward the Gold River.

The cleft, rocky coast, such as this area near the old Makah village of Ozette, located between Cape Alava and Sand Point, is not only picturesque and striking, but also dangerous to sea-going vessels. It is, therefore, hardly surprising that the Nootka had the reputation of being the most intrepid seamen in the Northwest.

Thanks to the twined-weaving technique, this Nootka whale-hunting hat is waterproof. Jessie Webster (born 1909), a Nootka artist in Ahousat, located on Flores Island, wove this fine piece out of cedar bark fiber and dyed grasses. According to her account, this is a Maquinna hat, named after the powerful chief of the Mowachaht Nootka at the time of contact with James Cook. (26 cm; MOA)
MOA = Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver

The traditional and the contemporaneous: Are the totem pole and the television antennae the symbols of modern life for Indian people? The answer is probably "yes," reflecting the ambiguous attitude of the residents of this house toward their native culture. Many native people find it difficult to be proud of their history and tradition. For 100 years they have been told that their traditional way of life is uncivilized and to distance themselves from it as fast and as completely as possible. It is not easy to reconcile today's white world with the valuable cultural elements of the past.

A log raft in Muchalat Inlet being moved toward the Gold River. The tug boat is steered by an Indian.

The fishing harbor of Port Albion on Ucluelet Inland, where the Ucluelet Nootka have a small reservation. Originally they also lived on Long Beach, which is now a part of Pacific Rim National Park.

The great lumber and pulp mill on the Gold River is close to the Mowachaht Nootka Reserve, which supplies most of the mill's employees. The mill produces cut lumber of every imaginable shape and size, as well as wood pulp, the mush substance basic to paper production. Most of the products are shipped out of the area. The thick smoke is indicative of the fact that environmental protection is not a serious concern. Air pollution and the clear-cutting of vast evergreen forests, with little attempt at reforestation, has led to protests by environmentalists. A precedence-setting case involves Meares Island, near Tofino on the west coast of Vancouver Island. An intense controversy has raged for several years over the preservation of that island's forests. The provincial government wants to turn the island over to large timber companies for clear-cutting, while environmentalists and the Clayoquot Nootka oppose such a move and want the island turned into a «Tribal Park».

Friendly Cove on Nootka Sound where James Cook once ancKored and where the Swiss-English documentary artist, John Webber, captured the first images that the Europeans received of the Nootka. The Mowachaht Confederation made an annual migration to the Sound for a communal whale hunt. One of their communities was located at this site, which they called Yuquot, "where the four winds blow." Today Friendly Cove (the Yuquot Reserve) is inhabited by only a half-dozen people.

Today Friendly Cove (the Yuquot Reserve) is inhabited by only a half-dozen people, Terry Williams, pictured, among them. Here she is wearing jewelry made with glass beads, a style that is actually typical of the Plains Indians.

This bear cub, which is probably sitting on the head of a larger bear, is a detail of a totem pole that was carved and raised around 1920. The totem pole stands in Friendly Cove. In 1929 a copy of it was presented to the then governor of Canada.

A small, densely woven basket with lid. The material is dyed and undyed sweet grass, interwoven to create a scene with water birds and a whaling canoe hunting a killer whale. The basket was acquired from the Makah in 1880. (Ø 24 cm, VM)
VM = Völkerkundemuseum der Universität Zürich

Long Beach, with drift wood. The beach, located halfway up the western coast of Vancouver Island, is part of Pacific Rim National Park.

In carving this mask in 1985, the artist, Tim Paul, was inspired by a fairly rare motif in Nootka culture and was guided by the well-known original in the de Menil Collection in Houston, Texas. As the round, calling mouth indicates, this is a Tsonoquoa mask. The forest giantess was actually known only to the Kwakiutl, not to the Nootka. The northern Nootka, however, carried on commerce with the Nimkish Kwakiutl and also traded masks with them.

«Hesquiat Hunter» (A Hesquiat-Nootka hunting a killer whale). Silk-screen from Tim Paul.