Captive of the Nootka Indians - Info and Reading Options

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Fur-trading with the Northwest Coast Indians in the early nineteenth century could produce huge profits when the beautiful skins of the sea otter were sold in the Chinese port of Canton, but the work was risky and hazardous. In 1803 the ship Boston dropped anchor in Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island, its crew ready to barter for pelts. Instead, the ship was overrun by the Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka) Indians, whose chief Maquinna, had ordered the murder of the entire crew. John R. Jewitt, the ship's blacksmith, was wounded but was spared by Maquinna, who enslaved him for his skills as a metalworker. This fascinating book brings together a most distinguished collection of historical material: Jewitt's Journal of his two-and-a-half-year captivity; a parallel Narrative prepared by Richard Alsop, a well-known writer of the time, based on the diary and Alsop's interviews with Jewitt but heavily embellished by Alsop; and a wealth of period illustrations. Jewitt's Journal and Alsop's Narrative have never before been published together in English. A Foreword by Richard I. Inglis of the Royal British Columbia Museum provides historical and ethnographical insights into the fur trade and the Jewitt captivity. At the heart of the book are the illustrations done by the official artists on the expeditions of James Cook in 1778 and Alejandro Malaspina in 1791. Many of the drawings are of people Jewitt knew during his captivity. Others depict Nuu-chah-nulth terrain, dwellings, canoes, whaling equipment, masks, and ceremonial rattles.

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