On our return, in order to conform as much as was in our power to the custom of our country, we were desirous of having a better supper than usual. With this view, we bought from one of the natives some dried clams and oil, and a root called Kletsup,[112] which we cooked by steaming, and found it very palatable. This root consists of many fibres, of about six inches long, and of the size of a crow quill. It is sweet, of an agreeable taste, not unlike the Quawnoose, and it is eaten with oil. The plant that produces it I have never seen.
On the 31st all the tribe quitted Tashees for Cooptee, whither they go to pass the remainder of the winter, and complete their fishing, taking off everything with them in the same manner as at Nootka. We arrived in a few hours at Cooptee, which is about fifteen miles, and immediately set about covering the houses, which was soon completed.
This place, which is their great herring and sprat fishery, stands just within the mouth of the river, on the same side with Tashees, in a very narrow valley at the foot of a high mountain. Though nearly as secure as Tashees from the winter storms, it is by no means so pleasantly situated, though to us it was a much more agreeable residence, as it brought us nearer Nootka, where we were impatient to return, in hopes of finding some vessel there, or hearing of the arrival of one near.
The first snow that fell this season was the day after our arrival, on New Year's Day; a day that, like Christmas, brought with it painful recollections, but at the same time led us to indulge the hope of a more fortunate year than the last.
Early on the morning of the 7th of January, Maquina took me with him in his canoe on a visit to Upquesta, chief of the Ai-tiz-zarts, who had invited him to attend an exhibition at his village, similar to the one with which he had been entertained at Tashees. This place is between twenty and thirty miles distant up the Sound, and stands on the banks of a small river about the size of that of Cooptee, just within its entrance, in a valley of much greater extent than that of Tashees; it consists of fourteen or fifteen houses, built and disposed in the manner of those at Nootka. The tribe, which is considered as tributary to Maquina, amounts to about three hundred warriors, and the inhabitants, both men and women, are among the best-looking of any people on the coast.
On our arrival we were received at the shore by the inhabitants, a few of whom were armed with muskets, which they fired, with loud shouts and exclamations of Wocash, wocash!
We were welcomed by the chief's messenger, or master of ceremonies, dressed in his best garments, with his hair powdered with white down, and holding in his hand the cheetolth, the badge of his office. This man preceded us to the chief's house, where he introduced and pointed out to us our respective seats. On entering, the visitors took off their hats, which they always wear on similar occasions, and Maquina his outer robes, of which he has several on whenever he pays a visit, and seated himself near the chief.
As I was dressed in European clothes, I became quite an object of curiosity to these people, very few of whom had ever seen a white man. They crowded around me in numbers, taking hold of my clothes, examining my face, hands, and feet, and even opening my mouth to see if I had a tongue, for, notwithstanding I had by this time become well acquainted with their language, I preserved the strictest silence, Maquina on our first landing having enjoined me not to speak until he should direct.
Having undergone this examination for some time, Maquina at length made a sign to me to speak to them. On hearing me address them in their own language, they were greatly astonished and delighted, and told Maquina that they now perceived that I was a man like themselves, except that I was white, and looked like a seal, alluding to my blue jacket and trousers, which they wanted to persuade me to take off, as they did not like their appearance. Maquina in the meantime gave an account to the chief of the scheme he had formed for surprising our ship, and the manner in which he and his people had carried it into execution, with such particular and horrid details of that transaction as chilled the blood in my veins. Trays of boiled herring spawn and train-oil were soon after brought in and placed before us, neither the chief or any of his people eating at the same time, it being contrary to the ideas of hospitality entertained by these nations, to eat any part of the food that is provided for strangers, always waiting until their visitors have finished, before they have their own brought in.
The following day closed their festival with an exhibition of a similar kind to that which had been given at Tashees, but still more cruel; the different tribes appearing on these occasions to endeavour to surpass each other in their proofs of fortitude and endurance of pain. In the morning, twenty men entered the chief's house, with each an arrow run through the flesh of his sides and either arm, with a cord fastened to the end, which, as the performers advanced, singing and boasting, was forcibly drawn back by a person having hold of it. After this performance was closed, we returned to Cooptee, which we reached at midnight, our men keeping time with their songs to the stroke of their paddles.