Southeastern Alaskan Indian Research— Garfield 23 



lotte Islands in 1774 he did not land or encounter Indians. 

 Maurelle's journal of explorations in Bucareli Bay in 1775 is 

 probably the earliest description of the Haida on record (9). 

 Hezeta's expedition also met Indians at Sitka Sound, presum- 

 ably Tiingit. Journals of the expedition of 1779 include some 

 accounts of Indians from Bucareli Bay to Kenai Peninsula. 



Between about 1785 and 1800 many ships of Spanish, Eng- 

 lish, French, Russian and American registry plied the coast 

 from California to Cape Prince of Wales (63). Some of these 

 men, like Cook (1776) and Vancouver (1792-94) headed ex- 

 peditions that were primarily exploratory, but the greater num- 

 ber came to garner pelts of the sea otter. In the 1790's as many 

 as twenty to thirty ships came to the anchorages of Nootka 

 Sound, Parry Passage at the north end of Graham Island and 

 Cordova Bay across Dixon's Entrance. As competition became 

 keener vessels cruised among the islands seeking anchorages 

 and unexploited areas where Indians would come out in canoes 

 to trade. There is a wealth of material to be gleaned from the 

 journals, maps and drawings left by these men, fur traders and 

 explorers alike. 



Most of the visitors came in the early summer and left before 

 the autumn storms for Hawaii, Macao, Canton, California or 

 the south Pacific. They saw Indian families at the fur rendez- 

 vous or summer camps, when they were busy hunting as well as 

 gathering and storing food for their winter supply. The visitors 

 saw little of the rich pageantry or ceremonial life of the Indians, 

 though the wood sculpture piqued their curiosity and caused 

 them to enquire into its meaning. A few traders who returned 

 year after year came to know individual Indians well and to 

 learn something of their social life, beliefs and traditions. The 

 short season gave both traders and Indians a sense of urgency 

 and offered little leisure time for enquiry into cultural back- 

 grounds. Nevertheless, a few men did find time to collect 

 vocabularies, learn something of clans and of inheritance of 

 social position and names. Though Indians accompanied ships 

 to winter quarters, very little advantage seems to have been 

 taken of their presence to learn more of their culture. Con- 



