Jan., 1912 
A VISIT TO NOOTKA SOUND 
17 
Meares, Vancouver, Dixon, and others, whose travels were published in the years 
immediately following. A later account of the place, and a very full one, is that 
contained in John Jewitt’s Narrative. Jewitt was armourer on the Boston, an 
American ship trading on the northwest coast, which was seized by the Indians 
while lying in Nootka Sound, and the entire crew massacred, with the exception of 
Jewitt and one other man. This was in March, 1803, and the two were held as 
slaves from that time until they escaped in July, 180,5. Jewitt kept a journal 
during his captivity, which was published later, in narrative form, a fascinating tail 
and a valuable account of the region. There is but little zoology contained in it, 
except as relating to such animals as the Indians depended on for food or clothing, 
the sea otter, seals, whales, bear, etc., but the description of the natives and their 
customs is intensely interesting, while the account of the geography and appearance 
of the sound, both in general and in detail, is such as to strongly impress a later 
visitor with the credibility of the narrative. A late edition (1896) of this book 
has been published, with an introduction and copious notes by Robert Brown. Dr. 
Fig. 9. WATER FRONT AT KRIENDEY COVE, NOOTKA SOUND 
Brown explored many parts of Vancouver Island in the sixties (among numerous 
contributions to the zoology, ethnology and geography of the region he published 
a list of the birds of Vancouver Island, in the Ibis, 1868), and he tells here of a 
visit to friendly Cove in 1863. 
With Captain Cook’s account of the discovery and exploration of the bay in 
1778, Jewitt’s narrative of twenty-five years later, and Dr. Brown’s careful expo- 
sition of conditions sixty years from that time, we have graphic pictures of this 
interesting spot at widely separated intervals. It is perhaps excusable for a later 
visitor to tell something of the place as it exists today, for it is remote from the 
usual track of the “tourist” or “tripper”, and such, even should they stray so 
far, would doubtless see very little to interest them, for the greatest charm of the 
place, of course, lies in its memories and associations. 
The Indian village of Friendly Cove has been where it is since before the 
coming of the white man, and the advantages of the site are so obvious that it had 
probably been occupied for ages previous to that time. The town is at the south- 
eastern extremity of Nootka Island on a projecting spit, which is some half mile 
in length, perhaps a quarter of a mile across, from bay to ocean, quite level, barren 
