16 
Captain Cook^ gave the following description of a Nootka house, 
which he visited on the western side of Vancouver island, about 1780: 
“Amidst all the filth and confusion that are fo\ind in the houses, many of them are 
decorated with images. These are nothing more than the trunks of very large trees, 
four or five feet high, set up singly, or by pairs, at the upper end of the apartment, with 
the front carved into a human face, the arms and hands cut out upon the sides, and variously 
painted; so that the whole is a truly monstrous figure. The general name of these images 
is Klumma; and the names of two particular ones, which stood abreast of each other, 
three or four feet asunder, in one of the houses, were Natchkoa and Matfeeta. Mr. 
Webber’s view of the inside of a Nootka hou.se, in which these images are represented, 
will convey a more perfect idea of them than any description. A mat, by way of curtain, 
for the most part, hung before them, which the natives were not willing at all times to 
remove; and when they did unveil them, they seemed to speak of them in a very mysterious 
manner. It should seem that they are, at times, accustomed to make offerings to them; 
if we can draw this inference from their desiring us, as we interpreted their signs, to give 
something to these images, when they drew a.side the mats that covered them.” 
Meares,^ in 1788 and 1789, ob.servcd like Nootka carvings in the same 
neighbourhood : 
“Three enormous trees, rudely carved and painted, formed the rafters, which were 
supported at the ends and in the middle by gigantic images, carved out of huge blocks 
of timber. 
The trees that supported the roof were of a size which would render the mast of a 
first-rate man of war diminutive, on a comparison with them; indeed our curiosity as well 
as our astonishment was on its utmost strength, when we considered the strength that must 
be necessary to raise these enormous beams to their present elevation; and how such 
strength could be found by a people wholly unacquainted with mechanic powers. The 
door by which we entered this extraordinary fabric was the mouth of one of these huge 
images, which, large as it may be .supposed, was not disproportioned to the other features 
of this monstrous visage. We ascended by a few steps on the outside, and after passing 
this extraordinary kind of portal, descended down the chin . . . 
“In most of their houses they have, as has already been observed, certain huge idols 
or images, to whom we never saw them pay any mark of common respect, much less of 
worship or adoration. These misshapen figures occupied, as it appeared, somewhat of 
a distinguished and appropriate place, w’herever we saw them; but they seemed to have 
no exclusive privilege whatever, and shared the common filth of those who lived beneath 
the same roof w'ith them,”® 
“. . . . He continued to inform us that the people killed the old man, and took 
his canoe; and that from this event they derived their fondne.ss for copper. He also 
gave us to understand that the images in their houses were intended to represent the form, 
and perpetuate the mission of the old man who came from the sky.”^ 
The earliest drawing of a carved pole, and this is a house frontal or 
entrance pole of the Haidas, is found in Bartlett’s Journal, 1790.® 
The following description of Vancouver (1790-1795) refers to a village 
presumably in Bellabella country on the west coast between the Skeena 
and Vancouver island: 
“Accompanied by some of the officers, Mr. Menzies, and our new guest Cheslakees, 
I repaired to the \nliage, and found it pleasantly situated on a sloping hill, above the 
banks of a fine freshw'ater rivulet, discharging itself into a small creek or cove. It was 
expo.sed to a southern aspect, whilst higher hills behind, covered with lofty pines, sheltered 
it completely from the northern winds. The houses, in number thirty-four, were arranged 
in regular .streets; the larger ones were the habitations of the principal people, who had 
them decorated with paintings and other ornaments, forming various figures, apparently 
the rude designs of fancy; though it is by no means improbable they might annex some 
meaning to the figures they described, too remote, or hieroglyphical, for our comprehen- 
sion.” 
^See Appendix, No. 1. Hi.s ‘‘.4 Voyage . . vol. II, p. 317. 
^See Appendix, No. 3, His Voyages . , ., p. 138. 
'Meares, p. 268. 
^Weares, p. 270. 
*Cf. Tke Sea, the Ship, and the Sailor, by Capt.ain Elliot Snow, Salem, Mass., 1925. The credit for this reference 
goes to Mr. \V. A. Newcombe, of Victoria, B.C. 
