Category: Salish

List and comments on Select Population References to the Lekungen (Songhees and Esquimalt Nations)

2005. By Grant Keddie (1) c. 1826-27 Census. Census of Indian Population compiled by Archibald McDonald, Fort Langley. In: Report to the Governor and Council, Feb. 25, 1830. H.B. Co. Archives, Provincial Archives of Manitoba, Winnipeg, D.4/123. Pub. 1979. In: The History of Fort Langley, 1827-96, by Mark K. Cullen, as Appendix A. Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History, Paper No. 20, National Historic Parks and Sites, Ottawa. The list for “Vancouver’s Island” moves geographically from the “Nanemoos” (Nanaimo) with 100 men; the “Cowaitchins” (Cowichan) with 200 men; the Sanutch (Saanich) with 60 men; the Tchanmus (Songhees) with 40 men; to the “Soaks” (Sooke) with 50 men. There is no mention of Klallam on Vancouver Island. The … Continue reading “List and comments on Select Population References to the Lekungen (Songhees and Esquimalt Nations)”

Indigenous Peoples and Potato Cultivation

February 3, 2023. By Grant Keddie Introduction During the early period of European exploration and settlement, on what became the Colony of Vancouver Island, outsiders often spoke of the great skills of indigenous people in acquiring specific foods. However, the planning that went into Indigenous resource management practices was not recognized. Activities such as the organizing and placing of tied fir branches in inlets to collect herring eggs were not recognized as a form of aquaculture – which today they would be. Just as today we use the term oyster farms, would we not have to call the latter practice herring egg farming? The bias of Europeans as to what they considered forms of farming was clearly toward land-based agriculture. … Continue reading “Indigenous Peoples and Potato Cultivation”

Charles Newcombe’s Visit to Paul Kane’s Klallam Village of I-eh-nus

January 17, 2019. By Grant Keddie Dr. Charles Newcombe played a major role in the development of the Royal B.C. Museum ethnology and palaeontology collections (figure 1). He left behind four of his own interesting photographs that were missing the details of their context. Here, I present the story behind these images. Newcombe was fascinated by the Northwest Coast paintings of the famous Canadian painter Paul Kane. In 1904, Newcombe traveled to the University of Toronto where he photographed some of the Kane paintings from the Sir Edmund Osler private collection that were on loan to the University. Newcombe was keenly interested in Kane’s composite oil painting – then labelled as No. 84 (now ROM912.1.84). This painting was made from … Continue reading “Charles Newcombe’s Visit to Paul Kane’s Klallam Village of I-eh-nus”

The Dugout Freight Canoe in the Royal BC Museum Indigenous Collection

November 19, 2019 By Grant Keddie Have you ever picked up an old object and wondered what sentient beings had held it before? People like you – that are taking the journey from birth to death. Artifacts are not just things in themselves, they are part of the history of individuals and families. Here I provide what I could piece together of the history of a special large dugout freight canoe in the collection of the Royal BC Museum – artifact number 12048. The genealogy of people and families presented is only a partial one that could be expanded to hundreds of people. I present it to show only some of the family linkages to the canoe and its history … Continue reading “The Dugout Freight Canoe in the Royal BC Museum Indigenous Collection”

Bird Leg Rings on the Northwest Coast?

January 30, 2011 By Grant Keddie There are a variety of small artifacts found on the Northwest Coast that are often assumed to be forms of body adornment. Some of these likely had other functions. Three examples described here might normally be assumed to be pendants, I think we should consider the possibility that these may have been used as bird leg rings for holding live decoy birds or pets. A common type of artifact in Polynesia is the kaka poria or bird leg ring made of stone or whale, bird and human bone. They were used to hold tame kaka birds (Nestor meridionalis) as a decoy for capturing wild birds in the forest (Phillips 1955:145). The leg of the … Continue reading “Bird Leg Rings on the Northwest Coast?”

Spirited Divers and Spirited Diggers

Originally Published in The Midden, 23(3), 6-7. June 1991. By Grant Keddie Introduction  THE PICTURESQUE Gorge narrows near Victoria is a place where native Songhees dove deep into the water to gain special spirit powers. Here, at the beginning of time, Halys the transformer-being turned a young girl named Camossung into stone. Her name survives today as Camosun College and Camosun Street. Just above the reversible falls caused by the shifting tides, members of the Victoria chapter of the Archaeological Society of B.C. dig into the oldest recorded shell midden on southern Vancouver Island. Two years ago, a small area of the South Gorge Bridge shell midden /DcRu 5) was exposed during construction of a walkway under­neath the Tillicum Road … Continue reading “Spirited Divers and Spirited Diggers”

Fireweed Clothing. Evidence of Its Use by the Snuneymuxw First Nations of Vancouver Island.

Originally Published in The Midden, 46(3&4), 14-17. By Grant Keddie.  2016 Small fragments of woven material were found along with other items in a burial cave site on Gabriola Island in 1971. The Burial remains and associated artifacts were brought to the (then) Provincial Museum to protect the material that was being removed by unknown persons. Artifacts found in the cave included bracelets of copper and brass, shell pendants, a stone bead, a green glass wire wound Chinese made bead, a woven rattle head and bark matting, in addition to the small fragments of unidentified woven material. This assemblage of material suggested that the woven material likely dated to around the late 18th to early 19th century. In 2001, the … Continue reading “Fireweed Clothing. Evidence of Its Use by the Snuneymuxw First Nations of Vancouver Island.”

The Historic Village of the Clallum and Kosampson.

2012. By Grant Keddie James Teit, working with Clallum consultants in 1907-10, was told there was: “A village of them formerly in Victoria” and that “they were closely related to the Songhish” (Teit 1910). This location would be the “Clallam Village” referred to by the editor of the Weekly Victoria Gazette on August 28, 1858. It was located in the community of James Bay, west of the Legislative buildings and just to the east of Laurel Point. It can be estimated to have been occupied about 1847-1855. This village contained Clallam people from the Olympic Peninsula, and some of the Sapsom or Kosampson people of the 1850, Douglas Treaties. The Clallam may have located here by right of intermarriage with … Continue reading “The Historic Village of the Clallum and Kosampson.”

Clallam Mat Lodge

By Grant Keddie. 2013. Introduction The Victoria Harbour area, on Vancouver Island, is within the traditional territory of the Lekungen people who are represented by the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations. In 1843, the Hudson’s Bay Company built Fort Camosun (later Fort Albert and Fort Victoria) in the Harbour. In the early days of this establishment (1843-1855), Clallam First Nations, from the American side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, set up camps during their trading and employment activities with the Fort. The location and nature of these camps has been a subject of some uncertainty. But, the location of one of the Clallam camps has been made clear by the finding of unique images located in the Royal … Continue reading “Clallam Mat Lodge”

Aboriginal Defensive Sites

By Grant Keddie 1996. Part 1: Settlements for Unsettling Times Over time, glaciers, sea level changes and climate have reshaped our landscape. Around us today is the evidence of how humans have utilized that environment over thousands of years. By studying types of settlements, archaeologists can get a glimpse of how people related both to the natural world and to other people. In the Victoria area, bounded by Cowichan Head to the north and Metchosin to the west, there are about 100 shoreline shell-midden sites which represent the remains of old aboriginal villages. At least 18 of these have been recorded as defensive sites or villages with large wooden defensive walls and/or defensive ditches. In spite of the many observations … Continue reading “Aboriginal Defensive Sites”