Smoke over Vancouver. Smoke rising from downtown riots after the Canucks' game 7 loss in the Stanley Cup Finals: photo by Matthew Giepengieser, 15 June 2011
i Two Destinies (the surveyors, 1792)
Had it not been for him Spanish
Oregon would go all the way up
to Alaska -- and probably no hockey
Discovery and Chatham
George Vancouver, R.N.
a gentleman of King's Lynn
out one morning looking
for the Northwest Passage bumped in
to the Sutil and the Mexicana
two goletas from San Blas
out surveying.............mapping
.....the northern and the
........eastern limits
...........of the New World
ii.Vancouver and Bodega
George Vancouver....explorer and navigator
ventured up Tahsis Inlet with
Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra
to visit Maquina's fishing village
three English pinnaces a Spanish launch
Vancouver the topographer of landscape
'winding inland by a deep valley'
................between steep fjords
forests taller than masts
with fifes and drums.....ship's musicians
.........-- 'a martial solemnity'
'to the no small entertainment of the natives' --
to imitate the Indian custom played
'vociferous songs & plaintive airs'
.......in the late summer twilight
Maquina came to dinner......a tent pitched
'in a fine meadow
.........delightfully skirting
...............a small bay'
iii ceremony at Maquina's village
by light of day
boats paraded
colours of distant kings
then royal parley
in the chief's great lodge
on cedar mats
and bentwood
imperial regalia -- Spaniards
Englishmen -- Maquina's
four wives
and many children --
benches lined with skins
matrix-issue ceremony
King's daughter the princess
bearer to the male heir
Vancouver and Bodega
white chiefs as witness
ceremonial transfer
of would-be rights
entailment-bestowal
diplomacy
protocol (mutual)
European
and 'native'
iv a feast
Royal kitchen
singing & feast
in a corner
cooks busily employed
Stews & Fricasees
boiling Oil
Porpoise Whale Seal
'such delicious meets
thrown away on us
as it turned out
we had a far better
dinner to sit down to'
agreed on setting out
'Don Quadra
should furnish the eatables
Captn. Vancouver the
Drinkables'
v the dance
Maquina loaned his Spanish chain mail
and soldier's helmet
to his brother for the dance
'a complete Suit of Stage Armour
very likely once the property
of Hamlet's Ghost'
the dancers mimed belligerent
people of strange coasts
China England Spain Owyhee
N. W. of Greenwich so remote
wild black eyelash time
bird down and red ochre
clung to fishoiled hairdos
a masque of assault by stealth
a show of bravado 'advancing
with eyes steadily fixed'
down on Indian nation
painted-face warriors brandished
muskets & spears
toward the (unnerved) commanders
stomped swung clubs
drummed gun butts
on the ground in unison
pre-attack chants
and long martial songs
'all fierce & Warlike
style & subject
one or two of them ended
with a frightful yell
to a strangers ear
terrific'
vi potlatch party
Had it not been for him Spanish
Oregon would go all the way up
to Alaska -- and probably no hockey
Discovery and Chatham
George Vancouver, R.N.
a gentleman of King's Lynn
out one morning looking
for the Northwest Passage bumped in
to the Sutil and the Mexicana
two goletas from San Blas
out surveying.............mapping
.....the northern and the
........eastern limits
...........of the New World
ii.Vancouver and Bodega
George Vancouver....explorer and navigator
ventured up Tahsis Inlet with
Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra
to visit Maquina's fishing village
three English pinnaces a Spanish launch
Vancouver the topographer of landscape
'winding inland by a deep valley'
................between steep fjords
forests taller than masts
with fifes and drums.....ship's musicians
.........-- 'a martial solemnity'
'to the no small entertainment of the natives' --
to imitate the Indian custom played
'vociferous songs & plaintive airs'
.......in the late summer twilight
Maquina came to dinner......a tent pitched
'in a fine meadow
.........delightfully skirting
...............a small bay'
iii ceremony at Maquina's village
by light of day
boats paraded
colours of distant kings
then royal parley
in the chief's great lodge
on cedar mats
and bentwood
imperial regalia -- Spaniards
Englishmen -- Maquina's
four wives
and many children --
benches lined with skins
matrix-issue ceremony
King's daughter the princess
bearer to the male heir
Vancouver and Bodega
white chiefs as witness
ceremonial transfer
of would-be rights
entailment-bestowal
diplomacy
protocol (mutual)
European
and 'native'
iv a feast
Royal kitchen
singing & feast
in a corner
cooks busily employed
Stews & Fricasees
boiling Oil
Porpoise Whale Seal
'such delicious meets
thrown away on us
as it turned out
we had a far better
dinner to sit down to'
agreed on setting out
'Don Quadra
should furnish the eatables
Captn. Vancouver the
Drinkables'
v the dance
Maquina loaned his Spanish chain mail
and soldier's helmet
to his brother for the dance
'a complete Suit of Stage Armour
very likely once the property
of Hamlet's Ghost'
the dancers mimed belligerent
people of strange coasts
China England Spain Owyhee
N. W. of Greenwich so remote
wild black eyelash time
bird down and red ochre
clung to fishoiled hairdos
a masque of assault by stealth
a show of bravado 'advancing
with eyes steadily fixed'
down on Indian nation
painted-face warriors brandished
muskets & spears
toward the (unnerved) commanders
stomped swung clubs
drummed gun butts
on the ground in unison
pre-attack chants
and long martial songs
'all fierce & Warlike
style & subject
one or two of them ended
with a frightful yell
to a strangers ear
terrific'
vi potlatch party
party followed -- shaman's dance
....''dextrous Pantomimical tricks
......with his Hat & Mask'
pulling strings & changing faces
.....................a schlepper
came forth now with
......prime skins
.........of sea otter
..............for the guests --
the king's mouthpiece
speechifying --
Vancouver answered back
....with a fife
........and drum reel --
Maquina ecstatic --
Vancouver promised fireworks --
Isla de......................on their way back
Quadra.....................the relieved captains
y Vancouver...............named the island
..............................
TC: from Empire of Skin, 1997
Petroglyphs believed to have been made by the Hupacasath people, Sproat Lake Provincial Park, near Port Alberni, British Columbia: photo by Kevstan, 2008
Nootka cypress (Cupressus nootkaensis) foliage, Mount Seymour Provincial Park, Vancouver: photo by Michael Scheltgen, 2006
Cedar-fibre hat of a chief whaler, Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, 18th c. (Museum of the Americas; image by Luis Garcia, 6 April 2008)
Man of Nootka Sound: George Webber, ship's artist, from James Cook: A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, 1784 (Library and Archives of Canada)
Wolf's mask from Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island: collected by member of Capt. James Cook's crew, 1778 [?] (North American Department, Ethnological Museum, Berlin; image by FA2010, February 2009)
Friendly Cove, Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island: plate VII, Volume I, in Captain George Vancouver: Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean and Round the World in the Years 1791-1795, published 1798 (NOAA)
HMS Discovery under Captain George Vancouver, at Vancouver island, c. 1791: artist unknown
Captain George Vancouver's ship Discovery on the rocks in Queen Charlotte Strait. The ship ran aground in early August 1792 on hidden rocks near Fife Sound. Vancouver's second ship, Chatham, in the background in this scene, also ran aground on rocks within the day, about two miles away: artist unknown, from Vancouver: A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and Round the World, 1801 edition
Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, Captain of the Royal Navy of Spain, the Spanish representative in the 1792 commission that met to implement the Nootka Bay Agreement, along with British officer and explorer George Vancouver: artist unknown, c. 1785 (Naval Museum of Madrid)
The caneing in Conduit Street. Dedicated to the flag officers of the British Navy. Caricature showing a stout naval officer [Vancouver] attacked in front of the South Sea Fur Warehouse by Lord Camelford [Thomas Pitt, 2nd Baron Camelford], who says, "Give me satisfaction, rascal! Draw your sword..." Captain Vancouver replies, "Murder! Murder! ..." The print may reflect the growing discontent due to harsh naval discipline: hand-coloured engraving by James Gillray, published by H. Humphrey, 1 October 1796 (British Cartoon Collection, Library of Congress)
