To see ourselves as the other's other:

Nlaka'pamux contact narratives

Wickwire, Wendy C . The Canadian Historical Review ; North York 75.1 (Mar 1994): 1-20.

ProQuest document link

ABSTRACT (ABSTRACT)
 
Accounts of the first meetings between Nlaka'pamux and European explorers in the Fraser River canyon of south-
central British Columbia Canada in June 1808 are examined. These meetings have been known primarily through
the journals of Simon Fraser, but they were also recorded in oral accounts that still survive among contemporary
Native elders.

FULL TEXT
 
THE QUINCENTENARY OF THE 'DISCOVERY' of the Americas by Christopher Columbus has stimulated wide debate
on the history of European contact. In December 1991 a chartered trawler carrying twelve Native people from
British Columbia sailed out to meet the Spanish government - sponsored replicas of the Nina, Pinta, and Santa
Maria, bound for San Juan, Puerto Rico, to commemorate Columbus's initial landing. The Natives' objective was to
persuade the excursion's leader, Santiago Bolivar, a direct descendant of Columbus, to make a public apology on
behalf of the Spanish government for the wrongs committed against them. The protesters estimated that 100
million or more deaths were inflicted on Native peoples from diseases introduced by Columbus and subsequent
explorers.(f.1) In this encounter, something very basic was at stake: the history of colonial encounters from the
point - of - view of First Nations' peoples.
This article examines accounts of the first meetings between Nlaka'pamux(f.2) and European explorers in the
Fraser River canyon of south - central British Columbia in June 1808. Simon Fraser was the first non - Native to
explore the area along the river that now bears his name. The leader of a North West Company crew consisting of
nineteen voyageurs, two Indians, and two clerks, Fraser kept a journal to record his journey - to survey, as it were,
the people he met and the terrain along the way. Fraser's journal has become the primary lens through which to
view the initial interaction between the Nlaka'pamux and the first white explorers.
While Fraser recorded in writing his impressions of the 'Hacamaugh' (Nlaka'pamux) at 'Camchin'(f.3) (present - day
Lytton) on 19 and 20 June, the Nlaka'pamux recorded their impressions of him. Unlike Fraser, however, the
Nlaka'pamux transmitted their impressions orally, and the stories passed from one generation to the next.
Anthropologist James Teit recorded some of these accounts almost a century ago. Still others survive as living
oral accounts among contemporary Native elders. This article examines these early and more recent accounts in
light of what they reveal about the Native oral/historical viewpoint.
THE PROBLEM OF 'HISTORY'
In the early years of this century, British Columbia was a haven for ethnographic research. Many of the names of
those who worked here are well known - Franz Boas, Edward Sapir, Thomas McIlwraith, John Swanton, Marius
Barbeau, Diamond Jenness, Charles Hill - Tout, James Teit. This was the era of 'total ethnography' - the assembling
of complete descriptions of other societies or cultures.(f.4) Anthropologists believed that by recording everything
and anything imaginable, from religious worldview to pictography, they could reconstruct an image of the pure and
untarnished traditional culture. One of the essentials was 'folklore.' Hundreds of traditional stories were collected

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for publication in the early editions of the Journal of American Folk - Lore and the Jesup Expedition monographs.
Until recently, many readers have accepted these early texts at face value. Today, however, many are reading them
with serious concerns about translation and representation. Critical theorist David Murray, in a recent study of
speech, writing, and representation in North American Indian texts,(f.5) for example, asks what was recorded and
why? What language was used in the recording? Who were the 'informants'? Why did they tell what they told? Most
important to Murray is the position of the 'mediator' or 'interpreter.' He suggests that we look to this individual in
order to better understand the 'stories' collected.
These are key questions in British Columbia where Franz Boas played a major role. Not only did Boas collect a
mass of Native texts in British Columbia himself, but he also supervised the collection of hundreds of texts by
others, among them James Teit. Between 1898 and 1917 Teit recorded oral narratives in south - central British
Columbia. He sent these to Boas, who edited them in preparation for publication. Boas highlighted those that he
believed to be the ancient ancestral stories and he downplayed stories about current events, personal experiences,
and nineteenth - century epidemics, explorers, technology, and religious ideas. This bias in the early published
ethnographic record is striking when one listens to Nlaka'pamux storytellers today and learns that stories about
nineteenth - century events are well known.
Although this living history has been relatively ignored in British Columbia, it has been the focus of attention in
other areas. In South and Central America, for example, anthropologists have been studying the history of contact
as articulated by indigenous peoples with very positive results. Jonathon D. Hill has found that by shifting the
focus away from 'what really happened' to the Natives' own historical consciousness (indeed, diversity thereof), he
has come to appreciate other issues, such as 'how indigenous societies have experienced history, and the ongoing
means by which they struggle to make sense out of complex, contradictory historical processes.'(f.6)
Anthropologist Terence Turner has studied the interplay between myth and history which he finds 'complementary
and mutually informing.'(f.7) This approach, explains Turner, tends to produce new images of Westerners and
Western society - 'images formed by others during the process of Western expansion.' It also turns traditional
anthropology on its head by placing ourselves, for a change, in the position of the 'other.'(f.8)
SIMON FRASER'S ACCOUNT, 1808
Fraser was much impressed with the inhabitants of Camchin and vicinity. At one village of 'about four hundred
souls,' he observed that the people 'live among mountains, and enjoy pure air, seem cleanly inclined, and make use
of wholesome food.' At his next stop, he was led to a camp where twelve hundred people were sitting in rows,
waiting to see him and to shake his hand. The Indians fed the newcomers generously with 'salmon, berries, oil and
roots in abundance,' as well as with the meat of six dogs.(f.9)
Fraser observed that people of Camchin attached some religious significance to his appearance. At the large
ceremonial gathering there, for example, he noted that 'the Great Chief made a long harangue, in [the] course of
which he pointed to the sun, to the four quarters of the world and then to us, and then he introduced his father, who
was old and blind, [and who] ... with some emotion often stretched out both his hands in order to feel ours.' After
this event, Fraser noted that the Indians sang and danced all night long, while his crew - members watched with
amusement. On his departure from Camchin, the Natives presented Fraser with 'berries, roots and oil in
abundance.' He guessed that such gestures 'proceed[ed], perhaps, from an idea that we are superior beings, who
are not to be overcome.'(f.10)
Fraser in turn presented one chief who had been particularly good to him with a gift: 'The Chief of [the] Camshins
[sic] ... is the greatest chief we have seen; he behaved towards us uncommonly well. I made him a present of a
large silver broach which he immediately fixed on his head, and he was exceedingly well pleased with our
attention.'(f.11) Fraser noted in his journal the Natives at Camchin had several 'European articles among them, a
copper Tea Kettle, a brass camp kettle, and a strip of a common blanket, and cloathing such as the Cree women
wear.'(f.12) These, he thought, came from settlements east of the Rockies.
On his return trip a month later, Fraser stopped again at Camchin but found the atmosphere there much changed.
Not only did he feel ignored by the chief who had been so friendly towards him a month earlier, but he 'could

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perceive something unpleasant in their demeanour.' There was 'a disagreeable gloom' perhaps related to the fact
that 'most of the children were really afflicted with some serious disorder which reduced them to skeletons.'(f.13)
NLAKA'PAMUX ACCOUNTS OF FRASER, CIRCA 1900
Much of what we know about the Nlaka'pamux comes from the writings of an early anthropologist, James Teit.
Teit was an unusual man.(f.14) He had emigrated to Canada from the Shetland Islands in 1884, at the age of
nineteen. When Franz Boas met him at Spence's Bridge, British Columbia, ten years later, he was living with his
Nlaka'pamux wife, Lucy Antko, and was on very good terms with her people. Boas was so impressed with Teit's
knowledge of the Nlaka'pamux language and culture that he engaged him right away to undertake ethnographic
work. This marked the beginning of a life - long collaboration between the two men that led to the compilation of
major ethnographies, collections of narratives and monographs on various subjects, including basketry and
ethnobotany, much of which was edited by Boas.
Unlike many other anthropologists of the day, who entered Native communities as outsiders and who worked with
one or two willing informants, Teit was an insider who consulted with a large number of individuals who were long -
time friends, associates, and relatives through marriage. While he conducted his anthropological work, he
simultaneously pursued other activities such as hunting and guiding, often in the company of Native people. From
1908 until his death in 1922, he played major roles in three Native political organizations, The Interior Tribes of
British Columbia, the Indian Rights Association, and The Allied Tribes of British Columbia.
Fortunately, Teit was interested in issues of the day as well as in issues of the past. Scattered throughout his
collections of traditional folklore, for instance, are European legends, Bible stories, war stories, and accounts of
noteworthy events of the 1800s.(f.15) In this latter category, there are also stories about the arrival of the first
white explorers.
NATIVE PROPHECIES TELL OF STRANGE WHITE PEOPLE TO COME
According to Teit, there were among the Nlaka'pamux certain individuals, both male and female, who could predict
the future. These prophets were much revered and travelled widely, telling people of things to come. Wherever they
went, large numbers of people gathered to dance and sing, and especially to hear their messages. Although the
dancing died out in 1858, the prophets lived on. Writing in 1900, Teit noted that 'in the last fifteen years, three
prophets ... have appeared among the tribe. One was a Fraser Valley prophet who travelled as far as Lytton;
another was a woman from the Nicola Valley ... and the last was an Okanagan woman who appeared in 1891.'(f.16)
Stories of these and other prophets were still in circulation in 1915. Chief John Tetlenitsa of Spence's Bridge
described a prophet who had lived in his community many years earlier. 'Present - day people,' he explained,
'believe his spirit really went over to France and that he foretold the advent of the Whites at an early date.'(f.17)
Teit described in detail the ritual associated with prophets' ceremonies,(f.18) and he recorded texts of several
prophets' songs. These provide some insight into the Native perspective on initial encounters with whites. One
prophet's song was said to have originated with a Spence's Bridge man named Kwalos. According to Tetlenitsa,
Kwalos had been a dance chief, dreamer, and prophet who, 'before the first white people came to the country, had a
series of dreams or visions which impressed him very much.' He had gathered the people together and told them
about his dreams:
He told how his spirit left his body and passed rapidly to the shores of a great lake in the far east where the clouds
always hung low along the edge of the water. Here his spirit left the land and rolled along on the clouds until it
came to a land on the other side of the great lake. Here there were many strange people who spoke a language
very different in sound from Indian languages. (He imitated the speaking of these people and what he said
sounded very much like French.) [JAT] These people were very different from Indians and had many beautiful and
wonderful things the Indians knew nothing of. They had light skins and different colours of hair and eyes and many
kinds of fine clothes and ornaments. Both the men and women dressed differently from Indians and their clothes
were of peculiar patterns and materials. The women especially had very striking and beautiful dresses. These
people were very numerous and did many strange things. They lived in many high houses made of stone. They had
fires inside of stones (prob. stoves), and much smoke could be seen coming out of the stones (prob. chimneys).

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Their houses had mouths and eyes (prob. doors and windows) and around them were many open grassy lands and
plots where there were many kinds of beautiful flowers and plants and grasses, some of which they used as food
(prob. fields of grain, vegetables, etc. and flower gardens). Surrounding some of the houses were gorgeous
flowers. Outside the houses were many rabbits (don't know what he meant by rabbits) and many goats (prob.
sheep) from which the people obtained wool for clothes. Also there were animals somewhat like buffalo (prob.
cattle) from which they drew milk, and the flesh of which they ate, and there were other animals somewhat like
moose or deer (prob. horses) but without horns. All these animals were tame like dogs and mixed with the people.
These white people had much music and singing, were very rich and seemed to be happy. In the dances, Kwalos
prayed that the people he had seen would come over and enlighten the Indians and make them powerful, wise, rich
and happy like themselves. He further stated that he believed these people would come to the Indians some time
soon and then great changes would take place among the Indians ... Kwalos used this song when he held dances
in connection with his visions of the white man's land.(f.19)
Teit also recorded the prophecies of NokanekautkEn, alias Nelkwax, a dance chief of the Lytton division. Along
with TcexawatEn of Ashcroft, NokanekautkEn had had visions in which he 'saw many things belonging to the
whites ... which none of the Indians had yet seen.'(f.20)
When one considers that European material goods had made their way to Camchin prior to Fraser's arrival, it is not
surprising that stories and dreams of strange people east of the mountains also travelled to Camchin and other
Native villages in British Columbia's southern interior prior to 1808.
The Sun Arrives
Teit recorded five Nlaka'pamux stories of first encounters with whites.(f.21) Two of these are especially interesting,
because, unlike most stories, which are anonymous, the names of the storytellers are given. One was told by
SEmalitsa, a woman from Styne Creek(f.22) near Lytton; and another was told by Waxtko, a woman from Spence's
Bridge.(f.23) Names of the tellers of the remaining three stories are not mentioned.(f.24)
SEmalitsa's account of Fraser's arrival was based on a story her grandmother had told her about an event she had
witnessed as a child:
My grandmother told me that when she was a young girl she was playing one day in the summer - time (about the
time the service - berries get ripe) near the river - beach at the village of Strain,(f.25) when she saw two canoes,
with red flags hoisted, come downstream. She ran and told her mother, and the people gathered to see the strange
sight. Seeing so many people gathered, the canoes put ashore and several men came ashore. Each canoe carried a
number of men (perhaps six or seven in each), and many of them wore strange dresses, and everything about them
was strange. Some of the men looked like Indians, and others looked like what we call white men. Among them
was a Shuswap chief who acted as interpreter. Our people were not afraid of the strangers, nor were they hostile to
them. The strangers produced a large pipe, and had a ceremonial smoke with some of our men. After distributing a
few presents, they boarded their canoes and went on to Lytton. They remained one or two days at Lytton, where
they were presented with food of various kinds, and gave in exchange tobacco, beads, and knives. Runners from
the river had come down about a day ahead of them along the east side of the Fraser River to Lytton. The Lytton
chief ImentcutEn went up the east bank of the Fraser, and met them two or three miles above Lytton, and
conducted them to his place with considerable ceremony. All the Lytton people were assembled to meet them, and
before they left there they had many talks and smokes with the Indians. Next day a number of people who were
camped at Botani Valley came down to see them; and the news having reached up the Thompson as far as
Spence's Bridge, some of the men from there also came down - those having horses, on horseback; and those
having none, on foot. The Spence's Bridge chief ran on foot all the way, and arrived in time to see the strangers and
to deliver a great speech, but some of his people arrived too late to see them. The Lytton chief at this time was
also a great orator. The Spence's Bridge chief was presented with some kind of a metal or brass badge, and a hat
worn by the leader of the strangers whom the Indians called 'the Sun.' He was called this because of some kind of
shining emblem he wore on his hat or cap, which resembled the symbol of the Sun. The Indians applied names to
most of the strangers, all taken from some feature of their appearance or from certain marks or emblems on their

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clothing.(f.26)
SEmalitsa's story was the only one to make reference to Fraser's second appearance at Lytton: 'Many people saw
them again on their return journey, as they were again assembling on the rivers for salmon - fishing. Probably more
people saw them when they came back than when they went down.'(f.27)
Teit published Waxtko's version of the Fraser story in 1917. Although Waxtko lived at Spence's Bridge, about
twenty miles' upstream from SEmalitsa's home, her story is very similar to SEmalitsa's:
When Kwolina'u.l(f.28) came to Lytton ... [i]t was in midsummer. The berries were just ripe in the river - valley; and
many of the tribe were assembled at Botani, digging roots and playing games. Some Thompson men, who had
been up at La Fontaine on horseback, came back quickly with the news of the approach of these people. Tcexe'x
was at Botani with others from Spence's Bridge. He hurried down to Lytton, and was there when the whites arrived.
The chief of the latter we called 'Sun.' We did not know his name. Several chiefs made speeches to him, but Tcexe'x
made the greatest speech.(f.29)
According to Waxtko, Tcexe'x was her own relative. She described him as 'a prominent chief and a great orator ...
[and] an elderly man at the time when these whites came to Lytton.' Like SEmalitsa, Waxtko was told that Fraser
had presented Tcexe'x with a silver broach:
This chief so pleased Sun, that he gave him a present of a large silver broach, or some other similar ornament,
which he had on his person. On several occasions Tcexe'x used this attached to his hair in front, or on the front of
his head. When I was a girl, I saw it worn by his sons. One of his sons inherited it; on his death his brother obtained
it: and it was probably buried with the third brother who had it, as it disappeared about the time of his death. The
last - named died at Lytton as an elderly man.(f.30)
Of the three remaining Simon Fraser stories, Teit noted that they were the 'mythological version[s]' of the capsizing
of Fraser's canoe in Fraser River. In these threeversions, Fraser and his crew are depicted as mythological figures
who have returned. As the first teller noted:
Many years ago, but at a time long after Coyote had finished arranging things on earth, he appeared on Fraser
River in company with Sun, Moon, Morning - Star, Kokwela, nmuipEm ('diver') and SkwiaxEnEmux ('arrow - armed
person,' 'person with arrow arms or shoulders ...') This is the only time Coyote has appeared since the end of the
mythological age.(f.31)
'Sun' here, as in both SEmalitsa's and Waxtko's accounts, is probably Fraser. In the second account, three heavenly
bodies are mentioned - Sun, Moon, and Morning - Star, each of whom appeared briefly after the capsizing, but all of
whom disappeared forever during the night. According to a third version, there were two canoes, one of which
carried seven heavenly bodies (sun, moon, morning - star, and others said to be stars); and the other carried seven
Transformers - Coyote, NLikisEntem, Kokwela, Old - One, Ntcemka, SkwiaxEnEmux, and nmuipEm.
The first story describes in detail the canoe's capsizing:
Continuing their journey, and when in the middle of the river, a short distance below Lytton, the Moon, who was
steersman of the canoe, disappeared with it under water. The others came out of the water and sat down on a rock
close above the river. Then Skwia'xEnEmux ['arrow - armed person'] fired many lightning arrows,(f.32) and
nmu'ipEm ['diver'] dived many times into the river.(f.33) The Sun sat still and smoked;(f.34) while Coyote, Kokwe'la,
and Morning - Star danced. Coyote said, 'Moon will never come up again with the canoe;' but Sun said, 'Yes, in the
evening he will appear.' Just after sunset, Moon appeared holding the canoe, and came ashore. All of them
embarked, and, going down the river, were never seen again.(f.35)
In her account, SEmalitsa included a fragment of the capsizing which is very similar: 'After leaving Lytton, at some
place close to Siska, one of their canoes was swamped in a rapid, and some of the men were saved with difficulty,
after having been some time in the water.' She also commented on the merger of these explanations of the
newcomers:
Very many people thought they were the beings spoken of in tales of the mythological period, who had taken a
notion to travel again over the earth; and they often wondered what object they had in view, and what results
would follow. They believed their appearance foreboded some great change or events of prime importance to the

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Indians, but in what way they did not know.(f.36)
Accounts Compared
There are many common threads running through these early Native accounts. Most prominent is a figure called
Sun, who appears with a crew of twelve to fourteen men from upstream in one or two birchbark canoes. The two
women's accounts coincide on the time of the newcomers' arrival, as well as the large ceremonial gathering held in
Fraser's honour. Both also mention Fraser's gift of a metal broach to one of the chiefs, who accepted it with much
pleasure. The capsizing of one or two canoes just downstream from Lytton is described in four of the five stories.
None of these Native accounts mentions hostility towards the newcomers. On the contrary, they depict a situation
of warm exchange. Neither afraid nor hostile, the Nlaka'pamux shared their food supplies liberally, smoked, and
welcomed the newcomers with pomp and ceremony.
These early Native accounts also share points in common with Fraser's journal - for example, Fraser's arrival at
Camchin in June; the silver broach which he gave to the Chief of the Camchins; the exchange of food for 'knife, awl
and trinkets'; and the fact that Fraser's crew included 'Whites' as well as Indians. There is a particularly strong
parallel between Fraser's and the Native accounts on the subject of the capsizing.
NLAKA'PAMUX ACCOUNTS OF FIRST NATIVE - WHITE ENCOUNTERS, 1981 - 91
Over the last several years, I have talked with Native elders in Spuzzum and Lytton about the portrayal in their
accounts of the first encounters with whites. In Lytton, Louis Phillips explained that his ancestors had been
forewarned about the arrival of the whites:
That old man at the Stein, they call him Lytton Dick. His Indian name is NTEEH - low,"(f.37) and he tell something
that's going to happen maybe tomorrow or maybe next day. Long before it happens ... He used to tell the people,
he'd tell the people, 'Not very long from now these peoples that's coming in here, from their country into our
country ... [they're] going to look different from what we are now and who we are. It's going to look different when
those white people come here. Say they just look like us, only they're white ... That old man, he's ahead of himself
totell all what's going to happen before it happens ...(f.38)
Louis's father had been told another story about the first whites to arrive at Lytton:
[At the] Stein, there was a bunch of womens, old womens, young womens, out there picking 'CHA - kum,' and, hot
day, they got sweating, and they go down to the river to take a bath in the river, and they see these boats coming,
and the womens didn't know they were 'SHA - ma' or anything. They stay there on the beach taking a cold bath.
This boat come and land. Simon Fraser had one of them old - fashioned shirts, starch in the front, and starch in the
back, and that shine. Sunny day like this. And those women thought they seen Jesus Christ in person. And they all
sit there naked. Never think, well, they pretty near naked all the time. And this white man come off the boat, and he
look at the women sitting down on the beach. Looked at them. And they all thought they seen Jesus Christ. That
starch, they shine. They thought they seen right through him. And he turn around the other way and the starch on
his back shines. They thought they seen through him. They thought they seen Jesus Christ alive. He look at them
all, sized them all up. And the young lady there, lift 'em up, stand 'em up, and rub 'em, and hug 'em. And after he got
through, he got in a boat and he drift down. And these old womens, they all kneel down and pray, pray to the young
woman that Shu - sha - klee(f.39) pick on. They thought, they tell this young woman, 'Ah, you must be a good
woman. Jesus Christ come and rub you up and hug you. And us, we sit there and watch you.' Say, 'You must be a
good woman.' They pray to this woman that Simon Fraser hug. They thought he was Jesus Christ. Old Yen - a - ma
- ken. He's an old man at the Stein. I used to go there. My father was partly raised in the Stein, and he was one of
them ... Yen - a - ma - ken is my father's uncle. He used to tell that story when Simon Fraser first come through
there. And that time, I was too small. I didn't know nothing.(f.40)
Phillips's story even contains details of an incident not reported in the earlier accounts which he would have been
told (orally), but which the Jesup expedition and Teit did not hear and record. His account suggests that
prophecies and stories of first encounters with whites may have been informed by long - distance travel.
There was one guy, he used to disappear. One time, three or four years before he come back. He goes way down
south. He just go and keep on going. How far he went, he says there's no winter - time there. He said you could lay

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under a tree and sleep, wake up and go. He said the people around there are friendly just like our peoples here.
They see a stranger, bring 'em in the house and feed you, bed you. And in the morning you go. He was the first one
that seen it come true. I don't know how far he went. I don't know if he went to Mexico or where he went. But when
he came back, he tell the others, he said, 'What he was telling us about, about what changes we're going to have,'
he said, 'I seen some of it ...' And when he comes back, maybe three or four years, as soon as they see him, they
call up, maybe Boston Bar and Spence's Bridge, and Lytton. And get together and talk about it, what this man seen
when he was away ... There was some Indians they used to take off three or four years. They used to go a long
ways. Never hear them talk about the north. They hear them talk about the south. No road, no trail. You just go
through the brush. You just go by the shade of the tree. That's all the clock he's got. And he go so far and he come
back. They say, 'How long you stay in one place?' 'Oh,' he says, 'I camp. They feed me, bed me. Look after me good.
They look after me better than I look after myself, because I am a stranger' ... He says, 'It's just like we do when we
get a stranger here,' he says. We get a stranger here, always try to look after him. Indians is like that all over. Look
after a stranger good. It's like that yet ... White man is not like that. Some is like that, but some you got to give 'em
money first before they do anything. That time when the white man came here, buckskin or dry fish was the
biggest thing they can give.(f.41)
Nlaka'pamux elder Annie York of Spuzzum explained that her grandparents had told her that old chief Sh - PEENT -
lum and his wife of Lytton had predicted the arrival of whites prior to their actual arrival:
When Simon Fraser came down, the Lytton Indians were the first ones that knew them. They seen this man, the
Lytton Indians seen this man coming down in the canoe with his party and Chief Sh - PEENT - lum soon spot it and
he says, 'That's what my wife foretold. That man is coming to this area.' So he said to the Indians, 'You Indians
must never touch him. You must never hurt him. See that white, what he got on his head?' He had a white
handkerchief that tied around as a band. And he's the head man in the canoe. And when this Indian spotted him,
Sh - PEENT - lum's servant, he camped down there somewhere on the other side of Siska. And that's where he
forgot his axe, his little hatchet. But Sh - PEENT - lum said to his servants, 'You boys must make it. You must run
after that canoe and you must catch up and give him his axe.(f.42) And so they did. They caught up to him and
gave him his axe. Sh - PEENT - lum told his men, these two boys, 'You must keep on going to Spuzzum. And send
the word down there. But you must never hurt that man. That's the man of the sun. He's the son of the sun.'
So these Indians came along and they came to Spuzzum and they spread the news all around. But our
grandmother, our own grandmother, she was ten years old and they lived down there, on the other side of Spuzzum
Creek, right at the mouth and there were several others. And Paul Yowla was there, and several others. And a
special man came in a canoe. And when they see him, they knew who he was. That was the man that was foretold
to come. They welcomed him.(f.43)
Like Louis's account, Annie's adds a whole level of detail not found in the earlier recorded accounts. This detail she
learned orally from the account as it was told to her by those who had had it passed on to them by those who
retold certain aspects that others did not. Annie continued:
And when he came, this Indian came with dog, a little dog. And the Indians had fish boiled by their summer
campfire, because it was in springtime. And they were boiling the fish. They offered him the fish, but he didn't want
the fish. He kept pointing at the dog. And the Indians couldn't understand why he kept pointing at the dog. So they
gave him the dog. What do you think they did? They killed the dog and ate it. That's what he had for his supper. The
Indians didn't like that very much but the next morning they cooked the fish for them. And the chief came and then
they had their pipe, the pipe that was always used. He flew his flag and he ordered all his tribe, 'You must meet this
new man.' Because that was their traditional way of living. Pelok, he ordered all these people, 'You must never hurt
this man. You must welcome him.' And so they did. And they stayed for a few days. And down there by the
Cottonwood tree, there's a big cottonwood tree down there by Spuzzum Creek and that's where they camped, and
our great grandmother was there and our grandmother was ten years old. She told us this story. There was a
special woman, she's a relation of our grandmother, she was an entertainer, a singer. And she was asked to sing
this special song when Simon Fraser was leaving. So they have a sort of special prayer that he must be safe in his

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voyage drifting down the Fraser River. Warned him ... that's one of the waters that's very fierce ... These people that
was with Simon Fraser, they understand. When they was leaving, this woman sang this special song. And Simon
Fraser, he was feeling so sad he has tears in his eyes when he was drifting away.(f.44)
Annie explained that Fraser's captain had forewarned the people not to touch any of the newcomers:
Funny thing about that Simon Fraser's captain. The captain of Simon Fraser at Lytton warned these people not to
touch them. 'If you do it, you're going to get some kind of disease, and it's going to clean you out.' And it did. Isn't
that funny? ... Sh - PEENT - lum says, 'That man come from the sun. That's God's child to send here to be supervise
us.' So he came to Spuzzum and he warned the people not to do it [touch him]. 'You're going to get sick if you do it.'
It seems like this man used to get in trance and he can see everything, the way my grandaunt told it. I seen it today
and I keep on seeing it.(f.45)
Sam Mitchell of Fountain (thirty miles upriver from Lytton) relayed another account of Fraser's encounter with
some Lillooet Indians. This is, said Mitchell, a 'true story' about some people who came down the river 'a long time
ago.' He had heard the story many times. This one had been told to Mitchell's father by an old Indian, 'Piyell,' who
was two years old when this incident took place.
Some 'drifters,' Mitchell was told, beached their boat at a place well known for its rapids and asked some Indians
there to help them carry it. The Indians helped with the portage. Although there were some who wanted to go after
these 'white men' and steal their possessions, their leader told them, 'Don't bother them; they might be able to help
us one day!' According to this version of the story, the leader of the drifters was a white man who had a tattoo of
the sun on his forehead and a tattoo of the moon on his chest.(f.46)
ACCOUNTS COMPARED
There are many common threads in these stories. Fraser is strongly associated with the sun. For example, he is
the 'man of the sun, son of sun' (Annie York) and he wears a tattoo of the sun on his forehead (Sam Mitchell).
Although the shining metal broach of the turn of the century is absent in these contemporary stories, there is
strong brightness or whiteness associated with Fraser that is similar to that of the shining broach - for example,
the white handkerchief tied around the head (Annie York), and the white starched shirt which looked very bright in
the summer sun (Louis Phillips). Just as the earlier Nlaka'pamux accounts attached religious significance to the
appearance of newcomers, so too do the present - day accounts. In Phillips's account, Fraser was Jesus Christ;
and in Annie York's account he was the son of the sun, God's son. The present - day stories, like their turn - of - the -
century counterparts, also suggest that Fraser's arrival was no real surprise. Prophets and long - distance
travellers had forewarned the people about strange people with guns who would come one day. At least two of the
present - day accounts suggest that the chiefs advocated a policy of behaving peacefully towards Fraser and his
crew.
The similarities between these oral accounts and Fraser's 1808 journal are also striking - for example, loss and
return of what Fraser calls 'a piece of Iron.' York mentions this incident in her story, noting that the item returned
was an axe (the current oral account here having the great degree of precision). Just as Fraser noted in his journal
that at Spuzzum he was hospitably entertained 'with salmon, boiled and roasted,' Annie York mentions that when
Fraser arrived there, the Indians were boiling salmon and that he was entertained by one of the women who sang
for him. Fraser's observation that he was being treated as a 'superior being'(f.47) is confirmed in the contemporary
accounts (York was told he was 'son of the sun' or the 'sun's son'; and Louis Phillips was told he was 'Jesus
Christ'). Just as one Native account makes an association between the newcomers and disease (Annie York),
Fraser's account suggests a link between the Natives' cold reception at Camchin onhis return trip and disease
among the children there.
One point of difference between the Native and non - Native accounts is the encounter between Fraser and a
young woman at the mouth of the Stein River near Lytton. Fraser's journal (not surprisingly) makes no reference to
such an incident.
SO WHAT DO THESE ACCOUNTS TELL US?
Contact history is largely a history based on written records by white explorers. In the flurry of ethnographic

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reporting that took place at the turn of the century in British Columbia under Franz Boas and others, the prehistoric
past was given precedence over all else. Because of this emphasis, many Native people became known as people
with a deep past but without a more recent past. As this article shows, however, prevailing ideas on this subject
may well be more a reflection of non - Native preoccupations and interests than of the Native experience. Even my
preliminary research suggests that Nlaka'pamux accounts of their initial encounters with whites are an important
and reliable historical record. Not only is there a remarkable consistency with Fraser's account, but, on some
points, such as Fraser's interaction with the Natives at the mouth of the Stein (Louis Phillips) and Spuzzum (Annie
York), there is more detail in the Native accounts than in Fraser's journal.
These indigenous stories also reveal other important features of Native historiography. The naming of sources is
important. For example, SEmalitsa attributed her story to her grandmother, who had witnessed the arrival of the
first whites on her soil. Waxtko also named various individuals from her community who had seen and interacted
with the first whites. Annie York attributed her story to her great - grandmother who, like, SEmalitsa's grandmother,
had witnessed the arrival of Fraser at Spuzzum. Louis Phillips explained that old Yenamaken, his father's uncle,
who lived at the Stein, had told his father the story of Fraser's arrival there. Sam Mitchell explained that he heard
the story from his father, who had heard it told by an old Indian named Piyell who was two years old when Fraser
appeared. This 'oral footnoting' is richly contextual - in many ways far richer than our formal written accounts.
Foreknowledge is also an important component of the Native historical consciousness. According to many of
these accounts, both past and present, Native people had heard about the first whites before they actually saw
them via stories conveyed by long - distance travellers and via their prophets. There is even some suggestion that
they knew how these strangers would look and behave. In some instances, many knew fairly precisely who the
strangers were. What concerned them more than the precise identity of these people, however, were the changes
they would bring with them.
These accounts have evolved over the course of almost two centuries of tellings. In doing so, they temper, and,
today, they give us an open window on Fraser's often partial observations - for example, his comment that
'however kind savages may appear, I know that it is not in their nature to be sincere in their professions to
strangers.'(f.48) Given the Native accounts, Fraser's view is distinctly one - sided. Despite the prophecies and the
pervasive concern and uncertainty, nowhere was there evidence of malicious intent. Generosity and hospitality
prevailed with all strangers; Simon Fraser was fe@ted as a God.
In fact, the society that is portrayed here is one in which there is no hostility, no stealing, a liberal sharing of food,
and generous assistance provided along the difficult river. This confirms the ethnographic findings of James Teit
almost a century later, that these were non - aggressive and friendly peoples.(f.49)
These Native accounts also provide a rare glimpse of how the first whites appeared to the Indians, from their style
of dress to the organization of the canoe crews. Metal ornaments were a source of fascination - in particular, the
metal broach Fraser wore on his head.
It is also revealing to contrast Fraser's 'factual' account with the Native 'contextual' account. To some Natives,
Fraser and his crew could be explained according to their mythology. Fraser was not just another human being; he
was the 'Sun' who had come from the east and was travelling to the west. Members of his crew included 'Moon,'
'Coyote,' and 'Old One,' among others. These 'people' had taken to travelling around again, as they had done in early
times. Similar religious associations are present in current accounts. In York's account, Fraser was 'the son of the
sun, God's son'; in Phillips's, 'Jesus Christ.' In Mitchell's account he was someone who could one day help the
people.
Finally, there are events chronicled in these Native historical accounts that are missing in Fraser's journal - for
example, the story about a woman who isfondled by Fraser at the mouth of the Stein. Also new is the fear that the
Indians would be 'cleaned out' by disease simply by touching the strangers.
In light of this Native history, perhaps the big question is what, ultimately, we are to make of the non - Native
historical record based on the observations of a single male operating in an official capacity with a reputation at
stake. In contrast, the Native accounts draw on a vastly larger tapestry of people that spans several generations.

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The story survives in oral memory to this day in Phillips's and in many others' minds. Here we have surely a wider,
deeper 'history,' a history that does not rely on dead documents many steps removed, but on a collective memory
traced directly to the many who were there. Here it is the written that is the more limited and problematic; the oral
is the history that lives and is alive.
Footnotes:
This paper is dedicated to Annie York and Louis Phillips, two Nlaka'pamux elders who were both extremely
knowledgeable local historians. Annie died on 19 August 1991 and Louis died on 2 June 1993.
(f.1) Scott Simpson, Vancouver Sun, 10 Dec. 1991
(f.2) 'Nlaka'pamux' is the general term of identification used by the Native people of south - central British
Columbia who speak a common language and who live in communities along the Fraser and Thompson rivers
between Yale and Lillooet, between Lytton and Ashcroft, along the Nicola Valley between Spence's Bridge and
Merritt, in the Nicola Valley to Quilchena, and in the lower reaches of the Coldwater Valley. Outsiders have called
them by a variety of names, and it is these, more than their own terms of identification, by which they have become
known. Simon Fraser, in 1808, called them the 'Hacamaugh' Indians. The Hudson's Bay traders called them
'Couteau' or Knife Indians. Later, in written records, they were referred to as the Thompson River Indians, after the
major river in their territory. This latter term was eventually shortened to 'the Thompsons,' even though many of the
people known as such lived nowhere near the Thompson River. Today, both within and outside the community,
there is a revival of 'Nlaka'pamux,' their original term of self - identification.
(f.3) W. Kaye Lamb, ed., The Letters and Journals of Simon Fraser, 1806 - 1808 (Toronto 1960), 87 - 8
(f.4) George E. Marcus and Dick Cushman, 'Ethnographies as Texts,' Annual Review of Anthropology 1982, 35
(f.5) Forked Tongues: Speech, Writing and Representation in North American Indian Texts (Bloomington 1991)
(f.6) 'Myth and History,' in Jonathan D. Hill, ed., Rethinking History and Myth: Indigenous South American
Perspectives on the Past (Urbana 1988), 3
(f.7) Terence Turner, 'Ethno - Ethnohistory,' in Rethinking History and Myth, 237
(f.8) Ibid., 238. The title of this paper was drawn from a similar phrase used by Turner in his article, 'Ethno -
Ethnohistory.'
(f.9) Lamb, ed., The Letters and Journals of Simon Fraser, 86 - 7
(f.10) Ibid., 87 - 8
(f.11) Ibid., 95
(f.12) Ibid., 86 - 7
(f.13) Ibid., 119
(f.14) For more on the life and works of James Teit see Wendy Wickwire, 'Women in Ethnography: The Research of
James A. Teit,' Ethnohistory, in press.
(f.15) Folklore scholar Jarold Ramsey, who has studied North American Native narratives in some depth, notes that
Bible - derived texts in print are best represented by the Salish - speaking peoples 'thanks to the tireless and open -
minded transcribing of James Teit ... at the turn - of - the - century.' Reading the Fire: Essays in the Traditional
Indian Literatures of the Far West (Lincoln, 1983), 168
(f.16) James A Teit, 'The Thompson Indians of British Columbia,' Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural
History, vol. 1, pt 4 (New York 1900), 365 - 6
(f.17) Teit unpublished notes on 'Religious or praying dance song,' Catalogue no. Vl.M. 51, Archives of the
Canadian Museum of Civilization (CMC), Hull, Quebec
(f.18) Teit, 'The Thompson lndians,' 365 - 6
(f.19) Teit unpublished notes on song no. VI.M.51, CMC
(f.20) Teit, 'Religious or praying dance songs,' no. VI.M.102
(f.21) J.A. Teit, 'Mythology of the Thompson Indians,' Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History, vol. 12,
pt 2, (New York 1912), 414 - 16; James A. Teit et al., 'Folk - Tales of Salishan and Sahaptin Tribes,' Memoirs of the
American Folk - Lore Society, vol. 11 (Lancaster, Penn. 1917), 64

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(f.22) This is another spelling, used on several occasions by Teit. Today it is spelled 'Stein.' It is the name of the
river that empties into the Fraser just above Lytton.
(f.23) It is unusual in collections from this period to have the individual storytellers named. In the case of Waxtko,
Teit noted that she was born around 1830 and died in 1912. Teit, 'Folk - Tales,' 64
(f.24) The absence of names, dates, and locations in the published collections stands in contrast to Teit's raw
fieldnotes.
(f.25) The more common spelling of this river today is 'Stein.'
(f.26) Teit, 'Mythology of the Thompson Indians,' 415
(f.27) Ibid.
(f.28) In a footnote, Teit notes that this word means 'birch - bark canoe,' and that it was a common name for Simon
Fraser's party. Teit et al., 'Folk - Tales of Salishan and Sahaptin Tribes,' 64
(f.29) Ibid.
(f.30) Ibid.
(f.31) Teit, 'Mythology of the Thompson Indians,' 416
(f.32) This name may be related to the use of a gun. Fraser noted in his journal that at one place near Lytton, 'We
fired several shots to shew the Indians the use of our guns. Some of them, through fear, dropped down at the
report.' Lamb, ed., The Letters and Journals of Simon Fraser, 95
(f.33) The events of this story are similarly described in Fraser's journal. Ibid., 89 - 92. One of Fraser's canoes
capsized shortly after leaving Lytton. Two men leapt off and got to shore. Meanwhile D'Alaire was swept three
miles downstream to a point where he was able to crawl onto some rocks.
(f.34) This fact in the Native account coincides closely with Fraser's comment in his journal that he was writing in
his tent when the capsizing took place. Ibid., 90
(f.35) Teit, 'Mythology of the Thompson Indians,' 416
(f.36) Ibid., 415
(f.37) This transcription of a Nlaka'pamux word and others throughout this paper are approximations only.
(f.38) Excerpt from an audiotaped interview conducted by Wendy Wickwire with Louis Phillips in Lytton, 10 March
1991
(f.39) This is a common Native term used for Jesus Christ. Teit noted it also, spelling it as 'Suskule' and 'Susakre.'
'Mythology of the Thompsons Indians,' 404
(f.40) Interview with Phillips
(f.41) Ibid.
(f.42) This segment of Annie York's story is corroborated by Fraser's journal: 'Two Indians from our last
encampment overtook us with a piece of Iron which we had forgotten there. We considered this as an
extraordinary degree of honesty and attention.' The Letters and Journals, 89
(f.43) Segment of an audiotaped interview conducted by Imbert Orchard with Annie York in Spuzzum, BC, 1965.
Copy given to Wendy Wickwire by Annie York, August 1981
(f.44) Ibid.
(f.45) Segnent of an audiotaped interview conducted by Wendy Wickwire with Annie Yorlc in Vancouver, 31 May
1985
(f.46) Randy Bouchard and Dorothy Kennedy, eds., 'Lillooet Stories,' Sound Heritage, 6, 1 (1977): 42 - 3
(f.47) Lamb, ed., The Letter and Journals of Simon Fraser, 88
(f.48) Ibid.
(f.49) Teit, 'The Thompson Indians,' 180 - 1

DETAILS

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Subject: Oral history; Native Americans; Literary criticism; Explorers; History; Native peoples

Location: Fraser River British Columbia Canada British Columbia Canada

People: Fraser, Simon

Company: Nlaka pamux Tribe

Classification: 9172: Canada

Publication title: The Canadian Historical Review; North York

Volume: 75

Issue: 1

Pages: 1-20

Number of pages: 0

Publication year: 1994

Publication date: Mar 1994

Publisher: University of Toronto Press

Place of publication: North York

Country of publication: Canada

Publication subject: History

ISSN: 00083755

Source type: Scholarly Journals

Language of publication: English

Document type: Feature

Document feature: References

Accession number: 02072466

ProQuest document ID: 224274684

Document URL: http://ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/22427

4684?accountid=14656

Copyright: Copyright University of Toronto Press Mar 1994

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 Last updated: 2016-03-19

Database: Canadian Business &Current Affairs Database

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