Songhees

"The chief of the Stamiss* tribe at this time and for many years after was nick named "Freezy" in adaptation of the French word "frizer" to curl, in reference to his mop of closely frizzed hair an inheritance from his Kanaka progenitor. His proper name was Chee-ah-thluk. He was a peaceable old chap and ever lived in amity with the Whites during his somewhat lengthy reign. Some sensational writers have credited him with fictitious attributes; not the least is that of his possessing and killing off many wives; this is pure fiction as I can vouch from personal knowledge. He died in 1864. Like all natives he loved rum and led the simple life. If he wanted a salmon he had to catch it like any other of his subjects and as for clams it was the duty of the Queen to dig them up."

"One of the beauty spots was Laurel Point, which at that period was used by the Stsamiss Indians as a burial ground. There amidst the arbutus trees (hence the name of Laurel Point) were to be seen the wooden effigies marking the place where some notable was laid to rest in his canoe or wooden sepulchre surrounded by many of his personal belongings in life of the deceased and the ground carpeted with white lilies and other wild flowers. Can such a beauty spot be conceived to have ever existed on the site of the hideous factories which now deface the ground?"

"The Indians are a miserable race - oddly clad in blankets &c &some(sic) painted all colour. The Chinook Jargon is mostly spoken I am learning it."

"We soon followed the scholars, my Aunt with Mr Hankin as before, & I with the Bishop who as we passed the Indian village asked if I would like to go in to one of the lodges. These are large huts of large slabs of wood (partially lined with mats of their own manufacture) within which several families live. In the first, we found 4 families - another seemed to receive 5 or 6. Each family was distinct, & had its own fire - the smoke of course escaping through the roof. The men were all away except one old one who was sick - also the children, except babies - the women only were within. They are Flatheads & we saw one wretched infant with the heavy bandage on its forehead. The Bishop shook his head & expressed in Chinook, how shocking and cruel it was, wh(sic which) only made the mother laugh. Another woman explained that they did not like our straight up foreheads. Being large & well ventilated by means of the gaps in the sides and the roof, the huts were by no means the bad smelling places you might expect, & the wood smoke always seems to purify the air."

"1853 25th, Sunday, Capt Grant came in to breakfast from Mr Langfords on horseback. Mr Ford the Engineer of the Sawmill came over in the afternoon we all went down to the Indian Village it being their feast and we went to see them, when we got down the Old Tyee, that is the Chief man he invited us in the camp to see his friends - so we went in and it was Oh Siame, Siame, how do you do. Siame, means the same as Tyee - they were very proud to see us, so they honoured us with a dance and a song it was quite amusing to see them all with their Knifes (sic), Pistols, Swords, & Guns in their hands, holding them above their heads, now and then firing a Gun or two out of the Roof, then we saw about 9 more Canoes come in then they shoot and the Canoes come up in a Row the Indians that are in the canoes singing and Dancing all the time they are coming, when they get near the Beach one Man goes to the edge of the water and makes a speech, to the Indians that are in the canoes singing and Dancing all the time they are coming, when they get near the Beach one Man goes to the edge of the water and makes a speech, to the Indians that are in the canoes, Saying, that his heart is very good towards them, and hopes theirs are towards them, and that he had invited them to come to this feast and share with some Blankets that they had to give away. But if their hearts were not good towards them, they were not to come ashore, and a great deal of more of what I did not understand, then there is a whooping (sic), Drumming and Dancing. After seeing all that we came home as it was getting Dusk. Capt Grant stayed all night. Mr Ford went home."

Notes

The First Nations people who live on the Southern tip of Vancouver Island are Coast Salish. The Songhees nation originally lived where Victoria is now, but Roderick Finlayson convinced them to move across the harbour to where the Songhees Reservation now is. James Douglas negotiated treaties with the Songhees on April 29, 1850 transferring the ownership of land that they didn't occupy to "White people for ever". The treaties preserved the Songhees' right to hunt on unoccupied land and to fish as they had before.

Sophia Cracroft travelled to Fort Victoria with her Aunt, Lady Franklin. Her husband was John Franklin, the man who died in the discovery of the Northwest Passage. Lady Franklin searched for her husband three separate times before giving up. She spent her time after her husband's death exploring the world with her niece and companion, Sophia Cracroft.