One of our primary motivations
for the Húy̓at project is to place the Heiltsuk and Heiltsuk voices “back on the land”. We do this by documenting the oral traditions, memories, archaeology, and ethnoecology of Húy̓at. Although we do not have photographs of the millennia of previous generations of Heiltsuk who lived in Húy̓at, it is important to imagine the many faces of people whose history is embedded in the Húy̓at landscape. Bringing the stories of these people forward helps keep their legacy alive for our future generations.
We get glimpses of these past generations through recent documentation.
recent documentation.
recent documentation.
In 1834, William Fraser Tolmie mentioned Chiefs Boston (known through family lines today as Gáluyaǧṃí), Kaghetasso (Q̓aíx̌ítasu), Umcheets (Hṃ́zit) and Qyostogous (Ǧviúst̓izas) as the chiefs of Lizzie Cove and central Húy̓at, though we know little of the details of their lives.
“Crossed an arm of the sea about two miles broad (the passage leading to Niwity) & making a portage between two small islands (which at ebbtide form only one) entered as spacious bay at the head of which saw a winter village of Boston’s Sept – the houses of the three great chiefs Boston, Kaghetasso & Umcheets were most conspicuous except the house of a chief lately deceased, Qyostogous which exceeded all the others in size-- the posts of the latter were about 12 feet high & 18 or 24in. in diameter – the lower half carved into hideous monsters intended to represent men-- the carving is tolerable but their ideas of proportion bad, the head being immensely large – the figures are in a sitting posture & holding a child between the knees. The head is surmounted with a hat resembling an inverted waterpail – nose acquiline, eyes large & staring & mouth of very capacious dimensions – paint red, white & black is liberally daubed on the face to colour the eyeballs, eyelashes, cheeks, lips &c – higher on the post a nondescript looking quadruped is carved. I should have mentioned, that only the frame of the houses are standing, the walls being carried away when the camp is broken up -- the beams are fixed to the posts by a mortice and tenon joint – which alone is ornamented with the specimens of Sculpture. Nettles are springing up around all the houses & the southern aspect of one islet in the middle of the bay is covered with gooseberry bushes in nearly full foliage. Found clay at two streamlets near the village. Small wooded islets are scattered throughout the bay which is at the base of a mountain about 3000 feet high called Munskumachtlie [M̓ṇ́sǧṃ́x̌λi].”
- William Fraser Tolmie (April 1834)
Even during the more recent Smokehouse Days, the lives of many people who lived in Húy̓at are not well known today. We are grateful to have a few precious photographs and stories of some of
our relations
who lived in Húy̓at in the 20th century. We are also fortunate to have recorded
the voices
of some of the many Heiltsuk who hold personal connections to Húy̓at today. All these people are the descendants of generations of Heiltsuk who have connected to the physical and non-tangible parts of Húy̓at.
