A4 - Sunday, October 30, 1983 - North Shore News Published in 194], it is the first-person record of the life of Charles James Nowell, a high-ranking member of Kwakiutl society born in 1870, at a time when the Native cultures around the upper end of Vancouver Island had still scarcely had any contact, on a daily basis, with white men. The story of Charley’s life is remarkable in no small measure because it is a vivid reminder of what a tiny historical toe-hold European culture has on this West Coast that we like to think of as ‘‘ours.”’ The Spanish explorer Juan Perez may have anchored near the entrance to Nootka Sound in 1774 (four years before James Cook actually landed) but the life of the coastal natives carried on pretty much as it had for thousands of years until this century, when the churches and government combined forces to try to eradicate ‘*heathen’’ culture. At the time of Charley Nowell’s birth, the Kwakiutl religion and social order was quite intact. The potlatch, which was the centrepiece of Kwakiutl society’s unique economic order, had still not been banned. Anybody who takes the time to study the potlatch discovers that there was a system which was neither communism not capitalism, yet which guaranteed that no strictly personal by Bob Hunter Indians have fun (VE JUST FINISHED reading a fabulous book, long since out of print, loaned by a friend in Alert Bay, George Hunt, called Srnoke From Their Fires, The Life of A Kwakiutl Chief, by Clellan S. Ford. person in the tribe would go hungry while still preserving the prestige of the nch. Com- passion was served but so was pride. There is one anecdote that stands out brilliantly among the many jewels in Smoke From Their Fires. Somewhere around the turn of the century, Charley wound up with some Nootka Indians at an exposition in St. Louis, where they were asked to perform the equivalent of a ‘‘winter ceremonial,’’ a ritual perfor- mance almost never witness- ed outside of the trnbal longhouses. They decided to put on a terrific show. They’d met an African pygmy whom they brought into their plot. His task was to disappear at just the nght moment when one of the Indians, introduced as a cannibal, pretended to go mad with the lust for human flesh. In preparation, Charley’s group of actors cooked a sheep’ and stuffed it with a tube of blood. While perfor- ming a dance in which the pygmy took part, the mad- dened ‘‘cannibal’’ fell upon the little African fellow and with some clever sleight-of- hand made it appear that he had bitten the pygmy’s neck open, causing him to bleed, and proceeded to rip his car- cass apart in front of some 20,000 totally horrified spec- tators, spewing blood and bones and bits of meat in SCHOOL WORKERS Peck okays wage hike WEST VANCOUVER School District employees have had a three per cent wage increase approved by Compensation Stabilization Commissioner td Peck The contract, which covers non teaching employecs represented by the West Van couver Municipal Employees Association, 1s retroactive to January of this year “Perhaps happy isn't Setting it straight IN A report of May K 198s The News crroncousty listed the Bruce Graham Planagan 304 269 West 4th Street. North Vancouver as having recets ced oa conviction regarding drinking driving charges In fact. Mr quitted of Flanagan was a impaired driving and convicted of refusing to supply a breath sample We PAC ON VE MIC abe © repicl oany resulting from our creer tight word, but we are con tent with the decision,” says Hugh Lindsay, president of the WYVMEA Peck’s decision marks the end of an “easy set. oof negotiahions between West Van school board ands the employees, says Lindsay, with the agreement on a new contract Coming after only four mectings The other Component of the West Vanecourver Municipal Employees Assoutation the muna tpal workers continues without a 198) Contract Because West has aligned itself with other Vancouver Cstecater Vancouver area cities wpe) cuvcsrnne tgpandatacs con bastoeor telations ono Contract will be decided for the nunc tpal employees until agreement is toached in other arcas potrmarily on Naty carves every direction. Was the performance suc- cessful? Police descended on the scene en masse and there was talk of hanging the can- nibal. Not content with hav- ing freaked everyone out, the West Coast Indians perform- ed a second dance in which they ‘‘brought the pygmy back to life,’’ leaving the ex- position visitors (and the police) in a state of utter baf- flement. Charges which were about to be laid were stayed. It was great theatre. When Charley got back to Alert Bay, he had a lot of fun tell- ing how he’d put on the mibes in St- Louis. The moral of the story? Well, the Indians didn’t ALWAYS lose, you know. Mark one up for the Coast. Would-be thieves come up empty TWO MEN armed with clubs attempted a robbery Thurs- day but didn’t get far. The two accosted a 30-year-old North Vancouver man in the 100-block of West Fourth Street at 2 a.m. Thursday, wielding wooden clubs and demanding that he turn over his wallet. He did. The robbers check- ed it. It was empty. The would-be victim got his wallet thrown back at him and was hit on the leg by one of the men but escaped other- wise unharmed. The Tree Man Dave China Trew work done properly can ounprove your home's appearance, enhan e your life style and increase the value of yor enue propetty by 7% wears tn the | tree tbusmess on the North Shore | haw tral oa neputotion for Quality tree work among theoamsands of clhents fon tree natal topping omamental pruning seasonal main tenance oon other spew talied tree work call ne fon con sultation My park as aw Comypetittwe Tan fully tasared amd tree estates are qlacdhy Quen PoveChina, TREE EXPERTS 922-2200 Wha net tn wie ya call law aewemge areal | wall all war bach as nas prmstitihe @ reasonable winter rates (starting Oct. 1) ©@ winter storage for R.V's (supervised) @ propane for R.V.'s | POUZOLT PAOK ae) 986-5375 © MITSUBISHI SAVE 20% oF ENTIRE STOCK OF SKI SUITS < SIZES 2to 14 OAKRIDGE 261-3617 PARK ROYAL 926 5616 GUN DFORD TOWN CENTRE 585 2622 SURREY PLACE 584 2110