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# 2023-04-02 - The Adventures of John Jewitt
This is the second white slave narrative i have read. I was
fascinated to read this and gain another peep into some of the ways
and customs of indigenous people living on the Pacific Northwest
coast. I was particularly interested in details about customs
dealing with dress, food, and prayer.
> On the nineteenth the king [Maquina] came again on board and was
> invited by the Captain to dine with him. ... the Captain made him
> a present of a double-barreled fowling piece with which he
> appeared to be greatly pleased...
> The next day [on the 21st] Maquina came aboard... he brought with
> him the gun, one of the locks of which he had broken, telling the
> Captain that it was peshac; that is, bad. Capt Salter was very
> much offended at this observation, and considering it as a mark
> of contempt for his present, he called the king a liar, adding
> other opprobrious terms, and taking the gun from him tossed it
> indignantly into the cabin...
> Maquina knew a number of English words and unfortunately
> understood but too well the meaning of the reproachful terms that
> the Captain addressed to him. He said not a word in reply but
> his countenance sufficiently expressed the rage he felt, as
> though he exerted himself to suppress it.
Later Maquina led a massacre on the Captain and the crew. I take
this as a lesson to the British empire about their conceited
superiority complex and general lack of respect toward indigenous
people.
> About midnight I was greatly alarmed by the approach of one of
> the natives who came to give information to the king that there
> was one of the white men alive, who had knocked him down as he
> went on board the ship at night. This Maquina communicated to
> me, giving me to understand that as soon as the sun rose he
> should kill him.
> As I was thinking of some plan for his preservation, it all at
> once came into my mind that this man was probably the sail-maker
> of the ship, named Thompson. ... As Thompson was a many nearly
> forty years of age and had an old look, I conceived it would be
> easy to make him pass for my father, and by this means prevail on
> Maquina to spare his life.
This is remarkably similar to a situation described by James Riley
in his narrative "Sufferings in Africa" where he liked and told a
slave trader that an older shipmate was his father, in an effort to
try and help save his shipmate.
> After returning thanks to that merciful Being who had in so
> wonderful a manner softened the hearts of the savages in my
> favour, I had determined from the first of my capture to adopt a
> conciliating conduct towards them and conform myself, as far as
> was in my power, to their customs and mode of thinking, trusting
> that the same divine goodness that had rescued me from death
> would not always suffer me to languish in captivity... As a
> farther recommendation to their favour and what might eventually
> prove of the utmost importance to us, I resolved to learn their
> language...
The author's spiritual optimism and his resolve to learn the
language of his captors are also remarkably similar to what James
Riley documented in his own narrative.
> Callicum was murdered by the Spanish in 1789. According to
> explorer Captain John Meares, Callicum boarded a Spanish ship
> with a gift of fish, but before he could present the fish to the
> captain it was taken away from him. The chief was so incensed at
> this treatment that "he immediately left the ship, exclaiming as
> he departed, peshac, peshac! the meaning of which is bad, bad!
> This conduct was considered so offensive that he was immediately
> shot from the quarterdeck, by a ball through the heart.
> The king, finding that i was desirous of learning their
> languages, was much delighted and took great pleasure in
> conversing with me. On these occasions he explained to me his
> reasons for cutting off our ship, saying that he bore no ill will
> to my countrymen, but that he had several times been treated very
> ill by them.
Maquina told stories of abuse from Captain Tawnington, Captain
Martinez, and Captain Hanna.
> These injuries had excited in the breast of Maquina an ardent
> desire of revenge ... and feeling his desire of revenge rekindled
> by the insult offered by Captain Salter, formed a plan for
> attacking... And here I cannot but indulge a reflection that has
> frequently occurred to me on the manner in which our people
> behave toward the natives.
Then Jewitt calls for European captains to treat them with more
civility.
He mentions that the Nootka enjoy all manner of berries, but the
yama (salal) berries are the only ones they preserve. One family
might collect and preserve upwards of 12 bushels. They dry them
and eat the dried berries with oil. I imagine they were an
important source of water soluble fiber.
At some point Jewitt and Thompson are compelled to fight for
Maquina in a tribal war. Jewitt takes some prisoners and Maquina
allows him to keep them as slaves. He seems to have no qualms
about becoming a slave owner.
> With regard to their religion.--They believe in the existence of a
> Supreme Being, whom they call Quahootze, and who, to use Maquina's
> expression, was one great Tyee in the sky, who ... was the greatest
> of all kings. Their usual place of worship appeared to be the
> water, for whenever they bathed, they addressed some words in form
> of prayer to the God above, entreating that he would preserve them...
>
> Some of them would sometimes go several miles to bathe, in order to
> do it in secret; the reason for this I could never learn...
> while at other times they would repair in the same secret manner to
> the woods to pray. This was more particularly the case with the
> women, who might also have been prompted by a sentiment of decency
> to retire for the purpose of bathing, as they are remarkably modest.
>
> I once found one of [the] women more than two miles from the
> village on her knees in the woods, with her eyes shut and her face
> turned towards heaven, uttering words in a lamentable tone, amongst
> which I distinctly heard, Wocash Ah-welth, meaning "good Lord," and
> which has nearly the same signification with Quahootze.
>
> Though I came very near her, she appeared not to notice me, but
> continued her devotions. And I have frequently seen the women go
> alone into the woods, evidently for the purpose of addressing
> themselves to a superior Being, and it was always very perceptible
> on their return when they had been thus employed, from their
> silence and melancholy looks.
author: Jewitt, John Rodgers, 1783-1821
detail: gopher://gopherpedia.com/0/John_R._Jewitt
LOC: F1089.N8 J31
source: gopher://gopher.pglaf.org/1/3/8/0/1/38010
source: gopher://tilde.pink/1/~bencollver/ia/details/adventuresofjohn00jewiuoft
tags: biography,ebook,native-american,non-fiction,slave narrative
title: The Adventures of John Jewitt
# Tags
biography
ebook
native-american
non-fiction
slave narrative
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