Kwakiutl Legends

James Wallas, hereditary Chief of the Quatsino Band of the Northern Vancouver Island Kwakiutl, spent many years as a logger and fisherman. He has completed an Indian Education teachers' training seminar and now teaches Indian Studies to elementary school children in Coal Harbour. He has also been participating in the compilation of a new Indian usage dictionary which will soon be available to all Northern Vancouver Island schools. Pamela Whitaker, a freelance writer, spent three years record­ing and researching Mr. Wallas' stories.

 

Description: Legends from Kwakiutl Peoples. The stories in this book relate the traditional tales which Mr. James Wallas has learned from his elders, who lived in Quatsino Sound and on Hope Island. Mr. Wallas's forefathers are members of a people known generally as the Kwakiutl, although the term is misleading because it originally referred to a sub-group living at Fort Rupert. The Kwakiutl inhabit an area which at present includes Campbell River at the southern extreme, Quatsino Sound at the western extreme, various inlets of mainland B.C. at the eastern extreme, and Smiths Inlet at the northern extreme. Traditionally, the Kwakiutl lived in villages located in this general area (excluding Campbell River an Cape Mudge) which were organized into tribes. Today, most of them live on reserves near towns, maintaining some remote villages for food preparation and preserving during the spring, summer and fall.