8/4/2023 0 Comments Taboo nootka soundHis first intention was to make for the inlet to the north, which would have brought him to land at Kyuquot Sound instead of Nootka Sound, an outcome that would have changed history significantly had he done so (considering Nootka gave birth to the west coast sea otter fur trade, with Yuquot its epicenter, a village that would go on to become the focal point for what became known as the Nootka Controversy that almost put England and Spain at war. Cook also spied two inlets within that bay, one to the north and another to the south. The day went like this. As Cook approached he viewed the entire region from Brooks Peninsula in the north to Estevan Point on the south end of Hesquiat Peninsula as one big bay, which he named Hope Bay. And none of the versions contains any hint of an instruction to go around, nor any indication they could have used that information. They tell a very detailed accounting, from multiple perspectives, of what transpired that day. In Brabant's writings at the time, he speculated that one of the few words that could be misconstrued as Nookta was the Nuu-chah-nulth word "nootka-a" meaning "go around," and so Brabant speculated that the Mowachaht had given that advice to Cook, and he had misinterpreted it as an introduction.Ĭlearly, in making this assumption, Brabant had never read Captain Cook's journal nor those of the men in the expedition whose journals went on to be published. Scott writes, "They may have been directing him to an anchorage or safe passage, or simply responding to his gestures." His supposition has been picked up many times, notably in The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names by Andrew Scott (Harbour Publishing, 2009). It was made by Father Augustin Brabant, a Jesuit priest who became the first colonial missionary on Vancouver Island's west coast, who resided at Yuquot in the late 1800s and who learned to speak Nuu-chah-nulth. It is a good story, to be sure, but the basis in fact was purely speculation. It goes like this: Captain James Cook, upon first arriving in March 1788, was greeted by the Mowachaht, who yelled "go around," using the Nuu-cha-nulth word " nootka-a", an instruction for the safe place to go as the ships the Discovery and the Resolution approached Yuquot on south Nootka Island.Ĭook misinterpreted that, or so the story goes, to mean the Mowachaht were in fact introducing themselves as the people the Nootka, and so he chose that name for the people of the sound he was entering. One of the most-told stories relating to Nootka Sound is the story of the origin of the name Nootka Sound.
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