Photo: JSR

Witness to history. An old, blind, 97-year-old Indian woman in the Chilcotin, British Columbia, querying a young, British-born settler who had arrived in the province at age 18 to find his future there, in 1922.

"One evening while I squatted by her campfire, studying her wrinkled face, I said, 'No trout stop now, Lala. Just suckers and squawfish. And now the Indians never bring beaver pelts to the store to make trade.'"

"She shook her head. Her scraggy hand sought and found my arm Her fingers gouged into its flesh. Lifting her blank eyes to my face she said swiftly, 'No, not'ing stop now'. Her fingers relaxed their grip. Suddenly she demanded, 'You know why?'"

"I pondered this a moment, then hazarded, 'Is it because of the beavers?"

"Aiya, the beavers!'  I filled her pipe from the sack of tobacco I had fetched her from the store, passed it over to her and held a faggot to its bowl. She sucked deeply at the stem, imprisoned the smoke in her mouth and then slowly expelled it. 'Until white man come', she then went on to explain. 'Indian just kill beaver now an' then s'pose he want meat, or skin for blanket. And then, always the creek is full  of beaver. But when white man come and give him tobacco, sugar, bad drink every tam' he fetch beaver skin from creek Indian go crazy and kill beaver all tame'. Again her fingers clawed my arm. Harshly she asked, 'What's matter white man no tell Indian -- some beaver you must leave so little one stop next year? What's matter white man no tell Indian -- s'pose you take all beaver, bimeby all water go too. And if water go, no trout, no fur, no grass, not'ing stop?'"

"After a few contemplative moments she suggested, 'Why you no go that creek and give it back the beavers? You young man,  you like hunt and trap. S'pose once again the creek full of beavers, maybe trout come back. And ducks and geese come back too, and big marshes be full of muskrats again all same when me little girl. And where muskrats stop, mink and otter stop too. Aiya! Why you no go that creek with Lily, and live there all tam', and give it back to the beavers?'"


Three Against the Wilderness -- a gripping memoir of a pioneering family in the Chilcotin.
Eric Collier

Photo: JSR