John R. Jewitt

Jewitt remained a captive of Maquinna until 1805, during which time he became immersed in the Nootka culture and was forced to marry. Through the years, Jewitt and Macquinna became very close, like brothers. The distinction between prisoner of war and slave is not clear-cut, but Jewitt lost his liberty and had to work for Maquinna. Jewitt uses the word "slave" to describe his position and asserts that Maquinna had about 50 others, consisting of half his household. Thompson (the sailmaker) and Jewitt were taunted, out of Maquinna's hearing, as "white slaves", with explosive results, including a death.

Slaves were the Nootkas' most valuable property (p. 88), and might be killed if they tried to run away. Jewitt says that slaves ate with the family, the same food in different dishes (p. 71), and were generally well-treated but had to work hard (p. 88); often the king's household would run short of food, so he would beg elsewhere (p. 59). Maquinna allowed Jewitt to undertake other work when not employed by him, and he used this privilege to make bracelets, fish-hooks, and so on, to trade with the chiefs of the village and other visitors. Other chiefs or kings, including the king Wickaninnish of the Tla-o-qui-aht (Clayoquot), attempted to buy Jewitt, but Maquinna declined (p. 151). Machee Ulatilla, king of the Klaizzarts, wished to buy him, promising to release him to any European ship that passed, and in the end it was through his help that deliverance came.

Their Christian beliefs were a source of strength to Jewitt and Thompson. They were permitted to keep the Sabbath, by withdrawing on Sundays to bathe, read and pray. The men even made an effort to cook and eat a special Christmas dinner and often gave thanks for their continued existence.

The women, including Maquinna's nine wives, expressed compassion towards Jewitt, but the 500 warriors wanted him to be killed (p. 34). Maquinna repeatedly protected him and refused to allow his death. Jewitt adopted a conciliatory approach and made an effort to learn the language.

Jewitt describes in some detail the physical appearance, clothing and hats, jewellery, and face and body painting of the Nootka. He explains the household implements (baskets, bags), simple furniture (wooden boxes, tubs, trays) and food, describing it as constantly either feasting or fasting. Herring spawn, dried fish, clams, oysters, sea mammal blubber and "train oil" (whale oil) were staples of the diet (the oil was even added to strawberries). Venison and bear meat were eaten fresh, but fish was often fermented; a delicacy was salmon roe. Jewitt had metal cooking pots from the ship, but was forbidden from preparing his own food—Maquinna insisted that his captives lived and ate as the Nootka did (p. 51), i.e. boiling and steaming their food (p. 69). The Nootka did not eat salted food or add salt to anything, and Maquinna forbade his captives to make salt (p. 51). Jewitt found a box of chocolate and a case of port wine (p. 47) from the ship's stores, which gave him much comfort, as the Nootka did not like these delicacies, although they did appreciate molasses, rum, and other spirits. The men became completely intoxicated when they had access to alcohol, but the women drank only water (p. 48), and Jewitt feared for his safety when his captors were drunk.

Pages of the memoir are devoted to descriptions of activities such as music, dance, and song (which was used to keep time in their ocean paddling); hospitality and gift-giving (the famous potlatch); their customs regarding sex, cleanliness, illness, healing, and death; system of government and punishments; religious beliefs and ceremonies (including the treatment of the parents of twins); and even the manner of sitting and eating. Other tribes, often tributaries, are listed, described, and their warriors numbered; Jewitt's transliteration does not always match modern renderings of the names. Jewitt mentions the class structure and says that women were excluded from most feasting. Women in general were very modest, but female slaves were used for sex. Jewitt describes their methods of fishing, trapping bears, and trading (including slave trading). He writes about their weapons, and how they made and managed their huge dugout canoes. Jewitt introduced a new sort of harpoon, enabling more successful whale hunts, and various other weapons and implements that Maquinna reserved to himself as king.

Jewitt gives a thorough description of the village of Nootka in Friendly Cove, the appearance and construction of the longhouses, and the geography of the surrounding terrain (starting p. 59). The Spanish had occupied the area a generation before, forced the people to migrate a few miles away, and built a garrison called Fort San Miguel. With the Nootka Conventions of the 1790s, an agreement signed in Europe and of which the indigenous people knew nothing, the Spanish left and the Nootka returned to their village. The foundations of the church and the governor's house and the remnants of the kitchen garden were visible during Jewitt's time there.

Jewitt spent the spring and summer at that village, the autumn (beginning of September to end of December) at Tashees, ideally situated for the salmon, and the midwinter months at Coopte, 15 miles (24 km) nearer Nootka, for herring and sprat fishing. This annual nomadism involved packing up everything, even the planks on the outside of their longhouses, to transport in their canoes.

Jewitt counted the Nootka people (only those in the town of Yuquot) at about 1500 inhabitants, of whom 500 were warriors.

Jewitt wrote in the Narrative that he was ordered to participate in a night-time raid on a village identified as A-y-chart. He said he took four captives, which Maquinna allowed him to keep as his own "as a favour", while Thompson killed seven (p. 150). All of the inhabitants were either killed or enslaved. However, some doubt Jewitt and Thompson really participated in any such attack. While the story appears in the Narrative, there is no mention of any such occurrence in the original diary and no mention of the four slaves. Contemporary maritime historical accounts support the possibility that Jewitt was recounting the story of a Wickaninnish attack that he heard about; this may be because he wished to dramatize his story for his readers.

He was allegedly ordered to marry, because the council of chiefs thought that a wife and family would reconcile him to staying with the Nootka for life. He was reportedly given a choice between forced marriage for himself and capital punishment for both him and his "father". "Reduced to this sad extremity, with death on the one side, and matrimony on the other, I thought proper to choose what appeared to me the least of the two evils" (p. 154). However, Jewitt's story of forced marriage has also been questioned. Both Captain Barclay and a later British ethnologist in the mid-19th century reported meeting older witnesses who said Jewitt had been involved in a very passionate love affair with the daughter of a neighbouring chief. It has been speculated that Jewitt created the "forced marriage" story in accordance with the mores of the time. Jewitt's account does confirm he married the seventeen-year-old daughter of a neighbouring chief.

Maquinna took him to a neighbouring village and paid a bride price for Jewitt's selection, who was indeed the young daughter of the chief. Jewitt then set up his own home in Maquinna's longhouse, building beds so as to not sleep on the dirt floor, and insisting on cleanliness for both his wife and Maquinna's twelve-year-old son, who chose to live with them. Jewitt viewed the marriage as a chain binding him to "this savage land" (p. 161).

Maquinna and the chiefs then decided that Jewitt must now be "considered one of them, and conform to their customs", especially the wearing of Nootka clothing (p. 161). Jewitt resented the imposition of this dress code, finding the loose, untailored garments very cold, and attributed to them a subsequent illness of which he almost died. He was not allowed to cut his hair, and had to paint his face and body as a Nootka would.

Jewitt was asked to file the teeth of the king's elder brother. He did so without understanding why, but found out it was to enable the chief to bite off the nose of a new wife who refused to sleep with him. Jewitt unsuccessfully attempted to dissuade him from carrying out this traditional punishment (p. 207).