This collection of oral narratives from the Tsimshian Indians of the west coast of British Columbia around Prince Rupert, is illustrated with early photographs and maps, and reflects the close relationship of these people with their environment.

These oral histories, collected by Marius Barbeau and William Beynon from the Pacific Northwest reflect the Tsimshian relationship with the environment, their understanding of the spiritual universe and their interpretation of the physical world.

This collection of oral narratives from the Tsimshian Indians of the west coast of British Columbia around Prince Rupert, is illustrated with early photographs and maps, and reflects the close relationship of these people with their environment.

This collection of oral narratives from the Tsimshian Indians of the west coast of British Columbia around Prince Rupert, is illustrated with early photographs and maps, and reflects the close relationship of these people with their environment.

First-hand accounts of indigenous people’s encounters with colonialism are rare. A daily diary that extends over fifty years is unparalleled. Drawing on her painstaking transcription of Arthur Wellington Clah’s diaries, Peggy Brock pieces together the many voyages – physical, cultural, and spiritual – of a Tsimshian man who moved in both colonial and Aboriginal worlds. From his birth in 1831 to his death in 1916, Clah witnessed profound change. His diaries reveal the complexities of personal interactions between colonizers and the colonized and the inevitable tensions that arose. They also show how Clah’s hopes for his people were gradually eroded by the realities of land dispossession, interference by the colonial state in cultural and political matters, and diminishing economic opportunities. Clah’s personal journey reflects Tsimshian responses to these changes, including modifications to potlatching and the chiefly system that had evolved during the fur trade era. Taken together, his many voyages offer an unprecedented Aboriginal perspective on colonial relationships as they played out on the Pacific Northwest Coast.

The Tsimshians are a Northwest Coast Native people known for their dazzling works of art and rich array of social, religious, and oral traditions that have captured the attention of scholars for over a century. Jay Miller brings together for the first time a wealth of material about the Tsimshians, presenting an unforgettable picture of their cultural universe. That universe is built around the metaphor of light, which was brought into the world by Raven; its refraction forms the chief social, religious, and symbolic institutions of Tsimshian culture. Family heraldic crests express light in one way, masks in another. Miller argues convincingly that the genius of Tsimshian culture, and one of the main reasons for its continuing vitality, is that its people are sensitive to different, and often creative, ways of capturing and embodying light.