Staple Foods of the Makah
"In former times, dried halibut was to these Indians in lieu of bread; oil in place of butter, and blubber instead of beef or pork. When potatoes were introduced, they…
From The Indians of Cape Flattery, at the Entrance to the Strait of Fuca, Washington Territory, by James Gilchrist Swan, 1870.
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
The principal subsistence of the Makahs is drawn from the ocean, and is formed of nearly all its products, the most important of which are the whale and halibut. Of the former there are several varieties which are taken at different seasons of the year. Some are killed by the Indians; others, including the right whale, drift ashore, having been killed either by whalemen, swordfish, or other casualties. The various species of whales are: The sperm whale, kots-ke, which is very rarely seen; right whale, yakh-yo-bad-di; black fish, klas-ko-kop-ph; fin-back, kau-wid; sulphur bottom, kwa-kwau-yak-thle; California gray, che-che-wid, or chet-a-puk; killer, se-hwau. The generic name of whales is chet-a-puk. The California gray is the kind usually taken by the Indians, the others being but rarely attacked….
The product of the ocean next in importance for food is the halibut. These are taken in the waters of the strait in certain localities, but as the depth of water at the mouth of the strait is very great, the Indians prefer to fish on a bank or shoal some fifteen or twenty miles west from Tatooche light. The depth on the banks varies from twenty to thirty fathoms. The lines used in the halibut fishing are usually made of the stems of the gigantic kelp (fucus gigantea), and the hooks of splints of hemlock. A line attached to one of the arms of the hook holds it in a vertical position, as shown in Fig. 9.
The bait used is the cuttlefish or squid (octopus tuberculatus), which is plentiful and is taken by the natives by means of barbed sticks, which they thrust under the rocks at low water, to draw the animal out and kill it by transfixing it with the stick. A portion of the squid is firmly attached to the hook, which is sunk by means of a stone to the bottom, the sinker keeping the hook nearly in a stationary position. To the upper portion of the line it is usual to attach bladders, which serve as buoys, and several are set at one time.
When the fish is hooked, it pulls the bladder, but cannot draw it under water. The Indian, seeing the signal, paddles out; hauls up the line; knocks the fish on the head with a club; readjusts his bait; casts it overboard; and proceeds to the next bladder he sees giving token of a fish. When a number of Indians are together in a large canoe, and the fish bite readily, it is usual to fish from the canoe without using the buoy. This hook is called che-bud, and the club, sometimes fancifully carved, is called ti-ne-thl.
When the fish are brought home, they are first landed on the beach, where the women wash and wipe them with a wisp of grass or fern. The entrails are taken out and thrown away, and the rest of the fish carried into the houses. The heads are taken off first to be dried separately, and the body of the fish is sliced by means of a knife of peculiar construction, somewhat resembling a common chopping knife, called ko-che-tin (Fig. 10). The skin is first carefully removed, and the flesh then sliced as thin as possible to facilitate the drying; and when perfectly cured, the pieces are wrapped in the skin, carefully packed in baskets, and placed in a dry place. The heads, the back bones, to which some flesh adheres, and the tails, are all dried and packed away separately from the body pieces.
When eaten, the skin, to which the principal portion of the fat or oil of the fish adheres, is simply warmed, or toasted over the coals, till it acquires crispness. The heads, tails, and back bones are boiled. The dried strips from the body are eaten without further cooking, being simply broken into small pieces, dipped in whale oil, and so chewed and swallowed. It requires a peculiar twist of the fingers and some practice to dip a piece of dry halibut into a bowl of oil and convey it to the mouth without letting the oil drop off, but the Indians, old and young, are very expert, and scarcely ever drop any between the mouth and the bowl.
In former times, dried halibut was to these Indians in lieu of bread; oil in place of butter, and blubber instead of beef or pork. When potatoes were introduced, they formed a valuable addition to their food, and since the white men have become more numerous, the Indians have accustomed themselves to other articles of diet; flour, hard bread, rice, and beans are always acceptable to them; they are also very fond of molasses and sugar, and are willing at all times to barter their furs, oil, or fish for these commodities.
Next to the halibut are the salmon and codfish, and a species of fish called the "cultus" or bastard cod. These, however, are usually eaten fresh, except in seasons of great plenty, when the salmon is dried in the smoke. They are all taken with the hook, and the salmon fishing is most excellent sport. The bait used is herring, and unless these are plenty, they will not try to catch salmon, although the waters may be alive with them. A more extended notice of these fish and of several other varieties used for food, will be found in another portion of this paper.
The squid, which is used for bait in the halibut fishery, is also eaten. When first taken from the water it is a slimy jelly-like substance, of rather disgusting appearance, but when boiled it becomes firm and as white as the flesh of a lobster, which it somewhat resembles in taste, but is much tougher to masticate. I have found it, chopped with lettuce, an excellent ingredient in salad. The onychotcuthis is also found, but it is never eaten. Skates are abundant, but as they usually make their appearance during the halibut season, they are seldom used, although the Indians like them very well; but they seem to prefer halibut.
Three varieties of echinus are found here, and are eaten in great quantities; they are either caught by spearing them at low tide, or are taken in a very simple manner by means of a piece of kelp. To effect this a stem of the kelp is sunk to the bottom, having a line and buoy attached. The echini go on it to feed, and after the kelp has remained several hours, it is gently drawn into a canoe and the creature picked off. The Indians collect them in this manner in great numbers during the spring months.
Although a variety of bivalves is found, they do not abound as they do in the bays further up the Strait, and do not form a common article of nutriment, except that mussels of the finest description cover the rocks about Cape Flattery and Tatooche Island, and are eaten whenever the Indian appetite craves them, or when the breakers of the Pacific are sufficiently quiet to permit a search. These are either boiled or roasted in the ashes, and are very delicious cooked by either method. Barnacles, crabs, sea slugs, periwinkles, limpets, &c. furnish occasional repasts. Scallops, which are found in the bays of Fuca Strait, are excluded from their list of food. They are considered as having some peculiar powers belonging to them, and in consequence their shells are made use of as rattles to be used in their ceremonials.
Oysters were formerly found in Neeah Bay, but have been destroyed by some cause of late years; the only evidence of their former existence being the shells which are thrown ashore by the waves. They are found in the various bays and inlets of Vancouver Island, but the Indians do not eat them. In fact there are but few of the animal products of the ocean but are considered edible, and serve to diversify the food.
Of land animals they eat the flesh of the elk, deer, and bear; but, although these abound a short distance in the interior, the Indians very seldom hunt for them, and when they kill any, as they occasionally do, they are always ready to sell the flesh to the white residents in the bay, seeming to care more for the skin than the carcass. Smaller animals, such as raccoons, squirrels, and rabbits, are seldom if ever eaten by them, and are killed only for the sake of the skin.
Of birds, however, they are very fond, particularly the sea fowl, which are most plentiful at times, and are taken in great numbers on foggy nights, by means of spears. A fire of pitch-wood is built on a platform at one end of the canoe, and by the glare of its light, which seems to blind or attract the birds, the Indian is enabled to get into the midst of a flock, and spear them at his leisure. On the return of a canoe from one of these nocturnal excursions, particularly in the fall, it is not unusual to find in it a collection of pelicans, loons, cormorants, ducks of various kinds, grebes, and divers of various sorts. These, after being picked, and very superficially cleaned, are thrown promiscuously into a kettle, boiled and served up as a feast.
The roots used for food are potatoes, which are raised in limited quantities; Kammas, which is procured from the tribes south (Kwilleyute and Kwinaullts), and some from the Vancouver Island Indians; tubers of the equisetum; fern roots, and those of some species of meadow grass and water plants; the roots of several kinds of sea-weed, particularly eel grass, are also used. These and the equisetum root are eaten raw; the others are all cooked.
In the spring the young sprouts of the salmon berry and thumb berry are consumed in great quantities. They are very tender, have a slightly acid and astringent taste, and appear to serve as alteratives to the system, which has become loaded with humors from the winter’s diet of dried fish and oil. The sprouts are sometimes cooked by being tied in bundles and steamed over hot stones.
After the season of sprouts is over the berries commence. The salmon berry comes first and is ripe in June; it is followed by the other summer berries till autumn, when the sallal and cranberry appear and continue till November. It is customary, when an Indian has a surplus of food of any kind, to invite a number of friends and neighbors to share it, and as they seem very fond of these social gatherings, scarcely a day passes but some one will give a feast, sometimes to a few, or it may be to a great number of persons.
From The Indians of Cape Flattery, at the Entrance to the Strait of Fuca, Washington Territory, by James Gilchrist Swan, 1870.
Swan, James Gilchrist. The Indians of Cape Flattery, at the Entrance to the Strait of Fuca, Washington Territory. Smithsonian Institution, 1870.
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