The Terror of the Coast. Chris Arnett
later claimed that Ashutstun made the first move: “He first got angry and struck me in the face with a knife.” 91 Acheewun then struck Ashutstun “who bled very much from the effect of the blow.” Ashutstun was incapacitated and some of “the lookers on” went to carry him to his house. Acheewun “walked proudly about” before firing upon them. 92 Sewholatza, who watched the fight from inside the house, recalled that “just as he was being carried to the door, A-chee-wun fired his musket at him, the ball wounding one of the men who was assisting and struck his father on the right side, passing out the left. After receiving the wound his father staggered into the house and fell dead on the ground.” 93 Two more shots were fired into the house. Acheewun called on Sewholatza “to come out and he would serve him the same,” but the fight ended with no further casualties. 94
It was a traditional fight between two men of lineage on the beach in front of their followers, but there was no compensation or retaliatory violence for the death of Ashutstun until 1863, when Sewholatza would exploit British naval forces to seek revenge on Acheewun.
After this fight, Acheewun fell out of favour with Hulkalatkstun, the si’em of his house at Penelakut, who, perhaps on account of the death of Ashutstun, characterized Acheewun as “a bad and cruel man.” 95 Acheewun moved to Porlier Pass where he may have lived at Khinepsen, a small village site at the north end of Galiano Island named for the home village of the famous warrior Tzouhalem. 96
Acheewun also possessed “a number of retreats and hiding places on Galiano and other islands,” including an almost inaccessible “tunnel” high up Mount Sutil at the south end of Galiano Island. 97 He married Sally, the daughter of Statumish, a si’em who lived at the “upper settlement” on the Chemainus River. 98 By 1859, with the Hwunitum occupation of the north end of Salt Spring Island and the Chemainus River, Acheewun became “the leader of a small band” militantly opposed to Hwunitum colonization. 99 As one of his descendants put it, Acheewun “could see what was coming and fought against it to the bitter end.” 100 Several of his followers were from Lamalcha and Acheewun himself gravitated towards “the look-out place.”
The looser social structure at Lamalcha, 101 and its growing reputation as a centre of opposition to Hwunitum, made it a desireable place for persons who, for one reason or another, were unable to live in their home villages. Lamalcha attracted displaced persons from Penelakut, Nanaimo, and other places, which gave the village a reputation as a place for “men and women who [had] been expelled from their own tribes on account of bad conduct.” 102 The colonial government saw them as an obstacle to land sale agreements and as a threat to the safety of Hwunitum.
Chapter Five
Pay the Indians for the Land or We’ll Have an Indian War
Douglas realized that before Hwunitum settlement of the Cowichan and Chemainus valleys could occur, and to ensure the safety of Hwunitum settlers on Salt Spring Island, Hwulmuhw title to the land would have to be extinguished. In an address to the House of Assembly on March 1, 1860, he asked the House “to provide means for extinguishing, by purchase, the native Title to the Lands in the Districts of Cowichan, Chemainus and Salt Spring Island which are now thrown open for settlement. The purchase should be effected without delay, as the Indians may otherwise regard the settlers as trespassers and become troublesome.” 1
In early June 1860, Douglas instructed Sheriff George W. Heaton to make reconnaissance of the area and conduct a census of Hul’qumi’num First Nations, presumably in preparation for a land sale agreement and to assess Hwulmuhw opposition to Hwunitum settlement. As usual, the colonial officials went during seasonal migrations by the majority of families to their food gathering properties. “The taking of this census,” wrote Heaton, “was attended with considerable difficulty in consequence of the Indians, as is usual at this season, being scattered in all directions for the purpose of fishing.” 2 Accompanied by local trader Samuel Harris, Heaton visited all the major Hwulmuhw settlements on the east coast of Vancouver Island from the Cowichan River north to Nanaimo, including those on Willy Island and Kuper Island.
Heaton described the majority of the people he met as “perfectly civil and friendly on the occasion of my visit … well supplied with all the neccesities of life— adding to the fish with which their waters are so abundantly supplied the produce of numerous patches of potato ground.” 3 However, at the village of Quamichan, which Heaton described as “the most numerous of the Cowichan families,” he found “a turbulent spirit and, among the younger men of the tribe—one antagonistic to the whites.” 4
Leaving the Cowichan territory, the two Hwunitum travelled further north along the east coast of Vancouver Island to the villages of Halalt, Sunuwnets, and Chemainus. At Penelakut, on Kuper Island, where there was anger over the recent occupations of territories on Salt Spring Island, Heaton and Harris encountered more hostility. In contrast to many of the people he met, the Penelakut, wrote Heaton, were “an exception to the general civility. They declined to furnish their numbers or to allow them to be taken.” 5
Heaton met a similar reception from the Lamalcha people on the south end of the island whom he described as “ci-devant [former] slaves … considered by the neighbouring Indians to have no territorial rights.” 6
It is interesting to note that Heaton emphatically states that the Lamalcha were a village of ex-slaves with “no territorial rights.” While some Lamalcha households may have been less well-connected to lands and resources, elders today recognize that Lamalcha families owned resources on the north end of Salt Spring Island, Secretary and Galiano Islands, and accessed other locations through marriage. 7 Heaton’s claim seems calculated in light of the reputation of the Lamalcha as strong opponents of Hwunitum settlement, and the fact that land desired by Hwunitum settlers, particularly in the Chemainus Valley and on the north end of Salt Spring Island, lay within their territories. In fact, Heaton drew attention to the wealth of natural resources within the Lamalcha territory that could be exploited by Hwunitum:
There is an excellent site for a white fishing station on their island; fresh water favourable to oyster beds, cod, rock-cod, salmon, halibut—cuttlefish (occasionally), herring, dogfish, sea cow, porpoises and whales in their greatest abundance in the neighbouring waters. 8
Heaton’s report of June 12, 1860, gave Douglas valuable information regarding Hul’qumi’num First Nations on the eve of the alienation of their land and resources. For example, a comparison of the population figures of the various villages with those of Douglas’ 1853 census revealed that in seven short years Hwulmuhw populations on the east coast of Vancouver island and adjacent islands had dropped by fifty per cent.
Based on the population figures contained in Heaton’s census, and according to his own calculation that £3 worth of goods to each si’em would be sufficient, Douglas estimated that it would cost £3,000 to extinguish the title of lands belonging to Hul’qumi’num and Nanaimo First Nations. 9 The House of Assembly had agreed with his earlier request to set aside funds for the purchase of Hwulmuhw lands and included £2,000 in the budget estimates, but the item was struck out during a meeting on July 3. 10 Some members apparently believed that the funds should be supplied by the British government and not raised locally. Whether the House of Assembly approved the funds or not, Douglas faced even greater obstacles, not the least of which were internal divisions amongst the Hul’qumi’num First Nations regarding negotiations with the Hwunitum.
Following the eviction of Hwunitum settlers from the Chemainus Valley, a series of violent confrontations between native people in the Gulf Islands in the spring and summer of 1860 reminded Hwunitum settlers of their precarious position in the unceded lands. The Battle of Hwtlupnets had put an end to large scale raids by Kwakwaka’wakw people, but violence continued between Hwulmuhw populations and smaller migratory bands of people en route from the north to Hwunitum establishments in Victoria. Alcohol was a factor in many of these confrontations and Hwulmuhw insisted that, among Kwakwaka’wakw-speaking people, “whiskey” was “the principal reason of their going south to Victoria.” 11
In