The Terror of the Coast. Chris Arnett
whereby he arranged, at least according to his point of view, that “the whole of their lands … should be sold to the Company.” 11 For his part, Douglas essentially made the same guarantees to the Hwulmuhw leaders of southern Vancouver Island as Kemp made to the Ngai Tahu in New Zealand. On May 16, he reported to Barclay that:
I summoned to a conference, the chiefs and influential men of the Songees Tribe, which inhabits and claims the District of Victoria, from Gordon Head on Arro [Haro] Strait to Point Albert on the Strait of De Fuca as their own particular heritage. After considerable discussion it was arranged that the whole of their lands, forming as before stated the District of Victoria, should be sold to the Company, with the exception of Village sites and enclosed fields, for a certain remuneration, to be paid at once to each member of the Tribe. I was in favour of a series of payments to be made annually but the proposal was so generally disliked that I yielded to their wishes and paid the sum at once.
The members of the Tribe on being mustered were found to number 122 men or heads of families, to each of whom was given a quantity of goods equal in value to 17s Sterling and the total sum disbursed on this purchase was £103.14.0 Sterling at Dept. price. I subsequently made a similar purchase from the Clallum Tribe, of the country lying between Albert Point and Soke [Sooke] Inlet. In consequence of the claimants not being so well known as the Songees, we adopted a different mode of making the payments, by dealing exclusively with the Chiefs, who received and distributed the payments while the sale was confirmed and ratified by the Tribe collectively. This second purchase cost about £30.0.8. I have since made a purchase from the Soke Tribe of the land between Soke Inlet and Point Sherringham, the arrangement being concluded in this as in the preceeding purchase with the Chiefs or heads of families who distributed the property among their followers. 12 The cost of this tract which does not contain much cultivable land was £16.8.8. The total cost, as before stated, is £150.3.4.
I informed the natives that they would not be disturbed in the possession of their Village sites and enclosed fields, which are of small extent, and that they were at liberty to hunt over the unoccupied lands, and to carry on their fisheries with the same freedom as when they were the sole occupants of the country.
I attached the signatures of the native Chiefs and others who subscribed the deed of purchase to a blank sheet on which will be copied the contract or Deed of conveyance, as soon as we receive a proper form, which I beg may be sent out by return of Post. 13
In response to Douglas’s request for a “contract or Deed of conveyance” to append the ‘X’s made by the si’em, Barclay sent Douglas a handwritten English translation of Kemp’s Deed of 1848, with blank spaces for the names of the tribes, lands, payments and dates. In the accompanying letter Barclay informed Douglas that the “Governor and Committee [of the Hudson’s Bay Company] very much approve of the measure you have taken in respect of the lands claimed by the natives. You will receive herewith the form or contract or deed of Conveyance to be used on future occasions when lands are to be surrendered to the Company by the native tribes. It is a copy with hardly any alteration of the Agreement adopted by the New Zealand Company in their transactions of a similar kind with the natives there.” 14 Barclay’s version of Kemp’s Deed became the text of the so-called “Douglas Treaties:”
Form of Agreement for purchase of Land from Natives of Vancouver’s Island
Know all men. We the Chiefs and People of the tribe called ___ who have signed our names and made our marks to this Deed on the ___ day of ___ one thousand Eight hundred and ___ do consent to surrender entirely and for ever to James Douglas the Agent of the Hudson’s Bay Company in Vancouver’s Island that is to say, for the Governor Deputy Governor and Committee of the same the whole of the lands situate and lying between ___.
The condition of, or understanding of the sale is this, that our village sites and Enclosed Fields are to be left for our own use, for the use of our Children, and for those who may follow after us; and that the lands shall be properly surveyed hereafter; it is understood however that the land itself with these small exceptions becomes the Entire property of the White people for ever; it is also understood that we are at liberty to hunt over the unoccupied lands, and to carry on our fisheries as formerly. We have received as payment £___.
In token whereof we have signed our names and made our marks at ___ on the ___ day of ___ One thousand Eight hundred and ___. [here follow the Indian signatures] 15
Upon receipt of Barclay’s letter, Douglas adapted the text of the New Zealand-derived deed to each of the nine land sale agreements already negotiated. 16
The question arises as to whether or not the native people of southern Vancouver Island knew what they were doing when they made these agreements with Douglas. Given the economic and spiritual significance of their ancestral territories, plus the fact that they did not share European concepts of land ownership, it is likely that the “Chiefs and headmen” were unaware of Hwunitum intentions. Hwulmuhw leaders, however, were not opposed to Hwunitum settlement and, like their counterparts in New Zealand, recognized the value of making agreements with the most powerful nation on earth as a means of establishing peace in a region plagued by ongoing wars. 17 As New Zealand historian James Belich suggests, sovereignty has two distinct shades of meaning which can be distinguished by adding the words “nominal” and “substantive.” Nominal sovereignty is the theoretical dominion of a sovereign such as a monarch who “reigns but does not govern.” Substantive sovereignty, on the other hand, refers to the actual dominion of a controlling power … which exercises a decisive, though not necessarily absolute, influence over the whole of a country.” 18 Undoubtedly, Douglas had the latter meaning in mind when he forged his agreements, but it is likely that the former meaning was closer to the understanding of the Songees, Clallam and Sooke—a recognition of British nominal sovereignty in exchange for confirmation and acknowledgement of their substantive sovereignty over ancestral lands and resources.
There has been much emphasis on the low monetary value of these “transactions” which were, as Douglas himself indicated, based on the “Department” (i.e., wholesale) price of the goods, or seventeen shillings per three blankets, the number given each si’em. 19 The Hwunitum price was irrelevant and, in the minds of the Hwulmuhw recipients, had nothing to do with the value of the land which Douglas believed was being sold. The aboriginal leaders who took part in these early land sale agreements accepted the Hudson’s Bay Company blankets not as payment for “the whole of their lands,” but as a symbolic payment comparable to the blankets and other goods distributed at the stlun’uq, or potlatch, for the witnessing of important events. In this instance, the acceptance of three blankets by each si’em validated Douglas’ word that “they would not be disturbed in the possession of their Village sites and enclosed fields … and that they were at liberty to hunt over the unoccupied lands, and to carry on their fisheries with the same freedom as when they were the sole occupants of the country.” 20 Hwulmuhw families saw the agreements as a confirmation of their ownership of ancestral village sites and the food-gathering resources which were the foundation of their economy.
Positive word of the “Douglas Treaties” spread to neighbouring First Nations. “The Cowetchin [Cowichan] and other Tribes,” wrote Douglas, “have since expressed a wish to dispose of their lands, on the same terms; but I declined their proposals in consequence of our not being prepared to enter into possession.” 21
Two years later, as the lands in the ceded territories around Fort Victoria were occupied by Hwunitum, apparently without, any objection by Hwulmuhw, Douglas, who was now Governor of the Colony of Vancouver Island, looked to extinguish the title of the people whose land and resources lay northeast of Fort Victoria. Douglas and other Hudson’s Bay Company employees became shareholders in the “Vancouver’s Island Steam Saw Mill Company,” which commenced logging operations on lands owned by families near Cordova Bay. The Saanich objected to this unauthorized use of their resources. According to a Saanich elder, the late Dave Elliot Senior:
Our people got together and they said “What are we going to do about those beautiful trees? Are we just going to sit here and just let them do it?” So they talked back and forth and said, “No, we can’t just let