Re: [Paddlewise] Spanish Victoria

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Daly" <michaeldaly_at_rogers.com>
To: "Paddlewise" <PaddleWise_at_paddlewise.net>
Sent: Tuesday, April 16, 2002 7:09 AM
Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Spanish Victoria


> From: "Peter Treby" <ptreby_at_ozemail.com.au>
>
> > And while we're getting historical, what sort of boats did the local
Native
> > Americans use around Victoria? How far south did kayak use go?
>
> AFAIK, they primarily used dugouts based on the huge trees from the
> boreal rain forests of the Pacific Northwest.  There were some canoes
> made from bark - sturgeon-nosed and others - but I'm not sure if they
> were coastal or inland.
>
> George Dyson, in Baidarka, documents the use of Aleutian baidarkas as
> far south as California.  These were seal hunters spurred on by Russian
> fur traders to hunt.  They had to venture further south as the seal
> stocks were depleting as they hunted so aggressively.


Actually it was the sea otter that was the object of the massive hunt.  The
Aleutian's in their skin kayaks were so proficient that the sea otter was
almost hunted to extinction. Sea otters feed in part on sea urchins which in
turn feed on kelp forests.  With the sea otter gone from the food chain the
kelp forest were in turn greatly reduced.

As an aside - the area was charted by George Vancouver and his officers and
men.  They did the survey using the tender, and long boats from the ship
Discovery.  They rowed everywhere. They made only two errors, one was
mechanical, the ships watch was running fast, and if memory services me
correct they misplace the lines of latitude by about 7 minutes east.  The
other mistake was failing to find the Fraser River.  Which the Spanish also
failed to find.  Vancouver hated the ships Doctor who was also the ships
naturalist.  Whenever they made landfall in the Discovery the doctor was
sent ashore with a group of men to brew Spruce Beer.

Now I've had a few whobbly  pops, but never a Spruce.  Anyone care to
enlighten us on Spruce Beer.

Gordin Warner
Victoria

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