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Sooke, Jan. 12 -- Dr. Chas. Newcombe, the
well-known authority on the West Coast Indians; Mr. John L. White,
Deputy Provincial Secretary, and Mr. F. Kermode, curator of the
Provincial Museum, made a special trip to Sooke this week to look at
some Indian masks which an old Indian wished to donate to the
Government in return for its kindness to her. They found their visit
well worthwhile, and have come upon some really valuable relics, and
a very interesting old lady.
Everyone around here knows old Mrs. White. The stooping figure of
the old Indian woman trudging slowly along the road is a common
sight. She is welcome in many homes, not only among her own people
but in the white folks' houses too. She is one of the full-blooded
Indians left in this neighborhood, and lives alone in a little
cottage some distance out of the village. Since her white husband
died, she has been penniless, and the Government has cared for her.
This has so touched the old lady's heart that a little while ago she
went to Mr. J. Murray. J.P., one of Sooke's first settlers, who knew
her very well, and told him it was her wish to give something to
those who had given so much to her. She had five Indian masks, she
said, made especially for her long ago. She would like them put in
the Museum in town.
Rare Masks Found
Mr. Murray told the authorities of the Museum about
her offer, and thus it was that Dr. Newcombe, Mr. White and Mr.
Kermode visited the delighted old lady in her little cottage. She
talked to them, and her tales so interested Dr. Newcombe that he
intends to come and several days getting from her the story of her
own life and the history of her people, so far as she can give it.
The masks are unique examples of their kind. Except
for one or two half-burnt and inferior specimens, nothing like them
is in the Museum, from the West Coast. There is one large one, a
more or less human likeness, with eyes that can sleep or wake,
worked by strings at the wearer's will. The other four are smaller.
Two resemble the heads of birds. Some are ornamented with feathers,
but and age and mice have destroyed these, and as Mrs. White is now
nearly blind she has left the work of restoration to the people at
the Museum. They are beautifully made, the carving might have been
done by a modern workman with modern tools, and when the implements
the maker did use are considered, his skill must be regarded as
marvelous. The colors on them are clear and vivid, looking as fresh
as the day they were painted.
Will Give, But Not Sell
Some people, the old lady told Mr. Murray, say she
is an old fool to give away things like those. They would fetch a
very high price if she liked to sell to collectors or tourists. But
"My dear," she says in her slow, complacent way, "I
tell them no, Government be good to me. I no sell. I give my masks
to the government, my dear."
The story of how she came by them is very
interesting and rather sad. She was born up the north of the Island,
but when quite a young girl was stolen away and taken to a
settlement just above Port Renfrew. Her family could find no trace
of her and for years she was lost.
Stolen Sister Found
Then her brother came down the coast, probably
hunting, and found her, a beautiful young woman, the mother of four
children. So overjoyed was he to see her again, he stayed while he
carved for her a big wooden mask and one small one each for her
little ones.
These she has kept every since, in the shed at the
back of her house, in a wooden box which is itself a relic, made by
her great or great-great-grandfather and estimated to be nearly two
hundred years old.
When they are all arranged in the Museum, it will be
well worthwhile of anyone to go and see the tokens of love from a
brother to his beautiful sister, the gift of an old Indian woman to
the government who has been kind to her. |
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