Haida CJ

[Dave Robertson]

http://www.sfu.ca/~cknight/Indians.doc

page ?

An aside about Haida fishermen and cannery workers who journeyed to work 
at Port Essington comes from Charles Harrison's reminiscences. Harrison 
was a one-time missionary among the Haida who later became a settler in 
the Masset area. His sometimes far-fetched but occasionally earthy memoirs 
mention the Haida's disdain for lesser mortals, as conveyed in a humorous 
saying making the rounds in the 1880s or 1890s.
 "The Haidas seemed to ridicule the idea of intermarriage with the 
Zimsheans and in the Chinoo jargon used to sing 'Kwansun Kakkwau Spukshoot 
Illahe Kluska marry  tenas sun, Kluskamarsh Sitkumsun'  
    Spukshoot Illahe is now known as Port Essington. A Zimshean clan lived 
there and do now, so the song in English said,'Always the same at Port 
Essington                                                            'They 
marry in the morning and are divorced at noon.'  (Cited in Lillard, C. 
1984:158)                                                                  
        

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