kamosEk

[Mike Cleven]

Kopa kamosuk:  Tumtum naika pe okook kamosuk mitlite wake kopa Dutch, pe
kopa "Dutchman" - yahwa konaway Europe tillikums.  Kamosuk kopa Hudson's
Bay ahnkuttie mamook kopa Bohemia pe Moravia, kloshe stone-piah illahee
(ceramic); alta Czech Republic.  Hyas mamook (well-made).  Spose maika
kamosuk (kopa yiem) mitlite Hudson's Bay?

About kamosuk:  I think that they were not from the Dutch - if from
Dutchman - meaning all Europeans.  Kamosuk from the Hudson's Bay Company
were made in Bohemia and Moravia, good-quality ceramics; today's Czech
Republic.  Well made.  If your kamosuk (in the story) were Hudson's Bay?
(i.e. were your Kamosuk....)

The trademark of these particular kamosuk - which were most common in the
days of the early fur trade, and had their premium value in the local
economy from about 1790 to 1840; obviously these were beads distributed by
the HBC and the other transcontinental fur companies, rather than from
ocean-borne traders.  The original name of Victoria - Camosun, describing
the Inner Harbour area - referred (apparently) to the high volume of
trading that went on at that locality when The Company was in port (before
the establishment of Fort Douglas, today's Victoria).