Collected stories of the Nootka tribe of Vancouver Island which portray the traditional way of life as remembered by the women of the tribe.

"Based on Nootka (Nuu-chah-nulth) myths and legends that Cameron learned from Nootka elders. The 19 independent but thematically linked stories have female-based empowerment perspectives. In the first story, Copper Woman is responsible for the creation of the first humans. The first male is 'snot boy,' created from the mucus of Copper Woman. Other stories retell the history of European conquest from a woman's perspective, focusing on the impact of the Spanish (called 'Keestadores' for Conquistadors). The collection ends with a modern story that underscores the theme of a collective universal womanhood. The stories reveal important cultural characteristics of oral history, including memorization of family ties by birth and marriage, the use of chants for sea navigation (during the supposed Nootka visits to Japan and China), and the cultural significance of songs and dance steps. They also focus on the deleterious effects of epidemics and of war with the Keestadores, which radically altered the kinship system to the detriment of the earlier female-dominated kinship system. More poignantly put: 'the sickness killed off the songs.'"-- Canadian book review annual online, viewed on March 24, 2020. https://cbra.library.utoronto.ca/items/show/10108