9:  Halibut Time at Deserters

We used to go to Deserters when it was halibut fishing time in May. My late dad halibut fished with the other people who came from Blunden Harbour. They all used to halibut fish. The man used to buy our halibut. That's where the money came from to buy our food. My late dad halibut fished with all the other men from Blunden Harbour. When he was on a break from halibut fishing my dad would halibut fish for my mom to make dried fish. My mom used to always make dried fish with the halibut. It was really good, how she cut the halibut. Ma'ma's late mom used to do that, too, make dried fish from halibut and my late auntie Dinag̱a used to make dried halibut too. My mom used to have lots of dried fish to sell when we came to Port Hardy for people from Fort Rupert. It was 3 dollars for 3 dried fish (pieces), big dried fish (pieces). It is really expensive today, probably 5 dollars for one big dried fish (piece). There used to really be a lot of us at Deserters at halibut fishing time. When halibut fishing was over in June, we went up North to Margaret Bay at fishing time. My mom used to make dried fish from fish (salmon). That's it. 

Gertrude Walkus (née Henderson)

Ma̱lkwa̱latła̱n's: We Will Remember

9:  Halibut Time at Deserters

10:  Mother's Dried Halibut

I really like the dried fish my mom made from the halibut. I used to always eat halibut when we squeezed it (to soften) and put it away in the house. I stole the dried fish. We used to come to Port Hardy to sell them, at Port Hardy. We also used to go to Alert Bay to sell dried fish.

Gertrude Walkus (née Henderson)

10:  Mother's Dried Halibut

11:  Spearing Crabs at Ba'a's

We used to go out in the water at Ba'a's. My grandfather was crabbing, spearing the crabs with a spear. There were lots at Ba'a's to spear. They got lots (of crabs) to give it out to the houses. My late grandfather Kwaxa̱tola's canoe, we used it for travelling on the water, and we used it for picking all of our seaweed and for our jigging. That's it.

Gertrude Walkus (née Henderson)

11:  Spearing Crabs at Ba'a's

12:  Getting Red Snapper, Lingcod and Seaweed by Canoe

I used to go on the water with my late grandfather Kwaxa̱tola on his big boat, on his canoe, getting seaweed, jigging for ling cod and red snappers. My late mom used to smoke the ling cod or red snappers. They're really good to smoke, too.

Gertrude Walkus (née Henderson)

12:  Getting Red Snapper, Lingcod and Seaweed by Canoe

13:  Eelgrass

Every time my grandpa used to get the eelgrass, they would all go to sit at Mom's house. We would peel it. We peel it and dip the eelgrass in eulachon oil or sugar. I didn't like sugar on there, just eulachon oil. Lots (of people) like eelgrass. All the old people must have liked it because they all used to go out on the boat (to get it). 

Gertrude Walkus (née Henderson)

13:  Eelgrass

14:  Cranberry Time

We used to all get ready to go there. Ripe cranberries.
Cranberry time. That's what my grandpa called it. We all travelled in the boat there. Nax̱ag̱adi. We all got out of the boat and walk far away to where the cranberries are. The men scooped cranberries, put them in a pail, or put them into a washtub. When we were done we all walked back down the trail to the boat. We all got into the boat and went back to Ba'a's. We rinsed, rinsed the cranberries. We put them into pots, pails or whatever. We didn't have much to work with. No jars. No cans. Just kept it in pails or washtub. They made jam or anything they thought was good to make with cranberries. My mom used to make pie with cranberries or just make jam to put jam on our baking powder biscuits. Ma̱ntła (Mary George) did that too. She made cake and put (cranberries) in the cakes. She made really good cakes. She was a really good cook, poor late Ma̱ntła. I really loved her. She was just like my own mom. That's it.

Gertrude Walkus (née Henderson)

14:  Cranberry Time

15:  Encounter with Ba̱k̕wa̱s

My dad used to go rowing to hunt and tow logs. He did everything, jigging. He was coming home late when it was dark. He was pulling the rowboat through the narrows, the passage for boats.  He could feel something pulling the boat (back). He lit his match. He saw the Ba̱k̕wa̱s. It was pulling the boat (back). He smelled a bad smell. The Ba̱k̕wa̱s jumped back into the forest. My father got home. His face was white. He was scared. "How come you came in late," said my granny. "I saw the Ba̱k̕wa̱s," said my dad. "Dada," I said, "wasn't it the kids fooling around?" My dad looked at me. "Do those kids jump high?" he said. I believed my dad that he saw the Ba̱k̕wa̱s. The end. 

Mary George (Henderson)

15:  Encounter with Ba̱k̕wa̱s

16:  Stink Eggs and the Hunter in the Snow

It was really snowing where the man lived. I don't remember his name. The snow came to the top of the house. It was really thick, when it does that (snows like that). They had no food, the man's tribe (who lived there). He put boards on his feet. He tied them (the boards). He hung the stink eggs from his neck. That's all the food he had left. (When he was hungry) he just smelled the stink eggs. He got a deer for his people. He helped all the people to have food. The end. 

Mary George (Henderson)

16:  Stink Eggs and the Hunter in the Snow

17:  Smoking Out the Bad Spirits

We used to live in Ba'a's in my mom and dad's house. Lots of people in there (in the house). My grandfather bought a house from his relative. We moved there. We were living there for a little while before we heard the crying upstairs. We always heard the baby crying when we used to turn the lights out. My grandfather told me that there was something bad in that house. We had to move into my mom and dad's house. "I have to smoke the house out dear one," he said. I moved my stuff to my mom's house with my son, my oldest child. My grandfather smoked out my house with the - I don't know the name for those branches. He burned it in my wash basin. For two days we didn't go back to the house. We went back. There was no more sound of baby crying in our (house) upstairs. 

Gertrude Walkus (née Henderson)

17:  Smoking Out the Bad Spirits

18:  At Namu as a Child

When we used to stay at Japtown (Namu), G̱adugwa (paternal grandmother) sent me to the store to buy strawberries. I didn't want to go. I used to be scared. I was just a child. I got to the place where the Heltsiuk people and people from U'wik'inux̱w stayed. The kids saw me and threw rocks at me. The lady came out. "Stop... don't do that," she told the children. "Don't tease her." The little boys ran away.

Mary George (Henderson)

18:  At Namu as a Child

19:  Mountain Goat Hunter

My dad used to go up the mountain to shoot the mountain goats. He liked to go hunting for food. He cleaned (skinned) the mountain goat up in the mountain. He would cut a hole and put his arm through the holes to go down (the mountain). 

I have never eaten mountain goat before. People from long ago liked to eat it. They used to storytell about Dzunuḵ̕wa, stories. The Dzunuḵ̕wa got mountain goat fat to call the children. "Come here, eat the mountain goat fat" she said to the children. She really wanted the children, Dzunuḵ̕wa.

Mary George (Henderson)

19:  Mountain Goat Hunter

An audio space for Gwat̕sala and 'Nak̕wala, languages spoken by the Gwa'sa̱la and 'Nak̕waxda'x̱w Nations.

9: Halibut Time at Deserters

Bak̕wa̱mk̓ala

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