First Nations
stories of the great
earthquake of 1700
Steven Earle, Malaspina University-College, Nanaimo, BC
Huu-ay-aht
Cowichan
Oral traditions
• mythical stories of many kinds (including
stories of animals with human characteristics
and stories of magical passages into other
places)
• stories of great exploits and wars
• stories of common events such as finding
food, potlatches and rights of passage
• stories about significant natural events
“In the days before the white man
there was a great earthquake. It
began about the middle of one
night and continued about 20
hours, when it ceased.”
“It was so severe that it made all the people sick,
threw down their houses and brought great
masses of rock down from the mountains. One
village was completely buried beneath a
landslide. It was a very terrible experience; the
people could neither stand nor sit for the extreme
motion of the earth.”
“The old people took their stone hammers, one in
each hand, and pounded the ground with them,
chanting a song to the spirit of the earth as they did
so. They bade everybody to do the same, and a little
time after the earthquake ceased.”
Cowichan oral history told to Charles
Hill-Tout early in the 20th century
Chief Louis Nookmiis
(1880-1964)
“This is the most important story the Huu-ay-aht people have”
West Coast Trail
Nookmiis
Anacla-aq-sop
Nookmiis
Anaclaaq-sop
TOPATI
•
•
•
•
boulder lifting contest
climbing up a slippery pole
guessing game with a feather
long-jump across a ravine
In the jumping competition
the youngest brother of
Nookmiis succeeded in
jumping across the ravine,
but in doing so he
smashed his head against
a rock and died.
Nookmiis and Analcaaq-sop were married,
and she went to live
with him in Kiixin
kixiin
Pachena Bay
Air photo
Anacla
Pachena
Bay
“I think it was at
night time that
the land
shook…”
“They simply had no time to get hold of
canoes, no time to get awake. They
sank all at once, were all drowned;
not one survived…”
“I think it was a big wave smashed into the
beach. The Pachena Bay people were lost…”
Approximate area of rupture zone
Pachena
Bay
Other evidence of a great earthquake
port alberni
A tsunami wave hit several locations in western Japan on January
27th 1700. There is no record of a corresponding earthquake
occurring near to Japan, or anywhere else around the Pacific Ocean
Based on the time for the wave to cross the ocean it is estimated that
the quake struck at around 9 PM local time on January 26th, 1700.
According to Chief Louis, everyone living at
Pachena Bay was killed in the tsunami. Anacla
aq sop, who was living in Kiixin with Nookmiis,
was the only surviving member of her people.
The current chief of the
Huu ay aht, Spencer
Peters, is a descendant
of Chief Louis and of
Nookmiis and Anacla aq
sop.