The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #94524   Message #1834071
Posted By: GUEST,thurg
14-Sep-06 - 12:28 AM
Thread Name: Folklore: Kanaka (Hawaiian) chanteymen
Subject: RE: Folklore: Kanaka (Hawaian) chanteymen
Here's a peripherally-related anecdote. In I, Nuligak - autobiography of an Inuit hunter/trapper/trader ca 1890-1930 - Nuligak talks about one particularly hard winter - very cold and little game - he was wandering down the MacKenzie River valley, close to starvation when he met up with, if I remember correctly, three men, a white man, an Indian and - a Fijian. They, like him, were hunting and trapping, but fortunately had a little more food - Nuligak gives no further explanation of the presence of the Fijian. I was surprised that he would even know the term Fijian, and far more bewildered than he apparently by the presence of the Fijian in that remote northern spot. A year or two later, I came across an article in The Beaver about South Sea Islanders working for the HBC in the Vancouver area, and it was mentioned that a few parted company with the Company to try their hand at trapping and trading independently.