The World of Chief Seattle
Warren Jefferson
(Reviewed by The Editor - Rebecca Brown)
2001 Native Voices Book Publishing
ISBN: 1570670951
How Can One Sell The Air? The story of Chief Seattle & his tribe, the Suquamish, who have lived on the Kitsap Peninsula on the shores of Puget Sound for thousands of years.
For those who do not know -- “Chief Seattle is renowned for a powerful and eloquent speech he gave in 1854 during treaty negotiations with agents of the United States government...[in which he] expressed a commitment to living in peace with the settlers and their new culture, and...asked, in turn, that the settlers respect his people and the natural world that they shared. Today his words live on and have inspired many in the human rights and environmental movements around the world.” Page 13.
Thus begins Warren Jefferson's Introduction to another time & another way of life, captured in early photographs of waterside villages, canoes, maps & scenes of the Suquamish going about their daily lives as they became absorbed into the American lifestyle. As well as photos of beautiful baskets, & tribal artwork.
There are many tribes of First People still extant in the Pacific Northwest & The World of Chief Seattle, while it cannot speak for them all, is a just & detailed account of one tribe's life & times, & their encounter with incoming aliens.
In the writing of this record, Warren Jefferson is deeply indebted to two Elders of the Suquamish Tribe. Lawrence Webster, a retired logger & a speaker of the Puget Sound Salish language, & Marilyn Jones, Director of the Suquamish Museum who is an Oral Historian.
The World of Chief Seattle is an awesome effort, quietly informative, eloquent as the wind. We read about The Land & its climate. How The People, isolated by mountains & vast stretches of ocean, developed lifestyles unlike any encountered by explorers. In Commerce Between Tribes we discover how far & wide the Suquamish traded in their huge canoes -- from Alaska to Northern California.
We are introduced to the grand festival of Potlatch. A celebration incomprehensible to the settlers & eventually prohibited by their religious leaders & politicians. This powerful event has, in recent decades, been revived, & this reviewer has been privileged to attend one such festival.
Warren Jefferson also addresses Intertribal Warfare, although he doesn't linger long there, only advising us that Chief Seattle's ability to organize the Puget Sound tribes to successfully repel invaders, gained him much stature.
Naturally we must explore the Food, Houses, & Clothing of Chief Seattle's time -- all fascinating daily details.
& then we come to The Canoe -- magnificent tree trunks hewn & tempered in which the people of Puget Sound travelled far & wide. & this leads into the Arts & Crafts section covering weaving, basketry & carving.
First Contact tells of trading with non-Natives, & the coming of the great ships.
The section of The Suquamish Tribe: Chief Seattle's People is filled with ancient photographs of people & places. Religion is discussed, legends told.
& then The Point Elliott Treaty when two peoples come together in the hope of living peacefully, & where Chief Seattle spoke the words that have reverberated down the years. The terms of this treaty are still being argued in court, 140 years later.
Notwithstanding his eloquence, Reservation Life began for the free-ranging people of the Puget Sound & generations of children had to survive the Indian Boarding Schools.
A just homage to the ways of our ancestors & a profound little book, one that will touch the heart & soul of any who read it -- about a fine way of life inexorably altered by strangers from afar.
A must for anyone interested in living with the land, & learning how to treat all our relations with respect.
RebeccasiReads.com
