Nuu-chah-nulth Whale Hunts
All the peoples of the Northwest coast are famed for their skilfully constructed canoes, but only the Nuu-chah-nulth - whose name translates roughly as "all along the mountains" - used these fragile cedar crafts to pursue whales, an activity that was accompanied by elaborate ritual. Before embarking on a whaling expedition the whalers had to not only be trained in the art of capturing these mighty animals but also had to be purified through a rigorous programme of fasting, sexual abstinence and bathing. Whalers also visited forest shrines made up of a whale image surrounded by human skulls or corpses and carved wooden representations of deceased whalers - the dead were thought to aid the novice in his task and to bring about the beaching of dead whales near the village. When the whaler was on the chase, his wife would lie motionless in her bed; it was thought that the whale would become equally docile. His crew propelled the canoe in total silence until the moment of the harpooning, whereupon they frantically back-paddled to escape the animal's violent death throes as it attempted to dive, only to be thwarted by a long line of floats made from inflated sea-lion skins. After exhausting itself, the floating whale was finally killed and boated back to the village, where its meat would be eaten and its blubber processed for its highly prized oil
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