MAKAH

The ancestral homeland of the Makah was situated along Cape Flattery, territory now in northwestern Washington. The Juan de Fuca Strait, merging with the Pacific Ocean, separates Cape Flattery from Vancouver Island and serves as the international boundary between the United States and Canada. The Makah were the southernmost Wakashan-speaking people. Their name, sometimes spelled Macaw and pronounced mah-KAW, means “cape people” in the Wakashan language.

A Makah whaler, the harpooner. His harpoon has a razor-sharp shell tip, with protruding bone spurs. It is attached by a line of sinew to a sealskin float.

Makah culture was similar to that of other NORTH WEST COAST INDIANS. They were master wood carvers. They lived in villages of large, multifamily cedar-plank houses. They carved large oceangoing dugout canoes, totem poles, chests, and other wood products. They wore cedar-bark raincoats and hats. They wove blankets out of dog hair on a loom. They practiced the potlatch, the custom of giving away possessions to prove one’s wealth. They were active traders.

With regard to subsistence, the Makah ate food from the sea, especially salmon. They also ate deer, elk, and bear meat from the forests, plus wild greens, roots, and berries. They also were among the foremost whalers in North America, respected for their precise skill by Indians and non-Indians alike. Most of the Pacific Northwest people waited for beached whales. The Makah, like the neighboring NOOTKA on Vancouver Island, actively hunted them.

Makah whalers hunted with 18-foot-long wooden harpoons, tipped with sharp mussel-shell blades and protruding bone spurs. The spurs would keep the weapon hooked inside the whale once the blade penetrated the tough skin. The whalers used ropes of sinew to tie the harpoon to a number of sealskin floats. When dragged, the floats would tire the whale out and then, after the animal died, keep it afloat.

The chief harpooner, an honored position in the tribe, stood in the front of the dugout, usually with six paddlers and a helmsman behind him. The harpooner sang to the whale during the pursuit, promising to sing and dance for the whale and give it gifts if it let itself be killed.

Whale-hunting of course was very dangerous. Whales might swim under a dugout and flip it. Or they might smash it with their enormous tails. It took many harpoons to kill the large sea mammals—the initial harpoon with floats to weaken it, then others carried by spears-men in other dugouts to finish it off.

The catch was towed back to the village, where it was butchered by the men and women. The chief harpooner was presented the choicest piece of blubber, taken from the animal’s back. The villagers used every part of the whale. They ate both the meat and skin; they shaped the intestines into containers; they braided the tendons into rope; and they extracted oil from the blubber.

Much is known about early Makah because of an archaeological find at Ozette at the tip of Cape Flattery after a storm exposed part of the village and prompted excavations in 1970. At least five centuries ago, a mudslide from a steep cliff buried this prehistoric village, preserving skeletons, houses, and artifacts. Some 55,000 artifacts found at the site include sculptures, harpoons, baskets, and other household utensils.

Visitors can see these artifacts at the Makah Museum at Neah Bay, Washington, on the Makah Reservation. Since 1978, the Makah Cultural and Research Center (MCRC) has run the museum and a language-preservation program.

In May 1999, the Makah took up their traditional practice of whaling for the first time in 70 years, despite protests by environmental groups. Unlike in traditional whaling in which harpoons and a “killing lance” were used, the modern Makah whalers include both a harpooner and a rifleman in their canoes for a more merciful kill. Since 1999, the Makah have been seeking the legal right to conduct annual whaling expeditions. The National Marine Fisheries Service has been making an environmental study of the impact of Makah whaling. In March 2006, it expanded the scope of public comment.