The Whaling Indians: Legendary Hunters: West Coast Legends and Stories: Part 9 of the Sapir-Thomas Nootka Texts (Mercury Series

by Edward Sapir, Alexander Thomas, Morris Swadesh

Among the Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka) peoples of Canada's West Coast, whaling has been the cultural focus for millennia. Legendary Hunters - Part 9 of the four-volume series The Whaling Indians - features 28 accounts of traditional hunting life among the Nuu-chah-nulth. Drawn from a collection of oral history gathered between 1910 and 1923, these narratives present a vivid portrait of whaling from a First Nations perspective. These accounts outline methods of hunting Humpback and Gray Whales, while also detailing the long preparatory rituals which help guarantee success. Showcasing the perseverance and expertise of Native whalers on the West Coast, Legendary Hunters presents an engrossing look at a fascinating way of life.

431 pages, Paperback

First published July 31, 2004

About the author

Edward Sapir was born in Pomerania, Germany, in 1884, and came to the United States at the age of five. He first made his reputation as an expert on languages of the Native American. He taught at the University of Chicago and later at Yale, and was one of the first to explore the relations between language studies and anthropology. He died in 1939. Language, first published in 1921, is his only full-length book for a general audience. He published a great many articles and some verse in periodicals.