THE INDIAN OF THE NORTHWEST 11
ship through the dangerous channel when the sun reached the proper place on the mountain tops; then they sent, without any request on the Spaniards' part, a canoe with a man and woman to guide them. Referring to the Indians of the Gulf of Georgia met by the Galiano and Valdez expedition, Espinosa 50 writes of "the joy on their faces when they met us, and the kindness with which they treated us." Quadra records of the Nootkas that he never experienced any vexation at the hands of the natives. Bering's journalist speaks of the profuse expressions of good will with which that explorer's men were received.
Before leaving this subject of treatment, let us examine all cases as Mackenzie's 51 treatment by the Burke's Canal Bella have little significance. We must exclude at the outset such cases of unfriendly reception, omitting only a few that seem to Coolas, for this was not a case of first contact; trading ships some months before, under "Bensins" and "Macuba" as the Indians remembered their names, laid the basis for Mackenzie's ill treatment. A similar case is Eraser's 52 trouble at the mouth of his river in 1808. Traders for fifteen years had called there. Nor need Quadra's 53 troubles in southern Alaska engage us long. In one case he ordered native canoes out of the harbor. "They made signs," he says, "that we were the people who ought to leave the harbor, which belonged to them." Later he had a fight with them and killed some of them. The fight was over two of his crew whom he thought they had taken prisoners. When the struggle was over and an ex- change of prisoners effected, he found to his chagrin that his men had not been stolen away by the Indians, but were at- tempting to desert him.
But we must consider for a moment Mackenzie's 54 tempest in a teapot among the Atnahs. He was not attacked, but hostile demonstrations threatened him until the matter was cleared
50 Sutil y Mexicana: p. 153.
51 Voyages: Vol. II.. p. 27$ff.
52 Journal: pp. 2O3ff.
53 Expeditions: p. 3 ooff.
54 Voyages: Chapt. VII.
