Worksheet # 3          Home Questions Puzzle Links Next

TRIBES OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

Now a step further south along our western coast,

Settled vibrant keen tribes with some goodies to boast,

As the rivers and forests offered oodles and oodles

Of salmon and deer meat for Nootka and for Kwakiutls.

So these tribes stayed put where the redwoods grow

And learned to carve with great skill, and wouldn't you know,

They built their fine homes from the abundance of trees,

And grand totem poles to tell their own histories.

Their priests were called shamans and acted as guides

In the magic and mystery that Mom Nature provides.

In their finely carved masks, with their markings exquisite,

They would summon to life Her mischievous spirits,

Like the Sea and the Sky, and the woodland creatures

Who appear in their stories, bearing such features

As Good Luck and Hope, and the promise of Wealth

For Indians who tend to their spiritual health.

And to show off its fortune, each family would hold

A ceremonial cookout where all could behold

That in wealth and in rank no others did match

The family who threw the most splendid potlatch.

Yes, these parties were joyful and filled with pride

As each clan got to show its most generous side.

As they'd serve lavish fine meals and give to their guests

All of the goods that they had come to possess!

Yes, they’d offer their furs and their fine woven baskets,

In a display of grand wealth and of largesse fantastic.

-- And any left over they’d destroy on the spot

To show that for riches they truly cared not!

While each neighbor in turn would go them one better

To show they deserved a still higher letter!

And thus tribes of this region, which we call the Northwest,

Became famous for feasts and for the giving of gifts.