British Columbia Magazine - Fall 2009
"Secrets of Klemtu"
The ancient culture surrounding this Kitasoo/Xai’xais coastal village holds unexpected magic for travellers lured to the Great Bear Rainforest by its legendary white bears.
The aluminum bow of the Sx’ay a’lakv nudges against a rocky point, and we gingerly step from the old forestry shuttle onto the barnacled shoreline of Princess Royal Island. Once on solid ground, the quartet of British visitors in our group marvels at the strands of orb-topped bull kelp coiled on the sand like the tentacles of a giant squid. For those of us more accustomed to the marine flora of British Columbia, the scene doesn’t seem so remarkable. It is a postcard-worthy beach, sure, but typical of the West Coast.
Vernon Brown has led us from his home in Klemtu to this remote cove for a purpose, though. Our 24-year-old Kitasoo guide points to the spot where a curious mink once climbed atop his gumboot. Farther along, he shows us boulders that have been positioned as canoe skids and, in the sand, the curve of a black bear’s track. At the forest’s edge, he takes off his toque, asks us to remove our own caps, and shares a myth that has been passed between generations of his people. Finally, with a sweep of his arm, he leads us through a veil of hanging lichen and into another world entirely.
Our eyes adjust to the dim light beneath the evergreen canopy. Four enormous Sitka spruce have been hewn and erected vertically in a square, with two more logs laid across their tops, like the bedposts of some forest-dwelling Goliath. Five deep earthen steps descend concentrically to a central fire pit that has sprouted yew trees and sword ferns. We have entered a sacred grove, home to the ancient big house of Dis’ju.....
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