Salt Spring Midden Shell Beaches, Reminiscent Of Hawaii
Hard to believe I just cleaned my oven. Sometimes one just has to do these things. January kind of sits in a cloud of gray. One dreams of glamour, coconuts, palms in Hawaiian climes. Yet for some Hawaiians, living here in the Pacific Northwest was preferable to their native land. They chose to be here. Salt Spring has a diverse culture and part of this history was the arrival of the Hawaiian families during the time of the fur trade. One such man was William Nuan or Kahana who lived in the San Juan's just a short row from our island. Like his father before him, he worked for the Hudson Bay Company. His father, John Cox, had worked for the last two Hawaiian kings as ambassador. Travelling widely John decided to live in this area. While his son William Kahana was working in the San Juans he met a Salish woman who had grown up in a "village" on Isabella Point here on Salt Spring Island after 1830. Her name was Tseleachei. They married and had a family. After the "Pig War" and the San Juan's became American, William and his bride, along with 50 or so other Hawaiians came to Salt Spring Island where they could be landowners and settled. Tseleachi and her daughter maintained a large clam garden on Isabella Point. Hawaiian words populate some of our place names such as "kanaka" which means "people" in Hawaiian. These pioneers are buried in St. Mary's and St. Paul's Churches in the Fulford Valley. Their descendants live on here. There was a flurry of media recognition around this story. They were called "The Lost Hawaiians." In the end they were gifted a trip to Hawaii with the airlines giving them complimentary tickets. That would have been a tremendous experience. Right now though if it were me, I might have chosen Hawaii given my druthers. Must be the lack of sun.
