CHAPTER 1  

The story begins when Karana, gathering roots with her brother, Ramo, first sighted an Aleut ship heading toward the island where she lived with the rest of the Ghalas-at Indians. Soon the men and women of the island headed toward where the ship would land, toward Coral Cove. The men carried weapons. Soon, a small boat was lowered from the ship. Aleut men with black hair and bone ornaments in their noses rowed the boat. Directing them was a Russian with a yellow beard.. They soon heard that his name was Captain Orlov. Karana's father, Chief Chowig, also introduced himself. There was consternation among the islanders because their chief had told the foreigner his secret name. They knew that could weaken their chief. The captain and the chief discussed the plans of the new arrivals. They were there to hunt sea otters. The islanders had had bad experience in the past with sea otter hunters. At first the captain wanted two thirds for himself and his hunters, but finally he agreed to split half and half.

 

CHAPTER 2

Chief Chowig warned the villagers to not socialize with the Aleuts. The villagers did as their chief told them. But, they did watch the Aleuts from afar. And, all activity was reported back to the group. The Aleuts also observed the Ghalas-at. Ulape, Karana' sister, reported that there was a girl with the Aleuts. The girl dressed like the men and she kept her long hair under her cap. No one believed this. One day Ulape discovered that a school of large white bass had been stranded on a rocky ledge. There was enough for everyone to feast on for two days. The second day, two Aleuts came to the village wanting to share the abundance. Karana's father decided not to share with them. They were capable of doing their own fishing, Chief Chowig rationalized. The two left, planning to tell Captain Orlov. They were not happy.

 

CHAPTER 3

This chapter describes the hunt for sea otters. Karana thought of the otters as her friends and did not like the idea of trading their lives for things, even for beautiful or useful things. The chief told Karana that soon the hunters would be leaving. He had some of the young men staying near the ship on the pretense of building a canoe. There were others watching the ship and the hunters from a longer distance also. Karana's little brother, Ramo, saw the ship captain having his beard trimmed. Everyone waited and wondered when they would leave and whether there would be trouble.

 

CHAPTER 4

A description of the weather leads to the conclusion that a storm would soon strike. A storm with rain and wind did strike later that day. But first, a different kind of storm struck, a storm of human violence. The tribe learned that the ship was preparing to leave immediately. The people hurried to Coral Cove, as they had done on the day the ship arrived. Again the men had their weapons. The women hid and watched. Chief Chowig and Captain Orlov talked. The captain was not willing to give the tribe what the chief considered to be fair. The villagers were given one chest of necklaces. The chief thought that three more chests would be fair. The captain yelled orders. Were they orders to bring more chests? Observation told the chief that they were orders to board immediately, not to unload more chests. A fight ensued. When it was over some of the hunters were dead and many of the tribe were dead. Some men of the tribe were also injured. Among the dead was Karana's father. That night those who remained agreed with Karana that her father should not have told the captain his secret name. It had weakened him.

 

CHAPTER 5

That night was like a nightmare for the tribe. The day had begun with forty-two men. Now, there were fifteen. Seven of those were old. Some of the islanders wanted to go to Santa Catalina, an island to the east. But, they did not go there. One of the surviving old men, Kimki was the new leader. He assigned work to everyone. The women were assigned tasks formerly done by men. This caused friction between the men and the women. Because of the friction, Kimki issued a new order. From then on, men would do men's work and women would do women's work. There was already enough food so that this did not cause a problem. Karana and Ulape had trouble taking care of Ramo. Their mother had died several years earlier and now their father was gone, too. Similar problems were occurring in other households as well. Aside from these inter-personal burdens were the burdens that the survivors carried in their hearts. It was a sad winter with no laughter. In the spring, Kimki decided to go to a country to the east. He had been there when he was a boy. He promised to find a place for the tribe to live and to then return for them. After he left, there was much discussion about his trip among those remaining on the island.

 

​​

​

​