THE BELLA BELLA OCCUPY THE CENTRAL COAST IN THE VICINITY OF CHAMENET. THEY LIKE TO BE CALLED HEILTSUK MEANING NATIVE. THEY LIVE AS A COMMUNITY OF BELLA BELLA AND THEY SPEAK HAILHZAQVIA.
THEY HAVE 5 BANDS EACH WITH A WINTER VILLAGE. THEY HAD STRATIFIED SOCIETIES. THE UPPER CLASS HAD THE POTLATCH AND CEREMONIAL WITH CHIEFS WHO ASKED OTHERS TO HOST DANCES.
THIS TRIBE HARVESTED AND PERSEVERED WILD FISH, BIRDS, LAND AND SEA MAMMALS, AND NATIVE PLANTS. NOTHING WAS DOMESTICATED. IN WINTER THEY HAD LEFT THE VILLAGE TO GO TO SEASONAL CAMPS WHERE FOOD WAS PREPARED FOR STORAGE. THEY TRADED PLANTED FOODS AND MARINE FOODS WITH OTHER NATIVES.
THEY BUILT LARGE CEDAR PLANK HOUSES WITH GABLED ROOFS. THEY TRAVELED WITH CEDAR BARK CANOES DESIGNED FOR USE IN THE OCEAN. THESE FOLKS EXCELLED IN IN WOOD CRAFTS. BY THE
1780S THE ENGLISH MET THEM AND THEY DID NOT TRADE WITH THEM UNTIL LATER. IN 1833 THE HUDSON BAY COMPANY ESTABLISHED FORT MCLOUGHLIN ON CAMPBELL ISLAND. THEY RECEIVED FURS FROM THE NATIVES THROUGH TRADE. IN 1843 THE FORT CLOSED AS THE COMPANY PROVIDED A STEAMSHIP WHICH MADE IT VERY EASY TO COLLECT FURS AND MOVE THEM TO OTHERS. AS USUAL BY 1850'S SEVERAL EPEDEMICS REDUCED THE HEITKUK POPULATION TO 200.
TODAY THEIR POPULATION HAS INCREASED TO 1210. THEY HAVE AN ACTIVE CEREMONIAL LIFE WITH TRADITIONS OF THEIR ANCESTORS.
THECANADIANENCYCLOPEDIA.COM
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