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_-: STORIES:
. INSTONE

- By Ginnie Beardsley.»

. Petroglyphs, ~ those
mysterious relics. of. pre-

history; are by no means .
uncommon along the Pacific -

Coast. from Alaska to
-California. One of the most
_ pleasant and ‘accessible
places for indulging in the
game of speculation about
-who made these rock car-
vings and why is Sproat
Lake Park, eight miles (13
kilometres) northwest of
Port Alberni on Highway 4.
- Unlike Dr. Frank Boas,
who first wrote about the

_ petroglyphs in a Berlin...

anthropological journal
nearly a century ago, you
won't have to break trail
through the Vancouver
Island West Coast jungle of
blackberry and salal, for the
Parks Branch has con-
siderately graded an easy
trail, and even built a little

' dock from which you can get _.

a close view. of the cliff and
its carvings without even
getting your feet wet,

The carvings at Sproat
Lake have a certain grace
and artistry about them;
-and one can, with a little

imagination, see in them a

close. resemblance | to.
familiar fish: and
crustaceans. One figure in
particular —-the one that
excites the students of In-

dian mythology, most —.

Colonel Sanders recipe

Kentucky Fred 6

Ot Colonel Sanders and his boys make it “finger lickin’ g
the ERNIE’S TAKE HOME near you.

a Ee a all é

‘the
‘petroglyphs. All of which
adds to the puzzle. Who did
-these carvings and why?
Were they part of..the
initiation of some applicant

-

appears to represent the

“lightning snake’, called

Haietlik by .the local
Clayoquot people. This

‘fearsome creature, with the

body of a serpent and an
oversized mouth and teeth,
was reputed to be the living
harpoon launched by the
Thunderbird to slay his
adversary, Killer Whale. So
powerful a weapon was the
lightning snake considered
that there was a price of 20

beaverskins on his head, for’
_the Indians believed that
iece of.

even a small
Haietlik in a whaling canoe

would assure a kill for the
expedition, The figure on the .

cliff ‘at Sproat Lake
resembles those

represented on chiefs’ hats
and the barbs of whale-

harpoons. ”
However, latter day In-
dians, closely questioned by
explorers, apparently
possessed no knowledge of
carvers of the

for entrance into a secret

society — carved during a -

period of enforced solitude
and communication with
spirits — a representation of

the spirits with whom the .

‘continuity

‘necting. thread exists. What

. Were they driven out,-ex-

little amateur anthropology.

—Buyabucketof.

finger lickin’ good ~

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initiate had contact? Or
were they a memoria) of
some kind? 7

All that is known for
certain is that the
petroglyphs were carved
within the last 15,000 years
— or after the last ice age,
since otherwise they would
have been obliterated by
placial action. Similarity of
designs such as the lightning
snake to those used in latter
day garments, weapovs and
basketry indicate some
however
negulous — with this remote
past with which no con-

—

happened to the carvers?

terminated, assimilated, or
what?- Your- guess is
probably as good as that of
the experts.

And if you choose to do
your guessing at’ Sproat

Lake, you can enjoy taking |
your time about it, for the-
_ other members :of your

party can be fully occupied
with swimming, boating, or
exploring the rest of the
park while you indulge in a

(This Roam at Home
article is one of @ series
provided by the Departmen
of Recreation and Travel
Industry.) -

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