The Nootkas, a tribe of Pacific Northwest Indians, were a wealthy and
energetic society who produced a genuinely high culture without the
benefit of either agriculture or pottery. The nearby evergreen forests
provided the heavy, squared timber framing for their spacious houses.
Built to hold forty to fifty people, and with racks on the ceiling for
drying salmon, their wood carving was the most distinctive feature. Each
house had elaborately carved corner posts as well as a decoratively carved
post in the central doorway. The engraving above, which depicts the
interior of a Nootka longhouse, was made from a painting by John Webber.
Webber visited the Nootka with the English explorer Captain James Cook in
1778.