Dee Longenbaugh - Independent Researcher, Juneau, Alaska, Discussing contact between Captain Vancouver and the Tlingit women

When George Vancouver encountered the Tlingits', among the things he noted because he was a very good person, really closely observing the people, he noticed that there were a number of women, in fact in one of the first encounters they were down at the southern tip of Prince of Wales Island (very southern southeast Alaska), and he noticed five small canoes came out to trade and they were all crewed entirely by women, and then when they went up into Lynn Canal, today's Sgagway area, he found the natives' extremely hostile and they came out prepared for war they were wearing their armour, they were wearing their hats, they were not going to put up with anything, and he noticed that five of the canoes were being steered, which was a position of honour, by women, it's very indicative of two things as far as I'm concerned, one is how important women were in the Tlingit culture, and the second is how observant Vancouver was to notice.