We still don't know how long people have lived on the West Coast, or where they came from. The Nootkans of today have no tradition of migration or origin away from the West Coast of Vancouver Island. The Nootkans maintain that they have always lived on the West Coast, and strongly resent any suggestion that they might have ultimately come from Asia. It is now known that people have been living on the West Coast for at least 4,200 years, and probably longer—which is almost like "always". This volume is the second part of a two-part series to commemorate the Captain Cook bicentennial. It is the intent of the editors that the two volumes should form one unit. The first volume, "NU?TKA?—Captain Cook and the Spanish Explorers on the Coast", provides historical background on the contact period.