William Sturges spent time on one of the ships that was a part of the expanding 'fur trade' of the time. As a crew member, he encountered the Haida tribe of American Indians in the Kaiganee body of water, which is the Indian name for a body of water between Queen Charlotte in Canada and the Prince of Charles Islands in Alaska. The Haidi Indians were thought to be some of the best carvers and canoe-builders of all the tribes of Americans, but as one's standing in the tribe depended on the possession of valuable goods, the Haidi engaged in plenty of trading with the Europeans. This is how Sturges encounters them, as the Indians soon became sharp competition for the colonists.
When Sturges encounters several Indians, one of them (called Altatsee) only comes aboard the colonists' ship 'as a hostage', which perhaps is sign of the distrust between these two rival cultures. However, seeing as 'Mr Bumstead went to see [Altatsee's] Village of Tatance' whilst Altatsee was on board, this could be seen as diplomatic; leave one person from each side in the other's company, so that no harm could come to one without the other suffering a similar fate. This would prevent hostility, at least to a degree, and keep the trading culture of the Haidi Indians alive.
Sturges then makes a visit to Tatance as he '[had] a great curiosity to see the Village and the manner in which the natives of the Coast [lived]', and he describes how, upon his arrival, 'their astonishment at the sight of a white person was extreme', which highlights what a fresh, new experience it must have been for the American Indians altogether, let alone the relatively remote Haidi tribe in the north. This astonishment continues when Sturges is led into Altatsee's house, where '[he] beheld about forty people', and 'labour stood suspended, and they looked at me with about as much astonishment as Hamlet when he first saw his father's Ghost'. Not only does this little mention of Hamlet suggest that Sturges is reasonably educated, being knowledgeable about Shakespearean plays and the like, but it also further demonstrates how 'the white man' was practically an alien to the American Indians, and it was likely the colonists felt the same about the Indians.
What Sturges likely found odd was how the Indians 'always treated all white people as brothers who treated them well'. This overwhelming kindness, which eventually became the downfall of the American Indians as a people, would have operated in direct contrast to the presumed idea of the American Indians which the colonists were taught, which was that they were 'savages'. Despite this, Sturges still took to 'sleeping with my cutlass on, and my pistol by my side', as if he were cautious or even paranoid that something bad could still happen to him.
http://www.hallman.org/indian/sturgis.html
http://www.stateofalaskaguide.com/natives.htm
http://discoveringourstory.wisdomoftheelders.org/history-of-the-haida-tribe
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