Island of the Blue Dolphins, and the truth behind it

One of my favorite books growing up was called "Island of the Blue Dolphins," written by Scott O'Dell. Its based on the true story of "Juana Maria" (her Christian name), a Nicoleño woman who was abandoned on her native island for 18 years, all alone, before she was rescued by Christian missionaries. If you don't know the Nicoleño people, I wouldn't be surprised - there were seven of them left in the 1830s.

The island of San Nicolas is off the coast of California, southwest of Santa Barbara. Early Russian and Alaskan hunters visited the island when it was thriving in the early part of the century to hunt otter, only to obliterate the natives (the Nicoleños) who were their direct competition. Some say that by the time the Russians (or Aleuts) left, generous records indicate that only 20 natives remained.

The Santa Barbara mission then decided to sponsor a mission to go rescue the Nicoleños and bring them to the missionary (probably to enslave them and replenish their workforce), and by the time they got there, the population was down to seven - six women, including Juana Maria, and one man named Black Hawk.

Because of an oncoming storm, the ship had to leave in a haste, and records indicate either Juana Maria was left behind, unaccounted for, or she jumped off the back of the ship to rescue her child, who had been left behind. Either way, Juana Maria ended up living for 18 years on her own, hunting birds, seals, and living off the sea, her child having been killed by wild dogs.

How someone can survive for 18 years without human interaction is a mystery to me. All I know is that the Spanish fleet finally went back for her, and found her living, nearly fifty, all alone on the island. They brought her back to the mission, where she was delighted by horses and by all the objects of "modern" civilization. Because she was the last of her kind, Black Hawk and the rest having died of disease, no one could understand her. Local Chumash natives were not useful in translating much of her language, although many befriended her and found meager ways of communication with her.

She died seven weeks later, having contracted dysentery. Its amazing, that one can survive the complete and absolute loneliness that Juana Maria experienced, yet die in seven weeks because they did not have the right immunities.

In any case, with her death, the Nicoleño language and culture is gone. Even her dress made of feathers, and the tools she made to survive those long years on the island by herself have perished - burned in the fires of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, where they rested at the California Academy of Sciences.

But she did not go without leaving a little something behind - a song, which she frequently sang before passing away, that many speculate she sang on the island to keep up hope of someday being rescued. She taught it to Fernando Librado, who recorded it in 1913. You can listen to Juana Maria's song here.

The lyrics are as follows:

Toki Toki yahamimena (repeat 3 times)
weleshkima nishuyahamimena (repeat 2 times)

The Chumash speculated that it translated to:

"I live contented because I can see the day when I want to get out of this island".

Its pretty cool, pretty sad, and pretty haunting all in one. I really dig it.