Original watercolour 19" x 28¾" by Gordon Miller © 1997
Situated on the east side of Tanu Island (Queen Charlotte Islands), this village faces two beautiful beaches divided by a rocky reef. At the edge of one of the beaches the Haida chiefs of Tanu greet a Tsimshian trading party, circa 1870. This is the southernmost of the beaches which the houses face.
Original watercolour 24" x 47" by Gordon Miller © 1984
Although the village was abandoned seven years later, at the time represented in this painting house building and totem pole carving were still going on. The pole being carved on the beach will replace the frontal pole on the house above it. This house, which belonged to the town chief, will also be rebuilt; its new beams can be seen already prepared and lying above the beach.
The village was permanently abandoned after 1885, the inhabitants eventually settling at Skidegate.
