In 1946 I bought my first book on fish.
I saw it advertised in a fishing magazine and ordered it from the Biological Station in Nanaimo.
The package arrived COD at the post office in Alert Bay and I paid for it with money I made fishing spring salmon from my rowboat.
The book was called Fishes of the Pacific Coast of Canada and remains the best book on fish that I have found.
I still refer to it for details about some species.
When I got the book I took it with me to my little pool and when I'd find a fish I'd find the name of it in the book.
There was a small bay close by that had a lot of crab grass on the bottom.
I learned it was called eel grass but I called it crab grass because that was where the big crabs lived.
I would take my mom's strainer with me and a bucket, and looked for little fish.
Over time I identified 22 species that called that bay home.
Round about that time there were two missionaries who came once a month to visit Mom.
They'd paddle over in a dugout canoe and Mom always told me to go down and help them out of the canoe.
So I would and one would always say, "How is the heathen today?";
This was because I was not going to school.
They were always trying to get Mom to send me to boarding school.
Finally they reported me to welfare.
Then the government boat called Sheila started coming around.
I took to hiding in the bush when I saw them coming, so I ended up spending a lot of time in the bush.
It really bothered me to think that these people wanted to take me away and leave my mother there alone.
As I was spending a lot of time in the bush, I got to know all the different species of trees and plants that grew on our land.
In 1948, a salesman came in selling books, so I bought a 10-volume set of The Book of Knowledge, which I still have and I still use.
So, instead of going to school, I was learning about the things around me.
Now when people come to my museum, some ask me, "How often do you go out in the real world?";
I say, "I think this is the real world.";