KEY POINTS:
I put my ear against the huge Xa:ytem rock hoping to hear something. Tradition has it that the life forces of three ancient chiefs are confined inside.
"Sometimes," says Dr Linnea Battel, director of the cultural centre that has the rock as its centrepiece, "people can hear singing and drumming."
Unfortunately, I can't hear anything, which is not overly surprising, because I have to admit that I'm too distracted by the falling rain to really focus on the spirit of the rock.
But, by way of compensation, Battel performs an ancient song, accompanied by the beating of a hand drum, which comes from the rock.
"I did not hear it myself," she says. "We had a visitor - a grandson of Chief Dan George - who listened to the rock and said he could hear a song. Afterwards he was able to remember it and he taught it to me."
The enormous boulder, partly sunk in the ground, is of great significance in Canadian aboriginal history and, in 1992, it was designated a National Historic Site.
It provides a link back to the creator spirit Xa:ls who travelled the land handing out talents but always with the condition they must be shared with others.
To three chiefs of the Sto:lo people who lived in this area, on the bank of the Fraser River, he gave the gift of writing.
But when Xa:ls returned years later to see how his gift was being used he was angered to find the three chiefs had not shared the knowledge and, in his rage, he turned them into stone.
For thousands of years, the Xa:ytem rock was the focal point of a thriving community but, as centuries passed, the community declined and, when European settlers moved into the area, a new town of Mission grew up nearby. In 1990, a developer had plans to subdivide the land for housing but, when bulldozers moved in, they uncovered hundreds of stone tools. The development was halted to allow for an archaeological survey, which uncovered the remains of a settlement dating back at least 9000 years.
The findings persuaded the Canadian Government to formally acknowledge the area's historic significance and a 7ha block of land was set aside for development as a native heritage interpretative centre.
Today, the rock is once again the centre of a thriving enterprise, with a traditional longhouse, three pit houses, a carving shed, weaving centre, museum, educational centre and gift shop having sprung up around it, attracting thousands of tourists and school groups who come to learn about the people who lived here so long ago.
The object of this complex, Battel says, is to educate people about the true nature of the society which lived on this site thousands of years ago.
"We need to dispose of the myths about who we are. Visitors often come here expecting to see teepees, horses and bows and arrows. And we tell them that the people who lived here didn't ride round the plains chasing buffalo, they were sedentary and sophisticated, they had permanent homes, they fished for salmon and traded at least as far away as Oregon, they played games, carved and painted."
That reality is well illustrated by displays of some of the 40,000 artefacts uncovered from the site - tools and weapons, woven baskets and coloured pigments, jewellery and gaming balls.
The excavations also uncovered the remains of a 12m diameter pit-house, lined with cedar trunks and buried 3.5m underground to take advantage of the insulation provided by the earth, where the people lived in winter.
The Siyaye Society, which runs the site, has recently built two replica pit houses, lined with cedar logs and with sleeping benches round the walls.
The society has also built a huge cedar longhouse and a carving shed where carvers are learning the traditional style.
When Battel was first asked to help, she had too many commitments.
"So I performed a ceremony to ask the ancestors and all I heard was: 'Get busy.' And here I am, still getting busy, 15 years later."
GETTING THERE
Air New Zealand now flies non-stop Auckland to Vancouver. Pacific Economy class fares start at $2389 return, including all pre-payable airport and government costs. See airnewzealand.co.nz, call 0800 737 000 or visit an Air New Zealand Holidays Store.
Xa:ytem, and the nearby town of Mission, are best reached by rental car from Vancouver.
House of Travel has a British Columbia package from $399 per person share twin. It includes three nights accommodation in Vancouver at the Blue Horizon and a three-day midsize rental car to explore the Mission area to view Xa:ytem which is 1.5 hours out of Vancouver city.
Valid for travel from 9-30 April and 1-30 November 2008 and for sales until 31 March 2008. Conditions and closeouts apply and airfares are additional.
Talking Totems Tours run tours to Xa:ytem. www.talkingtotemtours.com/tours/xaytem-cultural-tour.html.
* Jim Eagles visited Xa:ytem with the help of Air New Zealand, House of Travel and Tourism British Columbia.
