USA > Alaska > Alaska: its history and resources, gold fields, routes and scenery > Part 9
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This company have, with their excellent regular service, a tourists' schedule which affords an opportunity of visiting the Minnesota summer resorts, Yellowstone park and the main and branch lines of its road threading through Montana and Wash - ington, thence south through Oregon and California from Seattle, via steamer or rail.
Excursion tickets from Chicago and St. Paul to Tacoma and Seattle, and return, are on sale in all railroad offices; present rates for round trip tickets, good for stop-overs at all points in either direction and limited to nine months are $1 10 and $90 respectively. These tickets if desired will be made good to return via any other direct line.
Alaska steamer excursion tickets are sold from Tacoma or Seattle to Sitka and return, at reduced rates, including meals and berth on the steamer. State-rooms can be secured in ad- vance by application to any railroad or steamship office.
CHAPTER X.
ALASKA INDIANS.
WHENCE came the Alaska native ? Is a question that will probably never be sat- isfactorily determined, as 110 record or written history furnishes a clew, but the consensus of opinion seems to point to an Asiatic origin.
Professor Dall in his re- port on the distribution, origin, etc., of the native races of the northwestern territory, believes the na- tives of Alaska were once inhabitants of the interior of America, and that they were forced to the west and north, by tribes of In- dians from the south. He can, in no way, connect them with the Japanese or the Chinese, either by dress, manner, or language.
Mr. L. M. Turner, who spent a number of years among the Aleutian islands and on the east Bering coast as far north as Norton sound, reports to the Smithsonian Institute, that the Innuits or Eskimo, without doubt, populated this country from the coast of Greenland, and that he found no trouble in tracing a relationship, and proof that the migration was from the east to the west.
Professor Otis T. Mason, of the same institution, takes the posi- tion that the emigration came from Asia to this continent, and that the Alaska Innuits are, undoubtedly, of Mongolian origin.
We also are constrained to take the latter view, and believe they once came across Bering strait. It is an easy matter for the most casual observer, to note the marked points of resemblance between the Japanese, and the Innuit and Indian of Alaska. The same straight, black hair, olive complexion, small stature, ahnond
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shaped eye and unusually small hands and feet, are, to our mind, unmistakable evidences of kinship.
They are not an inventive people, but are decidedly and emphatically imitative, a trait in the Japanese character always so conspicuous, and their genius seems best illustrated in the nicety of their carving, and their skill in weaving the most deli- cate fabrics.
The aborigines of any country are quick to adopt the vices of the white man, but much slower in assuming his virtues. This is not to be wondered at, as usually the whites with whom they first come in contact are not of a class whose virtues are conspicu- ous, and the unsuspecting native has the smooth paths of vice pointed out more often than the steep and rugged road of virtue. The aborigines' love of intoxicants is great, and he will do almost anything to procure them. .
When the Russians first occupied the country, they taught the native to make quass, a cooling and comparatively harmless drink, concocted of rye meal mixed with water which they placed in a cask until fermented. Latterly the native learned to add sugar, flour, dried apples and a few hops, putting the whole into a cask until cleared by fermentation. A strong intoxicant is the result. Another home brewed intoxicant, called hoochinoo, is made of fermented molasses and flour, and is a vile kind of liquor. When imbibed, it fairly crazes the natives, fitting them for any deeds of violence or viciousness. They are fond of Jamaica ginger, lemon extract, Florida water, cologne, or in fact, anything having fragrance or a "tang."
Totem poles are found in every village along the southeastern coast. There is some difference of opinion as to their real signifi- cance. They are intended, in part, to commemorate deeds of bravery, or some virtue, in the lives of the departed, near whose graves they are reared ; also to indicate the family arms of the persons for whom they are erected, and whose habitations they adorn. Some tribes are represented by the crow or the hawk ; others have the bear, the whale, or the beaver, as their distinctive tribal emblem. These poles are elaborately carved from top to bottom, some reaching the height of fifty feet, and being three or four feet in diameter. The height signifies the importance of the individual. These people have an oral mythology of the most fabulous character, handed down from father to son. Many
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of the curious carvings on the totem poles are designed to tell, in story, some event in the history or tribe of the individual.
Despite the efforts of missionaries and teachers, and the influ- ence of civilization, witchcraft is still believed in to a greater or less extent. Evil spirits still take possession of the old, the decrepid, and the deformed, sometimes of the young, and these must be exorcised ; it being considered a matter of duty to dis- possess the unfortunate of his tormentors. Death sometimes results from the tortures undergone by those "bewitched."
Cremation was formerly practiced throughout the whole coast country of Alaska, but it is fast disappearing now, except where it is followed by tribes removed from missionary influences. It may be here suggested, however, that the energies expended by missionaries and teachers in eradicating this custom, time hon- ored in its antiquity, might have borne better fruits if spent in other directions.
The dead are usually placed in boxes, not long enough to permit the whole body to recline at full length, so it is disjointed and placed in a sitting posture, and the box kept above ground. Sometimes the location of a grave is on a high point, where the departed spirit can look out upon his former haunts. Some of the personal effects of the deceased are often placed beside him.
The shamans, or doctors are never cremated, but lie in state four days-one day in each corner of the dwelling -then the corpse is conveyed to the dead house, where it is seated in an upright position, with blankets and paraphernalia to add to its comfort in the spirit land.
Among the Thlinkits, the name by which most of the natives in Southeast Alaska are known, cremation was formerly the favorite method of disposing of the dead. The bodies of "witches" and slaves were disposed of with great secrecy, but those of chiefs lay in state. The people observed certain rites, then the body was cremated, the totem pole erected to his memory, and his ashes were incased in the base.
There is positive evidence that cannibalism was practiced among these people upon the death of chiefs ; the sacrifice of slaves was common, that their spirits might accompany them into the spirit land. It is highly probable that the bodies of these slaves were cooked and eaten. Medicine men have some- times been known to devour portions of corpses, believing that they would acquire control of the spirit and gain influence over
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: FRAMPHONES FINOCHI
GREEK CHURCHI AT SITKA, INTERIOR VIEW.
LaRoche Photo, Seattle, Wash.
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demon spirits. As the giant tree yields to the axe of the wood- man, so are most of these practices and customs giving way be- fore the advance of civilization.
O
INDIAN DOCTOR.
The Alaska Indians are inveterate gamblers. The favorite game is played with a handful of small sticks of different colors, called by various names, such as crab, whale, duck, otter, etc. The player shuffles all the sticks together, then places them under bunches of moss. The object is to guess under which pile is the whale or the duck, etc. Simple as it looks, the natives often lose all their possessions at the game. This kind of gamb- ling is much the same as that called "sing-gamble" among
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Puget Sound Indians, the latter of whom accompany the shuffling and hiding of sticks with a weird chant.
They are remarkably expert in carving and engraving, as the numerous totem poles, arrowheads, spearheads, and silver and copper ornaments prove. Bullets, spearheads and arrowheads, as well as ornaments of various kinds, are made by the natives of copper, found on White river in the interior country, and not on Copper river, as is generally supposed. Baskets of ingenious design and coloring are made from grasses and roots; and the celebrated Chilkat blanket is made from the wool of the moun- tain sheep. Some of these blankets are really beautiful in design and workmanship, many of them being sold for one hundred dollars. They are woven on rude hand looms, and it usually takes a native woman six months to complete one. The real article is, however, becoming scarce, as most of those now seen contain an admixture of the coarse yarn of commerce.
Before the strong arm of the law stepped in, an injury of one native by another could be satisfied by the payment of some article of value, usually a blanket. Even murder could be atoned for and forgiven, if a sufficient number of blankets were handed over to the murdered man's relatives. The law of "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," was modified by these people. An innocent person might be sacrificed, and this was considered an equivalent and taken as full satisfaction and the murderer was allowed to go free.
The canoe of the native is to him a necessity. It is made of wood in Southeast Alaska; in the far north of skins. In the southern portions the wood selected is usually the red and yellow cedar. Many of these canoes have graceful lines, elaborately carved prows and sterns, and are frequently large enough to carry forty or fifty men. They are cut out of the whole tree, the magnificent yellow cedar, which frequently grows to a great height, and is from seven to ten feet in diameter, furnishing the best. The sides are carefully modeled, worked and bent, so as to have the required graceful curve, by using hot water, and the canoe, when finished and dried, always retains the shape given to it by the builder.
The Chinook jargon, a combination of French and English, invented and used by the Hudson's Bay Company for use in trading with the natives of Oregon, Washington, and the British American possessions, still prevails among the whites and
C.C. Maring 05
SOUTHEAST ALASKA INDIANS AND CANOES.
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ALASKA INDIANS.
natives in the coast country, and to a limited extent in the in- terior, but it almost entirely disappears after leaving Sitka going west, where the Russian language is spoken mainly among the Aleutian islands.
The paint used by the natives to decorate their canoes, totems, and faces, is of two colors only, red and black. It is made of a kind of rock found in the country, which is rubbed over the surface of a coarse stone, and as it is ground off, water or oil is mixed with it, and it makes a very excellent substitute for paint. Brushes are made of feathers, or the sinews of animals. The Eskimo of the Arctic find the same kind of stone in that region, and use it for painting or decorating their sleds. The Aleuts, especially west of Unalaska, are artistic in their work with grasses and roots, and the delicacy with which they weave and braid them evinces wonderful skill.
It is the practice of the natives of Southeast Alaska to blacken their faces in summer, by rubbing in soot mixed with seal oil. This is done to prevent the sun blistering them when traveling on the water. It also acts as a shade to their eyes, which would otherwise suffer from the glaring reflection of the sun's rays.
The houses of natives in Southeast Alaska are constructed of hewn boards or planks, and in some of the larger villages they are built of massive logs, very similar to the log houses built by whites in heavily timbered countries. In the center there is a square opening, eight or ten feet across, which is neatly filled with gravel upon which the fire is built. The smoke ascends to the roof through an opening made lengthwise, with the comb several feet long, of boards or thin slabs, that can be raised on either side so as to make a perfect draft, according to the direc- tion the wind is blowing. Around the fireplace, the floor is built a few inches high, and bunks are placed against the sides of the house in such number as the occupants require. There is rarely more than one room in the house.
The house of the Aleut or natives of the Aleutian archipel- ago is called a barabara, and is a sort of a sod house and dug- out combined. The entrance is usually by a dark and narrow opening, through which the natives crawl, and which leads into the main room.
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1
HON. WARREN TRUITT.
Hon. Warren Truitt, Judge of the United States District Court for Alaska, whose term of office has nearly expired, will probably enjoy the distinction of being the only Judge who held his position during the full four years for which he was appointed, his predecessors either resigning or were removed before the expiration of their term. He was appointed by President Harri- son, and is the only Republican officeholder in the territory.
As a jurist and a citizen, Judge Truitt commands the respect of the whole people, and his careful watchfulness over the rights of the natives, meting out to them just deserts when offenders, and standing as their protector when improperly treated, has made them his warmest friends. By his strict integ- rity, his fairmindedness and the impartial administration of the duties of his office, he has won for himself an enviable reputation as a man of broad mind, fine judicial ability and an honorable and upright judge He enjoys the lionor of presiding over the largest district, from a geographical stand- point in the world.
CHAPTER XI.
ESKIMO HABITS AND CUSTOMS.
THE Eskimo, or Innuit, as they
call themselves, of Arctic Alaska, do not live, as many sup- pose, in snow houses. They live in huts built underground. Usually more than one family occupy a sin- gle hut, and often ten or fifteen per- sons live for eight months in the year in a single apartment that is barely large enough for two per- sons.
Their huts are built by digging a hole in the ground about six feet deep, and logs are stood up side by side all around the hole. On the tops of these are laid logs that rest even with the top of the ground. Stringers are then laid across them and other logs are laid on these, when moss and dirt is covered over, ZAKSRINER. leaving an opening about two feet square, over which is stretched a piece of walrus entrail that is so transparent that light comes through, which answers the pur- pose of a window.
An entrance into the hut is made through an apartment con- structed similar to the hut, in the top of which a hole is left large enough to admit a person, and by means of a sort of stepladder he reaches the bottom. From this is a passageway, usually about two feet square, through which he must crawl on his hands and knees to reach the living room of the hut, perhaps fifteen or twenty feet away. At the end of the passage leading
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into the hut is a skin which is pushed aside 'when one enters or goes out. When this is closed over the hole, the apartment is practically airtight, and when occupied by a dozen or more persons the air soon becomes so foul that one side of the little skin window has to be pulled up to let it escape. Occasionally a hut is found where the occupants appreciate the value of fresh air and have inserted a wooden spout in the roof through which the impure air is allowed to escape.
No tables or chairs are ever used by the Eskimo, and the only article found in the way of furniture is their stove, or, more properly speaking, lamp. They are all of one pattern, usually of wood, but sometimes of stone, and are shaped the same as a circular board would be if cut in halves. The center of the lamp is hollowed out to a depth of perhaps a half inch, thus leaving a ridge all around. Along the circle of this ridge is spread a sort of cotton, gathered from a wild shrub in summer. This answers for a lamp wick, and when saturated with seal oil will burn a long time before being consumed. The lamp is placed on two wooden pins driven into the logs on one side of the hut, and above the lamp is driven another wooden pin, on which is placed a piece of seal blubber, just far enough from the flame to cause the oil to drip sufficiently to furnish fuel for the lamp.
The Eskimo may be truly said to burn the midnight oil, for their lamps are never suffered to go out from the time they are lighted in the fall until they abandon their huts for the tent in summer. They are their only stove, and for heating purposes are excellent.
The Eskimo are, as a rule, industrious. It is seldom that a lazy person is seen among either sex. They early learn that an existence is only to be had by applying themselves to some task, and the older they grow the more they are impressed with the knowledge that they can satisfy the cravings of an empty stom- ach only by industrious labor.
The preparation of skins requires ceaseless exertion, and when they are ready to be made up, sinew thread must be braided and twisted, which of itself is an art. This is one of the first things a young girl is taught, and while she is yet almost an infant is capable of preparing thread from deer or whale sinew with all the dexterity of a woman. Most women are ex- pert sewers, and their stitches are often as even and regular as could be made by a machine.
ESKIMO BOY, ESKIMO HUT, ESKIMO GIRLS, ESKIMO FAMILY, ESKIMO SPEARING WALRUS.
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ESKIMO HABITS AND CUSTOMS.
It is probably from the fact that the Eskimos are obliged to put an endless amount of labor into nearly everything they make, that is to be found the secrect of their everlasting patience. They will scrape at a skin a long time before hardly an impression is made upon it, and rub and pull at one when it is hard and stiff. Their delicately formed hands seem poorly adapted to such kind of work, but in the end the skin becomes soft and pliable.
Their hands are, without exception, small and prettily shaped. Even among those women who are tall and slimly built their hands are unusually small and shapely. The same is true of their feet ; and this feature, so prominent among the female sex, is also universal among the men. The complexion of the Eskimo is also of a character that one would scarcely expect to find among people who are brought so much in contact with the ele- ments. Although the color of their skin borders strongly on the olive order, it seems soft and clear.
In eating, the Eskimo all sit around in a circle, and the food is placed on the floor in the center of the group. No meal, whether it be of dried or frozen fish, seal or whale meat, is ready to be eaten until a vessel containing seal oil is at hand. This is placed in a position easily reached by those eating, and, before taking a bite of anything, it is first dipped into the oil, or two or three fingers are thrust into it, and then placed into the mouth and sucked. Such a thing as a spoon is rarely ever used by them, and it is doubtful if many of them would understand its use if they had one.
It is when a household of Eskimo are gathered about the floor partaking of their food that their natural disposition to mirth is given full sway, and every meal, whether in their huts or in the tent on the beach, partakes more of the nature of a family re- union than an everyday occurrence. They are naturally given to jest and laughter, and a continual hubbub reigns until the last morsel is eaten. This predisposition toward good nature is always present. A surly Eskimo is rarely seen, and whether it rains or shines, or the wind blows a blizzard from the north pole, they are the same happy and apparently contented people.
The Eskimo have but one standard measure, and that is the fathom. It means as much as a man can span by holding his arms out at right angles to his body, and this measures about six feet. When buying calico or drilling of the whites, or measuring
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the dimensions of a boat or log, or for any other purpose, it is always so many fathoms, or "e sung nuk," as it is called by them.
If a woman wants to make a present, the only thing that sug- gests itself to her, and in fact the only thing she ever gives to a lover, is a tobacco pouch, or "tee rum i ute," as it is called. These they make of reindeer or squirrel skin in various styles, and decorate them with beads or some fancy-colored fur, such as the ermine, either in its delicate yellow tinge of summer or the pure white it assumes in winter.
The Eskimo still cling to the primitive manner of making fire with flint stone and their little pieces of steel, usually a piece of an old file, and flint are as much a part of one's personal belong- ings as the coat he wears upon his back.
They carry these articles in a little bag, in the bottom of which are little wads of the same fibrous material used for wicks for their oil lamps, and which is gathered from a wild bush in the fall of the year. In making a light, they take a small piece of this cotton, which has previously been rolled in wood ashes, and, holding it between the thumb and flint, strike the steel against the stone, and the sparks emitted ignite the cotton, which is blown into a flame. It is a crude way of getting a fire started, but is one of the most simple and interesting of their customs, for it comes from a period of time when the Eskimo had to depend upon their own resources for obtaining a fire, and before they knew anything about the usefullness of the match of civilization.
The Eskimo are complete slaves to tobacco, and it is seldom that one is seen who does not use it in one forin or another. All the men and most of the women smoke, while a child, after it reaches the age of five or six years, appears not to be a true representative of his race if he cannot smoke a pipe or chew tobacco.
While nearly all the women smoke, they take to chewing more naturally, and they do it so quietly that one would not suspect it from their actions. They never spit, and only crunch it occa- sionally, preferring to suck it or allow it to lie quietly in the mouth, and, as spittle accumulates, swallow it. They can not understand why a white man spits when chewing or smoking, for they seem to find pleasure in the habit only from swallowing the juice. If a native is chewing and wants to eat he carefully
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ESKIMO HABITS AND CUSTOMS.
takes the quid of tobacco from his mouth and puts it on top of his ear. From this place it is afterwards taken to be again put in his mouth, and this process is repeated until he has gotten all the substance he can from the tobacco. It is then carefully put away in his tobacco pouch, to eventually find its way to his pipe, and the end of that tobacco is not reached until it is wafted away in clouds of smoke. An Eskimo who is without tobacco is as wretched as a confirmed drunkard without his whisky, and he will go to as great extremes to secure it as he would to pro- cure food for himself and family. It is the first thing he asks for when a white man approaches him, and the first article he wants to trade for when he has furs to sell.
The oomiak, or skin boat, is a curiously constructed affair, and when standing on the beach looks lumbering and awkward and as if it would not carry a heavy load or ride much of a sea ; yet as many as thirty or forty persons often get in one, and when thus loaded it will ride in rough water with remarkable buoy- ancy. The usual size of the oomiak is about thirty-five feet long, six feet beam, about four feet deep in the middle, and comes almost to a point at both ends. It is built something after the shape of a dory. The frame work is made of pieces of timber, the heaviest of which is about three inches square. These are placed crosswise in the bottom of the boat, and across them are lashed small strips by means of seal thongs, each joint being made to fit closely.
When the timbers are firmly lashed together, they are very strong, and a heavy sea striking the side of the boat will not cause it to yield at a single joint. When the framework is finally ready, walrus or sealskin is stretched over it, the pieces sewed together and pulled as tightly as possible, and then lashed to the top-rail. When the skin is in place scarcely a drop of water can penetrate through the seams. Over the top-rail about two feet of the skin is allowed to hang loosely on the inside, the whole length of the boat, and when sailing in rough weather, slats are raised between the skin and frame, the loose skin pulled up, thus giving about two feet more of surface above the sea, and if carefully managed, scarcely a drop of water can reach the inside in the roughest weather. The oomiak has 10 keel and therefore cannot beat or tack against the wind, and the only thing to do if it blows too hard, is to seek the first landing that can be made.
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