USA > Alaska > Alaska, the great country > Part 23
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The killing of caribou on the Kenai Peninsula is pro- hibited until August 20, 1912.
It is unlawful for any non-resident of Alaska to hunt any of the protected game animals, except deer and goats, without first obtaining a hunting license; or to hunt on the Kenai Peninsula without a registered guide, such license not being transferable and valid only during the year of issue. The fee for this license is fifty dollars to citizens of the United States, and one hundred dollars to foreigners; it is accompanied by coupons authorizing the shipment of two moose, - if killed north of sixty-two degrees, - four deer, three caribou, sheep, goats, brown bear, or any part of said animals. A resident of Alaska may ship heads or trophies by obtaining a shipping license for this purpose. A fee of forty dollars permits the ship-
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ment of heads or trophies as follows: one moose, if killed north of sixty-two degrees ; four deer, two caribou, two sheep, goats, or brown bear. A fee of ten dollars permits the shipment of a single head or trophy of caribou or sheep; and one of five, that of goat, deer, or brown bear. It costs just one hundred and fifty dollars to ship any part of a moose killed south of sixty-two degrees. Further- more, before any trophy may be shipped from Alaska, the person desiring to make such shipment shall first make and file with the customs office of the port where the ship- ment is to be made, an affidavit to the effect that he has not violated any of the provisions of this act ; that the trophy has been neither bought nor sold, and is not to be shipped for sale, and that he is the owner thereof.
The Governor of Alaska, in issuing a license, requires the applicant to state whether the trophies are to be - shipped through the ports of entry of Seattle, Portland, or San Francisco, and he notifies the collector at the given port as to the name of the license holder, and name and address of the consignee.
After reading these rigid laws, I cannot help wondering whether the Secretary of Agriculture ever saw an Alaskan mountain sheep. If he has seen one and should unex- pectedly come across some poor wretch smuggling the head of one out of Alaska, he would- unless his heart is as hard as "stun-cancer," as an old lady once said - just turn his eyes in another direction and refuse to see what was not meant for his vision.
The Alaskan sheep does not resemble those of Montana and other sheep countries. It is more delicate and far more beautiful. There is a deerlike grace in the poise of its head, a fine and sensitive outline to nostril and mouth, a tenderness in the great dark eyes, that is at once startled and appealing; while the wide, graceful sweep of the horns is unrivalled.
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The head of the moose, as well as of the caribou, is impos- ing, but coarse and ugly. The antlers of the delicate- headed deer are pretty, but laek the power of the horns of the Alaskan sheep. The Montana sheep's head is almost as coarse as that of the moose. The dainty ears and soft-colored hair of the Alaskan sheep are fawnlike. From the Alaska Central trains near Lake Kenai, the sheep may be seen feeding on the mountain that has been named for them.
Cape Douglas, at the entrance to Cook Inlet, is the ad- miration of all save the careful navigator who usually at this point meets sueh distressing winds and tides that he has no time to devote to the contemplation of seenery.
This noble promontory thrusts itself boldly out into the sea for a distance of about three miles, where it sinks sheer for a thousand feet to the pale green surf that breaks ever- lastingly upon it. It is far more striking and imposing than the more famous Cape Elizabeth on the eastern side of the entrance to the inlet.
CHAPTER XXIX
THE heavy forestation of the Northwest Coast ceases finally at the Kenai Peninsula. Kadiak Island is sparsely wooded in sylvan groves, with green slopes and valleys between; but the islands lying beyond are bare of trees. Sometimes a low, shrubby willow growth is seen; but for the most part the thousands of islands are covered in summer with grasses and mosses, which, drenched by fre- quent mists and rain, are of a brilliant and dazzling green.
The Aleutian Islands drift out, one after another, toward the coast of Asia, like an emerald rosary on the blue breast of Behring Sea. The only tree in the Aleutian Islands is a stunted evergreen growing at the gate of a residence in Unalaska, on the island of the same name.
The prevailing atmospheric color of Alaska is a kind of misty, rosy lavender, enchantingly blended from different shades of violet, rose, silver, azure, gold, and green. The water coloring changes hourly. One passes from a narrow channel whose waters are of the most delicate green into a wider reach of the palest blue; and from this into a gulf of sun-flecked purple.
The summer voyage out among the Aleutian Islands is lovely beyond all description. It is a sweet, dreamlike drifting through a water world of rose and lavender, along the pale green velvety hills of the islands. There are no adjectives that will clearly describe this greenness to one who has not seen it. It is at once so soft and so vivid; it flames out like the dazzling green fire of an emerald, and pales to the lighter green of the chrysophrase.
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Marvellous sunset effects are frequently seen on these waters. There was one which we saw in broad gulfs, which gathered in a point on the purple water about nine o'clock. Every color and shade of color burned in this point, like a superb fire opal ; and from it were flung rays of different coloring -so far, so close, so mistily brilliant, and so tremulously ethereal, that in shape and fabric it resembled a vast thistle-down blow- ing before us on the water. Often we sailed directly into it and its fragile color needles were shattered and fell about us; but immediately another formed farther ahead, and trembled and throbbed until it, too, was overtaken and shattered before our eyes.
At other times the sunset sank over us, about us, and upon us, like a cloud of gold and scarlet dust that is scented with coming rain; but of all the different sunset effects that are but memories now, the most un- usual was a great mist of brilliant, vivid green just touched with fire, that went marching down the wide straits of Shelikoff late one night in June.
Early on the morning after leaving Cook Inlet, the " early-decker " will find the Dora steaming lightly past Afognak Island through the narrow channel sepa- rating it from Marmot Island. This was the most sil- very, divinely blue stretch of water I saw in Alaska, with the exception of Behring Sea. The morning that we sailed into Marmot Bay was an exceptionally suave one in June; and the color of the water may have been due to the softness of the day.
We had passed Sea Lion Rocks, where hundreds of these animals lie upon the rocky shelves, with lifted, narrow heads, moving nervously from side to side in serpent fashion, and whom a boat's whistle sends plung- ing headlong into the sca.
The southern point of Marmot Island is the Cape St.
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Hermogenes of Behring, a name that has been perpetu- ated to this day. The steamer passes between it and Pillar Point, and at one o'clock of the same day through the winding, islanded harbor of Kadiak.
This settlement is on the island that won the heart of John Burroughs when he visited it with the famous Harriman Expedition - the Island of Kadiak.
I voyaged with a pilot who had accompanied the ex- pedition.
"Those scientists, now," he said, musingly, one day as he paced the bridge, with his hands behind him. " They were a real study for a fellow like me. The genuine big-bugs in that party were the finest gentle- men you ever saw; but the little-bugs-say, they put on more dog than a bogus prince! They were always demanding something they couldn't get and acting as if they was afraid somebody might think they didn't amount to anything. An officer on a ship can always tell a gentleman in two minutes -his wants are so few and his tastes so simple. John Burroughs ? Oh, say, every man on the ship liked Mr. Burroughs. I don't know as you'd ought to call him a gentleman. You see, gentlemen live on earth, and he was way up above the earth -in the clouds, you know. He'd look right through you with the sweetest eyes, and never see you. But flowers - well, Jeff Davis ! Mr. Bur- roughs could see a flower half a mile away ! You could talk to him all day, and he wouldn't hear a word you said to him, any more than if he was deef as a post. I thought he was, the longest while. But Jeff Davis ! just let a bird sing on shore when we were sailing along close. His deefness wasn't particularly noticeable then ! He'd go ashore and dawdle 'way off from everybody else, and come back with his arms full of flowers."
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Mr. Burroughs was charmed with the sylvan beauty of Kadiak Island ; its pale blue, cloud-dappled skies and deep blue, islanded seas; its narrow, winding water- ways ; its dimpled hills, silvery streams, and wooded dells ; its acres upon acres of flowers of every variety, hue and size ; its vivid green, grassy, and mossy slopes, crests, and meadows ; its delightful air and singing birds.
He was equally charmed with Wood Island, which is only fifteen minutes' row from Kadiak, and spent much time in its melodious dells, turning his back upon both islands with reluctance, and afterward writing of them appreciative words which their people treasure in their hearts and proudly quote to the stranger who reaches those lovely shores.
The name Kadiak was originally Kaniag, the natives calling themselves Kaniagists or Kaniagmuts. The is- land was discovered in 1763, by Stephen Glottoff.
His reception by the natives was not of a nature to warm the cockles of his heart. They approached in their skin-boats, but his godson, Ivan Glottoff, a young Aleut interpreter, could not make them understand him, and they fled in apparent fear.
Some days later they returned with an Aleutian boy whom they had captured in a conflict with the natives of the Island of Sannaklı, and he served as interpreter.
The natives of Kadiak differ greatly from those of the Aleutian Islands, notwithstanding the fact that the islands drift into one another.
The Kadiaks were more intelligent and ambitious, and of much finer appearance, than the Aleutians.
They were of a fiercer and more warlike nature, and refused to meet the friendly advances of Glottoff. The latter, therefore, kept at some distance from the shore, and a watch was set night and day.
Y
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Nevertheless, the Kadiaks made an early-morning at- tack, firing upon the watches with arrows and attempt- ing to set fire to the ship. They fled in the wildest disorder upon the discharge of firearms, scattering in their flight ludicrous ladders, dried moss, and other ma- terials with which they had expected to destroy the ship.
Within four days they made another attack, provided with wooden shields to ward off the musket-balls.
They were again driven to the shore. At the end of three weeks they made a third and last attack, protected by immense breastworks, over which they cast spears and arrows upon the decks.
As these shields appeared to be bullet-proof and the natives continued to advance, Glottoff landed a body of men and made a fierce attack, which had the desired effect. The savages dropped their shields and fled from the neighborhood.
When Von H. J. Holmberg was on the island, he per- suaded an old native to dictate a narrative to an in- terpreter, concerning the arrival of the first ship-which was undoubtedly Glottoff's. This narrative is of poignant interest, presenting, as it does, so simply and so eloquently, the " other " point of view -that of the first inhabitant of the country, which we so seldom hear. For this reason, and for the charm of its style, I reproduce it in part: -
" I was a boy of nine or ten years, for I was already set to paddle a bidarka, when the first Russian ship, with two masts, appeared near Cape Aleulik. Before that time we had never seen a ship. We had intercourse with the Ag- legnutes, of the Aliaska Peninsula, with the Tnaianas of the Kenai Peninsula, and with the Koloshes, of south- eastern Alaska. Some wise men even knew something of the Californias ; but of white men and their ships we knew nothing.
" The ship looked like a great whale at a distance. We
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went out to sea in our bidarkas, but we soon found that it was no whale, but another unknown monster of which we were afraid, and the smell of which made us sick."
(In all literature and history and real life, I know of no single touch of unintentional humor so entirely deli- cious as this : that any odor could make an Alaskan na- tive, of any locality or tribe, sick ; and of all things, an odor connected with a white person ! It appears that in more ways than one this old native's story is of value. )
" The people on the ship had buttons on their clothes, and at first we thought they must be cuttle-fish." (More unintentional, and almost as delicious, humor !) " But when we saw them put fire into their mouths and blow out smoke we knew that they must be devils."
(Did any early navigator ever make a neater criticism of the natives than these innocent ones of the first white visitors to their shores ?)
" The ship sailed by . . . into Kaniat, or Alitak, Bay, where it anchored. We followed, full of fear, and at the same time curious to see what would become of the strange apparition, but we did not dare to approach the ship.
" Among our people was a brave warrior named Ishinik, who was so bold that he feared nothing in the world ; he undertook to visit the ship, and came back with presents in his hand, - a red shirt, an Aleut hood, and some glass beads." (Glottoff describes this visit, and the gifts bestowed.)
"He said there was nothing to fear; that they only wished to buy sea-otter skins, and to give us glass beads and other riches for them. We did not fully believe this statement. The old and wise people held a council. Some thought the strangers might bring us sickness.
" Our people formerly were at war with the Fox Island people. My father once made a raid on Unalaska and brought back, among other booty, a little girl left by her
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fleeing people. As a prisoner taken in war, she was our slave, but my father treated her like a daughter, and brought her up with his own children. We called her Plioo, which means ashes, because she was taken from the ashes of her home. On the Russian ship which came from Unalaska were many Aleuts, and among them the father of our slave. He came to my father's house, and when he found that his daughter was not kept like a slave, but was well cared for, he told him confidentially, out of gratitude, that the Russians would take the sea-otter skins without payment, if they could.
"This warning saved my father. The Russians came ashore with the Aleuts, and the latter persuaded our peo- ple to trade, saying, ' Why are you afraid of the Russians? Look at us. We live with them, and they do us no harm.'
"Our people, dazzled by the sight of such quantities of goods, left their weapons in the bidarkas and went to the Russians with the sea-otter skins. While they were busy trading, the Aleuts, who carried arms concealed about them, at a signal from the Russians, fell upon our people, killing about thirty and taking away their sea-otter skins. A few men had cautiously watched the result of the first intercourse from a distance-among them my father." (The poor fellow told this proudly, not understanding that he thus confessed a shameful and cowardly act on his father's part.)
" These attempted to escape in their bidarkas, but they were overtaken by the Aleuts and killed. My father alone was saved by the father of his slave, who gave him his bidarka when my father's own had been pierced by arrows and was sinking.
" In this he fled to Akhiok. My father's name was Penashigak. The time of the arrival of this ship was August, as the whales were coming into the bays, and the berries were ripe.
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Photo by J. Doody, Dawson
A HOME IN THE YUKON
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" The Russians remained for the winter, but could not find sufficient food in Kaniat Bay. They were compelled to leave the ship in charge of a few watchmen and moved into a bay opposite Aiakhtalik Island. Here was a lake full of herrings and a kind of smelt. They lived in tents through the winter. The brave Ishinik, who first dared to visit the ship, was liked by the Russians, and acted as mediator. When the fish decreased in the lake during the winter, the Russians moved about from place to place. Whenever we saw a boat coming, at a distance, we fled to the hills, and when we returned, no dried fish could be found in the houses.
"In the lake near the Russian camp there was a poison- ous kind of starfish. We knew it very well, but said nothing about it to the Russians. We never ate them, and even the gulls would not touch them. Many Rus- sians died from eating them. We injured them, also, in other ways. They put up fox-traps, and we removed them for the sake of obtaining the iron material. The Russians left during the following year."
This native's name was Arsenti Aminak. There are several slight discrepancies between his narrative and Glottoff's account, especially as to time. He does not mention the hostile attacks of his people upon the Rus- sians ; and these differences puzzle Bancroft and make him sceptical concerning the veracity of the native's account.
It is barely possible, however, that Glottoff imagined these attacks, as an excuse for his own merciless slaughter of the Kadiaks.
As to the discrepancy in time, it must be remembered that Arsenti Aminak was an old man when he related the events which had occurred when he was a young lad of nine or ten. White lads of that age are not possessed of vivid memories ; and possibly the little brown lad, just
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" set to paddle a bidarka," was not more brilliant than his white brothers.
It is wiser to trust the word of the early native than that of the early navigator-with a few illustrious excep- tions.
Kadiak is the second in size of Alaskan islands, - Prince of Wales Island in southeastern Alaska being slightly larger,-and no island, unless it be Baranoff, is of more historic interest and charm. It was from this island that Gregory Shelikoff and his capable wife directed the vast and profitable enterprises of the Shelikoff Com- pany, having finally succeeded, in 1784, in making the first permanent Russian settlement in America at Three Saints Bay, on the southeastern coast of this island. Barracks, offices, counting-houses, storehouses, and shops of various kinds were built, and the settlement was guarded against native attack by two armed vessels.
It was here that the first missionary establishment and school of the Northwest Coast of America were located ; and here was built the first great warehouse of logs.
Shelikoff's welcome from the fierce Kadiaks, in 1784, was not more cordial than Glottoff's had been. His ships were repeatedly attacked, and it was not until he had fired upon them, causing great loss of life and general conster- nation among them, that he obtained possession of the harbor.
Shelikoff lost no time in preparing for permanent occu- pancy of the island. Dwellings and fortifications were erected. His own residence was furnished with all the comforts and luxuries of civilization, which he collected from his ships, for the purpose of inspiring the natives with respect for a superior mode of living. They watched the construction of buildings with great curiosity, and at last volunteered their own services in the work.
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Shelikoff personally conducted a school, endeavoring to teach both children and adults the Russian language and arithmetic, as well as religion.
In 1796 Father Juvenal, a young Russian priest who had been sent to the colonies as a missionary, wrote as follows concerning his work : -
" With the help of God, a school was opened to-day at this place, the first since the attempt of the late Mr. Sheli- koff to instruct the natives of this neighborhood. Eleven boys and several grown men were in attendance. When I read prayers they seemed very attentive, and were evidently deeply impressed, although they did not under- stand the language. When school was closed, I went to the river with my boys, and with the help of God"' (the italics are mine) "we caught one hundred and three salmon of large size."
The school prospered and was giving entire satisfaction when Baranoff transferred Father Juvenal to Iliamna, on Cook Inlet.
We now come to what has long appealed to me as the most tragic and heart-breaking story of all Alaska-the story of Father Juvenal's betrayal and death at Iliamna.
Of his last Sabbath's work at Three Saints, Father Ju- venal wrote : -
"We had a very solemn and impressive service this morning. Mr. Baranoff and officers and sailors from the ship attended, and also a large number of natives. We had fine singing, and a congregation with great outward appearance of devotion. I could not help but marvel at Alexander Alexandreievitch (Baranoff), who stood there and listened, crossing himself and giving the responses at the proper time, and joined in the singing with the same hoarse voice with which he was shouting obscene songs the night before, when I saw him in the midst of a drunken carousal with a woman seated on his lap. I dis-
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pensed with services in the afternoon, because the traders were drunk again, and might have disturbed us and dis- gusted the natives."
Father Juvenal's pupils were removed to Pavlovsk and placed under the care of Father German, who had recently opened a school there.
The priestly missionaries were treated with scant cour- tesy by Baranoff, and ceaseless and bitter were the com- plaints they made against him. On the voyage to Iliamna, Father Juvenal complains that he was compelled to sleep in the hold of the brigantine Catherine, between bales of goods and piles of dried fish, because the cabin was occupied by Baranoff and his party.
In his foul quarters, by the light of a dismal lantern, he wrote a portion of his famous journal, which has be- come a most precious human document, unable to sleep on account of the ribald songs and drunken revelry of the cabin.
He claims to have been constantly insulted and humili- ated by Baranoff during the brief voyage ; and finally, at Pavlovsk, he was told that he must depend upon bidarkas for the remainder of the voyage to the Gulf of Kenai; and after that to the robbers and murderers of the Lebe- def Company.
The vicissitudes, insults, and actual suffering of the voy- age are vividly set forth in his journal. It was the 16th of July when he left Kadiak and the 3d of September when he finally reached Iliamna - having journeyed by barkentine to Pavlovsk, by bidarka from island to island and to Cook Inlet, and over the mountains on foot.
He was hospitably received by Shakmut, the chief, who took him into his own house and promised to build one especially for him. A boy named Nikita, who had been a hostage with the Russians, acted as interpreter, and was later presented to Father Juvenal.
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This young missionary seems to have been more zealous than diplomatic. Immediately upon discovering that the boy had never been baptized, he performed that ceremony, to the astonishment of the natives, who considered it some dark practice of witchcraft.
Juvenal relates with great naïveté that a pretty young woman asked to have the same ceremony performed upon her, that she, too, might live in the same house with the young priest.
The most powerful shock that he received, however, before the one that led to his death, he relates in the fol- lowing simple language, under date of September 5, two days after his arrival : -
" It will be a relief to get away from the crowded house of the chief, where persons of all ages and sexes mingle without any regard to decency or morals. To my utter astonishment, Shakmut asked me last night to share the couch of one of his wives. He has three or four. I sup- pose such abomination is the custom of the country, and he intended no insult. God gave me grace to over- come my indignation, and to decline the offer in a friendly and dignified manner. My first duty, when I have some- what mastered the language, shall be to preach against such wicked practices, but I could not touch upon such subjects through a boy interpreter."
The severe young priest carried out his intentions so zealously that the chief and his friends were offended. He commanded them to put away all their wives but one.
They had marvelled at his celibacy ; but they felt, with the rigid justice of the savage, that, if absolutely sincere, he was entitled to their respect.
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