USA > Alaska > Alaska, the great country > Part 24
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However, they doubted his sincerity, and plotted to satisfy their curiosity upon this point. A young Iliamna girl was bribed to conceal herself in his room. Awaking
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in the middle of the night and finding himself in her arms, the young priest was unable to overcome temptation.
In the morning he was overwhelmed with remorse and a sense of his disgrace. He remembered how haughtily he had spurned Shakmut's offer of peculiar hospitality, and how mercilessly he had criticised Baranoff for his immoral carousals. Remembering these things, as well as the ease with which his own downfall had been ac- complished, he was overcome with shame.
" What a terrible blow this is to all my recent hopes !" he wrote, in his pathetic account of the affair in his journal. " As soon as I regained my senses, I drove the woman out, but I felt too guilty to be very harsh with her. How can I hold up my head among the people, who, of course, will hear of this affair? . . . God is my witness that I have set down the truth here in the face of any- thing that may be said about it hereafter. I have kept myself secluded to-day from everybody. I have not yet the strength to face the world."
When Juvenal did face the small world of Iliamna, it was to be openly ridiculed and insulted by all. Young girls tittered when he went by ; his own boys, whom he had taught and baptized, mocked him ; a girl put her head into his room when he was engaged in fastening a heavy bar upon his door, and laughed in his face. Shak- mut came and insisted that Juvenal should baptize his several wives the following Sunday. This he had been steadily refusing to do, so long as they lived in daily sin ; but now, disgraced, broken in spirit, and no longer able to say, " I am holier than thou," he wearily consented.
"I shall not shrink from my duty to make him relin- quish all but one wife, however," he wrote, with a last flash of his old spirit, " when the proper time arrives. If I wink at polygamy now, I shall be forever unable to combat it. Perhaps it is only my imagination, but I
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think I can discover a lack of respect in Nikita's behavior toward me since yesterday. . . My disgrace has become public already, and I am laughed at wherever I go, espe- cially by the women. Of course, they do not understand the sin, but rather look upon it as a good joke. It will require great firmness on my part to regain the respect I have lost for myself, as well as on behalf of the Church. I have vowed to burn no fuel in my bedroom during the entire winter, in order to chastise my body - a mild pun- ishment, indeed, compared to the blackness of my sin."
The following day was the Sabbath. It was with a heavy heart that he baptized Katlewah, the brother of the chief, and his family, the three wives of the chief, seven children, and one aged couple.
The same evening he called on the chief and surprised him in a wild carousal with his wives, in which he was jeeringly invited to join.
Forgetting his disgrace and his loss of the right to con- demn for sins not so black as his own, the enraged young priest vigorously denounced them, and told the chief that he must marry one of the women according to the rites of the Church and put away the others, or be forever damned. The chief, equally enraged, ordered him out of the house. On his way home he met Katlewah, who reproached him because his religious teachings had not benefited Shakmut, who was as immoral as ever.
The end was now rapidly approaching. On September 29, less than a month after his arrival, he wrote : "The chief and his brother have both been here this morning and abused me shamefully. Their language I could not understand, but they spat in my face and, what was worse, upon the sacred images on the walls. Katlewah seized my vestments and carried them off, and I was left bleeding from a blow struck by an ivory club. Nikita has washed and bandaged my wounds ; but from his anx-
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ious manner I can see that I am still in danger. The other boys have run away. My wound pains me so that I can scarcely -"
The rest is silence. Nikita, who escaped with Juvenal's journal and papers and delivered them to the revered and beloved Veniaminoff, relates that the young priest was here fallen upon and stabbed to death by his enemies.
Many different versions of this pathetic tragedy are given. I have chosen Bancroft's because he seems to have gone more deeply and painstakingly into the small details that add the touch of human interest than any other historian.
The vital interest of the story, however, lies in what no one has told, and what, therefore, no one but the romancer can ever tell.
It lies between the written lines ; it lies in the imagina- tion of this austere young priest's remorseful suffering for his sin. There is no sign that he realized -too late, as usual - his first sin of intolerant criticism and condemna- tion of the sins of others. But neither did he spare him- self, nor shrink from the terrible results of his downfall, so unexpected in his lofty and almost flaunting virtue. He was ready, and eager, to chastise his flesh to atone for his sin; and probably only one who has spent a winter in Alaska could comprehend fully the hourly suffering that would result from a total renouncement of fuel for the long, dark period of winter.
Veniaminoff was of the opinion that the assassination was caused not so much by his preaching against polygamy as by the fact that the chiefs, having given him their chil- dren to educate at Kadiak, repented of their action, and being unable to recover them, turned against him and slew him as a deceiver, in their ignorance. During the fatal attack upon him, it is said, Juvenal never thought of flight or self-defence, but surrendered himself into their hands with- out resistance, asking only for mercy for his companions.
CHAPTER XXX
IN 1792 Baranoff having risen to the command of the Shelikoff-Golikoff Company, decided to transfer the settlement of Three Saints to the northern end of the island, as a more central location for the distribution of supplies. To-day only a few crumbling ruins remain to mark the site of the first Russian settlement in America - an event of such vital historic interest to the United States that a monument should be erected there by this country.
The new settlement was named St. Paul, and was situated on Pavlovsk Bay, the present site of Kadiak. The great warehouse, built of logs, and other ancient buildings still remain.
It was during the year of Father Juvenal's death - 1796- that the first Russo-Greek church was erected at St. Paul. It was about this time that the conversion of twelve thousand natives in the colonies was reported by Father Jossaph. This amazing statement could only have been made after one of Baranoff's banquets -to which the astute governor, desiring that a favorable report should be sent to St. Petersburg, doubtless bade the half-starved priest.
For the Russian-American Company the Kadiaks and Aleuts were obliged to hunt and work, at the will of the officers, and to sell all their furs to the company, at prices established by the latter.
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Baranoff, for a time after becoming Chief Director, resided in Kodiak. All persons and affairs in the colonies were under his control ; his authority was absolute, his decision final, unless appeal was made to the Directory at Irkutsk; and it was almost impossible for an appeal to reach Irkutsk.
To-day in Kodiak, as in Sitka, the old and the new mingle. Some of the old sod-houses remain, and many that were built of logs; but the majority of the dwellings are modern frame structures, painted white and present- ing a neat appearance, in striking contrast to many of the settlements of Alaska where natives reside.
The Greek-Russian church shines white and attractive against the green background of the hill. It is sur- rounded by a white fence and is shaded by trees.
I called at the priest's residence and was hospitably received by his wife, an intelligent, dark-eyed native woman. The interior of the church is interesting, but lacks the charm and rich furnishings of the one at Sitka. There is a chime of bells in the steeple ; and both steeple and dome are surmounted by the peculiar Greek-Russian cross which is everywhere seen in Alaska. It has two short transverse bars, crossing the vertical shaft, one above and one below the main transverse bar, the lower always slanting.
The natives of Kodiak are more highly civilized than in other parts of Alaska. The offspring of Russian fathers and native mothers have frequently married into white or half-breed families, and the strain of dark blood in the offspring of these later marriages is difficult to discern.
I travelled on the Dora with a woman whose father had been a Russian priest, married to a native woman at Belkoffski. She had been sent to California for a number of years, and returning, a graduate of a normal
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school, had married a Russian. She had a comfortable, well-furnished home, and her husband appeared extremely fond and proud of her. Her children were as white as any Russian I have ever seen.
A Russian priest must marry once ; but if his wife dies, he cannot marry again.
This law fills my soul with an unholy delight. It persuades a man to appreciate his wife's virtues and to condone her faults. Whatever may be her sins in sight of him and heaven, she is the only one, so far as he is concerned. It must be she, or nobody, to the end of his days. She may fill his soul with rage, but he may not even relieve his feelings by killing her.
The result of this unique religious law is that Russian priests are uncommonly kind and indulgent to their wives. " Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes," said one who was on the Dora, in answer to a question, "I have a wife. She lives in Paris, where my daughter is receiving her educa- tion. I am going this year to visit them. Yes, yes, yes."
However, with all the petting and indulgence which the Russian priest lavishes upon his wife, if what I heard be true, - that he is permitted neither to cut nor to wash his hair and beard, -God wot she is welcome to him.
The old graveyard on the hill above Kodiak tempts the visitor, and one may loiter among the old, neglected graves with no fear of snakes in the tall, thick grasses.
At first, a woman receives the statement that there are no snakes in Alaska with open suspicion. It has the sound of an Alaskan joke.
When I first heard it, I was unimpressed. We were nearing a fine field of red-top, already waist-high, and I waited for the gentleman from Boston, who believed everything he heard, and imagined far more, to go prancing innocently through the field.
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He went - unhesitatingly, joyously; giving praise to God for his blessings - as, he vowed, he loved to ramble through deep grass, yet would rather meet a hippopota- mus alone in a mire than a garter-snake five inches long. The field was the snakiest-looking place imaginable, and when he had passed safely through, I began to have faith in the Alaskan snake story.
The climate of Kadiak Island is delightful. The island is so situated that it is fully exposed to the equalizing influences of the Pacific. The mean annual temperature is four degrees lower than at Sitka, and there is twenty per cent less rainfall.
The coast of Alaska is noted for its rainfall and cloudy weather. Its precipitation is to be compared only to that of the coast of British Columbia, Washington, and Ore- gon ; and it will surprise many people to learn that it is exceeded in the latter district.
The heaviest annual rainfall occurs at Nutchek, with a decided drop to Fort Tongass ; then, Orca, Juneau, Sitka, and Fort Liscum. Fort Wrangell, Killisnoo, and Kodiak stand next ; while Tyonok, Skaguay, and Kenai record only from fifteen to twenty-five inches.
Kadiak Island is a hundred miles long by about forty in width. Its relief is comparatively low -from three to five thousand feet - and it has many broad, open valleys, gently rounded slopes, and wooded dells.
Lisiansky was told that the Kadiak group of islands was once separated from the Aliaska Peninsula by the tiniest ribbon of water. An immense otter, in attempt- ing to swim through this pass, was caught fast and could not extricate itself. Its desperate struggles for freedom widened the pass into the broad sweep of water now known as the Straits of Shelikoff, and pushed the islands out to their present position. This legend strengthens the general belief that the islands were once a part of the
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peninsula, having been separated therefrom by one of the mighty upheavals, with its attendant depression, which are constantly taking place.
A native myth is that the original inhabitants were descended from a dog. Another legend is to the effect that the daughter of a great chief north of the peninsula married a dog and was banished with her dog-husband and whelps. The dog tried to swim back, but was drowned, his pups then falling upon the old chief and, having torn him to pieces, reigning in his stead.
In 1791 Shelikoff reported the population of Kadiak Island to be fifty thousand, the exaggeration being for the purpose of enhancing the value of his operations. In 1795 the first actual census of Kadiak showed cighteen hundred adult native males, and about the same number of females. To-day there are probably not five hundred.
I have visited Kadiak Island in June and in July. On both occasions the weather was perfect. Clouds that were like broken columns of pearl pushed languorously up through the misty gold of the atmosphere; the long slopes of the hillside were vividly green in the higher lights, but sank to the soft dark of dells and hollows ; here and there shone out acres of brilliant bloom.
To one climbing the hill behind the village, island be- yond island drifted into view, with blue water-ways wind- ing through velvety labyrinths of green ; and, beyond all, the strong, limitless sweep of the ocean. The winds were but the softest zephyrs, touching the face and hair like rose petals, or other delicate, visible things; and, the air was fragrant with things that grow day and night and that fling their splendor forth in one riotous rush of bloom. Shaken through and through their perfume was that thrilling, indescribable sweetness which abides in vast spaces where snow mountains glimmer and the opal- ine palisades of glaciers shine.
Z
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It is a view to quicken the blood, and to inspire an American to give silent thanks to God that this rich and peerlessly beautiful country is ours.
After the transfer, the village of Kodiak was the head- quarters of the Alaska Commercial Company and the Western Fur and Trading Company. The former com- pany still maintains stores and warehouses at this point. The house in which the manager resides occupies a com- manding site above the bay. It is historic and commodi- ous, and large house-parties are entertained with lavish hospitality by Mr. and Mrs. Goss, visitors gathering there from adjacent islands and settlements.
There are dances, "when the boats are in," in which the civilized native girls join with a kind of repressed joy that reminds one of New England. They dress well and dance gracefully. Their soft, dark glances over their partners' shoulders haunt even a woman dreamily. A century's silently and gently borne wrongs smoulder now and then in the deep eyes of some beautiful, dark-skinned girl.
Kodiak is clean. One can stand on the hills and breathe.
For several years after the transfer a garrison of United States troops was stationed there. Bridges were built across the streams that flow down through the town, and culverts to drain the marshes. Many of these improve- ments have been carelessly destroyed with the passing of the years, but their early influence remains.
So charming and so idyllic did this island seem to the Russians that it was with extreme reluctance they moved their capital to Sitka when the change was considered necessary.
We were rowed by native boys across the satiny chan- nel to Wood Island, where Reverend C. P. Coe conducts a successful Baptist Orphanage for native children. Mr.
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Coe was not at home, but we were cordially received by Mrs. Coe and three or four assistants. Wood Island, or Woody, as it was once called, is as lovely as Kadiak; the site for the buildings of the Orphanage being particularly attractive, surrounded as it is by groves and dells.
There was a pale green, springlike freshness folded over the gently rolling hills and hollows that was as en- trancing as the first green mist that floats around the leafing alders on Puget Sound in March.
The Orphanage was established in 1893 by the Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society of Boston, and the first child was entered in that year. Mr. Coe assumed charge of the Orphanage in 1895, and about one hundred and thirty children have been educated and cared for un- der his administration. They have come from the east as far as Kayak, and from the west as far as Unga. At present there is but one other Baptist Mission field in Alaska - at Copper Centre.
The purpose of the work is to provide a Christian home and training for the destitute and friendless; to collect children, that they may receive an education ; and to give industrial training so far as possible.
There were forty-two children in the home at the time of our visit, and there was a full complement of helpers in the work, including a physician.
The regular industrial work consists of all kinds of housework for the girls. Everything that a woman who keeps house should know is taught to these girls. The boys are taught to plough and sow, to cultivate and har- vest the crops, to raise vegetables, to care for stock and poultry. Twenty-five acres are under cultivation, and the hardier grains and vegetables are grown with fair success.
Potatoes yield two hundred and fifty bushels to the acre; and barley, forty bushels. Cattle and poultry thrive and are of exceeding value, fresh milk and vege-
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tables being better than medicines for the welfare of the children. Angora goats require but little care and yield excellent fleece each year.
The most valuable features of the work are the religious training; the furnishing of a comfortable home, warm clothing, clean and wholesome food of sufficient quantity, to children who have been rescued from vice and the most repulsive squalor; the atmosphere of industry, cleanliness, kindness, and love ; and the medical care fur- nished to those who may be suffering because of the vices of their ancestors.
This excellent work is supported by offerings from the Baptist Sunday Schools of New England, and by contribu- tions from the society with the yard-long name by which it was established.
We were offered most delicious ginger-cake with nuts in it and big goblets of half milk and half cream; and we were not surprised that the shy, dark-skinned children looked so happy and so well cared for. We saw their schoolrooms, their play rooms, and their bedrooms, with the little clean cots ranged along the walls.
The children were shy, but made friends with us read- ily ; and holding our hands, led the way to the dells where the violets grew. They listened to stories with large-eyed interest, and were, in general, bright, well- mannered, and attractive children.
It was on Wood Island that the famous and mysterious ice-houses of the American-Russian Ice Company, whose headquarters were in San Francisco, were located. Their ruins still stand on the shore, as well as the deserted buildings of the North American Commercial Company, whose headquarters were here for many years-the furs of the Copper River and Kenai regions having been brought here to be shipped to San Francisco.
The operations of the ice company were shrouded in
Copyright by E. A. Hegg, Juneau
ONE AND A HALF MILLIONS OF KLONDYKE GOLD
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mystery, many claiming that not a pound of ice was ever shipped to the California seaport from Wood Island. Other authorities, however, affirm that at one time large quantities of ice were shipped to the southern port, and that the agent of the company lived on Wood Island in a manner as autocratic and princely as that of Baranoff himself. The whole island was his park and game pre- serve ; and one of the first roads ever built in Alaska was constructed here, comprising the circuit of the island, a distance of about thirteen miles.
There is a Greek-Russian church and mission on the island.
Not far from Wood Island is Spruce.
" Here," says Tikhmenef, "died the last member of the first clerical mission, the monk Herman. During his life- time Father Herman built near his dwelling a school for the daughters of the natives, and also cultivated potatoes."
Bancroft pokes fun at this obituary. The growing of potatoes, however, at that time in Alaska must have been of far greater value than any ordinary missionary work. Better to cultivate potatoes than to teach a lot of wretched beings to make the sign of the cross and dabble themselves with holy water -and it is said that this is all the aver- age priest taught a hundred years ago, the poor natives not being able to understand the Russian language.
The Kadiak Archipelago consists of Kadiak, Afognak, Tugidak, Sitkinak, Marmot, Wood, Spruce, Chirikoff (named by Vancouver for the explorer who discovered it upon his return journey to Kamchatka), and several smaller ones. They are all similar in appearance, but smaller and less fertile than Kadiak. A small group northwest of Chirikoff is named the Semidi Islands.
There is a persistent legend of a "lost" island in the Pacific, to the southward of Kadiak.
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When the Russian missionaries first came to the colo- nies in America, they found the natives living "as the seals and the otters lived." They were absolutely with- out moral understanding, and simply followed their own instincts and desires.
These missionaries were sent out in 1794, by command of the Empress Catherine the Second; and by the time of Sir George Simpson's visit in 1842, their influence had begun to show beneficial results. An Aleutian and his daughter who had committed an unnatural crime suddenly found themelves, because of the drawing of new moral lines, ostracized from the society in which they had been accustomed to move unchallenged. They stole away by night in a bidarka, and having paddled steadily to the southward for four days and nights they sighted an island which had never been discovered by white man or dark. They landed and dwelt upon this island for a year.
Upon their return to Kadiak and their favorable report of their lone, beautiful, and sea-surrounded retreat, a vessel was despatched in search of it, but without success.
To this day it is " Lost " Island. Many have looked for it, but in vain. It is the sailor's dream, and is sup- posed to be rich in treasure. Its streams are yellow with gold, its mountains green with copper glance; ambergris floats on the waters surrounding it; and all the seals and sea-otters that have been frightened out of the north sun themselves, unmolested, upon its rocks and its floating strands of kelp.
One day it will rise out of the blue Pacific before the wondering eyes of some fortunate wanderer - even as the Northwest Passage, for whose sake men have sailed and suffered and failed and died for four hundred years, at last opened an icy avenue before the amazed and unbeliev- ing eyes of the dauntless Amundsen.
CHAPTER XXXI
LEAVING Kodiak, the steamer soon reaches Afognak, on the island of the same name. There is no wharf at this settlement, and we were rowed ashore.
We were greatly interested in this place. The previous year we had made a brief voyage to Alaska. On our steamer was an unmarried lady who was going to Afognak as a missionary. She was to be the only white woman on the island, and she had entertained us with stories which she had heard of a very dreadful and wicked saloon- keeper who had lived near her schoolhouse, and whose evil influence had been too powerful for other missionaries to combat.
" But he can't scare me off !" she declared, her eyes shining with religious ardor. " I'll conquer him before he shall conquer me ! "
She was short and stout and looked anything but brave, and as we approached the scene of conflict, we felt much curiosity as to the outcome.
She was on the beach when we landed, stouter, shorter, and more energetic than ever in her movements. She remembered us and proudly led the way up the bank to her schoolhouse. It was large, clean, and attractive. The missionary lived in four adjoining rooms, which were com- fortable and homelike. We were offered fresh bread and delicious milk.
She talked rapidly and eagerly upon every subject save the one in which we were so interested. At last, I could endure the suspense no longer.
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