USA > Alaska > Alaska, the great country > Part 8
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Basketry is either hand-woven or sewed. Hand-woven work is divided into checker work, twilled work, wicker work, wrapped work, and twined work. Sewed work is called coiled basketry.
Twined work is found on the Pacific Coast from Attu to Chile, and is the most delicate and difficult of all woven work. It has a set of warp rods, and the weft elements are worked in by two-strand or three-strand methods. Passing from warp to warp, these weft elements are twisted in half-turns on each other, so as to form a two- strand or three-strand twine or braid, and usually with a deftness that keeps the glossy side of the weft outward.
"The Thlinkit, weaving," says Lieutenant Emmons, "sits with knees updrawn to the chin, feet close to the
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body, bent-shouldered, with the arms around the knees, the work held in front. Sometimes the knees fall slightly apart, the work held between them, the weft frequently held in the mouth, the feet easily crossed. The basket is held bottom down. In all kinds of weave, the strands are constantly dampened by dipping the fingers in water." The finest work of Attu and Atka is woven entirely under water. A rude awl, a bear's claw or tooth, are the only implements used. The Attu weaver has her basket in- verted and suspended by a string, working from the bot- tom down toward the top.
Almost every part of plants is used - roots, stems, bark, leaves, fruit, and seeds. The following are the plants chiefly used by the Thlinkits: The black shining stems of the maidenhair fern, which are easily distin- guished and which add a rich touch; the split stems of the brome-grass as an overlaying material for the white patterns of spruce-root baskets ; for the same purpose, the split stem of bluejoint; the stem of wood reed-grass; the stem of tufted hair-grass ; the stem of beech-rye ; the root of horsetail, which works in a rich purple ; wolf moss, boiled for canary-yellow dye ; manna-grass; root of the Sitka spruce tree ; juice of the blueberry for a purple dye.
The Attu weaver uses the stems and leaves of grass, having no trees and few plants. When she wants the grass white, it is cut in November and hung, points down, out-doors to dry ; if yellow be desired, as it usually is, it is cut in July and the two youngest full-grown blades are cut out and split into three pieces, the middle one being rejected and the others hung up to dry out-doors ; if green is wanted, the grass is prepared as for yellow, except that the first two weeks of curing is carried on in the heavy shade of thick grasses, then it is taken into the house and dried. Curing requires about a month, during which time the sun is never permitted to touch the grass.
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Ornamentation by means of color is wrought by the use of materials which are naturally of a different color ; by the use of dyed materials ; by overlaying the weft and warp with strips of attractive material before weaving ; by embroidering on the texture during the process of manufacture, this being termed "false " embroidery ; by covering the texture with plaiting, called imbrication ; by the addition of feathers, beads, shells, and objects of like nature.
Some otherwise fine specimens of Atkan basketry are rendered valueless, in my judgment, by the present custom of introducing flecks of gaily dyed wool, the matchless beauty of these baskets lying in their delicate, even weav- ing, and in their exquisite natural coloring- the faintest old rose, lavender, green, yellow and purple being woven together in one ravishing mist of elusive splendor. So enchanting to the real lover of basketry are the creations of those far lonely women's hands and brains, that they seem fairly to breathe out their loveliness upon the air, as a rose.
This basketry was first introduced to the world in 1874, by William H. Dall, to whom Alaska and those who love Alaska owe so much. Warp and weft are both of beach grass or wild rye. One who has never seen a fine speci- men of these baskets has missed one of the joys of this world.
The Aleuts perpetuate no story or myth in their orna- mentation. With them it is art for art's sake; and this is, doubtless, one reason why their work draws the be- holder spellbound.
The symbolism of the Thlinkit is charming. It is found not alone in their basketry, but in their carvings in stone, horn, and wood, and in Chilkaht blankets. The favorite designs are : shadow of a tree, water drops, salmon berry cut in half, the Arctic tern's tail, flaking of the flesh of H
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a fish, shark's tooth, leaves of the fireweed, an eye, raven's tail, and the crossing. It must be confessed that only a wild imagination could find the faintest resem- blance of the symbols woven into the baskets to the objects they represent. The symbol called "shadow of a tree" really resembles sunlight in moving water.
With the Haidah hats and Chilkaht blankets, it is very different. The head, feet, wings, and tail of the raven, for instance, are easily traced. In more recent basketry the swastika is a familiar design. Many Thlinkit baskets have " rattly " covers. Seeds found in the crops of quail are woven into these covers. They are "good spirits " which can never escape ; and will insure good fortune to the owner. Woe be to him, however, should he permit his curiosity to tempt him to investigate ; they will then escape and work him evil instead of good, all the days of his life.
In Central Alaska, the basketry is usually of the coiled variety, coarsely and very indifferently executed. Both spruce and willow are used. From Dawson to St. Michael, in the summer of 1907, stopping at every trading post and Indian village, I did not see a single piece of basketry that I would carry home. Coarse, unclean, and of slovenly workmanship, one could but turn away in pity and disgust for the wasted effort.
The Innuit in the Behring Sea vicinity make both coiled and twined basketry from dried grasses; but it is even worse than the Yukon basketry, being carelessly done, - the Innuit infinitely preferring the carving and decorating of walrus ivory to basket weaving. It is delicious to find an Innuit who never saw a glacier decorating a paper- knife with something that looks like a pond lily, and labelling it Taku Glacier, which is three thousand miles to the southeastward. I saw no attempt on the Yukon, nor on Behring Sea, at what Mr. Mason calls imbrication,
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-the beautiful ornamentation which the Indians of Columbia, Frazer, and Thompson rivers and of many Salish tribes of Northwestern Washington use to distin- guish their coiled work. It resembles knife-plaiting before it is pressed flat. This imbrication is frequently of an exquisite, dull, reddish brown over an old soft yel- low. Baskets adorned with it often have handles and flat covers ; but papoose baskets and covered long baskets, almost as large as trunks, are common.
There was once a tide in my affairs which, not being taken at the flood, led on to everlasting regret.
One August evening several years ago I landed on an island in Puget Sound where some Indians were camped for the fishing season. It was Sunday; the men were playing the fascinating gambling game of slahal, the children were shouting at play, the women were gathered in front of their tents, gossiping.
In one of the tents I found a coiled, imbricated Thomp- son River basket in old red-browns and yellows. It was three and a half feet long, two and a half feet high, and two and a half wide, with a thick, close-fitting cover. It was offered to me for ten dollars, and -that I should live to chronicle it !- not knowing the worth of such a basket, I closed my eyes to its appealing and unforget- table beauty, and passed it by.
But it had, it has, and it always will have its silent revenge. It is as bright in my memory to-day as it was in my vision that August Sunday ten years ago, and more enchanting. My longing to see it again, to possess it, increases as the years go by. Never have I seen its equal, never shall I. Yet am I ever looking for that basket, in every Indian tent or hovel I may stumble upon-in villages, in camps, in out-of-the-way places. Sure am I that I should know it from all other baskets, at but a glance.
I knew nothing of the value of baskets, and I fancied
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the woman was taking advantage of my ignorance. While I hesitated, the steamer whistled. It was all over in a moment ; my chance was gone. I did not even dream how greatly I desired that basket until I stood in the bow of the steamer and saw the little white camp fade from view across the sunset sea.
The original chaste designs and symbols of Thlinkit, Haidah, and Aleutian basketry are gradually yielding, before the coarse taste of traders and tourists, to the more modern and conventional designs. I have lived to see a cannery etched upon an exquisitely carved paper- knife; while the things produced at infinite labor and care and called cribbage-boards are in such bad taste that tourists buying them become curios themselves.
The serpent has no place in Alaskan basketry for the very good reason that there is not a snake in all Alaska, and the Indians and Innuit probably never saw one. A woman may wade through the swampiest place or the tallest grass without one shivery glance at her pathway for that little sinuous ripple which sends terror to most women's hearts in warmer climes. Indeed, it is claimed that no poisonous thing exists in Alaska.
The tourist must not expect to buy baskets farther north than Skaguay, where fine ones may be obtained at very reasonable prices. Having visited several times every place where basketry is sold, I would name first Dundas, then Yakutat, and then Sitka as the most desirable places for "shopping," so far as southeastern Alaska is concerned; out "to Westward," first Unalaska and Dutch Harbor, then Kodiak and Seldovia.
But the tourists who make the far, beautiful voyage out among the Aleutians to Unalaska might almost be counted annually upon one's fingers-so unexploited are the attractions of that region ; therefore, I will add that fine specimens of the Attu and Atka work may be found at
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Copyright by F. II. Nowell, Seattle
ESKIMO IN WALRUS-SKIN KAMELAYKA
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Wrangell, Juneau, Skaguay, and Sitka, without much choice, either in workmanship or price. But fortunate may the tourist consider himself who travels this route on a steamer that gathers the salmon catch in August or September, and is taken through Icy Strait to the Dundas cannery. There, while a cargo of canned salmon is being taken aboard, the passengers have time to barter with the good-looking and intelligent Indians for the superb baskets laid out in the immense warehouse. No- where in Alaska have I seen baskets of such beautiful workmanship, design, shape, and coloring as at Dundas - excepting always, of course, the Attu and Atka; nowhere have I seen them in such numbers, variety, and at such low prices.
My own visit to Dundas was almost pathetic. It was on my return from a summer's voyage along the coast of Alaska, as far westward as Unalaska. I had touched at every port between Dixon's Entrance and Unalaska, and at many places that were not ports; had been lightered ashore, rope-laddered and doried ashore, had waded ashore, and been carried ashore on sailors' backs; and then, with my top berth filled to the ceiling with baskets and things, with all my money spent and all my clothes worn out, I stood in the warehouse at Dundas and saw those dozens of beautiful baskets, and had them offered to me at but half the prices I had paid for inferior baskets. It was here that the summer hats and the red kimonos and the pretty collars were brought out, and were eagerly seized by the dark and really handsome Indian girls. A ten- dollar hat-at the end of the season ! - went for a fif- teen-dollar basket ; a long, red woollen kimono, - whose warmth had not been required on this ideal trip, anyhow, - secured another of the same price; and may heaven forgive me, but I swapped one twenty-two-inch gold- embroidered belt for a three-dollar basket, even while I
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knew in my sinful heart that there was not a waist in that warehouse that measured less than thirty-five inches ; and from that to fifty!
However, in sheer human kindness, I taught the girl to whom I swapped it how it might be worn as a garter, and her delight was so great and so unexpected that it caused me some apprehension as to the results. My very proper Scotch friend and travelling companion was so aghast at my suggestion that she took the girl aside and advised her to wear the belt for collars, cut in half, or as a gay decoration up the front plait of her shirt-waist, or as armlets; so that, with it all, I was at last able to retire to my stateroom and enjoy my bargains with a clear conscience, feeling that after some fashion the girl would get her basket's worth out of the belt.
CHAPTER VIII
LEAVING Wrangell, the steamer soon passes, on the port side and at the entrance to Sumner Strait, Zarembo Island, named for that Lieutenant Zarembo who so suc- cessfully prevented the Britishers from entering Stikine River. Baron Wrangell bestowed the name, desiring in his gratitude and appreciation to perpetuate the name and fame of the intrepid young officer.
From Sumner Strait the famed and perilously beautiful Wrangell Narrows is entered. This ribbon-like water-way is less than twenty miles long, and in many places so narrow that a stone may be tossed from shore to shore. It winds between Mitkoff and Kupreanoff islands, and may be navigated only at certain stages of the tide. Deep-draught vessels do not attempt Wrangell Narrows, but turn around Cape Decision and proceed by way of Chatham Strait and Frederick Sound -a course which adds at least eighty miles to the voyage.
The interested voyager will not miss one moment of the run through the narrows, either for sleep or hunger. Better a sleepless night or a dinnerless day than one min- ute lost of this matchless scenic attraction.
The steamer pushes, under slow bell, along a channel which, in places, is not wider than the steamer itself. Its sides are frequently touched by the long strands of kelp that cover the sharp and dangerous reefs, which may be plainly seen in the clear water.
The timid passenger, sailing these narrows, holds his
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breath a good part of the time, and casts anxious glances at the bridge, whereon the captain and his pilots stand silent, stern, with steady, level gaze set upon the course. One moment's carelessness, ten seconds of inattention, might mean the loss of a vessel in this dangerous strait.
Intense silence prevails, broken only by the heavy, slow throb of the steamer and the swirl of the brown water in whirlpools over the rocks ; and these sounds echo far.
The channel is marked by many buoys and other sig- nals. The island shores on both sides are heavily wooded to the water, the branches spraying out over the water in bright, lacy green. The tree trunks are covered with pale green moss, and long moss-fringes hang from the branches, from the tips of the trees to the water's edge. The effect is the same as that of festal decoration.
Eagles may always be seen perched motionless upon the tall tree-tops or upon buoys.
The steamship Colorado went upon the rocks between Spruce and Anchor points in 1900, where her storm- beaten hull still lies as a silent, but eloquent, warning of the perils of this narrow channel.
The tides roaring in from the ocean through Frederick Sound on the north and Sumner Strait on the south meet near Finger Point in the narrows.
Sunrise and sunset effects in this narrow channel are justly famed. I once saw a mist blown ahead of my steamer at sunset that, in the vivid brilliancy of its min- gled scarlets, greens, and purples, rivalled the coloring of a humming-bird.
At dawn, long rays of delicate pink, beryl, and pearl play through this green avenue, deepening in color, fad- ing, and withdrawing like Northern Lights. When the scene is silvered and softened by moonlight, one looks for elves and fairies in the shadows of the moss-dripping spruce trees.
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The silence is so intense and the channel so narrow, that frequently at dawn wild birds on the shores are heard saluting the sun with song ; and never, under any other circumstances, has bird song seemed so nearly divine, so golden with magic and message, as when thrilled through the fragrant, green stillness of Wrangell Narrows at such an hour.
I was once a passenger on a steamer that lay at anchor all night in Sumner Strait, not daring to attempt the Nar- rows on account of storm and tide. A stormy sunset burned about our ship. The sea was like a great, scarlet poppy, whose every wave petal circled upward at the edges to hold a fleck of gold. Island upon island stood out through that riot of color in vivid, living green, and splendid peaks shone burnished against the sky.
There was no sleep that night. Music and the dance held sway in the cabins for those who cared for them, and for the others there was the beauty of the night. In our chairs, sheltered by the great smoke-stacks of the hurricane-deck, we watched the hours go by-each hour a different color from the others - until the burned-out red of night had paled into the new sweet primrose of dawn. The wind died, leaving the full tide "that, mov- ing, seems asleep"; and no night was ever warmer and sweeter in any tropic sea than that.
Wrangell Narrows leads into Frederick Sound - so named by Whidbey and Johnstone, who met there, in 1794, on the birthday of Frederick, Duke of York.
Vancouver's expedition actually ended here, and the search for the "Strait of Anian" was finally aban- doned.
Several glaciers are in this vicinity: Small, Patterson, Summit, and Le Conte. The Devil's Thumb, a spire- shaped peak on the mainland, rises more than two thou- sand feet above the level of the sea, and stands guard
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over Wrangell Narrows and the islands and glaciers of the vicinity.
On Soukhoi Island fox ranches were established about five years ago; they are said to be successful.
The Thunder Bay Glacier is the first on the coast that discharges bergs. The thunder-like roars with which the vast bulks of beautiful blue-white ice broke from the glacier's front caused the Indians to believe this bay to be the home of the thunder-bird, who always produces thunder by the flapping of his mighty wings.
Baird Glacier is in Thomas Bay, noted for its scenic charms, - glaciers, forestation, waterfalls, and sheer heights combining to give it a deservedly wide reputation among tourists. Elephant's Head, Portage Bay, Farragut Bay, and Cape Fanshaw are important features of the vicinity. The latter is a noted landmark and storm- point. It fronts the southwest, and the full fury of the fiercest storms beats mercilessly upon it. Light craft fre- quently try for days to make this point, when a wild gale is blowing from the Pacific.
Of the scenery to the south of Cape Fanshaw, Whidbey reported to Vancouver, on his final trip of exploration in August, 1794, that " the mountains rose abruptly to a pro- digious height .
. . to the South, a part of them pre- sented an uncommonly awful appearance, rising with an inclination towards the water to a vast height, loaded with an immense quantity of ice and snow, and overhang- ing their base, which seemed to be insufficient to bear the ponderous fabric it sustained, and rendered the view of the passage beneath it horribly magnificent."
At the Cape he encountered such severe gales that a whole day and night were consumed in making a distance of sixteen miles.
There are more fox ranches on " The Brothers " Islands, and soon after passing them Frederick Sound narrows into
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Stephens' Passage. Here, to starboard, on the mainland, is Mount Windham, twenty-five hundred feet in height, in Windham Bay.
Gold was discovered in this region in the early seven- ties, and mines were worked for a number of years before the Juneau and Treadwell excitement. The mountains abound in game.
Sumdum is a mining town in Sumdum, or Holkham, Bay. The fine, live glacier in this arm is more perfectly named than any other in Alaska - Sum-dum, as the Indians pronounce it, more clearly describing the deep roar of breaking and falling ice, with echo, than any other syllables.
Large steamers do not enter this bay; but small craft, at slack-tide, may make their way among the rocks and icebergs. It is well worth the extra expense and trouble of a visit.
To the southwest of Cape Fanshaw, in Frederick Sound, is Turnabout Island, whose suggestive name is as forlorn as Turnagain Arm, in Cook Inlet, where Cook was forced to " turn again " on what proved to be his last voyage.
Stephens' Passage is between the mainland and Admi- ralty Island. This island barely escapes becoming three or four islands. Seymour Canal, in the eastern part, almost cuts off a large portion, which is called Glass Peninsula, the connecting strip of land being merely a portage ; Kootznahoo Inlet cuts more than halfway across from west to east, a little south of the centre of the island ; and at the northern end had Hawk Inlet pierced but a little farther, another island would have been formed. The scenery along these inlets, particularly Kootznahoo, where the lower wooded hills rise from sparkling blue waters to glistening snow peaks, is magnificent. Whid- bey reported that although this island appeared to be composed of a rocky substance covered with but little
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soil, and that chiefly consisting of vegetables in an imper- fect state of dissolution, yet it produced timber which he considered superior to any he had before observed on the western coast of America.
It is a pity that some steamship company does not run at least one or two excursions during the summer to the little- known and unexploited inlets of southeastern Alaska -to the abandoned Indian villages, graveyards, and totems ; the glaciers, cascades, and virgin spruce glades ; the roar- ing narrows and dim, sweet fiords, where the regular pas- senger and "tourist " steamers do not touch. A month might easily be spent on such a trip, and enough nature- loving, interested, and interesting people could be found to take every berth - without the bugaboo, the increasing nightmare of the typical tourist, to rob one of his pleasure.
At present an excursion steamer sails from Seattle, and from the hour of its sailing the steamer throbs through the most beautiful archipelago in the world, the least known, and the one most richly repaying study, making only five or six landings, and visiting two glaciers at most. It is quite true that every moment of this "tourist " trip of ten days is, nevertheless, a delight, if the weather be favor- able ; that the steamer rate is remarkably cheap, and that no one can possibly regret having made this trip if he can- not afford a longer one in Alaska. But this does not alter the fact that there are hundreds of people who would gladly make the longer voyage each summer, if transpor- tation were afforded. Local transportation in Alaska is so expensive that few can afford to go from place to place, waiting for steamers, and paying for boats and guides for every side trip they desire to make.
Admiralty Island is rich in gold, silver, and other min- erals. There are whaling grounds in the vicinity, and a whaling station was recently established on the southwest- ern end of the Island, near Surprise Harbor and Murder
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Cove. Directly across Chatham Strait from this station, on Baranoff Island, only twenty-five miles from Sitka, are the famous Sulphur Hot Springs.
There are fine marble districts on the western shores of Admiralty Island.
On the southern end are Woewodski Harbor and Pybas Bay.
Halfway through Stephens' Passage are the Midway Islands, and but a short distance farther, on the mainland, is Port Snettisham, a mining settlement on an arm whose northern end is formed by Cascades Glacier, and from whose southern arm musically and exquisitely leaps a cas- cade which is the only rival of Sarah Island in the affec- tions of mariners - Sweetheart Falls.
Who so tenderly named this cascade, and for whom, I have not been able to learn; but those pale green, foam- crested waters shall yet give up their secret. Never would Vancouver be suspected of such naming. Had he so prettily and sentimentally named it, the very waters would have turned to stone in their fall, petrified by sheer amazement.
The scenery of Snettisham Inlet is the finest in this vicinity of fine scenic effects, with the single exception of Taku Glacier.
In Taku Harbor is an Indian village, called Taku, where may be found safe anchorage, which is frequently required in winter, on account of what are called "Taku winds." Passing Grand Island, which rises to a wooded peak, the steamer crosses the entrance to Taku Inlet and enters Gastineau Channel.
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