USA > Alaska > Among the Alaskans > Part 8
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When missionaries reached Fort Wran- gell and Sitka, they found villages built by white people, some white inhabitants and a partial guarantee of order in the presence of certain employés of the Unit- ed States government. None of these footprints of civilization greeted the eyes of the new-comers at Haines: they en- tered into a wilderness-a tribe of Indians, a few Indian houses, the short summer wearing away, drawing on apace a winter when there would be five months of deep snow. In December the day from sunrise to sunset would be but four hours long. When they were left at the station by the last trading-boat in autumn, they need look for no boats, no white faces, no mails, no supplies of any kind, until five or six nths had passed. Here was isolation,
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and the spirit that braved it was high heroism.
The Board of Missions having no funds for the erection of the necessary buildings at Haines, Dr. Jackson borrowed money and erected a house for the Willards, and upon his return to the East, in connection with the Woman's Executive Committee, raised the money to repay the loan.
The mission-buildings at Haines are a schoolhouse and a missionaries' house : we might add, also, a church, as a log church capable of holding three or four hundred will no doubt be occupied during 1883.
Around the new home Mr. and Mrs. Willard found all vegetation luxuriant in the heat of the short, almost nightless summer. The missionaries' hayfield spread green under the blazing sun, and lumber was lying cut for sheltering the hay when it should be made, and for housing the missionaries' goat.
While the mission-houses were building Dr. Jackson, Rev. Mr. Willard and Rev. Mr. Corlies made a mission-tour of all the Chilcat and Chilcoot villages, locating
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a second mission among the Chilcats at their upper village. This station was called " Willard."
The Chilcat people were not entirely unprepared for the work of their mission- ary.
In June, 1880, Dr. Jackson having fur- nished the Woman's Executive Committee the money, Mrs. Dickinson, the former interpreter for Mrs. McFarland, and a pupil for more than two years in the Wrangell schools, left her children with Mrs. McFarland and started for the Chil- cat country, where she intended to teach a school. Her husband, a white man, had been given a place in a trading-station. The mission at Wrangell had no school- supplies to furnish Mrs. Dickinson, ex- cept five First Readers and a primer or two. Mrs. Dickinson had received a small salary as interpreter while at Fort Wran- gell, and shortly after arriving in the Chil- cat country she received a commission as teacher and a further salary, as it was judged best that she should occupy the field, giving such instruction as she was
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MISSION RESIDENCE AND SCHOOLHOUSE, HAINES, ALASKA.
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المالك
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able, until missionaries arrived. The school opened with eighty pupils, and there was much difficulty in teaching them with so few schoolroom appliances or books; but they were anxious to learn. Mrs. Dick- inson wrote that the poor little boys and girls came barefoot and half naked through the snow to learn about Christ. Among those who attended Mrs. Dickinson's Sab- bath-school was Don-a-wauk, a Chilcat chief, who declared that as soon as a missionary came he should become a Christian.
When Mr. and Mrs. Willard arrived, Mrs. Dickinson was appointed their native assistant and interpreter. Don-a-wauk was the first to greet them, and, true to his word, embraced Christianity and gave up his heathen practices, Among other things, he released his slaves.
The Chilcats are divided into families, or clans, having for a totem, or coat-of- arms, the figure of some animal, from which they take their names ; as " Whale," "Crow," " Cinnamon bear," and so on. Among these families feuds and jealous-
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ies often exist, and deep enmities are oc- casioned by depredations and murders com- mitted by one tribe upon another. Thus, Don-a-wauk was in a state of bitter wrath against the tribe at Sitka on account of the murder of one of his friends.
The families with different totems differ in rank as greatly as do the various castes in India. The Crows and the Bears are high caste, the Whales and the Wolves are low caste, and one life of a Crow is worth very many lives of a Whale. The Crows and the Whales were in deadly feud when Mr. Willard reached his new station, the Whales, from their poor, feeble and dis- consolate position, enlisting most the large heart of the missionaries.
In August, 1881, the United States ship Wachusett came up to Haines, and Cap- tain Lull not only brought the missionaries mails and supplies, but also interested him- self in settling the quarrels of the Crows and the Whales. The captain prepared the chiefs a dinner on board the ship, made them shake hands and eat together, and, having distributed tobacco, peace was
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established. This re-establishment of peace, and the consequent safety to Indian life at the station, was of great advantage to the mission, as Shaterich, the chief man among the Chilcats, had said that as soon as quiet was established many of the Indians should move down to the station to attend church and give their children the advantages of the school. This school had already been opened with a daily session from nine o'clock until two o'clock.
The Indians were delighted with the church services, but sometimes made mis- takes about the day; for instance, five canoe-loads came over one Monday, sup- posing it to be Sunday. Owing to their ignorance of days of the week, a bell and a flag were much needed, the flag being hoisted on Sabbath morning as a token to Indians all about to cease from work and prepare for church. The flag and the bell have already been provided.
After the departure of the Wachusett, Don-a-wauk, the chief, went to Sitka on a double errand: he was to receive com- pensation for the life of his friend, and
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he had set his heart on a young Indian girl at Sitka whom he wished to "make his wife in United States fashion." The missionaries hoped much from the setting up of one Christian Indian household in the shadow of the mission-buildings. Don- a-wauk, however, came back unhappy. He had been paid money, blankets and Chinese trunks as honorable amends for his friend's life, but the bride had been denied him. The friends of the young women have in such cases a right to an honorable gift; and this girl's heathen friends, for the sake of injuring a Christian Indian, refused to accept the handsome gifts he offered unless he would add a slave. Don-a-wauk had freed his slaves, and deemed that it would be wicked to accede to the demand; thus he returned a sufferer for righteousness' sake.
On the Ist of September the missionary family, accompanied by Mrs. Dickinson, who had come up from Wrangell, set out for a tour among the Chilcat villages. This was very needful, in order to inform the Indians of the plans proposed for their good, and
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to urge as many of them as possible to come down to the station as soon as the hunting- and fishing-season ended, that they might share the advantages of school and church.
A canoe was brought at high tide to within a mile of the house on a little wind- ing stream that finds its way to the great Chilcat River. Mrs. Willard describes the walk from the house to the stream as of "bewildering beauty," "with foliage like the tropics" and openings of pasture-land with clumps of trees " so like the home- scenery that it made my heart leap for joy." Arriving at five in the afternoon at Don-a-wauk's house, they found that his servant had swept it and spread fresh gravel. The Indians of the neighborhood hurried to greet the missionaries, bringing fish and berries for their supper, and a feather bed for Mrs. Willard to sleep on. Sixty-five came to the evening service held by Mr. Willard, Mrs. Dickinson interpreting for him.
Next morning two canoes, each hewn from a single tree, came to take the mission-
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aries to the upper villages. The party sat, single file, flat on the canoe-bottom. The river was shallow, the current strong. At seven in the afternoon they reached a vil- lage where the Chilcats were very busy · with their fishing. The place was crowded, but a partly-furnished house was placed at the disposal of the guests. The green turf was the floor; there were neither doors nor windows. A fire was built on the ground in the midst, and the joyful Indians sent in berries and fish-oil in wash-bowls, and a fine salmon fresh from the river.
That evening there was hymn-singing. At sunrise seventy five Indians attended a meeting, and were much pleased with what was told them.
As the missionaries were on the point of setting out word was brought that war had again flamed up, the difficulty supposed to have been settled by Captain Lull being rekindled. They however pressed on to the village of Shaterich, and that, chief, who had several houses, elaborately carved and, for Indian abodes, finely furnished, gave the missionaries his best house for
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preaching and his treasure-house for lodg- ing, and prevailed on them to stay over the Sabbath. He promised to provide food for them during their stay, and said that, as Mrs. Dickinson had a tongue for Indian and for white men, she must ask for all they wanted. Signs of mourning for the dead were on every hand. Men and women had been slaughtered ; houses were barricaded. Shaterich, being a Bear, re- mained neutral in this contest, but services for the Crows and the Whales were held separately, as neither could enter the houses of the other.
The mourning customs of the Chilcats are curious. The missionaries found the women with their hair cut off and their faces covered with black paint; in the houses the carvings and the images were shrouded in red matting, and over the door at which the dead last went out they put his box and his moccasins.
To these unhappy and demoralized peo- ple came the gospel of "forgiveness." " Grace" is a word unknown to the Chil- cats; every wrong demands revenge. So
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it had been in this conflict. First a Whale had murdered a Crow; then followed re- taliation and re-retaliation, until almost every man had become an avenger of blood.
Gathering these people together, Mr. Willard proclaimed to them their relation- ship to the one true God; he explained the law of God, and showed how they broke it and were living in hostility to him, so that they must perish if they did not yield and obey. He then told of the love of God, who sent his Son to die- who demanded no pay for his Son's life, but freely gave him to save his enemies.
This preaching lasted an hour and a half, and was heard attentively. After this a man, wounded and very sick, was visited and ministered to in body and in mind. One of the poor Whale family, heartbroken, was about to commit suicide. The preach- ing of the gospel brought light to his mind and decided him to live and try to serve God.
The Indians were much pleased with Mrs. Willard. They named her and adopted her
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into their tribe, giving her the title of their greatest treasure-a carved head of a cin- namon bear ornamented with copper. This name was offered, with accompanying gifts, on the Sabbath evening, after the day's preaching and teaching had somewhat dis- posed the Indians to harmony. Mrs. Wil- lard, in return for her name of honor, told them of Christ, the Elder Brother, and of his command that all, for his sake, should live and love as brethren, not avenging themselves, but putting away wrath. The Indians also named Mr. Willard and the little girl, adopting them into the tribe.
This meeting had taken place in the treasure-house of Shaterich, which was stored with blankets, furs, carved vessels and quantities of oil-all the varieties of Indian wealth, for Shaterich was a very rich Indian.
On Monday the missionaries set out on their return, the Indians promising to keep the peace and to come down to the school when the food-gathering time was over. At night they remained at Don-a-wauk's and had another meeting, and on Tuesday
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arrived at their home, wet through from the water dashing into the canoe, but safe and well and cheered in their work.
Hardly were they home when Don-a- wauk, chief of the Crows, who disapproved of the fighting in the upper village, came to them sad because he had failed to secure the wife he wished, but full of what he had seen at the mission at Sitka. The school, the church, the reading, singing, improved dress and health and houses of the Indians, had deeply impressed him. He desired just the same things for the Chilcats.
Many wants of the mission were making themselves felt. There was no way of calling the people together except by sending messengers from house to house to summon to school or church; here came the need of bell and flag. Then an organ was needed for the schoolhouse, for these Indians are passionately fond of music. Mrs. Willard's piano, for her own house, was yet at Sitka, waiting for transportation.
And here we will tell one great trou- ble and disadvantage suffered by these
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missionaries, but leave its reasons and its remedy for a future chapter : they could not get transportation for their household / goods or stores. This compelled them to purchase of the trader at very exorbitant rates, far beyond their means, and also forced them to make too much use of the Indian food, which was unsuited to them, and in the event greatly injured their health.
Another need experienced in the mission was for maps and globes. The Indians asked question upon question ; the simplest facts were difficult to explain, because there was no foundation of knowledge of the primary principles of nature. The posi- tion of a country, distances, relationships, they could not comprehend ; a round world was too great a proposition for their appre- hension. Of all the wants, that of an or- gan was felt the most; for the Indians would learn to sing hymns, and in the thun- der of their powerful voices the notes of their teacher were irretrievably lost. A canoe was also needed: the mission-trips must be made, or the Indians could not be
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reached; but every trip cost five or ten dollars for a canoe.
Many of the Indians were now anxious to come and live by the missionaries, but there were no houses, and no saw-mill to saw the lumber to make houses ; and build- ing with huge logs, cutting and dressing them with an axe, required a prodigious amount of hard labor.
Meanwhile, good news came from the upper villages. The Indians were resolved to put into practice what they had been taught. They met, laid down their arms and began to settle their troubles by an exchange of blankets. The wounded man was recovering. The Crows took a Whale into their house, ate with him and had him sleep there, and the Whales took a Crow in the same way. The missionaries now felt that all would go well if no molasses came up by steamer. For if molasses, then hoo- chinoo; if hoochinoo, then fights; if fights, then deaths; if deaths, then revenges. Here is the succession of "Indian trou- bles." It is the same everywhere: whis- ky begins a long train of disasters, West
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and North, among our aborigines, as well as among our white citizens.
The Indians were now frequently coming to the station and bringing all their troubles. The subject of prayer was one of the first to take hold upon their minds. They came to ask the missionary to teach them to pray; also if it were right to ask for such and such things, and how it was right to pray, and how soon to expect answers. Their ideas of faith in prayer were very simple and childlike. One man from a distance came weeping to be taught to pray for his sick boy. He wanted God asked for "prayers to make him well;" and if he must die, he wanted the missionaries to give him some of the right kind of food for his spirit, to sustain it on its long journey to Stickagow. The missionaries, by their interpreter, explained prayer and the man- ner of God in answer to prayer, also the happiness of children after death, at once received by Jesus, having no long hard journey, no need of anything.
The next day the man came rushing back wild with joy: his child was better.
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He had found him in a swoon like death ; people said " He is dead," but presently he came to himself, looked about, spoke, was recovering. The men cried,
"It is all true about your God. My child is better."
This recalls New-Testament stories.
Mrs. Willard had considerable knowledge of medicine and nursing, and very fortunate it was, for her skill was to be sorely tested. Meanwhile she was of much use among the sick, and won the love and the gratitude of the Indians.
During the last of October a very re- markable movement took place. Don-a- wauk's whole village of Tindestak moved down to the mission-station for the privilege of attending school and to learn how to be good. The village consisted of sixteen buildings and one hundred and seventy two people. The houses abandoned at Tindestak had cost the Indians much, and to build new ones at Haines would cost much more. These people were really abandoning all things for the sake of learn- ing about Christ.
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It was now late in the season; there was no saw-mill near, and no' steam-launch to convey lumber from the distant mill. All winter the people must suffer many incon- veniences.
Don-a-wauk's heathen relatives tried hard to get him to marry two heathen wives, but he staunchly refused.
The school was full, but poorly provided. Many of the Indians near Haines or living at the station were yet heathen and strongly opposed to the new teachers, being wedded to their heathen practices of slavery, polyg- amy, cremation and shamanism. The Indians who were learning most were still filled with their ancient superstitions and much in the dark, while it was difficult to instruct them fully and clearly through an interpreter, and that interpreter a half- Indian child.
Two or three children died at the begin- ing of the winter, and with the consent of their relatives were buried in Christian fashion by Mr. Willard. And now winter came on, and in terrible earnest. In Sep- tember snow had fallen on the adjacent 15
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mountains, but by the Ist of November the snow came to stay, and unhappily it proved a very severe winter, unusually cold and snowy, while the newly-moved people were little prepared to meet inclem- ent weather, having half-built houses and insufficient fuel.
To begin the story of the winter's woes with the weather.
The storms were of unusual violence, the snow driving and so thick as to hide objects only a short distance away. Dur- ing the season some twenty-eight feet of snow fell, but, owing to its melting, it lay about eight feet on a level, while there were drifts very high. The missionaries had not received all their furnishings, though enough to make the home com- fortable; on the rest they were paying heavy storage. Their supplies of food were inadequate in quality and variety, as food belonging to them was kept down the river, and they were forced to pay double price for scant supplies at the trading-store or to the Indians. The In- dians were much incommoded by the
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disastrous weather, and, being shut up in their poor homes, with nothing to do, idle- ness naturally bred quarreling and a re- verting to their old superstitions.
Fifty Indians painted for war entered the missionary's house early in February. Jack, a troublesome native, accused an- other Indian of having killed his wife. The wife belonged to Jack's family rela- tions, and Jack demanded pay for her, the root of the matter being that Jack was out of funds and resolved to raise some money. Mr. Willard, being made judge, jury and counsel for the occasion, stated that the whole affair must be left for the man-of-war, and he would take down in writing all they had to say. Then the Indians, ranged in two rows, painted red and black and with heads tied up, began a loud-voiced session, which lasted from one until eight o'clock in the after- noon, poor Kitty being sole interpreter. Mr. Willard found that Jack could give no proof that the dead woman had been murdered. In fact, Jack had probably brought a false accusation in the vain idea
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that Mr. Willard would take his view be- cause he lived at Haines. Finally, the parties came near shooting and stabbing, when Mr. Willard became very peremp- tory and laid down the law, threatening the vengeance of the man-of-war if they broke peace. Firm dealing had a fine effect, and the Indians departed quietly.
The missionaries invited all the school- children-about a hundred-to spend an evening in the middle of February and play games and sing. After a joyful visit they had some religious talk and prayer, and went home happy.
The 20th of February the missionaries went on snow-shoes to visit the village houses, as they did weekly. They were charged with causing all the trouble and bad weather. The older heathen Indians explained their charge. The gods of the country were angry at the new ways. United States religion did not suit a stormy country like Alaska; the weather- gods were incensed and must be placated. First, the dead children had been buried, not burned; second, Mr. Willard commit-
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ted the crime of putting on his snow-shoes in the house; third, in their games the school-children were allowed to make cries like those of the wild goose. Hence the fearful weather !
On the next Sunday hardly any one ex- cept children came to church. On Monday the mother of one of the buried children came in sad distress : the people charged her with being the cause of the storm. Jack and others had gone seal-fishing ; and if they were lost, the Indians meant to kill this woman, who caused all the trouble by burying, not burning, her child. The other mothers had been frightened into finding the graves and building great fires on them "to bring fair weather." They thought these fires had brought two fine days.
Then came more Indians. Their food was gone; the storehouses were buried un- der snow, so that they could not enter them. Such weather was never before known: it resulted from the burials. Mr. Willard talked long against their superstitions, and said he could not consent to encourage their heathen practices.
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The next Sabbath only sixty were at church ; all the rest were digging in the snow to find the graves, to build fires on them. Then a little girl carelessly stood out of doors to comb her hair, and this was witchcraft-deadly witchcraft; and her head was sheared and her hair burned in a great fire on the beach. Next, an unhappy father and mother who had re- ceived some light brought their daughter to the missionaries, the Indians threatening to kill her as a witch if her parents did not shut her up in a hut for several months, in the manner before described. The par- ents related terrible stories of young girls murdered before the missionaries came. This girl was one of the best pupils in the school, and of course the missionary under- took her protection.
The weather changed for the better on March Ist. The Indians had by that time dug the graves free of snow and made their fire, and they attributed the improvement to that.
Owing to the severe weather, the steamer looked for on March Ist did not come up,
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and by the last of the month sickness added to the troubles at the mission-station. Mr. Willard was taken with violent pains in his head and with faintings. The small- pox broke out among the Indians, and many died. We are to remember that these missionaries were miles and miles from any white person ; no physician was within a hundred miles, and no nurse. If they were ill, there was no one to aid them; if they died, no one to bury them. And in this situation the small-pox invaded the mission-house.
The baby, Carrie, had the small-pox. and Mr. Willard was alarmingly ill. Mrs. Wil- lard nursed them both, but by the time Mr. Willard was out of bed she was ill, with her babe yet sick. Mr. Willard now took his turn as nurse, and Mrs. Willard, bol- stered up in her rocking-chair, would be dragged to the side of the sitting-room stove, and there nurse her sick little one.
With all these dangers and sorrows by the domestic hearth, they had also to con- tend with the ignorance, superstition and hate of the Indians-hate, not to their
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teachers, but to one another. Man never falls too low for vanity and pride. These Indians, in all their degradation, have a wonderful amount of caste-feeling. Thus, the Chilcats hold themselves infinitely su- perior to the Sticks, the tribe lying beyond them in the interior. For years they have robbed and abused the Sticks, and have done all in their power to keep them from coming to the coast to trade. The Chil- cats desire to buy furs and other goods from the Sticks for almost nothing, and then themselves sell these to the white men at high prices. They do not wish the Sticks to have missionaries or any inter- course with the whites, lest they "become men," for now they regard them "as beasts."
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