USA > Alaska > The wonders of Alaska > Part 7
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THE POTLACH.
him for his miserable practical joke and predicted the death of the Indian. But he turned up next day, pale, sad and attenuated and asked for another dose.
In this connection a reference to the potlach seems to me to be pertinent, as it is a custom common in various forms among all the Indian tribes of the con- tinent, but particularly among the natives of the northwest coast, comprising Oregon, Washington, Alaska and British Columbia and extending as far interior as Idaho and Montana, and among all the Coast Indians, the same word is used. It is believed to be of Chinook origin. " Potlach," as interpreted does not mean a gift in the ordinary sense, as a Christmas gift, a, birthday gift, a wedding gift or other present given in love, friendship, affection or compliment, as among civilized people. Among the native races it means a total surrender of all hold- ings and belongings as a sort of propitiary gift to appease evil spirits through the medium of a shaman or other agent of witchery. In Oregon, Washing- ton, British Columbia and Alaska a native who has acquired a large share of this world's goods becomes at times stricken with a sort of ecstasy, when he feels it incumbent on himself to organize a sort of con- science fund on his own hook. He calls his neigh- bors together, has a big feast and distributes to his guests all his earthly belongings. In some instances, when the spasm is peculiarly acute, he strips himself of the last stitch of wearing apparel and recovers from his convulsion with the consciousness of a duty well performed. This potlach is only indulged in by the crude, untutored natives, and is not " catching" among civilized and cultivated peo-
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THE POTLACH.
ple, and there is no instance on record of any of the leading capitalists of America ever having held a potlach, though the records of the Conscience Fund at Washington do show that many Americans have potlached with the Government according to the extent of their misdoings, some with and some with- out legal interest.
CHAPTER VII.
EDUCATION IN ALASKA.
HISTORY OF EARLY EDUCATION UNDER THE RUS- SIANS .- THE CHANGES AFTER THE PURCHASE OF ALASKA. - LONG NEGLECT .- PRESENT INADEQUACY OF THE SYSTEM .- WORK OF THE AGENT AND NEEDS OF THE SCHOOLS .- DUNCAN'S METLA- KATLA MISSION; ITS PROSPERITY AND THRIFT .- PERSECUTION BY CHURCH AND STATE .- FINAL IMMIGRATION TO ALASKA .- WORK OF THE SEC- TARIAN MISSIONS.
HAT education is the funda- mental principle of republican- ism, and the main stay of our American Institutions, is an undisputed fact. If education is a necessity, in the midst of our civilization whose princi- ples are by nature inculcated WKB in more enlightened minds- the inheritance of generations-what must be the needs of our aboriginal surroundings-darkened by ages of superstition-to raise them to that much mooted height of civilization.
When Russian America became United States territory, to the question as to what would become of the schools, General Lovell H. Rousseau, U. S. Commissioner in the transfer, is said to have re- plied: "America is far ahead of Russia in that
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EARLY SCHOOLS.
respect, and that ample provision would be made for them." He was right in part, while his promise has been fulfilled but in a measure.
A glimpse at the past and present of the schools of Alaska will suffice. As early as 1775 Governor Schlikoff established a school at the capital of Rus- sian America, then situated on Kadiak Island. This school, in 1803, had thirty pupils studying arithmetic, navigation and four mechanical trades. In 1805 Count Nikolai Resanoff at the same place organized a school which he called the "House of Benevolence of the Empress Maria." The Greek religion, the Russian language and arithmetic only were taught here. In 1803 a school was opened in Sitka which experienced many vicissitudes until it passed into the hands of a naval officer in 1820. In 1833 this school saw another change for the better, when a creol, Etolin by name, chief director of the Fur Company and Governor of the Colony, took it in charge.
A school was established for boys and girls at Oonalaska in 1825 which maintained its efficiency to the date of the transfer. Another school was opened here for children of the employees of the Fur Com- pany. These schools, I believe, or a successor to them, with all their traditions, thrive under the con- trol of the Greek Church to-day. The Russian language and the Greek religion are taught and their holidays and fetes observed.
Dr. Sheldon Jackson, General Agent of Education for the Territory, in the report of his visit to the Aleutian Islands, tells us that he met at Oonalaska: " American citizens who have never heard a prayer for the President of the United States, nor of the
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From photograph 13, by WINTER PHOTO Co., Eugene, Ore.
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SITKA, FROM BARANOF CASTLE.
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UNDER THE RUSSIANS.
Fourth of July, or the name of the capital of the Nation, but have been taught to pray for the Emperor of Russia, to celebrate his birthday and commemo- rate the victories of Ancient Greece." A severe commentary that requires no particular emphasis.
There was another of the Fur Company's schools for boys situated at Sitka at this time, and in 1831 one was established for girls. In 1841, a theological seminary was established in Sitka.
In these schools, where they went beyond the Russian language and the Greek religion, they taught reading, writing and arithmetic and different industries for boys and girls, and it is noticeable that they often sent students to Russia for further advantages. In 1859, however, we find the schools at Sitka broadening their field of usefulness and introducing the Slavonian and English languages, history, geography, book-keeping, geometry, trigo- nometry, navigation and astronomy.
At the time Russian America changed hands there were five schools supported by the Russian Govern- ment in Sitka, and others outside, besides many con- ducted by priests and under the control of the Greek Church. When the change came, the Russian instructors naturally stepped out. Some of the ecclesiastics still continue their schools and some of the American Missionary Societies have made attempts.
After years of neglect, in March, 1885, the Secre- tary of the Interior made over the care of the educa- tion of the Alaskans to the Bureau of Education and an agent was appointed, who immediately set to work. Among innumerable disadvantages under which he had to labor, probably the greatest were
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DELAYED IMPROVEMENTS.
the delays of Congress in making appropriations for this important work, and when the bill was finally passed, the inadequacy of the amount, the severity of the climate, their poor quarters, the distance from home and between his schools and having to teach a new language, were circumstances that helped only to impede progress.
There were two schools in Sitka, two, I believe, at Wrangell and one each at Juneau, Hoonah, Kill- isnoo and Jackson which were continued. Then in 1885-86, schools were established at Unga, in the Shumagin Islands, St. Paul, Kadiak, Afognak Islands, Klawack, Prince of Wales Island and Lor- ing, the latter of which was moved to Fort Tongas. These schools were but poorly provided for, especi- ally in the way of accommodations, and none of their wretched quarters were owned by the Government. This is the situation to-day.
Dr. Jackson, Prof. Kelly and the corps of teachers whom we met, cannot be too highly commended for their persistent efforts in this uphill fight. They can exhibit as the result of their labors, children, neat in appearance, who can read and write, and many of whom are acquainted with the rudiments of arithmetic. In the schools and missions many of the pupils sing and perform upon some musical instrument. and the Metlakatlans have a well-trained band.
Industrial exercises have been introduced grad- ually into the schools and the people, coming under the influence of the spirit of civilization, are one, by one giving up their old mode of life, and Dr. Jack- son advocates for the young men of Alaska, training in cutting and rafting logs, the running of saw-mills,
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MANUAL TRAINING.
coopering, furniture-making and all sorts of wood- working.
I have treated of the Hyperborean characters and shown many points wherein they differed from the Indians of the lower latitudes. In many respects I think his customs and tribal relations more conducive to advancement and the man more apt to learn. In this I may be mistaken; however I am not prepared to say that the liberal educational advantages sought for him will not apply as advantageously to the American Indian.
The Government owes its Indians preparation for an intelligent citizenship, if for no other motive than its own protection and its glory. And surely the properly educated Indian will be as valuable an addi- tion to our population and as worthy an element in our cosmopolitan nationality as the hordes that pour into Castle Garden. We have seen how little the Alaskans know of the flag under which they now live, and writers and travelers tell of the little respect paid to authority. In the development of character- a prime factor in education-the high principles of patriotism and fidelity to duty should be instilled in the young mind.
Fish packing, agriculture, mining and the devel- opment of other resources of the country will devolve upon these young men, as it will be some time be- fore any but a shifting population will inhabit these regions. It is, therefore, plainly essential that this wealthy region of our territory should not be neglected.
The moral training of the people is necessary to the well being of the community, and must follow as a natural consequence of enlightenment, though the
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MORAL TRAINING.
ethics of morality should have a prominent place in their education. We have seen that immorality and witchcraft are still practiced. Under these hurtful influences and amidst uncleanliness are the young brought up to lie and steal without thought or knowl- edge of disgrace. In the abolition of these many and serious evils and replacing them with ideas of the principles of Christianity, respect for the rights of others, personal purity, self-respect and independence the school finds one of its most sacred missions.
Probably the success of the sectarian missions would warrant their being called more than attempts. As early as 1793 the missionaries of the Greek Church landed on Kadiak Island, where they erected a church building and opened schools. To the sup- port of these missions the Russian Fur Company contributed annually $6,600. In 1845 a Lutheran mission was established at. Sitka. It was ten years after the Territory was handed over to the United States, despite urgent-appeals, that the missionary societies of America turned their attention to this field, and then several sects sent out missionaries.
The "Girls Home" in Sitka has proven itself efficient in rescueing girls from slavery, and the schools at Wrangell and elsewhere have done good work in this direction and in the spread of civilization.
For the influence that they have had and will have upon the missionary and educational work in this field, brief mention of the labors and success of William Duncan among the Tsimpsean Indians- unprecedented as they are in missionary history- will not be out of place here.
In 1857, Duncan arrived at Port Simpson, in British Columbia, having given up a lucrative posi-
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From a photograph (16) by Winters Photo. Co., Eugene, Oregon. ANCIENT GREEK CHURCH, SITKA.
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Britton & Ray,
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DUNCAN'S METHODS.
tion in England to volunteer in the service of the English Church Missionary Society. Here he found the natives sunk in the lowest depths to which canni- balism, the darkest rites of superstition and traders' whisky can reduce even savagery and still retain the image of their God.
He did nothing until he had mastered their lan- guage-meanwhile studying their nature and man- ners from the Fort. Then he went among them, teaching them in that soft dialect and taking them completely by surprise.
Duncan was dealing with a primitive and simple- minded people. He showed them the material advantages to be gained by adopting a higher civil- ization, and as one writer puts it, "recognized a fact which has, unfortunately been little appreciated in the past by those attempting to civilize heathen people."
He recognized the fact also, that it was the tutor of civilization, the instructor in the mater- ial, as much as the teacher of religion that was needed, and that the civilizing Christian missionary as Stanley says, "must belong to no nation in par- ticular, no sect, but to the entire white race."
Simplicity was the key-note of Mr. Duncan's suc- cess. Doing away with every show of form or cere- mony, Mr. Duncan taught his people the fundamen- tal truths of Christianity, presenting to them the one central idea of the Omnipotent God, and upon the darkened, superstitious mind broke a ray of light. Further, he trusted them and confided in them. The effect was not long in making its appear- ance and he soon had about him a circle of devotees.
About four years later he saw that it would be wise
P
94
DUNCAN'S TRIALS.
to get his little colony away from the detrimental influences of the trading post. So he gathered a few together, and selecting the site of a deserted village about fifty miles south of Port Simpson, founded the town of Metlakatla. More of the tribes, among them many of their chiefs, soon followed and Metlakatla's population numbered twelve hundred.
From a tribe reduced to the lowest level of savage degredation, we see, in a community here living in Christian civilization the result of thirty years of untiring efforts on the part of one man. At this time Metlakatla had an industrious population, trained in agricultural, commercial and mercantile pursuits, and could boast of a large and handsome church, well-built cottages, a school building, black- smith and carpenter shops, a store, a saw-mill and a cannery, and built entirely by the natives under the instruction of Duncan, who has, from time to time, visited the outside world to learn of these things himself.
Peace was not to reign in this prosperous com- munity forever. Bigoted hierarchy was at work in an underhand way, and in 1881 a storm burst over Metlakatla which threatened it with destruction.
The Church Missionary Society objected to Mr. Duncan's liberal policy of church rule, and urged him to take orders. Not thinking it for the best of the cause, he declined, and after several attempts on the part of the Society to reduce him to subjection they sent him a bishop. This narrow-minded bit of sectarianism took upon himself the government of the mission, and from then on mischief was rife. Bigotry, arrogance and childish display characterized this man's stay.
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CONTINUED PERSECUTION.
Mr. Duncan and his party seceded and formed themselves into a body under the name of the Chris- tian Church of Metlakatla. The Missionary Society then lay claim to the site of this little settlement, and when the Dominion Government was turned to for relief and their appeals treated with evasion, they decided, as the last alternative, to abandon their homes and to seek a refuge within the territory of the United States. Annette Island in Alaska was about ninety miles north and uninhabited. As this seemed a favorable location, Mr. Duncan visited Washington to obtain permission to settle on this Island; this he obtained with the promise that, "when the general land laws of the United States were extended to Alaska, ample provision would be made for all law-abiding inhabitants." In the sum- mer of .1887 they commenced their exodus, and found they could take from their homes nothing but their personal property. A site was selected at Port Chester, Annette Island (named New Metlakatla) and here Duncan with about eight hundred of his people have begun anew, under the Stars and Stripes.
The story of their wrongs would fill a volume. Sectarianism, the bane of Christianity, and the desire for gain with politicians, are at the bottom of the trouble, and to the personal aggrandizement of the few has been sacrificed the well-being of a thous- and. Alaska has, however, gained an addition to her population which will be of the greatest value to her in the future spread of civilization and in the development of her resources.
The achievements of the civilizing influences brought to bear in the Territory I have attempted to
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SECTARIANISM.
show in various pages through this work. In the labor of reclaiming a savage people there are always two contending factions whose aims lie in vastly different directions; these are the trader and the missionary influences; I may say three, for . there is the disinterested speculator or the resident who, in- different to both, does the latter no good and the former no harm. Then there is the religion we would instill into this people. Christianity is not the unit it should be, especially in this work. Sect- arianism is allowed to figure more largely than the primary principles of Christianity, presenting to the darkened intellect a maze it cannot possibly untangle. With what most natural and evil results? They have been demonstrated wherever missionaries have set foot, and even in the midst of Christian lands. Leave it to more enlightened minds to find, if they are there and necessary, the virtues of sectarianism, and present to the savage the truth of the living Diety and the material advantages of civilization. For such tuition the Alaskan aborigine is well pre- pared; such was the course of William Duncan at Metlakatla, and the consequent result is his success without precedent.
BARBARISMOS
SUPERSTH
CHAPTER VIII. ANIMAL LIFE IN ALASKA.
MAMMOTHS .- DISCOVERY OF THESE PRE-HISTORIC MONSTERS. - THE REMARKABLE BEAR OF THE YUKON. - OTHER SPECIES OF THE BEAR .- THE DEER, BUFFALO AND VULPINE FAMILIES OF ALASKA. - FUR-BEARING ANIMALS. - ORNITHOL- OGY .- THE AMPHIBIA AND FISHES OF ALASKAN WATERS.
RAVELERS in the interior of Alaska, and those who have ex- plored close to the head-waters of the numerous streams of that in- teresting region, are thoroughly in accord with the assertion that there are still existing specimens of pre-historic animals.
Mr. C. F. Fowler, for a long time a resident of Alaska as an attache of the Alaska Commercial Com- pany, i's responsible for the story that live mammoths have been seen by some Indians of the Yukon. The assured ability of the soil to bring forth prodigeously vegetable life, makes it not unreasonable to suppose that in the unknown and unexplored regions there are large food resources available for the support of such animals as natural history puts under the generic name of "Mammoths." The history of the elephant, the hippopotamus, the rhinoceros, and other bulky animals of that class, shows that they exist and thrive amid fastnesses where the tread of man seldom enters; and if this be the case in the Orient, why
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MAMMOTHS.
should not similar conditions, as to isolation, etc., work similar results in the far northern Occident?
In the growth of the human body it has been demonstrated that cold climates produce larger and more vigorous men than are bred in the enervation of tropical clime. Therefore, if India grows elephants, why should not Alaska produce a mammoth; and if China has produced the giant Chang, why might not the latitude of Alaska bring forth as great if not a greater animal wonder.
But the facts as to past-existent life of mammoth
0
proportions in Alaska are self-evident and indis- putable. The ivory tusks of these animals are a reg- ular article of commerce, and cumber the earth of the interior, while the natives are unanimous in the asser- tion that animals of proportions unknown to the civ- ilized countries of the world roam through the fast- nesses of what has been called a terra incognita. The Alaska Commercial Company bought a large amount of supposed fossil ivory from one of the chiefs of the Innuit tribe of Alaskan Indians, and, on examina- tion, blood stains and fragments of flesh were found
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MAMMOTH REMAINS.
adhering to the tusks. The agent questioned the aborigines, and learned from a young man who had led the hunt in which the ivory was taken that the party had encountered a bull and cow of the masto- dou species. The cow had fled on the male trumpet- ing an alarm, but the bull was killed by a musket ball through the brain, and, subsequently, the female seeking her mate, was encountered and dispatched. A rough sketch of the bull, drawn by the Indian who had led the hunting party, would make its dimensions over twenty feet in height and thirty feet in length. The American aborigine, whether in Alaska or other section, is more or less given to exaggeration in describing natural objects, either animate or inanimate; but, making all due allow- ance for this. the tusks themselves are evidence sufficient to show that they had been worn by animals of a size greater than any living species in any other part of the known world.
Prof. John Muir, undoubtedly the greatest living authority on Alaska, a close observer and a most conscientious and conservative man, in his writings and personal assertions adds his testimony to the theory that the living mastadon is existent to-day in Alaska. He has seen the bones of these animals with the fresh flesh adhering to them, and has seen them all over the southwestern slope of Alaska. The theory that the flesh was preserved by climatic influences is not tenable, as in some of the valleys the atmosphere while humid, is at certain seasons of the year, mild, balmy and dessicating. Prof. Muir has told me that all over Alaska are the remains of myriads of these monsters, and that the natives along the coast have a superstition that the skele-
100
THE YUKON BEAR.
tons are those of some mammoth burrowing animal like the mole. We are not, with the evidence shown, however, ready to believe that mammoths at present inhabit Alaska or any other portion of the globe.
While it is conceded that the bones are those of an animal either of or closely related to the elephant species, it would be most interesting to the cause of science if a live specimen could be procured, and perhaps when the mysteries of the sealed book of this Northland shall be exposed by the enterprise, daring and push of the Americans-as they surely will be in time-some zoological garden may contain a Simon-pure, real live and kicking mastodon as a relic of a geologic age which all the rest of the world but Alaska has passed countless centuries ago.
Among the great wonders of Alaska, unfortunately not vouchsafed the tourist's vision, is an un-named marvel of the Yukon region, a species of bear, which has a strong claim upon our esteem. A miner, one McQuestin, well known for his veracity, is responsi- ble for the discovery and addition of this animal to the natural history of Alaska. The animal as seen by McQuestin possesses some of the peculiarities of both the cinnamon and the grizzly bear of the south. He inhabits solely the mountainous and unknown wilderness of the Yukon, never leaving his steep and rugged fastness for the more convivial regions of the low lands. He is described as large, fierce and rather awkward; but the peculiarity of this brute is that, the better to enable him to roam about the mountain-sides and steep places, his legs on one side are shorter than the other two. Surely Nature is provident!
Alaska, while not rich in variety of animal life, for a new and comparatively unsettled and unknown
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CHIEF KOW-EE AND INDIAN BUCKS AFTER A BEAR HUNT. From photograph 109, by WINTER PHOTO Co., Eugene, Ore.
IOI
THE BEAR SPECIES.
country, is fruitful of the species which are known and identified. Admitting the existence of living mastodons on portions of the Territory as yet unpen- etrated by white men, and for which there seems to be at least a plausibility, the next animal in propor- tion is the bear. The well-known polar bear is familiar in all our school books, pictured often as lazily floating on a cake of ice, seeking something on the surface of the waters that he may gobble up and devour, and his skin large, white and glossy, is familiar in the fur stores all over the world, and makes a sleigh-robe for the prince in Europe and the ordinary, every-day millionaire in America. In addition to the polar bear, which is found only in the Arctic regions, Alaska has the cinnamon bear, once common and not yet extinct in the Alleghanies, the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevadas, the grizzly, still an inhabitant of those places and the Coast Range of California, though not so plentiful as when he wanted to shake hands and exchange an affectionate embrace with the hardy prospector in the early days of gold hunting. There is also the black bear, a harmless, kittenish sort of an individual-if you don't get too close and take liberties with him when he is hungry. There is an un-named species of bear found in portions of Alaska, that is merely known as the Mt. St. Elias bear on account of his most frequent habitat being in the vicinity of Mt. St. Elias. This animal does not belong to McQuestin's breed of bears. The head is broader than that of any other species of bear known to natural history, the fur resembling that of the gray fox or brindled wolf. It is a bear to all intents and purposes, but it has a sort of undercoat of slate-gray fur, through which
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