CHAPTER XV
Still sailing Northward. – Multitudes of Water-Fowls. – Native Graveyards. – Curious Totem-Poles. – Tribal and Family Emblems. – Division of the Tribes. – Whence the Race came. – A Clew to their Origin. – The Northern Eskimos. – A Remarkable Museum of Aleutian Antiquities. – Jade Mountain. – The Art of Carving. – Long Days. – Aborigines of the Yukon Valley. – Their Customs.
Still sailing northward, large numbers of ebon-hued cormorants are seen feeding on the low, kelp-covered rocks, contrasting with the snowy whiteness of the gulls. Big flocks of snipe, ducks, and other aquatic birds line the water’s edge, or rise in clouds from some sheltered nook to settle again in our wake. Higher up in air a huge bald-headed eagle is in sight nearly all the while, as we sail along the winding watercourse. The eagles of Alaska, unlike those of other sections of the globe, are not a solitary bird, but congregate in considerable numbers, and residents told us they had seen a score of them roasting together on the branches of the same tree, but we must confess to never having seen even two together. Elsewhere the eagle is certainly a bird whose solitary habits are one of its marked characteristics. We observe here and there near native villages, more square boxes and totem-poles indicating the resting-places of the dead. Some tribes continue to burn their dead, and these boxes contain only the ashes, but the missionaries and the whites generally have so opposed the idea of cremation that many of the natives have abandoned it. The burial above-ground in the square boxes referred to is a peculiar idea. These coffins, if they may be so called, are about three feet and a half long by two and a half wide, and are often elaborately carved and painted with grotesque figures. The corpse is disjointed and doubled up in order to get it into this compass, though why this is done when a longer box would so much simplify matters, no one seems to know. We were told that some of the Alaskan tribes used to place their dead in trees, or on the top of four raised poles, a similar practice to that which once prevailed among certain tribes of our Western Indians, but the mode just described is that which most generally prevails. There seems to be some difference of opinion as regards the real significance of the totem-poles. They appear to be designed in part to commemorate certain deeds in the lives of the departed, near whose grave they are reared, as well as to indicate the family arms of those for whom they are erected. Thus, on seeing one special totem-post surmounted by a wolf carved in wood, beneath which a useless gun was lashed, inquiry was made as to its significance, whereupon we were told that the deceased by whose grave it stood had been killed while hunting wolves in the forest. This was certainly a very literal way of recording the fate of the hunter.
Some tribes adopt the crow, some the hawk, and some the bear or the whale, as their distinctive tribal emblem. The poles are carved from bottom to top, averaging thirty or forty feet in height, – though some are nearly a hundred feet high, – and from three to four feet in diameter, the height also signifying the importance of the individual, that is, his social grade or standing in the tribe. Some of the carvings are mythological, for these people have an oral mythology of the most fabulous character, which has been handed down from father to son for many centuries. The carvings on the coffin-boxes, though often elaborate, to a white man’s eye are meaningless. As we have said, when a chief dies, some valuable personal effects are always deposited with his body in the coffin, and one would suppose that such objects were safe from pilfering fingers of even strangers; yet these articles are constantly offered for sale, and are eagerly purchased by curio-hunters who come hither from various parts of this country.
The aborigines of Alaska are divided into various sub-tribes, such as Hooniahs, Tongas, Auks, Kasa-ans, Haidas, Sitkas, Chinooks, Chilcats, and so on.
Ivan Petroff, who was sent by the United States Government to Alaska in 1880, as special agent of the census, divides the native population of the Territory as follows: —
First. – The Innuit or Eskimo race, which predominates in numbers and covers the littoral margin of all Alaska from the British boundary on the Arctic to Norton Sound, the Lower Yukon, and Kuskoquin, Bristol Bay, the Alaska Peninsula, Kodiak Island, mixing in, also, at Prince William Sound.
Second. – The Indians proper spread over the vast interior in the north, reaching down to the seaboard at Cook’s Inlet and the mouth of the Copper River, and lining the coast from Mount St. Elias southward to the boundary and peopling the Alexander Archipelago.
Third. – The Aleutian race, extending from the Shumagin Islands westward to Attoo, – the Ultima Thule of this country, – whom Petroff terms the Christian inhabitants. These last certainly conform most fully to all the outward practices of civilization and universally recognize the Greek Church.
Whence these people originally came is a question which is constantly discussed, but which is still an unsolved problem. Some words in their language seem to indicate a Japanese origin, and some seem clearly to be derived from the Aztec tongue belonging to that peculiar people of the south. Hon. James G. Swain of Port Townsend, who has given years of study to the subject of ethnology as connected with the tribes of the Northwest, states that he found among them a tradition of the Great Spirit similar to that of the Aztecs, and that when he exhibited to members of the Haida tribe sketches of Aztec carvings, they at once recognized and understood them. Copper images and relics found in their possession were identical with exhumed relics brought from Guatemala. These are certainly very significant facts, if not convincing ones. The Alaska natives have some Apache words in their language, which points to a common origin with our North American Indian tribes, but these suggestions are purely speculative. There are able students of ethnology who insist upon the origin of these Alaskans being Asiatic for various good and sufficient reasons, instancing not only their personal appearance, but the similarity of their traditions and customs to those of the people of Asia. To have come thence it is remembered that they had only to cross a narrow piece of water forty miles wide. This passage is frequently made in our times by open boats. At certain seasons of the year, though in so northern a latitude, the strait is by no means rough. Mr. Seward says: “I have mingled freely with the multifarious population, the Tongas, the Stickeens, the Kakes, the Haidas, the Sitkas, the Kontnoos, and the Chilcats. Climate and other circumstances have indeed produced some differences of manners and customs between the Aleuts, the Koloschians, and the interior continental tribes, but all of them are manifestly of Mongol origin. Although they have preserved no common traditions, all alike indulge in tastes, wear a physiognomy, and are imbued with sentiments peculiarly noticed in China and Japan.”
The Eskimos proper differ but little from the southern and inland tribes of Alaska generally; few of them are ever seen south of Norton Sound or the mouths of the Yukon. Their home is in the Arctic portion of the Territory, bordering the Frozen Ocean and Behring Strait. It is obvious that climatic influences create among them different manners and customs, causing also a slightly different physical formation, but otherwise they seem to be of the same race as the people of the Alaska Peninsula, the Aleutian Islands, or indeed of any of the several groups and of the mainland lying to the south. That these Eskimos resemble physically the Norwegian Lapps, to be met with at about the same latitude in the eastern hemisphere, is very obvious to one who has carefully observed both races in their homes. This similarity extends in rather a remarkable degree also to their dress as well as domestic habits.
In the region they occupy, near the source of the Kowak River, which empties into Kotzebue Sound by several mouths after a course of two or three hundred miles, is Jade Mountain, composed, as far as is known, of a light green stone which gives it the name it bears. An exploring party from the United States steamer Corwin brought away one or two hundred pounds of the mineral in the summer of 1884. The hardness and tenacity of these specimens are said to have been remarkable, as well as the exquisite polish which they exhibited when treated by the lapidist. Jade Mountain must be in latitude 68° north, between two and three hundred miles south of the Yukon above the line of Behring Strait. Yet the exploring party found the thermometer to register 90° Fah. in the shade, while their greatest annoyance was caused by the mosquitoes. The Kowak abounds in salmon, pike, and white-fish. “The ‘color’ of gold,” says the printed report of the expedition, “was obtained almost everywhere.” Nearly eighty species of birds were collected, though the party were absent from the Corwin but about seven weeks. The white spruce was found to be the largest and most abundant tree, and the inhabitants all Eskimos.
The remarkable museum of ancient arms, dresses, wooden and skin armor, and domestic utensils exhibited in New York city in 1868 by Mr. Edward G. Fast, and which was collected by him while in the employment of our government among the people of the Northwest, revealed some very important facts as to their history. The collection proved clearly that two or three hundred years ago these natives of Alaska enjoyed a much higher degree of civilization than is exhibited by their descendants to-day. That they have deteriorated in industry, steadiness, and ability generally is obvious. The art of forging must have been known to them in the earlier times, as shown in this collection of admirable weapons, clearly of native manufacture and of most excellent finish. The art of carving was possessed by them in far greater perfection than they exhibit in our day, while the skillfully made dresses of tanned leather worn by the ancient Aleuts nearly equal those in which the warriors were clad who accompanied Cortez and Pizarro when they landed on this continent. Mr. Fast was singularly fortunate in securing whole suits of armor, masks, and war implements for his unique museum of Alaskan antiquities. In association with Russians and Americans for a century, more or less, these aborigines have readily adopted the vices of civilization, so to speak, and have sacrificed most of their own better qualities. Indolence generally has taken the place of the warlike habits and steadiness of purpose which must have characterized them as a people to a large degree before the whites came with firearms and fire-water. How forcibly is the law of mutability impressed upon us! From a state of comparative power and importance, this people has dwindled to a condition simply foreshadowing oblivion.
Rev. W. W. Kirby, a missionary who reached the valley of the Yukon by way of British Columbia, fully describes the Eskimos whom he mingled with in the northwestern part of the Territory. He considers them to be more intelligent than the average Alaska Indians, and far superior to them in physical appearance, the women especially being much fairer and more pleasing to look upon. They are more addicted to the use of tobacco than are these southern tribes, often smoking to great excess, and in the most peculiar manner, swallowing every swiff from their pipes, until they become so poisoned as to fall senseless upon the ground, where they remain in this condition for ten or fifteen minutes. They dress very neatly with deerskins, wearing the hair on the outside. The men have heavy beards, shave the crown of their heads, leaving the sides and back growth to fall freely about the face and neck. Mr. Kirby is obliged to censure the thievish propensities of this people, which was a source of great trouble and considerable loss to him. Speaking of his high northern latitude when among the Eskimos, he says: “As we advanced farther northward, the sun did not leave us at all. Frequently did I see him describe a complete circle in the heavens.”
As far south as Pyramid Harbor, latitude 59° 11′ north, the sun does not set in midsummer until about two o’clock in the morning, rising again four hours later. Even during these four sunless hours fine print can be read on the ship’s deck without the aid of any other than the natural light.
Mr. Kirby found the Indians of the Yukon valley to be rather a fierce and turbulent people, more like our Western Indians than any other tribes whom he met. Their country is in and about latitude 65° north, and beginning at the Mackenzie River, in British Columbia, runs through Alaska to Behring Strait. They were formerly very numerous, but have frequently been at war with the Eskimos north of them, and have thus been sadly reduced in numbers, though they are still a strong and powerful people.
There is a singular system of social division recognized among them, termed respectively Chit-sa, Nate-sa, and Tanges-at-sa, faintly representing the idea of aristocracy, the middle class, and the poorer order of our civilization. There is another peculiarity in this connection, it being the rule for a man not to marry in his own, but to take a wife from either of the other classes. Thus a Chit-sa gentleman will marry a Tanges-at-sa peasant without hesitation; the offspring in every case belonging to the class to which the mother is related. This arrangement has had a most beneficial effect in allaying the deadly feuds formerly so frequent among neighboring tribes, and which have been the cause of so reducing their memorial strength by sanguinary conflicts.
CHAPTER XVI
Fort Wrangel. – Plenty of Wild Game. – Natives do not care for Soldiers, but have a Wholesome Fear of Gunboats. – Mode of Trading. – Girls’ School and Home. – A Deadly Tragedy. – Native Jewelry and Carving. – No Totem-Poles for Sale. – Missionary Enterprises. – Progress in Educating Natives. – Various Denominations Engaged in the Missionary Work.
We prefer to think it was to see the sun rise that we got up so early on arriving at Fort Wrangel, and not because of the torturing fact that our berth was too short at both ends, and kept us in a chronic state of wakefulness and cramp. The distance passed over in coming hither from Victoria was about eight hundred miles. The place, having about five hundred inhabitants, is advantageously situated on an island at the mouth of the Stickeen River, which rises in British Columbia and has a length of nearly two hundred and fifty miles. There is here an excellent and capacious harbor, surrounded by grand mountains, while lofty snow-crowned summits more inland break the sky-line in nearly all directions, – mountain towering above mountain, until the view is lost among far-away peaks, blue and indistinct. This elevated district contains wild goats, with now and then a grizzly bear, fiercest of his tribe, while in its ravines and valleys the little mule-deer, the brown bear, the fox, the land-otter, the mink, and various other animals abound. As to the small streams and river courses which thread the territory, they are, as all over this country, crowded with fish, the salmon prevailing. The inland haunts within twenty leagues of the coast are little disturbed by the natives. The abundance of halibut, cod, and salmon at their very doors, as it were, is quite sufficient to satisfy the demands of nature, and it is only when tempted by the white man’s gold that the aborigines will leave the coast to go inland in search of pelts and meat, in the form of venison, goat, or bear flesh.
The town, consisting of a hundred houses and more, is spread along the shore at the base of a thickly wooded hill, flanked on either side by a long line of low, square, rough-hewn native cabins. A peep into the interior of these was by no means reassuring. Dirt, degradation, and abundance were combined. The few domestic utensils seen appeared never to have been washed, being thick with grease, while the stench that saluted the olfactories was sickening. There were no chairs, stools, or benches, the men and women sitting upon their haunches, a position which would be a severe trial to a white and afford no rest whatever, but which is the universal mode of sitting adopted by savage races in all parts of the world. The place was named after Baron Wrangel, governor of Russian America at the time when it was first settled, in 1834, being then merely a stockade post. After the United States came into possession of the country it was for a short time occupied by our soldiers, but ere long ceased to be held as a military post, the soldiers being withdrawn altogether from the Territory. It was soon discovered that the natives cared nothing for the soldiers; they could always get away from them in any exigency by means of their canoes; but they had, and still have, a wholesome fear of a revenue cutter or a gunboat, which can destroy one of their villages, if necessary, in a few minutes.
A steamer can always move very rapidly from place to place among the islands, making her presence felt without delay, when and where it is most needed. At the outset of our taking possession of Alaska, an example of decision and power was necessary to put the natives in proper awe of the government, and it followed quickly upon an unprovoked outrage committed by the aborigines. One of their villages, not far from Sitka, was promptly shelled and destroyed in half an hour. Since then there has been no trouble of consequence with any of the tribes, who have profound respect for the strong arm, and to speak plainly, like most savage races, for nothing else.
Fort Wrangel has two or three large stores for the sale of goods to the natives, and for the purchase of furs, Indian curiosities, and the like. It is also the headquarters of the gold miners, who gather here when the season is no longer fit for out-of-door work at the placers.
Seeing the natives crowding the stores, it was natural to suppose the traders were driving a good business, but a proprietor explained that these people were slow buyers, making him many calls before purchasing. They look an article over three or four different times before concluding they want it; then its cost is to be considered. The native’s squaw comes and approves or disapproves; the article is discussed with the men’s neighbors, and, finally, his resolution having culminated, he goes away to earn the money with which to make the purchase! “Such customers are very trying to our patience,” remarked the trader, “but after you once understand their peculiarities it is easy enough to get along with them.”
A truly charitable enterprise has been established here; we refer to the Indian Girls’ School and Home, supported by the American Board of Missions, where the pupils are taught industrial duties appertaining to the domestic associations of their sex, as well as the ordinary branches of a common school education. No effort, we were told, is made to enforce any special tenets of faith, but these girls are taught morality, which is practical religion. The example is much needed here, both among these native people and the whites.
To show what strict adherents these Alaskans are to tribal conventionalities, we can do no better than relate a singular occurrence, for the truth of which Dr. Jackson is our authority.
“Near the Hoonah Mission, a short time ago, a deadly tragedy took place. A stalwart native came into the village and imbibed too freely of hoochinoo. Walking along the street he saw a young married girl with whom he was greatly infatuated. The girl was afraid to meet him and turning ran to her house. The man gave pursuit and gained entrance to the house. All the inmates escaped in terror. The desperado boldly continued his hunt for the woman, and the husband of the woman with a few friends took refuge in his own house again. The ravishing fiend returned, and demanding admittance battered in the door with an axe, and as he entered was shot and instantly killed. The friends of the dead man met in council, and according to their custom demanded a life for his life. The husband and protector of his wife’s virtue gave himself into the custody of his enemies and was unceremoniously killed!”
The production of native jewelry is a specialty here, and some of the silver ornaments of Indian manufacture are really very fine, exhibiting great skill and originality, if not refined taste. Their carvings in ivory are exceedingly curious, skillful, and attractive, especially upon walrus teeth, whereon they will imitate precisely any pattern that is given to them, with a patient fidelity equaling the Chinese. The native designs are far the most desirable, however, being not only typical of the people and locality, but original and fitting. The time devoted to a piece of work seems to be of no consideration to a native, and forms no criterion as regards the price demanded for it. From the sale of these fancy articles the aborigines receive annually a considerable sum of money. It is indeed surprising how they can get such results without better tools. With some artistic instruction they would be capable of producing designs and combinations of a choice character, and which would command a market among the most fastidious purchasers. Their present somewhat rude ornaments have attracted so much attention that two or three stores in San Francisco keep a variety of them for sale. But it is the charm of having purchased such souvenirs on the spot which forms half their value.
Speaking of these souvenirs, the author was shown some stone carvings at Victoria, on the passage from Puget Sound northward, which were of native manufacture, and thought to be idols. It was afterwards learned that these were the works of the Haidas of Queen Charlotte Island, about seventy or eighty miles north of Vancouver Island. There is here a slate-stone, quite soft when first quarried, which is easily carved into any design or fanciful figure, but which rapidly hardens on exposure to the air. The stone is oiled when the carving is completed, and this gives it the appearance of age, as well as makes it dark and smooth. The natives of this northwest coast do not worship idols, therefore these are not objects of that character, though they are curious and interesting. It is among these Haidas that the practice of tattooing most prevails, and they still cover their bodies with designs of birds, fishes, and animals, some of which are most hideous caricatures. This tribe is said to be the most addicted to gambling of any on the coast, the demoralizing effect of which is to be seen in various forms among them.
Fort Wrangel has several demon-like totem-poles. There is a sort of fascination attached to these awkward objects which leads one carefully to examine and constantly to talk about them. Before some cabins there are two of the weird things, covered with devices representing both the male and female branches of the family which occupies the cabin. It was found that much more importance was attached to these emblems here than had been manifested farther south. An interested excursionist who came up on our steamer, wishing to possess himself of a totem-pole, found one at last of suitable size for transportation, and tried to purchase it, but discovered that no possible sum which he could offer would be considered as an equivalent for it. All of his subsequent efforts in this line proved equally unsuccessful so far as totem-poles were concerned, and yet we remember that they are to be found in many of our public museums throughout the States, and we have seen large ones lying upon the ground moss covered and neglected. It appeared to be only the rich native who indulged in an individual totem-pole. The cost of one, say forty or fifty feet long, carved after the orthodox fashion, with the free feast given at all such raisings, is said to be over a thousand dollars. The more lavish the expenditure on these occasions, the greater the honor achieved by the host.
There is a successful day-school established here besides the Indian Girls’ Home, which is accomplishing much good in educating the rising generation, and in introducing civilized manners and customs. The children evince a fair degree of natural aptitude, learning easily to read and write, but are a little dull, we were told, in arithmetic. Adult, uneducated natives, however, are quick enough at making all necessary calculations in their trades with the whites, either as purchasers of domestic goods, or in selling their peltries. The Presbyterians, Methodists, Episcopalians, Moravians, Quakers, Baptists, and Roman Catholics all have missionary stations in different parts of the country. Schools have also been established for the general instruction of whites and natives at Juneau, Sitka, Wrangel, Jackson, and other localities under direction of our government officials, and proper teachers have been supplied, the whole system being under the supervision of a competent head. Mrs. J. G. Hyde, who teaches school at Juneau, in her last year’s report, says: “Many of the scholars, who, when the term began last September, could not speak a word of English, can now not only speak, but read and write it. They can also spell correctly and are beginning in the first principles of arithmetic. To the casual observer perhaps nothing seems more absurd than the attempt by any process to enlighten the clouded intellect of this benighted people. Indeed, the most squalid street Arabs might be considered a thousand times more desirable as pupils. But a few days’ work among and for them convinces the teacher that she has not a boisterous, uncontrollable lot of children, but as much the opposite as it is possible to imagine. Children who habitually refrain from playing during intermission that they may learn some lesson or how to do some fancy work are not to be classed with the wild, wayward, or vicious. Boys who, when their regular lessons are done, are continually designing and drawing cannot be said to be entirely devoid of talent worthy of cultivation. While the development must be slow in most cases, there are a few who would compare favorably with white children. Their abnormal development of the faculty of form gives them an inestimable advantage over their more favored pale-face brothers in acquiring the art of writing and drawing. Their mind acts very slowly, but they make up in tenacity of purpose what they lack in aptness.”
At Sitka there is an industrial school which is very successful training native boys and girls in mechanical and domestic occupations, and of which we will speak in detail in a further chapter.