Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1872-03-16

than serpent's tooth 1t is to have thank
less child.n
He dispenses calico, beads. blankets,
flour, groceries, -blacking, tooth brush
cs. chignOns, fine combs and Halls Sicilian
chair rcstorcr" to the nburigincs in cx-
change for furs and skins. At each of
these former posts is well built Indian
village. The great drawback to trade is
that the Hudson Bay Company in British
Columbia undcrsell them in blankets.
These are bought by The Southern Indians.
and traded TO their brethren in the vicinity
of TOngas and Wrangel who prefer them
to the American article.
Leaving Cape Northumberland, Of home
suggesting name. to the West, we passed
through RevillH Gigedo channel, sometimes
called TOngas NarrOws, into Duke of Cla
renee Straits thence through StaChiuski
Straits to Fort Wrangel, near the northern
end Of Wrange! Island III latitude sod 81 IN
and in longitude l32d 2Om. Here we tar
ried long enough to take on four or five
tons of skins, and his Majesty. King Lear.
The skins were Of black and cini anon
bear, deer, wuh, fox, lynx, land otter, fur
and hair seal. marten, mink, wolverine and
beaver. Most Of these came from far up
the StaChinc river.
Rc-cntcring Duke Of Clarence Straits by
crossed Christian's Sound into the Pacific
Ocean. Our vessel Outrunnng the Cap
tau's calculations. we should have been
among the rocks in Sitka harbor long be-
fore daylight, very hazardous expert.
ment, if we had not stopped in thc open
sea. Finding no anchorage, we wrre toss
cd about by the pillows from ono O'Clock
until six. Our engines not bein,, at work,
we were completely at the mercy of the
"lumpy" waters, and very little mercy
they showed us that night. | WAS able to
stay III bed because it had sides to it, ana
lit me like a collin.
At the dawn of day We moved again, and
before breakfast was well over we had pass.
cd through Sitka Sound into its islct-duttcd,
mountain -gjrt harbor. In n moment all
my preconceiyed notions of Sitkan gloom
and Alaskan horrors had passed away. |
saw before me, in the balmy but misty air
of a November mOrHing. a cheCvlul-iOoking
village, with natural surroundings QS g'dpd
and beautiful as dnV seaport torn on Cartb.
The weather was mild enough to make an
oyelcoat an incumbranc2. 1t occupies al
most the only level land we have seen since
we left Victoria. and there is not more
than two hundred acres here. To the west
Mount Edgecomb raises its volcanic crest
J, $50 feet high. and not more than thirteen
miles away. Within the memory of man
it is said to have emitted smoke and ashes,
aud the hoary track of its lava tides is plain
to be seen. The crater is ;, 600 feet in di-
amCtcr, and its basin 2iO feet deep. On
three sides stand the evidences of uaiurc's
past couvulsous. Mountains that may be.
as far rs mans knowledge goes, the young
est offspring of carLh's motren womb, or
almost COgyal with eternity, lift mp in di-
versiicd and rugged subimity their sharp.
craggy and snow crowned peaks. On one
side you look ont through messy rocks
and evergreen islands TO the illimilable
ocean.
Nor is this hyperborean hamlet without
interior attractions. Here. as mt most
military posts, you will find intelligence.
refinement and unstiuted hospitality. In
dog castle, reared upon hill, close by
the shore and overlooking the sea, once the
palace Of the RuSsiaH Governor, and now
occupied by the chief surgeon OF the post,
and i'll the home Of the military COM
mander, | found AL these, and in every
officers quarters n genial welcome and ia
structive coupaniuuship. Around the two
short November days and lon. cheerful
evenings passed among them wiIl cluster
pleasant and lasting memories. II is one
of the compcnSalious Of an exile that after
a heightened service there is no station So
remote that We will not find in it valued
and treasured friends Since my wander
ing began | have struck no place where
did not meet some agreeable acquaintance
o. former years.
The town is built upon a single street,
about fifty feet in width, which follows tho
curvature of the bay. The old Greek
church, with its triplucross, is plain in cX-
terror, but adorned internally With rare
pictures set with costly Jewels many OF
which were stolen two wears ago by sacri-
lrgious thieves, The bishops adoruments
are as Nch and dazzling as any monarch.s
-Ir painful contrast with the uuSpcmN
raLs of his Aock. For sight of these
things we were indebted to the kindness of
an intelligent young priest, almost the only
Russian Of pure blood | saw in Silla. Near
" all the thuroughbrrds have returned to
the mother country since annexation. The
town and Mr.. Seward were founded about
the same time, in 1893. And little thought
the founders, when they drove their first
stakes in these northern wilds, that Il baby
was Just then about to be born somewhere
in New York State, who one day would
dGnatiOnaliza their descendants aud bring
their young colony under the flag OF a great
lAN 'ublC, III llldl lllllt III S4Illl
among the nations of the earth And |
take this occasion to thauk our venerable
peripatetic statesman for my share OF Alas
ka, it being the forty milluuth part, or II!
cents worth. | would not sell out for
double the money.
Near the church is large low Wo-story
log building called the double decker"
1t is divided into small, Squalid apart
ments, crowded with wretched mongrels,
in whom minge the blood Of Russ, Aleut
aud Indian, the Mongoian type of the
Aeutian largely meponderatins. In Il
room eight by twelve we found an Indian
woman l05 years old, with five Other le
males Of all ages above 40, and of all cross
es. She was lying on a miserable cot,
munchng with her toothless gums a crust
of bread, the crums hanging disSuslingly
on her slayering lips and chin. Tho world
could furnish no more repulsivc contrast to
female loveliness.
The air of this den was so foul with re-
plated inhalations that thirty SECONDS sut-
feed me for an observation. And yet in
this horrid atmosphere, pestiential enough
to kill the young and vigorous, the poor
old creature had breathed away her days
and nights, equally dark to her, for months