Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1872-02-08
Our 100000 Neighbors- How They
sitka, Alaska. Cor. Philadelphia Press,

all but one are of the same sharp cared.
woitsh type seen among the Indians Of
the plains. The exception was a handy.
legged, lop-eared cur of civilized breed
the only one among the 1000 that
showed lack of civility by barking at
our heels. The houses much more ra.
semble the semi-subterranean abodes of
the Laplanders and Esouimaux than
the wigwams of American Indians
Like the oak described by the American
poet, they extended as far into the
earth as above it. Some of them are
from twenty to thirty feet square. and
built of very wide cedar planks, MANY
of them more than four feet across.
worked by these rude people.
We entered several. Creeping through
apertures, both square and round. not
more than three feet in diameter. we
descended flights of steps into the large
single room. In the centre of each a
fire was built on the ground, and in the
centre OF each roof hole, out of which
passed small portion of the smoke.
the most of it remaining for the benefit
OF the salmon hanging over our heads
and to make sore eyes for the inmates.
The whole inside is foored. except the
fireplace, in the middle. On both sides
are the sleeping places, covered with
skins and blankets. and in some in
stances separated by small partitions.
In the rear and on the shelves below
the dormitories, were stored potatoes
and dried salmon in small bales, covered
with mating. Their largest potatoes
are the size of hulled walnut.
hn
working small baskets and other uten-
sis OF dried grass, in the manufacture
OF which they are surprisingly s6illful.
The men were building canoes outside,
or carving odd images of wood or wal
rus ivory, for sale to curious voyagers,
one of whom is your correspondent.
This was indicated by his MANY pur-
chases of queer pipes, little skin boats,
bows and barbed arrows for the slaugh-
ter OF fur seals, and other articles of
vertu but OF no especial utility As time
is OF no value to these people, they be-
stow great labor for small rewards. A
grass mat or basket, or an ivory carving
that has occupied several days in its
construction, can be bought for two or
three bits, and a dressed deer skin.
tanned as only they can do it. over
which some hours of many DAYS have
been spent, may be purchased for a
trihe.
Their canoe building is worthy of
note. Out of huge spruce or cedar
tree they work a vessel of perfect SYM
metry that will carry from five to ten
tons. After roughly hewing it in the
forest, they tow and drag it to their
homes, which are always near the shore,
to be finished at leisure. An Indian
does not like to be hurried, and espe-
cially by such men as Sheridan and
Crook. | saw many of these canoes in
process of construction. The most cll-
rious operation is that of stretc. i.
them apart, when reduced to the pre-. er
thinness Of an inch or more. Before
stretching they may be four feet deep
and only two feet wide at the top. After
it these proportions viii be reversed,
making the width four feet. To accom-
plish this the hollow is filled with water,
which is raised to the boiling point with
heated stones. 1t is then covered with
mats until thoroughly steamed. when
the stretching begins. The sides are
kept apart by cross pieces, which serve
afterward as seats for paddlers. But
few of them have yet learned the labor
saving capacity of oars. They use no
nails, but fasten their woods with roots
and wythes
They make spoons and other useful
articles from the horns of the argai
and the tusks of the walrus. They
burn the dead, and deposit the ashes
IN little outdoor structures that look
llxn Oh IL 4 e
beehive and a small hen-coop. They
build square, hollow pile of logs, and,
after getting them well ablaze, thrust
the body in head foremost, whereby the
relatives are consoled with
the savory odors of roast Indian.
The ladies beautify their compilations
with SCOT and red paint, and still fur
Their enhance their charms by wearing
a bone through the under lip, the size
of which it increased from year to year,
until, in some old ones, it attains a
width of two inches. An Indian lady
thus adorned, with her coarse, black,
locks hanging in matted
profusion around her beautiful pig eyes
and lop ears, is resistible only to those
whose affections are thoroughly pre-
occupied. The delights of courtship
must be doubled by the pleasant aroma
of salmon which pervades the premises,
and, as l have heard, their persons.
Among them the crow and the raven
are held sacred, and fit around their
lodges undisturbed. They live mainly
on fish, and have a monopoly of the
trapping. There is but one white trap
per in the country, and he is at Cooks
Inlet, 600 miles W. n. w.
III. CPS Ride.
Old Pacific coasters will remember
the jolly ride Hank Monk gave Horace
Greeley over the Placerville road, at the
time the white-hatted philosopher made
his celebrated overland trip to Califor-
mia, some twelve years ago. The Carson
Register, in describing a beautiful land
scape painting, says: "In the fore
ground is stage headed for Placer
vile, and drawn by six horses under
full trot, with Hank Monk on the box,
and Horace Greeley with his bald head
out at the window of the coach, and a
look of terror, mingled with su pplica-
ton, on his countenance." Hank Monk
cut out the article and enclosed it 10
Greeley, with the following marginal
note: ~ 9atss s.~ir