Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-01-28

The AbOrig1nes at HOme-HOW Iney
Live-The Ladies and Their DecOra-
tfOns.
The following is taken from a letter from
Sitka, Alaska, to the Philadelphia Press:
The village contains forty or fifty houses.
The population consists Of 1000 Indians
and 1000 dogs. OF the dogs, all but one
are of the same ShaTp-eaTed, Woliish type,
seen among the Indians Of the plains. The
exception was a bandy-legged, lop-eared cur
of civilized breed, the only one among the
1000 that showed a lack Of Ciyility by bark
ing at our heels. The houses much more
resemble the semi sub -errancal ab1des Of
the Laplanders and EsquimauX 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
blanks, many Of them more than four feet
across, worked out 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 fire was built on the
ground, and in the centre Of each roof a
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, aud TO make sore eyes for the IN
mates. The whole inside is iOOred except
the fireplace in the middle. On both sides
are the sleeping places, covered with skins
and blankets, and in some Instances Sepa-
rated by low partitions. In the rear, and
on shelves below the dOrmitOrieS, were
stored potatoes and dried salmon in large
bales covered with mating. Their largest
potatoes are the size of a hulled walnut.
The women were either cooking OF
working small baskess and other utensils Of
dried grass, in the manufacture Of which
they are surprisingly skiIlful. The men
were building canoes outside, or carving
odd images of wood or WalTUs ivory, for
sale to curious yOyagers, one Of whom IS
your correspondent. This was indicated
by his many purchases Of queer pipes, lit
tie skin boats, bows and baTbed arrows for
the slaughter of fur seals, and other articles
Of uertJ, but Of no especial utility. As time
is Of no value to these people, they bestOw
greaSiabOr for small rewards. a grass mat
or basket, or an ivory carving that has
occupied several days in its con-
struction 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 triile.
Their canOe-building is worthy Of note.
Out Of a huge spruce or cedar tree they
work a vessel of perfect symmetry that will
carry from five TO ten tons. After roughly
hewiug it in the forest, they tow and drag
it TO their homes, which is always near the
shore, TO be finished at their leisure. An
Indian does not like to be hurried, and es-
pecially by such men as Sheridan and
Crook. / saw many Of these canoes in pro-
cess of construction. The most curious
operation is that Of stretching them apart,
when reduced to the proper thickness 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 will be
reversed. making the width four feet. To
accomplish 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 afterwards as
seats for the paddlers. But few Of them
have vet 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 arti
cles from the horns Of the argaH and the
tusks of the walrus. They burn the dead,
and deposit the ashes in little outdoor
structures that look like a cross between al
old-fashioned beehive and a small hen coop,
They build a square, hollow pile Of logs
and, after getting them we'll ablaze, thrust
the BODY in head foremost, whereby the
mourning relatives are consoled with the
savory odor of roast Indian.
The ladies beautify their compeNions
with SCOT and red paint, and still further en-
nance their charms by wearing a bone
through the under lip, the size Ofwhich IS in
creased from year to yearuntil, in some ottht
dones, It attains width oftwO inches. Al
Indian lady thus adorned with her coarse,
black, uncombed locks hanging in matted
profusion around her beautiful pig eyes anC
iop ears, is only Tesistible TO those whose
affections are preoccupied. The delights OF
courtship must be doubled by the pleasant
aroma of salmon which peryades the
premises and, as have heard, their persons
Among them the crow and the raven arr
held sacred and fit around their lodges un
disturbed. They live maiply on fish anC
have a monopoly ofthe trapping. There is
but one white trapper in the country, anC
he is at Cooks inlet, six hundred miles W
NV.