River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1873-04-25
Savage Life.


Savage Life.
In Asia the savage tribes ore very
numerous, and sufficient idea OF their
mode of life may be formed from de-
cription of few of them. The AIoue-
tians. or rather the inhabitants of the
Alouetian Islands, situated ct the
northeastern extrimety of Asia and
neighboiing on America, have no gov
eminent Of any kind, yet each com
munity selects some chief invested with
no other authority but that of deciding
any dispute they may have with each
other. They generally choose the man
that has the largest family and is the
most successful in hunting or fishing.
They occupy probably the lowest place
IN the scale of savage life, eating wild
roots, seaweed and fish, frequently
half putrefied and cast on shore, and
the flesh of foxes and birds of prey,
which they devour raw They clothe
themselves in the skins of sea calves,
foxes and birds, and live in a
ditch nine feet deep, eighteen
broad, and from thirty to three
hundred long. The ditch has its sides
supported by posts, and is covered by
a frame on which earth and grass are
laid; apertures serve for doors, with
ladder fixed to each: others admit air
and light, and some let out smoke when
they happen to have fires, which they
seldom have, for even without any the
heat is insupportable and the smell
from putrefylng fish is horrible Some
times five hundred persons inhabit the
same ditch. Their disposition is
brutal. If they surprise their enemies
they exterminate them pay no atten-
ton to their children, who leave them
when they choose and marry at pleas
ure, without consent of parents, or
contracts, or portion, or festivity.
The Kamtschatdales are almost as
savage. They feed on bears and other
quadrupeds, but the heads of halfp
trefed fish reduced to a pap is their
greatest delicacy. They also live in
bitches, but less deep and better con-
structed. There is one good point in
their Characteristic have a high
respect for women, and though per-
hitting, rarely practice polygamy. In
their courtships, their marriages, their
reception of guests and other ceremo-
MES, they observe forms and festivities
that at times are highly ridiculous.
Resembling the Kamtschatdales in
clothing, and more sedentary In habi-
tation, are the wandering tribes Of the
KOriacks, who, having no fixed habita-
tiCy,e thnnr,Oh ovta..Ctro
leading a pastoral life and supporting
themselves by the products of their
herds of reindeer. They reduce women
to the most abiect servitude, and even
kill them with impunity. The Tchou-
ktchi are both pastors ard hunters, and
at times fishers, clothing themselves
and living like the Kamtschatdales
though sometimes lodging in the cav
ems of rocks. They are drunken and
eating only such tame rein
deer as die natural death. They are
noted alike for their hospitality and
ferocity.
The Samoides, who inhabit the bor-
ders of the Frozen Ocean, from the
Mezen in Europe to the Lena IN Asia,
have no chiefs or government of any
kind /; they abhor homicides, and com.
NIT no crimes; they eat raw whales
and smoke tobacco, and drink whisky
till intoXication ensues. They treat
women with the most unaccountable
cruelty and contempt, never allowing
them in travelling to tread in their
track, or even in that OF their reindeer,
and considering everything they touch
polluted, and must be purified. On
the other hand, the Foun9ousi, an
other tribe of Asiatic savages, never
ill-treat their wives, and accompany
their marriages with festivities. Or the
most vindictive dispositions, but scorn.
ing assassination, they have rec purse
to the duel when grievously offended
for being sensible to the point of hon.
or, they Immediately challenge the Of
fender to single combat.
The only people who may be said to
come under the denomination of saw
ages in Europe are the Laplanders.
Some of these have fixed habitations,
but others-t greater portion of
them lead wandering life among the
mountains, and possess numerous
herds of reindeer, whose milk and
flesh supply them with food, and whose
skins with clothing and covering for
their dwellings. they are mild, peace
able and courtcousin their dispositions,
are much attached to their independ-
ent, wandering mode of life, and think
themselves the happiest Of men.
RECENTLY a convict overpowered the