The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1874-10-01

winter proper begins, and is not nearly
so severe as is generally supposed. Lit
tie or no ice has been put up at Sitka OF
late, though of course it formed and
was available. The weather is said to
be colder $50 miles south of Sitka, and
400 miles west it is still warmes. The
cold runs in variable currents as in East
ern Oregon. The foregoing remarks ap-
ply to the coast islands only, as it is
much colder on the mainlands, of which
comparatively little is yet known.
THE NATIVE INHABITANTS
are the wards of the government, and
are not as yet cared for as well as they
ought to be. There are few Russians,
many breeds, and great number
of full blood Indians, all of whom re-
quire paternal care on the part of the
government Under the government of
the Cazar, the Russians and half-breeds
were serfs, and when transferred to the
United States rule, they supposed they
could get along without work, and laps
ed into idleness and dissipation. There
are no schools, and no resources provid-
ed for that purpose, and hundreds OF
smart, handsome children are mentally
perishing for the want of governmental
care. Major Berry says he has never
seen handsomer or better formed chill
dren and young people than are found
among the Alaska breeds, and they
are smart, naturally intelligent, and want
to learn, but there is nobody and no
money to instruct them. Will not onr
Oregon Congressman take this matter
up, and present the claims of these poor
young people at Washington?
A UNIVERSAL DRUNK.
Formerly the employees and wards of
the Fur Company received only fixed
ration of liquor, and the importation and
manufacture of Intoxicating drinks were
under restriction. Our government stop
ped the importation of liquor, and made
it contraband, but the discharged sol
diers invented the manufacture of a dia-
bolical stuff called h;oocheno, which is
distilled from almost anything that will
not and ferment; the Indianshav found
out the process and are manufacturing
all they can consume. The result is that
the whole aboriginal population are on
an everlasting big drunk, and are destroy
ing themselves as fast as they can. Here
is an inviting field for our lady crusad-
ers l-better still for an intelligent, hui
man, and Christian government.
INCARNATION.
For some 1,5OO miles along the coast,
the Indians burn their dead, and build
small burial house in which they burn
the ashes of whole family from time to
time. A pictorial representation Of a
shark, whale, or some other marine
animal is painted on the side of the
sepulchral tenement, by way Of epitaph
OF family history. This has been the
case for ages untold. When a 'scanoe
Indian dies, his friends smash hole
in his canoe and leave the vessel to de-
cay. indicating that his lfe-voyage is
over-a glorious poetical idea for poor
savages.
THE RIVERS OF THE NORTH.
There are seven large rivers, some Of
them mighty streams, draining Alaska
Territory. First, from the south, the
Mas, as large as the Willamette; next,
three unnamed rivers, each nearly, if not
quite, as large; then the Stackin, still
larger; next, the Tarcoe, nearly as great
as the Columbia; next, the Chilkat, and
lastly, the tremendous Yukon, the
Amazon Of the pole, emptying into the
Straits of Behring. Of this vast food
not much is know, but it is said to be
much larger than the Columbia, and
that a steamboat assembled it nearly a
thousand miles. It would seem that
everything grows more majestic and
tremendous as we approach the inscrut
able and forbidden secrets of the poles.
When DR.. Kane was overtaben by an
Arctic storm, he anchored his ship to an
iceberg by means of the largest cables
known to nautical science, and such was
the prodigious strain upon it that the
monstrous cord vibrated and sang like
the strings Of an 1Eolian harp-a man
Hesitation Of power which was enough to
make Caesar or an Alexander quail in
terror, and hide from the presence Of
Natures terrible God