, 1875-08-07

fatner more nltny, Ii possible;
many Of them, and particularly
the squaws paint their faces Jet
black, said to be to protect them
from the weather and preserve
the velvety softness of the skin;
however effectual st may be for
that purpose, it gives them a very
rePulsive appearance to a fastidi-
GUS white man. batm1 sH
The trade of Sitka, which was
formerly large depot for furs, at
the present time amounts to al
most nothing; all the furs OBJ
tanned by the Indians are carried
by them to Feft Simpson, a Hud-
son Bay post, where the traders
can furnish them English manu-
featured blankets and other goods
much cheaper than the American
traders can, and these people are
very apt at bargains,and SO shrewd
in many Of their transactions that
some have been led to suppose
that they are possibly the direct
descendants Of the children Of Is
rael. Besides being shrewd traders
they are learning the arts of ciyili-
ization, among which is the art Of
producing whisky from molasses;
they rig up a couple Of tin oil
cans into a rude kind of q still
and manufacture an article known
as hooohnoo, it is not quite equal
in favor to Kentucky bourbon
but It makes the drunk come, and
that is sufficient for Lo--as among
white men it causes trouble, so to
prevent the cause an injunction
is laid on the sale Of mslasses, and
no resident of the town can OBJ
tain gallon Of that article from
any Of the merohania -,sithout first
producing a permit from a military
officer in commands yet that does
not prevent the business, it only
drives the tradein molasses to the
British trading posts, and the
hoochnoo manufacturers are said
to exist to a greater or loss extent
among all the trib es in the Terri
tory Of Alaska.
We remained in Sitlza four days,
hardly long enough to get well
acquainted, yet we managed to
call on all the military officers, and
found them to be, without exeep-
tion, pleasant, lnnd and snterialn-
ling. They have excellent quar-
ters, and, although It may be
rather lonesome at times and q
long while between mails from the
outer world, yet it is not consid-
cred 50 bad station as many
others that military men have to
put up with. af
On "Wednesday, June 2sd, we
left Sitka, most Of US in state Of
delightful uncertainty as to our
next destination, except that We
were not going to Kodiae or oun-
alaska, when happily an incident
occurred about breakfast time,
which turned everyone's attention
to another subject. While a few
were still lingering at the matuti-
nal board an excited individual
from South Boston rushed in
upon us with frantic gestures and
eiaculations; pointing to the key
Of the armchest he exclaimed
"rife--key-overboard--ahead-
deern-he was supplied with a key,
and as is always the case with peo-
pie in hurry, rifles, which on or
dinary occasions lift out Of their
racks with the greatest Of ease, at
this time we're securely fastened,
and from the depths of the locker
several pious EXPLANATIONS were
heard, but at length the gun was
released, and, followed by all of us
he rushed upon deck. In the
meantime the machinery was
stopped and the cause of all this
hubbub was a deer close by swim
ming across the strait up which we
we're steaming-now was achance
for glory among the numerous
noted hunters we had on board.
The hero Of Boston flats, who had
frequently shot the head off Of a
gull at a fabulous distance, fred
several times but the bullets only