, 1877-09-07

were present under charge of Mr..
Mckenzie, their teacher. I found
the older scholars we'll advanced,
and was much pleased with the pro-
gress they had made.
AT the request of Mr.. Crosby, I
made an address to the children,
which was duly interpreted to them
by the native interpreter, for, al
though, all their lessons are in Eng
lish, and they are addressed in that
language, they had not become suf
ficiently vsrsed in it to understand
the conversation of stranger, with.
out the aid of an interpreter.
Mr.. Crosby has induced many Of
the Indians to give up their
old heather ways, and to re-
move the ancient carved heraldic pill
lars which adorn the outside of their
homes. Some Of them they have
burned, others, they have collected
in a sort of museum, and it is
through Mr.. Crosby's influence to-
gether with Mr.. Morrison the chief
trader, that l expect to get some Of
these huge carvings for the Centen-
nial. have already secured one,
column 40 feet long, and others are
promised me From Fort Simpson
we proceeded to Fort Tongass in
Alaska, some Is miles distant from
Simpson. This 10 an abandoned
military port, belonging to the United
States and now occupied by United
States Inspector of Customs and q
band Of 700 Tongass under chief
named Ya-soot. He came on board
and expressed a great desire to have
missionary and teacher. He said
he felt ashamed when he went to Fort
Simpson, to see al the children
learning to read and write, and all
the Indians going to Church, while
The Tongass Indians hsd neither q
missionary nor teacher, and he
thought that washington" do not
take as good care of the Alaska In
dians as King George, (the name they
give the English )does of the Indians
at Fort Simpson. He wished me to
ask washington" to send them a
missionary and he would make his
people build him q house, and he
would compel all the Indians to send
their children to school. Now this
apparent eagerness for missionary
is simply owing to a feeling Of jeal-
ousy of the Tsimseans who are given
to boasting to the Alaska Indians that
the English Government take better
care of them, than the American Gov.
ernment does Of the Alaskans. Still,
a beneficial influence is exerted by
the feeling, for in all my experience
OF over 20 years among the coast
tribes, the great difficulty has been
to get them to allow missionary to
reside among them. This same feel
ing was exhibited in every village we
visited during our cruise. 1t was
the old cry "eome over from Mace
donia and help u.s." l sincerely be-
lieve if this matter was placed in the
hands Of the various missionary So
cieties, and they could send men like
Mr.. Duncan and Mr.. Crosby, free
and untrammelled by any OF the re.
strictions that now necessarily sur
round the Indian Agents under our
present plan, that far more good
would be effected among the natives
and at far less cost than by our pres
ent system. The success at Metlahat-
la and Fort Simpson, has demon
strated the fact that it is not neces-
sary to have soldiers quartered
among Indians, or even near them;
and so far as my own observation has
extended, l have invariably found
thae~shs presence of soldiers has q
most demoralizing influence subver.
sive of all good.
After leaving Fort Tongass we
proceeded to Fort Wrangell, at the
mouth of the Stikin river, arriving
there at 1880 in the forenoon Of the
18th of June There were Q great
many Indians assembled at this point,
attracted there by the expectation
of getting work from the crowds Of
miners who start from Fort Wran-
CELL up the Stickin river, for the Cas-
star mines.
The Indians who reside at Wran-
gel are the Sti,kin tribe. Some Of
them have fine large houses built In
dian style, but with the modern i'm.
provement of doors and windows. |
onversed with several of the chiefs,
and they expressed an anxious desire
TO- pohoola and mi n; IN /. riau