Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-12-08

Ruhsna IN Glose-D Democrat.

huhsIns IN CriOse- Demo cref.
/ One Indian village wanders along the
beach below the wharf and another set
/ Element IL hidden behind knoll at the
other side OF town. and the natives came
/ from these two pl aces and huddled Ia
/ groups on the WHAT. Most of them
were barefooted IN this cold au,umnal
rain, bat wrapped IN blankets ard IN
lie .rly every case carrying an umbrella.
/ he women and children tripped down
+ III their bare feet. and sat around on the
dripping wharf With reckle,sness that
( suggested paeumuaIa, rheumatism. con
sumption ana ali of those kindred Ills
/ fron whioh they suffer sn severely
Nearly ali Of the womea had their
faces BACKED. and no one Gan ,napIne
any thing more frIghtfui and sinister
on a Melancholy day than ~ be con
/ ironted by one of these silent. stealthy
! figures With tue great circles al tne whites
of the eyes alone visible III the shadow
of the blanket.
A dozen fictitious reasons are given TOR
I this face backing. One Indian SAWS that
the widows and those who have suffered
great sorrow wear the black III token
thereof. Another native authority makes
/; sign of happiness. willie occasionally
a giggliug dame confesse5 that II Is done
TO presery TIE complexion. LudlcTous
as this may seem TO the bieached Canca
sian and tue ladies of rice powdered and
en4tDeled countenances, the matronS of
hIgn fashion and the swell damseis OF
the Ihllnket tribes never III AXE a canoe
voyage without smearlng themseivei we'll
with the -lack dye that they get fr Din a
certain Wild root Of the woods. or with
a paste of SCOT and seal oil. Ou sunny
and windy days on sGore they protect
themselves from the tan and sunburn by
this same lnky coating. On feast days
and the gre II occ isiOnl, when they WASH
off the black. their compilations come
out AS fair and creamy white as the
palest of their Japanese COUSINS across
the water. and the women are then seen
to be some six shades lighter than the
tan colored and coffee colored lords of
their tribe.
The specimen woman At juneau wore
thin calico dress and thick blue
blanket. Her feet were bare, but she
was compensated for that losa of gear
by the turkey-r red parassl that she poised
over her head with all the cotnpiaceney
of a Mount Deseret belle She blacked
her face to the edge of her eyelidS and
the roots of her hair; she wore the II
ear rings, with five silver bracelets ON
each wrist and fifteen rings Ornamenting
her bronze fingers, and more thor
0ughly proud aud self satisfied crea ure
never arrayed herself according to the
behests of high fashion. The children
battered around barefOOted and wearing
but a single shor; garment, although the
weather was as cold and drear AS our
| November Not one of these YOUNGSTERS
even venturCJ on the croupy cough that
belongs to the civilized child that has
only pnt It's nose ont of doors Ia such
weather.
One can easily believe the records and
the statements as to the terrible death
rate among these people, and marvel
that any of them ever live beyond their
infancy. SO few old people are seen
among them rs TO continually cause re-
mark, but by their Spartan system only
the strongest can possibly survive the
exposure and hardships of such a life.
, Consumption Is the common allment,
and carries them AVA i'll numbers, yet
they have no medicines or remedies of
their own, trust only to the incantatiOns
and hocus- pccuS of their medicine men
and have not the slightest care to pro-
tect themselves from exposure. Great
epidemics have swept these islands al
) times, and forty years ago the scOurge
of smallpox carried off half the natives
of Alaska. The tribes have never re
gained their numbers since that terrible
devastation, and since t Ell black mea
sizes and other diseases have SO reduced
their people that another fifty years may
See these tribes extinct.