The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-02-01
THE NATIVES OF ALASKA.
MODES OF LIFE OF THE AMERICAN
ALEUT5.
Description of Our Subjects i'm tho
A1aNiSan FUR Islands--A Race that
IL Dying Out.

! >
island, Alaska, says in the indianapolis
J0urnaI.
"The natives OF Alaska subsist on seal
meat, the meat of the sea lion and on
| gulls' eggs. In June and July the island
is literally covered with gulls. They lay
great quantities of eggs, which are gath
cred by thousands. The eggs are palata-
BILE when fresh, but the natives are not
particular in that sense. If they are over
ripe or have chicks in them they are pre-
| ferred, being then used in a sort of ONE
let, which they consider their choicest
dish SO with the meat of the seal and
the sea lion-the stronger it smells the
better they like it. Gathering guls' eggs
looks hazardous, but the natives say there
has never but one accident producing
death occurred to any one engaged in it.
Two men, or as often a man and woman,
go together taking with them a long rope,
One, lying down with his feet braced
against the solid earth or stone, holds
one end of the rope, while the other de-
sends sometimes near 1 900 feet over the
sheer face of cliff, and then, swinging
| from side to side, gathers the eggs
The accident occurred through a native
going out alone and fastening the rope to
stake or stone. He was found dead at
the foot of cliff, the rope broken. The
breaking of the rope was credited to the
blue foxes who were charged with hav-
ing gnawed it in two. Each winter the
Aleuts trap from 1 800 to 5000 of these
foxes, for which the company pays fifty
cents EACH The skins, cured, readily
bring So and 50 apiece.
- 'Tbn A nutc bovo No ,rroot &c
amusements. They pitch half-dollars,
and are expert at it. They also play ball.
There are no rules in the game, which
appears to be nothing more than knock
about. AS there is no timber on the
island-not tree-there is no uniformity
in their clubs, anything goes, any kind of
a stick or seal rib. They are intensely
fond of cards, and are always playing a
Russian card game, which do not pre-
tend to understand, never having tried
to learn it. A while ago they were
about at their wits end to continue their
card playing. Their packs were about
played out, the spots worn off. They
had seen me drawing and coloring. and
came with their well-wom cards to put
new spots on them
1t wouldn't do for the ladies here to
see the waste of sealskins that | have
seen-to see the Aleut women in their
fur clothes made of pup seals, which are
finer, but, because of their size, not as
valuable as the sealskins of commerce.
They do not estimate things as we
do, those misguided Aleuts, and they
actually prefer bright calicoes and brass
jewelry to sealskin and pure gold. Men
Of
women especially. Their dances are I'M
couth and barbarous, but their waltzing
is really exceedingly graceful, and they
like to dance every Sunday afternoon
after coming from their Greek chapel.
They are indebted to the Russian sailors
and soldiers for their waltz, as they are
for their religion. Civilization has al
most done for them as it has done for the
Sandwich Islanders. There is no leprosy
among them. but they have scurvy, and
they have loathsomc skin diseases. They
have glandular swelling in the neck,
which seldom leaves them without scar.
Speaking of dancing Christmas, in the
Greek church, according to the Russian
calendar, which is old style, comes
twelve days later than with us. Last
year they had permission to use the gov
eminent house, and beginning with their
Christmas, they danced every night for
two weeks. They are inordinate tea
drinkers; that, too, they learned of the
Russians, and they keep the tea kettle on
day and night. That is the strongest
beverage they have, as not drop of
spirits is allowed by the government on
the island Under the Russians
they had plenty of whisky, 'vod-
Xxi, as the Russians and Aleuts
call it, and they have no good will to-
ward this paternal government for de-
priving them of it. The men, generally,
are about five feet two inches in height:
the women shorter. 1t is mistake to
suppose them similar to our Indians.
They are not copper-colored. Their fea-
lures are Monaghan; they have high
cheek bones, broad noses, and slant ewes.
Some of them are dark, while Others
have skins much like the Chinese. The
effort of the company to educate their
children is not likely to come to much.
The education is compulsory and in Eng
llsh, but even after the children have
learned to read and have left school they
have refused to read or speak word of
English. In consequence their dirty way
of living and their generally diseased
condition, they die young. The men
seldom live to be fifty years old; the
women live somewhat longer. They are
married in the Greek church, but the
marriage tie is hardly observed at all.
We keep them all together upon the
island and in frame huts, their under
ground houses having been destroyed on
account of their tilthiness and to get rid
of the domestic animals, with which
they fairly swarmed. All the guns on
the island are in charge of the govern
menthgent, and never more than three
natives at time are allowed to have
guns"