The Columbus journal., 1888-12-26
l~lastOilOnS In Alaska.

That the maStcdon was once common
in Alaska is certain from the great rum.
Der of their skeletons, found in the
marshes and clay banks of the Yukon
and northern plains; but that this huge
pachydeFm still exists there in the liv.
ing state has never been deemed likely,
or even conjectured, till recently.
This conjecture rests on reports by way
of the Stick Indians ON the White river,
q tributary of the Yukon.
The account is that while hunting on
q wooded bottom, q few miles from this
river, two Indians came upon a trail,
consisting of enormous tracks fully two
feet across, and deeply imprinted in the
o and earth. strewn along neal which
we're broken branches of the trees.
Following cautiously en- these signs,
they at length heard the noise of the
creature feeding. and presently espied q
pr0digious animal, as Large, they essert.
as a white mans house-Meaning the
traders n story store.
Its teeth, they declared, were as long
as a mans leg, and curved outward,
while its ears were ikened to a seal skin
in size. In color it was represented to
be dark brown. It leaned against a dead
tree stub, and scratched its side, and its
body seemed to be covered with patches
of cccrse brown hair. Terrified at the
sight of such enormous game. the two
hunters promptly retreated.
Other native hunters corrobor2te this
story with similar accounts of their ex-
perierces; accounts which they are re-
Iuctant to relate for fear of ridicule, or
from some superstitiocs feeling regard
ing the matter.
The uncharitable attribute the appari-
ton of the strange beast to the vision
disturbing effects of hoochinoo-a par
ticularly viilainous kind of whisky dis
titled from ~Eolasses. Others reiOin that
these Indians never take ..oOchinoo willie
on a hunt-Or, in other words, that they
never go on a hunt as long as there Is
any hOOchinco left in the ranc!,erie.
This may be subjectins the narrative
of the natives to 4 somewhat larsi, cr.:i-
that one CT the two who saw tic So
proLity and good charcc,er.-YCE..Is
Ccm!ncion.
Tests Of Civilization.
What shall one take as a typical test of
civilization? No coast in the world is
better lighted and buoyed than that Of
Japan; nowhere are life and property
more secure; in no country is universal
courtesy SO natural and a. As
for the art of Japan, if .is..t b. :, test,
everybody knows of the exquisite draw
ings and lacquer and silk and faience
and silver and bronze that were pro-
duced here before America was discov-
cred. Why, in the very winter that Co
l.imbus hoisted his sail the famous Yosh-
imasa was inaugurating a new departure
with new luxury in the Cha-no-yu or tea
drinking ceremony, probably the most
elaborate and polished ceremonial that
hasever been devised. And the splendid
gardens of Gin-kaku and kin-kaku-
'the pavilions of silver and gold"-at
Kyoto, remain to this day monuments
Of tho samo Yoshimasa's taste. But
these. although they antedate the new
world, arc but modern here, for before
William the Conqueror crossed the chan
rel and founded at Hastings the Eng
land that we know, the Count of Nara
was the focus Of q marvellous art and a
magnificent life which are among the
inspirations of japanese history.-Cor.
Philadelphia Times.