Omaha daily bee., 1888-10-07

miles northeast from Sitka. There IS
one large salmon cannery near the head
of the Chilcat Inlet. The principal
part of the salmon catch is made by the
Indians, who go by the name of Chill
cats and ChilCoots. They rave no tri-
bal relations such as exist among the
Indians east Of the Rocky mountains.
Certain among them who are heads of
families-that is, who are able to have
three or four squaws as ~wives-asSume n
sort Of craftsmanship, and when they
eau get liquor start out to raise cain on
a large scale. For several weeks some
reckless white men and Russian half
breeds have been among them, and with
crude stills made from Old tin cans,
abundance of which they find about the
fish canneries, distilled from molasscs a
kind of drink that ''makes the drunk
come" and in all that time there has
been n perfect pandemonium among
the natives. One native who has
assumed q sort of chieftaln-
ship among them. and Boosting
of killing his seventh Indian in IN af-
fray is the ~ringleader in this bacchanal,
II to signalize the occasion, took the
pains, during the recent spree, to cut
off the nose and ears of one Of his own
tribe against whom he had a grudge.
The federal officers at Juneau. a days
"lNltllL u VI bliS otp
rage. Wen in a boat to the scene to
arrest him, but by the time they got
there he had skunk away into the deep
mountain recesses near by to remain
until all danger is past.
The natives on this coast are gem
orally described as Indians. In many
I respects they resemble the Indians OF
the western plains. but it requires no
very nice discriminating qualities to
see that there are very marked distinct
i've characteristics in the coast natives.
| They are in the first place decidedly
Monaghan in face aud feature. Their
faces are flat and there are few of them
with high cheek bones such as charac-
tcrize the native races east of the Rocky
mountains. Many of the women have the
almond eyes of the Mongolian and when
liquor is kept from them they arc a
patient and industrious people. Among
the natives east of the Rocky mountains
the women do all the drudgery of the
village or of the hut. Among the ma
tives of the Alaskan coast md the
Alexandrian archipelago the women
are the privileged sex and the men do
all that is necessary to be done, not
only in providing food for the family,
but in nearly every other respect about
such homes as they have. The canoe
or yellow cedar dug-out is us necessary
an adjunct to the native Alaskan family
as the pony is to the Sioux or other In
dian OF the western plains. The Alas
kan scarcely ever venturestwenty miles
from water into the interior. What
hunting of zeal and deer he does to
supplement his food supply of fish is in
the dense spruce and hemlock forerts
close to the inlet, and game of that
kind has never yet become so scarce as
to render it necessary for him to venture
farther into the interior in search of it.
There is not a point or the coast
where he is kept in Subsection, where
he is docile and tractable at all, except
by fear. Ordinary firearms have no
terror for him, but he is in constant
dread Of the Calling gun or of the brass
howitzer of the revenue cutter. Some
years ago the natives of killisnoO. a
fishing village about seventy miles from
Sitka, became unruly and seemed ire
pressible except by the most urgent dis
play and exercise of force. The Sara.
nae was sent to the point. A few shells
directed upon their huts on the beach
and a few rounds from a Gatling gun
taught them a lesson which they have
never since forgotten. The revenue
cutter Pinta is stationed at Sitka. Two
of the t~en-pounders are on the verge OF
the old Russian grass-covered plaza, or
pirdlc STOullu. IlSiF LiuEIlcS ullc'uCu
toward the bay; and there is not a ma
tive on his way to the Greek church
service but gives those naval bulldogs &
look askance, mentally considering how
quickly those guns might be whirleC
around and pointed and fired upon the
Indian village of comfortable house:
which line the beach to the northward
of the whites quarters and the govern
ment buildings. j. Fl. K.