Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-12-16
STORIES OF ALASKA
Told by Captain A. NJ. Brown, Indian
Fighter and Army officer.
THE NATIVES ARE SUPERSTITIOUS.
Mosquitoes That Can Give the New Jersey
Article Pointers.
THERMOMETERS MUST BE EXTENDED

Little is known about Alaska, except that
! il has an immense territory with popuIa-
tion of $4,000 Indians and whites, and that
it is very cold in the winter. The Indians
are retiring and superstitious. and have
little to say.
Captain A. NJ. Brown, an old Indian
fighter and retired army officer, has been
stopping at the Duquesne for several days.
He has explored part of the country, aud
last summer made quite an extended trip
along the coast up to Behring's Strait.
81 see by the morning papers," he
said yesterday, "that fears are expressed for
the safety of the Frank Leslie party. saw
them last summer at Departure Bay, and
took dinner with them. They divided into
two parties, one going to Mt. St. Elias,
where they remeasured the height of that
peak, and found it was not as high as re-
ported, and the other crowd struck out for
the Yukon river, intending when they
reached it to go down to the coast in canoes.
LONG THERMOMETER USED.
"In the interior where this last party is
supposed to be now 1t must be
at least 80 degrees below zero
and the farther you go back from the coast
the colder 1t gets. The Japanese hot cur
rent with temperature of Is degrees flows
along the shore and up through the Behring
Strait. The water warns the atmosphere for
35 miles all along the shore, but back of this
stretch of country it is very cold during the
winter. Along the shore it is never more
than 35 degrees below zero. l still have
hopes that the boys will pull through, but
~ a.
were a stalwart, determined-look1ngc crowd
Of young fellows, and prepared to undergo
great hardships. 1 remember having long
talk with Wells
81 have been through the country the
party was in,,..last summer. The articles
that have appeared in the magazine about
the snow and their snow shoe adventures
are not true. During the summer the
climate is fair, and these accounts are ridic-
ulous.
- MoSo UIToES LOCATED THERE.
''The greatest drawback to living in
Alaska are the mosquit oes. The soil is COW
cred with low moss in which they breed in
the summer and under which they live in
the winter 1t is wet and can't
be burned off to get rid of
them. The Jersey mosquito is no
comparison to them. They are large and
small, some being so little, indeed, that
they can penetrate even the smallest bars of
ordinary mosquito netting. White men
cover their faces and hands with towels, and
tie the trousers around the ankles to keep
them away from the body. The sting is
painful, and they would soon worry the life
out of anybody unprotected. Their num-
bers are countless, and they swoop down
upon you by the thousands. The Indians
smear their faces and hands with pitch
which gives them a black appearance.
They remove the bark of the fir trees, and
scrape off the sap on the inside layers. This
they use as their protection against the little
animals.
INDIANS ARE SUPERSTITIoUs.
"Little is known about the country. The
Indians are not posted, and I don't believe
they have been very far into the interior.
1t is great territory that has not been ex-
plored by white men. There are valuable
veins of gold and silver along the coast that
will many times over repay the purchase
money for the territory.
81 never saw the Indians murder their
female children and wives, as reported.
They are very superstitious, and if
they think a person is witch they will
kill him. Not long ago, in sight of the
settlements at Fort Rangeli, the natives
threw an old woman over the dock and she
was drowned. also know of a case where
they cut the throat of a boy and threw the
body over glacier because they thought he
dealt in wltchcraft. l had tough time