The Opelousas courier., 1890-08-02
THE NATIVES OF ALASKA.
HABITS OF TEE AgoRIeINEs OF
OUR FAE-NoKTH TERRITORY.
Peculiar Matrimoniai Customs
Their Religious Beitefs-Tribai
Doctors-Burfal Superstitions.

DoctOrS-Blr SupersfEtions-
Lieutenant A. G. Hodgson, Of the
United States Navy, in the coufss OF an
article on Alaska, published In the At
lanta Constitution, says:
The AborigiEes have been classified
into four distinct tribes, viz: the
Eskimo, along the shores of Behrlng
Sea; the Aleuts, inhabiting the chain OF
Aleutian Islands; the Athabaskans, who
dwell in the interior along the great
rivers touching the coast only at the mouth
of the Copper River, and the Thllnkets,
who form the native population along
the coast from Mount st. Elias to Puget
Sound. 80 far IS is known; e~thdologists
have been able to ascfibe to non of these
tribes any other than a distinct American
origin. The traditional origin Of the
Thlinkets, the only tribe with which l
have come into contact, is from the in
terror of the American Continent, where
they migrated to the northward ana
westward until they struck the Pacific in
the vicinity of Queen Charlotte Sound,
and thence spread along the coast. An
apparent similarity has been traced be-
tween their language and that of the
Apache and Aztec tribes. They are
quick to appreciate many of the benefits
of d civilization superior to their own,
and owing to long and frequent inter
course with the whites, their habits OF
life have materially changed and many
of their ancient customs have disapi
peared. Instead of blankets made Of
skins as their only clothing, and houses
with q small round hole for entering and
a hole in the roof for the escape of
smoke, and made of, such heavy timbers
that one wonders how they could have
been handled, we find many Of them
wearing Boston clothes and
living in "Boston" houses. Boston
is the Thlinket word for American,
that being the name of the first
American vessel ever trading in these
waters Polygamy IS common, a man
being allowed as many wives as he can
pay fer, though the first is the head wife.
The whole tribe il divided into two
clans, the Raven and the Wolf, and the
husband aqR wife must belong to differ,
emit clans. The children belong to the
clan of their mother. A married woman
may have an assistant husband, who, in
the absence of the original husband,
takes his place. He must be a brother
or nephew of the first, and, when the
latter is present, performs tha sduties of
a servant, carrying water Id wood,
supplying food, etc. When tie husband
dies the v~ice-husband marries the widow.
The Indians are very superstitious, but
have no fixed ideas of religion. They
believe in the Immortality and migration
of souls, though the migration takes
place not into the bodies Of animals, but
into those of humsn beings, generally
near female relations. taeey are f~atalists
to a degree and have a most stoical in
difference to suffering or death. When
one is sick the tribal doctor, shaman, is
called in. He is q most important indi-
vidual, with long hair, and by incanta-
tions and a lot of mysterious antics en-
deavors to drive out the evil spirits that
are sent into the body by some unknown
pOWCl 6S o 1HGA1lCSt&blOA LII 1ASCI nSdIlGb
the invalid. Failing in this, the shaman
declares the body to be beWitched, and
woe to the poor unfortunate man,
woman or child, according to the caprice,
of the doctor, who is accused of being
the witch, for he is seized and
tortured until the evil spirits or tfem-
mortal spirit leaves the body Of the af-
ficted. In the latter case the torture
results also in death. Shamanism, how
ever, since the advent of American au-
thority, has practically ceased; for when
ever and wherever one of these long,
haired frauds was found, he was seized
and shorn of his raven locks, and after
such Dissertation, lost all power and
prestige among his people. A sick In
dian now has great faith in the .Boston'
doctors, and likes to take huge doses of
medicine, but owing to their utter
disregard of all sanitary precautions and
instructions, it is very hard to check the
inroads that disease, principally CON
sumption and scrofula, is making among
them. Formerly all the dead were cre-
mated, only shamans receiving burial,
generally in some isolated and prominent
spot. A corpse is never removed from a
house through the door, as it Is believed
that the 6rst one passing through there
after will be the next to die. Tt is
hosted through the smoke hole In the
roof and a cat or dog thrown after it.
As, a rule, the dying person is prepared
for death and removed outside while liv-
ing SO that his spirit may have plenty Of
space to wander around in search OF new
abiding place. ANY event such as death,
the completion of a new house, the start
ing out or return osffMShunting party,
etc, is celebrated 81 THAT is called
tfnotlatch." The host invites all the
members of his tribe, and after Teasing.
dancing and a general jollifcation, dis
tributes presents among them according
to his means, frequently impoverishing
himself to make a grand effort, as one is
honored and respected according to the
magnificence of his display. An Indian
gives away savings, accumulated
during several years for the cypress pur- !
pose. in n BIZ sspotlatch, !, and no mat
ter how poorit leaves him, he is q power
the tribe thereafter. Insults or in
juries may be repaired By the payment Of
money or goods, a blanket being taken as
the basis of valuation in all transactions.
Wars are often avoided by the payment
OF SO many blankets as an indemnity. The
murder of a relative, the refusal to marry
the widow of an uncle OF elder brother.
and other such o~ffenges may be atoned
for IN the same way. Very trivial and