The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-08-17

cial factor.
Now that the eyes Of the people of the
United States are turned in a uortherIy
direction with the idea of discovering what
sort OF place may possibly embroil them
with the Britishers il is safe 70 saw thew
will know good deal about Alaska before
the diplomatic atmosphere is eventually
cleared up They will fluid much to interest
them beside the material resources Of Secre-
tary Stewards purchase. The races which are
indigenous TO the soil are by no means pre-
possessing. They share most of the true
indian characteristics. Cieaaliness Is an
obsolete word vita them. if it ever had any
existence IN ther vernacular, and a blau-
ket sufices for their summer wardrobss.
They blacken their faces, with the oeautI-
1ul conception that this enhances
tneir personal attractions, and then,
lest this cheerful tout ensemble
should not be considered complete.
they daub themselves with red
and blue stripes and pc ches. An Alaska
Indian on full dress parade is therefore an
edifying spectacle. He is in his Judgment
most arts &c when he has succeeded in max
ing himself most grotesque and ferocious in
appearance, the main point evidently being
TO entirely obscure what little physical
charms nature has been good enough TO en-
dow him with. Perhaps in higher degree
than any other noble red man he possesses
the universal prejudice against ANYTHING
like industry. His soul. in other words, is
above work.
This is perhaps due to the fact that when
he was lord of all he surveyed he earned a
living quite easily. OF deer and bear meat
he could secure any quantity. and the fac
that fishing was good was proved by salmon
exports, which the Russian American Com
pany soon ran up to colossal figures, not
les than 10000 salmon being sent to
the Sandwich Islands annually They
were IN advance of the American day
and generation to the extent that they
cremated their dead, their tombs containing
only the ashes of their dear departed The
tomb was box on which savage aud
grotesdue-looking faces were daubed with
the idea, 1t would seem, of perpetuating the
uglinesS of the deceased. If the gentleman
who had been unfortunately or otherwise
transferred to the happy hunting grounds
happened to be warrior of achieve
ment, then the faces of his victims
were portrayed on the box, which
was also adorned with long tresses of the
human hair which he had tenderly torn
from the scalps Of his conquered foes When
an Alaska Indian asks you for "Petnachit
Copia, which, literally interpreted, means
Fifteen drops" you may know that he is
begging, not for fifteen drops, but for half
tumberful of chain lightning. Less than
half tumblerful would not reach the dig
nifty of nip"
Times have changed here since what are
now alluded to as the good old Russian
days, when they had only $50 church holi-
days out of every 365 days. We have
finally simmered down to the regulation
Fourth of July and W ashington's birthday
festivities, with Christmas and New Years
thrown in as consolation for the departed
ecclesiastical revelries. The remnant of
the orthodox Greek church still remaining
here cherish a tradition to the effect that
When the stars and stripes were ready
for their first hosting in Alaska
the Russian flag displayed great
reluctance to come down and sclung
tenaciously and periodically to the staff
An irreverent and unconverted American
climbed UP and persuaded it to descend
Somethin & has been said about the native
artistic tendency as displayed in black
background aud red and blue stripes and
patches. 1t is but fair to add that their
efforts do not represent the limit of devel-
opment.
l hope to haze the privilege little later
on of keeping you informed of the events
now actually Transporting here and of giving
you clear ideas of the movements among
the violators and enforcers of United States
laws which provoke the agitation. For the
benefit of those to whom this is virtually an
unknown land, it may not be out of place
to say that the sea which figures in the
pending diplomatic disturbances is named
after VituS Behring. He was Dane, who
entered the service of Russia because be
| ardently admired Peter the Great.
Peter was organizing an expedition TO
kami schatka when death vacated the
throne, but the Empress Catherine took up
the enterprise, and Behring started from
st. Petersburg in 1925. 1t was years later,
however, when he undertook his most ad.
venturous aud momentous trip. He dis
covered many of the islands near tn o
American coast, and died of scurvy, living
just long enough to he taken ashore in a
handbarrow. Muller gives this account of
his demise:
HE may have been said to have been half
buried alive, for the sand rolling continually
from down from the side of the ditch where
he lay, ne at last would not suffer it to be
removed, 80 that after his decease they
were obliged to scrape him out OF the
ground in order to inter him in the proper
manner"
Those who survived underwent many
hardships. Their vessel was lost and they
subssted on whales that in the storm had
been driven ashore. Few of them lived to
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