Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-12-22
SUFFERING IN ALASKA
Frightful Trials Endured This Year by
Whalers and Natives.
A Severe Epidemic That Nearly De-
populated One Village-Dead Left
Exposed and Unburied.

ION the trip to Alaska from which 1
have just returned l had an opportunity
to make personal note of some of the hard
ships and terrors to which the natives Of
our arctic province and the whalers in far
northern seas are exposed" said DIR. Shell
don Jackson to writer for The Star.
During the early part of this summer
five whaling vessels were lost in Alaskan
waters. Three of the disasters were rot
accompanied by loss of life, but the fourth
catastrophe resulted in the drowning of
more than score of sailor men. The sur
vivors escaped in boats and floated about
from island to island of the Aleutian chain
for a month, much of the time having
nothing to eat but seaweeds, which, even
with the best cookery, do not afford the
most luxurious fare. The men in one boat
were in such distress before they We're
rescued that they turned cannibals and ate
up two of their number who had died.
AT Point Barrow, which is the most
northerly point of Alaska, there are two
whaling stations on shore. The men occupy
ing these stations try to capture some OF the
whales that pass by in the spring. Last
June three whaling boats belonging to one
of the stations were driven out to sea in a
gale. Two of them succeeded in regaining
the shore, but tRe third was crushed in the
two men, woman and boy. They took
refuge upon q large fragment of an tee
field, which was driven out to seward.
After awhile the fragment was broken up
and they sought safety on other pieces of
ice. Finally. after being out upon the ice
for sixty-one days, they got back to land,
100 miles south of the place whence they
had started. During part of the involun-
tary voyage they had no water to drink
and for eight days they were without food.
At Point Hope young Eskimo, while out
hunting Tor seals, was swept to sea on an
icecake. Luckily for him, after a few
days the wind changed and brought him
back to shore. While floating about he
lived on the flesh of three polar bears
which he shot.
During July and August of last year
Point Hope was visited by frightful cpl
demic OF bronchitis Going through the
native village one afternoon, Dr. briggs,
the missionary, found an old man out in
the rain, dying. His family had put him
out of the house, so that he might not die
indoors. Close by on the ground was a
dead woman, with q piece of tent cloth
thrown over her Hearing a moan from
uixer an adjoining cloth, he lifted it and
found sick child clinging to It's dead
mother. On a piece of ground a few feet
square We're five corpseS. Three-fourths
or the adult population were sick, and one
out OF every six died. There were not
enough we'll people in the village to bury
the dead, and the corpses were left out
side OF the houses, to be eaten by dogs.
Human bones were scattered through the
village when L left there; some of them
whitening in the stagnant pools, from
which the people procure their drinking
water.
"A white man living in the village with
q native wife told me that during the cpl
demic he was disturbed on several nights
by noise near his house. Thinking that
IT was a dog prowling around for some
thing to eat, he, got up, and, arming him
SELF with club, went out to investigate.
Instead of dog he found a little boy four
years ola D1CklnR shoe
leather and sealSkin to eat. On seeing the
man the child fled home He was fol-
lowed and 1t was discovered that he and
his little brother We're the only occupants
OF the family hut. In the same room with
them lay the dead bodies of their father
mother and paternal and maternal grand
fathers. The man took the boys to his
own house.
ION August 10 last, ice being unusually
thick in the Boring strait, the steamer
Bear conveyed me to the Teller reindeer
station, where We anchored. Since we had
le1t the station few weeks previously
the six families of Laps imported from
Lapland to take care of the raindeer, had
arrived. From there we made a voyage
to the Siberian coast, working slowly
through heavy fields of drift fee. On Sep
TENDER we reached Cape Serdze Our
purpose was to buy reindeer for Alaska
We saw three large herds Of the animals
temporary summer village had been set
up, consisting of seven tents, which rep
resented eight or nine families Piled up
around these tents / counted more than
a hundred sleighs. In the autumn of each
year the natives, who have domesticated
the reindeer and depend upon them for
their subsistence, drive their herds to the
Interior, returning to the coast in the
spring. In these semi-annuaI Journeys
their tents. families and all their belong
ings are loaded upon these sleighs and
drawn by reindeer. The movings thus ac-
complished sometimes cover distance of
$50 miles. Last spring one hundred and
fifty fawns were born to the Alaskan rein
deer at Port Clarence.
while We were at anchor, riding out
storm OF kyak Island, a canoe came from
the mainland bringing the dead bodies of
native husband and wife. 1t seems that
they had both been drinking, when a quar-
rel arose, and the man shot the woman
few hours later he committed suicide
This was only one of numberless crimes in
Alaska to be laid to the door of unscrupu-
lous traders, who furnish the people with
material for the manufacture of intoxicat-
ing liquors.
Tho mission building at Point Barrow
Will probably be finished next summer
after nearly five years of waiting and de-
lay. At Point Hope the two whaling sta
lions secured last spring about 1900
pounds of marketable whalebone. repre
senting a value Of $4,000"
A MAORI TRICK