Evening journal., 1896-09-18
BLACK ART ADEPTS.
STRANGE FEATs OF MEDICINE MEN
OF KINGS ISLAND.
Bringing tho Dead Eacls 20 Life by n Few
lamentations aud Fumblings - Strange
Rock Upon Which a Queer People Re-
side In Apparent Ccntentment.

nOlcl, Is Mugs iSluHut cteNO uhtf
northwest Of hero and 90 miles OF the
coast of siboEia
1T lies almost in the middle of Be
ring strait. almost equidistant from the
Asiatic and American shores. 1t n in
habited by 1856 of the queerest people
ever set eyes upon. The inhabitants |
comprise men, women and children Of |
all ages, and besides these there are nu-
merous dogs Of all degrees except high. |
1.-THE island is little more than rock |
rising out Of the storm tossed waters Of |
the ever turbulent strait Il is about q /
mile long and half mile wide, and its |
sides arc so procspitous that they are
like cliffs.
almost in the middle of the island |
and at the south side is an indentation
made by the rushing waters. This is
expanded into a funnellilse hole, reach
ing into the islnsd and out at the top at
an anglo approximating 90 degrees. The
hole is 1sO feet deep, and during stormy
weather tie natives let down rope and
drag mp the seals, walrusos and other
sea animals which they have taken.
1t is On these animals that the ma
tives subsist They are very expert in
taking them, as we'll as great whales,
which they do not fear TO attack and
in fact secure as trophies Of their PROV
oss They hunt all these animals in
their kyaks-boats SO stout and skill
fully made that, though they are often
tossed over and over by the surf, they
are never wrecked and are speedily
righted. The boatmen sit with their
feet in holes in the boats, clad in water
tight walrus skins These beats will
put or successfully where the ordinary
boat would not live a minute.
"But about the catch Of these walrus-
es and other animals and the strange
island. The natives have scooped out
queer receptnoles on both sides of the
entrance on the ledge These are so cool
that they are natural refrigeratoIs, and
in these they store the bodies Of the ami
mails for future use. There arc about
20 Of these receptacles or natural re-
frigerators, aud there is nearly always
q supply Of meat in them, so that the
chances of starving at any time arc COM
paratively scarce.
"On the right side Of tho island above
is the village Of the Indians. It is a
queer town, whose miniature houses are
made Of walrus skins stretched on light
frames The ground is SO rough that the
little skin abcdes are ranged one above
the other, like houses in a mining camp
on a mountain side. In the distance
they look small and fragile. but they
are full of people and active as beehivos.
from the tossing waves where the
bear lay the cataeomblike refrigerators
and tho village presented a novel ap-
| pearance.
1.-THE island, although a sort Of re-
public ia its government, is ruled by
| few medicine men, each Of different de-
/ greos Of Importance. The medicine
men hold their positions by their re-
markabl0 feats Of loSardemain. Many
people have gono TO see Hermann and
Blitz also in his lifetime and have
wondered ut the featE they have seen
them perform. But / undertake to say
that mono OF these professors Of the black
art has performed more marvellous
things than I have seen these barbarian
medicine men do there.
"For instance, l have seen one OF
these medicine men take a man and lay
him on table and take a big knife and
stick it right into him TO the handle.
| The man would writho, turn pale, gasp
and die. Then the medicine man would
withdraw the knife, go through a few
incantations, tumble over the victim,
and in a moment he would get up and
| go about, so1ud as ever.
4 have also seen them pluck out rab-
bits, birds and other forms of animal
life from impossible places They would
do things before your eyes that were
marvellous TO us and to all the natives,
| for of course the natives believe implic-
lilly in the supernatural powers Of theiI
medicine man.
But the strangest thing l saw hap.
penod on board my ship ono day. There
were about 1C0 of these natives aboard.
One Of the natives, girl. fell down
with a homorrhagc and vomited blood
| all around. The blood came from her
lungs in streams. She was lying there
on the deck as pale as death, and
thought that she would die there, so
| fuslcu u man olA 70 BSt II. o1lndllsi
the Bears surgeon.
Before the doctor could get there
the chief medicine man rushed out, and,
going to tho girl, he blew first into one
ear and then into the other, and thcI
tapped her on tho chin, and she got NJ
ard was eli right again, and she began
dancing around on the ship us healthy
and active as though there had never
been tho least thing tho matter Will
her. And mark you, this wasn't two
minutes from the time she had hemor
rhages l never saw anything so mar
velous in my life. There was all tho
blood before me on the ship too.
1.-The strange rock in the sea which il
the abode of these natives is about 81
miles from Fort Clarence. l relieved
them twice when they had through in
fortuitous circumstances been bordering
on starvation San Francisco Call
Good Cre@.s at tho Grocer's.
Mother Go newly married daughter