The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-05-02

houses. boats. tools. clothing and even
the grave OF its individual members
Some of the houses here have two totem
poles, one representing the male side
and the other the female side OF the
house. the husbands family record and
the wife's genealogy. Indeed. wo-
mems rights" prevail among the Alas
kans to an extent that gives the moth
! er the prominent place ON the totem
instead of the father. The number OF
| figures represented on a pole desig-
| mates the number OF generations
| through which the owner can trace
back his ancestry. His own totem is
at the top. that of maternas grandpar-
ents neX- below, and so on as far back
as he is familiar with his genealogy.
The natives generally carve their
household inlplements and even their
paddles and wooden-mounted fish
hooks into hideous shapes: this is espe-
cially true Of the HaidaS. who are
very ingenious and expert workers in
silver bracelets. bangles. carved horned
spoons and black stone carvings. so
sought for by all tourists. In ad-
dition to the totem poles In front
OF their habitations here. there
are some curlouslv marked graves,
mounted by a huge carving Of wolf,
Memorial posts are the elimination of
a series of curious customs. II a man
falls sick his relatives call for the
'shaman." or medicine man. and in
vite in his friends. Before the whites
came into this country the custom was,
II the sick man died, his body was
burned. While the Russians occupied
Alaska they tried to induce the Thin
ket Indians who inhabit southeastern
Alaska to abandon this curious and sup
erstitious tribal custom Of disposing Of
their dead. Now they bend his body
in q sitting posture and enclose 1t In
cedar box. Burials are seldom made
but the dead of the poor are taken to
some secluded spot, wrapped in skins,
with slight shelter erected from
spruce bark. and there left to freeze In
the intense cold of these high latitudes
Should deaths victim be a chief or med
icine man. a small stoutly built and well
thatched enclosure Is erected In which
the carefully swa.hed body Is laid to-
gether with the implements Of his hor-
rid calling and such other things as In
life ne priced most dearly. His canoe IL
laid beside the little enclosure ready
in case Of an emergency to sail away
with the Shaman, ito the land Of the
hereafter" His totem pole Is aristo-
cratic and his earnings for his incan-
tations over the sick are the largest
even to inflict death with or without
any apparent reason. The writer was
presented with an Indian club. said to
have been buried In the grave Of a
Shaman nearly fifty years ago and late
ly removed, also a valued piece OF an
old totem pole as 1t stands facing the
uninhabited residence Of n noted chief
tain. I might, II time and space per-
mitted. enumerate ad-infinitum, but q
signal from the Queen indicates that
our time has expired and soon we sail
for Juneau.
Amid all these relics of barbarism and
ancient customs and utter desolation,
nothing interests us so much as the
natives themselves. and for all their
present condition, the feeling Is
strengthened that they can be, and will
be civilized and christianized. and thus
elevated to true manhood and woman
hood.
THE BRIGHTER SIDE.
Thus far we have given our readers
the dark and depraved side of Fort
Wrangel. 1t Is a mistake to imagine
that there Is nothing more to see than
the native hut and totem pole. There
are among these natives those who
have been under the civilizing and
Christianizing influence of the Presby-
terian missionaries, DR.. Thwing and
wife, now stationed here, and these
have come out from among this super
stitious people and present reverse
picture pleasant to behold. The happy
faces of these people as we saw them
at the mission, the appearance of theil
, own homes both without and within
their habits and handiwork, the signs