Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1897-09-04
THE ALASKAN NATIVES.
A RACE NEITHER INDIANS NOR ES.
oUIMAUs. BUT MoNcoLIANs.

+ Their Civilization and Characterization by
Missions-SOme of Their Peculiarities
| Cruel Robberies of the Helpless
Their Great Fondness For Oily Food.
White people going into Alaska are
inclined to regard the aboriginal III
habitants as q branch of the great race
Of American Indians; yet to the an
Shropologist they are an absolute and
distinct race, not having drop of the
blood of the American race in their
veins, unless it has come from cross
breeding with the red Indians further
south.
The inhabitants of Southeastern
Alaska and the adjacent British pos
sessions are purely Mongolian, and
without doubt come from Japanese
origin. How they came to be in
/ America is question that will proba-
bly, never be satisfactorily answered.
These people resemble the Japanese
more than they do any other nation
Of people on the face of the globe, both
in physiognomy, traits of character,
build and other features. Their crude
manufactures, carvings in wood and
walrus ivory have decidedly Mongo-
lian character and bent. These peo-
pie are found along the coast and to
1uite an extent inland from south of
5itka to north of the Yukon, where
they become mixed race, having to
large extent in the Yukon country mixed
with the Esquimaus, producing race
that is neither Esquimau, Aleut nor
Alaskan in the true sense of the terms.
These people can be seen in their
complete purity of blood at Chilkat,
IN Portage Bay, Lyon Canal, about
ninety miles north of Juneau. Here
ire situated the two missions. of the
Presbyterian Board of Home Missions,
known as Haines and Chilkat missions,
which are managed by the Rev. Will
am w. Warne, who is now in the East,
out who will return to Chilkat this
.all.
At Chilkat there are no mixed
bloods, and the people there, were it
not for their dress and their aboriginal
life, might readily be taken for low
caste Japanese. They are fishermen,
mostly, and pay but little attention to
the mines, except that many OF them
70 to Juneau and work in the mines
there as laborers for day wages.
When the Chilkat Mission was first
established some six or seven years
ago these people lived little better
than animals, and practised the most
degrading and horrible rites of fetich-
ism as their religion. Their habita-
lions were little better than pigstys,
and often as high as twenty adults
would live in hut not more than ten
feet square, with whole regiment Of
dogs thrown in Since the mission
has been established, however, they
have learned to build better habita-
lions. many of them learning mechan-
ical trades and following them, and al
so they have learned to wear the cloth
ing of civilization.
In the old times the Chilkats were
wont to indulge in the most cruel rob-
berries of the helpless. These cases of
Iooting were taken by the robbed as a
matter of course, as it was the custom
and was expected. Whenever man
died his relatives would turn his
widow out of doors at once and rob
her of every piece of money, clothing
and other property, even to the rings
on her fingers and in her ears and the
bracelets on her arms. They would
not even leave her single blanket,
not q piece of dried salmon, which is
their bread and meat, but would stri ,
her of everything. When the wife
died her relatives would treat the sur
viving husband in the same way, and
in both cases the robbed would have
70 begin life over in some way. With
the woman it was usually by finding
another husband, and with the man by
finding another wife. Mr.. Warne,
however, has succeeded in breaking up
this practice to great degree, and few
cases now happen.
The Chilkats reckon their wealth in
blankets, and wealthy man will often
accumulate as many as thousand
blankets. To add to their stock OF
blankets through life they would un.
dergo any hardship, in many cases
actually starving themselves to add to
their accumulations.
The ordinary food eaten by the Chill
kats is fresh or dried salmon, but
when hungry they will often consume
large quantities Of lard and other fat
A storekeeper in Juneau tells OF one
able-bodied Chilkat who came into hi'
store and purchased four-quart tir
of hog lard and cottonseed oil com
bined, and ate every drop of it before
leaving the store.
One Of their greatest delicacies il
what is known as the salmon berry,
fruit salmon-red in color and shaped
like blackberries. This fruit has ,
musky and at the same time unpleas
ant flavor for white people, but tn
Chilkats call them their greatest relish
They eat large quantities of them il
on oil, the preparation of which, to sa.
the least, is peculiar.
In making this oil the women gathe
up all the salmon heads and bury then
underneath the ground, where they
leave them for several days, until the,
become very odoriferious and "ripe.
Then they dig the fish heads up, plac
them in an old boat and throw red-ho
stones among them to try out the oil
After the stones cool the Chilka
women get into the boat and squeez
out the oil from the fish heads b.
tramping and stamping upon then
with their bare feet. The oil is the
dipped up, and, being poured over tn
salmon berries, nakes-to the Chilkat
an appetizing dish, which they par
take of with great and evident relish
1t is not likely that any OF the ten
derfeet iourneying up into the gol
diggings OF the Klondike will stop a
any Chilkat public houses on the wa
for dish of salmon berries dressed i
oil.
The Chilkats are rapidly laying asid
their old customs and habits, an
many of them are becoming Christian
lied. We're it not for the infiuenc
held among them by o race of higf