The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-01-28

side In Apparent Contestmens.
"The strangest island in the world"
said Captain M. ]. Healy of the United
States steamer Bear in the Occidental
hotel sis Kings island. 1880 miles
northwest of here and 100 miles off the
coast of Siberia.
''It lies almost in the middle of Be-
ring strait. almost equidistant from the
Asiatic and American shores. 1t is in
habited by 1876 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
''The island is little more than rock
rising out Of the storm tossed waters of
the ever turbulent strait. 1t is about
mile long and half mile wide, and it's
sides are SO precipitous 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 funnellike hole, reach
ing into the island and out at the top at
an angle approximating so degrees. The
hole is $50 feet deep, and during stormy
weather tie natives let down rope and
drag up the seals, walruses and other
sea animals which they have taken.
at 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
ess. 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 boats will
put off 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 haye scooped out
queer receptacles on both sides of the
entrance on the ledge. These are so cool
that they are natural refrigerators, and
in these they store the bodies Of the ami
mails for future use. There are about
20 Of these receptacles or natural re-
frigerators, and there is nearly always
a supply of meat in them, so that the
chances of starving at any time are COM
paratively scarce.
'On the right side of the island above
is the village of the Indians. 1t is
queer town, whose miniature houses are
made of walrus skins, stretched ON light
frames. The ground is so rough that the
little skin abodes 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 beehives.
From the tossing waves where the
bear lay the catacomblike refrigerators
and the village presented novel APP
pearance.
1.-THE island, although sort Of re-
public in it's government, is ruled by a
few medicine men, each Of different de-
grees Of Importance. The medicine
men hold their positions by their re-
markable feats Of legerdemain. Many
people have gone to see Hermann and
Blitz also in his lifetime and have
wondered at the feats they have seen
them perform. But undertake to say
that none of these professors of the black
art has performed more marvellous
things than have seen these barbarian
medicine men do there.
"For instance, l have seen one of
these medicine men take man and lay
him on table and take a big knife and
stick it right into him to the handle.
The man would writhe, turn pale, gasp
and die. Then the medicine man would
withdraw the knife, 90 through a few
incantations, tumble over the victim,
and in q moment he would get up and
60 about, sound as ever.
81 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 their
medicine man.
"But the strangest thing saw hap
pened on board my ship one day. There
were about 100 Of these natives aboard.
One of the natives, a girl, fell down.
with hemorrhage 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 l
thought that she would die there, so
rushed man off to get DR.. Yeamans,
the Bears surgeon.
Before the doctor could get there
the chief medicine man rushed out, and,
going to the girl, he blew first into one
ear and then into the other, and then
tapped her on the chin, and she got up
and was all right again, and she began
dancing around on the ship as healthy
and active as though there had never
been the least thing the matter with
her. And mark you, this wasn't two
minutes from the time she had hemor-
rhages. / never saw anything SO mar
velous in my life. There was all the
blood before me on the ship too.
1.-The strange rock in the sea which is
the abode Of these natives is about 30
miles from Fort Clarence. relieved