The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1897-10-08
THE ALASKAN NATIVES.
A RACE NEITHER INDIANS NOR rs.
eUlMAUS, BUT MoNCoLlANs.

-Cusl uobbsrIes Of the Helpless
Thsir Great Iondnoss Eor oily Food.
White people going into Alaska are
inclined 10 regard tho aboriginal iu-
habilauts as a branch Of the great race
OF American indians; yet 10 the nn.
thrOpolonst they are an absolute aud
distinct race, not having a drop Of the
blood Of the American race ia their
veins, unless il has come from cross
breeding with the red Indians further
south.
The inhabitants Of Southeastern
Alaska and the adjacent British pos
sessions are purely Monaghan, and
without doubt come from japanese
origin. How they came 20 bo in
America is a question that will proba-
bly, never bo satisfactorily answered.
These people resemble the japanese
moro 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 aud
walrus ivory have q decidedly Mongo-
liam character and bent. These PEG,
pie are found along the coast and 10
quite an extent inland from south Of
Sitka to north of the Yukon, where
they become a mixed race, having to a
large extent in the Yukon country mixed
with the Esquimaus, producing a race
that is neither Esquimau, Aleut nor
Alaskan in the true sense Of the terms.
These people can DO seen in their
complete purity Of blood at Chilkat,
on Portage Bay, Lyon Canal, about
ninety miles north of Juneau. Here
are situated the two missions Of the
Presbyterian Board of Home Missions,
known as Haines and Chilkatmissions,
which are managed by the Rev. Will
lam w. Warne, who is now in the East,
but who will return TO Chilkat this
fall.
At Chilkat there are no mixed
bloods, and the people there, were it
not for their dress aud 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
go 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 fetch
ism as their religion. Their habita-
tons were little better than pigstys,
and often as high as twenty adults
would live in a hut not more than ten
feet square, with a whole regiment of
dogs thrown in. Since the mission
has been established, however, they
have learned to build better habita-
tions, many of them learning mechan-
zeal 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
looting were taken by the robbed as a
matter of course, as it was the custom
and was expected. Whenever a 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 a single blanket,
not piece of dried salmon, which is
their bread and meat, but would striy
her of everything. When the wife
died her relatives would treat the sur
viying husband in the same way, and
in both cases the robbed would have
to 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 W
this practice to a great degree, and few
cases now happen.
The Chilkats reckon their wealth il
blankets, and a wealthy man will Otter
accumulate as many as q Thousand
blankets. To add to their stock o
blankets through life they would un
dergo any hardship, in many oase
actually starving themselves to add t,
their accumulations.
The ordinary food eaten by the Chill
kats is fresh or dried salmon, bu
when hungry they will often consum
large quantities of lard and other fat
A storekeeper in Juneau tells of ON
able bodied Chilkat who came into hi
store and purchased a four-quart til
of hog lard aud cottonseed oil com
bined, and ate every drop of it befor
leaving the store.
One of their greatest delicacies j
what is known as the salmon berry,
fruit salmon-red in color and shape
like blackberries. This fruit has
musky and at the same time unpleai
ant flavor for white people, but til