Iron County register., 1898-12-29
YUKON MD1AEs


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The Indians In the Yukon are good
ratured and harmless In many ways
they enlind one of the southern negro.
They sing My Girls a High Born
Lady and all the latest Bowery airs.
Il iss said that the British drumbeat
sounds around the world, but nowadays
popular songs do the same thing, and
IN a much more thorough way. At
Guam, our new possession in the La
drones, the newspapers tell us the ma
fiyes sing ''Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-aye," and
this air is often heard along the Yu-
kon. no doubt it has penetrated to
Tim buctoo and the sacred city of Thi-
bet. Judging from the Yukon, native
music seems TO be dying out. The
catchy airs of the music hall are sup
plying a world music.
The Indians have keen ears, though
their voices can hardly be called me
8 lodious. Some of them will catch an
air after hearing it once, and repro
dnce it correctly by humming or on
the mouth organ. never heard an
Indian whistle or sing at the full ex-
tent of his lungs, though likely they
sdo both.
Give an Indian mouth cTgan, t'juice
harp" as HuclEleberry Finn's negro
had it, or an accordion, ami you will
insure his happiness, no matter If he
is cold or starving. The Indian is as
get ignorant of the banjo, but when
he. is once Introduced to it / think it
viii be his favorite instrument, as it
is with his sable brother. 1t must be
borne in mind that / am speaking of
the interior Indians. The coast In
dians are different breed. They are
fighters and quarrelsome, robbing the
white man by excrbitant packing
charges now that they have learned
that it isn't wise to do the thing by
force OF arms. It was these Indians
who, by right OF their possession of
the passes, made the interior an un-
known country for SO long TO the white
man. Up to a recent date they effectu-
ally monopolized the trade of the Yu-
kon. They even checkmafed the Hud-
son Bay company when it attempted
TO gain an entrance into the country
from the east, capturing and burning
the post established at Fort Sellxirk in
1852. These Indians are powerfully
built, and 12-year-old girl will trudge |
along with as heavy n pack as the aver
Ege white man can carry, while their |
skookum packers carry as much as
horse.
Indians are not particular about The |
condition of their food, aud VIII dispose |
of some pretty rank messes, but one
thing they will not eat is wolf. More |
surprising still, if true. is the reported |
fact that indian dogs win not eat wolf. |
These dogs rob white mems caches, |
tearing open sacks and gorging on |
raw -four and oatmeal, and nothing |
from soap To sulphur matches is safe |
from their depredati ions. Wanting to |
dispose of the carcasses of the wolves
we Killed below SelIkirk, l asked the |
Indians if they could use them. They /
said no. I suggested feeding to the
dogs, and they shook their heads again.
Dog no muck muck wolf" they said.
''Toed der way, wolf muck muck dog
= ssaTen the time comes fer starving,
the Indian takes it as matter of fact,
and contentedly. Only once in awhile
Is there a wealS-liyered one who cries
and says: Muck muck all gone.
'Fraid poor Indian viii die" They |
peel the bark from pine and even pop
pie trees and eat the softer inner por-
ton. The pine bark is full of resin and
nasty stuff, and there is eertainly no
nutFiment in it. 1t serves, however,
TO fill the stomach and lessen the gnawI
ing at the inwards. One can travel for
miles along the Yukon and never be
out of sightsof peeled trees, marked
with the Characteristic arrow-shapedl
blaze. The fact signifies the frequency ,
of periods ofsstarvatioR, for there are
1niy few hundred Indians in all on {
he whole lenet eff the upper river
Forest and Stream.