The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-10-16
NEW TRIBE OF INDIANS FOUND.
staIwart Race of Men Inhabiting King
Island.

Frederick Walker, Joseph Schomanof
and James Aiken I'VE just returned
to San Francisco via Seattle from a
cruise of adventure and discovery
among the waters of the northern ter
ritory. They tell of a remarkable tribe
of Indians whom they found inhabiting
an island near the 65th parallel OF lati-
Jude and south of Boring strait, called
Kings island. The Indians seemed to
belong to the Innuit, or Eskimo, family,
as they presented the same physical
characteristics of these people. they be-
ing large. the men generally over s feet,
with small black eyes. high cheek bones,
yellow skin, brown hair and full brown
boards half conceallng thick lips. In
the corners of the lower lips of many
of the men holes had been punched in
which pendant ornaments were worn.
The people appeared docile and agree
able and when the strangers went
among them they offered them no harm.
A surprising feature of the tribe was
the stature and strength Of the women.
They were equally as tall, IL not taller.
than the men and fully as stout as their
lords. They did not display the barbar-
Gus ornament upon their faces with
which the men increase the esteem in
which they hold one another, and they
were much better looking than the
males. Their strength of body was
wonderful. One of these women, 1t is
related. carried of in her birch-bark
canoe an S00-pound stone for use as an
anchor to the whaler's boat. When 1t
reached the vessels deck 1t required
two men to lift u. and they were
strong men, too, though the woman had
not found the moving OF 1t beyond her
powers. One woman, IL Is stated. lifted
a box containing $50 pounds of lead and
carried II upon her shoulders. When
food is scarce they will frequently trav-
el 30 or 40 miles without eating. going
over the country on the mainland In
search Of the wherewithal to sustain
life. Both men md women appear to
be endowed with remarkable vigor and
power. They are highly athletic and
a outrun and outjump any persons OF
any other race pitted against them.
This physical vigor is extraordinary
to be produced by the kind of food they
consume. They live on carrion Ash and
seal oil. The fish. generally the salmon.
are caught in the fall n buried in
the ground intact. without the entrails
being removed. They are so kept
throughout the winter. while the Their
mometer ms from 30 to 40 degrees
below zero, and they are dug up as con-
sumption requires. When they are
brought to the air they v the ap-
pearance of sound fish. but their stencil
Is unbearable to the civilized nose.
The island is a great mass of black
rock. basaltic in texture about a mite
long n two-thirds of a mile wide.
with perpendicular cliffs 1000 feet high
frowning upon the ocean on three sides.
On the south this wall has fallen and a
steep rift of a canyon filled with rocks
and snow. cuts up from the waters
edge to the top OF the island. At the
lower end Of this ravine and in the tall
side OF the basalt there is a cave worn
Into the rock by the restless action Of
the waves. The ocean surf roars N
splashes at its mouth, and at high tide
that mouth is nearly closed by the sea-
But in the rear of the cave there is a
great filing OF bank of perpetual snow.
How IL gets there Is q question. unless