The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-08-05
LEGENDS OF Mt. wRANGEL..
Tales Indians Tell of the Mountain
OF NaysterN.
From the New York sun.

| hight, an uneXplored peak From ths
time when Baron Wrangel sighted the
smoke-capped crown Of the Volcano ana
gave it his name down 10 the present many
white men have viewed the summit from
distance, and some few have tried to
| attain the mountain and ali but persisted
in the attempt None mas ever set foot
upon even the lowest slope Of the vast &c
clivity which stretches up into the clouds
ana is not improbably the highest noun
| tain on this continent. Ia the language
of the Taral Indians who live in the near
est habitable part of Alaska there is an
ancient word for the peak which is said
| 10 mean Mountain of Mystery" and they
| have invested it with weird terrors, which
make of it veritable Broken of the
| North.
| 1t is probable that the superstitious awe
! In which the mountain is held by the In
| dams is, like most other Alaskan supersti-
! tons, of ancient origin but it has not de-
! creased with the passaEe % the yclcs.
| The latest travellers in thar region. r. S.
| Condor and George Dive'b ISIS who en- May
| 5 went up the Kotsina river and ascendel
| mountain just across a narrow valley
| from the mysterious volcano and much
| nearer 10 it than any point which other
| white men had ever attained before. were
| warned by the friendly Taras, whom they
| had left fifty miles away, that If they at
| tempted TO approach the Mountain of
! Mystery they would be devoured by fearful
monsters which guarded it from intru-
! sion by human beings.
! Many years ago" said they. when our
| fathers fathers were little children a par
| ty of hunters of our tribe went to the
mountain in search of game for on the
| further slope there is a wonderful green
| ab n a Of tvp
our tribe has known for many centuries.
| But the party never came back nor was
any trace of them found, and ii was then
known that they had been de
voured by the monstrous fire
| breathing beasts that inhabit the
Since then a few of the bravest hunters
| of the tribe have made their way to The
mountain, but all have persisted there"
! Undaunted by this relation the two
| Americans kept on their way and had
! good view of the mountain which they
saw to be quite barren OF vegetation, even
| the valley below it being desolate and
| dead, a drear stretch of solidihed lava
! Down on the slope were thirteen vent
holes, which cast up steaming water to
a height of several hundred feet in regu-
| lar pulsations These geysers, for such
| they seemed to be, may wen be proto-
| types of the monsters of Indian legend
| On their return, which was FASTENED be
| cause of lack of food, the explorers met
| other Indians who received with open
! doubt the account of the nature of the
| mountain, but declined to hold much dis
! CussIon of the matter, alleging that Il
| was dangerous even to talk about that
dread region. Despite this cautious spirit
| the Indian tongue has lOOsened up q
! intervals and the Alaskan newspapers
| have printed from time to time bits of
| Indian folklore, among which are TO be
| found few curious legends of the Noun
| tain of mystery Presumably these exist
| to-day much as they were handed down
| from long ago, as the lore of aboriginal
| peoples is transmitted from generation 10
! generation with an accuracy which in
most cases would shame the printed page.
| one of the earliest Of these legends, and
the one, it would appear, to which Messrs.
Condor and Divelbss's Taral friends re
feTred is as follows:
In a year of great scarcity of food the
| fathers of the tribe remembered that there
| was a tradition to the effect that in case of
! famine when food was to be found no
| where the greatest hunters of the tribe
should go to the Mountain of Mystery and
| hunt on the further side, where lay a fair
| country rich in game but guarded by saw
age monsters and spirits of the waste,
| which must he avoided or overcome before
| the fertile region could be reached. Ac-
cordingly q dozen chosen hunters set forth
fully armed and equipped, bearing the
| blessings of the tribe. 1t was agreed that
when they reached the summit of the
mountain they were to make a signal for
which the tribe, on the nearest peak 10
which ii dared 60 would watch. On the
| third day, the time set for the arrival Of
the bold hunters on the peak, great cloud
| of black smoke was seen to rise from the
| summit of the volcano, followed by a stu
| pendous belch of flame, and the air was
filed with a dreadful roaring and the earth
trembled and shook so that many of the
| tribe, terrified out of their senses, rushed
| down the lookout mountain and, falling
over cliffs and into crevasses, were killed.
/ For three days the roaring and trembling
OF the ground continued, showing the
| wrath of the mountain spirits against the
| tribe which had impious.y attempted 10
| force way into the secret places. What
| horrible fate the hunters met could only
| be conjectured by their friends, for there
| was no sign or trace of them from that
| day forth.
All the tales of Mount Wrangel are Of
| this general tyre, but some go more into
| detail and of these the following is a good
| specimen. 1t was tod to a traveller
through an Interpreter by Tnral Indian
who had come down 10 the coast several
! years aEo:
In the days when my father was boy
| and just learning to cast spear there was
| a great witch doctor In the tribe named
| feared than The chief himself. For this
reason the chief was jealous OF him, and
when a sickness fell upon many OF the
| tribe he laid he blame of it upon the witch
| doctor and banished him to the smoking
mountain 10 bring back from the devils
| and spirits that guard II a cure for the
sickness. SO Tas-kah-yeh went forth de-
! Glazing that by his mysterious powers he
! would come back unframed and with
/ stores Of wisdom, and would learn the fate
Of those Of tho tribe who many years be-
| fore had gone 20 the mountain for game
ana never returned. With him went his pu-
| pill, Sha- koo, who DESIRE knowledge great
! iy that he might IN time succeed to the
! honors Of his master. 1t was arranged that
| he should stand On he summit Of a noun
tain near the Mountain of Mystery and
| there watch his master make the ascent
| II the evil SPLITS prevail over me-
| said Tas kah-y eh 10 him, do you return
| TO the tribe and tell them he things which
you have seen for warning TO others who