The Washington bee., 1899-05-06
THE YUKON INDIANS.
IN MANY WAYS THEY REMIND ONE OF
THE SOUTHERN NEGRO.

They Are Good-Natured and Patient in
Their Environment-Not Particular as to
the Condition of Their Food and Take
Starving a Matter of Fact.
The Indians on the Yukon are good
natured and harmless. In many ways
! they remind one of the southern negro.
They sing my Girls a High Born
Lady, and all the latest airs. 1t is said
that the British drumbeat sounds
around the world, but nowadays popu-
lar songs do the same thing, and in a
much more thorough way. At Guam,
our new possession in the Ladrones, the
newspapers tell me the natives sing
"Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-aye," and this air
is often heard along the Yukon. No
doubt it has penetrated to Timbuctoo
and the sacred city of Thibet. Judging
from the Yukon, native music seems to
be dying out. The catchy airs of the
music hall are supplying world music.
The Indians have keen ears, though
their voices can hardly be called melo-
dious. Some of them will catch an air
after hearing it once, and reproduce it
correctly by humming or on the mouth
organ. / never heard an Indian whistle
or sing at the full extent of his lungs,
though likely they do both.
Give an Indian a mouth organ, Juice
harp" as Huckleberry Firms negro had
it, or an accordion, and you will insure
his happiness, no matter if he is cold
or starving. The Indian is as yet ig-
norant of the banjo but when he is
once introduced to it / think it will be
hts favorite instrument, as it is with his
sable brother. 1t must be borne in
mind that / am speaking of the interior
Indians. The coast Indians are a diff
ferent breed. They are fighters and
quarrelsome, robbing the white man by
exorbitant packing charges now that
they have learned it isn't wise to do
the thing by force of arms
1t was these Indians who, by right of
their possession Of the passes made the
interior an unknown country for so
long TO the white man. Up to a recent
date they effectually monopolized the
trade of the Yukon. They even check
mated the Hudson Bay Company when
it attempted to gain an entrance into
the country from the east, capturing
and burning the post established at
Fort Selkirk in 1852. These Indians are
powerfully built, and twelve-year-old
girl will trudge along with as heavy a
pack as the average white man can car
ry. while their skookum packers carry
as much as horse.
Indians are not particular about the
condition of their food, and will 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 will 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 depredations. Wanting to dis
pose of the carcasses of the wolves we
killed below Selkirk, | asked the In
dians if they could use them. They said
no. l suggested feeding them to the
dogs, and they shook their heads again.
Dog no muck muck wolf" they said.
fodder way, wolf muck muck dog"
When the time comes for starving.
the Indian takes it as a matter of fact,
and contentedly. Only once in while
is there a weak-livered one who cries
and says: Muck muck all gone. 'Fraid
poor Indian will die" They peel the
bark from pine and even popple trees
and eat the softer inner portion. The
pine bark is full Of rosin and nasty
stuff, and there is certainly no nutri-
ment in it. 1t serves, however, to fill |
the stomach and lessen the gnawing at |
the inwards. One can travel for miles |
along the Yukon and never be out of |
sight of peeled trees, marked with the |
characteristic arrow-shapped blaze. |
The fact signifies the frequency of |
periods of starvation, for there are only |
a few hundred Indians in all on the |
whole length of the upper river.