Douglas Island news., 1900-05-30
INDIAN WAR DANCE.

INDIAN w An DANSIL.
 The habits and customs of strange people have a peculiar fascination for one who is interested in the study of humanity. As we look at the careless, dirty habits of dress always noticeable in the Alaska Indians; their stoical eX- pression and slanting foreheads, we are forced to believe that as a race they can only belong to the lower orders of hu- manity, and we expect their actions and expressions to bear us out in this belief. In this we are not deceived, for ] in most cases they are ignorant and su. perstitious; clinging to the habits of their forefathers despite the teachings of the schools and missionaries.
 The beautiful evolutions of the white mans dances, executed as they are de- signed to be, in perfect time with per feet music, are perhaps the highest point to which this form of amusement has attained. The other extreme is reached when we see the untutored savage, jumping, twisting, whirling, and even groveling in the dirt,to the accom- paniment of pounding sticks and dis cordant voices.
 Such an exhibition it was our privi- i lege to witness on last Thursday even, ing at an entertainment given by some of the Indians of Douglas Island.
 Drawn thither by the announcement of an exhibition of the Thlinget war dance and the Chimsyan dances, we, in company of about 50 or 60 other curious souls, gathered in an unfinished frame | building near Indian town on the even, ing in question. The room was lighted by two large oil lamps and furnished with rude wooden benches for seats, The audience comprised members of the Indian families from the old and :. decrepit to the infant in arms, about two score white men and three white women. No one was surprised because the performers did not arrive on time; that was to be expected, and the crowd waited patiently for their appearance
 Soon a sound of voices was heard chanting the tune that is sung by all the Alaska tribes; their languages may be entirely different, but they all sing the same tune. The time, or rather the lack of time, was kept by beating sticks together. The noises came near, CT and nearer until we could distin, guish the words that before had sound ed like college yell, but now were rec ognized as the language of the Thlin' gets. The door opened, and F or l5 Indian boys and girls filed in and took their positions on one side of the room They were followed by two clownish looking figures who were to be the stars in the performance that was to follow . The one was arrayed in large cape of some dark colored cloth, lined with bright red. He wore fur cap orna, mented with feathers ana rom WHICH an apron made of the skins of many squirrels extended down his back. His feet were bare and very dirty. The other, whose face was painted in spots of red and black, wore a tolerably clean sheet, a rope and feather wreath which fitted down over his shoulders, a pair of blue overalls and government socks.
 The music" started again and the pair began pounding their feet on the floor, seemingly regardless of time their only ambition being to break one of the boards by the vigor of their on slaught. As they warmed up short grunts of pleasure would escape them and sudden jerkings of their bodies