The Nome nugget., 1902-01-29
Siberian Exiles Were Glad to Leave
 lnhospitable Shores.
Reflections pOa the Morals and Customs of the Siberian katives-Ihey Live Strenuous Ives and Hale Ideas Of Better Things end Conceptions of Higher
 State, Enough Primitive People.

9aSSlng OuL DeLWect tuc po!u bii' trowning outer capss of St. Lawreac' bay walked aft on her deck behiHt the wheelnOuse to shout ;snd wait good byes to the many canoes which ha( sowcd out with Us this lar. There thcl let go, one after another. to disperse tt aheir several villages. laddling anc sailing away with many loud an0 cheer ing 'ta-home, ta-home" (guod-bye). staid to watch them out of sight in the twilight gloom of the Arctic summer ai .ht The sun had just gone down to h short rest under hi, high and spen- did canopy, throwing still a few en chanting beams on some distant snow capped mountain peaks, which showed up like gold and silver embroideries on the heavy curtains of crimson folds. The sea was calm; the chatterng in the home eward-bound canoes could be plainly heard over the water. gray and purple light was lying over the slowly receding shores, softening the harsh lines of their contour and lend- ing them that weird and mysterious look, 50 full of warnings and allur- ments to the adventurous stranger. The beauty and stiffness of the night took possession of me and l sat down and fell to musIng.
 Just one year ago we had entered that nearly unknown shore on mission of peace and good will, full of eager ness and curiosity, and here today we were leaving again, after hard and weary struggles to gain footing In the land, practically drtven flOm it, All though it's coast nh4b.iants had been cpr'a .rioated thrar-A ipng years ln- rer,o,..,p and traffic with .ain-oeeklng trader, and h&d adopted many modern aud new-iangIed notionS and wees; m t, vast interior We had found d people living in nearly biblical slmpllclty. Sell-suificient. these nomadS had evolved their own morals, customs and laws, and whensoever contentious strltes aud feuds still abound in their strenuous lives, and they have ideas Of better things and conceptions of d higher state; they had clearly ex- pressed thelr wish to be left alone, to find and reach these in their own way. They had not brooked the meddlesome interference oi strangers. Like all peo- ple who for ages have lived and been reared in isolation from the world, they do not need the world and cannot, nor do they care, to grasp the thought that the world may have need Of them and their land; and it will take blood and iron to teach them, like others be- fore them, that in these quick times a people cannot occupy any part of the world without being or becoming a part of the world. My thoughts wandered back to the time when, now many years ago, we had first come among the Northern Alaska Eskimo There we had found an equally as simple a people, but still in all their circumstances, thelr morals, moues and
 
 as ii ,oa should compare the simplicit! of rlpe old age with the simplicity ol childhood.
 We had landed at Point Barrow, a party of ten of us, all young and thouy yhtless boys. full of iun, force and ambition, and the natives had fecei'eo us with amused good nature. The ouietnes, and order in their villages vivldly impressed me. They were not ; dull peup.e: on the contrary, they were exceptionally bright, all of them. Slill there they were, living together, clos' upon thousand men, wOmen and chll dren, in undi,turbed harmony, Tn pt ac' and contt nlment. There was no steal ing or thoughts of stealing among them, a though some had plenty ant others lived III apparent poverty. Th' old men and the men who by superlo prowess and smartness had accumu lated riches were respectfully looked up to, but there was no bossing, n' ordering around. Everything seeme' to move in prescribed and accepted ways. There was law and order with Tout the machinery of law. Amicab. rivalry to excel in hunting, wrestling and other sports and games existed il plenty, and raillery and banter abound ed amongst them, but there was neve any display of passions nor any loss |. +eo.pers. Iu fact, It was like tn ultima thule oi the old poets, and struck me like the millennium as often painted by fantastic writers, bu which on ths earth can only mean n,soluie cessation ol growth.
 When we came anioug them the iou wears of intercourse with trading ve' sells had left them still unaffected. Tn new goods left at their doors had hee adopted and adapted into their i've without in the least interfering wil their own time-honored standards. W