The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-10-19

since the island has occupied so large a space in the eyes of the world Of the value of Sakhalin 10 the Russians, apart from strategical or political req sons, N. Labbe has this to say: ''Sak- halin is only a speck in the vast Asiatic possessions or Russia, where there are so many richer provinces more accessi- ble and less difficult to cOlOnize. Rus sia has much to initiate and accomplish in it's Asiatic empire. It will gain noth- ing by diffusing its efforts. Sakhalin is maintained at great cost; which will become more onerous in the future. Russians never speak of Sak- halin except in terms of vague horror. %
 Of the Russian officials stationed on the island, the author says that they have two great defects-love of liquor and of cards. Their gambling debts assume large proportions. German and Russian commercial houses at Vladi- vostok lend willingly to these gentry, taking advantage of their indebtedness, which can never be liquidated, to wiring valuable concessions from them. AL though NJ. Labbe does not say it in so many words, he leaves it to be in- ferred that the administration of the island is utterly rotten and corrupt,
 There are two tribes of aborigines, restricted in numbers, living on Sak- halin. The .Guiliaks, who occupy the northern, and the Amos, to whom is reserved the southern end. The Guil- iaks are supposed to have migrated F,.o,,, +I,a 1,oIIo1y Nf tho ,111Ir. bItf fheiIS habitations, tools and customs suggest the extreme northern portion of the American continent as their place of origin. The Guiliaks being brought more in contact with Russian cOnvicts than the Amos, are very much more deteriorated and corrupt than the lat ter who are more in touch with the Japanese. The Guiliaks always speak with terror of their first acquaintance with the Russians. They regard them as savages and monsters.
 A Guiliak village rarely consists of more than six houses. When a white man approaches one of them he is greeted with the furious barking of dogs. If they happen not to be tethered Or under control of a native, he will be attacked and devoured. These animals are always rendered furious by the scent of a white man, whose odor they have never been able to endure. The wealth of Guiliak consists mainly in the number of dogs he owns. These animals constitute the currency of the people; they supply the place of coin. Wives are purchased in dogs; the price varying from one to ten, accord ing to the youth and comliness of the woman. The Guiliaks are of an ugly type; high cheek bones, round head, flat faces and large ears without lobes. Their color is a yellow brown. They are small-tbe men with little beard broad shoulders, short legs and an inn mense mouth. They are very dirty, the men never washing themselves except in winter, and then with seal grease. For a woman to wash herself is con- sidered an unpardonable sin.
 Each village is usually made up of members of the same family A Guil- iak comes into the world with so many fathers and mothers that is it difficult for a stranger to determine his actual percentage. A child calls 'ytk' not only his proper father, but the latter's brothers and first cousins, and ''ymk' his mother and her sisters and first cousins. Marriage between blood rela- tions is forbidden. When a child is born it receives a name. If through carelessness it is that of a person still living, both, it is supposed, will die within year The names of the male oh 'ldren are significative of strength, courage or intelligence; those of the females relate to some incident of the moment. M. Labbe tells of one who was named "Incendiary," because a fire was raging at the moment she was born. Another was called Abundance of Fish," because her birth was coin- cident with phenomenal run of fish. Brothers and sisters are allowed to play together until they reach a certain age when they are seperated and not per- mitted even to speak to each other ex- cept with averted eyes. The boys are taught to fish and hunt; the girls are instructed in household duties.
 The Guiliaks are polygamists, al- though polyandry prevails among them to a certain extent. M, Labbe tells of one who had two wives. He desired to sell the older of the two, although he acknowledged she was the more use. full to him. He had paid three dogs for this lady, with an annual tribute to her father of a single one. He had died. The husband thought that this released him from payment of the yearly tax, but the heirs of the deceas- ed disputed it. He was at the moment negotiating with them, offering to re- store the lady to her relatives, on the plea that a dog was of more use to him than wife.
 In marriage the consent of the girl is not required. She is purely an ob- ject of barter. A man cannot purchase a second wife without the acquiescence of the first one. Married women are usually well behaved. They perform all the hard labor. When they go to the woods to collect fuel they go in groups under the surveillance of a chaperon, an old man expert in the business. He, however, is sometimes foild1 The author tells of a youth named Drivin, very good looking and a glib talker. He was roue, the ter TOT of husbands and chaperons. He was asked why he did not marry
 What is the use," he replied, "to pay out dogs when all the women are chas- ing me-" When an elder brother ab-