The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1910-08-03
census IN FAR AWAY ALASKA
MEASURE TIME BY SNOW AND
e1rFP DO INDIANS OF NORTH.
Younger Generation DESERVING Lazy,
Dirty Habits. The Taking of
the Census There.

the Census There.
WASHINGTON, d. C.-'Leather-
-.ocEing" is verified and Fenimore
rooner is indicated, and their sub
.ton+iatiOn comes, as it should,
though the Census Bureau. 1t is
trom taraway Alaska, but it is Off
oio1 This substantiation is found
u q rsDort from Chief Census Agent
Mckenzie telling all about the TAX
mo of the census in the Fairbanks
district.
Mr.. Mckenzie gives assurance that
the Indians do measure time by the
~snows" and suns" and distances
nv "s1peus." Indeed, he asserts that
+bav have no other standards of time
ar of measurement, and in relating
the fact he cites an instance which
throws no little light on the diff
crI+ies of enumerating the red men.
only the very young children,
who have been educated in the gov
eminent schools" he says, have any
knowledge of their ages .or births,
and the agents were instructed to
usn the age and birth months as
nearly as talk and observation would
seem correct Time with them is
measured by suns and SHOWS, and
distances by sleeps. Marriages, sep
aratiOns, births and deaths are all
based upon such calculations, and
we were obliged to base our infor-
nation in the same way"
He then gives this instance:
No Need of Reno.
can Indian buck claimed to have
lived 200 SHOWS After much talk
and use of the sign language it was
determined that he was about 80
years old. He was found to have
been 20 SHOWS old when he got first
woman; to have kept her four
SHOWS, when she got away that he
got more woman and keep her five
SHOWS and she die that he got no
woman for 20 SHOWS more and
finally that he got young chicken
and keep all time ever since, now,
on, 20 or 81 SHOWS.
That there were other difficulties
in getting the facts regarding the
aborgiines is indicated by the follow
ing from the report:
Many of the Indians know a suffi-
Gent number of English words to
do business with a white man, but
when it was determined that they
were to be counted they had a facul-
#ty for closing their mouths and
knowing nothing until an interpre-
ter impressed upon them the fact
sthat the agent came from the Great
White Father at Washington.
Regarding the habits and charac-
ter of the people he says:
Lazy and Dirty.
AS a class they are indolent, lazy
and dirty, although in recent years
the teachers have taught the younger
z ones that dirt has been the cause of
much OF their illness, and the present
generation are keeping themselves
healthier by bathing. Their homes
are filthy as a rule, and conducive
10 the diseases with which the In
dlans are most afflicted.
They spend their winters in hunt
Ing and their summers in fishing.
Furs secured, hides of moose and
caribou are brought to the traders
ana exchanged for food and cloth
ing but seldom for money. Out of
these hides they also make mecca
SINS, gloves, mittens and other Gu
IIoS which they trade in the same
way. The fish caught in the sum-
4er are dried and used for food for
themselves and their dogs during the
winter.
The Indians have no knowledge
Vi their tribal of clan names, and
are always called by their village Or
ioCailJy name. The Indians in the
s ,llcIhlty Of Chandler river are called
Cnandler' Indians. The same is
S uue OF the Cinema, Salcha, Tanana,
"aNsheid, Circle tribes, etc. The
Missionaries and the bureau of edu-
tbe4 nave determined, however,
tual all Of the Indians in the in
T tS.lOr OF Alaska are Athabascan-
o atf"a.IIoAohotana, with the exception
VI, vi nose in the Koyakuk district,
a n,,'Cu are Athabascan~ Koyakohon-
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