The Alaska daily empire., 1915-02-04


 whne relusing to delay hie canoe trip never ce0sed Co er'n most amlcably.
 Uad8co0roged by my ungrMtill. visit to Chief Anthlosh cast about ', for another Indian yersed in the lore ;, of his tribe.
 asked Mr. Fox merchant with whom most Of che Indians dealt if he could sci to sec lhe chief whom b SAW ono day, in the store to talk
 to me through him He advised mo not to try t. as chioi Anthlosh was difficult to stop il once started talk
 ing But he suggested thnt try Jim- mie Jack-uow known as Jimmie gox, having adopted Mir FoX's name As | the story shows tho childiikeneaa of ! the modern Indian. ! VIII digreas long l enough to tell t.
 It seems there were two Indians named Jimmie Jack. The one to whom the merchant referred me is a good Indian and proud ofiti while the other Jimmie Jack sometimes forgets l himself and drinks 0re.water and beats bis wife. The good Jimmie Jack has | become Chrlstianized. has wife and soveral children, and makes an honest .llving fishing. He became annoyed atl 1 the other Jimmie Jacks sins being laid at his door The minister had taken I him to task for deeds Of which he was mot guilty Jimmie told him he want ed to change his name to Jimmie Fox.
 "But Mr. Fox may not like you toI take his name, said the minister
 q ask him." said Jimmie Jack com hdenlly
 Mir Fox gave his consent and mol moro does Jimmie Fox hang his head in shame over the misdeoda of the. other Jimmie
 Mir. Fox's son offered to send Jimmie Fox to me the very next time hel should come in tho store So, next day Jimmie put In his appearance to ! { be Interviewed
 People in general say that "Taku' means Hell" on account of the bit- terly cold win that blows over the frozen glaciers, from the North. But Jimmie Fox told @ diaoront tale. HoI said that generations ago (Jimmiel said Long long 'go bout 200 years)I there lived 9 chief and Indians he had captured on the TalW River-at that time un.named. Implements and guns were scare. in some way this chief succeeded in getting hatchet or knife It may have been from trad CT to whom he gave valuable iurs for in their ignorance, they were often robbed At any rate this hatchet was highly prized One day the chief was leaning over the river side and acci. dentally dropped the valuable hatchetl Into Che water. In his grief at his loss he exclaimed In Indian. languages:
 Prom now on my name Is TaSu- teen
 From that time the river was called Taku meaning obscure or covered. As Jimmie Fox explained it to me the chief could not see the hatchet after he dropped it as 1t was covered by lhe water
 The titles of Chief and Takuteeu have descended from generation to generation. and today there is 9 Ta- kuteen who claims the Taku River The titles remain in tho family it is true but they have Che distinction of being conferred upon tho successor during tho lifetime of the reigning Chief. or Tahuteen, as the case may be. And they bear the better distinc- tion of being given only Co good ln- dians. This custom is carried to tho extent of sometimes waiting for a child, or young boy to fully develop in case the chief thinks no man of the family good enough for the title,
 Jimmie Fox. who is a nephew of An- othlosh, the chief of the Talgu tribe on Douglas Island. has been selected by him as his successor. Jimmie, who has become Christianized says he does not believe In the old ways, but wants Co please his old uncle. It may be that this Kind consideration for one who has not come to see things as he does, has won Jimmie this honor for now it is littlezmore than a title.
 ] talked with two Indian women, one of whom owned store In the Indian village. They were retcent but when ! spoke of my work on the Northwest Scripps papers they became very friendly for they were educated to some extent and had read my writ ings
 Both wore neat fine looking women, and the one who did not own Che store said she was high cast. She showed it in sweet quiet reserve that is inc descrlbable.
 She told me many of the ways of the tribes and compared the naming of them to our Fraternal Societies. For example Takp and Sitka are head names, and each has within its juris. diction tribes named Wolf, Crow etc. The tribes intermarry but the chil. dren belong to the tribe of the mother , When I asked the reason she quietly [ assured me that motherhood gained . this privilege.
 She also told mo chat marriage on. opponents were contracted between infants and children by the parents. I asked # they still follow that GUS. tom and she said:
 Yes but moi as much. don't be. lieye that way any more Now, my sixteen-yearold boy was to marry my ( uncle's girl. but say to him "Sbe { nice girl. If you Ike her marry Ifl you not like her you don't have to. poo
 Tho picture of the little house.