The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-11
relatives and does much for the healtt of the tribes

ALAA A(L V 4AAAAtL
 relatives and does much for the health
 of the tribes.
 I am told there Is certain caste, or
 rank, in the families so subdivded. Some branches are much more aristocratic
 than others, and woman who marries
 beneath her is considered a disgrace to her family. She is more despised than an English duchess who marries shopkeep- CT, and her relatives will not chip in for
 as costly a burial as though she had
 married in her own class. A daughter of
 one of the Brown Bear divisions would be
 disgraced by a marriage with a son of I the Mouse or the Snail, and the Crows and Eagles at the top of the genealogi-
 cal tree can only marry one another. i Another curious thing in these days 1 of the new woman and woman suffrage, l is the high position that woman has always held among these Indians. She rules the family. No bargain is made, no journey undertaken, nor any impor- tant thing done without consulting the woman. The emblem of the wife is at i the very top of the genealogical pole, and | the totem of the husband comes lower
 down. Any Indian, on seeing totem pole can tell the family of the mother | diu hDOWS lIldl It IuieS lHC lOboCs II
 he belongs to the same family he is sure
 to be welcome, but otherwise he thinks a | while before he risks stopping.
 1 I am told that most of these Indian l families were founded by women The Bear family started with a chiefs daugh- ter, who was out one day with some oth- CT squaws picking strawberries. A great bear came up and all of the girls but the chiefs daughter ran away, but she put her hands on her hips and laughed at him. Thereupon the bear ran after the other maidens and killed them. He fell in love with the girl who had scorned him and made her his wife. The fruit of the union was girl who was half girl and half bear and she became the ma- ternal ancestor of all the natives who now belong to the Bear totem. Another
 story tells how a family originated in a female grizzly bear and third of how woman founded the tribe of Wood worms. Indeed, the customs, myths and folklore of these Alaskan Indians are such that our government should put it's scientists to work gathering 9 record of them be- fore it is too late. We need some such work in Alaska as Frank Cushing did among the Zunis, and James Mooney is now doing among some of the Indian tribes of the west! What we have con- corning the native of Alaska comes largely from missionaries, and from Ivan Petroff, who wrote a great part of the census of 1SS0 A book has been recently published by MT. Livingston F. Jones, who lived for 20 years among the Thlingets and got his information con corning them at first-hand. His story is
 interesting. It gives legends of the Crow, Deer and other families, and includes legends of many of the tribes. He says that the Whale family originated from an Indian boy who amused himself by carving images of whales out of cedar and sailing them upon the water One day one of his cedar whales expanded before his eyes and turned into real live whale, which swan away. From this fact his parents knew he would become a great chief, and he did not disappoint them, for he originated the Whale tribe, branch es of which are scattered throughout southeastern Alaska.
 The Thlngets have legends which give the origin of man and tell how the sun, moon and stars came to be. They have a story of the flood, during which they say all the men and animals were de- stroyed, with the exception of a raven. This raven, according to the Haida tra- tlition was a sort of a witch bird. He
 
 feathers off or on like a garment. When the flood had gone down, he looked about for mate of his own kind, but could find none. At last he took a cocklesheli from the beach and called it his wife. By and by in the shell he heard a faint cry like that of baby. The noise grew louder and louder. and at last little female child came out of the she'll This child married the raven and from the two olI of ho TpAi rf fbia mart If the world, and so the country was peo- pied.
 The raven is held sacred among the Thlingets, and in the past he was consid- cred a god. He was known as Yehl, the creator of the world He was the bene- factor Of mankind and enjoyed the great est respect. His power was unlimited. He put the sun, moon and stars in their places, and from him came man, animals and plants When he was born the world was dark and with him came light. All this was believed before the Christian missionaries began to work in Alaska. To- day the Indians are almost all Christians Most of them are churchgoers and many Of them have high ideals of the Christian life There are some preachers among them and religion Is generally taught in the schools.
 
 Few people realize the change that has been brought about among these h. dfans through the work of the mission aries and the bringing in of our civiliza- ti7n. Fathre Duncan who Christianized the Metlakahtlans, tells me that canni- balsm was common among the Indians along the coast of British Columbia, and be describes certain cannibal feasts which he saw. Slavery existed among the Thllngets at the time we took possession of tho territory, and Ivan Petroff who in 1880 made a report for the govern
 ment as to the condition of these Indians, says that able-bodied slaves were slaugh- tered on festive occasions, and that 1t was not uncommon for rich man or chief to have slaves killed and buried with him at the time of his death. in order that he might have servants in the spirit land. There are Indians living in Alaska to- day who were slaves in their youth. and | it is said their children are looked down ,,non by the families which have always been free. The slaves were of two classes | those who had been captured in war l fare and those who were born into bond- age. The children of slaves became slaves in their turn. They waited upon their masters. They did all sorts of low work and were cruelty treated. They were sac rificed upon great occasions, such as the | building of house or some unusual feast and not infrequently to show the power and richness of the owner in that ne could afford to destroy such valuapie l property.
 | Refore the missionaries came polyg- l amy prevailed among the Indians. To- l day marriages are usually held in the l churches and the ceremony is Christ