The Tomahawk. [volume] (White Earth, Becker County, Minn.) 1903-192?, 1917-01-11

n UPON the discovery Of the
northwest coast Of America,
w. the Tlingit We're found in pos
session of southeastern Alas
Ka, with the exception pOSs. Jly OF the
sOuthernmOSt portion of Prince OF
Wales island, which had been wrested
from them by invading Haida from
Masset on the Queen Charlotte islands
during the latter half of the eighteenth
century. From the testimony Of the
early explorers, this occupation seems
to have been of sufficient age to have
developed racial type, speaking the
same tongue, acknowledging estab-
lished laws, and bound by like con-
ventions, says an article by George IT,.
Emmons in the American Museum
Journal.
What knowledge we can gather OF
their origin and early life from their
family traditions, songs and geo.
graphical names, although Fragment
tary and vague, tells consistently of a
uniform northward migration by wa
ter, along the coast and through the in
land channels from the TSimshian pc
and Prince of Wales island,
which was constantly augmented by
parties of interior people descending
the greater rivers to the sea.
The social organization of the Tin
git is founded on matriarchy, or de-
scent through the mother, and is de-
pendent upon two parties, the mem
bers of each Of which may not marry
among themselves, but the two parties
and supplement each 9th
err upon the many ceremonial occasions
that mark their intercourse.
The two parties are subdivided into
existing families or clans,
founded on blood relationship and alb
solutely Independent in government,
succession, Inheritance and territory.
Within the family there is Il well-de-
fined aristocracy, wholly dependent
upon birth, from which the chiefs are
an intermediate class consist
ing of those who have forced them
selves to the front, through wealth,
poorer people. In earlier days there
were many slaves who had no recOg-
nized rights.
ChiIkat the Leading Tribe.
Geographically considered, there are
16 tribal divisions known as "kWans,"
4 contraction of ''ka'' (man) and "an"
Gland lived on or claimeD. or these
several tribes the Chilllat-kwan has
been the most prominent since our ac-
quaintance with Alaska. The relative
of a primitive people Is
by conditions of food supply
and other natural resources. The com
position of the Chilknt, at the
head of the inland channels cOntrOll-
ing the mountain passes to the intcri-
or, gave them the monopoly of the fur
trade of the upper Yukon valley, and
the placer copper fields of the White
river region. These products, unknown
to the coastal area, were economically
important in primitive days, and after
the advent of Europeans the increased
for furs, and their greater
value, made this trade even more lu-
crative. The T1ingit were canoe
people and might be termed sem-no-
madic, as they were on their hunting
grounds in the early spring and late
fall, while the summer season was
spent in the fishing camps by the sal
mon streams; but Notwithstanding
these long absences, they built sub
stantial villages, where, except for So
cial activities, they spent the winter in
comparative fdleness.
AS they looked to the sea for their
principal food supply, their villages
were directly on the shore just above
the high water-mark, in sheltered
c0ves, where they could launch their
at any stage Of the tide. But the Chill
kat, differing from all the other Thing
it, lived just beyond the open water
in a rather restricted territory on riv-
ers that were veritab!e stOrehouses Of
food, bringing an abundance of fish life
to their very doors and so permitting
them to remain at home throughout
the year, except when on their trading
trips to the interior, which gave their
habitations more permanent eharac-
ter, and contributed to tie, unity Of
communal life.
At the Mother Town.
OF the four principal old villages, all
If which have survived the ravages
IF constant strife and the still more
deadly by-products of civilization
liquor and disease-Kfukwan (mother
town. has always held the first place
in size. wealth and the character of
its people. 1t retained its supremacy
long after the more southern coast vii
lagos had gone to decay, as its more
interior and isolated position and the
Independent and aggressive reputation
OF its population kept white traders
Mt Il distance. Klukwar, lies ut the
edge of q Gradual slope IN thu north