The Daily Alaska empire., 1936-05-30
Story Of MetIakatIa Riuals
 COIOrfuI TaIes of Pitcairn
 IsImnd; Early History Told

old copy of the Sitka Alaskan" from an old biography of Father William Duncan, from Alaska his tories of 40 years ago and from the records and documents of the Ter ritorial Legislature, the Territorial Museum and the United States Blu ! reau of Indian Affairs.
 Said the Encyclopedia Britain. mica: At Columbia, on the coast of the Pacific, a. practical mis- sionary genius, named William Dun can, has succeeded in civilizing body of Indians, degraded by can nibalism, and at his Metlakatla Mission, stands at the head of a community of some thousand per sons, which has a larger church than is to be found between there and San Francisco.
 Testimony to the value of the re- suits was borne in 1876, by Lord Duff ferin, then Governor General of Canada, who declared that he could lloil lly llliQ WOl0 OO CAR1OOo AiAA astonishment at what he witnessed"
 No Cannibalism
 This question was used without comment as the introduction to lengthy article in the Sitka Alas kan" of May 25, 1889. But it should be here stated that the cannibal- ism mentioned above and also in s. the following extracts from the old Sitka paper has not been substan- tiated. Father A. P .KaShevaroff says that this episode of the Met lakatla Missionarys adventures is discredited even by Father Dun cans biographer, John w. Arctan- der. It is Father Kasheyaroff's opinion that Father Duncan, dazed by the shrieks and contortions of the Indians in their dances, made the same mistake as other early explorers and investigators, and jumped to the conclusion that such savages must be cannibals.
 Sir George Simpson, who visit ed Sitka in the '40's during the ad- ministration of Etolin made the same statement" said the local Museum director. In writing his report, Simpson stated that any people that could perform such or gies must be cannibals. Father Duncans story was based on some ' thing he admittedly saw from a distance, as he was behind the walls , of the Fort, observing the Inolans outside"
 Cannot Be Substantiated
 Father Kashevaroft added that every research undertaken by his torians who have come to Alaska to investigate reports of cannibal- ism has failed to substantiate a single instance of the practice The extracts from the Sitka paper arc Interesting reading after the lapse of more than half a century, SC are quoted in some detail here:
 U Tn 1856, the English Missionary Society of London, having learned MT. Duncan had volunteered to go P as missionary among the Indian tribes of British Columbia, accepted z his offer. He left lucrative posi- , ton in England to accept the muni- ficent salary of $500 per year. ! He arrived in Victoria, via Cape Horn, and decided to work among : the tribes near Fort Simpson, a trading post of the Hudson's Bay 2 Company about six hundred miles { north from Victoria. | Sir James Douglas, then Gov [ ernor of British Columbia, endeav- cred by the strongest arguments to dissuade him, declaring that Father Duncan would fall a sacrifice, swift ] and ghastly to murderous instincts of those barbarous hordes; but MT Duncan, trusting in a Higher Pow ! CT. kept his resolution and went. : When he arrived he soon learned to what jeopardy he had exposed { himself. Their ferocity had com- pelled the company to take extreme measure for safety. The fort was ' strongly fortified, and with few ex- { captions, no Indians were allowed 1 within it's walls.
 Hazardous Trading
 All goods to and from the post ,were conveyed under a strong es- Z cort and trading was carried on 7 through a small window; and even this was marked on its castings ' with numerous bullets.
 These savages were cannibals They held captives as slaves, and butchered and ate them as well They believed in witchcraft, in the 1 sorcery of the Shamans, and ir E devils and evil spirits which they
 propitiated by sickening orgies
 They were poiygamists, and sole
 their daughters for immoral pur-
 poses to traders and whisky deal
 CTS. Shortly after his arrival, MT
 Duncan witnessed, from the wall oi { the fort, scene which almost dis
 couraged him. A party of painted