The Wrangell sentinel., 1947-08-22


 the earth. perhaps none have ax- tended their wanderings oyer so great a portion of fhe world or for so long time as tbe American In- Hans For at least ten thousand years and up until almost modern times, Indian tribes have filtered from an unknown homeland la Central Asia. across the Aleutian archipelago 10 Alaska. Wave on wave they came, some pushing for ward with pioneering vigor. others being displaced by more aggressive tribes until both Americas were peopled from fhe Arctic rivers to far Patagonia.
 As time went on many tribes be- came settled people and new cuI- ure patterns were formed. govern cd by the immediate environment. Ehus were developed i'm one part of America, agriculuress in another. hunters in still another. fishfolk. some made pottery, others. baskets. while others carved their artifacts from wood, stone or metal
 One of the most isolated of these groups settled among the islands of coastal Southeastern Alaska auo British Columbia where good red salmon solved their food problem, where the climate was mild the year around, where timber was a. yailable for fuel, and building pur- poses and where the geography freed them from danger and mol estation. Hemmed in by coastal mountains that rose impossible on the east with the wide, open ocean on the west, they were so inacces- sble to other Indians that the a mazing culture they developed is NINETY PERCENT THEIR OWN INVENTION.
 The tribes contributing to this culture are the Nootka, Bella Bella, kwakiutl, Tsimshian and Haida Of British Columbia and the Haida and Tlingit of Southeast Alaska. Of these, the Tlingit are the mos. numerous, even today occupying villages from Yakutat and Kluk- wan on the north to Klawock anu saXman on the south.
 The Tlingit tribe has, like other tribes Of this area a unique soclal agstem, involving both class ana Ian. First, the tribe is divided into two phrau.es, referred to as tne Ravens" and the Wolf" or
 E5gia' from their principal to- lems Descent is recognized in the mother-line only Thus, when
 Wclt man mafries a Raven woman, lhe children are Ravens. Because of this fact, a man wish ing to keep names, honors, wealth and chieftianship in his own phra- try must choose his nephew as heir, since his own son belongs to the opposite phratry. This manner of inheritance and succession was never violated.
 Both of these phratries are made up of clans, each of which posses, ses a symbol which becomes it's totem in addition to the symbol O. its phratry. In general, it may be said that the clan symbols of the Wolf phratry are predators such as the Wolf, grizzly bear and killer-whale, while the symbols of the Raven phratry are non-preda- tors such as the raven, beaver and frog
 Apart from this system, yet per neating its entire structure, was 8 definite caste system wherelL the populace was ranked as slaves, commoners, nobility and even roy alty.
 As if the social setups were not enough involved already, there was still another grouping. Certain Tlingit phratries or clans, as the case might be, mad a common ori- gin or experience which dis them from others and gave them a group name back an the dawn of their known histories.
 Among the best known groups of this nature are the "Kog wan tons," branches of which still d. bide in towns such as Stka, Hoonah, Klawock and Kluckwan. The name is literally people who lived under burned timbers" aud refers to time when this group, having partly burned out, recor- structed their community house from the burned timbers of the former