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Contribut

W to the History of the
Aleutian Isles, or Aleutia.

By ARTHUR B. STOUT. M. D.

8as Francisco, CAi,iTOH;,rA.

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CONTRIBUTION

TO THE

History of the Aleutian Isles,or Aleutia,

HV ARTHUR H STOUI', M. !>., SAN KRANCISC<\ CAI.IKORNIA.

{Reprinted from the Katnas City Revuw of Science and Industry )

In the course of the year 1874, the California Academy of Sciences re-
ceived the donation from the Alaska ("ommercial C.oniiiany, of San Francisco, of
two skeletons or mummies These specimens were two from a collection of a
dozen or more v/hich were by them presented to the Smithsonian Institution at
Washington. A report upon these latter was published by the Smilhsonian In-
stitution, and written by W. H. Dall, U. S. G. S., in 1878. To this very valua-
ble essay on "The Remains of Later Prehistoric Man," I refer, with great pleas-
ure, for many important details omitted in this papor.

The two mummies in question have remained in my care, as Curator of the
Departmtnt of Comparative Anatomy of the Academy, since 1874, and, except
to open the cases which contained the bodies, to disinfect and carbolize them, I
have not until now ventured to study them. But such is the increasing interest
in anthropology ; in the prehistoric condition of man ; his evolution ; his ethnologic
and archaeologic history, that I have thought it important to disturb these remains
and offer the work for comparison with that of other similar researches.

The source whence these mummies was procured is best described by quot-
ing as follows from the report of Mr. Dall :

109843

PP""^

'' The most celebrated of these burial caves was situated on the island of
Kaga'mil, one of the group known as the Islands of F"our Mountains, or Four
Craters. This group is not at present inhabited, except for a short jjeriod during
the hunting season of each year.

'* I visited /.lese islands in 1873, but as the shores are precipitous, and as
there are no harbors, the weather was too boisterous to permit us to remain in the
vicinity. Even if we had landed, it is probable that we could have done little
without a guide.

" The traders in the islands were aware of the existence of this cave and its
contents, and one of them, Capt. R. Hennig, of the Alaska Commercial Com
pany's service, had several times attempted to reach it unsuccessfully. In 1874,
however, the weather being quite calm, and the presence of a hunting party,
which he was taking away from the island, enabling him to find the cave without
delay, he visited it and removed all the contents, so far as is known, On their
arrival at San Francisco, the Com|)any, who had instructed their agents to pro-
cure such material for scientific purposes when compatible with the execution of
their regular employment, with commendable liberality, forwarded them to the
National Museum at Washington. Two of the mummies were given to the Cali-
lornia Academy of .Sciences, but all the rest were received by 'he Smithsonian
Institution. It is unfortunate that but few details were obtained as to the exact
disposition of the bodies, or mummies, in the cave ; the sit'iation and form of the
latter, and other par jculars which would have had great interest. From accounts
received from Father Innokenti Shayesnikoff, previously, I am led to infer th<t the
cave is situated near the shore at a pi tint where the coast is precipitous and with-
out a beach, the binding being on large, irregularly broken fragments of rock,
tlie tables from the cliffs above. The island contains active volcanoes, as I am
informed, and in the immediate vicinity of the cave are sclfataras, from which
sleam constantly arises, and the soil is said to be warm to the touch. The rock
is; of a whitish and ferruginous color and sharp grain. .Specimens examined by
Dr. Endiich, of the Smithsonian Institution, prove to be a silicious sinter, con-
taining a little alumina and soda, and some hydrous sesquioxide of iron. In the
spectroscope traces of lithium and potassium and possibly a trace of lime were
seen.

" From this, and from the fact that the atmosphere of the cave is said to
have been quite hot, rendering it uncomfortable to remain in, it is possible that
the cave itself may be the crater of a small extinct solfatara.

" With regard to the age of these mummies, as they may be styled, I was
informed, in 1871, by several of the more intelligent natives, that they fixed
the date of the earliest interment in the following manner: It occurred in the
autumn or winter During the following spring the first Russians ever seen by
the natives of the Four Craters, arrived in the vicinity. These may have been
Trapeanikoff's party, which left Kamschatka in 1758, but did not reach Umnak
until 1760; or they may have been that of the. infamous PushkarefT; or possibly
of Maxim LazeroflC; but in any case, they canjiardly have been the expedition

of Bering. In 1757 Ivan NikiforofT sailed as far east as Unak, being the first
Russian to do so, except those of Bering's Expedition, who did not land on any
of the AndreanofT group, though in 1741 they saw the shores of numerous inde-
terminate islands from a distance. The earliest dale, therefore, which we can
assign to these remains would be 1756, making the oldest of them about one
hundred and twenty years old.

" At all events they possess great interest as the best jjreserved relics of the
state of things as they existed immediately prior to the Russian occupation, and
when their pursuits and handiwork had not been modified by the introduction of
any of the adjuncts of civilization."

The two specimens were preserved, each in an excellent case with glass
cover. No implements whatever were found No. i contained the skeleton of
a man, and No. 2 contained the skeleton of a woman. This latter had been dis-
turbed and the strappings of the package were off. The former was yet intact
and its original binding unbroken. The odor was strong and penetrating, not
that of putrefaction, but like creosote ; not unlike that of buffalo robes smoke-
dried by the North American Indians in their wigwams, only much more pungent.
Large quantities of the larvae of insects were in the cases, showing that animal
life had been busy in the bodies.

The hope was now entertained that we possessed, perhaps, the remains of
the distinguished toyon, or toygon, Kat-haya-Koochak, the renowned Aleut chief,
famous for his courage, enterprise, riches, and love of family. (See Dall's Re-
port, page 9.) But this chief is described as "a very small man," while our chief
measures 5 feet 9 inches in the bones. Two units being allowed for skin, flesh,
and general shrinkage between vertebrae, would give 71 inches, or 5 feet 11
mches. His cerements are of the simplest kind, while one of the mummies de-
scribed by Dall was clothed in the finest wrought and most costly fabrics. Hence
ours cannot be the remains of this great Aleut.

The strappings of the packages being taken off, a large sealskin envelope
carefully wrapping* the bodies, and much deteriorated by time was unfolded.
Within this, and covering closely the anterior part of the body was the spoiled
and disintegrated skin of some large bird, some of the feathers of which were
still clinging to the rotted fibres of the skin. The bodies now exposed were yet
in some places covered with the skin ; in other parts the bones were entirely de-
nuded. The skin was dark colored, desiccated and of paciiydermic toughness,
requiring the saw, rather than the knife, to divide it. It was also perforated
with numerous little round holes made by some boring insect. No traces of
viscera remained, but the thoraces were not opened. Whether evisceration had
been practiced at the time of embalming, or whether the mtrusive animal life had
consumed them, was not easy to determine, but the crania were entirely empty,
and we can hardly beheve that the embalmer removed the brain. The limbs,
were carefully and most compactly folded on the body, apparently to make the
embalmed package as tight and small as possible, and might be laid flat or placed
in a sitting posture. The heads were depressed so that the chin settled down

into the pit of the neck, and the lower inaxillrc l)ci!ig thus forced down, the
mouths were wide open.

It is regretal)le that photograjjlis of tiiesc mummies cannot be offered, as in
the picture given Ity Mr. Dall the limbs are dislocated and distorted, fading en-
tirely to e.\press any idea the enibalmers may have desired to perpetuate, or the
admirable care and solicitude in their work. The thighs were brought up and
doubled close ujion the abdomen ; the legs folded snugly upon the thighs, and
the leet pressed sharp down backward. The arms were laid symmetrically on
the thorax, and the forearms bent upon the arms, the hands not crossed in repose
upon the <:hest, but with the Hngcrs curved over the front of the shoulders.*
Thus much for the aspett of the bodies.

What may l)e the origin, we may ask of these people? Whence came they ?

It is not jirobable that an autochthonic race exi.sted in these Aleutian Islands.
Such rude, inhospitable storm beaten regions were not likely to be the cradle of
a special triliai birth. Regarding these islands as they appear on the map, the
idea is forced upon the mind that at some remote epoch the two continents of
Asia and Amcric a formed one territory. The volcanic nature of the entire region
indicates a vast change of the earth's surface by which the constinuity of the
continents was destroyed. The long promontory of Aliaska extending from
Alaska, nearly tou( lies the easternmost island of the Aleutian chain. A long
succession of wild eruption torn islands in a crescentic line crosses the sea, thence
to the Kamschatkan coast; the whole group, hung like a grand festoon of gems
formed by Titan hands and resplendent with the illumination of volcanic fires,
appears suspended from shore to shore, to adorn the approaches to the Straits of
khring, or rather, in a military view, like a vast circumvallation of fortresses to
defend their entrance from invasion. But the Arctic Ocean has its own defences
/'^7^/y'/^/ and needs no such gigantic Qjmament. Only the ruined abutments now remain
of the " bridge," which some author calls the -Aleutian Islands, by which migra-
tions of peoples passed from cuntinent to continent, and the bridge was the seg-
ment of a circle.

This view seems sufficient without seeking a Malay, Japanese or Chinese ori-
gin for the natives of the Aleutian Isles. Their progenitors were an autochthonic
race. It is a prevailing opinion that a vast invasion of wild tribes from the far
northwest poured down upon the ancient mound builders of North America,
sweeping them away from their copper mines on Lake Superior, destroying their
temples, burial places and fortresses in the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi,
and exterminating their race or driving them back whence they originated, across
Texas into Mexico and Central America, leaving no vestiges of them but their
teocallis and their mcunds. How immense must have been such an invasion and

" In regard to Aleutian burial ceremonies, !>.tys Coxe, p.tge 173: " The bodies of poor people arc wrap-
pad in iheir own clothes, or in mats, then laid in a grave and covered with earth. The bodies of the rich are
put, together with their clothes and arms In a small boat made nf the wood driven ashore by the sea ; the boat
is hung upon pules placed cross-ways, and the body is then left to rot in the open air."

how persistently continuous in its course, to have so completely obliterated the
numerous and extended pu|)uiations of the Mound Builders, possessed as they
were of the defences and weapons of a high civilization. The great nomadic
incursions recorded in history, like that of (ienghis Khan into Kurope, become
inconsc(iuential in the comparison.

If such things did occur it must have been at an epoch long anterior to the
present condition of the " far northwest." Karthtpiake and cataclysm, the
battles of fires and waters must have created greater disturbance with far more
destructive and radical invasions than any human agency could have accom-
plished. The present state of the physical geography of this "far northwest"
utterly precludes the possibility of any such invasions, fulfilled by barbaric hordes.
Neither time nor circumstance could accomplish under such physical conditions
so gigantic a work and have left not even a mound or a mile-stone to mark its
route.

There must have been upheavals of volcanic peaks with their boiling lava
chimneys forming mountains merged in the waters with only their summits visible
above the ocean, like the island of the " Four Craters," and again a subsidence
of territory from the caving in of the vast subterranean cavities emptied of their
seething contents With- all this must have occurred an inundation of waters, in
which great cataclysm the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans blended, the
grand Gulf stream of the former passing through the Arctic Sea by the Straits
of Behring with the efjually grand Pacific Black Stream, or Kuro Shiwo. Before
this epoch the ancestors of the Esquimaux in America and the Koriaks, the
Chukches, or Tuiigusian Tartars of Asia may have traded, and dwelt in their
igloos together.*

Let all this be as it may, at the time that the Russians discovered these is-
lands, the natives of the different groups spoke different languages, and, hence
we may infer that the inhabitants of the various groups were the remains of mi-
grations from both America on their east and Asia at their west, as they again
coalesced, and were regenerated from the lapse of time.

Some question has been made of the derivation of the name Aleut, and
even suggested that it was a term of contempt of the Russian explorers and fur
hunters for the islanders, (see Dall's Report page — ,) but we find in the work of
Wm. Coxe, A. M., London, 1780, Russian Discoveries Between Asia and Amer-
ica, published just 100 years ago, that the word Aleut is Russian, meaning "a
bold rock." Such is the distinctive character of all the islands, and, hence seems
peculiarly adapted as their title.

» The pent.iip waters of the Arctic Ocean burst through the Behring Strait and overwhelmed the rulni
left from volcanic fires— as the waters of the Nevadas by a thousand Hoods at some epoch tore through the
Uoldrn Uate. As a further illustration of this subsidence and upheaval it is recognized that the waters of the
Arctic Ocean once penetrated the American continent as far— if not still further— as Great Slave, and Atha-
basca Lakes, and that that long chain of lakes in the interior of the continent are only the vestiges of the de-
parture of the greater sea. In the same manner as it is conceded that Siberia was once covered by the Arctic
waters, the remains of which are the Lake Baikal and the Caspian Sea, while such great rivers as the Lena,
Veneisei and Anadyr now drain the mountain lines back to the retreated ocean.

A glance at the gronping of these islands is im|)nrtant to our purpose, ist.
At the northwest of the semi-cir<iilar girdle are Hchrings Island and Copper Is-
land, where large oiitcroppings of copper indicate an abundant mine of the metal,
and possibly point to a line of copjjer vein from the shores of I.,ake Superior over
the region of the Coppermine Country in Alaska to this deposit. We may remark
in passing, that it is surprising that with this free surface deposit of copper at this
locality, no copjjcr implements have been discovered among the relics of the
old Aleuts.

and. Say SE. are the Aleutian Islands |>roper, viz : Attak, Semitski, and
Shemiya, W. NW. to K. SE.

3d. Then, NE. some six islands, the AndreanofTski group, or Ostrava,
meaning islands, and

4th. The Lyssie Ostrova, or l*cx Island, stretching SE. and N. by E.
almost to the Alaska promontory, and the last discovered at the epoch now allud-
ed to.

This last miportant group contains Umnak, Ounal-askka, or Aghunalaskka,
the principal depot of the Alaska Commercial Company, with St. Paul and St.
George further to the north, and also the barren deserted isle, one of the " Four
Craters" or Kagamil. In a cave of this island, a bolc^ bluff, mid-ocean, storm-
lashed in its arctic clime, but yet still seething and steaming with solfataras, and
volcanic heat, is the Mausoleum of our Aleut Claef and all his family. Here we
meet him and his progeny on a desolate fragment of the ruptured territory which
once united the two great continents — the monumental stone of the ruin not
only of the land but the division of unnumbered peoples. Imagination may
picture, but cannot surpass the grandeur of the truth. Another division of the
Aleutians is :

I. The Kaniagmuts, and il. The Aleuts. III. The " Vaygeli," or
Spectral Outlaws. These are su|)posed to be the original inhabitants who dis-
dained any outside authority, refused to be converted to Christianity, and con-
sequently live, if such really exisi, as independent natives or banditti in the in-
terior inaccessable mountains.

The Vaygeli may possibly be only the predatory animals which come at night
and carry off the islanders' provisions. Hut the mythical or legendary belief of
the natives points distinctly to ancestral sagas which have been orally handed
down to them from generation to generation. We may infer either an extinct
prehistoric race with which the present family has no lineal descents, or we may
refer the legend to the earliest progenitors of present tribal groups.

As regards our present mummies they are undoubtedly too recent, whether
we allow them 1 20 years, or about 340, according to Captain C. L. Luneuski, to
consider them in the light of prehistoric remains, or concede to them Mr. Dall's
distinction of " Remains of Later Prehistoric Man " Capt. Lunieus' ' ''ns been
a resident of the Aleut Isles for many years, connected with the "'^....iia Com-
mercial Company. He ant». lates our mummies many years to tl/. Vvussian
discovery and conquest of the islands. H's intelligent studies predicate.! in part

on the diversity of their languages, gave to the Aleuts a divided descent, in part
from the Ks(|uii, lux of America, and the Mongoloids of northeastern Asia.

The Russian explorers and fur-hunters of importance in the discovery of the
various islands were :

Bering in 1728

Bering and Tchcrihoff in 1741

Nevodsikoff in 1745

SerebranikofT 1753 to 1756

Trapesnikoflf 175810 1760

Bethshevin .... reachf^d Alexsu, furthest island east.

Tolslyh . .... 1760 to 1764

These navi ;ators, with few e.vr'.ptions, treated the natives with great barbarity.
Many of their expeditions were failures and their vessels wrecked ; several of them
were burned by tue natives. All o> tliem suffered great hardships. Of their
ves.sels, says Coxe, page — , " Mo.st of tliem which are etjuipped for these ex|)e-
ditions, are two masted ; they are commonly built without iron, and in general
so badly constructed that it is wonderful how they can weather so stormy a sea.
They are called in Russian Skitiki, sewed vessels, because the planks are sewed
together with thongb of leather. Some few are built in the river Kamschatka, but
they are for the most part constructed in the haven of Ochotsk. The largest are
manned with seventy men, the smaller with forty men."

Hence the Aleuts, as naval constructors, with their elegantly and artistically
built bidarkas and baydars far excelled in skill their abusive invaders. But these
latter had guns. In their warfare they displayed much military invention. To
avoid the guns they constructed large double screens made of seal skins, stuffed
between with dried fibre of grass, and advanced toward the vessel, pouring upon
its deck their missiles from behind, and finally setting fire to it with sulphur found
in their island craters.

Inside of the war faculty, and touching the home and domestic idea, wild
to our appreciation as it may be, we are taught by the elaborate and exhaustive
report of Mr. Dall on the mummies from our " Four Crater" cave, that their
art work by their women, whether the result of nearly lost hereditary culture, or
of native original industry, patience and invention, was high in its excellence.
(See report of Case 17478 in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, page 11
of Dall's Report, cited). This ethnological description is rich in its suggestive
text. How did the Aleuts learn to make these extra fine fabrics, with nothing
but .■Meutian raw material ? Our present chief is silent but he left head enough
to explain it all.

In brief, from all this we can derive enough to feel sure that this ancient folk,
after their own way of thinking, education, and old civilization, possessed a high
sense of religion, believed in a future life, as proved by their devoted funeral
ceremonies, worshipped a divine creator; appreciated the love of home, were
profoundly impressed with the devotion due to the family bond. Still further
may we trace the illustration, for if rranial capacity and form can be regarded as

the index of mental ability, we have shown that the eagle-like tenant of his north-
ern fastness was worthy of his eyrie. Again, will it appear that here on the con-
fines of nations, in the same tomb the two great types of the human races, the
dolicocephalic and the brachycephalic heads, were together embalmed.

When the Russians discovered the islands the Kamschatdale interpreters, who
could speak the language of the Aleut group could not understand the dialect of
the natives of the I'ox Islands. To obtain their objects they resorted to the cun-
ning device of utilizing the paternal affection of the chiefs. Under pretense of
keeping the peace and insuring the tribute of seal skins, exacted by the Russian
Government, they caused the sons of toygons, or chiefs, to be delivered to them as
hostages. These they sent to Kamschatka to acquire the Russian language. The
celerity and aptitude with which these boys learned to interpret went far to
prove the natural intelligence of the people so more than barbarously treated
by them as barbarians. As reward for their services they converted them as usual
to Christianity, but piously took their skins ; nor did they fail to appropriate their
women, which, as ^' ante Trojum fuii," was always the cause of their wars with
the Russians. Their hospitality, kindness, and indispensable aid to the invaders
of their realm were devoted and unceasing, until deceived, as were other Indians
by Cortes and Pizarro, by lust, and the " a uri sacra fames. "^

Tiie existence of three languages, or perhaps dialects, may be inferred, for
Coxe states, (page 264,) that the inhabitants of Unalaska were called Khigolaghi ;
those next eastward to Unimak were named Kighigusi, and those of Unimak and
Alaxa, were styled Kalaghayekiki. In 1741 Bering sighted and Stellar first
landed on the American continent. (Coxe, page 277).

The Russians conquered Kamschatka in 1696, taking 45 years to discover the
way from shore to shore. As the islands then were peopled, so in probability
were their languages introduced, by the various tribes of refugees in quest of
safety in flight, or as hunters of game from the shores of both continents, or as
they mingled before the continents were cleft apart.

■^ Their phallic customs are more worthy of leniency than are the morbid abuses of otner people.

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