Class F^o? Hook .Z \S PUKSKNTED nV V^"^ THE COUNTRY A.1S1D ITS INHABITANTS A. 1.ECTXTRE BY THE Rev.J, A, Zahm.CS.C, Professor of Physical Science. Delivered before the Students of Notre Dame University, December 9, NOTRE DAME, INDIANA University Press. 1886. ■^^^^ THE COUNTRY % 3-0 V'f A.lSiT) ITS INHABITANTS ^ LECTURE Rev.J, A, Z-AHM,C.S.C, Professor of Physical Science. Delivered before the Students of Notre Dame University, December 9, NOTRE DAME, INDIANA UniversiTy Press. 1886, V ^• /5_6'3^y water. It goes Avitliout saying that all, or nearly all, of the nortliern portion has a climate of Arctic severity, especially in the winter time. But this is far from true of the southwestern portion, particularly the jiart bounded by the ocean. It may surprise many to learn that the winter climate of Sitka and the neighbor- ing coast, for instance, is much milder than that of Notre Dame and the surrounding country, liaving the same mean temperature as Notre Dame. During the iifty years that records were kept by the Russians, the ther- mometer at Sitka was observed below zero only four times, and then only for a short while. Last winter, for instance, it was extremely mild, although it was so frightfully cold everywhere in the States. The greatest snow-fall there last winter was only two inches, and then snow lay on the ground only a few hours. Cattle remained out doors all winter without suffering any inconvenience. Ice scarcely ever forms on the water there, and rarely attains a thickness of more than an inch. Skating and sleigli-riding are luxuries practically unknown. At the Treadwell mine, already spoken of, it was not found neoessarv to shut down the mill more than two or three n IS days last winter. Even then it was done simply as a precautionary meas- ure, as the mill might have continued in operation, because the water in the pipes and reservoirs did not freeze as was apprehended. This, for a mill that is run by water-power entirely, and for this high latitude, is, to say the least, remarkable ; l)ut it only goes to show that the miner liere does not labor under such great disadvantages in winter as is popularly sup- posed. True, the mean aanual temperature there would be considered comparatively low at Xotre Dame. But then it is very uniform, never very warm nor very cold. In 1883 the mean summer temperature, according to the records kept l>y the signal service stationed there, was 53'. The mean temperature for the winter of the same year was 34°. In summer the weather during the day is somewhat like it is in the Middle States in spring or autumn. In the evening it is some cooler, and one then finds a heavy coat or wrap quite comfortable. It will cease to be a matter of surprise that there is there such a mild and agreeable climate, when it is remem- bered that the whole western coast of Alaska is washed by a warm ocean current, similar to the Gulf st'-«am of the Atlantic, which so tempers the climate of Great Britain and Scandinavia. Along the coast of tlie North Pacific the moderating agent is known as the Kuro Siwo, or Japan current, and its influence is felt way up beyond " Bchring's Strait." Paradoxical as it may appear, the niglits of Sitka are no cooler during summer than tliey are in the city of Mexico, 40° farther south. It was my good fortune to spend some time in the latter place, last summer a year, and I found that a heavy overcoat after sunset Avas not at all uncomfort- able. But an altitude of over seven thousand feet accomplishes for the temperature of the city of Mexico what high latitude, tempered by warm ocean currents, effects for that of Sitka. From wliat I have said regarding the mean temperature of Sitka — and the same holds good for all the coast region to tlie southeast — it can readily l)e inferred tliat Alaska will never amount to much for grazing or agricultural purposes. True, in some parts grasses grow well and attain a height of several feet. Various kinds of vegetables are also successfully cultivated here and tliere, but only in small quantities. Potatoes seem to thrive, as is evinced in many gardens in and about Sitka; but as to Indian corn and the various cereals, their cultivation appears to be out of tlie question. The annual rainfall in Sitka and all along the southeast coast is some- thing extraordinary to any one but a "Web-foot." The rainfall in Sitka in 1883 amounted to eighty-one inches. And the way it rains in Alaska — at least along tlie southern coast ! The ease and self-complacency with whicli it comes on and falls, and continues 13 to fall, day after day, and week after week — a result acquired by coiiJ^tant practice I suppose — without hurry, without Ijluster, without wind or storm, is something that must be witnessed to be appreciated. First comes a pure Scotch mist, then a dense fog, then a light, gentle, drizzling rain, and con- tinues without any apparent effort until one imagines that it is never going to cease. But it does at last, often only after a long time, and then one is blest with a clear, light, bracing atmosphere and a bright, serene sky, that could scarcely be found elsewiiere in the wide world. Tlien one forgets the fog and the rain, and thinks only of enjoying the warmth and sun- shine — and one does enjoy it . But what about the many scenic and other attractions tiiat i)resenl themselves to the visitor to Alaska? A volume would not do them jus- tice — there are so many, new, interesting, matchless. From Victoria to Sitka one can make a voyage that for magniticent scenery cannot be dupli- cated, I opine, in any other part of the world. All along, the steamer moves on the calm, placid waters of the numberless inland bays, channels, sounds and narrows, that are linked together and hidden away among the mountains tliat border the mainland on the one side, and those that rise uj) from tlie thousand and one islands, large or small, on the other. During the entire trip one is exposed to the swell of the sea only a few hours, and such a thing as sea-sickness troubles the voyager as little as if he were on term Jirma. And then the magnificent and constantly changing panorama that one has always before him I At one time the beauties of the Scotch lakes, at another those of Killarnev, and Como, and Maggiore. Anon the scene changes, and we ixave the glories of the Rhine, and the Hudson, and the C'olumbia. Near by we have beautifully-wooded islands that eclipse in number and loveliness the far-famed Thousand Isles of the St. Lawrence, and the less known, but no less beautiful, islands of Northern Lake Supe- rior, and in the distance snow-capped mountains that rival anything to be seen in the Sierras or Swiss Alps. Now and then we meet pretty little cas- cades and lovely waterfalls, of greater or less magnitude, that seem to com- plete the picture. But this is not all. We have near us. and around us on every side, glaciers of every size, type and formation. They come down from the mountain's crest through rocky defiles and deep gorges — reminding one of Colorado's grand canons — and break off into the water only a few yards from the vessel, with a thundering noise that resembles a dis- charge of artillery, and form the thousands of icebergs that are visil)le in the watars of the North. Here we have glaciers, miles in width, at tlie water's edgs, and hundreds of feet in perpendicular height, and scores of miles in length. I have known people to go to Switzerland only to see the 14 Alps ; and yet in all Switzerland there is nothing to be comijared with the glaciers and snow-capped peaks that are found here in all their splendor and magnificence. The Mer de Glace, the Orindeicalcl, the Aletsch — the "monarch of European ice-streams" — and the Zermatt and Juncjfrau and Mfitterhorn j^ale into insignificance when compared with the wonders of Glacier Bay and the Fairweather Alps. Speaking of Muir Glacier, which [ had the pleasure of examining, a writer of the New York World lately observed that >'all the glaciers of Switzerland would not equal this of Glacier Bay." Lord Dufferin, speaking of the scenery of British Columbia and Alaska, said : "It is the most superb in the world !" x\nd another traveller, referring to the scenery I have just been speaking of, writes : "This fairyland of moving extravaganzas of scenery was an amal- gamation of Switzerland, Norway, the St. Lawrence, with her rapids and islands, the pictueresque loveliness of Loch Katrine, added to arctic won- ders of a high altitude of 60^." Prof. Muir, the learned Pacific coast geol- ogist, says of the valley of the Stikiue, which has its mouth near Fort Wrangle, that "it is a Yosemite 100 miles long." I have introduced these oiJinions of others lest some of you might think my account of the natural wonders of this country exaggerated. But it would be difficult to exaggerate what one can see simply from the deck of the steamer, as she goes from Victoria to Sitka. No mere descrijition can do justice to tlie wonders everywliere visil)le, and that follow each other in rajDid succession in a kaleidoscopic manner that seems almost mag- ical. One must visit these scenes to appreciate the sjilendor and magni- tude of the objects mentioned. This can now be done in a short time, and at a comjjaratively slight expense. Meeting the wants of tourists who are already beginning to drift in this direction, the Pacific Coast Company runs a montlily steamer from Portland to Sitka, touching at all intervening points of interest. The July steamer, on which I took passage, was filled with tourists from all parts of the United States, and they would, I am sure, all reiterate everything T have said about the wonderful scenery we witnessed during tlie whole course of our journey. The various Indian triljes, too, Avhose peculiar little villages are scattered all along the shore, the rich fauna and fiora, and the great abundance of game of all kinds — which makes the country a veritable paradise for sportsmen — combined with the nu\ny beauties and wonders I have already spoken of, will con- tribute to make Alaska eventually what Lord Dufferin prophesied of this northeast coast — "The favorite yachting grounds of the world." The tourist from the East can easily so arrange his journey to Alaska as to be constantly passing through the most marvelous scenery in the world. Starting from Chicago, for instance, let him take the Chicago and 15 Northwestern Railroad — a road famed for its accommodations ami luxuries of every kind — and go to St. Paul. There he will connect with the great Trans-Continental route — the Northern Pacitic — which will take him to New Tacoma on Pugent Sound. On his way he will jjass the Yellowstone Park the acknowledged wonder-land of tiie world. Here he will sec geysers, eclipsing the grandest that Iceland or New Zealand can boast of ; waterfalls, rivaling those of Niagara and the Yosemite; and canons, infe- rior, if at all, only to those of Colorado, and those made by the river of the same name further south and west. From Chicago to Tacoma, by the roads named, one will always have tlie convenience of dining cars, — the Northern Pacific being the only Trans-Continental road to afEord its patrons such a luxury, — and the most improved styles of chair and sleep- ing cars. From the car the traveller will see the beauties of Cceur d'Alene lake, and the world-renowned wonders of the Columbia River — the cas- cades and the Dalles. At Portland or Tacoma he takes the steamer in which he will enjoy about three weeks of general repose, free from the worry and turmoil of a busy world, and breathing an atmosphere that seems to possess all the invigorating properties attributed to the Elixir of Life, of the alchemists of old. At the end of five or six weeks, having passed through a succession of fairy-lands and wonder-lands, one can be back in Chicago and ready to enter again, with renewed vigor, upon the duties of life. II. THE INHABITANTS. i^pO far I have beensjjeakingto you of the natural and economic* features of this interesting but imperfectly known country, but have said little, and then only incidentally, of its people, their manners and customs, and of their means of subsistence. >Iany, pr()l)alily the majority of you, I take it, will be more interested in hearing something of the })eople than of the country itself. It is the people the tourist wishes to see when he visits a new country; and their peculiarities attract jjrobably more atten- tion than the country's scenery, however beautiful or grand it may be. He wishes to know something about their language, their traditions, their hab- its of thought, and their peculiar modes of living. So it is with people generally. They always desire a wider acquaintance with tiie various branches of the extensive family to which they belong. Before it was ceded to the United States, Alaska, as is well known, belonged to Russia by right of discoverv. Hence one meets in the tountry 16 many Russians, either native or by descent. But the number is rapidly de- creasing, being now only a small fraction of what it was w^hen the country was a dependency of the Czar. Still there ai'e found several Greek churches in the territory, Ijut most of them are in the Aleutian Islands. The only one of any consequence on the mainland is in the south-eastern portion of Alaska, at Sitka. It is one of the most notable structures in the town, and is built in the form of a Greek cross, surmounted by an emerald-green dome, in which is a very fine chime of bells. The interior of the church is quite richly decorated, and is ornamented with a number of ricli paint- ings of the Muscovite or Rassio-Byzantine style. There are kept here also some very rich vestments and candelabra; but since the purchase of the country by the United States, the richer vestments and ornaments have been returned to Russia. In its day, Sitka was a place of almost imperial splendor, and the Rus- sian governors held court here in a style that contrasted most strongly with tlie plain and simple democratic form of government that now obtains. Sitka, too, has been the seat of a Greek bishopric ; and it is the glory of this see that one of its bishops. Innocent Veniaminoff, was recalled to Rus- sia and made the metropolitan of Moscow, the highest iiosition in the Greek Church. Under Russian rule, Sitka had its schools, and likewise boasted of an ecclesiastical seminary. In its halcyon in Alaska the Greek Church had seven missionary districts, and counted some twelve or fifteen thousand communicants. But now everything is changed. The bishopric of Alaska has been transferred from Sitka to San Francisco, and the number of mem- bers belonging to the Church has greatly diminished. Father Metropolski, assisted l)y a deacon, has charge of the parisli of Sitka; and although his flock is now small, the number — composed of Russians, half-breeds, and others— •is still decreasing. Among the passengers who were on our steamer, were two of his daughters — Nija and Xenia — who had been going to school at the Acrdemy of the Sisters of St. Anne, in Victoria, B. C. ; and although Russian is their native tongue, they speak English with the same fluency as they do their own language, and shoAv a more than ordinary degree of intelligence. Like all the priests of the Greek Church in America, Father Metropolski receives his salary from the imperial treasury of Rus- sia. It may notil)e generally known, but it is nevertheless a fact, that the Russian Government annually sends to the consistory at San Francisco 100,000 rubles to be distrilnited among the missions of the Greek Church in America, and most of this goes to the churclies of Alaska. Besides Russians, there is a gradually-increasing number from the United States. These are chiefly interested in mining, fisliing, hunting for furs, and in general trading. The total number as yet is not great — not 17 18 exceeding, probably, in the whole territory more than a few thousand souls, and most of these are found in Fort Wrangle, Juneau and Sitka, and a few mining camps. Still, if the mines lately discovered meet the exj^ecta- tion of their owners — and there is every reason- to believe that they will — the number of people from the United States must soon be much greater there than it is at present. In Alaska, too — would you believe it^ — we tind the soon-to-be omni- present Chinaman. In Fort Wrangle, for instance, Chinatown is contiued to a large boat that used to ply up and down the Stikine River, when tlie Cassiar mines Were "in bonanza," but wdiich now lies on the beach as an old and almost useless hulk. In Juneau one meets them, and in the celebrated Treadwell mine, of which I have already spoken, they constitute, it would seem, a majority of the workmen employed in drilling and blasting. I have never gotten on a steamer anywhere in the territory without coming across some of them. Often during my visit to the country did I recall the prediction of the late General Gordon : that it was only a question of time until the Oiinese would overrun the world, and become, not its servants, but its rulers. And when one sees how they have taken possession in many parts of the Pacific coast, and how they have fastened themselves like a cancer on the richest and fairest parts of the two most important cities west of the Sierras — San Francisco and Portland — one cannot help think- ing the illustrious general had reason for speaking as he did. No one who has not witnessed their blighting influence on the parts they inhabit in the cities named would credit it; and no one who has not observed their untir- ing industry, and noted their persistence in thrusting themselves forward, in spite of all legislation to check them, would believe tlieir ultimate dom- ination among things possible. But here is a fact. It is only a short time since they began to come to our country in any numbers, and now between San Diego and Sitka, they are counted by the tens of thousands— no fewer than thirty thousand being in San Francisco alone, not to speak of the multitudes scattered throughout the United States. It is well for Eastern sentimentalists to talk about the equality allowed by the Constitution to all men, but I venture to say that if these same Utopians were to make a study of the "heathen Chinee," as he is found in California and Oregon, or even in Alaska, their ideas regarding Anti-Chinese Legislation w^ould be wonder- fully modified. But this is a digression. The major part of the population of Alaska is, of course, composed of the various Indian tribes who are distributed over it from the territory occupied by the Ilydas of the south to that inhabited by the Esquimaux of the north. Their number is variously estimated at from 30,000 to 50,000. So far, however, it is like the census of an Arabian city — something that, as vet, " no man has found out." 19 The Indian villages are for the most jiart scattered along the coast and the various water courses of the country. The population of any one vil- lage is never very large, although at certain times of the year, when the hunting season is over and the hunters have returned to their homes, one may, in a few instances, find as many as a thousand or more people living in one place. Unlike the Indians of our plains, they rarely live in tents, except when moving from place to place. They construct houses, or huts rather, twenty or thirty feet square — and in some cases larger — of large, thick, upright planks or the bark of trees, and some of tlieir dwellings, it must be said, show evidences of considerable comfort. As a rule, there is only one room in the house ; but occasionally one finds it partitioned off into a number of smaller rooms used as sleeping apartments. There is only one entrance to the house in the typical Indian dwelling — a door a few feet above the ground — and no windows,. In the more pretentious buildings one always finds a plank floor, in the centre of which there is a small de- pression, and an area prepared for the fireplace. The smoke ascends through an opening in the centre of the roof, and contrary, to what might be expected, the inmates are troubled with very little smoke in the build- ing itself. Indeed, I have visited some Indian houses that were compara- tively models of neatness. In the older Indian dwellings the planks used are split or hewn from large logs; but in those sections of the country in which saw-mills have been established, or where lumber can be obtained, sawn boards are much used, and in these cases an Indian tillage would not differ much from a Western mining camp in the States. Frequently, too, the Indians build their houses of logs, and they are so constructed as to be quite comfortable even during the coldest days of winter. Their beds consist of skins or blankets, which are placed in the corners and along the sides of the house, and they have usually such a large sup- ply of them that there is never any suffering from want of covering. Indeed, the average Indian's wealth in this country is measured by the number of skins and blankets in his possession. Some of them count their blankets by the hundreds, and they hold on to them with the same tenacity with which their distant relations in the States cling to a Government bond. Occasionally, iiowever, they dispose of them, but only with tlie hope of getting them back again with a handsome interest. Gift-feasts — " potlatches " they are called here — are common among them ; and an Indian's standing in his tribe is determined by the number of blankets and presents of other kinds he is able to give his guests. An ambitious Indian will toil and moil for years, investing all his earnings in blankets, with the hope of one day giving a potlatch that will outdo any- thing that has been attempted by his neighbors: and should he never 20 receive any substantial return for his generosity, he is satisfied to be able to tell his children and his grandchildren of the grand potlatch he once gave his friends. One, potlatch, however, pre-supposes another. All the guests who have attended a potlatch are supposed to give one also, and in this way their host gets back as much as he gave away, and his hope always is that he will receive more. If an Indian builds a new house he has a " house-warming " in the way of a potlatcli : if he aspires to a position of trust, and wishes to secure the suffrages of his fellows, he secures their good will, or bribes them, if you prefer it, with a potlatch. He can never hope to become a "tyee" (chief) without bankrupting himself beforehand with n potlatch, and his importance as a tyee is in a measure gauged by his liberality in distributing presents. When Secretary Seward Aisited the territory he immortalized himself among the Indians by the magnificence of his gifts ; and he is to this day remembered there as the " big tyee of the United States." Among the most striking objects of interest to the visitor to an Indian village in southwestern Alaska are their quaint and curious totem poles. These are large poles, thirty forty, and even sixty feet high, and of propor- tionate diameter, on which are carved the forms of various animals and birds. They are usually erected in front of the house, and an Indian's rank is judged by tlie size of his totem. It is a kind of a genealogical tree, on which is carved in a sort of hieroglyjihical language, intelligible to the Indians, the history of the family of the owner. In Wrangel and Howkan the number and size of the totems are quite remarkable. On some is carved — rather rudely, one may imagine — the figure of the bear; on another that of the eagle; whilst on the third one may see that of a whale or raven. On some totems, again, are found several figures, one above the other. The tribes being divided into different families, named after the bear, raven, wolf, etc., one can, by looking at his totem, see into what families an Indian has married, and what relation he bears to other families of his tribe. An Indian belonging to the family of tlie bear, for instance, may not marry into the family of the bear, but must look for a consort among some of the other numerous families of his tribe, as that of tlie eagle, the wolf or the whale. In making his totem the Indian, unlike ourselves, will trace his genealogy from his mother's side. Suppose, for example, his grandfather on his mother's side belonged to the raven family, his father to the eagle family, and himself to the bear family, his totem would have the figures of the raven carved at the bottom, that of the eagle next above, and that of his own family, the bear, would surmount the other two. But these crests or emblems are not confined to the toton poles only. They are marked on the houses, canoes, blankets, clothing, culinary utensils, etc., and, like a stamp or impress, they serve to indicate who are their owners. *il S5 But it is in his canoe that the Alaskan Indian shows his greatest inge- nuity, and in it he takes his greatest pride. It is to him what the pony is to the red man of the plains, and he looks after it with as much care as does an Arab after a favorite steed. They are hewn out of large logs, and are sometimes full sixty or seventy feet long, and eight or ten feet wide, and capable of containig 100 persons. One of the attractions at the Centennial, as some of you may remember, was an Indian canoe from Alaska that measured eighty feet in length and about three feet in depth, and was designed, wlien fully manned, to liave forty i)addles on each side. Such a canoe, we may judge from the descrijjtions left us, tallies closely, in size and form, at least, with the war galleys of ancient Greece and Rome. But in grace and beauty, and the rapidity with which they can be propelled through the water, they are, I presume to say, superior to any galley ever seen on Greek or Roman waters. The average-sized canoe, however, is not more than fifteen or twenty feet long, and made to accommodate only three or four persons. In this, when the weather is fair, the Indian spends the greater part of his time, and almost makes it his home. In it he lounges idly, as does the Venetian in his gondola, and seems to take special pleasure in being carried about by the waves and the tide, and to be totally indifferent as to where he may be taken. Often he will have his children with him, and they seem to be fonder, if possible, of the water than their parents. They paddle with their little oars until they are exhausted, and then quietly lie down in the canoe and sleep us soundly as if they were in a cradle, or on the fur beds in their homes on the shore. To the native Alaskan, his canoe is everything. He has no other means of going from jilace to place, aside from walking, and even this, in most cases, is next to impossible. To travel over the rugged mountains or through the forests with their phenomenally dense under- growth is a much more difficult task than can easily be imagined. There are no horses nor burros in Alaska, save the few recently taken from the United States, and the consequence is that the natives have to depend on their canoes almost entirely as their only means of locomotion. Whether they go fishing, hunting, or on trips of pleasure, tlieir canoes are always brought into requisition, and seem to be a si?ie qua non of their existence. The Indians also show considerable skill in weaving. The blankets woven by tlie Chilcat* from the wool of the mountain goat and sheep are indeed marvels of ingenuity and coloring. They are far superior in every way to the best of those made by the Navajoes, about whose work so much has been said and written. The baskets, too, which they make from the inside bark of the cedar are scarcely less wonderful, whether one considers the figures worked on thcni, the harmony of colors displayed, or the sub- 23 ^f^lal cliaractcr of the work itsulf. Many of the native!^ also e\ince ced taste and talent in the manufacture of jewelry. The curiously ^ned and engraved rings, bracelets and trinkets, of the Ilyda Indians (leciallv, are curiosities of art, which sometimes even i)ear the stani]) of tenius. And then I must mention tlicir masks and dancing costumes. For weird, grotesque, fantastical, unsightly designs in costumes, and particu- larly in masks, the commonest "siwash" — the general name for Indian — exhibits an originality that would l)e hard to parallel anywhere else in the world. In the paraphernalia used, the (bmces of the Indians of the States l)ear no comparison with those that arc frequently witnessed here in the far Xorth. In disposing of their dead, cremation among the Indians is the rale rather than the exception. The corpse is put on a pile of logs and con- sumed amid tiie wails and weird, lugubrious, imearthly chants of the assembled multitude. The few handfulls of aslies that remain are gathered up and i)ut in a sack and deposited in a little box, which is placed upon a frame in any site that may be selected. Sometimes one will meet such a box, or depository, all alone, far up the side of a mountain ; again it will be seen on the shore near the water's edge, and still again the boxes will be found together in large numbers. Such is the case in Sitka, where the Indians have a regular cemetery, if such it can be called. And what do the Indians live on^ it maybe asked. The answer is simple: They subsist almost entirely on game and tish, the latter being emphatically their staff of life. During the summer they gather berries, which are here found in great variety and abundance; but vegetables and cereals they have none, and never make any attempt to cultivate them. Their favorite fish are the salmon and the halii)ut, but they seem to prefer the former — probably because it can be more readily obtained. These they prepare and dry in summer for the winter's use, and their total supply of provisions in many instances consists simply of dried salmon. As one passes through their village in summer one will see everwhere the bright red salmon drying on frames made for the purpose, and his mind naturally reverts to the exhibitions of Chili Colorado that are so conspicuous in parts of New and Old Mexico. As a delicacy, the oolican, or " candle fish " is much prized, It is, however, (juite a rarity, and found in only a few local- ities. It derives its English name from the fact that it contains so much oil that on being dried it can be ignited and burnt as a candle. The oil actually exudes from it as it dries. Are any fish stories told in Alaska^ Yes; but the reality so far sur- passess the fictitious in other parts of the world that if one were to state 24 simple facts he would at once be denoiniuated a Munchausen. In passing fi'om the bays into the narrower channels the fish often go in such large schools and move with such velocity that some of them are actually crowded on to the shore, where tliey die or sujiply food for the various birds of prey which there abound. The Izaac Waltons there will tell you that at certain seasons of the year the fish are so aljundant that one can fill a boat in a short time with a simple pitchfork. Or again, they aver tliat in j)assing up the rivers or tlirough the narrow channels the lisli crowd together so compactly that one can easily cross over on the bridge formed by such a blockade without getting his feet wet. Some of you may think this is drawing a pretty long bow ; but if you have any doubts about the tfuth of tlie statement you are resi^ectfully referred to any of the numerous anglers who have visited Alaska during the past half decade. Living on tish, and leading the comparatively lazy lives they do, the natives have a fat, oily appearance, although taken as a class, they will compare most favorably in phyHquv to any of the Indians of the South. As a rule, they are more industrious, and are always ready to work for a consideration. Indeed in tlie mines and fisheries they take their jilace beside the white man, and do as much work as the latter, and do it equally well. Tliey are good hunters and skilful trajjpers; but they engage in these pursuits not so much for the meat which they oljtain as for the furs which they secure, and of Avhich they always know the full value. One may go into almost any Indian hut and find a collection of furs; but one makes a big mistake if he thinks he can get a good skin at a nominal price. Tourists to Alaska are surprised and disappointed at finding the natives demanding as much, and more, for furs than one would be asked for them in New York or London. An Indian there, on being asked the price of a silver fox skin, will say "ten dollars," and count four, five or six fingers, meaning he wants so many times ten dollars for the skin. For an otter skin he will ask you from $80 to $140, the price depending on the quality. And there is no use in exjjecting a reduction of prices. All tlie Indians seem to have a scale of prices and an iron-clad agreement to abide by the same, and it is simply loss of time to talk about getting an article offered for sale for less than the price first demanded. A "Siwash" will row from Sitka to Juneau— a distance of nearly two hundred miles — if he thinks he can get a few more cents on one or two skins. Time and rowing seem to be no object to him, and he will keep his furs for a year or more, or transport them hundreds of miles, if there is any iiossibility of getting the slightest advance in price. And this is not because he is so poor, or because he rarely sees monev. All the Indians have money, and some of them can 25 count tlieir shekels up to $5,000 or $6,000, or more. Hut tliey always take good care to keep their treasure concealed, and will not allow even any of the members of the family to know where it is kept. The Indians of southwestern Alaska seem to be a happy and contented people, and there is no reason in the world why they should be otherwise. They can always secure an abundance of food with little or no exertion, and the climate is so temperate the year round that they never suffer from either heat or cold. Tiiey need only kill a few fur-bearinc^ animals — and that they can do with little ditKculty — and thus secure the means of buying the blankets and other articles of clothing they require, and still liave money left for other purchases they may desire to make. As a rule, the Indians of this section of the country, contrary to what might be supposed, are much better provi.led for by bountiful nature than are any of the tril)es of the United States or ^le.xico. • Through the efforts of the missionaries, .schools and cimrches have been established here and there, and the natives are gradually being brought under the beneficent influences of Christianity. But here, as in the states, the missionary's greatest obstacle to success, after overcoming the diabolisni of the shamfiim, or medicine men, is the white man. In Alaska, as else- where, promiscuous intercourse of the races lias a most demoralizing effect on the natives. The Indian contracts all of the vices of the white man and acquires none of his virtues; and the only hope, apjjarently, of evcir successfully educating and Christianizing him is to keep him isolated from those who should be his helpers, but who, in reality, are his destroyers. Alaska belongs to the diocese of the Most Rev. Archbishop Seeghers, of Victoria, B. C, who is probably the greatest living authority on the country and its inhabitants. He has spent two years in exploring the Yukon region, and has recorded his observations in a large manuscript work, which, it is to be hoped, will soon be given to the ])ress, as there can be no doubt that it would prove to be the most interesting and instructive work on the country yet written. His Grace is now making efforts to pro- vide the more important i)Osts with priests, and hopes soon to have schools in the larger towns in charge of Brothers and Sisters, or both. Tin; field may not seem inviting, the work may appear formidable; but the charge could not be entrusted to better hands than those of the learned Arch- bishop who has already accomplished so much in this part of the world for the good of Education and Religion. Whence came the people I have just been speaking of { is a (piestion every visitor to the country asks himself, time and again. Theories by the score have been ])r()pounded, but none of them seem to give a satisfactory answer to the (juestion. One ethnologist, basing his spccu- 26 lations on tlieir (■arvings and hyeroglyphios, will tell you that they are the descendants of the Indians driven out of Mexico by Cortez, and who are said to have migrated to the North. Another, relying on a resemblance, real or fancied, discovered in the roots of certain words occurring in the languages spoken by the natives of the country and in those of the inhab- itants of Japan and ('hina, concludes that the Alaskans, generations ago, came in some way or other from Japan or China. Still another, comparing the manners and customs and languages of the aboriginees on either side of Behring's Straits, and keeping in mind the fact that there is at the pres- ent day constant intercourse between the inhabitants of the two continents, dnds strong and seemingly conclusive reasons for believing that the Es(|ui- maux and all the tribes of the northern portion of the American continent, came directly from Asia, by crossing the narrow channel that separates the Old from the New World. This theory certainly seems the simplest and most satisfactory, and will, I doubt not, eventually prove to be the true one. The question of pitting Alaska in telegraphic and railway communi- cation with the rest of the world has often been discussed, and the erection of a telegraph line was actually commenced twenty years ago. The West- ern Union Telegraph Company' spent |8, 000, 000 in reconnoitreing some six thousand miles of country intervening between the southwestern corner of Britisli Columl)ia and the Amoor River in southeastern Siberia, with a view of connecting l)y wire the United States with Asia and Europe. After, however, the demonstrated success of the Atlantic caljle, about which electrical engineers before had grave doubts, the matter was dropped. Still the preliminary surveys showed the feasil)ility of erecting the line, although it would be difficult and expensive. The question, too, of running a railroad from New York to St. Peters- burg and London (via Behring's Straitsj has likewise often been discussed. Now that the Canadian Pacific is completed, it would not be such a diffi- cult matter, the advocates of the scheme maintain, to continue the road to some point on Behring's Straits — Port Clarence, for instance — which could then be connected ]>y ferry with tlie Asiatic side of the Straits. The road could then be prolonged through Sii>eria to the Amoor River, and thence carried on to connect with the road that the Russians are now building into their Asiatic possessions. It is one of the things, say the sanguine pro- jectors of the road, that must be done sooner or later, as the lines of the world's travel and commerce will never be complete without it. The objection raised about the difficulty of crossing Behring's Straits on account of icebergs does not seem to have any foundation in fact, as icebergs are never known to come so far south, being prevented by the strons; inflowing current from the South Facitic towards the Arctic Ocean. Will tiic road ever be more than a day-dream:' From wliat is already known of the country which it is to traverse, we cannot say that its con- struction would be impossible. Just now, however, there seems to be no special use for it; but if there were, and if it could be sliown that it would pay good dividends, one would l)e safe, I tliink, in hazarding the prediction that the necessary capital ami enterprise would not be long in forthcoming. Ours is an age of surprises and wonders. Only a few decades ago nearly all our vast domain west of the Missouri was put down on the map as the " Great American Desert." But, thanks to the enterprise and indom- itable courage of our pioneers, this hits been changed. What wa.s for a long time regarded as a useless waste has been converted into the fairest and most productive portion of our great Republic; and where, not more than a few years ago, the only signs of human habitation were the wigwams of the savages of the plains, we now* find the most attractive and prosperous cities of the Union. May not a similar change be wrought in the part of the world of which I have been speaking? Who knows? In our age of steam and electricity, it is almost rash to predict anything as impossible to the genius of progress and civilization. What has been accomplished in the plains of the West, under many adverse circumstances, and what has been effected among the "Rockies" and the Sierras of the farther West, may reasonably be looked for in the distant North, where many of the difficulties which the advance guard of pioneers had to contend with else- where are measurably less, and Avhere some of the conditions of ultimate success are more propitious. In view of these facts, one w'ill be safe, I tiiiidv, in predicting that, at no distant future, Alaska will be a prized gem in Columbia's crown — a conspicuous star in the bright galaxy that consti- tutes the United States of America. Founded in 1842. Chartered in 1844.