Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 October 1885 — Domestic Habits in Alaska. [ARTICLE]

Domestic Habits in Alaska.

The Chilcat people loag ago gained for themselves, the reputation of being the most fierce and warlike tribe in the Archipelago. Certain it is that, between themselves and Southern Hydah, there is not another which can compare with them in strength, either in numbers, intelligence, physical perfection, or wealth. A diseased person among the Chilcats is rather the'exception, and prostitution as defined by them is punishable with death. At first their marriage

laws seem very elastic, but such is not the case. Though they do not bind tightly they bind strongly, and the limits Which are fixed are fixed indeed. The children always belong to their mother, and are of her totem. This toteutnc relation is considered closer than that of blood. If the fatter’s and mother’s tribes be at war the children must take the maternal side, even if against their father. It is this law which makes illegal any marriage between members of the same tribe, though the contracting persons may be entire strangers, and unable to trace any blood relation. At the same time a man may marry his half-sister (one having a different mother), or a woman and her daughter—either at the same time or consecutively; for plural marriages are not uncommon, though they are by no means general. In very rare cases a woman has two husbands; oftener we find a man with two wives, even three; but more frequently met than either is the consecutive wife. — Lieut. Schwatka. ' t.