Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 October 1875 — The Natives of Alaska. [ARTICLE]

The Natives of Alaska.

A San Francisco correspondent of the Cincinnati Enquirer, who has been to Alaska, writes concerning the natives of that territory: If they were suddenly transported to Kentucky and given their own sweet will they would drink all the whisky in the State. Can they eat? Why, that which would disgust an ostrich is their best suit. A sea-gull, with a hide tougher than a sole-leather trunk, is a delicacy. They have pictures of deer and of bears that once lived on the islands, but at this time one would waste the price of either in shoe-leather looking for them. The great reliance of the inhabitants of Kodiack is in the silver-gray foxes, and the salmon fisheries. The first are not in great numbers, but by diligent hunting the natives manage to secure enough skins to procure for them, by barter with the traders, almost all such commodities of life as are necessary for their existence. The great salmon fisheiy is at Carlook, on the west side of Kodiack. During the time of the Russian possession all the natives dressed in the skins of the seal and sea-lion. From the date oi American possession many of the natives have advanced in civilization very perceptibly. This advancement has been purely imitative, and it should be a matter of record. The people are a fun-loving race, and they have a remarkable resemblance to the Japaiiese. The guitar, accordion, violin and banjo are all familiar to them, and fine violinists are not by any means rare. They like coasting; they have a sort of “ blind-man’s buff,” and they play scientifically a game of cards, very similar to “ poker” as described by Minister Schenck. They play a Russianized chess, and they are always ready, shortly after pay-day, to pitch fifty-cent pieces at a hob or taw, the condition being that he who pitches his piece nearest to the designated object shall have all the money that is pitched. The women generally are models of virtue. The young people mature at about the same age that our young people do, and, as a rule, they are permitted to select their own life-partners. A law of the Greek Catholic Church, of which they are all communicants, prohibits marriage between relations the tie between whom is nearer thaii the seventh degree. The men are naturally jealous; they w'atcli their wives closely. Their parental affection is very strong. The children are invariably taught the Russian language. The Alaska Commercial Company first taught them the convenience and furnished them the means of modern Wearing apparel. This company has established numerous schools, and the young Aleuts now receive instruction from graduates of best colleges. I confess I cannot see what tempted the graduates to thus bury themselves alive, and, without a single exception, the}’ are all as blind in this respect as I am, and there I will leave them. The first English schools were established on the Seal Islands—t. «., St. George and St. Paul Islands—by the Alaska Commercial Company. About the same time the company introduced modem dress, and the inhabitance of the territory. The innovation spread rapidly, and now-, in point of dress, the Aleuts are as fashionable* as the ordinary white laborer in this country. At every settlement large enough to be notable there are schools. In Sitka a well-organized German school is supported by Bishop

Johannes, of the Greek Church. Sitka is ttie port of entry of the Territory, and three deputies do the revenue business of the Territory. The superior officer is stationed at Sitka, where he is assisted by one deputy. Kodiack and Oonatiuka have each a deputy collector. Upon each of the Seal Islands (St. George and St. Paul) there is an English school, and there is also one upon the island of Oonalaska. All these institutions are by the Alaska Commercial Company. There are four agents of the United States Treasury upon the Seal Islands—two on each island—and on an average two Congressional committees sail up there every year to investigate the work of the Federal representatives. The settled population of Kodiack, Oonalaska, Sitka and the islands of St. George and St. Paul will not exceed 3,500. The natives are nomadic; sometimes there are 5,000 people in Sitka, and at other times there are actsoo people there.

There are churches in all the settlements, and in the larger towns priests are located. The villages that have no priests are ministered to by the priests from the more populous settlements. A comprehensive system of itineracy protects the Aleuts from any want of spiritual comfort. Of all the people of the Territory, save those of the Seal Islands, the people of Sitka and Kodiack are the furthest advanced in civilization. They live in log huts, with thatched roofs, and in their domestic habits are very cleanly. On the Seal Islands the Aleuts have one and one-

and-a-half story cottages, built after the American pattern by the Alaska Company, whose agents compel their owners or occupants to keep them perfectly clean. In other places in the Territory the Aleuts live in mound-shaped houses' of turf. They prefer to locate on the side of a hill, and when a house of this kind is burrowed out it is one of the most uncomfortable places to pass a night imaginable. You enter through a hole in the bank extending from the surface three or four feet up into the face of the outer wall. Until a fellow has been into one of these tombs he has no idea of what darkness is. I did not try it, but I believe the atmosphere could be lifted out in chunks, and I will be responsible for the assertion that a hot sun would have to put in its best licks to get any light through it. Yet the owners of the graves live in them contentedly. They get light from oil taken from seals. A wick made from cotton, when they can get it, or grass, when they can do no better, is saturated in a pan of oil; one end of the wick is protruded over the side, and when lit it gives out a flame in which there is very little illumination and a great deal of smoke and offensive flavor. Lamps are rare. Usually these huts have but a single room, varying in size from ten to sixteen feet square. For fuel the hutmen are dependent upon drift-wood. Their beds are made of seal-skins. A few have blankets. Considered generally the Aleuts are little better than our native InIndians, and in some respects their customs are similar. For example, in each village there is a chief elected by a popular vote. There are instances where this office has been continued in one family for centuries, but it.is nevertheless not an hereditary office, because the Aleuts reserve to themselves the right to, at any time, elect a superior officer to preside over them. That these people can ever be made useful citizens of the general commonwealth is extremely doubtful.' While legitimate commercial enterprise is fostered and protected in the islands the natives will be self-supporting; otherwise they will become a burden upon the country.— _ ■ . - ' :