r. n "J ' )^^ 51^ 5 0> /) (.l\'^Ki ALASKANA OR Alaska in Descriptive and Legendary Poems BY PROF. BUSHROD W. JAMES. A.M., M.D. Member of the Society of Natural History and Ethnology , Sitka, Alaska Pennsylvania Historical Society ; Academy of Natural Sciences; Franklin Institute, Philadelphia; American Association for the Advanccmcjit of Science; American Academy of Political and Social Science ; Americati Public Health Association ; Professor of Physiology i" th- New York Medical College and Hospital fur IVotnen, etc. PHILADELPHIA PORTER & COATES 1892 ^ Copyrighted, 1892, By BusHROD W. James. All rights reserved. DEDICATION. To MY Intimate, Worthy and Esteemed Friend, and Fellow-Traveler through Norway, Sweden, Fin land, Russia, and other Foreign Lands, Professor Jabez P. Dake, M.D., of NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, Who HAS A KEEN Appreciation of Scenic Grandeur and Beauty, I Dedicate this Humble Effort at Recording some of the Notes taken ON my Tour in Alaska. THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. AFTER having made a tour in Alaska and ■'^ beholding the beauties that are spread through its water-ways, along its coasts, and in the few towns of which it can boast ; having had glimpses into the peculiarities of its people, and the natural resources of wealth that are to be obtained from its animal and veg-etable kinor- doms ; I became so deeply impressed that I resolved to perpetuate my visit in verse, when involuntarily the weird, rhymeless style of "The Kalevala" and "Hiawatha" touched me as more appropriate than any other measure for the description of a people and country, as yet, so little known, but so well worthy of nearer acquaintance. (3) 4 PREFACE. I am not egotist enough to suppose that my book may do much toward attracting tourists or speculators to the land, the possession of which makes a truth of the statement that "the sun never sets" on the Republic of the United States. But if even a few are moved by it to visit its magnificent glaciers, its beautiful straits and channels, and the towns and vil- lages so strangely different from our own Eastern cities ; if one or two are tempted to look into the gold-mines of Douglass Island, or to while a little time in siorht of Sitka's beau- tiful sound and harbor, I will feel that I have not written in vain. I suppose there comes to every one the desire to tell of what he has seen. Some may do It far more ably than others ; but one must feel that he owes an apology for his bold- ness in aoain enterincr his name amono^ the authors of his day — and this I do, taking as my excuse the living pictures that have haunted me with their strangeness or their PREFACE. 5 loveliness ever since I roamed among" theni a few years ago. While on my visit to Alaska, and some time thereafter, I published a series of letters de- scriptive of that which I saw ; for these I re- ceived kind mention in some of our magazines and daily papers. Such tokens of appreciation, together with the success ot my book entitled "American Resorts and Climates," published in 1889, led me to attempt this work. In the progress of the writing of these poems I have consulted the various Government pub- lications on Alaska, and such writers as Prof Elliott, Charles Hallock, Lieutenant Schwatka, Dr. Sheldon Jackson and Mrs, Willard ; all of whom have been placed in such positions as to know far more of the territory and its inhabit- ants than I could possibly have learned during my visit; therefore my thanks are due to them, in a £freat measure, if I have succeeded in oiv- ing any graphic descriptions of the people and their customs. I thank other authors of more 6 PREFACE. recent date which I have also consulted. Of the scenery — in sunshine and clouds, in darkness and in moonlight ; of the spring-like beauty of some parts, the icy grandeur of glacier fields and glaciers, of bays and inlets, and of other portions of the country — I have living pictures, from personal observation, that can never fade from my memory. BusHROD W. James. CONTENTS. PAGE Introduction 9 Bering's Voyage to Alaska — Legend of 17 Alaska 26 Sitka 32 Alaskan Native Tribes 40 Algae of Alaska 52 Flora in Alaska 59 Birds of Alaska 70 A Humming-Bird in Sitka Ti Indian River 84 Alaskan Marriage ' 89 Totems 97 Alaskan Doctors 109 Power of the Medicine Men 122 A Medicine Man's Burial 130 A Haidah Taamish 138 The Alaska Indian's Funeral 144 Indian's Dread of Drowning 152 (7) 5 CONTENTS. PAGB Co-e-ky or Death Feast 157 Festival of U-gi-ak 165 Potlatch 170 Hot Springs of Alaska 179 Clubbing the Sea-Otter 185 Morse and Mahlemoot 192 The Seal or Pribylov Islands 200 The Seals of Alaska 210 Na-ass River — Legend of 217 Fishing on Na-ass River 223 Pinnacle Islet 229 The Birth of Bogaslov Islet — Legend of 235 Indian Legend of the Large Glacier on Stickeen River 243 Chilkat Legend of the Raven 251 The Owl — Legend of 260 Yehl — Legend of 271 Mount Edgecumbe — Legend of 279 Baranov Castle — Legend of 290 The Silent City — Modern Legend of 299 Cliff-Builders 304 Taku Inlet 315 Muir Glacier 320 Mirage in Alaska 334 Moonlight in Alaska 342 Aurora 349 Sunset in Alaska 355 Appendix 361 INTRODUCTION. T N a mansion by a streamlet, On a tilled "and fertile farm-land — In a homestead rich with beauty, Made by art and nature, blending In a fair, harmonious union : At the silent hour of midnight, In the weird, still hour of dreaming, Started first these wandering flood-tides ; Opened then the gates of musing O'er the scenes through which I've lingered, Over countries bathed in lustre. Shed from classics, grand and ancient, — Countries bearing on their banners Symbols bold of nations, noble (9) rO INTRODUCTION. In their learning and their prowess, In their trustful deeds of honor: Over lands who glory ever In their brilliant feats of conquest, Proud to bear upon their signets Emblems of their daring contests ; Marking not the mighty roll-call, Counting not the streams of life-blood That have rushed, and ebbed, and fallen, But to swell a broader boundary, But to line a grander border ; For the flag that led them onward. That its creeping folds should farther Wave, and mark a Nation's glory ! On they wandered, those late musings, Over mountains bold and frowning — Over snowy peaks and ranges, Or through vales of sparkling beauty, Of such loveliness and fairness As a poet's heart would fancy Pure and briorht enough for dwellinors For his grandest thought creations. INTRODUCTION. I I Later, memory touched a country, As a needle finds a magnet, Thus my thoughts clung close around it, Tremblingly at first, then steady, Till all else grew dimly distant, All the classic grandeur faded, And once more my footsteps wandered, In those wakeful hours of midnight. Far beyond great city noises — Distant from the blooming farm-lands, Far away from kindred faces And from soft familiar voices ; Till my ears were filled with jargon Much beyond my comprehension : And I saw strange, dusky faces— Faces, wild with savage cunning. Swarthy faces, marked with sea-breath, Or with scars of heathen beauty. Some had skins so finely textured That the crimson blood shone through them, Rich and bright as warm Italia Often tints her fairest daughters. 1 2 INTRODUCTION. Others, black and rendered hideous By their strange and cruel customs — By their marks of heathen torture, Or the paint smeared o'er them rudely. More I saw — a country added To a glory-crowned republic ! Not a blood-stained, cowering tribute Lowering under smouldering ashes, — Under ashes holding embers That but wait a hand to fan them Into fierce, rebellious flaming, Into fires too hot for quenching, — But a land made ours by purchase ! Bought, without a crimson signing Of the title-deed that makes it Part of this most noble Union. Lofty mountains towered above me, Snow-capped mountains, bold and stately, Old volcanoes, still and hoary. Grimly frowned across my pathway ; RueS'ed cliffs and orass-fjrown hillocks Sheltered peaceful, smiling valleys ; INTRODUCTION. 1 3 vSpicy firs and feathery spruces Whispered in my ear soft music Touched by breezes, pure and balmy, Whose clear cadences awakened Thoughts of home, for so the branches Answer in the same sweet language To the tunes the wood-sprites murmur In the trees that bend above me, When my weary steps turn homeward, And my sated brain needs resting From the pleasant task of taking. Grasping, and retaining pictures That, forever spread before me, Tempt with such alluring radiance As to make me wish to wander. And to long for wing-tipped sandals And a frame with Sampson's vigor ! Onward still my musings traveled, When a sad-toned night-bird calling, In the trees around my dwelling. Caused an eagle's scream to echo As I heard it in the canons, 1 4 INTRODUCTrON. In the distant, icy North-land, Where he Hves unharmed by marksmen — Monarch of his lofty crag-nest, And the cliffs that guard his dwelling. Once an owl's weird cry resounding. Called to mind the flocks of ravens Strutting in the streets and doorways, Croaking with their soulless voices, And with brazen boldness robbinof Friend or foe with none to hinder. Sacred birds ! By heathens worshipped As fair nature's great creators ! Black-winged signs of midnight darkness Over-spreading human outcasts, As a pall of inky blackness Shades a sombre, funeral casket ! And the land of silenced midday Sleeping 'neath the ice-god's reigning. With such realistic coldness That my very blood seemed colder. Rose before me, still and silent. Save that now and then a hoof- beat INTRODUCTION. 1 5 Made the gleaming ice-crust crackle ; Or a ptarmigan's low piping Waked an echo, whose vibrations Caused the silence to seem deeper When the last sweet chord had flitted Far beyond my power of hearing. Or, that country loomed before me, With the radiant sunshine glancing Over glaciers, slowly gliding — Moving in majestic grandeur, Onward toward the broad Pacific — Toward the boundless, roaring waters Waiting ever to receive them — Those bright ice-cliffs that lean over, Bending toward the restless waters. Till the surging billows charm them. And they plunge in bright abandon Deep within the ocean's bosom ! Gems of landscape pass before me Like some glorious panorama! Sparkling rills and river courses Marked by emerald tints of verdure— 1 6 INTRODUCTION. Woods with shady deep recesses, Guarded well by tangled branches, Hung with graceful, grey festooning, Formed by living mossy streamers — Waving mosses, that seem ever Seeking out the barren branches, That their wiry roots may cover And be-drape with clinging beauty. There an antlered deer stands gazing— Fearlessly his dark eyes scan me — While the song-birds trill sweet music And the air, with perfume laden. Tells of blossoms bright and lovely. So the music and the fragrance Steep my senses in their richness, And my spirit sees, in fancy. All my musings penned in verses — Verses, that like pale snow-fairies Wander forth, perhaps to waken Some stray thought to stalwart action, Or, mayhap, to sink like raindrops Out of sisfht and life forever ! wmm $mP ■i'u'^lV- *,V:,nf|,.- 5'f;l BERING'S VOYAGE TO ALASKA. /^^UT upon the sea went sailing — ^-^^ Out from safe home-port and country — Forth upon an unknown pathway — Two small vessels, rudely fashioned, Built so frailly that most daring Were the strong, bcave men that sailed them, True and firm the hands that manned them; And the hearts, that throbbed expectant, Longed to meet and conquer perils. Built and named to sail in consort. Now they started forth together, Facing unknown ocean dangers. Steering for a wild, new country, — For a land unknown and distant. (17) ) ALASKANA. And tlic leaders planned between them How they'd land and take possession — How their native home should owe them Honor and renown, for placing On the distant shore the standard — Russia's wavinof flacf — as token That her people first had landed In the great, new world that borders On the East — the fair Pacific ! As they ventured on together, Day and night each saw the other, — - Night and day they held more closely, Every hour hope growing stronger, That ere long their eyes should open On the shores they learned to covet More and more, as time delaying Held them from their wished- for glory. Suddenly their way was darkened By the storm-clouds bending over. Hiding from their eyes the sunlight — Threatening them with deep-toned thunder! At his post stood every seaman. BERING S VOYAGE TO ALASKA. 1 9 Ready at an instant's notice To obey the least commanding Of the leaders whom he trusted. Then the storm broke in with fury, And the ocean's heaving bosom Answered to the fierce cloud-voices With a low and plaintive moaning; While the winds grew hoarse with telling Of the deluge, that the blackness Heralded to those who lingered In the track the storm had chosen ! Down the rain poured, sweeping torrents Drenched the ships from stern to bowsprit — Made the shrinking sails hang leaden From the creaking masts and rigging. And each silent sailor's answer To his stern commander's shouting Was a grasp as strong as iron And a will to do or perish. Close those vessels held together, Fearing each to lose the other In the dreary waste of waters 20 ALASKANA. That was tossing them like drift-wood In the bhnding, surging billows. Bui; a sad hour came, when signals Failed to bring returning answers — For the wind and storm-beat ocean Smothered, in the fierce confusion. Every sound that man could utter, And the thunder's mighty crashing Buried in its loud vibrations Every booming of the ship-guns. As they tried to greet each other — As each tried to find the other In that fearful din and roarine Of the frightful, tempest voices ! Far apart the billows bore them. And the storm's breath swept them farther, Till the ships that sailed together — Those twin boats with saintly sponsors* — Never side by side dropped anchor. Never more furled sails, nor spread them As one boat with one commander. * See note in Appendix. BERING S VOYAGE TO ALASKA. 2 I And the men who sailed upon them Ne'er ao-ain in life held converse Nor beheld each other's faces. Bering's ship made aimless headway Through the tempest's shock and vapor — Through the wind's faith-trying changes And the ocean's trackless pathways, Till it drifted toward the mainland, Toward the bleak and lonely sea-line, And the great birds screamed a welcome To the coast of wild Alaska. But a little while they lingered, For the land was bare and lonely, And the ship was far more home-like Than the dreary bluffs and mountains .Standino- out as barren strongholds Close between the sky and ocean. Then a fiercer storm broke o'er them — Driving them before its fury — Hurlinof them with ruthless vengeance O'er the wilderness of waters — O'er the faithless, surofinor waters 2 2 ALASKANA. Of the wild, unknown Pacific! How they sailed, and tacked, and drifted, Longing for some welcome landing, Wishing for some quiet haven Where the sick, the sad, the weary, Might find peaceful rest and comfort, Or, at least, find time for dying ! How they bowed in strict obedience To their leader's stern ambition, Though their hollow eyes grew sadder With the suffering and the longing — With the wishful, eager throbbing Of their hearts for home and dear ones ! When at last his spirit faltered, And he steered his vessel homeward. How those dying sailors answered To the last commands he uttered ! Though he seemed so strangely sullen Their allegiance never wavered. When, heartbroken, he grew silent. Still the voice of his lieutenant Spoke but once, to have his answer 15ERING S VOYAGE TO ALASKA. 23 In his orders strictly carried ; Thoueh their hmbs refused their office And one man upheld another To the work, that bade their sail-boat Bear them back to Russia's borders. Time passed on, they must be nearing, So they thought, their native seaport ; And they strained their eyes at morning — Longing gazed, at evening's closing, For the welcome hazy outlines Of the coast of old Kamtchatka ; But, alas ! they gazed all vainly — Hoped and longed for what was growing Distant from them, as the vessel Bore them here and there, false-euided — Rocked them in its sea-beat bulwarks, Careless that those suffering seamen Found at last all hope had withered — Found themselves as useless timber, Sick and heartless, sad, storm-driven — Lost upon the sea, whose waters Lave the shore they sadly longed for. 24 ALASKAN A. Wash the port they long-ed to enter. Numbed with cold and growing weary, Powerless now to reef or furl them, Uselessly the sails hung, flapping Like great birds of evil omen, Beating with their taunting pinions Dirges for the crew and captain, Who were drifting at the mercy Of the restless winds and waters ! " Land ahoy !" Alas the vessel Half disabled, almost sinking, Feebly turned toward the haven ; But her weakened sails were helpless; When they anchored, hawsers parted — When they neared the shore the wave-caps Flaunted in their eager faces, Blinding spray and briny greetings — Chillinff hearts and n u mbin or fi nosers, Till despair once more reigned over All those weary, helpless sailors. Then at last the mild Pacific Raised that frail bark on its bosom — BERING S VOYAGE TO ALASKA. 25 Raised it tenderly, and laid it With its freiofht of human sufferinor — With its heart-sick crew and captain — High and safe within a harbor. Safe from wind, and wave, and shipwreck, On the shores of fair Alaska ! Berinof saw the land, then closinsf Once for all his weary eyelids. Left his ashes as a tribute To the isle whereon he landed. But his name has lain for ages On the waters that his sail-boat Cleft with prow so nearly useless ; And the men who braved such dangers Lived to show to coming nations That those bleak, wild shores are laden Rich with wealth for those with spirits Bold and brave enoug-h to win it. ALASKA. PAR to North and West there nestles, Close between two mighty guardians- Held within the soft embraces Of a myriad flashing tendrils That surround and touch her beauty With their moving, glittering jewels As a necklace, gemmed and gilded, Decks and beautifies the wearer — Closely nestles fair Alaska, Leaning on the broad Pacific ; Resting on the throbbing waters, Dipping far into its bosom — Bending low to hear its music. And to see her own wild features (26) ALASKA. 27 Gazing out from bays as placid As a mirror's polished surface — Or to see that ima(re broken Into fragments by the ripples, And then carried by them onward, Till, half wearied by their burden, Half in gleeful sport, they fling them — Brilliant fragments of her picture, Far and wide beyond their reaching — Only to return and gather. Bear away and gaily scatter Other bold or fair reflections Of her nature bright and chansfeful. On the north, her Arctic guardian Frowns upon such senseless frolic And, in calm and stolid duty. Bears his portion of her wardship ; Throws his giant bulwarks round her, Sheathing with his crystal armor Every tempting curve and dimple When she smiles upon the grimness — Holding there, in pallid stillness, 28 ALASKANA. Faintest outlines of her contour, As she throws her slender shadows Prone upon his breast, and lingers Near his heart, as if to touch him And to soften with her presence Into smiles his soulless features. Coldly, silently, he gathers Round her form his spotless mantle — Wreathes her brow with purest brilliants Chosen from his royal casket, And around her casts a girdle, Silver clear, and clasped so firmly That no hand has stren^jth to loosen From his bonds her Northern borders ! Fast he binds the dauntless vessels That have tried to find a harbor On the coast he keeps so sacred ; For he holds them with his ice-chains That but wait his strong upheaval To reduce their brittle timbers Into useless, splintered wreckage. High and bold her mountain ranges ALASKA. 29 Crest her shore and dip their shadows Deep into the dark blue sea wells That are waveless, as if awe struck At the grand, majestic presence ! Hills with verdure topped and skirted, Valleys gay with golden poppies, Granite crag, with naked foreheads, Guarding well the river passes — Great volcanoes, cold and scar-seamed Resdng from their fiery belchings, Bearing in their rough crevasses Ghost-like ashes of their passion — Mountains, rearing snow-capped summits Far into the sun's bright kingdom — Ranges over-topping ranges, Darkly frowning, palely ghost-like, Peering through the clefts once riven By some shock that made earth tremble — Here and there one, taller, nobler. Standing forth alone and peerless, Like a mighty chief in armor, Holdinq; converse with his vassals, 30 ALASKANA. But with grandly king-like bearing Binding them in stern subjection — Bidding them make no encroachments On his grey and stony ramparts. All upon her breast upholden Are these tender gems of beauty, Are these trackless crags and mountains, And, as mothers hold their children, With no frowningf at the burden. Mighty glaciers, bound for ages To her brow with icy fetters, Glow in varied tints of azure. Like a crown with sapphire setting ; And the tinkling rills and streamlets Make sweet music for her dreaming, As they drip, and run, and murmur From their coldly sparkling birth-place. Rivers seam her glorious landscape — Mighty rivers, broad and rapid. Made to bear upon their bosoms — Safe and sure to bear and hold them, Vessels built for trade or travel — ALASKA. 31 Ships for commerce, large and noble — Daintier crafts for eager tourists, Or canoes like skimming swallows; Dashinor rivers, headlono- rushinof — With no object but their finding Some clear outlet for the spirits Which control their mad careering — , Rivers, too, whose quiet currents Steal their way through narrow passes Noiselessly, as if the canons Awed their hearts to abject silence. Bays indent her lovely shore-lines With their placid, tinted faces, Beaming In a thousand dimples On her guards of granite boulders ; And her broad, arterial channels Lead among rich island beauties, That bewilder with their changes ; Lead throucrh fairv woodland wonders And through Arctic cold and silence — From the quivering smiles of spring-time To the weird, majestic stillness That surrounds this Ice-bound kinedom. SITKA. T OOK, the sound is faintly tinted ^ With the sun's departing glory! Where the mountains frown the shadows Slowly creep to darker shading ; Tree-tops bend toward the water Where their pictures, softly mingling With the rippling waves and eddies, Lose themselves in chano-eful frao-ments— Bound and bend in leafy patches — On the crested wavelets dancing, In the glass-like hollows sinking, But to rise agfain and elisten In the twilight's lingering beauty. Here a cup-like blossom tosses (32) SITKA. :^^ Perfume, like a dream of sweetness, To the breeze, which bears it onward Toward the sky whose bkie is rarest Where the misty clouds break open. See the shades of pink and golden. Resting- on the blue, like jewels — There the banks of gray grow rosy Where the glow but tips their edges ; And the waves, reflectinof, ofleaminp-. Re-repeat the cloud-land's fairness, Till the air is brightly laden With the evening's tender welcome. O'er Verstova's misty grandeur Lights and shades are slowly creeping, There a glint of gold is heightened By a line of velvet darkness ; Tints of pink and purple blended Float around his sides and paint them — But his haughty head lifts proudly Far beyond the sunset shading. O'er it rests a golden halo, With no cloud to dim its glory. 34 ALASKANA. Edgecumbe's sides blaze riclier, redder, Where the beaminii- sunhcrht jjilds them ; Here and there a snow-wreath loiters To enhance his lonely splendor, While the night seems slowly rising From his deep and silent crater. Spreading o'er his top its blackness Ere it shadows earth and water. Hush ! Across the sound's clear ripples Hear the silvery chimes repeating Notes that wake the sleeping echoes In the mountain's ruo'CTed summit — Tones that ring across the valleys And reverberate so sweetly From the rocks and gloomy caverns, Touching every point and crevice. And rebounding, waving, rolling. In one glorious diapason. Whence the sound ? Old Sitka's steeple Rears itself in emerald brightness Near the sound and in the valley, Where the quaint old town is nestled, SITKA. And the angelus resounding Day-by-day the sound-waves carry Far. beyond the streets and dvvelHng-s — Up and out till nature answers With the voice that bides its bidding In the dim and rock-bound distance. In the church, the sacred pictures Glow with plate of gold and silver, Gleam with rarely precious jewels, Out from which the tender faces Shine in strange, unearthly beauty. Altar, walls, and windows glisten With a grandeur gayly brilliant. Which the church of Greece has chosen As her own from distant ages. But the house for native worship, Out beyond the church's shadow, Seems to lack the need of lasting. So its crumbling walls and rafters Tell that soon the time will hasten When the only sign to mark it Will be crushed and broken timbers ! 36 ALASKANA. Yet Baranov Castle windows Gaze across the bay as bravely As when orlancine swords and helmets Held it safe on roof and rampart. And the halls are there but resting, From the sound of feast and revel ; And the polished floors are silent Where the soldier's tread once sounded. From its cupola no longer Floats old Russia's royal banner, And the light glows not that beckoned Many an anxious crew to anchor In the harbor, safe and peaceful. Ladies' smiles and nobles' laughter Mark no more the courtly presence Of the guests and lordly master Who, for years, were wont to gather In the rooms, now coldly vacant. Hushed and still, the castle watches O'er the old forsaken houses Dismally and surely sinking. With no hand to stay their downfall. SITKA. 7,^ None to care when all are tumbled Into rough and useless rubbish ! For the people, sadly listless, Have reduced to meagre numbers, — White has blent with native savage, Until each has lost his nature, And the Creoles who are faithful To their city's fading glory, Only live in hopeless patience, With no enterprise nor courage To rebuild their falling dwellings, Or resume the waves of traffic That would soon restore old Sitka To its place among the nations. Still the castle guards the harbor, Once alive with ships and sailors ; Now, perhaps, a lonely vessel Swings and sways within the current; — And it watches o'er the islets That like glowing gems of verdure Dot and deck the sound's fair surface ; O'er the mountain crests and gorges, ALASltANA. O'er the old volcanic sentry, Who will stand though Sitka trembles, Sinks and falls — till braver spirits See the future's smiling promise And rebuild the falling- city. Until willing hands united Raise again the "New Archangel," And once more its shores will echo With the creak of masts and timbers. At the sound of life the valleys Shall send out a royal welcome, In their blossoms blue and golden, In their waving plumes of grasses. Here the waves, with fishes teeming. Hold a healthful, ijlitterinor harvest ; While the mountain sides are traversed By the game to sportsmen dearest. — Deer and grouse in countless numbers Roam amonof the brush and bramble, And the waters tempt the wild-fowl To display their varied plumage ; Ducks and swans and noisy goslings SITKA. 39 Splash and dive, and wake the welkin With their loud, discordant clamor, And the partridge calls and scurries Throuorh the leaves with startlino^ rustle. So with land so fair and verdant, With rich food supplies abundant, And with ofold and silver veininp; Rocky heights and sandy shallows, Holdinor out a orlorious harvest Toward those brave enough to seek it, — Sitka must not sink forever Out of sight, of mind, and being ! ALASKAN NATIVE TRIBES. A ND this land so fraught with promise — Teeming full of grandest beauty — '■ Bearinof untold stores of fortune Underneath its varied surface — Long has held its hidden millions For its own poor heathen natives. Some, alas, how few the number ! Ages back received and cherished. And they still hold fast the doctrines Which the old Greek Church bestowed them ; More, with souls all warped by witchcraft And with threatening demon-worship, Live like hunted beasts, in terror Of some lurking danger waiting (40) ALASKAN NATIVE TRIBES. 4I To destroy them or to clog tbiem With persistent, vengeful venom ! Others, taking life more gayly, Trust to spirits, good or evil. Who with fateful power will bear them To some place beyond life's border, When or where they do not question. Yet these soul-warped people ever Live to rules firm set and guarded, By which tribes and subdivisions Know and hold the land assigned them, Certain that the bold encroacher Pays most sadly for his folly. The Orarians take precedence, Classed as Esquimaux or Innuits, Dark Creoles, and sturdy Aleuts — These hold close along the seaboard, Claiming nearly all the coast-line And the islands near adjoining ; — Save where here and there the Indians Have and hold small coast possessions, Which tliey won by force or cunning. — 42 ALASKANA. Livinor close beside the ocean, These brave tribes fear not its racfing-, But they face its foaming billows Coolly daring, using mostly Boats their own skilled hands have fashioned From the skins of great sea-lions, From the hides of seal or walrus, Called Bidarras or Bidarkas, — As their size and weight should warrant, — Or canoes of graceful outline — Light kyacks, that skim the water — Made from logs of fragrant cedar, Made from graceful trunks of cedar, Which they scoop out smooth and neatly ; Then they lash each end securely And they fill the hollows, brimming To the edge with sparkling water. Therein plunging stones, so heated That a cloud of steam arises. In they throw them till the "dug-outs" Can no longer hold another — These they cover over closely, ALASKAN NATIVE TRIBES. 43 Making steam the prisoned agent In the work they wish accompHshed. By and by the trunks are pliant, When they shape the boats by placing Stays across, so finely graded That the forms q-tow almost swanlike In their slender, tapering outlines. Dried and painted, carved and polished. With some emblematic figures At the prows to guide them safely, Forth they dart with wondrous fleetness: Light as down they ride the billows. Holding safe the fearless boatmen, Who with skilful strokes can guide them Where the prey is fat and plenty. These, with spears, and hooks, and bludgeons, Aid the dauntless navigators In their quest of fish or walrus, Pondrous whales or soft-furred otter. Which supply their food in season, And their clothing, shoes, and vessels Which they carve with strange devices, 44 ALASKANA. But witli skill and grace surprising. All array themselves in garments Made of skins their arts have taken — And they fashion them for comfort, Though with doubtful grace or beauty, Save a few who deck the borders Richly bright with quills and fringes, Or with furs of varied shading, Forming wraps grotesque and startling. Some choose bird-breasts, bright and downy. And combine with skins so deftly That the feathers gleam like jewels In the soft, fine fur imbedded. While the Innuits carve and fashion Tools and vessels, blades and axes, With a skill and style, unrivalled Save by talents trained and cultured, Quietly the Aleut gathers Grass and weeds and weaves them deftly Into mats and tiny boxes, Into fine, close-woven baskets. That will hold and carry water, — ALASKAN NATIVE TRIBES. 45 Baskets that are used as kettles Into which hot stones drop hissing, Seething, steaming, sputtering, singing, Till the water boils and bubbles, Just as though an iron caldron Held it o'er a blazing furnace ! Full of talents, ripe and ready For some guiding hands to polish To a full and round completeness. To most useful heights of culture ; Still these people are repulsive With their horrid taste in changing Nature's work to savage notions Of what constitutes true beauty ; For some pierce their lips and spread them With labrets, whose painful presence They regard as most symmetric ! And their food ! how can we call it By that name ! Their fearful dishes Were unfit to cast for feedinor To our lowest, meanest creatures ! Putrid oil, whose faintest odor 46 ALASKANA. Sweetest perfume could not smother ! Fish with fibres fast divorcing From its bones, they treat as dainties, While the moose and deer and walrus, Fish and water-fowl and sea-fish, Cooked or not, as suits convenience. With no salt nor other flavor Form their constant, yearly diet ! For their homes they make rude dwellings. Mostly underground and dismal. With no light but burning blubber, With no pure, clear air for breathing; And the only signs to know them Are the mound-like roofs, grass-covered, With one hole for smoke escaping And another made for entrance. Here they live, but make long journeys, Huntinof richest furs for traffic; Softest seal and costliest otter, Warlus hides and tusks for ivory. Whales for litjht and food and barter, And for bones to roof their houses. ALASKAN NATIVE TRIBES. 4/ While great fishes without number Come to keep in food the natives Whose strange hfe we cannot fathom. Next the Indian tribes hold province Over all the inland portions, And their war-like spirits keep them Free from most marauding neighbors. They are brave, courageous hunters, Bold and reckless, daring fishers, Wild and fierce when raised to battle. But most abject in their terror Of the spirits that surround them. Of the witches and the demons, Of the Shamans that can blast them, Of the very air close swarming With vile wraiths, forever watching For some chance to do them evil ! Tinnehs, T'linkets, Hydahs, Chilkats, Chilkoots, Tongas and some others, With whose names, we cannot trifle, — Hunt and fish and stand for baro-ains Selling high and buying cheaply. 48 ALASKANA. Showing, poor, benighted creatures, Some sHght, shadowy resemblance To a race not quite so savage, To a people fair and cultured ! Here again, born artists chisel. With most wonderful designing, Tools for work, and bowls and dishes Cut from stones and wood and metal, Bracelets wrought in graven silver, Labrets, that claim admiration As they hold their strange position In the scarred, distorted visage Of some favored village beauty. And their lofty tribal totems Carved in forms so weird and awful, Graved in shapes so oddly fearful, That uprise to prove the standing Of the house by which they tower. But of all their works none equal In the texture and the finish, In the fine and tempting softness, ; And their oddly wrought designing, ALASKAN NATIVE TRIBES. 49 Those gay bordered T'linket blankets, Traced in colors bright or sombre, Of the finest fleeces woven And inwrought with totem figures, Fringed and stained with dyes tiiat rival Persia's precious shades in beauty ; Or some bleached to equal eider, In their fluffy, snowy plumpness. These are used as money value In their many modes of traffic. In their great, important podatch, And in sacrificial offerings To the gods who need appeasing For some fancied slight or insult. Few or many, are cremated With the dead who sadly need them On their journey to the country Where no blankets are provided. They, with food and clothes are drifted In the blaze of pines and spruces, Far beyond the world's environs To their ghost -land, vaguely distant. 50 ALASKANA. All these tribes are subdivided Into smaller tribes or classes, Each regarding some wild creature As its patron saint exclusive. With great pride they place its image, Carved or painted, stained or woven, Upon all their strange belongings, Adding beasts or birds or fishes, When a woman joins their number, As the marriage- rite makes lawful That her badge should grace the totem To her husband's class belonging. Yet these women are but servants. Bought and sold or vilely treated, Forced to take beyond their bearing Cruel pain past all believing. And to toil while life permits it, Lacking even beast-like comfort In the hour of fiercest trial! So they live, these darkened heathens In the land so fair and lovely. In the home of grandest landscapes, ALASKAN NATIVE TRIBES. 5 I Of sweet sounds and richest beauties, — So o'erhungwith superstitions, So beclouded with rude customs That the lieart grows sick with longing For the spirit light to wake them From their long and dreary midnight, From this cruel pagan darkness ! ALG/E OF ALASKA. A FTER storms have tossed the ocean '^ And old Bering's waves are troubled- When the whids have whipped with fury, Till the foamed and writhing breakers Flinof themselves in wild confusion Far along the earth's environs, Far across the beach that ripples With the fierce, recoiling surges — Walk along the shores and count them, All those wondrous trunks and branches, All the stems of kelp and mosses That the rude sea-waves have gathered From the deep, pellucid gardens Down beneath the glossy waters. (52) ALG/E OF ALASKA. 53 There the lonQf, briofht trunks and streamers Lie in heaps, all gaily mottled, By the tints of leaf and tendril, And anemones, still throbbing With the life that soon must perish When the sun's reflection strikes them, — When the YiQ-ht and air have stolen All their sea-born life and moisture. See them now, a quivering parterre, Spread along the sweeping sea-line ; Orange, gold, and shades of purple, Tender pink and glaring crimson — There they lie as bright as blossoms, And their slender threads move lightly As the quivering, wind-touched stamens Of the sweet-breathed water-lily Touch them with a hand so gentle That the down should not be ruffled On a butterfly's frail plumage If his gauzy wings had felt it — And they shrink away and tighten All their trembling, waving fingers. 54 ALASKANA. That a moment since, were reaching In such strangely searching fashion — Close them tight and lie as quiet As tho* stilled and closed forever ! Wait, and they will slowly open And resume the nervous motion, Till at last they die and wither, Lacking ocean food and moisture. Rosy " sea-squirts," pale " cucumbers," Asteroids and jelly-fishes, Crabs with shells of green and azure. Marked with sharp, deep crimson edges, Lie in odd, uncouth positions, Creep along the slippery windrows, Eating holes in dying grasses That have changed from green to yellow. Dingy brown, and slimy blackness, — All the colors mingling strangely, Moving, too, in queer commotion When a crab has noticed something That will suit his roving fancy — Or when some poor, shivering creature, ALG.-E OF ALASKA. 55 Longing for its native sea-home, Makesa stronor, but useless, effort To regain the tempting waters. All alono- the island beaches Great sea-weeds in tangled masses Pile in rifts as snow is drifted, Here in hills, and there, like carpet, Stretched along the sand, exposing Plants, whose quivering life resemble That of some brigfht flower or insect ; — Animals, like plants in motion — Making rich, confusing pictures For the traveller's wondering vision. Off the coasts the kelp grows rampant, — With its roots securely anchored Fathoms deep, it stretches upward. Coast-wise, when the tide is rising — Floatinof out in tumbled streamers When the ebb has left its branches As a mark to show how daring Was their late, but welcome visit. In some parts it grows so densel)' 56 ALASKANA. That its constant-movinor branches Form great rafts for seal and walrus To enjoy their long siestas, Or to sport upon, unmindful How the waves are tossed and rippled. Ships have found a barrier meet them Where no rock nor shoal is sounded, But where kelp and grasses matted, Twist with each wild sweep and eddy Till they grow as strong as hawsers And the ship-keels cannot break them. When the time of storm is over, And these tons of moss all landed, Natives seek the coasts and gather Loads of such to use for fuel ; And their crackling fires gleam ruddy With the storm-tossed ocean's tribute. Birds collect the air-dried remnants For their rude and careless nesting. Hungry birds, in countless thousands. Tear the sea-shell's slimy tenants From their homes of pearl-like beauty, ALG^ OF ALASKA. 57 Which the kelp's tenacious fingers Have upborn from Neptune's chamber. Fishes swarm in such profusion, In among each floating store-house, That a boat may load to sinking Ere the poor, affrighted swimmers Can escape the active fishers, Who have watched, with hungry longing For those dainty, fresh additions To their scantly-furnished larders. Thus the sea, whose various tempers Ever hold unbounded revels — Wage unceasing, reckless warfare With the winds from Northern borders, And from East and West, alternate — Seems to sometimes grow remorseful That its rage should lead to suff'ring, — That poor human frames must perish While it yields to wild indulgence Of its rash, unbridled passion — And it throws across his pathway Food in fishes, birds, and mammals ; 58 AI.ASKANA. Rafts, on which they float toward him, Where his kyack could not battle With the tumbling, tearing breakers ; And supplies from out its lockers Fuel, charged with heat as fervid As the pine-tree's wood could furnish. And, because no garden flora E'er can cheer the stormy region. Lovely tints and changeful shadings Come from out the sea to tell him Something of the world's brio-ht store-house And its teeming wealth of beauty. FLORA IN ALASKA. T 11 THERE the pine trees rear their branches, " ' Where the spicy, healthful perfumes Of a myriad fadeless needles Waft themselves with every wind-breath, Fling themselves in rich profusion, Thouofh no mortal feels the virtue — Though the sweetness and the verdure Win no voice of admiration, And no grateful heart bounds lightly In response to such a welcome : — There the shaded mosses linger, Spreading carpets, soft and springy, That betray no wandering footsteps, Though the tread be bold and heedless. (59) 6o ALASKANA. Round a blighted stump they nestle, Touching here and there their rootlets, Asking only room for foothold If the wind should strike them rudely. In return they grace its boldness With festoons of gray-toned laces ; While the sister mosses gather At its feet in tiny hillocks, Lifting up their cup-like blossoms — Russet blooms, minute and perfect — On their stems, so fine and slender, That the faintest stir around them Sets the timid flowers a-quiver, Bends them down, but does not break them For they toss their heads up gaily When the breeze has touched and left them Deep within the dark recesses Of the weird, primeval forest Mosses stand like mimic copses, — Here and there a taller seedling Looming high above its comrades. Like a giant in the woodland. FLORA IN ALASKA. 6 1 Darkest green, relieved by shading Almost white, where tender patches Spread abroad to hide the remnants Of its neighbor, dead and withered, Make the pliant, mossy pathway Through the mystic wood so lovely, That it seems a stranger footstep Should not mar the simple beauty. Fear not, for those stems will humbly Sink beneath the instant pressure, And uplift again their leaflets Proudly as a lofty cedar ! O'er the rudest rocks the sphagnum Creeps and spreads its wiry fibres. But its modest worth forbids it To assert itself too boldly ; So it threads its dainty net- work Over and around the rock-face. But its cool, gray shading always Looks so like the craggy surface That a close inspection only Can convince a doubting gazer, 62 ALASKANA. Till he sees the tremblin"^ motion. Like a photographed vibration, Making every lacy leaflet Rise and fall, in wavelike ripples. If the gentlest winds but kiss it On their way to distant valley, Here and there a stony fastness, Where no trees nor grass can flourish, Blooms in richest shades of ochre, Gold and bronze and purple timings. For the clinging hchens paint it Till it seems a broken rainbow Has been caught and firmly fastened To the frowninof cracks and boulders. Spruces wave their drooping pennons, Each new tip of palest verdure Resting on the darker greenness. Like a graceful, tinted feather, Down toward the mossy bedding Branches droop, and sweep the seed-cones Till they loose their tightened cases. And the ripened seeds releasing FLORA IN ALASKA. 63 Send them on tlieir wing-tipped mission. Hemlocks toss their plumes, supplying With their slender, ripened leaflets, For the creeping vines and mosses Tempting beds of restful fragrance. Sometimes safe in sheltered places Shadowy cedars, grow and flourish, And their conelike heads point upward, While their hearts refuse to hasten From the earth that fed and brouofht them To their sweet, but sombre beauty. Stunted pines, with daring venture, Climb the mountains' lofty summits, Satisfied, if but a foothold Gives to them the place of honor Far above their stately brothers. Apples grow, but hard and bitter Is the fruit they give in payment. For the noonday sun that warms them For the rain that feeds their rootlets ; And their trunks grow rough and gnarly, Though the winds but touch them gently, 64 ALASKANA. As they pass to tell the wonders Of their wild and icy birthplace. Briars steal along the cliff-sides, Stretch to catch unwary branches, Wander in and out unquestioned Over rocks and stony margins ; Peering through the dark recesses Of the long, untrampled jungles, Where no foot of man has ever Crushed the moss or torn the bramble- Where no hand has ere unbended To receive the purple berries, That are hung in tempting clusters Over brinks and rocky ledges, Hidden under thorny thickets, Nodding from the topmost leaf-sprays. Or upon the ground lie bursting With their weight of ripened juices. Strawberries, with pale, shy blossoms, Hide away in sheltered corners And, when tiny fruit is ripened. Clasp it close beneath their leaflets, 1, Primeval Forest. FLORA IN ALASKA. 65 As if loath to let its beauty Tempt some eager hand to gather And to test the promised sweetness. Whortleberries, bold and gracious, Reach their tinted fruit, inviting Every passer-by to cull them. And enjoy Alaskan bounty. Cranberries, with rosy blushes. Tempt the feet to trend the tangle Where they hold, with stunted maple, And with nodding plumes of alder, Undisturbed and free possession Of the rich and oozy marshes- Fallen trunks of forest monarchs. Dead themselves, supply nutrition To a myriad vines and bushes, Mosses, lichen, tiny tree-tops, That will sometimes stride their root-tips Either side the stricken tree-stems, Living monuments erecting To the silent, lifeless cedars. To the pines and balmy spruces, 66 ALASKANA. Holding tender, requiem music In dieir young and sturdy branches And diffusing' softest shadinof Lest the sunlight fall too brightly. Grasses grow in rich profusion, — Tall and stately plumes upraising As they toss their tiny seed-pods Far and wide across the valley, — Looking as they bend and flutter Like a field of snowy feathers ; Or, they creep along the margins Of the bays and inland channels, Spreading richly verdant carpets Close beside the gleaminof waters. Dipping, now and then, their leaf-points Till their emerald brightness touches Here and there the yellow sea-moss As it waves and stretches landward With the tide, whose ebb and flowing Bids it wave and toss forever ! Fields of heather, gayly studded With the blooms of phlox and gentian — FLORA IN ALASKA. 6/ Phlox, in white and rosy shading ; Gentians, softly blue and purple ; — Saxifrage, with tiny blossoms, Bunched in heads of downy beauty, Touched with pencil tips of color Underneath their bristlingf stamens, Nod and dance as winds run races Through the clumps of moss and heather. Here and there a stately iris Throws its flag to catch the breezes, Who betray the dark blue veinings Of the modest inner petals. Mustard lifts its spicy yellow, Bold and briorht, in strikine contrast To the timid chickweed blossom, Or the violet, shyly hidden Underneath some fallen tree-leaves, Or a bramble's trailing tendrils. Gay nasturtiums flaunt their splendor. Though no eye should e'er behold them, Seeming to delight in spreading Painted leaves and subtle perfume 68 ALASKANA. To the breezes, who may carry Where they will, the fairy burden. Dandelions' sunny faces Smile above their spreading leaf-pads ; And angelica, so stately. Holds its stalks above the earth-mould, Catching in its myriad petals Spicy juices, sweet and wholesome. There a field of graceful poppies Bow their golden heads demurely. Fling them back in gleeful rapture, Toss them this and that way, gayly. As the winds in joyful frolic Through their slender branches wander. Fungi, scarlet, purple, pallid. With a hue of death upon them. Spring above, and hide the ashes Which has furnished all their fibres With their life, their strength, their color! Mushrooms break the mould, and grace it With their knobs as white as snow-drift. While beneath their gills they carry FLORA IN ALASKA. 69 Softest tints of pink and purple, And the puff-balls ape their beauty, But betray themselves when opened. By the dust and germ-life hidden In their pale, deceitful centres. Everywhere that root can fasten, Or that tendril-tip can enter, Pulses with the life of something, Be it plant, or tree, or blossom, While the summer holds its recent O'er these fair Alaskan islands. BIRDS OF ALASKA. PAR above the pines and cedars Where no tree nor leaf can flourish, On the roughest crag's and mountains Dwells the eagle, boldly nesting Where the rudest winds may revel, Where the sun his fiercest torches Casts across his vision daily, While he looks in careless patience At the rise and fall of greatness, Which is ever thrown before him, As the sun rides forth in glory And departs in dusky shadows. Down he swoops, when hunger bids him, Or when nestlings call attention (70) BIRDS OF ALASKA. ' 7 1 To the bleaching bones, which hold not Food for such imperial gourmands. Over hills he sails and watches For a lamb, whose fleecy tangle In his talons held securely, Makes his life a ready offering To the greedy birds in waiting ; Or a kid, one moment boundine On the mountain side, then bleating Far above its mother's vision, Tells the story of his hunting ; Or perhaps he robs the water Of some silver-tinted fishes, And then, screaming, flapping, soaring, Homeward turns to sit and ponder On the earth so strangely blended. Of such bright and useless beauty, Of such wasteful tracks of verdure. And his own most noble station — Far above all other bird-life — Far above man's low dominion ! Croaking ravens preen their plumage, 72 ALASKANA. Near the doorsteps, on the pathways, Wander where they Hst, not mindful Whether man or beast is nigh them ; For their sacred reputation Keeps them safe from every danger. Swallows skim the crystal streamlets, Tip their wings along the heather, Twitter busily, but softly, Near their nests beneath the ledges, Call their young with anxious voices. Watching tenderly their efforts When at first they spread their pinions Timidly, then braver growing. Venture forth in quest of insects, Or to feel the joyous rapture Of a pure and free existence. Note the ptarmigan's low calling, As it goes from hills to hedges. Flying low and swiftly, running Underneath the weeds and bushes, Peeping out in timid wonder If a sound disturbs the quiet, BIRDS OF ALASKA. 73 And then lying closely silent Till all danger has departed, Leaving it to call its comrades Who had scattered when the bushes Rustled with a footfall's sounding, Or the wind too loudly blowing. Here and there, a tiny bunting, Telling of the snow-crowned summits In the icy north-wind's province, Flutters close enouc:h to p-ather Crumbs that may have dropped and scattered, And then hies away, not thinking Of the lesson it has wafted In its short, confiding visit. Whale-birds brino- a welcome message To the Mah-le-moot, whose longing Finds a hope almost a surety Of the food he needs for winter. When he sees the bird approaching And he hears its note of warning. When he sees the bird he hastens To the shore and waits and watches 74 ALASKANA. Till the waters roll and ripple, Till the prey comes near and nearer, Then his sharp harpoon he buries Deep within the monster's vitals, And awaits the time of safety To secure the precious sea-prize, Which he shares in willing favor With the bird who lingers near him, Knowing that some dainty morsel Will reward his patient waiting. Flocks of geese, with swift-winged leaders, Rend the air with piercing screeches, As they fly toward the islands Where their young can grow in safety; Where no fox nor lynx can bury In their necks their cruel teeth-points, Nor affright them from their nest-place Until eofSfs are cold and lifeless. Arries flock in countless thousands On the rocks of treeless islands, Where the natives follow, taking From their midst the eggs that give them BIRDS OF ALASKA. 75 Valued wares for orain or commerce, Or as food, both ricli and wholesome. Auks, in quaint and homely fashion, Stand and contemplate the ocean. Waddle close beside the wave-line, And then hustle, plunge and scramble Back again, to taste at leisure Of the fish they catch so deftly That they rarely need two efforts To obtain a scale-brio^ht dinner. Screaming gulls, like falling snow-storms, Land in flocks along the sea-shore, Wander far beyond the breakers, And return to rest and nestle Where their feeble young are waiting For their time of swift departure On those glorious, free-winged journeys ! And the welcome " choochkies" linger Near enough for men to gather Hundreds of their tempting bodies In such nets as serve for fishing, Furnishing such dainty tid-bits 76 ALASKANA. As an epicure should envy. And die noisy, chattering sparrows * Make short, periodic visits To the loneHest, weirdest islands. Daunted not, though each migration Shows their numbers sadly lessened, And the flocks, reduced by thousands, Turn again to climes more genial. Leaving plump and tender comrades To regale the Aleut palate, While the bones of more lie bleaching On the dreary, sunless beaches. * See Note in Appendix. A HUMMING-BIRD IN SITKA. "\X 7^ HENCE it comes it cannot tell you, ' Though you ask it low and earnest, Though you think by tender phrases You may win the thrilling story Of its travels from the south-land — From the land where balmy breezes Toss the perfume-laden blossoms Till their breath is full of sweetness Stolen from the blooms of locust, From the starry, yellow jasmine, From the tender, pallid beauty Of the groves of palm and orange. You may hope to hear some message, Though it be so faintly spoken (77) 78 ALASKANA. That your ear must form the seutence. From the fitful, dreamy whispers That the tiny bird will murmur To the flowers it seeks and rifles, — That it robs of liquid amber. While it hovers, humming softly, Bearing on its quivering pinions Tints of bronze and gold it gathered From the sunsets, from the sun -glow That smiled on it as it fluttered In and out among the bloom-stalks Of those distant sunny gardens. It has come, and like a fairy's Is the form that seldom wearies, Are the wings that hold it lightly Near enough to gain the sweetness, From each blossom's dainty chalice, Far enoutrh from leaf and branches To avoid the sliofhest tarnish That their rougher touch would fasten If it tossed the tinted feathers Of the wings, the jeweled forehead. A HUMMING-BIRD IN SITKA. 79 Or the throat witli silver frosting. Yet this Hvino- crem has wandered Over miles of sun-ripe meadows, Over fields of clover, nodding With the weight of richest nectar ; Over mountain ranges, girding Valleys decked with billowy grasses, Spangled here and there with tassels — Blossom tassels — pink and purple, Softly gray and misty yellow. Bending as the wind speeds o'er them. Springing upright, flaunting gayly, All their small, sun painted banners. Over streams whose timid murmur Scarce would drown its own soft calling, Or above great, dashing rivers Hastening to entomb their waters In the ocean's restless surges. How it came? Perhaps it wandered On and on where flowers are sweetest. Listing not how far they tempted, Till it lost its homeward reckoning. 8o ALASKANA. Gave itself to full enjoyment Of the strange, new scenes unfolding- As it journeyed toward the northland, Toward the land where storms are brooded, Where pale Nature pauses, awe-struck. At the power the ice-wind carries On its great, cloud-darkened wing-tips, — At the spotless sheathes it fastens Overall the verdant structures That her eager hand had builded. While the sun's gay smile deluded. While his kisses warmed the spirits Of the myriad plants and seed pods That she held toward his briofhtness In her sweet confiding manner. On it flew, its heart elated With its rare untrammeled freedom. While its tireless wings upbore it Light as down by breezes lifted. But it paused not where the ice-king Holds his court in gelid grandeur, But a garden spot espying A HUMMING-BIRD IN SITKA. i Hid among the snow-capped mountains, Fanned by winds whose air is tempered By the soft winged Kura-siwo. Thence it sped, by hunger hurried. For it looked in vain for blossoms, When it reached the belt of silence In the glacier's fair dominions, And it found such honeyed fragrance In the dark green fields of Sitka, Where the clear sound-waters answer To the balmy zephyrs sighing, Where the mists fall softly downward And the verdure springs to meet them, And the blossom buds swell quickly Into perfume-laden beauty ; That it lingered, culling sweetness In return for tender music. Wakened by its quivering wing-tips And the gentle winds that vibrate To the swift, unnumbered time-beats ; And the slender body wanders Out and in among the grasses, 82 ALASKAN A. Up and through the drooping branches Of the spruce and hemlock sprouting Into richer, grander statur As the summer hno-ers near them. Now it clasps a twig so slender That its pulse-beats make it tremble, While it rests and smoothes its plumage, Gazing round in joyous wonder At the oasis of beauty It has found so far to northward Of the home it left behind it, When it started forth to travel With no chart but joy to lead it, — When it saw fresh bloom to greet it Whereso'er its wings were guided. — It has found in dark Alaska Blossoms sweet as southern tlow'rets, Honey, pure as golden nectar From the azure horns of larkspur. From the lips of rose and lily, Or the hearts of daisies opened To the sunlight, to the breezes, — - A HUMMING-BIRD IN SITKA. To the swift, short moment visits Of its far less daring comrades, In the home so fair and distant — In the home beyond the ice-zone, Far away across the channels Where no sea-voice makes the echoes On the mountain-chains and hill-tops, Where the lovely night is silent, Save that now and then a bird-voice Or a nimble-winofed cicada Makes a note or two, then settles Into restful, peaceful, quiet. INDIAN RIVER.^= OITKA'S beauty stands unquestioned; But how soon her grace would vanish, All her bright green radiance wither And become as dust and ashes, Were it not for gracious moisture, Sent in mists and silvery rain-drops ! And how soon her slow-lived people Would forget to live — or scatter Far away from Sitka valley, Far away from Edgecumbe's shadow. Were it not for one sweet river — One pure, rippling stream — whose waters Bear to man and beast refreshment ; * See Note in Appendix. (84) Indian River, near Sitka. INDIAN RIVER. 85 While it hides away unconscious Of its clear and gentle fairness, Of its sweet, transparent beauty — As the violet, whose sweetness Breathes among the fallen oak-leaves — As a sonof-bird seeks a covert When its heart, brimful of rapture. Causes every nerve to quiver With a vibratory motion, While its voice rings out with gladness Full of clear accentuations. Joyful trills, and soulful music ! So this stream enfolds its brightness Under leafy boughs and branches, Under slender vines and shadows. Thrown protectingly around it By the trees whose roots are nourished With the cool and limpid water. And the roots return thanksgiving In the panoply of verdure That protects its rippling surface From the sun's too ardent glances, 86 ALASKANA. From the winds, who fain would carry Clouds of mist from off its bosom And dispense them widely, thoughtless Of the prodigal diffusion ! And its silvery voice forever Tinkles clearly, where the pebbles Hold themselves against the ripples ; Or it murmurs sweet cadenzas To the moss-erown stones beneath it, Swelling out in louder carols Where the shelving rocks and boulders Fain would stay the limpid current ; Falling then to tender whispers That the trembling fern-leaves only May discern while drooping lightly Toward their slender, dark reflections. Then it turns in whirlingf eddies Round the points of stones, all shattered, Or it stops awhile in silence, Where its shallow bed is deeper, Forming smooth, pellucid mirrors. Pure and bright as polished crystal. INDIAN RIVER. 87 On it flows, throiiQ^h fen and hollow, Under spreading trees, with sunshine Breaking through in golden patches ; On, still on, as though its mission Touched its heart with sweet compassion And compelled its tide to hasten Toward the hands, that hold beside it Pails of modern form and fabric ; Bowls, all decked with totem emblems ; Baskets closely wove and swollen Until no bright drop Is wasted Once within their care entrusted; Cups of horn, and ketdes chiselled From the stones around the door-ways, — These and more, are daily carried Through the town toward the river, And the river turns toward them, As they're plunged beneath its surface, Filling all to overflowing With its clear, life-giving fluid. Then it ripples on, sdll singing In its way toward the channel, 88 ALASKANA. Under rudely rustic bridges, Over tiny, pebbly beaches ; Spreading out in broad expanses And then shrinking closely, holding Round its banks the ferns and grasses That delight to lend their shadows For the streamlet's decoration. As it nears the final closing Of its pure, undimmed existence, Swift it speeds, that gleaming current. Fair and sweet its smiles and dimples. And its every wave looks brighter As it leaves its banks to mingle With the channel's deeper waters. ALASKAN MARRIAGE. T N the lip a pin inserted, With the blunted point projecting, Marks the maiden who is ready To become a willing helpmate For some chief, or humble siwash, — To improve his lonely dwelling With her constant, faithful presence; Bear his burdens, weave his blankets, Cook his fish and dry the berries, Carry home his load of fishes — If the season is successful — Dry his salmon, hang his deer meat, Pitch his tent of skins and fleeces, And withal to bear his children, (89) 90 ALASKAN A. Who, if girls, among some natives, Are despised, abused and often Murdered with a cool intention ; Sometimes, by the cringing mother, Who, with aching heart, would rather See them dead, than live and suffer As she does with helpless patience ! When a man has met a maiden Whom he thinks will fairly suit him, To her home he sends a message, Telling of his will toward her, Calmly waiting for the answer, Which is sure to meet his wishes, Unless higher hopes are centred In the girl, because of beauty, Or of greater wealth in prospect From another waitinii suitor. If he gains the hoped for answer Presents, rich as he can offer, He bestows upon the parents, — Gathers all that he can muster In exchange for this fair daughter. ALASKAN MARRIAGE, 9 1 Then a wedding time is settled : When it comes he seeks the cabin And he sits demurely waitincr With his back toward the door-way. Presently the girl's relations, Who have met the rites to witness, Sing a marriage-song with spirit, Shouting out the merry chorus. While some calico and seal-skins, Or, perhaps, the skins of otter Are disposed upon the door-sill ; And the girl who, from the corner, Listened to the joyous singing And beheld the way her footsteps Were to cross toward her lover — Silently is led across them, Led across the cloth and fur-skins, And then seats herself beside him. Neither speaks nor turns to notice. But they sit in sober silence, Joining not in songs and dances. Though the friends and guests invited 92 ALASKANA. Eat and drink and sing till weary, — Dance and shout until the welkin Rines a^ain with sounds and voices Then they rest, and sober fasting For a day or two prepares them For a meal, but plain and scanty, Followed by another pastime And another season's revel, Which the maid may not indulge in And the suitor dare not enter. Then they part, the girl is taken And secluded from all notice, While the man, his home preparing, Waits the time of his probation. During which he may be tempted By another maiden charmer, And may cancel his betrothal, Punished not by maid nor parent. But the maiden dare not utter One complaint against the lover ; She is his to take or leave her — She is his to hold for life-time — ALASKAN MARRIAGE. 93 Or, if wearied of her presence, He can send her back, demanding Every portion of his purchase ! In the time by law appointed, Forth the bridegroom issues, painted, Finely dressed in fur or blanket, And demands his bride to follow Where his will has made her dwelling. Likely she is highly favored As the first wife of her master, Or she may be watched with hatred By another dark companion — Two of these may scowl upon her. Frightening much the trembling creature Who has never dared to show it If she loves or hates her husband. Or a month or two may follow Ere she finds another mistress Brought to share with her the keeping Of the lordly master's riches. She may work till worn and weary, She may suffer — that is nothing — 94 ALASKANA. So the master does not feel it, So he's never incommoded Or his sovereign power contested ! When she entered at the door-way From her Hp the pin was taken And a graven labret twisted In the hole the pin had opened ; This is proof above all others That she is no more a maiden, That her very soul is entered In the husband's own possessions. Year by year he moves the labret And inserts a larger carving, Each, in turn, defacing further All the features of the wearer, Making of the mouth an object Far from beautiful or comely, Drawing down the cheeks and eyelids And exposing teeth that darken With decay or age's footprints. Ah, how soon the maiden changes To a worn and weary woman ! ALASKAN MARRIAGE. 95 Bearinsjf loads that make her totter And abuse that sears and blackens Both the heart and trembling body. How she holds her children near her, Strapped upon her back, which, bending, Bows her form as years develop Tiny babe to sturdy urchin. Sometimes kindness makes her willing Thus to serve the one who owns her ; But more likely stern compulsion Turns the wife to gloomy servant. Older grown, her charms so lessened Make neglect the common portion. And the younger force upon her Greater toils and longer journeys. Jealous hatred may consume her When she sees a younger rival Boasting of the gifts that lately Were her own, as near as ever Wife can hold a gift or portion. But she dare not utter protest, Lest her flesh should feel the burnings 96 ALASKANA. Of a brand picked from the hearth-stone, Or a blow that bleeds and festers, Scarring heart as well as body. So she lives — a dreary subject Of this savao-e form of marriatje — Faithful, until death releases From its weight of wrong the spirit That goes forth, alone and helpless. O'er the dark and gruesome waters That may lead to fields of beauty. Or may bear her on forever — Seeinor rest she cannot enter In the dim, uncertain distance ! TOTEMS. A A 7" HERE these dark Alaskan people, ' Great Alaska's Indian natives, Build their homes of forest rnonarchs, Cut in slabs and fitted neatly, Bound and closely joined together Without nail or spike to hold them — Some have marked their special totems- Carved in wood their tribal emblems — So they call the strange devices By which tribes and clans and families Desi"-nate their odd belonorinj^s — And have placed them on the panels, On the planks that form their houses, As a sign to all who enter (97) 98 ALASKANA. That the house and all its fittings, Which display the chosen figures, Are the sole and true possessions, Property with legal title, Of the chief, or lawful master Of the family, whose dwelling Thus upholds its rank and title. Others, it may be their talents Are not quite so well developed, Are content to show theif ensign On a pole, which stands as guardian By the door, or rather, entrance. Questions, bold and oft repeated — Cunning questions deftly handled, Sly, insinuating questions — Fail to gain a truthful knowledge Of a custom so peculiar ; Fail to find the first-born reason For those quaint and wondrous carvings That are held exclusive 'scutcheons Which may not, be counterfeited. Nor repeated by another, TOTEMS. 99 Unless marriage or promotion Grants the power to grave the emblem Witli the one or more belonging To the favored chief or suitor. Are these idols? One can scarcely Grace them with a name so sacred. For 'twould test a soul artistic To find aught of heavenly beauty, Aught of earth's most strange productions, Or of subterranean monsters, Quite so oddly shaped or featured, Half so weirdly bound together ! Are these people low descendants Of a "greater race of mortals Who have, ages back, been shipwrecked On these new-world shores and islands ? Have their grand, heraldic tokens. Both in name and form perverted, Graven by inferior sculptors. Grown degenerate as the ages Handed them from mother sponsors Down to uncouth, careless scions ? lOO ALASKANA. Who, for lack of gentle culture, Grew from year to year more savage, Until every trace has vanished Of the parent country's language, Of its features and complexion? All have gone and left us nothing But a labyrinth of notions. But a field of wild conjecture That may find Egyptian atoms Floating from the carver's knife point. Or behold Japan-like eyelids Drooping over eyes, whose lustre May have caught its brightest glitter From some dark Mongolian optics; Or mayhap, these monster totems Are but witch and elf exorcists. For the fiend of superstition, Never held a stronger fortress. Never boasted slaves more abject. Than these Indian tribes, who people Sea and air and earth and future Thick with spirits, fierce, vindictive, TOTEMS. lOr And with cruelty too dreadful To be mentioned or out-spoken ! After all, the startlinof fioures May be works of art, long cherished. As we hold a shattered torso, — As we prize a rare old painting, Peeled and scarred, yet still displaying, To an artist's eyes, rare beauty. — To a soul art-cultivated. Gems of worth the wild Alaskan Would behold with eyes astonished At the taste which held such rubbish As more grand and highly valued Than his bold and lofty carvings ! Sometimes throuo^h these totem figures Darts a streak of comic humor. That would seem to show intention, But, too soon, 'tis lost in wonders, Senseless eyed, and stolid visaged ; Or with shapes as rudely fashioned As an infant's first progression Toward a house or trotting pony. I02 ALASKANA. Bowls are marked with hideous faces Opened-moLidied and grinning fiercely— Radier strange, an invitation To partake of crimson berries Floating in a sea of blubber ! Blankets, whose inviting softness Wooes the ice-chilled frame to comfort, Glare about with eyes wide open, Or, with sidelong glances, threaten While an axe, or knife, or fish-hook Waits to twine in subtle fibres Round the limbs and pulsing vitals. And these totems, re-repeated, Show through every master's household As a seal with stamp and ribbon Marks the haughtiest king's possessions View a Hydah totem graven In the stones, a monumental And most dignified construction. From its base eyes stare upon you, Lidless eyes, which lack expression, While above them sits his bearship. TOTEMS. > 03 Holding out his paws serenely, To uphold the feet of something That bestrides his back, and bending, Holds its chin in cool complaisance On its hands, half clinched and resting On the bear's most noble forehead ; While upon its back this other — Whether beast or whether human — Holds a figure truly manlike With some trophy of his prowess Sluno- across his lifted shoulder. Here a shaft is gravely freighted With a head, whose jaws spread open, Form a doorway to the dwelling Which it marks with lofty stature. Next above the face outspreading Is a mask, a staring bird's head, And a face with rays surrounding That must mean to hold resemblance To the morning sun uprising. Next another leering mask-face, Overtopped with scrolls and circles, 104 ALASKAN A. Which support an owl, whose judgeship Stands confessed by all beholders, As he sits in wise reflection, Noting not the staring stranger, Heeding not the world's wild tumult, But in carven, stolid grandeur, Overcasting humbler totems With his grace's stately presence ! There's an eagle's head, upholding On its brow a chieftain's figure. Here, a shaft all smoothly shapen. With no crest except an owlet. Gazing round in staring wonder On poor, foolish man's condition. See that stick, with nose protruding. And an object like a foolscap, Both of which make odd suggestions Of a Punch and Judy pattern ? But that nose must be a spear-hock. And the cap, on close inspection, Proves to be a whale, whose body Had not strength to hold its burden. Totem Poles, Ft. Wrangel. TOTEMS. 105 Great with eyes, and teeth sufficient To surprise an eager hunter For orreat mastodonic reHcs : — So the head has tilted forward O'er the brow that bears it nobly ! There, an eagle screams defiance From its outlook at the doorway, While a raven, grandest totem ! Highest tribe-mark of those nations! Holds its own through wind and weather, With its neck outstretched, and pinions Ready to swoop down and punish One who dares defy his kingship ! Bears, supporting men and bird-shapes. Stand beside a bear recumbent On a pole whose sides are dented With small feet-marks, oft-repeated. There a wolf is bounding onward. Howling as he smells his quarry, — Massive whales, with eyes more human Than some eyes that beam in faces, Gaze about from strange positions I06 ALASKAN A. On men's heads or from their shoulders, And display such even beauty In the teeth they force to notice As no mammal in the water E'er before could boast in owning ! Fishes, frogs, birds, beasts and mankind, All in heathenish confusion, Top and overcap each other With the most grotesque arrangement, That would seem to rise from adding To the crest, already graven, Each new totem as it enters With no thought of graceful outline. Nor of how absurdly builded Are the sticks they prize so highly ! All these poles are made to outlook O'er the sea or nearest river. Is it that they trust protection From the fearful fate of drownino- Lies within the staring eyeballs Of those sightless totem figures? When they paint their dark canoe-prows TOTEMS. 107 With some one of these devices Does it mean they trust their safety To that image, strange and senseless ? On their graves, or close beside them, Crouch these totems, weird as spectres, Waiting to give out the signal Of an enemy's approaching, Or as scarecrows, meant to frighten All the evil-minded witches Who with fell design might scatter To the wind these sacred ashes ! All the tribes are finely graded By the nature of their totems: Ravens, crows, and all winged creatures Mark the higher chieftain's 'scutcheons. While the frogs and fishes enter As the lower classes' ensigns. Yet the graven poles expose them Strangely mixed for such distinction, Which must come from noble natives Wedding humbler wives, whose tribe-marks Added, make the lower creature I08 ALASKAN A. Rest upon its mighty rival. Thus we leave them ; some historian May arise from out the darkness And unearth some hidden archives That our eyes could not decipher, And explain a wondrous meaning That will awe us with its grandeur, Or compel our admiration With its child-like, tender meaning] While we hope the gentler teachings, That fair Freedom sends to greet them May direct the shadowed genius Into fields of brilliant knowledge, And produce from hands so gifted Gems well worth our Union's wearing. ALASKAN DOCTORS. TF a woman dreams her infant, Yet unborn, contains the spirit. Or will in some day in future Hold the essence of a Shaman, From its birth the tiny creature Is not common with its fellows. But is held in sacred reverence, — Looked upon with eyes of wonder, And with jealous care so guarded That no fateful interference May impair its coming greatness, — That no witch, with foul intention, Shall destroy the germs of greatness Which has found its future dwelling (109) no ALA8KANA. In the child so plainly chosen. So is looked upon and cherished, One whose locks are auburn tinted, Or whose hair is black but curling. Each of these three signs is certain, Showing, with no doubt attending, That some dying doctor's mantle Has descended, and is resting On the head of one so singled ; — Marked with signs of its profession So decidedly, no question Ever rises to defraud it Of the training and the honors Due to such a noble callinof ! For the Shaman holds position Second to no other office, Even chieftains paying deference To the might of those, whose will-power, Direful, strange and quite mysterious, Calls a spirit back to earthward. If some playful witch's charming Has not doomed the suffering patient ALASKAN DOCTORS. I I I To the long and lonely journey Which the trembling soul must travel Ere it lands in endless safety P^ar beyond the angry waters ! With its birth the future Shaman Starts at once upon the training Which befits its destined station. So its hair is never shortened, Nor the locks with comb distorted — But as nature bids them prosper, So they grow in curls and crinkles, Waved and twisted as the fingers Of the teasing winds entwine them — Massed and matted, woven closely With the restless dreamer's tossing. — With the hard, unyielding pillow Pressed to fit the head so closely That its growth is greatly stunted, And it hangs in stiffened masses. Tangled, lustreless, uncleanly. So it stays, A strange diploma. Hideous rival of the parchment I I 2 ALASKANA. In whose loss a buddincr doctor Loses all that fame had promised ; For a student, once dismantled Of the hair that made him sacred, Stands forlorn, a common mortal, Scorned as one whose term at college Ends in ignominious failure ! Those that honored now despise him, And he never more may enter In the race he seemed so fitted. By the sign of birth, for winning. But 'tis seldom even witches Have the hardihood, the daring. To deface the special object, To destroy the hope so centered In the youth whose hair is curly. Or with reddish tints o'ershadowed. Every tribe has certain spirits, Guarding, guiding and tormenting — So each doctor makes selection For his own peculiar trade-mark, ' Of some mighty, great immortal ; ALASKAN DOCTORS. II3 While a troop of scowling demons, Marked in masks and hideous noises, Paints of black and red, and powder, Made to burn with light so vivid That its rays may pierce the darkness Far beyond poor mortal vision ; Eagles' down and great quill feathers From the wings of crow and raven. Slender wands of bone or ivory. Drums bedecked with paint and tassel, And, beyond all else, great rattles Carved and formed in various figures, Make the form of pharmaceutics That a Shaman's art finds needful For a sick Alaskan's healinor. All good spirits never enter In the songs and incantations. For their very nature proves them Harmless, needing no appeasing. But the demons, always darting Here and there on hurtful mission, Must be feasted, fed and fattened, S 114 ALASKANA. Must be called with rattles, sounding Each his own peculiar keynote — For no fiend will deign to answer To another's call, however Loud and long a drum may vibrate, Or a rattle break the stillness ! As the student's ac^e advances, Doctors of the tribe secure him, And begin their course of training. That will lead to wealth and honor. Some are cannibals so hideous That their very features frighten Ere they change their grim expression Into grins and stares revolting ; While they goad their unclad pupil To a wild, fanatic frenzy — Prancing like a haughty war-horse, With his arms outstretched and jerking. While his tangled locks toss wildly By his odd, ungainly motions. When he finds a corpse provided, Horribly he tears and rends it ALASKAN DOCTORS. I I 5 With his teeth and nails, and swallows With a seeming- taste and relish, Portions of the reeking body Till his beastly will is sated ! Then he rushes where the demon Which possesses him may lead him, In and out among his people. On the house-tops, in the chambers, Round about, till wearied nature Forces him to travel homeward, Where the staring crowd who follow, Who have watched him, wild with wonder. May not dare to see the finish Of that awful, fiendish lesson ! Dare not look upon the features Ghastly in exhausted slumber! Other tribes eat dog, for practice No less hideous, but that nature Has not quite the fearful horror When 'tis limbs of brute that furnish Such a meat for such a creature ! Tribes there are in o-reater number I I 6 ALASKAN A. Who despise such hateful teaching, Who content themselves with screaming, Callinof on each evil p-enius Whose fierce hate they wish to temper, With the wildest, strangest dances, With the most uncouth distortions, Limb and feature-twisting movements, And a din of hellish jargon Made with drums and rattle-shaking, Made with clubs whose downward crashing, Bids the hollow space around them Quiver with a queer pulsation. Which they call the living pressure Of the fiend they wish to conjure ! — All these sounds, with masks of ravens, Beasts and fishes, large and wicked. Or with faces meant as pictures Of the mighty, ghostly beings Who reside in wood and water. In the air, the fire, the totems — Everywhere, with naught to still them From their mean, vindictive malice. ALASKAN DOCTORS. I I 7 But the Shaman's, those predestined To contend with all the terrors, And protect the tribes from damage — All these masks and signs and noises Join to bring the willing student To the very sure perfection Of a scholar and physician ! Of the herbs they use, no mortal May expect to hear the virtues, Nor the names, nor where they flourish, For if one were known to follow, When a Shaman goes to find them — Goes to seek the healing foliage, Or the roots with physic teeming — Or should gaze upon a Taamish, In his time of holy fasting And concoctinor life elixirs, Death alone would meet the felon By the hands of those he followed. Or by one who knew the villain Had so dared defile the precincts Wholly sacred to the doctors I I 8 ALASKANA. Who are versed in arts of healinor. Yes, although it were a brother, He should die to keep securely All the secrets of the Order ! When a patient needs attention, And the doctor comes in answer To the call that bids him follow. Ere the fiends have sprung beyond him, And the witches doomed the victim. There he stands, his arts concealing, And a stubborn, eager shadow Lurking in his starting eyeballs. In his greedy, grasping fingers. And he will not even favor With a glance the suffering creature Till his fee is laid in blankets Or in costly furs or silver At his feet, that never waver Till his pay is his most surely. Then he leans above the patient, With his staring eyelids moving Till his eyes with queer expression ALASKAN DOCTORS. I I 9 Seem to roll in quick gyrations And his gleaming teeth look ready To devour the crinofincr fio-ure ! Now he takes some down of eagles, Holds it near the patient's forehead, And then blows it far above him, Thus to chase the evil spirit That has touched the fevered body. Ha ! it does not do, he seizes And adorns his face distorted With a mask, most truly frightful. And he screams, and bano-s and batters At his drum and hollow rattles. Calls the spirit by its title, Burns red powder, shouts and jabbers ! Then, when worried out, he gazes In the sick man's face to question If the demon who had seized him Had not left, appeased and silent. No. The fever still is raging. And the patient, strange the telling, Does not seem the least recovered ! 1 20 ALASKANA. So he waits another offering Of the soft and cosy blankets, Dons another g-rinning mask-face, Changes rattles, drums and potions, And begins a din so frio^htful That the last was tender music When compared with all this clatter! Unsuccessful still, he changes Till his wiles are all exhausted, And the tortured sufferer threatens To depart without delaying. Knowing well his doom is certain, — For his life must pay the forfeit If his arts have been deceptive And death ends his cruel treatment. - Suddenly he finds that witchcraft Has been played upon the patient; And for blankets, fine and costly He will find the witch's dwelling, Find the form that holds the witch's And redeem himself by dooming Some poor wretch to instant torture. ALASKAN DOCTORS. 121 So he turns with fearful gestures This way, that way, swaying forward Till his claw-like fingers, pointing, Pause before some shrinking figure, And no words, no prayers, no pleading Can avert the doom so transferred From the cunning Shaman's body To the wretch whose worst intention Ne'er deserved so sad an ending! Such these doctors, honored, trusted, Looked upon with greater reverence Than the noblest old professor. Classed among our grandest pepple, Ever hopes to win from students Or from those his skill has aided ! POWER OF THE MEDICINE MEN. T^HAT his tribe may know how awful Is the power within him vested, Know how strong his healing virtues Or his will to call each spirit, Which he holds at once to challenge Or to still in mild subjection ; At a certain time, each Shaman Sets a day to make exhibits Of his prowess with the demons He has taken for his specials — Chosen as his weird familiars — Who but wait his sig^nal soundinor To repair and wait his bidding. On that day by him appointed (122) POWER OF THE MEDICINE MEN. 1 23 All his near relations gather To perform their part as chorus To the strangely wild performance ; But before they dare to enter Each must part with every portion Of the food within his stomach ; He must fast, and lest his victuals Should defile the entertainment, He must rid that useful member Of the slightest crumb remaining, — Take emetics, swab the passage From the mouth as far as feathers Can be forced toward the stomach, — When, becoming so disgusted, It most willingly disgorges All the food or drink that lingers Notwithstanding all the fasting. Thus so faithfully preparing. Oh, how strange it is to ponder On the great event that ordered Such a self-inflicted trial — Such a farcical ordeal. 124 ALASKANA. With their minds alert for wonders And their brains surcharged with action, Off they hie toward the dwelHng Of the doctor who has called them, To behold the orrand achievements. There the Shaman waits their entrance, With his masks and down and powder, With his wands and drums and rattles 'Ranged in proper, careful order For his sacred incantations. Thus they meet at close of evening, Gather while the sunset's tinting Paints the sky in lines of beauty; Then the grand performance opens With a song, all join in singing, While a drum is loudly beaten. Keeping time to aid the singers Who, with faces fixed and earnest, Do their part, though ever thinking Of the Shaman who has entered, Dressed in blankets oddly woven, With a crown above his face mask POWER OF THE MEDICINE MEN. 1 25 Filled with down torn from the eagles, With a mask, whose paint and carving- Bears the beak of crow or raven, Shows the face of scowling demon, Or displays the snarling muzzle Of a wolf or bear — or something Half a beast and half a creature — Lookinoflike a man distorted With the most distressino- torture. In the hut's smoke-darkened centre, Fierce and bright a fire is blazing. And the Shaman rushes round it, Round and round he hastens, gazing All the while with head uplifted Toward the hole through which the smoke-clouds Rise and taint the evening breezes. On he runs, each moment faster, While his limbs and painted body Turn and twist in strange contortions. Keeping time to every drum-sound. As it pulsates through the dwelling And along the quivering fibres Of the nerves of all assembled, 126 ALASKAN A. More than all the poor fanatic's, Speeding wildly as a whirlwind, Borne along till will is conquered And he writhes in throes convulsive; While the eyeballs, ever rolling, Turn till not a siorn of color Shows beneath the trembling eyelids. — On and on ! — Meanwhile the singers Mock the niofht-winds with their music. And the drum-beats rise and vibrate Till the very stars seem dancing To the echoes of the sounding. Suddenly the doctor pauses, Utters cries that chill the hearers. Stares upon the drum so wildly That each waiting heart thumps strangely, And the singers drop in silence While they watch the great physician, Note his every turn and listen For the words his voice will utter — For they think the spirit leads him, Fills him with itself and bids him Speak the words whose import solemn POWER OF THE MEDICINE MEN. I 2/ Binds them to enrich the doctor, Tliough themselves may almost perish. When the spirit gives its message Down the Shaman sinks exhausted And he trembles as the demon Leaves his frame : then up he rises, Takes the down from out his head-piece, And he blows it o'er the people To insure the fiend's departure — Thus to make it sure he dare not Turn and harm the savage cowards. Now the doctor dons another Of the masks so meanly senseless, Bangs a huge and noisy rattle, Runs and screams and twists and dances While the chorus-singers' chanting And the drum's voice blend together, Making sounds more wild and dirge-like As the weary night grows onward. O'er and o'er again repeated Is that pandemonium concert, Round and round the Shaman rushes. Rolls his eyes and shouts and trembles! 128 ALASKAN A. Holds the fiend within his body, While his own soul lies unconscious Till the message has been given, And each anxious mortal (jazes On his form as though the object Of a bear with jaws distended, Or a devil, horned and scowling, Would not in the least surprise them, From his quivering frame emerging. So the night wanes, slowly, grimly, Freighted with such fiendish orgies, And the fair, sweet morning tarries, Loath to meet the throng so grimy With the smoke and flakes of ashes That were blown about when lifted By the Shaman's whirling antics : Loath to soil her dainty raiment With the smut from such a meeting. Or to show her blushincr features Where the fiends have held their revel When at last she lifts the curtain, And displays the sun arising. Forth that trembling throng emerges POWER OF THE MEDICINE MEN. 1 29 Hollow-eyed, sad-faced, with terror Stamped upon their blackened features, Looking here and there expectant. Dreading every turn may bring them Face to face with ghost or demon, While they count the pay demanded By each spirit for its portion. Till their stores of blankets dwindle Frightfully below the standard Of the wealth they dared to hope for. But they may not brave the question. They must pay without a murmur, Though their children, frail and sickly, Die for want of food and clothing! Thoup-h starvation stands before them, With its painful, grinding horrors. Or the fiends will join and work them Woes too terrible to mention — Bring them fate so sad and dreadful That the loss of wealth were nothing To compare with pangs so fearful As the hate of fiends would give them ! A MEDICINE MAN'S BURIAL. AND the Shaman died. The witches, ^*- Ever cunning, proved so wary That at last they gained an entrance To his hut and stole a rattle, With it calling up the demon, First among the dark familiars Which the Shaman always conjured In his wonderful profession. When it found he had betrayed it — For it thought the grinning rattle Was a gift of his bestowing, Knowing not that daring witches Had purloined the signal token — - Then it let the minor demons (130) A MEDICINE MANS BURIAL. I3I Loose upon the seeming culprit, And before his explanation Reached a point but half convincing, They had proved so strong in number And had seized him while unconscious Of the slightest cause or caution, That his breath grew short with passion, Grew so weak with anxious pleading, That at last it stopped. The doctor Breathed no more. His spirit hurried To a babe, whose birth that moment Made a refuge most propitious. So the grinning, angry furies Skulked away ; left unaccomplished That which they had foully purposed. Sneaked away ; but moving backward Kept their eyes all fixed and staring On the coldly, silent body. They had done their worst. They dare not Touch the child who held his spirit, And they could not mar the body. For protecting friends already 132 ALASKAN A. Held it in their careful keeping. Round him drew his friends, all weeping, Relatives in ijrief most touching; Tore their hair, distressed their bodies With sharp knives and burning fagots, Ere they smeared his face with colors, Dressed him in his finest clothing. Brought his rattles, herbs and powder, BrouQfht his masks and drums and beaters And his wealth of furs and blankets — Tied his knees against his body, Crowned his head with wands and feathers Flecked with down of swan and eagles. And enthroned him in a corner Sitting upright, cold and stately, With his varied wealth around him. There they left him till the rising Of another sun gave notice That the time had come to chano^e him To some other quiet corner. Day by day they change his quarters. All the corners must receive him. A MEDICINE MANS HURIAL. 1 33 And they left him in each station Over-night until the morning ; Meanwhile feasting, weeping, moaning, Bowed with grief, devoid of comfort! On the fifth sad day they gathered To perform the final honors — ■ Tied him to a board, bedecked him With the best his wardrobe offered ; Through his nose a wand was driven, Through his hair another fastened, Then an oddly-fashioned basket Placed upon his head, and blankets Wrapped with careful hands around him ; And at last, all dressed and ready, To the grave his form was carried, — To the grave, a box-like structure Mounted on four posts of cedar. Shaded by a lofty totem Waiting to be placed above it. Near the water's edge they always Build the graves for Shaman bodies ; And they left him there, just closing 134 ALASKANA. Fast the door that no one ever Dares to open, lest the spirit That forever guards the body Should destroy the vile intruder And bring trouble on his people ! Sometimes Shaman graves are builded On the rocks upon the sea-coast, Sometimes caves the sea has carven Holds the sacred, crumbling mummy. But no matter what the casket, In the sight and sound of water Must a doctor's corpse be buried — Near the sea or rushing river Must his resting-place be founded. Awe and reverence are ever Shown toward these lonely places, And a youth's initiation To the Shaman's sacred order Is not perfect until finished By the grave of some great doctor. When the people need to pass it, — Are compelled to pass the grave-house, A MEDICINE MANS BURIAL. 1 35 Some slight gift they leave beside it To propitiate the guardians, That their ire may not be kindled At the implicated insult In neglecting such a duty. When a boatman passes by it In his light canoe, he always Drops a token in the water. Hoping thus to gain good fortune ; But the spirits are not dainty, Almost any gift will serve them, Just a slight remembrance, vested In a piece of dark tobacco, Will suffice to win the favor If it is not once neglected ; Or a drop of oil, some berries, Or a fish prepared for eating — Any of these common viands Are received with marks of favor, Will secure the trusting giver With a safe return, and likely Help to fill his hunting basket 136 ALASKANA. Witli the prey he longs to capture. Passing by, no one converses — Hushed to silence, lightly stepping, Fearfully they go and quickly, Always dreading to disturb him In the stillness of his resting ! And a little child may never Let his voice be heard beside it. If it must be brought in nearness To the weird and dreadful dwelling, O'er his head some down is scattered And then blown away so quickly That it scares whatever spirit Had approached the young intruder ; Thus from dreaded ill preserving Him and all his fond relations. Strangely lonely are these grave spots, With their totems staring outward O'er the river's rippling bosom. O'er the sea-waves' endless surging — Boldly standing, while beneath them Flesh and bone are fast decaying, — A MEDICINE man's BURIAL. I 37 Costly blankets growing mouldy, Gaudy clothing crumbling daily, All becoming dust and ashes: While the lifeless wooden image Still upholds its graven features, Holding guard for years together With no changes but the touches That time leaves upon the fibre, Mellowing to the softest greyness Every curve and indentation, Every puncture of the knife-point, Every line so deftly graven By a hand long stilled, long resting From the work it loved to fashion ! A HAIDAH TAAMISH. 1X7' HEN the salmon catch is over, ^ And the fish preserved or bartered; When the winter stores are gathered, Safelv housed secure from robbers, Or from beasts who prowl, and seizing- Opportune, unguarded moments Bear away a single burden, That would give the careless owners Food for many dreary meal-times; Then there comes the time of feasting, Conjuring, and holding revels That would put to shame the orgies Of a host of fiends and witches! And the chief, a mighty Shaman, (138) A HAIDAH TAAMISII. 1 39 Held in awe because so gifted Widi the power to hold communion With the imps and all things fearful, Seeks a lonely mountain hollow, Or a gully, wild and lonesome, Far away from home and fellows, — Shuts himself alone, securely From the gaze of friend or foemen — Almost starves himself — and gathers Herbs and mosses for his practice, — Seeks around for fallen spirits, — Until frenzied by his fasting And his wild imaginations, He is lost to human feelinof And becomes a fiend incarnate. Woe to one whose eyes behold him While he works this transformation! Naught can save the life, no mercy Meets the woeful cry for pardon. Of the wretch whose eyes have seen him ! Accident or full intention Meet with equal, cruel justice, 140 ALASKANA. And the crinoring wretch falls lifeless When the Taamish finds him gazing; Or a friend, perhaps a brother, Kills him, if the Shaman's failure To behold or reach the culprit Leaves him for a time in freedom. If he dares deny the charges, Tortures fearful rend the body Ere he gives the blow that severs From the frame the shrinking spirit ! When the Taamish o-ains the acme Of his wild, insane reHgion, And the "Naw-looks" deign to answer When he calls upon them wildly ; Forth he rushes from his hiding, Almost naked, starved and crazy. With a rinpf of russet alder Round his throat, and on his forehead Bound a great, fantastic chaplet Which accentuates his madness. On he comes and fiercely seizes On the first who stands before him ; A HAIDAH TAAMISH. I4I And he bites great, reeking mouthfuls From the Hvinijf flesh and eats it — Swallows with sliirht mastication One or two large bites, still pulsing With the heart's frio-ht-hurried action! On he rushes, snapping, biting, Catchin"- here and there another Who will never dare refuse him Food for this most horrid feasting ! Some there are so wildly frantic That they give their trembling bodies That the sacred chief may sever From the flesh his choicest morsels : While they all display, most proudly, Wounds and scars they gained while yielding To the beastly Shaman's hunger. Men and women crowd around him Awed, beyond their wildest dreaming, As they watch the human tiger Tear and eat their groaning comrades. While his lips with blood are streaming And his eyes roll blind with passion. 142 ALASKANA. Some have died with wounds inllicted By die Taamish in his gorging; But their friends are proud to own it And to show the cri"a-ve that never Friend nor witch may hope to open, For 'tis now and always sacred, Rendered so by Taamish teeth-marks In the torn and poisoned body. When at last the chieftain's stomach, Gorged to bursting, grows too heavy, Down he sinks in bestial torpor — Lies for days, as vile a monster As the meanest crawling serpent, With no more of soul-life throbbing Than a foul, begorged hyena — While his breath, slow drawn and heavy. Gives a fearful exhalation. Like a coffin quickly opened After days of tight enclosure. Thus he sleeps : Each moment makes him More and more a sacred object ! While his anxious people, watching, A HAIDAH TAAMISH. 1 43 Stay with bated breath beside him And await his tardy wakening : — Wait to hear the first, deep saying- That his elevated spirit Will pronounce when life has quickened In his frame, by man-flesh nourished! Now he turns and sitjhs and stretches, Grunts and groans, and slowly rises. While his blood-shot eyes gaze round him In a state absurd, bewildered, — And his lips, as dry as parchment, Crack when moved to call for water, Which is brought with haste more eager That the giver longs to listen, And to see the smallest action Of this noble, gifted doctor Who has thus prepared his body And his brains for great achievements — Who has built a reputation That will brine him wealth and honor, And increase the slavish homage Of these poor, benighted people ! THE ALASKA INDIAN'S FUNERAL. T_J E has died ! although the doctor PHed his arts with zeal so earnest That his screams and shouts were echoed From the hills around the dwelling; Sounding out so strange and fearful, That the birds and beasts were friehtened And produced a dismal chorus. All nightlong he yelled and pounded On the hardened floor with drum-sticks, When he was not shakino- rattles Or performing queer gymnastics Round the fire whose blaze he heightened With his charms and magic powder — With the breeze his garb created (144) THE ALASKA INDIANS FUNERAL. 1 45 When he rushed so swiftly round it That his form assumed a fig-ure Human part, and part a demon ! Though he waved his wands above him And performed such stirring music In the varied songs he chanted, Kindly bending o'er the dying. Yet he died ! — the soul unorrateful Fled and left the aching body — Left the friends who watched around him, Hoping that his trying ailment Would depart in smoke of powder, Or would take a swift departure With the fiend who caused the illness, When they paid their finest blankets To the Shaman, who had promised By his ^rts to fright the spirit If his charms could not appease it! He has left the doctor troubled At the fate that stands and threatens Till he finds the one whose witchcraft Wrought this terrible bereavement. 146 ALASKANA. He has died; around him gather, Wives and children, friends, relations, Wailing, moaning, as they paint him, — Paint his face and hands with lamp-black, Lined with red and glaring yellow — Weeping as they bend his body Till his knees are near his bosom: Bind him so, then dress him warmly, In his garments, furs and blankets ; Gather round him all his treasures As he sits in deathly stillness: And so let him rest in waiting For the last sad rites that send him Toward the land beyond the river. Then they cut their hair, and darken Face and hands with oil and blacking, — Call the friends to meet and join them In the funeral feast and aid them In the dear one's sad cremation. All night long some smoke, and hammer On the floor with staves, while others Sing a weird and solemn ditty, THE ALASKA INDIANS FUNERAL. 1 47 Joined by women's cries and moanings, While they tear their hair and, sometimes, Slash their limbs till blood and blackine Flow in streamlets on their clothinof. Just as morning tints the mountains With its rosy light they hasten To the pyre that some have builded While the rest were wildly mourning, — Built of lo^s of fir and cedar, Joined and fitted like a cabin, With fat chips of pine all ready To io-nite and orreet the mornino- With a smoke in rolling volumes And bright tongues of flame as ruddy As the sunlight's first appearing. So the pyre awaits the coming Of the corpse at early dawning ; Then they lift the painted body, Wrapped in blankets rich and costly, Lift it through the roof, or bear it Through a hole just freshly opened — For no corpse is ever carried 148 ALASKANA. Through the door-way of a building Lest the fiendish spirits waiting For its coming should molest it ; Should accompany the spirit On its way beyond the water. — But, before the dead is lifted Through the roof or other opening, Some one holds a dog and drives it Swiftly past the silent body. So they cheat the waiting furies Who, in blinded hate, attack him, Thinking all their angry plunges Are bestowed upon the dead one, Knowing not their foolish blunder Till the corpse is far beyond them And the sacred fire all ready Touches it and so preserves it From their vile, vindictive clutches ! Solemnly they lay the body On the logs and chips, and with it Pile fine blankets, fish and berries. Oil and furs and totem dishes, — THE AI>ASKA INDIANS FUNERAL. 1 49 And for light the reddish powder Which is used on all occasions When a special light is needed. When the corpse is all surrounded With the necessary adjuncts For his long and fateful journey. One or two old men approach it And ignite the chips and branches; Close beside the pile they linger Till the fire is kindled surely. When the whole great pile is blazing Then the widows fall upon it, Lean their heads upon the bosom Of the lord they duly honor, Holding close beside his body Till their hair is singed and crackles. Till their faces feel the scorching And they cannot bear the burning. Sometimes friends will kindly aid them In their mournful, solemn duty, And will lift and throw them forward On the blistering, scorching body ; Then they turn away, and screaming 1 50 ALASKANA. Writhe and twist like wounded serpents- Throw themselves again upon him, Showing thus their fond devotion, Until nature cannot longer Bear the strain imposed so madly, And some tortured, mourning creatures Are by force removed, while others Sink exhausted almost dying ! When the fire has spent its fury Faithfully they search the embers And remove the bones and ashes, — Gather every grain and place them In a box prepared expressly For the dead to rest in safety. Safely they will place the casket In the totem-pole that waits it Close beside the open door-way ; Or within a tiny building Which, with others, stands in waiting. In a spot secluded, lonely, For the ashes and the offerings That must stand prepared for spirits Who might otherwise disturb them, — THE ALASKA INDIANS FUNERAL. I5I Those pale ashes of the lost one, In their search for food and clothine. In its resting-place they leave it, With more blankets, food and powder, With their light canoe in waiting If the soul should need its shelter : Then they homeward turn, still wailing, Mourning, comfortless and lonely : And for days they fast, and never Wash their smeared and blackened faces. Never cease to sing his praises And bewail his final absence. Now the scarred and blistered widows Hide away, unseen, unnoticed. While the heirs prepare for feasting — For the feast, the great Co-e-ky, In which all the friends will join them And the dear, departed spirits Who have gone before, will meet them And partake of all the feasting When the fire has made the viands Fit for such pure guests to handle — Fit for spirit-life refreshment ! INDIAN'S DREAD OF DROWNING. jy^ ILL him with a spear or arrow, Beat his Hfe away with war-clubs ; Crush him, bruise him, yes, dismember Every quivering Hmb and muscle ! Torture him till life refuses To remain and bear the anguish ! And the Indian will not murmur If it saves him from the terror Of a death beneath the water : If by any of those by-ways He is saved from death by drowning, He will, cheerfully submitting, Bare his bosom for the knife-blade Of the hand that kindly guards him ('52) Indian's dread of drowning. 153 From the water's dreadful clutches. Though his food is mostly taken From the rollinor seas and channels ; Though his greatest wealth is borrowed From the creatures found within them ; And he roams upon the surface, In his light canoe, as safely As the bird who darts upon them And secures its finny victim ; Yet he never fails to calm them With an offering for the spirit, Who can still the w^ater's heaving, Or can bid it rise and capture For its own, the reckless Siwash, Who has failed to make a present To the god forever waiting For the chance to work some trouble On a helpless human victim. If you ask them why so dreadful Is the fate they fear attaining, They will tell you one, who drowning, Has been called beyond life's border. 154 ALASKANA. Must forever wander, laden With the dust of earth around him. He is wholly without clothing Or provisions for his journey Toward the land, which even others Find it hard to reach and enter. He must wander cold and naked, Hungry, without light to guard him To the shore so faint and distant. He may hear the gentle oar-dip That impels the sacred life-boat, But he cannot see the boatmen Nor approach the sea-proof vessel. Some will pass him, richly laden, Burdened with their costly blankets. With their food of fish and berries, Crystal oil and creamy blubber, With their lights so brightly burning That the blaze can almost reach him ; But the darkness pressed around him Will not yield its gloomy shadow — Will not let one ray reveal him INDIANS DREAD OF DROWNING. 1 55 To the light canoe that wanders O'er the dark-green waves, and bears them, — Those whose fate have bade them Hnger In the darkness for a season, To the fields beyond the river. He may hear them gayly singing As they near the joyful country ; — But his voice may never join them, Tho' his heart be full of music ! He may bound upon the billows Which the cleaving vessel, foaming. Forces back with every oar-stroke, But they only bear him backwards Into deeper gloom and sorrow. Friends may pass, they would not know him, Tho' he touched their hands in passing, Tho' they heard his labored breathing As he strove to gain a hand-hold On the safely guided row-boat. Ages on he may be wafted Close beside the sailino- haven ; Even then, the shore, the free land 56 ALASKAN A. Will be far beyond his reaching ! And if some bright day awakens That will find him surely landed, He may hear the joyful laughter And the feasting he may witness — That is all. He cannot join them, Nor partake of light and freedom, For he came among them, hopeless ! With no food, nor light, nor garment, And there is not one to offer, To a poor drowned soul one comfort. They will let him look, but pass him As an angel should a serpent, — Asa pure, bright soul should gather Round its frame, its ether garments And refuse to touch the spirit Evil as the power of darkness ! CO-E-KY OR DEATH FEAST. N TOW the funeral rites are over — All the ashes safely gathered — Though the smouldering pyre, still smoking, Tells how recent the cremation — When the tribe, but now so mournful, Sends an invitation, asking That a neighboring tribe will join them In a feast, in proud remembrance Of the one so lately taken From their midst, despite the efforts Of themselves and skilful doctors To affright the foe, who conquered And destroyed the life so quickly. Yes, the tribe will come, for never ('57) 158 ALASKAN A. Is their other duty stronger Than a potlatch or ko-e-ky To the Indians of Alaska. All the guests come, freshly painted, Striped with black, and rich vermilion, And the mourners, too, have added Streaks of red across their faces. Now they enter, each one holding Round his form a dancing blanket, Some of snowy white with trimming Of a richly tinted border — Others covered o'er with emblems Borrowed from their choicest totems, With the long and waving fringes Adding grace to every motion. Soon they sing and shout together, Making odd and dismal noises. Though the rhymes are often perfect And the measure finely chosen — Singing on they grow more social, Even grow enthusiastic ; And their feet and bodies quiver CO-E-KY OR DEATH FEAST. 1 59 With the power the music wakens ; Till a dancing sprite possesses All the mournful crowd assembled, And, with one prevailing impulse, Every creature, swiftly rising, Joins in wild, ecstatic motion, While the sinoinor — and the shoutine Ebbs and flows, now almost silent — Now to shrieks and whoops arising Until all, at last exhausted, Seat themselves around the dishes. Near the grreat, invitingf dishes. Totem carved and richly laden With the luscious oil of salmon. And the bright, delicious berries Floating round in tempting beauty. Of this dish the hungry Indian Never wearies ; not a feast time Would be perfect if this mixture Did not hold the post of honor On the floor where all can see it — If the dishes were not brimming- I 60 ALASKAN A. With the strangely sorted compound. Seated, round the totem dishes, Graven with the dead one's emblem. All engage in friendly discourse While they feast in social manner. Each one, with his own spoon, dipping From the dish a noble portion Which he deftly lifts and carries To his lips and gently swallows, O'er and o'er again repeating Until satisfied ; he rises, Stows away his spoon, engraven With his tribal crest or totem. And ao-ain the dance continues With more music, weird and noisy. All the while the fire is cracklingr With the sugar, oil and berries ; With the dried meat, fish and flour, Which they burn to make them wholesome For the spirit that is lingering, Joining in the grand co-e-ky, Ere it leaves to make its journey CO-E-KY OR DEATH FEAST. l6l Toward the land of light and beauty. Dancinof, sintrinir, still oo onward While attendants make all ready For the great display of blankets, Calico and cloth and muslin, Briofht and new, that wait the motion Of one man, whose high position Makes him worthy of such honor As the chief whose hand shall spread them With an equal, just division. There they lie in piled confusion. Blankets fine and rich and coarser, With whole webs of snowy muslin. Calico of brio-htest shadinQ^ — Brown and yellow, green and azure — And good clothes of heavy texture Lying there, and in their silence Speaking loud of days of hunting. Weary nights of anxious waiting For the fish to bite and enter In the nets in crystal water. Ready to entomb the salmon ; 1 62 ALASKANA. Or, perhaps, they tell of battles With the moose or lumbering walrus, Or of scenes where beasts were captured For their soft and lovely seal-skins ; But, however they were purchased, There they are, a houseful fortune It has taken years to gather — And perhaps its loss will beggar This proud house and all belonging ; But they bring them forth and give them As the great, the crowning feature Of this feast, to show how wealthy Was the one whose days are numbered — Vieing with their tribal neighbors In the goods they gladly lavish Though they suffer cold and hunger When the wintry days grow shorter — Though long years may pass above them Ere they gain an equal fortune. Now the chieftain calls to silence, And the guests dispose their bodies In the manner each one chooses, CO-E-KY OR DEATH FEAST. 1 63 As they hush to perfect stillness, Watching with a close attention Every action of the chieftain, And the two important persons Who are acting as assistants. With a hook of form peculiar, Carven for this purpose only, Inlaid with designs in silver Or of bone, or ivory polished Till it glistens as he moves it Through the wool and cotton fabrics, Tearing them in narrow pieces. And by aid of those who help him Giving them around so wisely That each present may be favored With a stripe to keep as token Of this great and noble feast-day. And may name the absent mortal Whose departure they are stamping When they gaze upon the remnant Of the clearly treasured dry-goods. Each one keeps his riven treasure 164 ALASKANA. Until two or three are gathered, Then, to further guard the pieces, He or she will have a ofarment Formed perhaps of many colors And of divers kinds of weaving — Wool and cotton, fine and coarser Making of the precious garment Something so grotesque, so glaring, That no creature but a savage Could resfard it as a treasure ! Now the great death feast Is ended — To their homes repair the neighbors — On its journey starts the spirit, And, if rich, the heir makes ready To erect a fitting tribute To remain forever standing In remembrance of this feast-day And the one it meant to honon FESTIVAL OF U-Gl-AK. TTUNTERS save with careful handling All their deer and wild-goat bladders, Those of beasts they kill with arrows, Whether land or water mammals ; And they keep them all as perfect As the rarest sportsmen trophies ; Keep them where no hand shall touch them To destroy their full expansion When the feast, for which they're cherished, Comes with bleak and chill December. Mothers keep them, when their children Take the life of rat and ground squirrel — When the small, incipient hunters Kill the tiny mice that scamper (165) 1 66 ALASKANA. Through the dry and rusding- grasses — Until winter calls the coast-tribes To the feast, in which those bladders Take the leading part, in honor Of the spirits who hold fortune Or distress for those that wander O'er the restless seas and oceans. When December comes, they gather And inflate the strange collection, — From the smallest, that an infant Has secured in summer rambles. To the greatest, that some hunter May have risked his life to capture. They expand them till they glisten Like queer globes and bouncing bubbles, And then paint them in all colors That the native art can furnish ; Striped, and waved, and oddly varied As the painters' taste may dictate. Then they make fantastic figures Of their fa^vorlte birds and fishes, Carved with skill and colored brightly FESTIVAL OF U-GT-AK. 1 67 Far beyond old nature's tinting. Of the birds, some are so fashioned As to move their legs and eyelids, And to flap their wings as freely As if life produced the action. These they hang among the bladders On the beams within the Kash-ka. All the birds and fish-like figures, All the gayly painted bladders, Are upon small cords suspended From the Kash-ka's smoky rafters. On the hearth a pole is rested. Bound around with withered grasses And with stems of weeds and mosses They have gathered for tliis feast-day. Now the natives all assemble And they chant the sea-god's praises. While the men, with constant jerking, Keep the figures all in motion, — Keep the bladders bouncing wildly In and out, among the fishes And the birds with flapping pinions. l68 ALASKANA. Then the men and women rising- Form in line before them sagely, And they dance, first with motion Slow and solemn, gaining swiftness As the moments fly, and spirits Rise in strange, fanatic worship. Bounding, dancing, whooping, chanting, On they go before the objects, Holdincj in their hands briorht torches Fed with oil from seals and fishes. On tlie shore they stand in silence, While the cords are tightly fastened To the sticks, and heavy weighted With large stones they find are scattered All along the gloomy shore-line. Then they chant again in voices Rincfincrout across the sea-waves, While the men cast forth the offering To the gods of wind and water. Silent now, each native watches ! And the great, dark eyes grow earnest. For those bladders tell the story FESTIVAL OF U-GI-AK. 1 69 Of success or heartless failure In the coming year's endeavors. Just how long they float is noted, And the Shamen count the ring-waves That denote the bladder's sinking To arise no more forever ! And they tell with bold precision How one owner may be laden With a wealth of skins and blubber, With supplies, both rich and plenty, From the sea and mountain passes ; While another bows most humbly To the dismal-toned prediction Of the poor returns his fish-net Will bestow upon his labors, — How his harpoons all will fasten Far astray from walrus vitals, — How the seals will all be damaged That he thought were fine and healthy — How stern fate has nothing for him But distress, disease, starvation ! POTLATCH. A A HEALTH had come to Sitka's chieftain- Wealth in furs and costly blankets — Wondrous wealth in land and servants : Slaves, v^ho bowed in humble postures When he deigned to pass so near them As to see the abject worship Which their bended figures tokened, Watched his every look and motion, Lest the slightest flaw in service Should condemn the cringing creature To be burned, or fiercely beaten, To be thrown on prickly branches, Or to be most basely murdered. Then this chief, whose wealth was boundless, (170) POTLATCH. I 7 1 Thought to make his power more certain, And to awe his shrinking subjects With his grand, supreme importance. — So he called his friends around him And declared his large intention To indulije his friends and neicrhbors With the feast their souls held dearest, With the finest, lordliest potlatch That the tribe had dreamed of ever ! At that time the strong foundations Of his large, new house should echo With the sounds of feast and revel Such as no bold predecessor Had the wealth or power to equal. In a space beyond the Kashga, Where the men were all assembled, Slaves upreared a pile of branches. And of trunks of firs and spruces, And around laid withered grasses, Crossed with chips, all oiled and ready To ignite and blaze up brightly When the brands were placed upon them. 172 ALASKAN A. All prepared, the signal sounded From the drums the Shamen carried, To announce the grand commencement Of the feast they all awaited — Of the Potlatch, that would render So much grace to-day and always To the chief so brave and noble. Up the fiery tongues ascended ! Crackling firs gave out their incense, Balmy spruces lent their odors To the curling smoke, that wafted By the evening breezes, wandered In and out amone the dwellings, Through the Kashga's open doorway, And around the crowd assembled For the wild and weird performance. When the blaze had risen brightly And had shown the waiting concourse All the gay, fantastic fashions And the paint profusely lavished. Forth they came, most grave and silent' — All the friends and guests invited rOTLATCH. 1 73 To perform the dance that wakens In the savage heart such passion, That his eyes grow brightly eager, And his Hmbs, although unbidden, Join in time to song and drum-beat. Forth they came, their costumes varied As the taste of each had chosen, Beast or bird or strangle combininir Of the furs of beasts, and feathers Plucked from water-birds, or stolen From the wines of owl or eaofle. Heads were dressed in lofty fabrics Made on basket-like foundations, And with puffs of down or cotton Fastened on in such queer manner That they bowed, and bounced, and trembled As each wearer swayed his shoulders In the dance, whose every figure Grew more wild as nieht fjrew onward! Heads of beasts, ferocious, snarling ; Heads of birds in act of screaming. Or of eagles, owls, and ravens, 174 ALASKANA. Still, sedate, and wisely silent — Each in turn was borne grotesquely On some manly brow or shoulder, — And their faces gleamed and glistened Light with oil and black with pine-soot, Barred with startlinof lines and dashes. There they stood, bedraped in blankets, White and gayly dyed, contrasting As the fire-light glared and flickered With the wind's capricious breathing. Some, arrayed in scantier clothing. Showed their bodies stained and painted, One with all the others vying In the forms and artful tintings That bedecked his wiry sinews, And his toil-expanded muscles. In a line they stood awaiting For the master's welcome signal. Then the women came behind them, Dressed in garbs so wild and varied As to point derisive fingers At the one who dared to venture POTLATCH. 175 To describe the wondrous fashions. On dieir heads dieir silver bracelets Nodded, scintillated, trembled. As the cracklincr fire's reflection Struck their burnished points and edges, Or as every wearer's movements Called for answerincjf turns and flashes. Then the dance began, first slowly. And then faster, as the sincrers Warmed and orew enthusiastic ! Now from side to side they doubled, And then hopped, and stooped, and gathered All their limbs as close together As their dress and joints allowed them. And with yell and bound sprung forward, Like fierce crabs or angry spiders, Makinor wild confusion wilder As they turned, and swayed, and jostled, Every one so deeply earnest That he scarcely seemed to nodce, Though his neighbor's interference Spoiled his most grotesque performance. 176 ALASKANA. Thus the men danced, while the women, Eyes downcast, and hands held loosely, Rose and dropped in time according With the chant their lips were singing, Wilder, weirder grew the music, Fiercer every dancer's motion. While the fiery pile roared louder, And the blaze grew hot and hotter, Till at last the fire glowed dimly. And the dancers, warm and weary, Took with haste the feast of blubber And the floating cakes of berries. Silence reigned until the feasters. Fed to full and glad repletion. Turned to wait the crowning glory Of the chieftain's generous potlatch. Spread before the men appointed Were the gifts his bounty offered To his friends and brave supporters. Blankets rich in shining texture And in colors rare and costly, Woven in the best desiofninor POTLATCH. 177 Of Alaska's gentle weavers ; Furs of firmest pelt and fibre, Glossy, beautiful and lasting ; Bowls and pipes and vessels carven In most strange and rare devices ; Calico, whose glaring figures Made the savage eyes gaze, longing To possess such strands of beauty. And all these were made to gladden Some of those who watched expectant. There they went, the pile grew smaller; Furs departed, tinted cotton. Torn in stripes, already swaddled With its folds, dark arms and shoulders. All the gifts were proudly lavished While the same low song continued From the women, who were never Counted with the friends receiving Gifts of grace from chieftain donors. All was done, the guests departed Richer far in costly fragments, And the chief, more proud and lordly, 178 ALASKANA. With his store of wealth diminished, But with pride so overflowing, And with expectations swelling, Until no past chief had ever Reached his height of grand importance ! HOT SPRINGS OF ALASKA. /^"^IRT by oceans never silent; Always sighing, roaring, breaking Into sobs when lashed too fiercely By the storm's resistless fury ! Shouting, as it leaps and dashes O'er the coast in maddest frolic, Bearing trophies from the rock-points Of its wildly daring visits — Cut by channels, deep and narrow And by other winding channels Wide, and flecked with island beauty — Cut by straits and shore-lines, wearing Varied features, stern as granite, Or as soft as southern forests (179) l80 ALASKANA. Draped with vines and trailing- mosses ; Traversed o'er by glancing rivers, Pierced by bays, and inlets curving In and out where shores are shallow, Winding grass and sea-weed streamers Into wreaths of green and yellow, Garlands rare to grace the forehead Of a fair, but changeful, goddess. — So Alaska fleams and flashes Underneath a shining net- work. Smiling where the sun is brightest, Frowning darkly in the canons Where no sound has ever wakened But the cascade's tinkling echo. Not content with all the waters, From the ocean tide, salt laden, To the limpid stream, inviting To a draught, so pure, so sparkling That the traveller ne'er forcrets it Wheresoe'er his feet may wander, — Bricrht Alaska breaks asunder Here and there, across the surface, HOT SPRINGS OF ALASKA. l8l And iiprears a column, seething^ With tlie heat her heart-throbs kindle ! Throws great streams of water, boiling As it bounds toward the cloud-lands — ■ Hissing, roaring, sending volumes Of the steam her fires engender Out toward the suntide glory ; Up, beyond the mists arising From the breasts of bay and river, Catching rainbow tints and Vi/eaving Webs of pale, transparent gauzes. Throwing robes of gray and silver Over trees the heat has blighted, Coaxinof into life the blossoms Which her careless haste has faded. Until plants and bushes, nurtured By the warmth and moisture scattered With profuse and endless patience That atones for rash surprises, Bud and bloom in rich profusion, Mingling with the steaming odcrs Perfume sweet as south-winds carry 1 82 AT.ASKANA. From the fields of thyme and heather. Fadeless green, the grasses wander Everywhere their roots can fasten. Shrubs spread forth their threads of emerald, Topped with blooms of white as spotless As the snow that dare not venture In these vales of tropic verdure.* Firs Q-row straii^ht and tall, their branches Fringed with mossy vines and climbers Merging all their shades of greenness With the leaves, which bear the life-blood To the sturdy hearts, which, swelling, Burst the bark and bid the trunk-girths Year by year grow fuller, rounder, Till those hidden vales boast monarchs In the realms of spring and geyser ! On the bays the springs have heated With their streams of steaming water, Ducks and geese in numbers swarming, Float and dive, or sail, majestic As the king of birds, the eagle. Sails along the trackless ether. See note in Appendix. HOT SPRINGS OF ALASKA. I 8 Here the prowling bear treads softly Toward the dark-eyed stag, whose antlers Break the stems of tufted alder And unearth the tender vine-roots In the graceful creature's pathway. Grouse upraise their crests as proudly As thouofh numbers stood enchanted With their saucy, freeborn manners ; And they drum their notes of warning Just to hear the cadence echo From the hills and o'er the ripples Of the sheltered bays and valleys. Song-birds fly from bough to hillock Gladsome songs of joy uplifting. While their nestlings sleep securely. With no fear of careless hunter Or of serpent fangs and glances. Through the vales of dream-like beauty Healing streams invite the siwash To engulf his limbs and body. Bathe his flesh till pain is conquered And he starts, refreshed and glowing o 184 ALASKANA. With the warmth and health outpouring' From those thermal springs and fountains. Streams that bear a freight of sulphur, Sing along the pebbly byways, Where the native takes his ailments And beneath the waters plunging, Soon returns to land, so altered That a friend might pause to question If tliat yellow, cleanly stranger Were the same whose skin was darkened To a coppery, dingy shading ! So those geysers, hissing, fuming. Bounding up and boldly mingling Steaming spray with flying cloud-mists, Bear among their seething waters Rarest dyes for hill and valley, And for man both health and beauty! CLUBBING THE SEA-OTTER. T ONG and loud the tempest rages! Shrilly scream the winds while whipping Into foam the crested breakers, Which, with furious wrath uprising, Dash and plunge along the coast line, Fume and lash the rocks and cliff-sides, Till the flecks of foam are scattered Far and wide across the borders — Far beyond the line which measures Where the land and water limits Should be held without encroachment. But the waves in reckless fury Rear and fling their clasping fingers Where the faithful rocks are cloven — - (i8S) 1 86 ALASKANA. Where the land is left unguarded — And they seize the sand and pebbles — Tear the moistened earth in ridges — Bearing out to sea the trophies Which they grasp and hold securely ! But, as though they half relented When the earth so meekly yielded, As they pass, they sweep the margin Smooth and clear till glistening shadows Bear no marks to tell the outrao^e Of the lawless waves and breakers. Blust'ring, plunging, still they answer As the winds repeat the challenge, And the din o^rows wild and frantic While the earth looks on and trembles When the winds and waters meeting Shriek like angry beasts in battle, Or, like thunder, roar and rumble ! When the sea lifts proudly skyward Fearlessly to meet the foeman. Who, although so boldly warring. Never once displays his features. CLUBBING THE SEA-OTTER. 1 87 When the war is wildly rampant, And the winds, in rude tornadoes. Sweep the isles from coast to seaboard ; When the blending sounds, redoubled, Detonate from crag to cliff-top, — Then the hardy Aleut hunters Launch their strong and tough bidarkas. Seize their oars and skim like swallows Through the rough, foam -whitened surges, — Row for miles through rudest turmoil Toward the isles where otters frequent, When the sea has harshly tossed them From the rafts of kelp and mosses. When the winds have made them weary With their rough, spasmodic charges ; On the rock-bound coasts they gather. There to rest and sleep unconscious Of the fate so fast approaching In the boats that bound like bubbles O'er the rude, tempestuous billows. Dangers face the bold marauders. As they near the place of landing. I 88 ALASKAN A. In the wind so hoarsely puffing, In the sea's eno^ulfing- currents. But they lash their boats and leave them Far beyond the surf's rude clasping, And with clubs in hand they hasten Stealthily, but swiftly, onward Till they near the otters, sleeping On the rocks or sandy beaches, And uplifting high their weapons, Waiting till the winds cry loudly, Crash ! the club is quickly wielded And an otter's skull is broken With each stroke so deft and certain. On they pass, from rock to hollow, Dealing death with earnest purpose, For their fortune lies invested In those glossy coats that shimmer As the pulsing life ebbs surely From the shy, unwitting victims. When the winds rest, then the Aleuts Stand as still as rocks and boulders Lest their steps should wake the creatures CLUBBING THE SEA-OTTER. 1 89 Who would rush beyond their reaching ; And they keep their stand to windward, Though each breath may dash them over Where no hand could reach and succor. But they fear the swift detection Of their presence would be aided If the otters once should scent them, If the wind but swept their garments Ere it reached the resting-places. When the din is wildest, loudest, When the bounding waves are roaring And the winds have joined the voices In the fierce and fiendish chorus. Then they work, though tossed and beaten, — Though their nerves are held in tension That would snap if one more effort Led them out beyond their bearing ! Though their hearts are wildly beating And their breath comes short and painful, Still they work, till daylight finds them Or till nature, weak, exhausted. Bids them stop and count their harvest. 1 90 ALASKANA, Otters lie around uninjured, Only where the skulls are shattered, So their skins are valued highly As no stain nor break has marred them In their richly shining beauty. Now the Aleuts count their victims. Fill their boats and place their surplus Where the sea-god cannot claim them, Till they come with help to carry All the prizes safely homeward. Now the boats, so richly laden. Slide across the slippery shingle, And they take their oars and turn them Toward the island home, so distant That they scarce could see the coast-marks Though the sun were shining clearly. Through the mists, the raging billows, — Through the clouds the winds have tattered. Till their ragged edges hanging Blend with foam the sea is churning ; — Throutrh the siofhinor winds whose voices, Dirge-like, break above their foreheads — CLUBBING THE SEA-OTTER. I9I Through the sea, whose gaping trenches Toss the boats and strain their oar-locks^ — On they go, like sea-gulls, dipping Either side their bending paddles. Riding where the rollers lift them Up toward the frowning cloud-banks, Plunging down the glassy roadways That a mountain wave has opened, — Sometimes 'neath the foam-caps buried, But, with mighty arms propelling And with hearts to brave each danger, On they glide toward the harbor ! Graceful as a bird they hurry, Till their homes and friends awaiting Greet them with a gleam of welcome, Praise the brave y ou ng hu n tsmen's prowess, — Land their boats and count the beauties That the brave bidarka carries Safe and sound through flood and tempest! MORSE AND MAHLEMOOT. I N the north where Bering's waters With their restless waves and surges Wash the Islands bare and rock-bound, Lave the isles whose shores are ever Changing, where one swell deposits Broken shells and oozy sea-weeds, Dark-hued earth and rocks that crumble When the winds and sunlight touch them, While some angry breakers roaring, High upon the coast, leap backward, Bearing in their clasp huge fragments Torn away in reckless passion! So those isles erow o-reat and lesser At the will of wind and water, (192) MORSE AND MAHLEMOOT. 1 93 And their features, ever chanofincr Offer not one safe inducement To the tribe, however savaofe, To the huntsman nor the fisher, E'en to Mahlemoots, most hardy Of Alaska's dark-browed natives, For a home while winter rages Or while summer's sun shines warmly. But these isles and those around them, Great and small, are more important Than the loveliest grass-grown islet That a poet's dream could fancy. For along their rough-hewn shore-lines, On their wild and shell-strewn beaches. Rests the Eskimo's deliverer From starvation's painful terrors. So upon a safer island. Deep within Poonook's rough bosom, They have built their winter houses — Dug them deep for warmth and safety. Made them as their knowledge dictates. Strong, secure and free from danger. '3 194 ALASKAN A. They liave built their liall, or Kashga, Where the men all meet at evening:, There to talk of signs that promise Herds of fat and tender morses, Or with anxious voices murniur Of the time of want that threatens When the weather signs betoken Poor and few the walrus catches. When the summer comes propitious, When the winds and water favor, Then great herds of morses gather, Drag their great unwieldy bodies Out beyond the sea's embraces. Up on rocky slopes and shallows. Up on sandy bars and shingles Prone they lie, so closely crowded That one leans upon another As they snore in restful slumber. If some threatening sound disturbs them Lazily one lifts his shoulder And with rolling eyeballs gazes Far and near for fear of danger ; MORSE AND MAHLEMOOT. J 95 But a moment's watch suffices If he finds no lurking savasfe. But to make secure their safety, To insure against surprises, Ere he sinks again in stupor With his tusks he prods his neig^hbor, Who in turn repeats the watching, Prods the next and grunts and settles To a long, dream-free siesta. But should beast or man be near them, Then dismay spreads fast among them, And they roll and turn and tumble, Grunt and groan and toss each other In their haste to flee from danger And to hide beneath the waters. There they lose their graceless motions And with ease fly swiftly outward From the shore and man's encroachment. But the hunters, wise and wary, Steal with noiseless footsteps near them, — Careful still to keep to windward Of the cumbrous, watchful quarry. 196 ALASKANA. Armed with spears and jointed lances, Whose sharp points, when once inserted In the strugghng morse's vitals, Loose away from hilt or handle, But, secured by cords, hold strongly. That the beast may not go farther Than the length of thong allows it. There they let him plunge and tremble, Let him turn and twist and flounder Till his weakness wakes their courage, And strong, willing hands join, eager To secure the pondrous store-house. Soon as life has fled they hurry To remove the hide and open To the loncrino- view the blubber And the reekingf flesh whose odor Makes the hungry eyes beam brighter And the sturdy arm grow stronger ! Carefully the hide is carried To the " sweating-hole," that makes it Pliable and soft to handle. It is scraped and cut and fastened, MORSE AND MAHLEMOOT. 1 97 Stretched and fastened strongly, firmly, For their odd, secure bidarkas Owe their strength and darting lightness To the gaunt, ungainly walrus. And the sinews all are gathered, And the shreds of hide, the flippers, All the bones, the tusks, whose ivory Tempts the traders' yearly visit. E'en the huge, disgorged intestines,^ — - Every part is garnered wisely. And the flesh ! its every portion With no crumb of waste is cherished, For the Innuit's life is nurtured By the great, disgusting monster ! To our eyes the brute is hideous In his slow, ungainly movements. In his huge, unshapely body, In his skin, all warts and pimples. In his tusks that gleam so fiercely, In his eyes that roll and wander Here and there in search of danger. While his head remains as quiet 198 ALASKANA. As though rest were all his object ! And, to us, his flesh is teeminor With a strong, offensive odor, While the taste is all-sufficient To destroy the strongest longing For a dish of Innuit dainties ! Yet no traveller o'er the desert Ever greets a spring more gladly, — No poor, starving wretch looks forwarel To a plenteous meal with longing More intense, more wild and eaofer Than the Mahlemoot looks forward To the morse's yearly coming. With him comes his boat, his weapons ; With him comes, in part, his clothing, And he brings the light that brightens Those dark, subterranean dwellings. More than all, the food he bears them Makes his coming far more blessed Than all else the sea could bring them. As the palm to India's natives. As the cocoa-palm and guava, — MORSE AND MATILEMOOT. 199 As the broad, inviting; banyan To tho footsore, thirsty traveller, As the spring- to winter-weary, As the o-leam of s^old to misers, So the fat, unwieldy walrus Holds its place to longing- Innuits, To the Mahlemoots— Alaska's Dark-eyed, earnest walrus-hunters THE SEAL OR PRIRYLOV ISLANDS. TN the vast, tumultuous waters Of the sea, the restless Bering — Far from rock-bound coast, from mauiland, Out where no high mountain ranges Stand between the wind's fierce raging And the bare, defenceless headland, And the storm-washed hills and shallows, Hold their own, the wild Seal Islands — Pribylov — their name conjointly ; But for each a saint is sponsor, Or an animal, whose presence Made the island famed by hunters. By the men whose needs first led them To reofard the stranore, dumb creatures (200) THE SEAL OR PRIISYLOV ISLANDS. 20I As a boon by seasons carried To their reach from out the sea-depths. Thus they stand, "St. Paul" and "Wahais," With "St. George" and one called " Otter," Neither great in size nor number — Distant, weird and strangely lonely. Yet withal for ages holding On their sea- washed shores the bearers Of a wealth that nations covet, — Of the food and household comforts That have saved the dusky natives From starvation's painful terrors, From the blasts which winter's revels Throw around them, all regardless If some lives should pay the forfeit For their bold and fierce carousals ! "Walrus Isle," a ledge so rocky That no herbage feeds upon it. Makes a resting-place for morses And a home for screamino- sea-fowls, Who return each year and find it Swept and cleaned by wind and waters, 202 ALASKANA. All prepared for future nestlings, Whose vast numbers would be greater, But that human kind grown greedy For a chance from morse and seal-meat, Steal within their chosen precincts And with ruthless hands filch numbers Of the eggs that soon would quicken Into awkward, gaping sea-gulls, Into restless, croaking arries. Into auks or tiny parrots. Thus the isle one season shelters Breeding sea-fowl by the million, And another o-ives the walrus Room to rest and sleep in comfort. "Otter Island," bold and barren. Holds aloft its silent crater, Grimly scarred as though but lately Fire and stones and molten lava Burst from out the deep recesses. Though no man has e'er beheld it Auofht but black and cold and silent. Once the otters swarmed upon it, THE SEAL OR PRIRYLOV ISLANDS. 203 But to-day the sea-birds clamor Round the frowning bluffs and hollows, While a myriad small blue foxes Haunt Its rock-hewn gloomy caverns. On its coast a few seals linger For awhile to rest, and maybe To recruit their failing spirits Ere they join the countless thousands Who surround the larger islands. There "St. George" stands bold and rock-bound, High his wind-swept bluffs uplifting While the sea beats all around him, Only finding one small entrance For its waves to rush unbroken — Only one small stretch of sand-beach Over which to wash and tumble Ere returning swiftly, laden With small rifts of sand and sea-weed That were cast by older breakers Who had torn them as they travelled From some rock, whose submerged surface Gave their lone and slender fibres 204 ALASKANA. Strong- support against the wave-sweeps, Till one stronger, more determined, Wrenched the quivering, waving streamers From the parent stems, and threw them — ■ Careless of the fate awaiting — On the island's sandy shingle. On the cliffs the wild birds gather, Reproducing countless numbers; Foxes roam and cats make music. Whose loud chords arouse the people. Who, half frenzied, hunt and kill them, Hoping only by such treatment To gain rest and peaceful slumber. On the sandy beach the fur-seals Haul their rounded, glistening bodies, There to rest and bear their young ones, There to spend the time of breeding And, alas, to lose vast numbers Of tlieir young and handsome members. Here and there this rocky island Bears upon its breast bright patches. Waving plumes of slender grasses, THE SEAL OR PRIRYLOV ISLANDS. 205 Blooming" herbs and tender mosses Spread around as if to cover And to hide the ground that opened To receive the streaminof hfe-blood Of the calm seal-hunter's victims. From one bare, tall cliff, at springtime, Falls a cascade pure as crystal — Plunging from the wild- rock surface Out beyond the island's shore-line, Deep within the blue sea-water; On it flows in limpid fairness, Feathery light, and pure and lovely As its spray, its silvery ripples And its deeper tide streams onward Down against the dark rock faces. On toward Its leap for freedom. How its waters ffleam and ehsten ! How the foam, like fairy footsteps, Touches here and there the crrlmness Ere it falls to lose forever All Its own bright, frost-like beauty In the waves that rise to meet It — 206 ALASKANA. In the thunderiiiL^ waves that Bering- Sends to greet the lovely stranger ! On " St, Paul," the larger island And the one regarded always As the chief among the seal-group, Lakes and small lagoons are nestled Up among the rocky headlands, Held in deep, uneven basins, Far above the great, fierce billows That with jealous rage forever Shout and cry against the bulwarks That protect the clear, fresh waters From the lapping sea's encroachment. Tiny, silver fish sport gayly In the brightly sparkling lakelets, Birds and beasts flock on their margins, Share and share alike with people To partake of pure refreshment From the sweet and limpid water. Grasses wave and blossoms scatter Tinted petals, as the wind-breaths Sweep along the flats that gave them THE SEAL OR PRIBYLOV ISLANDS. 20/ Room to grow and flaunt their beauty. Birds surround the hills and cliff points, Sparrows flock in countless thousands, And the hungry hunters catch them Eager for the savory morsels That produce a change so dainty From the endless round of seal-meat, Stale and rank, or fresh and greasy ! Here the sandy dunes are tinted Dark as slate with shades of purple. Touched with flecks of red and yellow, Shading off to paler tinges As the sand is dried and drifted. On this island's shores the fur-seal Crowd in vast and countless numbers, Male and female, grand old sultans With their full and lively harems, Fat young bachelors, whose numbers Swell the hunter's hope of profit — Mother seals with pups as frisky As a crowd of playful kittens, — Old and young and gray and lively, 208 ALASKAN A. Rich in fur or old and useless, Crowdincr, roarino- ficrhtino- fondlinof,— Left in safe and clear possession Of the hauling grounds and harems, Or the droves of young ones singled For the yearly wholesale slaughter. On " St, Pauls," the larger island, And " St. Georofe," the next in station, People live in homelike comfort. Having houses, stores and churches. Owning much to make their living Far above the older natives. On each island's loftiest summits Stands a cross— the Christian emblem That the Russians always planted When their band had found a landing, Whether on a lonely island Or a grand and lovely country. Yet the waves forever thunder On these distant, wild sea-islands ! And the winds forever murmur Round the rocks and in the caverns, THE SEAL OR PRIBYLOV ISLANDS. 209 And the winter storms howl fiercely, Sweeping- all before their fury, And the summer foes hanir o'er them, Like a misty pall, forever Shuttinor out the o-olden radiance Of the sun's resplendent beauty. H THE SEALS OF ALASKA, OUSSIA'S ice-bound coast looms coldly ^ O'er the North Pacific waters, Over Bering's waves that clamor Where the land resists their forces — Where it holds its rock-bound border Firmly strong against the forging Of the bold, ambitious wave-sweeps That forever aim to blot it From the coldly barren country, From Siberia's ice-locked province ! Down they flow along the shore-way Of Japan and soul-dim China, Curving round the mystic islands, Where the cold north waves are tempered (210) THE SEALS OF ALASKA. 211 By the softly sweeping current — By the sun-warmed stream that travels From the golden shores of Asia — Wandering through the chill-waved ocean, Till they reach far-off Alaska — Bearing east to that lone country And its islands, darkly fog-dimmed, Waves that pulse like tender heart-throbs, — Like a faint, electric message From Mongolia's dusky natives. To their dark Alaskan compeers. Through the miles of trackless water Boominor on Columbia's shore-line, — Thundering on the coast of Asia ; — Stretching from one sphere's bold margin Toward another's eastern outline — Wander seals in myriads, sporting Where the ocean caves are silent. Where no echo voice can startle With its weird and shadowy music — Where no form of man can friofhten — But where peaceful quiet reigning 212 AI.ASKANA. Wakes no fear to mar tlieir pleasure. Where they find their homes in winter — Where they spend the early spring-time — None can tell, but wise conjecture Finds them wandering- o'er the ocean, Scattered through the miles that measure Vacant space from sullen empires To the glad Republic's domain, Glorying in untrammelled freedom, Gamboling in the liquid desert, Findine food in rich abundance, Deep within their watery store-house — Or asleep in Nature's cradle, Rocked and soothed by tidal motion. But when spring has come they gather In a host that counts by millions — And with one consent press onward Toward the lonely, mist-crowned islands In the sea between Alaska And Kamchatka's barren landmarks. On they come, those countless thousands, Scrambling up the slippery highway. THE SEALS OF ALASKA. 213 Hauling up their o;-listenin2;- bodies With a strange, uncertain motion Painful to behold, and seeminf{ Wearisome to all ; yet upward Still they come, by Nature guided To that CTreat retreat, where ao^es Tell of just such teeming millions. — Roaring, bleating, groaning, snoring — Old and young in odd confusion Cause a din like distant thunder, Rolling down o'er hills and valleys — Make a sound like deep-toned waters Rushing through resisting canons — Or like miofhtiest wind-storms, swelling With a world's sad weight of sorrow! Out to sea that noise is carried, Weird and fearful in its cadence ; But to those who wait their coming, — To the hearts of watching Aleuts, Every tone is tilled with music ; No more welcome guest has ever Landed on those sea-o-irt islands ! 214 ALASKANA. Grand old patriarchs, uplifting High above the rest their shoulders, Guard with care their swarming harems ; Graceful heads are raised to listen Or to view a curious stranger ; But no angry sounds are uttered, Or not one aggressive motion Made against his close inspection ; — But if one great seal should ever Try to seize another's consort, Then a most terrific battle Wages wild and fierce, till either Falls and lies in great exhaustion, Yields in death his angry passion, Or retreats most humbly conquered. In a space so small one wonders How they live so closely crowded — Old and young lie close together — One perhaps is calmly resting On its kind companion's body, Or it may be one is trembling With the weight of such a number THE SEALS OF ALASKA. 2 I 5 That it seems its life must forfeit That the rest may sleep in comfort. As they sleep they sigh and quiver — Start as if a dream affrighted — Groan as if some hideous nightmare Held them with its vice-like terrors : — And they fan their fin-like flippers With an odd, spasmodic movement. Never still, the restless thousands Swarm like bees, and sound while sleeping Like the buzz of wings, increasing To a million times their uproar. On the earth they seem ungainly. In the waves their every motion, Turned with ease, is strangely charming ; Diving, curving, darting, bounding, Birds in air are not more graceful, Not more free and gayly joyful Than the fur-seals of Alaska. Months they stay among those islands, In whose dim mist-light they revel, Makine all the earth a-tremor 2 I 6 ALASKANA. With their active sound and motion, Then they leave ; the isles, forsaken. Look more wildly cold and lonely Than before they came to wake them From their long" and wintry quiet. And they ! Who can tell their eerie ? Who can tell the groal that shelters All those graceful, fur-dressed thousands. All those soft-eyed, sea-rocked millions ? NA-ASS RIVER. ]V TEAR Alaska's southern boundary, Flows a river called the " Na-ass," By the Indians named "New River;" And they tell their reason fully While they point with earnest gestures- Show, without a doubt, the proof-marks Of their legend — of the story Of the river and the ashes. Heaps of dust and stony objects Which are strewn beside its margins. Thus they tell the painful legend : Years ago some wicked children Played beside a sparkling streamlet, Paddled in its limpid waters, (217) 2t8 alaskana. Tossed its crystal drops around them ; Frip-hteninor with their shouts the fishes — Silver fishes, bright as moonlight — Which, with quivering fins were darting Here and there in sportive pleasure, * Or in search of food, were peering In and out among the hollows Where the slippery stones were lying — Sometimes touching, sometimes leaning Far away each from the other. Soon those noisy, dark-faced children Of their gentle sport grew weary. And, with heartless mischief teeming. By the wicked spirit goaded, Some, witli movement quick as flashes. Seized the leaping, swimming salmon. Caught and held the trembling fishes. Held them tight and cut them deeply. Scored their backs with gaping knife-wounds, And then crushing stones within them, — Sharp and grinding stones imbedding In their wounded backs, they loosed them, ' NA-ASS RIVER. 219 Lauofhinor at the tortured creatures As they plunged and writhed and twisted,- — As they tried to swim but could not For those gaping wounds that severed From the flesh the gauzy fin-lines That before had waved so smoothly — Curved and waved with every motion — While the fishes, diving, swimming, In their home were adding beauty With their grace to rippling waters And the sunlight's gay reflections. So the children played and added, Now and then, another victim To their heartless, cruel pleasure ; While the great, good Spirit watched them. Saw the sport that caused their laughter And beheld the silent torture Of those salmon while they suffered, — Watched the gaping mouths and eye-balls Starting out, impelled by efforts To regain their wonted motion, To escape their painful burden ! Long the Spirit watched and waited. 2 20 ALASKAN A. All the while his aneer rising. But the youthful tyrants gloried In the pain their fun was causing, And they touched their dying victims, — Urged them on with sticks and branches Till they turned and, floating lifeless, Hid their backs, so torn and tortured. In the stream that gently bore them Far away to reach the ocean ! Long the Spirit watched and waited, But the cruel sport continued. Till his wrath grew hot and vengeful ! Then he caused a fire to kindle — Sent a fire, so fierce and mighty That it seized the dancing waters, Lapped the waves with heat consuming, Caught those children in its fury And with roarinof voices, buried All their bitter cries and shriekine — All their calls for help were deadened ! And the Spirit saw their writhings. As they saw their wriggling victims — Looked upon them till their ashes NA-ASS RIVER. 22 1 And the river's dust were mingled — Until nauorht remained to answer When the people came to find them But the seethinof stones and ashes, But the smokinof dust remainino^ Of those cruel, heartless children And the river, which their playing Doomed to swift and fierce destruction, Until naught was left to witness Of its pure, transparent beauty But the dust and stones and silence.* When the tributary waters Saw the ruin spread before them, Saw the lovely stream had vanished And its funeral pyre had smouldered, Wild with fear they sought a channel Clear from all the steaming rubbish. But so near, their tinkling murmurs Seem to singf in tones of warninof — Sing a dirge, in softest whispers. For those children wild and wilful. And their blighted sister streamlet ! •■'■ See note in Appendix. 22 2 ALAS KAN A. So the Indians tell the story Of the lava bed that borders On the river named the Na-ass — Of the strange rough bed, resembling In its course a river's roadway ; While they see in piles of lava Remnants weird of forms cremated, — Shapes of bones, and pallid ashes From the waters burned to cinders By the fire the great good Spirit Sent to punish deeds so cruel, And to warn all other mortals From the fell desire to trifle With the lives so free from vileness, — - With the fish, whose tender bodies Rightly used are full of virtue As a flesh- and oil-producing Article for home consumption, Or for traffic with the countries Whose bright streamlets cannot furnish Aught so rich as silvery salmon Nurtured in the pure, deep waters Of the Northland's boundino- rivers! FISHING ON NA-ASS RIVER, /~^N the shores of Na-ass river, ^"^^ Where the broader banks allow it To display its liquid beauty For one mile and half another, There the small fish gather yearly ; Every year their faithful coming Brings the tribes from east and westward To secure for food the fishes, — To obtain the gleaming tribute Which the river bears them, truly As the season calls it upward To the water's restless surface. When the time is near, some watchers Wait the fishes' swift advancement, (223^ 22 4 ALASKAN A. See the river's bosom quiver With the milHon graceful swimmers And then fly and call the natives To the bright, abundant harvest. Everywhere is eager bustle As the tribes from either country — From Columbia's British shore-line And the isles of fair Alaska^ — Deck themselves with oil and blacking Touched with lines of gay vermilion ; Trim their heads with gaudy feathers, And bedrape their limbs and shoulders Bright with clothes or T'linket blankets. Every garment bearing emblems Of the wearer's tribal totem, Of the Hkenesses of creatures Wild and savao-e in their nature. Songs and dances tell their coming As they gather by the water, Hundreds upon hundreds meeting In a friendly, joyous manner Ere they launch their boats and utter Words of praise to charm them nearer. FISHING ON NA-ASS RIVER. 225 Flattering songs to win the fishes; Worshipping the tiny swimmers Who appear in such profusion That with branches, armed with nail-points, They can fill their boats so quickly As to make a glinting net-work Where the gay canoes pass over, East or West, as they deliver To the waiting crowds who carry Basket-loads of quivering beauties To the hands, whose constant duty Is to turn the gleaming fishes Into oil for use in winter; Or, to those who cook and serve them To the troops of hungry mortals Who behave as though starvation Had been checked just at the moment When its terrors pressed them sorely! Watch the scene! the river teeming With the fishes, small and dainty. With canoes, like greedy vultures Swarming where the prey is plenty, 15 226 ALASKAN A. And with men whose painted bodies, Feathered lieads and gHstening paddles Dart about in wild confusion, Making such fantastic pictures As would test the swiftest pencil Of the most ambitious artist ! Overhead the gulls are poising Ere they drop and skim the water Where, mayhap, a spot is vacant For an instant, as some boatman Has departed with his burden. There they group, a myriad wing-tips. Looking, as they fly, like snow-flakes Ready to descend and cover All the scene with spotless beauty ; And above them, soaring grandly — Scarce a motion in their pinions- Eagles scan the river's bosom. From whose depths they hope to garner Food for hungry, screaming eaglets. Eaofles, eulls and men, all vieing- With each other for possession Of the tiny, timid fishes, — FISHING ON NA-ASS RIVER. 227 Wait above the tossing- water, While beneath the shining- river Fin-back whales and clumsy codfish, Halibut and bounding porpoise Jostle each against the other In their eager, swift pursuing Of the prey which tries to hasten From the hungry jaws distended To enofulf the friofhtened creatures! Up they dart, when man impales them, Tearing cruelly their fibres, Crushing out their little life-span As a child would grasp a bubble, And, reducing them to masses, Ugly, motionless and shapeless. In the sunlight birds affright them And they plunge beneath the surface. Where the laro-er fish await them, And they dart about, uncertain, When the master, man, assigns them To himself a special offering From the river-cfod and fish-trod — From the pfods of land and water. 2 28 ALASKANA. On the shore lonof boats are laden With the fish and river water And with stones, which first are heated Till they glare with angry brightness — Hiss and sputter when they tumble In the water, which they heighten To a bubbling, broiling temper, When it cooks the fish and makes them Yield their fat in liquid amber. This the women store in vessels And preserve with carefijl patience, Pressinor with their feet the masses So that no clear drops are wasted. Other fish are packed by women, Each as much as she can carry. Then they all prepare for feasting. Dancing, worshipping the fish-god, — Doing homage to the spirits That they feel are swarming round them, Throwing gifts in wild profusion That no witch nor fiend of evil May have cause to wreak its vengeance On themselves or friends or children ! PINNACLE ISLET/'^ /^UT at sea ! no sound to answer, ^^^ Thoueh our oruns should tell of danger, Though our captain's voice should thunder Through the trumpet loudly, wildly, Thoucrh the briofht ship-bell should tremble With its loudest, longest clangor, Though each human voice should join it With the saddest, woful calling! Out at sea ! no sound to answer But the sea's loud, tuneless roaring, But its monotone, as changeless As the waves' wild sobs and moaning ! Naueht to answer but the sea-voice And the winds, whose heartless laughter * See note in Appendix. (229) 2 ^O ALASKANA. Echoes back in tones as jeering As a fiend's, whose joy grows wilder When a tortured mortal murmurs. Out at sea ! the land so distant That the mists obscure it darkly, And the cloud-banks seem less vap'rous Than the lone, sea-shadowed islands ! Out at sea ! our ship an atom And ourselves weak toys for Neptune If the sails should fall disabled Or a leak should chance to open ! Dancing w^aves around us gambol — Sun-kissed waves, as bright as jewels — Cloud-dimmed waves, like shrouded opals, Touch our ship, then leap beyond us, While their bright companions linger Close beneath our sheltering shadow. Green and cloud-like blue the surface Turns toward the sunlit azure And in small, bright patches, glistens With the eolden orb's reflection. Far away white flecks gleam softly, PINNACLE ISLET. 23 I Clear as silver newly burnished, Or like snow-flakes, lightly resting On the rippling waves and eddies. All around the dim horizon Hides behind a misty veiling That sometimes uplifts and wavers Like a thin and gauzy curtain, Showing far beyond more water, More cool waves, more mist and shadow. Listen ! not a sea-bird whispers — Not a sound but waves in motion. And the slow, dull sounds that answer To the sails when winds outlift them. Look ! beyond the sea no vision E'er can pierce those banks of vapor! Hush ! and gaze far out beyond us. Far away and glancing upward Beams a light, a flame, a beacon. From the sea's cold breast it rises. From the wild, cool tide uprearing, See, a light gleams red and golden ! Fish lights ? No, no fish scales ever 232 ALASKANA. Shone with sucli uneven splendor ! And no fair auroral beauty Ere confined ilself so closely As this brightly gleaming stranger. On we sail, still nearer, nearer, And the light beams out more brightly And then dies away as quickly As the lightning's fervid flashing. Is it lightning? No fierce pealing Calls it forth in thunderous voices. No black clouds with angry frowning Tell of storms and seething tempest. Now, behold a rock uplifted, Sheer from out the sea it rises Full a thousand feet or over, From the sea-line to the fissure. That one moment yawns as darkly As the earth's most gloomy caverns, And the next is olowinor fiercer Than Verstova's fervid flashing ! Dark and high the rock stands sentry Over Bering's troubled bosom, PINNACLE ISLET. 233 And its inin lite-gun booms loudly As it sends its fiery message Up toward the gloomy cloudland — Out to islands near and distant — Far across the sea's dark ripples And its crested waves and billows. Flash and boom ! the sound repeating Wanders on till lost in distance And the lurid stream rears upward Like a fierce and curbless charger, Just a moment's time, then sinking Slowly, sullenly, but surely, Fades away, except the lava That awhile retains the heat-cflow, And the stones that shine like eye-balls On the rugged sides and fissures. Then, when all are pale as ashes, Boom ! aorain the sea-Qfun belches And repeats the glow and glory And the slow but painless dying. Is there hand to paint the beauty Of that lonely, fire-crowned islet? 234 ALASKANA. Is there voice to tell how wildly Gleams that weird, majestic stranger Who has none to claim his kinship In those cold Alaskan waters ? O'er the sobbing- seas, the islands And the rocks, whose bold desires Bid them ape the forms and features Of their nobler island neighbors, Towers the splendid fiery mountain. Lofty and alone ; no echo Wakens when his voice calls loudly And no answering flash makes answer Though he re-repeats his question. His the only voice to scatter Waves of sound on Bering's waters, His the only light to waken Brightest gleams upon his bosom ! THE BIRTH OF BOGASLOV ISLET. QUMMER'S laughing eyes were saddened ^ By the first cool wave of autumn, Which had passed among her jewels, Turning brown and limp the petals That her watchful care had tended, That her gende hand had tinted With a brush whose slightest touches Waked the bloom on phlox and gentian, Tinged the heart of stately iris, Caught the tenderest blue and laid it On the drooping violet's bosom. Now she gazed on all so blighted That their grace had gone forever ; (235) 236 ALASKAN A. So she drew her gauze-like raiment And departed, as the echoes Of the autumn winds were mocking At the grief her eyes were telHng, Though her Hps no sigh had uttered. Men and women worked in concert, Making stores for winter usage, Curinof berries, flesh and blubber; Stretching skins for beds and clothing ; Hast'ning to repair their dwellings. That the snow, in fitful skurries. Should not find a chink to enter; When a loud report re-echoed From the hills and mountain summits! Boominof o'er the wild sea-water In a lone, vibratincr cadence. — Ere it passed away another Crashing, thunderino- roar succeeded ! In its strengrth the islands trembled. Oomnak shook, and Oonalashka Felt the shock from verge to centre. Silence fell ! The quaking islands THE BIRTH OF BOGASLOV ISLET. 237 Grew as still as babes in slumber, And the startled natives wond'rinir What should cause the stranu-e commotion, Paused awhile, then finding danger Followed not the frightful rumble, Turned again to work, but questioned Now and then the older people. Ere the wisest sacje amongf them Could have formed a safe conclusion, Wild and loud there burst above them Sounds that mocked a cannon's roaring ! Tones like hoarse artillery voices Clashing forth when foes contending Meet and hurl their fiercest charges ! Lonor vibrations rose and echoed Like the battle-cry of muskets ! Notes, like pealing claps of thunder. Shook the isles, from crested mountains Down to where their feet are resting Deep within the sea's dark cradle ! While the waves of Bering bounded Far beyond their constant limit, — 238 ALASKANA. Surged and dashed in maddest breakers Round die helpless, quaking islands. People cower'd in nerveless terror, Knowing not how soon the ocean Would engulf their homes, or wash them From their once secure foundations. Clouds of smoke obscured the sunlight, Rolling here and there so dimly That 't would seem the earth had risen, Hurling clouds toward the sun's face ! Showers of dust and ashes scattered Over all the land, and blinded Those who looked with wondering crazes Toward the flying clouds, and listened To the constant, angry growling That for days and nights still muttered Like a foul and threatening monster. And the people waited, breathless, Fearing instant death, or dreading Something that was strange and awful, Coming where they least expected. Days and nights the rumblings reached them, THE BIRTH OF BOGASLOV ISLET. 239 And the dust and ashes covered, Like a veil, the trembling islands. Then the earth grew still and silent, And the dusky shades uplifting, Soon revealed a blaze that issued From old Bering's tossing waters, Castino- loner, wide streams of brio-htness Far across his dark green bosom ; Liftinof rolls of Q-a.s and ashes Which the winds, both wild and eager, Caught and carried far to southward, Sifting as they flew, their burden O'er the quivering isles and people. Soon the braver men concluded They would know what strange creation Had produced this wild confusion And the fires that blazed so fiercely ; So, their light bidarkas launching, Carefully they neared the stranger, Which they found to be an islet, Or a new volcanic structure Which the earth had forced to notice 240 ALASKANA. Though the sea had barred its passage. ' Twas tlie earth in mig-hty travail That had made the islands tremble ; And Boofaslov's birth was noted In the thunderous peals and crashes !* While his crest of fire was lifting, Waters seethed and tossed in torture, Till he rose above the surface And proclaimed his advent brightly. There the Aleuts gazed in wonder, But they dared not near the islet, For its sides were bathed in lava, Streaming down in liquid blazes From the summit to the wave-line That, with angry hisses, seized them, Turning glaring light to dimness, Liquid fire to stones and ashes. So they left the infant islet And returned to tell the wonder Which the throbbing earth had nourished, Which she charged the sea to cherish. * See note in Appendix. THE BIRTH OF BOGASLOV ISLET. 24 1 Still the mound of rocks grew taller And extended o'er the sea-waves Till it gained a height and boundVy Large enough to name Bogaslov — One of Berinof's thousand islets. After years the fires grew dimmer, Then they turned to smouldering cinders, But their fierceness left it lonely. — Neither man nor beast could linger, For the fervid heat would direaten To destroy whoever landed. But the cooling waves have washed it Till at last the great sea-lions Sport along its rugged edges, And the water-birds have found it Safe retreat to rear their nestlings. Gulls and sreese and darino; 'Arries Make their homes within the ridfres Where sometimes the lava torrents Poured in streams of ruby brightness. On the topmost points the eagles Gaze beyond the tossing billows 16 242 ALASKANA, O'er the islands, shoals, and islets, That bedeck the sea's wild bosom. While Pacific's glistening rollers Lap around a myriad islands Who, one day, were born with thunder As their cradle-song, and blazes Were their birthday's first announcement ! INDIAN LEGEND OF THE LARGE GLACIER ON STICKEEN RIVER. I N a mig-hty mountain fastness Dwelt a eod who ruled the regions Where the snow and ice and hail-storms, Where the sleet, that cuts like needles. And the howling, shrieking north-wind Bide their time while summer linorers — Wait, with hard and chill impatience. For his word to give them empire Over all the smiling landscape, Over blooming field and meadows, — Power to change their tender herbage Into pale and silent shadows. And to stay the sparkling ripples (243) 244 ALASKANA. Of each limpid stream and river Till their waves grow still, as dying- Quells the life-blood in man's bosom. So he gave command, and, wailing, Fled the sweet, soft winds of summer. And from north and east the ice-ofod Sent his breath in howling echoes. Shrieking out, like angry demons. As from crag to crag they bounded ; Crying out like spirit voices Through the narrow mountain gorges, And in sad, complaining whispers Sighing through the stricken valleys. Over all, the snow fell, shrouding Summer's glory with its pallor, Covering with a pall, so spotless And so fair, earth's verdant beauty That 'twould seem he half repented Of the sternness of his mandate — But he sped his crystal lances Into stream and mountain torrent. And the rippling, dancing waters LARGE GLACIER ON STICKEEN RIVER. 245 Froze with terror at his frowninof, While the babbhnof brook's low murmurs Made woods lonely with their absence, And the rivers roared and battled As they struggled through the channels, Growinof closer and more narrow, Till the flaes^ingf waves orrew silent. Yielding tribute to his kingdom In their cold and calm surrender. But old Stickeen knew no orders But his own, and it was " Onward ! " And he rushed and roared and bounded On the course he held for acres — Springing from the cold embraces Of the ice-king's creeping minions, LauQfhinor at the north-wind's screaminor As it tried to drown his singing. And to pearly softness kissing Snow-flakes dropped upon his bosom. And the despot heard the cadence. As it bounded through the canons — Heard the singino- notes of freedom 246 ALASKANA. That made yielding nature quiver With a faint, rebellious trembling Ere she turned to stone-like homage Of the eod whose breath could alter, At his will, her every feature. And the anarch bent and listened, With surprise beyond conception, To the song Stickeen was shouting, To his bold, defiant tauntinor — And he wondered, for he knew not Whose the voice and whose the spirit That could so defy his province, When all else was awed to stillness ! Listening on, his outraged kingship Could no longer brook defiance ! He must know what haughty rebel Dared to hold its own so boldly. So he buckled on his armor. Called his chill, obedient vassals. And set forth to see and vanquish — Marched abroad to set his signet On that hardy, traitor minstrel LARGE GLACIER ON STICKEEN RIVER. 247 Who dared break his awful silence ! Forth he crashed, die mountains shaking With his footsteps' heavy falling, Gorges ringing with the clangor Of his crystal shields and lances, And his armament for storming Citadel or castle strongholds Well might bring the most defiant To his feet in blind submission ! On he sped, a hero chieftain. Noting not how stark and hoary, Seeing not how cold and lifeless Nature's works had bowed before him. For he heard that river chantinor Its clear war-song as it bounded, And he longed to hush forever — Longed to still the sweet vibrations Of its thousand rippling voices. On he came, his shadow bending O'er bold Stickeen's rugged margin. And he frowned upon the wavelets As they danced beneath his glances. 248 ALASKANA. Throwinir back his