AMONG 
 
 4DIANS 
 
 OF
 
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 QA/t-' 
 
 
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 Among the Indians of Alaska.
 
 CHARLKS AND MAY RKPLOGLK.
 
 the Indians 
 of Alaska* 
 
 BY 
 CHARLES REPLOGLE. 
 
 With Eight Illustrations. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 HEADLEY BROTHERS, 
 14, BISHOPSGATE STREET WITHOUT, E.G. 
 
 1904. 
 
 ^
 
 HEADLET BROTHERS, 
 
 PRINTERS, 
 LONDON; ANDASHFOKD, KENT.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 DURING the recent visit of Charles Replogle and 
 his wife to this country, it was a pleasure to 
 us to have them make their home with us, when they 
 were not visiting in other parts, and we very much 
 enjoyed their genial company. During these times 
 we came to know a good deal of their work and 
 prospects in Alaska. 
 
 From the interesting accounts given, I encouraged 
 Charles Reptogle in a desire he had had on his 
 mind for some time, to write a book on their experi- 
 ences. 
 
 As they were spending the last Christmas holidays 
 with us we thought this might be accomplished 
 then ; and, with the aid of a stenographer, Charles 
 Replogle compiled this volume. 
 
 As will be seen in the perusal of these pages, he 
 has very much at heart the welfare of the Indians, 
 among whom he has been working ; and his great 
 desire is to help them through the development of the 
 
 lA
 
 vi. Introduction. 
 
 natural industrial resources of the country, to better 
 their condition. From his accounts he evidently 
 has great influence with the tribe, among whom he 
 has been working, and, although he has not made a 
 point of this in his book, he has been adopted into 
 the tribe, and chosen as their Chief. Consequently 
 he has absolute control of the Indians, as the Chief 
 has the making of their laws, and his decision as a 
 judge, in all cases when appealed to, is final. The 
 tribe " The Eagles " of which he has been chosen 
 Chief, numbers, I believe, about 2,000 ; and Charles 
 Replogle thinks that a very profitable business might 
 be carried on by the tribe, in starting a cannery for 
 the preserving of salmon, etc. His idea is, that a 
 small company should be formed, with sufficient 
 capital for exploiting this ; but from whom the 
 Indians could purchase shares in the undertaking, 
 as they were able by their industry to accumulate 
 funds for this purpose, and so redeem what money 
 might have been expended in it. In the meantime, 
 whatever money would be advanced by any, would 
 immediately the work could be started, bear a good 
 percentage of profit, until such time as it could be re- 
 deemed. The canning business has proved very 
 profitable to many concerns, not having the same 
 advantages as these Indians would have, and who 
 have to employ more expensive labour without 
 the same facilities.
 
 Introduction. vii. 
 
 Charles Replogle has obtained a grant from the 
 United States Goverment of a tract of land, with sea 
 frontage of six miles and depth of six miles, embrac- 
 ing one of the best hunting and fishing districts on 
 the coast, with several rivers and creeks abounding 
 in salmon. His idea is, that this tract of land should 
 be used for settlements for the exclusive use of his 
 tribe of Indians. 
 
 Whatever profits may arise from the sale of this 
 book he is intending to devote to the equipment of 
 the "Cannery," or other industrial arrangements 
 for them. 
 
 GEORGE S. BAKER. 
 
 " Frontenac," 
 
 Willesden, London, N.W. 
 
 May loth, 1904.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. How THE CALL CAME - i 
 
 II. FIRST IMPRESSIONS 10 
 
 III. FRIENDS' MISSION ON DOUGLAS 
 
 ISLAND - 19 
 
 IV. THE INDIANS AND THEIR CUSTOMS 25 
 V. MORE ABOUT INDIAN CUSTOMS- 40 
 
 VII. THE STORY OF JIM. INDIAN 
 
 FASHIONS - - 53 
 
 VIII. ABOUT SALMON FISHING AND CURING 66 
 IX. "THE HAPPY HUNTING GROUND," 
 
 EVIL SPIRITS, ETC. - 74 
 X. OUR MISSION HOME - 81 
 XI. TRAINING THE CHILDREN - 88 
 XII. FISHING EXPEDITIONS. THE MIS- 
 SIONARY AS A MAN OF ALL WORK 98 
 
 XIII. INDIAN HOSPITALITY - no 
 
 XIV. THE INDIANS AT MEETING 117 
 XV. GROWTH OF THE MISSION - - 133 
 
 XVI. THE WORK OF EDUCATION - 139 
 
 XVII. " DICK SMITH," A STUDY FROM LIFE 144 
 XVIII. THE STORY OF ANNA. ADVENTURE 
 
 WITH A CINNAMON BEAR - 159 
 
 XIX. REAPING TIME - - - 175
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHARLES AND MAY REPLOGLE - Frontispiece 
 DOUGLAS, WITH MISSION HOUSES IN FORE- 
 GROUND - 14 
 THE MISSION HOME AND OLD MEETING 
 
 HOUSE - 22 
 
 INDIAN IN NATIVE HOLIDAY DRESS 40 
 
 GROUP OF INDIAN CHILDREN AT MISSION HOME 81 
 
 CHRISTIAN INDIANS 116 
 
 GROUP OF INDIAN FRIENDS - - 158 
 
 NEW MEETING HOUSE ... 176
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HOW THE CALL CAME. 
 
 I WAS born in Wayne Co., Indiana, U.S.A. My 
 father and mother were not avowed Christians, 
 but were moral, honest people. Their ancestry on 
 both sides as far back as we can remember were Ger- 
 man Baptists or Dunkards. According to the faith 
 of their ancestors they were brought up after the 
 very straitest order, wearing the plain dress 
 something after the manner of Friends, broad- 
 brimmed hats, and coats without collars. These 
 German Baptists were very spiritually-minded 
 people, but closely bound to the outward forms and 
 ordinances. In order to be a good Dunkard, one 
 should be baptised in water three times under, 
 forwards ; no other way would do. One must 
 observe the " Feast of Charity " and take the 
 Communion. The " holy kiss " is put upon all. 
 The women wear, apart from plain bonnets, an 
 under cap made of thin, white material. These 
 restrictions seemed to have been in the way of my 
 parents ever uniting with the Dunkards, but it was 
 in such surroundings, we boys three of us in 
 number grew to manhood Our father taught us
 
 2 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 the best he knew, how to be honest, upright 
 citizens, but beyond being a citizen, it had not 
 entered into his mind to teach us ; and as time 
 passed by, we began to see that in order to be 
 good citizens, we must be citizens of the highest 
 order, and we could not be true to one country 
 and untrue to another, for a man who is not true to 
 one cannot be true to another ; therefore a man 
 cannot be true to man and not be true to God, and 
 it began to dawn upon me, at about sixteen years of 
 age, that there was something beyond, for which to 
 live. 
 
 Previous to this time, I had read infidel books of 
 all descriptions, and I was especially pleased with 
 Tom Paine's " Age of Reason." I thought that it 
 contained the germ of brotherhood. Later I found 
 that the real brotherhood rested in Jesus Christ. 
 Tom Paine philosophised ; Jesus Christ wrought ; 
 Tom Paine theorised. Jesus Christ came as a 
 living personality into men's lives. As this idea 
 opened up in my mind, all the dusky shadows of 
 the past vanished away, and as I began to look out 
 into the world to come, the boundaries of our own 
 country were too narrow ; all mankind became a 
 brotherhood, and to me a good thing was good to 
 all men alike. Thus the seed of an early desire for 
 Mission work came into my heart. 
 
 At twenty-one I married, but the zeal for souls 
 was burning like a flame within me. My wife, a 
 dear, earnest Christian woman, shared with me 
 my burning desire for the salvation of others. My ex- 
 periences were many from the time I first knew
 
 How the Call came. 3 
 
 Christ until I knew Him more abundantly. Many 
 a night, after the wife and babies were sound asleep, 
 I spent searching the Word of God in prayer, 
 because I realised in it "the power of God unto 
 salvation." Then a few hours' rest, and to the 
 day's work again. Thus year after year for five 
 years the windows of Heaven gradually opened 
 to me wider and wider. 
 
 Two little children had come to bless our home. 
 A little girl, now nearly four years old, and the 
 baby, just past a year. We were busily engaged in 
 work. Babies and wife always went to meeting. 
 We had a mile to walk to the Meeting- House, but 
 we never missed. It was the set rule of our life to 
 be " on time," and never did the meeting gather 
 when our places were found vacant, for sickness had 
 not troubled our family up to that time. 
 
 I feel that it would be well if I were to give some 
 little account of how the Lord called me out. I 
 was yet at school, when He spoke to me. My 
 heart answered to the call. It was during a meeting 
 held by a Campbellite preacher, Christians they 
 call themselves, but are better known to us as 
 Campbellites. Whilst sitting in meeting that 
 Saturday evening, the Word of God was logically 
 laid before us. I could not deny it ! I went home 
 fearfully disturbed ; desolation seemed to reign 
 supreme in my whole soul. I realised that without 
 God I was nothing, and in this realisation I sought 
 Him. I remember as well now as though it were 
 but yesterday, the little dark room, in which there 
 was no window, only just large enough for my bed
 
 4 Among tlie Indians of Alaska. 
 
 and myself, and I had to climb into bed and close 
 the door afterwards. There in utter desperation 
 I poured out my soul to God. There was no 
 relief, and finally, weary and tired, I opened my 
 mouth, and said, " Lord, I have done all I can do ; 
 if I am to be saved, Thou must do it ! " At that 
 moment it was done ! It may not be real, but I 
 saw it as though it were real. The whole room 
 seemed to be lighted up full of glory. A peace 
 came into my soul that I had never before under- 
 stood, and from that moment it has been ever 
 made plainer and plainer. Not that there have 
 been no dark periods, but always beyond there is 
 brighter glory. 
 
 Years after this, as I was sitting alone one even- 
 ing in our drawing room, with one child asleep in 
 my arms and the other in the cradle near by, I was 
 glancing over " The Christian Worker," the paper of 
 the Society of Friends in America at that time, and 
 I noticed a little account in the paper which stated 
 that there was a Matron wanted in the Mission 
 Home at Douglas Island, Alaska. It seemed to burn 
 into my soul like fire, but what was that to me ? 
 Had not I determined to go with God anywhere, 
 and had I not also felt that it was India where I 
 must go ? Why should this burn in my heart like 
 this ? Nevertheless it was there. I laid the paper 
 aside, and in prayer laid the matter before God. 
 The children were restless and disturbed me, every 
 now and then my -attention having to be given to 
 them, but all the while there was that thing burning 
 in my soul. It had been like a far-away dream
 
 How the Call came. 5 
 
 that some time, in some distant future, I might 
 perhaps be permitted by the grace of God to see 
 India, or it might possibly be the interior of Africa, 
 for I had a sort of consciousness that there were 
 many workers who were willing to go to easy 
 places, but to the hard places, the out-of-the-way 
 places, where men's lives were in danger, where no 
 one else would go, would be my field ! and there I 
 was willing to go ! And what could be harder than 
 the heart of India or darkest Africa? 
 
 These were some of the thoughts that were passing 
 through my mind at this time. They had been rooted 
 in me from the beginning as a sort of sacrifice, 
 unworthy it might be, yet it would be willingly 
 rendered to Him Who had given Himself for me. 
 I would be glad at any cost to yield up all I had, or 
 ever expected to be, for Him, and now there was 
 before me just a short note, a few words, a notice, 
 " We want a Matron. Our Mission is in need. 
 Correspond with the Secretary." 
 
 But what would that all mean to me ? My wife and 
 myself were both young, and what should we do with 
 our children ? The wife was not at home. We had 
 Church work at home to do. For several years we 
 had tried to preach the Gospel simply and earnestly, 
 as we knew how. We had seen much result from 
 our little service at our home, and now this seemed 
 to burn into that service, to consume it utterly. 
 What could we do ? We could not go to the 
 Mission Field, and besides that, had we not a 
 beautiful home ? Was it not our own ? Had we 
 not laboured and toiled for it ? Had we not spent
 
 6 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 sleepless nights to get it ? And had not the Lord 
 blessed it with these children, dear little blue-eyed 
 girls, with golden curls hanging down over their 
 shoulders ? Could we take them into a far-off 
 field amongst savages ? Would it be right to go 
 without them ? No ! God had given them to us ; 
 He meant us to have them. And now, why should 
 we be called ? Were there not many who had no 
 children, who had really no home ? Could they 
 not go ? W T hy must we give up our well-appointed 
 home, and take our little children at the risk of 
 their lives away to some distant land ? 
 
 And thus the night wore on ! Thoughts upon 
 thoughts piled themselves into my brain. Weary 
 with thinking, I tried to sleep, but sleep would not 
 come. The Almighty had thrust a dart into my 
 soul, and it would remain. There was no help for 
 it ! And oh, how I longed that He might call 
 someone else ! This was surely not the call for me 
 now ? This could not mean me ? For did not the 
 notice say a Matron, and I was not a matron. But 
 somehow He seemed to whisper to me, " It is you I 
 want ! " and in the perplexity and fogginess of my 
 vision, I resolved that I would sit down and write a 
 letter to the Secretary and tell him what I felt about 
 the matter, and ask him what was wanted, and for 
 more information in general. And so I wrote. In 
 three days an answer came to my letter. It stated 
 that the Secretaries had been changed, but our 
 letter had been forwarded on. Next day an answer 
 came from the then Secretary, asking us questions 
 and giving us further information, which we
 
 How the Call came. 7 
 
 considered and answered as best we could. In the 
 meantime, the Spirit of the Mighty God was at 
 work. My wife was anxious to go. She little 
 dreamed that she ever would be so, but now the 
 real time had come, and instead of darkest India, 
 or blackest Africa, it was the snow-capped peaks of 
 Alaska that held view before our eyes. 
 
 We became more anxious to know the ultimate 
 end of this matter. Our souls were burning within 
 us to do something for God. Has it not burned 
 also in the heart of every Christian, as God was 
 appointing him to his field of work, this same 
 longing for fallen humanity ? Just to tell the glad 
 tidings of good news, to tell the words that would 
 save men from sorrow, and from trial, and that would 
 give them peace and joy and everlasting glory ? 
 
 How beautiful it seemed to me in the years after 
 when I found how He had led me. As I sat on the 
 snow-clad shores of the islands of the sea in far- 
 away Alaska, I saw an illustration of what God had 
 done to me ! I saw an eagle as she soared round 
 and round, above tree tops, with her heart intent 
 upon the little nestlings in the nest. She had built 
 her nest on one of the topmost boughs of a high 
 spruce tree. There she had reared her young. 
 They were now almost full-fledged, and would soon 
 be ready to fly ; but they were eagles just the same. 
 Their mother would teach them to fly. As I sat 
 upon a large stone and watched, hours passed by, 
 while the lesson was being driven into my heart. 
 
 A young eaglet stood upon the rim of the nest. 
 His mother coaxed and apparently begged in order
 
 8 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 to get him out. He would not come. She would 
 stand by the side of him, and swoop suddenly down 
 from the nest. I can see her yet. But the eaglet 
 stayed in his place. Once or twice I saw him dip 
 his head, as though he were going to try, but no, 
 his courage failed him. Again came the mother 
 back to the nest, and again she plucked at him, but 
 no, he would not try. Fear was his conqueror. 
 And again she sailed high above, shrieking and 
 calling. He, though seeming wonderfully disturbed, 
 could not move from his perch. Suddenly I saw 
 her literally swoop down upon him and lift him up 
 by the back, and carry him out from the nest ; 
 away over the sea she took him, and there suddenly 
 let him go. Flapping his wings as best he could, 
 he circled round, sailed about ; then becoming 
 frightened, he 'turned over and over and over again, 
 and then gathering himself together, he sailed away on 
 a smooth, sweet wing ; but he then evidently lost his 
 head, and down, down, he came, head first, then 
 over on his back, and was all but in the water when 
 beneath him smoothly glided the parent bird. He 
 rested on her back ; away to the nest she flew ; 
 leaving him safely in his home, she sat down upon 
 a bough near by, and shrieked and screamed as 
 though she had performed a wonderful feat. She 
 then took another from the nest, and began teach- 
 ing him to fly. I watched her, and after a while, at 
 the second attempt, each was able to return to the 
 nest in safety unaided. 
 
 Thus had not God also taken us ? Was He not 
 now pleading with us, and shaking us out of our
 
 How the Call came. 9 
 
 feathery nest, declaring that He was able to keep us 
 at all times, and would watch over us in case we 
 fell ? and would He not keep our feet from stum- 
 bling, and bear us up in His Hand, and would He 
 not care for us to the end ? Thus it was, and we 
 have proved Him faithful. How well we know it ! 
 We are now far more ready to venture since we 
 have proved Him and found Him true.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 FIRST IMPRESSIONS. 
 
 THE long journey to Alaska was not without its 
 difficulties and dangers, and our faith was 
 sorely tried. We had not long started from our 
 home when our eldest little girl was taken ill with 
 diphtheria, and died within a few hours. Our 
 bereaved hearts longed to return to our friends and 
 relatives ; but the Lord's voice still said " Go for- 
 ward," and we could not but obey. 
 
 My dear wife, the baby and myself, all took the 
 complaint later on, but we felt compelled to hurry 
 forward, and the Lord graciously preserved our 
 lives, and provided us with friends and the neces- 
 saries to meet the emergencies of the case. At one 
 stage on our journey we were forced to stay longer 
 than we expected, and our funds gave out. We 
 knew not what to do, save to go to the Lord in 
 prayer. I felt constrained to take a walk, and 
 whilst thus engaged I was accosted by a gentleman, 
 an entire stranger, who, after conversing with me 
 for a while, said that the Lord had laid it upon his 
 heart that morning to go out to the wharf, and give 
 to a gentleman that he should meet there a ten 
 dollar note, he believed me to be that man.
 
 First Impressions. n 
 
 Upon my relating the circumstances of my case, 
 we both felt assured that it was the Lord's doing, 
 and praised Him for His wonderful guidance, and 
 providing care. 
 
 I shall never forget the beauty of the scenery 
 through which we passed, in the long narrow 
 channels of the Alaskan route. The way from 
 Seattle to Alaska is continuously skirted by small 
 islands, leaving the narrow channels of still water 
 between them. Through these we wended our way 
 slowly but surely northward. The great towering 
 mountains rising directly from the sea-shore, with 
 their ibillow-lashed bases and snow-capped peaks, 
 stood in bold relief against the blue sky. The 
 waters still as a river lay calmly between ; only the 
 ripple caused by the motion of a vessel marred the 
 face of the placid waters. You could stand on the 
 bow of the ship and see your own reflection in the 
 water beneath you. Everlasting green at the foot of 
 all the mountains only enhanced the picture, and 
 made it more grand, more glorious as you beheld 
 he varied colours from the blue sea to the white 
 above. 
 
 In and out through these passages, scaring 
 into flight the millions of ducks and various 
 water-fowl, chasing now and then the herd of 
 porpoise which played around the vessel, we glided 
 out into Queen Charlotte Sound. There, for the 
 first time, we saw the sun dipping his head into the 
 watery grave of the Pacific Ocean. We stood on 
 the deck as long as we could, but rolling waves are 
 not always compatible with one's feelings. Many
 
 12 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 of the passengers had already retired to their rooms. 
 We also felt constrained to go. The weather was 
 fair, and bright. Such lovely colouring, to be 
 deserted because of the rebellious sea. Four hours 
 and it is all over. Calm reigns again. No more 
 rough sea, and one bright morning we could see in 
 the distance the smoke crawling up from great chim- 
 neys. It was " The mines"; we had been looking 
 for them for days. They were not an unwelcome 
 sight to us though we had never seen them before. 
 This was the end of our journey, here was to be our 
 home and our work, for five years at least. We had 
 heard such dreadful stories of a fearful takou in 
 which the storms spend their fury ; we were near- 
 ing the place now, our fears were considerably 
 raised, as now and again they would tell us they did 
 not know how it would be, but we might find it all 
 right, or it might be rough. We dreamed of ship- 
 wrecks and a watery grave, of all kinds of horrors. 
 Now 7 the place was actually in sight. It was about 
 eight miles only from shore to shore, a place where 
 five ways met, big watery ways they were, and the 
 tides came in from all directions. They went out 
 in the same way as they came, often causing tide rips, 
 and in times of heavy wind they became very 
 dangerous. The Unseen had drawn back the 
 curtains of Heaven and the sun shone out brightly, 
 and we could see clearly in the distance the city for 
 which we were bound. We were now at the end of 
 Douglas Island, on which it stood. It is not very 
 large, but upon it stands towering far into the 
 heavens the central peak known as Jumbo ; its
 
 First Impressions. 13 
 
 rugged heights and snow-covered top make it look 
 like a hoary giant. The city lies just at its feet, 
 against the North side. The stone in that vicinity is 
 filled with the yellow metal that turns men's heads 
 and makes brute beasts out of that which once was 
 in the likeness of God. Here in great prosperity 
 stood the world-renowned mines, worked by the 
 Alaska Treadwell Gold Mining Company. It is not 
 an old plant, but exceeding large. It had begun 
 with a very small beginning, and was now worth 
 many millions. At one time the locator of these 
 mines sold them for twenty-five dollars. The rock 
 does not contain any great amount of gold, only 
 averaging about a dollar and eighty-five to ninety 
 cents a ton, which necessitates the handling of great 
 quantities of rock, requiring much machinery and 
 many men. Here are congregated about two 
 thousand whites and some six hundred Indians, all 
 for the purpose of working in the mines. 
 
 The country round about is very mountainous ; 
 the island lies just about one and a half miles from 
 the mainland, a narrow channel separating it at most 
 times ; for at one end of the island there is a bar of 
 sand which has been left by a receding glacier, and 
 when the tide is low this sand is dry and one can 
 walk to the mainland. In the neighbouring islands 
 there is much wild game, such as deer, bear, porcu- 
 pine, ground hogs, and grouse. Wild geese and 
 ducks frequent every bay and inlet on the coast. 
 As you stand on the shore at Douglas City and look 
 toward the mainland, the mountains tower high 
 above you, and the green on the side makes one feel
 
 14 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 as though some rising cloud was just about to 
 drench the earth in another flood ; but on lifting 
 the eyes higher, the clear blue sky is in evidence. 
 
 Of all countries on the face of the earth, this one 
 appears to be a paradise ; not in climate, but in 
 beauty and grandeur. The azure blue is pierced by 
 towering, snow-capped peaks ; ponderous glaciers 
 fill the hollows of the mountains. There, in rocky 
 canyons, where the dashing, tortured water tumbles 
 down, for hundreds of feet, you may catch the rain- 
 bow in the spray. There the water ousel stoops to 
 drink, and bathes itself in the rushing torrent ; the 
 alder raises its leafy bough and shoots forth buds 
 for the ptarmigans' food ; and there the clumsy 
 bear, in his sleepy solitude, rests undisturbed through 
 the long winter night. One can stand in the valley 
 and look for thousands of feet directly up the rocky 
 steeps. Almost sheer walls, with here and there a 
 little ledge protruding upon which a tree has obtained 
 ,a roothold, and stands against the ravages of time. 
 Fascinating indeed ! A land of midnight glory, 
 where the summer sun seems to vie with the aurora 
 of the cold winter nights. The forests full of wild- 
 ness, where the native once abode in undisturbed 
 heathenism. 
 
 As we entered the country, our hearts were full of 
 fears. We did not know how wild these untamed 
 men of the forests might be, and more than that, 
 we were led to believe that the whites who had gone 
 there to work the mines, were even worse than the 
 Indians. From the Indians we might not receive 
 injury, yet these miners might be our destruction.
 
 First Impressions. 15 
 
 Among them were said to be men who did not care 
 for law and had no respect for Christianity ; that it 
 would be very dangerous for anyone to enter in 
 among them. We went trembling and fearful. 
 Some very questionable things had happened in that 
 country. 
 
 Our first reception took away our fears, for we 
 were met at the steamer, and our trunks were 
 actually taken upon the trains belonging to the Min- 
 ing Company and placed almost at the entrance of 
 our home. I shall never forget the advice that was 
 given me on one occasion by a dear old friend of 
 ours who was the stay of our meeting at home, when 
 others were fearful and fretting because we were 
 going among these miners. He said in his wise 
 way, " Remember one thing, Friend Charles, if thou 
 wilt behave thyself as a man, thou wilt find the man 
 in others ! " I have not forgotten it, and in this far 
 off land it has proved true. 
 
 Our home in Alaska was at the town called 
 Douglas, which is on Douglas Island, about 900 
 miles north of Seattle, Washington. 
 
 Douglas Island is about twenty miles long, and 
 about eight miles wide. The mines lie about half- 
 way down the northern side. A sort of railway is 
 laid along the mountain near the shore, on 
 which they run small engines, hauling back and 
 forth such things as are needed by the works. The 
 mills are mostly propelled by water, though they 
 have engines to take the place of water when it is 
 scarce, or when the frost comes. To secure the 
 water necessary, they have made an aqueduct, some
 
 T 6 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 seventeen miles long, around the mountain far 
 up from the shore. They gather water from all along 
 the north side of this island, and from the aqueduct 
 to the mills there is a fall of six hundred feet, 
 which yields enormous power to propel the mighty 
 machinery that crushes the stone. 
 
 These mills are fed with the quartz quarried 
 out of the mountain side. The ledge of rock 
 is about four hundred feet deep, running 
 almost parallel with the coast line. The full 
 length of it has never been discovered. This 
 
 o 
 
 quartz is taken up out of the mines and broken by 
 heavy machinery, called crushers ; after that it is 
 taken and run through under large heavy steel 
 shafts, which weigh over a ton, and are lifted about 
 fourteen inches, and let fall upon the rock, crushing 
 it to powder. In this rock and all through it are 
 very fine particles of gold. It also carries many 
 sulphurets. These are caught upon rubber belts, 
 while the sand is washed away into the sea. This 
 sulphur in turn is roasted with fire and then is put 
 through a chemical process in which the gold is 
 dissolved and the rest likewise cast into the sea. 
 Anyone looking at this rock and not knowing what 
 real gold is, would naturally think it was full of gold, 
 it looks so like it. 
 
 I distinctly remember a story which illustrates the 
 proverb, "All is not gold that glitters." Alaska 
 being so very beautiful a country, many tourists are 
 found visiting its different places of interest through- 
 out the summer season. On one occasion which I 
 have in mind, the steamer Queen had come in from
 
 First Impressions. 17 
 
 Seattle with about 200 tourists, and the Treadwell 
 Mines were always one of the places visited by 
 them. Most of them had already gone to see the 
 Mines, when 1 noticed an elderly woman, who 
 was lingering behind the general crowd with a 
 young man who seemed to be a relation. There 
 were many pieces of this quartz scattered about, 
 some as large as a person's head, some smaller. 
 On this particular occasion there was one fine large 
 piece lying on the wharf. Perhaps it might have 
 weighed 25 Ibs. Although full of sulphurets, it was 
 a very beautiful looking specimen, and to an inexperi- 
 enced eye might be thought to be nearly all gold. 
 
 I was standing talking with some Indians, when I 
 noticed the woman get between me and that piece of 
 rock. She seemed to linger about it, and to be look- 
 ing it over. The young man also turned it over. 
 The woman wore a large shawl folded. She stooped 
 down and the shawl seemed to cover the rock. I 
 saw what she meant to do. She wanted that for 
 herself, but how to get it without being seen was the 
 question. She was in plain view of everybody. She 
 then came over and talked to the Indians awhile, 
 and then lingered around the rock again, until 
 finally the young man went off to the mines and 
 left her alone with her rock. I was determined 
 to see how it would end. I turned away for a 
 moment ; she seized the opportunity, and the rock 
 was gone ; I saw her going for the steamer. She 
 walked rather awkwardly, stooping somewhat, but I 
 could see from my position, as she went up the 
 gang-way that she had that rock rolled in her
 
 1 8 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 shawl. She took it and carefully tucked it away I 
 suppose, for she did not make her appearance again 
 until the steamer was gone. Had she asked for it 
 she would have been given as much as she liked of 
 the stone ; for within a reasonable guess she might 
 perhaps have succeeded in getting a half cent's 
 worth of gold out of the whole stone, if she got 
 every bit that was in it. No doubt in her fondest 
 dreams, she considered herself exceedingly wealthy. 
 But the worst of it all was, that she gave a very 
 bad impression to the natives who were also watch- 
 ing her movements ; and afterwards employed 
 somewhat the same method to obtain the object 
 of their desires, and they also felt that all white 
 people were like this one. But culture is not 
 honesty, for however nice one may appear at home, 
 and however honest he may be under law, it does 
 not prove he is not a thief. The real self is only 
 visible when all restraint is taken away. Really, a 
 man is no better than what he is at his weakest 
 moments.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 FRIENDS' MISSION ON DOUGLAS ISLAND. 
 
 AS before stated, among the people living in 
 Douglas, there are about 600 Indians. These 
 are not of any special tribe, but representatives of 
 all tribes from all parts of the country. They have 
 been drawn thither by work ; they have brought 
 their families with them, and for their benefit a 
 Mission has been established to educate their child- 
 ren, and to teach these poor dusky men of the 
 forest the way of eternal life. 
 
 Over this mission my wife and I were appointed, 
 she as matron and myself as superintendent. 
 The matron was to mother a house full of Indian 
 children (numbering twenty-six), who were to be 
 taught English and house-keeping, and every- 
 thing necessary to a well regulated family. The 
 superintendent was the preacher, the doctor, the 
 mechanic, and whatever else was required at the 
 Home. Originally it was simply a station for the 
 preaching of the gospel ; it was established in 1886 
 by a direct call of God to E. W. Wiesner, of Kansas 
 Yearly Meeting of Friends, and William Francis 
 Bangham, of Wilmington Yearly Meeting who 
 going to Alaska, decided upon this place as the one 
 
 19
 
 20 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 for their future work. It is true that in the General 
 Conference of Mission Boards, held in New York 
 after the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867, 
 the different denominations had been allotted certain 
 portions of Alaska, in which they were expected to 
 do their special work. This south-eastern portion 
 had been allotted to the Presbyterian Home Mission 
 Board. Friends had not been represented at this 
 conference. These friends in particular did not 
 know of this special allotment, they felt directly 
 called, and led of the Spirit to this place ; which 
 was not really occupied ; here they settled and 
 began a school. The beginning was slow ; but 
 gradually, the warmth of unconquerable love began 
 to be manifest. Their home was built of logs cut 
 from trees on the ground where the buildings were 
 erected; but these were soon consumed and not 
 even a tree left for fuel nearer than one-half to three- 
 quarters of a mile away. As the mission grew the 
 lumber for building the larger buildings had to be 
 carried upon men's backs for long distances ; this 
 being the only way it could be delivered. There were 
 so many orphan children that needed to be cared for, 
 fathers and mothers having died, leaving them in 
 destitution, suffering and filth. No one seemed to 
 care for them, and often they had to find their food 
 with the dogs of the village. The hearts of the 
 missionaries were stirred to their depths. There 
 must be room found in the Mission Home, for some 
 of them at least. Thus a home for children was 
 established, which soon grew to greater pro- 
 portions. Our dear friends, Wiesner and Bang-
 
 Friends' Mission on Douglas Island. 21 
 
 ham, soon gave up their work into the hands of 
 Silas and Anna Moon, though Elwood Wiesner 
 continued with them for some time after this. 
 Charles Edwards was sent in 1889, and for two years 
 was superintendent with Anna and Silas Moon. He 
 then took the Government school at Kaak village, 
 some no miles south, of which I shall have more 
 to say later on. After him, Dr. James E. Connett 
 was appointed as superintendent, and for two years 
 occupied this position immediately preceding our 
 appointment. 
 
 The mission had grown from a little log building, 
 loft, by 1 2ft., to the large two storied T shaped 
 building ; the main part being 2oft. by 4oft, the 
 other part i6ft. by 20 ft., in which the native 
 children lived. 
 
 The mission seemed to have been beset with 
 difficulties from the very beginning. It was no 
 sooner established than a prospector, an English- 
 man by birth, insisted that it was located upon his 
 mining claim, and for many years he menaced 
 the rising mission, but afterwards he became con- 
 verted and has now gone home to glory. The 
 townspeople stood by the missionaries and saved 
 them from being thrust off the ground ; and many 
 times and in many ways the miners have manifested 
 their sympathy in a substantial manner. 
 
 The mission, also, had internal difficulties. The 
 workers, otherwise true and honest at heart, could 
 not always see things alike ; which led to much fric- 
 tion and sometimes hard feelings. Troubled waters 
 are not apt to be conducive to smooth sailing.
 
 22 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 The natives, ever ready to take advantage, used 
 every opportunity to get all that they could out of 
 the mission. They seemed to have the idea that 
 the mission was for the purpose of giving them 
 everything that they wanted, that as the gospel 
 was free, so also was the money and everything 
 connected with the mission work ; their 
 children were to be educated free, which, of 
 course, they thought was splendid, and they them- 
 selves could come and board at the mission as much 
 as they liked ; frequently they would appear in time 
 for a six o'clock breakfast, and then in turn abuse 
 the missionaries with everything their tongue could 
 say. They had learned to expect everything and 
 return nothing. Their gratitude had not been 
 cultivated ; they did not in fact know what gratitude 
 meant ; they put their children in the Mission 
 Home until they could learn to speak English 
 for financial reasons, being relieved of the burden 
 of their support they could make better bargains for 
 their girls. It made the girls more marketable and 
 their boys more expert in cunning and craftiness. 
 
 It was not the fault of the missionary, that he 
 could not foresee all these things. Like many other 
 things, it was but an experiment, and we entered 
 into the work to make the best of it if possible. 
 
 The children were taken in for a term, of 
 some two, some four, some six years. At the 
 expiration of their term they were allowed to 
 return to their people. The hope of the missionary 
 was that during this time there might have been 
 implanted and instilled into these young hearts some
 
 Friends' Mission on Douglas Island. 23 
 
 of the everlasting truths of the gospel. The fondest 
 hope that had been realised so far, was that some 
 day this seed, thus planted, would bear fruit in the 
 salvation of their souls. 
 
 Thus we found it. As we entered into the Home 
 we were greeted with the smiling brown faces of the 
 little Indian children, ranging from five to four- 
 teen years of age. They were governed on the old 
 plan of strap and ferule, which was thought to be 
 required on the least provocation. On our first day 
 at the Mission Home, the biggest girl in the mission 
 who was fourteen years old, was whipped with a 
 strap, carried in the pocket of one of the officers of 
 the Mission for that purpose. 
 
 All the doors were under lock and key ; the 
 superintendent and matron each had a bunch 
 of keys at their belt or in their pocket ; the for- 
 bidden places were all locked. This made the 
 children crafty and deceitful, but submissive. I 
 found them very kind to one another, very true to 
 each other, for if one was in mischief all the children 
 knew it, and yet you would not find it out. Every 
 Indian child deemed it his honour to keep the secrets 
 of the rest, and try how you would, you could not 
 get one to tell on another. 
 
 We studied the question considerably. It was a 
 hard problem. What should we do ? Our duty 
 was to take these children and train them for 
 God ; to bring them up so that they would be 
 honest, straightforward citizens, true to God and 
 true to humanity, but what could we do with 
 this sneaking, thievish set of children that we
 
 24 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 had before us ? We had not only the children to 
 deal with but the parents as well. We must also 
 provide food and clothing, and in addition provide 
 fuel, which was a very great need in that country. 
 The only fuel that we had was the soft pine wood 
 trees of the forest, growing on the mountain sides. 
 This had to be cut, and carried on our backs for 
 long distances in summer ; but in winter we could 
 make a trail in the snow, and by driving an iron 
 pin into one end of the log and fastening a rope to 
 this, passing the other end of the rope over our 
 shoulders, so as to pull with all the strength we had, 
 we were enabled to drag the peeled logs down the 
 mountain side. It is surprising what a beast of 
 burden a man can be if only he has the proper 
 training.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE INDIANS AND THEIR CUSTOMS. 
 
 OUR work lay very plainly before us. We could 
 not neglect the white people, although our 
 primary object was with the Indian. 
 
 Scattered all about throughout the country are little 
 groups of miners working away at some new prospect. 
 They needed to be visited ; the Word of Everlasting 
 Life must be given to them also. They were a people 
 of our own race and colour ; many of them had come 
 from the same country. There were men gathered 
 here from every country under the sun. Many of 
 them could speak our language only brokenly, still 
 they needed the Gospel ; and to reach these often 
 required the crossing of long stretches of rough 
 sea, and a steep, hard climb through the mountains. 
 On one occasion in particular, we went about five 
 miles across the water to a camp on the mainland, 
 to a group of mines known as the " Glacier Mines." 
 Located about 2,000 feet above the beautiful valley 
 of Sheep Creek Basin, where the only way to reach 
 them Was a sheer climb up the mountain side, by a 
 zigzag mountain pathway, over which the avalanches 
 tumble in their wild rush for the valley beneath. Up 
 this difficult path, had been carried, on men's backs, 
 the lumber and timbers for the mines ; enough
 
 26 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 wood also to build a boarding house for the miners, 
 in which they lived : up this same way came all the 
 iron and steel used in mining ; even the wheel 
 barrows, were all carried up this smooth, worn path. 
 
 It was comparatively easy to ascend with no load. 
 Our party consisted of my wife, myself, and a few 
 friends. After two hours of hard climbing we 
 reached the top. We had some service with the 
 miners, and left them some books. Our party was 
 very tired, it had been a long, hard climb. The 
 people at the boarding house gave us a good meal, 
 and after an hour and a half we started down again. 
 
 I really believe it is easier to climb up hill than to 
 go down, it seems to try every muscle to its utmost 
 to keep from going too fast. And this trip we shall 
 ever remember ; before this we had scarcely known 
 sickness, but from that time, the dear faithful 
 wife has not known what it is to be really 
 strong. 
 
 We were crossing one of the numerous rock 
 slides, over which our path led, when, my wife, plac- 
 ing her shoe heel into the loose stones to check 
 herself, the stones gave way, and she, losing her 
 balance, fell down. This loosened a great avalanche 
 of stones which carried her before it on and on 
 toward the precipice just beneath. I ran across the 
 slide to try to save her but was too late, and closed my 
 eyes expecting the worst, only daring to lift up a 
 feeble prayer, when to my surprise, not six feet 
 from the edge of the chasm, she succeeded in 
 stopping herself, while tons of loose stones rolled 
 over into the chasm below. *
 
 The Indians and their Customs. 27 
 
 Like dangers face the miner every day, and 
 many lose their lives in such places. And again 
 they must blast away the rocks with dynamite or 
 giant powder, which is used in sticks, and comes 
 frozen ; before they can use it they must thaw it. 
 They usually carry it some distance away to thaw 
 it out, then carry it back thawed and ready for 
 use. 
 
 At the Treadwell Mine, about a mile from our 
 home, they had such a thawing place far up on the 
 hillside above everything else. It had something 
 like a ton of giant powder in it ; there was but one 
 man about the place ; at that time one man thawed 
 powder through the day, and one man through the 
 night. 
 
 When they were ready to use the powder in 
 the mine, they sent a man up to the house after it. 
 It so happened that about two o'clock one night, the 
 man had gone for powder, and had returned but 
 twenty minutes when it seemed that the whole island 
 shook. People who were in their beds were almost 
 turned out. Bottles and canned fruit upon the 
 shelves of the stores a mile away were thrown in one 
 mass on to the floor. Windows fell out, broken into 
 thousands of pieces. A terrific roar told the tale. 
 Mountains echoed back from one to the other, as if 
 they said, " I told you so ! " The windows in the city 
 three miles across the water were broken out, so 
 terrific was the explosion. How it happened no one 
 knows, or ever will know. A great hole in the rocks 
 indicated the place where the powder house stood. 
 The logs of which the house was built were nothing
 
 28 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 but fuzz hanging on the limbs of distant trees ; and 
 of the man, after two days search, there was not 
 enough found to fill a common baking powder box ! 
 
 The miners are not protected as they should be. 
 There is no mine inspector. There is no one to 
 say what the company shall do for these men. 
 Therefore they work constantly seven days in the 
 week, there being only two Sundays observed here 
 during the year, one the 4th July and the other 
 Christmas. The mines are working seven days in 
 the week, night and day, constantly. 
 
 Neither are men protected from the accursed 
 drink traffic. There was a law prohibiting the sale 
 of any intoxicating liquor, but it was not observed, 
 for there were open saloons everywhere. 
 
 The keeper of these saloons was taken up about 
 once a year as a usual thing, and fined 100 dollars, 
 and then went back to his business again. He 
 usually pleaded guilty and paid his fine without 
 trial. But it was a difficult matter to get his liquor 
 to sell, for there were Customs officers at every town. 
 No whiskey could be unloaded without great 
 possibility of being captured, therefore smuggling 
 became a business of itself. Many went over into 
 British Columbia, and bought the liquor, smuggled 
 it through in small boats, through the various 
 channels among the small islands, evading the 
 Customs officers and finally getting it to its destin- 
 ation by night. This required great exposure and 
 often danger to life. It was taken at great risks, and 
 some became desperate, until they were dangerous 
 to anyone that would interfere with their traffic.
 
 The Indians and their Customs. 29 
 
 After a while the Government was persuaded to 
 repeal the prohibition laws, and instead, give us a 
 law of high licence, which in an ordinary town, 
 required the saloon keeper to pay a thousand dollars 
 a year for the privilege of damning men's souls. 
 This was thought to be better, for there were not so 
 many law breakers. The saloon keeper became 
 a respectable citizen ; before, he could not hold 
 a public office. Now he became one of the first 
 men of the town. We saw more drunkenness the 
 first day after the high licence system was inaug- 
 urated than had been seen in the five years previous 
 to this in Alaska. Men now paid dearly to make a 
 drunkard and they must make so many more, in 
 order to get their money back. The sign of their 
 business was to be seen in every street. Walking 
 samples, all about the place, that should have 
 been men and women, for almost every one of these 
 places not only sold liquor, but imported that 
 worse thing, degraded womanhood, and these like 
 leeches sucked the blood and hard-earned cash of 
 the weary toiler. 
 
 There were ample laws to meet these cases, but 
 not sufficient public opinion to enforce them. 
 
 There was another condition which needs men- 
 tion, viz.: the laws concerning the Indians. The 
 Indian had no rights as a citizen, for was he not a 
 vassal of the Government ? He had been purchased 
 from Russia with the rest of the country, and now 
 he was but a native and not a citizen, and in that 
 case any improvement or any mining location for 
 him could not be maintained in court. It was some
 
 30 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 years before this was remedied, but now it can be 
 thankfully said to be better. It sometimes happened 
 that a mining claim would be located for no other 
 purpose than to hold the surface rights on which to 
 build a town. If the Indians occupied the land, 
 their rights were ignored and the company would 
 claim all the rights to the surface grounds ; have a 
 patent issued, declaring the ground unoccupied, and 
 then maliciously force the Indians to pay rent or 
 tear down their poor cabins and move elsewhere. 
 This so happened in our very town. We will not 
 discuss the rights or the details of the case, but it is 
 sufficient to say that the company respects but 
 little the rights of the Indians ; although the courts 
 generally regard equality and justice, when the 
 Indian has sufficient money to go to law. We had 
 fair-minded judges ; and on the whole we had very 
 fair men, from most of whom the native received a 
 coarse justice. 
 
 The origin of the native is shrouded in the misty 
 veil of the traditions of their past. There is much 
 reason to believe they originally came from the 
 Continent of Asia. They have a well defined story 
 of the Flood ; they can tell you, each tribe can 
 point out the place, the high mountain on which 
 the remnant of the tribe was saved at the time the 
 world was overflowed with water, and they have a 
 very vivid characteristic story in which they tell how 
 the last man and his family was driven to the top 
 of the highest peak, and there escaped the water, 
 and afterwards were unable to get down until 
 they should make a rope twisted of grass, and
 
 The Indians and their Customs. 31 
 
 bot by foot lengthen it till they could finally 
 ch the shore beneath. Some of their words 
 are corruptions of the old Hebrew language. 
 They have a story of the Tower of Babel, changed 
 somewhat from the Bible story, but yet recognisable. 
 One would readily see the likeness between the two. 
 Also a story of the beginning of the world, but in it 
 we could scarcely recognise any of the history 
 according to Scripture. There is another peculiarity 
 about these Klingit Indians, there being just 
 twelve tribes of them speaking the same language. 
 They are distinctly different from any others. They 
 have the eyes of a Japanese or very much the same, 
 the colour of their skin also resembles the Jap. 
 They are a low, rather strongly built people, the 
 men in particular ; perhaps averaging five feet six 
 inches. They might be taller but for their bow legs. 
 Their constant travelling in canoes has caused this. 
 Their women are spare, until they reach the age of 
 perhaps thirty-five, when generally speaking, as they 
 grow older, they grow heavier ; until some of them 
 will weigh as much as 350 Ibs. Their language 
 is not written, neither do they have characters to 
 represent it, and in order to learn it, one must get 
 it only by ear. It seems to be a mixture of many 
 languages : it is very guttural. With our alphabet 
 many of the words cannot be spelt. There have 
 been several attempts made to reduce it to writing, 
 but it would hardly be worth while, as there are not 
 more than about 3,000 of this tribe at present, and 
 the Government has established schools among 
 them in which English is taught.
 
 22 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 As a people, they have their own laws and regula- 
 tions : nothing is written : everything is handed 
 down from father to son. It is the duty of the old 
 men of the tribe to sit down and repeat to the 
 young men the history and the laws by which they 
 are governed. 
 
 They have in the midst of them a headman or 
 chief. Also a miserable thievish individual known 
 as an Indian doctor. This man is thought to be 
 in league with the evil spirits, and has control over 
 them, and can discern witches and disease. He 
 very often exercises more authority in the tribe 
 than the chief, though he is looked upon with 
 dread, and no one particularly loves him ; and in 
 turn they all fear him, for who knows that he 
 will not say a man has been bewitched by you ? He 
 is constantly kept at bay with fees and sacrifices. 
 He has nothing to do or say in the administration 
 of the law, he deals in Spirits. In case of a murder, it 
 is " an eye for an eye," and " a tooth for a tooth," 
 but "the eye for an eye'' is rather peculiarly en- 
 forced. If an old man and a young man should 
 get into a quarrel, and the old man should kill 
 the young man (they being of different tribes) 
 instead of the opposite tribe taking and killing the 
 old man in return, they will choose a relative of this 
 old man about the age of the young man that he 
 killed, of the same standing, physically and socially, 
 and take his life instead of that of the old man. 
 
 A man, having taken his two wives (for they are 
 polygamists), and gone out hunting, manufactured a 
 sort of intoxicating liquor, they call it Hoochinoo,
 
 The Indians and their Customs. 33 
 
 and drank sufficient to make him utterly insane (for 
 Indians get as crazy as white men when they get 
 too much whiskey). In this drunken spree the 
 man murdered both his wives ; coming into the 
 village he gave himself up to the authorities and was 
 put in jail. He belonged to one tribe, his wives to 
 another. The tribe to which his wives belonged 
 demanded that he should be given up. His own 
 people tried to deliver him up, but could not, he 
 being in jail. Then the opposite tribe chose two 
 women, high in authority, from his tribe, and 
 demanded their lives in return for those killed. 
 These were refused, on the ground that they were 
 willing the man should die for his own sin ; but 
 neither tribe could get at him. This led to long 
 disputings, and finally to manifestation of war. They 
 all had practically become Christianised, but like 
 many of the Christians among our white brethren, 
 they had not learned that it was wrong to fight ; many 
 of them deemed it honourable to go to war, and 
 now they thirsted for revenge. Though it was 
 against the law to sell them rifles, yet each Indian 
 carried a Winchester and was anxiously waiting 
 for the fray. Their passions were rising con- 
 tinually : they were taunting one another. One was 
 demanding the prisoner or two women in his stead ; 
 the others refusing the women and telling them to 
 go and get the prisoner ; this they could not do. 
 The one side was full of threatenings, the other was 
 declaring its purpose to stand it out. They drew 
 up in line of battle. The head man of each village 
 was present on his own side : now and again there
 
 
 34 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 were exchange of rifle shots over each others' heads, 
 rather as a temptation to draw the other on to be 
 the first aggressor ; this continued all the after- 
 noon. 
 
 We went to see them and tried to persuade them 
 
 that it was not Christianlike, neither was it right for 
 
 them to be acting like this. They were angrily 
 
 walking to and fro, like infuriated beasts. Scarcely 
 
 any words were being said between them. Shots 
 
 were becoming more frequent. The balls were 
 
 whistling a little closer to our heads. It was 
 
 evident some one a little more careless than the 
 
 others or, perhaps, a little less conscious of the 
 
 results, would shoot too low, and thus precipitate a 
 
 general bloody fray. As oftentimes you see two 
 
 young men, one daring the other to strike the first 
 
 blow, so these likewise were apparently daring each 
 
 other to be the aggressor. We walked to and fro 
 
 between them, their ranks being some yards apart. 
 
 There was an angry scowl over their faces : a 
 
 missionary had tried to quell them before, but they 
 
 would not hear him. They said white people had 
 
 counted it honourable to fight with Spain to cause 
 
 her to stop her murders in Cuba, and now they had 
 
 a right to fight on the same principle. As we 
 
 walked from one end of the lines to the other, the 
 
 whizz of the rifle balls came very near our heads. 
 
 Still on and on we went, talking when we could and 
 
 telling them of the peace on earth and goodwill to 
 
 men ; how that as Christians they should not do 
 
 these things. 
 
 At first they only became more angry, and threat-
 
 The Indians and their Customs. 35 
 
 ened to shoot us if we still persisted in talking to 
 them. But we could not feel it right to go. We 
 thought it best that if the worst must come, we had 
 better go down with them. At the end of two of the 
 longest and most trying hours one of the chiefs stepped 
 forward, declaring himself to be a Christian and in 
 favour of peace. He threw down his gun with such 
 force that it broke the stock. Immediately, the 
 chief from the opposite side stepped forward and 
 piled his gun on the top. They shook hands and 
 each chief in turn made a long speech to his people, 
 telling them that they were Christians, that it was 
 wrong to fight, and that they could believe this 
 man who had been talking to them for two hours, 
 for he had always said that it was wrong to go to 
 war, but they could not believe those who told 
 them before that war was honourable. They 
 did not care for that kind of religion. They wanted 
 that which taught them to love their brethren, and as 
 they talked, the stack of arms grew higher, until there 
 were fifty rifles piled up between the two ranks. As 
 night stole on there was, instead of war, a blaz- 
 ing fire and a kettle over it full of soup for 
 *a general feast ; shaking of hands and goodwill. 
 The prisoner was left for the law to take its course. 
 When the wife dies the husband retains all her 
 possessions except the children. It is their law that 
 in case the husband dies, everything the widow has 
 left, is taken from her by her husband's brothers, 
 and the children are left for her to support, alone 
 and empty handed. There are cases where they 
 have taken the last dress the woman had, leaving her
 
 36 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 none to wear, she only having a blanket to wrap 
 herself in, and perhaps a large family of children : 
 being thus left in destitution and poverty, with no 
 means by which she can support so large a family. 
 It becomes the duty, according to their law, for the 
 husband's brother to marry the widow. In cases 
 where all of the brothers are already married, and do 
 not want such large families, this widow is left to 
 support her family alone ; how can she do it ? 
 There is no way by which she can make a living for 
 them. She tries fishing, and washing, and basket- 
 making, which are all very meagre in their returns, 
 and then as a last resource sells her integrity for the 
 sake of enough to fill the mouths of her children, 
 and having once gone down, she does not care. 
 
 While there are twelve tribes, there are only two 
 families, known as the ravens and eagles. It is 
 supposed that these ravens are the offspring of the 
 Creator of the earth, and that the eagles have con- 
 quered the earth. According to their history the 
 raven created the world ; this raven (or yilk as they 
 call him) also represents the evil spirit. Although 
 they believe there is a good spirit, yet the evil spirit 
 is in supreme power to-day. The father must be 
 either a raven and the mother an eagle, or vice versa; 
 all eagles are brothers and sisters, all ravens are 
 brothers and sisters ; therefore an eagle must marry 
 a raven and a raven an eagle. If the mother be a 
 raven, the children are ravens : if she be an eagle, 
 the children are eagles. They have long stories of 
 the history and progress of the world's kingdoms 
 even until now. These are in the form of traditions
 
 The Indians and their Customs. 37 
 
 told and repeated to each other in the evenings of 
 their feasts and of their common gatherings. 
 
 Their history is very well kept. Their "totem 
 poles " are simply historical records set up in front 
 of their dwellings to record the principal events of 
 that particular household. It has been said that 
 they worship these, because upon them are carved 
 the figures of bears and wolves and fish, and other 
 characters representative of their tribes, and at the 
 bottom of these poles they put the ashes of their 
 dead, after the body has been burnt. This pole is 
 made from the tree of the forest, cunningly carved, 
 characteristic of the native of the country. 
 
 To those who have said that the Indian worships 
 these things, we might in turn say, that the white 
 man also has his totem pole. As we ride along 
 through the country, and come to a nice little hill- 
 side green, dotted all over with tall, white, polished 
 marble stones : we call them tombstones. The 
 Indian in travelling through this country, would in 
 turn declare that we worship these things. Others 
 have said these Indians are ancestor worshippers. 
 He likewise would retort aye, yes, same as you. 
 They have an aptitude of being real in their life, 
 and expect as much of you. If you profess to 
 believe the Bible, they expect you to live like it, 
 and do what it commands. For several years 
 we had believed that the Scripture meant exactly 
 what it said, especially when it said : " He that 
 asketh of thee, turn him not away again empty.'' 
 Having literally adopted it as our rule and custom, it 
 was now to be put to the test. On walking into a
 
 38 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 store one day, I wore a coat which had some very 
 pretty buttons on it. There were a number of 
 Indians in the store. One of them came up to me 
 and was talking away in his own language. I could 
 not understand him, for I had only been there a 
 short time. After the Indian had talked and smiled 
 and pointed to the button on my coat, and looked 
 me in the face, and smiled and smiled again, the 
 storekeeper said : 
 
 " Do you know what he wants ? " 
 
 I said " No, I don't understand it." 
 
 He said " He wants that button on your coat : 
 he wants you to give it to him." 
 
 " Oh," said I, " is that what he wants ? " 
 
 "Yes, he's been trying to make you under- 
 stand that he wants that button : he thinks it is 
 a very pretty one." 
 
 I said, " He shall have it," and quietly reached 
 in my pocket, took out my knife, cut the button off 
 and handed it to the Indian. He smiled and bowed 
 and shook hands, and seemed so very thankful. I 
 could not imagine what he wanted with the button, 
 but it was not my business to inquire. He had 
 asked, and according to the Word of the Lord I 
 must give to him. 
 
 The storekeeper protested. "Why," he said, 
 "man, you will give everything you have away. 
 What did you give him the button for ? These 
 men are the greatest beggars you ever saw." 
 
 I told him of my faith in the Scripture. He thought 
 it was rather astonishing that anyone should think 
 as I did, but as time went on, that button became
 
 The Indians and their Customs. 39 
 
 the key to the Indian's soul. He said to me after- 
 ward that he had never met a man that would do 
 that way, and if that was Christianity, he wanted 
 it, and he became a powerful minister for Christ, 
 influenced many of his brethren for good, and I 
 have no doubt but that it all started from the time 
 when he asked for the button and received it. Had 
 I refused it, I doubt not he would have put me down 
 with the rest, covetous and not a Christian. 
 
 It also led to our being adopted into the tribe and 
 giving us much more control over the affairs of the 
 people. I was made an Eagle, and to be an Indian 
 I was given an Indian mother who is now nearing 
 the end of a century of life. She always calls me 
 her son. When she accepted the position as my 
 mother, she thought it would be necessary for her to 
 learn to read and write. So she became very faithful 
 at the day school struggling with her A.B.C. The 
 last time I saw her she said, " My son, I shall never 
 see you again on earth, but I shall meet you in 
 heaven ; " then added, " Now you must be a good 
 boy wherever you go, and the Lord will bless you." 
 
 They named me Dah-is-kah, and my wife Wak-is- 
 teen, and our little boy Dis-ke-a-kah.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 MORE ABOUT INDIAN CUSTOMS. 
 
 AS far back as the oldest story dates, the 
 Alaska native lived and died in his skin or 
 bark-covered hut, and dressed himself in the 
 skins of the animal he killed for his food. 
 But when the Hudson Bay Fur Trading Com- 
 pany pushed its way into the far North-West, 
 the English " King George " became the prevailing 
 dress suit. This gradually replaced the skin dress, 
 and skins were exchanged for blankets ; besides, 
 furs became more valuable, in fact too valuable for 
 an Indian to wear. Then being deprived of fur he 
 built his house of logs, and chinked it with moss ; his 
 outing tent was made of the bark of trees, and of 
 boughs cut from the spruce ; this was finally replaced 
 by the regular canvas tent, and the blanket gave way 
 to the ordinary clothing of a citizen of America. 
 
 These Indians are a people of very affectionate 
 nature, but most pathetically whimsical. A betrothal 
 among them is very strange. A young man, per- 
 haps passing along the way, sees a girl or a young 
 woman, and falls in love with her. He does not 
 consider the young woman as much as he does 
 her parents. If she has good parents, and wealthy, 
 he thinks the more of her, and he proceeds imme-
 
 ALASKA INDIAN IN DANCING COSTUME.
 
 More about Indian Customs. 41 
 
 diately to woo her ; but she is usually very shy. 
 They never shake hands when they meet, not even 
 father and son, even when they have been absent 
 for years. But when they come together, they sim- 
 ply sit down and look at each other, or at the 
 ground, for a long time ; then finally, the silence is 
 broken and language flows freely, and others join. 
 So in courtship, the young man does not speak to 
 the young lady. He passes her by. He looks her 
 way, but she does not see him. He goes a little 
 way and returns. This time he passes a little closer 
 to her, but she still does not -see him; he looks 
 and hesitates, and passes on. It may be in a few 
 days he passes her again : she is expecting him 
 now. She sits out at this same place, but she does 
 not look up when he comes, and so he passes by ; 
 but when he is gone, if he will look behind him, he 
 will see her eyes following him closely. She under- 
 stands what is coming, and as he passes her again 
 he speaks to her, but she does not look up. He 
 goes to her mother, and he tells her that he loves 
 that girl, and he proves his love to the mother by 
 giving her a present : it may be some beautiful 
 coloured handkerchief, or it may be a little piece of 
 tobacco, or it may be a seal's tooth, or almost any- 
 thing that Indians would value. In a few weeks 
 the courtship becomes so animated that the mother 
 gets beautiful dresses, and the girl begins to get 
 little trinkets, while the father falls in for his share, 
 and by the time the man has made all arrangements 
 to secure his bride, it has cost him from 50 to 
 300 dollars, according to his ability to pay ;
 
 42 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 and the cupidity of the parents. But in some cases, 
 the girl is not willing ; she may be only ten or 
 twelve years of age, her suitor may be fifty or sixty- 
 five. She does not want him. He has a wife, but 
 she is too old to cook for him any more. She can- 
 not take care of him as he likes : he wants a young 
 wife ; he wants a girl to wait upon him, but the girl 
 resents it : her heart has been looking to some 
 young man but the old man is wealthy ; he may 
 be a sub-chief, or in some official position. 
 
 Here is a story from life. The little girl's name was 
 Mary the old man was about sixty-five. He wanted 
 a young woman. Mary's father was a good Chris- 
 tian man, and her mother was an earnest woman. 
 The old man thought Mary would be obedient : he 
 did not reckon upon the strength of her character. 
 He did not know that it took good material to 
 make a good man and a good woman among 
 Indians. It took good material to keep them from 
 yielding to the sins of their people. This girl was 
 made of the same material as her parents. Still the 
 truest are sometimes overpowered. 
 
 The old man came and made his application to 
 the parents for the girl. Mary knew nothing about 
 it. The parents refused in utter disdain : but the 
 Indians are crafty ; so the old man went away as 
 though it was a joke. The next day he returned : 
 he had a beautiful present for Mary's mother, and 
 he gave Mary's father a dollar in silver, and they 
 said, " No, look here, you need not think you are 
 going to get Mary by all these presents. We know 
 what you are after."
 
 More about Indian Customs. 43 
 
 " Oh," the old man said, " I don't want Mary ; 
 that is all right, of course, if you don't want me to 
 have her." So he went away smiling, and as 
 pleasant as could be. 
 
 It was three days before they saw him again, and 
 this time he had a gold bracelet for Mary's 
 mother (such things are worth forty dollars), and he 
 came in and said, " Now, I just want to make you 
 a present of this" ; and Mary's mother did not 
 like to take it, but he insisted upon it as a kindness 
 to him, until she accepted it just as a present from 
 him, and he said, " You know I love you all 
 because you are faithful and earnest, and because 
 you would not sell your daughter ; and I do this 
 just because I want to be a true Christian like you 
 are." Upon these terms the bracelet was accepted, 
 and the old man went away. 
 
 Two weeks had nearly passed when he returned 
 again. This time he brought with him a beautiful 
 black bearskin. It was nicely tanned : it would be 
 worth something like 25 dollars. This was a 
 present again for the mother. It is interesting to 
 listen to the conversation now. 
 
 He said, " I thought I'd run over to-day and bring 
 this to you. I oftentimes think of you and wish I 
 could be as you are. I desire to be good very much : 
 I want you to teach me how to be good." The 
 father and mother were completely thrown off their 
 guard ; for hours they sat and talked to him about 
 how to be a Christian, to his entire satisfaction. In 
 the meantime Mary sat back in a corner trembling, 
 for something somewhere within her, seemed to tell
 
 44 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 her what it all meant. He finally took his depart- 
 ure, declaring he would try to be a Christian. 
 
 When he was gone the father and mother sat 
 long together, and they talked it all over and over 
 again. The father said, " He seems to be such a 
 nice man " ; the mother said, he is exceedingly kind," 
 and so the conversation went until he was declared 
 to be the ideal of their minds. Some of their 
 neighbours came in. They told of the wonderful 
 goodness of this sub-Chief. They failed to men- 
 tion the presents, but they told how kind he was. 
 
 The next day they met him again. He told them 
 how he had struggled to be a Christian all that 
 night : he -believed he was all right now, and that 
 he hoped sometime if they considered him good 
 enough that he might have Mary. Their fears 
 had all been overcome. They were now ready to 
 listen, and he pleaded his case. They could see no 
 objections to it. He urged his suit with the father 
 and mother by a further present of ten dollars. 
 He had sold some bearskins lately, and had obtained 
 some money. The faint shadows of objections 
 which had lingered in their minds, now took their 
 everlasting flight. It would be quite a nice thing, 
 only he must wait for Mary ; she was too young 
 yet. 
 
 Of course he agreed ; and now presents began to 
 come for Mary little things first, but she flung 
 them in the corner : she'd have nothing to do with 
 such bargaining ; she knew that it meant the life 
 of a slave as the wife of this old man ; beside 
 that, it was taking from her heart the ideal of her
 
 More about Indian Customs. 45 
 
 life, in the form of a certain young man. The old 
 man frequently appeared at the home : the parents 
 talked one with another and with their relatives ; 
 they were all of one mind about it finally they 
 approached Mary about it. She fairly stamped at 
 the idea : she would not think of it. They 
 brought their relatives all in. Mary must be 
 taught to understand her position, and they all sat 
 down and with one voice began to recount the 
 wonderful deeds, the charity, the love of this old 
 man, how he cared for them, and how he cared 
 "for Mary. The relatives all chimed in, each with 
 his eulogy of the old man's character. Mary must 
 listen to it all. They hoped to overcome her 
 prejudices, but Mary was firm. Finally seeing 
 that they could not prevail in this way, her father and 
 mother set her by the fire, and told her that she 
 did not love them ; if she did, she would marry 
 that old man that they might not have to work any 
 more ; for her husband would then keep them, and 
 that because she did not love her parents she 
 refused. 
 
 Still Mary was firm ; finally they stamped their 
 feet and said, " Mary must do it." 
 
 While they thus pleaded and scolded betimes, the 
 long winter nights had come. Snow was two feet 
 deep on the ground, when who should appear but 
 the old man ; and now he joined in to plead with 
 Mary, but she, thrusting her fingers in her ears, in 
 utter desperation rushed from the house. Like the 
 wild roe she ran to the woods, far up the mountain 
 side ; her parents thought she would soon come
 
 46 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 back, but morning came and Mary had not returned. 
 Finally, after a search of three days, her lifeless body 
 was found lying by a stone. Rather than sacrifice 
 her rights, her virtue and her religion, she would 
 meet death, and bravely she did so. 
 
 This story is only one of many, which may not 
 end quite in the same way perhaps, as more often the 
 girl is over-persuaded, and finally marries the man 
 only to quarrel and leave him again. 
 
 Furthermore, the mother at any time that she 
 desires, especially if the husband does not give her 
 presents enough, can take her daughter away from her 
 husband and compel her to go home with her until 
 her husband pays the required amount ; or should 
 he not do so, she can sell her daughter to another 
 man who is willing to pay. 
 
 The women are responsible for the children being 
 true to the tribe. The man is subject to her every 
 particular whim. Any time she desires she may 
 leave him. She can invent almost any sort of story 
 of his cruelty, and on these grounds compel him to 
 pay to her parents almost any sum. Besides, if he 
 does not treat his wife just as she thinks he ought 
 to do, there are plenty of other husbands who will 
 be more likely to do so, so she finds another one, 
 always with the consent, of her mother or her aunt. 
 The customs of the people are in some instances 
 very hard upon the women ; for example, it is the 
 rule of the tribe that no child shall be born in the 
 house, if it is there will be evil upon that house. 
 The mother must move out for a month ; and so 
 when the baby is expected, they make a booth of
 
 More about Indian Customs. 47 
 
 spruce boughs, outside the house, or somewhere 
 in a sheltered place, often out in their camps. 
 There the expecting mother is left alone, food is 
 placed within her reach, sometimes water, oftentimes 
 if it is longer than they expected, everyone leaves 
 her. Now and then an old woman, a sort of doctor 
 among them, will remain with her, but generally 
 not. There she is left to suffer. No one dares 
 to touch her ; and many a poor woman has died 
 with no one by in this most trying time. 
 
 Again the woman's work is sometimes very heavy. 
 She must always have her children with her ; she 
 carries her baby on her back. She goes to the 
 forest, and gathers a piece of hemlock bark from 
 the side of a green tree. The natural shape of the 
 bark makes a good bed. In the curved side of this 
 she lays a great deal of dry moss ; over this moss 
 she puts a covering of cloth, some sort of light can- 
 vas. She takes the little one and wraps it in a piece 
 of blanket, folds this cloth over its body, stretches 
 its little feet out straight, puts its hands down by its 
 side, and buttons all down tight. The child cannot 
 strike, it cannot kick, and by reason of this it does 
 not cry. This arrangement is very convenient as 
 well ; she can now take the cradle and baby together, 
 hang it over her shoulder or lay it up against the 
 side of a rock when she goes to pick berries ; or lay 
 it in the bottom of a canoe when she goes away 
 fishing ; or better still, when she comes to meeting 
 she can just shove the little fellow under the bench 
 in front of her, and there he can lie and blink at the 
 bottom of the bench until he goes to sleep. She
 
 48 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 also very often has to carry her own wood : every day 
 the women can be seen with great bundles of wood 
 on their backs coming down the mountain side. It 
 is also their duty to gather all the berries. And, in 
 conjuction with the old men and children, make 
 the seal grease and fish grease for winter use. 
 
 When anyone in the house dies, the women are hired 
 to cry; they paint their faces black with charcoal made 
 from the bark of the hemlock ; then they sit down by 
 the grave and begin to cry, the first tear runs straight 
 down over their cheek, taking away the black as it 
 goes. They turn their heads at an angle, and the 
 next tear makes a new mark and so on. They 
 are paid by the number of marks they can show on 
 their faces. Some receive one, some four blankets, 
 owing to how much sorrow they can manifest for 
 the dead. In justice to them, it should be said, that 
 this custom is dying out. 
 
 Once while visiting around among the Indians, 
 I came into a home where there was a sick 
 boy, about four years old. The fever was 
 raging in his little body. The family were stricken 
 with fear ; and one of the relatives, who had been 
 to the school for some time and could talk good 
 English, interpreted for me. She told me how 
 sorry they were that they had lost so many child- 
 ren, and now this one must go. It was a sad case. 
 In prayer to the Almighty God, it became evident to 
 me that the boy could be relieved, and perhaps get 
 well again. Having obtained a great deal of 
 information in medicine from the former superin- 
 tendent (to whom I am greatly indebted), I said,
 
 More about Indian Customs. 49 
 
 " I think that boy can be cured, if you will give the 
 medicine according to my directions." 
 
 They promised faithfully they would do so, and all 
 kneeled down in prayer. They told the Lord that 
 someone was sent who could make their boy well. 
 This was putting me in rather a close place, but I 
 believed in the Lord, and went to my duty. Going 
 home, I took a little boy with me, and sent the medi- 
 cine by him, with full directions, telling them I 
 would follow in a few hours, which I did. When I 
 arrived I found that only one dose of the medicine 
 had been given to the child ; he was still delirious, and 
 upon inquiry, I found that an Indian doctor had been 
 there. This one dose had not made the child well, 
 and they had called in their Indian doctor, who 
 refused to give any more medicine, and in the mean- 
 time had determined that the child would die ; saying 
 he was bewitched, and that he thought he knew who 
 the witch was, having selected a poor reckless, 
 thoughtless girl, who had defied his power ; and by 
 his instructions, the parents had gone to the store, 
 purchased sufficient food for a feast, and were pre- 
 paring the shroud for the child's burial. 
 
 This was more than I could stand. I determined 
 to stay by the boy, and prove that what I said was 
 true ; that he would get well. I gave him his 
 medicine until well on into the night : finally he 
 opened his eyes, looked intelligent and dropped off 
 into a sound sleep. I sat by him till morning ; he 
 awoke ; I still continued to give the medicine, and he 
 continued to evidence improvement. 
 
 The next morning, as I was sitting by his bedside,
 
 50 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 the door flew open, and in came the Indian doctor. 
 Such a hideous sight ! bears' teeth, seals' teeth, rattles 
 of every description, all over his body and head, and a 
 drum in his hand ! He had had a conference with 
 the spirits, he said, and had come now to drive the 
 evil spirit out of this child, and he thought he would 
 get well yet. If he could not get well the witch 
 would have to die. He began his pow-wowing ; 
 beating his drum and rattling the teeth he was 
 decorated with. 
 
 The child was frightened, and sat up in bed ; and, 
 alarmed, I ordered the Indian doctor to stop, but he 
 appeared not to hear me, and on my telling him the 
 second time with no better result, I took him by main 
 force and threw him out of the door, and told him 
 to stay out, and he was rather glad to do it, for he 
 was not accustomed to such rough handling (the 
 Indians were all afraid to put their hands on him). 
 
 He went about among the people telling them that 
 I would soon die, that there was a spirit that had 
 taken hold of me, and would kill me ; but, as I did 
 not die he lost his power and influence, and after- 
 wards was converted, and is now a very good man, I 
 have reason to believe. The child made a complete 
 recovery. 
 
 Soon after this I was away to California for about six 
 weeks. When I returned I visited the people to see 
 how the little boy was doing. He was out playing. I 
 asked them how he was ; they would not speak to me. 
 I thought there was something wrong somewhere in 
 the family. I met them many times afterwards, but 
 they would not speak. They seemed angry with
 
 More about Indian Customs. 51 
 
 me. Desiring to know the reason for this, I sought 
 the young woman who could talk English. I said 
 to her, "Alice, how is it that your people won't 
 speak to me ?" For I never charged them anything 
 for the medical attendance. She hung her head ; I 
 said, " Tell me the truth, I want to know what it is." 
 
 " Well," she said, " I will tell you. You know 
 when the baby was sick, and you cured him." 
 
 "Yes," I said, "I know." " 
 
 " Well," she said, " did you know that the Indian 
 doctor had decided he would die, and ordered 
 them to prepare a feast." 
 
 " No," I said, " I did not know that he had done 
 that." 
 
 " Well," she said, " he did, and when they had 
 bought all their things ready for the feast, the little 
 boy got well and they could not have it, and when 
 they went to the storekeeper to get him to take 
 the things back again that they had bought, he 
 refused, and they felt like it was just that money 
 wasted. They felt very bad about it, because they 
 did not have very much money to spare, and they 
 blamed you because you did not let the little boy 
 die, and so they could not have their feast." 
 
 This was the key to it all. I had deprived them 
 of using their feast money. The little boy lived to 
 be ten years old, but when he took sick again they 
 took good care that I should not know of it, and 
 sure enough he died : they wrapped up his little feet 
 in woollen socks, put on his woollen mittens, 
 wrapped him in three or four blankets, so that he 
 would not get cold on his journey to the city of the
 
 c 2 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 dead, placed all of his play-things in his coffin, 
 and buried him with a jar of water and a dish of food 
 upon the grave that he might not go hungry. 
 
 The people themselves are rather comical, and 
 have an amusing side to their nature. They are 
 not as stolid as one would think from their expres- 
 sionless faces. They have many amusements and 
 laugh heartily. Their dance is a sort of an amuse- 
 ment. Their best dancer is the one that can most 
 nearly imitate the animal which he represents. 
 Each man and woman dances alone, keeping time 
 all the while to the tom-tom of their drums, and 
 mimicking both in gesture and in noise some 
 animal or bird. 
 
 I have never seen one of their dances, for I did 
 not lend my countenance, where I could not give my 
 support. I think it is a mistake for Missionaries to 
 attend these heathenish rites and ceremonies, which 
 in the pulpit and in everyday life they discounten- 
 ance ; therefore I never went to see one, for I stood 
 stolidly against them. They had many feasts, all 
 of which were interspersed with dancing. They 
 would eat and dance and dance and eat. Some 
 have eaten enormous quantities at one time. One 
 man is said to have consumed five gallons of seal 
 grease in one evening om a wager. There are 
 feasts for the dead as mentioned before, there are 
 peace feasts, and there are ordinary feasts for those 
 who had been made ashamed as they say.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE STORY OF JIM. INDIAN FASHIONS. 
 
 IN the early history of Alaska the Hudson Bay Fur 
 Trading Company figure largely in the life and 
 language of the Indians, from the Gulf of Califor- 
 nia to the Arctic Ocean. They not only traded 
 but taught the people as well. A common language 
 was almost a necessity, and to meet the needs of 
 trade they invented such, and called it the " Chinook 
 words." It consisted of 100 words at first, but could 
 be added to as need required by white or native. 
 There is a feast among the natives known as a 
 " Potlatch." This feast consists of food to eat, 
 articles of wearing apparel to give away, blankets 
 and calico to be torn up, and money to be distrib- 
 uted. The man who can give the biggest " Pot- 
 latch " and give away the most goods, is the highest 
 in the tribe. When some one has excelled all 
 the others, he is chief of that tribe, and so each 
 vies with the other to give the greatest " Pot- 
 latch." Ofttimes a chief will call together hundreds 
 of people and feast them for a week or two weeks 
 at a time, and present them with various tokens. 
 Whatever can be cut or torn up is so treated. The 
 pieces are given to the various attenders. A blanket 
 
 53
 
 54 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 is torn into strips perhaps a foot long and five or 
 six inches wide ; these pieces are either thrown out 
 into the company for whoever can get them ; or the 
 giver names 'someone to whom they are to be given. 
 Apiece of calico is likewise torn up, perhaps into 
 somewhat larger pieces. These are collected by those 
 present as they are given out, and taken home, fre- 
 quently to be made into a shirt or a coat for some little 
 boy ; which an industrious mother sews together ; 
 making a coat of many colours. 
 
 Every now and then some one would call the 
 name of a departed brave he may have been dead 
 200 years and then, each one present would throw 
 something into the fire, a piece of blanket, some 
 food, or even a whole dish of food, which was sup- 
 posed to appease his spirit. 
 
 After the finish of the feast, there is a general round 
 of smoking (for they all used tobacco, from the oldest 
 to the youngest) ; then a final dance and parting. 
 
 The economy in the use of tobacco by a family 
 is very striking. They will go to the store and 
 get the biggest plug of tobacco they can procure 
 for ten cents. They do not go in for quality, but 
 for quantity. It is taken home, wrapped in a 
 handkerchief. The first thing in the morning, the 
 father gets the plug of tobacco out and takes a 
 chew. He chews it till he is tired of it. It is then 
 passed to his wife, and she in turn chews it till 
 she is tired of it. After that, it is passed on to the 
 children, and they all in turn chew it, and woe 
 to the little urchin who loses the "chew" before 
 it is returned to the father again !
 
 The Story of Jim. 55 
 
 In many valleys a sort of weed grows wild, the 
 leaves of which the natives originally gathered, and 
 dried for smoking and snuff. But since tobacco 
 has been introduced into Alaska by the white man, 
 the native never prepares his own. 
 
 On our first going to Alaska the native would 
 chew, and spit all over the floor (he thought it was 
 gentlemanly), and it was rather a difficult problem to 
 know what to do about it. But as soon as they 
 became converted they no longer used the filthy 
 stuff. 
 
 When we first settled in Alaska in 1893 we found 
 the people very honest ; particularly with one 
 another. One could leave anything out of doors 
 without fear of its being taken ; neither Indians 
 nor whites would steal ; but when gold was dis- 
 covered in the Yukon, at the Klondyke, and 
 various other places, it brought many question- 
 able characters to the country. The Indians soon 
 felt that to hold their own they must steal, and lie, 
 and cheat. They were expert at deception in any 
 case, and now they used it to good account, and so 
 often had they been taken advantage of in trade 
 and otherwise, that it soon became impossible to 
 beat them. 
 
 They feel it to be sort of a religion to imitate 
 the white man. But to appeal to their sense of 
 honour is usually sufficient to ensure their acting 
 uprightly. Honour is above everything else to 
 them. 
 
 The following story illustrates this : There was 
 an Indian boy about seventeen years of age. We
 
 56 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 knew him as "Jim," though, of course, he had an 
 Indian name, for they all have their own particular 
 names ; but in the influx of whites they had been 
 given English names as well. It so happened 
 that a relative of Jim's had murdered a young man of 
 another tribe. There must be restitution ; either 
 there must be blankets given and feasts made to 
 atone for the death ; or else some one must die 
 instead. Jim's friends were poor ; they could not 
 pay the stipulated four hundred blankets. Jim came 
 down to the mines about three hundred miles from 
 his home to work. He was trying to make 
 money enough to pay this debt ; for when one 
 man of a tribe is in trouble they are all bound to 
 help him, for the enemy reckons not with the man 
 but with the tribe. So they were all trying to 
 gather enough together to jointly pay the debt, and 
 as the murderer was an old man they could not tell 
 who would be chosen to be put to death in his 
 stead. 
 
 Their enemies were restless and demanded 
 payment. It could not be made : finally after 
 council, their enemies selected Jim to be the one 
 to forfeit his life in payment for the life his uncle 
 had taken. 
 
 The time fixed for Jim to be shot was the 
 next autumn. It was now the breaking of 
 spring. The April sun was slowly but surely 
 driving the snow from the shores toward the 
 mountains. The birds had begun to come from 
 the south. All nature seemed to be smiling again ; 
 even the thrifty buttercup began to look appeal-
 
 The Story of Jim. 57 
 
 ingly into the face of every passer by ; but Jim's 
 people were gloomy, the most gloomy of them all 
 was his uncle. Jim seemed to care but little. He 
 gathered his few belongings together, tied them up in 
 his blanket with a rope, swung it on his shoulder, 
 and off he went three hundred miles to the mines to 
 work. We learned his story while he worked 
 there. 
 
 He came to our meetings regularly : from time 
 to time he gave many earnest testimonies of the 
 work of grace in his heart. The happy days of 
 summer had passed, autumn was come ; the leaves 
 were turning yellow from the biting frost that 
 appeared night after night ; the time was near 
 when Jim must return to his home. We begged 
 him not to return, telling him perhaps the Lord 
 had given him this privilege to gain his freedom. 
 He looked incredulously at us the idea that we 
 should for a moment have thought that he had it 
 in his heart to run away ! 
 
 He sat by my side, and said to me, " If I go away, 
 my brother will have to die in my place : I cannot 
 do it. Beside that, I am ready to die ; my brother 
 is not. Not one of my people are ready. They do 
 not know the Lord ; I do, I am quite ready and 
 willing to go." 
 
 He came again to meeting, when we had another 
 talk with him and said, " Now, Jim, can't we do 
 something to interfere in this matter ? " 
 
 He answered, "No, I think not." 
 
 I said, " Will they kill you ? " 
 
 "Yes, they will."
 
 5 8 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 " Why should you return ? Why not let them 
 come for you ?" 
 
 " My people are poor," he said ; " it will cost 
 them too much to come and fetch me. I must 
 return." 
 
 I said to him, " Were they not afraid to let you 
 come down here so far, for fear you would run 
 away ? " 
 
 He stood up straight, threw his shoulders 
 back, and said, " We are honest people." The 
 depth of his feeling was manifest. It was the same 
 as if he had been called a traitor. His honour was 
 at stake ! 
 
 I said to him, "Jim, when will you be going ?" 
 
 " I must go next Thursday," he answered. 
 
 "And when will this thing be settled ?" 
 
 " It is to be settled two weeks after I get home." 
 
 We took him by the hand and warmly shook it. 
 
 I finally said to him, " I believe you are right : 
 you are a brave boy ; God will certainly reward 
 you ; but, remember, I shall pray for you that your 
 faith shall not fail ; " then added, " Do you fear 
 this?" 
 
 He answered, " I don't like to be shot, but I 
 must do it to save my people. And remember I 
 am not afraid to die. The Lord will help me." 
 
 On the appointed day he took his departure. 
 What follows is from an eye-witness. 
 
 Jim arrived home safely. His father and mother 
 met him and welcomed him to their house. His 
 uncle was very depressed, for he saw what would 
 be the result of his fit of madness. It was taking from
 
 The Story of Jim. 59 
 
 them the brightest light they had, and more than that, 
 the uncle became a practical slave of the tribe; for 
 another man was to be made to suffer in his stead. 
 Even the little boys could now " boss " the old man 
 about : the women could "jaw" him as much as they 
 pleased and he dared not retaliate. He became like 
 the cur that lay at his feet ; but Jim was the hero of the 
 tribe I He sat by the fireside day after day, whilst 
 the negotiations were going on, talked to his father 
 and mother and his uncle about their souls, about 
 heaven, and about Christ. He told them of the hope 
 of the resurrection, of the joy in service, and how 
 willing he was to die for their sakes, and glad that 
 he was able to tell them of what Jesus had done for 
 him. 
 
 They listened with aching hearts as he said to 
 them, " This is my dying message ; I shall soon be 
 gone : I do not fear to die ; for, I shall be at home 
 with Jesus." Tears were falling fast, but there was 
 no going back ; their enemies had gathered in 
 various tents just across the way. The day was 
 approaching : they were thirsting for settlement. 
 They would have life or blankets, and the latter 
 could not be obtained. 
 
 The fatal day arrived. The morning sun shone 
 out bright and clear ; the cold crisp air of winter 
 had thrown a damask of frost on all the landscape. 
 In the little village of Jim's people only sorrow and 
 sadness reigned ; the only bright face among 
 them was Jim's ; the only one who could smile 
 was he. Their enemies had become so affected as 
 they sat with Jim, and saw his fearlessness, that
 
 60 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 they dreaded the moment to come when they, 
 according to orders, must kill him ; and still it 
 must be done, for they had passed their word. 
 And an Indian keeps his word ! 
 
 The sun climbed on towards the zenith ; it was 
 now noon : the shade of the stake driven in the 
 centre of the street pointed to the mark, designating 
 that the time of execution had come. A low 
 murmur arose from among the enemy ! A little line 
 of four was seen to stand out in front of their 
 tents, each with a loaded Winchester rifle in his 
 hand. They waited ! Will he come ? It was 
 not long before a solitary boy walked out of the 
 house. It was Jim. He was just advancing to the 
 place designated, when, there was a shriek, and the 
 frantic face and flying hair of his mother appeared 
 in the doorway. She rushed out and gathered him 
 around the neck, and dragged him back into the 
 house, saying " You shall not, you cannot die ! " The 
 mother's heart was all but broken ! Jim with his 
 labour-stained hands wiped his mother's tears, 
 kissed her upon the cheek, and said, " Mother, 
 don't weep for me, but rather weep because you do 
 not know the Lord. Rather," he said, "weep and 
 pray for these our enemies, that they may see, and 
 believe, and be saved." 
 
 Then, gently loosening her arms from his neck, 
 he walked slowly and deliberately to the place of 
 execution. The enemy stood awestruck ! They 
 could not fire : so Jim walked a little further on 
 and stopped again, and this time to speak to them, 
 saying " I forgive you in the name of Jesus : I
 
 The Story of Jim. 61 
 
 know you don't know Him, but you must know 
 Him before you come to be where I am going 
 promise me you will." There was no sound, only 
 the quivering of the tense muscles in the face of 
 the enemy, when, out upon the air rang four shots 
 which paid the debt. Jim had gone to be with 
 his God so sweetly, so peacefully, that the enemy 
 went and kneeled beside him and there asked God 
 for forgiveness. 
 
 I cannot say what you will think of such a 
 procedure, but in their darkened minds it was 
 the greatest sacrifice they had ever made, and 
 perhaps meant more to them than you and I 
 will ever realise. Suffice it to say that through 
 Jim's death could be traced the conversion of the 
 entire tribe. They have solemnly promised before 
 God that never again will they exact so terrible 
 a price. 
 
 Who will blame Jim ? It is strange, his cour- 
 age, is it not ? Yet He Who had the strength of 
 courage to die for us, in turn will also give us the 
 courage to die for others. I often think it is easier 
 to die for Christ than to live for Him. It is indeed 
 blessed to yield up life for His sake, but it is far 
 more blessed to live in obedience to His will. 
 
 Among these people can now be heard the voice 
 of song instead of anger ; they are especially 
 clever at singing. Perhaps you and I would never 
 call it so. To us it would seem more of a howl, but, 
 to them it is music. They have no teachers but 
 Nature : in other words they are practically chil- 
 dren of Nature, and when one of them desires to
 
 62 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 become a singer, it is not uncommon to find him for 
 weeks at a time, sitting, half-starved, by the side of a 
 bubbling brook, listening to the sounds of the water 
 as it tumbles over the rocks. This is his training. 
 It usually takes him thirty days, sometimes double 
 that time ; but it seems to have the desired effect, for 
 he comes back a singer. Then his services are quite 
 in demand at all their dances and feasts, and even 
 in the evenings you can hear him with his howl 
 and his drum. He loves music, and once hearing 
 a tune will sing it himself, and he has a very sweet, 
 mild voice ; the voice as you hear it seems as if 
 you were laying your fingers on the softest of vel- 
 vet, and yet it has that firmness and volume about 
 it that fills your room. Their natural love of 
 music being taken advantage of, we often reach 
 them with the Gospel in song. 
 
 The Indians are also expert imitators. Their 
 doctors frequently imitate many sleight-of-hand 
 performances, doing it admirably. They love to 
 imitate the whites, especially in the manner of 
 dress. In one case a young woman named Emma, 
 whose capacity for imitating the white woman was 
 very great, caused us no little amusement at a 
 morning meeting. It had so happened that one 
 of the tourist steamers, had, a day or two before 
 arrived at the Treadwell Mines, and some women 
 on board the steamer were invited to dine with the 
 superintendent. In order to do so they must 
 necessarily change costumes, from travelling cos- 
 tume to that of a drawing-room. They must walk 
 from the steamer across the dock to the superin-
 
 Indian Fashions. 63 
 
 tendent's house. As is usual at these times when 
 the tourists arrive, the Indian women who sell a 
 a great many wares of their own manufacture, 
 such as baskets, hats and stockings, also canes and 
 totem poles, manufactured by their husbands or 
 brothers, had, on this occasion ranged themselves 
 along the wharf displaying their different articles 
 of merchandise. 
 
 As the strangers passed, one lady in particular 
 was scrutinised by the native women. She wore a 
 skirt which had a train to it about two yards long. 
 As she was carrying it nicely, to keep it out of the 
 dirt, the Indian women took note of that as well. 
 This was on Friday. On Sunday morning Emma 
 came with the other Indians to meeting, carrying 
 something very carefully. She was doing just like 
 she had seen that English woman do two days 
 before. When she got to the door, she just let it 
 go, and lo and behold a train swept some tw"o yards 
 behind her, and she swept up the aisle and sat down 
 as gracefully as though she had worn such things 
 all her life. But it took no expert eye to see that 
 it was hardly in order. She could not afford to 
 buy a new dress, but had gone to the store and 
 purchased new material sufficient for the train ; 
 and sewed it on to the back end of an old skirt. Of 
 course, it was not just like the old dress even, but 
 it was the best she could do. At any rate it answered 
 the purpose. It is only a matter of taste whether 
 the stuff should be the same or not, for even if 
 it is of a different character, it sweeps just as 
 well and gets just as gloriously dirty !
 
 64 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 The Indians especially have a love for display. 
 It is not uncommon to find them with four or five 
 different colours upon their person. 
 
 Once at a public wedding, the bride was dressed 
 in white swiss muslin with a purple ribbon bow on 
 her breast ; a yellow bow of ribbonlon each shoulder ; 
 a bright red ribbon in her hair ; a green sash 
 round her waist, and wore black kid gloves. 
 
 In their native state they love to wear feathers 
 in their hair ; rings in their ears, sometimes as 
 many as four or five in one ear. They also 
 wear rings on all of their fingers and a large 
 ring in the nose. These rings are all manufac- 
 tured by the native himself from bullion or coin, 
 as he is able to obtain it. They are gold and sil- 
 ver, sometimes alloyed with copper. 
 
 On our going to Alaska my dear wife was very 
 fond of jewellery, and I thought it was quite be- 
 coming. I wore a ring upon my little finger. She 
 had rings on her fingers and had had rings in her 
 ears. She also put feathers in her hat ostrich 
 plumes suited best. When we got among the 
 Indians we told them they ought not to wear 
 feathers in their hair, that was heathenish. We 
 told them it was heathenish to put so many rings 
 on their fingers, and to put rings in their ears and 
 in their nose, and to wear so many bracelets ; for 
 indeed their bracelets covered their arm completely 
 from the wrist to the elbow, and dear wife especially 
 waxed warm in her instructions against heathenism. 
 
 One day, our native elder stepped up to her, and 
 took hold of her ear ; it had no ring in it any
 
 Indian Fashions. 65 
 
 more, but the marks were there. He said, " Mrs. 
 Charley " (for that is what they always called her : 
 they call me " Mission Charley " for they could not 
 use our last name, and I do not blame them !), 
 " what makes those holes in your ears ? " 
 
 My wife was puzzled. She did not know what to 
 answer ; . had she not been saying it was heathenish 
 to wear rings in your ears, and now she must tell 
 on herself. He showed her his ears. There were 
 the tell-tale holes. She thought for some time, 
 and finally she said, "Well, Dick, I'll tell you 
 what. I expect I had those rings put in my ears 
 when I was a heathen like you were." It seemed 
 to satisfy him ! 
 
 At another time a young woman came up to my 
 wife, and she said, as she laid her hand upon her 
 shoulder, " You told us it was not right to wear 
 feathers in our hair." 
 
 " Yes, so I did," she said. 
 
 " But, how is it that you wear feathers in your 
 hat ? We cannot see the difference. We just 
 wear them in our hair." 
 
 The argument was so convincing that my wife 
 has never worn feathers since. She wears no 
 rings : none in her ears, nor on her fingers ; my 
 ring has disappeared, for, is not the wearing of 
 rings but a mark of heathenism from which we 
 came, which we still keep with us ?
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ABOUT SALMON FISHING AND CURING. 
 
 THE food of the native must necessarily be pro- 
 cured from the natural products of the country. 
 This is supplied partly by the abundance of game, 
 which is found in the mountains throughout the 
 entire region of the North West. The common 
 black-tailed deer are very plentiful. Innumerable 
 bears of two distinct species, the black and the 
 brown, or cinnamon bear, which attain sometimes 
 to great size, are also used as food, and their skins 
 form one of the revenues of the country. Then 
 there is the ground hog and porcupine, the grouse 
 and the ptarmigan. A sure article of diet is also 
 obtained from the seal. Fish can be had in 
 quantities at any time. There are numbers of 
 different kinds of salmon, both red and white, 
 also halibut and various other varieties of 
 fish ; the salmon and halibut being those chiefly in 
 use. 
 
 In the summer season, beginning about the 
 second week in June, the salmon make their 
 appearance in every little stream that tumbles 
 down from the mountain side to the sea, seeking a 
 
 66
 
 About Salmon Fishing and Curing. 67 
 
 place to propagate their young. These shallow 
 streamlets form a splendid place to catch them. 
 They often crowd each other to such a degree that 
 some are pushed on to the bank and are unable to 
 get back to the water, and can be had just for the 
 picking up. 
 
 Eagles frequent these streams and catch their 
 prey. The shaggy bear waddles down along 
 the shore and stands with uplifted paw till 
 the luckless salmon swims close by, and, 
 with a motion quick as the wink of an 
 eye, he throws his salmon on to the shore and 
 leisurely sits down and eats it. He is an expert 
 fisher, equal almost to his half-brother the 
 native. 
 
 There are also large quantities of herrings in the 
 water at almost all seasons. These are boiled and 
 the oil extracted. To perform this work the 
 Indians usually go away from their ordinary 
 homes, build a rude tent or bark hut, where they 
 prepare to make the oil. They have previously 
 provided themselves with a common goods box 
 which they have made water-tight by means of 
 cloth or moss, driven into the cracks. In this box 
 they put some fresh water. They have a roaring 
 fire built near by, for heating pieces of rock. The 
 fish are caught with a long pole like a rake, about 
 twelve feet in length, sharpened about four feet at 
 one end on both edges, being about three inches 
 wide, and as thick as one's finger in the middle. 
 On one edge of this nails are driven about one 
 and a half inches apart, protruding about the
 
 68 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 same distance from the wood ; the ends of these 
 nails are filed sharp. The Indian sits in the 
 end of his canoe, thrusts his long rake down as far 
 into the water as he can, just in the midst of the 
 school of herring, then, rapidly lifting it with the 
 nails upward, the poor herrings stick on to these 
 sharp nails, a dozen at a time. Thus he fills his 
 canoe. 
 
 They are now ready to boil. He brings them on 
 shore. His wife and children take charge, and 
 without washing or any other preparation they take 
 them from the canoe, put them in the box with the 
 water until the box is full ; then with two sticks 
 they take the hot rock out of the fire, and pile it 
 in among the herrings. Another rock follows this 
 one ; and so on until the boiling process is fin- 
 ished. Out go the rocks ! Then they take the 
 herrings from the box, placing them in a sort of 
 plaited basket which the women make, fill the 
 basket almost full with herrings, fold the top down, 
 and then lay it on two sticks across a tin can which 
 has been used for coal oil. This can holds about 
 five gallons. They then lay some of the rocks 
 upon the herrings in the basket, and press out all 
 the water and oil that they can. When the rocks 
 are no longer sufficiently heavy, the woman herself 
 with her bare feet tumbles the rocks off and climbs 
 up on the fish. Her avoirdupois being considerably 
 more than any of the rocks which she could lift, 
 gives the last squeeze to take out the oil. 
 
 The oil naturally oozes up between her toes, and 
 then with the rest runs down into the can. This
 
 Salmon Fishing and Curing. 69 
 
 pressed oil is then boiled 'until the water has all 
 been evaporated, leaving the grease. 
 
 I chanced one day to be on a religious visit to 
 one of these camps. As I came in they were just 
 sitting down to supper. I had seen them pressing 
 out the grease, and the women without having 
 washed their hands sat down to eat. Their supper 
 was fish grease and dried salmon. Being invited to 
 eat, with the best appetite possible I sat down. 
 Such things do not trouble the missionary. I had 
 long before passed beyond that stage. I enjoyed 
 a good meal and went home refreshed. 
 
 The most abundant supply of grease is however 
 obtained from the seal or sea lion. 
 
 This grease is used in the autumn as a sort of 
 preservative for berries which the Indians have 
 gathered. Alaska abounds in berries. There were 
 thirty-seven kinds growing within easy reach of our 
 home, the blueberry being the chief ; but there 
 were currants, gooseberries, strawberries and cran- 
 berries, with many other kinds, all used for food. 
 These were gathered in their season, mixed with 
 the grease, and kept for winter use. The salmon 
 also is dried during the summer, and stored away 
 in a great bundle for winter use. The Indians 
 gather in the summer season a sort of rice, but 
 this is the root of the plant and not the grain. 
 When cooked it resembles and tastes much like the 
 common rice. There is also a sort of celery, 
 growing wild, which they use. This grows in 
 abundance almost everywhere ; it is welcomed 
 with delight by young and old when the snows
 
 70 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 are sufficiently melted to give it a chance to 
 grow. 
 
 It is most interesting to go out fishing with the 
 Indians. The fish, which are very large and plenti- 
 ful, are caught with a net at the mouth of the 
 streams. On one occasion we went out and in one 
 hour's time had twenty-six red salmon, the smallest 
 one weighing forty-five pounds ! 
 
 There are many "canneries " in these parts, where 
 the salmon is put up for the market. The natives 
 are employed in catching them. Of course the 
 head is not used, for the heads cannot be canned ; 
 the Indians being very economical, know how 
 to use the heads, in fact the head is in their 
 opinion the best part of the fish. So they frequent 
 the canneries, and when the heads are thrown away 
 fill their canoes with them. These they take 
 to their camp, dig holes in the gravel along 
 the sea shore holes perhaps three feet deep they 
 place in each hole a layer of the leaves of the 
 skunk cabbage, then they fill up nearly full with 
 salmon heads. They are not careful to wash 
 them, neither do they take out the gills nor the 
 eyes. Then they cover the heads all over with 
 skunk cabbage leaves, and finally with earth to the 
 depth of eighteen inches or more, leaving the 
 heads for some ten days to two weeks buried, 
 until they get real nice and juicy ! They are then 
 dug up and placed out as delicacies, and eaten as 
 they are. 
 
 These people eat many roots and the bark of 
 various trees ; also a sort of edible seaweed which
 
 Indian Cookery. 71 
 
 they prepare for food. When they eat, they do not 
 have many articles of diet at one meal, usually, 
 one or two at the most, and they prepare enough 
 of it for the entire family, and the whole family 
 take this meal together. 
 
 A family usually consists of the father and 
 mother (or two mothers sometimes) and often as 
 many as a dozen or fourteen children, from one to 
 eight dogs, and a few cats. They all live together 
 in the same house, which is probably twelve by 
 fourteen feet square, with a fire in the centre. 
 
 Cooking is done in one large pot over the fire. 
 After the food is cooked, it is poured into a bowl 
 about as large as those which we use in our bedrooms 
 for washing. The family surrounds the bowl ; some- 
 times they have one spoon, sometimes two or three 
 for the family. This spoon is made of goat's horn 
 and will hold about three parts of a pint. The 
 father eats one spoonful and passes the spoon to 
 the mother, and she in turn to the children, each 
 one taking his turn out of the spoon ; but the 
 four-footed part of the family are not fortunate 
 enough to obtain the use of the spoon, so naturally 
 help themselves between times, slipping in between 
 the children, and feeding from the same bowl. 
 
 Once when on a visit to one of our children from 
 the Mission, and while she sat with her parents 
 eating, the dogs of the household ate out of the 
 same dish, and turned and took a drink out of the 
 only bucket of water there was in the house ; 
 afterwards we were offered a drink from the same 
 bucket, but politely excused ourselves, saying we
 
 72 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 were not thirsty, and Who would be ! under such 
 circumstances ? 
 
 But when one is hungry enough he will scarcely 
 question the diet or how it is prepared. 
 
 Two natives and myself were once out in a small 
 boat, and no small storm was upon us. We were 
 very tired and hungry, but dare not eat the mussels 
 which grew in abundance along the sea-shore, for 
 ofttimes they are poisonous ; the only thing we had, 
 was a little bark from some of the spruce pines, 
 which we cut from the trees with sharp stones. 
 After toiling hard every day we were becoming 
 very weak. At the end of the third day we came to 
 an Indian camp, weary, and wet, and worn. The 
 natives took us in gladly. They gave us a small 
 piece of dried salmon to eat. Strange to say we 
 were not hungry, but with the first taste of food our 
 appetite came back voraciously. I could have eaten 
 anything, but they were wise, and said one small 
 piece was enough to begin with. I had never been 
 able to eat seal grease before, but I thought it a deli- 
 cacy that day. 
 
 Then we lay down and slept for a few hours, and 
 awoke and ate again. This time they allowed us 
 more, but still not enough ! we must have some 
 more sleep, they said, and so we slept again. After 
 that, we were allowed to eat as much as we liked. 
 
 At another time I remember, being out, I met 
 with a fisherman, who had a five gallon tin can 
 full of venison tallow. It was beautiful white-look- 
 ing stuff and I was very hungry. He offered to 
 share his meal with me. He gave me a piece as
 
 Queer Meals. 73 
 
 large as a cocoa-nut. I began to eat it, and lo, I 
 found that the can had not been washed before the 
 tallow had been put into it. It tasted like coal oil. 
 But it was all we had and we were thankful, 
 knowing that many a poor family had not half so 
 good a meal. That day we laid by the price of steak 
 and luxuries to give to the less fortunate.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 " THE HAPPY HUNTING GROUND." EVIL 
 SPIRITS, ETC. 
 
 '""pHE Alaskan Indian is naturally a worshipping 
 JL being. He lives for an unseen future. His 
 ideas are divided between two Spirits. He believes 
 there is a Good Spirit and an Evil one. He loves to 
 meditate on the kindness and joy to be obtained 
 sometime, somehow. In his life there is no real joy. 
 He believes there is a city, somewhere, far away in 
 the mountains, high above all the troubles and trials 
 of life ; overlooking all the world, but very hard of 
 access ; a city, in which the people are no longer 
 subject to the caprice of the evil one. They tell 
 us that in this city there are many, many houses. 
 Some are in a good street and some are far back in 
 the dark corners ; in some of these is a fire to 
 warm by. These houses are for the spirits of the 
 dead. In this place the Good Spirit reigns supreme, 
 not as a Chief over a tribe but as a servant of all 
 those who have come there. His great desire is to 
 make them happy. 
 
 This is the Alaskan Indian's " Happy hunting 
 ground " ; not that he expects to hunt, but he 
 expects, there, to be free from care and sorrow. The 
 
 74
 
 "The Happy Hunting Ground." 75 
 
 way to this city is long, and very difficult ; the road 
 sometimes is straight, sometimes very narrow ; at 
 places overgrown with brush and thorns and briars 
 of every kind. In some places it leads along the 
 steep cliffs of the mountain side ; in other places 
 through the broad green valleys by the side of the 
 running brooks. The good Indian is the one who 
 has appeased the devil ; the one who gets safely 
 and quickly through this long journey is he who 
 has succeeded by his sacrifices in keeping the evil 
 spirits at a distance ; but the " don't care " man 
 is beguiled and beset until he falls down the preci- 
 pice, or gets tangled in the briars, or loses his way 
 in the mazes of the forest. 
 
 To enable the man to get through safely to the 
 other side, the Indian doctor is called into requisi- 
 tion. He has power over the Evil Spirit ; he is the 
 only man that dares frequent the city of the dead ; 
 because, there the devil holds supreme sway. No 
 one else dare touch the bones of a dead man. 
 Many and varied are the incantations, which the 
 doctor uses to drive away and control the legions 
 of Spirits that infest the neighbourhood. He 
 necessarily grows wealthy, for his services are 
 valuable, and the superstition of his people causes 
 them to pay any price for liberation from the evil 
 spirits, which, they think he can discern and control. 
 
 This Chief of evil spirits, or devil, is symbolised 
 in the common bird known as the raven, whose 
 actions are in striking resemblance to the 
 works of the evil one. He is a thievish fellow, 
 tricky, very shrewd, and is able to imitate almost
 
 y6 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 any bird, and worse than all, he will carry off and 
 hide everything he can. No fitter bird could be 
 found, as a type of this miserable spirit, which is 
 the terror of the ignorant native. They sometimes 
 sacrifice their children by throwing them over- 
 board, thinking the devil has stirred up the water 
 until they are all about to be lost. The hunter 
 cannot return home, without leaving a piece of the 
 bear on the waters to feed the raven, for his family 
 might prove untrue or the spirits drive them to 
 madness. They are certain that this raven has 
 made the world. It has been told them for genera- 
 tions. And they put much confidence in their 
 traditions. 
 
 A short time after we went to Alaska I was 
 preaching in the meeting about the creation of the 
 world. I was telling them that God had made the 
 world and everything that was in it, and that 
 in turn we should worship God for His goodness to 
 us. I was trying to prove to them, and get them to 
 understand, that God so loved us that He sent His 
 only begotten Son to be the propitiation for our 
 sins. I was just in the midst of my discourse, 
 when a chief arose about the middle of the meet- 
 ing. Standing erect he said in his own tongue, 
 " Minister, you lie." I said to the interpreter at my 
 side, " What is that he says ? " The interpreter 
 did not want to tell me. I said " Tell it out, what 
 did he say ? " Finally, with downcast eyes, the 
 interpreter said, "He tells you that you lie." 
 
 Of course, the interpreter did not know what 
 might happen if he told me such things as that,
 
 Facing a Difficulty. 77 
 
 and all the people looked frightened ; but, I saw in 
 the old chief an honesty of purpose. He was just 
 as honest as I was. Why should I be angry with 
 him ? He needed to be taught. No man was ever 
 taught anything in anger. It is love that 
 teaches. Anger provokes anger, love begets love. 
 So I said to the old chief, through the interpreter, 
 "Come now, if I have not talked true, wherein 
 have I lied ? I want to hear." 
 
 The congregation looked astonished. Some of 
 the old chief's friends were ashamed of him. 
 Some were fearful that I might say something that 
 would cause trouble, and all waited in breathless 
 silence. The old chief continued, " Minister, you 
 told us God made the world. Now, we know 
 better. We know the devil made it," (using the 
 phrase they use for devil or raven.) 
 
 I said, " How can you tell that ?" 
 
 "Now," he said, "look here; if God made the 
 world, why is it there is so much sickness in the 
 world ? Why do we have these great high moun- 
 tains that we have to climb to get anywhere ? Why 
 do we have it so cold in winter ? Why are the woods 
 all full of briars to stick into our hands and feet. 
 Everything shows us that God did not make the 
 world ! W T hy is it that men are always fighting 
 each other, if God made them ? I have heard them 
 stand in this meeting-house and say that when they 
 wanted to do right they could not, for the devil 
 would not let them, and we know that the devil is 
 stronger than God and made every thing and every 
 body ! "
 
 y 8 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 As he sat down, the congregation drew a long 
 breath ! It was now my time What could I say 
 to him or to the others ? His argument seemed to 
 be conclusive. On looking around, people are 
 found to be cross with each other ; even the Chris- 
 tians cannot agree. When looking at the world, 
 everything seemed on the outside to be contrary to 
 the happiness of humankind. What could be said 
 to him ? 
 
 The responsibility of the occasion was very great. 
 So we reasoned with him, telling him that God 
 made all things good, that there was not anything 
 made but what was good, He so declared it to be ; but 
 that there was a subtle enemy that came into the 
 world and overcame because the people allowed 
 him. We reasoned with him to show him that 
 man is responsible for the evil in the world, that 
 before the Fall it was not so ; and that it is now our 
 duty to accept the remedy, which is in Jesus 
 Christ, and all things will be put right through 
 Him, and He alone has power to conquer the Devil, 
 that God can destroy all these evil things, but He does 
 not wish to do so unless we are willing. That it is 
 the purpose of the Father to give us power 
 through the Son to overcome the evil in the 
 world. 
 
 This giving us power appealed to him and he 
 rose again, saying, " Friends, the minister has 
 shown us the truth. I believe he is right, but 
 there is one thing I am sure of, that if God did 
 make the world, the devil has made it over again." 
 And who can say the old chief was wrong ? But do
 
 Indians' Belief in Evil Spirits. 79 
 
 we not hope in Jesus for better things ? In prayer 
 we wait for it. 
 
 Their idea of evil spirits naturally leads the Indians 
 to the old English belief in witches. Consequently, 
 some persons are supposed to be possessed of 
 evil and to be able thereby to cause endless sorrow 
 to others. We need only to read the record of the 
 past, in our own beloved country, to understand 
 all the horrors of such a fearful superstition. They 
 frequently burned the poor witch at the stake. 
 Other times they drowned her, by tying her where 
 the tide would come in. These witches were supposed 
 to be the cause of all disease and to be in league with 
 the devil. To rid the earth of them was most 
 necessary. Horrible tortures were sometimes insti- 
 gated to obtain a confession from the poor victim. 
 Sometimes they were tied to a tree, and there left 
 to the mercy of every savage beast among 
 them, who cut them with knives, whipped them, 
 or burnt them with flaming faggots. Finally the 
 poor victim, to end the torture, would confess she 
 was a witch, which meant her death I 
 
 The attainment of the beautiful city did not alto- 
 gether lie in the Indians' own hands, for if their rela- 
 tives failed to do their part after their death, the 
 deceased one, they believed, would linger long, and 
 sometimes become utterly lost, in the mazes through 
 which he had to go, and therefore it became necessary 
 for him to have food prepared for his spirit. He must 
 also have his blankets in the coffin and his feet and 
 hands well wrapped up, especially if it was winter, 
 for they knew how cold the body becomes, and
 
 8p Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 they must therefore keep it warm. Also at their 
 feast, they must burn some things in the fire which 
 being consumed were transmitted to the spirit of 
 the departed. Their custom of burning the body was 
 with the object of keeping it warm; and the remaining 
 relatives must not forget the absent ones until they 
 were through to the Eternal city in safety. 
 
 Originally the Indians held slaves, and, at the 
 master's death he required also the death of all his 
 slaves. A great pile of logs would be built, and the 
 body laid in state upon the top. His gun, his best 
 dogs, his slaves, his blankets, much food, and such 
 articles as they thought he would need in the other 
 country, were placed with him and all consumed in 
 the funeral pyre. This they thought went imme- 
 diately with his spirit to the city somewhere in the 
 mountains. If he was not burnt, they thought he 
 would not sit by the council fire in the other city, 
 and, to prove that this was true, a very prominent 
 woman amongst them had a vision one day. She 
 saw her son, whom the missionaries had induced 
 her to bury instead of burn. She saw him in the 
 city, but he had to sit outside, without fire, and he 
 was so cold ! When she appeared in the city he 
 recognised her, and came to her and begged her to 
 take his body up and have it burned so that he could 
 be permitted to sit inside the house by the fire, for 
 it was cold in that country. For a long time it was 
 hard to induce them to bury their dead, but it is 
 now the prevailing custom, this idea having gone 
 with many of their other superstitions.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 OUR MISSION HOME. 
 
 LIVING with us in the same house, were at one 
 time, twenty-six Indian children, from three 
 years to seventeen years of age. They had been taken 
 in for periods, ranging from two to six years. Our 
 part was to educate, clothe, and train them. It was 
 an advantage to the parents to have them in this 
 home ; apart from being relieved of the burden of their 
 support, it prepared their children for better service 
 afterwards, and especially the girls, who would 
 command higher prices and bring more presents 
 when they married. Some of these children were 
 orphans ; others had one or both parents living ; but 
 it mattered not whether the parents were living or 
 not, the aunts or uncles had control over them ; for an 
 aunt could come at any time and take the children 
 from the mother, which was very often done. 
 
 At one time there was a little girl living quietly with 
 her mother and she was becoming a very promising 
 child, but her aunt, who was the elder sister, became 
 angry with the mother, and for spite came and took 
 the little girl away ; for by their law there was 
 sufficient reason given by the aunt to warrant it. 
 The poor mother was in desperation. She could
 
 82 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 not appeal to the rest of the people to bring her 
 daughter back. She could only bear it in patience 
 until the anger of the sister could be appeased. This 
 was slow in coming. Finally the mother could 
 wait no longer. She went to search for her little 
 daughter. Two years had passed by, and learning that 
 her child was in a certain village she went to it, 
 expecting to find the child, but her search seemed 
 fruitless. The aunt, after having taken the little girl 
 away, finding that she wept a great deal for her 
 home, put her under punishment. She built a little 
 log house away back at the skirts of the village ; the 
 house was just high enough for the girl to sit 
 upright in the middle. It was made tight, the roof 
 was weighted down. The child was fed very 
 scantily through the roof. 
 
 The mother after having searched for some time 
 was passing this way and heard a child crying. She 
 went out to search the place, and there found her 
 daughter, but evil eyes were also near, and when she 
 would take her child home the aunt objected. The 
 mother was compelled to return home in sorrow, 
 and years passed before she saw her daughter again. 
 The mother's heart was almost broken, in sorrow 
 she mourned for her child as one that was dead. 
 
 Many winters silvered the mother's hair, the child 
 grew up and married, the aunt obtaining all the 
 marriage money. One day as the old mother was 
 out fishing in their canoe a storm came suddenly on 
 them. They were far out from land, and the water 
 became fearfully rough. There was another canoe 
 not far away, in which was a woman and a little boy.
 
 Our Mission Home. 83 
 
 This canoe had sprung a leak, and was rapidly 
 filling. The older woman, seeing the danger, went 
 as near as possible to the rescue, and only just in 
 time, for the old broken canoe split in two pieces 
 leaving the woman and boy in the water. They 
 were picked up and taken to shore. Imagine the 
 surprise of that poor old mother when she found 
 that this was her long lost daughter. 
 
 It is only one of the many incidents that commonly 
 occur among a people whose laws and customs are so 
 heartless. Seeing the suffering to which children were 
 so often put, our Mission Home was established for 
 their good. When once within our hands such 
 things could not occur, and the children became so 
 thankful for a hope of better things. 
 
 I remember one boy that was taken into the Home 
 upon request of his mother. We called him Silas. 
 After he had been with us some time and was able 
 to work and to talk English well, his mother came 
 over and pretended she wanted him to visit her. My 
 wife granted the petition as I was not at home. The 
 mother promised the boy should be back in the even- 
 ing, but he did not come. The next day my wife was 
 after him, but the mother had found that the boy was 
 old enough to begin to trade with, and had determined 
 to keep him, for he was under contract for some years 
 yet. It is sufficient to say we got him back again, 
 but the mother was very angry, she having planned to 
 escape with him. Silas had cried all night, for he 
 did not want to stay with his mother, and besides, 
 she had abused him for wanting to return to his 
 Mission Home.
 
 84 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 In the course of time this mother was comforted. 
 She came to our house one day, and said to me, " I 
 am going away now for my last feast. After this one 
 I shall make no more. I shall never go to another, 
 but if I should die while I am gone, I want you to 
 promise to take my boy as your own child." I told 
 her I would, and she went away. In about two weeks 
 the news came that in a drunken row this mother 
 had been killed. Silas being with us, his aunts and 
 his uncles tried to take him away, but I had the 
 mother's word, and would not let him go. He is 
 now in Oregon, at school, a bright promising 
 boy. 
 
 A little girl, whom we had taken and named 
 Ruth, was a very striking case. She was about 
 nine years old when she came to us. Her father and 
 mother were dead, and her brother who was keeping 
 her was very cruel to her. The only bed she had 
 was a blanket on the floor, which served for mattress 
 and a cover. Her brother was in the habit, in order 
 to make her strong, of compelling her, each morning, 
 to stand in the salt water for as long as possible ; 
 sometimes for an hour. If she cried, or grew cold, 
 she was whipped till she was warm. She had not 
 had her hair combed for months. Owing to the 
 cruel way she was treated, she ran away from her 
 brother and begged our protection. She was taken 
 into the Home and given a good bath, her hair 
 combed, and her head cleaned. She looked like a 
 new girl. It was not long before her brother was 
 after her. She would not go ; she reminded him of 
 his treatment of her, and decided to remain with
 
 Our Mission Home. 85 
 
 us ; and is now in a school in Oregon, a very 
 promising young lady. 
 
 There is another pathetic case that came under 
 our hands. A young girl ran away from her home ; 
 her father and mother were living, but she came to 
 us and asked protection from them. She had been 
 sold to an old man by her father and mother, 
 although she was only ten years old. She was to be 
 his second, or young wife. In her ignorance she 
 went to live with this man, but when she realised 
 what it meant, she ran away from him and went 
 home. He had now come for her, or the money 
 that he had paid to her parents. He was not 
 particular which, but they refused to pay the money 
 back ; then he demanded his wife. She refused to 
 go, they whipped her, but she still refused, and 
 finally she rushed out of the house and came to 
 us. She knew she would be safe, and when we had 
 ascertained the facts we admitted her into the 
 Home. 
 
 She was with us seven years, and afterwards 
 married a bright young man, who had been educated 
 in our Mission. 
 
 Once we had ever such a strange little fellow. A 
 little boy about six years of age. He was such a tiny 
 little orphan ; there was not much to be expected 
 from him. His uncle had taken him, but the little 
 fellow did not grow very rapidly. After a while, on 
 this account, his uncle grew tired of him. He did 
 not care what became of the child, so he took him 
 quite away from the village and deliberately left 
 him on a little desolate island. He was left alone
 
 86 Among the Indians of Alaska. $ 
 
 with no food and no water. The child cried, and 
 cried, until he grew hoarse. Night came ; but no 
 friendly hand came with it. The next morning a 
 canoe was passing by that way, and there was heard 
 a moaning, something that sounded more like an 
 animal than anything else. They being superstitious, 
 were afraid to go on the island and look. But in 
 another canoe which passed that way shortly after, 
 there was a young man who had been in school. 
 He had lost some faith in these superstitious notions. 
 He heard the same sound, and ventured on the 
 island. Here he found instead of an animal, the 
 little boy, who could only now and then get an audible 
 sound from his throat, so hoarse was he from crying. 
 He was nearly famished, and was quite unconscious. 
 He was taken into the canoe and brought to us. 
 With much care he became a good strong boy, and 
 is now a promising young man finishing his educa- 
 tion in a school in Oregon. Nearly all of our 
 children came to our home because of ill-treatment. 
 
 The original purpose of the Home was to take 
 these children and educate them, that they might go 
 out again among their people, as living witnesses of 
 what we were trying to teach them to be. The 
 children were taught to work, and with the surround- 
 ings of a Christian home it was hoped that somehow 
 or sometime the Gospel would take root in their 
 hearts and they would be saved. They were to be 
 educated and trained as citizens of the country. 
 
 For three years we worked at this plan, but we 
 found the influence of fathers and mothers, and 
 aunts and uncles, in fact, of the whole tribe, was so
 
 Our Mission Home. 87 
 
 strong towards the old customs, that the young 
 people could not stand against it ; besides, every 
 child is obedient to its parents and relatives so long 
 as they live, and to educate them only made them 
 more skilful in wrong-doing ; when once they fell, it 
 was not many steps to go until they began to go 
 rapidly. Seeing these things, we concluded it were 
 better to take the whole of the tribe and teach them 
 the Gospel and discontinue the Mission Home, 
 providing, only for those children, whom we had 
 already contracted for. We found this a great 
 advantage. The older people began to realise that 
 we meant to help them as well as the younger 
 people, and that the Mission was not intended only 
 for one class, but for all ; many times afterwards 
 we expelled scholars from our day school until 
 they should understand enough of religion to know 
 how to use their education. 
 
 The world to-day needs more Christianity. It 
 has intellect enough, but does not know how to 
 use it.
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 TRAINING THE CHILDREN. 
 
 THE management in the Mission Home was 
 intended to be as nearly as possible like a well- 
 regulated family. It was a place where the children 
 and the workers might be as brothers and sisters, 
 with father and mother as the head. It was not 
 intended they should be as beasts or animals driven 
 to their task and trained under the lash, but that 
 their intellect and love should be drawn out, so that 
 they would live a Christian life, because they loved 
 it best. 
 
 In connection with this we experienced many 
 incidents of much interest. Every day's work lay 
 heavy upon us ; the great burden of the cooking 
 must be done, and in that cold country the making 
 of bread was especially difficult, because it was hard 
 to keep it warm while it should rise. From fifty to 
 one hundred loaves of bread had to be made twice 
 a week, and in the meantime the children taught 
 how they might do it. The older girls did the 
 washing. 
 
 All the children attended the day school, but 
 those who did the washing remained out for one 
 day, having four days in the week at school. Every
 
 Training the Children. 89 
 
 two weeks the employment of the children was entire- 
 ly changed. The bedroom girls, kitchen girls, and 
 washroom girls exchanged places. The boys as 
 well ; some of them were detailed for preparing the 
 kindling, others for splitting the wood, others for 
 carrying the wood in, and still others for keeping 
 the fires going. There were seven stoves altogether 
 to keep hot. 
 
 The wood for these fires was the one great diffi- 
 culty and burden of the Mission. There was plenty 
 of wood in the country, but being so near a town, 
 all that was near us was burned away, until it was 
 necessary, in order to get good wood, to go a distance 
 of half a mile to a mile from the house. In summer 
 it must be brought through the bogs of the moun- 
 tain side where one would often sink in, over one's 
 knees, into the soft moss and water ; or else, it must 
 be brought for a longer distance over the mountain, 
 where it could be tumbled down the side and then 
 picked up to be carried on our backs the rest of the 
 way. In winter sometimes we could put it upon a 
 sledge known as a Yukon sled. The sled is eight feet 
 or ten feet long, and about fourteen inches between 
 the runners. It is so strong that almost a cord of 
 wood can be taken at one time. Often the snow 
 would be, either too soft, or else there would be none 
 at all, which made it necessary to carry the wood 
 most of the year. The climate was very disagree- 
 able, in fact, it either rained or snowed, on an 
 average, three hundred days in the year. 
 
 Our rising hour was five o'clock ; breakfast at six, 
 then be off to the woods to cut wood until eight, then
 
 90 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 after bringing a load of wood to the Mission, the boys 
 would go to school until four. In the meantime, I 
 myself would keep carrying wood or cutting it, all 
 day long alone. Many a day have I stood at one end 
 of the crosscut saw, alone in the woods, in order to 
 have wood enough for the boys to carry when they 
 came out from school at four o'clock. In the 
 coldest weather we were kept carrying until eleven 
 at night. 
 
 I remember an instance in particular of how, one 
 Saturday, we were all carrying wood. The eldest 
 boy that we had, was then twelve years old, the 
 other three were younger, but they each did what 
 they could. We had been carrying wood nearly all 
 day. I was alone, using the crosscut saw, and the 
 four boys were together, carrying wood. Willie, 
 being the oldest, was naturally delegated as a sort of 
 overseer of the rest. Simpson, a ten year old boy, 
 was headstrong ; he did not like to be bossed by 
 Willie, it was enough for him to submit to me. 
 They got on very well most of the day. Finally, 
 late in the afternoon, Willie came struggling through 
 the bushes, his eye was all bruised and blue. 
 
 I said to him, " Willie, what is the matter ? Did 
 you fall and hurt yourself." 
 
 He said, " No, I didn't. It was Simpson." 
 " Why," I said, " Simpson, but how is that ? Did 
 Simpson hurt you some way ? " 
 
 He said, " Yes, he hit me with a club." 
 " Why ? Have you been quarrelling ? " 
 Willie said, " No, we were just carrying wood, 
 and he hit me."
 
 Training the Children. 91 
 
 (A native way for laying all the blame on some-one 
 else.) 
 
 Just at this point Simpson's face was seen in the 
 bushes, and he cried out (having heard Willie's last 
 expression) and said, " He pushed me down first." 
 
 Upon careful inquiry I found that they were both 
 to blame. I finally got Willie to say that he had 
 tried to get Simpson to carry the wood, and Simpson 
 was lazy. I knew him to be so, and the other boys 
 had made one more trip already than Simpson, and 
 Willie undertook to punish him, and Simpson 
 resented it. I further learned that Willie had been 
 rather abusive before, but I could not tell which boy 
 to punish. Willie had before this professed a change 
 of heart. I had reason to believe it was genuine. 
 
 " Now," I said to Willie, " I do not really know 
 which one of you boys is the most to blame, but I 
 had better punish you both ; but I will leave it now, 
 Willie, to you ; I see you have a black eye, and 
 Simpson is not hurt. I will make a proposition to 
 you, and you may think over it and let me know 
 what is your decision. I will either punish you both 
 and do it now, or else I'll just leave it to the Lord. 
 The Lord knows which one of you is to blame, and 
 He will punish the right boy ; He will make no 
 mistake, but if I do it the Lord will not need to do 
 it." 
 
 Willie studied over it for some time. Simpson 
 knew that if I said I would punish them, it was sure 
 to come, but he did not know about the Lord quite 
 so well. So he readily consented, rather with a 
 smile. He thought he was getting out of it very easily.
 
 92 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 Willie looked grave. I further pressed it upon 
 Willie, " Now if we leave it to the Lord I shall not 
 do it at all, we will leave it altogether to Him." 
 Simpson evidently was studying whether he would 
 not get some of it as well, if it was left to the Lord. I 
 further told him that if the Lord did it, He would do 
 it right, He would give each boy according to what 
 he needed. Finally Willie looked up and said, 
 " We'll leave it to the Lord." 
 
 I was a little fearful, for I did not know exactly 
 how it would come off, and reverently, together we 
 bowed our heads in the wood, telling the Lord this 
 matter was left to Him to settle, asking Him to settle 
 it according to His own pleasure. The boys cheer- 
 fully went back to their work. 
 
 It was just about evening, dusk was coming on. 
 We were going down home each with his last load 
 of wood. It was the last load for the evening, and 
 the last for the week. Simpson was behind as 
 usual. He had been grinning all day long, for he had 
 escaped a punishment easily, but he did not reckon 
 with Him that oversees all things. We had all 
 reached home and dropped our loads, and were 
 watching Simpson come down the hill. The crooked 
 stony path, with a root here and there crossing over 
 it, wound down to the wood shed. About ten rods 
 up the hill was Simpson, he had a large block of wood 
 perched at the back of his neck and shoulders, hold- 
 ing it with his hands to keep it from falling off, when 
 suddenly to our consternation down came Simpson ; 
 block of wood and all ! He had caught his toe 
 under a root, and strange to say, in trying to save
 
 Training the Children. 93 
 
 himself he threw his hand on a large rock, just where 
 the block would catch his finger. It took the nail 
 clean from his finger. Simpson gathered himself up 
 slowly. He never uttered a word. He took his 
 finger in his other hand and began to kick his block 
 down the hill. We saw he was hurt and the other 
 boys pitied him ; so they went up and carried his block 
 down for him, and when they were trying to console 
 him in his pain, he said to them, " DonH be pitying 
 me ; this is my punishment, the Lord has done it." 
 And then he confessed that he was to blame, told all 
 about the day's operations, how evil he had been. 
 It was a strange thing to us, and yet we cannot but 
 say that it seems very evident the Lord must have 
 had some hand in it. Ever after that if a child was 
 naughty, they would urge that we should do the 
 punishment ourselves, for they could see a possibility 
 of deceiving us, yet it had the effect of getting them 
 to realise the personal presence of the Lord in com- 
 mon every-day life. 
 
 Every evening we assembled before retiring, with 
 all the children in the girl's playroom ; there, we 
 read the Bible, and prayed and sang hymns and told 
 Bible stories, and talked of Christ and of salvation to 
 all the children and the workers, some thirty of us 
 together. Some very blessed times we had in this 
 meeting. On one evening little Johnny, of whom I 
 have told you before, was particularly out of sorts. 
 He had been very ill-natured all day, and now 
 he would neither pray nor sing, was sulky and 
 looked cross, for that is the way of the Indians. The 
 sulk is the meanest disposition to be found among
 
 94 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 children. We only spoke to him and left it as 
 before, the Lord would attend to him. Away long 
 in the small hours of night, we were wakened by a 
 most unearthly shrieking. We were very much 
 startled, and soon after there came, stealing 
 through the silent night, a faint cry from the boys' 
 dormitory. Evidently one of them was sick and was 
 crying. We went up to see what the trouble was. 
 Upon our arrival at the door we found it was 
 Johnny. 
 
 " Well, Johnny, what is the matter ? Are you 
 sick ? " 
 
 " No," he said, sobbing, " I am not sick, but I 
 thought Gabriel's horn had blowed, and I was left, 
 and all the rest of you was taken " for, that night in 
 the collection, we had been reading to them about 
 the second coming of Christ ; how that with the 
 trump of God and with the shout of the Archangel 
 He would appear in the heaven, with power and 
 great glory, and that those who were alive would 
 be caught up in the twinkling of an eye to meet 
 Him in the air, and those who were not prepared 
 would be left ; for Jesus had said there should be 
 two men in one bed, and one should be taken and 
 the other left. And so, little Johnny, was sure in 
 his own mind that he was not prepared ; for had 
 he not been naughty all day, and had not repented ? 
 " But now," he said, " I will never be naughty 
 again ; I am so glad you are here yet, and Jesus 
 has not come." We comforted him the best we 
 could and finally left him asleep. The next morn- 
 ing we found the noise to have come from the
 
 Training the Children. 95 
 
 whistle of the Government gun-boat Concord, which 
 was afterwards with Dewey at the battle of Manilla. 
 In order, that the children might the more 
 rapidly acquire the English language, they were 
 expected to speak nothing but English in the home. 
 Of course, this was hard for many of them who 
 only knew two or three words, knowing none at 
 all when they came, and naturally they would 
 among themselves talk Indian. This made their 
 pronunciation of English very bad, and interfered 
 with their construction of sentences ; so we 
 required them to speak nothing but English except 
 by permission ; but they often would get into the 
 washroom or in the wood shed, and having set a 
 watch, they would indulge in a good Indian talk. 
 A few cases of this kind, and we applied a heroic 
 remedy to stop it. We obtained a bottle of myrrh 
 and capsicum : myrrh is bitter as gall and capsi- 
 cum hot like fire. We prepared a little sponge ; 
 saturated it with this solution, and everyone that 
 talked Indian had his mouth washed to take away 
 the taint of the Indian language ! One application 
 usually was sufficient ; but one or two cases had to 
 receive a second application. From that time, on, 
 progress in their studies was almost doubly rapid, 
 for they dared not talk their own language, and 
 talking English, helped them the better, to com- 
 prehend the language ; but like all children, they 
 were not always good in everything else. When 
 we first arrived at the Mission the canned milk 
 was continually disappearing, a can or two at a 
 time no one knew anything about it. Though
 
 c)6 A mong the Indians of A laska. 
 
 everything seemed to be locked ; yet it would 
 get away, and we knew the children were taking it 1 
 Locks and keys make more thieves than any other 
 thing in the world. The natural prying disposition 
 of humanity is intensified by seclusion, and to 
 forbid, is to create the desire for the forbidden. 
 And so with the milk ; they liked it and they took 
 it. A council was called, but no one knew any- 
 thing about it. 
 
 After carefully studying their countenances for 
 awhile, I said, " Charlie Hicks, you are the man 
 that is taking this milk. Now," I said, " You need 
 not deny it to me." 
 
 He said, " No, sir, I have not taken it." 
 
 I said to him, "Charlie Hicks, if you don't stop 
 lying, I will punish you for stealing the milk." 
 
 Charlie's head went down. He said, "Yes, sir^ 
 I took it, but Tom made me." 
 
 Tom was an older boy. Tom acknowledged 
 that he made him do it ; he would thrash him if 
 he did not get it. 
 
 Now, Charlie was kitchen boy and kept the fire 
 for the girls, so that, when they could get into the 
 storehouse he could get in with them, and they all 
 knew all about it, but no one dare tell. 
 
 Heretofore the children were impressed with the 
 idea that they were Indians, and they felt their 
 inferiority. We thought it better to teach them that 
 they were our equals, if they behaved as well, and 
 that we did not mistrust them by locking the doors. 
 We told them our wishes, and let them under- 
 stand that we expected them to be honourable
 
 Training the Children. 97 
 
 enough to obey. They soon began to see that we 
 were their friends and had confidence in them, and 
 their love began to grow toward us. We had no 
 more stealing. Confidence always begets confi- 
 dence. Love begets love. You doubt a child or a 
 man, and you make him a doubter ; you confide in 
 him and you make him honest, true and noble.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 FISHING EXPEDITIONS. THE MISSIONARY 
 AS MAN OF ALL WORK. 
 
 IT was necessary to provide food for the children, 
 at the Mission. We would go in a boat to various 
 creeks and catch fish, and either salt them for the 
 winter use, or bring them home to use while fresh. 
 One time in particular, we, with four or five of the 
 older children had gone to " Fish Creek.'' It was 
 a little too early in the season, the salmon had not 
 yet come ; they were expected any day. But, we 
 had taken no meat with us, for we expected to 
 have had plenty of salmon. We pitched our tent 
 and made our beds in it. It was a fine afternoon, 
 but in the evening it began to rain. We did not 
 know what we should do for meat ; we would not 
 have provisions enough, if there were no fish, but 
 the children suggested that we should pray. I told 
 them they might pray and I fish, so we agreed that I 
 with the boys would fish, and they pray. We had 
 no fish lines ; nothing but a long pole with a great 
 hook of steel at the end of it. With this we 
 expected to catch the salmon. But there were no 
 salmon ! So, we went out with this pole, holding
 
 Fishing Expeditions. 99 
 
 4 
 
 it down into the water, while the boys pulled the 
 boat. We jerked it up and down, in case there 
 might be some stray fish that might be hooked 
 with it. 
 
 As we worked along slowly, something touched 
 the pole ! I thought to myself, we are getting into 
 the grass, for, when the tide was out, this place was 
 a field of long grass. Giving a quick jerk upwards, 
 the hook struck and then went through. We had a 
 fish ! We drew it up to the top of the water, and 
 behold ! it was a halibut weighing about fifty pounds. 
 We drew it into the boat, but it was so violent that 
 it got under a seat where we could not hit it on the 
 head, and in trying to get it out it flapped one of the 
 boys overboard, and so we had to fish him out of 
 the water. However, we brought him out without 
 any serious damage, and had plenty of meat for 
 supper. 
 
 Although the salmon did not come, the rain con- 
 tinued relentlessly. We finally went to bed, but, 
 long before morning, we found, that our tent had 
 been set in a hollow and our beds were lying in 
 water. The women were the first to notice it, for 
 we boys sleep too sound; accustomed to being wet, 
 we did not notice a little thing like that. Our friend 
 who had come with us was wet from the back of her 
 neck to her heels, having lain in about two inches 
 of water. But small things of that kind do not 
 disconcert missionaries ! 
 
 On another occasion, when we went after salmon 
 there were too many of us to go in one boat, so we 
 borrowed a canoe. Hannah E. Sharpless, the
 
 ioo Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 secretary of the mission board then visiting us was 
 with us on this trip. When we got to the creek where 
 the salmon were, the Indians were of a different 
 tribe, and did not like us to fish there. In the 
 night time while we remained, our boat was cut 
 
 O 
 
 adrift. We did not know what to do. We only 
 had a small canoe, and it would not hold all of us ; 
 but just in the midst of our predicament, two Indians 
 pulled into the village, and sure enough they had a 
 boat of ours, which had been stolen (we thought it 
 had been lost), some two or three months before. 
 They claimed they had found it, but we have 
 reasons to believe they stole it, for, stealing was not 
 uncommon among them, after the Klondyke was 
 discovered ; so we took the boat, although it was 
 not so large as the other, yet it would carry all of us. 
 W T e paid them something for their trouble and left 
 them. 
 
 We went to hunt for our other boat that had 
 drifted away in the night. Some fifteen miles 
 further on we found it washed ashore on a small 
 island, but in going to it, a storm overtook us and 
 we were all but drowned. The breakers were 
 running so high when we landed that I jumped out 
 of the boat on to the ground, and the next incoming 
 breaker took me round the waist. It took the boat 
 and all, and set us higher up on the beach. There 
 was no water on this island to drink, nor any 
 shelter, but, with the help of our larger boat, we were 
 able to get over the rough channel to shelter on the 
 main land. 
 
 I had been gone something like an hour, when
 
 The Glaciers. 101 
 
 I noticed some young eagles flying overhead 
 and screaming. I found there was one, down 
 on the ground, lying on his back, and a large 
 black bear sitting by, watching the chance to grab 
 him. (An eagle always fights on his back.) I 
 watched the duel for a time, and as the bear had 
 two or three good scratches on his nose, and two 
 cubs not far away, I knew the safest plan was to get 
 away, so I left the bear and the eagle to have it 
 out. 
 
 That evening the wind calmed, and by rowing all 
 night, we arrived home at four o'clock the next 
 morning, tired, with a few fish, an extra boat, and 
 some valuable experience. 
 
 At another time I, with two boys, and a white 
 man and an Indian, went about forty miles from our 
 home to the Takou glaciers. These glaciers begin 
 between two high peaks known as the " Devil's 
 Thumbs," and wind their snake-like course down to 
 the salt water, where they suddenly break off and 
 float away as icebergs. Here, we met a man, who 
 was unacquainted with the ways of these rivers of 
 ice. He was very weary and tired, had been up 
 along a glacier for a long way, and was now 
 coming down. He was somewhere near a mile 
 from the front when it grew dark. He could not 
 go any further that night, so as he knew that glaciers 
 moved, he thought to himself he would just spread 
 his bed on the glacier, and the next morning he 
 would be nearly down to the beach. In his dreams, 
 he thought, that he was nearing the front of the 
 glacier and the ice was breaking off. He awoke
 
 IO2 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 with a start to find the sun looking him in the face, 
 for it was morning. He was at the same place 
 where he was when he went to sleep ! He could not 
 understand it. He thought glaciers moved ! and so 
 they do ; that one had moved one eighth of an inch 
 in the night ! and it moves quite rapidly. 
 
 This glacier is about three-eighths of a mile 
 across, and sometimes the whole front will break 
 off at once and come down into the water, making 
 a great commotion. This particular time, that we 
 were going there, the whole bay for one and a half 
 miles wide was literally filled with icebergs, floating 
 everywhere. The water was smooth as a mirror, 
 when suddenly the whole face of the glacier, which 
 was a mile away from us, broke off into the sea. 
 Some five minutes afterwards a great rising swell, 
 that was caused by the falling ice, came threateningly 
 toward us. We were nearly a quarter of a mile 
 from the shore, and in shallow water over a sand 
 bar. It was probably ten feet deep where we were. 
 As these swells run into shallow water they only 
 rise the higher. This one caught our boat, raised it 
 high upon the crest, and rolled us in toward the 
 shore. We were well loaded with camp outfit, and 
 when the swell let us down, we sat solidly in the 
 sand. The water receded, no more swells came, 
 and, to our surprise, we were some fifteen yards from 
 the edge of the water, having been carried more 
 than a quarter of a mile on the crest of this wave ! 
 All we needed to do was to unload our boat, drag it 
 through the heavy sand, back to deep water and 
 reload and go on again. We got our fish, and we
 
 Ice Floes and Glaciers. 103 
 
 were returning, when we found the bay was com- 
 pletely blocked with ice. To get through we had to 
 push the icebergs apart with our oars. All shades 
 of colours were represented in this ice, from the 
 most delicate hues of green and blue, to the deep, 
 pure colour of clear ice. 
 
 In the midst of this scene of beauty a seal put his 
 head up. I up with my rifle and shot him ! We got 
 the seal with great difficulty, for the concussion of 
 the gun caused an iceberg, just behind us, to turn 
 over, and only with the utmost difficulty we were able 
 to keep our we boat from being crushed. 
 
 At another time, we took all the children, 
 and a few of the white friends, and went off 
 to a place where an old glacier had receded 
 and left a level area in the pathway. We expected 
 to have a little rest from the toils of every day life. 
 But the mosquitoes were so thick and so hungry 
 that it seemed almost as if they would devour us 1 
 
 During this trip, a very amusing incident occurred. 
 Indians and prospectors alike, who had been in 
 these parts, had a very strange and awful story of a 
 monstrous bear, of an iron grey colour. They said he 
 was savage in the extreme, and the Indians asserted 
 that he had killed many of them. We knew that he 
 had chased many miners. He was larger than any 
 grisly. There are such bears, known as glacier 
 bears. So the stories were quite possible, and while 
 hunting in the forest, we were not slow to keep 
 an eye for the bear. 
 
 Mr. Churchill, an old hunter, had gone with me fai 
 up the river. He was standing on the bank of the river
 
 104 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 watching for salmon, when suddenly he became 
 aware, that there was another pair of eyes watching 
 for salmon also ! No sooner did he see a bear stand- 
 ing in the water, than, this monstrous bear loomed 
 up in his vision. He did not wait for any introduc- 
 tion in order to see how big he was, but, his hat 
 rising almost off his head, he came pell-mell through 
 the bushes. He said, " I have seen him, he is up 
 there in the river ! " His fright was contagious. We 
 both went, and Mr. Bear, hearing us go, went also, 
 but he went the other way ! We felt we were quite 
 out of sight, so, waited to know, what he would do. 
 We could hear him splash, splash, splash, through 
 the water. Soon the bushes creaked. We waited 
 nervously. The bear went out on the other side. We 
 drew a long breath as we saw him going up the moun- 
 tain side. It was only a half-grown black bear instead 
 of the monstrous grisly, but to frightened eyes he 
 was as big as a horse. When we felt safe we could 
 more accurately measure his size. 
 
 One day I had been over to Juneau, in a small 
 boat, and there came up quite a wind ; instead of 
 rowing back against the wind, I took a ferry, tying 
 my boat on to it. The ferry boat had a large 
 freight boat behind it, loaded heavy with freight. 
 The tow line was some hundred feet long. My boat 
 was tied up close behind the ferry. When we passed 
 just opposite our own home, about half-way across 
 the channel, I got into my own boat, loosened my 
 rope and was just ready to drop away, when an 
 Indian came out to watch me. There was no one 
 in the freight boat to steer it, and in going forwards it
 
 A Winter Bath. 105 
 
 would sometimes turn to one side and run away out 
 of its course, then the tow line would tighten, and it 
 would turn the head of the boat, when it would go 
 away out on the other side of the course and then 
 return. I was prepared to drop away when it went 
 out the other way. Just as I let go my rope, the 
 freight boat turned towards me. The Indian, seeing 
 my rope was loose, put his feet on it, thinking I 
 would be hurt. I motioned to him to let go, which 
 he did just in time to let the freight boat run me 
 down ! It struck me amidships, and turned my 
 little boat upside down ! Into the midst of the bay 
 I went sprawling. It was winter, and nearly Christ- 
 mas, I had a heavy overcoat on, a large knitted scarf 
 about my neck, and heavy Arctic over-shoes. I was 
 not prepared to swim, but I did my best. I had no 
 one to encourage me, for the Indian no sooner saw 
 me go over, than he went into the ferry boat, and 
 sat down and said nothing. He was afraid he would 
 be blamed, and so the ferry boat went on, no one 
 knew what had happened. The freight boat passed 
 me. I made a desperate effort to get it, but failed, 
 but to my joy, trailing behind it was some forty feet 
 of line. I was able to reach that. I clung to it for 
 very life, worked my way to the boat, and finally 
 round it, then along the tow line, worked my way 
 up to the stern of the ferry and called to the engineer. 
 He immediately stopped the engines and they took 
 me in, landed me safe at the wharf, half-a-mile from 
 home. I had not gone far from the wharf when my 
 clothing was all frozen stiff, except where needful to 
 bend in walking. But my boat was gone. A week
 
 106 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 or two after an Indian picked it up, far out at sea 
 and returned it safely. A few days after, we found 
 some of the children playing that they were capsized 
 and they had poured water on a little boy to make 
 him look as I did, when I came home that time. 
 
 Our children were very comical in many of their 
 expressions, and rather amusing in their play. I 
 remember distinctly how they used to illustrate the 
 Bible stories which they had heard. One day they 
 were seen down by the little brook near our house : 
 one, as a man, dressed very roughly, represented by 
 one of the children, and another boy and girl, dressed 
 as a king and queen. They appeared to be looking 
 for someone. Soon after, another one, dressed as a 
 raven, brought some biscuits and fed the man at the 
 stream. It evidently was Elijah. The others were 
 Ahab and Jezebel, and after a while, Elijah was found, 
 and there were two altars built. There were two 
 groups of people. Elijah was by one altar and the 
 others by the other. There was a sacrifice placed on 
 each altar. The larger group prostrated themselves 
 time and again, but nothing happened. Finally Elijah 
 kneeled down, with his hands to heaven, and a little 
 fellow lying behind the altar set fire to the whole 
 business with a match. The scene ended with the 
 prophets of Baal fleeing in every direction, and 
 Elijah's sacrifice was consumed ! 
 
 These children loved toboganning, of which we 
 had much, the snow being very deep, and sometimes 
 for weeks, with hard crust on the top. 
 
 We very often had heavy and hard trials to under- 
 go in this work. The parents would sell their
 
 Indian Girls. 107 
 
 daughters and then try every means available to 
 obtain them from the Mission when a bargain was 
 forthcoming. The daughters are naturally taught to 
 obey their parents. I have seen a mother eighty-five 
 years old and her daughter seventy, and the daughter 
 was implicitly obedient to her mother, and would be 
 so long as her mother lived. These children never 
 dared, except the bravest of them, to disobey the 
 most distant relative. On one occasion, the 
 mother of Lydia (a fifteen year old girl) came to the 
 Mission in my absence, took Lydia and her clothing, 
 bundled them up and started off. Lydia and her 
 mother were both bigger women than my wife, but 
 my wife saw her going, ran after her, laid her hands 
 upon her shoulder, and said, " Lydia, you're coming 
 back 1 " 
 
 I cannot tell what it was, whether it was her eye 
 or general manner, but both Lydia and her mother 
 were quiet and Lydia came back, but the mother 
 also followed, scolding all the time as hard as she 
 could but to no avail. My wife stopped her at the 
 gate, told her to stay outside, which she did. Con- 
 stantly they tried to steal their girls away, to barter 
 them to some debased man, because he had given 
 them so much money. 
 
 At another time, when I was away from home, 
 two other girls ran away together. 
 
 The missionary must be a man of all work. 
 Specialists have no business in the Mission field. A 
 man should be a preacher, a doctor, a lawyer, a 
 mechanic, a sexton, an undertaker, in fact he must 
 be all and everything. They thought the mission-
 
 io8 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 aries' power had no limit. We tried to induce 
 them to do their own sewing, introducing these 
 hand-sewing machines, and this I almost regretted 
 sometimes. I remember distinctly one night I had 
 just gone to bed at 10.30. There was a rap at the 
 door. On getting up, a boy was waiting outside, 
 saying, that his mother wanted me to come down 
 and fix her sewing machine which would not sew. 
 I tried to put him off, but no ; she was making a 
 burial robe, and it had to be done to-night. So I 
 dressed, and went with him. It was a mile down 
 there. The snow was about six feet deep, the night 
 was dark, and the wind was blowing hard, and the 
 thermometer was about zero, the trails were all 
 blown shut, and if we missed the solid path it meant 
 going up to your hips in snow. I found the house, 
 examined the sewing machine, there was nothing 
 wrong except that the shuttle needed threading ! so 
 I threaded the shuttle, said good-night, and struggled 
 home. 
 
 I had gone to bed and had slept a little while 
 when a loud rap came at the door. Again I got up, 
 inquired who it was. I heard in coarse English a 
 name. I knew the name and I knew the party so I 
 begged a moment's delay and dressed myself. I 
 opened the door and behold there stood two white 
 men and two Indian women. It was 12.45. I 
 invited them in, stirred up the fire, and we chatted 
 for nearly an hour. I finally asked them what they 
 wanted. One of them, rather red in the face, said, 
 " We come to be married ! " I inquired of them why 
 they came so late.
 
 A Strange Wedding. 109 
 
 One man informed me, saying, " Susie here, kind 
 o' thought she wanted another fellow," calling him 
 by name, " and I gave her her choice to take him or 
 me, and she decided for me just a little while ago, 
 and I thought before she'd change her mind we'd 
 have it settled, and as we had to have witnesses my 
 friend here and his woman have come to act, and if 
 it is all-right to you, they might as well have their 
 arrangements settled at the same time I " 
 
 Another three quarters of an hour and they were 
 gone. It was now nearly morning. Hardly had I 
 got to bed when I was called out again. I was 
 cold and sleepy. This time another mile to the 
 beach and another sewing machine to fix. I found 
 the bobbin was empty ; I filled the bobbin, and 
 went home in time to build the fires for the children 
 to get up.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 INDIAN HOSPITALITY. 
 
 1 A HE generosity of the Indian knows no bounds, 
 except when he thinks that he will receive 
 nothing in return. It is a custom among them to be 
 continually giving presents. On a visit among them, 
 at one time, a woman came into the house and threw 
 a bundle into the man's lap. The woman was a 
 stranger to all of us, excepting in name. He unrolled 
 the bundle and found in it a new coloured shirt ; 
 according to the custom, he immediately arose, 
 pulled his overshirt off, and put the new one on in 
 presence of us all. In a little while the same woman 
 returned, but he had on the new shirt and she was 
 pleased. If they make you a present, they expect 
 you to use it. You show your appreciation by hav- 
 ing it in view. 
 
 Upon inquiry we found that this woman was ex- 
 pecting to borrow some money of this man, and this 
 was the first token that she intended to pay it back, 
 the man must receive the full value of what he loans 
 and these extra presents besides. If an Indian 
 says that he will pay you back double for what he 
 gets, you may know for a certainty he intends to 
 pay you nothing ; but if he promises to return only
 
 Indian Hospitality. in 
 
 what he gets, you may take it for granted that he will 
 give you presents enough to amount to the interest. 
 They are not stingy and are very hospitable, in fact 
 giving you the best they have, which is not very 
 much sometimes. 
 
 A young medical student was visiting us in 
 Alaska, and we walked about ten miles out to an 
 Indian camp. We were very tired when we got 
 there, and we were going to stay all night with them. 
 He had never visited Indians before. When night 
 came on, our beds were prepared. Indians always 
 kill a great many wild fowl, and take their feathers 
 for pillows. Of course they are not washed or 
 dressed, but they make a very good pillow. They 
 take a sack in which they have bought flour, fill it 
 full of feathers, the sack is not always washed 
 previously. But after a while the flour gets pretty 
 much knocked out of it. 
 
 On this occasion the Indians were very kind 
 to us, each one giving us his pillow and making 
 our bed a long straight row of pillows. We 
 could lie on them by lying on our side, but if we 
 turned over we would roll off, but rolling off was a 
 more difficult matter than one might imagine, for in 
 the little tent we were packed in something after the 
 fashion of sardines in a box. 
 
 In going to bed our host lay down next to me, and 
 his wife lay down next to him and his children around 
 the other way, enough of them to come just to the 
 door ; our feet all towards the centre, the young 
 medical student lay on the other side of me, and some 
 other Indians next to him ; the tent \vas small, there
 
 H2 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 was just room enough for us all, and if we wanted to 
 turn over it would be necessary to use our elbow to 
 make room. The pillows on which we lay made it 
 more comfortable for us, for it raised us a little above 
 the general level, and we slept very soundly. It is 
 needless to say that we smelt like feathers the next 
 morning. 
 
 On another occasion, visiting among the Indians 
 alone, the missionary was invited to dine with the 
 chief. Of course he must accept the invitation. 
 We had seal feet for dinner. There is no muscle in 
 these feet ; it is nearly all fat. One foot makes quite 
 a large piece of meat. The old chief had one and 
 he gave the missionary the other. We sat on the 
 ground facing each other. The fat of the seal is not 
 very palatable to our educated tastes, but it must be 
 eaten. He had invited us, and it would shame the 
 host if we did not eat. So taking my seal foot 
 in both hands (for we had no knife and fork), 
 I tried to imitate as near as possible the example 
 set by the chief, excepting in this one thing, 
 that I wanted to get rid of mine as soon as possible. 
 
 To say it was a savoury piece would not be true, 
 to say it was greasy is but saying it lightly, the 
 grease ran down between my fingers and dripped off 
 on to the ground. I ate as rapidly as I could, and 
 very soon had it half consumed. The old chief 
 went more leisurely at his, for Indians never hurry. 
 I had eaten so rapidly that I felt that I wanted to 
 rest. I laid my piece on a smooth stone near by to 
 try and get some of the grease off my fingers. All 
 the while the chief was chatting away in his own
 
 "Christian Dinners." 113 
 
 language. It suddenly occurred to him that he had 
 the biggest piece. I had noticed how dirty his 
 hands were, and how occasionally he would take 
 one greasy hand and wipe his long hair back from 
 off his forehead, and now with that same hand he 
 reaches over and takes my piece of meat, and in 
 exchange gives me his. Of course he meant it well 
 and I dared not protest, but meekly took it up, and 
 this time I was careful not to lay it down again 
 until it was all gone. It is often far better " to make 
 haste slowly," especially among the Indians 1 
 
 After they are converted, instead of having their 
 former feasts for the dead and so forth, the Indians 
 make what they call " Christian dinners," a sort of 
 social meal. The bill of fare consists of soup made 
 from venison, potatoes, onions, carrots, and such like, 
 all boiled together, a really palatable dish. As 
 many of the boys and girls after having been in the 
 Missions were good cooks, and could bake cake and 
 pie and such things as well as any baker, a supply 
 of such eatables was usually provided ; they also 
 bought butter and jam of various sorts ; and some 
 of these dinners were splendid to look at, but far 
 better to eat. We were nearly always included 
 in the invitations when a dinner was coming off. A 
 man would purpose in his mind to make a dinner 
 sometime, he did not know just when, for he did 
 not know how long it would take him to make the 
 money to provide the necessary food. He would 
 consult with his friends and his family and they 
 would send out invitations to all those they wanted 
 at the dinner. They often included the lame, the
 
 ii4 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 halt, the blind, and the old people with their friends ; 
 as they understood the teaching of the Gospel. 
 
 "Their invitation would be something like this : 
 " We are going to make a dinner. Will you come ? " 
 If we asked them when, they would say, " We 
 do not know yet, but we will let you know." It 
 might be months and we would hear no more of 
 
 O 
 
 the dinner, until some day when we were busiest 
 there would be a messenger stand at the door saying, 
 " Come now ! So and so has dinner ready," and we 
 must drop everything and go, there must be no delay 
 now. They have set just so many plates, one for 
 each of those invited. If anyone fails to go he 
 generally receives his portion of the feast just the 
 same, sent to him on his plate ; but sometimes it is 
 given to the poor. 
 
 One day about noon a messenger stood before our 
 door, saying, " Come now, everything is ready." 
 We had been called a month before, but were not 
 quite ready to go just at the moment. The 
 messenger urged us saying, " Dinner's ready." We 
 hastened as fast as we could, but it takes us so much 
 longer to dress than it does an Indian, and upon 
 our arrival we found they had given us up and 
 thought we were not coming, for they were not quite 
 sure that we would accept the invitation, but, how- 
 ever, we were there. The host and his family had 
 seated themselves at our places. They had eaten 
 about half of their plates of soup, and left the other 
 half when we came. They immediately arose and 
 gave us our places. They did not change the soup 
 nor plates, nor wash the spoons. We sat down and
 
 Indian Hospitality. 115 
 
 waited, expecting them to at least change the plates, 
 but they made no move towards it, so I ate the soup 
 that was left for me, but my wife was not quite pre- 
 pared for such things. It was a little more than she 
 was accustomed to. I soon found her nudging me 
 with her elbow, and then she exchanged plates. I now 
 had her half plate of soup to eat, for if we refused 
 to eat this soup the Indians would immediately 
 say we were proud, and would then have no more 
 to do with us, so to save our reputation I ate 
 her soup, but our assistant matron sitting at the 
 other side of my wife was in a like predicament with 
 her. She did not feel disposed to eat what was 
 before her, so when I had finished the second dish 
 my wife very cleverly exchanged dishes again, this 
 time the assistant matron's soup came my way. I 
 had nearly soup enough, but like an Indian I had 
 acquired the habit of eating when I had it, and when 
 I did not have it, of doing without. I had it this 
 time and so I devoured the last. Now the women 
 could get fresh soup, and they did nobly by it. 
 
 After the dinner is over the custom formerly was 
 to tell stories of Indian bravery and such like, but 
 now it is to tell stories of the Christ and of the good 
 things of the Gospel. While they are telling these 
 stories, the host having bought great quantities of 
 food, more than can be eaten, continues to dis- 
 tribute the plates according to his own whim ; the 
 remaining food, naturally in some cases a great pile, 
 is found around the plate, three or four loaves of 
 bread, a dozen apples, oranges, candy, and sometimes 
 handkerchiefs are provided according to the notion
 
 u6 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 of the giver of the dinner. In the meantime story 
 telling is indulged in. 
 
 I remember one story told by an Indian, how that 
 a certain man had made a feast and it was before 
 they were Christians. He especially emphasised 
 that ; and that when they were cooking the soup on 
 the fire and were talking and laughing, the host went 
 to get some pepper to put in the soup, and got the 
 snuff box from its place instead and peppered the 
 soup with snuff, afterwards, not knowing the differ- 
 ence, set it before his guests ; of course they must 
 say nothing about it, and in courtesy they must eat 
 it, after which some of them became sick. He 
 especially emphasised that as Christians they had no 
 snuff box, there was no danger now. After this 
 story, many others followed, then there was a song 
 and several offered prayer. Then the provision 
 around each plate was safely deposited in a bag 
 which had been brought for the occasion, and taken 
 home as a sweet savour of the feast.
 
 CHRISTIAN' INDIAN'S.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE INDIANS AT MEETING. 
 
 WE must now relate something of the meetings 
 that were conducted among these people. 
 The native is naturally of a stolid, undemonstrative 
 character. He will listen as long as you want to 
 talk, then you in turn must listen while he talks. 
 You must let him finish as he did you. Among 
 them are many very earnest preachers, but above 
 most stood the saintly Aaron Koohk-now-woo. He 
 was not an attractive man, for, in fact, his face was 
 much disfigured his cheeks were scarred and his 
 nose was gone. This is how it happened. He was 
 next to the chief in rank, his family were high in 
 culture, as Indians go. Coming in contact with 
 some Peniel Mission workers he became convinced 
 and converted. No longer would Aaron drink and 
 carouse as he used to do. No more old fashioned 
 feasts for him. He was now a Jesus man ; but his 
 parents (though he was forty-five years of age) pro- 
 tested. His mother declared that he should not be 
 a Christian, and they did everything they could to 
 discourage him. All their former efforts failing they 
 finally got up a big feast at their own home. They 
 went through all the old customs and ceremonies, 
 
 117
 
 n8 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 but Aaron would not participate. This angered his 
 mother and his father so that they determined to 
 make him do something that would be wrong. 
 They secured two of his brothers and the four of 
 them procured a bottle of whiskey ; they took poor 
 Aaron and tied his hands and his feet together and 
 then poured the whiskey down his throat. Needless 
 to say Aaron was drunk. When he became sober 
 they told him " Now, you are no Jesus man, you 
 were drunk." Aaron prayed, and asked God to 
 forgive him, and promised in vocal prayer to leave 
 his father and mother as they had become his worst 
 foes. This so surprised and angered them that they 
 resorted to another bottle of whiskey. Aaron 
 struggled but being half stupefied could do but 
 little. In the scuffle he was dragged out of the 
 house and left in the snow for dead. 
 
 It was nearly morning when he awoke, all night 
 he had lain out and was stiff with cold ; his face was 
 one mass of blood. A friendly Indian came to help 
 him into the house, and upon washing his face it was 
 discovered that his nose was gone. His mother on 
 being questioned declared she had done it, saying 
 he did not need to think he was going to go to 
 heaven and break the family, for they were all going 
 to hell, and if they were all there he had to go too, 
 and now the Lord would not want him with his 
 nose gone. 
 
 Aaron left home and remained until his death a 
 faithful, follower of the Lord Jesus, going about 
 holding meetings everywhere ; a sweeter, kinder 
 spirit is seldom known.
 
 An Attentive Audience. 119 
 
 Our work among these people often obliged us 
 to make long journeys to visit them in their camps. 
 The only way we could get from place to place was 
 by an open boat, and as it rained incessantly in the 
 summer, our blankets were often wet, our clothes 
 were wet, and often the food was wet. Many a time 
 have we wrung the water out of our blankets and 
 slept in them all night, while our wet clothes were 
 drying over the fire, then had to rise early the next 
 morning and go through the rain for hours and 
 hours to the next camp. 
 
 Our elder, Dick Smith, and myself were out 
 one day and came to a little camp of twenty 
 Indians. These Indians had never heard the Gospel 
 before. We had a little to eat and then called a 
 meeting. I could not yet speak the language, and 
 Dick did not understand English very well, so in 
 half English and half Chonook I told the story of 
 the Bible from first to last. As we sat around the 
 fire in a small log house, we talked and they listened 
 till midnight. When we offered to stop they signi- 
 fied they wanted us to go on. Finally daylight 
 came and I begged leave to stop, saying, " We'll 
 finish another time." 
 
 Dick said " No, if you stop, I will go on, they 
 want to hear." 
 
 I felt ashamed, and we went on all day, and for 
 thirty-six hours without food or sleep we told the 
 story of the Love of God, told it the best we could. 
 These Indians sat through it all, none slept except 
 the children, none ate until it was finished. When 
 it was over we waited in silence, perhaps five
 
 I2O Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 minutes, when the eldest one in the house slowly 
 and with well chosen words declared his intention 
 of accepting the Gospel and believing in Jesus ; 
 likewise one after another, until seventeen declared 
 themselves Christians. So far as we know they have 
 remained firm to the present time. 
 
 If Christians were willing to pay the price they 
 would see the fruits of their labour. It costs some- 
 thing, but it is worth more than it costs. 
 
 On the Mission premises was a good strong 
 building which was called the schoolhouse. It was 
 used for school and also for meeting purposes. 
 For several years we had no other place for 
 worship. 
 
 Some very amusing things are associated with our 
 gatherings in this little house for meetings. Here is 
 a description of a meeting. 
 
 At the appointed hour we saw the Indians come 
 streaming up the side-walk from their homes'a mile 
 away. There is one thing peculiar about the native, 
 the whole family goes to meeting, it is disrespectful 
 for anyone to be left at home, and this is how they 
 come : the father first, followed by the mother, and 
 then the children, intermingled with the dogs and 
 cats. They all come ! Thus they filed up into the 
 school-house for meeting. The men and women sat 
 in the seats, the children on the top of them, and the 
 dogs underneath. Ordinary dogs might have been 
 tolerated, but these were not ordinary. They look 
 more like wolves. Their hair is about two to three 
 inches long, and stands straight out from the skin. 
 Their little pointed ears also stand straight up, a long
 
 Kindness to Animals. 121 
 
 slender nose, small sharp eyes, and the broad head 
 indicating their wild origin, yet they seem very docile. 
 Some of them hopped on three feet looking hungry 
 and lean. They were frightful to look at. 
 
 It is a very good trait in the Indian character that 
 he will not kill a poor faithful animal simply because 
 it becomes unprofitable ; it goes with the family as 
 long as it can go ; of course, when it cannot go any 
 more, it is left behind, what else could they 
 do ? And on this occasion they filed into the 
 meeting house all together until it was crowded, 
 and the door was shut. Many of the Indians had 
 been eating dried fish, some of them prepared salmon 
 heads, the odour of which was not very pleasant, 
 with the dogs mixed in, it was almost unbearable. 
 But we were not there to criticise, we were there to 
 preach the Gospel. We opened the windows, but 
 that did not suffice, although it was better. 
 
 The time came for us to preach. My heart 
 sank within me. What could I say to them ? It 
 seemed almost impossible to find a text to suit the 
 case. I wanted to get rid of those dogs, I did not 
 want them in the house, the Indians were enough. 
 In my perplexity an inspiration came in the 
 form of a text in Revelation which would 
 meet the present need. The text read, " For without 
 .are dogs." I know there is some more of it, but that 
 was all that was needed then. 
 
 I arose to my feet, and through an interpreter 
 spoke to the people. I spoke for nearly a half- 
 hour, trying to explain to them what this text meant ; 
 .that characters like dogs were outside, and finally
 
 122 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 leading up to the one principal point that dogs them- 
 selves belonged outside, not in. I think I never was 
 so hopeless in all my life. As we talked, I looked for 
 some expression in their faces, but if their features 
 had been chiselled in marble they would have 
 changed just as little. I could not say that they 
 stared at me vacantly, for they seemed to under- 
 stand everything that we said. I did not know 
 whether they meant to unite and tear me to pieces, 
 or whether they intended simply to entirely ignore 
 all that was said. I was thinking it was about time 
 to stop when I saw an old man sitting on the end of 
 the bench about halfway back to the door, reach 
 under the bench slowly, and deliberately take his 
 dog by the back of the neck, pull him out from 
 under the seat, and start for the door. Those in 
 the aisle made way for him. The dog resented the 
 action ; he did not want to go, and talked about it 
 rather loudly ; a neighbour's dog under the other 
 bench seemed to think it meant him, and he came 
 out, apparently to put a stop to it. It was not 
 polite to be making a noise in meeting anyway. 
 But it was not long before the two were vicing with 
 each other as to which one could make the most 
 noise, and they were tumbling about and biting at a 
 fearful rate. Now a third one came on the scene, 
 and the three of them, with the old man hanging to 
 the neck of one, were doing their best to settle the 
 matter. The old man never looked around, but 
 simply held to his dog and got him to the door and 
 pitched him out ; then shut the door and slowly 
 and deliberately made his way to his seat and sat
 
 Dogs at Meeting. 123 
 
 down. No sooner had he taken his seat than a 
 woman across the way, proceeded in the same way. 
 Her dog did not want to go either, and resented 
 it likewise, but there was no sympathising friend 
 this time, the others seemed to have taken the 
 hint, they remained quietly under the benches 
 until she put her dog out and took her seat. No 
 one seemed disturbed, everyone looked steadily at 
 me, no one smiled and there was no excitement, 
 save among the dogs, and that had now cooled 
 down. I thought it was over, but one by one each 
 fellow took his dog and put him out, until the last 
 one was outside. Then we went on and finished 
 the sermon, and the dogs outside settled the matter 
 satisfactorily, for we could hear them at it. From 
 that day to this we have had no more trouble with 
 dogs at the meeting-house. They came with the 
 people for a few times after, but finally ceased alto- 
 gether to attend. 
 
 In a few years the little school-house was too 
 small to accommodate the meeting, so the people 
 came an hour before the time in order to get 
 a seat inside ; oftentimes women with babies 
 being too late to get in, would stand outside the 
 windows and bargain with those inside for a seat. 
 They would raise the windows in the coldest 
 weather, then pile wood on the outside till they could 
 stand up and look in. On one occasion a woman 
 with a baby was too late, but got a place near a 
 window, when seeing an acquaintance inside she 
 offered him a quarter for his place, which he accepted, 
 and climbed out through the open window and the
 
 124 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 woman with her baby climbed in and occupied the 
 purchased place. 
 
 The Indians often have meetings in their own 
 homes. I have seen them in a little room, about 
 10 by 12 feet, where they would crowd in as long 
 as they could stand inside ; no ventilation, no 
 fire, but in the midst of this crowding, souls would 
 cry out to God. They could not even kneel 
 down to pray, but borne up one of another would 
 pray to God in any position until the Gospel became 
 of such power in our place that for a year there was 
 not a meeting in which there were fewer than five 
 converted. So enthusiastic did they become that if 
 a man came into the village he either had to repent 
 or leave the town. They would not let him rest, he 
 could neither eat, nor sleep, for some one would be 
 after him about his soul, persuading him and telling 
 of what the Lord had done. One man literally 
 gathered up his tent, loaded his goods, and left the 
 town, for he would not repent. They meant him no 
 harm but were only anxious for his soul. 
 
 At our watch-night meeting we began at seven in 
 the evening, and continued till past twelve (though 
 this was nothing uncommon, for very often our 
 meetings continued till two in the morning), but 
 this meeting seemed a time of special blessing, the 
 very thought of the dying old year brought death 
 before them ; and the breaking of the dawn of the 
 new, brought the resurrection. Many a stubborn 
 heart was brought to Christ at these times. After 
 having been converted he went immediately to his 
 home ; sometimes many hundreds of miles, and
 
 "Daniel's Band." 125 
 
 there spread the news of the Gospel of salvation. 
 Others went out to the camps and told the story. 
 Many believed, but needed teaching ; this required 
 us to visit them and strengthen their hands in the 
 good work. There were many we could not visit, 
 but we could not refuse them all. 
 
 Often the way was long and dangerous. Once 
 when going a hundred miles to visit the Indians at 
 a place where they had been pleading for help, a 
 strong north wind was blowing in our face, and it 
 was so cold that the waves as they rolled over the 
 steamer froze to the deck. Men were lashed to 
 the side for twenty minutes at a time, chopping the 
 ice as it got thick enough to block off, else we 
 should have turned over on one side. The wind 
 was so strong we only made about one mile an hour 
 against it for twenty-four hours. The steam from 
 the boilers could not even be utilised to heat our 
 rooms, every bit of power was being used to propel 
 the boat. After much difficulty we reached our 
 destination, and had a very warm welcome from the 
 waiting people. 
 
 There being other denominations at work among 
 the people we found it necessary to organise them 
 into a sort of " Daniel's Band," as we called it, that 
 they might work with those of other denominations 
 in harmony, and that they might understand that 
 there were no divisions among Christians. In fact 
 the sect line was almost obliterated amongst us. 
 We knew no denomination. 
 
 Among these Indians were some very promising 
 young men, one of whom was Robert Harris.
 
 126 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 Unfortunately, like many of his race, he had 
 indications of tuberculosis. He was a powerful 
 preacher of the Word, but after having preached the 
 gospel with great power for about three years, he, 
 like many a white man, felt he needed more educa- 
 tion, and laid down his commission to go to school. 
 This proved disastrous. The confinement fostered 
 his consumption. He returned to his gospel 
 work and grew better and back he went to 
 school. He was soon down again, this time never 
 to recover. 
 
 To give you some idea of what we had to deal 
 with, here is an incident which illustrates the 
 character of the work. In the meeting, one Sunday 
 morning, there was a man from the interior, who 
 had been invited to come. He was a stranger to us, 
 and to grace. More than that, he had two wives ; 
 he was a man perhaps seventy-five years old and one 
 wife was older than he, having been his brother's wife 
 before this. His other wife was a young girl about 
 seventeen years of age. She was rather a comely 
 Indian maiden, above the average in intelligence. 
 None of them had ever heard the gospel. They 
 were all inveterate users of tobacco. 
 
 One morning they came to meeting. We preached 
 to them of the saving grace of the Lord Jesus, His 
 love for all, even for the poor Indian. It seemed to 
 touch their hearts. They longed for freedom from 
 the bondage of the devil, and in Christ they saw 
 hope ; and after the meeting they came together 
 into the inquiry room. We had much conversation 
 with all three of them and with others ; they all
 
 A Domestic Question. 127 
 
 claimed to have accepted Christ. We were hopeful, 
 but had learned not to be too hopeful at first. 
 
 In the evening they returned to the meeting again ; 
 they listened respectfully, and went home much 
 pleased. Their faces seemed to shine with a new 
 light. We had said nothing to them, nor had anyone 
 else, about polygamy or the use of tobacco, for we 
 never think it wise to say anything about such 
 things, but rather left it to them and to God. 
 
 The next forenoon I was busy writing. The mail 
 had come from the States. It only came once in 
 two weeks, and we had to hasten to get the replies 
 written and ready for the out-going mail. While 
 thus occupied, there was a knock at the door. I 
 looked up and could see that it was the old man of 
 yesterday's meeting. I invited him in and quickly 
 asked him what he wanted. He told me he had 
 come to talk about being a Christian. I told him I 
 was glad of it, though all the time I was wanting to 
 get on with my writing, but I had to wait till he 
 was ready to talk. Finally he said " You know I 
 told you I wanted to be a Christian." 
 
 " Yes, I remember." 
 
 " Well," he continued, " I still want to be one." 
 
 I told him 1 was glad, I hoped he would always 
 want to. He replied that he always did want to, 
 but he wanted to ask me one question. I told him 
 to go ahead, I would answer it if I could. 
 
 " Well, you know, I have two wives." 
 
 " Yes, I know." 
 
 " Now, I want to be a Christian, and I will be 
 one, if you will let me keep both wives."
 
 128 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 I said to him, " Why, my good man, that I have 
 nothing to do with, that is between you and God. 
 If He will let you keep them, then you can keep 
 them. I shall say nothing." 
 
 " Look here, Minister, did you not tell us that the 
 Lord had sent you here ? " 
 
 " Yes, I believe He did send me " for there 
 was nothing ever plainer in my life than that God 
 had called me to this field. 
 
 Then he said, " If the Lord has sent you here, He 
 would not have sent you and not told you what He 
 wanted us to do." 
 
 I now saw he had me. I either must say I was 
 not sent, or I must declare that the Lord had not 
 told me anything, which would mean I had no 
 message of any kind ; or else I must tell him what 
 he must do. These thoughts passed quickly through 
 my mind. I felt the responsibility of a messenger 
 of the King as never before. I felt now that the 
 Lord had put me in His place and had spoken to me, 
 and now I must impart it to others. And quicker 
 than it takes you to read it, I plainly told him, 
 " You must put away one of your wives." I did 
 not say any more, for I wanted to get out of it as 
 easily as I could. 
 
 He grabbed his hat off the floor and put it on his 
 head hard, and he said, " I thought you was a good 
 man. I thought you was a Christian, and I wanted 
 to be a Christian, and you have only made me sorry. 
 I do not intend to be a Christian." 
 
 I said to him, " I am sorry for that, I hope that 
 you will think it over."
 
 A Selfish Solution. 129 
 
 He said, " What I have said, I have said," and left 
 the house in a terrible rage. 
 
 I think I was too busy with my writing to grieve 
 much over it, I was rather glad he had gone, but I 
 was sorry for his decision. I went back to my 
 writing. I was getting on well. It was three 
 o'clock in the afternoon, when behold he made his 
 appearance at the door again. He came this time 
 rather meekly and humbly. When he knocked at 
 the door, without turning I told him to come in. He 
 came in and sat down. I went on writing. I knew 
 it would take him some time to make up his mind 
 to talk. After a while I turned around to him. 
 
 He said, " Now, minister, I have come back to tell 
 you that I was wrong this morning." (My heart beat 
 within me, I thought after all he was coming 
 right). He continued, " I really want to be a 
 Christian, and I have come back to ask if you will 
 let me keep my young wife, the old woman is no 
 good any more, and I will promise sure to be a 
 Christian if you will let me keep the young one." 
 
 I told him " No, the old woman was his wife, the 
 young woman was only recently taken, it was the 
 old woman or none." 
 
 He flew into a rage and left the house forthwith, 
 and I was glad to get rid of him. 
 
 I finished my writing as best I could that evening. 
 
 I was just preparing the next morning for a trip, 
 and I was writing down the last instructions that I 
 had to leave, when Behold here comes the man back. 
 I saw who it was ; he knocked at the door. I did 
 not answer him, for I was busy. He finally opened 
 
 10
 
 130 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 the door without being asked, and meekly slipped 
 in. I went on with my work. It was nearly half 
 an hour before I had finished, and I turned round 
 to find him standing in the middle of the floor, his 
 hat in his hand, and his face downcast. 
 
 He said, " Minister, I have come back to see you 
 this morning." 
 
 I said, " Yes, you did that twice before. You are 
 like the wind, you come back very calm, and then 
 you howl before you go away." 
 
 " No," he said, " I am very happy this morning." 
 
 " I am very glad of that," I said, " tell me about 
 it?" 
 
 " You know I got angry with you yesterday." 
 
 " Yes," I said, " I know it all too well. Are you 
 sure you wont do it again to-day ? " 
 
 He said " No, I am not going to be angry to-day. 
 Last night when I went home from here, my young 
 woman was gone ; she had run away, and I have 
 hunted for her all night, and have not found her yet 
 this morning, and I have come back to tell you I 
 believe the Lord has done it, that He has made her 
 run away, and now I will keep the old woman, and 
 we will die together." Then he added " If the young 
 woman comes back, she need not come to me. She 
 is free." 
 
 So the old man left ; he has remained a faithful 
 Christian ever since. It is needless to say that the 
 young woman returned in a few days, and some 
 months afterwards was married to a nice young man. 
 They have now a family of sweet children, and so 
 far as I know are all living good Christian lives.
 
 Christianity versus Tobacco. 131 
 
 Upon one occasion a woman after hearing the 
 Word of God arose in the meeting, and declared in 
 public her determination to be a Christian. All the 
 while she was speaking she kept rummaging in a 
 long pocket of her dress skirt ; and down in the 
 bottom of it underneath a great many handkerchiefs 
 and such things as belong to women, she at last 
 found and pulled out a great plug of tobacco. It 
 was nearly a foot in length. She held it up before 
 us all and said, " Here, Mission Charlie, I want to 
 give this to Jesus." We all laughed. The idea of 
 Jesus wanting such a thing as that. I told her that 
 He did not use the stuff, it was only intended for 
 mountain goats to eat. So she deliberately walked 
 to the stove, and put it in the fire. 
 
 To the credit of the Indian, to become a Christian 
 meant to do away with tobacco. There were no 
 dirty, filthy mouths among the Christian Indians. 
 
 There was one half-hearted man who came up to 
 see me at the Mission. He had been much among 
 the whites, could speak some English, and had 
 learned some of the white man's ways. He was a 
 professed Christian. I was going to meet him, but 
 he did not notice me. As I came nearer to him I 
 thought he was smoking. I was not quite sure, but 
 I had no time to satisfy my curiosity. Upon seeing 
 me he put both his hands in his coat pockets and 
 came smilingly towards me. I noticed by his breath 
 that he had been smoking. He did not know 
 sufficient English to explain himself so he demon- 
 strated with his hands ; this took them out of 
 his pockets, and while we were talking I noticed a
 
 132 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 little smoke rising out of his coat pocket. The tell- 
 tale cigar had burnt a hole in his new coat. I told 
 him his pocket was on fire. He jammed his hand 
 into it, only to get it burned. It was not long before 
 the cigar had to come out of his pocket. Together 
 we succeeded in putting out the fire but his coat was 
 ruined. He -afterward hung his coat in his own 
 room as a witness between him and God that he 
 would never smoke again. I have reason to believe 
 he has not done so.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 GROWTH OF THE MISSION. 
 
 WERE we to speak of the natives only, we should 
 scarcely tell half of the great work that the 
 Lord had laid upon us. Were not the white people 
 whom He had called into that country as much His 
 children as the natives ? though it is true they came 
 in search of gold, and would be gone as soon as pos- 
 sible, yet He Who has the riches of everlasting life 
 also had His messengers in that distant land. 
 
 Scarcely two years had passed away when a 
 number sufficient to organise a monthly meeting 
 had been gathered into the Church. In fair justice 
 to all, it should be said the Mission force did not con- 
 sist only of those sent by Kansas Yearly Meeting, but 
 in the early part of our trials some whites, whose 
 hearts the Lord had opened, lent a helping hand. 
 Among the first to come to us were Edward and Ora 
 Churchill. The former was the son of a Baptist 
 Minister, and originally probably was no better than 
 the proverbial " preacher's boy." He had wandered 
 over much of the world before coming to Alaska. His 
 wife was well educated and a very capable woman. 
 
 After being converted they joined the Friends. 
 She is now an elder and he an overseer. We cannot 
 
 133
 
 134 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 speak too highly of their services. Through all the 
 discouragements, through all the difficulties, they 
 stood nobly by our side. There was no task too 
 hard, there was no service they could render but what 
 was readily granted ; they did not join with the 
 majority of white people in belittling the native, they 
 saw his limitations, they knew his weakness, but lent 
 a hand to help him. 
 
 From this nucleus the meetings grew in numbers ; 
 the white people from the mines continually came. 
 They would sit with the natives, and listen to the 
 English, and think it over while the interpreter told 
 it to the natives. Finally the house became too 
 small, it would not accommodate the growing congre- 
 gations. We felt it needful to notify the whites that 
 as we were sent directly to the natives, they should 
 not, must not, expect us to preach to them. The 
 natives had begun to feel a little out of place, there 
 were too many white people they thought. To meet 
 the growing need we organised a meeting especially for 
 whites, in which the natives were welcome but only 
 English was spoken, except when a native desired to 
 give testimony, which often happened. The miners 
 often came and went away impressed with the 
 sincerity of the natives. 
 
 A man named Harvey had attended our meeting 
 once or twice and then had gone from our place to 
 the Yukon Territory. From there he went back to 
 the States, married a young woman, and returned to 
 Alaska. One Sunday morning we saw them coming 
 through about six feet of snow to attend the meeting. 
 The trail was very narrow, and his wife not being
 
 Fellow- Workers. 135 
 
 used to the snow often stepped aside, and to step 
 aside from the trail in that country meant to go clear 
 to the ground. Several times she was utterly covered 
 with snow. They made their way to the school- 
 house on the hill. In course of time they were con- 
 verted and became Members of the Society. He is 
 now in business in the State of Washington and is 
 a faithful Minister of the Gospel. 
 
 Of all the noble helpers who came to the work I 
 cannot now tell, but will mention Chas. and Gertie 
 Bodwell, who are at present missionaries in Central 
 America. And John Lundquist, who at the call of 
 the Lord, left his wife and children and met us in 
 London, and went as interpreter for us through 
 Norway ; also James Campbell, who in obedience to 
 the Spirit, lived a life of faith for the sake of the 
 natives. Then of those faithful women, who against 
 odds and much discouragement, counted it as 
 nothing that they might be of service to their 
 Lord. 
 
 For seven years we had a S.S. Teachers' meeting 
 which never missed a session until it became a Bible 
 reading which was attended by whites from far and 
 near. We organised a Christian Endeavour Society, 
 having forty-two active members at one time, and a 
 Junior Society which is still in existence. There 
 was a Women's Missionary Society, all these among 
 the whites. 
 
 At one time we had a Rescue Work very efficiently 
 provided for. Many are the experiences some of 
 those dear women have had in their efforts to save 
 their friends.
 
 136 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 On a Wednesday evening, with the wind blowing 
 from off the top of the mountains across the bay, we 
 began a series of meetings. It was blowing a 
 hurricane and fearfully cold. The old school-house 
 was very open, and we had to sit near the stove to 
 keep warm. It was such a gale that it was almost 
 impossible to go outside. There were only two souls 
 who ventured to come. One was an Indian and the 
 other a white man. The white man in coming to 
 the meeting had lost his hat, the wind having taken 
 it far into the mountains, no one knows where ; but 
 he came on to the meeting. His ears were nearly 
 frozen. The three of us sat about the stove, Dick 
 Smith and I on one side, and Tom Nelson on the 
 other. Tom was not a particularly attractive man, 
 having lost one eye in an accident years before, but 
 the peculiarity about him was that he had run away 
 from a meeting in San Francisco and now he had 
 got into another. He thought they had no business 
 to tell him he was a sinner and here they told him 
 the same. We talked awhile and prayed. I talked in 
 English, Dick Smith (for that was the Indian's name) 
 talked in Chonook, and together we managed to get 
 Tom to understand something about Jesus. When 
 the time came to go home, Tom had no hat. Dick 
 took the scarf off his neck, and he gave it to Tom to 
 wrap round his head, and together they went home. 
 That night the Lord met with Tom, and he yielded up 
 his heart to God. In a month or two after this he 
 went to the Yukon, there I understand he did 
 well, preaching the Gospel to those who worked for 
 him. 

 
 Rolling to Sunday School. 137 
 
 Many times in our going to the meetings from our 
 home we had great difficulty in getting through the 
 snow. We lived on the hillside and must needs go 
 about a quarter of a mile out of our way down 
 the hill and back again on the other side of the creek 
 to the meeting. It so happened one Sunday morn- 
 ing, the wind was blowing fearfully again, which it 
 often did, in fact the snow was light and it was 
 blown everywhere. If one walked through the snow, 
 in two minutes every sign of his having been there 
 would be obliterated. My wife said at the breakfast 
 table, " Children, you cannot go to Sunday School 
 this morning, it is too bad." But our children began 
 to cry, saying, " We have not missed yet, and we 
 want to go ; please let us go." 
 
 After much persuasion I told the children that I 
 would take them, and do the best we could. 
 Bundled up head and foot we plunged into the 
 snow, some six feet deep on the level and very soft- 
 I soon saw I could not wade it, so I told the children 
 just simply to bundle up and lie down and roll. I 
 went first, the little girl after me, and with her our 
 little boy, who was born in Alaska. We rolled 
 safely down till we got to a beaten trail, where the 
 wind had blown it bare. We were safe, and from 
 there we went easily to the meeting. 
 
 My wife and the others at the home could scarcely 
 be expected to do such feats. But they were made 
 of different stuff than we had calculated on. They 
 had inventive minds as well as the rest of us. Going 
 up into the attic, they found some old shingles, dry 
 and brash. They started to make themselves some
 
 138 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 snow shoes, but in the operation got the grain 
 turned the wrong way. They bored holes in the 
 shingles with an old pocket knife, tied strings on 
 them and tied them upon their feet, and sallied 
 bravely forth to glory over us. Lo, the first step 
 they made, the shingles split in two, and left them 
 floundering in the snow. But they would not 
 be beaten. They gathered their skirts about them 
 and came down the hill just like we did ; they 
 rolled down. They finally reached the beaten 
 path, and woman-like, you know, they got up, shook 
 themselves, looked all about them to see if anybody 
 was looking, and became aware that every door and 
 window within sight was filled with heads of children 
 and women and men who had been watching the 
 sight. Yet our Meeting House was full that morn- 
 ing, despite all the difficulties. I have often wondered 
 how it would look to see our earnest Christian people 
 in this beloved land going to meeting in that fashion.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE WORK OF EDUCATION. 
 
 WE will now come back to the condition of the 
 native. He is a shrewd man, highly intel- 
 lectual, and a careful reasoner. He does not reason 
 about things and come to conclusions in the same 
 way that we do. However, he will obtain the same 
 conclusions though he reasons in a round-about 
 method. We reason directly at it, he, rather, as though 
 reasoning behind it, and coming finally to the same 
 conclusion. They cannot be said to have had any 
 schools, in which they could have learned these 
 things, except that we might say the teaching of the 
 old to the younger constituted their school. In 
 fact, one of the best mental drills that I know of 
 anywhere in existence, is practised among them. 
 
 When a young man has attained the age of some 
 sixteen or eighteen years, and is old enough to be a 
 man, the chiefs or prominent men in the tribe take 
 him in charge, and on suitable occasions sit down 
 and tell him a story. He must listen and say 
 nothing. It may take two or three hours to tell 
 this story. The young man, after hearing it, must 
 go to some other old man, who also knows the 
 
 139
 
 140 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 story, and must repeat it word for word. Of 
 course he cannot do it right at first, and is severely 
 reprimanded at every mistake, but in course of 
 time he is able to repeat it perfectly. For this 
 reason the Indians are able to repeat everything 
 verbally without mistakes. As one of their number, 
 I myself have had some very thorough drilling in 
 this method. They are acute calculators, seldom 
 ever making a mistake ; their numerical calculations 
 are in ratios of ten. They are apt pupils at learn- 
 ing. 
 
 Upon the purchase of Alaska by the United States 
 Government, there were a few schools found in the 
 country which had been established by the Russians, 
 their main purpose was to teach the Greek religion, 
 but our Government early noticed their desire, and, 
 in order to benefit the natives established Govern- 
 ment Schools. These schools were to be in the hands 
 of efficient teachers, who themselves were Christians 
 of some one of the various denominations that had 
 undertaken mission work in Alaska ; and thus the 
 Government school teacher became a missionary as 
 well as a school teacher. This soon caused some 
 difficulty, as the Mission Boards and the Govern- 
 ment requirements sometimes clashed, and the mis- 
 sionary found himself in a position where he must 
 decide between the two, sometimes severing his con- 
 nection with the Mission Board, and at others 
 with the Government. 
 
 At the various stations, as fast as means could be 
 obtained, these schools sprang up. These mis- 
 sionaries ofttimes received part of their remunera-
 
 A Mixed School. 141 
 
 tion from the Mission Boards and part from the 
 Government. A similar compact existed at Douglas. 
 The Government school teacher was also the 
 missionary in charge. It so happened that the 
 teacher recommended by the Friends' Board to the 
 Government, could not make satisfactory arrange- 
 ments suitable to himself with the Government, and 
 they appointed another teacher. This teacher, while 
 highly recommended, was not at all suitable to teach 
 the natives. This brought plainly to our mind the 
 possibilities of what might happen under such con- 
 ditions. We therefore notified the Government that 
 henceforth our own buildings would be used by our 
 own teachers. 
 
 Heretofore we had not been very successful in get- 
 ting the beach children to the school. We now 
 appointed our own teacher, and set to work inducing 
 all the children, grown people, grey-headed fathers 
 and mothers, in fact all, to come to school, and the 
 result was that we had children in school of all ages 
 from six months to ninety-one years. It was really 
 interesting to see an old woman bowed with age 
 wrestling with her primer, and trying to learn the 
 A, B, C. They were stimulated to their task by a 
 desire to read the Word of God, for, having aban- 
 doned the Mission Home and most of the children 
 being provided for elsewhere, we were now free to 
 extend our work more freely among all the people. 
 Thus many of them, having been converted to God, 
 desired a better education. 
 
 So anxious were these people to obtain an educa- 
 tion that they would come early, even before day-
 
 142 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 light, and some would remain as long as we would 
 let them, toiling until their heads ached. Women 
 brought their babies, and it became necessary for us 
 to prepare a place and beds to deposit these little 
 tots, while the mothers struggled through their 
 primers. Sometimes there were as many as a dozen 
 babies in the school at once, and of course, some- 
 times babies cry, and when one did occasionally cry 
 it seemed more like a common labour strike, for 
 every other baby in the house struck up with it, and 
 the poor schoolmistress, would be almost distracted, 
 but nothing could be done until the babies were 
 quieted, and then go on with school again. 
 
 The little fellows were so anxious to learn to write 
 that they very often begged a piece of chalk to take 
 home with them, and sometimes took the chalk 
 without asking and you could see on every rock 
 along the beach the effect of the school ; for it was 
 C AT, B O Y, in fact it was "A, B, C " in every nook 
 and corner. You could tell there was a school in 
 the village from the signs around. 
 
 One little girl in particular, whose mother had 
 learned to be very neat and clean, and whose house 
 floor was always scoured until it was almost as 
 white as sand, not having any chalk, found a piece 
 of charcoal in her mother's stove, and having no 
 better place, used the floor. Her mother, on coming 
 home, found the floor literally marked over with all 
 the different words the little one had learned during 
 the day. It is needless to say that she received a 
 full course of instruction, and adopted a different plan 
 later. She obtained a piece of chalk at the school,
 
 Zeal for Learning. 143 
 
 and the next Sunday morning, as the people filed 
 into the the Meeting-house, on the back of her 
 father's Sunday coat you could read the word 
 D O G. She meant nothing, only it indicated her 
 desire for knowledge. So great is their anxiety to 
 learn to read God's word that the sacrifices they 
 undergo are wonderful. 
 
 One poor woman, having been forbidden to come 
 to school, did without food for three days until her 
 husband relented. A little boy nine years of age, 
 being refused the privilege of coming to school, 
 lived for two weeks on nothing but berries in the 
 mountains, until his uncle relented and he could 
 come again. 
 
 Ofttimes the parents and relatives railed at us, 
 saying we were making fools of their children, we 
 were making them lazy. They had never been to 
 school and they did not need to go. Some said it 
 made their children think their parents were fools, 
 and all these various ideas of human superstition 
 had to be overcome, but gradually little by little the 
 mist faded away, and the sunlight of knowledge 
 began to rise.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 "DICK SMITH": A STUDY FROM LIFE. 
 
 MY readers may be pleased to know something of 
 the particular leadings and dealings that bring 
 an Indian from his heathenish state to a knowledge 
 of Christ, his Saviour. We propose in this chapter to 
 give a concise account of the life and conversion of 
 
 o 
 
 Dick Smith. It will be a fair sample of the majority 
 of the Indian lives. Dick Smith (as we called him) 
 was originally known as " Sitka Dick." His Indian 
 name, Dis-ke-kah, when interpreted is " the man in 
 the moon." He was far from being the man in the 
 moon when first known to the Mission. 
 
 He obtained the name of " Sitka Dick " be- 
 cause of his bad character. He was a terror to 
 every man in his tribe, and an expert distiller ; he 
 could make hoochinoo (an Indian whiskey) to per- 
 fection. He could make it so that a pint could keep 
 a man crazy for days together. Besides that, he was 
 the ringleader of all their dances, feasts, and old 
 customs. He had the most unpromising face you 
 ever looked upon ; high cheek bones and deep 
 sunken keen eyes. 
 
 Dick worked hard and was wealthy. When the 
 Indians had their feasts and drunken bouts, Dick 
 
 144
 
 An Indian Mothcr-in-Law. 145 
 
 was often in demand. If his wits failed him (and it 
 took but little of this horrible whisky to deprive him 
 of them) his muscle was invaluable. 
 
 After a few natives had found peace in their souls, 
 it became their earnest desire to see Dick " saved," 
 but none of them dared speak to him about it, for 
 they were all afraid of him. So they asked me 
 to go and see him, which I did. 
 
 Dick was a firm believer in witches. He had 
 oftentimes helped to burn or torture them. Some- 
 times they were tied to a stake and whipped or cut 
 with knives. Other times they were tied to a tree 
 and starved until they confessed. This was part of 
 his business as a leader among the people. 
 
 Dick was constantly in trouble with his relatives. 
 Like some other people of better reputation, he did 
 not always agree with his mother-in-law, and they 
 often had differences. These were usually settled 
 during a drunken bout. Dick had made some very 
 bad " medicine " (as they call it), and was more rude 
 than ordinary when his mother-in-law undertook, as 
 mothers-in-law do sometimes, to teach him to 
 behave himself. Now, with the character of the 
 whisky and the man in whom it was, the result was 
 disastrous, and when it ended the mother-in-law was 
 bleeding to death from a wound from Dick's teeth, 
 and a young man had lost a hand, and another was 
 dead. 
 
 When Dick got over his " revel " he found that 
 his property had all been taken to pay for the deaths 
 he had caused, it even took all that his people had in 
 addition to his money to pay for the damage ; for that 
 
 11
 
 146 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 was their way of settling it ; it was paid in blankets 
 to the friends of the deceased. He must now repay 
 them all that they had paid out for him, and interest 
 too, and it is marvellous how they compound interest 
 on each other. It meant practically that Dick would 
 never be a free man again. He might go on as 
 leader, but he was bound to pay this debt to his 
 people. He must have some extra good fortune if 
 he was ever to be able to pay it, or his children 
 either. This made Dick more accessible. 
 
 I approached him in one of the times of his de- 
 pression. He was feeling his condition very much. 
 He was invited to come to meeting, but he would 
 not come. The next time I saw him I invited him 
 again, with the same result. The invitations were 
 continued for some time. Finally Dick concluded 
 to come, he got as far as the door and sat just out- 
 side on the steps, he would not come in ; he was too 
 proud, he was not sufficiently humbled yet. But the 
 next Sunday found him at the Meeting House again, 
 this time just inside the door. 
 
 So Sunday by Sunday Dick came, each time 
 getting a little closer to the front, till after two 
 or three months he stood up boldly and declared his 
 conviction of sin, and his determination to follow 
 God. For a time he seemed very happy, and 
 became quite an earnest helper in the meetings. But 
 his people pressed him for their money, and he 
 worked hard every day to pay his debt. They told 
 him, " You have just turned Christian to keep from 
 paying your debts," and they taunted him with 
 everything they could. He paid as far as he could,
 
 An Indian's Remorse. 147 
 
 until he had nothing left for himself. He had eight 
 children, and it was hard to keep their mouths 
 full, but the Lord was merciful to him and took 
 some of them to glory, thus relieving him of the 
 sorrow of seeing them go hungry. He was getting 
 old and could not work as he had done before, and 
 he was often discouraged. 
 
 He came to us one day and said he hardly knew 
 what to do, all the time there was before him the 
 visions of those witches he had helped to kill, and 
 others that had died at his hands. His wickedness 
 seemed to be rising -up before him, and in his 
 anguish of spirit he wept like a child. 
 
 I told him that Jesus would forgive him for those 
 things, and if he had faith it was already done. 
 
 " Yes," he said, " I know Jesus has forgiven me 
 my sins, I knowi He has forgiven me for what I did 
 in that case, for I did^not know any better. But is 
 there not something, somewhere, to help me get rid 
 of this miserable torment ? When I pray about it, I 
 feel that I am forgiven, but it is before me all the 
 time. I feel like David, that ' my sin is ever before 
 my face.' " 
 
 I saw his trouble, but how to reach his case I 
 knew not. How could he, an Indian, understand the 
 deep things of God ? They are but children. 
 
 Now when I went to Alaska I had a theology all 
 planned out. I said, " Certainly the Lord can 
 forgive these children of nature, although they 
 can never receive the ' fulness of the Spirit/ for they 
 cannot understand." I had placed the filling of the 
 Spirit upon the plane of the mental understanding ;
 
 148 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 here was a case that seemed to upset my theology. 
 Here was a hungry soul, a soul of as low a type as 
 I had ever met, and with as homely a face as I had 
 ever looked into. But there it was, a heart longing 
 for the "fulness of the Spirit." It could be 
 nothing else. What must I do ? Break down 
 my theology ? It was a pretty piece of logic, and 
 kept me above this poor creature, for I had under- 
 standing. No, not for one moment could I deprive 
 him of a single thing that God had placed within his 
 reach. If his soul hungered for the " fulness of the 
 Spirit," he should have it. With him I humbly 
 petitioned the Lord not only to fill him with the 
 Spirit, but to help me to know the will of God. After 
 reading the Word of God plainly together, we could 
 see that the Word was to all men, even to those that 
 were afar off ; and had he not been afar off ? As his 
 soul began to comprehend, his face began to shine, 
 telling of the brightness that had come into his soul. 
 From that day to this he has had peace. He has never 
 lost the shine upon his face. He often calls that day 
 his birthday. He often explained it to others as 
 though he was simply forgiven. As he said, " The 
 gate was opened before, and now I have come in." 
 A sweeter soul could not be conceived. 
 
 His first care now was for those that professed 
 Christianity but were not " filled with the Spirit." 
 He was constantly urging the Christians to be " filled 
 with the Spirit " as the end of their hope, and assuring 
 them that Jesus will give them a home in Heaven. 
 " They were not to work for Heaven," he said, " but to 
 be ' filled with the Spirit.' "He that is a Christian only
 
 An Indian's Faith. 149 
 
 that he may get to Heaven is a slave, but he that is a 
 Christian will get to Heaven, for he has made Christ 
 his friend. He very often quoted the text, " I call you 
 no more servants but friends, for the servant knoweth 
 not what his master doeth." He now became the 
 main force in the meeting, and as the Monthly 
 Meeting was organised, he was appointed an elder, 
 and a right good one he made. He was ever 
 watchful, ever careful, for the flock over whom the 
 Lord had placed him. He constantly went from 
 place to place urging men in his own quaint way to 
 accept the Lord of Glory, and to receive the Holy 
 Spirit. 
 
 Once Dick had gone with his son to a distant 
 village. They had been holding a series of meetings, 
 but the people were not very ready to hear, only a 
 few came to the meetings. There were about three 
 hundred people in the village, and probably about 
 thirty or forty came to meeting. Two weeks they 
 toiled, pleading with them to be saved, but the 
 majority were not ready to give up their old ways. 
 If they could have taken the religion of Jesus and 
 attached it on to their own ways and customs, as a boy 
 attaches a tail to his kite, they would have done so 
 immediately. But Dick was uncompromising. They 
 must give up the old life and take the new, or they 
 could not have Jesus nor the promise of the Spirit. 
 
 One evening he stood with his hands outstretched, 
 telling his little audience that " the time would come 
 when the Lord would not only terribly shake the 
 earth, but the heavens also," and that Jesus would 
 then appear in the clouds of the sky " with power
 
 150 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 and with great glory," to the consternation of the 
 nations ; that then many of the people would " call 
 upon the mountains and the rocks to fall on them 
 and hide them from the face of Him that sitteth upon 
 the throne." They could readily understand such 
 language, for the mountains were towering high 
 above their heads just outside the house. Did not 
 the rocks sometimes crash down into the valley ? 
 Great ones too ! 
 
 They were listening, all was quiet. Dick was 
 waiting for his words to sink deep into their 
 consciousness, when suddenly there was a roar, and 
 a hiss, and a rattling ; houses were tumbling down, 
 the whole earth was shaking, heaving up on one side, 
 and then up on the other. The building in which they 
 were met was being shaken to its very foundations. 
 What could it be ? Mingled with the falling of 
 houses and the rattling of stones from the mountain 
 sides, came the shrieks of women, the cries of 
 children, and the groans from the men as they 
 rushed about in the darkness seeking somewhere for 
 shelter. The only house left standing in the village 
 was the one in which the meeting was held. It was an 
 earthquake, a very uncommon thing in that country. 
 This had been one of extreme severity, it seemed to 
 have originated far out at sea, and had cut an island 
 in two, sinking half of it until you could just see the 
 tree tops above the water. The direction of the earth- 
 quake was landward. But in the Indian village, 
 twenty miles up in the country, where Dick was 
 preaching, the inhabitants soon found this one house 
 standing and they all went to meeting. They did
 
 Results of an Earthquake. 151 
 
 it in a hurry and found a ready welcome. The 
 whole village turned to God that night. 
 
 Was it strange that this should have occurred 
 just at this time ? Perhaps. However strange it may 
 be, it has made a Christian village out of a heathen 
 one, for they have proved true to God ever since. 
 
 One day Dick was working in the mines, with six 
 Indians. They were using "giant powder" (or 
 dynamite), for blasting the stone away. One of the 
 young men came up with a quantity, and laid it 
 down on the rock until ready to use, when another 
 carelessly let an iron bar fall upon it. A fearful 
 roar, a cloud of dust and flying rocks told the tale. 
 The men were bodily hurled a distance of twenty or 
 thirty feet, but none of them were seriously hurt. 
 Dick was standing almost over it, and a white man 
 who saw it, declared Dick was pitched thirty feet 
 straight in the air, and came down where he started 
 from. He was not hurt in the least. It was 
 marvellous. He said " The Lord was between him 
 and danger, and had taken the bruise on Himself, 
 rather than that it should hurt him." 
 
 Dick's theology was very simple, but it swayed his 
 whole life. He often said that it was no use for any 
 man with a stolen bearskin in his house ever to 
 come to God and ask forgiveness, he must restore 
 it fourfold, for God would not forgive him so long 
 as he kept that which was not his own. 
 
 A native once took advantage of his story, for 
 when a neighbour who had stolen a bearskin offered 
 to return it, the owner demanded four instead of 
 one, citing Dick's exposition in meeting. The poor
 
 152 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 fellow was compelled to get the four, and the 
 episode had a very good effect on all ; at that price, 
 stealing was too expensive a luxury. 
 
 At another time Dick was speaking to the people 
 of the marvellous faith the Apostle Paul possessed. 
 He told them of his wonderful deliverance, and of 
 the " thorn in the flesh " that beset him at all times. 
 What has puzzled theologians of all ages, seemed to 
 be clear enough to Dick. He said it was a crooked 
 back. That his back was broken at the time he was 
 stoned, dragged out of the city and left for dead, but 
 that the Lord raised him up again, and his crooked 
 back was often the cause for people to make fun of 
 him. Wherever he got the idea we are unable to tell. 
 
 One day we invited Dick to bring his wife and 
 children, and come to have a meal with us. He 
 very gladly accepted the invitation, and next morn- 
 ing at 6 a.m., as we were eating breakfast, much to 
 our surprise, we saw Dick with his wife and four 
 children coming along. We had not prepared for 
 company so early, but we shared what we had, and 
 made the best of it, and they were happy. 
 
 At Christmas time there was always a great deal 
 of festivity. The Indians loved to celebrate the 
 birth of Christ. Many and many a Christmas 
 dinner were we invited to. On Christmas day, we 
 had to eat seven Christmas dinners. After eating a 
 little at one house, we had to rise from the table, 
 and go on to the next house and sit at their table. 
 We dared not refuse to go, because if we failed to 
 come after having been invited, it made them 
 ashamed. We soon learned to begin softly on
 
 A Christmas Surprise. 153 
 
 Christmas day, and end in a better condition at 
 night. 
 
 The following incident happened about Christmas- 
 time. One day Dick came up to our house, and 
 said to me, " Charlie, if you do not care, I will not 
 make you any Christmas present this year." It 
 astonished me, I had not been thinking of him as 
 making me a Christmas present. 
 
 " Well," I said, " all right, Dick, I do not care, 
 you do not need to make me a present." I did not 
 :ask him what he was going to do, for that would 
 have been too inquisitive. So I simply said I hoped 
 he would have a good Christmas. 
 
 He said nothing more, but smiled and went off. 
 
 Truth to tell, I really wanted to know what he 
 was about to do, and I determined I would find out 
 somehow, but how, I could not conceive. 
 
 Christmas time came on. I had failed thus far to 
 find out anything more, although I had cautiously 
 asked many neighbours, and I dare not question 
 him. I thought I would bide my time and see. 
 
 Christmas Eve came. Always on that evening 
 the younger people among the Indians go out 
 serenading. Just at midnight, you will hear their 
 sweet songs ringing out upon the air, and some of 
 the best singing we ever listened to was in those 
 times of serenade. The Indians are naturally gifted 
 singers, and the inspiration of the hour seems to 
 lend enchantment to their voices. Christmas is the 
 greatest time in the year for Alaskans. Everyone 
 .goes in for enjoyment. The mines all closed down, 
 the men can have their holiday. The one plague
 
 154 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 spot in the community is the drinking saloons, 
 which like great ulcers eat into the life of the 
 people. 
 
 I had all the evening before me, so I thought I 
 would saunter down the village, and see what Dick 
 was doing. I put on my coat, muffled my head as 
 much as possible, and set out. I came to the beach, 
 and was walking along at some distance from the 
 buildings, the tide being out, until I should come to 
 Dick's house. 
 
 The path was filled with staggering Indians, 
 laughing girls, bright-eyed babies, mingled here and 
 there with miners, all with jolly, radiant hearts. 
 
 There was Dick's cabin just in view, yes, I saw it 
 now plainly, that was his. There was a light 
 shining out of the window. I went on till I stood 
 directly in front of the window, and there on the 
 sash in the middle of the window, stood six lighted 
 candles in a row. It was a warm, welcome light 
 that shone out of that window. Pasted on the glass 
 were some letters ; they were so arranged that they 
 spelt the word " Jesus." Now Dick could not read, 
 but he knew the word "Jesus," and he had taken 
 some newspapers, and searched out the proper letters 
 and arranged them on the glass. True enough, they 
 were not all the same size, but they were properly 
 arranged, while the candles behind made them stand 
 out in bold relief for every one that passed. 
 
 I went up and tried to peep in the window, but it 
 was too high from the ground. I tiptoed as high as I 
 could, but I could not see. I heard a noise in the 
 cabin, someone was talking. I listened but I could
 
 Dick Smith's Christmas. 155 
 
 not understand what was being said. I went round 
 to the door, but it was closed. Then someone 
 walked, as though intending to come out, and I 
 had to go away, so I just stepped behind the cabin. 
 It was Dick who came out, and some one was with 
 him, but they soon parted. I wondered what he was 
 doing. He walked down the beach, and mingled 
 with the people. A little while later I saw him take 
 hold of a man who was staggering along from 
 drinking too much, and lead him into the cabin. 
 This time it occurred to me I might hear. I tried at 
 the door, but to no avail. So I climbed on the 
 roof, the cabin not being very high, and there I 
 could hear what was being said. I lay down flat on 
 the roof with my ear against the board covers. I 
 heard the clink of knives and forks, spoons and 
 dishes, and then Dick talking, and the man mum- 
 bled something, but Dick never listened, but went 
 on talking. He was telling the story of the birth of 
 Christ, saying " Christ was born on this night," 
 and then on through His life to His death for 
 sinners, urged him to try and remember. The man 
 kept mumbling something, but all the time the 
 plates were rattling. They were in there a long 
 time, Dick talking all the while. In course of time 
 they came out, the man walked straighter, and in 
 the light of the window, I could see him wiping his 
 mouth. Dick went on down the beach again, and 
 a little while after I saw him return. He had two 
 cripples, one on each side of him, and three or four 
 others were following him, and one or two were 
 going in ahead of them.
 
 156 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 " Now is my chance, I shall hear this time," I said, 
 " because these are not drunk," so lay very quiet 
 for fear of detection. Again the same rattling of 
 dishes, only louder this time. Dick's voice a little 
 higher. I could hear it better. The same old 
 story, if anything a little more enthusiastic. It 
 seemed like the music of bells upon that wintry air. 
 I thought I'd slide down, and see if I could not 
 peep in at the door. I imagined it had not been 
 tightly shut. The lumber that covered this cabin 
 had warped and pulled the nails that held it on, 
 leaving them protruding some half an inch. I had 
 been lying on some of these, and one fastened hold 
 of my coat. When I arose it left a three-cornered 
 hole to tell where I had been. But sliding down, 
 sure enough the door was open about two inches. 
 Everything inside was plainly visible. There stood 
 a table, well-filled with all the good things that 
 could be purchased. There were ten hungry men 
 eating with both hands as fast as they could, and 
 beyond, at the head of the table, stood Dick, his 
 face all aglow, warmed to the theme he was telling. 
 Now and then the listeners would stop to hear, and 
 seemed to be satisfied, but they went on eating 
 again until they had had enough, but the story was 
 not done. Now they, in turn, sat back and listened 
 attentively. 
 
 After a while they rose to go. I felt I had no 
 business there any more, and I left as quickly as I 
 could. Dick's secret was now mine. I never dared 
 mention it to him, for that would have told on 
 myself, and to this day he has never told me about
 
 Burying the Hatchet. 157 
 
 it. Whatever he did on Christmas, as far as he is 
 concerned, is a secret. I suppose, had I not been so 
 inquisitive, he would have afterward told me, but we 
 have positive evidence that from the result of that 
 Christmas Eve we have fourteen earnest members in 
 the Church. Who can say his example is not a 
 good one ? 
 
 Here is an incident in Dick's life which reveals 
 the depth of of his devotion. Before he was con- 
 verted, he was quite a leader in war, and his tribe, 
 the Sitkas, were often at war with others, and by 
 stratagem at one time succeeded in inducing their 
 enemies to come in to their village to accept the 
 hospitality of a feast. In the midst of the feast, the 
 enemies were all murdered. The tribe had never 
 been strong enough, after that, to retaliate, but 
 enmity lurked in the hearts of the few. 
 
 One day as Dick was walking down in front of 
 his village, the chief of the tribe of these old 
 enemies was coming up toward him. They had not 
 met for many years. They both professed to be 
 Christians now. As they approached each other, 
 Dick held out his hand in recognition, desiring him 
 to shake hands. The old chief put his hands 
 behind his back and stood up perfectly straight, 
 which was an insult sufficient to have caused war at 
 any other time. Dick only stepped a little closer, 
 and offered his hand again, hoping to persuade the 
 man to relinquish his spite. The chief only leaned 
 back a little further and positively refused. Dick 
 urged him, saying, " We're Christians. We have 
 put away all of our enmity, let us be friends.
 
 158 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 Jesus said, we should love one another," and in 
 so saying he stepped another step nearer, and a 
 third time proffered his hand. This time the old 
 chief straightened himself a little more, raised his 
 shoulders, threw his head back, then with one quick, 
 dexterous move, literally spat a whole mouthful of 
 tobacco juice in Dick's face. 
 
 This was adding insult to insult, but Dick 
 calmly drew out his red handkerchief from his 
 pocket, and slowly and deliberately wiped his face. 
 The chief looked for trouble, but it did not come. 
 Dick said to him, " At one time you would not dare 
 to do this, but now you may do what you will ; I 
 am a Christian, and do not hate you. Come, sit 
 down here on this log, and let us talk the matter 
 over." 
 
 This was so unexpected to the chief, that he 
 reluctantly obeyed. What they said cannot be told. 
 In a little while they slid off that log together on 
 their knees in the open air. After that they arose 
 and warmly shook hands, and ever since have been 
 fast friends. 
 
 The old chief no longer uses tobacco, declaring 
 it to be unchristian. 
 
 Many are the times of blessed service we have had 
 with this servant of God : so faithful, so earnest, 
 and so devotedly true to the spirit at whatever cost.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE STORY OF ANNA. ADVENTURE WITH A 
 CINNAMON BEAR. 
 
 ONE day while making our round of visits on the 
 beach, we called at a cabin that was very 
 dilapidated in appearance, with a great wood pile just 
 outside the door. It was a cold day, the snow 
 lay about two feet thick on the ground. There 
 was a little girl about nine years of age cutting wood 
 with an axe. She was barefooted, had nothing on 
 but a thin calico dress, no underskirts, nothing on her 
 head ; her feet and hands were blue with cold, her 
 hair was flying in every direction as the wind blew it. 
 in fact, there was no telling when it was combed 
 last, but it was in the common condition among 
 these people. But the child was not a common 
 child. At first she might be taken to be a white 
 child, very fair skin, blue eyes and light hair, 
 uncommon for an Indian. Upon our speaking 
 English to her, she only smiled. Being spoken to 
 in Indian she ran away immediately, and her mother 
 soon appeared upon the scene ; a great fat Indian 
 woman, weighing perhaps three hundred pounds. 
 The child was slim and pale looking. After some 
 talk with the mother we went home and thought 
 about the matter. 
 
 159
 
 160 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 It was a pity about that child. Evidently her 
 father was a white man, though her mother was an 
 Indian, but such occurrences are not rare. We 
 made up our minds to get this child, if possible, 
 and see what could be made of her. After a great 
 deal of parley, we succeeded in getting her guardians 
 to let us have her to train in our Home. We could 
 have bought her for a small sum as our own, but this 
 we would not do. Still we knew it was only a question 
 of time until she would be sold, and this made us the 
 more anxious to preclude any such arrangement. 
 She was to remain with us till she was of legal age, 
 eighteen. We found her a light-hearted, good- 
 natured child at times, but wonderfully deceptive, a 
 persistent thief, and fearfully sullen at other times. 
 
 To teach that child and bring her to see better 
 was a terrible task. She had the worst elements of 
 both her parents, making her untrue and unfaithful. 
 But she had one good quality, she was not lazy. 
 She was always willing to do something ; it was for 
 us to sit at the helm and steer the course of her life. 
 
 There were no locks or keys in our house. This at 
 first was a wonder to her. She was often found 
 looking over things where she had no business, 
 though never but once did she ever attempt to steal. 
 When about twelve years of age, she was able to 
 speak English fairly well, and was a good interpreter. 
 She was now ready for sale, and her mother wanted 
 her. We refused to give her up on the ground of 
 our contract. She had also become a proficient 
 Sunday School worker, and had a class of white 
 children in the Sunday School, which was con-
 
 Bargain for a Wife. 161 
 
 stantly increasing. She herself looked more like a 
 white girl than an Indian. Her mother constantly 
 saw her, but contented herself with the thought of 
 her increasing value, and began to remind the child 
 that she was only an Indian, with the intent to 
 keep control that she might command obedience 
 when suitable. 
 
 One day there came a reprobate, luckless Indian, 
 who could talk English, and seeing Anna, for so we 
 had named her, he desired to take her as his wife. 
 He had ruined a number of families, several wives 
 had left their husbands on his account, and now his 
 avaricious nature sought this innocent girl. Indian 
 fashion he said nothing to her about it, but spoke to 
 her parents. They bargained with him for 250 
 dollars as the sale price. The Indian had thirty-five 
 dollars cash in hand, and he paid it over. The other 
 was to be paid as soon as possible. The mother 
 immediately took him in, called him her son, then 
 came for Anna. She wanted the girl only to visit 
 her in her home. We let her go down to visit her 
 people sometimes, and they used these opportunities 
 for this young man to press his case. 
 
 Whenever Anna went to them, the whole 
 family of relatives, aunts and uncles and cousins 
 congregated, and praised the life of this young man 
 to her, and the young man professed his love, which 
 was too much for the girPs heart. It was the first 
 love she had ever had, and one day she consented to 
 be his wife. She was but fourteen years of age. 
 But the question was how to get her. The parents 
 tried to persuade us to let her go, but we had 
 
 12
 
 1 62 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 learned to know them, and held them to our con- 
 tract. Finally they tried to persuade her to run 
 away. This she would not do, for we had been 
 very kind to her, and she did not like to hurt our 
 feelings. But we told her if she desired to go, she 
 might. If not, we would keep her. Then she 
 decided to stay with us. Her parents laid several 
 plots to get her away, but every one failed. They 
 finally made an effort to steal one of our children, 
 but they failed in that too. After a while they became 
 more bold, for 250 dollars was not to be let go. 
 They began to come every day threatening all sorts 
 of things if Anna did not go with them. They 
 reasoned, they argued, they did everything. 
 
 Finally one day, as we were working at the new 
 meeting-house, a young Indian was sitting by talk- 
 ing to me, he was Anna's uncle, her mother's 
 brother. He was very interesting in his conver- 
 sation that day, had been talking for a couple of 
 hours, when I heard the bell ringing at home. I 
 knew immediately what it meant. He had attracted 
 my attention and kept me busy, while the parents 
 had gone to the Home to secure the girl. It was 
 only a block away, but it was across a deep ravine. 
 I plunged through the ravine to the house, came 
 breathless in at the front door, to see Anna's father 
 with one hand on her neck, and the other hand 
 holding both of hers, trying to drag her out of the 
 house, while her mother was keeping between them 
 and my wife. 
 
 I was amazed at the audacity, and commanded 
 him in tones he understood to take his hands off the
 
 Attempt to Kidnap. 163 
 
 child. He refused to do it, but Anna being 
 thoroughly frightened, and finding his hold had 
 relaxed, wrenched herself loose, and disappeared. 
 He scolded and fumed a great deal. He could not 
 swear, because Indians have no swear words. He 
 did everything else sufficiently, and took his 
 departure, vowing vengeance. This was about 
 noon. My wife was making bread. 
 
 In a couple of hours, a friendly Indian came 
 around by way of the woods from the mountain 
 side, and notified us that these people with their 
 friends were coming back to take our lives if need 
 be, to get that girl. Could we have a little time. 
 She was kneading the dough. No, there was no 
 time to be lost. This friendly Indian departed as he 
 had come. Needless to say that we did not tarry long, 
 but my wife, without even washing her hands, threw 
 her things on her shoulders, gathered the children, 
 and took Anna down into the town. The white 
 people there secreted her and the children, while 
 I myself went to the beach among the Indians. 
 The mob gathered, and made its way to our house, 
 but the birds had flown. They all returned to the 
 beach except Anna's father, who remained hidden 
 under the walk, where it was raised high enough for 
 a man to creep under it. I was going back home 
 to investigate, when a white man told me of the 
 situation, and he, with two or three other white men, 
 went up and dragged Charlie out from under the 
 walk. 
 
 They sent him about his business, much to his 
 own disgust. It was midnight before we all got
 
 164 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 home. The dough had run all over the pan, on to 
 the table, and down on to the floor. But they were 
 foiled, and Anna was afraid for her life, and con- 
 stantly told us she believed they would kill her if 
 they ever got her. So we needed to protect her if 
 possible. 
 
 A few days after this, their desperation reached 
 its extreme point. They had worked up their 
 courage until they were ready for murder. They 
 would have that girl at any cost. They had tried 
 lawyers and judges, and every conceivable plan, but 
 had failed. 
 
 It was getting towards evening. There seemed a 
 
 something stealing over me as though it came from 
 
 the nether atmosphere. I felt something dreadful 
 
 was going to happen. I guessed what it would be. 
 
 They were going to make their last effort. Anna 
 
 was upstairs, in charge of the Assistant Matron. 
 
 My wife and children were put into our own room, 
 
 while I remained alone in the front room, having 
 
 locked all the back doors (something not usually 
 
 done). I left the front door unlocked. If they 
 
 came, they should not get behind me, if they 
 
 killed me, they should do it face to face. I was quite 
 
 ready to die, if need be, for right. Still, I did not 
 
 know they would come, only I felt that they would. 
 
 I took my Bible and read. 
 
 I was sitting in the rocking chair near the middle 
 of the room, facing the door. The clock on the 
 mantelpiece ticked on to nine and then to ten. It 
 was pointing to half past ten, and it was very dark 
 outside. I heard someone walking on the side walk,
 
 Threats to Kill Missionary. 165 
 
 just outside the house. In a short time I heard a 
 rumbling noise at the back doors, also muttering 
 voices. The next door was tried, it was locked, and 
 each door aud window in turn was tried at the back 
 of the house, with no avail. Finally through the 
 glass in the door the figure of Charlie was seen. He 
 took hold of the knob of the door and gave the door 
 one fearful push, throwing the whole weight of his 
 body against it. It was not locked as he expected, 
 and it flew open easily. It almost threw him off his 
 feet. He had a belt strapped about him, a large 
 hunting knife stuck in the side. He gathered 
 himself together like an animal, and stood before 
 me. I sat still in the chair. I said to him, " Good 
 evening, Charlie," as kindly as I could. He just 
 grunted. It seemed to make way for him, and he 
 stepped forward and stood directly over me. Still 
 I sat and looked at him. He very threateningly 
 drew his knife from its sheath, took it in his hand, 
 and raised it directly over my head. 
 
 He said, fiercely, " I have come for Anna." 
 
 I said to him, " You know, Charlie, you cannot 
 have her." 
 
 He said, " Then I will kill you." 
 
 I said, " All right, you are quite welcome to do 
 that. I am not afraid to die. I have made my 
 peace with God long ago, but before you kill me I 
 want to talk to you a little." 
 
 All the while he stood and held his knife over my 
 head. I could see his wife standing outside and 
 looking in through the door, which stood open. I 
 could see that he was exceedingly agitated, in fact
 
 1 66 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 he was like an infuriated bear, and evidently meant 
 to do what he said. I reasoned with him, told him 
 that if he should do such a thing as this, the law 
 would hang him. He only trembled and stamped 
 his foot, saying he did not care for his life anyway. 
 I thought he would strike me then, but he waited. 
 Again I assured him that I was quite ready to die, 
 and that he might kill me when I had finished, only 
 I desired him to listen till that was done. I told 
 him that if the white people found it out, they would 
 tear him to pieces, limb from limb, they would not 
 even kill him decently, but this only angered him the 
 more, he did not care for his life, he only wanted 
 Anna, and seeing that I would not give her up, he 
 wanted my life. But this failing I began to reason 
 with him on a different course. I told him that I 
 quite well understood that if God wanted me to 
 come home to glory now, I was perfectly satisfied, 
 but that God would require it at his hands, for He 
 was looking down and saw all of this to-night. God 
 saw how his heart was not right, and as for how 
 I should die, it was but a small matter to me. If I 
 was to die by his hands I was quite ready to go that 
 way. I further told him that perhaps it may be that 
 God would not let him be killed if he should do this 
 deed, but rather, that God might protect him 
 and save his life, and that he might live on and on 
 until he would be old and blind, until he would be 
 forsaken by everyone, until he would cry out a 
 thousand times for death, but could not die. This 
 seemed to touch him. He knew what terrible suffer- 
 ings old people had to undergo. Beside that, I told
 
 The Knife is Sheathed. 167 
 
 him that the Lord, seeing his condition, would let 
 this vision of his deed be before him all his life, that 
 it would haunt him like a ghost, and he never could 
 get away from it. He would be in misery, who 
 could tell how long ? It would be hard to tell what 
 the Lord would do, but this was one of the things 
 He could do and might. 
 
 It seemed to unnerve him. I think I never felt 
 more calm and confident in all my life, I was no 
 more afraid than if I was sitting in my own parlour 
 alone with God, for the man before me was nothing. 
 I pitied him, and having finished what I had to say, I 
 looked him plainly in the face and said to him calmly, 
 " Now Charlie, I have finished, and I am ready." 
 
 Instead of his striking me as I fully expected he 
 would, his arm gradually dropped to his side, he put 
 his knife back in its sheath, and staggered backward to 
 a chair, and fell in it as pale as death. His lips were 
 trembling, he was undone, the Lord had vanquished 
 him. 
 
 The victory however, was only short-lived. His 
 wife seeing him fail came bolting in at the door, 
 her great proportions filling it entirely. She had in 
 her hand a stick about six feet long and about two 
 inches in diameter. Evidently she intended to help 
 to finish the work in case of a fight, but when once 
 in the room, she seemed dazed, and hesitated and 
 stammered, looking around as though she thought 
 someone was hidden somewhere. I still sat in my 
 chair. She began a regular harangue, telling me all 
 sorts of things I was, and things I was not ; all the 
 time giving emphasis to her words by regular taps
 
 i68 Among the Indians oj Alaska. 
 
 with her stick on my knee. It did not hurt me much 
 at the time, though I walked lame for two or three 
 days from it. 
 
 Having finished her argument, she and her 
 husband went out of the door, and left me 
 alone, vowing vengeance at some future date. I 
 followed them on to the porch outside, and I laid 
 my hands upon their shoulders and spoke to them of 
 Christ and His love for their souls. They finally 
 shook hands with me and went away. 
 
 It was now past midnight and we all retired. I 
 was very weary, but slept soundly till morning. 
 About ten o'clock the next morning on looking out 
 of the window I saw them coming again. They had 
 the same stick, but one end of it was on his shoulder, 
 and the other on hers, and hanging from the centre 
 was a large salmon. I knew what it was meant for ; 
 it was a peace offering. They laid it down outside, 
 came in at the same door they had entered the night 
 before, and upon the same spot where they threatened 
 my life they knelt together, asked forgiveness of me 
 and of God, and prayed and wept until the carpet was 
 wet with their tears. After being assured that they 
 were forgiven, they seemed very happy, and from 
 that day to this have been faithful and true. It 
 costs something for souls, but they are worth it 
 when obtained. 
 
 Their daughter was for ever given into our hands, 
 we were to do with her as we liked. One thing was 
 required, that we should always teach her to remem- 
 ber her parents and not deny them. This we had 
 been careful to do.
 
 Room for the Indians. 169 
 
 Anna is now in Kansas in college, doing admir- 
 ably well. 
 
 There is a very great need for a tract of country to 
 be given to the native for his exclusive use, which 
 he can feel is his home and where he can be 
 free to enact his own laws, so far as they will agree 
 with the constitution of the United States, where he 
 can develop himself into a worthy citizen. There 
 are ample resources by which he can make his own 
 way. The country is full of mines which, had he a 
 chance, he might develop, but better still, in every 
 stream there are innumerable salmon. Canneries 
 are b eing put up at many places, producing a very large 
 percentage of profit. The Indian is in his natural 
 element at such business. He would be ready and 
 able to carry it to a successful issue if he had the 
 means to begin. If a suitable place could be secured 
 from the Government in which they could be colon- 
 ised and industries fostered, they would soon become 
 self-supporting. Otherwise it will be the same old 
 cry. They will soon need to be supported by the 
 Government because the onward push of the greedy 
 hand of civilisation can be seen gradually, but 
 surely, occupying every foot of valuable space. 
 
 When in Alaska, we often have to take our guns 
 and obtain meat for the household. Upon one 
 occasion I was going across the channel over into 
 the mountains of the mainland to hunt for ptarmigan, 
 of which there were usually an abundance. A miner 
 with whom we were well acquainted desired to go 
 with me. He had leave of absence from work for 
 one day, so each taking a shot gun we set out
 
 170 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 together. Our cartridges were all loaded with very 
 fine shot, for these ptarmigan are very tame. 
 Oftentimes one can get near enough to hit them with 
 a walking stick. For this reasonithe shot must be 
 very fine or they will be torn to pieces. 
 
 We crossed the water in a small boat, walked 
 'about four miles up the valley to some mines. 
 There were a number of minersfat a boarding house 
 erected there. We thought perhaps some of them 
 would go with us, but none cared to go. They said 
 they had seen a large cinnamon bear with two cubs 
 that morning in the valley, and advised us not to go. 
 We knew cinnamon bears, and when they have cubs, 
 they do not give you the road, they rather claim 
 the whole country for themselves. But we made 
 light of the fears of the boys, shouldered our guns, 
 and went on up the valley. 
 
 We had to climb the mountain side to the top to 
 get the birds. The forest was very thick ; fallen 
 trees, steep precipices, and the like impeded our 
 progress, so that we were glad when we found a bear 
 trail leading upwards. We began to ascend ; climb- 
 ing was easy. We saw fresh bear signs all along 
 the trail. There had been a bear there not long 
 before. It was not an uncommon thing to see signs 
 of bear at any place, and we thought bruin might be 
 miles away by that time. 
 
 We climbed on through the bushes, and emerged 
 above timber line. We had the open mountain for 
 it now. 
 
 Finding no birds here, I wanted to go further 
 along the top of the mountain to the head of a
 
 The Bear Appears. 171 
 
 glacier. My friend, however, was tired, and thought 
 he would lie down in the sun and rest awhile. He 
 did so, and I went on to the top of the mountain 
 and returned. No man could be seen. I shouted 
 and shouted and no answer returned. I thought 
 perhaps he might have gone home, so I turned to the 
 other side of the mountain, where I shot one or two- 
 ground hogs which were sitting out in the sun. I 
 then went in search of my friend again. I shouted, 
 with no result. Finally I became anxious. It was 
 time to go home. I stood on the very rock where 
 he said he would wait for me and looked all round, 
 ^nd then I thought I would fire my gun. This I did, 
 both barrels in quick succession. As I fired my gun 
 something moved just at the base of the rock. I 
 looked down some twenty feet and there he sat, the 
 firing wakened him. Together we started home 
 at a brisk pace. We looked down over the side of 
 the mountain, and seeing a gulch that was filled with 
 snow we determined to go that way. It was very 
 narrow at the top, but it seemed to widen as we 
 went down. The snow being solid enough for us to 
 walk on we concluded it would be easier to walk 
 down that way, and we were some little distance 
 below the upper end of it, walking along and talking. 
 The snow had widened until it now was lying about 
 forty feet wide, and it stretched in a long narrow 
 strip far down the mountain side. It looked as 
 though it reached to the bottom. 
 
 We were congratulating ourselves upon what 
 a nice way we had found, when suddenly there was 
 a snort just behind us, intermingled with a growl,
 
 172 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 and we turned to see, not two rods behind us, a 
 monstrous brown bear with two cubs. She did not 
 stop to parley, but plunged into the snow after us ; 
 but her ponderous body was too heavy for the snow 
 to bear her up. She literally went in all over, 
 wallowed and growled and finally succeeded in 
 clambering back to the place she came in. We did 
 not stop to see how long it took her. Our hair 
 seemed to be raising the hats off our heads. I know 
 I put my hand on the top of my hat to be sure it 
 was on. Together we went pell mell down the 
 snow, but the bear was not so easily to be got rid 
 of. Getting to the edge she dashed through the 
 bushes down along it towards us. We uncon- 
 sciously angled to the far side ; there were no trees 
 large enough to climb, and the only thing to do 
 was to run, and this we were doing our best. But 
 the most unfortunate^ part of the whole situation 
 was the presence of the two cubs. These were the 
 most cantankerous creatures I ever saw. They 
 would run out on the snow and run after us and 
 scream, and then run back to their mother in the 
 bushes, and every time they screamed it only 
 angered her more, and then she would dash 
 down through the bushes again, leaving them 
 behind, and, in order to keep up, they would run 
 out on the snow again, and naturally would catch 
 sight of us. This only brought forth another 
 scream from each one of them and back into the 
 bushes they would go. Repeatedly doing this 
 angered the mother so that she was perfectly fright- 
 ful. She began to roar at us.
 
 The Bear keeps the Hunters in Sight. 173 
 
 The snow fortunately was getting wider and the 
 distance she would need to come was farther. 
 We were going at full speed. There was a steep 
 cliff on her side. She must either come into the 
 snow to go round it or make a circuit through the 
 woods. She took the circuit. This gave us a little 
 time, but the cubs came out on the snow, and they 
 seemed to just settle down and howl, and the 
 mother began to answer back. Cold chills were 
 going up and down my back as we sped on. To 
 our dismay the snow seemed to " pinch out " ; it 
 gradually narrowing down until it was no more 
 than ten feet wide. 
 
 What were we to do ? The bear was making the 
 circuit of the cliff. We knew she would be back, 
 for there sat those miserable little whelps, yelling ail 
 the while. We could tell about where she was from 
 her answering. We ran to where it was the 
 narrowest. We were horror struck, a precipice 
 two hundred feet straight down and a perfect water 
 fall descending out from under the snow on which 
 we stood. There was no way possible to get over 
 it. What should we do ? The bear was coming 
 nearer, one plunge and she would cross it. There 
 was no escape unless it was over that precipice. 
 We had no guns we could defend ourselves with. 
 Our fine shot would be useless. We tried one 
 other plan. Our decision was made quicker than it 
 takes to tell it. I gave my gun into the hands of 
 my friend, and gathering hold of some shrubs 
 growing on the edge of the ledge at the opposite 
 side of the snow, lowered myself down. I knew,
 
 174 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 if I fell, I would go into the snow two hundred 
 feet beneath, but that was better than to fall into the 
 paw of a bear. I was pleased to find that I could 
 just reach a shelf or rock beneath the ledge. My 
 feet once firmly set, I called to my friend : he 
 pitched the guns to me and followed. 
 
 From this place we found a zigzag way down the 
 rest of the cliff and reached in safety the snow 
 beneath. The cubs had ceased to cry. We heard 
 no more of the mother. We thought we would 
 look up and see what had happened ; and as we 
 turned we saw the mother standing just where we 
 came over, gazing composedly down at us with one 
 cub on each side of her. We were tempted to sting 
 her nose a little with the shot we had, but as there 
 was five miles between us and salt water, we 
 preferred to leave her in peace.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 REAPING TIME. 
 
 THE first two or three years in Alaska seemed 
 times rather of sowing than of reaping. It 
 was slow uphill work. Discouragements loomed up 
 before us at almost every turn, and but for our hope 
 and faith in God we should have become utterly 
 discouraged. 
 
 As time went on, the seed-sowing having been 
 faithfully done, there came the time when the 
 reaping began. The Lord sent His angels and 
 began to gather in the harvest, and during the first 
 two years three of our Indian children passed over 
 the river. This was disastrous for us, and the 
 people became veryi much afraid to leave their 
 children at the Mission for fear they would die. 
 
 After the training home had been abandoned, the 
 work began to spring up as if by magic. There was 
 accumulated force, gathered during those few years 
 of utter darkness. Our little school-house became 
 utterly too small for the growing congregations, and 
 the Spirit of the Lord seemed to have spoken and 
 told us He expected us to have a larger place of 
 meeting ; but how to get it, that was the question. 
 
 175
 
 176 Among ihe Indians of Alaska. 
 
 It takes money to build houses, and money we 
 had not. It took all the efforts of our Committee 
 to keep the Mission in necessary funds for other 
 expenses. When we proposed to build a house, 
 they could not see their way clear to do it. Finally 
 after some six months of trust in God, it seemed 
 laid upon all of us at once, without consul- 
 tation together, that it was right to proceed to 
 build. Even the plan was revealed definitely, the 
 size and all. Every minute detail of the building 
 was laid before us, when the plans were drawn out, 
 and the estimates were made as to its cost, sub- 
 scriptions began to come in from those who knew, 
 the Indians in their poverty subscribed as much as 
 six hundred dollars. The white people likewise 
 gave what assistance they could until we had means 
 enough to buy sufficient lumber to begin to build. 
 We determined not to purchase anything unless 
 we had the money to pay for it, and on these 
 conditions we had the frame work all up, when 
 official notice was received to go no further until 
 further orders. 
 
 In about a month from this time there came one 
 of those winds peculiar to that country. It got 
 inside those four walls, and one morning we saw 
 them torn to the ground, the lumber lay scattered 
 and broken. Two white men and some Indians 
 came shortly after and found us all but discour- 
 aged. It was not so much because of the house, 
 but were we, after all, mistaken in our leading ? 
 Was it possible God had not told us to do this? 
 And these dear Friends who came to see us
 
 The School House. 177 
 
 about it, especially the white men, were not even 
 Christians. But one of them said, " Never mind, 
 the house will go up, we'd like to go over and 
 gather the lumber together, and pile it up for you." 
 They gathered it all up nicely, where it remained 
 for two long years. 
 
 During this long time of waiting the work went on 
 and we obtained additional funds from various 
 sources, carefully putting them aside for further work. 
 Sympathising people often came and freely gave 
 their gifts. Even some of the saloon keepers said 
 to us, " If you will come down to my place of 
 business one hundred dollars are waiting for you." 
 
 It is needless to say I never went. One saloon 
 keeper in particular offered us fifty dollars which 
 we firmly, but politely as we could, refused. He 
 inquired why we should refuse. He was plainly 
 told that we could not put anything in that building 
 that would bind our mouths when preaching in it 
 against the pernicious habit of selling drink. He 
 seemed to understand and in three months closed 
 his business and has not kept a saloon since. 
 Finally the needed help and instructions came, and 
 three years after we began we moved into a beautiful 
 well-built house free from debt. 
 
 We also found our work not only growing at 
 home but away from home. As I have already 
 mentioned, as soon as an Indian was converted, his 
 first desire, like that of Andrew, was to find his 
 brother and bring him to Christ. 
 
 Among many others was one, Sam Williams, who 
 was untiring in his efforts. We found him first in 
 
 13
 
 178 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 a little dark cabin, with a small stove and one bed in 
 it. Sam was sick ; pneumonia had almost done its 
 worst. But as he was yet conscious we pleaded 
 with him to give his heart to God before he died ; 
 then we felt that he might be better and we told 
 him this would not do, God had better things in 
 store for him. He laid his hand upon mine, and he 
 said, " If God will help me, I will never forsake 
 Him." We secured him some medicine, and in a 
 short time he was well. He then publicly gave him- 
 self to God, and from that day to this he has preached 
 the Word faithfully from village to village. 
 
 As the Indians have no regular meeting in their 
 fishing camps it often happens that some earnest 
 soul will call one and speak to the people who care 
 to come together. A woman entirely unable to 
 speak English was holding meetings for her people 
 in a fishing camp, but the white men of the village 
 wanted to come to meeting as well. She therefore 
 found a ready interpreter among her people who 
 could speak English, and then preached to the 
 whites. The result was a white man yielded his 
 heart to God, and has become an earnest, zealous 
 worker. 
 
 As we became better known throughout Alaska we 
 received appeals for help from many other places. 
 Shortly after the Mission was opened, the Super- 
 intendent having had a call from some Indians no 
 miles away, desired to visit them. He found no 
 ready means by which he could go. Upon applying 
 to the Government, they appointed him as teacher 
 and provided him with an interpreter to go among
 
 A Superintendent Shot. 179 
 
 this people. He had been among them but a few 
 months when a sloop came into their little 
 harbour with two white men in it, whom the Indians 
 alleged were selling whiskey. The teacher in charge 
 persuaded them to let the whiskey alone and it 
 would let them alone ; but they said no, that while 
 they might let it alone themselves, yet there were 
 some of their people who would not let it alone. 
 They said he was sent there by the Government and 
 they looked to him to keep all things straight and 
 right, and now if he could not make these white men 
 leave, they would have nothing to do with him. 
 He could see the sentiment was against him in the 
 village unless he did something. He knew that if 
 they got whiskey enough and became drunken, that 
 his life was of no value whatever. Finally, to clear 
 himself of any responsibility, it is supposed that he 
 proposed that if some would go with him, they 
 should go out to the sloop and take it captive, and 
 turn it over to the Government. Eleven men 
 volunteered, and they went out in a canoe. They 
 boarded the vessel, and took charge of it. After 
 binding the owner's hands and feet nine of the 
 Indians were sent ashore, two being kept on board 
 to navigate the vessel. They were just lifting the 
 anchor when one of the white men got a hand loose, 
 found a pistol in his boot, and fired a shot through 
 the missionary. The details are not very clear, but 
 it seems that the two Indians immediately jumped 
 overboard. One of them was shot as he was 
 swimming away from the sloop and sank. The 
 other one, in fear, swam back to the boat and was
 
 180 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 climbing up on the side when he in turn was shot 
 and kicked off into the water. This time they 
 thought it best to shoot the missionary again, as the 
 first shot had not been sufficient. Still this did not 
 prove fatal until they arrived in Sitka some three 
 weeks after. He was unconscious but still alive, 
 and died in a few days. 
 
 These men gave themselves up to the Court, 
 Indians' evidence not being taken, as a rule, in Court, 
 they declared they had killed the man in self- 
 defence, the case was dismissed, and they were 
 free. 
 
 Such was the condition of affairs at the time when 
 Silas and Anna Moon, then at work at Douglas, laid 
 the matter before the Oregon Yearly Meeting of 
 Friends and were appointed to continue the Mission 
 so rudely deprived of its worker, and up to the 
 present time the Mission has continued with the 
 same workers in charge. 
 
 When on a visit to this Mission, we were once 
 becalmed, and for eleven days lay helpless upon the 
 sea. As I sat on the deck, I thought how the idle 
 Christian, the one with no spirit or life in him, is 
 like a full-rigged ship, but with no wind to fill the 
 sails. 
 
 A peculiar incident occurred on this trip which 
 has a lesson in it for us. Having drifted some 
 distance, night had come on, and it was quite dark. 
 We could see only the forms of the mountains. 
 But in time we were carried into a small bay. We 
 cast the lead several times. Finally, the water was 
 shallow enough to anchor. We hove the anchor
 
 Anna Hunnicutt's Work. 181 
 
 overboard, let out cable enough as we thought, and 
 lay by until morning, and having made all snug, we 
 went to sleep. We had slept some hours, when we 
 awoke and found our vessel drifting. We could not 
 understand what it meant, and as the outlines of the 
 mountains and shore came to view, we were not 
 twenty feet from the rocks, for instead of having 
 anchored, as we thought, we had cast our anchor on 
 a beam of logs which lay in the bay. I have thought 
 how often we Christians cast the anchor of Hope 
 upon some drifting, portable object, and lie by in 
 assurance, until the storms of life wreck us on the 
 shores of Time. 
 
 A very urgent appeal from the Esquimos of the 
 the far north-west lay heavy upon our hearts. There 
 was a young lady boarding with us, a member of 
 California Yearly Meeting. She had been sent out 
 by California Friends, and was teaching school 
 while looking for a location in which they could 
 begin a Mission of their own. This work among 
 the Esquimos appealed to her, but the cold, the 
 hardships, and the lack of help seemed almost insur- 
 mountable, still her faith was great. As she was not 
 able to leave her school at that time, we made a trip 
 to California and explained the matter to the Yearly 
 Meeting, and asked them to take up the work. On 
 the way to California the vessel was wrecked upon a 
 rock in a narrow passage between some of the 
 islands. No one was hurt, and we reached port 
 safely. 
 
 After returning to Douglas, Anna Hunnicutt 
 herself journeyed to her home in California. She
 
 1 82 Among the Indians of Alaska. 
 
 continued to press the work, and by the middle of 
 May the Yearly Meeting had procured 2,500 dollars. 
 
 Accompanied by a young Friend minister and his 
 wife, she then started for the Arctic regions. Many 
 and wonderful have been the conversions ; a Meeting 
 has been established, and great good is being done 
 in that far away land. 
 
 These were not all the calls. There were some 
 that we could not answer. For three successive 
 years a call has come from the Takou country, 
 begging, pleading for teachers. Another has come 
 from the Sumdum country. In fact, from almost 
 every direction there are constant appeals for 
 help, for teachers, with the promise that they 
 themselves will do all they can to help to support the 
 man sent to them. They want schools ; they want 
 above all the Gospel.
 
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 UC SOUT 
 
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