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diff --git a/10224-0.txt b/10224-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cd30750 --- /dev/null +++ b/10224-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3119 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10224 *** + +[Transcriber's Note: Bold text is surrounded by =equal signs= and italic +text is surrounded by _underscores_.] + + + +Our Little Alaskan Cousin + + + + +THE + +Little Cousin Series + +(TRADE MARK) + + Each volume illustrated with six or more full-page plates in + tint. Cloth, 12mo, with decorative cover, + per volume, 60 cents + + +LIST OF TITLES + +BY MARY HAZELTON WADE + +(unless otherwise indicated) + + + =Our Little African Cousin= + =Our Little Alaskan Cousin= + By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet + =Our Little Arabian Cousin= + By Blanche McManus + =Our Little Armenian Cousin= + =Our Little Australian Cousin= + By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet + =Our Little Brazilian Cousin= + By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet + =Our Little Brown Cousin= + =Our Little Canadian Cousin= + By Elizabeth R. MacDonald + =Our Little Chinese Cousin= + By Isaac Taylor Headland + =Our Little Cuban Cousin= + =Our Little Dutch Cousin= + By Blanche McManus + =Our Little Egyptian Cousin= + By Blanche McManus + =Our Little English Cousin= + By Blanche McManus + =Our Little Eskimo Cousin= + =Our Little French Cousin= + By Blanche McManus + =Our Little German Cousin= + =Our Little Greek Cousin= + By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet + =Our Little Hawaiian Cousin= + =Our Little Hindu Cousin= + By Blanche McManus + =Our Little Indian Cousin= + =Our Little Irish Cousin= + =Our Little Italian Cousin= + =Our Little Japanese Cousin= + =Our Little Jewish Cousin= + =Our Little Korean Cousin= + By H. Lee M. Pike + =Our Little Mexican Cousin= + By Edward C. Butler + =Our Little Norwegian Cousin= + =Our Little Panama Cousin= + By H. Lee M. Pike + =Our Little Philippine Cousin= + =Our Little Porto Rican Cousin= + =Our Little Russian Cousin= + =Our Little Scotch Cousin= + By Blanche McManus + =Our Little Siamese Cousin= + =Our Little Spanish Cousin= + By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet + =Our Little Swedish Cousin= + By Claire M. Coburn + =Our Little Swiss Cousin= + =Our Little Turkish Cousin= + + L. C. PAGE & COMPANY + New England Building, Boston, Mass. + +[Illustration: "KALITAN FISHED DILIGENTLY BUT CAUGHT LITTLE." + +(_See page 3_)] + + + + + Our Little Alaskan + Cousin + + By + Mary F. Nixon-Roulet + + _Author of "Our Little Spanish Cousin," "With + a Pessimist in Spain," "God, the + King, My Brother," etc._ + + _Illustrated_ + + + [Illustration] + + Boston + L. C. Page & Company + _PUBLISHERS_ + + + + + _Copyright, 1907_ + BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY + (INCORPORATED) + + _All rights reserved_ + + Third Impression, May, 1909 + + + + TO MY LITTLE SON + John Nixon de Roulet + + + + +Preface + + +AWAY up toward the frozen north lies the great peninsula, which the +United States bought from the Russians, and thus became responsible for +the native peoples from whom the Russians had taken the land. + +There are many kinds of people there, from Indians to Esquimos, and they +are under the American Government, yet they have no votes and are not +called American citizens. + +It is about this country and its people that this little story is +written, and in the hope of interesting American girls and boys in these +very strange people, their Little Alaskan Cousins. + + + + +Contents + + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. KALITAN TENAS 1 + II. AROUND THE CAMP-FIRE 12 + III. TO THE GLACIER 26 + IV. TED MEETS MR. BRUIN 38 + V. A MONSTER OF THE DEEP 48 + VI. THE ISLAND HOME OF KALITAN 60 + VII. TWILIGHT TALES AND TOTEMS 71 + VIII. THE BERRY DANCE 82 + IX. ON THE WAY TO NOME 93 + X. IN THE GOLD COUNTRY 108 + XI. AFTERNOON TEA IN AN EGLU 119 + XII. THE SPLENDOUR OF SAGHALIE TYEE 129 + + + + + +List of Illustrations + + + PAGE + "KALITAN FISHED DILIGENTLY BUT CAUGHT + LITTLE" (_See page 3_) _Frontispiece_ + "AWAY WENT ANOTHER STINGING LANCE" 57 + "A GROUP OF PEOPLE AWAITING THE CANOES" 64 + MOUNT SHISHALDIN 99 + "'LET'S WATCH THOSE TWO MEN. THEY HAVE + EVIDENTLY STAKED A CLAIM TOGETHER'" 113 + "TWO FUNNY LITTLE LAPP BABIES HE TOOK + TO RIDE ON A LARGE REINDEER" 134 + + + + +Our Little Alaskan Cousin + + + + +CHAPTER I + +KALITAN TENAS + + +IT was bitterly cold. Kalitan Tenas felt it more than he had in the long +winter, for then it was still and calm as night, and now the wind was +blowing straight in from the sea, and the river was frozen tight. + +A month before, the ice had begun to break and he had thought the cold +was over, and that the all too short Alaskan summer was at hand. Now it +was the first of May, and just as he had begun to think of summer +pleasures, lo! a storm had come which seemed to freeze the very marrow +of his bones. However, our little Alaskan cousin was used to cold and +trained to it, and would not dream of fussing over a little snow-storm. + +Kalitan started out to fish for his dinner, and though the snow came +down heavily and he had to break through the ice to make a fishing-hole, +and soon the ice was a wind-swept plain where even his own tracks were +covered with a white pall, he fished steadily on. He never dreamed of +stopping until he had fish enough for dinner, for, like most of his +tribe, he was persevering and industrious. + +Kalitan was a Thlinkit, though, if you asked him, he would say he was +"Klinkit." This is a tribe which has puzzled wise people for a long +time, for the Thlinkits are not Esquimos, not Indians, not coloured +people, nor whites. They are the tribes living in Southeastern Alaska +and along the coast. Many think that a long, long time ago, they came +from Japan or some far Eastern country, for they look something like +the Japanese, and their language has many words similar to Japanese in +it. + +Perhaps, long years ago, some shipwrecked Japanese were cast upon the +coast of Alaska, and, finding their boats destroyed and the land good to +live in, settled there, and thus began the Thlinkit tribes. + +The Chilcats, Haidahs, and Tsimsheans are all Thlinkits, and are by far +the best of the brown people of the Northland. They are honest, simple, +and kind, and more intelligent than the Indians living farther north, in +the colder regions. The Thlinkit coast is washed by the warm current +from the Japan Sea, and it is not much colder than Chicago or Boston, +though the winter is a little longer. + +Kalitan fished diligently but caught little. He was warmly clad in +sealskin; around his neck was a white bearskin ruff, as warm as toast, +and very pretty, too, as soft and fluffy as a lady's boa. On his feet +were moccasins of walrus hide. He had been perhaps an hour watching the +hole in the ice, and knelt there so still that he looked almost as +though he were frozen. Indeed, that was what those thought who saw him +there, for suddenly a dog-sledge came round the corner of the hill and a +loud halloo greeted his ears. + +"Boston men," he said to himself as he watched them, "lost the trail." + +They had indeed lost the trail, and Ted Strong had begun to think they +would never find it again. + +Chetwoof, their Indian guide, had not talked very much about it, but +lapsed into his favourite "No understan'," a remark he always made when +he did not want to answer what was said to him. + +Ted and his father were on their way from Sitka to the Copper River. Mr. +Strong was on the United States Geological Survey, which Ted knew meant +that he had to go all around the country and poke about all day among +rocks and mountains and glaciers. He had come with his father to this +far Alaskan clime in the happiest expectation of adventures with bears +and Indians, always dear to the heart of a boy. + +He was pretty tired of the sledge, having been in it since early +morning, and he was cold and hungry besides; so he was delighted when +the dogs stopped and his father said: + +"Hop out, son, and stretch your legs. We'll try to find out where we are +before we go any farther." + +Chetwoof meanwhile was interviewing the boy, who came quickly toward +them. + +"Who are you?" demanded Chetwoof. + +"Kalitan Tenas," was the brief reply. + +"Where are we?" was the next question. + +"Near to Pilchickamin River." + +"Where is a camp?" + +"There," said the boy, pointing toward a clump of pine-trees. "Ours." + +Ted by this time was tired of his own unwonted silence, and he came up +to Kalitan, holding out his hand. + +"My name is Ted Strong," he said, genially, grinning cheerfully at the +young Alaskan. "I say this is a jolly place. I wish you would teach me +to fish in a snow-hole. It must be great fun. I like you; let's be +friends!" Kalitan took the boy's hand in his own rough one. + +"Mahsie" (thank you), he said, a sudden quick smile sweeping his dark +face like a fleeting sunbeam, but disappearing as quickly, leaving it +grave again. "Olo?" (hungry). + +"Yes," said Mr. Strong, "hungry and cold." + +"Camp," said Kalitan, preparing to lead the way, with the hospitality of +his tribe, for the Thlinkits are always ready to share food and fire +with any stranger. The two boys strode off together, and Mr. Strong +could scarcely help smiling at the contrast between them. + +Ted was the taller, but slim even in the furs which almost smothered +him, leaving only his bright face exposed to the wind and weather. His +hair was a tangle of yellow curls which no parting could ever affect, +for it stood straight up from his forehead like a golden fleece; his +mother called it his aureole. His skin was fair as a girl's, and his +eyes as big and blue as a young Viking's; but the Indian boy's locks +were black as ink, his skin was swarthy, his eyes small and dark, and +his features that strange mixture of the Indian, the Esquimo, and the +Japanese which we often see in the best of our Alaskan cousins. + +Boys, however, are boys all the world over, and friendly animals, and +Ted was soon chattering away to his newly found friend as if he had +known him all his life. + +"What's your name?" he asked. + +"Kalitan," was the answer. "They call me Kalitan Tenas;[1] my father was +Tyee." + +"Where is he?" asked Ted. He wanted to see an Indian chief. + +"Dead," said Kalitan, briefly. + +"I'm sorry," said Ted. He adored his own father, and felt it was hard on +a boy not to have one. + +"He was killed," said Kalitan, "but we had blood-money from them," he +added, sternly. + +"What's that?" asked Ted, curiously. + +"Long time ago, when one man kill another, his clan must pay +with a life. One must be found from his tribe to cry, +'O-o-o-o-o-a-ha-a-ich-klu-kuk-ich-klu-kuk'" (ready to die, ready to +die). His voice wailed out the mournful chant, which was weird and +solemn and almost made Ted shiver. "But now," the boy went on, "Boston +men" (Americans) "do not like the blood-tax, so the murderer pays money +instead. We got many blankets and baskets and moneys for Kalitan Tyee. +He great chief." + +"Do you live here?" asked Ted. + +"No, live on island out there." Kalitan waved his hand seaward. "Come to +fish with my uncle, Klake Tyee. This good fishing-ground." + +"It's a pretty fine country," said Ted, glancing at the scene, which +bore charm to other than boyish eyes. To the east were the mountains +sheltering a valley through which the frozen river wound like a silver +ribbon, widening toward the sea. A cold green glacier filled the valley +between two mountains with its peaks of beauty. Toward the shore, which +swept in toward the river's mouth in a sheltered cove, were clumps of +trees, giant fir, aspen, and hemlock, green and beautiful, while seaward +swept the waves in white-capped loveliness. + +Kalitan ushered them to the camp with great politeness and considerable +pride. + +"You've a good place to camp," said Mr. Strong, "and we will gladly +share your fire until we are warm enough to go on." + +Ted's face fell. "Must we go right away?" he asked. "This is such a +jolly place." + +"No go to-day," said Kalitan, briefly, to Chetwoof. "_Colesnass._"[2] + +"Huh!" said Chetwoof. "Think some." + +"Here comes my uncle," said Kalitan, and he ran eagerly to meet an old +Indian who came toward the camp from the shore. He eagerly explained the +situation to the Tyee, who welcomed the strangers with grave politeness. +He was an old man, with a seamed, scarred face, but kindly eyes. Chief +of the Thlinkits, his tribe was scattered, his children dead, and +Kalitan about all left to him of interest in life. + +"There will be more snow," he said to Mr. Strong. "You are welcome. Stay +and share our fire and food." + +"Do let us stay, father," cried Ted, and his father smiled indulgently, +but Kalitan looked at him in astonishment. Alaskan boys are taught to +hold their tongues and let their elders decide matters, and Kalitan +would never have dreamed of teasing for anything. + +But Mr. Strong did not wish to face another snow-storm in the sledge, +and knew he could work but little till the storm was passed; so he +readily consented to stay a few days and let Ted see some real Alaskan +hunting and fishing. + +Both boys were delighted, and soon had the camp rearranged to +accommodate the strangers. The fire was built up, Ted and Kalitan +gathering cones and fir branches, which made a fragrant blaze, while +Chetwoof cared for the dogs, and the old chief helped Mr. Strong pitch +his tent in the lee of some fragrant firs. Soon all was prepared and +supper cooking over the coals,--a supper of fresh fish and seal fat, +which Alaskans consider a great delicacy, and to which Mr. Strong added +coffee and crackers from his stores,--and Indians and whites ate +together in friendliness and amity. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Little Arrow. + +[2] Snow. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +AROUND THE CAMP-FIRE + + +"HOW does it happen that you speak English, Kalitan?" asked Mr. Strong +as they sat around the camp-fire that evening. The snow had continued +during the afternoon, and the boys had had an exciting time coasting and +snow-balling and enjoying themselves generally. + +"I went for a few months to the Mission School at Wrangel," said +Kalitan. "I learned much there. They teach the boys to read and write +and do sums and to work the ground besides. They learn much more than +the girls." + +"Huh!" said the old chief, grimly. "Girls learn too much. They no good +for Indian wives, and white men not marry them. Best for girls to stay +at home at the will of their fathers until they get husbands." + +"So you've been in Wrangel," said Ted to Kalitan. "We went there, too. +It's a dandy place. Do you remember the fringe of white mountains back +of the harbour? The people said the woods were full of game, but we +didn't have time to go hunting. There are a few shops there, but it +seemed to me a very small place to have been built since 1834. In the +States whole towns grow up in two or three weeks." + +"Huh!" said Kalitan, with a quick shrug of his shoulders, "quick grow, +sun fade and wind blow down." + +"I don't think the sun could ever fade in Wrangel," laughed Ted. "They +told me there it hadn't shone but fifteen days in three months. It +rained all the time." + +"Rain is nothing," said Kalitan. "It is when the Ice Spirit speaks in +the North Wind's roar and in the crackling of the floes that we +tremble. The glaciers are the children of the Mountain Spirit whom our +fathers worshipped. He is angry, and lo! he hurls down icebergs in his +wrath, he tosses them about, upon the streams he tosses the _kyaks_ like +feathers and washes the land with the waves of Sitth. When our people +are buried in the ground instead of being burnt with the fire, they must +go for ever to the place of Sitth, of everlasting cold, where never sun +abides, nor rain, nor warmth." + +Ted had listened spellbound to this poetic speech and gazed at Kalitan +in open-mouthed amazement. A boy who could talk like that was a new and +delightful playmate, and he said: + +"Tell me more about things, Kalitan," but the Indian was silent, ashamed +of having spoken. + +"What do you do all day when you are at home?" persisted the American. + +"In winter there is nothing to do but to hunt and fish," said Kalitan. +"Sometimes we do not find much game, then we think of how, when a +Thlinkit dies, he has plenty. If he has lived as a good tribesman, his +kyak glides smoothly over the silver waters into the sunset, until, o'er +gently flowing currents, it reaches the place of the mighty forest. A +bad warrior's canoe passes dark whirlpools and terrible rapids until he +reaches the place we speak not of, where reigns Sitth. + +"In the summer-time we still hunt and fish. Many have learned to till +the ground, and we gather berries and wood for the winter. The other +side of the inlet, the tree-trunks drift from the Yukon and are stranded +on the islands, so there is plenty for firewood. But upon our island the +women gather a vine and dry it. They collect seaweed for food in the +early spring, and dry it and press it into square cakes, which make good +food after they have hung long in the sun. They make baskets and sell +them to the white people. Often my uncle and I take them to Valdez, and +once we brought back fifty dollars for those my mother made. There is +always much to do." + +"Don't you get terribly cold hunting in the winter?" asked Ted. + +"Thlinkit boy not a baby," said Kalitan, a trifle scornfully. "We begin +to be hardened when we are babies. When I was five years old, I left my +father and went to my uncle to be taught. Every morning I bathed in the +ocean, even if I had to break ice to find water, and then I rolled in +the snow. After that my uncle brushed me with a switch bundle, and not +lightly, for his arm is strong. I must not cry out, no matter if he +hurt, for a chief's son must never show pain nor fear. That would give +his people shame." + +"Don't you get sick?" asked Ted, who felt cold all over at the idea of +being treated in such a heroic manner. + +"The _Kooshta_[3] comes sometimes," said Kalitan. "The Shaman[4] used to +cast him out, but now the white doctor can do it, unless the _kooshta_ +is too strong." + +Ted was puzzled as to Kalitan's exact meaning, but did not like to ask +too many questions for fear of being impolite, so he only said: + +"Being sick is not very nice, anyhow." + +"To be bewitched is the most terrible," said Kalitan, gravely. + +"How does that happen?" asked Ted, eagerly, but Kalitan shook his head. + +"It is not good to hear," he said. "The medicine-man must come with his +drum and rattle, and he is very terrible. If the white men will not +allow any more the punishing of the witches, they should send more of +the white medicine-men, if we are not to have any more of our own." + +"Boys should not talk about big things," said the old chief suddenly. He +had been sitting quietly over the fire, and spoke so suddenly that +Kalitan collapsed into silence. Ted, too, quieted down at the old +chief's stern voice and manner, and both boys sat and listened to the +men talking, while the snow still swirled about them. + +Tyee Klake told Mr. Strong many interesting things about the coast +country, and gave him valuable information as to the route he should +pursue in his search for interesting things in the mountains. + +"It will be two weeks before the snow will break so you can travel in +comfort," he said. "Camp with us. We remain here one week, then we go to +the island. We can take you there, you will see many things, and your +boy will hunt with Kalitan." + +"Where is your island?" asked Mr. Strong. + +Ted said nothing, but his eyes were fixed eagerly upon his father. It +was easy to see that he wished to accept the invitation. + +"Out there." Tyee Klake pointed toward where the white coast-line seemed +to fade into silvery blue. + +"There are many islands; on some lives no one, but we have a village. +Soon it will be nearly deserted, for many of our people rove during the +summer, and wander from one camping-ground to another, seeking the best +game or fish. But Kalitan's people remain always on the island. Him I +take with me to hunt the whale and seal, to gather the berries, and to +trap the little animals who bear fur. We find even seal upon our shores, +though fewer since your people have come among us." + +"Which were the best, Russians or Americans?" asked Mr. Strong, curious +to see what the old Indian would say, but the Tyee was not to be caught +napping. + +"Men all alike," he said. "Thlinkit, Russian, American, some good, some +bad. Russians used Indians more, gave them hunting and fishing, and only +took part of the skins. Americans like to hunt and fish all themselves +and leave nothing for the Indians. Russians teach _quass_, Americans +teach whiskey. Before white men came, Indians were healthy. They ate +fish, game, berries; now they must have other foods, and they are not +good for Indians here,"--he touched his stomach. "Indian used to dress +in skins and furs, now he must copy white man and shiver with cold. He +soon has the coughing sickness and then he goes into the unknown. + +"But the government of the Americans is best because it tries to do some +things for the Indian. It teaches our boys useful things in the +schools, and, if some of its people are bad, some Indians are bad, too. +Men all alike," he repeated with the calm stoicism of his race. + +"The government is far away," said Mr. Strong, "and should not be blamed +for the doings of all its servants. I should like to see this island +home of yours, and think we must accept your invitation; shall we, Ted?" +he smiled at the boy. + +"Yes, indeed; thank you, sir," said Ted, and he and Kalitan grinned at +each other happily. + +"We shall stay in camp until the blue jay comes," said the old chief, +smiling, "and then seek the village of my people." + +"What does the blue jay mean?" asked Ted, timidly, for he was very much +in awe of this grave old man. + +Kalitan said something in Thlinkit to his uncle, and the old chief, +looking kindly at the boy, replied with a nod: + +"I will tell you the story of the blue jay," he said. + +"My story is of the far, far north. Beside a salmon stream there dwelt +people rich in slaves. These caught and dried the salmon for the winter, +and nothing is better to eat than dried salmon dipped in seal oil. All +the fish were caught and stored away, when lo! the whiteness fell from +heaven and the snows were upon them. It was the time of snow and they +should not have complained, but the chief was evil and he cursed the +whiteness. No one should dare to speak evil of the Snow Spirit, which +comes from the Unknown! Deeper and deeper grew the snow. It flew like +feathers about the _eglu_,[5] and the slaves had many troubles in +putting in limbs for the fire. Then the snow came in flakes so large +they seemed like the wings of birds, and the house was covered, and they +could no longer keep their _kyaks_ on top of the snow. All were shut +tight in the house, and their fire and food ran low. They knew not how +many days they were shut in, for there was no way to tell the day from +night, only they knew they were sore hungry and that the Snow Spirit was +angry and terrible in his anger. + +"But each one spoke not; he only chose a place where he should lie down +and die when he could bear no more. + +"Only the chief spoke, and he once. 'Snow Spirit,' he said aloud, 'I +alone am evil. These are not so. Slay me and spare!' But the Snow Spirit +answered not, only the wind screamed around the _eglu_, and his screams +were terrible and sad. Then hope left the heart of the chief and he +prepared to die with all his people and all his slaves. + +"But on the day when their last bit of food was gone, lo! something +pecked at the top of the smoke-hole, and it sang 'Nuck-tee,' and it was +a blue jay. The chief heard and saw and wondered, and, looking 'neath +the smoke-hole, he saw a scarlet something upon the floor. Picking it +up, he found it was a bunch of Indian tomato berries, red and ripe, and +quickly hope sprang in his breast. + +"'Somewhere is summer,' he cried. 'Let us up and away.' + +"Then the slaves hastened to dig out the canoe, and they drew it with +mighty labour, for they were weak from fasting, over the snows to the +shore, and there they launched it without sail or paddle, with all the +people rejoicing. And after a time the wind carried them to a beach +where all was summer. Birds sang, flowers bloomed, and berries gleamed +scarlet in the sun, and there were salmon jumping in the blue water. +They ate and were satisfied, for it was summer on the earth and summer +in their hearts. + +"That is how the Thlinkits came to our island, and so we say when the +snow breaks, that now comes the blue jay." + +"Thank you for telling us such a dandy story," cried Ted, who had not +lost a word of this quaint tale, told so graphically over the camp-fire +of the old chief Klake. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[3] Kooshta, a spirit in animal's form which inhabits the body of sick +persons and must be cast out, according to Thlinkit belief. + +[4] Shaman, native medicine-man. + +[5] Hut. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +TO THE GLACIER + + +TED slept soundly all night, wrapped in the bearskins from the sledge, +in the little tent he shared with his father. When the morning broke, he +sprang to his feet and hurried out of doors, hopeful for the day's +pleasures. The snow had stopped, but the ground was covered with a thick +white pall, and the mountains were turned to rose colour in the morning +sun, which was rising in a blaze of glory. + +"Good morning, Kalitan," shouted Ted to his Indian friend, whom he spied +heaping wood upon the camp-fire. "Isn't it dandy? What can we do +to-day?" + +"Have breakfast," said Kalitan, briefly. "Then do what Tyee says." + +"Well, I hope he'll say something exciting," said Ted. + +"Think good day to hunt," said Kalitan, as he prepared things for the +morning meal. + +"Where did you get the fish?" asked Ted. + +"Broke ice-hole and fished when I got up," said the Thlinkit. + +"You don't mean you have been fishing already," exclaimed the lazy Ted, +and Kalitan smiled as he said: + +"White people like fish. Tyee said: 'Catch fish for Boston men's +breakfast,' and I go." + +"Do you always mind him like that?" asked Ted. He generally obeyed his +father, but there were times when he wasn't anxious to and argued a +little about it. Kalitan looked at him in astonishment. + +"He chief!" he said, simply. + +"What will we do with the camp if we all go hunting?" asked Ted. + +"Nothing," said Kalitan. + +"Leave Chetwoof to watch, I suppose," continued Ted. + +"Watch? Why?" asked Kalitan. + +"Why, everything; some one will steal our things," said Ted. + +"Thlinkits not steal," said Kalitan, with dignity. "Maybe white man come +along and steal from his brothers; Indians not. If we go away to long +hunt, we _cache_ blankets and no one would touch." + +"What do you mean by _cache_?" asked Ted. + +"We build a mound hut near the house, and put there the blankets and +stores. Sometime they stay there for years, but no one would take from a +_cache_. If one has plenty of wood by the seashore or in the forest, he +may cord it and go his way and no one will touch it. A deer hangs on a +tree where dogs may not reach it, but no stray hunter would slice even a +piece. We are not thieves." + +"It is a pity you could not send missionaries to the States, you +Thlinkits, my boy," said Mr. Strong, who had come up in time to hear +Kalitan's words. "I'm afraid white people are less honest." + +"Teddy, do you know we are to have some hunting to-day, and that you'll +get your first experience with a glacier." + +"Hurrah," shouted Ted, dancing up and down in excitement. + +"Tyee Klake says we can hunt toward the base of the glacier, and I shall +try to go a little ways upon it and see how the land lies, or, rather, +the ice. It is getting warmer, and, if it continues a few days, the snow +will melt enough to let us go over to that island you are so anxious to +see." + +Ted's eyes shone, and the amount of breakfast he put away quite prepared +him for his day's work, which, pleasant though it might be, certainly +was hard work. The chief said they must seek the glacier first before +the sun got hot, for it was blinding on the snow. So they set out soon +after breakfast, leaving Chetwoof in charge of the camp, and with orders +to catch enough fish for dinner. + +"We'll be ready to eat them, heads and tails," said Ted, and his father +added, laughingly: + +"'Bible, bones, and hymn-book, too.'" + +"What does that mean?" asked Ted, as Kalitan looked up inquiringly. + +"Once a writer named Macaulay said he could make a rhyme for any word in +the English language, and a man replied, 'You can't rhyme Timbuctoo.' +But he answered without a pause: + + "If I were a Cassowary + On the plains of Timbuctoo, + I'd eat up a missionary, + Bible, bones, and hymn-book, too." + +Ted laughed, but Kalitan said, grimly: + +"Not good to eat Boston missionary, he all skin and bone!" + +"Where did they get the name Alaska?" asked Ted, as they tramped over +the snow toward the glacier. + +"Al-ay-ck-sa--great country," said Kalitan. + +"It certainly is," said Ted. "It's fine! I never saw anything like this +at home," pointing as he spoke to the scene in front of him. + +A group of evergreen trees, firs and the Alaska spruce, so useful for +fires and torches, fringed the edge of the ice-field, green and verdant +in contrast to the gleaming snows of the mountain, which rose in a +gentle slope at first, then precipitously, in a dazzling and enchanting +combination of colour. It was as if some marble palace of old rose +before them against the heavens, for the ice was cut and serrated into +spires and gables, turrets and towers, all seeming to be ornamented with +fretwork where the sun's rays struck the peaks and turned them into +silver and gold. Lower down the ice looked like animals, so twisted was +it into fantastic shapes; fierce sea monsters with yawning mouths +seeming ready to devour; bears and wolves, whales, gigantic elephants, +and snowy tigers, tropic beasts looking strangely out of place in this +arctic clime. + +Deep crevices cut the ice-fields, and in their green-blue depths lurked +death, for the least misstep would dash the traveller into an abyss +which had no bottom. Beyond the glacier itself, the snow-capped +mountains rose grand and serene, their glittering peaks clear against +the blue sky, which hue the glacier reflected and played with in a +thousand glinting shades, from purpling amethyst to lapis lazuli and +turquoise. + +As they gazed spellbound, a strange thing occurred, a thing of such +wonder and beauty that Ted could but grasp his father's arm in silence. + +Suddenly the peaks seemed to melt away, the white ice-pinnacles became +real turrets, houses and cathedrals appeared, and before them arose a +wonderful city of white marble, dream-like and shadowy, but beautiful as +Aladdin's palace in the "Arabian Nights." At last Ted could keep silent +no longer. + +"What is it?" he cried, and the old chief answered, gravely: + +"The City of the Dead," but his father said: + +"A mirage, my boy. They are often seen in these regions, but you are +fortunate in seeing one of the finest I have ever witnessed." + +"What is a mirage?" demanded Ted. + +"An optical delusion," said his father, "and one I am sure I couldn't +explain so that you would understand it. The queer thing about a mirage +is that you usually see the very thing most unlikely to be found in that +particular locality. In the Sahara, men see flowers and trees and +fountains, and here on this glacier we see a splendid city." + +"It certainly is queer. What makes glaciers, daddy?" Ted was even more +interested than usual in his father's talk because of Kalitan, whose +dark eyes never left Mr. Strong's face, and who seemed to drink in every +word of information as eagerly as a thirsty bird drinks water. + +"The dictionaries tell you that glaciers are fields of ice, or snow and +ice, formed in the regions of perpetual snow, and moving slowly down the +mountain slopes or valleys. Many people say the glaciers are the fathers +of the icebergs which float at sea, and that these are broken off the +glacial stream, but others deny this. When the glacial ice and snow +reaches a point where the air is so warm that the ice melts as fast as +it is pushed down from above, the glacier ends and a river begins. These +are the finest glaciers in the world, except, perhaps, those of the +Himalayas. + +"This bids fair to be a wonderfully interesting place for my work, Ted, +and I'm glad you're likely to be satisfied with your new friends, for I +shall have to go to many places and do a lot of things less interesting +than the things Kalitan can show you. + +"See these blocks of fine marble and those superb masses of porphyry and +chalcedony,--but there's something which will interest you more. Take my +gun and see if you can't bring down a bird for supper." + +Wild ducks were flying low across the edge of the glacier and quite near +to the boys, and Ted grasped his father's gun in wild excitement. He was +never allowed to touch a gun at home. Dearly as he loved his mother, it +had always seemed very strange to him that she should show such poor +taste about firearms, and refuse to let him have any; and now that he +had a gun really in his hands, he could hardly hold it, he was so +excited. Of course it was not the first time, for his father had allowed +him to practise shooting at a mark ever since they had reached Alaska, +but this was the first time he had tried to shoot a living target. He +selected his duck, aimed quickly, and fired. Bang! Off went the gun, +and, wonder of wonders! two ducks fell instead of one. + +"Well done, Ted, that duck was twins," cried his father, laughing, +almost as excited as the boy himself, and they ran to pick up the birds. +Kalitan smiled, too, and quietly picked up one, saying: + +"This one Kalitan's," showing, as he spoke, his arrow through the bird's +side, for he had discharged an arrow as Ted fired his gun. + +"Too bad, Ted. I thought you were a mighty hunter, a Nimrod who killed +two birds with one stone," said Mr. Strong, but Ted laughed and said: + +"So I got the one I shot at, I don't care." + +They had wild duck at supper that night, for Chetwoof plucked the birds +and roasted them on a hot stone over the spruce logs, and Ted, tired and +wet and hungry, thought he had never tasted such a delicious meal in his +life. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +TED MEETS MR. BRUIN + + +IT seemed to Ted as if he had scarcely touched the pillow on the nights +which followed before it was daylight, and he would awake to find the +sun streaming in at his tent flap. He always meant to go fishing with +Kalitan before breakfast, so the moment he woke up he jumped out of bed, +if his pile of fragrant pine boughs covered with skins could be called a +bed, and hurried through his toilet. Quick as he tried to be, however, +he was never ready before Kalitan, for, when Ted appeared, the Indian +boy had always had his roll in the snow and was preparing his lines. + +Kalitan was perfectly fascinated with the American boy. He thought him +the most wonderful specimen of a boy that he had ever seen. He knew so +much that Kalitan did not, and talked so brightly that being with Ted +was to the Indian like having a book without the bother of reading. +There were some things about him that Kalitan could not understand, to +be sure. Ted talked to his father just as if he were another boy. He +even spoke to Tyee Klake on occasions when that august personage had not +only not asked him a question, but was not speaking at all. From the +Thlinkit point of view, this was a most remarkable performance on Ted's +part, but Kalitan thought it must be all right for a "Boston boy," for +even the stern old chief seemed to regard happy-go-lucky Ted with +approval. + +Ted, on the other hand, thought Kalitan the most remarkable boy he had +ever met in all his life. He had not been much with boys. His "Lady +Mother," as he always called the gentle, brown-eyed being who ruled his +father and himself, had not cared to have her little Galahad mingle +with the rougher city boys who thronged the streets, and had kept him +with herself a great deal. Ted had loved books, and he and his little +sister Judith had lived in a pleasant atmosphere of refinement, playing +happily together until the boy had grown almost to dread anything common +or low. His mother knew he had moral courage, and would face any issue +pluckily, but his father feared he would grow up a milksop, and thought +he needed hardening. + +Mrs. Strong objected to the hardening process if it consisted in turning +her boy loose to learn the ways of the city streets, but had consented +to his going with his father, urged thereto by fears for his health, +which was not of the best, and the knowledge that he had reached the +"bear and Indian" age, and it was certainly a good thing for him to have +his experiences first-hand. + +To Ted the whole thing was perfectly delightful. When he lay down at +night, he would often like to see "Mother and Ju," but he was generally +so tired that he was asleep before he had time to think enough to be +really homesick. During the day there was too much doing to have any +thinking time, and, since he had met this boy friend, he thought of +little else but him and what they were to do next. The Tyee had assured +Mr. Strong that it was perfectly safe for the boys to go about together. + +"Kalitan knows all the trails," he said. "He take care of white brother. +Anything come, call Chetwoof." + +As Mr. Strong was very anxious to penetrate the glacier under Klake's +guidance, and wanted Ted to enjoy himself to the full, he left the boys +to themselves, the only stipulation being that they should not go on the +water without Chetwoof. + +There seemed to be always something new to do. As the days grew warmer, +the ice broke in the river, and the boys tramped all over the country. +Ted learned to use the bow and arrow, and brought down many a bird for +supper, and proud he was when he served up for his father a wild duck, +shot, plucked, and cooked all by himself. + +They fished in the stream by day and set lines by night. They trapped +rabbits and hares in the woods, and one day even got a silver fox, a +skin greatly prized by the fur traders on account of its rarity. Kalitan +insisted that Ted should have it, though he could have gotten forty +dollars for it from a white trader, and Ted was rejoiced at the idea of +taking it home to make a set of furs for Judith. + +One day Ted had a strange experience, and not a very pleasant one, which +might have been very serious had it not been for Kalitan. He had noticed +a queer-looking plant on the river-bank the day before, and had stopped +to pick it up, when he received such a sudden and unexpected pricking +as to cause him to jump back and shout for Kalitan. His hand felt as if +it had been pierced by a thousand needles, and he flew to a snow-bank to +rub it with snow. + +"I must have gotten hold of some kind of a cactus," he said to Kalitan, +who only replied: + +"Huh! picked hedgehog," as he pointed to where Ted's cactus was ambling +indignantly away with every quill rattling and set straight out in anger +at having his morning nap disturbed. Kalitan wrapped Ted's hand in soft +mud, which took the pain out, but he couldn't use it much for the next +few days, and did not feel eager to hunt when his father and the Tyee +started out in the morning. Kalitan remained with him, although his eyes +looked wistful, for he had heard the chief talk about bear tracks having +been seen the day before. Bears were quite a rarity, but sometimes an +old cinnamon or even a big black bruin would venture down in search of +fresh fish, which he would catch cleverly with his great paws. + +Kalitan and Ted fished awhile, and then Ted wandered away a little, +wondering what lay around a point of rock which he had never yet +explored. Something lay there which he had by no means expected to see, +and he scarcely knew what to make of it. On the river-bank, close to the +edge of the stream, was a black figure, an Indian fishing, as he +supposed, and he paused to watch. The fisherman was covered with fur +from head to foot, and, as Ted watched him, he seemed to have no line or +rod. Going nearer, the boy grew even more puzzled, and, though the man's +back was toward him, he could easily see that there was something +unusual about the figure. Just as he was within hailing distance and +about to shout, the figure made a quick dive toward the water and sprang +back again with a fish between his paws, and Ted saw that it was a huge +bear. He gave a sharp cry and then stood stock-still. The creature +looked around and stood gnawing his fish and staring at Ted as stupidly +as the boy stared at him. Then Ted heard a halloo behind him and +Kalitan's voice: + +"Run for Chetwoof, quick!" + +Ted obeyed as the animal started to move off. He ran toward the camp, +hearing the report of Kalitan's gun as he ran. Chetwoof, hearing the +noise, hurried out, and it was but a few moments before he was at +Kalitan's side. To Ted it seemed like a day before he could get back and +see what was happening, but he arrived on the scene in time to see +Chetwoof despatch the animal. + +"Hurrah!" cried Ted. "You've killed a bear," but Chetwoof only grunted +crossly. + +"Very bad luck!" he said, and Kalitan explained: + +"Indians don't like to kill bears or ravens. Spirits in them, maybe +ancestors." + +Ted looked at him in great astonishment, but Kalitan explained: + +"Once, long ago, a Thlinkit girl laughed at a bear track in the snow and +said: 'Ugly animal must have made that track!' But a bear heard and was +angry. He seized the maiden and bore her to his den, and turned her into +a bear, and she dwelt with him, until one day her brother killed the +bear and she was freed. And from that day Thlinkits speak respectfully +of bears, and do not try to kill them, for they know not whether it is a +bear or a friend who hides within the shaggy skin." + +The Tyee and Mr. Strong were greatly surprised when they came home to +see the huge carcass of Mr. Bruin, and they listened to the account of +Kalitan's bravery. The old chief said little, but he looked approvingly +at Kalitan, and said "Hyas kloshe" (very good), which unwonted praise +made the boy's face glow with pleasure. They had a great discussion as +to whom the bear really belonged. Ted had found him, Kalitan had shot +him first, and Chetwoof had killed him, so they decided to go shares. +Ted wanted the skin to take home, and thought it would make a splendid +rug for his mother's library, so his father paid Kalitan and Chetwoof +what each would have received as their share had the skin been sold to a +trader, and they all had bear meat for supper. Ted thought it finer than +any beefsteak he had ever eaten, and over it Kalitan smacked his lips +audibly. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A MONSTER OF THE DEEP + + +THE big bear occupied considerable attention for several days. He had to +be carefully skinned and part of the meat dried for future use. Alaskans +never use salt for preserving meat. Indeed they seem to dislike salt +very much. It had taken Ted some time to learn to eat all his meat and +fish quite fresh, without a taste of salt, but he had grown to like it. +There is something in the sun and wind of Alaska which cures meat +perfectly, and the bear's meat was strung on sticks and dried in the sun +so that they might enjoy it for a long time. + +It seemed as if the adventure with Bruin was enough to last the boys for +several days, for Ted's hand still pained him from the porcupine's +quills, and he felt tired and lazy. He lay by the camp-fire one +afternoon listening to Kalitan's tales of his island home, when his +father came in from a long tramp, and, looking at him a little +anxiously, asked: + +"What's the matter, son?" + +"Nothing, I'm only tired," said Ted, but Kalitan said: + +"Porcupine quills poison hand. Well in a few days." + +"So your live cactus is getting in his work, is he? I'm glad it wasn't +the bear you mistook for an Alaskan posy and tried to pick. I'm tired +myself," and Mr. Strong threw himself down to rest. + +"Daddy, how did we come to have Alaska, anyway?" + +"Well, that's a long story," said his father, "but an interesting one." + +"Do tell us about it," urged Ted. "I know we bought it, but what did we +pay the Indians for it? I shouldn't have thought they'd have sold such a +fine country." + +Kalitan looked up quickly, and there was a sudden gleam in his dark eyes +that Ted had never seen before. + +"Thlinkits never sell," he said. "Russians steal." + +Mr. Strong put his hand kindly on the boy's head. + +"You're right, Kalitan," he said. "The Russians never conquered the +Thlinkits, the bravest tribe in all Alaska. + +"You see, Teddy, it was this way. A great many years ago, about 1740, a +Danish sailor named Bering, who was in the service of the Russians, +sailed across the ocean and discovered the strait named for him, and a +number of islands. Some of these were not inhabited, others had Indians +or Esquimos on them, but, after the manner of the early discoverers, +Bering took possession of them all in the name of the Emperor of +Russia. It doesn't seem right as we look at things now, but in those +days 'might made right,' and it was just the same way the English did +when they came to America. + +"The Russians settled here, finding the fishing and furs fine things for +trade, and driving the Indians, who would not yield to them, farther and +farther inland. In 1790 the Czar made Alexander Baranoff manager of the +trading company. Baranoff established trading-posts in various places, +and settled at Sitka, where you can see the ruins of the splendid castle +he built. The Russians also sent missionaries to convert the Indians to +the Greek Church, which is the church of Russia. The Indians, however, +never learned to care for the Russians, and often were cruelly treated +by them. The Russians, however, tried to do something for their +education, and established several schools. One as early as 1775, on +Kadiak Island, had thirty pupils, who studied arithmetic, reading, +navigation, and four of the mechanical trades, and this is a better +record than the American purchasers can show, I am sorry to say. + +"One of the recent travellers[6] in Alaska says that he met in the +country 'American citizens who never in their lives heard a prayer for +the President of the United States, nor of the Fourth of July, nor the +name of the capital of the nation, but who have been taught to pray for +the Emperor of Russia, to celebrate his birthday, and to commemorate the +victories of ancient Greece.' In March, 1867, the Russians sold Alaska +to the United States for $7,200,000 in gold. It was bought for a song +almost, when we consider the immense amount of money made for the +government by the seal fisheries, the cod and salmon industries, and +the opening of the gold fields. The resources of the country are not +half-known, and the government is beginning to see this. That is one of +the reasons they have sent me here, with the other men, to find out what +the earth holds for those who do not know how to look for its treasures. +Gold is not the best thing the earth produces. There is land in Alaska +little known full of coal and other useful minerals. Other land is +covered with magnificent timber which could be shipped to all parts of +the world. There are pasture-lands where stock will fatten like pigs +without any other feeding; there are fertile soils which will raise +almost any crops, and there are intelligent Indians who can be taught to +work and be useful members of society. I do not mean dragged off to the +United States to learn things they could never use in their home lives, +but who should be educated here to make the best of their talents in +their home surroundings. + +"That is one crying shame to our government, that they have neglected +the Alaskan citizens. Forty years have been wasted, but we are beginning +to wake up now, and twenty years more will see the Indians of Kalitan's +generation industrious men and women, not only clever hunters and +fishermen, but lumbermen, coopers, furniture makers, farmers, miners, +and stock-raisers." + +At this moment their quiet conversation was interrupted by a wild shout +from the shore, and, springing to their feet, they saw Chetwoof +gesticulating wildly and shouting to the Tyee, who had been mending his +canoe by the river-bank. Kalitan dropped everything and ran without a +word, scudding like the arrow from which he took his name. Before Ted +could follow or ask what was the matter, from the ocean a huge body rose +ten feet out of the water, spouting jets of spray twenty feet into the +air, the sun striking his sides and turning them to glistening silver. +Then it fell back, the waters churning into frothy foam for a mile +around. + +"It's a whale, Ted, sure as you live. Luck certainly is coming your +way," said his father; but, at the word "whale," Ted had started after +Kalitan, losing no time in getting to the scene of action as fast as +possible. + +"Watch the Tyee!" called Kalitan over his shoulder, as both boys ran +down to the water's edge. + +The old chief was launching his _kiak_ into the seething waters, and to +Ted it seemed incredible that he meant to go in that frail bark in +pursuit of the mighty monster. The old man's face, however, was as calm +as though starting on a pleasure-trip in peaceful waters, and Ted +watched in breathless admiration to see what would happen next. + +Klake paddled swiftly out to sea, drawing as near as he dared to where +the huge monster splashed idly up and down like a great puppy at play. +He stopped the _kiak_ and watched; then poised his spear and threw it, +and so swift and graceful was his gesture that Ted exclaimed in +amazement. + +"Tyee Klake best harpoon-thrower of all the Thlinkits," said Kalitan, +proudly. "Watch!" + +Ted needed no such instructions. His keen eyes passed from fish to man +and back again, and no movement of the Tyee escaped him. + +The instant the harpoon was thrown, the Tyee paddled furiously away, for +when a harpoon strikes a whale, he is likely to lash violently with his +tail, and may destroy his enemy, and this is a moment of terrible danger +to the harpooner. But the whale was too much astonished to fight, and, +with a terrific splash, he dived deep, deep into the water, to get rid +of that stinging thing in his side, in the cold green waters below. + +[Illustration: "AWAY WENT ANOTHER STINGING LANCE."] + +The Tyee waited, his grim face tense and earnest. It might have been +fifteen minutes, for whales often stay under water for twenty minutes +before coming to the surface to breathe, but to Kalitan and Ted it +seemed an hour. + +Then the spray dashed high into the air again, and the instant the huge +body appeared, Klake drew near, and away went another stinging lance +again, swift and, oh! so sure of aim. This time the whale struck out +wildly, and Kalitan held his breath, while Ted gasped at the Tyee's +danger, for his _kiak_ rocked like a shell and then was quite hidden +from their sight by the spray which was dashed heavenward like clouds of +white smoke. + +Once more the creature dived, and this time he stayed down only a few +minutes, and, when he came up, blood spouted into the air and dyed the +sea crimson, and Kalitan exclaimed: + +"Pierced his lungs! Now he must die." + +There was one more bright, glancing weapon flying through the air, and +Ted noticed attached to it by a thong a curious-looking bulb, and asked +Kalitan: + +"What is on that lance?" + +"Sealskin buoy," said Kalitan. "We make the bag and blow it up, tie it +to the harpoon, and when the lance sticks into the whale, the buoy makes +it very hard for him to dive. After awhile he dies and drifts ashore." + +The waters about the whale were growing red, and the carcass seemed +drifting out to sea, and at last the Tyee seemed satisfied. He sent a +last look toward the huge body, then turned his _kiak_ toward the +watchers on the banks. + +"If it only comes to shore," said Kalitan. + +"What will you do with it?" asked Ted. + +"Oh, there are lots of things we can do with a whale," said Kalitan. +"The blubber is the best thing to eat in all the world. Then we use the +oil in a bowl with a bit of pith in it to light our huts. The bones are +all useful in building our houses. Whales were once bears, but they +played too much on the shore and ran away to sea, so they wore off all +their fur on the rocks, and had their feet nibbled off by the fishes." + +"Well, this one didn't have his tail nibbled off at any rate," laughed +Ted. "I saw it flap at the Tyee, and thought that was the last of him, +sure." + +"Tyee much big chief," said Kalitan, and just then the old man's _kiak_ +drew near them, and he stepped ashore as calmly as though he had not +just been through so exciting a scene with a mighty monster of the +deep. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[6] Dr. Sheldon Jackson, General Agent of Education in the Territory. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE ISLAND HOME OF KALITAN + + +SWIFT and even were the strokes of the paddles as the canoes sped over +the water toward Kalitan's island home. Ted was so excited that he could +hardly sit still, and Tyee Klake gave him a warning glance and a +muttered "Kooletchika."[7] + +The day before a big canoe had come to the camp, the paddlers bearing +messages for the Tyee, and he had had a long conversation with Mr. +Strong. The result was astonishing to Teddy, for his father told him +that he was to go for a month to the island with Kalitan. This delighted +him greatly, but he was a little frightened when he found that his +father was to stay behind. + +"It's just this way, son," Mr. Strong explained to him. "I'm here in +government employ, taking government pay to do government work. I must +do it and do it well in the shortest time possible. You will have a far +better time on the island with Kalitan than you could possibly have +loafing around the camp here. You couldn't go to many places where I am +going, and, if my mind is easy about you, I can take Chetwoof and do my +work in half the time. I'll come to the island in three or four weeks, +and we'll take a week's vacation together, and then we'll hit the trail +for the gold-fields. Are you satisfied with this arrangement?" + +"Yes, sir." Ted's tone was dubious, but his face soon cleared up. "A +month won't be very long, father." + +"No, I'll wager you'll be sorry to leave when I come for you. Try and +not make any trouble. Of course Indian ways are not ours, but you'll get +used to it all and enjoy it. It's a chance most boys would be crazy +over, and you'll have tales to tell when you get home to make your +playmates envy you. I'm glad I have a son I can trust to keep straight +when he is out of my sight," and he laid his hand affectionately on the +boy's shoulder. Ted looked his father squarely in the eye, but gave only +a little nod in answer, then he laughed his clear, ringing laugh. + +"Wouldn't mother have spasms!" he exclaimed. Mr. Strong laughed too, but +said: + +"You'll be just as well off tumbling around with Kalitan as falling off +a glacier or two, as you would be certain to do if you were with me." + +Teddy felt a little blue when he said good-bye to his father, but +Kalitan quickly dispelled his gloom by a great piece of news. + +"Great time on island," he said, as the canoe glided toward the dim +outline of land to which Ted's thoughts had so often turned. "Tyee's +whale came ashore. We go to see him cut up." + +"Hurrah!" cried Ted, delighted. "To think I shall see all that! What +else will we do, Kalitan?" + +"Hunt, fish, hear old Kala-kash stories. See berry dance if you stay +long enough, perhaps a potlatch; do many things," said the Indian. + +One of the Indian paddlers said something to Kalitan, and he laughed a +little, and Ted asked, curiously: "What did he say?" + +"Said Kalitan Tenas learned to talk as much as a Boston boy," said +Kalitan, laughing heartily, and Ted laughed, too. + +The canoes were nearing the shore of a wooded island, and Ted saw a +fringe of trees and some native houses clustered picturesquely against +them at the crest of a small hill which sloped down to the water's +edge, where stood a group of people awaiting the canoes. + +[Illustration: "A GROUP OF PEOPLE AWAITING THE CANOES."] + +"My home," said Kalitan, pointing to the largest house, "my people." +There was a great deal of pride in his tone and look, and he received a +warm welcome as the canoes touched land and their occupants sprang on +shore. The boys crowded around the young Indian and chattered and +gesticulated toward Ted, while a bright-looking little Malamute sprang +upon Kalitan and nearly knocked him down, covering his face with eager +puppy kisses. + +The girls were less boisterous, and regarded Teddy with shy curiosity. +Some of them were quite pretty, and the babies were as cunning as the +puppies. They barked every time the dogs did, in a funny, hoarse little +way, and, indeed, Alaskan babies learn to bark long before they learn to +talk. + +The Tyee's wife received Teddy kindly, and he soon found himself +quite at home among these hospitable people, who seemed always friendly +and natural. Nearly all spoke some English, and he rapidly added to his +store of Chinook, so that he had no trouble in making himself understood +or in understanding. Of course he missed his father, but he had little +time to be lonely. Life in the village was anything but uneventful. + +At first there was the whale to be attended to, and all the village +turned out for that. The huge creature had drifted ashore on the farther +side of the island, and Ted was much interested in seeing him gradually +disposed of. Great masses of blubber were stripped from the sides to be +used later both for food and fuel, the whalebone was carefully secured +to be sold to the traders, and it seemed to Ted that there was not one +thing in that vast carcass for which the Indians did not have some use. + +Ted soon tired of watching the many things done with the whale, but +there was plenty to do and see in the village. + +The village houses were all alike. There was one large room in which the +people cooked, ate, and slept. The girls had blankets strung across one +corner, behind which were their beds. Teddy was given one also for his +corner of the great room in the Tyee's house. + +He learned to eat the food and to like it very much. There was dried +fish, herons' eggs, berries, or those put up in seal oil, which is +obtained by frying the fat out of the blubber of the seal. The Alaskans +use this oil in nearly all their cooking, and are very fond of it. Ted +ate also dried seaweed, chopped and boiled in seal oil, which tasted +very much like boiled and salted leather, but he liked it very well. +Indeed he grew so strong and well, out-of-doors all day in the clear air +and bright sunshine of the Alaskan June, that he could eat anything and +tramp all day without being too tired to sleep like a top all night, +and wake ready for a new day with a zest he never felt at home. + +Fresh fish were plentiful. The boys caught salmon, smelts, and +whitefish, and many were dried for the coming winter, while clams, +gum-boots, sea-cucumbers, and devil-fish, found on the rocks of the +shore, were every-day diet. + +Kalitan's sister and Ted became great friends. She was older than +Kalitan, and, though only fifteen, was soon to be married to Tah-ge-ah, +a fine young Indian who was ready to pay high for her, which was not +strange, for she was both pretty and sweet. + +"At the next full moon," said Kalitan, "there will be a potlatch, and +Tanana will be sold to Tah-ge-ah. He says he will give four hundred +blankets for her, and my uncle is well pleased. Many only pay ten +blankets for a wife, but of course we would not sell my sister for that. +She is of high caste, chief's daughter, niece, and sister," the boy +spoke proudly, and Ted answered: + +"She's so pretty, too. She's not like the Indian girls I saw at Wrangel +and Juneau. Why, there the women sat around as dirty as dogs on the +sidewalk, and didn't seem to care how they looked. They had baskets to +sell, and were too lazy to care whether any one bought them or not. They +weren't a bit like Tanana. She's as pretty as a Japanese." + +Kalitan smiled, well pleased, and Ted added, "I guess the Thlinkits must +be the best Indians in Alaska." + +Kalitan laughed outright at this. + +"Thlinkits pretty good," he said. "Tanana good girl. She learned much +good at the mission school, marry Tah-ge-ah, and make people better. She +can weave blankets, make fine baskets, and keep house like a white +girl." + +"She's all right," said Ted. "But, Kalitan, what is a potlatch?" + +"Potlatch is a good-will feast," said his friend. "Very fine thing, but +white men do not like. Say Indian feasts are all bad. Why is it bad when +an Indian gives away all his goods for others? That is what a great +potlatch is. When white men give us whiskey and it is drunk too much, +then it is very bad. But Tyee will not have that for Tanana's feast. We +will drink only quass,[8] as my people made it before they learned evil +drinks and fire-water, which make them crazy." + +"I guess Tyee Klake was right when he said all men were alike," said +Ted, sagely. "It seems to me that there are good and bad ones in all +countries. It's a pity you have had such bad white ones here in Alaska, +but I guess you have had good ones, too." + +"Plenty good, plenty bad, Thlinkit men and Boston men," said Kalitan, +"all same." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] "Dangerous channel." + +[8] Quass is a native drink, harmless and acid, made with rye and water +fermented. The bad Indians mix it with sugar, flour, dried apples, and +hops, and make a terribly intoxicating drink. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +TWILIGHT TALES AND TOTEMS + + +"ONCE a small girl child went by night to bring water. In the skies +above she saw the Moon shining brightly, pale and placid, and she put +forth her tongue at it, which was an evil thing, for the Moon is old, +and a Thlinkit child should show respect for age. So the Moon would not +endure so rude a thing from a girl child, and it came down from the sky +and took her thither. She cried out in fear and caught at the long grass +to keep herself from going up, but the Moon was strong and took her with +her water-bucket and her bunch of grass, and she never came back. Her +mother wept for her, but her father said: 'Cease. We have other girl +children; she is now wedded to the Moon; to him we need not give a +potlatch.' + +"You may see her still, if you will look at the Moon, there, grass in +one hand, bucket in the other, and when the new Moon tips to one side +and the water spills from the clouds and it is the months of rain, it is +the bad Moon maiden tipping over her water-bucket upon the earth. No +Thlinkit child would dare ever to put her tongue forth at the Moon, for +fear of a like fate to that of Squi-ance, the Moon maiden." + +Tanana's voice was soft and low, and she looked very pretty as she sat +in the moonlight at the door of the hut and told Kalitan and Ted quaint +old stories. Ted was delighted with her tales, and begged for another +and yet another, and Tanana told the quaint story of Kagamil. + +"A mighty _toyon_[9] dwelt on the island of Kagamil. By name he was +Kat-haya-koochat, and he was of great strength and much to be feared. He +had long had a death feud with people of the next totem, but the bold +warrior Yakaga, chieftain of the tribe, married the toyon's daughter, +and there was no more feud. Zampa was the son of Kat-haya-koochat, and +his pride. He built for this son a fine _bidarka_,[10] and the boy +launched it on the sea. His father watched him sail and called him to +return, lest evil befall. But Zampa heard not his father's voice and +pursued diving birds,[11] and, lo! he was far from land and the dark +fell. He sailed to the nearest shore and beheld the village of Yakaga, +where the people of his sister's husband made him welcome, though Yakaga +was not within his hut. There was feasting and merry-making, and, +according to their custom, he, the stranger, was given a chieftain's +daughter to wife, and her name was Kitt-a-youx; and Zampa loved her and +she him, and he returned not home. But Kitt-a-youx's father liked him +not, and treated him with rudeness because of the old enmity with his +Tyee father, so Zampa said to Kitt-a-youx: 'Let us go hence. We cannot +be happy here. Let us go from your father, who is unfriendly to me, and +seek the _barrabora_ of my father, the mighty chief, that happiness may +come upon us,' and Kitt-a-youx said: 'What my lord says is well.' + +"Then Zampa placed her in his canoe, and alone beneath the stars they +sailed and it was well, and Zampa's arm was strong at his paddle. But, +lo! they heard another paddle, and one came after them, and soon arrows +flew about them, arrows swift and cruel, and one struck his paddle from +his hand and his canoe was overturned. The pursuer came and placed +Kitt-a-youx in his canoe, seeking, too, for Zampa, but, alas! Zampa was +drowned. And when his pursuer dragged his body to the surface, he gave +a mighty cry, for, lo! it was his brother-in-law whom he had pursued, +for he was Yakaga. Then fearing the terrible rage of Zampa's father, he +dared not return with the body, so he left it with the overturned canoe +in the kelp and weeds. Kitt-a-youx he bore with him to his own island. +There she was sad as the sea-gull's scream, for the lord she loved was +dead. And her father gave her to another _toyon_, who was cruel to her, +and her life was as a slave's, and she loathed her life until Zampa's +child was born to her, and for it she lived. Alas, it was a girl child +and her husband hated it, and Kitt-a-youx saw nothing for it but to be +sold as a slave as was she herself. And she looked by day and by night +at the sea, and its cold, cold waves seemed warmer to her than the arms +of men. 'With my girl child I shall go hence,' she whispered to herself, +'and the Great Unknown Spirit will be kind.' + +"So by night she stole away in a canoe and steered to sea, ere she knew +where she was, reaching the seaweeds where she had journeyed with her +young husband. The morning broke, and she saw the weeds and the kelp +where her lover had gone from her sight, and, with a glad sigh, she +clasped Zampa's child to her breast and sank down among the weeds where +he had died. So her tired spirit was at rest, for a woman is happier who +dies with him she loves. + +"Now Zampa's father had found his boy's body and mourned over it, and +buried it in a mighty cave, the which he had once made for his furs and +stores. With it he placed bows and arrows and many valuables in respect +for the dead. And Zampa's sister, going to his funeral feast, fell upon +a stone with her child, so that both were killed. Then broke the old +chief's heart. Beside her brother he laid her in the cave, and gave +orders that he himself should be placed there as well, when grief +should have made way with him. Then he died of sorrow for his children, +and his people interred him in his burial cave, and with him they put +much wealth and blankets and weapons. + +"When, therefore, the people of his tribe found the bodies of +Kitt-a-youx and her child among the kelp, having heard of her love for +Zampa, they bore them to the same cave, and, wrapping them in furs, they +placed Kitt-a-youx beside her beloved husband, and in her burial she +found her home and felt the kindness of the Great Spirit. This, then, is +the story of the burial cave of Kagamil, and since that day no man dwelt +upon the island, and it is known as the 'island of the dead.'" + +"I'd like to see it, I can tell you," said Ted. "Are there any burial +caves around here?" + +"The Thlinkits do not bury in caves," said Tanana. "We used to burn our +dead, but often we place them in totem-poles." + +"I thought those great poles by your doors were totems," said Ted, +puzzled. + +"Yes," said the girl. "They are caste totems, and all who are of any +rank have them. As we belong to the Raven, or Bear, or Eagle clan, we +have the carved poles to show our rank, but the totem of the dead is +quite different. It does not stand beside the door, but far away. It is +alone, as the soul of the dead in whose honour it is made. It is but +little carved. A square hole is cut at the back of the pole, and the +body of the dead, wrapped in a matting of cedar bark, is placed within, +a board being nailed so that the body will not fall to the ground. A +potlatch is given, and food from the feast is put in the fire for the +dead person." + +"It seems queer to put weapons and blankets and things to eat on +people's graves," said Ted. "Why do they do it?" + +"Of the dead we know nothing," said Tanana. "Perhaps the warrior spirit +wishes his arrows in the Land of the Great Unknown." + +"Yes, but he can't come back for them," persisted Ted. + +"At Wrangel, Boston man put flowers on his girl's grave," said Kalitan, +drily. "She come back and smell posy?" + +Having no answer ready, Ted changed the subject and asked: + +"Why do you have the raven at the top of your totem pole?" + +"Indian cannot marry same totem," said Kalitan. "My father was eagle +totem, my mother was raven totem. He carve her totem at the top of the +pole, then his totem and those of the family are carved below. The +greater the family the taller the totem." + +"How do you get these totems?" demanded Ted. + +"Clan totems we take from our parents, but a man may choose his own +totem. Before he becomes a man he must go alone into the forest to +fast, and there he chooses his totem, and he is brother to that animal +all his life, and may not kill it. When he comes forth, he may take part +in all the ceremonies of his tribe." + +"Why, it is something like knighthood and the vigil at arms and +escutcheons, and all those Round-Table things," exclaimed Ted, in +delight, for he dearly loved the stirring tales of King Arthur and his +knights and the doughty deeds of Camelot. + +"Tell us about that," said Kalitan, so Ted told them many tales in the +moonlight, as they sat beneath the shadows of the quaint and curious +totem-poles of Kalitan's tribe. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[9] Chieftain. + +[10] Canoe. + +[11] Ducks. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE BERRY DANCE + + +TEDDY'S month upon the island stretched out into two. His father came +and went, finding the boy so happy and well that he left him with an +easy mind. Ted's fair skin was tanned to a warm brown, and, clad in +Indian clothes, save for his aureole of copper-coloured hair, so strong +a contrast to the straight black locks of his Indian brothers, he could +hardly be told from one of the island lads who roamed all day by wood +and shore. They called him "Yakso pil chicamin,"[12] and all the village +liked him. + +Tanana's marriage-feast was held, and she and Tah-ge-ah went to +housekeeping in a little hut, where the one room was as clean and neat +as could be, and not a bit like the dirty rooms of some of the natives. +Tanana spent all her spare time weaving beautiful baskets, for her slim +fingers were very skilful. Some of the baskets which she made out of the +inner bark of the willow-tree were woven so closely that they would hold +water, and Teddy never tired of watching her weave the gay colours in +and out, nor of seeing the wonderful patterns grow. Tah-ge-ah would take +them to the mainland when she had enough made, and sell them to the +travellers from the States. Meantime Tah-ge-ah himself was very, very +busy carving the totem-pole for his new home, for Tanana was a +chieftain's daughter, and he, too, was of high caste, and their totem +must be carved and stand one hundred feet high beside their door, lest +they be reproached. + +Ted also enjoyed seeing old Kala-kash carve, for he was the finest +carver among the Indians, and it was wonderful to see him cut strange +figures out of bone, wood, horn, fish-bones, and anything his gnarled +old fingers could get hold of, and he would carve grasshoppers, bears, +minnows, whales, sea-gulls, babies, or idols. He made, too, a canoe for +Ted, a real Alaskan dugout, shaping the shell from a log and making it +soft by steam, filling the hole with water and throwing in red-hot +stones. The wood was then left to season, and Ted could hardly wait +patiently until sun and wind and rain had made his precious craft +seaworthy. Then it was painted with paint made by rubbing a certain rock +over the surface of a coarse stone and the powder mixed with oil or +water. + +At last it was done, a shapely thing, more beautiful in Ted's eyes than +any launch or yacht he had ever seen at home. His canoe had a carved +stern and a sharp prow which came out of the water, and which had carved +upon it a fine eagle. Kala-kash had not asked Ted what his totem was, +but supposing that the American eagle on the buttons of the boy's coat +was his emblem, had carved the rampant bird upon the canoe as the boy's +totem. Ted learned to paddle and to fish, never so well as Kalitan, of +course, for he was born to it, but still he did very well, and enjoyed +it hugely. + +Happily waned the summer days, and then came the time of the berry +dance, which Kalitan had spoken of so often that Ted was very anxious to +see it. + +The salmon-berry was fully ripe, a large and luscious berry, found in +two colours, yellow and dark red. Besides these there were other small +berries, maruskins, like the New England dewberries, huckleberries, and +whortleberries. + +"We have five kinds of berries on our island," said Kalitan. "All good. +The birds, flying from the mainland, first brought the seeds, and our +berries grow larger than almost any place in Alaska." + +"They're certainly good," said Ted, his mouth full as he spoke. "These +salmon-berries are a kind of a half-way between our blackberries and +strawberries. I never saw anything prettier than the way the red and +yellow berries grow so thick on the same bush--" + +"There come the canoes!" interrupted Kalitan, and the two boys ran down +to the water's edge, eager to be the first to greet the visitors. Tyee +Klake was giving a feast to the people of the neighbouring islands, and +a dozen canoes glided over the water from different directions. The +canoes were all gaily decorated, and they came swiftly onward to the +weird chant of the paddlers, which the breeze wafted to the listeners' +ears in a monotonous melody. + +Every one in the village had been astir since daybreak, preparing for +the great event. Parallel lines had been strung from the chief's house +to the shore, and from these were hung gay blankets, pieces of bright +calico, and festoons of leaves and flowers. As the canoes landed their +occupants, the dancers thronged to welcome their guests. The great drum +sounded its loud note, and the dancers, arrayed in wonderful blankets +woven in all manner of fanciful designs and trimmed with long woollen +fringes, swayed back and forth, up and down, to and fro, in a very +graceful manner, keeping time to the music. + +In the centre of the largest canoe stood the Tyee of a neighbouring +island, a tall Indian, dressed in a superb blanket with fringe a foot +long, fringed leggins and moccasins of walrus hide, and the chief's hat +to show his rank. It was a peculiar head-dress half a foot high, trimmed +in down and feathers. + +The Tyee, in perfect time to the music, swayed back and forth, never +ceasing for a moment, shaking his head so that the down was wafted in a +snowy cloud all over him. + +As the canoes reached the shallows, the shore Indians dashed into the +water to draw them up to land, and the company was joyously received. +Teddy was delighted, for in one of the canoes was his father, whom he +had not seen for several weeks. After the greetings were over, the +dancers arranged themselves in opposite lines, men on one side, women on +the other, and swayed their bodies while the drum kept up its unceasing +tum-tum-tum. + +"It's a little bit like square dances at home," said Ted. "It's ever so +pretty, isn't it? First they sway to the right, then to the left, over +and over and over; then they bend their bodies forward and backward +without bending their knees, then sway again, and bend to one side and +then the other, singing all the time. Isn't it odd, father?" + +"It certainly is, but it's very graceful," said Mr. Strong. "Some of the +girls are quite pretty, gentle-looking creatures, but the older women +are ugly." + +"The very old women look like the mummies in the museum at home," said +Ted. "There's one old woman, over a hundred years old, whose skin is +like a piece of parchment, and she wears the hideous lip-button which +most of the Thlinkits have stopped using. Kalitan says all the women +used to wear them. The girls used to make a cut in their chins between +the lip and the chin, and put in a piece of wood, changing it every few +days for a piece a little larger until the opening was stretched like a +second mouth. When they grew up, a wooden button like the bowl of a +spoon was set in the hole and constantly enlarged. The largest I have +seen was three inches long. Isn't it a curious idea, father?" + +"It certainly is, but there is no telling what women will admire. A +Chinese lady binds her feet, and an American her waist; a Maori woman +slits her nose, and an English belle pierces her ears. It's on the same +principle that your Thlinkit friends slit their chins for the +lip-button." + +"I'm mighty glad they don't do it now, for Tanana's as pretty as a pink, +and it would be a shame to spoil her face that way," said Ted. "The +dancing has stopped, father; let's see what they'll do next. There comes +Kalitan." + +A feast of berries was to follow the dance, and Kalitan led Mr. Strong +and Ted to the chief's house, which was gaily decorated with blankets +and bits of bright cloth. A table covered with a cloth was laid around +three sides of the room, and on this was spread hardtack and huge bowls +of berries of different colours. These were beaten up with sugar into a +foamy mixture, pink, purple, and yellow, according to the colour of the +berries, which tasted good and looked pretty. + +Ted and Kalitan had helped gather the berries, and their appetites were +quite of the best. Mr. Strong smiled to see how the once fussy little +gentleman helped himself with a right good-will to the Indian dainties +of his friends. + +Many pieces of goods had been provided for the potlatch, and these were +given away, given and received with dignified politeness. There was +laughing and merriment with the feast, and when it was all over, the +canoes floated away as they had come, into the sunset, which gilded all +the sea to rosy, golden beauty. + +Ted's share of the potlatch was a beautiful blanket of Tanana's weaving, +and he was delighted beyond measure. + +"You're a lucky boy, Ted," said his father. "People pay as high as +sixty-five dollars for an Alaskan blanket, and not always a perfect one +at that. Many of the Indians are using dyed yarns to weave them, but +yours is the genuine article, made from white goat's wool, long and +soft, and dyed only in the native reds and blacks. We shall have to do +something nice for Tanana when you leave." + +"I'd like to give her something, and Kalitan, too." Ted's face looked +very grave. "When do I have to go, father?" + +"Right away, I'm afraid," was the reply. "I've let you stay as long as +possible, and now we must start for our northern trip, if you are to see +anything at all of mines and Esquimos before we start home. The +mail-steamer passes Nuchek day after to-morrow, and we must go over +there in time to take it." + +"Yes, sir," said Ted, forlornly. He wanted to see the mines and all the +wonderful things of the far north, but he hated to leave his Indian +friends. + +"What's the trouble, Ted?" His father laid his hand on his shoulder, +disliking to see the bright face so clouded. + +"I was only thinking of Kalitan," said Ted. + +"Suppose we take Kalitan with us," said Mr. Strong. + +"Oh, daddy, could we really?" Ted jumped in excitement. + +"I'll ask the Tyee if he will lend him to us for a month," said Mr. +Strong, and in a few minutes it was decided, and Ted, with one great +bear's hug to thank his father, rushed off to find his friend and tell +him the glorious news. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[12] Copper hair. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +ON THE WAY TO NOME + + +"WELL, boys, we're off for a long sail, and I'm afraid you will be +rather tired with the steamer before you are done with her," said Mr. +Strong. They had boarded the mail-steamer late the night before, and, +going right to bed, had wakened early next day and rushed on deck to +find the August sun shining in brilliant beauty, the islands quite out +of sight, and nought but sea and sky around and above them. + +"Oh, I don't know; we'll find something to do," said Teddy. "You'll have +to tell us lots about the places we pass, and, if there aren't any other +boys on board, Kalitan and I will be together. What's the first place we +stop?" + +"We passed the Kenai Peninsula in the night. I wish you could have +caught a glimpse of some of the waterfalls, volcanoes, and glaciers. +They are as fine as any in Alaska," said Mr. Strong. "Our next stop will +be Kadiak Island." + +"Kadiak Island was once near the mainland," said Kalitan. "There was +only the narrowest passage of water, but a great Kenai otter tried to +swim the pass, and was caught fast. He struggled so that he made it +wider and wider, and at last pushed Kadiak way out to sea." + +"He must have been a whopper," said Ted, "to push it so far away. Is +that the island?" + +"Yes," said his father. "There are no splendid forests on the island as +there are on the mainland, but the grasses are superb, for the fog and +rain here keeps them green as emerald." + +"What a queer canoe that Indian has!" exclaimed Ted. "It isn't a bit +like yours, Kalitan." + +"It is _bidarka_," said Kalitan. "Kadiak people make canoe out of walrus +hide. They stretch it over frames of driftwood. It holds two people. +They sit in small hatch with apron all around their bodies, and the +_bidarka_ goes over the roughest sea and floats like a bladder. Big +_bidarka_ called an _oomiak_, and holds whole family." + +"Some one has called the _bidarkas_ the 'Cossacks of the sea,'" said Mr. +Strong. "They skim along like swallows, and are as perfectly built as +any vessel I ever saw." + +"What are those huge buildings on the small island?" asked Ted, as the +steamer wound through the shallows. + +"Ice-houses," said his father. "Before people learned to manufacture +ice, immense cargoes were shipped from here to as far south as San +Francisco." + +"It was fun to see them go fishing for ice from the steamer when we came +up to Skaguay," said Ted. "The sailors went out in a boat, slipped a +net around a block of ice and towed it to the side of the ship, then it +was hitched to a derrick and swung on deck." + +"Huh!" said Kalitan. "What people want ice for stored up? Think they'd +store sunshine!" + +"If you could invent a way to do that, you could make a fortune, my +boy," said Mr. Strong, laughing. "The next place of any interest is +Karluk. It's around on the other side of the island in Shelikoff Strait, +and is famous for its salmon canneries. Nearly half of the entire salmon +pack of Alaska comes from Kadiak Island, most of the fish coming from +the Karluk River." + +"Very bad for Indians," said Kalitan. "Used to have plenty fish. Tyee +Klake said salmon used to come up this river in shoal sixteen miles +long, and now Boston men take them all." + +"It does seem a pity that the Indians don't even have a chance to earn +their living in the canneries," said Mr. Strong. "The largest cannery in +the world is at Karluk. There are thousands of men employed, and in one +year over three million salmon were packed, yet with all this work for +busy hands to do, the canneries employ Chinese, Greek, Portuguese, and +American workmen in preference to the Indians, bringing them by the +shipload from San Francisco." + +"What other places do we pass?" asked Ted. + +"A lot of very interesting ones, and I wish we could coast along, +stopping wherever we felt like it," said Mr. Strong. "The Shumagin +Islands are where Bering, the great discoverer and explorer, landed in +1741 to bury one of his crew. Codfish were found there, and Captain +Cook, in his 'Voyages and Discoveries,' speaks of the same fish. There +is a famous fishery there now called the Davidson Banks, and the +codfishing fleet has its headquarters on Popoff Island. Millions of +codfish are caught here every year. These islands are also a favourite +haunt of the sea otter. Belofsky, at the foot of Mt. Pavloff, is the +centre of the trade." + +[Illustration: MOUNT SHISHALDIN.] + +"What kind of fur is otter?" asked Ted, whose mind was so inquiring that +his father often called him the "living catechism." + +"It is the court fur of China and Russia, and at one time the common +people were forbidden by law to wear it," said Mr. Strong. "It is a +rich, purplish brown sprinkled with silver-tipped hairs, and the skins +are very costly." + +"At one time any one could have otter," said Kalitan. "We hunted them +with spears and bows and arrows. Now they are very few, and we find them +only in dangerous spots, hiding on rocks or floating kelp. Sometimes the +hunters have to lie in hiding for days watching them. Only Indians can +kill the otter. Boston men can if they marry Indian women. That makes +them Indian." + +"Rather puts otter at a discount and women at a premium," laughed Mr. +Strong. "Now we pass along near the Alaska peninsula, past countless +isles and islets, through the Fox Islands to Unalaska, and then into the +Bering Sea. One of the most interesting things in this region is called +the 'Pacific Ring of Fire,' a chain of volcanoes which stretches along +the coast. Often the passengers can see from the ships at night a +strange red glow over the sky, and know that the fire mountains are +burning. The most beautiful of these volcanoes is Mt. Shishaldin, nearly +nine thousand feet high, and almost as perfect a cone in shape as Fuji +Yama, which the Japanese love so much and call 'the Honourable +Mountain.' At Unalaska or Ilinlink, the 'curving beach,' we stop. If we +could stay over for awhile, there are a great many interesting things we +could see; an old Greek church and the government school are in the +town, and Bogoslov's volcano and the sea-lion rookeries are on the +island of St. John, which rose right up out of the sea in 1796 after a +day's roaring and rumbling and thundering. In 1815 there was a similar +performance, and from time to time the island has grown larger ever +since. One fine day in 1883 there was a great shower of ashes, and, when +the clouds had rolled away, two peaks were seen where only one had been, +separated by a sandy isthmus. This last was reduced to a fine thread by +the earthquake of 1891, and I don't know what new freaks it may have +developed by now. I know some friends of mine landed there not long ago +and cooked eggs over the jets of steam which gush out of the +mountainside. Did you ever hear of using a volcano for a cook-stove?" + +"Well, I should say not," said Ted, amused. "These Alaskan volcanoes are +great things." + +"The one called Makushin has a crater filled with snow in a part of +which there is always a cloud of sulphurous smoke. That's making +extremes meet, isn't it?" + +"Yehl[13] made many strange things," said Kalitan, who had been taking +in all this information even more eagerly than Teddy. "He first dwelt on +Nass River, and turned two blades of grass into the first man and woman. +Then the Thlinkits grew and prospered, till darkness fell upon the +earth. A Thlinkit stole the sun and hid it in a box, but Yehl found it +and set it so high in the heavens that none could touch it. Then the +Thlinkits grew and spread abroad. But a great flood came, and all were +swept away save two, who tossed long upon the flood on a raft of logs +until Yehl pitied, and carried them to Mt. Edgecomb, where they dwelt +until the waters fell." + +"Old Kala-kash tells this story, and he says that one of these people, +when very old, went down through the crater of the mountain, and, given +long life by Yehl, stays there always to hold up the earth out of the +water. But the other lives in the crater as the Thunder Bird, Hahtla, +whose wing-flap is the thunder and whose glance is the lightning. The +osprey is his totem, and his face glares in our blankets and totems." + +"I've wondered what that fierce bird was," said Teddy, who was always +quite carried away with Kalitan's strange legends. + +"Well, what else do we see on the way to Nome, father?" + +"The most remarkable thing happening in the Bering Sea is the seal +industry, but I do not think we pass near enough to the islands to see +any of that. You'd better run about and see the ship now," and the boys +needed no second permission. + +It was not many days before they knew everybody on board, from captain +to deck hands, and were prime favourites with them all. Ted and Kalitan +enjoyed every moment. There was always something new to see or hear, and +ere they reached their journey's end, they had heard all about seals and +sealing, although the famous Pribylov Islands were too far to the west +of the vessel's route for them to see them. They sighted the United +States revenue cutter which plies about the seal islands to keep off +poachers, for no one is allowed to kill seals or to land on this +government reservation except from government vessels. The scent of the +rookeries, where millions of seals have been killed in the last hundred +years, is noticed far out at sea, and often the barking of the animals +can be heard by passing vessels. + +"Why is sealskin so valuable, father?" asked Ted. + +"It has always been admired because it is so warm and soft," replied Mr. +Strong. "All the ladies fancy it, and it never seems to go out of +fashion. There was a time, when the Pribylov Islands were first +discovered, that sealskins were so plentiful that they sold in Alaska +for a dollar apiece. Hunters killed so many, killing old and young, that +soon there were scarcely any left, so a law was passed by the Russian +government forbidding any killing for five years. Since the Americans +have owned Alaska they have protected the seals, allowing them to be +killed only at certain times, and only male seals from two to four years +old are killed. The Indians are always the killers, and are wonderfully +swift and clever, never missing a blow and always killing instantly, so +that there is almost no suffering." + +"How do they know where to find the seals?" asked Ted. + +"For half the year the seals swim about the sea, but in May they return +to their favourite haunts. In these rookeries families of them herd on +the rocks, the male staying at home with his funny little black +puppies, while the mother swims about seeking food. The seals are very +timid, and will rush into the water at the least strange noise. A story +is told that the barking of a little pet dog belonging to a Russian at +one of the rookeries lost him a hundred thousand dollars, for the seals +took fright and scurried away before any one could say 'Jack Robinson!'" + +"Rather an expensive pup!" commented Ted. "But what about the seals, +daddy?" + +"You seem to think I am an encyclopædia on the seal question," said his +father. "There is not much else to tell you." + +"How can they manage always to kill the right ones?" demanded Ted. + +"The gay bachelor seals herd together away from the rest and sleep at +night on the rocks. Early in the morning the Aleuts slip in between them +and the herd and drive them slowly to the killing-ground, where they are +quickly killed and skinned and the skins taken to the salting-house. +The Indians use the flesh and blubber, and the climate is such that +before another year the hollow bones are lost in the grass and earth." + +"What becomes of the skins after they are salted?" + +"They are usually sent to London, where they are prepared for market. +The work is all done by hand, which is one reason that they are so +expensive. They are first worked in sawdust, cleaned, scraped, washed, +shaved, plucked, dyed with a hand-brush from eight to twelve times, +washed again and freed from the least speck of grease by a last bath in +hot sawdust or sand." + +"I don't wonder a sealskin coat costs so much," said Ted, "if they have +got to go through all that performance. I wish we could have seen the +islands, but I'd hate to see the seals killed. It doesn't seem like +hunting just to knock them on the head. It's too much like the +stock-yards at home." + +"Yes, but it's a satisfaction to know that it's done in the easiest +possible way for the animals. + +"What a lot you are learning way up here in Alaska, aren't you, son? +To-morrow we'll be at Nome, and then your head will be so stuffed with +mines and mining that you will forget all about everything else." + +"I don't want to forget any of it," said Ted. "It's all bully." + +FOOTNOTE: + +[13] Yehl, embodied in the raven, is the Thlinkit Great Spirit. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +IN THE GOLD COUNTRY + + +A LOW, sandy beach, without a tree to break its level, rows of plain +frame-houses, some tents and wooden shanties scattered about, the surf +breaking over the shore in splendid foam,--this was Teddy's first +impression of Nome. They had sailed over from St. Michael's to see the +great gold-fields, and both the boys were full of eagerness to be on +land. It seemed, however, as if their desires were not to be realized, +for landing at Nome is a difficult matter. + +Nome is on the south shore of that part of Alaska known as Seward +Peninsula, and it has no harbour. It is on the open seacoast and catches +all the fierce storms that sweep northward over Bering Sea. Generally +seacoast towns are built in certain spots because there is a harbour, +but Nome was not really built, it "jes' growed," for, when gold was +found there, the miners sat down to gather the harvest, caring nothing +about a harbour. + +Ships cannot go within a mile of land, and passengers have to go ashore +in small lighters. Sometimes when they arrive, they cannot go ashore at +all, but have to wait several days, taking refuge behind a small island +ten miles away, lest they drag their anchors and be dashed to pieces on +the shore. + +There had been a tremendous storm at Nome the day before Ted arrived, +and landing was more difficult than usual, but, impatient as the boys +were, at last it seemed safe to venture, and the party left the steamer +to be put on a rough barge, flat-bottomed and stout, which was hauled by +cable to shore until it grounded on the sands. They were then put in a +sort of wooden cage, let down by chains from a huge wooden beam, and +swung round in the air like the unloading cranes of a great city, over +the surf to a high platform on the land. + +"Well, this is a new way to land," cried Ted, who had been rather quiet +during the performance, and his father thought a trifle frightened. +"It's a sort of a balloon ascension, isn't it?" + +"It must be rather hard for the miners, who have been waiting weeks for +their mail, when the boat can't land her bags at all," said Mr. Strong. +"That sometimes happens. From November to May, Nome is cut off from the +world by snow and ice. The only news they receive is by the monthly mail +when it comes. + +"Over at Kronstadt the Russians have ice-breaking boats which keep the +Baltic clear enough of ice for navigation, and plow their way through +ice fourteen feet thick for two hundred miles. The Nome miners are very +anxious for the government to try this ice-boat service at Nome." + +"Why did people settle here in such a forlorn place?" asked Ted, as they +made their way to the town, which they found anything but civilized. "I +like the Indian houses on the island better than this." + +"Your island is more picturesque," said Mr. Strong, "but people came +here for what they could get. + +"In 1898 gold was discovered on Anvil Creek, which runs into Snake +River, and this turned people's eyes in the direction of Nome. Miners +rushed here and set to work in the gulches inland, but it was not till +the summer of 1899 that gold was found on the beach. A soldier from the +barracks--you know this is part of a United States Military +Reservation--found gold while digging a well near the beach, and an old +miner took out $1,200 worth in twenty days. Then a perfect frenzy seized +the people. They flocked to Nome from far and near; they camped on the +beach in hundreds and staked their claims. Between one and two thousand +men were at work on the beach at one time, yet so good-natured were they +that no quarrels seem to have occurred. Doctors, lawyers, barkeepers, +and all dropped their business and went to rocking, as they call +beach-mining." + +[Illustration: "'LET'S WATCH THOSE TWO MEN. THEY HAVE EVIDENTLY STAKED A +CLAIM TOGETHER.'"] + +"Oh, dad, let's hurry and go and see it," cried Ted, as they hurried +through their dinner at the hotel. "I thought gold came out of deep +mines like copper, and had to be melted out or something, but this seems +to be different. Do they just walk along the beach and pick it up? I +wish I could." + +"Well, it's not quite so simple as that," said Mr. Strong, laughing. +"We'll go and see, and then you'll understand," and they went down the +crooked streets to the sandy beach. + +Men were standing about talking and laughing, others working hard. All +manner of men were there scattered over the _tundra_,[14] and Ted +became interested in two who were working together in silence. + +"What are they doing?" he asked his father. "I can't see how they expect +to get anything worth having out of this mess." + +"Beach-mining is quite different from any other," said his father. +"Let's watch those two men. They have evidently staked a claim together, +which means that nobody but these two can work on the ground they have +staked out, and that they must share all the gold they find. They came +here to prospect, and evidently found a block of ground which suited +them. They then dug a prospect hole down two to five feet until they +struck 'bedrock,' which happens to be clay around here. They passed +through several layers of sand and gravel before reaching this, and +these were carefully examined to see how much gold they contained. Upon +reaching a layer which seemed to be a good one, the gravel on top was +stripped off and thrown aside and the 'pay streak' worked with the +rocker." + +"What is that?" asked Ted, who was all ears, while Kalitan was taking in +everything with his sharp black eyes. + +"That arrangement that looks like a square pan on a saw-buck is the +rocker. The rockers usually have copper bottoms, and there is a great +demand for sheet copper at Nome, but often there is not enough of it, +and the miners have been known to cover them with silver coins. That man +you are watching has silver dollars in his, about fifty, I should say. +It seems extravagant, doesn't it, but he'll take out many times that +amount if he has good luck." + +The man, who had glanced up at them, smiled at that and said: + +"And, if I don't have luck, I'm broke, anyhow, so fifty or sixty plunks +won't make much difference. You going to be a miner, youngster?" + +"Not this trip," said Ted, with a smile. "Say, I'd like to know how you +get the gold out with that." + +"At first we used to put a blanket in the rocker, and wash the pay dirt +on that. Our prospect hole has water in it, and we can use it over and +over. Some of the holes are dry, and there the men have to pack their +pay dirt down to the shore and use surf water for washing. Most of our +gold is so fine that the blanket didn't stop it, so now we use 'quick.' +I reckon you'd call it mercury, but we call it quick. You see, it saves +time, and work-time up here is so short, on account of winter setting in +so early, that we have to save up our spare minutes and not waste 'em on +long words." + +Ted grinned cheerfully and asked: "What do you do with the quick?" + +"We paint it over the bottom of the rocker, and it acts like a charm +and catches every speck of gold that comes its way as the dirt is washed +over it. The quick and the gold make a sort of amalgam." + +"But how do you get at the gold after it amalgams, or whatever you call +it?" asked Ted. + +"Sure we fry it in the frying-pan, and it's elegant pancakes it makes," +said the man. "See here," and he pulled from his pocket several flat +masses that looked like pieces of yellow sponge. "This is pure gold. All +the quick has gone off, and this is the real stuff, just as good as +money. An ounce will buy sixteen dollars' worth of anything in Nome." + +"It looks mighty pretty," said Ted. "Seems to me it's redder than any +gold I ever saw." + +"It is," said his father. "Nome beach gold is redder and brighter than +any other Alaskan gold. I guess I'll have to get you each a piece for a +souvenir," and both boys were made happy by the present of a quaintly +shaped nugget, bought by Mr. Strong from the very miner who had mined +it, which of course added to its value. + +"You're gathering quite a lot of souvenirs, Ted," said his father. "It's +a great relief that you have not asked me for anything alive yet. I have +been expecting a modest request for a Malamute or a Husky pup, or +perhaps a pet reindeer to take home, but so far you have been quite +moderate in your demands." + +"Kalitan never asks for anything," said Ted. "I asked him once why it +was, and he said Indian boys never got what they asked for; that +sometimes they had things given to them that they hadn't asked for, but, +if he asked the Tyee for anything, all he got was 'Good Indian get +things for himself,' and he had to go to work to get the thing he +wanted. I guess it's a pretty good plan, too, for I notice that I get +just as much as I did when I used to tease you for things," Teddy added, +sagely. + +"Wise boy," said his father. "You're certainly more agreeable to live +with. The next thing you are to have is a visit to an Esquimo village, +and, if I can find some of the Esquimo carvings, you shall have +something to take home to mother. Kalitan, what would you like to +remember the Esquimos by?" + +Kalitan smiled and replied, simply, "_Mukluks_." + +"What are _mukluks_?" demanded Ted. + +"Esquimo moccasins," said Mr. Strong. "Well, you shall both have a pair, +and they are rather pretty things, too, as the Esquimos make them." + +FOOTNOTE: + +[14] The name given to the boggy soil of the beach. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +AFTERNOON TEA IN AN EGLU + + +THE Esquimo village was reached across the _tundra_, and Teddy and +Kalitan were much interested in the queer houses. Built for the long +winter of six or eight months, when it is impossible to do anything +out-of-doors, the _eglu_[15] seems quite comfortable from the Esquimo +point of view, but very strange to their American cousins. + +"I thought the Esquimos lived in snow houses," said Ted, as they looked +at the queer little huts, and Kalitan exclaimed: + +"Huh! Innuit queer Indian!" + +"No," said Mr. Strong; "his hut is built by digging a hole about six +feet deep and standing logs up side by side around the hole. On the top +of these are placed logs which rest even with the ground. Stringers are +put across these, and other logs and moss and mud roofed over it, +leaving an opening in the middle about two feet square. This is covered +with a piece of walrus entrail so thin and transparent that light easily +passes through it, and it serves as a window, the only one they have. A +smoke-hole is cut through the roof, but there is no door, for the hut is +entered through another room built in the same way, fifteen or twenty +feet distant, and connected by an underground passage about two feet +square with the main room. The entrance-room is entered through a hole +in the roof, from which a ladder reaches the bottom of the passage." + +"Can we go into a hut?" asked Ted. + +"I'll ask that woman cooking over there," said Mr. Strong, as they went +up to a woman who was cooking over a peat fire, holding over the coals +an old battered skillet in which she was frying fish. She nodded and +smiled at the boys, and, as Esquimos are always friendly and hospitable +souls, told them to go right into her _eglu_, which was close by. + +They climbed down the ladder, crawled along the narrow passage to where +a skin hung before an opening, and, pushing it aside, entered the +living-room. Here they found an old man busily engaged in carving a +walrus tooth, another sewing _mukluks_, while a girl was singing a +quaint lullaby to a child of two in the corner. + +The young girl rose, and, putting the baby down on a pile of skins, +spoke to them in good English, saying quietly: + +"You are welcome. I am Alalik." + +"May we see your wares? We wish to buy," said Mr. Strong, courteously. + +"You may see, whether you buy or not," she said, with a smile, which +showed a mouth full of even white teeth, and she spread out before them +a collection of Esquimo goods. There were all kinds of carvings from +walrus tusks, grass baskets, moccasins of walrus hide, stone bowls and +cups, _parkas_ made of reindeer skin, and one superb one of bird +feathers, _ramleikas_, and all manner of carved trinkets, the most +charming of which, to Ted's eyes, being a tiny _oomiak_ with an Esquimo +in it, made to be used as a breast-pin. This he bought for his mother, +and a carving of a baby for Judith; while his father made him and +Kalitan happy with presents. + +"Where did you learn such English?" asked Mr. Strong of Alalik, +wondering, too, where she learned her pretty, modest ways, for Esquimo +women are commonly free and easy. + +"I was for two years at the Mission at Holy Cross," she said. "There I +learned much that was good. Then my mother died, and I came home." + +She spoke simply, and Mr. Strong wondered what would be the fate of this +sweet-faced girl. + +"Did you learn to sew from the sisters?" asked Ted, who had been looking +at the garments she had made, in which the stitches, though made in +skins and sewn with deer sinew, were as even as though done with a +machine. + +"Oh, no," she said. "We learn that at home. When I was no larger than +Zaksriner there, my mother taught me to braid thread from deer and whale +sinew, and we must sew very much in winter if we have anything to sell +when summer comes. It is very hard to get enough to live. Since the +Boston men come, our people waste the summer in idleness, so we have +nothing stored for the winter's food. Hundreds die and many sicknesses +come upon us. In the village where my people lived, in each house lay +the dead of what the Boston men called measles, and there were not left +enough living to bury the dead. Only we escaped, and a Black Gown came +from the Mission to help, and he took me and Antisarlook, my brother, to +the school. The rest came here, where we live very well because there +are in the summer, people who buy what we make in the winter." + +"How do you get your skins so soft?" asked Ted, feeling the exquisite +texture of a bag she had just finished. It was a beautiful bit of work, +a tobacco-pouch or "Tee-rum-i-ute," made of reindeer skin, decorated +with beads and the soft creamy fur of the ermine in its summer hue. + +"We scrape it a very long time and pull and rub," she said. "Plenty of +time for patience in winter." + +"Your hands are too small and slim. I shouldn't think you could do much +with those stiff skins," said Teddy. + +Alalik smiled at the compliment, and a little flush crept into the clear +olive of her skin. She was clean and neat, and the _eglu_, though close +from being shut up, was neater than most of the Esquimo houses. The bowl +filled with seal oil, which served as fire and light, was unlighted, and +Alalik's father motioned to her and said something in Innuit, to which +she smilingly replied: + +"My father wishes you to eat with us," she said, and produced her flint +bag. In this were some wads of fibrous material used for wicks. Rolling +a piece of this in wood ashes, she held it between her thumb and a +flint, struck her steel against the stone, and sparks flew out which +lighted the fibre so that it burst into flame. This was thrown into the +bowl of oil, and she deftly began preparing tea. She served it in cups +of grass, and Ted thought he had never tasted anything nicer than the +cup of afternoon tea served in an _eglu_. + +"Alalik, what were you singing as we came in?" asked Ted. + +"A song my mother always sang to us," she replied. "It is called 'Ahmi,' +and is an Esquimo slumber song." + +"Will you sing it now?" asked Mr. Strong, and she smiled in assent and +sang the quaint, crooning lullaby of her Esquimo mother-- + + "The wind blows over the Yukon. + My husband hunts the deer on the Koyukun Mountains, + Ahmi, Ahmi, sleep, little one, wake not. + Long since my husband departed. Why does he wait in the mountains? + Ahmi, Ahmi, sleep, little one, softly. + Where is my own? + Does he lie starving on the hillside? Why does he linger? + Comes he not soon, I will seek him among the mountains. + Ahmi, Ahmi, sleep, little one, sleep. + The crow has come laughing. + His beak is red, his eyes glisten, the false one. + 'Thanks for a good meal to Kuskokala the Shaman. + On the sharp mountain quietly lies your husband.' + Ahmi, Ahmi, sleep, little one, wake not. + 'Twenty deers' tongues tied to the pack on his shoulders; + Not a tongue in his mouth to call to his wife with, + Wolves, foxes, and ravens are fighting for morsels. + Tough and hard are the sinews, not so the child in your bosom.' + Ahmi, Ahmi, sleep, little one, wake not. + Over the mountains slowly staggers the hunter. + Two bucks' thighs on his shoulders with bladders of fat between them. + Twenty deers' tongues in his belt. Go, gather wood, old woman! + Off flew the crow, liar, cheat, and deceiver! + Wake, little sleeper, and call to your father. + He brings you back fat, marrow and venison fresh from the mountain. + Tired and worn, he has carved a toy of the deer's horn, + While he was sitting and waiting long for the deer on the hillside. + Wake, and see the crow hiding himself from the arrow, + Wake, little one, wake, for here is your father." + +Thanking Alalik for the quaint song, sung in a sweet, touching voice, +they all took their departure, laden with purchases and delighted with +their visit. + +"But you must not think this is a fair sample of Esquimo hut or Esquimo +life," said Mr. Strong to the boys. "These are near enough civilized to +show the best side of their race, but theirs must be a terrible +existence who are inland or on islands where no one ever comes, and +whose only idea of life is a constant struggle for food." + +"I think I would rather be an American," remarked Ted, while Kalitan +said, briefly: + +"I like Thlinkit." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[15] The _eglu_ is the Esquimo house. Often they occupy tents during the +summer, but return to the huts the first cool nights. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE SPLENDOUR OF SAGHALIE TYEE + + +THE _tundra_ was greenish-brown in colour, and looked like a great +meadow stretching from the beach, like a new moon, gently upward to the +cones of volcanic mountains far away. + +The ground, frozen solid all the year, thaws out for a foot or two on +the surface during the warm months, and here and there were scattered +wild flowers; spring beauties, purple primroses, yellow anemone, and +saxifrages bloomed in beauty, and wild honey-bees, gay bumblebees, and +fat mosquitoes buzzed and hummed everywhere. + +Ted and Kalitan were going to see the reindeer farm at Port Clarence, +and, as this was to be their last jaunt in Alaska, they were determined +to make the best of it. Next day they were to take ship from Cape Prince +of Wales and go straight to Sitka. Here Ted was to start for home, and +Mr. Strong was to leave Kalitan at the Mission School for a year's +schooling, which, to Kalitan's great delight, was to be a present to him +from his American friends. + +"Tell us about the reindeer farms, daddy. Have they always been here?" +demanded Ted, as they tramped over the _tundra_, covered with moss, +grass, and flowers. + +"No," said his father. "They are quite recent arrivals in Alaska. The +Esquimos used to live entirely upon the game they killed before the +whites came. There were many walruses, which they used for many things; +whales, too, they could easily capture before the whalers drove them +north, and then they hunted the wild reindeer, until now there are +scarcely any left. There was little left for them to eat but small +fish, for you see the whites had taken away or destroyed their food +supplies. + +"One day, in 1891, an American vessel discovered an entire village of +Esquimos starving, being reduced to eating their dogs, and it was +thought quite time that the government did something for these people +whose land they had bought. Finding that people of the same race in +Siberia were prosperous and healthy, they sent to investigate +conditions, and found that the Siberian Esquimos lived entirely by means +of the reindeer. The government decided to start a reindeer farm and see +if it would not benefit the natives." + +"How does it work?" asked Ted. + +"Very well, indeed," said his father. "At first about two hundred +animals were brought over, and they increased about fifty per cent. the +first year. Everywhere in the arctic region the _tundra_ gives the +reindeer the moss he lives on. It is never dry in summer because the +frost prevents any underground drainage, and even in winter the animals +feed upon it and thrive. There are, it is said, hundreds of thousands of +square miles of reindeer moss in Alaska, and reindeer stations have been +established in many places, and, as the natives are the only ones +allowed to raise them, it seems as if this might be the way found to +help the industrious Esquimos to help themselves." + +"But if it all belongs to the government, how can it help the natives?" +asked Ted. + +"Of course they have to be taught the business," said Mr. Strong. "The +government brought over some Lapps and Finlanders to care for the deer +at first, and these took young Esquimos to train. Each one serves five +years as herder, having a certain number of deer set apart for him each +year, and at the end of his service goes into business for himself." + +"Why, I think that's fine," cried Ted. "Oh, Daddy, what is that? It +looks like a queer, tangled up forest, all bare branches in the +summer." + +"That's a reindeer herd lying down for their noonday rest. What you see +are their antlers. How would you like to be in the midst of that forest +of branches?" asked Mr. Strong. + +"No, thank you," said Teddy, but Kalitan said: + +"Reindeer very gentle; they will not hurt unless very much frightened." + +"What queer-looking animals they are," said Ted, as they approached +nearer. "A sort of a cross between a deer and a cow." + +"Perhaps they are more useful than handsome, but I think there is +something picturesque about them, especially when hitched to sleds and +skimming over the frozen ground." + +The farm at Teller was certainly an interesting spot. Teddy saw the deer +fed and milked, the Lapland women being experts in that line, and found +the herders, in their quaint _parkas_ tied around the waist, and +conical caps, scarcely less interesting than the deer. Two funny little +Lapp babies he took to ride on a large reindeer, which proceeding did +not frighten the babies half so much as did the white boy who put them +on the deer. A reindeer was to them an every-day occurrence, but a +Boston boy was quite another matter. + +[Illustration: "TWO FUNNY LITTLE LAPP BABIES HE TOOK TO RIDE ON A LARGE +REINDEER."] + +Better than the reindeer, however, Teddy and Kalitan liked the draught +dogs who hauled the water at the station. A great cask on wheels was +pulled by five magnificent dogs, beautiful fellows with bright alert +faces. + +"They are the most faithful creatures in the world," said Mr. Strong, +"devoted to their masters, even though the masters are cruel to them. +Reindeer can work all day without a mouthful to eat, living on one meal +at night of seven pounds of corn-meal mush, with a pound or so of dried +fish cooked into it. On long journeys they can live on dried fish and +snow, and five dogs will haul four hundred pounds thirty-five miles a +day. They carry the United States mails all over Alaska." + +"I should think the dog would be worth more than the reindeer," said +Ted. + +"Many Alaskan travellers say he is by far the best for travelling, but +he cannot feed himself on the _tundra_, nor can he be eaten himself if +necessary. The Jarvis expedition proved the value of the reindeer," said +Mr. Strong. + +"What was that?" asked Ted. + +"Some years ago a whale fleet was caught in the ice near Point Barrow, +and in danger of starving to death, and word of this was sent to the +government. The President ordered the revenue cutter _Bear_ to go as far +north as possible and send a relief party over the ice by sledge with +provisions. + +"When the _Bear_ could go no farther, her commander landed Lieutenant +Jarvis, who was familiar with the region, and a relief party. They were +to seek the nearest reindeer station and drive a reindeer herd to the +relief of the starving people. The party reached Cape Nome and secured +some deer, and the rescue was made, but under such difficulties that it +is one of the most heroic stories of the age. These men drove four +hundred reindeer over two thousand miles north of the Arctic Circle, +over frozen seas and snow-covered mountains, and found the starving +sailors, who ate the fresh reindeer meat, which lasted until the ice +melted in the spring and set them free." + +"I think that was fine," said Ted. "But it seems a little hard on the +reindeer, doesn't it, to tramp all that distance just to be eaten?" + +"Animals made for man," said Kalitan, briefly. + + * * * * * + +A golden glory filled the sky, running upwards toward the zenith, +spreading there in varying colours from palest yellow to orange and +deepest, richest red. Glowing streams of light streamed heavenward like +feathery wings, as Ted and Kalitan sailed southward, and Ted exclaimed +in wonder: "What is it?" + +"The splendour of _Saghalie Tyee_,"[16] said Kalitan, solemnly. + +"The Aurora Borealis," said Mr. Strong, "and very fortunate you are to +see it. Indeed, Teddy, you seem to have brought good luck, for +everything has gone well this trip. Our faces are turned homeward now, +but we will have to come again next summer and bring mother and Judith." + +"I'll be glad to get home to mother again," said Ted, then noting +Kalitan's wistful face, "We'll find you at Sitka and go home with you to +the island," and he put his arm affectionately over the Indian boy's +shoulder. Kalitan pointed to the sky, whence the splendour was fading, +and a flock of birds was skimming southwards. + +"From the sky fades the splendour of _Saghalie Tyee_," he said. "The +summer is gone, the birds fly southward. The light goes from me when my +White Brother goes with the birds. Unless he return with them, all is +dark for Kalitan!" + + +THE END. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[16] Way-up High Chief, i.e., God. + + + + +THE LITTLE COUSIN SERIES + + +The most delightful and interesting accounts possible of child life in +other lands, filled with quaint sayings, doings, and adventures. + +Each one vol., 12mo, decorative cover, cloth, with six or more full-page +illustrations in color. + + Price per volume $0.60 + + +_By MARY HAZELTON WADE_ (_unless otherwise indicated_) + + =Our Little African Cousin= + =Our Little Alaskan Cousin= + By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet + =Our Little Arabian Cousin= + By Blanche McManus + =Our Little Armenian Cousin= + =Our Little Brown Cousin= + =Our Little Canadian Cousin= + By Elizabeth R. Macdonald + =Our Little Chinese Cousin= + By Isaac Taylor Headland + =Our Little Cuban Cousin= + =Our Little Dutch Cousin= + By Blanche McManus + =Our Little English Cousin= + By Blanche McManus + =Our Little Eskimo Cousin= + =Our Little French Cousin= + By Blanche McManus + =Our Little German Cousin= + =Our Little Hawaiian Cousin= + =Our Little Hindu Cousin= + By Blanche McManus + =Our Little Indian Cousin= + =Our Little Irish Cousin= + =Our Little Italian Cousin= + =Our Little Japanese Cousin= + =Our Little Jewish Cousin= + =Our Little Korean Cousin= + By H. Lee M. Pike + =Our Little Mexican Cousin= + By Edward C. Butler + =Our Little Norwegian Cousin= + =Our Little Panama Cousin= + By H. Lee M. Pike + =Our Little Philippine Cousin= + =Our Little Porto Rican Cousin= + =Our Little Russian Cousin= + =Our Little Scotch Cousin= + By Blanche McManus + =Our Little Siamese Cousin= + =Our Little Spanish Cousin= + By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet + =Our Little Swedish Cousin= + By Claire M. Coburn + =Our Little Swiss Cousin= + =Our Little Turkish Cousin= + + + + +THE GOLDENROD LIBRARY + + +The Goldenrod Library contains stories which appeal alike both to +children and to their parents and guardians. + +Each volume is well illustrated from drawings by competent artists, +which, together with their handsomely decorated uniform binding, showing +the goldenrod, usually considered the emblem of America, is a feature of +their manufacture. + + Each one volume, small 12mo, illustrated $0.35 + + +LIST OF TITLES + + =Aunt Nabby's Children.= By Frances Hodges White. + =Child's Dream of a Star, The.= By Charles Dickens. + =Flight of Rosy Dawn, The.= By Pauline Bradford Mackie. + =Findelkind.= By Ouida. + =Fairy of the Rhone, The.= By A. Comyns Carr. + =Gatty and I.= By Frances E. Crompton. + =Helena's Wonderworld.= By Frances Hodges White. + =Jerry's Reward.= By Evelyn Snead Barnett. + =La Belle Nivernaise.= By Alphonse Daudet. + =Little King Davie.= By Nellie Hellis. + =Little Peterkin Vandike.= By Charles Stuart Pratt. + =Little Professor, The.= By Ida Horton Cash. + =Peggy's Trial.= By Mary Knight Potter. + =Prince Yellowtop.= By Kate Whiting Patch. + =Provence Rose, A.= By Ouida. + =Seventh Daughter, A.= By Grace Wickham Curran. + =Sleeping Beauty, The.= By Martha Baker Dunn. + =Small, Small Child, A.= By E. Livingston Prescott. + =Susanne.= By Frances J. Delano. + =Water People, The.= By Charles Lee Sleight. + =Young Archer, The.= By Charles E. Brimblecom. + + + + +COSY CORNER SERIES + + It is the intention of the publishers that this series + shall contain only the very highest and purest + literature,--stories that shall not only appeal to the + children themselves, but be appreciated by all those + who feel with them in their joys and sorrows. + + The numerous illustrations in each book are by + well-known artists, and each volume has a separate + attractive cover design. + + Each 1 vol., 16mo, cloth $0.50 + + +_By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON_ + + +=The Little Colonel.= (Trade Mark.) + +The scene of this story is laid in Kentucky. Its heroine is a small +girl, who is known as the Little Colonel, on account of her fancied +resemblance to an old-school Southern gentleman, whose fine estate and +old family are famous in the region. + + +=The Giant Scissors.= + +This is the story of Joyce and of her adventures in France. Joyce is a +great friend of the Little Colonel, and in later volumes shares with her +the delightful experiences of the "House Party" and the "Holidays." + + +=Two Little Knights of Kentucky.= + +WHO WERE THE LITTLE COLONEL'S NEIGHBORS. + +In this volume the Little Colonel returns to us like an old friend, but +with added grace and charm. She is not, however, the central figure of +the story, that place being taken by the "two little knights." + + +=Mildred's Inheritance.= + +A delightful little story of a lonely English girl who comes to America +and is befriended by a sympathetic American family who are attracted by +her beautiful speaking voice. By means of this one gift she is enabled +to help a school-girl who has temporarily lost the use of her eyes, and +thus finally her life becomes a busy, happy one. + + +=Cicely and Other Stories for Girls.= + +The readers of Mrs. Johnston's charming juveniles will be glad to learn +of the issue of this volume for young people. + + +=Aunt 'Liza's Hero and Other Stories.= + +A collection of six bright little stories, which will appeal to all boys +and most girls. + +=Big Brother.= + +A story of two boys. The devotion and care of Steven, himself a small +boy, for his baby brother, is the theme of the simple tale. + + +=Ole Mammy's Torment.= + +"Ole Mammy's Torment" has been fitly called "a classic of Southern +life." It relates the haps and mishaps of a small negro lad, and tells +how he was led by love and kindness to a knowledge of the right. + + +=The Story of Dago.= + +In this story Mrs. Johnston relates the story of Dago, a pet monkey, +owned jointly by two brothers. Dago tells his own story, and the account +of his haps and mishaps is both interesting and amusing. + + +=The Quilt That Jack Built.= + +A pleasant little story of a boy's labor of love, and how it changed the +course of his life many years after it was accomplished. + + +=Flip's Islands of Providence.= + +A story of a boy's life battle, his early defeat, and his final triumph, +well worth the reading. + + +_By EDITH ROBINSON_ + + +=A Little Puritan's First Christmas.= + +A Story of Colonial times in Boston, telling how Christmas was invented +by Betty Sewall, a typical child of the Puritans, aided by her brother +Sam. + + +=A Little Daughter of Liberty.= + +The author introduces this story as follows: + +"One ride is memorable in the early history of the American Revolution, +the well-known ride of Paul Revere. Equally deserving of commendation is +another ride,--the ride of Anthony Severn,--which was no less historic +in its action or memorable in its consequences." + + +=A Loyal Little Maid.= + +A delightful and interesting story of Revolutionary days, in which the +child heroine, Betsey Schuyler, renders important services to George +Washington. + + +=A Little Puritan Rebel.= + +This is an historical tale of a real girl, during the time when the +gallant Sir Harry Vane was governor of Massachusetts. + + +=A Little Puritan Pioneer.= + +The scene of this story is laid in the Puritan settlement at +Charlestown. + + +=A Little Puritan Bound Girl.= + +A story of Boston in Puritan days, which is of great interest to +youthful readers. + + +=A Little Puritan Cavalier.= + +The story of a "Little Puritan Cavalier" who tried with all his boyish +enthusiasm to emulate the spirit and ideals of the dead Crusaders. + + +=A Puritan Knight Errant.= + +The story tells of a young lad in Colonial times who endeavored to carry +out the high ideals of the knights of olden days. + + +_By OUIDA_ (_Louise de la Ramée_) + + +=A Dog of Flanders=: A CHRISTMAS STORY. + +Too well and favorably known to require description. + + +=The Nurnberg Stove.= + +This beautiful story has never before been published at a popular price. + + +_By FRANCES MARGARET FOX_ + + +=The Little Giant's Neighbours.= + +A charming nature story of a "little giant" whose neighbours were the +creatures of the field and garden. + + +=Farmer Brown and the Birds.= + +A little story which teaches children that the birds are man's best +friends. + + +=Betty of Old Mackinaw.= + +A charming story of child-life, appealing especially to the little +readers who like stories of "real people." + + +=Brother Billy.= + +The story of Betty's brother, and some further adventures of Betty +herself. + + +=Mother Nature's Little Ones.= + +Curious little sketches describing the early lifetime, or "childhood," +of the little creatures out-of-doors. + + +=How Christmas Came to the Mulvaneys.= + +A bright, lifelike little story of a family of poor children, with an +unlimited capacity for fun and mischief. The wonderful never-to-be +forgotten Christmas that came to them is the climax of a series of +exciting incidents. + + +_By MISS MULOCK_ + + +=The Little Lame Prince.= + +A delightful story of a little boy who has many adventures by means of +the magic gifts of his fairy god-mother. + + +=Adventures of a Brownie.= + +The story of a household elf who torments the cook and gardener, but is +a constant joy and delight to the children who love and trust him. + + +=His Little Mother.= + +Miss Mulock's short stories for children are a constant source of +delight to them, and "His Little Mother," in this new and attractive +dress, will be welcomed by hosts of youthful readers. + + +=Little Sunshine's Holiday.= + +An attractive story of a summer outing. "Little Sunshine" is another of +those beautiful child-characters for which Miss Mulock is so justly +famous. + + +_By MARSHALL SAUNDERS_ + + +=For His Country.= + +A sweet and graceful story of a little boy who loved his country; +written with that charm which has endeared Miss Saunders to hosts of +readers. + + +=Nita, the Story of an Irish Setter.= + +In this touching little book, Miss Saunders shows how dear to her heart +are all of God's dumb creatures. + + +=Alpatok, the Story of an Eskimo Dog.= + +Alpatok, an Eskimo dog from the far north, was stolen from his master +and left to starve in a strange city, but was befriended and cared for, +until he was able to return to his owner. + + +_By WILL ALLEN DROMGOOLE_ + + +=The Farrier's Dog and His Fellow.= + +This story, written by the gifted young Southern woman, will appeal to +all that is best in the natures of the many admirers of her graceful and +piquant style. + + +=The Fortunes of the Fellow.= + +Those who read and enjoyed the pathos and charm of "The Farrier's Dog +and His Fellow" will welcome the further account of the adventures of +Baydaw and the Fellow at the home of the kindly smith. + + +=The Best of Friends.= + +This continues the experiences of the Farrier's dog and his Fellow, +written in Miss Dromgoole's well-known charming style. + + +=Down in Dixie.= + +A fascinating story for boys and girls, of a family of Alabama children +who move to Florida and grow up in the South. + + +_By MARIAN W. WILDMAN_ + + +=Loyalty Island.= + +An account of the adventures of four children and their pet dog on an +island, and how they cleared their brother from the suspicion of +dishonesty. + + +=Theodore and Theodora.= + +This is a story of the exploits and mishaps of two mischievous twins, +and continues the adventures of the interesting group of children in +"Loyalty Island." + + +_By CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS_ + + +=The Cruise of the Yacht Dido.= + +The story of two boys who turned their yacht into a fishing boat to earn +money to pay for a college course, and of their adventures while +exploring in search of hidden treasure. + + +=The Young Acadian.= + +The story of a young lad of Acadia who rescued a little English girl +from the hands of savages. + + +=The Lord of the Air.= + +THE STORY OF THE EAGLE + +=The King of the Mamozekel.= + +THE STORY OF THE MOOSE + +=The Watchers of the Camp-fire.= + +THE STORY OF THE PANTHER + +=The Haunter of the Pine Gloom.= + +THE STORY OF THE LYNX + +=The Return to the Trails.= + +THE STORY OF THE BEAR + +=The Little People of the Sycamore.= + +THE STORY OF THE RACCOON + + +_By OTHER AUTHORS_ + + +=The Great Scoop.= + +_By MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL_ + +A capital tale of newspaper life in a big city, and of a bright, +enterprising, likable youngster employed thereon. + + +=John Whopper.= + +The late Bishop Clark's popular story of the boy who fell through the +earth and came out in China, with a new introduction by Bishop Potter. + + +=The Dole Twins.= + +_By KATE UPSON CLARK_ + +The adventures of two little people who tried to earn money to buy +crutches for a lame aunt. An excellent description of child-life about +1812, which will greatly interest and amuse the children of to-day, +whose life is widely different. + + +=Larry Hudson's Ambition.= + +_By JAMES OTIS_, author of "Toby Tyler," etc. + +Larry Hudson is a typical American boy, whose hard work and enterprise +gain him his ambition,--an education and a start in the world. + + +=The Little Christmas Shoe.= + +_By JANE P. SCOTT WOODRUFF_ + +A touching story of Yule-tide. + + +=Wee Dorothy.= + +_By LAURA UPDEGRAFF_ + +A story of two orphan children, the tender devotion of the eldest, a +boy, for his sister being its theme and setting. With a bit of sadness +at the beginning, the story is otherwise bright and sunny, and +altogether wholesome in every way. + + +=The King of the Golden River=: A LEGEND OF STIRIA. _By JOHN RUSKIN_ + +Written fifty years or more ago, and not originally intended for +publication, this little fairy-tale soon became known and made a place +for itself. + + +=A Child's Garden of Verses.= + +_By R. L. STEVENSON_ + +Mr. Stevenson's little volume is too well known to need description. + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Obvious punctuation errors repaired. Text uses both kyak and kiak for +our more modern kayak. This was retained. + +Final page of book ads, "L. R." changed to "R. L." (By R. L. Stevenson) + +Page 5, "alway" changed to "always" (always dear to a boy) + +Page 82, "Tahgeah" changed to "Tah-ge-ah" (Tah-ge-ah would take them) + +Page 83, "Kalakash" changed to "Kala-kash" (Kala-kash had not asked) + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Our Little Alaskan Cousin, by Mary F. Nixon-Roulet + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10224 *** |