Ducks, Gulls,
Bald Eagles, And Jays Are The Commonest Birds Hereabouts.
A flock of
swans flew past, sounding their startling human-like cry which seemed
yet more striking in this lonely wilderness.
The Indians said that
geese, swans, cranes, etc., making their long journeys in regular
order thus called aloud to encourage each other and enable them to
keep stroke and time like men in rowing or marching (a sort of "Row,
brothers, row," or "Hip, hip" of marching soldiers).
October 18 was about half sunshine, half rain and wet snow, but we
paddled on through the midst of the innumerable islands in more than
half comfort, enjoying the changing effects of the weather on the
dripping wilderness. Strolling a little way back into the woods when
we went ashore for luncheon, I found fine specimens of cedar, and
here and there a birch, and small thickets of wild apple. A hemlock,
felled by Indians for bread-bark, was only twenty inches thick at the
butt, a hundred and twenty feet long, and about five hundred and
forty years old at the time it was felled. The first hundred of its
rings measured only four inches, showing that for a century it had
grown in the shade of taller trees and at the age of one hundred
years was yet only a sapling in size. On the mossy trunk of an old
prostrate spruce about a hundred feet in length thousands of
seedlings were growing. I counted seven hundred on a length of eight
feet, so favorable is this climate for the development of tree seeds
and so fully do these trees obey the command to multiply and
replenish the earth. No wonder these islands are densely clothed with
trees. They grow on solid rocks and logs as well as on fertile soil.
The surface is first covered with a plush of mosses in which the
seeds germinate; then the interlacing roots form a sod, fallen leaves
soon cover their feet, and the young trees, closely crowded together,
support each other, and the soil becomes deeper and richer from year
to year.
I greatly enjoyed the Indian's camp-fire talk this evening on their
ancient customs, how they were taught by their parents ere the whites
came among them, their religion, ideas connected with the next world,
the stars, plants, the behavior and language of animals under
different circumstances, manner of getting a living, etc. When our
talk was interrupted by the howling of a wolf on the opposite side of
the strait, Kadachan puzzled the minister with the question, "Have
wolves souls?" The Indians believe that they have, giving as
foundation for their belief that they are wise creatures who know how
to catch seals and salmon by swimming slyly upon them with their
heads hidden in a mouthful of grass, hunt deer in company, and always
bring forth their young at the same and most favorable time of the
year. I inquired how it was that with enemies so wise and powerful
the deer were not all killed. Kadachan replied that wolves knew
better than to kill them all and thus cut off their most important
food-supply. He said they were numerous on all the large islands,
more so than on the mainland, that Indian hunters were afraid of them
and never ventured far into the woods alone, for these large gray and
black wolves attacked man whether they were hungry or not. When
attacked, the Indian hunter, he said, climbed a tree or stood with
his back against a tree or rock as a wolf never attacks face to face.
Wolves, and not bears, Indians regard as masters of the woods, for
they sometimes attack and kill bears, but the wolverine they never
attack, "for," said John, "wolves and wolverines are companions in
sin and equally wicked and cunning."
On one of the small islands we found a stockade, sixty by thirty-five
feet, built, our Indians said, by the Kake tribe during one of their
many warlike quarrels. Toyatte and Kadachan said these forts were
common throughout the canoe waters, showing that in this foodful,
kindly wilderness, as in all the world beside, man may be man's worst
enemy.
We discovered small bits of cultivation here and there, patches of
potatoes and turnips, planted mostly on the cleared sites of deserted
villages. In spring the most industrious families sailed to their
little farms of perhaps a quarter of an acre or less, and ten or
fifteen miles from their villages. After preparing the ground, and
planting it, they visited it again in summer to pull the weeds and
speculate on the size of the crop they were likely to have to eat
with their fat salmon. The Kakes were then busy digging their
potatoes, which they complained were this year injured by early
frosts.
We arrived at Klugh-Quan, one of the Kupreanof Kake villages, just as
a funeral party was breaking up. The body had been burned and gifts
were being distributed - bits of calico, handkerchiefs, blankets,
etc., according to the rank and wealth of the deceased. The death
ceremonies of chiefs and head men, Mr. Young told me, are very weird
and imposing, with wild feasting, dancing, and singing. At this
little place there are some eight totem poles of bold and intricate
design, well executed, but smaller than those of the Stickeens. As
elsewhere throughout the archipelago, the bear, raven, eagle, salmon,
and porpoise are the chief figures. Some of the poles have square
cavities, mortised into the back, which are said to contain the ashes
of members of the family. These recesses are closed by a plug. I
noticed one that was caulked with a rag where the joint was
imperfect.
Strolling about the village, looking at the tangled vegetation,
sketching the totems, etc., I found a lot of human bones scattered on
the surface of the ground or partly covered. In answer to my
inquiries, one of our crew said they probably belonged to Sitka
Indians, slain in war.
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