and the present Congress can make the necessary appropriation for the work. As this is an entire new feature in the management of Indian tribes of the United States, it is one which should not be the result of hasty action, but should be discreetly dealt with, and Congress should be in possession of all the facts and experience of other nations before entering upon the task. General Howard has for years been urging the establishment of schools and advising Christian ministers devoting themselves to missionary work in Alaska. I am happy to say there are now already in the Territory good and worthy pioneers in this religious work, who are meeting with the most sanguine success. On my way down from Wrangel I stopped at Fort Simpson and visited the Rev. Mr. Crosby, and had a long conversation with him upon the subject of his mission. He informed me the Alaska Indians at Tongas, a very short distance off on the other side of Portland Canal, the dividing line, were very anxious to have a school and church there, and that when opportunity afforded he should go over there and preach to them. Illustration 5 will give an idea of the Crosby mission. In Alaska this beginning has been made under the direct control and auspices of the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions, and I learn the Hon. William E. Dodge, of New York City, is lending his means and executive ability to the success of the undertaking. Vincent Colyer speaks as follows: To sum up my opinion about the natives of Alaska, I do not hesitate to say that if three-quarters of them were landed in New York as coming from Europe, they would be selected as among the most intelligent of the many worthy emigrants who daily arrive at that port. In two years they would be admitted to citizenship, and in ten years some of their children, under the civilizing influence of our eastern public schools, would be found members of Congress. Hon. William S. Dodge says: I can speak generally from actual observation; and, in brief, none of the tribes in that section of the country, which I consider Indian, are at all to be compared with any of the tribes inhabiting the interior of our country, or even with those bordering the great lakes. One peculiar characteristic of the Alaska tribes, such as the Hydahs, Stikines, Sticks, Kakes, Kootznoo, and Sitkas, is their individual intelligent independence. It is true they live to a great extent on fish and game, but these are to their taste, the crops of grain and corn, &c., to the former. For half a century educated into traders by the Russian, American, and Hudson Bay Companies, as well as by small traders, who trade contraband, they have become keen, sharp-witted, and drive as hard and close a bargain as their white brothers, and since the Federal occupation of the country this fact is more apparent. They are of a very superior intelligence, and have rapidly acquired many of the American ways of living and working. Their houses are universally clustered into villages very thoroughly and neatly built, and far more substantial and pretentious than the log houses usually constructed by our manly backwoodsmen. I noticed with pleasure at Miss Kellogg's school the great progress made in a very short time by several of the Indian pupils, especially two boys, who evinced rare intelligence and docility. In all my conversations held with the Indians through interpreters, I have invariably found them quite up to the mark in asking and answering questions, displaying a great deal of tact, ingenuity, and shrewdness. To my mind they are far more intelligent than any Indians I have ever met on this continent, the Seminoles alone excepted. I was perfectly astonished at the marked improvement in the Indian village at Fort Simpson, all due to the direct efforts of Mr. Crosby. New houses made of sawed lumber and neatly roofed, covered with shingles, all the labor of the Indians, have taken the place of their former wretched huts. They have modern doors and windows, and look like civilized 1 dwellings. In fact their town will very favorably contrast with many of those primeval settlements, reared by white men and met with in California, Oregon, and Washington Territory. They are improving their streets and taking down their carvings, posts, and images, and in a few years, with a little whitewash, it will be a very attractive place. As a marked contrast to this march of civilization, the reader is shown illustration 6, the Indian village at Sitka. It is a very wretched place. The graves will be perceived in the rear. It is customary with all the Alaska Indians to bury their dead above ground, with all their valuables, money, and personal effects of all kinds. These graves are generally small houses, some of them boasting of a pane or two of glass, others a whole sash, where the relatives of the departed brave can look in upon him during his final slumbers. They very much resemble dog-kennels. It is customary when a chief or principal man of a tribe dies to lay him out in Indian costume, surrounded by all his arms, accouterments, trophies of war and the chase. Frequently much hoochenoo is consumed, and the howlings and orgies very much resemble an Irish wake. Illustration 7 is a very correct representation of a scene of this kind. The dead warrior is Shaks, a chief of the Sitkine tribe at Wrangel, which occurred while I was in Alaska. He claimed to be the last hereditary chief of his race, dating back through a line of noble ancestors of two hundred years' standing. It is asserted they have been the head chiefs of the Sitkines for this period. It was once a powerful tribe, but now the numbers are insignificant. Shaks was duly buried with every valuable he had. He was a bad Indian, and his spiritual travel to the happy hunting-grounds of his forefathers is a cause of great gratulation to the white citizens of Wrangel. He did everything in his power to thwart the efforts of Mr. Dennis in the suppression of hoochenoo manufacture, sneered at the "Church Indians," and scoffed at the missionary school. The following letter from Surgeon Baily, U. S. A., discloses the state of affairs existing in Alaska at that time. It only goes to confirm my own impressions and experience formed many years later. Dr. Baily earnestly recommends schools as a curative for existing evils: SITKA, ALASKA TERRITORY, MY DEAR SIR: I inclose for your information the report of Acting Assistant Surgeon John A. Tonner, U. S. A., in medical charge of the Indians in this vicinity, in conformity to instructions given him by me. A copy of the same is inclosed. This report is instructive, and contains important suggestions, which, if carried out, would go far towards improving their condition. I am satisfied that little or nothing can be done until they are placed under better and more favorable influences. A greater mistake could not have been committed than stationing troops in their midst. They mutually debauch each other, and sink into that degree of degradation in which it is impossible to reach each other through moral or religious influences. Whisky has been sold in the streets by government officials at public auctions, and examples of drunkenness are set before them almost daily, so that in fact the principal teaching they at present are receiving is that drunkenness and debauchery are held by us not as criminal and unbecoming a Christian people, but as indications of our advanced and superior civilization. These Indians are a civil and well-behaved people; they do not want bayonets to keep them in subjection, but they do want honest, faithful, and Christian workers among them; those that will care for them, teach and instruct them in useful arts, and that they are responsible beings. I look upon the different military posts in this department as disastrous and destructive to their well-being; they are not, and can never be, of the least possible use; they are only so many whisky fonts, from whence it is spread over the country. If we ever have trouble with them and become involved in war, it will be found to arise from these causes. From the nature and character |