mer, being gathered into one place, the ship would have nothing to do but to transport them, which could be easily done. Such a course might not meet expectations, but in the absence of some better plan I would like to see it tried, and therefore respectfully recommend it to your favorable consideration. St. Lawrence Island School.-Population, Eskimo. This important village still remains without a teacher, and the schoolhouse closed. Mr. V. C. Gambell, superintendent of the public schools of Wapello, Iowa, has arranged to open this school in the fall of 1894, and he and his wife are now en route to their distant field. Unalaklik. Population, Eskimo; Unalaska Contract School; Swedish Evangelical; Axel E. Karlson, teacher. No report. Koserefeki Contract School. Holy Cross Mission; Roman Catholic; Father Tosi, superior; teachers, Sisters of St. Ann and Brothers of Jesus; enrollment, 72; population, Indian and Eskimo. This is the leading Roman Catholic school in the Territory. No report. Bethel contract school.-Moravian; population, Eskimo; Rev. John H. Kilbuck, teacher. To this school the year proved one of very great hardship. During last summer and fall the season was so wet, and there was so much high water in the river that there was a very small catch of fish. The wet weather also prevented the proper curing of the fish, which are dried in the sun; accordingly, over one-third of the fish taken were spoiled in the curing. By Christmas many of the people were short of food, and from thence on until the spring the people were often in great straits for food, and great fears were entertained of many starving to death. The hunger was so extreme that dogs that had been dead for weeks were eaten. Owing to the famine the school was necessarily closed in January when the supply of food had completely given out, and the children were sent to the mountains to trap such game as they could procure. During the year a sawmill has been built in connection with the school, and before winter set in 25,000 feet of lumber was sawed. This will enable the mission to secure an abundance of lumber at a reasonable rate, and means better facilities for carrying on the school and mission work. This important school is gaining a stronger hold every year upon the people in the valley of the Kuskoquim, and its influence is felt to the remotest villages along the stream. As an illustration of the character and customs of the people, among whom many of the schools are situated, I give the following extracts from Mrs. J. H. Kilbuck's diary: "September 6, 1887.-Lomuck, father of one of our schoolboys, sent for a saw, stating that he had a sick child which was going to die, and he wished a saw to make a coffin. "September 26, 1887.-A few days ago we were shocked by the news of a very heathenish and cruel attempt to kill a little child, a sickly boy about 2 years old. He was taken away from the village and tied down at the water's edge at low tide, without any clothes on. A passer-by heard his cry and found the child with the water nearly to its neck. It was taken to the post and cared for. The child's mother is dead, and the father had left it in the care of an old woman of Mumtreckhlagamute, who most likely did the deed, as she was on her way to winter in her village. The only thing that surprised the natives was the fact that it was a boy. They often kill their little girl babies. "February 17, 1888.-Girls are not very welcome among these people. Sometimes they kill them or give them away. "August 19, 1888.-An old woman at the post, who stayed with us for awhile when we first came, is dead. The natives accused her of killing 2 children by witchery, for which they clubbed her to death, severed all her joints, and burned her with oil, as is their custom of treating such persons. Superstition has a strong hold here, and isone of our greatest hindrances. "December 2, 1888.-An old woman, insane and hard to care for, was brought down the river, and when strangers refused to keep her, her nephew took her back and deliberately froze her to death. He had offered pay for someone to kill her, but as no one would do it for him he did it himself, contrary to the strict orders of Mr. Lind, not to take her life. Such cruel things are hard to believe; but the natives do not seem the least surprised, nor think any the less of those who commit these acts. "April 15, 1890.-On the 5th our native helper, Brother Hooker, at Quichtlamute, a brave, good man, was killed by the natives, by clubbing, because of temporary insanity. "Shamanism.--Mr. Kilbuck reproved an old Shaman here for having two wives. The old man said he would Shaman the missionary and prejudice the natives against him. We find that many men have two and some even three wives. "I think we have gained the love and confidence of all around us, except the old Shamans, who are fast losing their influence. "February, 1889.-When Mr. Kilbuck, the missionary, was delayed in the mountains on a trip to Bristol Bay, and was given up by all for lost, the old Shaman said that he had brought on this bad weather for the purpose of killing Mr. Kilbuck for reproving him for his bigamy; and for a time he seemed to regain power over the natives, who feared him, although they hated him at the same time. But when Mr. Kilbuck returned, the natives said the Shaman might have made the bad weather, but that did not kill him nor keep him from coming home. Two old women Shamaned for his return. One confessed she had no power over storms, and the other said it was because the missionaries had left fish exposed to the night air. The next night the fish were all stored away by some unknown person. The power of the Shamans is greatly damaged, and their future is not promising around Bethel. "December 10, 1889. Our schoolboy, Eddie, is sick. An old Shaman hung around the place all day, hoping to make a few dollars off the child's parents for Shamanning him. But, finding himself defeated by our care, he did a considerable amount of growling before he left. I have no mercy on the Shamans. They are barefaced liars, deceiving the people and living off them. "Sickness and diseases.-Pneumonia is a dreadful disease here. The people who take it nearly all die for want of better care. On the river below us fifty-five deaths are reported, but those near us whom we have treated have all recovered. "One old Shaman, after having failed to cure himself, sent for Mr. Kilbuck, and he is now well. "December 3, 1886.-Every day some cases come here for treatment. Some we can cure; others it is impossible to benefit in any way. They have great faith in everything that we do, and this is one great advantage. Many pitiable cases present themselves; many children with spinal troubles. We see some of the most loathsome sights that you can well imagine-sores that look like some of the extreme illustrations given in surgical books, and then so crusted with dirt that no part of the skin is visible, the sore being angry looking and full of moving insect life. To first cleanse and then care for such a thing is by no means a pleasant task, and yet it is pleasing to see how grateful they are for the care we give them. "Domestic help. -Procopi's wife is the most faithful help I have ever had. She is never idle, despite her family of three children to care for, and does as much work as any woman I have had, with or without children. She used to be a great trial to us before she became a Christian. We knew that she would steal at every chance. We caught her at it and were obliged to limit her liberties about the premises, but now we can place the utmost confidence in her. "December 22, 1889.-Christmas. This afternoon we had a short service to practice our boys in singing their Christmas pieces. It would have done you good to see them, all so clean and happy, as they followed the words in the hymu books and sang. The natives from Quichtlamute are here. They live about twenty-five miles distant. "December 27, 1889. -At the Christmas services 150 natives were present, and the best of order prevailed. The addresses in both English and native were good. The children's eyes danced as they saw the ornamented and lighted trees. George and Augustus aided in distributing the presents, and I was proud of them as they calmly and manfully performed their parts. "January 24, 1890.-A note from Mr. Kilbuck, from Quichtlamute, reads as follows: 'We had a big meeting last night and a good one, too. The people say Shamanning and masquerading must go, because they want to follow Jesus Christ." "December 13, 1891.-Our first hymn translated. We have often been asked to translate some of our hymns and gospel songs into native. And now, at last, at last we have one translated. It is the hymn 'Jesus Loves Me.' We have had one stanza completed for some time, and lately Mr. Kilbuck, with the aid of the schoolboys and two natives, has gotten out the chorus and the remaining two stanzas. The natives are almost wild over 'their hymn,' as they call it. On Sunday, instead of an address, we drilled the natives for two hours on our new hymn, and before the service closed they made the house ring with about 75 voices. I will write out the hymn, although you will not understand it. Yet I wish it recorded here in my journal. JESUS KIMN-KANG-A. "Ang-nex-twa xa At-ta-vut whong-u-ta Whing-a Xok kimn-kang-a Jesus Christus. Chorus. "Ang-nex-twa-xa Jesus kimn-kang-a "Everyone is delighted with the hymn, and the trader says it is all he hears around the trading post. The native helper, Lomuck, has come from his village up the river, having heard of the hymn. He could not rest until he had heard it sung in the chapel. 'Now,' he says, 'the natives see that we have a meaning to our songs, and think of God when we sing.' Other hymns have since been translated." UNALASKA DISTRICT. Unalaska school. John A. Tuck and Miss Anna Fulcomer, teachers; attendance, 24; population, Russian creoles. This school is made up mainly of the girls that are in the Jessie Lee Memorial Home. Being regular in attendance, they have made very rapid progress during the year. Indeed, this is one of the model schools of western Alaska, and through its efficiency has attracted much attention from the officers of the Bering Sea fleet, as well as others who have had a chance to visit it. In Senate Ex. Doc. No. 107, Fifty-second Congress, second session, containing the reports of the United States Treasury agents to the seal islands, occur the following allusions: "The Hon. William H. Williams, Treasury agent to the seal islands, reporting to the honorable the Secretary of the Treasury on the condition of the natives on those islands, writes: ""Especial attention is invited to the schools on the seal islands. They have been in operation over twenty years, and yet they have not succeeded in teaching a pupil to read or write a sentence in the English language. * * ""Radical changes are absolutely necessary in these respects, if it is the desire of our Government to civilize, educate, and improve this people. They should not only be taught the rudiments of the English language, but also habits of industry, economy, cleanliness, and morality. That these people are quick to learn and susceptible to rapid improvement is demonstrated in the charity school at Unalaska, conducted by Mr. and Mrs. Tuck. Six of the most promising orphans on the islands were sent there in September, 1890, and I found on visiting the school this year that they could talk the English language quite fluently and read and write quite intelligently.' "Mr. Joseph Stanley Brown, acting Treasury agent in charge of the seal islands, in an official report to the Secretary of the Treasury, writes December 1, 1892: ""For over twenty years the Government has maintained an English school upon the islands, and yet not ten natives on both of them can make themselves even fairly well understood in English, nor has any appreciable advance been made in the direction of American citizenship. * * * ""An illustration of what can be done. That it is not impossible to establish schools that will be entirely successful, not only in teaching these people to speak, to read, and to write the English language, but to train them in more upright and useful methods of domestic life, is shown by the history of the Lee school at Unalaska, presided over by Mr. and Mrs. Tuck. At this school have been gathered children from all parts of the Aleutian chain, and some from the islands of St. Paul and St. George, whose intellectual advancement seemed to be hopeless. Before two years had passed these children were able to make themselves well understood in English, while their improvement in manner and character was simply astonishing. This I know from personal observation. The success of the Lee school is due to the personal equation of the individuals presiding over it, and to the fact that the children are removed from their native home influences."" Unga school. Teacher, O. R. McKinney; enrollment, 36; population, Russian creole. When Mr. McKinney took charge of this school on the 12th of October, 1891, he found the children shy and suspicious. Very few of them could be induced even to try to speak English, and the few who did try spoke it very imperfectly. The key of the school building had been left in the hands of a half-breed who has since been driven from the place for embezzlement and stealing. The schoolhouse had been thrown open for drunken dances and carousing, and was in such bad repair as to be unfit for use. The driving rains of that region came in at the windows and kept the sides of the floor wet most of the time. The ceiling was not quite 7 feet high, with no means of ventilation in the room. The lumber and furniture for the teacher's residence had been left at Pirate Cove, on Popof Island, 20 miles distant, so it was necessary to charter a small schooner to bring it to the village. During the winter of 1892 and 1893 Mr. McKinney put a ventilator into the schoolroom and built a coal shed and a storm porch. He then went to work and raised the ceiling of the schoolroom, added 8 feet to the length, lined it throughout with beaded red wood ceiling, and gave it one coat of paint. Last vacation, with his own hands, he took up the floor, which was badly out of order, relaid it, and gave it a good coat of red-rock paint. Last fall the Government sent 3 dozen new desks. So that after these years of repairs and attention the schoolhouse has been brought into a suitable condition for the use of the school. Encouraged by the improvement of the schoolroom, the people of the village took hold and raised a sum of money with which has been purchased a circulating library. KADIAK DISTRICT. Kadiak school. Rev. C. C. Solter, teacher; enrollment, 59; population, Russian creole. The school opened on the first Monday in September, with a fair attendance. This being the season of the year when the children are frequently sent to the woods for berries, which are put up for winter use, many of the children were kept away. Soon after the opening la grippe made its appearance and not one of the pupils escaped. The winter there, as elsewhere in Alaska, was one of unprecedented storms and unusual severity. Such a season has not been known for twenty-five years. From these several causes the attendance of pupils was less than usual. Those that were able to attend, however, made marked progress in their studies and have shown improvement not only intellectually, but also morally. At Christmas the school gave an entertainment, which had an excellent effect upon the parents of the children, who seemed to grasp the possibility of their children doing the same things as those of more favored people. Although the people are very poor, they have manifested their growing interest in the school by subscribing for and procuring a fine set of school maps. The universal use of the Russian language in the homes of the children is a great barrier in their progress of acquiring the English language. Another drawback in the homes of the people is the prevalence of intemperance, especially upon holidays. The teacher makes an earnest appeal for a standard manikin showing the effect of alcohol upon the human system as an aid to temperance instruction. Afognak school. -Teacher, Mrs. C. M. Colwell; enrollment, 38; population, Russian creoles. Carlook school. -Population, Eskimo. This school is suspended for want of sufficient appropriation. SITKA DISTRICT. Yakutat contract school. -Swedish Evangelical mission; Rev. A. J. Hendrickson and Rev. Alvin Johnson, teachers; population, Thlingets; enrollment, 105. During the year progress has been made in the erection of one new building and in the more regular attendance of the native children. The erection of a sawmill in connection with the school has provided the necessary lumber by which the natives have been influenced to pull down their former houses and erect more comfortable and improved ones. Hoonah contract school. -Presbyterian; population, Thlinget. This school met with a great loss in the death of Rev. John W. McFarland. Mr. and Mrs. McFarland went to Hoonah in 1883. They found the people barbarous, and have labored in season and out of season until a church has been established, with over 100 native communicants, and nearly the entire child population have been brought under instruction. There are no stations in southeast Alaska where the work has been more fruitful with the same number of laborers. Jackson school. -Mrs. Clara G. McLeod, teacher; enrollment, 90; population, Hydah. This school has kept on its even way during its entire life under one teacher, the good effects of which are shown in the progress made by the pupils. Killisnoo school.-L. F. Jones, teacher; enrollment, 75; population, Thlingets and Russian Creoles. On the morning of February 18, 1894, the schoolhouse was destroyed by fire. The wind at the time blowing a gale, and the water being frozen in the reservoir, there was nothing to be done but to get out as much of the propрerty as possible and see the building burn to the ground. Upon the joint recommendation of Governor James Sheakley and Supt. William A. Kelly, it has been decided not to rebuild at present, but wait until a larger appropriation can be secured. Haines.-W. W. Warne, teacher; enrollment, 41; population, Thlinget. The children in the mission home at Haines, Alaska, not only receive instruction, but the children of the village, which is about 2 miles from the mission building, are also gathered in as day school pupils. The teacher writes: "Frequently I go down to the village to hunt up my children. I often find them still in bed. It doesn't take long for these village children to get ready for school; they sleep with all their clothes on. In the morning they jump out of bed, smooth their hair, wash their faces and hands and they are ready. Sometimes they perform their morning ablution at the spring on the way to school." Concerning them one of the missionaries writes: "The Chilcat tribe is divided into two clans, namely, the Wolf and the Raven. Each clan is divided into phratries or tribes, each phratry having its own headsman or chief. What little power the chiefs had over their phratries has almost disappeared. "The Chilcats are, perhaps, the tallest and best formed of all the Thlinget people. They are shrewd traders, and will generally get the best of a bargain, even in some instances outwitting their white brothers. Where Christianity has not softened and refined them they are self-assertive, arrogant, and boastful to an almost ludicrous degree. They, more than any other Thlinget tribes, hold most tenaciously to their old-time customs. "The 'potlatch' is one of the most interesting of the customs which the Chilcats practice. Any such event as death, the building of a new house, making reparation for real or imaginary wrongs received, and the attainment of higher rank is made the occasion for a potlatch. |