he lays down the stone and chisel and goes on his way. The next traveler repeats the operation, and the next, and the next, until in about two years the lamp is done which will last hundreds of years. Thus the whole community shows its good will to the young couple. In these lamps they burn seal oil, with a cotton wick. If the cotton can not be procured, then the wick is a bit of moss. In former days, as soon as one lamp was finished and removed, another stone was placed there, so that one was always in process of making. These lamps furnish both light and heat.

Early Thursday morning, September 17, the captain weighed anchor and put out to sea, bound for Sitka. During the day the wind increased to a gale, and on Friday night the sea was so rough that the ship was hove to, and cil was strained over the bows into the sea to lessen the force of the waves. Nearly the entire trip of a week across to Sitka was in the face of a heavy equinoctial storm. It was so rough that several times the table could not be set in the captain's cabin, and we took our meals in our hands in the pilot house as best we could. Off Mount Edgecombe, the ship was again compelled to heave to. However, we finally reached the quiet harbor of Sitka on Thursday, September 25, and the rough part of our journey was over. The remainder of our journey was made in the smooth waters of the Alexandrian Archipelago.

I remained two weeks at Sitka, attending to school matters. Then being joined there by the Hon. James Sheakley, superintendent of schools in the Sitka district, we made a tour of inspection through southeastern Alaska, visiting, either separately or together, every school in that district, except those at Metlakahtla and Klawack.

At Chilkat a location was selected and arrangements completed for the erection of a cheap but substantial log schoolhouse. On November 11 I reached Washington, after an absence of seven months, having traveled 17,825 miles. The success of the long trip was greatly promoted by the many facilities that were extended by Capt. Michael A. Healy, of the steamer Bear, and Capt. W. C. Coulson, of the steamer Rush, with whom I sailed, also of the several officers of their command.

NEW OFFICERS..

In accordance with the provisions of the rules approved by the Secretary of the Interior April 9, 1890, the following persons have been appointed to commence service on July 1, 1890:

The members of the school committees will continue in office until June 30 of the year set against their names.

Assistant agent, William Hamilton; superintendent for Sitka district, Hon. James Sheakley.

LOCAL SCHOOL COMMITTEES.

Sitka.-Edward De Groff, 1892; N. K.Peckinpaugh, 1893; John C. Brady, 1894. Juneau. Karl Koehler, 1892; John G. Heid, 1893; Eugene S. Willard, 1894. Douglas.-P. H. Fox, 1892; G. E. Shotter, 1893; S. R. Moon, 1894.

Fort Wrangel.-William G. Thomas, 1892; William Millmore, 1893; Allan Mackay, 1894.

1894.

Jackson.-James W. Young, 1892; W. Donald McLeod, 1893; G. Loomis Gould, 1894. Metlakahtla.-David J. Leask, 1892; Dr. W. Bluett, 1893; William Duncan, Kadiak.-Nicolai Kashavaroff, 1892; Henry Bowen, 1893: Charles Brown, 1894. Unga.-Nehemiah Guttridge, 1892; John Caton, 1893; Edward Cashel, 1894. Unalaska.-N. S. Reesoff, 1892; Nat. B. Anthony, 1893; Rudolph Neumann,

1894.

VISITORS.

Of late years tourists have commenced to learn of the attractiveness of the trip from Puget Sound to southeastern Alaska, and increasing numbers from year to year are availing themselves of it. This season over 5,000 round-trip tickets have been sold. As the steamer fare from Puget Sound up and return is $100, only the wealthier and better classes make the trip.

It is a cause for regret that the tourist season occurs during the vacation of the schools. If the tourists could see the schools in actual operation it would greatly assist in creating a healthy public sentiment that would react in favor of larger appropriations by Congress. As it is, the industrial school at Sitka, which is in continuous operation, is the only one visited. This, however, shows what can be done, and is an object lesson that will not be forgotten by tourists.

One of them, after describing her visit to the homes of the natives and the sick-. ening filth and squalor which she witnessed in Alaska, writes:

"And now, quite by accident, I had the most interesting experience of my whole trip, certainly one that has made an everlasting impression on my mind; an object lesson which often and often will set me thinking, a subject which would require a volume to do it approximate justice. The joyous shouting of half a hundred boys, some of them dashing across the road in pursuit of a football; well-clothed, well-fed boys; healthy, vigorous, intelligent boys; Indians, half-breeds, Muscovites, and a few Americans. What did it mean? From whence had they so suddenly come? From school. These were the beneficiaries of the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions, and the large building on the right of the road is the schoolhouse.

"Of course I had read about this mission. All the books on Alaska refer to it more or less. Yet the knowledge of its existence had brought no special desire to visit the place. To me Sitka was the vestige of a departed empire; the home of a decaying race of aborigines; a depot for the sale of Russi-Indian relics and curios; a pretty little town timidly hiding away in among the mountains, and for that I had come to see it and had been amply repaid. But the mission I had never thought of. Perhaps the book-writer had failed to attract me to it; perhaps my faith in missions generally was not very confirmed; perhaps I did not believe what I read about them. Be that as it may, hereafter no man, nor woman either, shall outdo me in words of praise and thanks for the glorious, godlike work which is being performed by the good people who are rescuing the lives, the bodies, and the souls of these poor creatures from the physical and moral deaths they are dying. I am not a Christian woman; my faith is that of a chosen people who were led out of Egyptian tyranny and darkness by the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud; but my whole nature is in accord with these Christian men and women, whose immolation and sacrifices to regenerate their fellow-creatures will surely meet with heavenly reward, no matter what their creed. I wish I had had more time at my disposal to spend with the teachers and the scholars, so that I might now give even a skeleton outline of their daily life.

"There are about 100 boys and 50 girls in the institution, some of them being only 3 years of age and others as old as 22. The boys are instructed in carpentry, shoemaking, and blacksmithing; the girls are taught dressmaking and the use of the sewing machine. I went first into one of the class rooms, where I saw perhaps 20 dark-skinned Siwash Indian boys, whose Mongolian faces and almondshaped eyes had assumed an expression of intelligence so different from the stupid, blear-eyed appearance of the same age and race whom I had seen in the rancherie that it was difficult to realize that they could possibly be twigs of the same tree. Upstairs we found the dormitories, like everything else about the establishment, orderly, neat, clean, due regard being paid to the number allotted to each room and to the subject of heating and ventilation. In the sewing department were several girls operating skillfully upon the sewing machine, others cutting from the piece, and younger ones basting for the sewing girls. "It is said somewhere that it is only a single step from civilization to barbarism. Perhaps so; but I, and those ladies and gentlemen who accompanied me through the rancherie and the schools at Sitka, can vouch for the fact that it is only half a mile from savage, uncivilized ignorance, superstitution, filth, and immorality to education, deportment, thrift, domestic felicity, and all human happiness."

NEW BOOKS.

The growth of the public interest in Alaska is manifested by the number of books which are issuing from the press.

Since the list given in my report for June 30, 1888, the following books have come under my observation:

"Fifth Avenue to Alaska," by Edwards Pierrepont, B. A. Putnam's Sons. New York, 1884. Maps and illustrations. $1.75.

Published by G. P. 329 pages. Price,

"Letters from Alaska," by Horace Briggs, PH. D. Published by Mrs. Dora B. North, 51 Park Place, Buffalo, N. Y., 1889. 87 pages. Paper cover. Price, $1. 'Cruise of the Rush, 1889," by Isabel S. Shepard. Published by The Bancroft Company, San Francisco, 1889. Maps and illustrations. 257 pages. Price, $1.50.

"Picturesque Alaska," by Abby Johnson Woodman. tier. Published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston. 212 pages. Price, $1.50.

ED 90- -82

Introduction by Whit-
Maps and illustrations.

"New Eldorado," by Mr. M. Ballou. Published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1889. Price, $1.50.

"The Wonders of Alaska," by Alexander Badlam. Published by the Bancroft Publishing Company, San Francisco, 1890. Maps and illustrations. 151 pages. Price, $1.50.

"Pacific Coast Scenic Tour," by Henry T. Finck. Maps and illustrations. Published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1890. 309 pages.

"A Woman's Trip to Alaska," by Mrs. Septima M. Collis. Published by The Cassel Publishing Company, New York, 1890. Maps and illustrations. Heavy paper. 194 pages. Price, $2.50.

'Arctic Alaska and Siberia," by Herbert L. Aldrich. Maps and illustrations. Published by Rand, McNally & Co., Chicago, 1889. 234 pages. Price. $1.50. "Thirteen Years of Travel and Exploration in Alaska," by W. H. Pierce. Published by J. H. Carruth, No. 1312 Ohio street, Lawrence, Kans., 1890. 224 pages. Illustrated. Paper, 60 cents. Cloth, $1.

"From Yellowstone Park to Alaska," by Francis C. Sessions, president of the Ohio Historical and Archæological Society. Published by Welch, Fracker & Co., New York, 1890. 186 pages. Price $1.50.

"Reconnoisance in Alaska, 1885," by Lieut. Henry T. Allen, U. S. A. Maps and illustrations. 172 pages. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1877. "Contributions to Natural History of Alaska," by L. M. Turner. 1866. 226 pages. Illustrated. Government Printing Office. Washington, 1886.

Report on Natural History Collections made in Alaska, 1877-81," by E. W. Nelson. Illustrated. 337 pages. Government Printing Office. Washington,

1887.

"Fur Seal and other Fisheries of Alaska." Maps and illustrations. 324 pages. Government Printing Office. Washington, 1889.

"The Coast Indians of Southern Alaska," by Ensign Albert P. Niblack, U. S. Navy. Maps and illustrations. 158 pages. Published by the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum. Government Printing Office. Washington, 1890. "Cruise of the Revenue Marine Steamer Corwin in the Arctic Ocean, 1884." Maps and illustrations. 128 pages. Government Printing Office. Washington, 1889.

"Cruise of the Revenue Marine Steamer Corwin in the Arctic Ocean, 1885." Maps and illustrations. 202 pages. Government Printing Office. Washington, 1887.

"Bean's Report on the Salmon Fisheries of Alaska." Maps and illustrations. Government Printing Office. Washington, 1890.

From Yellowstone Park to Alaska, by Francis C. Sessions. 8vo. 196 pages. Illustrated. Published by Welch, Fracker & Co. New York, 1890.

"California and Alaska," by William S. Webb, M. D. Quarto, 190 pages. Vellum paper. Illustrations, India proof etchings, and photogravures. Price, $25; popular edition of the same, $2.50. Published by G. P. Putnam's Sons. New York, 1891.

"Alaskana. The Legends of Alaska," in verse, by Prof. Bushrod W. James. Illustrated. 368 pages. Published by Porter & Coates. Philadelphia, 1892. Price, $2.

'Kin-da-Shon's Wife. A Story of Native Customs Among the Chilkats of Alaska," by Mrs. Eugene S. Willard. Illustrated. 281 pages. Published by Fleming H. Revell. New York and Chicago.

RECOMMENDATIONS.

The three most urgent needs of education in Alaska at present are:

FIRST-LARGER APPROPRIATIONS.

Fifty thousand dollars is a sum wholly inadequate for the establishing and maintaining of good schools for the 10,000 children of Alaska. The utmost care is taken to make it go as far as possible, and yet a number of communities are asking for schools, which can not be granted because of the insufficiency of the appropriation. I would most respectfully recommend that an appropriation of $75,000 be asked for the coming year.

The efficiency of the school service would be greatly increased if a permanent appropriation could be made for a term of five years, which would increase in regular amounts up to $100,000. This would enable the Bureau of Education to keep pace with the steady growth of the work. It would also enable the Commissioner of Education to more wisely plan his work.

The appropriation for education in Alaska is placed in the sundry civil bill. Every alternate year during the long session of Congress this bill is not enacted into law before July, August, or September. But the last vessel for the year that communicates with the teachers in northwestern Alaska leaves San Francisco about the 1st of June. Consequently the Commissioner of Education can not appoint teachers for that section until ten or twelve months of the school year have expired. Or, in other words, the teachers are compelled to teach the entire school year without knowing whether any appropriation has been made to pay them. This is an injustice to the Commissioner of Education and to the teachers.

SECOND-OBLIGATORY ATTENDANCE.

There is no one subject connected with the Alaska schools that teachers, superintendents, committeemen, and citizens are more united upon than that the highest interests of the children and the schools require that there should be some authoritative regulations that will secure the more regular attendance of the native children. Attention has been called to this in every annual report. Mr. John H. Keatley, ex-judge of the United States district court of Alaska and ex-member of the Territorial board of education for Alaska, in an article in the Atlantic Monthly for August, 1890, on "The Race Problem in Alaska," says:

The natives of Alaska realize that everything is changing about them, and are anxious to pattern after the whites in better dwellings, more comfortable clothing, and a greater diversity of food, but they fail to realize yet the importance of education. The adults are serious obstacles to the education of the children, and no radical change is possible until attendance at the Government schools is compulsory. It is not enough to provide schools and teachers at the public expense, but Congress must go further and authorize the employment of Indian policemen at every village to compel the attendance of the children.

46

Some of the native schools have an enrollment of 60 pupils,' with an average daily attendance of 10. This is due to the total lack of means of enforcing attendance. The race problem presented in the subject of their education and possible participation in the political affairs of the country is of too serious a character to be thus ignored by those who are now responsible for their future development.".

THIRD-AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION.

Passing from northern Alaska, with its adaptation to reindeer-raising, we find the whole southern coast, stretching for thousands of miles, to possess a temperate climate. This is due to the "Kuro-siwo" or Japan Current" of the Pacific Ocean. In this “temperate belt" it is probable that there are areas of greater or less extent that are adapted to agriculture. At least it is known that there are small farms or vegetable gardens on Kadiak and Afognak Islands, on the shores of Cook's Inlet, and in southeastern Alaska. It is also known that wild berries grow in great profusion and abundance in many sections. But no intelligent and continued experiments have been made to test the agricultural and horticultural capabilities of the country.

Until a quite recent period (1867) the European population were fur-trading Russians. They were followed by fur-trading Americans, and more recently by the gold-seekers. No one expected to remain long in the country, and there has been no incentive to carry forward intelligent experiments in agriculture. As early as my first report to the Commissioner of Education (1885) I called attention to the fact that there was a very wide diversity of views concerning the agricultural and horticultural capabilities of Alaska, and necessarily very great ignorance; that no systematic effort intelligently prosecuted had ever been made to ascertain what could or what could not be raised to advantage; that it was of very great importance, both to the people of Alaska and the country at large, that careful experiments should be made, extending over a term of years, to ascertain the vegetables, grains, grasses, berries, apples, plums, trees, flowers, etc., best adapted to the country; the best methods of cultivating, gathering, and curing the same; the planting and grafting of fruit trees; the development of the wild cranberry; cattle, hog, and poultry raising; butter and cheese-making, etc. In 1886 my recommendation was taken up by the U. S. Commissioner of Agriculture, who, in his annual report for that year (page 20) says: "Something in the line of experimental work might also be undertaken

1This is true of a few, not of many schools.

in Alaska, possibly with profit. It is well known that the Department of the Interior has established an agency for the promotion of education in that territory."

It has been suggested that a line of experiments, to be undertaken by this Department, would easily prove whatever of agricultural and horticultural ca pability may exist in the Territory. No careful attention seems to have been given there, as yet, to this branch of industry, and the resources of the country are quite unknown and undeveloped.

"The industrial training school at Sitka would furnish an admirable basis for a station, where could be conducted careful experiments to ascertain the agricultural products best adapted to the climate and soil of the Territory, and what breeds of cattle and other domestic animals are most suited to its climate and soil.

"Such an experiment ought to extend over a series of years, and the result would amply repay any expenditure that Congress may choose to make in this direction."

In view, therefore, of the national importance of introducing the domesti cated reindeer of Siberia into northern Alaska, and testing the agricultural capacity of southern Alaska, I most earnestly recommend that you secure the establishment of an "agricultural school and experiment station in connection with the system of industrial education in Alaska.

By an act approved July 2, 1862, Congress made provision for schools for the "benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts." By an act approved March 2, 1887, provision was made for "agricultural experiment stations" in connection with the agricultural schools. And by the act approved August 30, 1890, certain of the proceeds of the sale of public lands were set aside for the better support of these agricultural schools.

These acts of Congress require the assent of the legislature of the State or Territory in order that their provisions may become available.

But Alaska has no legislature, and is governed directly by Congress. On this account, and partly because nineteen-twentieths of the children to be benefited belong to the native races, Congress has committed to the Secretary of the Interior the duty of making "needful and proper provision for education in Alaska." would therefore recommend that an application be made to Congress to direct The Secretary of the Interior to extend to Alaska the benefits of the agricultural tacts of 1887 and 1890, and secure the establishment of a school that can introduce reindeer into that region, and teach their management, care, and propagation, and also to conduct a series of experiments to determine the agricultural capabilities of the country.

To reclaim and make valuable vast areas of land otherwise worthless; to introduce large, permanent, and wealth-producing industries where none previously existed; to take a barbarian people on the verge of starvation and lift them up to a comfortable self-support and civilization, is certainly a work of national importance.

In the closing year of the existence of the Territorial board of education the fullowing rules were enacted, viz:

First. From and after this date (October 27, 1888), corporal punishment in the public schools of Alaska is entirely and wholly prohibited.

Second. All religious services are prohibited in all the public schools of Alaska except Howkan Klawack, Metlakahtla, Fort Wrangell, Juneau No. 2, and Haines. The above rules were carried by the deciding vote of the chairman. If Mr. Duncan, the absent member of the board had been present, they could not have been passed.

With the reorganization of the Alaska school system on April 9, 1890, the above rules were rescinded, and both school punishments and religious exercises left discretionary with the teacher and the local school committee.

To still further popularize the schools and create in the several communities a feeling of responsibility for the conduct of the schools and a personal interest in their success, I would recommend that in the villages containing a number of white people, such asJuneau, Sitka, and Douglas, the voters be allowed to elect their local school committee, and said committee be authorized to select teachers of the white schools, subject to the approval of the Commissioner of Education.

I remain with great respect, yours, truly,

Hon. W. T. HARRIS, LL. D.,

SHELDON JACKSON, General Agent of Education for Alaska.

Commissioner of Education.