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On the morning of August 15, we bade good-by to Point Hope, and the fol lowing morning, at 8:40 o'clock, dropped anchor off Cape Blossom, Kotzebu Sound. The day being pleasant I accompanied an officer to the great interne tional fair of the Arctic, some 12 miles distant from our anchorage. There were about 1,500 natives assembled from many and widely separated sections of the country-from Alaska and Siberia. Many were living in tents, but fully half had constructed shelters by turning their umiaks or boats upside down. As I passed their shelters, my attention was again and again called to the sick. To be sick beyond the reach of a physician, with poor care and poorer accommoda tions, and without knowledge of even the commoner remedies, is distress itself. As I see these people, so kindly disposed in life, with a smile of welcome to the stranger, and then see them languishing in their comfortless shelters, with but a few days or weeks removed from death, my heart goes out to them in ines pressible longing, and I wish I could tell them the story of the Cross and introduce them to the hopes and joys of the gospel. Perhaps I may, at no distant day, secure for their children a mission and boarding school.

The beach was covered with racks, upon which hung long rows of salmon. drying for winter food. At 3:35 p. m., on the 27th, having a fair wind, the cap tain weighed anchor and sailed for Capo Prince of Wales. On the afternoon of the 19th, we passed through Bering Strait, and bade good-by to the Arctic Ocean. The sea was so rough that the captain gave up all hope of being able to land at the cape. But during the afternoon the wind died out and the sea calmed down, so that he was able to run in shore and anchor abreast of the vil lage at 6 o'clock p. m. We could not have landed through the surf the day before, the day after, or at any other time that day. God's providence stayed the waves sufficiently long for us to visit the shore and transact our business. Had we passed by without stopping the teachers would have been unable to send down their orders for the annual supply of provi-ions, and next year they would have been unsupplied. As it was I had four hours with them. The wind increasing, at 10 o'clock we were again under way. On the 20th we steamed by King and Sledge islands (the sea being too rough to land), and at noon on the 21st dropped anchor off St. Michael, Norton Sound. Soon after we had a call from Mr. Henry Newmann, agent of the Alaska Commercial Company, and Rev. William H. Judge, a Jesuit priest, who has lately come to the country to engage in the school work of the Roman Catholic Church on the Yukon River.

St. Michael is located on the first good site for a trading post north of the delta of the Yukon River, and is the headquarters of the trade of the Yukon valley. To this point the furs collected at the trading posts in the interior, some of them 2,000 miles distant, are brought for reshipment to San Francisco. About half a mile from the trading post is a small native village. The trading post was established by the Russians in 1835, and is now occupied by the Alaska Commercial Company. A blockhouse and some of the original buildings are still standing. Through the courtesy of Mr. Henry Newmann, two small Russian cannon, one of which was originally used in the defense of the place and the other in protecting the boating expeditions up the river, were secured for the collection of the Alaska Society of Natural History. At St. Michael 1 received a good account of the schools, nine of which receive their supplies and mails at this point.

It is said of one of the missionaries, who is some 2,000 miles, more or less, up the river, that when he saw his freight bill of $125 per ton for transportation from St. Michael to his station, he added a petition in his prayer that freight might be reduced. During the stay at St. Michael two interesting boys, Wil liam and George Frederickson, from Anvik, on the Yukon River, were received on board to accompany me East. Their father, a trader, is sending them to New York for an education. After a pleasant visit of two days, the Bear took her departure for Nunivak island. On the following Sabbath night, and through all Monday, we were steaming around the island, that the captain might secure the census. Finding that the people were scattered, hunting and fishing, and be ing warned by the few natives he met of dangerous rocks and reefs, and the waters being uncharted, on Monday evening the captain turned around and steamed for St. George Island, which we reached on the morning of August 27. Nearing the island, a schooner was seen crowding on all sail to get out of our way. As the captain had not yet received his instructions, which were await ing his arrival at Unalaska, and had no authority to make any seizures, the schooner was allowed to proceed unmolested. She was one of the many pirati cal vessels that are fitted out at Victoria, British Columbia, and San Francisco, to hunt seals in Bering Sea contrary to law. In 1886 there were 21 such vessels from Victoria alone, and the catch was 35,556 skins. In 1887 there were

20 vessels from Victoria, 8 of which were seized; the catch was 27,624 skins. In 1888 there were 19 British vessels, with a total catch of nearly 30,000 skins. In 1889, 23 British vessels, and this year 22 British and 12 American vessels engaged in seal piracy. Their methods of operation are so wasteful that the number of skins taken does not begin to represent the number of seals killed. They necessarily hunt out to sea, where they largely kill the females heavy with their young. A large percentage of the seals shot sink before they can be secured, £o that many authorities state that the 20,000 to 30,000 secured represent from 150,000 to 200,000 seals destroyed. This wasteful method is rapidly annihilating the fur seal, so that if our granddaughters are to have seal-skin sacques the Government will need to take more stringent measures for the protection of the seal. The indiscriminate slaughter of the seal while passing to their breeding grounds has caused such a scarcity on the seal islands, that while the Government allows 100,000 males to be taken annually, this year the vessels have been able to secure but 21,000 skins.

The piratical vessels fitted out at Victoria, British Columbia, to hunt seal have caused the international complications known as the "Bering Sea difficulty," which are now the subject of negotiations between the State Department and Great Britain.

WHALING INDUSTRY.

As early as the year 1841 fifty whaling vessels had found their way from New Bedford and Boston to Bering Sea. From 1812 and onward for a number of years annual complaints were made to the Russian Government by the RussianAmerican Fur Company of the encroachments of the Yankee whalers. In 1852 the whaling fleet had increased to 278 vessels, and the value of the catch to $14,000,000. This was probably the most profitable year of the whaling industry in Alaska. Since then it has, in the main, decreased, until in 1862 the value of the catch was less than $800,000. This increased again in 1867 to $3,200,000. In 1880 the first steamer was added to the whaling fleet, being sent out from San Francisco. Last year there were 26 vessels from San Francisco and 23 from New New Bedford engaged in the trade. They captured 151 whales, which yielded 213,070 pounds of whale bone and 12,243 barrels of oil. This season there are 10 steamers and 38 sailing vessels employed in these northern waters with a very light catch up to midsummer. The whaling vessels are manned upon the cooperative plan; the men instead of being paid regular wages receive a percentage of the profits. The captain on the sailing vessels receives a twelfth, the first mate a nineteenth, the second mate and boat headers each a twenty-fifth, the third mate a thirtieth, the fourth mate, carpenter, cooper, and steward each a fiftieth, and the sailors each a one hundred and seventy-fifth. On steamers the rates are a little lower. A captain's wages range from nothing to $7,000 or $8,000, according to the number of whales taken. If the ship gets six whales during a cruise the captain will have about $1,400 and a sailor $100. The sailors usually receive an advance of $60, and during the cruise are allowed to draw clothing, tobacco, etc., from the ship's supplies (called the "slop chest") to the amount of $60 to $80. Consequently if there are no profits to divide the sailor is sure of about $140. The captains and higher officers are usually men of more than ordinary character and intelligence-typical American seamen of the best kind. The common sailors on a whaler are made up largely of Portuguese, Italians, South Sea Islanders, and others of an inferior grade, some of them being, emphatically, hard cases.

A few years ago whales were plentiful in the North Pacific, Bering, and Okhotsk Seas. Then they were followed through Bering Straits a little way into the Arctic. Then farther and farther the whales have been driven into the inaccessible regions of the North, until now the whaling fleet annually rounds the most northern extremity of the American continent, and this year, for the first time, a few of them will winter in the Arctic, at the mouth of the Makenzie River. To escape this deadly pursuit the whales try to hide in the ice, and after them the whalers boldly force their way. The business is so dangerous that during the last 20 years more than 100 vessels have been lost. The value of the whale fisheries consists not so much in the oil taken, as in the whale-bone, which is taken from his mouth; this is worth between $4.50 and $5 per pound. The product of a fair sized, bowhead whale, at present prices, is worth about $8,000. A good sized whale weighs about 150 tons, and contains about 2,000 pounds of whalebone after it is cleaned. His tongue is 15 feet long, from 6 to 8 feet in thickness, and contains 12 barrels of oil. His open mouth is from 15 to 20 feet across;

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Then traveling with a dog sled, to wash his face at least e had not always been able to do it. The Alaska Eskimo e, and accommodating race. Wherever I met them, and astances, they had a smile of welcome, and in many ways Tit. They have also manifested an unexpected interest in hools among them, which promises well for the future.

ORNAMENTATION.

ket people of southeastern Alaska the labret is worn by the g the Eskimo of northwestern Alaska, on the contrary, it alone. The use of it is almost universal.

hole is cut through the lower lip below each corner of the plug inserted until the wound heals. After healing, the om time to time until it reaches about half an inch in diamy insert the labret.

made of stone, jade, coal, ivory, bone, and glass. They are hat in miniature. The labret is three-fourths of an inch in n diameter at the rim, and 1 inch long. The rim is kept inand holds the labret in place.

- form of labret on the one side of the mouth, and on the other a resembling a large sleeve-button, 1 inches in diameter on the s on the inside rim, and one-half inch neck.

wore a large labret in the center of the lower lip. I secured a polished jade that has an outside surface 24 inches by i inch. ve their ears and sometimes their noses pierced, wearing pendant per, ivory, and bone ornaments, also strings of beads. Sometimes tend from one ear to the other, either under the chin or back of

tatoo, more or less elaborately, their faces, hands, and arms. Both acelets, amulets, and sometimes fancy belts.

DRESS.

to waterproof boots of seal skin, with walrus or sea-lion hide soles. ather the boots are made of seal or reindeer skin, tanned with the hair Irus-hide soles.

portion is made many times larger than the foot, in order to give padding of grass. These boots are so much warmer and more comfortthe ordinary leather ones that they are almost universally used by and others who have occasion to visit Arctic regions. A fur shirt and fur pants complete the toilet. The shirt is called a parka, and frehas a hood attached, which can be pulled over the head in a storm. have a fur hood which, when not on the head, hangs around the neck. rily in summer the head is uncovered.

nter two suits are worn, the inner one with the fur next to the body, and ter one with the fur to the weather.

difference between male and female attire is in the shape and ornamentaof the parka. Among some of the tribes the pants and boots of the women 1 one garment. There is also a fullness in the back of the woman's parka ake room for the carrying of the baby inside between the shoulders of the ner. These clothes are made largely of the skins of the reindeer, squirrels, birds. From the intestines of the seal and walrus and also from salmon as are made the famous kamleika, a waterproof garment. which is worn over others in wet weather. The kamleika is lighter in weight and a better terproof garment than the rubber garments of commerce.

The native dress, when well made, new and clean, is both becoming and ar

stic.

FOOD.

They live principally upon the fish, seal, walrus, whale, reindeer, and wild birds of their country. Latterly they are learning the use of flour, which they procure from the Government revenue vessels or barter from the whalers.

They have but few household utensels. A few have secured iron kettles. Many still use grass-woven baskets and bowls of wood and stone. Occasionally is found a jar of burnt clay. In these native dishes water was boiled by drop

ping in hot stones.

Among the more northern tribes much of the food is eaten raw, and nothing is thrown away, no matter how rotten or offensive it has become.

Some of their choicest delicacies would be particularly disgusting to us. Haring, at one of the bird rookeries in the Arctic, gathered a number of eggs. It was found that many of them contained chickens. When about to throw them overboard, the native interpreter remonstrated, saying: "No! me eat them. Good!"

All classes have a great craving for tobacco and liquor. Even nursing babes are seen with a quid of tobacco in their mouths.

During the summer large quantities of fish are dried, and the oil of the seal. walrus, and whale put up for winter use. The oil is kept in bags made of the skin of the seal, similar to the water-skins of Oriental lands. The oil is kept sweet by the bags being buried in the frozen earth until wanted for use.

DWELLINGS.

The coast Eskimo have underground permanent houses in villages for winter, and tents that are frequently shifted for summer.

The Eskimo of the interior, being largely nomads, live in tents much of the time. The tents are covered with reindeer skins, walrus hides, or cotton canvas. In making a winter house, a cellar from 20 to 25 feet square is dug, from 3 to 5 feet deep. At the corners and along the sides of the excavation are set posts of driftword or whalebone. On the outside of these, poles of driftwood are laid up one upon another to the top. Other timbers are placed across the top, forming the roof or ceiling. Against the outside and upon the roof, dirt and sod are piled until the whole has the appearance of a large mound. In the center of the dome is an opening about 18 inches across. Across this is stretched the transparent bladder of the seal or walrus. This opening furnishes light to the room below. A narrow platform extends along one or more sides of the room, upon which are stowed the belongings of the family and the reindeer-skin bedding. The platform is also the sleeping-place of the family.

Large, shallow dishes of earthenware, bone, or stone, filled with seal oil, are the combined stove and lamp of the family. Some lighted moss makes a dull line of flame along the edge of the dish. Frequently a piece of blubber is suspended over the flame, the dripping of which keeps the lamp replenished.

Many of the houses were so warm that we found our usual outdoor clothing burdensome.

At one side of some rooms, and in the floor near the center of the room in others, is a small opening about 20 inches square. This is the doorway, and leads to a hall or outside room. If the opening is in the side of the room, a reindeer skin curtain hangs over it. This outer place is sometimes a hall 12 to 15 feet long and 2 feet wide and high, leading to a well or shaft. This shaft is 6 or 7 feet deep, and leads up a rude ladder into the open air. In other cases it is a large room 12 or 15 feet square, containing, on either side of the passageway through the center, a place to store the winter supplies of oil, fish, and flour. The exit from the storeroom is similar to that from the hall, up a ladder and through a small hole. When a storm is raging outside this hole is covered with a board or flat stone or large, flat whalebone.

All villages of importance contain a public room or town hall. This is built in the same manner as the private dwellings, only much larger. Some of these are 60 feet square, 20 feet high, and contain three tiers or platforms. This building is called the kashima or kashga. In them are held the public festivals and dances. They are also the common workshop in which the men make their snowshoes, dog sleds, spears and other implements.

The villages, from the deck of a coasting vessel, have the appearance of so many hillocks or dunes along the beach.

IMPLEMENTS.

The Eskimo of Arctic Alaska are still in the stone age. The manufacture of arrows and spear heads from flint is a living industry. Stone lamps, stone hammers and chisels, and to some extent stone knives, are still in ordinary use among them. Fish lines and nets and bird snares are still made of whalebone, sinew, or rawhide. Arrows, spears, nets, and traps are used in hunting, although improved breach loading arms are being introduced among them, and will soon supersede, for the larger game, their own more primitive weapons.

For transportation on land they have the snowshoe, dog team, and sled: and on the water the kiak and umiak.

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