spirits and powers, against whom the Shaman alone can afford protection by sacrifices and incantations. No philanthropic missionary has ever found his way to this Arctic coast, and unless some modern Hans Egede makes his appearance among them in the near future there will be no soil left in which to plant the Christian seed."

Such was the dark but true picture in 1880, but the dawn was near at hand. The needs of the Eskimos had long been upon my mind, and various plans for reaching them had been considered. In the spring of 1888, having an opportunity of visiting Bethlehem, Pa., I secured a conference with the late Edmund de Schweinitz, D. D., a bishop of the Moravian Church, and urged upon him the establishment of a mission to the Eskimo of Alaska. A few days later the request was repeated in writing, which letter, on the 23d of August, 1883, was laid before the Moravian Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen. The request was favorably considered, and Rev. A. Hartman and Mr. Wm. H. Weinland were appointed a committee to visit Alaska and report on the advisability of commencing a mission. This tour of exploration was made in the summer of 1884, and is given in my annual report for 1885-'86. Upon their return they reeommended the establishment of a mission on the Kuskokwim River, near the native village of Mumtreklagamute, 75 miles above the mouth of the stream. In the spring of 1885 Rev. and Mrs. Wm. H. Weinland, Rev. and Mrs. John H. Kilbuck, and Mr. Hans Torgersen were sent to the Kuskokwim River as the first missionaries to the Eskimo of Alaska. The present mission force consists of Rev. and Mrs. John H. Kilbuck, Rev. and Mrs. Ernst L. Webber, and Miss Lydia Lebus. In the summer of 1886 the Moravians sent out the Rev. Frank E. Wolff, who located a station and erected a mission station at the mouth of the Nushagak River. He then returned to the States for the winter. The mission was formally opened in the summer of 1887 with the arrival of Rev. and Mrs. F. E. Wolff and Miss Mary Huber. To the original number have since been added Rev. J. H. Schoechert and Miss Emma Huber. Both of these schools have been assisted by the United States Bureau of Education.

On the 1st of July, 1886, an agreement was entered into between the Commissioner of Education and the Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church for the establishment of a school in the great Yukon Valley. Owing to the impossibility of getting the supplies into that inaccessible region the school was maintained for 1886-87 at St. Michael, on the coast, by Rev. and Mrs. Octavius Parker.

In the summer of 1887 Rev. John H. Chapman was added to the mission and the station was removed to Anvik. The present force of teachers consists of Rev. John W. Chapman and Mr. Marcus O. Cherry.

In 1886-'87 the Roman Catholics entered the Yukon Valley, and have estab lished missions and schools at Nulato, Kosoriffsky, and Cape Vancouver.

In 1886 the Evangelical Mission Union of Sweden established a station among the Eskimos at Unalaklik with Rev. Axel E. Karlson, missionary. He is now assisted by Mr. August Anderson, and it is proposed that next year the school will be assisted by the United States Bureau of Education.

The new stations among the Arctic Eskimos at Point Barrow, Point Hope. and Cape Prince of Wales, have already been mentioned. During the summer of 1890 I established three schools and missions in Arctic Alaska. One at Point Barrow, with Mr. Leander M. Stevenson, of Versailles, Ohio, in charge. This is, next to Upernavik, Greenland, the northernmost mission in the world. Its establishment was made possible through the liberality of Mrs. Elliott F. Shepard. Mr. Stevenson, who volunteered to go to that distant point, organize the mission and erect the necessary buildings, will return in the summer of 1892 to his family. A permanent missionary for that place is desired. He should be a young married man, and both his wife and himself should be of sound constitution and good bodily health. They should be of a cheerful disposition, "handy" with various kinds of tools and work, ready in resources, and possess good prac tical common sense. A consecrated Christian physician accustomed to evangelical work would be more useful than an ordained minister without the medical training. Applicants can address me at the United States Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C. They will not be expected to leave home until the spring of 1892. The Point Barrow Mission is under the auspices of the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions.

The second school in the Arctic is at Point Hope, and is under the supervision of the Protestant Episcopal Church. The teacher is Mr. John B. Driggs, M. D. The third is at Cape Prince of Wales, Bering Straits, with Messrs. H. R. Thornton and W. T. Lopp, teachers. It is under the control of the American Missionary Association of the Congregational Church.

In the harbor at Unalaska, in September, 1890, lay at anchor the revenue cutters Bear and Rush. The Bear was soon to return to the northward and cruise around the Seal Islands; the Rush to arrest two men accused of murder, and convey them to the United States district court at Sitka. As the Rush was to call in at the principal villages en route, and would afford me an opportunity of inspecting the schools at Unga, Kadiak, Afognak, and Southeastern Alaska, Capt. W. C. Coulson kindly invited me to take passage with him. Accordingly on the 6th of September, I removed my quarters from the Bear to the Rush, taking with me the boys William and George Fredericks, and M. Healy Wolff. We were to have sailed at 3 p. m., on the 7th, but a southeast gale prevailing outside, the captain concluded to remain at anchor. It was nearly a week before the storm abated and we got started. After getting outside of the harbor the fog shut down so thick that the ship ran into the harbor of Akatan. This is a small village of 87 souls, 34 of whom are children, and greatly in need of a school. They live in the barabaras, or native sod houses. The Alaska Commercial Company have a small store at the place. The people are exceedingly poor; their whole catch for the past summer was 19 sea otters. This represents the moneyed support of the whole village for 12 months. In addition to the clothing and supplies which the otter skins procure them at the store, the bay yields them fish, which is their principal food. The next day we started out, but found the fog so dense that the ship again returned to anchorage. The second attempt was more successful, and we passed from Bering Sea into the North Pacific Ocean. Turning to the eastward, we steamed past the volcano of Shishaldin, its beautiful top covered with snow and its smoking crater alike hid in the clouds. On Sabbath we were abreast of Belkofski, at one time the richest village in Alaska. With the decline of the sea-otter trade its people are much impoverished. The population is about 250. This is one of the villages where a good school should be established as soon as the annual appropriation will justify it. Our stay at this place was just long enough for the surgeon to go ashore and visit the sick. That night we dropped anchor in Coal Harbor. Monday morning found us at Pirate Cove, a cod-fishing station of Lynd & Hough, of San Francisco. It was understood that a Mr. Clark, accused of murder, was there waiting to give himself up. Not finding him at that place we passed on to Sand Point, another fishing station, and from thence to Unga, where he was found. At Unga I made a thorough inspection of the school property and school supplies. The school was not in session, but a number of the children were brought together and examined. A meeting of the parents was also called and a general conference had with regard to school matters. Monday evening, with the prisoner and two witnesses on board, we sailed for Kadiak, which we reached early Wednesday morning. In company with Mr. Roscoe, the teacher, an inspection was made of the new schoolhouse, and many educational matters discussed and considered. During the forenoon, a pilot having been secured, the captain steamed over to Afognak, in order that I might visit that school also. The school being in session, an opportunity was afforded of seeing the good work done at that village by Mr. Duff, the teacher. A comfortable school building and teacher's residence had been erected during the summer. Returning to Kadiak, the evening was spent with friends. At Kadiak a creole accused of assault with intent to kill was taken on board, to be conveyed to Sitka for trial. His victim was taken along for medical treatment and as a witness.

Mr. M. L. Washburn, superintendent of the interests of the Alaska Commercial Company, gave me for the collection of the Alaska Society of Natural History an ancient Eskimo stone lamp that had been dug up on one of the islands. The traditions of the people are that 400 years ago their fathers came from Bering Sea and settled Kadiak Island, which they found uninhabited. The Eskimo settlements of the North Pacific coast extend from Nuchek Island on the east to Mitrofania Island on the west. On the trails between two settlements are frequently found at the highest point two heaps of stones, from 50 to 70 feet apart. These heaps are from 4 to 6 feet high, and were many years in building. Their purpose is not known. Every passer-by was expected to add a stone to the heap, but the custom of late years seems to have fallen into disuse.

There is a very pleasant custom connected with the stone heaps and stone lamp. A couple engaged to be married select a stone suitable for the manufacture of a lamp. This stone, with a flint chisel, is deposited at the foot of one of the stone heaps. Parties carrying loads or traveling from one city or another naturally sit down to rest at the stone heap at the top of the hill. Spying the stone, the traveler says to himself, “My hands may as well work while my feet rest. As some one worked my lamp, I will work for some one else." And picking up the flint, with a song, he chisels away at the stone. When he is rested.

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 oil 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. Recsoff, 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 sickening 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.

66

'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,

Published by Mrs. Dora B.
Paper cover. Price, $1..
Published by The Ban-

"Letters from Alaska," by Horace Briggs, PH. D. North, 51 Park Place, Buffalo, N. Y., 1889. 87 pages. "Cruise of the Rush, 1889," by Isabel S. Shepard. croft Company, San Francisco, 1889. Maps and illustrations. 257 pages. Price,

$1.50.

"Picturesque Alaska," by Abby Johnson Woodman.

Introduction by Whit

tier. Published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston. Maps and illustrations. 212 pages. Price, $1.50.

ED 90- -82

"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. 191 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. $1.5 "Thirteen Years of Travel and Exploration in Alaska," by W. H. Pierce. Published by J. H. Carruth, No. 1312 Ohio street, Lawrence, Kans., 180 224 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. 2 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, 1×90. "Cruise of the Revenue Marine Steamer Corwin in the Arctic Ocean, 1884" Maps and illustrations. 128 pages. Government Printing Office. Washington, "Cruise of the Revenue Marine Steamer Corrin in the Arctic Ocean, 1883.” Maps and illustrations. 202 pages. Government Printing Office. Washington,

1889.

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.

Vel

"California and Alaska,"by William S. Webb, M. D. Quarto, 190 pages. lum 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.