"Travels in Alaska 



taste it even for manner's sake. This disgust, how- 

 ever, was not noticed, as the rest of the company did 

 full justice to the precious tallow and smacked their 

 lips over it as a great delicacy. A lot of potatoes about 

 the size of walnuts, boiled and peeled and added to a 

 potful of salmon, made a savory stew that all seemed 

 to relish. An old, cross-looking, wrinkled crone pre- 

 sided at the steaming chowder-pot, and as she peeled 

 the potatoes with her fingers she, at short intervals, 

 quickly thrust one of the best into the mouth of a 

 little wild-eyed girl that crouched beside her, a spark 

 of natural love which charmed her withered face and 

 made all the big gloomy house shine. In honor of 

 our visit, our host put on a genuine white shirt. His 

 wife also dressed in her best and put a pair of dainty 

 trousers on her two-year-old boy, who seemed to be 

 the pet and favorite of the large family and indeed of 

 the whole village. Toward evening messengers were 

 sent through the village to call everybody to a meet- 

 ing. Mr. Young delivered the usual missionary ser- 

 mon and I also was called on to say something. Then 

 the chief arose and made an eloquent reply, thanking 

 us for our good words and for the hopes we had in- 

 spired of obtaining a teacher for their children. In 

 particular, he said, he wanted to hear all we could 

 tell him about God. 



This village was an offshoot of a larger one, ten 

 miles to the north, called Killisnoo. Under the pre- 

 vailing patriarchal form of government each tribe is 

 divided into comparatively few families; and because 

 of quarrels, the chief of this branch moved his people 



[ 130] 



