MISCELLANY. 



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southwest, and are decidedly warmer than 

 from any other quarter, having been warmed 

 in passing over the Japan current. 



There are four principal tribes in Alaska, 

 each having distinct manners and customs : 

 1. The Koloshians, who dwe 1 along the south 

 coast, and are found as far north as Cook's 

 Inlet. They are tall and powerful men, very 

 savage and warlike ; during the Russian 

 government they were very troublesome, and 

 even now are the terror of the northwest 

 coast. 2. The Aleutians, who live on the 

 islands, are short of stature ; their almond 

 eyes and peculiar features proclaim their 

 Mongolian origin. They are fishermen, and 

 travel long distances in their skin bydarks 

 or canoes. Among the many facts which 

 prove their Tartar descent, is the remark- 

 able one that the inhabitants of Attou, the 

 most westerly of the Aleutian Islands, speak 

 a language so nearly like that of the Corrile 

 Islands on the Asiatic coast, that they need 

 no interpreter between them. 3. The Ke- 

 naians, who live on the main-land, are tall 

 and powerful men, nearly as white as Eu- 

 ropeans. They are hunters, and live by trad- 

 ing. They are peaceful, but not cowardly, 

 as the Alutes are, and are able to defend 

 themselves from the Koloshians. 4. The 

 Esquimaux are found on the north coast. 

 Many of the Aleutians, who have been par- 

 tially civilized by the Russians, live in log 

 huts, and clothe themselves as white people 

 do ; the majority, however, dress in skins, 

 and live in holes which they dig in the ground, 

 and cover with a sort of hut of logs. Civil- 

 ized and uncivilized, all display great inge- 

 nuity in making their houses air-tight ; every 

 crevice through which the cold wind could 

 enter is closed, and the walls are lined with 

 moss. In these huts, not more than ten feet 

 long and ten wide, half a dozen people will 

 live; day and night they keep up a large 

 fire, until the heat and odor are more than a 

 white man can endure. The filth of these 

 houses is indescribable. During the Russian 

 administration the natives were obliged to 

 bathe once a week in the steam-bath, which 

 was erected in every village. Uncle Sam's 

 advent put an end to this tyranny, and now 

 each man is free, and remains as dirty as 

 he pleases. The food consists of fish dried 

 in the sun, and, when they can get it, black 

 bread and tea. 



The diseases of the northwest coast are 

 modified by, and in many cases owe their 

 origin to, the peculiar topography of the 

 place and its climate, whether it is that of 

 the coast or interior. In the damp, cold cli- 

 mate along the ocean, where the winds blow 

 the greater portion of the time with great 

 violence directly from the sea, disorders of 

 the respiratory organs are the most fre- 

 quent. Bronchitis is never absent ; catarrh is 

 seen at every change of weather. Sudden 

 changes, when they are severe, often pro- 

 duce a catarrha. fever or influenza, with more 

 or less bronchitis. Pneumonia often occurs, 

 and seemed in sporadic cases to assume a 

 typhoid type. During a few days of unusu- 

 ally warm weather, an epidemic of bilious 

 pneumonia made its appearance at Kodiak, 

 attacking about fifty of the natives. The 

 treatment consisted in opening their door3 

 and windows so as to admit air, attention to 

 the police of their houses, and quinine. 

 Rheumatism is very obstinate, and occurs 

 very often, and generally takes the articular 

 form. Tuberculous diseases are very com- 

 mon among both natives and whites, and oc- 

 cur most frequently among the half-breeds. 

 Phthisis pulmonalis runs a fearfully rapid 

 course. Skin-diseases are much more fre- 

 quent than in the interior ; eczema, espe- 

 cially, is often seen, but yields readily to 

 treatment. Syphilis, in all its forms, seems 

 to be found everywhere on the coast, and, 

 most of all, in places where the whites 

 have traded longest ; it is slowly but surely 

 killing all the natives of the northwest 

 coast. 



In the interior, rheumatism and bronchi- 

 tis seem to be the prevailing diseases. On 

 Cook's Inlet I met with a number of cases 

 of intermittent fever : all occurred on a 

 blufi 7 several hundred feet above the sea, and 

 where the houses were exposed to a strong 

 breeze directly from the inlet. These casea 

 were among white people, and might have 

 been contracted elsewhere ; but, happening 

 after a sea-voyage of forty days, and in per 

 sons previously in good health, I attributed 

 it to the locality. Scurvy also appears fre- 

 quently in the interior, caused by lack of 

 vegetables and fresh meat, and faulty hy- 

 giene. The long nights of that high latitude, 

 the excessive cold and deep snow, and the 

 lack of antiscorbutics, rend*"" it difficult to 



