NO. 4 UPPER YUKON NATIVE CUSTOMS — SCHMITTER 5 



huckleberry juice. When any quills were found which were pure 

 white, they were left so. Various colored flowers were also boiled 

 and their coloring matter used in dyeing the quills. Small geo- 

 metrical figures were made by sewing the flattened-out quills to a 

 backing of skin, and long stripes were made by rolling the quillS 

 into spirals about a sixteenth of an inch in diameter and sewing 

 them side by side. The backs of mittens and insteps of the mocca- 

 sins were decorated with these quills. Flat strings of caribou-skin 

 one-fourth of an inch wide were sometimes wound with porcupine 

 quills. These strings were either sewed to, or tied about the coat 

 wrists and about the breeches below the knees. The coat of a chief 

 was decorated down the front and back, and had a special collar, 

 significant of his office, which consisted of a strip of moose-skin 

 about two inches wide and nearly a yard long with one margin 

 fringed by cutting it into strips. On this was sewed strands, and 

 strings of quills were suspended from the ends. The collar hung 

 around the neck and down the front like a scarf. A special hunting 

 belt was made of caribou-skin decorated with porcupine quills, and 

 from it hung an ornamented moose-skin sheath containing a hunting 

 knife. 



Moose-skin is prepared for clothing by the women. After soaking 

 the skin in water to soften it, the hair is scraped off with the end 

 of a sharp bone spatula. As in primitive times, all sewing is still 

 done with bone awls, bones from the fore leg of the caribou or 

 moose being used for coarse work, and for fine work a bone from 

 the fore leg of the lynx or of a bird is used. 



The women do bead-work, which they sell to the local stores. 

 These articles and other curios are sold to travelers. Moose-skin 

 mittens are made for local use and are much in demand, as most 

 white people hereabout wear them in winter. 



HYGIENIC CONDITIONS 



Early Habits. — The Indians say that they had very little sickness 

 before the advent of the whites, and George Matlock, who came 

 to Alaska in 1885, and other old prospectors, confirm this statement. 

 Smallpox and diphtheria struck them in epidemics, but they either 

 died or soon recovered. As military hygiene teaches us, a moving 

 command is a healthy command, and, as the Indians were formerly 

 rovers, camping only for short periods, their wandering necessitated 

 the abandonment of much infected material and localities, thus pre- 

 serving their health. The survival of the fittest was also a factor 



