NO. 4 UPPER YUKON NATIVE CUSTOMS — SCHMITTER II 



AGRICULTURE 



The natives in this locality pay no attention to agriculture. There 

 is excellent opportunity for it, but they have never been taught. 

 About their village there is much more rich garden land than they 

 can use. The white people grow an abundance of potatoes, carrots, 

 turnips, cabbage, cauliflower, onions, and other vegetables. One 

 man raises wheat, barley, and oats. In a single season a garden lOO 

 feet square will yield five hundred dollars' worth of vegetables (ac- 

 cording to Alaskan prices). 



There are always a number of natives loafing around the village, 

 many of whom are unable to hunt on account of age or consump- 

 tion. To give them work in a garden would be an excellent hygienic 

 measure. 



GOVERNMENT 



Under their primitive form of government the chief (ha-kkih) had 

 despotic authority. He detailed hunting parties and dictated their 

 duties, and when game was brought into camp he assumed charge 

 of it, apportioning it out to whom he pleased. The chief of the 

 Moosehide Indians near Dawson shows much of the pristine dignity 

 and authority of his rank, and whenever he buys anything in Daw- 

 son he does not carry it home, but sends an Indian after it. He 

 shows his genteel extraction by always wearing a pair of fancy 

 decorated gauntlets when he goes on a several days' visit to Eagle 

 during warm weather. During the absence of a chief, or when he 

 is incapacitated, a patriarchal form of government exists, and all 

 important measures are decided by the old men after holding the 

 "big talk." Public opinion is very strong and each individual has 

 great respect for the opinion of the community concerning his per- 

 sonal actions. 



For several years the chief of the Eagle Indians did not attend 

 to public afifairs on account of age and feebleness ; hence the func- 

 tions were carried on by the old men. At one time a chief from 

 farther down the river came here and assumed to be chief, but he 

 was never generally recognized as such and ended his career when 

 he fled from the village and the police. 



Their life is somewhat communal, each family living by itself,, 

 but in a small tribe most of the families are inter-related. They 

 occasionally marry into other tribes and sometimes children are 

 adopted into a family. Joseph, the chief at Ketchumstock, has two 

 bovs which, it is said, were taken from Tanana when they were 



