A Voyage to Sitka. Historical and Deu'riptirf. i,^ 



afterward of the same kiiul, I will reserve m\ opinion oi the counii) lur ihc 

 present, only saying, that on itu- entire route (jf one luiiulicd and (orl\- nii!e> 

 I did not discover enough land insular or continental, that couM In- niidily re- 

 duced to cultivation, to make a half-score nf ordinary farms. 



IHK DMSKKIl.li \1I,1 AC.i;. 



The next day we went to [he site of the old Stahkcen town. It \\a^ a lieau 

 tiful situation, li»)kiiig out u|)on the sea. sheltered, aii<l with sunny exposine- 

 In the liay were several islands. ( )iic of tlu-m was kept sacred as a burial 

 place. The tond)s \\ere \i>il)le at a distance. Tliese were strong lioxcs 

 raised above the ground for protection, built in the sliape of houses, sometimes 

 painted, and within which the remains are ileposite<i. We could not hut ad- 

 mire the rude taste, a^ well as the sentiments which were thus conve_\ed. 



The town was abandoned when the Stahkeen ]ieo]de euiigraletl to W'lauge!^ 

 their present liead-()uarters. The buildings were fading into decay ; but 

 enough remained to impress us with the fact that their mechanical skill was of 

 no recent origin. The Stalikeens occupied this site for generations pastr 

 and here were immense wooden houses that mitdil have ln?en standing a cen- 

 tury ago, judging from the condition of the wooden buildings, which I had 

 examined on the Atlantic coast, and which are known to have been erected be- 

 fore the Revolutionary war. Those i)uilding> were frail ; these built of mas- 

 sive timbers and posts of cedar, the mo>t tiurable wood. Tiie posi> were troiii 

 two to three feet in diameter, some lound and others sijuared. 'i'he [danivs for 

 floors were several inches thick. The mortise and tenon vscrk in the hame 

 joined with accuracy, and other mechanical contrivances appeared in these 

 structures. All were large, and some immense. I measured one house 

 sixty by eighty feet. 



The domestic life is patriarchal. >,e\'eral families being gathered under one 

 roof. Genealogies were kept for ages ; aiui honors and distinctions made he- 

 reditary. To mark these, insignia, like a coat-ol-arms. were a(lo])ted : and in 

 rude carvings they strove to represent them. I could ilecipher, also, the |iaini 

 ings that once figured these upon the posts and sides of houses. The eagle- 

 the whale, the bear and the otter, and other animals of sea and lai\d, were the 

 favorites, oft-times coupled with a warrior in the attitude of triumph, (iigan- 

 tic representations of these family endjlems were erected near the house, on 

 posts, twenty or thirty feet high, covered with carvings of \arious animals, amf 

 the devices stained with permanent pigments of black, red and blue. Imag- 

 inarv creatures, resembling griltins or dragons, and reminding \<.\\\ of ilie 

 mammoth animals that flourished in a dist.ant geological jxriod. were i;uve«{ 

 on the posts or pictured on the walls. Raised figures resembling hiirogl\ |)h- 

 ics and Asiatic al])habets were car\etl on the inside walls. 



•Some of the posts containing the family coat-of-arms, tlui^ higld\ larNecl 

 and decorated according to the native taste, were\ised as receptacles tor the re- 

 mains of the dead, gathered up after cremation. Great sacredness was at- 

 tached to them. To injure one was to insult the family to which it b.-longe<U 

 to cut one down was an unpardonable offence. 



