58 Sketches of an Excursion to Southern Alaska. 



they have dwelt so long on the borders of civilization without acquiring its spirit 

 or yielding to its influences. Secondly. It is urged to support the theory of De- 

 velopment, a leading "axiom" of which is "the survival of the fittest." If 

 however, they only survive, who are best adapted to maintain the " struggle 

 f )r life" against the adversities of foes and climate, then the Alaskans belong 

 to the Elect, for they have maintained the struggle through the unrecorded 

 ages. Let the counter fact of their decrease since the advent of Caucasians 

 be prudently mentioned by white men, who have been their destroyers by intro- 

 ducing their own elements of decay and dissolution. 



Suppose a community of " whites " who had survived the " struggle for life " 

 for generations, were for the first time tempted to use intoxicating liquors, 

 mixed with poisonous and maddening drugs,— would their power of resistance 

 be equal to the emergency? Have "whites" given up drunkenness? 



Diseases introduced by white men have been very destructive among the 

 primitive races. Have they been less so among the whites ? The fact that 

 they succumb in the deadly struggle is no more damaging to them than to their 

 superiors. Let it be noted that we have been struggling for centuries against 

 these evils without having yet extinguished them. If we ask the Tlinkets to 

 bar them out, we demand of them much more than we have ever required of 

 ourselves. 



In what respect are they incapable of maintaining the " struggle for life? '' 

 They are a well formed, athletic race, undergoing great hardships, brave and 

 independent in spirit, ingenious and apt to learn. They have, in short, all the 

 attributes which are indispensable to insure their civilization and progres*'- 

 This is apparent by comparison with other tribes and nations who have risen 

 in the scale of intelligence. The condition of the Gauls, Teutons and Britons 

 was no better when the Romans conquered them, than that of the Hydahs and 

 Tlinkets at the present time. The Britons were barbarians, half naked, cruel, 

 ignorant and superstitious. The Picts, their neighbors on the north of the 

 island, crawled out of their burrows excavated in hill -sides, caught their game, 

 Sorged themselves with flesh, sent their wives to bring in what was left, then 

 crawled back into their dens to sleep until hunger drove them forth again. 

 The Scandinavians as late as the tenth century of the Christian era, lived in 

 piles of rocks, and were free-booters and pirates, the terror of the western 

 coasts of Europe. Returning from forays laden with plunder remorselessly tak- 

 en, and devoting to their blood-stained god the trophies of fiendish fights, they 

 displayed some of the worst characteristics of savage life. 



For centuries prior to this period, there were races in America which had 

 advanced far beyond the state of barbarism, and who were much more worthy 

 of the respect and consideration of the enlightened people of the Old World 

 than any portion or all of Europe north of the Alps, during that early period. 

 The primitive races which the Spaniards found in Central America and Mexico 

 had flourished through centuries, going back probably beyond the time of the 

 Roman conquests. They could have conveyed a superior civilization to three- 

 fourths of the continent of Europe, and only surpassed in favored localities 

 upon the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, by the Greek and Roman culture, 



