TWO DIANAS IN ALASKA 199 



deck skin streamed with evil-smelling oil, and ere I 

 discovered it I had mopped up a considerable quantity 

 with my coat-sleeve. All the men appeared to cling 

 like limpets to a skin full of the seal-oil, and we were 

 glad each proprietor considered his quantum too 

 valuable to let out of sight, for it made for the pre- 

 servation of the stores. A seal-oil flavour does not 

 commend itself to all men. 



Almost as soon as our journey up river commenced 

 we landed again to call on the missionary in charge 

 of a Moravian Mission, which made the natives' 

 minds wonder considerably. A flourishing trading 

 post stood alongside, all built in a neat corral. The 

 natives living in this centre of civilization, an Alaskan 

 metropolis, had in some ways risen above the habits 

 of their ancestors, and in others fallen below their 

 standard. 



The influence of a trading post always has a direct 

 effect on the clothing of natives, and here the men 

 and women wore immaculate trouserines showing 

 below their parkas. I have to call their kit trouser- 

 ines, because the garments were not trousers, nor 

 short enough for knickerbockers, but a sort of com- 

 promise between the two, a sartorial half-way house. 

 I wondered if the missionary had set the fashion in 

 this attire. Or had the primitive savages evolved it 

 from their inner consciousness? 



" Fashions that are now called new 

 Have been worn by more than you ; 

 Elder times have worn the same, 

 Though the new ones got the name." 



