Travels in Alaska 



to two hundred blankets, worth three dollars apiece, 

 are paid to the genius who carves them, while the 

 presents and feast usually cost twice as much, so that 

 only the wealthy families can afford them. I talked 

 with an old Indian who pointed out one of the carvings 

 he had made in the Wrangell village, for which he told 

 me he had received forty blankets, a gun, a canoe, 

 and other articles, all together worth about ^170. 

 Mr. Swan, who has contributed much informa- 

 tion concerning the British Columbian and Alaskan 

 tribes, describes a totem pole that cost $2500. They 

 are always planted firmly in the ground and stand 

 fast, showing the sturdy erectness of their builders. 



While I was busy with my pencil, I heard chopping 

 going on at the north end of the village, followed by a 

 heavy thud, as if a tree had fallen. It appeared that 

 after digging about the old hearth in the first dwelling 

 visited without finding anything of consequence, the 

 archaeological doctor called the steamer deck hands 

 to one of the most interesting of the totems and di- 

 rected them to cut it down, saw off the principal 

 figure, — a woman measuring three feet three inches 

 across the shoulders, — and convey it aboard the 

 steamer, with a view to taking it on East to enrich 

 some museum or other. This sacrilege came near 

 causing trouble and would have cost us dear had the 

 totem not chanced to belong to the Kadachan family, 

 the representative of which is a member of the newly 

 organized Wrangell Presbyterian Church. Kadachan 

 looked very seriously into the face of the reverend 

 doctor and pushed home the pertinent question: 



1 74] 



