ne Country of the Chilcats 



reaching out two or three miles into the canal with 

 wonderful effect. I wanted to camp beside it but the 

 head wind tired us out before we got within six or 

 eight miles of it. We camped on the west side of a 

 small rocky island in a narrow cove. When I was 

 looking among the rocks and bushes for a smooth 

 spot for a bed, I found a human skeleton. My Indians 

 seemed not in the least shocked or surprised, explain- 

 ing that it was only the remains of a Chilcat slave. 

 Indians never bury or burn the bodies of slaves, but 

 just cast them away anywhere. Kind Nature was 

 covering the poor bones with moss and leaves, and I 

 helped in the pitiful work. 



The wind was fair and joyful in the morning, and 

 away we glided to the famous glacier. In an hour or 

 so we were directly in front of it and beheld it in all 

 its crystal glory descending from its white mountain 

 fountains and spreading out in an immense fan three 

 or four miles wide against its tree-fringed terminal 

 moraine. But, large as it is, it long ago ceased to dis- 

 charge bergs. 



The Chilcats are the most influential of all the 

 Thlinkit tribes. Whenever on our journey I spoke of 

 the interesting characteristics of other tribes we had 

 visited, my crew would invariably say, "Oh, yes, 

 these are pretty good Indians, but wait till you have 

 seen the Chilcats." We were now only five or six 

 miles distant from their lower village, and my crew 

 requested time to prepare themselves to meet their 

 great rivals. Going ashore on the moraine with their 

 boxes that had not been opened since we left Fort 



I 167 1 



