ABORIGINAL LIFE OF THE SITKANS. 43 



beauty of its strange wilderness, yet the most interesting single 

 idea is the Indian and the life he leads therein ; with the single ex- 

 ception of the substitution of a woollen blanket and a cotton shirt 

 for his primitive skin garments, he is living here to-day just as he 

 has lived away back to the time when his legends fail to recite, and 

 centuries before the bold voyages of Cook and Vancouver, and the 

 savage sea-otter fleet of Baranov, first discovered him and then 

 made his existence known to the civilized world. True, some of 

 the young fellows who have labored upon vessels and in the fish- 

 canneries wear an every-day workingman's shirt and trousers, and 

 speak a few words of English, understanding much more, yet the 

 primeval simplicity of all Indian life in this district is substantially 

 preserved. 



These savages are fish-eaters, and as such they have a common 

 bond of abrupt contrast in physique with their meat-eating breth- 

 ren of the Kocky Mountains and the great plains ; but the traits 

 of natural disposition are the same, the heart and impulse of the 

 Haidah or the Tongass, are the heart and the impulse of the Sioux 

 or the Cheyenne the former moves nowhere except squatted in 

 his shapely canoe, the other always bestrides a pony or mustang. 

 This wide divergence in every-day action gives alone to these savages 

 their strongly marked bodily separation ; the fish-eater is stooping 

 as he stands, and though he has a deep chest and sinewy arms, yet 

 his lower limbs are bowed, sprung at the knees, and imperfectly 

 muscled ; while the meat-eater is erect and symmetrical, in fine 

 physical outline from the crown of his head to his heels. 



The various divisions or bands of the Indian population of the 

 Sitkan archipelago and mainland * differ but little in their manner 

 of life and customs, and speak closely related dialects of the same 



* I. ChiUkahte: Lynn Canal and Glacier Bay. 

 II. HooniaJis : Chichagov Island and islets. 



III. Aw ks : North end Admiralty Island. 



IV. Tahkoos: Mainland, Stephen's Passage and Juneau City. 

 V. Khootznahoos : South end Admiralty Island. 



VI. Sitkas : Baranov Island. 



VII. Kakho : Kou and Kuprianov Islands, Prince Frederick Sound, mainland 



coast 



VIII. Stickeem : Wrangel, Zarenbo and Etholin Islands, Stickeen River mouth. 

 IX. Haidah : Prince of Wales Island. 



X. Tongass : Mainland, Cape Fox to Cape Warde, and contiguous islands. 



