44 OUR ARCTIC PROVINCE. 



language. Tlie Haidalis are the best disposition ed and behaved. 

 They have been from the earhest times constantly in the habit of 

 making long and incessant canoe voyages ; and, taking into account 

 the ease with which all parts of this region can be reached on water, 

 it is rather surprising that any marked difference in language should 

 be found at all ; still, when we recall the knowledge which we have 

 of their fierce inter-tribal wars, it is not so strange ; this Avarfare, 

 however, was of the same barbarous character as that recognized in 

 all other American savages — it was the surprise and massacre of 

 helpless parties, never sparing old women, children or decrepit men. 

 These internecine family wars have undoubtedly been the sole cause 

 of the present subdivisions of the savages as we note them to-day. 



In drawing the picture, faithfully, of any one Alaskan Indian, I 

 may say candidly that in so doing I give a truthfully defined image 

 of them all throughout the archipelago. Physically the several 

 tribes of this region differ to some extent, but not near so much as 

 our colored people do among themselves ; the margin of distinction 

 up here between the ten or eleven clans, which ethnologists enume- 

 rate, is so slight that only a practised eA'e can declare them. The 

 Haidahs possess the fairest skins, the best temper, and the best 

 physique ; while the ugly Sitkans and Khootznahoos are the darkest 

 and the worst. But the coarse mouth, the width and prominence 

 of the cheek bones, and the relatively large size of the head for the 

 body, are the salient main departures from our ideal symmetry. 



The body is also long and large, compared with the legs, 

 brought about by centuries of constant occupation in canoes and 

 the consequent infrequent land travel ; their hair is black and 

 coarse, unkempt, and never allowed, by the males, to fall below 

 their shoulders except in the case of their "shamans," or doctors. 

 A scattered, straggling mustache and beard is sometimes allowed 

 to grow upon the upper lij) and chin, generally in the case of the 

 old men only, who finally grow weary of plucking it out by the 

 roots, which in youth they always did in sheer vanity. 



Once in a while a face is turned upon you from a canoe, or in a 

 rancherie, which arrests your attention, and commands comment 

 as good-looking ; these instances are, however, rare — very, very 

 rare. I think the Haidahs give more evidence in average physiog- 

 nomy of possessing greater intelligence than that pi-esented in the 

 countenances of their brethren ; while I deem the Sitkas and 

 Khootznahoos to be the most insensible — if they are as bright they 



