aborigijStal life of the sitkans. 61 



liow fond Indians are of tobacco — there is no exception to the rule 

 in Alaska, and no excuse for attempting to recite in these pages the 

 well-worn story anew. 



No domesticated animals, except dogs, are to be found with the 

 Alaskan Indians — no cats or fowls. The original breed of curs has 

 been very much disguised by impoi'ted strains ; the present natives 

 are gray and black, shaggy, wolfish beasts, about the size of a large 

 spitz dog. These cowardly, treacherous animals alone make a white 

 man's stay in an Indian village a burden to his existence. 



The work bestowed by several of the Sitkan clans upon their so- 

 called j^otato gax'dens is hardly to be designated as the " cultiva- 

 tion " of that tuber. It forms to-day, this vegetable does, a very 

 important part of the food-supply, and where a white man takes 

 hold of such a garden the result, in a small way, is very satisfac- 

 tory ; but the Siwash finds that the greater part of the low, flat, 

 rich soil in this country is so thickly wooded that the task of clear- 

 ing the ground is altogether too much for him to even consider, 

 much less undertake. But when he can find a place where an old 

 settlement once existed, though long abandoned — there the sites 

 of decayed rancheries are sure to be of rich, warm soil — such are 

 the spots which the Siwash calls his garden, and where his potatoes 

 are rudely planted, little or no attention being paid to the hoeing 

 and drilling which we deem essential, therefore the variety in use 

 has been run down so that the size and yield is very small, and the 

 quality watery and poor. 



While we observe the very general possession of firearms in 

 every rancherie, and we hardly ever see a canoe-load of savages 

 unless the barrels of several muskets or rifles project over the 

 gunwale, yet these Sitkan Indians are not great hiinters ; but the 

 potent fact that there is no place in all this region where foot travel 

 is practicable into the interior, or even along the coast margin it- 

 self, affords an excellent reason ; they do, however, kill a very con- 

 siderable number of black bears every year, at two special seasons 

 therein, i.e., when these brutes are found prowling upon the sea- 

 beach. But they never follow bruin into the mountainous re- 

 cesses, where he invariably retreats. 



ored to reason that certain extinct tribes must have cultivated grain up here 

 of some kind and used it as food. I am indebted to tlie venerable Dr. W. F. 

 Tolmie for this fact, he showing me the mortars and giving tlie reason of their 

 use in December, 1800, at Victoria, B. C. 



