i3§ 



GRINNELL 



and there kill him for his flesh, and for his fleece, which 

 they weave into blankets. High up among the rocks, too, 

 they trap the marmots and ground squirrels whose skins 

 sewn together serve them for robes. 



The changing seasons give them their seal, their salmon, 

 and their berries; their fish, their fowl, and their deer — 

 the latter driven down from the high moun- 

 tains by the deep snows of winter, or in sum- 

 mer forced by the flies out of the forests to 

 feed along the beach. They fish, they hunt, 

 they feast, they dance; and, until the white 

 man came and changed all their life, they 

 lived well. 



Although belonging to three different lin- 

 guistic families, Koluschan, Skittagetan, and 

 Chimmesyan, their environment is essentially 

 the same, and this means that their ways of 

 life do not markedly differ. Although they 

 are now greatly changed from what they were 

 when the Russians first came to Alaska, they 

 still preserve not a few of their ancient cus- 

 toms and beliefs. 



Unlike the Indian tribes of our Western 

 States, most of which have treaties with the 

 government by which they are supported 

 tlinkit wand, w h Uy or m p ar t ? these dwellers along the 

 nAyartrvr . Alaska coast depend for their subsistence 



DANCING. a 



wholly on their own exertions and draw their 

 food largely from the sea. They are essentially a race of 

 fishermen. Their main dependence is the salmon, of 

 which enormous numbers are caught, but they also secure 

 an abundance of halibut, and, at certain seasons of the 

 year, of other fish. The introduction of the products of 

 civilization has done away with the use of the old-time 

 fish-line, which was made of knotted lengths of the stem 



