ALASKA. 



287 



Arctic regions. It confirms what has been told us by Richardson, Kane, Hall, 

 and all other Arctic explorers as to the superabundance of animal life existing 

 in certain seasons in the northern regions. Strange as it may seem, tropical 

 and semi-tropical countries are almost bare of living creatures. Strain and his 

 party wandered for weeks through the thick forests of Central America, never 

 seeing an animal, and rarely a bird, and the river appeared to be almost destitute 

 of fish. But life abounds in the Arctic regions. The rivers swarm with fish 

 almost begging to be caught. The Kamchatdales have reindeer by the thou- 

 sand. Whymper and his friends, during their brief stay at Nulato, bought 

 the skins of eight hundred white hares with which to cover their blankets ; the 

 Indians had used the flesh for food. Moose-meat, varied by beaver, is the 

 standing food of those who have got tired of salmon. The delicacies are a 

 moose's nose and a beaver's tail. So abundant are the moose on the Yukon 

 that the natives think it hardly worth while to waste powder and shot in kill- 

 ing them. "When an Indian in his canoe comes upon a moose swimming in 

 the water, he gives chase until the creature is fatigued, and then stabs it to the 

 heart with his knife. They have also an ingenious way of corralling deer. 

 They build a long elliptical inclosure of stakes upon a trail made by the deer. 

 Between each pair of stakes is a slip-noose. A herd of deer is driven into this 



inclosure; they try to run out be- 

 tween the stakes, get caught by the 

 nooses, and so fall a ready prey to the 

 guns of the hunters. 



The native population of Alaska 

 is estimated at about 60,000. From 

 the southern boundary up to Mount 

 St. Elias and on the islands live the 

 Koloschians, estimated at 20,000. 

 They are of middling stature, of 

 copper-colored complexion, with round 

 faces, thick lips, and black hair. The 

 men wear various ornaments in their 

 ears and noses ; the women, when 

 young, insert a piece of ivory in a slit 

 made in the under lip, increasing it in 

 size from year to year, until at last the 

 ornament gets to be four inches wide, 

 projecting six inches from the side of 

 the face. The baidars or canoes of 

 the Koloschians are dug out of a single tree, and will carry from twelve to 

 fifty persons. They are usually propelled by paddles, though upon long voy- 

 ages they are rigged with two or more masts and sails of matting or canvas. 

 They, and indeed all of the tribes, do not bury their dead, but deposit their 

 remains in an oblong box raised upon posts, with the canoe and other pos- 

 sessions of the deceased over the box. 



Next northward of the Koloschians come the Kenaians, who stretch almost 



LIP ORNAMENTS. 



