244 
^0:^t:st AND S'lx.i^AM. 
[March 31, lyoo. 
ORNAMENTED HOUSEFRONT AND TOTEM POLlE. 
Photo by E. S. Curtis. Copyright, 1899, by E. H. Harriman. 
long Often the hunters arc provided with white coats 
and hats, and sometimes they cover the boat with white 
doth so that it simulates a floating berg; but in Yakutat 
hay this IS not so necessary as in some other places, for 
here many of the bergs are covered with glacial dirt and 
■debris, which gives-them all degrees of dinginess, from 
pure white to black. 
The sealers leave the village and paddle out to the ice, 
with which much of the surface of the bay is covered, for 
huge fragments are constantly breaking off from the 
glaciers and floating down toward the sea. When a seal 
IS detected in the water, no motion is made by the people 
in the boat, but when he dives they paddle hard toward 
the spot until it is almost time for him to reappear; then 
they stop and look for him, the hunter holding his gun 
0 
1 
•aiod Kaxox aaAvaa 
flipto by E. S. Curtis. Copyright, 1899, by E. H, Harrim^ 
in readiness. If the seal comes up within shot of tV'e 
canoe, the hunter tries to kill it, and if he hits it 
they paddle quickly to the spot and if possible fasten the 
spear in it either by throwing or thrusting. A long 
line is attached to the shaft of the spear, near its point,- 
the end of which is kept in the boat, and the seal is grad- 
ually drawn to the canoe and clubbed to death, for the 
spear point, barbed on one side, seldom or never pulls 
out. Should the seal be only wounded and the hunter 
fail to strike it with the spear, it is pursued and shot at 
again whenever it shows its head. It is thus likely soon 
to become exhausted and to fall a prey to the hunter. It, _ 
however, the seal can get among the thickly floating ice, 
where the view is interrupted, it is likely to escape. 
As seals are secured, the ballast of stones is thrown over- 
board to lighten the canoe, and by midday, or before tha"^ ', 
time, its prow is turned toward the camp. , \ 
When the hunters reach the village the women com ) ] 
down to the beach and help unload the canoe and c'arry,ii\. a 
its contents up to the camp, while the inen drag it- up~^ 
above high-water mark. 
The women now prepare the seals for use, and they 
do this by reversing the process of butchering as that 
is done by the forest or the plains Indians. In other ■ 
words, the skin is the last thing they take off. The animal" 
is split from chin to tail, the skull, arm and leg bones, ' 
viscera and backbone are removed and thrown away on 
tlve beach. There are left of the animal the ribs, loins ' 
and the blubber, attached to the skin. Next, the ribs are 
taken off and hung up in the bark shelters to smoke and 
dry. The loin and the flippers are cut off to be eaten 
fresh, and there remains ^e blubber with the attached , 
skin, the whole being perhaps ij^ inches in thickness, 
When the woman is ready to flense (or sculp) a 
number of these skins she uses two tools; one of these 
is a board,- the other a knife shaped like a chopping 
knife— that is to say, a crescent-shaped blade set in » 
wooden handle, sometimes solid and sometimes with a 
hole near one end of the handle, through which the 
thumb may pass. She sets the board up before her at an 
angle of 6o degrees, kneels behind it, and throwing the 
skin over it hair side down, so that it lies flat on thc 
board, she begins at the head and separates the- blttbber: 
from the hide. The whiskers and lips of the seal have 
been cut off in the skinning. The starting of the blubber 
from the skin takes a little time — a moment ,or two- — 
but after this is done the woman draws the skin toward 
her with an almost continuous motion, pressing the 
keen knife down on skin an«d board, and the blubber cuts 
away like butter under the knife. As she separates the 
sheet of blubber from the skin she draws this to her, and 
with a twisting of her left hand rolls it into a thick, short 
rope, crosswise of the skin. The whole operation takes 
a surprisingly short time, and when completed there is the 
great oval sheet of white or pinkish white blubber and 
the rolled-up skin. The skin is now pu.shed to one side 
and the blubber spread out on the board. With her 
knife the woman cuts this transversely into strips 8 inches 
wide, which are again subdivided into long strips ah inch 
oi- less in width. These are cut into shorter lengths, and 
then go into the try-pot. 
The place where these camps are located has been used 
for many years, perhaps for many generations. The 
.scenery which surrounds it is very bold, and the. outlook 
up, down and across the bay beautiful: but the place itself 
is not now attractive, being, filthy with seal fragments of 
all descriptions and ages, and redolent of g'rease. ^ Everj'- 
body is working over the seals, and everything smells of 
seal. In some places the beach is white with, the weath- 
ered bones of those killed niany years ago; in others 
black or red with the carcasses of those captured early or 
late during the present season. Most of the seals are 
skinned on the beach, and the fragments not carried up 
to the camp for use remain about high water mark, to 
be washed away or to rot wltere they lie. 
At Sitka we were fortunate enough to" meet Lieut. G. 
T. Emmons, of the navy,..retired. He was stationed for 
many years on this coast, and since ill health obliged him 
to retire from the service has resided much of the time 
in Sitka from choice. He" "has long been a- student of 
Alaska Indians, and probably knows more about them 
than any one else. During his long residence in Alaska 
he made a very large Collection of Indian implements, 
which are now in the possession of the American Museum 
of Natural History, in New York. 'Lieut. Emmons was 
kind enough to take one or two of the party interested in 
.such thatters tlirough the Indian village at Sitka, where 
many noteworthy things were seen. The houses are built, 
as in the ancient fashion, close to the beach, on which 
the canoes are drawn up and where many men were 
p'-'ke-ring at their canoes or were preparing to start off 
a,,, fishing excursions. They still use the great old- 
fashioned wooden halibut hooks of their^ forefathers, but 
now these hooks are usually tipped with iron, often with 
a piece of a ten-penny nail filed sharp. The bait, which 
is usually the arm of a cuttlefish, is hrmly bound to the 
hook, and the lines, instead of being made of kelp in 
the ancient fashion, are now heavy cotton cod hnes. In 
one or two of the houses were seen beautiful bear skins 
recently killed. In others men and women were at work 
fashioning miniature canoes and paddles, or weaving 
baskets for purposes of trade. 
At the house ot a certain chief, Te-ntlatch. name, the 
party was received with some ceremonJ^ Mr. Emmons,, 
who speaks the Tlinkit language, introduced them, and 
the chief, who was a dignified, elderly man, shook hands 
gravely and pleasantly. Then he gave some orders to 
younger men who were there, a splendid bear skin was 
unrolled and spread on the floor, a chair placed on it, 
and over this a handsome Chilcat blanket was thrown 
and one of the guests was offered this seat of honor. 
This was the old fashion of treating a vi-sitor who was 
entitled to consideration. As in the ca,se of most Indians, 
the seat was at the back of the h ouse and faced the door. 
After a little conversation, Lieutv Emmons asked the 
chief tha,t the guests might be shown some of the ancient 
and sacred articles in his possession, and sooh there 
were brought- out a number of cei-emonial hats and head- 
dresses, which have in some degree a sacred character, 
and which are not commonly shown. That they were ex- 
hibited was a favor wholly on account of Mr. Emmons. 
One of these head-dresses was of wood, and represented 
a killer whale. It was manifestly very old, the paint worn 
off in some places and the wood polished by much 
handling, It was ornamented with inlaid bits of Haliotis 
shell. One verjr beautiful hat was made of finely woven 
roots, and was mounted by six small cylinders, one above 
the other on the crown. Another head-dress was made 
^Of bear skin, to which was fastened a number of orna- 
ments hammered ottt of native copper. 
In only a few cases were really primitive and ancient 
objects seen. One of these was a bowl or mortar made 
from the. vertebra of a whale. Its original use was for 
pulverizing tobacco. 
The mythology of these Indians and their social or- 
ganization is complex, and comparatively little is known 
iLDut it, except to people who have closelv studied the 
Indians of the Koluschan family. Lieut. Emmons states 
that all these Alaska Indians are divided into two great 
groups, whose totems are the wolf and the raven. No 
intermarriage is permitted within these groups — that is 
to say, a member of the wolf group must not marry a 
member of the raven group. Within each of these groups 
; BEAij, TOTEM POLE. 
Photo by E. S. Cor?t,is. ^-'Copyright, 1S99, by E. H. Harrim»n, 
