( 30 ) 
Sitkan district, however, the mean annual temperature is thought 
to be about 44 0 F. ; winter, 33 0 . At Sitka the minimum temper¬ 
ature was one year io° F. ; maximum, 71 0 . It may be interest¬ 
ing to note that the mean winter temperature of Sitka and New¬ 
port, Rhode Island, are about the same and that there is only a 
difference of 6° in the mean yearly temperature, notwithstanding 
a difference of 16° in latitude. The mean annual temperature of 
the whole territory is roughly estimated to be about 25 0 , and it is 
remarked that the real opportunity for agriculture in a cold coun¬ 
try cannot be deduced from annual mean temperature alone, but 
is dependent on the heat and duration of the summer months. 
Geological changes affecting the temperature are thought to be 
active in Alaska, as shown by the diminishing size of the many 
glaciers formed in the mountain gorges. It is suggested by geolo¬ 
gists that the peninsular portion of Alaska and Siberia are gradu¬ 
ally being elevated, which suggests, in addition to climatic change, 
the possibility of a visit to Asia by rail. 
The villages of Alaska are small and unimportant. Considered 
as to commercial importance and white population, they may 
rank as follows : Seal Islands, Kodiak, Sitka, Wrangel, Oonalaska, 
Belkovsky, St. Michaels and Auk, the last probably the most 
active during the summer on the arrival of the miners. The total 
civilized population in the Territory is about one thousand, which 
includes the Russians who have remained since the purchase. 
The total native American population is not more than a few 
hundred. The Indians, estimated a few years ago at seventy 
thousand, are' reduced by the last census to thirty-three thousand. 
The aborigines of the southern coast are said to be the most 
civilized in America, if the term civilized can be applied to an 
Indian. They are not nomadic, and have comfortable dwellings 
in villages of from one to three thousand inhabitants on the rivers 
and inland arms of the sea. Their dwellings are constructed with 
logs or sawn lumber, and are thirty to forty feet square, twelve 
to fifteen feet high, with sloping roofs. At a distance their settle¬ 
ments are not unpleasing, especially when the buildings are white¬ 
washed, as was required by the local authority, and recall the ap¬ 
pearance of an early western frontier settlement. The interiors 
of the houses are equally simple in architectural design, consist- 
