Under Mount Saint Elias: The History and Culture of the Yakutat Tlingit Frederica de Laguna SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 ■ H SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 [In Three Parts] PART ONE SERIAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION The emphasis upon publications as a means of diffusing knowledge was expressed by the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. In his formal plan for the Institution, Joseph Henry articulated a program that included the following statement: "It is proposed to publish a series of reports, giving an account of the new discoveries in science, and of the changes made from year to year in all branches of knowledge." This keynote of basic research has been adhered to over the years in the issuance of thousands of titles in serial publications under the Smithsonian imprint, commencing with Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge in 1848 and continuing with the following active series: Smithsonian Annals of Flight Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology Smithsonian Contributions to Astrophysics Smithsonian Contributions to Botany Smithsonian Contributions to the Earth Sciences Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology In these series, the Institution publishes original articles and monographs dealing with the research and collections of its several museums and offices and of professional colleagues at other institutions of learning. These papers report newly acquired facts, synoptic interpretations of data, or original theory in specialized fields. These publications are distributed by mailing lists to libraries, laboratories, and other interested institutions and specialists throughout the world. Individual copies may be obtained from the Smithsonian Institution Press as long as stocks are available. S. DILLON RIPLEY Secretary Smithsonian Institution Under Mount Saint Elias: The History and Culture of the Yakutat Tlingit Frederica de Laguna PART ONE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION PRESS City of Washington 1972 A Publication of the SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION National Museum of Natural History LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CARD 77-185631 United States GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1972 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price $16.50 per 3 part set. Sold in sets only. To the People of Yakutat The day has long passed since the ethnographer could write in the confident expectation that the people whose culture he described would never read his book. The growing literacy and self-consciousness of peoples all over the world mean that, even in those remote areas of Melanesian jungle where today the missionary or trader has hardly penetrated, there will be a literate population, perhaps sooner than we expect. In Alaska, during little more than a lifetime, there has been the transformation of hunting and fishing peoples who could neither read nor write into literate fellow citizens. Whatever we as anthropologists or as historians write about Alaska will be read and judged by these Alaskans, and upon their verdict will depend the welcome and success of those ethnologists who may follow us. The local critics will be more severe than our professional colleagues, since it is their own lives (or those of their parents and grandparents), their hopes and fears, their failings and triumphs that we, the anthropologists, describe. To my friends at Yakutat I must therefore address both my heartfelt thanks for their friendship and help in gathering the data used in wTiting this book, and my apologies for any mistakes I may have made. I also ask forgiveness if I have unwittingly offended anyone. In any community, large or small, there are bound to be differences of opinion, for, as one of my Tlingit teachers used to say: "There's always two sides." For this reason alone, I know I cannot please everyone equally. In describing the potlatch given by one sib, other sibs may feel slighted, or other persons believe that they could have given a better account than the one I used. If there were dark pages in the ancient life, my Tlingit friends must remember that no cruelty toward witches or slaves, no blasphemous bigotry, no bloodthirsty violence of which their ancestors may be accused can equal those examples of which my own ancestors or other Whites have been guilty. As part of our history, these facts should not be forgotten. Lest anyone suppose that I or anyone else is making any money from this book, let me explain that the Government Printing Office is not a commercial publishing house; it does not make a profit on books it sells, because to print them is the service which it must render to the people of the United States. In recommending this book for publication, the Smithsonian Institution does me a great honor, but no one has or ever will pay me royalties for it. Of course, I could not have gathered the information without the grants-in-aid that made travel to Alaska possible, nor written the book without the fellowship that permitted me to leave my regular job for a year. For this help I am truly grateful. But it has not enriched me. The additional labor through many vacations and the many extra expenses incidental to this work, I have gladly undertaken, for it is in work of this kind that anthropologists delight and in which they find their most precious rewards. Yet, I should like the people of Yakutat to feel that this is thek book, too. Needless to say, all notes involving personalities are held in confidence; all tape recordings of songs belonging to sibs or to individual composers will never be reproduced without permission from their owners. The purpose of this work has not been to gather material for personal gain, but rather to record in as truthful a manner as possible the history and customs of the people of Yakutat, so that not only our students today but also their own children and grandchildren might learn about this chapter in the history of our Alaska. I have wanted this book to be accurate and scholarly, based upon what I was taught, not on what I guessed or imagined. Therefore, when quoting a statement or reporting some item of information, I should have liked to include the name or initials of the person from whom I heard it, just as I have cited the author of a book from which I have quoted. But I do not feel free to do this with my Yakutat friends, lest I inadvertently cause embarrassment to someone. Such specific credit to individual informants is given only to those who have died. These volumes are therefore a tribute to their memory. The living will find their names or initials only where I have quoted them on the history of Yakutat, on myths and tales, or on other subjects of public knowledge such as may pertain, for example, to the songs they recorded. I do not want anyone to assume, however, that my debt to the living is less than that to those who have left us. To Olaf and Susie Abraham I owe knowledge about many topics including the old-style house, hunting, cosmology, and song composition. Harry K. Bremner taught me not only about history, sib territories, religion, the potlatch, and native beliefs of the afterlife, but also about the duties of the chief—his role in war, in the potlatch, and in the education of the young. No one could have been more helpful or patient in explaining the intricacies of social organization than was Helen Bremner. Maggie Harry shared her knowledge of preparing dried salmon, helping women in childbirth, and caring for babies. Emma Ellis and Annie George both gave valuable information about Dry Bay customs: the former was particularly helpful in matters pertaining to the life of women and to the making of peace; the latter gave information about sib heirlooms and the protocol of the potlatch. Information about hunting, fishing, food preparation, and native manufactures I also owe to these women, as well as to Olaf Abraham, Harry K. Bremner, Sampson Harry, Harvey Milton, William Thomas, and John Ellis. The last named, John Ellis, was both patient and skilled in questions pertaining to Tlingit linguistics; to him I owe many insights into the meanings of abstract terms and philosophical concepts. To single out my friends mentioned above does not lessen my debt to the others. My special gratitude goes to all of the following native residents of Yakutat who showed so much patience in answering questions, interest in volunteering information, and kind friendship. I have identified each person with whom I worked according to sib affiliation (see pp. 217-229) and birthplace, although all have long been residents of Yakutat. Obviously, from some who were met only in 1949, or briefly in 1952 and 1954, only a little information was gained, while others gave much more. I have not included the many children and grandchildren who served, not so much as informants but as unconscious embodiments of Yakutat life. Finally, I must make special mention of Mrs. Katy Dixon Isaac, who shared with me her name, Kux&nguwutan, and who now lies in the cemetery at Ankau Point. Olaf Abraham, Teqwedi, born Yakutat, 1886. In 1949 his son, David, was interpreter; in 1952 and 1954, his wife. Susie Bremner Abraham, Kwackqwan, born Yakutat, 1903; wife of Olaf. Harry K. Bremner, Kwackqwan, born Yakutat, 1893; lived in Controller Bay area, 1907-10. Helen Italio Bremner, Gafyix-Kagwantan, born Yakutat, 1900; wife of Harry. John Bremner, Kwac]£qwan, born Yakutat, 1912; brother of Harry. Maggie Dick, CAnkuqedi, born Dry Bay, 1897; moved to Yakutat in the 1930's; since deceased. Her husband, Frank Dick, Tl'uknaxAdi, born Sitka, 1899; died 1964; acted as interpreter. Ben Dirky, Kwackqwan, born Yakutat, 1890; educated by his father (White) at Katalla. Visiting his mother, Mrs. Annie Johnson, at Yakutat in 1954. Jack Ellis, Ti'uknaxAdi, born Sitka, 1892; died Yakutat, 1952. Emma Ellis, Kagwantan, born Dry Bay, 1896; widow of Jack Ellis; has lived in Yakutat since 1911. John Ellis, Kagwantan, born Yakutat, 1914; son of Jack and Emma Ellis. Annie George, Tl'uknaxAdi, born Yakutat, 1890; widow of a Dry Bay man. Maggie Adams Harry, Kwackqwan, born Yakutat (or Juneau?), 1892; widow. Sampson Harry, Kwackqwan, born Situk River, 1906. Annie Nelson Harry, KTacKqwan, born Cordova, 1906; widow of Galushia Nelson with whom Dr. Birket-Smith and I worked at Cordova in 1933, now married to Sampson; speaks Eyak and Tlingit. Paul Henry, Tl'uknaxAdi, born Yakutat, about 1910. David Henry, Tl'uknaxAdi, born Yakutat, 1914; Paul's brother. Katy Dixon Isaac, Kwackqwan, born Katalla; a very old lady in 1949, died about 1955. Her granddaughter, Violet Sensmeier, acted as interpreter in 1952; in 1954, her grandson, Sheldon James, Jr., since deceased. Frank Italio, CAnkuqedi, born Dry Bay, 1870; died Yakutat, 1956; brother to Maggie Dick. Minnie Johnson or Helen Bremner as interpreter. Jenny Jack, Teqwedi, born Yakutat, 1903; widow. Sheldon James, Sr., Teqwedi, born Yakutat, 1896; died about 1955. Mary James, Kwackqwan, born Katalla, 1926; daughter of Annie Johnson and wife of Sheldon James, Sr. Tom John, Kwackqwan, born Yakutat, 1901; died 1959. Minnie Gray Johnson, Tl'uknaxAdi, born Yakutat, 1884; died 1964; widowed, but remarried in 1955 to Frank Johnson (White). George Johnson, Tcicqedi, born Katalla or Cordova 1892; speaks Eyak and Tlingit. Annie Johnson, Kwackqwan, born Controller Bay or Bering River, 1875; died 1964; wife of George. Her husband or Minnie Johnson as interpreter. Esther Johnson, CAnkuqedi, born Dry Bay, 1900; married to Chester Johnson (White). Jenny Kardeetoo, Kwackqwan, born Yakutat(?), 1872; died 1951. Minnie Johnson as interpreter in 1949. Peter Lawrence, Kagwantan, born Sitka, 1871; came to Yakutat before 1897; died 1950. William Milton, Teqwedi, born Yakutat(?), 1888; died 1950. Nick Milton, Teqwedi, born Yakutat, 1896; died 1966; brother of William. Harvey Milton, Kwackqwan, born Yakutat, 1912; son of William. Louise Kardeetoo Peterson, KwacH:qwan, born Yakutat, 1905; married to Ben Peterson (White). Jack Reed, Ti'uknaxAdi, born Sitka, 1880; died Yakutat, 1953. Edward Renner, Ti'uknaxAdi, born Yakutat, 1924; died 1962(?). William Thomas, Teqwedi, born Controller Bay(?), 1911; has lived in Yakutat since infancy. Mary Kardeetoo Thomas, KwacK:qwan, born Yakutat, 1911; died 1967; wife of William. Charley White, Ti'uknaxAdi, born Situk River, 1879; died 1964; brother to Minnie Johnson. Jenny White, CAnkuqedi, born Dry Bay, 1903; wife of Charley. Sarah Williams, Kwackqwan, born Yakutat, 1910; widow. vn Preface The field data on which this report is based were gathered at Yakutat in 1949, 1952, 1953, and 1954. On my first exploratory visit, June 8 to July 13, 1949, I was assisted by Edward Malin, then a graduate student at the University of Colorado, and by William Irving, then an undergraduate at the University of Alaska. At that time several old village sites and a number of well-informed, friendly natives gave promise that combined archeological and ethnological investigations would be fruitful. Furthermore, I learned that there were two persons in the community who could speak Eyak, a language which I had feared was extinct. In the summer of 1952 (June 6 to September 13), I returned to Yakutat with a larger party. Dr. Catharine McClellan, who had worked with me at Angoon in 1950, collaborated in the ethnological investigations at Yakutat, and Francis A. Riddell, who had also been with us at Angoon, now directed the archeological excavations at Knight Island near Yakutat under my genera] supervision. He was assisted by Kenneth S. Lane, Donald F. McGeein, and J. Arthur Freed, then all students at or graduates of the University of California, Berkeley. For part of the summer, Dr. Fang-Kwei Li, Department of Far Eastern Studies, University of Washington, undertook linguistic research on Eyak, both at Yakutat and at Cordova. The following summer, Riddell returned to continue the archeological work, with another party from the University of California consisting of Lane, McGeein, Albert H. Olson, and Robert T. Anderson. During the summer some ethnological information was gathered, although this was not the primary aim of the expedition. In the winter and spring of 1954 (February 13 to June 16), I was able to resume ethnological work at Yakutat, assisted by Mary Jane Downs (now Mrs. Benjamin Lenz, then Fellow in Anthropology at Bryn Mawr College). We were accompanied by my mother, Professor Emeritus Grace A. de Laguna, although she took no active part in our investigations. For hospitality in the field I am indebted to Paul 265-517—72—vol. VII, pt. 1 2 Stout, manager of the cannery in 1949, and for other courtesies to Robert Welsh, manager in 1952 and 1954. J. B. Mallott, owner of an independent store, was also very helpful. The Alaska Native Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Public Health Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S. Coast Guard, all rendered invaluable assistance. Research at Yakutat was supported by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (1949, 1952), the Arctic Institute of North America, with funds from the Office of Naval Research (1949, 1953), the Social Science Research Council, the American Philosophical Society (1954). The Department of Anthropology, University of California at Berkeley, the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia, and Bryn Mawr College have all supported the fieldwork and aided in the preparation of this monograph. A Faculty Research Fellowship from the Social Science Research Council in 1962-63, and the hospitality of the Berkeley campus have enabled me to write much of this volume. A grant from the National Science Foundation (G-4875) made possible assembling the illustrative and bibliographic material. In preparation of this monograph, I have received the help and advice of many persons. For bibliographic assistance, especially in finding unpublished materials, I am indebted to Dr. J. Ronald Todd, Chief Reference Librarian, University of Washington, Seattle; to Dr. Willard E. Ireland, Provincial Librarian and Archivist, Victoria, British Columbia; to Dr. Wilson Duff, then Curator of Anthropology, and Donald N. Abbott, then Assistant Anthropologist, both at the Provincial Museum in Victoria; to Dr. John Barr Tompkins, and to Assistant Director Robert H. Becker, indeed to all the staff of the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley. Kenneth Lane, who had copied many rare items in the Bancroft Library, generously turned over to me his complete notebook, and Dr. Robert F. Heizer, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, gave me ix SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 notes and photographs made at Yakutat by C. Hart Merriam in 1899. Through the kindness of Dr. Luis Pericot Garcia of the University of Barcelona I was able to secure copies of pictures, in the Museo Naval at Madrid, which had been made at Yakutat in 1791 by the painter, Tomas de Suria. Permission to publish the sketches in the MS. journal of this painter (cf. Wagner, 1936) were given by Dr. David Watkins, Chief Reference Librarian, and Dr. Archibald Hanna, Curator, Western Americana Collection, Yale University Library. I am also endebted to Dr. Joaquin Gonzales-Muela, Professor of Spanish, Bryn Mawr College, for assistance in translating the accounts of Suria and Malaspina. Dr. Erna Gunther, now at the Department of Anthropology, University of Alaska, not only furnished a list of all Suria's paintings in Madrid, but gave me her invaluable notes on the specimens from Yakutat acquired by the Portland Art Museum from the Reverend Axel Rasmussen in 1948. Permission to publish photographs of these is gratefully acknowledged, as is additional information obtained from Donald Jenkins, Curatorial Assistant. Dr. Luyse Kollner, Curator, Airs. Mona Bedell, Secretary, and Virginia Hillock, Registrar, procured photographs and information on specimens in the Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum, Seattle, and Dr. Walter A. Fairservis, Jr., Director, gave me permission to publish data on them. Edward L. Keithahn, Curator, sent information and his own photographs of Yakutat specimens in the Alaska Historical Library and Museum, Juneau. Other pictures of specimens there were taken for me by Malcolm Greany, photographer. Dr. Frederick J. Dockstader, Director, gave permisison to publish photographs of specimens in the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York City. I am grateful to Dr. Harry L. Shapiro, Chairman, to Miss Bella Weitzner, Associate Curator Emeritus, and to Dr. Richard A. Gould, Assistant Curator, Department of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, New York City, for permission to utilize notes and photographs made by G. T. Emmons at Yakutat before 1889. I am especially grateful to Dr. Gould for his tireless help and skill in photographing so many specimens in the Emmons collections. At Princeton University, Dr. Donald Baird, Department of Geology, and Will Starks, photographer, spared no pains to give me excellent photographs and fullest data on the collection made in 1886 by Libbey at Yakutat. Lastly, I should like to thank my Yakutat friends, John Ellis, Mrs. Minnie Johnson, and Mr. and Mrs. Harry K. Bremner for giving me pictures of Yakutat persons and scenes to use in this book. Parts of the manuscript hi various stages of completion have been read by a number of experts, and if, despite their vigilance, errors have crept in or gone undetected, the fault is mine. These are Dr. George Plafker, Geologist, Alaskan Geology Branch, U.S. Geological Survey; Dr. John W. Aldrich, Research Staff Specialist, and Dr. Richard H. Manville, both of the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Dr. Fenner A. Chace, Jr., Dr. J. F. Gates Clarke, Dr. Harald Rehder, Dr. W. R. Taylor, and Howard L. Chapelle, all at the U.S. National Museum; Dr. Donald Baird, Department of Geology, Princeton University; Dr. Michael E. Krauss, Department of Linguistics, University of Alaska; Dr. Dell Hymes, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania; and lastly, Dr. Catharine McClellan, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, my collaborator in the field in 1952. Preliminary studies of Yakutat recordings were made by Lindy Li Mark and by Agi Jambor, Professor of Music at Bryn Mawr College. The transcriptions in the Appendix, however, are those prepared by Dr. David P. McAllester, Director of the Laboratory of Ethnomusicology, Wesleyan University, under a grant from the Penrose Fund of the American Philosophical Society (1967). It is Edward Schumacher, staff artist of the Smithsonian Institution, who has so skillfully and beautifully prepared the maps and many of the illustrations for this book. But without the skill and patient devotion of the editor, these labors would have come to nothing. Preparation of the index was made possible by the kindness of Maude Hallowell, and through grants from the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research and from Bryn Mawr College. To those institutions that made this work possible, to the many individuals who gave help and information, and to my companions in the field, I wish to express my thanks. FEEDEEICA DE LAGTJNA Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania Contents Part 1 Page To THE PEOPLE OF YAKUTAT v PREFACE ix INTRODUCTION 3 Basic assumptions and aims 4 Conduct of the fieldwork 8 Transcription of native words 11 THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 13 Introduction to Yakutat 15 The Tlingit world 15 The Gulf Coast of Alaska 16 The Gulf Coast tribes 17 Ecology of the Yakutat Bay area 21 Geography and geology 21 Geological changes 24 Climate 29 Flora 30 Mammals 35 Amphibia 41 Birds 42 Fish 50 Marine invertebrates and seaweed 55 Insects 56 THE HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 57 Yakutat Bay 58 The west side of Yakutat Bay 59 The east side of Yakutat Bay 61 Disenchantment Bay and Russell Fiord 67 Yakutat Bay to Dry Bay 71 The Ankau lagoon system 73 Lost River to Italio River 76 The Dry Bay area 81 The Alsek River 85 Cape Fairweather and Lituya Bay 90 The Gulf Coast west of Yakutat Bay 95 IcyBay 95 Icy Bay to Copper River 98 XI SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 Page THROUGH ALIEN EYES: A HISTORY OF YAKUTAT 107 Eighteenth-century exploration 108 The first explorers (1741-83) 108 Zaikov and other Russian expeditions to the mainland (1783-88) 112 LaPerouse (1786) -- H4 Dixon (1787) 123 Colnett (1788) 128 Ismailov and Bocharov (1788) 132 Douglas (1788) 138 Malaspina (1791) 139 Vancouver (1794) 153 The Russians 158 Shelikhov's "Glory of Russia," and Baranov (1792-93) 158 Purtov and Kulikalov (1794) 161 "Novo Rossiysk" (1795-1801) 166 Revolt of the Tlingit: Sitka (1802-04) 170 Revolt of the Tlingit: Yakutat (1805-06) 173 Yakutat (1806-67) 176 Under the American flag 180 Thefirstyears (1867-80) 180 The first surveys (1880-84) 184 Schwatka and Seton-Karr (1886) 187 Topham (1888) 194 Miners, missionaries, and the U.S.S. Rush (1888-90) 197 The conquest of Mount Saint Elias and the end of an era (1890-1900) 201 MYTH, LEGEND AND MEMORY: THE NATIVE HISTOEIES OF YAKUTAT 209 Setting the stage 210 Myth and history 210 Tribe and sib 211 Foreign peoples 213 Sibs among the Gulf of Alaska peoples, or important to their history 217 Historical narratives 230 Introduction 230 The history of Yakutat 231 Other versions of the Kwacliqwan migration story 236 Further tales about Knight Island and Xatgawet 242 The story of the CAnkuqedi 248 The story of the Teqwedi 251 The story of the Garyix-Kagwantan 254 Wars with the Aleuts 256 The first ship at Lituya Bay 258 The defeat of the Russians 259 War between the Tl'uknaxAdi and the Tl'axayik-Teqwedi 261 The story of Gusex and the fate of the Dry Bay people 270 Smallpox 277 The war between the Kagwantan and the Cx-Atqwan 279 An averted war with the Tsimshian 284 Geological changes in the Yakutat area 286 History of the Frog House: trouble between the Tl'uknaxAdi and the KiksAdi at Si tka 288 IN THREE PARTS CONTENTS Page YAKUTAT HOUSES 293 Aboriginal dwellings and other structures 294 Meaning of the house 294 The aboriginal winter house 295 Three old houses 300 Smokehou ses 302 Camps 304 Caches 305 Bathhouses 305 House furnishings 306 Domestic life 309 Camps and houses in the 18th century 310 Houses in Lituya Bay, 1786 310 Houses in Yakutat Bay, 1787, 1788 311 Houses in Yakutat Bay, 1791 311 Houses and camps in the 19th century 313 Houses on Khantaak Island, 1886-90 313 Eyak Houses at Kayak, Controller Bay, 1886 313 Bark shelters, Disenchantment Bay, 1899 314 History of Yakutat houses 315 Tcicqedi and Garyix-Kagwantan houses west of Cape Yakataga 315 Knight Island houses 316 Nessudat houses 316 Diyaguna 'Et houses 316 Ahrnklin River houses 317 Tl'uknaxAdi houses on Johnson Slough 317 Dry Bay houses 318 Khantaak Island houses 319 Situk houses 320 Houses in the Old Village 321 Yakutat: the present town 326 The future 327 TRAVEL AND TRADE 329 Canoes 330 Introduction 330 Skin boats 330 Dugouts of the 18th century 332 Modern Yakutat dugouts 335 Snowshoes and sleds 345 Trade 346 Introduction 346 Travel and trade with the west .. 348 Travel and trade with the interior 350 Travel and trade with the south 351 Values in exchange 352 Coppers 353 Trade etiquette 354 Motives for travel and trade 356 MAKING A LIVING 359 Hunting and fishing 360 The annual cycle 360 Control of territories 361 Religious aspects 361 x;v SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 Page MAKING A LIVING—Continued Hunting and fishing—Continued Land mammals 364 Weapons 367 Traps and snares 370 Sea mammals 373 Fishing 381 Food and its preparation 391 Introduction 391 Food in the 18th and 19th centuries 393 Meat of land animals 394 Birds and birds' eggs 395 Seal meat 395 Meat of other sea mammals 398 Fish 399 "Beach food" 403 Plant food 405 Some native recipes for modern foods 410 Tobacco and intoxicants 410 Native manufactures 412 Raw materials 412 Men's tools 413 Domestic utensils 416 Wooden boxes 419 Pottery 420 Women's tools 421 Skin dressing and sewing 423 Skin containers 426 Matting and cordage 427 Baskets 427 Chilkat blankets 431 Dress and decoration 432 Aboriginal clothing 432 Dress at Yakutat 435 Ceremonial costumes 439 Personal adornment and grooming 444 THE SOCIAL WORLD 449 Sibs and crests 450 Sib and moiety 450 Sib individuality 451 Yakutat crests 452 Ownership of crests 453 Types of crests 455 Validation of crests 457 Alienation of crests and crest objects 458 Sib characteristics 461 IN THREE PARTS CONTENTS XV Page THE SOCIAL WORLD—Continued Social position 461 Aristocrats and commoners 461 Slaves 469 Chiefs and slaves in the 18th century 474 Kinship 475 The basic terms 475 Grandparents and grandchildren 476 Parents and children, father's brother and mother's sister 478 Maternal uncles and their sister's children. 479 Paternal aunts and their brother's children 481 Brothers and sisters 482 Sib-children 485 Husbands and wives 488 Mothers-in-law and fathers-in-law 492 Brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law 494 THE LIFE CYCLE 497 Birth 498 Introduction 498 Personal characteristics believed determined at birth 499 Pregnancy 500 Childbirth 500 Infancy 502 Care of the baby 502 Magic for babies 506 Childhood 507 Small children 507 Discipline 50S Education 512 Food taboos 514 Children's games and toys 515 Growing up 516 Training of boys 516 Adolescent girls 518 Premarital sex knowledge and illegitimate babies 523 Maturity 524 The missionary's views on marriage at Yakutat 524 Marriage 524 Adult life 527 Old age 529 Death 531 Death ceremonies 531 The corpse 532 The smoking feast 533 Cremation 534 The mourners 536 The end of mourning 538 Graves in the 18th century 539 Graves of the late 19th century and modern times 542 Modern funerals 545 xvi SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 Part 2 Page RECREATION AND ART: GAMES AND MUSIC 551 Introduction 552 Games 553 Gambling games 553 Stick drawing game 554 Hand game or "stick game" 555 Chair dice 555 Stick tossing game . - 556 Quoits 556 Chess and checkers 557 Bingo 557 Tops 558 Contests 558 Fourth of July canoe races 559 Cat's cradles 559 Music 560 Songs 560 18th-century singing 561 Recording Yakutat songs 564 Character of Tlingit songs 565 Dancing 567 Categories of songs 568 Poetic imagery in songs 572 Acquiring and composing songs 574 WAR AND PEACE 579 War 580 Types of wars 580 Maj or wars and military alliances 580 Causes for war 581 Preparations for war 582 The wTar party 5S3 Victory and defeat 584 Arms and armor 585 The warrior and his accouterments 5S5 Weapons 588 The warrior's costume 590 Peace and justice 592 The meaning of peace 592 Preliminaries to the peace ceremony 593 Restitution and retribution: evening the score 594 The peace ceremony: seizing the 'deer' 596 The peace ceremony: the role of the 'deer' 598 The peace ceremony: naming and dressing the 'deer' 599 The peace ceremony: eight nights dancing 601 The end of the peace ceremony 602 Summary of known peace ceremonies 603 THE POTLATCH 605 Introduction 606 The Yakutat conception of the potlatch 606 Functions of the potlatch 606 Types of potlatch 607 Preliminary feasts 608 IN THREE PARTS CONTENTS XVli Page THE POTLATCH—Continued The major potlatch 610 Summary 610 Purposes of the potlatch 611 Rivalry at the potlatch 613 Beginning the potlatch 616 Preparations 616 Arrival of the guests 619 Entertainment at the potlatch 623 Feasts before the potlatch 623 Singing and dancing by the guests 624 Feasting 627 Special shows by the hosts 627 The potlatch proper 629 The hosts 629 Honoring individuals 634 Paying the guests 638 Feasting and dancing after the potlatch 642 "Potlatches" for insults or to shame a rival 643 Reports of potlatches 644 The Tl'uknaxAdi potlatch in Dry Bay, 1909 644 The Teqwedi potlatch in Yakutat, 1910 646 A missionary's account of Yakutat potlatches 650 A layman's comments on a potlatch 651 CURES, MEDICINES AND AMULETS 653 Surgical techniques 655 Medical plants 655 Medicines for external use 655 Medicines for internal use 657 Medicines with great power 657 Magical plants and amulets 659 Other amulets 664 The land otter hair amulet 667 SHAMANISM 669 Introduction 670 The shaman 670 Known shamans 671 Becoming a shaman 673 The death of a shaman and the new shaman 673 Receiving the call 675 The quest 676 Cutting tongues 678 Subsequent retreats and the first seance 681 The shaman's spirits 682 The shaman and his paraphernalia 683 Regimen 683 Personal appearance 684 The shaman's "outfit" 685 Costume 687 Masks, maskettes and headdresses 690 Other paraphernalia 695 Spirit intrusions 699 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 Page SHAMANISM—Continued The shaman and his powers 701 Introduction 701 The shaman's assistants 702 Inspiration 702 Spirit warnings 703 Sending the spirit for news 703 Ghostly visits 704 Power demonstrations 704 Kivalry 706 Curing the sick 708 Minor ailments 709 Epidemics 710 Stories about shamans 710 Xatgawet as shaman 710 How a man acquired land otter spirits 712 How a man acquired disease spirits 712 Daxodzu, the female shaman 712 How QA-taxetl became a shaman 713 The female shaman, Cakwe, and the chief who stabbed his nephews 714 How a Wrangell shaman was defeated 715 Further reminiscences of Tef-'ic 715 Refusing the call 719 A young man refuses to become a shaman 719 A woman refuses the call 720 White men's views of Yakutat shamanism 720 A Yakutat shaman, 1886 720 A missionary's account of Yakutat shamanism 722 The shamanistic legacy 723 "The Shouters in Alaska" (1890) 724 Native accounts of the "Shouters" 725 WITCHES AND LAND OTTER MEN 727 Witchcraft 728 Witches 72S Activities of witches 730 Origin of witches 733 Identifying the witch and destroying his power 735 Witchcraft stories 73S The girl who witched herself 738 Haida methods: the woman who witched her own son 739 The witching of ^adane& and his relatives 739 The witching of Sitka Ned 740 The witching of Jack 743 Witchcraft accusations 743 Land Otter Men 744 Fear of land otters 744 Capture by land otters and protection from them 745 Land Otter Men 747 Present beliefs about land otters 748 Stories about Land Otter Men 749 The story of Qaki 749 The girls who had Land Otter Men as lovers 750 Two little boys rescued from the Land Otter People 751 A boy rescued from land otters 752 IN THREE PARTS CONTENTS xix Page WITCHES AND LAND OTTER MEN—Continued Stories about Land Otter Men—Continued Nfeintel rescued from land otters 752 idaxin and the land otters 753 The drowned woman 754 A girl captured by land otters 754 Small boys saved by dogs 755 Two boys lost in the woods 755 Adventures of White men with Land Otter Men 755 THE TLINGIT INDIVIDUAL 757 The body 758 Sleep and dreams 759 Body parts and functions 760 Symbolism of the body in art and language 761 Reified body parts and functions 763 The tree of life 764 Afterlife and the spirit 765 The "soul" and the "ghost" 765 Forms of death 766 The story of 'Askadut who visited the land of the dead 767 The disease boat 769 Afterlife in Kiwa'a 770 "Dog Heaven" 771 Visits to the land of the dead 772 The Chilkat man who visited Kiwa'a 772 The man who visited Kiwa'a 773 Death and reincarnation of Qawusa 773 Death and reincarnation of 'AsdjiwAn and his partner 774 Reincarnation of Joseph 775 The story of Lxakunik who visited the land of the dead 775 Reincarnation 776 Insuring reincarnation 777 Choosing one's parents 778 Choosing one's sex 779 Multiple souls 779 Rebirth in the wrong sib 780 Names 781 Real names 781 Naming the child 782 Namesakes 783 Teknonymy 784 "Big names" 785 Pet names and nicknames 787 Origin of names 787 Conclusion: personal identity 788 MAN AND THE FORCES OF NATURE 791 Cosmology 792 The earth 792 The sky 795 Sun, moon, and stars 796 Space and time 797 Spatial orientation and measurement 797 Temporal orientation 798 Divisions of the year 799 xx SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 Page MAN AND THE FORCES OF NATUKE—Continued Space and time—Continued Counting days 801 Divisions of the day 801 The weather 803 Predicting the weather 803 Animals associated with the weather 804 The winds 804 Weather taboos 805 Bringing fair weather 806 Divination 807 The forces of nature 808 A statement of problems 808 18th-century observations 809 Swanton 's contribution 810 The Spirit Above 812 Fate, moral law, taboo, and luck 813 God 815 Spirits and beings in the world 816 Monsters and wealth-bringing beings 820 Manufactured objects 822 Plants 822 The world of animals 823 Animal souls 823 Attitudes toward annuals 824 Totem animals and other animals 825 Dogs 832 Conclusion: the ordering of the world 833 Totemism 833 The world of spirits 835 MYTHS AND TALES 837 Introduction 838 The Raven Cycle 839 Three connected versions of the Raven Cycle 844 Isolated incidents of the Eaven Cycle 857 Other myths and tales 873 The children of the sun 873 The story of Lgayal" 875 The story of Kats who married a bear 879 The story of the woman who married a bear 880 The story of the woman who married a bear and comments on the story of Kats 882 The story of the woman who raised the worm 883 The man who married Fair Weather's daughter 883 The story of Tl'EnAxxidAq 884 Stories about hemlock child and spruce root child 885 The story of the blind man and the loon 888 The story of salmon boy 889 The story of black skin 890 Wolverine man 892 The story of the girls who stole mountain goat tallow 892 The story of the girl who turned into an owl 893 The braggart gambler 894 Legend of glaciers at Yakutat 894 IN THREE PARTS CONTENTS Page MYTH AND TALES—Continued Other myths and tales—Continued The moral of Chief Shakes 894 The lying and truthful brothers in Sitka 895 Stories about a transvestite 895 The visitor to Yakutat 897 The race between the fox and the crab 897 A story about the big-breasted woman 897 The land otter's halibut hook 897 About the land far out to sea 898 The story of a Copper River potlatch 898 The discovery of copper 890 The true story of the discovery of gold 900 LITERATURE CITED 903 FIGURES Page 1. Mount Saint Elias 22 2. Mount Fairweather 23 3. LituyaBay 25 4. A native chief and woman of Port Mulgrave, 1843 178 5. "Princess Thorn" 192 6. Eagle Fort 264 7. Spearhead and log 265 8. Front of Bear House 295 9. Aboriginal winter house, Yakutat 296 10. Bear Paw House, Lost River Landing 299 11. Beaver House, Kahliak River, detail of roof 300 12. Winter house 300 13. Diagram of Kagwantan Box House, Dry Bay, 1903-07 301 14. Diagram of the Teqwedi Bear House, Khantaak Island, 1886 301 15. Diagram of the Teqwedi Coward House, Situk, 1888 302 16. Diagram of the Teqwedi Coward House, Situk, 1885 302 17. Smokehouse, 1949 303 18. Smokehouse, 1949 304 19. Smokehouse 304 20. Smokehouse 304 21. Log cabin 305 22. "Primitive bark shelter, Yakutat Bay" 314 23. Yakutat dug-out canoe and two-hole baidarka, 1791 334 24. Boats at Nuchek, Prince William Sound, 1887 _ _ ... 335 25. Yakutat canoe and paddles, 1788 335 26. Yakutat canoes - 336 27. "Yakutat sealing canoe," 1899 339 28. Modern Yakutat "canoe" 345 29. Traditional shape of the copper 354 30. Bow and arrow 368 31. Arrowheads 369 32. Figure-four trap for weasels 370 33. Deadfall for fox, lynx, and wolverine 371 34. Snare for foxes 371 35. Snare for foxes 372 10. xxii SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 Page 36. Snare for bear 372 37. Snare for brown bear 372 38. Snare for bear 372 39. Harpoon for seals, sea otter, and fish 377 40. Flattened butt of seal harpoon shaft 377 41. Iron harpoon heads 385 42. Fish spearing device 385 43. Oelachon trap 387 44. Halibut hooks 389 45. Halibut hook 390 46. "Flensing seal hide, Yakutat Bay," 1899 396 47. Method of cutting salmon for drying 400 48. Bundle of dried fish tied up for storage 401 49. Hand hammers or pestles 417 50. Ulos 421 51. Curved iron scraper 422 52. Halibut skin bag 426 53. Spruce root rainhat and gutskin rain shirt 436 54. Patterns for beaded moccasin tops . . _ .. 438 55. ThikwaxAdi man's dance shirt 440 56. Button blankets 442 57. Headdress 443 58. Face stamps 447 59. Baby carrier 503 60. Baby hammock 504 61. Tlingit child in hammock 505 62. Chair die 556 63. Carved wooden chessmen 557 64. Tlingit song recorded in Lituya Bay, 1786 560 65. Song recorded in Sitka Sound, 1787 562 66. Metal daggers from Port Mulgrave 586 67. War pick 588 68. Design for war bonnet 591 69. Face painting for peace hostages 600 70. Positions of hosts and guests at E>acE:qwan potlatch 625 71. Positions of hosts and guests at Teqwedi potlatch 631 72. Shaman's headdress and false beard 694 73. Shaman's false beard and headdress as worn 695 74. Shaman's prophetic bone 697 MAPS 1. The Yakutat Tlingit and their neighbors 14 2. The Gulf Coast of Alaska facing 17 3. Ice fronts and coast line, A.D. 600-1290 26 4. Ice fronts and coast line, A.D. 1700-1791 26 5. Hypothetical extension of glaciers during ice-flood stage 27 6. Yakutat Bay facing 59 7. Southeastern shore of Yakutat Bay 60 8. Yakutat Harbor facing 63 1. IN THREE PARTS CONTENTS xxiii Page 9. Yakutat Bay to the Alsek River 72 10. Monti Bay to Black Sand Island 73 11. Yakutat to the Alsek River Delta facing 79 12. The Alsek River 88 13. Dry Bay to Cross Sound facing 91 14. Iituya Bay 92 15. The Mount Saint Elias Region 96 16. Malespina Glacier to Cape Suckling facing 99 17. Controller Bay facing 101 18. Iituya Bay, from LaPerouse 118 19. Port Mulgrave as surveyed by Dixon 124 20. Route of Malaspina's explorations, 1791 140 21. Port Mulgrave as surveyed by Malaspina 142 22. Disenchantment Bay as surveyed by Malaspina 148 23. Yakutat Bay to Iituya Bay, 1849 160 24. Yakutat Bay to Cape Suckling, 1849 162 25. Yakutat Bay, 1849 168 26. Iituya Bay, 1849 179 Part 3 PLATES (listed on page 915) 918 APPENDIX (song titles listed on page xlvii) 1149 Index of Yakutat Tape Recordings 1370 INDEX 1375 Under Mount Saint Elias: The History and Culture of the Yakutat Tlingit PART ONE Introduction BASIC ASSUMPTIONS AND AIMS This report deals with the history and culture of the Indians of Yakutat, Alaska, based upon ethnographic fieldwork and upon historical sources. It continues and elaborates, therefore, the briefer study entitled "The Archeology of the Yakutat Bay Area, Alaska" (de Laguna et a]., 1964). These volumes were planned together, and were conceived as part of a more ambitious program of coordinated researches into the archeology, history, and ethnology of the northern Tlingit. The first exploratory study of this nature was made in the Angoon area and was published in 1960 as "The story of a Tlingit community: a problem in the relationship between archeological, ethnological, and historical methods." In that report, which owes its inception to the stimulation of the late Marian W. Smith, the basic premises and objectives of the program were stated, and the methods explained by which the fieldwork was conducted. The ultimate aim, as originally conceived, was ". . . to trace the development of Tlingit culture from the earliest period represented by discoverable remains down to the present time, not simply to present a descriptive history of Tlingit culture but to explore it as a case study in cultural dynamics. This would involve consideration of ancient cultural diffusion, continuity of traits and attitudes, internal readjustments and shifts in emphasis within the culture, the growth of those specialized patterns which give Tlingit culture its distinctive individuality, and the break-down of these under white contact with resulting consequences to Tlingit personality." [de Laguna, 1960, p. 5.] The archeological data from Yakutat have already been presented and interpreted in the light of Yakutat historical traditions and Yakutat ethnography, seen against the background of geological changes in the area, and analyzed to exhibit the distribution of Yakutat cultural traits along the Northwest Coast and in adjacent regions. Since nothing found could claim great antiquity, but all belonged to the period immediately preceding or following the first appearance of Europeans in 1787, our Yakutat archeology should be viewed as Yakutat ethnography of the 18th century. The study, unfortunately, could neither prove nor disprove the various theses advanced to explain the development of northern Northwest Coast culture (de Laguna, 1960, pp. 5-6), but could only suggest what may have been the prehistoric stages of cultural growth at Yakutat. Although the earlier emphasis of fieldwork at Yakutat was primarily directed toward the history of the culture, an understanding of that culture, for itself and in its own terms, came to be the more immediate aim. As I wrote in 1949: "It would be of interest to discover what aboriginal institutions or attitudes are still alive, what aspects of culture have broken down almost completely, and which ones have proved most responsive to change without losing their continuity with the past. "In all the history of growth, change, and breakdown it should be possible to trace certain continuities of pattern that are distinctively Tlingit. The ultimate objective of the whole study should be to discover some of the underlying causes and factors in this dynamic process. "An assumption which was not explicitly stated in the original formulation of the problem may be presented here, since it is basic to an understanding of Tlingit culture history, and since it received validation and illustration throughout our work in the field. Stated in its simplest form it is that the Tlingit themselves are as much responsible for their own culture and its history as are any of the peoples who have influenced them. In the past, it was they who, consciously or unconsciously, chose what to accept of the cultural innovations offered them through diffusion and what use to make of the opportunities thus afforded. It has been Tlingit character, interests, and orientations that have determined how these importations were reinterpreted to fit Tlingit ethos and adjusted to Tlingit culture." [de Laguna, 1960, pp. 7-8.] The understanding of Tlingit culture now, or even in the past when there was presumably a more homogeneous aboriginal life, involves not simply the elucidation of a set of ethnographic patterns, or norms, or behavioral averages, or ideals, as the characteristics of a "model system" in which the standard, average "individual" plays his culturally patterned roles. Rather, these cultural patterns make up the universe for many different, actual persons, who see it, live it, use it, accept it, or modify it, each in his or her own manner and from his or her own vantage point, and who find themselves fulfilled, molded, and thwarted, in varying degrees and in different ways, by the life to which each in some individual measure gives form and meaning. Ethnographic understanding demands not only a survey of behavior, concepts, and attitudes common to, or characteristic of, a group of such individuals, but, more importantly, the envisioning IN THREE PARTS INTRODUCTION of their cultural universe through the eyes of those who live in it. It is worth attempting this, even though our understanding can never be complete, since at best we will be able to see only certain aspects of the cultural universe from the perspectives of perhaps only a few persons, or even at times mistake our own reflections for the outlines of that alien reality. We must not expect perfect harmony in the viewpoints of those we study, if only because every culture, no matter how "functionally intact" or consistent, offers unequal opportunities to individuals and demands conflicting choices. Their satisfactions or dissatisfactions, their delight in the novel or their fear of change, their ambitions, their placid acceptance, or their rebellions, create those social equilibriums and strains that are the dynamic forces responsible for cultural continuity and change (de Laguna, 1952). Our own view of culture must be flexible enough to recognize these varying reactions, and our formulations loose enough to accommodate both the typical and the atypical (which, paradoxically, is just as typical in its own way). Yakutat culture presents its own particular problems. It is now Tlingit, but has not always been so. At least the aboriginal speech was Eyak, and the culture has always been somewhat marginal to the "classic" Tlingit. There are articulate traditions referring to the introduction of Thngit speech and Tlingit ceremonial and ritual elaborations. In referring to "Tlingit," however, we must not forget that local diversity distinguished the various geographical groups, as was recognized by the natives and early explorers alike who designated these tribal units by geographical names: Sitka, Hoonah, Auk, Chilkat, Stikine, etc. McClellan (1954, pp. 76, 82-83) has indicated how such local peculiarities furnished themes to be exploited in pot-latch ceremonial. Despite this, we do not know the full extent of these differences. We are simply aware that Frederick Sound marks a division between the northern and southern coastal Tlingit, and that there are also variations among island, mainland, and inland groups. Here, differences in ecological setting, in contacts with different foreign groups, or relative degrees of isolation, are obviously important factors. Yet no one of these tribal groups has been the subject of a full-scale ethnographic monograph, nor is there any study in which local peculiarities, other than sib composition, have been made clear. (McClellan will, however, deal with the Inland Tlingit in a forthcoming monograph.) Indeed, there is no single, detailed, and comprehensive study of Tlingit culture in general. Therefore, while we can interpret most of Yakutat culture in terms of what we know of Tlingit, we cannot be sure to what extent Yakutat is unique or, recognizing unique features, cannot be sure how to interpret these. There is local pride at Yakutat, and an a%vare-ness of their particular geographical position and of their special contacts with their non-Tlingit neighbors. There is also great respect for the Tlingit of Sitka and Klukwan, from whom some of the lineages are derived and with whom many individuals are united by ties of kinship. Even a primarily historical study of Yakutat culture requires not only a recording of events and changes, but an attempt to answer that simpler but more difficult question: What is (was) Yakutat culture? Even if we find answers, how should we present them? How shall we write the ethnography of a people? The life of a people, seen through their eyes, is the picture of a universe. It encompasses all of the world, all that matters, all that was established in the beginning of time and that will endure to the end, all that has been introduced, has changed or will change, or will someday vanish. One could, of course, try to describe such a world as it gradually unfolds before the baby born into it, or sketch its outlines as they are first apprehended and later become more sharply defined for the ethnologist. Neither course would, of itself, lead to a full portrait of the culture, for the ethnologist would first, in either case, be obliged to present an understanding of the world in order to make clear what is happening to the child or what his own experiences mean. As we know, the native autobiography, presented without explanations either by the teller or by the ethnographer-editor, conveys little meaning to the reader who does not already know something about the culture. The attempt of the ethnographer to publish his full diary and notes in the hope of exhibiting what he had learned and how he had come to learn it, would also be confusing, for he could never make clear or explicit the prior assumptions, understandings, prejudices, and theoretical orientations which colored, transformed, and illumined his first contacts with an alien people, much less the often undramatic but more intricate processes by which he came to know them better. To write an ethnography from such a point of view would demand that the ethnographer constantly observe and study himself in the act of observing and studying others. The attempt might be an exceedingly interesting experiment in investigating the methodology of fieldwork, but would hardly be itself an adequate ethnography. Such autobiographical accounts as have been published are literally reflections, reconstructions from memory, made either after the return from the field, or during pauses in the fieldwork. One is, of necessity, always more aware in the field of what one is learning or trying to learn than of the processes of learning, and the concentrated, vicarious SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 participation in the life of others, demanded by exploration of another culture, precludes a sophisticated study of one's own experiences while that exploration is in process. There has been a fashion of late to condemn the so-called "classic monograph" as giving only the formal outlines of institutions and customs, not their inner meanings, or the values for those who practice them, or their "functions" (too often the meanings ascribed to them by the ethnologist himself), or their mutual interrelationships within a system. I believe that these strictures apply only to poorly written accounts; poor either because the writer had failed to penetrate deeply and so did not know the culture very well, or because he was afraid of presenting material that might be judged irrelevant or subjective. The good ethnographer, however, is not really constrained by the monographic form but uses it simply as a framework for organizing his material. For this purpose, the "classic" form is neither better nor worse than any other form of presentation, since all are of necessity linear expositions of something which is multidimensional, complex, never completely integrated nor completely understood by anyone. No presentation can claim to be definitive, although some may exhibit a wider awareness and broader range of interests than others, for never have all possible questions been asked or answered, and some of the most important questions unfortunately arise during the very process of writing. The richer the field data, the more selection is necessary for presentation in the monograph. Lastly, each account is tinged in ways of which the ethnographer himself cannot be fully aware. The order of presentation of data can perhaps best be determined by what are felt to be the major emphases of the particular culture and the clearest ways of exhibiting them. Beyond this, more easily organizable material will be a wealth of seeming trivialities, of observations that do not seem to fit any organized table of Contents or that are themselves incomplete items of information. The present temptation is to discard these, and to write only a study focused on some clearly defined aspect of the culture, preferably something that can be handled at a distance like a "theoretical model," sacrificing the vivid, the concrete, the obstinately awkward detail, for the more abstract, neatly articulated and esthetically satisfying "elegant" presentation. It wall be obvious that I have not attempted the latter course, but have, perhaps rashly, risked being both unscientific and subjective in trying to let the ethnographic data exhibit Yakutat culture as I believe it is understood by the Yakutat people. A Tlingit philosopher might well begin by trying to explain his views of the universe in which men live, for the nature of that world determines and is determined by the ways in which men live in it. There are not only spatial dimensions to be considered, but temporal ones as well, since the world was not always as it is now. We should, therefore, have to understand not only the cosmology, geography, and notions of tune and space, but also the vital forces of the world and man's relation to them. These fundamental questions have never, as far as I can tell, been systematically explored by a native philosopher, or, at least, I have never worked with such an informant. Only scattered, although often illuminating, insights into these problems have been given me. Perhaps for this reason, I was dissatisfied with my initial attempt to begin this ethnography with the native view of the universe, and have therefore postponed to a later chapter a discussion, admittedly conjectural, of man and nature. Instead, after an introduction to the land and its inhabitants, I have presented a discussion of the ecology of the Yakutat area in terms of our knowledge of its geography, geology, climate, and biota, also trying to indicate what the Gulf Coast of Alaska and its resources mean to the aboriginal inhabitants as then- living space. Across the stage of the aboriginal world have moved the ancestors of the people, already in Tlingit view divided into sibs of the Raven and Eagle-Wolf moieties. The histories of these groups are the expressions of their destinies established in the legendary past by "supernatural events" (as we wTould call them) which endowed each sib with its totemic crest and with other symbols that determine or confirm its identity and its relationship to the world of nature. The interrelationships between sibs form the framework for all the important social activities of individuals, while enduring social ties are symbolized most vividly and concretely in the lineage houses of which the sib is composed. The ways in which the people make a living, securing their food and clothing, their medicines and luxuries, bring us back again to a further understanding of their environment. These are not simply technological activities, but have moral aspects—men are not something apart from nature, but share with "animate" and seemingly "inanimate" things the same being, while "natural laws" have social, moral, and "supernatural" aspects. We shall have to consider these aspects in order to understand how men should act in order to secure good fortune and success, or even to survive. We must explore in some detail the organization of human society, the relationships between moieties, sibs, and lineages, between chiefs, commoners and slaves, between the various Tlingit geographical communities, and between the Tlingit and foreign peoples. The basic social groups are symbolized by totemic crests and heirlooms, by names, by songs and dances, and their symbols are all manipulated at the great ceremonies of the potlatch and of peacemaking, and even in trading, IN THREE PARTS INTRODUCTION for these are the occasions when social relations are established, maintained, or reaffirmed. The fundamental social groupings determine the relationships of men to the territories from which they obtain their livelihood, to the animals and plants that inhabit it, and to the unseen forces allied with shaman and witch, as well as, of course, the kinship of man to man. In the minds of the natives, perhaps, the order of these relationships may be reversed, and the homeland or the bonds with animals may determine the order of human society. Lastly, we must come to the individual himself, following the pattern of his life from birth to death, or rather through a cycle which has no beginning or end, since the human soul is immortal, and is repeatedly reincarnated in the same lineage, just as the souls of all living creatures continue to reanimate new bodies when the old are discarded. The picture which I am attempting to present is one that will go back to a time when my oldest informants were young, some 80-90 years ago. It is based on the memories of their childhood and on the traditions taught them by their parents and grandparents. Through the last there will be glimpses into a still more remote past. It will be obvious that since these informants are of different ages, lived in different settlements, and had different personal experiences and interests, their accounts will not be uniform. There have been many changes since 1880, and these are indicated where appropriate, although it is not my intention to present a study of Yakutat acculturation. In any event, such a study would have a flavor of artificiality, because changes of certain kinds, occurring within certain temporal limits, would have been arbitrarily selected for emphasis, whereas Yakutat culture, like that of any group, is an on-going, multifaceted, never stable set of living patterns. My view admittedly will be directed more toward the past than the present, but it will become evident how much that past is still alive. Since I want to show Tlingit culture as lived by my informants, I let them speak for themselves in their own words as far as possible, respecting when advisable the anonymity of living individuals. This may result in an idealized picture of aboriginal life, partly because some persons were consciously concerned to present their culture in as favorable a light as possible, and partly because vanished glories shine the brighter for those who have lost them, just as the wild strawberries of youth taste sweeter in retrospect than any that grow today. But there are also criticisms of the old days, and omissions of practices well documented in early historical records, that are, perhaps, as significant as corroboration. Yet the pattern of values, as attested by myth and legend, by remembered moral preachment and biographical incident, seems to be not only the core of the aboriginal culture but that part which best endures as long as the culture retains any living integrity. For this reason, the past as idealized by the Tlingit themselves has a special kind of validity and vitality, the more so since in any age the great deeds of ancestors, their moral qualities, skills, accomplishments, and spiritual powers have been held up as models for the present generation to emulate, The ideals of the past are recalled because they provide the norms by which people still try to pattern their lives. One may well wonder why so much is remembered and respected, and why a "memory culture" refuses to die, but continues to function as a fairly lively ghost. I believe that Francis A. Riddell has offered a correct explanation. In his ethnological-archeological work in California he had been impressed by the persistence of aboriginal cultural patterns despite years of exposure to intensive acculturative forces. He found, however, that as long as the social groups could preserve their integrity, and family ties be maintained, little children continued to learn from then" grandparents, who normally cared for them while the parents worked. Later, when that younger generation had perhaps tried to make a living and a satisfactory life in the White man's world, only to meet with disappointment, they would ultimately find greater worth in native life and its values. These middle-aged people would turn again to the aged for reinstruction in the old culture. This same process has clearly been operating among the Tlingit where bonds between grandparents and grandchildren are especially close, and where the wisdom of the aged is traditionally revered and the wishes of parents respected. During the span of my fieldwork at Yakutat I have heard several of the older natives regret their renunciation of the old ways and have witnessed their attempts to revive them again. In describing Yakutat culture, there are times when it is necessary to explain, summarize, and interpret, and here it is impossible to prevent a shift in point of view from the inside one of the native to the outside one of the ethnographer. There are obvious gaps, due to ignorance on the part of informants or to my failure to ask the right questions of the right people. I find now in writing, not only glaring omissions which might have been filled in the field, but also discover much of what I had previously been unaware, and regret that it is no longer possible to check these new insights. However, such a process could have no end, for a culture is too rich to be ever exhausted. It was naive to suppose, as I did in 1954 when returning to Yakutat, that I could "fill in gaps" in my knowledge without simultaneously discovering as much or more that still needed to be learned, for each new piece of information seemed to open up new fields for questioning or observation, and further knowledge only revealed 8 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 more distant and enticing vistas which there was no opportunity to explore. Although it is my primary concern to exhibit Yakutat culture "from the inside," it must first be approached from the outside—that is, with a description of the people and country of Yakutat from our point of view, so that we may orient ourselves in the terrain and identify the tribes and sibs with which we have to deal. More importantly, we must study the history of White exploration and settlement and the observations made by White explorers and visitors. Deficient though we may judge their accounts, or tantalizingly silent about so many matters which they could easily have reported verbally or in sketches, their views of the Yakutat people antedate by a full century the actual memories of our oldest informants, and supplement or contrast in significant ways with native traditions. These earliest accounts, combined with the reports of later visitors and residents in the area, provide a background against which native tradition can be better viewed. The very biases of these White men are of interest, as indicating the kinds of pressures to which the Yakutat people were subjected. More than this, the historical records will help us to understand how the Yakutat people reacted to their foreign influences, and how the foreigners in their turn responded. In short, we will be better able to see what the Yakutat people have made of their lives. It will also help us to avoid the fallacy of picturing the aboriginal culture in a fictional tuneless "present." For ethnographic insight involves temporal depth of vision, and also the acknowledgment that every people lives its own mythology. 'Ha (our) CAgiin' is conceptualized by the Yakutat Tlingit as the origin and destiny of the sib to which each individual belongs. It is manifested in the beginnings, in the history, and in the future of the line. The ethnologist, too, must see the present (and by implication, the future) as shaped both by the idealized and by the actual past, neither of which can be thoroughly understood without the other, and without which the present is a shadowy two-dimensional projection of reality. CONDUCT OF THE FIELDWORK On my first visit to Yakutat in 1949, contacts with the native people were sporadic and unsystematic. Not only were we living on "Cannery Row," about half a mile from the nearest native houses, but much of our time had to be devoted to archeological exploration. It was on this trip, however, that I renewed my old friendship with Annie Nelson. She was the widow of Galushia Nelson, and these were the Eyak couple at Cordova with whom Dr. Birket-Smith and I had worked in the spring of 1933 (Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938). Now in 1949 she was married to a Yakutat man, Sampson Harry, and her first child, Johnny Nelson, whom I had last seen as a little boy, was a young man. From him, I learned something of what had happened to the other Eyak we had known at Cordova in 1933, and also gained some understanding of what it meant to be a youth at Yakutat. On this first visit also, I began a long friendship with Minnie Gray Johnson. At that time she was living in a big house in the middle of town. The following winter it was destroyed by fire, and she lost a priceless collection of native baskets, boxes, blankets, ceremonial costumes, and old photographs. Helen Bremner also opened her heart to us, and her husband, Harry K. Bremner, learning of our interest, tramped home the 9 miles along the railway track from fish camp in order to tell us the native history of Yakutat. We also visited Mrs. Maggie Harry, Mr. and Mrs. Olaf Abraham, and several others whom I came to know better in later years. During the first summer, Edward Malin was particularly helpful, especially for his skill in sketching and his warmth in making friends. Through him, I met Peter Lawrence, aged veteran of the first successful ascent of Mount Saint Elias. William Irving was primarily occupied with archeological work that summer, although he did gather data about the then recently incorporated community of Yakutat. On my return in 1952, with Catharine McClellan, we were fortunate in being able to live in a nice little house on the main street, right in the center of town, between the church and the ANB (Alaska Native Brotherhood) Hall on the one hand, and the post office and jail on the other. Across the street was the new house in which Minnie Johnson was living with her little granddaughter, Catharine ("Tiny") Cranston, so we naturally saw a great deal of her and her friends. Her house was, in fact, a center for the social life of the older people in the community. Catharine McClellan and I also tried to make our house a place where all the people could feel welcome, and there we enjoyed many visits from native friends and neighbors. IN THREE PARTS INTRODUCTION Just after I had moved into this house in June, and before Catharine McClellan and the archeological crew joined me, I was invited to go on a daylong excursion to Haenke ("Egg") Island in Disenchantment Bay with a large party of natives aboard Paul Henry's new gas-boat, the Fairweather. This was a wonderful experience, not only because it enabled me to learn a good deal about the geography of Yakutat Bay, but because the festive atmosphere of the outing served to establish new friendships. It was on this trip that I first met Emma Ellis, still in mourning for the death that spring of her husband, Jack Ellis, whom I had known in 1949. Some of the young fellows with us shot a number of seals in Disenchantment Bay, and we all had a picnic supper of delicious boiled seal meat and broth before embarking on the long trip home. Nothing perhaps so readily admits a stranger into comradeship as the common enjoyment of favorite local foods. Later in the summer, our entire party was able to make a trip on the Fairweather clear to the very head of Yakutat Bay, Nunatak Fiord, and Kussell Fiord. Owing to the kindness of J. B. Mallott, who ran an extension line from his electric generator into the empty school building, we were able to play for a native audience some Tlingit songs that had been recorded at Angoon in 1950. These were heard with great interest which later enabled us to make tape recordings of Yakutat songs. For most of the latter, Minnie Johnson provided a translation. On my return to Bryn Mawr in the fall of 1952, Dr. Thomas Benham, Professor of Physics at Haverford College, helped me to edit and copy these songs onto a master tape. From this, phonograph records were cut and sent back to Yakutat to all those who had made the original recordings. Another occasion which led to greater mutual understanding came late in the summer of 1952 when Catharine AlcClellan showed our colored slides in the church, while I explained our work. The people were particularly interested in the series that illustrated the many kinds of local foods available, and how these were preserved, especially since Yakutat Bay is traditionally noted for its abundance of fine seals, fish, berries, and "beach food." Catharine McClellan and I had profited from our earlier collaboration at Angoon in 1950. We followed the same general procedures of fieldwork (de Laguna, 1960, pp. 12-15), except that we improved our skills in recording statements verbatim, an accomplishment in which she surpasses me. Since we usually worked together, we would normally have two versions of each interview to be checked against each other and combined in making the final typed copies. Such verbatim (or nearly verbatim) transcriptions were invaluable, not simply because they recorded as faithfully as possible the peoples' own observations about their own culture, 265-517—72—voL VII, pt. 1 3 but because they preserved information which might not be completely understood at the time but which later comments could often illuminate and make significant. Unfortunately, there were often two versions of each Tlingit word or phrase, with subsequent variations as the word was mentioned on later occasions. In some cases I am fairly confident that a reasonably accurate transcription was eventually achieved, but in others I have been forced to offer several versions. Quite possibly some of the differences may reflect dialectical variations, especially since our informants or their parents had come from various settlements all along the Gulf of Alaska or even from southeastern Alaska, and local differences in pronunciation are recognized. Moreover, it seems that there are also differences in pronunciation between those who speak no English or very little, and those who speak it so regularly that they are "like third grade in then: own language." During the summer of 1952 our house at Yakutat also served as headquarters for the four men who were excavating at the site of Old Town on Knight Island (de Laguna et al., 1964). From time to time, members of the archeological crew would come to Yakutat, bringing specimens which they had found and which we would discuss with informants. In August, Catharine McClellan and I visited the site for several days, participating in the digging. Due to Catharine McClellan's initiative, a number of native plants were collected. Whenever possible these were shown to our informants in order to secure their Tlingit names and any information about their possible use. In this way, samples of several native medicines were obtained. These plants were taken by Francis Riddell to California where they were identified by Dr. F. R. Heckard, at the University of California Herbarium, and by Dr. William Steere, at the Herbarium of Stanford University, who had previously identified botanical specimens from Angoon. These specimens are now at Bryn Mawr College. During the summer of 1953, Francis Riddell and Kenneth S. Lane, although busy with excavations at Knight Island, nevertheless managed to secure some ethnographic information which is, of course, incorporated in this account. In February, 1954, I returned to Yakutat, accompanied by my mother and by Mary Jane Downs. The latter served as ethnographic assistant. This time we rented a house, belonging to John Ellis, which was situated on top of a steep bank well above the main road. Because of its location we were thrown into closer contact with new neighbors: Mr. and Mrs. Olaf Abraham, Emma Ellis and her son (our landlord), Mr. and Mrs. Charley White, and Mr. and Mrs. Sheldon James, Sr. My old friends, however, also climbed the snowy trail to visit us. At first we were without electric 10 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 current, but in March, Robert Welsh permitted us to tap the cannery line so that we had not only electric lights but power for the tape recorder. The phonograph records of native songs which had been sent as Christmas presents to those who had sung for us in 1952 had, in the meantime, stimulated an intense interest in Tlingit music. A number of the earlier singers had died since 1952, and the recordings which they had made had been played at their funeral potlatches, which in itself gave a value to our efforts in preserving the songs. More extensive recordings could, therefore, be made in 1954, although it was usually not possible to arrange for as large a chorus as would have been desirable. The revived interest in native songs also led to some new compositions. On our return from the field, Dr. Benham of Haverford College was again generous with his equipment and skill, helping me to copy the songs so that records could be cut and sent to the performers. Again, as previously, copies of photographs were sent to all who had posed for us. Because our field trip in 1954 was made in the winter and early spring, with heavy snowfalls, many more hours of the day had to be devoted to the tasks of living: pumping fuel oil for the space heater, carrying coal, chopping kindling, fetching water from a hole cut through the ice of a nearby pond, shoveling snow, hauling groceries on a sled, etc. However, these simple chores were those of our neighbors, some of whom said they knew we were "just like" them, when they saw us every morning spreading ashes on the steep path below our door. Since a fire from a defective oil stove had destroyed one house in the village that winter, we were particularly grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Paul Henry and to Olaf Abraham who dealt so effectively with the fire on our own roof, caused by an overheated stovepipe. On another occasion, when our oil heater threatened to burn down the house, all of the neighbors ran to our rescue and skillfully brought the heater under control in the nick of time. Aside from these adventures, the work was conducted much as before, except that I profited from Mary Jane Downs' skill in stenographic transcription. Without her special ability and devotion, I would never have been able to secure the complete record of an interview that lasted some 10 hours, and eventually formed some 75 typed pages, single-spaced! Among the major events of the winter was the discovery of the body of Conrad Edwards, who had drowned in 1953. In April, the niece of one of our best friends was killed in an automobile accident, an event that shocked the community. These two tragic occurrences demonstrated how sib and moiety alinements still continue to function in comforting the bereaved, honoring the dead, and in carrying out all the onerous obligations of the wake, funeral, and burial. Memorial Day meant an exodus of the entire community to decorate the graves in the cemetery at the mouth of the Ankau, and also provided an occasion for us to visit all the other graveyards near Yakutat. In this way we were able to learn a good deal about the older generations from the inscriptions on tombstones, especially when these were discussed with informants who could identify the dead by their native names. On each of the fieldtrips all members of the parties kept diaries, of which I have copies. These recorded our own activities, events in the life of the community, notes on the weather, on birds and animals seen or reported, and descriptions of places visited on excursions. In addition, we prepared typed copies of all interviews. The original copy has been microfilmed for safekeeping by the American Philosophical Society; a second copy I have cut apart and filed according to the type of ethnographic information obtained. There are also special notes pertaining to the songs recorded including, when possible, both the native text and a translation. Copies of these notes and of the unedited tapes are deposited with the Folklore Division of the Library of Congress and with the American Philosophical Society. Other records consist of two Ror-schach protocols, analyzed by Maude (Mrs. A. Irving) Hallowell, sketches made in 1949 by Edward Malin (also microfilmed by the American Philosophical Society), and photographs taken by various members of the different parties, of which I have copies. Dr. Catherine McClellan also has copies of the tapes and notes from 1952 and 1954 (Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Madison). From the information thus obtained, we have compiled not only a Tlingit vocabulary, but lists of place names, lineage houses and crests, and native names of all persons who were mentioned in interviews or could be identified from their tombstones. These personal names are arranged according to sib affiliation. There is also a complete census and map of the town as of 1952, as well as lists of earlier houses and their principal occupants. I cannot claim that the genealogical records, although numbering over a thousand entries, are complete. To have attempted an exhaustive compilation of this kind would have meant sacrificing the opportunity to gather other, more valuable, ethnographic data. IN THREE PARTS INTRODUCTION 11 TRANSCRIPTION OF NATIVE WORDS The system of transcription of native words is essentially that employed by Boas (1917) for writing Chilkat Tlingit, except that diagraphs are used for affricatives, and A, B, I, and u are substituted for Greek letters. Raised w is used instead of raised "■ in indicating such rounded back consonants as kw, qw, and xw. These are phonemically different from kw, qw, xw, etc., according to Velten (1944, p. 168, note 6), even though I was not always able to distinguish between the two sets of sounds. All voiceless consonants are aspirated (It, q, i, etc.), but the aspirate sign is here omitted. All initial vowels are preceded by a slight glottal stop, that is, at the beginning of a word, and often at the beginning of a syllable. This glottal stop and also the glottalization of consonants are very lightly pronounced by most present-day speakers at Yakutat, so that mistakes may have been made in transcription. In this respect, also, the speech of these younger men and women is in striking contrast to that of the older, non-English-speaking informants, most of whom had been practiced in oratory and who more clearly aspirate or glottalize voiceless consonants. We should also note that some apparent inconsistencies in transcription reflect the slight dialectical differences which informants recognized. The people from Dry Bay are believed to speak more like the Tlingit of Sitka or Hoonah. Thus, the southeastern Alaskan Tlingit and Dry Bay people pronounce 'whale' as yay, while at Yakutat it is pronounced as yay. There are also known to have been some recent changes in the Tlingit spoken at Yakutat; for example, y (velar y) has in many cases shifted to w. Thus, many persons say wase, not yase, for Yahtse, the river in Icy Bay from which Mount Saint Elias derives its native name. Velten (1939, 1944) has discussed Tlingit phonetics, pointing out that Boas' transcriptions of 1917 are entirely phonemic, even though Boas worked with a Chilkat informant, and Velten himself with the southernmost dialect of Klawak on Prince of Wales Island. Although pitch is of morphophonemic importance in Tlingit, I often failed to hear it, or heard it inconsistently. Despite the errors, known or suspected, Tlingit words and phrases are included wherever relevant; the use of these expressions helped us the better to understand Tlingit thought. While I made no attempt to study Tlingit linguistics for itself, these efforts may be of some slight value to other scholars. For this report, I was also given copies of the notes which had been made by Dr. John P. Harrington at Yakutat in 1939-40 and which are now in the Archives of the Smithsonian Office of Anthropology. When transcribing Tlingit, Harrington indicated the lengths of the consonants and vowels (by double or single letters), a feature usually ignored by other linguists. He distinguished surds from sonants by indicating the aspirations of the former (i.e., kh or kkh for k, and k for g). Velar k (q) and velar g (g) he rendered by boldfaced letters: kh and k. Velar y (y was usually gamma (7) or velar gamma (7) , as indeed, I was often inclined to hear it. In using his notes, I have sometimes substituted the more familiar q, g, and y for these last three velar sounds. Harrington makes a sharp distinction between the forward x and velar x, but I have omitted his special symbol for the first. It should be noted that Dr. Michael Krauss, Professor of Linguistics at the University of Alaska, is incorporating all of Harrington's Eyak material from Yakutat in his own definitive study of that language. In his own work the latter uses the accepted modern symbols, but in referring to the Eyak place names he sent me I have changed these to correspond to the system used here: for example, Krauss' c (my ts), s (my c), 6 (tc), X (tl), G (g),? (glottal stop,'), and -» (nasalization, n). Literal or accurate translations of native words and expressions I indicate by single quotes ('—■'); free translations or explanations offered by my informants, as well as other remarks in English, are indicated, by double quotation marks ("—"). The Land and its People 14 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 15 INTRODUCTION TO YAKUTAT Yakutat, latitude 59°31' N., longitude 139°40' W., is a Tlingit community. This does not mean, however, that it should be taken as a typical Tlingit town, for indeed there is none. We are accustomed to think of the Tlingit as people forming one tribe, in the ethnographical sense, yet there are known differences among the various Tlingit groups which would make it wiser to recognize a number of tribes within the Tlingit nation. There are, in general, four major groups of Tlingit: Southern (coastal), Northern (coastal), Inland, and Gulf Coast. Yakutat is the only settlement now representing this last group. The character of each of these divisions is largely determined by its particular geographical and ecological environment, and their differences are reflected in their manner of life and habits of speech. In the minds of the natives, the distinctions between the particular matrilineal sibs that make up these groups is of equal or greater importance, even though each community is of necessity composed of members of the two pan-Tlingit exogamous moieties, Raven and Wolf-Eagle. To identify the Yakutat people we must sketch the important features of their homeland in relation to the whole Tlingit world. The Tlingit World Southeastern Alaska, or the "panhandle," where may be found most of the Tlingit as well as the northern Haida (Kaigani) and the Tsimshian community of New Metlakatla, is, according to the Coast Pilot (vol. 8, 1962, p. 17) "a 30-mile-wide strip of mainland bordered by an 80-mile-wide compact chain of islands [Alexander Archipelago]. Most of the islands are mountainous, rough, and broken, and are covered with dense growths of spruce, hemlock, and cedar except on the higher summits. The mountains of the mainland are higher, less wooded, and usually snowcapped." In midsummer the snowline stands at 2,000-3,000 feet, with glaciers snaking down to tidewater. The coast line is intricate, measuring only 250 nautical miles along the ocean front, but convoluted and broken into a tidal shoreline of some 11,000 miles. There is little level land except at the mouths of streams. Rather, the land rises abruptly from the salt water and its steep slopes plunge below sea level to form the system of deep narrow channels, known as the Inside Passage, which extends over 1,000 miles from Cape Spencer to Puget Sound. Many native canoemen, watchful of tidal currents and kelp-covered reefs, have made lengthy voyages without the necessity of venturing into the open ocean. In this way the Tlingit have come to know their southern neighbors: the Tsimshian of the northern British Columbia mainland, the Haida of Queen Charlotte Islands, the Kwakiutl farther south, and the still more distant Coast Salish. From southeastern Alaska, access to the interior beyond the mountains is possible only along such rivers as the Stikine and Taku, or from the head of Lynn Canal in the northwest over the White, Chilkoot, and Chilkat Passes. These inland routes, or "grease trails," were formerly controlled by local Tlingit sibs who monopolized the trade with the Athabaskan bands in the interior. Down these valleys in ancient days, according to Tlingit tradition, had come adventurous groups who lost their original identities and became Tlingit sibs. In reverse direction have also moved small groups of coastal Tlingit who went to find inland homes. In southern Yukon Territory, at the headwaters of the Yukon and Taku, live the Inland Tlingit, named for Lakes Teslin and Atlin, and the Tagish, their territories protruding like a wedge between that of the Tahltan Athabaskans to the southest and that of the Southern Tutchone Athabaskans on the northwest. These Inland Tlingit live a life which is largely indistinguishable from that of their Athabaskan neighbors, based as it must be upon the hunting of moose and (formerly) caribou, trapping fur bearers to trade, and catching fish in inland lakes or at the headwaters of the rivers. The climate is continental, with great extremes in temperature, but is much drier than on the coast. It is a harsh land, of scattered food resources and consequently of relatively small, wandering bands. Its wealth was in its furs. (See McClellan, 1953.) In southeastern Alaska, on the other hand, the climate is "largely dominated by winds which have come off a part of the Pacific Ocean that has been warmed by the Japanese Current." On the mainland and inner islands it is more continental in character, and while there are considerable variations in temperature and precipitation in the more mountainous areas, in general "high humidity, fogs, heavy cloud cover, small temperature range, and abundant precipitation are characteristic of the maritime zone" {Coast Pilot 8, 1962, p. 18). If the land seems to have relatively little to offer, other than materials for manufactures including clothing, the sea and its shores are rich in food. Even the salmon caught in the streams have not long left the sea, and still retain their fine flavor and firm flesh. The region could probably have supported a larger aboriginal population than it is known to have possessed. 16 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 Within the southern panhandle, we must recognize a distinction between the Northern and Southern Tlingit, the boundary being roughly marked by Frederick Sound and the southern reaches of Chatham Strait between Baranof and Kuiu Islands. South and east of this line live the Southern Tlingit: (from south to north) the Sanya (Cape Fox), Tongass, and Stikine (Wrangell) along the mainland and more sheltered waters; and the Henya (and Klawak), Kuiu, and Kake on the islands. The Northern Tlingit include the Sumdum, Taku, Auk, and Chilkat-Chilkoot along the mainland; and the Angoon, Sitka, and Hoonah of the outer islands and coasts. There are slight differences in pronunciation between the quick-speaking southerners and the more drawling, louder northerners. The former could get red cedar for canoe building and red cedar bark for mats and baskets, and they were naturally more influenced by the Tsimshian and Haida. In contrast, the northern groups were restricted to spruce wood (or yellow cedar and, sometimes, cottonwood) for canoes, and made decorated spruce root baskets. The mainland tribes in both divisions had closer contacts with the interior peoples, whom they used to visit regularly to procure furs, becoming skillful in handling canoes on swift rivers and trained to carry heavy packs over the passes. In contrast, those living on the more exposed coasts were of necessity seamen and hunters of sea mammals, even though their territories also offered many sheltered bays and lagoons. The Gulf Coast of Alaska When, however, one leaves the shelter of Cross Sound, running through the tidal rapids of Inian Pass and rounding Cape Spencer, one enters the open sea, stretching unbroken from Alaska to Antarctica. The Alaskan coast trends in a generally northwesterly direction to Ocean Cape at the mouth of Yakutat Bay, a distance of some 130 nautical miles from Cape Spencer, and westerly for an equal distance beyond this to Cape Saint Elias and Controller Bay. Along this great regular arc of the Gulf Coast there is no chain of sizable offshore islands, and the surf beats on exposed beaches. Beyond Controller Bay and the Copper River Delta, the coast again becomes irregular as one enters Prince William Sound, the home of the Chugach Eskimo, deadly enemies of the Yakutat people. About midway in this nearly unbroken 300-mile coastline, lies Yakutat Bay. To the southeast are only two significant indentations; Lituya Bay, 40 nautical miles northwest of Cape Spencer, and Dry Bay or the mud-filled delta of the Alsek River, some 40 nautical miles farther northwest. About 50 nautical miles west of Yakutat, a retreating arm of the Mala-spina-Bering icefield has only recently exposed Icy Bay. From here to Controller Bay, about 80 or 90 nautical miles beyond, there are only a few landing places where boats may be taken through, the breakers into the mouths of the larger streams. Local knowledge as well as skill is demanded in handling small craft if one is to navigate this shore, penetrate the tidal mudflats in the bays, or enter the shelter of streams and rivers. This is the Gulf Coast of Alaska, a ribbon of low-lying land between the open Pacific and the snowcapped mountams of the Fairweather, Saint Elias, and Chugach Ranges. Great icefields descend from these heights, in many areas joined and linked together to form great plateau or "through" glaciers (Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 36) that are among the wonders of the world. These are "ice-flooded valleys," described by Russell (1892, p. 47) as "vast, smooth snow surfaces without crevasses [that] stretched away to limitless distances, broken only by jagged angular mountain peaks." Vancouver (1801, vol. 5, pp. 358-359) likened them to "a plain composed of a solid mass of ice or frozen snow," as if an inland sea had turned to ice. In many areas these "through" glaciers offered routes for early native travel and, later, for prospectors. The most important links are between Lituya Bay and the Alsek River, between Glacier Bay on Cross Sound and the upper Alsek, and between the Alsek and the head of Yakutat Bay. Farther west, the awesome piedmont lobes of the Malaspina and Bering Glaciers spread down from the mountains between Yakutat Bay and Bering River on Controller Bay, reminding us of the continental ice sheets of the Pleistocene. This ice also served as a route between the coast and the Copper River valley. Some glaciers from the mountains or from interior fields still plunge into tidewater to discharge their bergs, despite the general retreat which they have suffered since first seen by White men almost 200 years ago. Others thrust their snouts into the turgid waters of the two great rivers, the Alsek and the Copper, that cut through the mountains to the sea. Most glaciers have shrunk back up into their valleys, leaving behind a desolate jumble of boulder-clay, and the giant Malaspina hides the greater part of its 80-mile long seaward margin under a forest-covered moraine. Below the curiously straight seaward face of the mountain arc, the land is narrow, perhaps only 15 miles wide at its maximum, and is, geologically speaking, new, formed by detritus brought down by the glacial streams, by the moraines abandoned by ice fronts that once reached the sea, or by formerly submerged beach deposits lifted above the waves. In many places the trees have not yet established them- 3 v^ti^; w Vfewc-?^ ^^M'%^ MAP 2.—The Gulf Coast of Alaska. Redrawn by Richard A. Gould from U.S.G.S. Topographic series, "Alaska, Map B." IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 17 selves on the grassy flats and swamplands, or grow only in narrow bands of dark forest along old moraines and beach ridges. Many lakes dot the flats or lie at the feet of the glaciers. Because so many streams enter the sea laden with silt and the ocean currents in general set northwestward along the shore, bars form at the stream mouths, often creating a maze of shallow tidal lagoons and estuaries behind the beach, and the streams may have to follow these for several miles westward before they can empty into the sea. The ocean far out in front of the major rivers is discolored with glacial silt. Changes in sea level that often accompany earthquakes, glacial advances and retreats even within the Christian Era, winter storms, and the never-ceasing deposition of the muddy burden of the streams continually modify the pattern of the shoreline. Because the foreshore is low, vessels standing prudently offshore may not descry it at all, but can mistake gaps in the mountains behind for broad bays leading inland, hence the confusion in "discovering" "Bering's Bay" or "Admiralty Bay" in various localities southeast of what we now call Yakutat Bay. Frequently the land is obscured by clouds and fog, the open Gulf lashed by rain or snowstorms, and seasick passengers (on those days when passenger steamers still crossed the Gulf) had no conception of the glory hidden from their eyes. Or, a rare miracle might sweep clear the sky, leaving only the dazzling white of the peaks and that clear blue seen only in Alaska, and the Pacific Ocean subside into the mirrorlike calm of a pond. I have been fortunate to see it so, when the Gulf was filled with small boats, tugs, ponderous piledrivers, and other unseaworthy craft, hastening at their best snail's pace to cross while the fair weather endured. It was in such weather that Malaspina came to Yakutat Bay and found it a land of enchantment; for Dixon and Colnett before him it was only "Foggy Harbour." Some of those explorers or traders who came under less pleasant circumstances have perhaps allowed foul weather to color all of their impressions of the country and its inhabitants. In my eyes, with the possible exception of Greenland, the Gulf Coast of Alaska is the most beautiful country in the world, and its native inhabitants also see it as beautiful, mentioning this among the principal attractions leading to its settlement. But it is not an easy country in which to live. Endurance, skill, courage, and expert knowledge are demanded for survival. The local natives and the voyagers who visited this region were perforce truly mariners, paddling almost out of sight of land to pursue the sea otter or sailing for days at a time on long trading voyages without a safe harbor. Only in Yakutat Bay can protection be sought in time of storm; other places 265-&17—72—vol. VII, pt. 1 1 grant shelter for boats already inside, but cannot be safely entered in rough weather. The region about Yakutat Bay and extending eastward to Dry Bay is also the only area extensive enough to support more than a sparse permanent population. On this narrow foreshore, behind the breakers and under the snowy pyramid of Mount Saint Elias, live the people who are the subject of this study. The Gulf Coast Tribes The story of Yakutat is in many respects that of the whole Gulf of Alaska from Cross Sound to the edge of Prince William Sound. This is not because the inhabitants of this narrow coastal strip were alike in speech and culture, or had a common origin; indeed, they spoke at least three or four different languages, and traced their origins to different homelands. But they became united through trade, war, potlatches, and intermarriage; and in the last chapters of their history, which is all that we at present can hope to reconstruct, they came to share a common destiny. The former settlements at Lituya Bay, at Dry Bay, on the rivers between Dry Bay and Yakutat, as well as those farther west at Icy Bay, at Cape Yakataga and Kaliakh River, at Controller Bay, and about the Copper River Delta, are now deserted. A few descendants of their former inhabitants may be found in Cordova, in Hoonah and Sitka, or in Juneau, but the greater number live today at Yakutat. Aside from a handful of persons at Cape Yakataga or at Katalla beyond Controller Bay, or perhaps for a few isolated trappers or prospectors at other spots, Yakutat is the only permanent community left on the whole Alaskan Gulf Coast, and it still retains cultural traces and traditions derived from the diverse tribes whose shattered remnants have mingled to form its present native population of 300 or less. The history of Yakutat begins in pre-Russian days with the migrations of interior tribes from behind the mountains to the coast, and from the mouth of the Copper River eastward along the shore. There was also the northwestward expansion of Tlingit from what the Yakutat people call "the Southeast of Alaska," some coming on foot along the shore or over the glacier highways, or going inland over the Chilkat Pass and down the Alsek River to Dry Bay, while others paddled their canoes up from Cross Sound or farther south. Then came White men in the late 18th century: Russian agents of the Shelikov Company commanding baidarka fleets of Aleuts, Koniags, and Chugach; and English, Spanish, and American traders and explorers. For 10 years the Russians attempted to maintain an agricultural colony and trading post at Yakutat, but this was destroyed by the natives in 1805. Then followed a period of relative 18 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 isolation from Europeans, while Tlingit influences became firmly established all the way to Controller Bay. Before the middle of the century, smallpox wiped out the inhabitants of many settlements. Other disasters followed, and the population began to shrink back into the present settlements, moving back to southeastern Alaska or to Yakutat. The Yakutat-Icy Bay area remained one of the best sea otter hunting grounds in the final decades of the 19th century, and the Gulf Coast offered some of the richest commercial salmon fishing regions for the first decades of the 20th, so from about 1880 to 1920 Yakutat enjoyed prosperity. It was early in this period that traders came regularly, the Lutheran Evangelical Mission was established, various expeditions recruited porters in attempts to climb Mount Saint Elias, and goldminers for a short time were attracted to the black sands of the beaches. By the end of World War I, however, the salmon streams had been largely fished out, the sea otter, even though protected by law, could hardly be found, and hard times came. Soon there was no one living on all the coast southeast of Yakutat, except for a few White fox farmers or prospectors, although many abandoned regions are still visited in the fishing season. But perhaps the cruelest stroke of fate was the building of a large airfield 4 miles east of Yakutat and the quartering of some thousands of soldiers in the vicinity during World War II. Although a number of Yakutat men served with distinction during the war, we need not be surprised at the demoralization which these changes brought. With the ending of wartime jobs, with the dwindling salmon runs which forced the closing of the cannery in which native women worked and for which the men fished, hard times returned again. Many young people now find that they must leave to seek a living elsewhere and old people live for their pension checks. Similar brief periods of prosperity, while salmon fishing or fur trapping were profitable, or while there was an oil boom in Controller Bay and the Copper River Railway was being built, were also enjoyed by the dwindling inhabitants of the western part of the Gulf Coast. Here the periods of ephemeral wealth, of disease and debauch, and of subsequent demoralization and decline had run their course early in the present century. If we could go back to the latter part of the 18th century, we should find the Gulf Coast Indians divided into several groups, of which the following were the main divisions: The people of the Lituya Bay region, including the coast from Cape Spencer to Cape Fairweather, a distance of 54 nautical miles. This territory recently has been the hunting and fishing grounds of the Hoonah Tlingit, whose most important settlements, however, have always been in southeastern Alaska proper, on both sides of Cross Sound, including Glacier Bay and the north shore of Chichagof Island. Certainly the Lituya Bay region is now claimed by Hoonah sibs, but we cannot assume that this was so in the 18 th century, since the Yakutat people also go to Lituya, and received some of the Lituya people at the time when most emigrated from this region to Hoonah and Sitka about 100 years ago. The Dry Bay people, at the mouth of the Alsek River and the nearby streams, the most important of which was the Akwe River just to the northwest. Their territory may be defined as running from Cape Fair-weather to the Akwe, a distance of about 50-odd miles along the shore, and running back above the glaciers that nearly block the Alsek River. The original inhabitants were Athabaskans, apparently related to the Southern Tutchone on the headwaters of the Alsek, but became mixed with Tlingit who had come from Chilkat via the interior and from the southeastern coast. The Yakutat Bay people, including those on the coastal plain from the Italio River, 25 miles to the southeast. Their territory also embraced Icy Bay and its western shore, some 65 miles west of Yakutat. This area, as we shall see, once had an autochthonous population, originally Eyak or perhaps Dry Bay Athabaskan, but in prehistoric times submerged by Eyak from the coast to the westward mixed with a migration of Atna Athabaskans from the middle Copper River. Later, it became Tlingit because of the migrations from southeastern Alaska and the Dry Bay area. The Eyak-speaking people of the coast just west of Icy Bay to Cape Martin at the eastern edge of the Copper River delta. Their main settlements seem to have been at Cape Yakataga, Kaliakh River, and Bering River in Controller Bay. In the 18th century, however, Controller Bay was claimed and was certainly frequented by a branch of the Chugach Eskimo of Prince William Sound. The Chugach were apparently intruders into Controller Bay and its islands, but when they first began to occupy it, and whether they ever established more than seasonal hunting camps, we do not know. At any event, they were driven back at the end of the 18th century by the Tlingitized Eyak from farther east. The Eyak of the Copper River delta and of Cordova just within Prince William Sound (Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938). No pronounced differences distinguished the last from their Indian neighbors at Cape Martin, although there was a sharp linguistic and a somewhat less clearly marked cultural boundary between the Eyak and the Chugach. The Copper River Eyak (or the handful who IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 19 live or lived until recently at Cordova) appeared more distinct when Dr. Birket-Smith and I studied them in 1933 than they would have even in 1900, largely because of the depopulation of the coast east of them, and also because they preserved into the present century the Eyak language once spoken along the coast as far as the Ahrnklin or Italio Rivers beyond Yakutat Bay. However, the intrusion of the Eskimo into Controller Bay as well as difficulties of communication may explain why there were two dialects of Eyak: "Ugalentz" (Copper River Eyak-proper) and Yakutat. As reported by Erman (1849, p. 126), based on Veni-aminov: "Die Jakutat-Sprache spricht man am Jakutat und weiter westlich. Sie zerfallt in zwei Dialekte: den Jakutatisehen und den Ugalenschen. Seelenzahl: nicht iiber 300." Dr. Michael E. Krauss in recent letters (December 20, 27, 1966, and January 9, 1967) has questioned my interpretation of this passage and a similar one in Radlov (Radloff, 1859, pp. 468-469). According to Radlov: "Weniaminov endlisch lasst in seiner Einthei-lung der Sprache des russischen Amerikas [Zamecha-niya . . .] die Sprache von Jakutat in zwei Mundarten zerfallen, in das eigentliche Jakutat und in das Ugalen-zische." Krauss translated the original Russian passage in the Zamechaniya (1846, p. 7) as: "The Yakutat language is spoken by the inhabitatants of Yakutat and further west. It is divided into two dialects: Yakutat and Ugalents; the number of speakers of both dialects [taken together ?] is not more than 300 souls." Dr. Krauss interprets this to mean that "the Yakutat language" was Tlingit, while "Ugalenz" or Eyak was the second language spoken at Yakutat. He further points out that Veniaminov seems to have had no firsthand knowledge of Eyak (already largely obsolete at Yakutat in his day), and probably none of the Tlingit which had replaced it at Yakutat. Although he is still working on this problem and has not yet come to a definite conclusion, his study of early Eyak word-lists has failed to reveal evidence of dialectical differences within that language, even though he believes it more likely than not that one of these vocabularies (RezanoVs) comes from Yakutat. While the linguistic evidence which originally suggested to me that there might be two dialects of Eyak (Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938, p. 535) was evidently quite inadequate, I find it difficult to interpret "the Yakutat language" of Veniaminov, Radlov and Erman as Tlingit, a Tlingit so different from that of Sitka that it rated as a separate dialect. However, the statement is not clear, and these writers may have been overly impressed by very slight differences hi speech between the Tlingit spoken at Yakutat and at Sitka (cf. Swanton, 1909, p. 347 n.). However, if we are to understand the phrase not as "the Yakutat language," but as "that which is spoken at Yakutat," then we can follow Dr. Krauss' interpretation of the passage. Only an adequate knowledge of the Eyak formerly spoken at Yakutat can resolve the problem of how much or how little it may have exhibited local peculiarities. I would further believe that 300 was a fairly correct figure for the inhabitants of the Yakutat Bay area alone, and that the Eyak-speakers farther west once equalled or almost equalled that number. The figures given may, however, reflect the terrible smallpox epidemic of 1838^0 (p. 177), and so apply to the whole Gulf Coast from Yakutat to Copper River. Dr. Krauss also indicates to me his belief that the proportion of Chugach, Eyak and Tlingit place names (see pp. 102-106) suggest that a center of Eyak settlement was on the mainland of Controller Bay, with fewer and smaller sites on the coast to the west. The Eyak probably remained on the mainland shores of Controller Bay while the Chugach frequented the islands. He further suggests that it was probably somewhat before the Chugach had been driven westward by the Tlingit or Tlingitized Eyak of the mainland that the Eyak were able to consolidate their hold on the Copper River delta. In the recent past, at least hi the 19 th century, the Copper River Eyak formed merely a fifth unit in the chain of peoples who intermarried, visited each other for purposes of trade, or who entertained each other at potlatches, and who felt themselves to be interrelated, even though the eastern tribes had adopted Tlingit speech and more of Tlingit ways. This process of becoming Tlingit was already far advanced at Dry Bay and Yakutat by the late 18th century, according to native traditions and the reports of explorers. Even a century later, however, we should have found people at Kaliakh River and Controller Bay who still spoke Eyak, and individuals in all communities from Dry Bay to Cordova were apt to be either bilingual from childhood, or prided themselves on a knowledge of foreign languages acquired during then- travels. These five divisions of Gulf Coast tribes have been outlined mainly according to the understanding of Yakutat informants. We should not think, however, of these five areas as tribally owned territories, nor of their occupants as "tribes" in the sense of cohesive social or organized political units. Rather, the real units of Tlingit society are the matrilineal sibs (na). It is their localized, intermarrying branches which make up the geographical communities which we call "tribes" (qwan). (See McClellan, 1954, pp. 76-77; de Laguna, 1952, pp. 1-4.) The five regions enumerated above comprise, therefore, the traditional territories (or blocks of contiguous lands) that belong to certain of the matrilineal sibs that compose the five groups. While I later attempt to define these Gulf Coast sibs more 20 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 precisely and to trace more accurately the boundaries of sib lands, it may be helpful now simply to list the sibs which are acknowledged to have established residence in the five major regions by building named houses in the settlements, or who are considered as autochthonous. Sibs claiming territorial rights in each area are indicated by asterisks (*). In the Dry Bay area, the TlukwaxAdi and the Kosliedi(?) were the original Athabaskan occupants; the other sibs are Tlingit from southeastern Alaska. The original residents of the Yakutat area were evidently Eyak-speakers. From southeastern Alaska, via Dry Bay, came the later residents, except for the Kwac]sqwan who were Atna Athabaskans from the Copper River, and the Qaiyix-Kagwantan who were Eyak-speakers of the western Gulf Coast. Area Raven Moiety Wolf-Eagle Moiety LituyaBay Tl'uknaxAdi TcukAnedi(?) (Cape Spencer to Cape Fairweather) Later divided into ^atkA'ayi and CAnkuqedi(?) DAqdentan* Dry Bay TlukwaxAdi* CANkuqedi * (Cape Fairweather to Akwe River) Tl'uknaxAdi* Kagwantan Koskedi(?) Yakutat Earlier residents and owners (Italio River to Dry Bay) Hinyedi YEnyedi Kosledi L'u±edi StaxAdi Tlaxayik-Teqwedi "GanAxtedi"(?) or "GanAXAdi"(?) Later residents Kwackqwan* Teqwedi* Tl'uknaxAdi CAnkuqedi TlukwaxAdi Galyix-Kagwantan Controller Bay "GanAxtedi" Galyix-Kagwantan* (Cape Yakataga to Cape Martin) Kwackqwan Tcicqedi* Copper River Delta "GanAXAdi" Tcicqedi* (See Birket-Smith and de Laguna, "Koskedi" or (Possibly others) 1938) Qus&edi* TlukwaxAdi Thus, the composition of these populations has shifted so that, in the distant past before the known migrations had occurred, the major regional divisions may have been different. Since, however, these areas correspond roughly to the geographical and physiographic districts on the Gulf Coast, it will be useful to refer to them. Our interest will obviously center at Yakutat, and our information will be largely derived from persons born there or in the vicinity. Traditions about Lituya Bay could perhaps be best studied now at Hoonah, since the present owning sib lives at Hoonah. I shall, however, make use of the excellent observations of LaPe'rouse at Lituya Bay in 1786, especially since the people that he met may be taken as typical of the Tlingit groups that were moving westward. Of the populations once living between Icy Bay and Cape Martin, I have less knowledge, and I have never visited their country. An informant who was born either at Katalla or Cordova in 1892 hazarded that there were still about 15 natives living at Cape Yakataga and at Katalla, but he had not visited these villages for many years. The Copper River Eyak have been described, and at this time it is possible to add only a few notes to the account published by Birket-Smith and myself in 1938. Even in the past, when the scattered settlements along the Gulf Coast were occupied, the Yakutat and their neighbors were relatively isolated from the Tlingit of southeastern Alaska. This isolation is shown in the character of their Tlingit idiom, recognized both by the linguist (Swanton, 1909, note to Tale 105, p. 347) and by the Yakutat themselves. The Dry Bay people, they say, speak more like the panhandle Tlingit, which I can verify, obviously due to the settlement of immigrants from southeastern Alaska IN THREE PARTS LAKD AND ITS PEOPLE 21 earlier in this area than at Yakutat. There are also peculiarities of Yakutat culture due to the particular limitations and advantages of the terrain, to the heritage of the past, and to contacts with the Atha-baskans and the Chugach. The Yakutat became tireless walkers, and skillful hunters of mountain goats, as well as adroit sealers among the icefloes. In hunting the sea otter on the open sea they utilized much of the specialized equipment and techniques of the Chugach. Access to native copper made them wealthy, then-women were noted as skilled basketmakers, and they felt that they lived in a beautiful and bountiful land. ECOLOGY OF THE YAKUTAT BAY AREA To understand the customs and history of any people we must study the environment in which they live and which has helped to shape their destinies. We must try to see it not only in the impersonal, accurately scientific terms of the geographer, geologist, zoologist, and meteorologist, but also attempt to capture, if we can, something of what the country means to its inhabitants, because its role in determining their lives has been mediated by what they understand it to be and by what they have made of it. The environment is not for the Tlingit simply the land and sea with natural resources to be exploited. It is, as we shall see, much more a community of living beings, where the lines which we would draw between man and beast or between the animate and the inanimate are blurred or do not exist. The Tlingit shares his world with his nonhuman relatives and fellow creatures just as he shares it with other tribes. Geography and Geology Yakutat Bay is a great arm of the sea that cuts in a northerly or northeasterly direction through the low forelands and foothills to the very foot of the Saint Elias Range. The foothills are low mountains, between 3,000 and 5,000 feet high, with a few peaks of slightly greater elevation. Immediately behind them tower the true giants. Visible from Yakutat Bay and marking the International Boundary are Mount Seattle (10,000), Mount Hubbard (15,000), Mount Vancouver (15,700), and Mount Cook (13,700), as well as many others. Dominating these from the western end of the mountain wall is the great pyramid of Mount Saint Elias, just over 18,000 feet high, "one of the most imposing mountain peaks in the world" (Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 12). Mount Logan behind it in Canada actually rises to 19,850 feet, and is the second highest mountain in North America, surpassed only by Mount McKinley, but it is less impressive from Yakutat because it is farther away. To the southeast, also on the Alaska-Canada boundary, is Mount Fairweather, 15,320 feet high, visible from the open flats just east of the town of Yakutat, but not from the bay itself. The "heart" of Yakutat Bay, as the natives call it, is blocked by extensive glaciers descending from the high mountains: Turner or "First" Glacier on the west, and the huge Hubbard or "Second" Glacier on the north and northeast. Here, about 32 nautical or 37 statute miles from its mouth, the bay turns sharply east and south, and cuts back again through the foothill mountains and into the coastal plain, reaching to within 12 or 15 miles of the sea. Several names have been applied to the various parts of the bay. Thus, "Yakutat Bay," used in a narrow sense, refers to the lower, wider part below Point Latouche, about 23 nautical miles above the mouth. Above this to the glacier walls lies Disenchantment Bay. From this, the great arm stretching south and roughly parallel to Yakutat Bay is Russell Fiord, about 30 nautical or 34.5 statute miles long. From about midway along it, Nunatak Fiord branches out to the east for a distance of some 8 or 9 miles, to end at the now rapidly retreating face of Nunatak or "Third" Glacier. The very head of Russell Fiord, known locally as Mud Bay, is only 13 or 14 statute miles by air from Yakutat, although it is 75 statute or over 65 nautical miles by water. Between Ocean Cape on the southeast and Point Manby on the northwest, the mouth of Yakutat Bay is 15 nautical miles wide, and as far up as Knight Island the shores are approximately parallel. Here they begin to converge, so that at Blizhni Point, some 15 nautical miles above Point Manby, the bay has narrowed to a width of 7 miles, and at Point Latouche on the east, where it merges with Disenchantment Bay, it is less than 3 miles wide. From Point Manby up to just below Bancas Point, the western shore of the bay is all lowland, composed of moraines and of the outwash plain of the Malaspina Glacier and its smaller relatives. A number of streams 22 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 FIGURE 1.—Mount Saint Blias N. by W. 43 miles. (After Dall, 1874, in Dall and Baker, 1883.) drain these icefields, the largest of which are the Manby, Oscar, Kame, and Kwik. These bring down so much sediment that the coastline is rapidly growing outward. "It is a remarkably straight coast, with long, offshore bars, bluntly cusp shaped opposite the stream mouths and inclosing lagoons with shallow openings, difficult to enter by boat because of the surf which constantly beats on this coast" (Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 13). Blizhni Point is actually on the bar at the mouth of Kwik Stream. At the northern end of this sandy, gravelly lowland, the mountains come down to the sea to form the rocky sides of Bancas Point which marks the western side of the entrance to Disenchantment Bay. There is more diversity of terrain along the eastern shore of the bay, which falls into two divisions of almost equal length: the foreland, and the mountainous peninsula. "The foreland section, nowhere rising more than 250 feet above sea level, is low and timber covered, the dense Alaskan forest of spruce and hemlock descending to the very sea. This part of the coastline is exceedingly irregular and is faced by a series of islands, the largest two of which are Khantaak, the southernmost, and Knight Island, the northernmost" vTarr and Butler, 1909, p. 14). Between the south end of Khantaak Island and the westward-jutting Phipps Peninsula at the southeastern corner of Yakutat Bay, Monti Bay leads into the site of the present town of Yakutat, to the Ankau lagoons that drain Phipps Peninsula, and to the channels that run northeastward behind Khantaak Island (Yakutat Roads and Johnstone Passage), as well as to many smaller passes, and to the famous harbors of Port Mulgrave and Rurik Harbor on Khantaak Island and Puget Cove on the mainland. "This archipelago of islands and reefs gives rise to an intricate maze of narrow straits and broad, lake-like expansions, protected from the ocean surf that elsewhere beats incessantly on the shores of Yakutat Bay" (Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 14). These islands and the adj acent mainland as far north as Eleanor Cove near Knight Island are formed of morainic deposits, left by the great glacier which once filled Yakutat Bay to its mouth. Along part of the shore the waves have cut this into gravel bluffs, notably at the town of Yakutat and at other places on Monti Bay. On both the islands and the mainland foreshore there are many lakes and ponds in kettleholes; the water supply for Yakutat comes from such a source. Reefs and boulders along the beaches are not outcroppings of bedrock, despite the size of some of the stones, but are simply rocks left behind by the glacier. Apparently no one has lived on the smaller islands, probably because of lack of fresh water, although the natives might camp there when getting herring, clams, or crabs. It is easy to see that all this shore was elevated a few feet by the earthquake of 1898, because all the island and mainland shores are fringed with raised beaches on which only brush and young trees are growing. In contrast to the lowland section, the northern part of the east coast above Eleanor Cove is rocky and relatively straight, except for small flats at the IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 23 >\ Mfc. Fairweather bearing ENE, distant 24 miles FIGURE 2.—Mount Fairweather, sketched by W. H. Dall in 1874. mouths of the larger streams. "There are no harbors, and, above Knight Island, no landing places except at times of greatest calm" (Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 14). The mountains rise steeply from the water, reaching elevations of 3,000-4,000 feet in a few miles. The most conspicuous peaks on this peninsula between Yakutat Bay and Russell Fiord are Mount Tebenkof, Mount Hoorts (i.e., 'brown bear,' xuts), and Mount Hendrickson (for the missionary), as well as unnamed peaks. On their slopes are a few small glaciers, since the permanent snowline is at 3,000 feet. From these icefields, streams drain into Yakutat Bay, Disenchantment Bay, and Russell Fiord. "This eastern, mountainous shore of Yakutat Bay, with truncated spurs, has distinctly the appearance of fault origin, as indicated by Russell" (Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 14). Similar mountains, over 5,000 feet high, face Mount Tebenkof from the eastern side of Russell Fiord, among these being Mount Pinta (for the U.S. revenue cutter), Mount Ruhamah (for Miss Scidmore), and Mount Unana. Close to the eastern side of Disenchantment Bay lies the rounded, ice-scoured knob of Haenke Island, rising 250 feet above sea level. It marks the entrance to the true "heart" of Yakutat Bay. The much smaller Osier Island stands at the point between Disenchantment Bay and Russell Fiord. Except for the shallow expanded head of Russell Fiord, "Mud Bay" south of Cape Stoss and Beasley Creek, all of Russell and Nunatak Fiords are deep, narrow canyons cut between rocky walls. From Seal Bay, just south of Nunatak Fiord, up into Disenchantment Bay, the eastern and northern side is formed by flanks of the Saint Elias Range. As one might judge from some of the passages quoted above, canoe travel and landing were not easy in all parts of Yakutat Bay. Thus, it is natural that most camps and settlements should be located in the more protected southeastern portion, and that today even sturdy gasboats bound up the bay should keep to the channels behind the islands as long as possible, for ocean swells are apt to be felt between Knight Island and Point Latouche. During storms, Eleanor Cove may be lashed white, and two small boats with several men were lost recently in this area, one in attempting a landing on the coast above Knight Island, and another within yards of its southern shore. Although more quiet water is usually found within Disenchantment Bay, the south shore of Haenke Island is sometimes pounded by waves. Here, however, the principal danger to navigation comes from the masses of ice that continually fall from the glaciers with rolling thunder like an artillery barrage. Not only does ice frequently block progress by boat above Haenke Island, especially in spring and early summer, but even when winds have cleared a passage along the eastern shore, there is danger from the waves thrown up by calving bergs. "In place of ocean surf are waves formed by the discharge of icebergs from the cliffs of Hubbard and Turner glaciers, and the waves thus generated break all along the shore of Disenchantment Bay, but with special intensity near its head. From Haenke Island to Osier Island iceberg waves are almost constantly breaking upon the shore" (Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 16). The west shore of Yakutat Bay is particularly exposed for, in addition to the usual surf, the ebb 24 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 tide which follows the western shore carries down a procession of bergs "forming a barrier of drifting ice . . . which interferes with navigation as far as Blizhni Point" (Tarr and Bulter, 1909, p. 15). In June I have also seen ice cakes floating down on the east side as far as Knight Island, and "occasional drifts find their way as far south as Ocean Cape and Point Manby" (Coast Pilot 9, 1955, p. 87). However, it is among the icefloes in Disenchantment Bay that the harbor seals bear and rear their young, an important source of food and skins for the Yakutat people. This varied terrain along the shores of Yakutat Bay reflects, of course, the complexities of the underlying geological structure. It is important to know something about this, not simply because it determines the patterns of the landscape, but because it affects the kinds of rocks made available for tool materials. In addition to the gravels, silts, and boulder-clays of the lowlands, the hard rocks of the upper part of Yakutat Bay fall into four groups. The following brief summary of their characters is based upon Tarr and Butler (1909). The most southern formations, composing the rocky peninsula between Yakutat Bay and Russell Fiord, have been called the "Yakutat group," probably of Mesozoic age. These are the bedrocks of the northern part of Yakutat Bay, not only on the eastern side from Eleanor Cove to Osier Island, but also on the western shore, stretching inland northwestward from Bancas Point. They occur all along the western side of Russell Fiord and on its eastern shore below Seal Bay. These are composed of conglomerates, graywacke, sandstone, shales, and limestone, very much folded and faulted. The sandstone would, of course, be useful for whetstones and the limestone for lamps, while hard cobbles eroded from the conglomerates could be used as hammerstones. Otherwise, these rocks seem to offer little to the native craftsman. In a few places, however, one near the shore a short distance above Point Latouche and another on Russell Fiord about a mile south of Cape Enchantment (opposite Nunatak Fiord), the limestone contains blue, green, and black flint. The formations of the Yakutat group rest uncon-formably upon what have been designated as "basement crystalline rocks," mainly greenstone and marble, and probably at least of Paleozoic age. The latter are obviously of far more value, greenstone being the best material for adz blades, and marble superior to limestone. These rocks are to be found largely along the western shore of Russell Fiord between its junction with Disenchantment Bay at Osier Island to just south of Cape Enchantment. In a few spots on the slopes of Amphitheater Knob, above Esker Creek near Bancas Point, there are younger rocks, perhaps Pliocene in age, to judge by the fossil leaves which they contain. These consist of crossbedded sandstones, shales, clays, and lignite.' The white clays were used for paint, the fine-grained shales for whetstones, and the coal for beads. Our informants also reported lignite on the mountainside above Eleanor Cove. These Tertiary beds are separated from the older Yakutat formation by a fault along which there was pronounced movement during the earthquake of 1899. A much greater fault runs down the axis of the northern part of Russell Fiord, and has been traced from Hidden Glacier on Seal Bay, across the mouth of Nunatak Fiord, in a northwesterly direction towards Hubbard Glacier. An extension of this line to the southeast would run directly along the T-shaped head of Lituya Bay, where a severe earthquake occurred in the summer of 1958. North and east of this fault, the shores of Nunatak Fiord and the eastern side of Russell Fiord from Seal Bay to Hubbard Glacier are composed of ancient metamorphic and crystalline rocks. These include slate beds, with a "remarkably perfect" cleavage, so that "the rock splits like a roofing slate" (Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 149), obviously an ideal material for blades. There are also hornblende gneisses and schists, quartz veins, metamorphosed conglomerates and sandstones, and granite dikes. Some of the glaciers carry these and many other metamorphosed materials, a number of which were evidently sought by the Yakutat Indians for manufactures. It should be noted that aside from what could be found in morainic deposits, all of the better tool materials were to be obtained in situ only in the northern part of the bay, in areas repeatedly blocked oft' by glacial advances. Tlingit vocabulary reflects geographical and geological features probably much more fully than my records indicate, since no very systematic attempt was made to obtain a comprehensive list. In addition, there are a number of locative nouns or expressions (Boas, 1917, pp. 103-111) that refer to such features as downstream, downhill, to the beach, towards the sea, inland, upriver, on the summit, and so forth. Many of these appear in place names- Geological Changes One must not suppose that the topography of the Yakutat Bay area has always been as it is now. In 1 Dr. George Plafker informs me that these coal-bearing rocks are most probably the stratigraphic equivalent of the Kulthieth Formation farther -west, and are probably of Eocene age. IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 25 Nby E " NE byN"" " KE by E Lituya Mt. FIGURE 3.—Lituya Bay, sketched by W. H. Dall in 1874. fact, what is striking is the magnitude and recency of the changes which have occurred in this region and which must have profoundly affected the lives of the aboriginal population. I have already summarized (de Laguna et al, 1964, pp. 15-20) the conclusions of a number of geologists who have studied these phenomena, but it seems advisable to discuss them more fully so that the geological evidence may be compared with native traditions and observations (see pp. 286-288). In the Middle Ages a huge glacier filled Yakutat Bay, its terminal moraine forming a narrow submarine ridge which curves between Ocean Cape and Point Manby, and where today there are depths of only 8%-16 fathoms. "During very heavy weather," warns the Coast Pilot (vol. 9, 1955, p. 86), "it has been observed that breakers or pronounced increase in height of swell occur across the entire entrance to Yakutat Bay; at such times entrance is dangerous." This mass of ice may he thought of as an enormously enlarged Hubbard Glacier, to which all the minor glaciers of Yakutat Bay added their contributions. As already mentioned, its lateral moraines may be traced along the west shore as far up as Blizhni Point, and on the east from Ocean Cape to Eleanor Cove. Many white boulders of granite and marble, of the same kinds of rocks that outcrop in Disenchantment Bay and Russell Fiord were evidently carried south by the ice, and today can be found along the beaches from above Knight Island to Yakutat (Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 100). Moraines and ice-worn marks high on the mountainsides and the ice-scoured depths of the bottom off Point Latouche indicate that this glacier must have had a maximum thickness of 3,000 feet (Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 102). The great Malaspina was also expanded, reaching the sea from Icy Cape, west of Icy Bay, to Point Manby where it joined the Yakutat Bay Glacier, forming a continuous wall of ice along the sea for a distance of 75 statute miles or more. Its weight thrust the Yakutat Bay Glacier against the eastern side of the bay, piling up morainic deposits upon the lowland below Knight Island (Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 108). Farther east, another glacier rilled Russell Fiord, its expanded snout protruding beyond the confines of the narrow canyon onto the lowland where it scoured out the basin now filled by Mud Bay. Between this and Yakutat Bay, other minor icefields descended a short distance onto the foreland, but the low terrain was un-glaciated except for a fringe along the eastern shore of Yakutat Bay and along the southern face of the foothill range facing the sea. Moraines extend inland about 3 or 4 miles near Eleanor Cove and about 1 mile at Yakutat. Their hummocky irregular surface supports the dense forest, but as one goes eastward the land becomes smooth and the forest is left behind. The airfield, some 4 miles southeast of Yakutat, belongs to another world that, open and almost treeless, stretches to Dry Bay and affords a splendid view of Mount Fan-weather beyond. "This plain is made of gravel and sand, becoming steadily finer toward the Situk [River, about 9 miles east of Yakutat], evidently a perfect example of an outwash plain grading into the moraine of the Yakutat Bay Glacier. It is so level that streams flow across it with sluggish current, and its surface is too damp for tree growth except in small insular patches on slightly higher ground. This outwash gravel plain ... is apparently the dominant feature in the Yakutat foreland" (Tarr and Butler 1909. p. 97). 26 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 Position of ice fronts dashed where inferred Inferred former coast line 140' i fa ^ %p-- ■*"" Position of Ice fronts, dashed where inferred ...---Inferred former codst line ..-■.,... Present coast line MALASfilNA GLACIER *"*r**x ***{ ■■** / p MAP 3.—Position of ice fronts and coast line at the culmination of the older advance, between A.D. 600 and 1290. a, Wood in end moraine dated A.D. 756±160. 6, Wood in end moraine dated A.D. 1127±160. (Plafker and Miller, 1957.) The two small lakes at the present head of Situk River seem to lie within the terminal moraines of the glaciers that flowed down Mount Tebenkof. A short distance below the larger, rounder lake, which Tarr calls Miller Lake ("Situk Lake" of the natives and of the most recent charts), the outwash plain begins. Sometime before A.D. 1400, judging by the age of living trees at Yakutat, these great glaciers began to retreat, receding far behind their present fronts, which permitted the growth of forests that were later either overridden or isolated by a second glacial advance (Plafker and Miller, 1958). Some of these forested areas were in the Icy Bay region, above the present front of Guyot Glacier (the arm of the Malaspina on the west side of Icy Bay), others were 5 miles north of Point Manby, and on gravel ridges along Esker Stream and along the nunataks (isolated rocky hills within the ice) that stretch northwestward to Floral Hills and Blossom Island, 15 miles from the bay. "Huge spruce logs, far larger in size than anything now growing in that vicinity, occur plentifully in these gravels" northwest of Bancas Point (Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 131). Evidently the mature spruce trees still growing on the northern slope of Blossom Island, as well as scattered stands on the Floral Hills, Terrace Point, and Amphitheater Knob close to Bancas Point, are the remnants of great forests, all but destroyed by the later glacial advance. Today, the modern forest is spreading up into Disenchantment Bay to join them. During the recession, forests also clothed the now barren sides of Russell Fiord, for wood has been found below glacial gravels just southeast of Osier Island MAP 4.—Position of ice fronts and coast line at the culmination of the younger advance, between A.D. 1700 and 1791. (Plafker and Miller, 1957.) (Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 130, fig. 10). "On the beach near the very head of Russell Fiord [Mud Bay], as pointed out by Russell [1892, p. 89], and on other beaches near by, a submerged forest proves that there was a forested land area fringing the mountain front before the deposition of these moraines and the subsidence that has since occurred in this region" (Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 99). Some of the stumps were still standing in 1906. The glacial recession which permitted this forest growth is probably associated with similar retreats in other parts of the Saint Elias and Fairweather Ranges, witness the "resurrected forest" of sheared-off stumps uncovered by the retreat of the Muir Glacier in Glacier Bay (Fernow, 1902, pi. opp. p. 250). The retreat of the ice in Yakutat Bay seems to have occurred in stages, for Tarr (Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 99) cites a morainic terrace, 150-200 feet above sea level on the mainland near Knight Island, as evidence of a pause in the recession. According to native historical tradition, the ancestors of the Kwackqwan, coming from the Copper River, crossed to the east side of Yakutat Bay on the ice which then extended from Point Manby to the vicinity of Eleanor Cove, even though the ice was then already beginning to melt back because they had killed a dog and thrown it down a crevasse. (See p. 239). Perhaps this was during the same recessional stage as that inferred by Tarr {in Tarr and Butler, 1909). After the ice had retreated, some settlements were established which tradition reports were later overwhelmed by a second advance. One of these was in Icy IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 27 40' 20' marking recent great advance (?) MAP 5.—Hypothetical former extension of glaciers during ice-flood stage, based on observations of the height reached by the glaciers at a number of points. (Tarr and Butler, 1909, fig. 9.) Bay (Topham, 1889 a, pp. 432-433; 1899 b, p. 350, cited on pp. 286-287), and another was somewhere on the coast south of Dry Bay, where the Kagwantan had built Shadow House with wealth obtained by trading with the Dry Bay Athabaskans (Swanton, 1909, Tale 104, pp. 335-338,). The second advance of the glaciers culminated in the 18th century. Since presumably the Icy Bay, Mala-spina, Yakutat Bay, and Kussell Fiord Glaciers advanced at about the same time, a date of less than 300 years may apply to their growth. This date is indicated by carbon-14 analyses of trees destroyed by the Mala- spina, as well as by the age of living trees on its moraine (Plafker and Miller, 1958). Icy Bay was again covered with ice, but the Malaspina Glacier itself did not advance much beyond its present limit. The Yakutat Bay Glacier (i.e., Hubbard, Turner, and other glaciers in Disenchantment Bay) apparently advanced as far as Blizhni Point, where a submarine ridge represents the terminal moraine. Glaciers in Russell Fiord were again swollen. Nunatak Glacier, for example, not only filled its own narrow canyon but extended out into Russell Fiord, one arm moving northwestward to Disenchantment Bay, the other joined Hidden Glacier and other 28 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 smaller icefields and turned southward, overriding the morainic gravels left by the previous advance to a height of 500 feet above sea level, and crushing the extensive forests that grew on the old moraine. Farther south, Fourth Glacier, now a shrunken remnant far up Beasley Creek, was also part of the ice mass in Russell Fiord and extended across to Cape Stoss on the west, damming up a fresh-water lake in Mud Bay. Beach gravels and old wave-cut terraces up to 115 or 140 feet above sea level surround the edge of this former lake, which then drained south into the Situk River. In the lake wTaters were carried logs from the forests destroyed by the glacier, to be eventually deposited in the beach gravels. The moraine left by the earlier advance lies outside the lake beach and now supports a mature spruce forest, while slowly advancing across it towards the present water's edge is a new growth of alders, willows, and cottonwoods (Tarr and Butler, 1909, pp. 133-134). These glaciers were again already in retreat by the latter part of the 18th century, for Malaspina (1885, p. 163) on July 2, 1791, was, as we know, blocked by ice at Haenke Island, and Lieutenant Puget of Vancouver's expedition in July, 1794, was also stopped here. The latter noted, however, that "at the back of the ice a small inlet" extended to the northeast about a league, presumably between Haenke Island and the mainland (Vancouver, 1801, vol. 5, p. 389; Tarr and ButJer, 1909, pp. 21-22), and one of Malas-pina's sailors, according to Suria (Wagner, 1936, p. 251), also claims to have seen a "river" of open water in what would appear to have been Russell Fiord, some distance above the line of ice. It is uncertain whether the barrier was the actual face of the solid glacier itself, which would then have been some 4 or 5 miles in front of the present end of Hubbard Glacier (as indicated on the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey chart 8455, 1945 and 1962), or whether there was simply a mass of solidly packed icebergs behind Haenke Island, such as still forms early in the season. (See the discussion in Tarr and Butler, 1909, pp. 21-22; Russell, 1892, p. 172; Tarr and Martin, 1914, pp. 108-109; Plafker and Miller, 1958.) In any case, the glacial front could not have been far distant from the island. Even Tebenkov's map 7, apparently based upon explorations in 1807 and 1823, shows the head of Disenchantment Bay ringed by ice a short distance above Haenke Island, Russell Fiord does not exist (or was not known), and Situk River still drains the lake at Mud Bay. These ice barriers apparently disappeared shortly after the middle of the century, according to native accounts (see p. 287) supported by the age of new growth on the old lake beach at the head of Russell Fiord (Tarr and Martin, 1914, p. 230). Farther west, the lobe of ice continued to fill Icy Bay until the present century, and the "Icy Bay" of the Russians, of Captain Belcher in 1837, and of the various expeditions attempting to climb Mount Saint Elias between 1886 and 1891, was actually the former mouth of the Yahtse River, east of the true Icy Bay of today (Plafker and Miller, 1958). However, according to Filippi (1900, p. 72), by 1897 the delta of the Yahtse River had completely filled the estuary at its mouth "that existed in Malaspina's and Vancouver's time, and of which the record is preserved in a legend of the Yakutat Indians." Retreat at Icy Bay is believed to have begun about 1904, and has since proceeded very rapidly, so that a large proportion of Icy Bay is now open. My informants (see pp. 285-286) have their own explanation as to why this happened. The bergs from Guyot Glacier at the head of Icy Bay make this, like Disenchantment Bay, an attractive breeding ground for harbor seals. Malaspina Glacier, on the other hand, has become fairly stagnant, receding only about 3 miles at one point (Plafker and Miller, 1958). A brief revitalization of some glaciers, noticeable in 1906, was apparently caused by the earthquake of September, 1899, which dumped avalanches of snow down the mountains onto the neves from which the glaciers take their origin. Since then almost all the icefields in the Yakutat Bay region have been in retreat, except for a recent advance of the Hubbard Glacier. The earthquake of 1899 (see summary in de Laguna et al., 1964, pp. 18-19) produced giant waves that destroyed forests up to 40 feet above sea level on the mainland north of Knight Island, washed away the graveyard on the southern tip of Khantaak Island, and resulted in changes of sea level, ranging from a subsidence of 7 feet at the western end of Phipps Peninsula to a maximum elevation of 47 feet on the west side of Disenchantment Bay. The axis of tilt ran squarely through the middle of the site of Old Town, on the south shore of Knight Island. The earthquake of July, 1958, resulted in the submergence of the southeastern point of Khantaak Island, with the loss of several lives, and produced other topographic changes all along the coast between Yakutat and Lituya Bay. (See Tocher, 1960.) Less dramatic, but clearly important in the long run, is the building out of the land along the surf-fringed western shore of Yakutat Bay and the ocean front of the lowlands from Controller Bay to Icy Point below Lituya Bay. This is not done through continuous deposition of sediments, but proceeds in spurts, "by successive steps, or leaps, as offshore bars develop" (Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 144). Thus, the ocean currents build up alluvial deposits into beaches and bars which are thrown up 5 or 6 feet above normal high water by storms. Outside these again, new bars IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 29 form during calm weather, while grass, flowers, and strawberries claim the older, protected, inner ridges. Swampy depressions between are filled with silt; later with vegetation (Russell, 1893, p. 13). Usually there is an outer barrier beach sheltering a line of shallow lagoons through which canoes can be taken at high water. Low tide exposes sticky mud or patches of quicksand. Behind this, again, are older beaches and shallow ponds or swamplands, the oldest ridges perhaps 2 or 3 miles from the shore and already clothed with forest (Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 124). "Altogether there are three beaches in different stages of dissection and vegetation growth. In time the inner beach will become dry land; the barrier beach will become what the inner now is; the bar will become a barrier beach; and a new bar will develop out in the ocean" (Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 144). It is this process that has created the lagoon system used by the natives in traveling between Yakutat and Dry Bay, and that has raised a number of sandhills on which native settlements and the Russian post at Yakutat were built. The rivers and streams discharging into salt water frequently cut new channels through the bars, abandoning the old, the shift being usually to the west. These changes are, of course, noted by the Indians who today fish near the stream mouths and who have expressed concern that these shifts would confuse the salmon seeking their own birth-waters in which to spawn. Climate The U.S. Coast Pilot (vol. 9, pp. 77-80, 575, 578, 599) contains an excellent summary of climatic conditions along the Gulf Coast of Alaska, from which the following information has been drawn. The high mountains, up to 18,000 feet in height, which back the Gulf Coast of Alaska all the way from Cape Spencer to Prince William Sound have important effects upon the local weather. Here southeasterly or easterly winds are most prevalent, especially in winter, with westerly winds common in summer, but the particular winds that predominate in any given locality seem to be conditioned by the lay of the land. The local nature of these winds is recognized by the TJingit in the place names which they give to them. Winds in the Controller Bay area, for example, are especially variable, as they are at Cordova just within the eastern edge of Prince William Sound. Sudden squalls or williwaws that blow in quick succession from different points of the compass occur near the mountainous parts of the coast and are particularly dangerous. In general, gales are most common in fall and winter, while July is the calmest month. "At Yakutat, east winds prevail in all seasons, occurring 40 percent of the time in autumn and winter, but only 22 percent in summer; northeast winds are also frequent in autumn and winter, and southeast and west winds in summer" (p. 77). While east winds of 16 knots or less are most common at all seasons, gales of 40 knots are all from the southeast and may also occur at any time of year, but have reached a record of 50 knots in winter. From October through March, gales average 3-5 days a month. By contrast, Cape Spencer is more stormy, experiencing autumn gales up to 74 knots from the northeast, but Cordova had a maximum wind of only 43 knots from the southeast. Precipitation is very heavy, occurring on about 220 days a year, with average annual totals of 109 inches at Cape Spencer, 132 inches at Yakutat, 110 inches at Cape Saint Elias, and 94 inches at Cordova. Fall and winter, the most stormy months, are also the wettest, but much of the precipitation is in the form of snow. Thus, there is an average annual total snowfall of 34 inches at Cape Spencer, 179 inches at Yakutat, 71 inches at Cape Saint Elias, and 117 inches at Cordova. While spindrift or falling snow borne by winter gales may cause low visibility, fogs are frequent in summer. This is a country of relatively little sunshine, for the number of cloudy days in a year is generally greater than the sum of clear and partly cloudy days. Records for 30 years show that the wettest month at Yakutat is usually October, or at least the fall and winter months through January. The driest month is June, whether one measures the mean precipitation per month (4.8 inches in June to 19.3 inches in October), the mean number of rainy days (13 in June to 23 in November and January), or the maximum precipitation recorded within any 24-hour period (13.11 inches in June to 36.4 in August). However, precipitation varies a great deal, and in some years October may have only 6.8 inches of rain, and January, April, and June less than 1 inch. Mean snowfall records for the last 8 years range from a minimum of 2 inches in October, 9.8 in April, and a trace in May, up to 41.6 inches in January, with falls almost as heavy in December and March. Only June through September have been snow free, although this, of course, does not hold for the mountains. In March, 1954, it snowed almost continuously for about 10 days, usually 12 inches a day, according to my observations, and although the light snow packed down, I was told that it reached a depth of 4 feet at the airfield, setting a record. Drifts 6 feet or more in height pile up in the forests and do not melt until well into June. The climate also varies considerably within Yakutat Bay itself. "It was frequently cloudy and rainy on the foreland when it was clear in Disenchantment 30 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 Bay; and fog was often present on Malaspina Glacier when the weather was clear in Yakutat Bay. It was, of course, also true that the mountains were frequently clouded when the sky was clear along the shores of the fiord" (Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 30). A man who lives near the head of Dry Bay reports that there is much more sunshine at his home than at Yakutat. In the Gulf Coast area temperatures at sea level are relatively mild for the latitude and are not extreme. Thus, mean annual temperatures range from 40° F at Cape Spencer, 42° F at Yakutat, to 38° F at Cordova, with greater fluctuations as one goes westward, from a range of 4° F to 75° F at Cape Spencer, to a low of —33° F and a high of 84° F recorded at Cordova. At Yakutat the months with means of freezing or below are December through March, with record lows of —23° F in January, and subzero temperatures are also recorded for November through March. Only July and August have been without frost. Conversely, the warmest records are 81° F. for August, and 71° F. to 79° F. for May to September. But even in the coldest winter months there may be some days with highs of 50° F. Thunderstorms are rare, but may come with snow and cold, as well as with summer rains. The aurora borealis is also present when nights are clear, except in midsummer, but Yakutat lacks the brilliant and extensive displays characteristic of the interior. One important climatic feature that has not been brought out in these statistics is that the air frequently has a low humidity, so that between showers wet things begin immediately to dry. It is only when there is a fog, or when the snow melts during sunny days in spring that the air itself feels damp. This relatively cool wet climate, with heavy snows and periods of bitter cold and storm in winter, and brilliant sunshine for short stretches in summer, has demanded particular adaptations of the human inhabitants. These consisted aboriginally of rigorous hardening exercises begun in childhood to develop endurance of winter cold and summer damp, warm and waterproof clothing and snowshoes for winter, waterproof clothing or scanty garments for the rainy summer, face paint as a protection against sunburn and voracious mosquitoes, sweatbaths to relieve rheumatic stiffness, snug houses with strong roofs to withstand the heavy loads of snow and with entrances above snow level, elaborate and efficient techniques of storing food against the weeks in "winter when hunting and fishing might be impossible, and lastly, a diet rich in the necessary fats, proteins, and antiscorbutics. The vocabulary naturally reflects the meteorological phenomena. These were often personified or believed to be controlled by beings and were thought to be affected by the actions of men, especially by breaches of taboo. Not only were there almost professional weather forecasters whose expert advice was consulted before voyages were undertaken, but most persons were observant of weather signs to be read in the look of the mountains, and both shamans and laymen knew magic to control the weather. I was told that there was no word for blue sky, but many words for bad weather were recorded. The names for particular winds are discussed on pages 804-805. At latitude 59°53' N. the seasonal variations in the amount of daylight are marked. Thus, on midsummer's day, the sun rises at 2:35 a.m. and sets only at 9:28 p.m., making almost 19 hours of daylight. At the winter solstice, however, the sun will not rise until 9:02 a.m., and will set at 2:55 p.m., bringing just less than 6 hours of daylight. It is obvious that summer and winter occupations must differ greatly, if only due to this factor. Of great importance in the winter are fires and lamps for light indoors, and moonlight on the snow helps to extend the hours when men can work or travel out of doors. Tides were a matter of concern, since these regulated canoe travel in shallow sloughs, streams, and salt water lagoons, and also made possible or prevented the gathering of shellfish and seaweed. In Yakutat Bay, mean higher high water is 10 feet, although the maximum at spring tides may reach almost 13 feet. The lowest tide to be expected is —4 feet, all measurements being referred to mean lower low water. Almost the same range of tides is found along the Gulf Coast, with a diurnal range of 9 feet at Lituya Bay, and 10.8 feet at the entrances to the Copper River and the Eyak River. Flora2 The Yakutat Bay area for the most part falls within Nelson's "Sitkan," or Merriam's "Canadian" biological zone (Gabrielson and Lincoln, 1959, pp. 41-49). This is an area that stretches from the forested part of Kodiak Island in southwestern Alaska, around the Gulf of Alaska, through the southeastern panhandle to merge gradually in British Columbia or northern 2 I have taken Anderson, 1959, as a guide to the scientific botanical terms in modern use, and have translated the plant names from Coville, 1895, according to Anderson's system. Sharpless, 1958, has been very useful for popular names. I have also consulted Fernow, 1902, and Stair and Pennell, 1946, but am not attempting to list all of the plants of the Yakutat area. Those items starred (*) are represented in the 1952 collection made by my field associate, Dr. Catharine McCellan. IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 31 Washington with a largely similar zone of closely related but more southern species and races. The Sitkan biotic community is characterized by the dense Pacific rain forests and their denizens, including the birds that regularly return to nest or to visit during their non-breeding seasons, and also including the fish that come to spawn in these waters. Because the interior world, Merriam's "Hudsonian" zone, is just across the mountains, most of its birds and mammals and many of its plants are also to be found on the coast, especially in areas of open grassland and muskeg, on higher and drier foothills, or where the great valleys have been cut through the barrier range. Furthermore, wherever the mountains rise above timberline (about 2,500 feet), or where recent glaciation has denuded their lower slopes, we can find permanent or temporary island areas characterized by the flora and some of the fauna of the Arctic-Alpine zone, or of the treeless Aleutian zone. Offshore are to be found the creatures of the open sea, the pelagic fishes, birds, and whales, or those sea mammals and northern-breeding birds that cross the Gulf of Alaska without need to rest on land. These can hardly be said to be within the Yakutat world, though they belong to its fringes, to the world beyond the supposed barrier of the horizon, where the sky touches the sea. Voyagers bound for Sitka or Nuchek, or venturesome sea otter hunters, have often seen the great sea birds and whales, and not infrequently some of these, as well as occasional deep sea fishes, are thrown upon the shore by storms or may seek shelter within Yakutat Bay. More conspicuous than such chance visitors are the myriads of migrating birds that regularly pass through Yakutat on their way to more northern nesting places or on their return to warmer winter quarters. Among these are species of great importance to the natives. Within the Yakutat area, therefore, all three Alaskan biotic zones may be found within relatively short distances. The North Pacific lies just beyond the breakers, and for brief seasons in spring and fall the migrants of the Pacific flyway provide still greater diversity. Yet because glacial barriers have so recently isolated the Yakutat region from the rest of Alaska, or even cut off one part of the Gulf Coast from another, there are curious breaks in the distribution of mammals, resulting in absences of kinds found elsewhere in the Sitkan and interior zones, or in the development of a few special subspecies. According to Frederick Funston, who made a botanical study in Yakutat Bay in 1892 (Coville, 1895, p. 328): "The plant life of the region about Yakutat Bay is characterized by the dense and vigorous growth of a comparatively small number of species, giving the forests an appearance of great sameness." However, he was referring chiefly to the area near Yakutak, for there are clearly differentiated zones: The dense mature forests of lower Yakutat Bay that are confined to the slopes below 2,200 feet and to the older moraines and raised beaches south of Bancas Point and Point La-touche; the Arctic flora of the higher slopes and also of the fiords so recently denuded of vegetation; the grasses and flowers of the swampy outwash plains; and lastly the plants of the new sandy beaches. The forests are dark, dense and almost impenetrable. This is because the trees are thinly rooted in the shallow topsoil and in consequence there are many windfalls; tangled underbrush fills every available opening. "Even the Indians, who have lived here many years, have never penetrated the forests of the mainland for a mile from their own village" (Coville, 1895, p. 328). It is perhaps not irrelevant to note that the openness of the interior valleys is admired, or that the natives picture the afterworld of those who have died gloriously by violence as a grassy heaven. The Yakutat forest is composed chiefly of Sitka spruce, Picea sitchensis, Western coast hemlock, Tsuga heterophylla, and mountain hemlock, T. mertensiana, the proportions apparently varying according to the age of the stands and the amount of moisture in the soil. There are a few Alaskan yellow cedar, Chamaecy-paris nootkatensis, the western limit of which is reached in Prince William Sound. For the native, the spruce (sit) is "the" tree ('as) in Tlingit, furnishing wood for houses, canoes, boxes and other manufactures, and roots for baskets. Its inner bark, as well as that of the hemlock (yAn), is eaten, while the outer bark of the hemlock is used for such purposes as roofing. The yellow cedar (Boas, 1917, p. 155, xay; Harrington, xaa) is considered the best for carving, and its bark is preferred for the inside of blanket warps (Emmons, 1907, p. 237). I The branches of these trees are hung with festoons of moss, of which the natives distinguish several varieties. Moss in general is sixqa (Boas, 1917, p. 161, siqga; Harrington, sixkaa); the useless long hanging white moss is SA£; that used for diapers is 'as djiwAn sixqayi, 'moss under the limb of the tree,' or 'asyik sExoni. Lichens and fungus also grow on the trunks and stumps. The natives recognize the tiny cup-shaped fungus as 'tree crackers' ('as daqath"), and tiny toadstools in the moss as 'moss rain hats' (sixqa siu duwet saxw). The ground underfoot is spongy with mosses, including club moss or ground pine, Lycopodiwm annoti-nurn, interspersed with flowers.3 3 In Boas' Tlingit vocabulary of 1S91, as rendered into more modern orthography, runningpine, Lycopodium clavatum,% is 'deer's belt/ qo'kan si'gi [quwa&an sigi]; fern is tsats; moss, Parmelia, is Se'xone; moss, Cychrus longicollis, is "woman in the wood," asq toyik ca ('as# tuyik ca]; shelf fungus, Polyporus, is "tree biscuit," or astaqa'di ['as taqadi]. 32 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 Among the more important shrubs in the forest or along its edge is the skunkbush or false azalea, Men-ziesia ferruginea, tall as a man with handsome bluish-green leaves and bell-shaped coral-pink blossoms in June. Also within the forest, growing up to 10 feet in height, is the terrible devil club, Oplopanax Korridus (tsAxt; Boas, 1917, p. 125, sAxt'; Harrington, saxt'), with its branching stems and wide leaves all armed with sharp spikes that break off in the flesh like the quills of the porcupine. Its sweet white flowers bloom in May and June, and although the red berries that ripen in late August are inedible, its stems and bark are supposed to be valuable for counteracting disease. A tall plant growing at the edge of the woods, with flowers in July and red berries later in the summer was said to be good "T.B. medicine" and was called kAtltCAnEt. Boas (1891, p. 181) gives what is evidently this name to a species of Sorbus, perhaps S. sitchensis or mountain ash. Smaller forest plants include several kinds of wood ferns Dryopteris, rock ferns Polypodium, fragile ferns Cysopteris, sword ferns Polystichum, and lady fern Athyrium, some of which furnish edible roots (qwAlx; Boas, 1917, p. 157, KwAfac; Harrington, kVaix). For example, the lady fern, Athyrium filix-femina,* was identified as "native sweetpotato" (sate). The dwarf dogwood or bunchberry, Cornus canadensis, with its four white floral bracts and orange-red berries carpets the ground. The similar deerberry, Maian-themum dilitatum,* (qekAxitlk) is reputed to have many medicinal virtues, especially as a poultice (qet kayani).4 There are also the small white starflower, Trientalis europea arctica,* the root of which was used as a love medicine (wutc sixAni nakw); Alaskan golden-thread, Coptis trifoliata, with three white petals and bitter tonic root; the foamflower, Tiarella trifoliata,* with dainty white blossoms lifted high; the single delight or wax flower, Moneses unifiora,* with a single drooping white flower; the coral-root, Corallorrhiza mertensiana*; the cut-leaf anemone, Anemone multi-Jida*; and the one-sided wintergreen, Pyrola secunda,* with its line of drooping bells. Among these plants, as well as among those of the damp glades (see below), are a number that were used as medicines or amulets. The tall clasping twisted-stalk, Streptopus amplexi-folius,* a lily with creamy bells, is known as 'dead person's berries' (sege qawu tl'egu) because of its rich, inedible fruit. At the edge of the forest, or in glades within, grow the important berry bushes; the red-berried elder, Sambucus racemosa, (yeiJ) with white flowers in May and tart red berries in September; the salmonberry, 4 According to Harrington, the dwarf dogwood is k'aykhaxe'tl'kh while the deerberry is tlhe'et, 'circular.' Rubus spectabilis,* (wAsian tl'egu) with red to yellow fruit ripening in August; the delicious early blueberry, Vaccinium ovalifolium (kanat&), to be gathered in late August or September; the 'up-river blueberry' (nana kana££yi), possibly the red huckleberry, V. parvifolium, but identified by Emmons (1903, p. 438) as the thin-leafed blueberry, V. membranaceum, and by Harrington as the Alaska blueberry, V. alaskensis; the trailing red raspberry or five-leafed bramble, Rubus pedatus,* and the cloudberry, R. chamaemorus,* both called 'dog's earrings' (ketl gukw kAdjacI); the trailing black currant, Ribes laxiflorum,* and fetid currant, R. gland-ulosum,* both known as "lowbush currant" (kAnEltsuk; Harrington, khaneeltsukw); and the highbush cranberry, Viburnum edule,* (kAXwex) with its tasty red berries available from late August through the fall. On more open moist soil is the low lagoon berry, Rubus stellatus (Harrington, neekuun, from 'lagoon'). The "wild currant" (cax, cax; Harrington, caax) is probably the blue currant or skunk bush, Ribes bracteo-sum, (according to Swanton, 1909, p. 19, cax); the "lowbush cranberry" may be Vaccinium vitis-idea. The thimbleberry, Rubus parviflorus (Harrington, tciix),* was believed to have medicinal virtue.3 Growing on the edge of the forest and on the slopes above it are the matted clumps of the red alder, Alnus oregona (kesis; Boas 127, k6cic; Harrington, khiicfc), found up to an altitude of 3,000 feet, where it forms "such dense jungles as to be almost impenetrable, constituting one of the most serious obstacles to mountain climbing in this region" (Coville, 1895, p. 328). Its wood and springy branches were, however, used for a number of manufactures and its bark for red dye. The willow Salix ssp. (teal', teal') grows on the lowland, and its thickets are important as "the favorite resort of the ptarmigan" (Coville, 1895, p. 329), especially in Disenchantment Bay. These two shrubs and the cotton-wood, Populus tricocarpa and P. tacamahacca(?), (duq; Boas 156, duq) form the advance guard of the forest that is slowly reoccupying Disenchantment Bay and Russell Fiord. Swanton reports (1909, p. 60) that the "smelly things" growing on top of the cottonwood trees are called doxkwa'nk! On stream banks or in swampy glades grow several species of saxifrage, Saxifraga punctata, S. mertensiana, 5 Boas (1891) lists the following berries, as rendered into more modern orthography: early blueberry, Vaccinium ovalifolium, kanaka'; bog blueberry, V. uliginosum, tsika'xk"; mountain cranberry, V. vitis-idea, negu'n; crowberry, Empetrum niqrum, xitlewutse. The latter, of course, is found only on higher slopes. Highbush cranberry, Viburnum acerifolium, k'Aswe'x. This last is probably V. edule. Harrington calls the highbush cranberry (V. pauciflorum i.e., V. edule) the "white currant" (cwax); and also mentions the swamp cranberry, Occycoccus microcarpus (c6tck khatlhe'ekuu). IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 33 and S. stellarisC?); the tall yellow wild snapdraggon or monkeyflower, Mimulus guttatus formerly langsdorfii; delicate-blossomed alum-root, Heuchera glabra; and the Siberian springbeauty. Claytonia sibirica.* "The last-named plant is eaten both raw and cooked by the Indians" (Coville, 1895, p. 330). My informants identified this, however, as "money dope" (duwuwEt kayi kayani) or 'medicine for being called by the village' ('ante 'uxux nakw). An important source of food is the root of the Kamchatka lily or "wild rice" (kux), Fritillaria camtchatcensis,* with its purply-brown flowers and an odor offensive to our noses. Here too is found the "wild rhubarb" (tl'a]iwAtc), a dock or sorrel Bumex, possibly fenestraius,* the reddish leaves and stems of which are eaten in the spring and early summer.6 Most welcome in the early spring are the fresh raw stalks of the "wild celery" or cowparsnip, Heradeum lanaium, (yana'£t; Boas 155, yXnAEt') which later in the summer toughen and carry their umbrellas of white flowerlets to a height of 4 or 5 feet. The dried stalks have given their name (ku±) to the basketry rings on chiefs' woven hats. The wild celery often grows in the open with the similar, but later blooming, Angelica. The horsetail, Equisitum variegatum and E. arvense, is also found along the banks of streams and in muskegs. My informants called it 'sea lion's whiskers' (tan £adadz£yi), and said it was "good for nothing," although Emmons (1903, p. 238) reported that the marsh horsetail, E. palustre, called "at the edge of the water, heeney money" (i.e., hin WAHI) was used for basket decoration, especially at Yakutat. E. arvense (thaan k'utaa tzaalii) was used as sandpaper for smoothing woodwork, according to Harrington. Two important medicinal plants from the woodland swamps are the skunk cabbage, Lysichitum americanum, C&atl') especially good as medicine for cuts (sel nakw), and the American white hellebore or "skookum root," Veratrum eschscholtzii* (sikc) useful for wounds, as hair medicine (cAxawu nakw) and, according to Swan-ton (1909, p. 143, s!tkc), for protection against land otters. The tall white-spired goatsbeard, Aruneus vulgaris,* also furnished an effective medicine (qa kakdusex nakw). We should not forget the deadly waterhemlock, Cicuta douglasii or virosa(l), although this was not used by the Yakutat, as far as I know. The open tundralike flats, as for example, between the Situk and Lost Rivers, are described by Shortt (1939, p. 2) as "for the most part covered with sedges, deer cabbage, heather and Carex. Some of these clearings between Yakutat and the Situk are very swampy and are covered with a film of oil. There is also a heavy bacterial deposit of iron-oxide in these swamps 6 According to Harrington, the leaves of both Rumex fenesiratus and R. occidentalis (tl'aak'wat#) were boiled and eaten. which gives the vegetation and the many stagnant pools a rust-red colour." These flats are dotted with the white tufts of the Alaska cotton-grass Eriophorum, especially E. scheuchzeri. Here also grows the Arctic iris, Iris setosa, of which the "Indians are said to use the rootstock as a medicinal charm" (Coville, 1895, p. 346). The white bog-orchid or wild hyacinth, Limnorchis dilitata leueostachys,* a variety of Habenaria or Platanthera, is the "need medicine," or "looking at the sun medicine" (gAgan 'Ahtin nakw), effective in bringing extra gifts at a potlatch. The useful Hudson's Bay tea, Ledum groenlandiea, (sikcAltin or sikcaltfn) grows on some of the flats by the airfield and near the Situk River. In shallow pools are two plants, reported to possess great medicinal virtues. These are the yellow pond lily, Nymphaea polysepala, or 'the thing that grows on the bottom of the lake' ('atugwexi; Harrington, 'aa thuke'e±ii), and its 'child' ('atugweii yAtii), the buckbean, Menyanthes trifoliata,* with lavender flowers. Pondweeds, Potamogeton per-joliatus and P. pusillus, grow in the creeks. Other flowers of the damp open glades are: the yellow marsh-marigold, Caltha palustris; Alaska violet, Viola langsdorfii; red baneberry, Actaea arguta; large-leafed avens, Geum macrophyllum (Harrington, 'aan khanaa-kuu); the daisylike fleabane, Erigeron sp.; lamb lily or asphodel, Tqfieldia glutinosa{!); yellow willow-herb, Epilobium luteum; a slender join tweed or bistort, Polygonum viviparum; sea lovage with broad leaves and aromatic roots, Ligusticum hultenii, formerly scoticum; wild pea, Lathyrus palustris; a broad-leafed yellow composite, Arnica latifolia; the tall blue Greek-valerian, Polemonium acutiflorum (or caeruleum)*; the creeping spearwort, a buttercup or crowfoot, Ranunculus flammula; marsh cinquefoil, PotentiUa palustris;* an aster with narrow purple petals, Aster subspicatus; Alpine aster, A. alpinus;* mud sedge, Carex limosa stygia; spikerush, Eleocharis watsoni(J); and sickle-leaved rush, Juncus falcatus. The grasses in the drier open lands are tufted hair-grass, Deschampsia caespitosa, and sweet-grass Hierochloe, formerly Savastana odorata. At old sites the nettles, Urtica, lyallii (Harrington, Mukw), grow thick and are used for reddish basket dyes according to Emmons (1903, p. 238). The grassy dunes and open gravel flats are often carpeted with masses of those wild strawberries, Fragaria chiloensis, (cukw or cAkw; Harrington, cukw), for which Yakutat is famous. They ripen in different places from early July to mid-August. Of value to the natives in decorating baskets and also as "mattresses" under fur robes are the stalks of the beach rye-grass, Elymus mollis, formerly arenarius (Harrington, lakh), which grows on the dunes. My informants gave me only one word for 'grass' (xatl' or xal'),7 which apparently grows in streams, although 34 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 they doubtless distinguished between varieties useful to them. Small burrs found on some of the grass stems are known as 'slave's louse nests, or snarls' (guxw CA#si). Emmons (1903, p. 236) reported the following grasses as used for ornamentation of baskets, and presumably many of these were available at Yakutat where the best baskets were once made: fowl manna-grass, Panicularia nervata, now Glyeeria striata; blue-joint, Calarnagrostis canadensis langsdorfii; tufted hair-grass, Deschampsia caespitosa; slender reed-grass, Cinna latijolia (Harrington, caak); Alaska brome-grass, Bromus sitchensis; and beach rye-grass, Elyraus mollis. Perhaps the most showy plant of the gravels is the blue and white lupin, Lupinus nootkatensis (kantAk", gEntAkw, or kantXqw; Harrington, kanthakw or gantagw), the roots of which were eaten. I am not sure whether the natives distinguished between two varieties or colors of lupin, or also ate a similar plant (gi&us or gE^us). The latter may have been the beach pea, Lathyrus maritimus, with rose and purple flowers, since the roots of a plant with pink flowers were called "sweetpotatoes" (sate or tsatc). (Possibly this was the related Hedysarum alpinum, called "bear root," or "Indian potatoes" on the Copper River.) Coville (1895, p. 332) notes that the hairy rock-cress, Arabis hirsuta, which thrives in the gravelly soil of the dunes, is "sometimes eaten raw by the Indians." Identification of the root plants eaten at Yakutat is very difficult, since our informants could not describe them, and the roots would normally be gathered when the plants were not in bloom. Swanton (1909, pp. 18, 159, 180, 182) mentions three different edible roots eaten by the Tlingit: ts'et, sin, and fern root (klwAlx). I was given the names sate, sAtc, tsats, tsats for "sweet-potatoes," and also set. One informant called fern leaves sate and fern roots qwAby. The yellow vetch, "mule's ear," was not eaten but was called 'Raven's garden' (yei tayi). On the dunes and gravel flats there are both the Arctic fireweed, Epilobium latifolium, and the ordinary taller variety, E. angustifolium; one or both were used for medicine (lul). Yarrow, Achillea millefolium, called 'mouse tail' (kagak tl'idi; Harrington, khakaak tl'iitii), was also of medicinal value. In this area there also grows the northern willow-herb, Epilobium an-denocaulon*; the scarlet Indian paint-brush, Oastilleja miniata and C. chrymactis*; the yellow to magenta lousewort, Pedicularis palustrisC!); yellow rattlebox, Rhinanthus minor, formerly crista-galli; the blunt-leaved and sea-beach sandworts, Arenaria lateriflora i Thia word sounds suspiciously like the name for skunk cabbage (iatl'}. Harrington recorded tchuukhan for 'grass' in general. Boas (1917, p. 126, from Swanton) gives tcukAn for 'brush' and for 'grass.' and A, peploides; blue gentians, Gentiana amarella(?); many-flowered woodrush, Luzula multifiora, formerly Juncoides campestris suedicum; succulent sea milkwort Glaux maritima; the alakali-grass of the sea shore, Puccinellia maritima(?); and spear-grass, Poa eminens, formerly glumaris. Above the upper limit of the forests, the mountainsides have a heavy growth of grass, Deschampsia, caespitosa longifiora, and of blue monkshood or aconite, Aconitum delphinifolium. Above 2,500 feet, however, there are chiefly spotted saxifrage, Saxvfraga bronchialis; a ground willow, Salix arctica; the showy blue northern geranium or crane's bill, Geraniumer ianthum; and two creeping mountain shrubs: the Alaska heather, Cassiope stelleriana, and Luetkea pectinata. Still higher grow mostly small arctic plants, the most important of which may be the Kamchatka rock-cress, Arabis lyrata kamchatica, since it is "eaten raw by the natives" (Coville, 1895, p. 332). There are doubtless other plants, the roots of which are valued for magical or medicinal purposes, since we were told that many of these had to be sought on the mountainside. Since the plants were carefully guarded professional secrets, unknown to our informants, we were unable to identify them. Emmons (1903, p. 238; 1907, p. 336, saxoti) reports that the lichen, Everina vulpina, was used for yellow dye for basket straws and goat wool. This, I believe, grows on the mountains. Among the plants growing at high elevations, Boas (1891) identifies as medicines or amulets the composite Arnica cordijolia or 'town-on medicine' (an ka na' gu, i.e., 'ankA nagu), and wild heliotrope, Valeriana sp., (tltcanis la'kw, i.e., Itcanis nakw or, rather, itcAni nakw). In the same area, or in Disenchantment Bay, grow two medicines which we were unable to identify. These are "no-strength-inside" (Iqatu lAtsin), useful for hunters of dangerous animals, and "glare" (kAUk or kAhk) to blind the eyes of rivals. Emmons (1903, p. 238) reports that the stems of the maidenhair fern, Adiantum pedatum(?), "on the side of the mountain or shar-ah-thlee-tee" (possible ca 'Atl'idi or 'mountain its-tail'?), were used for basketry decoration. This name, however, suggests that of a vine called "mountain eel" (cayall'tlt, Swanton, 1909, p. 98). Funston (Coville, 1895) collected the following plants high above the tree line above Disenchantment Bay: chickweed, Cerastium alpinumij); the rose-tinted lesser wintergreen of the snowline, Pyrola minor; the white-blossomed wild heliotrope, Valeriana sitchensis; hairy cinquefoil and a related species, PotentUla villosa and P. procumbenstf); fringed grass-of-Parnassus, Parnassia fimhriaia; a woodworm or sagebrush, Artemesia normgia{l); winter cress or yellow rocket, Barbarea barbarea(?); buttercup or IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 35 crowfoot, Ranunculus cooleyae; harebell or Alaskan bluebell, Campanula rotundifolia alaskana; coltsfoot, Tussilago frigida(?); wooly hawkweed, Hieracium triste; the long-bracted orchid, Habenaria bracteata or Coeloglossum viride; Anemone narcissiflora; wooly everlasting, or cat's ears, Antennaria alpinaij); rattlesnake root, Prenanthes alata; western columbine, AquUegia formosa; a yellow daisy-like composite, Arnica latifolia; Sitka mistmaid, Romanzoffia sitehensis; drug eyebright, Euphrasia qfficinalis(?); a yellow-blossomed avens, Geum calthifolium; parsley-fern or rockbrake, Crypto-gramrna acrostichoides; the common fragile-fern, Orysto-pteris fragiiis; spike redtop grass, Agrostis exarata; mountain timothy, Phleum alpinum; and alpine blue-grass, Poa alpina. The alpine clubmoss, Lycopodium alpinum, with long trailing roots, may be what the Tlingit call "mountain eel" (Swanton, 1909, p. 98, cayali't!!). As indicated already, the true forest does not extend farther up Yakutat Bay than just below Point Latouche on the east and Bancas Point on the west. Beyond, in Disenchantment Bay and Russell Fiord, grows the advance guard of alders and willows, with a few cotton-woods following. Spruce is not found again until the end of Russell Fiord, south of Shelter Cove opposite Mount Tebenkof. Nor can the forest grow on the swampy forelands east of Yakutat. The sides of Nun-atak Fiord appear almost bare, although some arctic and mountain plants are beginning to find a foothold, but near the head the glacier is still today in rapid retreat and the rocks are lifeless. In contrast, however, are the alders, cottonwoods, and spruces that grow luxuriantly on the debris-laden ends of the Malaspina Glacier on the west side of Yakutat Bay. In addition to the plants listed above, the Yakutat natives were also familiar with the western red cedar, Thuja plicata, (lax) of southernmost Tlingit country and British Columbia, since it was used for canoes imported from the Haida. They also knew the paper birch of the interior, Betula papyrifera, because they sometimes received containers oi its bark (Boas, 1917, p. 154, 'It dayi, 'its bark'); they had names for the "black pine" or black spruce of the interior, Picea mariana, (Swanton 1909, p. 92, IAI), and also for the fir, Abies sp. (Harrington, leeyfs; Boas, 1917, p. 157, leyfs). The Douglas maple, Acer glabrum douglasii, (Boas, 1917, p. 160, xalie) and the Oregon crabapple, Malus diver si-folia, (Boas, 1917, p. 156, xax), like the Pacific yew, Taxus bredfolia, a hardwood used by the Tlingit in making bows, hence called 'bow' (Boas, 1917, p. 160, slqs), were to be seen in southeastern Alaska. My informants also mentioned a variety of currant with prickles (xahe'ywu), probably Ribes lacustre, which they said grew only in southeastern Alaska. Doubtless they also knew the rosebush (Boas, 1917, p. 163, qonyel). Those who went up the Alsek River could gather bearberries or kinnikinnick, Arctostaphylos uva-wrsi, (tmx) and soapberries, Shepherdia canadensis (hoktl'i; Harrington, xukwti'ii; cf. Swanton, 1909, p. 252, qokli't!). The latter was esteemed a delicacy, and one informant reported in 1952 that some had been found on a mountain "on this side" of Hubbard Glacier. A more complete list of plants was collected in 1945 in the virgin forest near Yakutat, on the muskeg, on creek banks, on cleared ground, and along the ocean beach, and has been published by Stair and Pennell (1946). These add about 50 new species to the list published by Coville (1895) upon which the preceding account is based. These additional plants were largely from the flat coastal lowland east of Yakutat or from the denser parts of the forest which had been made accessible by roads bulldozed around the airfield. About 11 plants were undoubtedly introduced through the activities of the Army Air Corps. Of the flowering plants known from Yakutat, about half are circum-boreal; the others belong to the western part of the continent, in some cases only to the Pacific coast. It is interesting that the ranges of a few plants, characteristic of northern Asia, and of others more at home in southeastern Alaska, should overlap at Yakutat (Stair and Pennell, 1946, pp. 13-14). The cultivated red currant, which seems to be spreading from the mission garden, is called kwek. The only plant cultivated in aboriginal times at Yakutat was tobacco (gAntc), also known as "native tobacco" (Imgit gAntci). Beresford (1789, p. 175) with Dixon in 1787 observed the Yakutat natives chewing "a plant, which appears to be a species of tobacco," and Malaspina (1885, p. 164) in 1791 mentions "cultivated ground" on the islands and mainland in the southeastern part of the bay. According to Heizer (1940) the tobacco was a species of Nicotiana, similar to N. multivalvis. Mammals8 As might be expected, the diversity of ecological zones and the barriers created by glacial advances have had a pronounced effect upon the fauna of the Gulf Coast of Alaska, especially in the Yakutat area. Thus, Tarr (Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 141) found in 8 This section is based on Dufresne, 1946; Rhode and Barker, 1953; Logier and Toner, 1961; and above all upon Hall and Kelson, 1959, whose classifications and distributions have been followed as closely as possible. 36 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 1905 and 1906 that the northern shore between Nuna-tak and Hubbard Glaciers was still practically inaccessible to the larger predators. No tracks of wolves, foxes, or bears were seen, while ptarmigan were particularly numerous and gulls could breed in safety on the moraine, whereas in other parts of the bay they had to nest on cliffs. The same conditions prevail today. Although the foreland is good country for deer, they had apparently been cut off by water and by glacial barriers and were not found north of Cross Sound until introduced into the Yakutat area and Prince William Sound by the U.S. Government. The glacial barriers on the Alsek have also until recently been effective in excluding many animals of the interior. Thus, for example, moose, coyote, and rabbit are relatively recent newcomers to the Yakutat and Dry Bay region; there are still no porcupines, and as far as we know, there were never any caribou. In the case of other animals with wide distribution, Yakutat Bay and the Malaspina Glacier seem to mark a boundary between different subspecies or races, so that the forms found on the southeastern shore are not necessarily the same as those to the north and west. For a number of species, unfortunately, detailed information is lacking and we know only the contrast between forms in southeastern Alaska and those of Prince William Sound or the Alaska Peninsula. We may not know whether the animal is present in the intervening area, or, if reported, we do not know what sub-species is represented. Other faunal barriers on the mainland seem to be Cape Spencer, the western edge of Prince William Sound, and perhaps Lituya Bay or possibly the Grand Plateau Glacier which now reaches the beach. The islands in southeastern Alaska, like those of the Aleutian chain, may lack certain common animals of the adjacent mainland, or possess their own bewildering array of local races. Detailed investigations, such as those devoted to the fauna of the Alexander and Aleutian Archipelagos, have not been made at strategic localities along the coast between Cape Spencer and the Copper River, where we might expect to find local variations between animal populations that had been separated by glacial barriers. Such problems are obviously the concern of the biologist, yet their solutions might help the anthropologist to understand more fully the history of the area and the varying ecological possibilities to which the aboriginal human inhabitants have adjusted. Unfortunately, none of the early explorers of the Yakutat area made as accurate observations as did LaPerouse at Lituya Bay, so we can get little information from them about the fauna of the 18th century and often find it difficult to identify the animals they saw. Thus, Beresford with Dixon in 1786 (Dixon 1789, p. 169) noted that the expedition purchased cloaks of sea otter, beaver, earless marmot, and "racoon." Surfa with Malaspina in 1791 (Wagner, 1936, p. 247) noted the natives wearing robes, the skins of which "seem to be of bears [black bear], tigers [lynx?], lions [Alaska brown bear, according to Wagner], and some of deerskins [from southeastern Alaska? caribou from the interior?], and of marmots, with the hair outside." He also noted marten skins for the women, and black bear robes for the men (p. 255). "Deer grease" (p. 247) smeared on the hair is probably mountain goat tallow. Malaspina's own account (1885, pp. 157, 159, 345, 347) mentions that the Yakutat natives had clothing of bear, wolf, "sea-wolf" obtained only in deep water, "nutria," "otter," and "little fox" (zorilla). The "sea-wolf" is the sea otter, while "nutria" and "otter" are probably the same, to judge by the native name recorded, or may be land otter. If the last, this would suggest that at that period the natives resembled the Chugach and the Atna Athabaskans in having no horror of the land otter, unlike the modern Eyak, Yakutat, and Tlingit. "Little fox" or zorilla (also applied to the skunk) and "racoon" remain unidentified unless they refer to the odorous mink and to the pretty marten. LaPerouse's observations are much more full and accurate, yet we cannot be sure from what animal were obtained the "tanned elkskins" seen at Lituya Bay (1799, vol. 1, p. 395). LAND MAMMALS The Yakutat people face a variety of large brown bears and grizzlies. These have never been classified to the satisfaction of biologists, but for the native all these large species are "the Bear" (xuts; Boas, 1917, p. 158, xiits), the prize of the intrepid hunter and an important sib crest. The very large, dark grizzled Dall brown bear, Ursus dalli, lives northwest of Yakutat Bay, especially along the Malaspina Glacier. The forester, Jay Williams (1952, p. 138), reports this huge bear at Lituya Bay; it may be another variety, or there may be a break in its distribution between Yakutat and Lituya Bays. Apparently confined to the southeastern side of Yakutat Bay is the Yakutat grizzly, U. nortoni, a large true grizzly, with yellowish or golden brown head and dark brown rump and legs, the whole looking whitish from a distance. It seems to range as far south as Lituya Bay (Williams, 1952, p. 138). Also known at Yakutat is the giant brown bear of Kodiak, the Alaska Peninsula, and Prince William Sound, U. middendorffi. The Alsek grizzly, U. orgiloides, a cream-colored medium sized bear with long narrow skull, ranges the foreland east of Yakutat, especially along the Ahrnklin, Italio, and Alsek Rivers. It is not known whether this bear, or the closely related Glacier Bay IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 37 grizzly, U. orgttos, is the form found at Lituya Bay. Between Cross Sound and the Alsek delta is the large Townsend grizzly, U. townsendi, the exact range of which is undefined. The black bear (sik), found along the coastal glaciers from Lituya Bay (or Cross Sound) northward to the eastern edge of Prince William Sound or Cape Saint Elias, is very much smaller than the ordinary American black bear. Furthermore, in addition to the usual black and brownish colors, many from the same litter are blue-gray or maltese. These are called glacier bears, U. americanus emmonsii, formerly Euarctos emmonsii or Ursus glacialis. The Indians make no distinctions, as far as I know, between the color varients, unless what Boas (1891, p. 174) recorded as a "polar bear" (caq, i.e., cax) is really the blueish glacier bear. A few bones of the black bear were found in the site on Knight Island. Although the Tlingit recognize the distinction between the large brown bears and the smaller black bears there is one term which can be used to cover both (tsfnist, sinst). There are wolves (gutc) at Yakutat, often driven by hunger in winter to the very edge of the town. Some of these may be the large interior Alaska wolf, Canis Iwpus pambasiLeus, gray to coal-black in color, the southwestern limit of whose range is reported at Yakutat. A very large black wolf, repeatedly seen near the road just east of the town during March and early April, 1954, was probably this form. The smaller Alexander Archipelago gray wolf, C. I. Ugoni, that ranges south of Yakutat along the mainland and on the islands south of Frederick Sound, has actually been taken at Eleanor Cove on the southeastern side of Yakutat Bay. As far as I know, the Tlingit make no formal distinction between these two races. The Wolf is, of course, an important moiety and sib crest. Although Hall and Kelson (1959, map 447, p. 856) would indicate that the red fox, Vulpes fulva, is absent on the coast from Oregon north to Kenai Peninsula, although common in the interior as V. f. alascensis or V. alascensis alascensis, nevertheless the Yakutat natives reported them at Yakutat and at Dry Bay. Mertie (1931, p. 121) saw both the red and the cross varient at Lituya Bay, and LaPerouse there purchased red fox furs from the natives (1799, vol. 1, p. 395). Foxes have been taken to some of the islands in Yakutat Bay both by natives and Whites for fur-farming ventures (Goldschmidt and Haas, 1946, p. 76), yet the fox must be much older here than these imported animals. Our informants spoke of trapping and snaring them at Dry Bay and at Yakutat, and described the aboriginal devices used to take them, mentioning clothing made of the pelts and robes of fox paws. There was even a taboo against giving the tails to dogs, suggesting an ancient acquaintance with the fox. Israel Russell (1893, p. 26) noticed the tracks of foxes, as well as of bears, wolves, and mountain goats, on the Malaspina Glacier. Natives told Goldschmidt and Haas (1946, pp. 74, 83, 85) about trapping foxes near Dry Bay, Italio River, Point Manby, and Katalla. George Johnson, who was familiar with the coast west of Yakutat, said that two White men had taken 122 "mixed" [i.e., cross] foxes at Yakataga with poison, so that there were no more in that area. The Tlingit name for fox (nagasE) is an unusual word, and is reported by Boas (1891, p. 177) as "borrowed." We should note that the "highest name" for the fox on the Copper River, where special respect words are used by hunters, is very similar (na'qMzi' or natAdzi'), which suggests an interior origin for both the animal and its name. Quite possibly it has not been very long on the coast, for it is not a sib crest. Although lynx furs were used as robes at Yakutat, and although LaPerouse purchased some skins at Lituya Bay (1899, vol. 1, p. 395), I am not sure whether the Canadian lynx, Lynx canadensis, (gaq; Boas, 1917, p. 160, gaq) is actually found at Yakutat, although it was trapped in the Dry Bay area. None of my informants nor those who discussed territorial rights and resources with Goldschmidt and Haas (1946, pp. 84, 85) specifically mentioned trapping lynx nearer than Dry Bay. The name has a good Tlingit sound and has also been recorded by Swanton (1909, p. 125, gak) at Wrangell. The coyote, Canis latrans incolatus, like the moose and rabbit, is reported to have arrived "just lately," "about 1925," or "just a few years ago," according to Yakutat informants. One old man thought that the building of the Alaska Highway might have driven them down to the coast. The coyote is absent from southeastern Alaska, but was previously known from the upper Alsek River and from the Copper River flats. We know that coyotes have increased their range during the present century, for according to the "Report of the Governor of Alaska on the Alaska Game Law, 1919" (Riggs, 1920, pp. 11-12), "Coyotes are increasing along the White River and at the head of the Chitina" behind the Saint Elias Range, having ". . . gradually worked their way up from British Columbia. . . ." The coyote is so new to the Yakutat Tlingit that they have no proper name for it other than 'upstream wolf (nagutc) or "way-back dog" (hada ketli). The northern wolverine Gullo luscus luscus (nuskw; Boas, 1917, p. 166, nusku(), is found on the coast as well as in the interior, is recorded for Yakutat, and is specifically mentioned by the natives as being encountered in the Dry Bay area. The skin, like that of the 38 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 wolf, was valued for making the hammock for a baby boy. The most valued fur-bearer on land was the small arboreal marten, Maries arnericana kenaiensis or M. a. actuosa, (tux; Boas, 1917, p. 160, Kuxu). It was trapped at Dry Day and at Yakutat. The weasel or ermine (da; Boas, 1917, p. 166, da) was probably Mustela erminea arctica, the variety found along the coast north of Glacier Bay, and also in the interior, but not in southeastern Alaska, although the proliferation of local forms and the difficulties of classifying these makes an exact determination impossible. Similar uncertainties apply to the Yakutat mink (lukciyan; Boas, 1917, p. 160, Itikciyan) since these may be the larger interior mink, M. vison ingens, the Kenai Peninsula form, M. v. melampeplus, which is found also in Prince William Sound, or the type found farther south and in the interior, M. v. energumenos. The mink was never highly regarded in aboriginal times, being associated with the evil land otter, or appearing as Raven's servant in one story (Swanton, 1909, Tale 1, pp. 9-10), and in general considered smelly. The ermine, however, was used for trimming ceremonial dress. Our informants spoke of catching weasels and minks at Yakutat and Dry Bay for sale (cf., also Goldschmidt and Haas, 1946, p. 80). The Pacific land otter, Lutra canadensis pacifica, (kiieda) ranges along the coast from the northern part of southeastern Alaska to Controller Bay(?), is larger than the interior Canadian form, L. c. canadensis. The land otter was not hunted or used for fur in aboriginal times because the Tlingit and Eyak believed that lost or drowned persons were turned into Land Otter Men (kucdaqa). Many persons today are still afraid of it. Two land otter bones were, however, found in the midden at the site on Knight Island in Yakutat Bay, and Malaspina's observations may indicate that the Yakutat in former times had a different attitude towards the animal. The beaver, Castor canadensis belugae, (segedi; Harrington, sikkeedii; Boas, 1917, p. 154, sAgedi) has a wide distribution all over coastal and interior Alaska, except for the Alaska Peninsula and Arctic Coast, or in the southeast where it is replaced by the Pacific beaver, C. c. pacificus. However, the beaver is now extinct at Yakutat, although its bones and teeth were found on Knight Island. We were told that there were still some animals on the Ahrnklin River, where trapping rights have been carefully guarded by the owning sib. There were once beaver at Dry Bay, but they are all gone now. LaPerouse (1799, vol. 1, p. 395) bought beaver skins at Lituya Bay, but, of course, we do not know where they had been trapped. The Garyrx-Kagwantan lands west of Icy Bay were traditionally rich in beaver, and Yakutat Indians visiting their relatives at Kaliakh River or Controller Bay might trap them. The Yakutat also used to buy beaver pelts at settlements near the mouth of the Copper River or at Nuchek in Prince William Sound to sell to then- southern relatives or to the fur traders. It is probably significant that it was the Galyix-Kagwantan who had the Beaver as a crest. The Yakutat people were also familiar with the muskrat (tsfn), some bones of which were found at the site on Knight Island. Again, Yakutat Bay seems to be the boundary between two varieties, Ondantra zibethicus zalophus to the west and O. z. spatulatus to the southeast. The latter was actually taken on the Ahrnklin River, but the distribution of the western form is not very clear. LaPe'rouse noted "water rat" (muskrat?) at Lituya Bay (1799, vol 1, p. 395). It is interesting that only one informant mentioned the muskrat: "They say there used to be lots around here, but when they started to trade, they trade for rifle. They pile them [the skins] up even with the rifle", that is, even with the top of the muzzle as the rifle (musket?) was stood vertically on its butt. This was the price exacted by the Chilkat in trading with the interior Athabaskans and it is possible that the Tlingit had the same custom in their early dealings with the Dry Bay Athabaskans and the Yakutat Eyak. At that time, however, only sea otter furs were sought, and muskrat pelts had no value, so the remarks of our informant should not be accepted without some reservation. It may be significant that no other person mentioned trapping muskrats to Goldschmidt and Haas (1946). Now they are evidently of no importance. The rabbit, probably the snowshoe rabbit, Lepus americanus macfarlani, found all over Alaska except for the Alexander Archipelago, is a newcomer to the Yakutat area. The Dry Bay people were certainly familiar with the rabbit (gax) on their journeys up the Alsek, and among them "Big Rabbit" (Gax-tlen) was the name of a famous ThikwaxAdi shaman, and also of his nephew, the father of one of our informants. Rabbits are apparently not trapped, although tanned rabbi tsMns are purchased for use in trimming moccasins made for sale. There are still no porcupines, Erethizon epixanthum epixanthum, in the Yakutat or Dry Bay areas, although the Tlingit name refers to its 'sharp-pointed' quills (xatlagAts; Boas, 1917, p. 144, xllAlsAt's; Swanton, 1909, p. 220, kklA'tc). The Dry Bay people obtained quills or quilled garments on their trips up the Alsek. Other animals whose skins were prized but had to be obtained from the interior were the striped Arctic groundsquirrel, Spermophilius undulatus plesius (tsAlk) and the woodchuck or "gopher," Marmota monax ochra-cea (Boas, 1917, p. 158, tsilk). LaP6rouse (1799, vol. 1, IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 39 p. 395) purchased some skins of the "Canadian marmot (monax)" at Lituya Bay, but his identification may be incorrect. Apparently the "groundhog" or hoary marmot, M. caligata caligata (sax; Boas, 1917, p. 125, lax), has been collected at Yakutat as well as in the interior, and its bones were represented in the site on Knight Island. One of my informants denied that there were any "groundhogs" on the coast; there were only a big one and a little one in the interior. However, an older woman spoke of seeing them at Dry Bay, and Minnie Johnson remembered how she had been frightened as a child by their "fuzzy hair." Yet they cannot be very common, for when one recently entered a fish camp on the Ahrnklin River, (a portentous omen in itself, when a wild animal approaches human beings), people were puzzled as to how such an upland animal had come to the shore country. Israel Russell (1891 b, p. 877) noted many marmots breeding among the nunataks near Marvine Glacier on the west side of Yakutat Bay. Other rodents in the Yakutat area are the Alaskan red squirrel, Tamiaseiurus hudsonicus petulans, distributed from Lynn Canal to the northern limit of the spruce forest. Although Hall and Kelson (1959, map 257, p. 400) indicate an area on the Gulf Coast from Yakutat through Prince William Sound without squirrels, the animal is now certainly common in and about the town. Informants mentioned them at the head of the Ahrnklin River and around Summit. Lake, east of Yakutat. Like small birds and other little animals of no economic value, they seem to be protected by taboo from molestation. The northern flying squirrel, Glau-comys sabrinus, seems to be absent from the Gulf Coast of Alaska, though found elsewhere in the spruce forests. Since it is nocturnal it may have escaped notice. Boas (1891, p. 181) recorded two words for squirrel: kan-atltsg'k (i.e., kAnaltltsak), and for the "small species" tlk-oqwe'tsa (i.e., tlqoxwetsA). Possibly the deer mouse or white-footed mouse, Peromyscus maniculatus, may occur at Yakutat, since varieties are found in the adjacent interior and in parts of southeastern Alaska. The Alaskan meadow jumping mouse, Zapus hudsonius alascensis, has actually been recorded from Yakutat and from Lynn Canal, but not from the Alexander Archipelago. The northern red-backed mouse, Clethrionomys rutilus, is of wide distribution in Alaska and seems to be the common mouse at Yakutat where it is represented by C. r. dawsoni. Different races are found in southeastern Alaska, and C. r. watsoni is known only from Yakataga. A specially dark variety of the meadow mouse or vole, a species of wide distribution and many forms, is the tundra vole or Yakutat meadow mouse, Microtus oeconomus yakuta-tensis, found from Cross Sound to Cook Inlet, and recorded from the north shore of Yakutat Bay. The Olympic meadow mouse, M. mordax macrurus, a much larger variety, reaches the northern limit of its distribution at Yakutat (Dufresne, 1946, p. 147). The long-tailed vole, M. longicaudus littoralis, has a similar distribution from Yakutat down the mainland of southeastern Alaska. True lemmings are absent, but the bog lemming or lemming mouse, Synaptomys borealis, seems to be found at Yakutat, although we cannot be sure whether it is the northern S. b. dalli or the southeastern Alaskan form, S. b. wrangeli, that is represented. Streator's masked shrew, Sorex cinereus streatori, has been taken at Yakutat, as has the Alaskan dusky shrew or vagrant shrew, S. vagrans alascensis. The widely distributed water shrew, S. palustris, and the singing vole, Microtus miurus, are among the forms absent from the Gulf Coast area. I do not know to what extent the Yakutat natives distinguish between these various species of small rodents. I was given two words for "mice": kutsin, the little animal whose whiter store of roots is taken whenever these are found, and kagak. Swanton (1909, 134, 163, 277) gives the name kutsll'n or k!uts!i'n to the "mouse" and to a "rat" that seems to live in a hole under the water. Boas (1917, p. 162) renders "rat" as kutsin. Swanton (1909, p. 19) also gives the form kule'ltAlnl for "mouse," but I suspect that this is an adopted Athabaskan word meaning 'mouse-people,' the part meaning "mouse" being kulel. Swanton (1909, pp. 96, 282) translates kAga'q and kkgAk as "mouse" and "mole"; Boas (1917, p. 161) renders "mouse" as kagak. In 1891 (p. 179) Boas included "mouse" and "shrew" under the same two terms which we recorded. A summer migrant to the Yakutat area is the little brown bat, Myotis ludjugus alascensis, that lives in the dark forests. The Tlingit call it 'beaver-sea lion' (segeditan; Boas, 1917, p. 154, sAgedifan). One woman said that they fly around "when it's kind of dark . . . when it's going to be bad weather," but there seems to be no fear of them, except among those who have adopted this attitude from the Whites. One of the most important land animals for the natives along the Gulf Coast is the Alaska mountain goat, Oreamnos americanus, (djinuwu; Boas, 1917, p. 161, djAnwu). This is not a true goat, but a relative of the Asiatic goat-antelope and the European chamois and, like the latter, makes its home on the high crags and mountain slopes. It is a daring climber, can sit back on its haunches like a bear, and is rarely encountered on the lowlands except in search of salt. Its flesh and fat are esteemed for food, its fat also serving as a cosmetic. Its wool is woven into blankets, and its horns shaped into spoons. A Mountain Goat Head was the crest of a Wolf sib of Wrangeli (Swanton, 1908, pp. 415-416), but otherwise it does not appear in 40 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 Tlingit heraldry. While the mountain goat is hunted all along the coastal slopes of the Fairweather, Saint Elias, and Chugach Ranges, I am not sure of the exact boundary between the more northern race 0. a. ken-nedeyi and that of the southern O.a. columbiae. Bones from the site on Knight Island were not identified as to race. The mountain sheep, Ovis dalli (Boas, ]917, p. 161, ikwii), is not found on the coast, although Dall's sheep, O.d, dalli, together with its more southern, darker variety, 0. d. stonei, live along the interior slopes of the mountains from Cook Inlet to British Columbia, and some of the Yakutat and Dry Bay people who have gone into the interior are familiar with it. The moose, Alces alces gigas (tsisl;w; Harrington, tzfskw; Boas, 1917, p. 161, tsiskw) sometimes called 'large animal' (lAwan), has appeared only within the past few years on the coast. Moose were formerly hunted up the Alsek River by the Dry Bay people, but most natives at Yakutat are more afraid of the moose, even when not rutting, than they are of the huge bears. There seem to be quite a few of them around Situk and Lost Rivers. Although the caribou, Rangifer osborni, has never been found on the coast, it is known to the Tlingit and the skins are valued trade goods. It is called watsix (Boas, 1917, p. 155, wltsix). The black-tailed or mule deer, Dama hemionus siikensis, was introduced into Yakutat from southeastern Alaska by the U.S. Government. However, the deer (kuwakan, usually pronounced gowakan; Boas, 1917, p. 156, q'uwakan) has been for the Tlingit the symbol of peaceful, unaggressive behavior, so that the hostage-ambassadors exchanged in peace ceremonies are called 'deer' by all the Tlingit. The Yakutat natives were therefore familiar with this word long before many of them had ever seen the animal. The domestic cow is now called xas, and Swanton (1908, pp. 400, 407, xas, xas!) translates this as 'moose' or 'cow,' "probably moose originally." One cannot but wonder whether the Tlingit ever had heard of the woodland buffalo, since representations of the animal in Chilkat-blanket weaving (Emmons, 1908) resemble a bovine, not the moose, the horns being unmistakable. The only domesticated animal known to the Tlingit and Eyak in former days was the dog (ketl). Although fine, well-trained hunting dogs were prized, they were not pets, despite the affection which children might lavish upon puppies. An Athabaskan type dog (dzi, Swanton, 1909, p. 22) is mentioned in one story recorded by Swanton at Sitka; perhaps this is the small, agile "bear dog," but it may be a large pack-carrying animal. Long-eared dogs like spaniels are known as SAwak, but I believe that these were not known in early days. Dog bones of unidentified breed were found in the midden at Knight Island. Vancouver (1801, vol. 5, p. 396) mentions a deserted village near the mouth of the Ankau, where "about fifty dogs [that had been left behind] were making a most dreadful howling." While children often had young animals as pets or playthings, perhaps the first true pets were cats (due). These were probably introduced by the first American traders in the 1880's. At any rate, one girl is remembered to have obtained a cat in this way. Boas (1891, p. 175) reports that due is a Chinook jargon word. Other domesticated animals, such as cows, pigs, and chickens, if not briefly imported by the Russians, were introduced by the Mission. None of these now survive, perhaps because the cows and pigs were feared by the natives. SEA MAMMALS The northern sea otter, Enhydra lutris lutris, (yuxtc; Boas, 1917, p. 123, yAxutc) was the most important fur-bearing mammal in Alaskan waters. Long after it had become extinct in southeastern Alaska, and was hardly to be found along the Aleutian Islands, it was still hunted at Lituya Bay, Icy Bay, and off Cape Yakataga, until protected in 1911 by Federal legislation and international treaty. Its bones were represented in the site on Knight Island, and until harrassed by hunters it used to frequent Yakutat Bay. In historic times the natives sold the pelts and sometimes ate the flesh. One was seen in Monti Bay in February, 1954. The fur seal, Oallorhinus ursinus alsacensis, (xun; Boas, 1917, p. 163, iun), which is also protected by law, is occasionally seen at Yakutat. The herds generally winter in more southern waters, coming north from mid-February to March, yet several lone individuals are said to have lived in Yakutat Bay throughout the winter of 1953-54, sleeping under the cannery dock. The natives believed that this was because of the quantities of smelt or smelt-like fish which first appeared in Monti Bay in 1952, and again returned the following winter. Related to the fur seal is the large northern sea lion, Eumentopias jubata, (tan) with thick hide useful for lines, and stiff whiskers. Some males are over 10 feet long and may weigh a ton, although the females are half the size. Although some natives are afraid of the huge beasts, especially since they are supposed to throw stones at people, the Yakutat natives formerly hunted them. Occasionally one will haul out of the water on a rock near the town, as we saw a young animal do in mid-September, 1952. Sea lions figure in the Tlingit story of Black Skin (Swanton, 1909, Tale 31, pp. 145-150; Tale 93) not so much as characters, but as animals to be killed, and in connection with this myth appear in crest carvings of some Raven sibs (Swanton, 1908, p. 418). IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 41 The most common and most important sea mammal in Yakutat waters is the Pacific harbor seal, Phoca vitulina richardii, (tsa). This animal was the best represented of any species in the middens at the site on Knight Island. Seals breed particularly on the floating ice in Disenchantment and Icy Bays. It is uncertain whether the seal was the crest of any sib (Swanton, 1908, p. 416); it was certainly not so featured at Yakutat. The Pacific harbor porpoise or "puffing pig," Phocoena vomerina, (tcitc) also prefers the quiet waters near glaciers. Its bones appeared in the Knight Island site, and it was hunted by the Yakutat particularly for its sinew, for its strong-tasting flesh was regarded as poor-man's fare. It is the crest of a sib at Sitka. The larger, playful Dall's porpoise, Phocoenoides dalli, is the familiar porpoise often encountered in large schools leaping in front of a ship. This is probably the kind described to Swanton (1908, p. 458) as the largest kind, with a white dorsal fin and a white belly. It is called Igllwu' (Swanton, 1908, p. 458). There is also supposed to be a dark red porpoise (q'.an; i.e., £an), but this has not been identified, if indeed, it is not mythological. Other members of the porpoise and dolphin family with which the Gulf Coast natives were probably familiar are Gray's porpoise, Stenella, styx; the northern right-whale dolphin, Lissodelphis borealis; and the Pacific white-sided dolphin, Lagenorhynchus obliquidens, all of which may reach lengths of 7 or 8 feet. The much larger Pacific blackfish, Globicephala scammonii usually travels in groups and may attain lengths of 16 feet. This was described as a whale like the kOlerwhale, but called sit! (Swanton, 1908, p. 416, slit!) and claimed as a crest by a southern Tlingit sib. The most important of all the porpoise family is the Pacific killerwhale or orca, Grampus rectipinna, the most savage and the largest. These ferocious predators, reaching lengths of up to 30 feet, and hunting in packs, are rightly feared and avoided by the Tlingit, at the same time forming an important crest. The natives distinguish between the ordinary killerwhale (kit) and three special varieties: the largest "heraldic" form which supposedly has a hole through the high dorsal fin (Swanton, 1908, p. 458, kit ylyagu'), a white killerwhale (kit wu), and a red killerwhale that always leads the pack and is called the killerwhale's spear (kit wusani; Swanton, 1908, p. 458, kit wusa'nt, kit caq!). At Yakutat the killerwhale as a crest was represented with the hole through the fin, and the small leader was mentioned. There are also many stories in which the animal appears. The Yakutat people know about the walrus, Odobenus divigens, ('adatsaq) and describe it as having two spears on the mouth. Olson (1936, p. 214) reported that 265^-517—72—vol. VII, pt. 1 5 the Yakutat used to obtain walrus hides which were traded to the Chilkoot Tlingit who used them for boats like umiaks which they kept on Lake Bennet for use when going to trade with the Tagish. One wonders, however, whether the hides were not those of sea lions. As far as I know the walrus is almost never seen south of the Alaska Peninsula. In the Gulf of Alaska are a number of whales, the fat and flesh of which were utilized when a carcass drifted ashore. They were not hunted. I do not know whether the natives distinguished between different species or called all by the single name (yay at Yakutat, yay at Dry Bay and farther south). References to Raven flying down the blowhole of the whale, and of a whale being killed when a stone lamp was thrown into the blowhole suggest that the Tlingit referred especially to the toothed, single-blowhole whale. This seems to be the kind painted as a crest on a house at Ketchikan (Gar-field and Forrest, 1948, fig. 29). The Whale is a crest of a sib represented at Yakutat and at Sitka. Among the toothed whales there is the sperm whale, Physeter catodon, essentially tropical, although the males may wander as far north as the Aleutians in summer, and sometimes attain a length of 60 feet. From 20 to 28 feet long are the related beaked whales, Mesoplodon stejnegeri, Ziphius cavirostris, and Berardius bairdii. These are apparently more rare than the sperm whale, and are seldom stranded on the shore. Baleen whales, characterized by double blowholes and the greater size of the female, are represented by the Pacific right whale, Eubalaena sieboldii, about 60-70 feet in maximum length, and once very numerous on the Fairweather Grounds; the enormous blue or sulphur-bottomed whale, Sibbaldus musculus, of which the giant female might attain a length of 100 feet; and the playful humpbacked whale, Megaptera novaeangliae, only half that size. There are also the fin-backed whale, Balaenoptera physalus, often encountered in groups; the migratory sei whale or lesser rorqual, B. borealis; and the solitary little piked whale or least rorqual, B. acutorostrata, with females ranging up to 80, 60, and 33 feet respectively. The gray whale, Eschrichtius gibbosus, which migrates from California to the Bering Sea and is now all but extinct, once was probably well known at Yakutat because of its habit of following the shoreline and congregating in shallow bays. Amphibia Alaska has few amphibia and no reptiles (except for a few garter snakes which I believe have been recently 42 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 imported). At Yakutat are found the wood frog, Rana sylvatica, and the larger boreal toad, Bufo boreas boreas. I do not know whether the natives distinguish between them, but the latter is probably "the Frog" (xixt6; Boas, 1917, p. 149, xrxte), an important sib crest at Yakutat and at Sitka. It should be noted that many Tlingit, men as well as women, have a horror of being touched by or even of seeing a frog. "The slime exuding from a frog's skin was thought to be very poisonous and fatal to smaller creatures" (Swanton, 1908, p. 457). Emmons (1903, p. 271) records "tadpole" as "kluck-kish" (tl'ukic??). Birds '• Yakutat is a land of many birds. These include the year-round residents, those that come only in summer to nest, that fly through to and from more northern or interior breeding grounds, that seek shelter in winter, and finally those birds that simply visit Yakutat as non-breeders. Gabrielson and Lincoln (1959), our authorities on Alaskan birds, estimate that some 321 species (or 414 races) have been found in the forty-ninth State, of which 162 species (233 races) are land birds, and 159 (181 races) are water birds, a very high proportion of the latter. Because Yakutat is on the Pacific Flyway we shall expect to find the majority of these waterfowl represented. Moreover, the varied terrain and the geographical position of the Yakutat Bay area means that among both migrants and summer nesters there will be not only land birds characteristic of the Sitka spruce forest zone, but also some more familiar in the interior, as well as others that are particularly characteristic of open tundra or brushy swamplands. Obviously not all of the many birds seen by the Yakutat people are of interest to them, yet a number are sought for their flesh and for their feathers; others are believed to foretell the future or report bad news. Birds are among the most important sib crests, and may even be more important than mammals or fish in Tlingit mythology. As one of my informants put it: "The Creator was a bird" and "People came from birds" (pp. 857, 858). In general, the small songsters and young fledglings are protected by taboos. Unfortunately, it was not possible to secure information or native names for many of the common forms, since most of our informants found it very difficult to identify the pictures in Roger Tory Peterson's "Field Guide" 9 This section is based primarily upon Gabrielson and Lincoln, 1959, plus the observations published by Shortt, 1939. Peterson, 1941, was consulted in the field, and valuable information was secured later from Rhode and Barker, 1953, and Lincoln, 1950. (1941), which was the only handbook we had in the field, or could not give adequate descriptions of the birds which they named. Since no one has made any winter observations in the area, I shall include my own notes, beginning in mid-February 1954, well aware that this information is incomplete and may be inaccurate. The common loon, Gavia imrner, seems not only to breed but also to winter in the Yakutat area, while other members of the species fly through in May enroute to interior lakes. They like the clear sheltered waters of Monti Bay, Russell Fiord, and Situk Lake, but not silt-laden waters where they cannot see to fish. The red-throated loon, G. stellata, has much the same range and habits, although perhaps it does not winter north of Glacier Bay. The Pacific Arctic loon, G. arctica pacifica, also seems to breed in the area, but is more commonly seen when migrating north in April to early June or south again in September and October, to winter south of Cape Spencer. The yellow-billed loon, G. adamsi, nests in the Arctic, winters in southeastern Alaska, and has been seen in Lituya and Yakutat Bays when migrating. The skin of the loon with its black feathers, if worn as a cap by an adolescent girl, would keep her hair from turning gray in old age. I was told that loons were called Ml, tlA&, and qaqit (kAgit?), but I do not know which species were so designated, nor whether any of the names applied to grebes.10 Perhaps it was loons that were described as "ducks called Always-crying-around-[the-bay] (YlkAga'xe)" (Swanton, 1909, pp. 39-40). Three grebes may be seen migrating through Yakutat. Holboell's red-necked grebe, Podiceps grisegena holboelli, flies north along the coast to breed from Kodiak to the Arctic Ocean. Since a few winter on Kodiak and the Aleutians, instead of southeastern Alaska, one might expect to see a few at Yakutat. The eared grebe, Colymbus nigricollis, is also a common migrant in May. The American horned grebe, Podiceps auritus cornutus, nests on interior lakes and winters in southeastern Alaska and farther south, so should also be seen passing in late April and May, and again from September to early November. Grebes, like loons, go to fresh water for nesting, but rest and fish on the sheltered waters of Monti Bay. Two species of cormorant (yuqw; Swanton, 1909, p. 129, yuq) breed at Cape Enchantment in Russell Fiord and at a place called "Cormorants' Cliff" in Nunatak Fiord. They roost at Point Latouche, and at 10 Boas, (1917, p. 129) renders the heron as IXi; and (1891) the loon as cuwa'n, and "Colymbus qlacialis," evidently a grebe, Podiceps sp., as qAge'it (to modernize the orthography). Naish and Story (1963, p. 21) give the words kugeet (kAglt) and yeekugaxee (yikAgaxi) for the loon, and chax (tea*) for grebe or "diving bird." IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 43 Logan Bluff south of it, and dry their wings on the reef off Knight and Fitzgerald Islands in Yakutat Bay. On May 10, 1954, hundreds were resting o n the reef at the southern end of Khantaak Island. The Northern pelagic cormorant, Phalacrocorax pelagicus pelagicus, is a year-round resident, breeding from the Aleutians to British Columbia. The northwestern double-crested cormorant, P. auritus cincinatus, also breeds as far north as the Aleutians and is a common winter visitor in southeastern Alaska. The Cormorant figures in the story of how Kaven killed the Bears, which was localized by Swanton's Sitkan informant as near Mount Saint Elias (Swanton 1909, Tale 1, pp. 6-8). Swans (goqtl or gtrql; Swanton, 1909, p. 112, goql) were once common at Yakutat, and were shot for their meat and for their soft skins. I doubt that the bird was the whistling swan, Olor columbianus, which breeds in the north but winters in southeastern Alaska and on the Aleutians, for it generally takes an inland route and is not common on the coast. It was probably the larger trumpeter swan, 0. buccinator, which breeds behind the Saint Elias Range or on the lower Copper River and winters in southeastern Alaska. One of the Coast Guardsmen at the Loran Station near Yakutat reported in mid-February, 1954, that there were many trumpeter swans on the Ankau lagoons. Swanton (1908, pi. LIII &> e>J> P- 417) reports the Swan as a crest of two sibs represented at Dry Bay and Yakutat. Swans (Swanton, 1909, p. 112) are also mentioned casually in a myth. The Canada goose, Branta canadensis, (t'awAq; Swanton, 1909, p. 112, t!awA'q) has been reported nesting at Situk Lake. In addition, large flocks of this species, especially B. c. occidentalis, that breed on the Copper River flats and in Prince William Sound, are seen in Yakutat Bay on their spring migration, as are probably the lesser snow goose, Chen hyperborea hyper-borea, and the Pacific white-fronted goose, Anser albifronsfrontalis, both of which nest far north. Indeed, a snow goose was reported on the Ankau lagoons from early December to late February, 1953-54. The Canada Goose is the crest of a Sitka sib (Swanton, 1908, p. 417), and Swanton (1909, p. 405) reports that a "wild goose" was called yaduste£ (yadusteq!). Emmons (1903, p. 275) gives the name "khin" (i.e., qin) to "the gray goose, Anser albifrons gambeli," evidently the white-fronted goose, A. a.jrontalis. However, Swanton (1909, p. 112, qen), assigns what is evidently the same word to the black brant; Branta nigricans. Although the latter normally crosses the open Gulf and so is probably not often seen at Yakutat, it is known in southeastern Alaska. On the other hand, Boas (1917, p. 128) gives the name q'm to the shoveler.11 At Yakutat, both fresh and saltwater ducks were eaten. » Naiah and Story (1963, p. 21) identify kin (qin) simply as "brant (small grouse)." The dabbling ducks are represented by the mallard, Anas platyrhynchos platyrhynchos, the green-winged common teal, A. crecca carolinensis, and pintail, A. acuta, all of which seem to be fairly common at Yakutat, probably breeding and wintering here. All three were at the Ankau lagoons in March, 1954, and were said to be around "most of the time." The mallard is the most numerous, and is known as 'upward arrow' (kmde tcunEt) from its manner of taking off. The American widgeon or baldpate, Mareca americana, also nests at Yakutat but winters farther south. When at Yakutat in 1837, Belcher (1843, vol. 1, p. 85) purchased a goose and a "small blue-winged duck," possibly a blue-winged teal, Anas discors, or a shoveler, Spatula clypeata, both of which occur in southeastern Alaska. The latter certainly breeds on the Copper River flats and probably also at Yakutat, although it has not actually been reported there. Among the diving ducks is Barrow's golden eye, Bucephala islandica, that breeds on Situk River, Situk Lake, Disenchantment Bay, as well as on the pond behind Yakutat, where I saw two females with their drakes and later with their young, as well as a female mallard and her brood in the spring of 1954. The golden eye is called 'fresh-water black duck' (hinyi gAxu). There are also the bufflehead, Bucephala, albeola, breeding and probably to some extent residing in Yakutat; the harlequin duck, Histrionicus histrionicus, (Boas, 1891, p. 174, tsutsk) a year-round resident; old squaw, Clangula hyernalis, common during migration and represented by a few non-breeders during the summer; and the canvasback, Ayihya valisineria, which migrates to the Copper River. The greater scaup, A. marila nearctica, might also be seen during migration, and as a summer nonbreeder and winter resident. The surf scoter, Melanitta perspicillata, seems to be the most abundant scoter in early May, later reported breeding in Disenchantment Bay and Russell Fiord, although most go far inland to nest. The western white-winged scoter, M. deglandi dixoni, apparently breeds in the bay in summer and is perhaps resident in winter. The American scoter, Oidemia nigra americana, is the least common of the three, but some nonbreeders summer at Yakutat. Scoters, in particular the surf scoter (cf. Boas, 1891, p. 180; 1917, p. 157, gA'xu), is the 'black duck' of our informants (gAxw, or fiitc gAxw; Swanton, 1909, p. 208, gaxw). The white-winged scoter must be what Boas' informants called 'white on wing' (1891, p. 180, kite ka ru; i.e., kite kA yu). The American merganser, Mergus merganser ameri-canus, seems to be a very common year-round resident from Prince William Sound southward, particularly frequenting streams. The red-breasted merganser, M. serrator serrator, has been observed in Yakutat only 44 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 in May, but winters in southeastern Alaska. Boas (1891, p. 179) calls it 'water rim' (hin yikag-u'; i.e., hin yikagu. The merganser, Lophodytes cucul-latus, although much rarer in Alaska, is perhaps the bird described as having a white breast, a "white jigger on each side of the head" (i.e., crest), and that "always goes upstream." 12 This may serve to remind us of Shortt's hilarious descent of the Situk, preceded by all the squawking mergansers on the river (Shortt, 1939, pp. 9-10). One of my informants identified the merganser as a "saw bill," and gave it the name, qax (Naish and Story, 1963, p. 21, kax (qax)). The American osprey or fish hawk, Pandion haliaetus carolinensis, (Swanton, 1909, p. 116, kunackAnye't) is a rather uncommon nester along the Situk River, but also breeds in southeastern Alaska. Among the various wading birds, the northwestern great blue heron, Ardea herodias fannini, (1A£, Boas, 1917, p. 159) is the largest. Although not very common, it is a year-round resident from Cook Inlet to Washington, and has been reported nesting at Humpback Creek on Yakutat Bay. Another large wader, but found on the marshes and tundra, is the lesser sandhill crane, or "little brown crane", Grus canadensis canadensis, (dul; Boas 1917, p. 156, dill). It breeds on the northern mainland and, while rare in Tlingit country, figures both as a crest at Yakutat and in mythology (Swanton, 1909, Tale 54, Tale 100). The black oystercatcher, Haematopus bachmani, a striking black shore bird with red bill specialized for eating mollusks is known to my informants as 'nose-fire' (lugin). The men who showed them to me on the northern shore of Haenke Island in early June, 1952, said that they were found only on this island, although Shortt had found them nesting on nearby Osier Island. LaPerouse (1799, vol. 1, p. 395) saw them nesting in Lituya Bay. They are year-round residents of southwestern and southeastern Alaska. Swanton's Wrangell informant (1909, p. 85, higA'n) described the oyster-catcher, or perhaps the horned puffin, as a bird that lives far out at sea on lonely rocks. The small waders of the shore and marshlands include a number of snipes, sandpipers, and related species. 12 My identification of this bird as the hooded merganser proved wrong since Naish and Story (1963, p. 20) give the name hinyik l'eixee (hmyik 1'exf) to the water ouzel. Naish and Story (1963, p. 20) give the following terms for ducks: the forms, as written in my orthography, are in parentheses. Duck, in general, is simply gaxw (gax"). Bufflehead is hintuk x'wus'gee (hintAk £»As?i); flathead duck, s'elusheesh (SEIACIC, or perhaps SEIAC-'JC) ; goldeneye, hinyik g&xoo (hinyik gaxu); harlequin duck, s'6s' (&us); mallard, kinduchooneit (kindA-teune't); old squaw, ya.a.oone'h (ya'a'un^); scoter, wukkuls'6ox' g&xw (wAqkAlsui g£xw) orluk'eech'w6h (Ukitcwtr). The largest of these are the greater and lesser yellowlegs, Totanus melanoleucus and T. jlairipes, which both breed in the Yakutat area, especially along the flats near the mouth of the Situk and Lost Eivers, although they winter far to the south. The wandering tatler, Hetero-scelus incanus, migrates through Yakutat, going north in May and returning in late July, as does the long-billed dowitcher, Limnodromus scolopaceus. The somewhat smaller Alaskan short-billed dowitcher, L. griseus caurinus, nests on the Situk muskegs as does Wilson's common snipe, Capella gaUinago delicata. For the last two, Yakutat seems to represent the southern boundary of their summer home on the coast, although they occur farther south in other regions. The European knot, Calidris canutus canutus, breeds farther north and presumably flies over Yakutat, although we do not know whether it has one of its definite stopping places in the Yakutat Bay area. Such small birds with long bills are called 'nose-spear' (lu-'ada),a term applied to "snipes"; to pictures of the curlew and the avocet. The last was also called 'cloud-nose-poked' (gus-lu-gtrq), referring to the story of how Raven escaped the Flood by donning the skin of a bird with a long bill, by means of which he hung from the sky (cf. Swanton, 1909, Tale 31, p. 120). Here this is an unidentified "white bird with copper-colored bill." In a popular Tlingit song, "snipes" are the '[birds] that fly around the island' (iat! dayi djayi). According to Boas (1891, p. 177) the 'heaven bird' (gutsre totli, i.e. gusye totH; Swanton, 1909, pp. 86, 207, guslyaduh'; p. 214, gusliaduh', 'crane of the cloud's surface'?) is Wilson's common snipe, seen only when warm weather is coming, a robin-sized bird that visits a rock far out at sea. Most of the small sandpipers are seen at Yakutat only as spring and late summer or fall migrants, often appearing in mixed flocks together with turnstones and surf birds, that gather, for example, along the shores of Khantaak Island in Monti Bay. These migrants include the red-backed dunlin, Erolia alpina pacifica; rock or western purple sandpiper, E. ptilocnemis; pectoral sandpiper, E. melanotus; western solitary sandpiper, Tringa solitaria einnamonae; and the western sandpiper, Ereunetes mauri. Of the last species, a few nonbreeders may remain in the Situk area all summer. The little spotted sandpiper, Actitis rnacularia, and the tiny least sandpiper, Erolia minutilla, are fairly common breeders on the coastal plain southeast of Yakutat, and many also fly through to nesting areas farther north. The solitary sandpiper (Boas, 1891, p. 182, ayahl'a; Swanton, 1909, pp. 180, 140, ayahi'ya, ayAhiyiya') is "a great dancer," "a solitary bird that continually flies about the beach", "a lonely beach snipe . . . 'looking for his wife.' ". IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 45 I suspect that among the sandpipers are included some of the "birds that fly around the island." This name was also given to a semipalmated plover, Cha-radrius semipalmatus, that we saw on the road in Yaku-tat in May, 1954. This bird apparently nests on the sand dunes along the ocean beach southeast of Yakutat, as well as on the edge of the Malaspina and nearby glaciers, wintering in California. The black-bellied plover, Sguatarola sguatarola, has been seen migrating to and from its tundra nests. The kiUdeer, Charadrius vociferus, is a nonbreeding straggler to the Situk flats. Naish and Story (1963, p. 22) recorded the following words for "sandpiper (shore bird)" at Angoon, but seem to have had difficulties in establishing exact designation of the species: Curlew, uyuheeyah ('A.J-Ahiya); plover, x'ut'dah yeejeiyee (xAtida yidjeyi) or x'ut'dah yeejuyee (yidJAyi); snipe, eek lokukees'ee ('iq lukAqisi); but all are "sandpipers." The surf bird, Aphriza virgata, the European turn-stone, Arenaria interpes interpes, and the black turn-stone, A. melanocephala, (sus) are migrants through Yakutat, often in company with sandpipers. The black turnstone possibly nests in the area, since it breeds from Seward Peninsula to Sitka and winters in southeastern Alaska. It has given its name to Khantaak Island (suskA, 'on the turnstone'), where it is common in May. We saw them on Knight Island in mid-August, 1952. The northern phalarope, Lobipes lobatus, a small shore bird like a sandpiper, also breeds on the Situk marshes, but may feed in rough water among the offshore kelp. Vast flocks can be seen flying north to the Arctic in early May and returning again in July. Among the most conspicuous water birds in the Yakutat area are the gulls (ketlAdi; Boas 158, ke^adi, i.e., ke'dladi). One of my informants thought that the name was derived from 'puppy' (ketl yAdi) because of their cries. The most common species and a year-round resident is the glaucous-winged gull, Laurus glaucescens. They hang about the cannery dock and breed in Disenchantment Bay, especially on Haenke Island and the moraine-covered edge of Hubbard Glacier where the eggs are gathered by the natives in May or early June. The American herring gull, L. argentatus smithsonianus, also breeds here, but winters farther south. It is, I believe, the gull named for its colored wing-tip (kitc-A&a-nes). The short-billed gull, L. canus brachyrhynchus, is a common nester in the marshes near Yakutat, but winters south of Cape Spencer. The little Bonaparte's gull, L. Philadelphia, with red feet and black head comes early in May to nest in low conifers and to feed on shrimps near the glaciers in Disenchantment Bay. This is probably the small gull called kekw, described as having a black head and white body (Swanton 1909, p. 116, kek!u). The large glaucous gull, L, hyperboreus, and the very small sabine's gull, Xema sabini, both breed in the north but fly across the Gulf, and a few nonbreeding glaucous gulls may summer at Yakutat. The Mttiwake, Rissa tridaetyla pollicaris, (I'e'q*). seems to breed occasionally near Yakutat and may also winter there, although really an oceanic bird. The Arctic tern with red bill, Sterna paradisaea, is very common at Yakutat, nesting on the sand dunes near the mouth of the Situk or on the gravelly moraines of the Malaspina. They are especially numerous in late April or early May and again in late July when the northern breeders are moving across the Gulf to and from their winter homes in the Antarctic. Occasionally the black-billed Aleutian tern, S. aleutica, may shift from its Asiatic home to establish temporary colonies on the Situk flats or at Dry Bay. Terns are locally known as "sea pigeons," and are given a Tlingit name which refers to their forked tail (kutl'itl; Swanton, 1908, p. 116, kuile'ta, i.e., kutl'Eta. We have seen them nesting on the beaches of Khantaak and Knight Islands, where the natives gather the eggs, despite the savage dive-bombing attacks of the parent birds. Auks, murres, and puffins, are represented by the common pigeon guillemot, Cepphus columba columba, that commonly breeds on the islands in Yakutat Bay. They are conspicuous in summer with their black bills, red feet, and black plumage except for the white area at the base of the wings. They hide their eggs in caves and crannies on sea cliffs and dive for marine worms and mollusks. LaPerouse (1799, vol. 1, p. 395) noted the red-footed guillemot in Lituya Bay. Possibly these are the birds called "black ducks" (see scoters). The American marbled murrelet, Brachyramphus marrnoratum, and Kittlitz's murrelet, B. brevirostris, are also common, often seen together in the sheltered waters of Disenchantment Bay. The first is a year-round resident, but no one knows where the second spends the winter, probably far out at sea. The ancient murrelet, Synthliaboramphus antiquum, breeds from the Aleutians to the Queen Charlotte Islands, but apparently moves during the night far out to sea as soon as the young are hatched, and is rarely seen in the winter. The winter plumage of all three species and the summer dress as well of the ancient murrelet were identified by our informants as that of the sea bird (t6it), a crest of many Wolf sibs. In one of their songs at Yakutat, the Raven is supposed to be afraid that it will come ashore. Emmons (Swanton, 1909, p. 415) identified this also as the murrelet, a small bird that makes a whistling sound; Boas (1891, p. 172, t6it) specifies that it is the marbled murrelet. The dull speckled summer dress of the latter and of Kittlitz's murrelet, however, seems to fit the bird described as a "saltwater duck, like a grebe, like a loon," with a small 46 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 neck, spotted gray and white. It was specifically said to lay eggs on Hazel and Coronation Islands in southeastern Alaska. It can dive like a merganser or "saw bill." Eaven put his mother in its skin during the Flood, and our informants called it tcax or tsax. This is evidently the sea bird and great diver, cax, (Swanton, 1909, p. 119), which the Tlingit are said not to eat, because "it was Raven's mother." The name, "they just ruffle up the water" when they fly (hin xokatsitsi), was also applied to the murrelets, but may (also?) apply to the guillemot. The rhinoceros auklet, Cerorhinca, monocerata, (xik, i.e., xik, Naish and Story, 1963, p. 22) has been seen at Yakutat Bay. Cassin's auklet Ptychoramphus aleutica, possibly comes here also, but since auklets are nocturnal these are not important. Puffins (xik; Swanton, 1909, p. 50, xtk) seem to be a crest of two of the Raven sibs (Swanton, 1908, p. 401, pi. LIII g). While the tufted puffin, Lunda eirrhata, has been recorded fromYakutat only in May and from the Gulf of Alaska during summer, those which I saw on Haenke Island, June 10, 1952, were the horned puffin or "sea parrot," Fratercula corniculata, which includes southwestern and southeastern Alaska within its breeding and wintering range. The name 'nose-fire' was also applied to this bird because of its large red bill (see oyster-catcher), and at Angoon to the tufted puffin (Naish and Story, 1963, p. 22). The parasitic jaeger, Stercorarius parasiticus, breeds in Yakutat Bay, especially along the Malaspina Glacier. The long-tailed and pomerine jaegers, S. longicaudus and S. pomarinus, nest farther north but are occasionally seen as migrants or as nonbreeding summer visitors. A bird that lives on the outer islands of southeastern Alaska and is the puffin's slave is lAgwa'tc!; as is also the sea gull, but these were not identified by my informants (Swanton, 1909, pp. 57, 58). Nor do I know what bird that lives far out at sea was called tsAgwa'n (Swanton, 1909, p. 109), for this name was given by one of my informants to the wren. Among the pelagic birds, the black-footed albatross or "goony," Diomedea nigripes, that nests on Midway Island and on other islands of the central North Pacific, may be seen on the Gulf of Alaska during the summer, usually following vessels. Sometimes they come close to shore and may even enter Icy Straits. The Yakutat people undoubtedly knew them, and also the now all but extinct Steller's short-tailed albatross, D. albatrus, that visits the Gulf between March and October but nests in the western North Pacific. The sooty sheer-water or "whale bird," Puffinus griseus, also visits Alaskan waters in the summer, usually coming closer inshore than the albatross. It has been recorded at Yakutat as well as farther south. The Pacific fulmar, Fulmarus glacialis rodgersi, that breeds on the Aleutians as well as on the Asiatic shores, has been regularly seen off the coast of Yakutat. Some of these may perhaps be the "sea birds whose voices can be heard at a distance," or 'crying in the deep' (ikAga'xe, Swanton, 1909, p. 135). The stormy petrels are represented by the fork-tail petrel, Oceanodroma furcata, and the smaller Leach's petrel, O. leucorhoa, both of which have northern races breeding in the Aleutians and which presumably cross the Gulf of Alaska, and southern forms that nest in southeastern Alaska, especially on the outer islands. These are evidently the Petrel (ganuk), who figures in the creation myths as older than Raven, as guardian of fresh water, and as owner of the hat that makes fog (cf. Swanton, 1909, pp. 10, 83). He belongs to the opposite moiety from Raven. The Yakutat people know this story, and have often seen petrels on the Gulf of Alaska or found birds that have been blown ashore by storms. The most striking and conspicuous birds at Yakutat are the resident crows and jays. First place should be given to the northern Steller's jay, Cyanocitta stelleri stdleri, if only because this bird revealed to Bering's naturalist that he had indeed reached the New World at Kayak Island in 1741. This "Bluejay" (£ECX; Boas, 1917, p. 129, &£cxu) is recognized as a "good talker," with "fine clothes," and furthermore gives his name to the color purple or dark blue (Swanton, 1909, p. 86). In native eyes, however, his big relative, the northern raven, Corvus corax principalis, (yel) is certainly the most important, since Raven is the Creator or Trickster-transformer of mythology, and the major crest of one moiety. Shortt (1939, p. 23) found the raven abundant at Yakutat, probably because the cannery was then in full operation and there was plenty of offal to eat. Ravens were less numerous during my visits, although they were about during the winter and spring of 1954, and a flock of at least seven visited a garbage dump beside our house on August 27, 1952, parading down the main street. They nest either in the woods or on the bare rocks of Disenchantment Bay. In June, 1954, one Indian family brought home a young raven as a pet, and during the winter of 1954 a tame adult lived in the attic of a house, coming and going as he pleased through the open window. His smaller relative, the northwestern crow, Corvus caurinus, or possibly the American crow, C. brachyrhyncho, is also a resident. It is recognized as a noisy talker (Swanton 1909, p. 86), and the Crow (tsAxw61) is a crest of a Yakutat Raven sib. Crow eggs, found by children on Khantaak Island, May 19, are said to have hatched in their pockets! The American black-billed magpie, Pica pica hud-sonia, (tse^ene; Swanton, 1909, pp. 6, 125, tslegenf, tslintge'nl, or djegenl'k) was common about Yakutat IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 47 during the winter, coming with blue jays, crows, varied thrushes, and fox sparrows to the feeder which we established on our porch in early March, 1954. We saw magpies flocking in the deep woods on March 14, and shortly afterwards they disappeared, probably moving up the bay or farther north to nest. The natives say that they leave because they don't like salmon milt, and therefore remain away while the salmon are spawning. They are sometimes called "Raven's Arrow," and are recognized as a handsome bird. The northern bald eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus alascanus, is conspicuous and common, nesting in high trees, but probably retires to southeastern Alaska during the winter. The Eagle (teak) is a crest of the Wolf moiety among the northern Tlingit. Rare, but important as a sib crest, is the American golden eagle, Aguila chrysaetos canadensis, (gidjuk; Boas, 1917, p. 157, gidjilk' "fish hawk"). It nests almost exclusively in the interior, leaving for the south in September and returning in March or April. Shortt (1939, p. 11) saw a single pair nesting on the cliffs of Mount Tebenkof and hunting marmots above 1,000 feet. The Golden Eagle which became a totemic crest was originally met on a mountainside above the Ahmklin River, and had come from the other side of the Saint Elias Range to hunt for "groundhogs" (sax). The name (gidjuk) does not apply to a hawk. Hawks of the Yakutat area are the northwestern sharp-shinned hawk, Accipiter striatusperobscurus, which comes to the wooded areas near Situk Lake and Mala-spina Glacier to breed, and the eastern goshawk, A. gentilis atricapillus, which also nests in the thick woods of the Situk area, although it breeds primarily in the interior. Both of these attack and eat other birds. Less common but present are the Alaskan red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis cdaskensis, and the American rough-legged hawk, B. lagopus s. johannis, which eat small rodents. The peregrine falcon or duck hawk, Falco peregrinus, and the pigeon hawk, F. columbarius, have both been noted at Yakutat. An informant told us that all hawks, gray and black, as well as other kinds, were called kAkw This name probably refers especially to the goshawk or "chicken hawk" (Swanton, 1909, p. 11, k!Aku) that is said to have procured fire. In another episode recorded by Swanton (1909, p. 17, CAk!A'ku), Raven's companion who throws him down the mountain in a box seems to be a mountain hawk, although our Yakutat version does not ascribe this role to such a bird. Boas (1891, p. 175, qeq, i.e., xex) records a Tlingit name for the rare but widely distributed American marsh hawk, Circus cyeneus hudsonius, but I do not know whether it ever comes to Yakutat. The butcher bird or northwestern shrike, Lanius excubitor invictus, an energetic predator that hangs its victims on thorns or twigs, should be found in the Yakutat area for this would seem to lie within its breeding and wintering range. Is it the maneating bird (kigit) that cries "ho-6, ho-6" in the Chilkat myth explaining the origin of mosquitoes (Boas, 1917, p. 173), or is the latter a loon? Several owls may be encountered in the Yakutat area. There are the northwestern great horned owl, Bubo virgininius lagophonus, that is resident all year round, and the great grey owl, Strix nebulosa nebulosa, probably also resident. It is the first of these that Boas (1891, p. 175, tsiskw) identified as "the" owl (tiskw; Boas, 1917, p. 126, tsuslsu; Swanton 1909, p. 300, tse'sk!u), although perhaps this name can be given to any species. Although the snowy owl, Nyctea sca/ndia, (Boas, 1891, p. 180, kwakw), breeds on the northern tundra, it may visit any part of Alaska during the fall and winter. It was one of these, sometimes called 'interior owl' (dAqkA tiskw) that was around Yakutat in February and March, 1954, "telling bad news," which all owls do. The screech owl, Otus asio kennicottii, although ranging sometimes as far north as Yakutat and resident south of Sitka, is rare in Alaska. Yet this bird is believed to have been once a woman who was mean to her mother-in-law (Swanton, 1909, Tale 37, pp. 176-177). I was told that there was probably a screech owl near the Ankau lagoons in March, 1954. One or two of the larger owls were, I believe, the two sisters transformed because they were greedy, according to a Yakutat story. The Owl is a sib crest. The northern short-eared owl, Asio flammeus jlammeus, is a common summer nester on the Situk flats, coming north in April and lingering until the end of September. It is a daytime hunter of mice, itself attacked by other birds. Probably the hawk owl, Surnia ulula, another day-flying owl, may be found here, since Yakutat is within its range. The coast pygmy owl, Glaucidium gnoma grinnetti, that lives in holes in trees and hunts small birds and insects in the daytime, has been heard in the woods near Situk Lake.13 The Pacific varied thrush, Ixoreus naevius naevius' with especially brilliant markings, is a characteristic Yakutat bird. The first we saw was on March 3, 1954, when they began to be regular visitors to our feeder. Later in the spring, their whistled double note resounded through the woods. Apparently they leave in September or October, but may occasionally stay in southeastern Alaska. I do not know if they winter 13 Naish and Story (1963, pp. 21-22) _ call the "owl with ear tufts" tBfskw (tsfs£») or dzlsk'w (dzfskr); the owl "without ear tufts" k'ukw «|£.kw); and a "small owl" tlenx' sh-x'uneit (tlfini c-xAnet) or xgex (xfx). The first two names correspond to those recorded bv Boas. 48 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 in Yakutat. An informant identified this bird from a colored plate in Peterson (1941) as the 'bird on the mountain' (cakA tsitskw), said to stay in the mountains but to come around the beaches when there is a strong north wind. This identification seems hardly correct, but reminds me of the bird that is never seen unless the north wind is going to blow (xunkAha', i.e., 'moving on the north wind,' Swanton, 1909, p. 86). Possibly this name applies to some other thrush, or to the waxwing (see p. 49). The little Alaska hermit thrush, Hylocichla guttata guttata, also breeds abundantly at Yakutat, arriving about the middle of May and remaining until September. The northern gray-cheeked thrush, H. minima minima, comes still later in the season and leaves earlier, nesting along the willows and alders fringing streams from the Malaspina and other glaciers. Swain-son's thrush, H. ustulata, may perhaps come to Yakutat, since some races nest at Glacier Bay, in the interior, and farther north. The eastern robin, Turdus migratorius migratorius, flies all the way from Florida and the Gulf States to nest at Yakutat. The first were seen on April 4, 1954, and they apparently remain until September or October. From Glacier Bay south, the western robin, T. m. eaurinus, is found in summer and occasionally in winter. According to one story (Swanton, 1909, p. 85), it is the robin (cuxw) who scorched his breast, and who makes people happy with his whistling. Another bird that gladdens men (Swanton, 1909, p. 86) is the rufous hummingbird, Selaphorus rufus, that comes from its Mexican home in April or early May to remain until late in August. I saw the first on April 13, and there were many in May, 1954. One informant called them tcAkitkiya (Boas, 1917, p. 154, dAwltgiya), and correctly noted the time of their arrival. Another called them tSAgAtgiya and said that to find their nest means riches. The western belted kingfisher, Megaceryle alcyon caurina, (ttixAnlss, Boas 155, laxln&s) is a common nester about Yakutat and may possibly winter there. On April 18, 1954, we saw a pair near the Old Village of Yakutat, on the same tree where I had seen them in the summers of 1949 and 1952. The behavior of the kingfisher is said to foretell the acquisition of wealth. More common along the mountain than the lowland streams is the northern dipper or water ouzel, Cinclus mexicanus unicolor. It seems to be resident in the Yakutat area, perhaps up the bay. This may be the bird called hinyik tl'ek. In one Yakutat myth (p. 878), it guides the hero downstream from heaven. This bird (hinyik tl'ek; Swanton, 1909, p. 117, hinyik le'xi) also appears in another story as "an industrious bird . . . a fishing bird living along the river," whom Raven calls "brother-in-law." The woodpecker, 'he strikes wood' (kfnda da guq; Boas 1891, p. 183, 'picks around the bark,' gan da da guq') may bring bad luck. The northern hairy woodpecker, Dendrocopos villosus septentrionalis, the small Valdez downy woodpecker, D. pubescens glacialis, and the northern three-toed woodpecker, Picoides tridadylus jasciaius, are all apparently year-round residents of the Yakutat area, although only the first is common. This was probably the woodpecker reported in the woods near the Ankau lagoons in March, and seen in the village on April 4,1954. The woodpeckers I noted among the alders and willows on Haenke Island, June 18, 1952, may possibly have been the three-toed species, since it is more often seen in the interior, where such brush is common, than on the coast. The related boreal yellow-shafted flicker, Colaptes auratus borealis, is common in the interior, but is also known from Yakutat. The northwestern red-shafted flicker, C. cajer cajer, is the species of southeastern Alaska. The Flicker (kun) is valued for its beautiful feathers, is associated in mythology with the wife of the Controller of the Flood (cf. Swanton, 1909, p. 119), is a house name for two Wolf sibs (Swanton, 1908, pp. 400, 401), and is supposed to be the head of the next to smallest birds, yet is very seldom seen (Swanton, 1909, p. 85). The Rocky Mountain brown creeper, Certhia famili-aris montana, is an apparently rather common resident at Yakutat. It is a quiet bird that climbs trees looking for insect food (see Bohemian waxwing, p. 49). The western winter wren, Troglodytes troglodytes padficus, is a common but elusive resident of southeastern Alaska and the Gulf Coast area. They probably winter at Yakutat, although the first that I saw were a pair on May 3, 1954. One of my informants called the wren tsAgwan, although this was the name given by a Wrangell man (Swanton, 1909, pp. 108-109) for a bird that lives far out at sea. At Sitka the wren is called the "bird that can go through a hole" (wu'lnAx-wu'ckAq, Swanton, 1909, p. 17). The elusive western flycatcher, Empidomax difficilis, has been reported from Yakutat but is normally found nesting in the interior or on the coast south of Cape Spencer. The eastern nighthawk, Chordeiles minor minor, also breeds in the interior and perhaps in southeastern Alaska, wintering in South America. Although only one has been actually recorded from the Yakutat area, it is worth mentioning since I believe this was the 'Sleep' Bird (ta) killed by a Hoonah Indian because it kept him awake by flying around his head while he was trying to rest in his canoe one night. The behavior is characteristic. This story (cf. Swanton, 1909, Tales 32 and 104) is especially linked with the discovery of the Dry Bay Athabaskans by the Tlingit, and explains IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 49 how a Raven sib obtained the Sleep Bird as a crest. Among other insect-eaters we should mention the Sitka ruby-crowned kinglet, Begulus calendula grinnelli, as common in summer in the Yakutat forests, and the northwestern golden-crowned kinglet, B. satrapa oliva-ceus, which is a year-round resident here, as well as in southeastern Alaska. These are both tiny birds, about 4 inches long, and may therefore be the "very respectable bird," "about the size of a butterfly," whose voice is heard, but which is seen only when people are to have good luck (ko!ai' Swanton, 1909, p. 86). This identification is not completely satisfying, for the little kinglets are by no means inconspicuous in the fall and winter, but then, of course, this is the season for potlatches! The northern chestnut-backed chickadee, Parus rujescens rufescens, is a common resident of the east side of Yakutat Bay, while the Yukon black-capped chickadee, P. atricapillus turneri, lives on the west side along the timbered moraine of the Malaspina. Otherwise, it is essentially a bird of the interior. The chickadee represents and is called 'someone's thoughts' (qatuwu). The Bohemian waxwing, Bombycilla garrula pallidi-ceps, breeds in the interior but may appear in southeastern Alaska in the late summer, fall, or winter, sometimes in great numbers, so we should expect them at Yakutat. One wonders if these are the small gregarious birds with greenish-yellow feathers that find their food on the tops of trees and that are carved by the Tlingit as one of the two main pieces in a set of gambling sticks. Their name seems to mean 'flying-among-the-treetops' (probably 'as-ianca-dji or 'as-xo-ca-tci: Swanton, 1909, pp. 86, 136, 137, asqlacS'tcl, anca'djt, asq!anca'dji).u The western water pipit, Anihus spinoletta pacificus, essentially a breeder on the Arctic tundras or the open mountain tops, is found commonly on Osier Island in Disenchantment Bay. It winters in Oregon and farther south. The rock ptarmigan, Lagopus mutus, lives high up on the sides of Russell Fiord and Disenchantment Bay. More common in this area, especially on Osier Island and on the northern shore, is Alexander's willow ptarmigan, Lagopus lagopus alexandrae. The (willow?) ptarmigan is felt by the Tlingit to be particularly a bird of the interior, from whom, in fact, the Atha-baskans learned how to make snowshoes (Swanton, 1909, p. 85). Ptarmigan are called xesAwa (Swanton, 14 Krause (1956, pp. 257, 259) gives this name (Sss-kantschad-schi) to the brown creeper (see p. 48), and calls the waxwing hunka, which is evidently the same name as 'moving on the north wind,' and which I tentatively suggest might be the name for thrush. Unfortunately, Naish and Story (1963, p. 23) apply the name usx'an shdch'ee ('Asxan catci) to an unidentified "green bird." 265-517—72—vol. VII, pt. 1 6 1909, p. 102, q!es!awa'; Naish and Story, 1963, p. 22, x'eis'oowah or £esuwa, and x'eis'-uwah or £es-'Awa). Ptarmigan were commonly snared at Dry Bay. The southeastern Alaskan Tlingit also distinguished between the dusky or blue grouse, that lives up high where it is windy (Swanton, 1909, p. 85, nukt; Krause, 1956, p. 257, Dendragapus obscurus sitkensis, nuk't; Naish and Story, 1963, p. 21, ndikt), and the Canada spruce grouse, Canachites canadensis, (Krause, 1956, p. 257, kachk', kak'; Naish and Story, 1963, p. 21, kax'). It is interesting that these two words are also used to distinguish between the male and the female grouse. While neither species seems to be found at Yakutat, the natives are familiar with the name for the second, or "female," kAX, since a famous site in Icy Strait is called Grouse Fort (de Laguna, 1960, pp. 142-143). The rusty blackbird, Euphagus carolinus, breeds farther north, migrating in spring by an interior route but returning in fall along the coast. It has been seen on the Ahrnklin River in mid-October. Krause (1956, p. 257) recorded a Chilkat expression for this bird meaning 'Athabaskans' raven.' I did not learn what the Yakutat people call it. Swallows come in summer to nest at Yakutat. The American barn swallow, Hirundo rustica erythrogaster, builds its mud nests around the cannery buildings. The tree swallow, Iridoprocne bicolor, is probably more common, arriving, according to my notes, about May 9, and by early June nesting in boxes and bird houses which the Yakutat people put up for them. They are accompanied by the northern violet-green swallow, Tachycineta thalassina lepida, which will nest in boxes or in holes in trees. All swallows fly south in August to their winter homes. According to Krause (1956, p. 259), the Chilkat Tlingit call the swallow kischelatetl; Naish and Story (1963, p. 23) give the word seew kooshduneit (siw kucdAnet), suggesting that this is the bird that calls for rain (siu) in the summer (see below). Little birds, which would certainly include warblers, finches, linnets, sparrows, and probably many others which we have already mentioned, are known at Yakutat simply at tsitskw (Boas, 1917, p. 154, tsutsku'). Unfortunately I do not know which one calls for 'rain, rain,' (siu, siu) and so brings bad weather in summer, nor have I been able to identify the "wild canary," reported as a fine singer and said to be found in Tlingit country all year round, although it keeps away from people, and is the head of all the little birds (Swanton, 1909, 85, 124-125, 185, s'.asl; Naish and Story, 1963, p. 21, "goldfinch" or sas). Emmons (1903, p. 238) reports a "wild canary, Astragalinus tristis," called 'yellow' or "kut-thlark." He undoubtedly refers to the goldfinch, Spinus tristis, but this is not an Alaskan bird and the Tlingit name is given, at Yakutat at any rate, to the yellow warbler. 50 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 I do not know what is the very small bird of the interior called "old person" (Swanton, 1909, p. 212, LAg™-qa'k!u, or Laguqa'wu, i.e., tlagu qawu). Among the warblers that visit Yakutat in the summer are the lutescent oranged-crowned warbler, Vermivora celata luteseens, the black-capped or northern pileolated warbler, Wilsonia pusilla pileolata, and the Alaska yellow warbler, Dendroica petechia rubiginosa. The first was the bird I saw on May 24, and again on May 31. The yellow warbler appeared May 30, and was called simply 'yellow' (tl'atl'). The black-capped warbler was recognized by one informant who did not know the name. Doubtless others, such as the Alaska myrtle warbler or Townsend's warbler, Dendroica coronata hooveri and D. townsendi, for example, are seen at Yakutat, but of these we have no record. Possibly it is a warbler, not the Bohemian waxwing, that is the 'bird flying around the treetops,' or a warbler, not a kinglet, may be the tiny "respectable bird," whose voice is heard but who is seen only by those destined for luck. Of the sparrows, the most common at Yakutat in the summer are the Yakutat song sparrow, Melospiza melodia caurina, replaced in winter by the Kenai race, M. m. kenaiensis, the northwestern Lincoln's sparrow, M. lincolnii gracilis, the Yakutat fox sparrow, Passerella iliaca annectens, the Alaskan savannah sparrow, Passerculus sandwichensis or P. s. anthinus, and the beautiful golden-crowned sparrow, Zonotrichia atrica-pilla. The western tree sparrow, Spizella arborea ochracea, and Gambel's white-crowned sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys, presumably migrate through Yakutat. What I thought were fox sparrows, seen at Yakutat from late February until early April, may have been song sparrows. The Yakutat races of both species, as well as of the savannah sparrow, are very dark. The fox sparrow seems to be the 'dark bird' (tsitskw Uutc), or 'frog's spear' (xixt6 wusani), while a sparrow that is smaller and lighter on the belly and sides, but spotted like a frog (Lincoln's sparrow ?) is 'frog's desire' (xixt6 'usqax). The golden-crowned sparrow, called appropriately 'copper on top of the head' (cAkide tinna) sings in the woods around the village from early in May until almost the end of the month, when it apparently goes to nest in the willows of Disenchantment Bay and the Malaspina Glacier.16 These songsters are apparently very vocal while the people are at sealing camp in Disenchantment Bay 13 I was able to make recordings, May 23-27, 1954, of the varied thruah, song sparrow, yellow-crowned sparrow, yellow warbler, and robin, after they had been silent during a spell of rainy weather. The tape, 54 Reel 6, Side 1, is deposited in the Folklore Division of the Library of Congress, as well as in the American Philosophical Society Library. in June and are believed to imitate Th'ngit songs, especially the happy cries of children, and to tell when their fathers are coming home from hunting. The northern pine siskin, Spinus pinus pinus, a forest finch, apparently breeds near Yakutat and may winter in southeastern Alaska. The same is true of the pine grosbeak, Pinicola enudeator fiammvla. The American white-winged crossbill, Lozia leucoptera leucoptera, is a sporadic but probably permanent resident. The common or mealy redpoll linnet, Acanihis ftammea flammea, lives primarily farther north but has been seen in late May and July among the willows of Osier Island and Eussell Fiord. Hepburn's gray-crowned rosy finch, Leucosticte tephrocotis littoralis, although essentially an Arctic bird, does breed above timberline and winter along the coast. The Alaska longspur, Calcarius lapponicus alascensis, while nesting in northern Alaska and the Aleutians, apparently visits southern Alaska as a migrant, chiefly in the fall, and should be seen at Yakutat. Yakutat Bay seems to be the dividing line for two species of junco. The northwestern Oregon junco, Junco oreganus oreganus, nests from Yakutat Bay south, and the northern slate-colored junco, J. hyemalis hyernalis, breeds in the forests to the north. Apparently neither winters in the area. However, the "snow bird" at Yakutat and in southeastern Alaska seems to be the snow bunting, Plectrophenax nivalis. which nests as far south as Glacier Bay. My informants described it as a small black and white bird, seen only in winter and called "bird on the snow' (tledkA tsitskw). One wonders whether this is the bird seen only when the north wind is going to blow (xunkA ha). On the whole, the birds of Yakutat form a conspicuous and significant part of the world in which the native lives. Although far less important for food or manufactures than land and sea mammals, and certainly less important than fish, birds seem to have as great a role in TJingit thought. Perhaps the very abundance and diversity of species has stimulated the imagination. Fish 16 Fish are the staff of life for the Tlingit, and of all kinds the salmon (xat; Boas 129, x&i) is what is meant when the Tlingit speaks of fish. The largest and earliest to spawn is the king, spring, or chinook salmon, Oncho-rhynchus tshawytscha, (t'a). Then come the red or sock-eye, 0. nerka, (gat); humpback or pink, 0. gorbuscha (t6as; Boas, 1917, p. 163, teas); coho or silver, 16 Material in this section is based upon Clemens and Wilby (1961), Rhode and Barker (1953), and Dufresne (1946). IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 51 0. kisuich, (tl'uk; Boas 130, l'iiku'; Swanton, 1909, p. 247, Llu'k); and the chum or dog salmon, 0. Jceta (titl'; Boas 156, t'i-1'). The last is relatively unimportant to the Gulf Coast Indians, although the Tlingit of southeastern Alaska regard it as the best to smoke for the winter, and recognize the Dog Salmon as the crest of a Raven sib. I was told that there were few dog salmon in the Yakutat area, but that they could be caught east of Dry Bay, where the Dohn River or a tributary is called 'Dog Salmon Stream.' All of these salmon ascend the rivers during the summer to spawn and die; the young usually go down to salt water the following spring or a year later to spend their adult lives in the sea. Different races of the same species are apparently distinguished by the varying number of years they take to reach maturity, the oldest being the largest, and some varieties live always in fresh water. The males of most species undergo surprising transformations in color and shape when they become ready to spawn. King salmon average 15-23 pounds, although many reach 50 or 60 pounds, and a few giants of 100 pounds have been noted. They live from 3-9 years, depending on the race, although precocious males or "jacks" mature in 2 or 3 years. King salmon usually breed only in the larger rivers, such as the Alsek or Copper River, although they have been seen in the Ankau, Situk, Ahrnklin, Italio, and Ustay Rivers. Spawning runs begin about the last of April and may continue until the fall (when the king salmon are particularly fat), which was when the natives formerly caught them. While still in salt water the king salmon usually stays close to shore and may be taken by trolling, but this method was not employed until modern times. Sometimes king salmon appear in Yakutat Bay as early as February, according to one informant. In 1954, the first was taken on March 27, and by March 30 all the men were out trolling. On April 16, the fish had retired to the bottom because of the bitter cold, and by May 22 Eleanor Cove was said to be so full of herring and smelt that trolling was unsuccessful. By that time, however, the commercial fishing season was beginning in Dry Bay. The sockeye averages about 6 pounds but may range up to 15. It spawns only in lakes or in streams flowing from or into lakes, and the young fish may spend from 1-3 years in fresh water. Some may remain all their lives, 2-5 years, in the lake and are known as "residuals" to the Whites, or as "old salmon" to the natives (£akw; Swanton, 1908, p. 401, q!ak!u). Sockeye that breed in a lake from which there is no escape become dwarfed and are known as "Kennedy's salmon," "dwarf redfish," or "silver trout." Aside from precocious 3-year-old "jacks," the salmon ascending the rivers to spawn in May to August, and especially in late June and July, are usually 4 or 5 years old, rarely 6 or 7. Almost all of the streams southeast of Yakutat have sockeyes, from the Ankau-Lost River system to the Alsek, except for Dangerous River (Moser, 1901, pp. 383-388). However, one of my informants who had lived all his youth in the Situk area reported that sockeye first appeared on Lost, Italio, and Akwe Rivers, only after the Government fish weir was put across the Situk and so drove away some of the fish. Yet this weir as a counting station was not established until many years after Moser's survey. The humpback salmon, so called because of the hump developed by breeding males, invariably matures in 2 years, and most streams have two distinct populations, so that the run one year may be heavy and the next light, or there may be a run only every other year, as in the streams entering Russell Fiord. The mature fish average 3-5 pounds, with a few up to 10. Spawning runs last from late June to September, with the most in July and early August. Of all the streams in the Yakutat area, Humpback Creek (kwack hini) is the most important for this fish, and also for the Raven sib that owns this stream and claims the Humpback Salmon as a crest. This fish is known at Yakutat by its Eyak name (kwac!) as much as by the Tlingit word (tfcas). The coho is the favorite salmon for drying at Yakutat, and is also the name crest of another Raven sib. The runs come late in the year, from July or August through October, and the natives prefer to cure the fish in the cool fall weather. Most young fish remain in fresh water for a year before going out to sea, and return at the end of their third summer, although there are also 2-year-old "jacks" that look like spotted trout, and a few 4-year-old fish. Practically all the streams in the Yakutat area have cohos, although the Situk is especially rich (Rich and Bell, 1935, p. 441). Coho may weigh from 6-12 pounds, and occasionally up to 30. Swanton (1908, p. 406) gives the name, cadasf'ktc, for the landlocked "king salmon," but I believe he refers to a coho, or possibly to a sockeye. Related to the Pacific salmon are several varieties of salmon trout and char, also found in Yakutat waters, although they are of much less value to the natives. These are like the Atlantic salmon in that they do not die when they spawn, but may return to salt water and again ascend the streams to spawn. One of these is the steelhead trout, Salrno gairdnerii, which usually remains 1 or 2 years in fresh water, and returns in the third to fifth year for the first spawning. It has no regular season for running. Small individuals that remain all their lives hi fresh water are known as "rainbow trout." Full-sized fish average 8-10 pounds, with records of over 30. The coastal cutthroat trout, Salmo clarkii 52 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 clarkii, spawns early in the spring, February to May, or even in mid-winter. Most individuals go to sea in the spring of their second or third year, and ascend the rivers in the autumn, when they are most easily taken. They may weigh up to 17 pounds. These fish prefer warmer waters, so are not as numerous along the Gulf of Alaska as farther south. In contrast, the Dolly Varden, Salvelinus malma, a char, is more common in colder waters, spawning in autumn, although, like the cutthroat, it frequents the mouths of streams. Some may weigh up to 30 pounds. The Yakutat Tlingit not only distinguish between all five species of Pacific salmon, clearly recognizing the dwarfed landlocked sockeye as a salmon, although they call them 'baby cohoes' (tl'uk yAtxi), but they have a separate name for the steelhead ('acAt), and for other trout (xoti, xut!, Dolly Varden ?). They are well aware that the steelheads are anadromous, saying that the old ones go to the ocean, become rejuvenated, and return as young again to the stream. They are caught ascending the Situk or Humpback Creek in May. But no one now living at Yakutat will ever have any conception of the multitudes of salmon that crowded the streams and lakes before the White man came to destroy the "inexhaustible supply" (Grinnell, 1902; Rich and Bell, 1935, pp. 440-449). According to the natives, there are three or four small fish that spawn in Yakutat salt or fresh waters. One of these is the eulachon, Thaleichthys pacificus, (sak) from 8-12 inches long and famous for its rich oil. These were running in the Situk early in March, 1954, and were said to run at Dry Bay in February. Two runs were reported there, "in the spring and in the winter time." While the name "candlefish" is usually a synonym for eulachon, my informants distinguished between these two fish, specifying that the "candlefish" (cat6) were smaller and came later. Possibly this was the capelin, Mallotus villosus, which spawns on the beaches in September or October. The surf smelt or silver smelt, Hypomesus pretiosus, spawns on the beaches from June to September and is probably the "smelt" (t6Akwl) of my informants, although the surf smelt is not believed to occur hi the Gulf of Alaska. The Pacific herring, Clupea pallasii, (yaw, yaw; Boas 1917, p. 159, yaw) was once much more common than it is at present, although it was spawning in Yakutat Bay in May, 1954. Suria (Wagner, 1936, p. 257) noted "smelt" being eaten in late June and early July. Herring eggs are, of course, a delicacy sought by the Yakutat people. In mid-February, 1954, many small fish, like smelt but smaller, were being caught with unbaited hooks off the end of the cannery dock. I was told that they had first appeared 2 years before and that no one knew their correct name. It was surmised that they came from California; "got lost from the California current." There had been some at Hoonah, but when the cold weather came they all died. These may have been the young of some fish such as the pilchard, Sardinops sagax. Conceivably it was the Pacific saury or "skipper," Cololabis saira, a slender, small leaping fish that is common in schools from southern California to the Gulf of Alaska. They belong in the open sea but may possibly come closer to shore. A fish that looks like a sardine or herring, with spots on its back, is supposed to lay large eggs on or under the rocks along the shore near Knight Island. This is called the 'Thunderbird's fish' (xett yadi). Possibly this is the capelin (see above), although the latter has many black dots on the opercles, not on the back. It may even be a sculpin (see below). The shad, Alosa sapidissima, was introduced from the Atlantic to the Columbia and Sacramento Rivers in 1871, and by 1896 had reached southeastern Alaska, and is now found as far north as Cook Inlet. Although it spawns in fresh water, it has pronounced black spots on the sides. The pilchard (see above) is similarly marked, but lays its eggs in the ocean. Other anadromous fish, also with fresh water forms, are the white and green sturgeon, Acipenser trans-montanus and A. medirostris. The ranges of both include the Gulf of Alaska, and since they are enormous, attaining lengths of 20 and 7 feet respectively, they would surely have been noted and mentioned, if common in the Yakutat area. At Yakutat, Suria (Wagner, 1936, p. 257) saw a fish like a "conger eel." This may have been the Pacific lamprey, Entosphenus tridentatus, which is related to the delicious European lamprey and is abundant from California to the Gulf of Alaska. It spawns in fresh water, and in adult form preys especially upon salmon and steelhead trout in the sea, marking their silver sides. The Tlingit interpret these wounds as the result of being cut by the gates at the horizon's edge, through which the fish pass. Possibly this is the "eel" (lu£) of the Tlingit, not the blenny (see below). Of flatfishes, the Pacific halibut, Hippoglossus steno-lepis, ranks first. It is caught in the winter, spring, and early summer with ingeniously devised hooks and long lines. Halibut range in size from "chicken halibut," about 4 feet long (tcatl, teal) to a giant 9 feet long (nalx, 'riches'). Commercial fishermen seek them at depths of 10-150 fathoms. Males mature earlier than females, may weigh up to 40 pounds, and live 25 years. Females mature at 12 years, may live for 35, and have been known to weigh 470 pounds. Flounders (tsAnti; Boas, 1917, p. 126, tsAnt6) are also caught at Yakutat. These probably include such species as the arrowtooth flounder or turbot (Ather-esthes stomias), starry flounder {Platichihys stellatus), IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 53 brill (Eopsetta jordani), and sand sole (Psettichthys melanostictus), all 2-3 feet long; and the smaller lemon sole (Parophrys vetulus), rock sole (Lepidopsetta bilineata), and yellowfm or northern sole (Limanda aspera), reaching lengths from 15-22 inches. I do not know whether the natives consider the flathead sole, Hip-poglossus elassodon, a halibut or a flounder. It is not over 18 inches long. The slimy dover sole, Microstomus pacificus, through a little over 2 feet long, lives below 30 fathoms, so is probably seldom caught. Still smaller is the mottled or Pacific sanddab, Githarichthys sordidus, which rarely exceeds 12 inches, found from Bering Sea to California, and the speckled sanddab, C. stigmaeus, not over 6 inches long, found north of southeastern Alaska. Possibly one of the small flatfish is known as the "child of the wind" (MltcayAdi), described as like a flounder the size of one's hand, which is sometimes washed ashore in storms. It is taboo to handle them. True cods include the Pacific or gray cod, Gadus macrocephalus, which annually migrates into shallow water in spring after its winter spawning in the ocean. These fish may attain lengths of 3 feet. There is also the whiting, known as the Alaska or walleyed pollack, Theragra chakogrammus, found at moderate depths along the coast. The smaller tomcod, Microgadus prozimus, lives in deeper waters. Closely related to the true cods, and very similar in appearance, are the hakes. The Pacific hake, Merluccius productus, common along the whole coast from southern California to the Gulf of Alaska, may have been known at Yakut at. I am not sure whether any of the above are what the Yakutat people call "cod," for the same native name (sa&) given for "cod," was also used for the "lingcod" which is really a variety of greenling. The lingcod, Ophiodon elongates, is found on the bottom from shallow water to depths of over 60 fathoms. It is a very fat fish and may grow to lengths of 5 feet and the female may weigh 80-100 pounds. Eggs in large masses are laid in late winter to early spring just below low tide line, where they are guarded by the male until they hatch. The range is from southern California to the Bering Sea. Also found in the Yakutat area are the smaller but related rock greenling, Hexagrammos superciliosus, up to 2 feet long, and the white-spotted greenling, H. stelleri, not over 16 inches long. The last is also known as "tommy cod" or "rock trout." "Rock cod" or rockfish, of which there are many species, some living along the rocky shores, others at depths from tide water to over 800 fathoms, is a viviparous fish that is not a cod at all. The black rockfish, "Black Bass" or "Sea Bass," Sebastodes melanops, is probably what the Tlingit call htistuk" ("black sea bass/' htisdu'k, Swanton, 1908, pi. LV, a). Identification is uncertain, however, because the same name was given to a swordfish pin that I wore, and because on another occasion the fish of this name was described as having a prominent fin on the back and greenish hard meat. The dorsal fin of the rockfish is conspicuous, but the meat is described as "firm white flesh which is very palatable and of excellent food value" (Clemens and Wilby, 1961, p. 251). The black rockfish is common in shallow waters and is often confused with the blue rockfish, S. mystinus. Both reach lengths of about 20 inches and are found in the Gulf of Alaska, as is the related red snapper or "red cod," S. ruberrimus, although the latter lives at depths of over 30 fathoms and may be 3 feet long. The last, according to Swanton (1909, p. 297, le'q!), is called 'red,' i.e., lexw. The so-called "black cod" or sablefish, Anoploma jimbria, ('icqin) was caught at Yakutat. It grows up to 3 feet in length and is very oily. Swanton's informants (1909, p. 45, icqe'n) identified the fish of this name as a valuable deep water fish that lives in nests (suggesting the lingcod), or (p. 84) as a kind of salmon caught with a hook. My informant also believed that the "black cod" was caught on a halibut hook. The sablefish spawns in the open sea. The Angoon Tlingit regarded the "black cod" as the best kind of "cod" (de Laguna, 1960, p. 92). Swanton's Wrangell informant (1909, p. 136) gave the name, tuq, to a small bright fish found in sand along the shore. Possibly this is one of the sandfish, Trichodon sp. or Arctoscopus sp. Skates (t6itqa; Boas, 1917, p. 126, t6itgi.) were taken at Yakutat and the "fins" eaten. These were probably the big skate, Raja binoculata, which is abundant on the muddy bottoms of cool waters and may grow to a length of 8 feet. Its "wings" are marketed commercially father south. Also present are the smaller species, seldom exceeding 2-2 K feet: the black skate, R. kincaidii, and starry skate R. stellulata, although the last is found only in very deep water. The skate is the canoe of the dreaded Land Otter Men, and in one story is the slave of the wealth-bringing water monster (Swanton, 1909, p. 51). I was given three names for sharks and dogfish. The most common word is tus, applied to "sharks" and sometimes particularly to "mud sharks." The "mud shark" was also called 'porpoise children' (tcitc yAtxi), while the dogfish, appropriately enough, was known as 'shark's children' (tus yAtxi). These three words were given on the same occasion by the same informants, so presumably apply to three separate species, although it is impossible to identify them accurately. The Shark as a crest (Swanton, 1908, p. 416, fig. 103, tus!) is represented with prominent dorsal and pectoral fins and a wide heterocercal caudal fin. This suggests either the salmon shark, Lamna ditropis, or, more 54 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 likely, the basking shark, Oetorhinus maximus. Both are pelagic but often come close to shore. The former, up to 10 feet long, may be taken on light tackle; the latter, up to 45 feet in length, is sluggish, frequently resting with its large dorsal fin above water, is often gregarious, and eats small Crustacea or other organisms, straining them with its gill rakes. Its five gill slits are very long and conspicuous, a feature emphasized in native repre sentations of the shark. It is a crest of a Yakutat sib. Basking sharks often become entangled in salmon nets, and in former days the Haida sometimes killed them (Clemens and Wilby, 1961, pp. 75-77). What is evi dently a large shark of a different species is known to the southern Tlingit, where a Wolf sib at Wrangell has both a Shark House and a Shark's Intestines House (qAtgu or £Atgu; Swanton, 1908, p. 402, qLv'tgu hit and qk'tgu na'sl hit). There are also two other sharks with small dorsal fins which may have been known to the Yakutat Tlingit. These are the active, fish-eating, pelagic blue shark, Prionace glauca, and the sluggish, bottom-dwelling Pacific sleeper shark, Somniosus pacificus. Both may attain lengths up to 25 feet. The sixgill shark, Hexanchus corinum, often called "mud shark" by White fishermen, is about the same length as the last. It has been commercially used for 011 and fertilizer, and is caught by Whites with nets, traps, and hooks. It is distinguished by a very slender, high, asymmetric caudal fin. Although ranging as far north as the Gulf of Alaska, it belongs to tbe family of cow sharks, most of which live in warmer seas. There are many fossil representatives in British Columbia, which perhaps furnish the fossil teeth prized by the Tlingit as ornaments (cAxdXq 'uxu). Emmons (1903, p. 265, "shuh-tuck ou-hu'") also speaks of the "tooth of the large tropical shark," found in the warmer waters south of Alaska, the large teeth of which were traded to the Tlingit for earrings. The name of this shark figures in one Raven story as a tongue twister (Swanton, 1909, Tale 1, p. 20; cf. Swanton, 1908, pi. LV, j, for the earrings). The Pacific dogfish, Squalus suckleyi, attains lengths of about 5 feet, and produces a good deal of oil. It is identified as a crest in southeastern Alaska by Garfield and Forrest (1948, figs. 22, 23). Pelagic fish which sometimes come close to shore and may have been known to the Yakutat include the pomphret or bream, Brarna rail, and bluefin tuna, Thunnus saliens. There are numerous deep sea fish with rows of glowing photophores along their sides: anglemouths, dragon-fish, lanternfish, and others; but these would hardly be known to the natives unless washed ashore. Perhaps the Yakutat people were interested in the lumpsuckers, Cyclopteridae, with short squat bodies covered with spines. They are slow moving, attaching themselves to rocks where their eggs are deposited in masses and guarded by the male until hatched. Though numerous, these fish are too small to be of economic importance. There are also many genera of snailfish, Liparidae, with tbin loose skin but no scales. Those that live along the shore are small, for only the larger ones inhabit deep water. The blenny or prickleback is a long, slender, eel-shaped fish, related to the kelpfish and eelpout, all Blennioidea. They live on the bottom from tidewater to oceanic depths, and are identified by Boas (1917, p. 129) as "eels" (KM). The stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, is a small fish covered with bright greenish to blue-black boney plates, and protected by prominent dorsal spines. It lives in eelgrass, and around wharves, as well as in deeper water. The male makes the nest in which several females may deposit their eggs, which he then guards. Evidently this little fish, never over 4 inches long, has been of sufficient interest to the natives that a slough near Dry Bay is named 'Stickleback Creek' (kagin hini). Another relatively small fish, which is apparently not eaten but which has attracted the attention of the Tlingit, is the sculpin, Oottidae, represented by many species, some of which live in tidal pools, others in shallow or deep waters. One cannot help recording the Tlingit name (we£; Boas, 1891, wek-, i.e., weq; Swanton, 1909, pp. 18, 107, weq!). The freshwater species are called "bullheads," as is the red Irish lord, Hemi-lepidotus hemilepidotus, a salt water sculpin. The latter grows up to 20 inches in length, and is found from northern California to Bering Sea. I am not sure which of these brightly colored, spiny fish were called we± by the Tlingit, nor whether they used the same name for all of the group. These fish were sometimes caught by children, but it was taboo to kill them with a club. Clemens and Wilby (1961, p. 309) report that the buffalo sculpin, Enophrys bison, with a range which includes the Gulf of Alaska is "very common along the whole coast . . . will take a bait readily and provides sport for the young, who frequently suffer hand wounds from the jagged spines." A Raven sib among the southernmost Tlingit had a Sculpin House; this fish appears in mythology as Raven's younger brother or father's brother's son; and tbe Pleiades are supposed to be a sculpin which Raven put in tbe sky (Swanton, 1908, p. 400; 1909, pp. 18, 107), all of which indicates how prominent in native thought such an economically unimportant fish can become. Possibly the red Irish lord, with its brightly colored, black-spotted back and its habit of spawning in March when it deposits large masses of tough pink eggs in very shallow water, sometimes even above high tide IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 55 level, is the Thunderbird's fish,' mentioned by a Yakutat informant. The fish, supposedly shaped like a halibut but with many "legs" quick and large, with sharp sides that can cut killerwhales in two, and a friend of the sculpin, is probably a mythological giant representative of the family. It (hln-tayl'ci) appears in two Tlingit myths recorded by Swanton (1909, Tales 60 and 91). I have been unable to identify the "fish that looks like a swan" ('adA goqtli or adA guqli, i.e., 'spear-swan'). Marine Invertebrates and Seaweed17 The waters of the Gulf of Alaska are so rich in marine invertebrates that to attempt to list them in any comprehensive way is quite beyond the scope of this study. The same is true of the thousands of insects and other noninvertebrates of the land and air. We need only mention, therefore, those that have come to the particular attention of the natives. The most important shellfish are those which are eaten. These include the basket cockle, Clinocardium nuttalli, which is called by its old Eyak name, 'squirts' (caxw or caxw, not yAlulet' as in Boas, 1917, p. 155). In addition Boas (1891, p. 175, g-'atlka'sk, i.e., gatl' kXtslux) recorded the name 'little clam' for this cockle. There is also the common smooth Washington or butter clam, Saxidomus giganteus, (tsixw), the large Pacific gaper or horse clam, Schizothaerus nuttalli, (gatl' or gal; Boas, 1917, p. 155, gal', gai,'), and the Pacific little-neck clam or "rock cockle," Protothaca staminea. All of these the people now gather, and they were also well represented in the midden on Knight Island. The "giant clam" that killed a woman (xit, Swanton, 1909, Tale 21, p. 41; Garfield and Forrest, 1948, figs. 46, 47) may be a rock oyster, possibly Pododesmus (Monia) macroschisma, since my informants called the rock oyster xet. A similar story is told about a giant "rock oyster" or "rock scallop," perhaps Hinnites giganteus (Garfield and Forrest, 1948, p. 41). A large scallop, Pecten cawinus (xweyna), is occasionally caught on halibut hooks, but those that I saw at Yakutat had simply been brought home as curiosities. The Yakutat also eat the common blue mussel, Mytilus edulis, (yak, yak; Boas, 1917, p. 101, yak), 17 Scientific information is based upon identifications in Johnson and Snook, 1927; upon identifications of shells at Knight Island (Laguna et al, 1964); and upon Rhode and Barker, 1953. The seaweeds marked with an asterisk (*) were collected by Catharine McClellan. and the sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, (nfs; Swanton, 1909, p. 9, nls!). Again, both were found in the Knight Island middens. The site also contained such whelks as the large Oregon triton, Argobuccium oregonense, (Boas, 1891, p. 175, tl'itlk', i.e., tl'itlkw), the small dogwinkle, Nucella (or Thais) sp., and the little puppet rnargarite, Margarites pupillus, as well as a few shield limpets, Acmaea pelta, but I do not know whether any of these were eaten. A "snail," defined for me as the "worm" removed from its shell, is called ta£ (Boas, 1891, p. 181, tak', i.e., taq), a word which I believe refers to the encircling spiral shape. I do not know, however, whether this term is applied to small sea snails. The Yakutat also eat the common chiton or "gum-boot," Katharina tunicata, (caw; Boas, 1917, p. 155, caw) which was represented in the Knight Island site, and sometimes eat the large crypto-chiton, Oryptochiton stelleri, (ku, kuw; Boas, 1917, p. 155, thw). The latter was evidently something of a novelty because the tides are seldom low enough to expose them. Although my informants denied that shellfish in Yakutat Bay became poisonous in summer, it would appear that the large California mussel, Mytilus cali-forniensis, (yis, yis; Boas 124, yis), which is especially likely to harbor the deadly dynoflagellate, was not eaten, but was sought for its hard sharp shell, used as a knife or scraper. Dungeness crabs, Cancer magisterij), (tsaw, saw) were eaten, as were "spider" or "king crabs," possibly one or more of the Majidae and Lithodidae. The last were sometimes caught on halibut hooks and so were called 'crab of the [halibut] deep' ('itkA tsawu). The largest "king crabs" or "spider crabs" were called by a special name, xix or x6x. According to Swanton's informants (1909, pp. 142, 412) "spider crabs" are used by land otters for poisonous arrowheads with which they shoot people, making boils all over then- bodies or even causing death. These arrows may cause people to fall down suddenly, or to be crushed under falling tree limbs. The drum of the land otter is a "lobster shell" (qlexetAnu'qhi, i.e., xexetA-nuxu). I suspect that this animal is a "spider crab" or "king crab." There are many varieties of starfish, Asteroidea, (tsAx) but none is eaten. It is used as a crest by the DAqdentan sib (Swanton, 1908, p. 400). Squid or "devilfish," Loligo opalescens or Rossia pacifica(l) (naqw) are sought for halibut bait; and indeed their name means 'bait.' There are stories of monster devilfish (Swanton, 1909, Tale 31, p. 132, dAgasa/)- This may be Octopus apollyon, up to 28 feet in spread. The Yakutat people recognke barnacles, Balanus sp., (tsuk), and the goose barnacle, perhaps Lepas anatifera, (tsACsn), neither of which was eaten. 56 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 There are also many varieties of shrimp, Pandalus sp., but I learned nothing about them, probably because I neglected to ask. Shrimps were, however, mentioned by the natives as causing phosphorescence, as were small jellyfish, although my informants seemed very uncertain about the cause of this phenomenon and contradicted each other. By trade from the south comes abalone shell, Haliotis sp. (gunxa; Boas 153, gunxa), dentalia, Dentalium pretiosum or D. californicus (tXxxei), and "pearls" or opercula, 'dentalium-among (?) stones' (tlxxe-xu-teyi). These precious shells were valued for ornaments. "Sea jelly," possibly a kind of jellyfish, is called 'ancient tree'(?), (takwan-'Asi) and is taboo to touch. Spawn left by invertebrates, not by fish, is iix. Swanton (1909, pp. 402,) records the spotted sea cucumber, yen, which my informant translated as "slug." It is probably a species of Cucumaria. Lisiansky (1814, pp. 166-167) when at Sitka reported a taboo against eating this. Swanton (1908, p. 456, CAku) also mentions some bad-smelling things on the beaches which are eaten by Land Otter Men, but we do not know what these are. There are many varieties of seaweed. Both dark and light ribbon seaweed, Iridea larninoides* (xatc or qatc; Harrington, k'aati), and black seaweed, Porphyra laciniata,* (leikAsk.; Harrington, laak'ask; Boas, 1917, p. 128, laklsk'), were gathered, dried, and eaten. Boas (1891, p. 177, tare'de, i.e., tay6de) records a word for Fucus visiculosus, but I do not think that this was used for any purpose. Kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera, (gic) furnished material for fishing lines (tl'eyani). Insects Of the rich insect life we need mention only the tormenting mosquitoes (taia; Boas, 1917, p. 175, t'axax plural; Swanton, 1909, p. 278, ta'qla), the small biting gnats or 'baby mosquitoes' (taxax yAtxi), and the still smaller but no less voracious "No-see-ums," called 'with his mouth-nose he bites' (xA-hm-daguq). There are also spiders, 'it makes a web' (tsaqadi; Boas 138, qasisf!an), small flies (houseflies ?) (Boas, 158, xln), and blowflies that lay eggs in salmon hung up to dry. These larvae are called natsilAne", according to Swanton (1909, p. 230), although maggots in caribou meat are called wun (Swanton, 1909, p. 24). I recorded the term, tl'uq, for "worm," which may also be a blowfly larva, or possibly the woodworm, which I heard as 1'Ak, when rendered by the same informant. The Woodworm was the crest of an important Raven sib at Chilkat (Swanton, 1908, p. 404, L!uk!xa' hit, 'woodworm house,' i.e., tl'u&; 1909, 151, L!uq!u'x). The red-vested bumblebees that Burroughs (Burroughs and Grinnell, 1901, p. 61) saw buzzing about the lupins may be what Boas (1891, p. 174) recorded as gandasa'dji. Emmons (1903, p. 264, tla-thlu; cf. Boas 1891, p. 175, tie tlu') believes that the butterfly as a basketry pattern originated at Yakutat. The dragonfly, according to a Yakutat informant, had a name that means 'it steals hair' (qacicxaw); Boas (1917, p. 156, Iq'acicxaw) translates this as 'no body hair,' which is undoubtedly correct. Head lice, of course, were not unknown, especially on slaves (note the word for 'burr,' p. 34). The louse is was (Swanton, 1908, p. 411, was!). Small "bugs" seen on ponds under the ice were called da by one of our informants. Swanton (1908, 459, ts'.f'nqle') reports that theTlingit treated the water beetle with considerable respect, as a dangerous being whom one should be careful not to offend, and also as a power that might be utilized by the shaman for curing. (For additional vocabulary, see Naish and Story, 1963, pp. 27-29.) The Homeland of the Yakutat Tlingit 58 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 For the Tlingit, the world, their world, Imgit-'ani, is the 'land of human beings.' The word, 'an, makes no distinction between territory and village, rather it denotes the home where people live. This homeland always belongs to some sib; the actual settlements within it are shared by the owners, their spouses and affinal kin, and any others who may choose to live or visit there. The ties between the people and the land are close, and no mere geographical description is adequate unless it attempts also to display the associations which make the lingit-'ani a Lebensraum. These associations are in part conveyed by the names given to places, sometimes descriptive of the locality, sometimes referring to historical or legendary events which have occurred here. Even when the names are in a foreign tongue they serve as a reminder of those who once occupied the land and are now gone, although the Tlingit attempt, probably unconsciously, to adapt the strange sounds to words which have a meaning in Tlingit. The human meanings of the landscape are more than the mythological dimension recognized by Malinowski (1922, ch. 12). They involve not simply places visited and transformed by Raven in the mythical past, but places hallowed by human ancestors. For individuals, of course, the world has special personal meanings, for there are places about which their grandparents and parents have told them, spots they have visited in their own youth, or where they still go. None of these personal associations are completely private; all are intermeshed through anecdote or shared experiences. Not only is the world the scene of happenings of long ago, yesterday, and tomorrow, but it has human significance for what it offers in food resources, scenery, easy routes for travel, or places of danger. The Tlingit have never been alone in their world. Always there have been other tribes for them to visit or to visit them, and ever since the latter part of the 18th century they have shared it more and more with the White man. To the explorers, traders, missionaries, surveyors, even to myself and my companions, it has been a Lehensraum, and the experiences and meanings for the White man have merged with those of the Indian, and help to illuminate the latter. For these reasons, the lands about the Gulf Coast of Alaska, the particular homeland of the Yakutat people, must be sketched, not simply as geography, but with some hint of all these rich associations, if we are to understand the Yakutat people themselves. In the following sections of this chapter we will begin with Yakutat Bay itself, then turn southeastward, exploring as far as Lituya Bay, with an excursion up the Alsek River. Finally we will return to Yakutat to survey the lands to the west as far as the home of the Eyak at the mouth of the Copper River. The Yakutat Bay country has already been described in some detail, but in dealing with the terrain to the southeast and to the northwest it will be necessary to introduce some brief descriptions of the country. A great deal of the information about Yakutat Bay was gathered on excursions to Disenchantment Bay and to the head of Russell Fiord in 1952, and in discussing the photographs taken then. Similar excursions with native friends were made to parts of the Ankau lagoon system, to Lost River and Situk River southeast of Yakutat, and to Khantaak Island. For other areas I had to rely upon maps and charts for identification of the places mentioned. YAKUTAT BAY In entering Yakutat Bay we come to Tlaxata or Laxata, a name which is applied more specifically to an old sealing camp south of Point Latouche (see p. 67). 'Inside Yakutat Bay' is Tlaxayik, which Swanton (1908, p. 397) renders as Laxayt'k, "inside ia'xa (an island)." Actually the name is Eyak, according to a speaker of that language; the name Tla'xa't is supposed to mean 'glacier-inside place.' The Tlingit could not pronounce it properly, one of them admitted, and "it sounds funny to him [the Eyak man] when we add -ta to that." The inhabitants, 'those who live inside Yakutat Bay,' are the Tlaxayik-qwan, (or taxayik-qwan) although some informants felt that this expression belongs properly to the Raven sib, Kwackqwan, because they own all the shores of the bay. The name tla' or la,' with its various endings, is said to refer to the glacier which formerly extended way down the bay. According to Dr. Michael E. Krauss: tla'xa'lah is Eyak for 'Tlingit habitation,' obviously referring to the Tlingit of Yakutat. 'Glacier' in Eyak is la' not tla', but the alternation 1-tl does occur elsewhere in Eyak. [My own transcription may be at fault.] However, glacier (la1) is a "d-class noun," so that 'by (the) glacier(s)' in Eyak should properly be: la'dAxa' (letter of December 20, 1966). The word Yakutat, first adopted by the Russians in 1823 (Dall and Baker, 1883, p. 207 n.), or Yakwdat, is applied to the mouth of Ankau Creek in Monti Bay. Swanton (1909, Tale 105, p. 351) renders this as OldTi ELEAN&R^C Humpback Salmon Si Krutoi °A,J± P+. Carrew Ankau Lagoon Ocean Co W0M ^Ywm ^^*£&Al\&/~^-''" "'\0. yOld Canoe Traif^^^^^t ^ Ruins vJ?§|Sp£^f 0 J Qp f ^ "^ fj^ MAP 6.—Yakutat Bay [to Dry Bay], IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 59 Ya'kMat. By some of my oldest informants the word is said to be Eyak, meaning "salt water pond," or "a lagoon is forming," referring to the open water which appeared as the Yakutat Bay Glacier melted back. One specified that it meant "mouth of a salt water bay," like the Tlingit expression, 'el'wAt, and referred simply to the mouth of the Ankau. Other informants, who knew no Eyak, thought that the name was derived from yakwtadE, 'to the ship,' since Russian ships used to anchor at the mouth of the Ankau, or even that yakwdat referred to a "canoe bouncing up and down in the tidal currents." Harrington recorded Yaakwtaat-yfk for all of the Ankau lagoon area, as well as the stream. Peter Lawrence told him that it meant "canoe (yaakw) jump (taat) inside (yik)" because a canoe will bob up and down in the waves at the mouth of the Ankau River.18 All of Yakutat Bay and the adjacent lands are claimed by the Kwackqwan, who trace their origin to the Copper River. The west side of the bay, and indeed all of the shores as far west as to include Icy Bay (see pp. 95-98), was theirs apparently by right of settlement. The eastern shores were purchased from the original owners. However, the Kwackqwan Ravens were accompanied to Yakutat by the Wolf Galyix-Kagwantan, with whom they had intermarried at Icy Bay. These latter (or a closely related Yakutat branch of the same sib) were known as the Tiaxayik-Teqwedi (perhaps after they had settled on Yakutat Bay). While some settlements seem to have belonged pre-dominently to the last sib, or at least to have had a man of that sib as their most distinguished house chief, control of Yakutat Bay for hunting, fishing, and gathering was in the hands of the leading Kwacljqwan chief. According to reports about this sib chief during Russian days, his domination extended up into Disenchantment Bay, at least as far as Haenke Island. The West Side of Yakutat Bay There were no settlements on the exposed west shore of Yakutat Bay. Its most prominent feature is the enormous Malaspina Glacier, known to the natives simply as the 'Big Glacier' (sit tlen). Point Manby was Yatiak ('place behind'?). Manby Stream just inside the point was called Kik. (Note that Kwik Stream of the maps and charts is much farther up the bay, just below Blizhni Point.) At Point Manby there was once a great hollow tree, inside which one could hear the noise of an approaching storm. The Galyix-Kagwantan youth who married a shipwrecked Russian woman (see pp. 233, 256) used to go inside the tree and, if he heard no storm warning, would run across Yakutat Bay on the ice, which at that time stretched from Point Manby to Eleanor Cove. All along the shores of the lagoons between Point Manby and Kame Stream ("Grand Wash"), there are many bears. They dig holes to sleep in, about 6 feet in diameter and 3 feet deep, so that just the tips of their ears show. "It looks as if an army had been digging foxholes." The grass is breast high, so that one may come upon the bears unexpectedly. Despite this danger, and that of landing through the surf, and also despite the Tlingit horror of frogs which are said to be very numerous here, this region is one of the best in which to gather strawberries, and large parties often go across from Yakutat to pick them. The members of the various expeditions who passed here on their way toward Mount Saint Elias were much impressed with the luxuriance of the vegetation, so close to the edge of the Malaspina Glacier, and commented on the abundance of strawberries and berry bushes, on the multitudes of waterfowl, and on the many tracks of enormous bears—the Alaska brown bear and the still larger Saint Elias silver grizzly (Filippi, 1900, pp. 72-74). "Between Point Manby and Esker Creek is good for silver salmon and hunting seals. . . . We do not stay there but go for the day. This used to be good trapping grounds [for marten, mink, fox and land otter], but whites have used poison and killed off all the animals." [Jack Ellis in Goldschmidt and Haas, 1946, p. 75.] I did not learn the names for the numerous streams along this shore, except that Esker Creek was called Yafa-se'a or Yata-sl'a'.19 Near here, at the base of Amphitheatre Knob, coal was found by Jack Dalton, a White man who prospected this area before he established the famous Dalton Trail and Dalton Post of Gold Rush days. The general area was called ia-yeyl, 'Below the Point,' referring to Bancas Point, and the site of the coal was called 'Jack's Town,' Jack-'ani or TcEk-'ani, because Jack Dalton had a cabin nearby (see Russell, 1891 b, p. 169; Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 168). Dalton's cabin was at the foot of Galiano Glacier, according to Russell (1891 b, p. 98). The latter, in 1890, named Turner Glacier after "Jack Dalton, a miner and frontiersman now living at Yakutat, who is justly considered the pioneer explorer of the region." He had apparently come to Yakutat as a cook on Schwatka/s expedition of 1886 to climb Mount " Dr. Michael B. Krauss suggests that Yakutat may be an Eyak word [di-]ya'-guda'd, 'salt-water mouth-of,' if one allows for the queer dropping of the di.- (letter of December 20, 1966). " This may be the Eyak 'it extends across (something)' ya-ta-s'i-'ah (Michael Krauss, letter of December 20, 1966). 60 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 US. COAST 8, GEODETIC SURVEY 8455 WITH ADDITIONS SiYe of Russian For? U.S.C.G. LORAN STATION N AUTICA L MILES 0 gOOO 40D0 YARDS 139° MAP 7.—Southeastern shore of Yakutat Bay. Saint Elias (Schwatka, 1891, p. 866), and 2 years later discovered the lignite beds (Topham, 1889 a, p. 425). It was inland from this region, along the mountain spurs north of Malaspina Glacier, on the Chaix Hills and on Blossom Island, that the Duke of Abruzzi's expedition to Mount Saint Elias noted the tracks of many bears, wolves, foxes, mountain goats and "par- tridges," in and near the isolated remnant of a forest (Filippi, 1900, pp. 106, 120). Bancas Point marks the western side of the entrance to Disenchantment Bay. On it or nearby was a sealing camp in the early 19th century called 'Village on Top of the Cliff,' Gel'-cAkf-'an. This name was also applied to Bancas Point itself. IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 61 The East Side of Yakutat Bay Within the southeastern part of Yakutat Bay, including Knight Island, were the more settled areas, undoubtedly located there because of the shelter afforded by the chain of low islands. This shelter also attracted traders, whose visits were added inducements for the natives to congregate here. There were also such natural resources as salmon streams, berries, and timber. I recorded no name for Ocean Cape, which marks the entrance to Yakutat Bay, although Harrington rendered it as 'Kussians' Point' (ititskiikkhwaan xaayyfi). Point Carrew at the mouth of Monti Bay is 'Place Where a Monster Emerged' ('AnAx-daq-'At-qutsitiye). This name puzzled my informant because there are no monsters there now, and none to harm people since Raven ordered them "not to bother humans." A reputedly "Aleut" (Chugach Eskimo) word for the point is TEyixnAq or TeyixnAk. It should be noted that many of the places in this part of the bay have "Aleut" names. "And that islands, too—all kinds of Aleut names, Gotex or Kiot'ei language. . . . It's not native language." By "Aleut" is meant Chugach. One explanation for their presence is that they came to Yakutat with the Kussians, another is that they were the original inhabitants. However, some informants evidently used "Aleut" to refer to the Eyak-speaking Indians. "When Copper River Indians walked here over the ice there was Aleuts mixed in with them. They made skin canoes." (Minnie Johnson) Yet this informant knew, or later learned, that it was Eyak, Yatqwan ('local people'), who were involved. In any case, the non-Tlingit names were hard for Tlingit informants to pronounce, and many were incorrectly rendered as well as inconsistently recorded. As Davidson (1901 b, p. 44) translated Tebenkov: ". . . all places east [from the Copper River] to Yakootat bay have each four names; given by the Tchugatz [Eskimo of Prince William Sound], the Oogalentz [Eyak], the Copper River Indians [Atna], and the Koloshes [Tlingit]. . . ." Ankau Point, at the northern side of the entrance to Ankau Creek, is 'Aukciaq (or rather 'Xqciylq), an "Eyak" or, more correctly, a Chugach name. At the edge of the woods behind the point is the present ANB (Alaska Native Brotherhood) Cemetery, used by all the residents of Yakutat, and behind that again a pond. It is said that the cemetery was started (in the middle or late 19 th century ?) with the grave house of a murdered Teqwedi shaman, and with the burial of his niece who wished to lie near her uncle. These graves could not be found, although we searched around the shore of the pond. Later (summer of 1952), I heard that the doctor's grave house had been seen near the Army road, but farther up the creek than we had been able to explore. It was in this vicinity, but well inside the creek, that Dixon in 1787 (Beresford, 1789, chart opp. p. 170, pp. 175-176) and Malaspina in 1791 (Galiano, 1802, chart 8; Malaspina, 1885, pp. 161, 346) visited the native cemetery made famous through their descriptions. Possibly this area has been in more or less continual use ever since the 18th century; first as a depository for the ashes of the dead and later as a burial ground. Since tidal currents make the mouth of the creek rather dangerous, there have been several drownings here, and monuments to those who were lost have been erected along the bank of the stream. One of these was a cross in memory of two Kwackqwan brothers who drowned some time before 1900, and in 1949 an impressive marble shaft was set up on the point for a youth of the same sib who had drowned with an Eskimo companion. Also in the vicinity of the former cemetery in the woods, Vancouver's expedition in July 1794, noted a temporarily abandoned village where about 50 dogs had been left behind (Vancouver, 1801, vol. V, p. 396). Although Dixon in 1787, and Malaspina in 1791 noted habitations or buildings in this area (Beresford, 1789, pp. 167, 175; Malaspina, 1849, p. 290; 1885, 161; Wagner, 1936, p. 258; quoted on pp. 311, 312), my informants were uncertain whether there had ever been a village here, and we failed to locate the site. Minnie Johnson remembered that a village here had been deserted because of a war between the Teqwedi inhabitants and the Dekina (Haida or Henya Tlingit) from southeastern Alaska, who cut off each others' heads. This is suggestive of Malaspina's report of a war, shortly prior to his visit, and to the descriptions of heads put into separate boxes at the cemetery. The survivors are supposed to have moved to Port Mulgrave on Khantaak Island, according to my informant. Later, however, she denied that there had ever been a village near the mouth of the Ankau. As already indicated, Ankau Creek, including the whole salt water lagoon system which it drains, is called Yakwdatyik, 'Inside Where the Boat Is.' Ankau was known to be a White man's name, but my informants were, of course, ignorant that it had been given by Malaspina in honor of the 'chief ('anqawu), or "Ankau June" (Malaspina, 1885, p. 345; Dall and Baker, 1883, p. 207 n.). The pilings on the southeast side of the creek, just inside the mouth, are the ruins of the saltery built in 1901 (Moser, 1901, p. 390). From here, in 1905, a 12-year-old girl is believed to have been stolen by land otters when she tried to walk along the shore to the mission school at Yakutat (p. 754). Monti Bay is Djiwanik or DjiwAnfkta ('inside the 62 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 limb,' likening the bay to the branch of a tree). One informant rendered the name as Tanwanikta, suggesting 'a place beside the sea lions.' On the middle of the south shore is a large rock, called the 'Sea Lions' Rock' (tan tEyi) because these animals like to lie on it. Harrington, however, reported that Monti Bay was called Tjuwaanik, an "Aleut" name, and that 'Monti Bay shore' (Tjuwaanik-thA) was the proper name for the present town of Yakutat. The town of Yakutat is at the head of Monti Bay (pis. 22-26). Here are the Government dock where vessels of the Coast Guard and of the Public Health Service tie up; storage tanks for the Standard Oil Company; the cannery and its dock (built 1902-04), with the cannery store, houses for supervisory personnel, the old bunkhouses, the terminus of the railway to Johnson Slough, and other buildings. The cannery store and dock form the center of the economic life of the community. The natives moved to Yakutat about 1919 from the "Old Village" farther north, in order to be near the cannery, although many already had summer homes or tents here, and some families still continue to occupy houses in the Old Village. A well-kept road connects the new Yakutat with the Old Village, and with the airfield about 4 miles southeast, with the Coast Guard Loran Station on the ocean front to the southwest, and from there runs southeastward to a fishing camp at Lost Eiver. In the middle of the native community of Yakutat is the old Lutheran church, beginning to fall into disrepair in 1954, and the ANB Hall (built about 1921). Beyond this, continuing to the north, is the jail (built in 1949), the post office, school, a general store, Public Health Clinic, and the sites picked in 1954 for a town power plant and for a new Presbyterian church. The Lutheran Evangelical Mission, established in 1889 (the present buildings are newer), is about half a mile farther north along the road that parallels the water. It is called SkunyAkA, 'By the School,' referring to the boarding school formerly run by the mission. The Old Village, from which can be obtained a magnificent view of Mount Saint Elias that is much enjoyed by the inhabitants, is called Qa-iAs-iak-'an, 'Town Between Someone's Jaws.' Harrington was told that the correct name was 'Town Between Someone's Legs' (khaakkAts-^aak-'aan), but that "this word has a bad sound, so they called it 'Between the Jaws.' " Both names suggest its position on a curving gravel beach between two rocky headlands. On the southern hill, between the mission and the Old Village, is a graveyard used between 1890 and 1924, as far as could be judged from the dated tombstones, although some unmarked graves were probably older. On the northern point are some marble monuments to dead members of the Kwacliqwan (pi. 30). The shafts were moved here from their original location when the road was built over the graves. The road winds around the point to end at the lagoon. There were also a few wooden grave houses on the point. The Old Village was founded about 1889 by Indians who had moved across from the village at Port Mulgrave on Khantaak Island so that they could be near the mission and near the store run by a Sitka merchant. The great lineage houses here were first in the "old style," later made of sawed lumber from the sawmill on the lagoon belonging to the mission. Many of the old houses are still occupied (pi. 26). The lagoon which opens north of the Old Village and which runs behind it is called Qaqutsrna (Harrington: khi'ku'tzAnnAh,i.e., qf'Eu'dzAnA). The sawmill belonging to the mission was located at its head, and the women still go to the lower stretches of the lagoon to gather cockles, clams, and sea urchins at low tide. The small island at the mouth of the lagoon is 'Canoe Island,' Yakw£at'i, or 'canoe on-it always stays-there' (yakw 'AkAyAxtEnA). Harrington recorded 'island' (xa-t or xaat') 'narrow' ('anAtjitck, in Eyak), or more properly 'ground-narrow' (Vh lAttshftsk, in Eyak). Residents of the Old Village used to keep their big canoes on this island because the beach in front of their houses was too exposed. The larger island to the east is 'Big Berries,' Tl'eq" tlen, and the smaller one just to the north is 'Small Berries,' Tl'eqw liAtsliux, because women used to pick blueberries on them. Puget Cove farther north is Takuk. The landlocked lagoon just south of Canoe Pass (lat. 59°35' N.) is T6Axqatlata (-?- 'inside,' as applied to a bay). The deep water at the lower end of Johnstone Passage, between this lagoon and Puget Cove, was called Daxadaneya. This name, however, evidently referred to the little island near the shore where Peter Lawrence had a camp, since Harrington was told that the name, Daga-tlani-'an (taakkaa ttlaannii 'aan), meant 'deep all around camp,' because the wooded place became an island only at high tide. Khantaak Island, according to Harrington, was called S'uus, or S'uuskhXh, although his Eyak informant pronounced it Tsuus. His informants were unable to translate it and variously guessed that it might be Aleut, Russian or English! I was told that the name was S'uskA, by some said to be an Eyak word, but by others, better informed, reported to mean 'on sus.' The latter was identified from the picture in Peterson (1941, opp. p. 64) as a black turnstone, a bird which can often be seen flying around the island (Emma Ellis). Other informants identified it only as "a pretty bird" especially common in southeastern Alaska, which fits its known range (Gabrielson and Lincoln, 1959 pp. 339-340). Dall (Dall and Baker, 1883, p. 207) reports that "Khantaak" was "adopted by Tebienkoff The Lagoon Grave Monuments ---' Cemefery and site of Russian Blockhouse School Post Office Jail ANBM Church YAKUTAT Cannery Government Dock Road to Airfield Sea Lion Rock NAUTICAL MILE MAP 8.—Yakutat Harbor. IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 63 from the native name." If the term is Tlingit, it probably refers to the lupins (gEntAkw, kantaq, gantaqw) which grow profusely on the open gravel flats of the island. According to Davidson (1869, p. 139) the name is the [Eskimo] word for 'dish.' The native village at Port Mulgrave, properly called S'uskA, 'On the Turnstone,' was inhabited up to about 1893. According to my informants, people moved here from Ankau Point (?), from settlements on the Ankau lakes and from streams southeast of Yakutat, in order to trade furs. One gathers from the reports of Dixon (Beresford, 1789, chart opp. p. 170), Malaspina (1885, p. 156) and others that already in the 18th century this was at least a seasonal camping place. Later, substantial lineage houses were built along the shore, the pond in back was used for washing, and a well to the north was dug for drinking water. The open grassy flat just north of the site is KAtsigAnkiya. The graveyard used in the late 19th century was on Point Turner, but this was destroyed when the land sank during the earthquake of 1899. Some of the bones were rescued and were reburied in a cemetery which occupies the old village site. The graves here are grouped according to sib, from south to north: Galyix-Kagwantan, Tl'uknaxAdi, Teqwedi, and Kwac£qwan, probably as the houses were formerly alined. The dates on inscribed stones range from 1908 to 1920, although I know some graves are older. Now the site is overgrown with bushes. People gather strawberries on the sandy flat near Point Turner, or collect tern eggs from the edge of the beach. Seaweed and chitons are found on the rocky point (where the light is now), and in Port Mulgrave there are cockles and mussels. No one lives on Khantaak Island now, except for a White couple with a mink farm near the north end of the island, but the whole island has continued to be a source of black and ribbon seaweed, chitons, cockles, clams, crabs, blueberries, strawberries, salmonberries, and sweet hemlock bark (Goldschmidt and Hass, 1946, pp. 76-77). The reef opposite Point Turner, off the southern end of Yakutat Roads, is De'angeya, referring to the ships as big as 'villages' ('an) that used to anchor nearby. This may be a Tlingit version of what Harrington recorded as the Eyak name for a point on Khantaak Island, about 3 miles from Yakutat, which means '[the little reef] comes out in the middle' (taa aakkiiyyl', i.e., da'agiyA'). The location suggests Village Shoal at Port Mulgrave. One half mile beyond the point mentioned by Harrington, the latter indicates another point, called in Eyak NixAgAtal (niixxAkkAtthaal). On the mainland opposite is a cove and salt water lake called AAdAcf (xAttAccf), which may be the cove and lagoon behind the 'Berry Islands' (see p. 62), although I have been unable to identify the locality. Pyramid Point, just north of the village site, between Port Mulgrave and Rurik Harbor, is GAnaxwanlk or GanAxwAnik, a place where the people used to gather "wild rhubarb." On the western beach of Khantaak Island "ruby-tinted black sand containing scale gold" was discovered in 1880(?), and created considerable excitement for a few years, while White men were panning it. However, in 1890 or 1891, thousands of dogfish washed ashore, their oil saturating the sand so that mercury could not be used to separate the gold. Then a great wave washed the beach away. In 1905 someone was still trying to work the small bit of sandy beach at the southeastern end of the island (Tarr and Butler, 1909, pp. 165, 167; Scid-more, 1893, p. 131). Minnie Johnson remembers the miners, because one of them married a native woman. I was also told that much of the shore along Point Munoz had sunk "during the Katmai eruption [1911]." This end of the island was further submerged in the earthquake of 1958 and three women picking strawberries near Point Turner were drowned. The large bay on the east, which almost cuts Khantaak Island in two, is 'Sea Otter Bay,' Yuxtc geyi (Harrington: ytjxt6ikkeevyii), because the sea otter used to shelter in it during storms. The isthmus here is only 150 yards wide and Harrington's informants reported that the sea otter used to cross overland by it. People used to come to the woods around the bay to collect hemlock bark in the spring, and when one of my informants was a child, living at Khantaak village, she and some other children found a shaman's outfit in a box cached on a big rock in a pond near this bay (see pp. 699-700). A White couple, the Schlichtigs, have a home on the northernmost eastern hook of the island. This is Tebenkov's Tapor or "Hatchet" Point (Dall and Baker, 1883, p. 209), and it may be the 'Low Water Point' (len xayi) of Harrington's informants. A camping place somewhere southwest of the house was called QadAk. Harrington recorded that this campsite (kaattlk) was a place of strawberries and tall grass at a little bay on an island about % mile from the north end of Khantaak Island (see "Crab Island" below). Another (?) camping place in the vicinity was called 'Town Inside the Trees,' 'As-kutu-'an, but this name was also given to a place on the east side of Dolgoi Island (see p. 64). Somewhere on the northeast shore of Khantaak Island, however, Dixon in 1787 saw native huts (Beresford, 1789, map. opp. p. 170). The northeast point of the island, known locally as "Strawberry Point," is called Xanda'Aq or Xanduaq, reported to be an Eyak or "Aleut" name. The same name was given to "Crab Island Bay" east of the point. Some confusion results from the fact that, according to Harrington, the whole north end of Khantaak Island was called "Crab 64 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 Island" by the Whites, and XAntA'Ax (an Eyak name) by the natives. Strawberry Point itself was XAntA'Ax Itfh (X— nose). This Eyak name would appear to have been the original for "Khantaak." "Crab Island," the tiny island in front of the Schlich-tigs' home, at the north end of Johnstone Passage, had the Eyak name Kolet'a'tlk (Harrington: kutlAttLi'tR, i.e., gutlAtjA'lK), referring to ducks standing up in the water and "shaking their wings." As pronounced by the Tlingit, this name sounds like QAlat'al or Kutladaqw. The open water between Khantaak Island and Kriwoi Island on the east is Qiyakw, said to be Eyak for 'open place' (i.e., giyAg, according to Krauss).20 The same name (Qeyaq) was also given to some spot on one of the nearby islands. Johnstono Passage, east of Khantaak Island, was called GunaqAdBt sidi, "GunaqAdEt's Pass," referring to an enormous, wealth-bringing water monster that was once seen here, or at Canoe Pass (Swanton, 1909, p. 165: GonaqAde't). Informants were uncertain whether this name applied more properly to Johnstone Passage or to Canoe Pass, which branches off it from the east, south of Dolgoi Island. Canoe Pass was called DlidEsit, 'the channel on the way to the place behind' (Harrington: Teekkhii-siit or tuxw tee ssilt, i.e., deki sit or duiwde sit). On the mainland side of the pass, just above high water, are two conspicuous rocks that look like crouching figures. They are called HindE turd yakw cuwa, or Lundak tuni tEjri. My informants were reluctant to translate these words, but they refer to a young man who ran his boat on the rocks in the dark and cracked it while he was sneaking after his sweetheart. The rocks are said to have been once farther from the shore (i.e., the land has recently subsided ?). A rock on the north side of the pass was once a bear swimming toward the mainland, but he turned to stone when an adolescent girl passing in a canoe peeked at him. It is called Daq-'l-'xrwahuwu xuts, 'To-the-Mainland Was-Swimming Bear.' Harrington's informants called it the 'outward swimming bear' (taak-'uwwuhhuwwu-xxuus, i.e., dd,k-'uwuhuwu-xiis), heading for the mainland. There is said to have been a village on both sides of Canoe Pass, so huge that ravens trying to fly overhead would be overcome by smoke from the houses. The name, 'AgEtl' wuhiwa t'A£iyE(?), is said to refer to a contest as to who could make the most noise eating rotten salmon spawn. We found only a small shell-heap on the island on the north side of the channel. 20 Although this name is pronounced giyAg in Eyak, it is almost certainly not of Eyak origin, but ia more probably Chugach, according to Michael Krauss (letter of December 20, 1966). See also the same name applied to a place on Dolgoi Island, on the upper Situk River (p. 79), and to Wingham Island (p. 103). The lagoon on the north, just west of Dolgoi Island, is GAxw-'adus-gewiyE,' Black-Ducks They-Netted Place,' or "Where They Caught Black Ducks (gAxw or gAxw) With a Net (gew)," because the Russians used to go fowling here. Harrington renders this as 'Black Duck Place' (ka&xw 'aatijskeewwe'h, i.e., g&xw 'adire gewe1). There was once a settlement or camp in the vicinity. Dolgoi Island, in Russian "Long Island" (Dall and Baker, 1883, p. 209, n.) had no single native name; rather there were names for various places on it. However, Harrington gives Qiyaq (khiiyaak') as the Eyak name for the whole island, while my informants restricted Qeyaq (i.e., giyAg according to Krauss) to a locality on the northeast side, opposite Kriwoi Island. A small site on the southeast corner, opposite Gregson Island, may have been the settlement or camp called 'Village in the Woods,' 'As-kutu-'an, reported to have been occupied in Russian times. A place on the west(?) shore is Qiyu-xAdi-'ak. A lake or lagoon on the island is associated with the clever escape of a Tlingit hunter from an ambush by a war party of "Aleuts" (Chugach) led by a Russian. The lake is called WAxXq, but because the "Aleuts" had hidden their kayaks there it is also known as "Aleuts' Lake," Got'ex 'ayi. Gregson and Fitzgerald Islands, the "Sister Islands" of the Whites, are called 'Ildihyal (heard as dAMal; Harrington: 'iltritiiyaal), meaning in Eyak that they are close together. Two Indians, now dead, used to live on Gregson Island, and later a White man tried to raise mink and goats on it. Kriwoi Island, "Crooked Island" in Russian (Dall and Baker, 1883, p. 209, n.), is known locally as "John Bremner's Island." Harrington reports that it is called KAcayani (M:ACCaayyaannii) an "Aleut" name. The smaller Otmeloi Island, "Shoals Island" in Russian, is "Hardy Trefzger's Island," known as 'AnihiwAq. Harrington reports that the word ('Annrl-luwwAk) means 'head island' in Eyak, referring to the shape of the north end, and that the island is also called "Head Island" in English. Krauss believes that the name is probably Chugach, and definitely not Eyak. Krutoi Island, "Steep Island" in Russian, is the northernmost in the line of small islands, and is usually known as "John Ellis' Island," or "Fox Island." It has an Eyak name, Ko'et (Harrington: Ku'eet, meaning unknown; Krauss: ku'e'd, 'place of (an absent) something'), meaning, according to Annie Harry, the print of a body, as one would make in bed, but here referring to a depression in the sand, since the island was a camping place. Yakutat Chief Yaxodaqet, the head of the Kwaci:qwan sib, sometimes stayed on this island, and sometimes at the Humpback Salmon Creek on the mainland opposite. His slaves stayed on the island, "and every time they see bad weather coming they go around and tell the people not to go out [in canoes]" IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 65 I was told. This chief, who probably died about 1880 was the second of that name. His grave is supposed to be in the cemetery near the mission. B. A. Jack (1860-1948) carved a wooden Raven for bis monument, which was later sold to a museum. Persons who were born about 1855 are reported to have said that during their childhood there were no trees on Krutoi Island. According to tradition, these islands were bare when the first Kwackqwan came across the ice from the west side of Yakutat Bay. The reef running southeast from Krutoi Island is CAgulq£x. This is said to be a Tlingit name but was not translated. If one follows the mainland shore northeastward after coming through Canoe Pass, the first large bay south of Gregson Island is Nexqit (Harrington: neexkhft, Eyak). Redfield Cove, farther north, was 'Atl'at, probably the Eyak V-tFahd for 'head of the river' (Krauss). A camping place was reported at the north point. On the chart, a trail is indicated as running from the cove east to Redfield Lake, one of the many lakes drained by the Situk River, and the native name most probably refers to this lake (see p. 79). One informant, however, insisted that there was no lake in the locality indicated. On the mainland shore, two thirds of the distance from Redfield Cove to Humpback Salmon Creek, there are two conspicuous white boulders, at about the half-tide line. These are said to be two old women who were quarreling with each other when they were turned to stone by the baleful glance of an adolescent girl. They are called Wuc-dAqan-tE, 'With-Each-Other Quarreling Stones.' (Some informants gave this name to the two rocks on the south side of Canoe Pass.) The famous Humpback Salmon Creek (lat. 59°39'N.) is called Kwack hfni; kwacl£ being the Eyak word for 'humpback salmon,' and hini the Tlingit word for 'stream of.' A place on the lake which it drains is called NaxtlaxAk-'akA (see Situk River, p. 79). Although informants disagree as to who were the original owners of this stream, all concur that it was purchased by the Ginexqwan immigrants from the Copper River, who thereby acquired their present name Kwaci:qwan from the stream. Minnie Johnson remembers stopping in spring at the stream to get salmon and big cockles. The latter were 6 inches long and had to be speared because the tide did not go out far enough to uncover them. The area about Eleanor Cove and Knight Island offers favorite spring camping spots. Here families go for halibut and for the first salmon, to hunt the bears emerging from their dens, or simply to take delight in watching the cubs playing on the bare slopes of snow or scree, and to enjoy the beauties of the unfolding spring. Now hemlock and spruce bark are juicy with delicious sap, and the fresh green stalks of wild celery are crisp. Herring spawn, seaweed, and sea urchins may also be gathered. People will stay here until it is time to move farther up to the sealing camps in Disenchantment Bay. The south point of Eleanor Cove is called "Around the Face," because it is supposed to look like a face. I transcribed the native name as QayuKotla, but if the name is Tlingit, this must be incorrect. Eleanor Cove, locally known as "Chicago Harbor," has been called 'Asi£ta ('asyikta?, 'back in among the trees'?), and Tl'acanaqaU. Harrington renders the second as Tl'aca niqat (tl'aacaa nikkhaat), referring to a V-shaped canyon. The head of the cove is L'uxcayi, 'At the Head of Muddy Water,' from the glacier-fed stream (1'ux) that enters it (Harrington: tl'uux-caak). Coal was said to have been found on the slope above. Harrington also gives the name Kayiy&at for a large canyon at the head of the cove, and seems to place the muddy stream (tl'uux) farther north along the shore. Eleanor Island is LaxAtc, and was also bought by the ancestors of the Kwackqwan from the original owners. According to Harrington, the name LAxAt6 (lAxxlt6) is believed to be Aleut, although "the only time the Aleuts came in here was when they were hunting sea otters and got caught in a storm and came in here for the duration of a bad spell of weather." Knight Island was Q-lnlwXs, an "Aleut" or Eyak name. (Harrington gives it as gAnAwAs (kAnnAwwAs); Krauss suggests that it is from the Eyak word gAlAWAs, 'water extends in an indefinite shape,' or 'flows in an indefinite bed.') A Tlingit name used by only one informant, Qacayi iat', 'Human Head Island,' probably applied more properly to Otmeloi Island, since this would be a translation of what was alleged to be the Eyak (Chugach?) name (see p. 64). Knight Island was the first territory acquired by the Copper River immigrants, who obtained it by purchase after one of their women, a chief's daughter or sister, had been prevented by the owners from picking strawberries on it. At that time it was just a big strawberry patch, without trees. Informants disagree as to whether the payment was made by the woman's father (Garyix-Kagwantan or TlaxayiK-Teqwedi), by her uncle, or by her brother, although all acknowledge that the Kwac]£qwan obtained it through this purchase. My informants were also uncertain as to whether the original owners had ever had a real village on it, and as to the period when the first reported permanent houses on it were built. These last seem to have included the Kwackqwan Fort House, and the Teqwedi Bear House. Certainly the Teqwedi lived here at one time, for there is a tradition that a blind man of the TlaxayiK-Teqwedi, who had been left behind when his relatives went to sealing camp, was abused by a 66 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 party of ThikwaxAdi from Dry Bay (see p. 262). I was not told, however, whether there was a village or a camp on Knight Island at that time. When Jack Ellis (Goldschmidt and Haas, 1946, p. 76) assigned Knight Island to the Teqwedi, I believe he was thinking of the leading chief of the village or camp, not of general territorial rights, since these were claimed by the Kwackqwan. Certainly, up to modern times, the south shore of the island has been used as a camping place for hunters going up and down the bay. Here, for example, in the last century, the older brother of one of my informants had to camp because his canoe was overloaded with seals. The land otters tried to kidnap him, but were defeated through the efforts of a shaman, his uncle (pp. 716, 753-754). At the present time, two White men have places on the south side of the island. Most informants agreed that the site on the south shore, 'Old Town,' TlAkw-'an, had been abandoned before the Russians came, although they also believed that the name had been given to it by the wealthy Teqwedi house chief and shaman, Xatgawet, to make people think it was as high class as the Chilkat village of Klukwan. (Swanton, 1908, p. 397, renders this as Laku-an [tlakw-an], 'Renowned Town.') My most reliable informant, however, insisted that iXatgawet had nothing to do with Knight Island, and had lived after the Russians (pp. 246-247). The site, occupied in both late prehistoric and protohistoric times, has already been described (de Laguna et al, 1964). According to some, its correct name should be "Raven Falling Down," Yel 'ada qutciyE(?), because the smoke from the many houses would overcome any raven attempting to fly over the town. Others gave this name (Yet 'adAx kAl tciye?) to a reported site a little farther east on the island. Knight Island seems to have been Malaspina's "Isle of Pines" (Isla Pineda or Ma de Pineda), described as a fairly high island, heavily wooded, with grave monuments on the south shore facing east, like those seen on Ankau Creek (Malaspina, 1885, pp. 164, 340, 346). The island was near the mountainous mainland where the bottom dropped off sharply, and here the launches of the Descubierta and Atrevida were anchored in July, 1791, after having explored as far north as Haenke Island. The north end of Knight Island is its 'head,' GAnAWAS cada; the reef outside the island is GwAtsitta (Harrington : kwAtsilaa). On the mainland, opposite the southeast point of Knight Island, the stream that drains the northern flanks of Mount Tebenkof is simply 'Muddy Water,' L'ux (Harrington: tl'uux-caak). The mountain north of this stream has a sandy slope toward the water and is called 'Sand Mountain,' Tl'ew-ca. The small island, opposite the middle of Knight Island and close to the mainland shore, is Nukw, 'Little Fort' (see de Laguna et al, 1964, p. 22). On Little Fort Island (as we have named it), we found the remains of stone defences, reportedly built by the Teqwedi as protection against the "Aleuts." The island would have been easier to defend before it was elevated 12% feet in the earthquake of 1899, which exposed a landing beach. Eggs of a sardinelike fish, 'Thunderbird fish' (xetl xadi), were obtained from under the rocks along the mainland shore between Little Fort Island and the north end of Knight Island. One family from Yakutat used to camp regularly each March on the mainland point just above Little Fort Island before going farther up the bay to sealing camp. Here they used dip nets to catch smelt(?) that came right up to the shore. This camp was on the beach raised by the earthquake. According to Harrington the canyon that comes down opposite the north end of Knight Island was Hasdanigag (haastannikak). A deep canyon with a small river in it (apparently the same one?) he variously transcribes as Kox-gik, or Gagfk, or as Gagil naxgi-t6 (kaakf-k or kaakil naaxki-t6). I was told that there had been an "Aleut" camp, Goxqik(?), at the mouth of the stream across from the north point of Knight Island, but the inhabitants were all killed off by the Kwacl:qwan. "The name GwAxgEkw is Aleut [Eyak?] for 'mountain stream.' Sea gulls used to lay their eggs there. There was no grass. Quite a few families settled in there. . . . It's right across from Knight Island. A stream comes out. It used to be shacks all the way down there on a sandspit. Now it's all trees. I think that the name is Aleut because I never heard that gEkw business in Tlingit. In our language it would be 'mountain creek.' They have a war at that time, and some of the bunch . . . made some kind of protection—I don't know what. I didn't see anything there. . . . They just try to beat one another there for eggs." (Minnie Johnson) The informant knew no details about the war. Roosevelt Creek is the larger stream just north of Mount Hoorts (i.e., xuts, 'brown bear'). The creek, "the biggest canyon of all," was called GiyAxAq (ki-yAkik caat or KiiyAMk or Ki-yAXAk) according to Harrington. The big sand and gravel bluffs north of this are Tl'ew-ca-tlen, "Big Sand Mountain.' Harrington records the same name but assigns it to Logan Bluff, see below, indicating that the widest rock slide near Roosevelt Creek is Ta-k-wucixihyAh. The point beyond this is 'Low Tide Point,' Len xayi, because so many boulders are exposed at low tide. The stream just north of the bluff, (below Mount Hendrickson ?), is 'Agwag ('aakwaak) which Harrington was told was a Tlingit, an Eyak, or an Aleut name by different informants. Beyond this again was another rock slide. All this long sandy stretch, from Roosevelt Creek to IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 67 the last stream south of Point Latouche, is Logan Beach, "Logging Bluff," where the waves beating against the bluffs wash down small amounts of gold-bearing sands. These were being worked by three prospectors in 1905, but offered bare wages (Tarr and Bulter, 1909, p. 166). My informants did not mention the miners or the gold, although Minnie Johnson remembered stopping here as a child to get edible hemlock bark when the family was moving up the bay to sealing camp. The last stream south of Point Latouche, described to Harrington as a short canyon with trees in it, was called Tl'e-tshu-t (tl'eettshuut) by his informants. At the north bank of this stream and at the north end of Logan Beach, was the site of the old sealing camp, Tlaxata (or La'xa'ta), used before the natives had rifles, when floating ice in Disenchantment Bay rendered camping dangerous above Point Latouche. The old campsite was back in the woods, on the flat between the stream and the rocky slope. Several now middle-aged and elderly persons report that the shift from this camp to sites above Point Latouche was made when they were small children (i.e., about 1880-85?), yet their accounts are not consistent. Furthermore, according to historical traditions, it was early in the 19th century that the Tlaxayik-Teqwedi were massacred at a camp above Point Latouche (pp. 264, 270). Perhaps there were periods or seasons in the middle of the last century when the campsite of Tlaxata was the northernmost point that could be reached safely. Malaspina certainly found the natives camped here in July, 1791 (1885, pp. 162-164). The site as he described it faced south and was protected from northern winds, although the shore was exposed to heavy surf. On July 1, the young Indian chief guided Malaspina's boats north of Point Latouche to a gravelly beach at the foot of a gully between two fairly tall mountains, where there was a flat with pleasant vegetation, a spot corresponding to the later campsites visited by the Harriman Alaska Expedition in 1899. Malaspina found the water rilled with floating ice and, as is well known, was blocked by an ice barrier at Haenke Island. It may be significant that his guide insisted on returning to his camp below the point before night. Disenchantment Bay and Russell Fiord '[Old Raven] has his young ones in here,' referring to some wave-cut caves at the point. Krauss suggests that it may be the Eyak 'u-nahd 'idAyahc, 'month when (animals) bear young.' It is a conspicuous and important landmark. It was, in fact, cited by an informant as an example of something always noticed. On rounding it, one enters Disenchantment Bay, leaving behind the ocean swells and the forests, to come face to face with the magnificent panorama of snowy peaks and glaciers that make the 'heart' ('Ate%) of Yakutat Bay so beautiful to all who see it. Here are rocky slopes, bare except for scrubby alders, willows, and wild flowers, inviting to the hunter of ptarmigan, bear, and mountain goat. The only trees are a few cottonwoods or balsam poplars. The waters are filled with floating ice on which the seals he, sometimes whole families in rows of up to six or seven on a single cake. One evening in late July, 1952, there were seals stretched out on the ice all over the bay as far as we could see. The water was faintly phosphorescent, due to tiny shrimps, according to my informants. The glare from the water and ice is very strong, so that women and children in the old days used to smear their faces with dark paint to prevent sunburn. Men were supposed to put charcoal rings around then1 eyes when they passed Point Latouche, (undoubtedly to protect them from the glare), although an informant said it was to prevent rain (p. 806). Although Point Latouche itself is bare of trees, yet there is supposed to be still standing the old dead trunk on which the Tl'uknaxAdi scout spied upon the sealing camp farther north (p. 263). Our Indian friends and ourselves looked for it in vain. Between Point Latouche and Haenke Island are four flats at the mouths of streams where sealing camps were established. They are here described from south to north. (1) Qegdtleya' (Harrington: khe'-ku-le-ylh), said (erroneously?) to mean 'burned up' in Eyak.21 This flat extends between two streams, the mouths of which are close together. Behind this is a cliff or rock slide called 'Mountain Goat's Fort' (DJINUWU nuwu), where the father of one of my friends nearly fell when hunting black bear. (2) The next camp is WuganiyE (Harrington: wiiukaaniyeh), meaning 'burned up' in Tlingit. This was where the Tlaxayik-Teqwedi had a fortified camp, surrounded by stonewalls with loopholes for guns. It (1) (1) Point Latouche, 'Ana'dfyac ('Ana'diyac), said to be an "Aleut" name, is rendered in Tlingit as 'matEyac, "in front of the stone platform." Harrington's Eyak informant (George Johnson) pronounced it as 'uunnaaddiiyaac or 'uunnAttAyyAhc, meaning in Eyak 21 Dr. Michael E. Krauss informs me that this word does not mean 'burned up' inEyak, unless the original form was qi'qu' lAyah/Uya-' meaning 'place where plural things are put on the fire,' although this is not a form which he has encountered in Cordova Eyak. He suggests that the name might be derived from a garbled kuxu-nJayAh, '(something's) tooth/teeth.' 68 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 was probably on the rocky dome in the middle of the valley. The defenders were all killed by the Tl'uknaxAdi from Akwe River and Dry Bay. The baby brother of Minnie Johnson died and was cremated here, about the time of the Harriman Alaska Expedition. (3) Calahonda Creek was 'Big Valley,' CanAX tlen. The camp of that name was close under the hills at the north side. (4) North of this was 'Narrow Valley,' CanAx kusa (Harrington: c&annAx kussl). Most informants said that there were only three main camps in this area, that is, at the first of these localities. The whole beach was said to be called Qeg6tleya', the first camp was WuganiyE; then came a small camping place on the "gravel between two [main] camps," 'iyawa kAt SA tAna (SA is 'glacial mud'); the second main camp was at 'Narrow Valley'; and last was the camping place at the mouth of Calahonda Creek. This would leave the stream north of the last without a name. Harrington was also told that the double canyon just above Point Latouche was called Xe-khuusAyA. (The first camp would have been between the mouths of these streams.) At these various camps the people used to gather in June and July, setting up bark huts, canvas tents and smokehouses. The men hunted seals, and sometimes bears and ptarmigan. The women flenaed the seals, dried the meat, rendered the fat, and stretched the skins. At this time of year seagull eggs were gathered at various places in Disenchantment Bay. At low tide, seaweed, mussels and chitons could be obtained, and wild celery grew near a pond behind the gravel beach (Minnie Johnson). The Harriman Alaska Expedition visited these camps in mid-June, 1899 (pis. 72-80). Grinnell (1901, pp. 158-165) and other members of the party have left descriptions of the camps and of the methods of hunting and preparing the seal oil and skins. As Burroughs (1901, p. 60) observes, while the natives are here, and later at the summer fish camps, the village of Yakutat is nearly deserted. "The encampment we visited," he reports, "was upon the beach of a broad gravelly delta flanked by high mountains. It was redolent of seal oil." Grinnell (1901, p. 158) specified "three camps of Indians all engaged in the hair seal fishery. The three camps were thought to represent Indians from different localities, Juneau, Yakutat, and Sitka." When at Yakutat he had been told that Indians from as far away as Sitka came to Disenchantment Bay for seals. However, I think it more likely that the camps represented sib groups than village groups. "They were camped on the gravelly beach, just above high water, and for the most part occupied ordinary canvas wall-tents, though some few lived in the square bark-covered shelters which in ancient times were their summer homes." He estimated that about 300-400 people were camped here (p. 161). "For many generations this has been a sealing ground for the Indians, and in some places the beach is white with weathered bones and fragments of bones that represent the seal catches of many years. The surroundings are not attractive, for the place resembles a slaughter-house. The stones of the beach are shiny with grease; seal carcasses and fragments of carcasses are spread along the shore, and there is an all-pervading odor of seal and seal oil. The place is a busy one. Back of the beach is a lagoon of fresh water, from which the Indians get their drinking water, in which the children wade about, sailing their canoes, and in which the mothers bathe their babies" [Grinnell, 1901, p. 165]. According to C. Hart Merriam, a copy of whose field notes was given to me by Dr. Robert Heizer, University of California, Berkeley, the main camp visited by the expedition was occupied by about 150- 200 Indians. "There are probably at least 600 skins in this village of seals killed during the past two weeks [June 8-22]. And there are two other, somewhat smaller villages a little farther up the coast—say % mile and one mile away, where many more seal skins are drying." Haenke Island, close to the eastern shore of the bay above these camps is locally known as "Egg Island" a literal translation of its Tlingit name, KwAt' ^afi (Harrington: kwAii xaatfii). It is still a favorite place for gathering seagull eggs hi early June from nests on the cliff along the south side. The latter is called DA£ tlen ('big place behind'?), or "Big Cliff." Below this is a gravel beach, now a much frequented camping place. When Minnie Johnson was a small child in the 1880's, her family used to come here to get eggs. At that time, before the earthquake had elevated the whole island 17-18% feet, there was no gravel flat on the south shore and no large point at the southeast end of the island, only a small rocky point called 'AdAx, ('AdAi?). As she observed, after we had picknicked on the gravel beach, June 11, 1952, "Egg Island has changed, too. There wasn't no such thing as that rock point. That side where we built a fire seemed to be raised up. That's terrible! That's just a small rock point there [before]. In olden days they don't let the women go up on the mountain . . . just the men. The women might have an accident. . . . They never let the women climb for eggs." While the men and boys were scaling the rocky ledges, the women were supposed to remain at the small point. On the occasion of our visit with a large party, however, a number of the younger women and girls also climbed up the cliff. "In my grandma's time, my mother told me, an Aleut climbed the cliff on Egg Island for eggs. He fell down IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 69 and smashed all to pieces." (MJ) Several other persons on the excursion mentioned this accident. The bight on the mainland just northeast of Haenke Island is sometimes used as a sealing camp when the ice is not too heavy. This is called Xa tien tciye, referring to the 'Big Point,' ±a tien. It was perhaps late in the 19th century before this site could be used, for Minnie Johnson declared that before her father's death in 1888, the ice prevented camping above Haenke Island. In 1895(?) her stepfather took a party, including her baby sister (born 1893), to camp here. During the night they were nearly drowned by a wave from a calving iceberg which swept over them. She also remembered how, despite parental prohibition, the children used to jump on the cakes of floating ice. "We dance and move back and forth and think it's lots of fun. . . . They were afraid the ice might break in two and we would slide in between." Kwaclqwan territory included Haenke Island and as much of Disenchantment Bay as could be reached by seal hunters (see pis. 18-19). Above Haenke Island, 'at the head' of Disenchantment Bay, 'upstream' (naki), one sees the full extent of the glaciers. Turner Glacier, formerly Dalton or First Glacier, is on the right, opposite the upper end of Haenke Island. It is called by some 'Narrow Glacier' (sit kusa). Harrington recorded 'ixtee'aa-ssit, 'the lower glacier,' as its correct name. The huge Hubbard Glacier, Second Glacier (Harrington: tlxxaa-ssif), that thrusts its 'nose' (sit; lutu) into the elbow bend at the junction of Disenchantment Bay and Russell Fiord, is usually known simply as the 'Big Glacier,' (sit tlen). The bay at its west end is Weyna ta, named for the white clay (weyna; Harrington: weenaa), that is found here. This is "something that grows on the rocks. They use it for paint," Harrington was told. The name of the bay is literally 'gypsum-inside-place' (Harrington: w6enna-atthAh). Several informants told me that this substance was never taken: "Long ago if you touch it, it gets foggy for days and days." The same taboo applied to other rare minerals or rocks found in this area. One man told of being stuck for 2 days with several hunting companions on the western side of Disenchantment Bay by the north wind, which apparently packed the ice against the shore. They had no food, and to make a place to sleep had to spread sand over the ice. Finally they made their way down to Esker Creek, thence back across the bay, and up to the camp above Point Latouche. People used to gather sea gull eggs from the eastern, moraine-covered part of Hubbard Glacier, 'Black Glacier,' Sit tutc. This nesting place was called 'Eggs' Town,' K>At-'ani. All the natives on the boat which took us up the bay in July 1952, agreed that Hubbard Glacier had advanced in recent years, and it was clear that the front extended farther into the bay than on the chart (U.S. C. & G.S., chart #8455, 6th ed., 1945). They reported that they no longer dared to camp on Osier Island because of the danger of waves from calving bergs. This island, on the point between Disenchantment Bay and Russell Fiord, is called 'Little Egg Island' KwAt &ati feAtsktx (Harrington, xaat kutsku, 'small island'). There is said to be coal on the hillside above it. My informant who had been here before the earthquake reported that there was formerly deep water behind the island, where there is now a bar. Rounding Osier Island, we come into Russell Fiord. In this stretch there are a few young cottonwoods or balsam poplars, and willows full of ptarmigan, but my guide, born 1914, remembered when it was treeless. The long, low, terraced mountain ridge that stretched along the northwestern side of Russell and Nunatak Fiords is his "favorite mountain." He confirmed Tarr's observations (see p. 36) that he had almost never seen a bear here, although they live on the south and west side of the fiords. There is a camping spot on the west side of Russell Fiord on the gravel flat behind Marble Point. This is called Nei xayi (Harrington: niix xaayyii), 'White Quartz Point,' because of this rock which also occurs in the vicinity. The cliff on the northwest side of Cape Enchantment is 'GunaqAdEt's Cuff' (gtmaqAdEt gel'i; Harrington: kunnaakhAtteet kitti'n). Opposite Cape Enchantment, Nunatak Fiord stretches to the east, and as one goes up it, the water becomes progressively more murky with silt. The vegetation dwindles to mosses, and finally the sides are nothing but bare rocks and gray rubble, for the glacier has left them too recently for life to have yet found a foothold. One man estimated that Nunatak Glacier had retreated 3 miles between 1950 and 1952; another remembered that in 1915 it had jutted out "around the corner" of the nunatak, between its seaward and its landward arms. Harrington in 1940 received similar information. Nunatak Glacier, Third Glacier (Harrington: nAski'aa ssft), is also known as 'Ate£ sit ('glacier at its heart' ?), probably the same as Harrington's 'way back small glacier' (Atte'ek-'aa-ssitt:). It is also called 'Narrow Glacier' (sit kusa) or 'Tiny Glacier' (sit kAtsKux), but my informants disagreed as to what was the correct name. Harrington was told that it was a 'female glacier' (cute sit') (p. 818). One of my informants said that when the original inhabitants of Yakutat sold all their lands, they went to southeastern Alaska (Chilkat area), by an overland route, going inland from sft kusa, which she placed with some uncertainty in Nunatak Fiord. It should be remembered that Nunatak, 70 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 Hidden and Fourth Glacier near the head of Kussell Fiord are all arms of the great "through glacier" which stretches southeast to the Alsek River, and were all highways for travel into the interior. The native descriptive names, 'narrow glacier' and 'way-back glacier' seem to have been applied to both Nunatak and Fourth Glacier (see below). Off the point between Nunatak Fiord and the southern part of Russell Fiord there was formerly a small island, or low point, used as a camping place. It was called Gel' xatfAlu (Harrington: kitl'xaat'AkJhiu). The most striking peak (2,780 feet high) of the Mount Draper Range on the south side of Nunatak Fiord is known as 'Dollar or Silver Mountain,' Dana ca or DAna ca (Harrington: taanaa-caa 'silver mountain'), from the silvery shine of the wet rocks on its flanks which can be seen from a great distance. The many springs or trickles of water from melting patches of snow are said to make the shining rocks very slippery. Minnie Johnson remembers that her father used to peel mica from the rocks. There are bird cliffs on the southside of Nunatak Fiord, just north of Mount Draper. These are called 'Cormorants' Cliffs' Yuqw gel'i, from the many birds that nest on their ledges. There is said to be a lake on top of the hill above the cliffs, where soapberries may be found. Mountain goats are hunted on both sides of the fiord. Turning south up Russell Fiord, we pass the moraine-filled valley of Hidden Glacier, where the ice has melted back since the chart was drawn. This bay is sometimes called 'Mud Bay' (see below). The area is a good one in which to hunt mountain goats. Harrington recorded the name 'Mouldy' (khAtlhaax) for a bench where mountain goats were hunted, so called because the face of the mountain was said to look as if it were mouldy (decaying?). South of Hidden Glacier and opposite Mount Tebenkof, is a point off the end of which is a tiny island (not shown on U.S. C. and G.S. Chart #8402). The island is called 'Seals' Rock,' tsa 'itci (Harrington: tshaa-ttheeyyii or tshaa-'ittjii), because seals used to bask on it before it became covered with bushes. Jack Ellis in 1940 spoke to Harrington of a "big catastrophy" connected with the shores of Russel Fiord 'behind Seal Rock' (tshaa-'iittcii t'aak), which occurred when "four lakes became three." This would have been when the ice barrier across Russell Fiord broke. Fourth Glacier, far up Beasley Creek, has apparently melted back one or two miles since the chart was made. It was referred to as 'Narrow Glacier' (sftf kusa) by one informant; another used the term sit qusAnayi, possibly referring to the place where the glacier had once been. Harrington also heard it called 'narrow glacier' and 'head of the bay, or way-back glacier' ('Atteek-'aa-sit') Cape Stoss, opposite the mouth of Beasley Creek, is LAqAqal or LaguqAl, which I was told was an Eyak word meaning "it's got the glacier in its mouth," as one might say of a dog with a bone.22 Harrington recorded IX' kohkkhooi, 'where (two mountains) bit the glacier.' This is because Fourth Glacier once extended all the way across, making the head of Russell Fiord a freshwater lake. At that time, hazarded Harry K. Bremner, all the glaciers on the east side of the fiord also extended across it. Indeed, as we know (pp. 27-28), probably all of Russell Fiord north of Cape Stoss, Nunatak Fiord, and Disenchantment Bay were filled with ice until relatively recently. At that time the Russel Fiord Lake drained out through the east branch of the Situk River. The ice barrier broke when my informant's father was a young man (about 1855-60?). "Mud Bay," or the expanded head of Russell Fiord is called literally 'bay of mud' (kaixkw geyi; Harrington: kutl'kA-keeyyli), or 'this was the head of Situk' (sitAk CAt 'ayE). The former outlet of the Situk River is SitAk ta, 'iti, "the Situk used to be there." There were formerly many seals on the small island opposite its mouth. A stream south of Beasley Creek on the east side of Mud Bay is called WAt lAxel, and a stream south of that was QudEnixl qAnik hini. Most of these names are said to be Eyak, although they cannot be recognized as such and seem to have been given a Tlingit form. The second cove below Cape Stoss is "slough below the point" (probably lu-yik-'e£, 'nose inside slough'). The 3,000-foot peak between Fourth Glacier and Russell Fiord, south of Mount Pinta and north of Beasley Creek, is 'Mountain at the Head of Situk' (SitAk cak). This was where the Teqwedi used to hunt mountain goats. It should be noted that in coming to the head of Russell Fiord we have entered the territory of the Teqwedi, whose main settlements were on the Situk and Ahrnklin Rivers to the south. Presumably Russel] Fiord north of Cape Stoss, Nunatak Fiord, and Disenchantment Bay above Haenke Island were not claimed by any sib, because they had been until so recently blocked by ice. Thus, while several well-informed Yakutat natives reported going into these areas to hunt and to gather eggs, they added, "There is no special ownership up there" (Jack Ellis, Sam George, etc., to Goldschmidt and Hass, 1946, p. 75). There is said to be a run of humpback salmon in Russell Fiord every even-numbered year. This perhaps indicates something of the length of time taken to 22 Dr. Michael Krauss advises that la'cU.qAqa-1 would be the correct Eyak form for 'is biting a glacier.' In the name recorded the dA- is missing, the mark of a d-class noun like la' 'glacier.' IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 71 establish a run when new spawning grounds become available, since there could have been no salmon entering the fiord from Yakutat Bay while the ice barrier was present. After it broke, the Situk Eiver no longer drained the head of the fiord, so they could not enter from this direction. John Ellis, who pointed out and named most of the landmarks during a trip to the head of Russell Fiord in July, 1952, said that there were as many place names for localities in Russell Fiord as in Yakutat Bay, but that he did not know them as well. Harrington made the same trip in 1940 with John Ellis and the latter's father, Jack Ellis, as guides, and later checked over the foreign names with George Johnson. YAKUTAT BAY TO DRY BAY So far, our trip up Yakutat Bay has to some extent followed the movements of the people from their winter homes at Yakutat to the spring and early summer camps. In former days the winter villages, as well as the mid-summer and fall fishing camps, were on the sheltered waters southeast of Yakutat. Commercial fishing during the summer is now done off the mouths of the larger streams draining the coastal plain between Dry Bay and Yakutat Bay (and even farther away), but in autumn, when the season is over, a number of families still go inside the sloughs or lagoons to put up fish for their own winter use. Fall and winter hunting and trapping camps were usually located up the streams near the mountains; others were closer to the shore in order to hunt seals on the sandbars. From mid-summer to fall, berries were gathered and edible roots were dug on the flats. Families without children in school may stay on into the winter to hunt, or return in early spring. In the older days, the eulachon runs in February and March were particularly important. Before the present school was opened in Yakutat there must have been much more coming and going, or residence at the "winter camps. Between Yakutat and Dry Bay, a distance of 52 statute miles (45 nautical miles), the coastal plain is divided into sections from the mountains to the sea. These belong to the different sibs. Thus, the Ankau lagoon system within Phipps Peninsula and the lakes to the southeast that drain into it belong to the Kwackqwan. The eastern boundary of their territory actually runs from the Number Two Runway of the airfield northeast to Cape Stoss, and includes the northernmost tributary to the Situk River and a small bit along the western edge of Mud Bay. Lost River and Situk River, 11 and 14 miles east of Ocean Cape, belong to the Bear House branch of the Teqwedi; Ahrnklin, Dangerous, and Italio Rivers, 17, 24, and 27 miles east of Ocean Cape, belong to the Drum House branch of that sib. The Akwe-TJstay River, some miles from Ocean Cape, as well as the Dry Bay area, belong to the Tl'irkna^Adi and the allied ThikwaxAdi. In going southeastward towards Dry Bay, the coastal plain between the mountains and the sea narrows progressively from 17 to about 5 miles in width. The mountains are the Brabazon Range, 4,000-6,000 feet high, and lie in front of the great "through glacier" between Russell Fiord and the Alsek River, behind which, in turn, rises the main ridge of the Saint Elias Range. From this inland sea of ice, as well as from the flanks of the Brabazon Range itself, numerous glacial tongues protrude, the most conspicuous of which is the Yakutat Glacier, some 3 miles wide and about 34% miles east of Yakutat Bay. Still farther east, the Chamberlain and Rodman Glaciers feed the Akwe and Ustay Rivers. According to the Coast Pilot 9 (1955, p. 85): "A canoe can be taken from Dry Bay to Yakutat Bay at high water, but there are several portages and the route is impracticable for a boat of any size. The principal rivers between Dry Bay and Yakutat Bay have shifting bars at their entrances and lagoons or tidal basins inside; they can be used only by small boats or launches at high water and with a smooth sea." The natives often traveled between Yakutat and Dry Bay, paddling or poling their canoes along this chain of sloughs and streams or, in winter, tramped along the frozen courses with snowshoes, dragging their belongings on hand sleds or carrying packs, the women with babies on their backs or in their arms. The clearest description of the route is that given by Commander Moser (1901, pp. 382-388), based upon reports by "Lieutenant Rodman and Mr. Chamberlain [who], with Indian guides and canoes, from July 1 to 6 [1901], made a trip from Yakutat Bay to the Alsek." That same summer, Ensign Miller, with Indian guides, made the portage from the head of Russell Fiord to the headwaters of the Situk River, descended this to its mouth, and returned to Yakutat via the Ankau lagoon 72 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 MAP 9.—■ Yakutat Bay to the Alsek River. "The dotted area is the coastal plain; the larger glaciers are shown by the broken lines, with moraines dotted, while the little cliff-glaciers are represented by the black." (Blackwelder, 1907 b, p. 417.) and lake system. Charley White remembered taking Lieutenant Emmons via this last route. Of the trip from Yakutat to Dry Bay, Moser (1901, p. 388) concludes: There are no villages or permanent habitations between Yakutat and Dry Bay, and the journey, even in summer, with a light two-man canoe is not an easy one and is accompanied by some risk. The plain between Yakutat and the Alsek, and bordering the mountain system to the sea, is for the most part wooded with spruce, hemlock, alder, and cottonwood, with a smaller growth of willows and elder, accompanied by the usual berry bushes, devil club, etc. From Black Sand Island [at the mouth of the Situk] to the mouth of the Italio there is an extensive treeless sand plain reaching several miles back from the coast line. This plain is cut up by small, shallow, spreading streams, having little or no current, with some shallow ponds, and a portion of it has a scant growth of grass and weeds. In very dry weather sand storms occur, and it is said they are at times dangerous." In 1888 Topham (1889 a, p. 425) "met a miner who had made the journey by himself [from Dry Bay to Yakutat by canoe] in 4K days." In 1890 Glave and Dalton with an Indian guide came from Dry Bay to Yakutat in 3 days (see p. 204). In August 1886, Frederick Schwatka went by canoe with a party of Indians from Yakutat Bay via the Ankau system to the mouth of the Situk or Ahrnklin River, as reported in the New York Times, October 26 (p. 2), 1886. The timber, as far as I could determine from the air and from trips to Situk and Lost Rivers, is confined to sand ridges parallel to the beach, at least as far as Situk River, while the eastern shore of Yakutat Bay is heavily wooded. Here the trees grow on the moraine of the Yakutat Bay Glacier. This moraine extends westward from Ocean Cape about 3 miles, or 2 miles east from the town of Yakutat. The forest ends abruptly, as if cut off by a knife, midway along the road from Yakutat to the airfield, except for stands along the old beach ridges, and for a few tongues of trees on higher ground bordering Lost and Situk Rivers. Much of the last obviously represents new growth, and the natives remark on how the trees are encroaching upon their former berrying grounds. Some trees have certainly sprung up on the treeless stretch since it was traversed by Lieutenant Rodman in 1901, perhaps spreading down from the foothills at the headwaters of the streams. This open plain formed the major portion of Teqwedi sib territory, whereas Kwaclkqwan lands farther west were within or close to the forest. The following sections describe these sib areas in more detail. IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 73 Mont, B-y-^f^ . . ♦ .':. -i-Vy-f*\^.#.'i.^ 8UB SKETCH FROM MONTI BAY TO BLACK SAND ISLAND. MAP 10.—Monti Bay to Black Sand Island. (Subsketch from Moser, 1901, p. XLIII.) The Ankau Lagoon System "The Ankau," Yakwdatyik (Harrington, yaakwtaat-yik) lies within Phipps Peninsula southwest of Yakutat, between Monti Bay and the ocean. This is a maze of shallow tidal lagoons, separated from the Pacific by a narrow barrier beach and glacial moranine, and is studded with small islands and rocks. Its mouth is Ankau Creek; its upper or southeastern end is "Salt Lake" or "Russian Lake," into which flows Tawah (t'awal) Creek, draining "Rocky," "Aka," and "Summit Lakes" to the southeast. The last lake, just east of the Coast Guard Loran Station, also drains in the opposite direction, i.e., southeastward, into Lost River, by a stream called "Tawah Creek" on the U.S. C. & G.C., chart #8402, "Ancau Creek" on the U.S.G.S. topographic map, and "An-kau River" by Moser (1901, pi. XLIII, pp. 383-384). This whole route was formerly navigable at high tide, but I doubt that it would now be possible to take a canoe through, since the upper reaches of the streams and Summit Lake seem to be silted up or blocked by vegetation. Where the roads cross the streams the latter run in culverts. Orphir ("Over") Creek, which rises on the swampy ground just east of Yakutat, flows into Summit Lake. During World War II a military road was built that ran south from near the airfield to the beach, followed 265-517—72—vol. VII, pt. 1 7 northwestward along the shore, turned north at Ocean Cape, and finally completed the circuit by returning eastward to Yakutat by a bridge across Ankau Creek. This bridge is now fallen, and the western part of the road along the ocean has been made impassable by storm waves which have washed parts of it away or thrown huge piles of driftwood on it. Most of the maze of roads around the airfield have also been abandoned, but the section from the main road to the Loran Station is kept in repair. In 1952 we were able to drive northwestward along the shore to Ocean Cape, and in the other direction to the fish camp at the mouth of Lost River. A few natives at Yakutat own cars and trucks. The Ankau area is important because it was on the innermost lagoon that the post of "New Russia" was established in 1796. One reason for its destruction by the natives in 1805 was that the Russians denied the Indians access to their traditional fishing grounds in this region. Unfortunately, military regulations during World War II also kept them out. From 1902 until 1925, when Federal law closed the Ankau to commercial fishing, this area supplied the saltery and later the cannery, but even by 1913 the runs of reds and cohoes had been seriously depleted (Rich and Bell, 1935, p. 447). However, enough salmon still come to the Ankau to make this a place where the natives go in the fall to put up fish for their own needs. The lagoons and lakes are visited annually by thousands of 74 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 migratory waterfowl, and many breed here. If one enters the lagoons through Ankau Creek, one can continue westward to the shallow tidal ponds behind Ocean Cape, or turn southward to "Eussian Lake." The first course is taken by women who want to gather seaweed on the boulder-strewn shores of the cape, or who are looking for cockles in the lagoon. North of Ocean Cape is the wreck of the Kayak, a ship that went ashore here in the 1920's. The lagoon inside is marked by a prominent boulder, and is called, 'Lake Where the Rock Sticks Up/ 'AnXx tB nacuwuwE. The lagoon south of this, and east of the cape is appropriately called "Inside Your Little Ear," (qa-gukwk"r-yik 'inside of someone's little ear'). The largest lagoon is "Russian Lake," Gus-&Ayi-qwan 'ayi, literally 'clouds outside-of people lake-of.' It is also known as "Ankau Lake," and as 'Salt Lake' (in Tlingit, 'el' 'ayi). It is entered from the north when coming from Ankau Creek by a narrow tidal channel just east of a small island. Rapids ('iy) form here except at high water, which make passage difficult or impossible at other stages of the tide. Just north or outside of these rapids lives a lone White man, Bill Hall, at the site of an abandoned saltery. His place is called 'This Side of the Rapids' ('iyuqtagi; perhaps 'iyux tayi, 'rapids-outside ground-of). The rapids in the smaller channel on the far (west) side of the little island are called wAnkA 'iy, 'Along-side Rapids.' Schwatka tells about running the rapids on a rising tide when entering "Russian Lake" from Ankau Creek. "These cascades fall about 20 feet in [a] 40 to 50 feet run," down which the Indians shot their medium-sized hunting canoe at full speed, paddling hard to give the helmsman steerage way. From here their route wound left to the mouth of T'awai Creek, through shallow channels. The Russians had their fortified agricultural colony, Novo Rossiysk ("New Russia"), on the ocean side of Salt Lake, reportedly at a narrow place on the isthmus between the ocean beach and the lagoon. This does not seem like a suitable place for such an establishment, but the ocean waves may well have eaten away some of the land, since the bank above the beach is undercut. Unfortunately, the survey upon which Tebenkov's chart is based is not sufficiently accurate to show the exact location of the fort, although this is placed in the general region indicated by informants. According to Minnie Johnson, who accompanied us to the place, the Russian fort was on the southeast side of a small stream that ran beside the cabin and smokehouse belonging to William Milton (1888-1950). The latter is said to have found charcoal when digging the foundations of his cabin. Although we explored around the cabin and in the vicinity we could find no evidence of the fort, even though a depression 25 feet square, southeast of the cabin, suggested a house pit. My informant was sure of the site because the Indians used to land here when coming from Ankau Creek, and would store their gear in a log cabin which her father told her was where the fort had been. "My grandpa used to pack me in the log cabin the Indians had where the Russians used to be. They used it to store things in when they were going to walk along the ocean beach." (MJ) She did not believe that the fort had been on the hill northwest of this spot, although that location seemed better and had been designated as the site by another informant. It was generally agreed that the Russian fort was "supposed to be by William Milton's smokehouse" (map 26, p. 168). The site was called 'Russians' Town,' Gus-kAyi-qwan-'ani (Harrington, ]ktrtskii-khwaan 'aan-nii, or 'Anntiuccii nuuwwuu 'Russians' Fort'). Dall and Baker (1883, p. 207) report that "the settlement contained seven buildings defended by a stockade, and five others outside. Even the site has not been seen by white men for half a century." Just northwest of Milton's smokehouse, the cove in the lagoon is called 'Cows' Bay,' Xas geyi (Harrington, xaas keeyyii), because the Russians kept cattle there. One woman said she had found a Russian glass pitcher and liquor bottle in her garden on the point west of the reputed site of the fort. An island northeast of the fort (not shown on the chart) was said to have been garrisoned by the Russians, who kept guards on each side to watch the mouth of T'awai Creek where they had built a "gate" of boulders to keep the Indians from going through with their canoes. The Tlingit name for the island meant "island on which spears are ready to use," but I was not able to record this successfully. Tawah or T'awai Creek (tawal) runs from Rocky Lake into the head of Russian Lake. Somewhere near its mouth, an Indian found a carved boulder when gathering moss to cover a trap. The petroglyph originally represented a bear, including the body and paws. The piece with the head alone was taken to Yakutat where I saw and photographed it, but it later disappeared (de Laguna et al, 1964, pi. 3, b). It is generally supposed to commemorate the destruction of the Russian post by the Tlaxayik-Teqwedi. According to Moser (1901, p. 383), "Ta-wah" Creek is less than half a mile long, and drains a small pond, about 300 yards long, with a rocky bottom. "The rocks and boulders have been removed from the bed and piled along the side [of the stream], forming a shallow channel up which canoes are tracked at low water, but may be poled at high water." A loaded canoe could be poled or pulled across the pond. The latter is evidently "Rocky Lake," KAtsitExi-'a (possibly kA-sit-tExi-'a?), translated as "rocks on the lake," or "full of rocks." A few hundred yards up the shallow winding stream IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 75 one comes to Aka Lake, about a mile long. The Russian "gate" was supposed to have been on T'awal Creek between Rocky and Aka Lakes. The Russians made the Indians pay a sea otter skin to go past. When the gate was closed, canoes had to be portaged over a trail, informants reported. Perhaps the "gate" was a zapor, or fish weir, such as the Russians made and which were later maintained both by commercial fishermen and natives in Alaska until banned by law. Moser's party found the remains of several slat barricades along this stream (Moser, 1901, p. 244, pi. 20). The total length of T'awal Creek from Russian Lake to Aka Lake is about K mile. Schwatka (New York Times, October 26, 1886, p. 2) describes T'awal Creek as a "shallow salt-water creek," so narrow that the sides of the canoe were scraped by boulders, as well as the bottom. Just above a "little space of deep water" [Rocky Lake?], his party came to a stone fish dam, "large and well constructed," which evidently blocked the stream so that the rising tide could not ascend farther. There was a break in the center of the dam, through which water poured and through which the Indians managed to take the canoe. Schwatka observed that: "This dam deserved more than passing notice. The rocks of which it was built seemed as old in place as any of those lining the shores themselves, and not one of them had apparently been displaced since its making. I naturally asked if it had been used at all within recent times; and Yeet [i.e., Yeet-shwoo-doo-kook] (which name I will give my guide hereafter) replied that the Yakutats nor any other clan of Thlinkets had ever used it, and that it was built by the Aleuts many years ago." Schwatka satisfied himself that the "Aleuts" were not those in Russian employ, but were "the Aleuts who once occupied the land now held by the Yakutat Thlinkets." A short distance above the dam, Schwatka found the water fresh. "Here a pretty little rivulet came through gravel and small stones, and I noticed that these had been scraped out of its bed to the two sides, forming a sort of diminutive levee on either bank, and my first idea was that it had thus been cleared to allow the salmon to ascend, for the stream was actually so small that obstructions would have to be taken out to allow such large fish as salmon to swim up it. I thought this too might be Aleut, but was told that it was Thlinket or Yakutat. . . . [The party dragged the canoe up this stream, which was] small and shallow, [although] very swift. . . . Another portage through a creek full of boulders and where we had to wade and we entered our first fresh-water lake." [This was evidently Aka Lake.] Aka Lake is northwest of the Loran Station on the ocean beach. The name, 'AkA, 'on the lake,' refers to a former village on the ocean side near the head of the lake. It was primarily a KwacKqwan place, but "not their capital." and was wiped out by smallpox, which informants believed had come before the Russians (pp.277-279). Emmons in 1883 was told that there had been six Kwaclsqwan houses at "Ah-ka," of which nothing remained at the time of his visit, but he locates the village of that name at the mouth of Ankau Creek (see p. 61). The site on the lake was later used as a fish camp, for one informant, born in 1896, remembers a row of smokehouses there when she was a small child. Another, born in 1914, also said there were smokehouses when he was a little boy. When we stopped there in June, 1952, there was nothing to see but a clearing choked with bushes and nettles. Aka Lake is connected with Summit Lake by a little brook, 6 feet wide and %-}£ mile long, according to Moser (1901, p. 383), which carried just enough water to permit a loaded canoe to be hauled through. The stream is called NstsilhuwA, and was said to have been a "canal dug by slaves" according to informants. This suggests the boulders cleared from the lower part of T'awal Creek. There was a village on Aka Lake, at the mouth of this canal, which was called NEtsilhuwA-wlt-'an. It was occupied by Eyak-speaking natives who were wiped out by the Teqwedi. Schwatka (1886) observed both of these villages on Aka Lake in August, 1886. "On this lake were two Summer fishing villages, one of which [Aka] must be occupied a great deal in that season—though we saw no one there—from the large number of graves that were on one side of it, as in wholly temporary camps they transport the dead that have succumbed there to their more permanent villages. All these fishing villages are, as far as I could see, of as permanent construction as any other houses they build, and seemed more like deserted towns than temporary ones. [The "second place," NEtsilhuwA-WAt^'an, was within 200 or 300 yards of the ocean beach.] After leaving this place, for nearly an hour the course is on a narrow stream and through timber and heavy underbrush, where we waded and pushed and pulled the canoe along. . .. Then we emerged into a shallow lake full of grass and pond lilies full of stripes cut through them in the direction of the lake, showing where the canoes of fishing parties had preceded us and cut their way through. [This was evidently Summit Lake, for] By 4 o'clock we were leaving this lake so full of fish, and passing another Indian house entered quite a large creek, but I was surprised to find its waters running the other way. The lake had been the dividing water between two emerging streams." 76 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 Summit Lake, which drains both towards Ankau and Lost River, is described as varying in width from 100 yards to % mile, and is about 1% mile in length. Its depths range from 1-24 inches (Moser, 1901, p. 383), hence it was called 'Very Shallow Lake,' KuxwAtsun'a. There was formerly a village on the sandy ridge between the ocean and the eastern outlet, called 'Hill Top Town,' Gutc-CAki-'an, variously reported as inhabited by Eyak, by Kwaclkqwan, or by an "all mixed" population, who died in the smallpox epidemic before (?) the Russians came. Another name for the lake is simply Gutc-CAkf-'an-'a. Ophir Creek, "Over Creek," a fine clear stream which rises close behind the town of Yakutat and "forms the main spawning ground for this system" (Moser, 1901, p. 383), flows into Summit Lake. It is called Kuxtcinik. The road from the Yakutatr-Airfield highway to the Loran Station parallels this stream. No lakes beyond this point were mentioned by our informants, but Moser reports that a mile beyond Summit Lake there is a "so-called third lake," consisting of a series of small pools and swamps, about l}f-2 miles long, from 20 yards to % mile wide, and full of marshy islands and weeds. I do not believe that this was recognized as a lake by my informants. Schwatka found that the stream running eastward from Summit Lake was "large," but "disagreeably full of sand bars." At first his party had to wade, but soon came to a "well-marked river, down which we sped aided by current and paddle. Just as we were leaving the sedgy swamps at the head of the stream we came to a high pole, there being a weather vane on its top, which Yeet told me marked the spot where a young Indian had perished some years ago in a terrible storm of cold and snow." The stream draining eastward from Summit Lake is called simply 'Channel' or 'Slough' ('e£). Harrington refers to this as 'a salt slough, tributary to Ova Creek,' called 'eex. According to the natives, it should be called Lost River, like the lower part of the stream which it joins and which empties into the sea about 9 miles east of Ocean Cape. The upper part of this stream, actually its lesser, northern branch, is known locally as "Little Lost River." The western branch of Lost River from Moser's "third lake" to the confluence is about 3 miles long, from 15-40 feet wide, and 4-6 feet deep. Just south of the airfield, on the ocean side of the stream, in the middle of its course and at about the highest point affected by the tides, was the former village called NEssudat. The name is Eyak and Dr. Krauss suggests that this is derived from lis- . . . 'spruce, tree,' -da'd 'place in front of.' Before the Russians came this was an Eyak settlement, consisting of smokehouses, not named houses. After the arrival of the Russians it became the "capital" of the Kwackqwan, where the chief, Yaxodaqet, lived in Raven's Bones House (also known as Big House). Other houses of this sib were Fort House, Moon House, and lesser residences (p. 316). Mountain (Saint Elias) House of the same sib was also mentioned (MH). From here the people moved to Khantaak Island. Emmons (in 1883 ?) was told of the site of "Nis-too-dart (facing the mountains)" which had formerly contained three Kwackqwan houses and one belonging to the "Ka-kuse-hit-tan," apparently represented by a single family from Prince of Wales Island. (These were the Qa-^us-hfttan of Henya, or the Qaqloshlt tan, "Human-Foot-House People" of Swanton (1908, p. 398).) The site was abandoned at the time of Emmons' visit. Schwatka in 1886 mentions passing "a deserted Indian village of four or five well constructed houses called Yess-too-doot." In 1888, however, it was occupied by at least one family, perhaps only as a summer fishcamp, for Minnie Johnson remembers spending the night here with relatives when her family was taking her father's body from Situk back to Khantaak Island for burial. In 1901, there were "three houses and some drying racks ... on the southern bank . . . where the natives cure fish during the season" (Moser, 1901, p. 384). Our archeological investigations here are briefly described (de Laguna et al, 1964, pp. 24-26). This site marks the eastern boundary of Kwac£qwan territory, except for rights to Little Lost River. Lost River to Italio River The original inhabitants of Lost and Situk Rivers at the western edge of the coastal plain, were the -Luxedi or Tlaxayik-Teqwedi; the present owners are the Bear House branch of the Teqwedi who came originally from southeastern Alaska, via the Dry Bay area. Present-day claims are confused by attempts to will the land to sons and daughters, who are, of course, Ravens and not members of the original owning sib (Goldschmidt and Haas, 1946, p. 78). My informants spoke about the ill-feeling thus created between the nephews and the children of the owners, aggravated by the hope that oil would be found in the region. The most famous chief of the Teqwedi was ^atgawet. Despite the popular association of his name with Knight Island, my most careful native historian said that he lived alone in a single house in a clearing on the ocean side of the stream from Summit Lake, i.e. the west branch of Lost River. This place, east of NEssudat, was called 'Strawberry Leaf in Eyak, CukwAltai, because of the three-lobed shape of the clearing (HKB).23 23 Dr. Krauss informs me that 'strawberry leaf in Eyak is cuq'Alt'ahl. IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 77 Farther east, on a sandy rise on the ocean side of the stream just above its junction with Little Lost River, was the "capital" of the Bear House Teqwedi. This was originally an Eyak village Diyaguna'Et, called di'ya'-guna' Et( by an Eyak speaker, which means "salt water (di'ya') comes in here," or refers to a bend in the tidal stream.24 It is pronounced diyaguna'Et by the Tlingit. There was a battle here between the Tiaxayik-Teqwedi and the "true" Teqwedi, in which the latter suffered serious losses, but later gained control. When a smallpox epidemic killed off everyone in all the villages from the mouth of the Ankau to Lost River, the only survivors were a few people at Diyaguna'Et. Informants are not clear as to whether this was the epidemic of 1839 or an earlier one, and I cannot reconstruct the sequence of events. Mrs. Emma Joseph, at one time the oldest living native in Yakutat and reported to have been born in 1867, gave the following confused statement to Gold-schmidt and Haas (1946, p. 77 a). Apparently she was thinking about both the old village and a later camp at or near the site, as I have tried to indicate by my own explanatory additions in brackets. "Lost River was owned by the Teoquedi people who [once] had a large village which was used the year around. In my time there were four [temporary?] houses there. They trap salmon and got all kinds of berries. They [the inhabitants of the old village] move away when smallpox killed the people. This was before I was born. They moved to a little place called Nastudat, which was also on Lost River. By the time I [was old enough to] remember they had moved to Situk and would go out there for a month or so at a time." During the Teqwedi occupation there were several houses inside a fort: Shark House, Bear House, Bear Paw House, Golden Eagle House, Coward House, and Valley House were all mentioned but it must be remembered that one house might have several names. Sidewise House of the Tl'uknaXAdi was also here, but its site is now believed to be in the muskeg, while the stream has washed away some of the high ground where the others stood. Emmons (MS.) reports that "De-ah-gun-ah-ate (where the salt water comes up and the people moan for fresh water)" was the earliest Teqwedi village in the Yakutat area, and had eight houses inside a stockade. The doorway to the chief's was cut through a totem pole on which the Bear crest was carved. My informants mentioned this, as well as the carved house posts that were later taken to the village on Khantaak Island. The last known occupants of the village, who later moved to Situk River and Khantaak Island, were the parents and grandparents of persons born in 1880-84. Our explorations at the site indicated a long period of occupation (de Laguna et al, 1964, pp. 25-26, pi. 1, b). There is some suggestion that the Teqwedi moved away because a shaman had been killed in a quarrel up the Situk River (p. 320). In August, 1886, Schwatka evidently passed Diya-guna 'Et which he described as "another deserted village of such construction that we could have found perfect shelter during the night both from mosquitoes and the rain." His Indian guide had, however, "most emphatic superstitious scruples against sleeping in deserted houses of his race unless a medicine man was with him." This would be understandable if the body of the murdered shaman had been entombed nearby. Little Lost River, i.e., the upper part of "Lost River" on the maps, above the junction of the main branch from Summit Lake, has been called Dagi'a, Qelgi'a (said to be an Eyak name derived from qel, 'woman,' and 'a, 'river'),25 and Tsexskw. The last term was given by a woman who had called the western branch Sexs (not 'e&), and so may be a diminutive form of the latter (perhaps sexskw?), although the word is said not to be Tlingit. Moser (1901, p. 384) calls it "Tha-ghe-an" (clearly the name of a settlement), and reports that it drains a lake 6 miles to the north. It enters Lost River about 1 mile above the mouth. On the east bank of Little Lost River, just above the confluence, is an abandoned landing at the end of a spur from the cannery railroad. Here are a smokehouse and Bear Paw House, built in 1918, but now long unoccupied. On the west bank of Little Lost River, about H mile above the landing, is the site of 'Shallow Water Town,' Wutl'iya-'an (ANH and SH). This was reported to have been the oldest village of the L'uxedi, but my informant may have confused it with Diyaguna'Et, since investigations here failed to reveal any evidence of antiquity (de Laguna et al., 1964, p. 26). The ranking chief of Bear Paw House at Diyaguna'Et, a man named DaqusEtc, is said to have planted native tobacco here, and later to have given the site to his Kwac&qwan brother-in-law, so it became a village of that sib. "The White people call it Little Lost River where it splits. The natives from NESsudat go way up above. I don't know what language the name is [tsexsk"]. It's not Tlingit. Sometimes my grandfather's people trap fox and wolf and so on in the winter time." At the site, "CAtkiguxw-'ic and all his big family stay there. And after they get through with that [moved away], they got a cabin way up Situk." u According to Dr. Krauss, di-ya'guk'e'd means in Eyak 'place of salt water.' 26 According to Dr. Krausa, qe'lgAyuya'a"- means 'women's river' in Eyak. 78 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 At the mouth of Lost River is a modern fishcamp, located on the west bank and reached by road from Yakutat. Its name, Gucin<5, "Point of Timber," (from guc, 'thumb, fin'), is also given to "Diyaguna'Et, but more particularly to the point of timber on the west bank of Lost River about half a mile from the mouth. This is where two Teqwedi shamans were entombed in a grave house, and, after the mission was established, were buried in the ground. No trace of the sepulcher or the grave could be found. The shamans were TEk-'ic, 'Little Stone's Father,' and Qadjixdaqina, the man from Diyaguna'Et who had been killed on the upper Situk. According to Swanton (1908; p. 405), the name, Qadj&xdaqe'na, means "Eagle going around a dead thing and making a noise," but I would translate it as '[Eagle] flying around a murdered man.' There was formerly a slough connecting the mouths of Lost and Situk Rivers, called WAnki hln, 'Alongside [the beach] Stream,' but this has silted up during the past 50 years, and the mouths of both rivers have recently shifted to the west. The man who pointed this out to me was afraid that the salmon would avoid them. There are said to be sand dunes east of Lost River (I saw only muskeg) called Xu^qagEka. A small island between Lost and Situk Rivers (probably that forming the connecting slough) was "Head Island," Qacayi &at', 'human-head island.' The Coast and Geodetic Survey Chart (#8402; 1949) shows the tidal lagoon into which both Lost and Situk Rivers formerly emptied. This also continued eastward, behind Black Sand Island, to the large lagoon which received the waters of Seal Creek and Arhnklin River. The mouth of the Situk River is now one of the main places for commercial fishing, and many Yakutat natives have summer cabins or tents along the sandbar west of the mouth. The Yakutat and Southern Railroad, operated by the cannery, runs the 9% miles from Yakutat to a landing on Johnson Slough, an eastern tributary of the Situk which enters the latter just above the mouth. "About 2 miles from the sea the Ku-na-yosh, about half the size of the Seetuck, joins the latter from the eastward" (Moser, 1901, p. 385). Cannery tenders run up to the landing at high tide to unload fish and take on supplies. Goldschmidt and Haas (1946, fig. 6) published a photograph of the natives rowing their skiffs from the camp up to the landing and report as follows about the whole drainage area: "The lower portion of the river was important for fishing and berrying. The region yielded salmon and eulachon, swamp berries, high-bush cranberries, lagoon berries, strawberries, blueberries, salmon berries and dewberries. "The upper reaches of this stream are hunting and trapping territory—some of the best in the whole Yakutat area. It yields black bear, mink, land otter, mountain goats, and weasel. Old salmon are caught, as well as fish for current use." [Ibid., p. 80.] "The Situk River is by far the largest producer of red, coho, and pink salmon in the Yakutat district," according to surveys up to 1927 (Rich and Bell, 1935, p. 411). My informants remember when two trains of several cars each were needed to haul the daily catch to the cannery; in 1952 only one car might be filled in a day. The name Situk (pronounced sitAk; Harrington, siithak) is believed to be Eyak, but the meaning is unknown. According to Emmons (MS.), the river is said to have been named by or for an Athabaskan man from the interior. Krauss informs me that the older pronunciation was tsAtAg, but the name was probably not Eyak. On the lower Situk, about a mile above the railway trestle, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service maintains a fish weir and station for the purpose of counting the salmon that come up the river to spawn, in order to determine how many days should be open to commercial fishing. On the eastern bank, between the weir and trestle, are a number of collapsed frame-houses, house pits, and graves, marking the former village of SitAk. This was established by Teqwedi men who had moved from Diyaguna'Et on Lost River. The first house to be built was Coward House; Bear's Nest House of the son-in-law of a Coward House man was built later. Farther upstream, above the weir, was the Tl'uknaxAdi Boulder House, and at least one unnamed house, for in 1866 Emmons (MS.) reported 40-odd persons living in four houses. Some of the framehouses below the weir were certainly built later. After the settlement ceased to be a place of permanent residence it seems to have been used as a fishcamp. A number of my informants were born here, or lived here for shorter or longer periods. Graves among the ruined houses belonged to the last house chief, Situk Jim (died 1912), his younger brother, Situk Harry (died 1945), as well as to the Tl'uknaxAdi chief, Dry Bay Chief George (died 1916), and the ^at'kA'ayi man, Lityua Bay George (1845-1926), and to various others. According to one informant who had lived here as a child (1884-90), "There's been nothing but glaciers here. No bushes or anything in Situk when I was small—just flat gravel spit. No bushes, nothing." (MJ) The open grassy place below the weir and west of the railway trestle on Situk River, extending half a mile to Johnson Slough and beyond, is called De'angeya (like the reef near Yakutat Roads). The landing on Johnson Slough is called 'Pitching the Fish Place' (xaat-'aatukutje), according to Harrington. U. S. COMMISSION OF FISH AND FISHERIES STEAMER ALBATROSS COMMANDER JEFF'N FMOSSR JJ.SNAVY, COMMANDING. SKETCH OF THE ALSEK EIVER DELTA ADJACENT STREAMS TO YAKUTAT JULY 1901. AUTHORITIES: (Base map - - U S C &. G & chart Noa50O). Alsek Riv«r and Adjacent Streams, Lieut Hu^h Rodman., U. S. N See-tuck River Entivn Cyrus ft. Miller, U. S.N * ,' • > • • . • »') YAKUTAT BAY MAP 11.—Yakutat to the Alsek River Delta. (Moser, 1901, pi. XLIII.) IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 79 As has been explained, the Situk until relatively recently drained an ice-dammed lake at the head of Russell Fiord. Its muddy waters gave the name, i'uxedi, to the original inhabitants of Situk and Lost Rivers. Now, the Situk rises in two connecting lakes, close to the western shore of Mud Bay, both of which lie against the mountainous slopes south of Mount Tebenkof and are dammed by glacial moraine. The first, a narrow lake, is only a mile over the hills from Cape Stoss, and is 190 feet above sea level. Four miles downstream, meandering to the west, is the larger circular lake, about 2 miles in diameter and 110 feet above sea level (Moser, 1901, p. 384, pi. XLIII). This has been named "Lake Miller," after Ensign Miller who came through it going down the Situk in 1901. The natives (and the most recent chart) call it "Situk Lake." The dead spruce and hemlock on the western and eastern shores were believed by Moser to have been killed by a subsidence during the earthquake of 1899. From the southern edge of the lake, the Situk winds to the sea, about 13 miles away by direct line, and during its course receives several tributaries, a good proportion of which have their origin in lakes or swamps. Near some of these lakes the ground is so full of salt that it does not freeze in winter. One man thought this was due to sea water which once came way up the Situk River, but did not make clear whether this was from the mouth of the river, or down from the head with the flood which accompanied the breaking of the ice dam in Russell Fiord, or even whether it was due to the subsidence noted at Miller Lake. About one third of its length below Situk (Miller) Lake, the main course of the Situk is joined by the "On-klat" from the west, evidently draining Redfield Lake. The name of this stream is evidently derived from the Eyak word, 'an-tl'ahd, meaning 'head of river,' according to Krauss. Moser (1901, pp. 384-385) reports two more tributaries from the west and two from the east along the middle third of the Situk. Most of this area seems to be low and swampy, and sparsely timbered. Unfortunately, it seems to be poorly mapped. Harrington was told of three lakes on the Situk River, but I cannot identify them with certainty. "First Lake" (nfktl'axxAk 'aa) is perhaps Lake Redfield, although my informants denied that this had a native name and applied the name NaxtlAXAk 'akA to a lake (or place on a lake) that drained into Humpback Salmon Creek. Next (presumably going upstream) is a big lake right at the foot of the hill, or 'lake at the head of Situk' (sAtthAk ctJk 'aayyii), probably Situk Lake. Last is a long narrow lake surrounded by mountains, with a waterfall on its outlet stream ('Accuku 'aakkuu). The main branch of the Situk had an Eyak name, variously rendered by informants as GAditl-kexl (MJ), Gudiyixl-tl'elx (JE), Gudal'-texl (HKB), and GudAl- kexl (CW). These variations are probably due as much to my faults in recording as to mispronunciations by Tlingit-speakers of a foreign word. It was not translated, but Krauss identifies it as Eyak for 'nest' (iudAltl'ihxl). On this stream, over one-half of the way to "Situk Lake," perhaps near or above the confluence of the "On-klat/' was the site of the fort built by the Tiaxayik-Teqwedi after they had destroyed the Russian post on the Ankau. It consisted of three or four houses, connected by tunnels, and surrounded by a wall, in which was the door from the Russian fort. This was called 'Eagle Fort,' Teak nu in Tlingit, or Gutcgalaq glaca'l in Eyak (Krauss, g/gu-djgAUg-tla-ca'l). Here, the occupants repulsed an attack by the Tl'uknaxAdi from Dry Bay, only to be destroyed by the latter at Wuga-niyE in Disenchantment Bay. After this, the former L'uxedi territory on Lost and Situk Rivers was preempted by the Bear House Teqwedi. A hunting camp on the upper Situk was called GiyAq (Krauss, giyAg), which my informant said was an Eyak word suggesting an open space (see p. 64). Many of my informants had or have camps 'way up the Situk' (sitAkyik). The eastern branch of the Situk, which formerly drained Russell Fiord Lake, was called 'As £axi£aq; poorly recorded, but probably meaning something 'between the trees.' Johnson Slough, which enters the Situk from the east, is GAniyac (guniac) hin. About 1% miles above the landing at the end of the railway, on the western side of the stream, was once a single Tl'uknaxAdi house, Boulder House, on top of a sand bluff. This was built by the greatgranduncle of Minnie Johnson, perhaps early in the 19th century; at any event so long ago that the place, "Gunne-ash," was known to Emmons (MS.) only by name. The settlement was called GAniyac or GAniyacyik, 'Inside Johnson Slough.' Black Sand Island, Xenu, formerly extended between the mouths of the Situk and the Ahrnklin Rivers, but has been largely washed away since the chart (# 8402; 1949; cf. revision of 1963) was made. Situk Harry, a Teqwedi house owner, started to build Valley House on it; but the island was largely washed away after his death in 1945. Now it is described as a sandbar with a few fishermen's cabins on it, and all the rivers from Situk to Ahrnklin have a common mouth, since the bar now extends across the old mouth of the Ahrnklin (see U.S.G.S. topographic map, 1951; chart #8402, revised 1963). In 1901, there were extensive lagoons at the mouths of these rivers, with strong tidal currents sweeping in and out at each end of Black Sand Island. These lagoons and the connecting slough "were full of jumping salmon": king, sockeye, and coho (Moser, 1901, p. 385). 80 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 In passing east of Black Sand Island we enter the territory of the Drum House branch of the Teqwedi. They had been living in the Dry Bay area before they purchased the lands to the west. The first stream east of the Situk, and west of Seal Creek, has no name on the maps but is known to the natives as Qacayi 'e±, 'Human Head Slough.' Seal Creek is literally that: Tsa 'iiE (or 'iyi). The Ahrnklin River was the heart of the Drum House territory. The name is 'Antlen, shortened from 'At-'ani-tlen, 'big town (or country) of the animals,' a name applied to a village on the river about 2 miles above the mouth and apparently between the two main branches of the river. Here were four big houses, including the original Drum House, Thunderbird House, and Golden Eagle House, all belonging to the Teqwedi. A tale recorded by Swanton (1909, pp. 365-368) recounts the story of Heavy-Wings who built Thunderbird House. The river is now said to be undercutting the site. On the Ahrnklin there was also a settlement, or house, called 'Wolf Cave,' Gutc tAtukw, belonging to the Teqwedi. According to Emmons (MS.), the inhabitants of "An Klain" were all but wiped out by smallpox, and the town deserted. He believed that the original Drum House line had become extinct, although my informants' stories would indicate that it barely escaped that fate. The central branch of the Ahrnklin River, rising just below Slate Peak, is 'Antl6n hin; a northwestern tributary is GAnEtsitsk or Gunefeitsk (Krauss, guletsitsk, 'narrow body of water' in Eyak); and the main western arm is Tcal'-Kitu hm, 'River Through the Small (?) Willows.' The main eastern branch is Staxe'ya; this; as well as the name for the northwestern tributary, is in the tongue of the original inhabitants and cannot be translated. The latter had various names, but were also known as the StaxAdi, after the eastern tributary of the Ahrnklin, which was the last bit of territory they owned in the whole Yakutat area. After selling this, they emigrated (to southeastern Alaska?). There was rich hunting on the mountain slopes at the head of the Ahrnklin. The father of one elderly informant had a hunting camp at what we believe to be the head of the east branch, Stax6ya CAk. Slate Peak, near the headwaters of the central and western branches, which can be seen from the head of Russell Fiord, is called Lagut and was a good place on which to hunt mountain goats. Fish, mink, land otter, and wolves were obtained in the area by the natives. The river itself was closed to commercial fishing by the Government, and the Indians who owned traplines in the vicinity have tried to prevent the Whites from encroaching (Goldschmidt and Haas, 1946, p. 81). An island in the river was known as "Rice Island," Kux i&ti, literally, 'island of Kamchatka lilies,' evidently because the natives used to gather "wild rice" here from the roots of these plants. The Ahrnklin country is full of historic associations for the Drum House Teqwedi. Not only was it purchased because the people from Dry Bay found it so beautiful, but later, it was a hunter from 'Antlen village who encountered a wounded Golden Eagle in the mountains, learned its song (1954, 1-1-F; p. 253), and from it obtained from the Drum House people the right to use the Golden Eagle as a crest. On the river, half a century ago, the older brother of one of my informants was drowned, but because the Wolf was a Teqwedi crest, the wolves guarded his body. This story, as well as the Teqwedi claims to the river, are symbolized in a magnificent beaded blanket (pi. 151). Lastly, a song composed by Olaf Abraham (1954, 1-2-A; p. 1291) interprets the mountains at the head of the Ahrnklin River as symbolic of all the ancestors of the lineage. According to informants, a slough or channel, not shown on my map or chart, has recently been formed connecting the mouths of the Ahrnklin and Dangerous Rivers. This will take a skiff on a 10-foot tide. In 1901, Lt. Rodman's party had to ascend to the head of the eastern branch of the Ahrnklin and make a portage "across a small plain to Dangerous River," a matter of 45-60 minutes (Moser, 1901, p. 386). Dangerous River, KutHtciki hin (Harrington, khxilhttchikki hiin; see Boas, 1917, p. 67, k'ulixeLCAn, "dangerous"), drains Harlequin Lake at the foot of Yakutat Glacier. It is dangerous to cross because of the swift water and floating ice, and while purchased by the Teqwedi, had no settlements on it. Moser (1901, p. 386) notes that it is full of quicksands, has a strong current, and is continually changing its bed. "It is considered a very treacherous stream and is feared by the natives." The water is muddy with glacial debris, and can only be navigated with a very small canoe at high tide (Robson, 1910, p. 165). There is a long portage between the tidal basins at the mouths of the Dangerous and Italio Rivers, so that Moser (1901, p. 386) advises travelers going westward to cross Dangerous River where they have reached it from the Ahrnklin portage. "The quickest and easiest way is to cache the canoe at Dangerous River and pack across the sand plain to the Italio, skirting the tree line and fording the [Italio] river; the depth is less than 2 feet." Otherwise, one must descend Dangerous River by canoe, and make a long portage from the eastern end of the tidal basin at its mouth to the mouth of the Italio. Dangerous River carried salmon, and many seals could be shot on the bars in the middle of the river. "They make good eating in the winter when they are fat, or in the spring," it is said. Harrington was told that seals were "always lighting on the bar" (tshaa 'aayeekkhii-tjiiyye). IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 81 According to my informant, the eastern boundary of Teqwedi lands was just east of the Italio River, and just west of the present mouth of the Akwe-Ustay Rivers, that is, due south of Harlequin Lake. Beyond this is the Akwe River-Dry Bay country, belonging to Raven sibs. Emmons (MS.), however, includes the Italio River with the western territory, reporting that in 1886 there was one Tl'uknaxAdi house with 12 occupants, all that remained of an old village. According to Goldschmidt and Haas (1946, p. 83): "The dakestina clan own the Italio River." This is simply another name for the CAnkuqedi, and the two men belonging to this sib, who were mentioned by these authors as having trapping rights here in 1946, were Frank Italio and Sam George, both sons of the Tl'uknaxAdi chief, Dry Bay Chief George. "Like other areas in the Yakutat territory, the Italio river area was transferred contrary to the native rules of inheritance, with the result that clan ownership has been confused" (Goldschmidt and Haas, 1946, p. 82). A distinction should, however, be made between villages and house sites, traplines, and general hunting territories. Teqwedi tradition recounts that they were living on the Italio River, as well as at Dry Bay, before they purchased the Ahrnklin area. Possibly exclusive title to the Italio was never clearly established by any of the sibs. In 1909, Robson's party photographed some Indian cabins on the river, apparently a summer fishing camp, but give no details (1910, photo, opp. p. 171). The Italio River, called Qetlhwa, is reported to rise either in Harlequin Lake or in another lake about 4 miles to the southeast; more likely, it receives water from both. The western arm, used in traveling by canoe to Dry Bay, is not, however, connected with the Akwe River, as indicated on Moser's map (1901, pi. XLITI). In any case, from the confluence of the eastern tributary about 7 miles above the mouth, the main stream runs southwestward; "when near the coast it is deflected more to the westward and parallel to the ocean beach, from which it is separated by a low sandspit, about one-eighth of a mile wide, for a distance of 3 miles, when its channel leads into the sea" (Moser, 1901, p. 386). The lower part of the stream is like a tidal lagoon, and this description fits most of the rivers in the area. Moser's party further noted that the stream mouths were in general working westward, as sandbars were built up. The Italio River was described as "a fine stream, clean and clear," with sandy bottom, and runs of sockeye, coho, humpback, dog, and a few king salmon. It can be easily forded, since the depth is only 2 feet. Other resources obtained by the natives included strawberries, land otter, mink, fox, and brown bear. In the mountains at the head of the river were mountain goat. A mountain, described as at the head of the Italio or back of Akwe River, Mount Reaburn, or one of the lesser peaks in front), is called Tacax or Tacaq (Harrington, thaa ccaax). It was the slave of Mount Saint Elias and Mount Fairweather, and its owners used to send it back and forth to carry messages between them (JE). Another informant specified that it was from this mountain that Raven's partner threw him down a cliff in a box, after Raven had cheated him (MJ). This reference to Raven indicates that we are already close to Dry Bay, where so many localities are associated with his deeds. THE DRY BAY AREA The Dry Bay area, in native thought, extends from the Akwe-Ustay River system on the west to Cape Fairweather on the southeast, since all this region was occupied by the same groups of intermarrying sibs. Dry Bay is sometimes called 'Alsex, referring to the Alsek River, of which it is the mouth. The region is also called Gunaxo (Harrington, kAnnaa xxuu), contracted from gunanaxo, 'among the foreignors [Atha-baskans],' because the original inhabitants, the Raven TlukwaxAdi, spoke Athabaskan. Another term for the bay, possibly a literal translation of the English "Dry Bay," is Wuxugu ge (i.e., wuxukw ge?). It was to Dry 265-517—72—vol. VII. pt. 1 8 Bay that came the Hoonah man, QakexwtE, who had killed his own sleep. Here he encountered the Athabaskan TlukwaxAdi, taught them Tlingit arts, and from them obtained a wife. A ThikwaxAdi man married a Chilkat CAnkuqedi woman, so other members of this Wolf sib came overland to Dry Bay. Later, the Drum House Teqwedi are said to have used this route—-if indeed they were not then a part of the CAnkuqedi—-up over the Chilkat Pass and down the Alsek. Other Tlingit from southeastern Alaska, the Raven Tl'uknaxAdi, the Wolf Kagwantan, and the Bear House Teqwedi, came along the coast, presumably by canoe, possibly on foot from 82 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 Lituya Bay. The original language at Dry Bay was said to have sounded something like Copper River Atna; it was most probably a dialect of Southern Tutchone spoken on the upper Alsek. Later, the Tlingit speech at Dry Bay was like that of southeastern Alaska, not like that at Yakutat where so many sounds are pronounced farther back in the throat. Since many of the Dry Bay people used to ascend the Alsek to hunt and trade in the interior, and so many of the Southern Tutchone used to visit the coast, all the Dry Bay people could speak Athabaskan, and affected Athabaskan songs, dances, and costumes for ceremonies. Landmarks in the Dry Bay area are associated with Raven, with QakexwtE, and with the CAnkuqedi boy who was lost on the Alsek and lived with the Thunder-birds, as well as with historic events. Here we are dealing with a different tribe from that of the Yakutat Bay area, even though during this century the original distinction between the peoples has been lost. Although the CAkuqedi and the Sitka Kagwantan had lineage houses in the Dry Bay area, and the Teqwedi also once lived here, this territory, particularly the Akwe ('akwe) River region, was claimed by the Athabaskan Raven ThikwaxAdi, with whom the Tlingit Raven Tl'uknaxAdi mingled and came to dominate. With them lived lesser Raven groups, including remnants of the ^a£kA'ayi from Lituya Bay. Dry Bay itself is simply the delta of the Alsek River which rises in southern Yukon Territory and cuts its way through the mountains. The delta flats cover an area of some 80-100 square miles (Moser, 1901, p. 387), and are filled with bars and small islands, between which the channels continually change. Eight miles from the ocean, the river is almost blocked by the Alsek Glacier on the east, and above this are still more glaciers on both sides of the river. The river carries down a quantity of glacial silt, so that at times in summer the sea for 10 miles offshore may be discolored. In summer, too, when the glaciers melt, the river is subject to sudden, dangerous floods of water that may trap and drown persons walking on the flats, or overturn canoes. In the middle of the bay is a rocky wooded island, "Bear Island," 200 feet high. The westernmost of the three channels crossing the bay is the largest. According to the Coast Pilot (9, 1955, p. 85), it "is about 400 yards wide, has depths of about 6 feet at low water, and has been used to some extent by small craft." But Riddell and Lane who visited Dry Bay in the cannery tender during stormy weather, September 1953, will appreciate the further warning that to enter "a smooth sea is essential; during heavy weather the sea breaks fully 2 miles off shore." "The streams which flow from Dry Bay are navigable for boats and canoes, but have bars at their mouths which require great care to pass over, as the sea generally breaks on them. The Indians, however, get then" large canoes, forty to sixty feet long, in and out by selecting the time, and it is reported that once inside there is continuous or nearly continuous navigation by these streams and lagoons behind the sea beach all the way to Yakutat." [Dall and Baker, 1883, p. 206.] This is the route which we have been following all the way from the Ankau. In approaching Dry Bay, we come first to the Akwe River, which joins the Ustay from the east, to empty through a common mouth about 12K miles west of Dry Bay. The Akwe rises in a lake at the foot of Chamberlain Glacier and also receives a tributary from a small lake near the easternmost branch of the Italio. About a mile from the sea, where it meets the Ustay, it "is deflected around a high wooded point through 180°," then the combined streams flow westward almost 4 miles before entering the sea (Moser, 1901, p. 387). The Akwe, according to our informants, formerly joined the Ustay between 3 and 4 miles farther west of their present junction. The Ustay also rises in a lake below Rodman Glacier on the west, while its eastern branch, Tanis River, rises in a lake of the same name at the foot of Fassett Glacier. From the Tanis-Ustay three streams or creeks flow southeastward or eastward to empty into Dry Bay, that is, into the main channel of the Alsek River which follows the western shore of the bay. These streams are: in the north, from Tanis River, Gines ("Williams") Creek; then closer to and parallel to the ocean, Kakan-hini (Moser's Ko-kon-heen-ni, or "Stickleback") also known as "Muddy Creek," to distinguish it from a "Clear Creek" which joins it near the mouth; and lastly, the small Stuhinuk or "Cannery" Creek. The Kakanhini and Stuhinuk enter Dry Bay near the mouth of the Alsek, forming a long, narrow island between them, on which is a now deserted cannery and Indian village. If coming by canoe, we would ascend the eastern branch of the Italio to a small muddy lake, from which there is "a hard portage through the timber" to the westernmost tributary of the Akwe (Moser, 1901, p. 387). Robson, who made the trip in 1909, also reported (1910, p. 166): "At the head of Italio River is the 'stick portage,' so called because the portage is through timber and over a hill to the Akwe." From here, one would run down the Akwe to its confluence with the Ustay, go up the latter, and then down the Kakanhini. This route is dangerous because of the many bars in the rivers and patches of quicksand. However, it is also possible to make the journey on foot, if one has cached the canoe at Dangerous River IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 83 and followed the edge of the tree line until the Italio River could be forded just above the lagoon at its mouth. From here, one would "walk along the ocean beach to the Akwe, then follow up the right bank for about 3 miles from the mouth, crossing two wooded belts separated by a "broad, treeless, sand plain," until, beyond a "low, grassy plain," the Akwe "can be forded under normal conditions. Caution, however, must be used as there is considerable quicksand, but by using a pole and sounding ahead a passage can be made" (Moser, 1901, p. 387). The ford is apparently just below the confluence of the Akwe and Ustay. Near here, however, Moser noted that a canoe was usually kept on the eastern bank of the Akwe for ferrying. This place was probably near the former junction of the rivers, where an old village site was reported (one of the two locations given for Gusex, see below). The route leads from here along the shore, where "the sea beach affords an excellent highway, particularly at low water," and a "well-defined trail" led up to the village at the mouth of the Stuhinuk and Kakanhini Creeks (Moser, 1901, p. 387). Along this route, there is now a road between the mouth of the Akwe-Ustay to the fishcamp at the very southwest entrance point of Dry Bay. Emmons (MS.) translates the name "Ah-qway" as "great water." My informants pronounced it 'akwe; it is probably Athabaskan. Tebenkov's map (VII; Davidson, 1904, map vi) indicates that the Akwe and "Akse" or Ustay Rivers emptied directly into the sea at their confluence. On each was a village, designated as the "Nearer" and "Farther Village to the Russian Post [at Yakutat]." Davidson (1869, p. 136) also reports these villages as some 6-12 miles upstream from the common mouth. The first seems to be on the south or west bank opposite the confluence of the western and northern (main) branches of the Akwe; the second appears to be on the west bank of the Ustay opposite the opening into Gines Creek. (See map 23, p. 160.) Tebenkov's "Nearer Village" is certainly the main Tl'uknaxAdi and TlukwaxAdi town, Gusex, described by one informant as halfway up the Akwe, near a lake. It was originally an Athabaskan settlement, where the wandering QakexwtE from southeastern Alaska taught the Athabaskans how to catch fish. In Swanton's version of the story (1909, Tale 32, pp. 160-161), the L!uk!nAXA'dt (Tl'uknaxAdi) the next year built Sleep House at Kos !e'x. Swanton's Wrangell informant located this village vaguely on the Alse'x, and referred to it also as Kosle'xka at "the mouth of Copper river," but it is evidently the same place (Gusex). Here, the Tlingit Tl'uknaxAdi established important houses that were built or rebuilt after the defeat of the Russians at Yakutat, and to it they brought the Russian loot taken from the Tlaxayik-Teqwedi or L'uxedi. The houses said to have been built here were variously listed as Mountain (Fairweather) House, Sea Lion House, Whale House, Far Out House, and Frog House. The last was named for an enormous frozen frog found when digging the foundations. The town was abandoned after 1852, perhaps as late as 1865 (?), after a Tl'uknaxAdi party, enroute to southeastern Alaska, was drowned in Lituya Bay. From Gusex, the inhabitants moved away, some to Hoonah and Sitka, others to the settlement near the Dry Bay cannery from which their descendants came to Yakutat. On the Akwe, Emmons (MS.) mentions "Kul-se-gun-ke-ye (to see through the trees)," where 20 people lived hi three houses in 1886, but which later became only a summer fishing camp. It was near a thinly timbered point, but is otherwise not located. He also reports "Gooch-ache (hill town)," named for a peculiar cone-shaped hill at the confluence of the Akwe and Ustay. It was occupied especially by the XafkA'ayi with Kagwantan wives, and was once very large, although only four houses remained in 1900. While the name suggests Gusex, the site was apparently farther downstream than most informants would place the latter. If Emmon's translation of "hill town" is correct, it would be gutc-'ani in Tlingit. In any case it seems to be near the canoe ferry mentioned by Moser. My informants called the Tanis-Ustay River, Tanfs, but did not translate it. When there were (Tlaxayik-?) Teqwedi at Knight Island, the ThikwaxAdi from Dry Bay provoked war with them. To protect themselves, they built a fortified village somewhere on the Alsek, "back towards the mountains," called "Eddy Fort;" Cixa'a nuwu. This was probably well up the Alsek River (see p. 89). Later, when peace was established, they moved downstream and settled at DmEtki-'an, "it wiggles like jelly," evidently referring to the shifting sand (see Boas, 1917, p. 142; yA-nAt', 'to shake'). It is said that "no trees or greens grow here at all. . . . It's like it's floating. . . . It's where the Alsek is just running out swift. . . . There's a big bluff there, a clear place," on the west side of the river (MJ for Frank Italio). Emmons (MS.) also mentions a settlement, "De-nis-te-nar (shaking ground)" on the Tanis, named for the quicksands in that river, which suggests the same settlement. Here a mixed Tlingit^-Athabaskan population of 40 was living hi two large houses in 1888. Riddell and Lane were told of a former village on Gines Creek, which flows from the Tanis to the Alsek. Tebenkov's "Farther Village" was on the Tanis, where Gines Creek branches off. Possibly all these accounts refer to a single settlement, established after "Eddy Fort." Emmons (MS.) noted a village with three houses belonging to the ]fcai!kA'ayi, called "Tlu-tu-heen-nok 84 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 (water from the nose) [possibly lutu hinnAx], literally meaning Dry Point." He located it at the mouth of a northern [sic] branch of the Alsek, where a point sticks out into Dry Bay. The name suggests what our informants called Ltuhinuq (probably very poorly recorded), and applied to a village on Stuhinuk ("Cannery") Creek, or rather on the island between it at Kakanhini Creek, farther inland. At the Dry Bay (eastern) end of the long, narrow island between these two sloughs, there is a sand dune. On this I was told could still be seen the footprints made when Raven with a cane shaped like a devilfish tentacle drew ashore an "ark" filled with all kinds of food animals. Canoe Prow House of the ThikwaxAdi refers to the enclosed prow of this canoe, and the Tl'uknaxAdi use a dance paddle shaped like the cane. The point, 'Atuqka, was "a place just like the prow of a canoe— like an island." In 1901, Moser noted a settlement on the southeast side of the island. On the ocean side are the ruins of the Tl'uknaxAdi Far Out House (also called Frog House) and Thunderbird House of the CAnkuqedi. Canoe Prow House of the TlukwaxAdi is on the north side near the old cannery. One informant also mentioned a Tl'uknaxAdi Boulder House. It is not clear how many sites or locations were involved, for my informants vaguely described several places, and spoke of the houses as having been built or rebuilt several times. The last tune was in 1909-10 for Frog House and Thunderbird House; Canoe Prow House is a frame house built in 1925. At an earlier period, the houses are described as having been farther "back" (more inland towards Kakanhini Creek ?). All are now deserted, as is the cannery, built and abandoned between 1901 and 1912. There are graves near the village site and on the sand dune bearing dates from 1905-30. According to Goldschmidt and Haas (1946, pp. 84-85) the village with Far Out House, Boulder House and Thunderbird House was on the east side of Dry Bay, near the mouth, but this seems to be in error, for my informants clearly placed it on the west. Emmons had heard of a village on Kakanhini Slough, called "Ko-ghan-heenee (Stickleback)" but nothing remained of it in his day. The Tlingit name would be MgAn (Boas, 1917, p. 128). "Huskay (back of the trees)" ['as-t'a?] was also remembered as a village somewhere in Dry Bay. When Robson went to Dry Bay in 1909 along the streams and sloughs from Yakutat, he found about 50 members of the "Dry Bay tribe" living in temporary summer huts and tents near the mouth of the Kakanhini, where they were putting up salmon. By the middle of September, however, "The huts were still standing, but the Indians had long since caught then-winter supply of salmon and retreated to the shelter of the mountains" (Robson, 1910, pp. 173, 166-167). The sandy flats of Dry Bay are traversed not only by the mouths of the Alsek River, but by other streams coming from the mountains on either side. According to Tebenkov's chart, these various streams are (from west to east): the Kakagina; Vankagina (west of Bear Island); and the Kunakagi, Taaltsug, and Tlegan, (east of the island). Most of these cannot be identified with the present streams and sloughs. The latter are the main channel of the Alsek on the west, East (or Easting) River (now called East Alsek River) in the middle of the delta, and the Dohn (now called Doame) River that skirts Deception Hills on the east. The rocky island in the middle of the bay is called "Bear Island," because it is frequented by so many bears that it is dangerous to go there without a gun. The native name is GXltcinuwu (untranslated). (It sounds like gal, gal, 'clam'; djin, 'hand'; nuwu, 'fort of.) Swanton's Sitkan informant (1908, p. 413) gave it the name GAltse'niwa, and reported (in error, I believe) that it had given the name 'people on the island' to the QlAtlkaa'yi (±at!kA'ayi). The island looks like a stranded whale, and is in fact the Whale down whose blowhole Raven flew, and which he caused to wash ashore at Dry Bay. The Alsek delta is sandy because Raven wished the Whale to strand on a fine sandy beach. The people that flenzed the Whale and whom Raven cheated of the blubber lived on the east side of the bay, at Yay tayi, 'Whale's Fat.' On or very close to the island are rocks that were once an adolescent girl in her puberty hood, her two brothers, and their two dogs, all turned to stone because she looked at them. To approach these rocks will cause stormy weather. Swanton (1908, pi. xx[x, c) figures a TmkwaxAdi hat which illustrates "the story of a man (the figure in the center), and two girls (on the sides) who turned into stone while trying to cross Alsek river." Dry Bay is where Raven opened the box of Daylight which he had stolen. The sudden burst of light not only so frightened the people that they ran away and turned into various sea and land animals according to the furs they were wearing, but also drove all the rocks away. Raven also tricked the king salmon into coming; ashore at Dry Bay. On the lower part of the Alsek River in Dry Bay is a small place called KunagX'a, where people living on the east side of the bay used to go to put up king salmon. "We always go up to the [Alsek] glacier here and stay, and then go to KunagA'a in Dry Bay over here," I was told. Emmons (MS.) reports "Ku-nar Ka-ha" as a sand flat at the mouth of the Alsek where people caught king salmon in the early summer. Possibly it was on the north shore of the bay, opposite the entrance to Tebenkov's "Kunakagi" or what we now call East River. My informants applied the name Diyayi or Diyayi IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 85 to the Dohn River, or, more probably, to the land bordering the eastern shore of Dry Bay. "Dog Salmon River," Titl' hini, is either the correct name for the Dohn River, or else for one of its main tributaries that drains the west slope of Deception Hills. Minnie Johnson said that Diyayi was a rocky mountain or hill, east of the Alsek, where a big rock stands up like a man. It was here that QakexwtE taught the Athabaskans how to catch eulachon in a fish trap. People used to live partly up Titl' hini, and this settlement is probably what Emmons (MS.) called "De-arge (across the river)" and described as a small village on a "southern branch of the Alsek." A woman, who had lived here as a child, said of the place: "Deception Hills are above it. It was an old place—all sandy. They lived on the north side, I guess. That sand was all over. There was no fresh water near the mouth." The last man to live on Dohn River, after all the TlukwaxAdi had died off, was John Williams (1887-1943), builder of Canoe Prow House on the other side of Dry Bay. It was on the Dohn River, or Titl' hini, that the parents of an informant were drowned by a sudden flood of glacial melt water in 1907. Her Kag-wantan paternal grandfather used to set his salmon trap in a nearby stream, Gun hin, 'Clear Spring Water.' Perhaps his Box House was on the Dohn or Titl' hini. Although the coast from Dry Bay nearly to Cape Fairweather is considered to belong to the Dry Bay people, a discussion of this area is best postponed until we have visited the upper Alsek River, as the natives used to do. On the lower Alsek, in the Dry Bay-Akwe area there was formerly excellent fishing, especially in the smaller rivers and sloughs where eulachon, king, red or sockeye, silver, humpback, and dog salmon were caught. By 1925, however, the Akwe River and the "basin" of the Alsek River had to be permanently closed to commercial fishing, and other regulations have severely limited the length of the commercial fishing season off the mouths of the rivers. Many Yakutat people go regularly to Dry Bay early in the summer to fish for the cannery, before the season opens off Situk and Lost Rivers. Around the shores of Dry Bay are salmonberries, blueberries, highbush cranberries, and other fruits. In the mountains above are brown and black bear and mountain goat, but there were no deer or porcupine. Fur-bearers were lynx, marten, wolf, wolverine, fox, and land otter (Gold-schmidt and Haas, 1946, pp. 83-85). THE ALSEK RIVER Despite its swift currents, the Alsek formed a highway for travel between the coast and the interior. According to Robson (1910, p. 169), who made the ascent during the summer, there are two difficult canyons to pass. The first is 20 miles (by river) from the mouth, and lies between a cliff 1,000-1,500 feet high on the west, and the 200-foot ice wall of the Alsek Glacier on the east. Beneath the latter was a lake, which probably does not form every year. The canyon is only 1,000 feet wide and is filled with swirling water. "The Indians have a superstitious fear of the place, for several of their number have been drowned and they cannot be induced to go near it except in winter when everything is frozen over. In the cranky little dugouts having only a few inches of freeboard it is little wonder that they met destruction in the terrible waves and swirls." [Ibid., p. 169.] Above the first canyon is a 25-mile stretch of valley, midway along which is the receding end of a glacial tongue belonging to the great "through glacier" which connects the Alsek River and Russell Fiord. Robson (ibid., p. 171) commented on the beautiful summer weather experienced above the first canyon, because "the mountain ranges through which we had passed shut out the rains and storms of the Pacific." The second canyon is some 40 miles above Dry Bay, where the Alsek in descending makes a right-angle bend from south to west, and where a second ice-discharging glacier, the Melbern, enters from the east. Above this, in British Columbia and some 70 miles from the sea, is the confluence of the Tatshenshini from the northeast with the main branch of the Alsek. Still farther upstream the Kaskawulsh enters from the northwest. Although Robson did not travel above this point, he saw no floating ice here, and so concluded that there were no glaciers discharging into either river, although, of course, most of their tributaries flow from icefields. He noted that from the forks one could travel in winter to Glacier Bay, via the Melbern and the Grand Pacific Glacier. Possibly this was the way QakexwtE was supposed to have come to Dry Bay. Robson's journey downstream was exceedingly rapid, since the canoes made 50 miles in only 5 hours, whereas 86 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 there had been many days of hard labor cordelling the boats upstream (ibid., p. 172). In the summer of 1890, Glave and Dalton had gone into the interior from Lynn Canal, via what was to be known as the Dalton Trail over Chilkat Pass, and then crossing a pass, had gone down the Tatshenshini and Alsek to the coast. Glave (1892, p. 880) describes the Alsek as: "... a wild dangerous river which races along with an eight-knot current, its volume at times spread over the rocky valley in a dozen channels which combine in one deep torrent when the mountains close in and narrow the limits with their rocky walls. Along the banks of the Alseck old moraines slope to the river's edge, and active glaciers are pushed far out into the stream; the internal working of the icefield maintains a continued rumble, and blocks of ice topple into the river, and whip the waters into a confused, seething mass. Eighty miles to the east of Yakutat, on the south coast of Alaska, the Alseck Eiver plunges in one deep, angry torrent through a canon of rock and ice, flows over the stony waste known as Dry Bay, and pours a muddy volume into the blue waters of the Pacific Ocean." Because of the difficulties of getting a canoe up the river, the prospectors avoided the lower stretches by traveling over the "through glaciers" east of the Alsek. Tarr and Butler (1909, p. 35) write: "For example, it is said by prospectors that one could start from the terminus of Yakutat Glacier, whose end rests on the foreland east of Yakutat [at the head of Dangerous River], and, ascending to a broad ice divide, pass on down into the Alsek Valley by one of several courses. . . . [The icefield could also be crossed from Hubbard Glacier, Nuna-tak Glacier and Hidden Glacier.] In fact, several years ago some of these glaciers were actually used as highways by scores of prospectors as a means of entrance to the Alsek Valley, some going to the head of Russell Fiord and ascending a glacier (called "Fourth Glacier"), which comes down to the foreland just east of the fiord, others going from the head of Nunatak Fiord up Nunatak Glacier (called "Third Glacier"). . . . The ruins of a store at the head of Russell Fiord and the remnants of sledges at the base of the nunatak in Nunatak Fiord and of boats at the landing place near by are relics of these days of over-ice travel." Hundreds of prospectors went this way during the Gold Rush, and Fourth Glacier is "still a highway to the Alsek Valley" (Tarr and Martin, 1910, p. 7). Blackwelder (1907 a, p. 87-88) reports that in 1898 the prospectors dragged their sleds about 40 miles from Nunatak Glacier to the head of "American River," a tributary of the Alsek, but that crevasses later rendered this route impassable. Farewell (1909, p. 536) states: "At the time of the Klondike excitement a number tried to go up the Alsek. A little settlement was formed on the west branch of the river, called New Hamberg, which is evidence that there was a German in the party. It lasted only one winter. It is said that some of the men were four months getting over the glaciers from Disenchantment Bay, and whether any ever succeeded in getting into the Klondike that way is highly problematical." The Whites were not the first to use this route. One informant said that after the original owners had sold the Ahrnklin area to the Teqwedi they walked into the interior over one of the glaciers from Russell Fiord, probably Nunatak Glacier. They went to Tcanukwa, probably on the headwaters of the Alsek, near Scotty Creek and below Wesketahin (Dalton Post). It took them 3 months walking. From here they went in 1% months to "Taku Lake," identified as Taku Arm of Lake Atlin, walked all around Atlin Lake, and then went to Klukwan on Lynn Canal. Even if this exceedingly circuitous route seems difficult to credit as historically accurate, it indicates something of Yakutat knowledge of the interior, Gunana 'ani, 'Athabaskans' land.' Travel on the Alsek itself was so dangerous because of the extent of the glaciers which were formerly greater than today. When Topham (1889 a, p. 425) was at Takutat in 1888 he heard, perhaps from the prospector who had come from Dry Bay by canoe, that just above "the lagoon at its mouth," the Alsek "passes beneath a portion of the Pacific Glacier which descends from Mount Fairweather. The Indians portage across the ice, and launch their canoes above it," and had explored as far as 100 miles above the mouth of the Alsek. According to Robson (1910, p. 171); 'Dalton and Glave, who floated down the Alsek in 1890, speak of a place where the river runs under a glacier near the sea. The two places described above, the first and second canyons where glaciers discharge directly into the river are the only approaches to that condition, and it is hardly possible that so great a change has occurred in twenty years." While I believe that such a change could have occurred in this space of tune, Glave's account of their descent of the Alsek (January 3, 1891) does not mention passing under the ice. Presumably, however, Glave and Dalton heard the native traditions about it. My own informants mentioned the ice bridge (see below), and while similar ice barriers are reported by various native groups to have spanned every major river from the Copper to the Stikine (Tarr and Martin, 1914, p. 416; Garfield, 1947, pp. 438, 447; deLaguna, 1956, p. 2; 1960, pp. 132, 137), there is no reason to discredit these traditions. We may infer, rather, that an ice bridge across the IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 87 Alsek has formed and broken several times. These changes would be due to temporary advances of the ice, despite the general retreat of the glaciers since the 18th century, and to floods caused by the breaking of ice-dammed lakes on the headwaters. Two such occurrences in the last century were reported to us by an Indisn who lived at Mile 1022 on the Alaska Highway near the Alsek headwaters, and who had heard from his mother of the ice dams' breaking. In contrast, in 1908 the Alsek River terminus of the Grand Pacific "through" Glacier was advancing into the forest (Tarr and Martin, 1914, p. 193). As with all glacier-fed streams, the amount of water and the strength of current in the Alsek were likely to vary greatly over a short period of time. Thus Tarr and Martin (1910, p. 35) state: "The natives residing at Dry Bay, 60 miles southeast of Yakutat Bay, report that in the summer of 1909 there were remarkable and long-continued changes in the volume of the Alsek River, which may be related to the advancing and breaking of some of the glaciers whose ends lie up this valley." An informant who lived in Dry Bay has told of many drownings caused by sudden rushes of water which overturned canoes or swept across the mud flats. Although it is not possible to identify the majority of the localities involved, our informant's accounts of travel up and down the Alsek are not without interest. "My father's people, TlukwaxADi, used to go way up to the head of Alsek, 'Aisexyik. They would catch king salmon, slice it and cover it over with cottonwood branches. They used duq (cottonwood) leaves (kayani) and put it on top of the dry fish. They would just leave it there, and when they came down from the head of Alsek, it was just dried good. Up at Tmx kayani ['Kinniirinik Leaves'] at the head of Alsek, they used to get soapberries and other kinds of berries and put them in a box. They used to go up there for all kinds of meat—black bear meat, and then they come down. That's where my father's people stay, way up there on an island, getting soapberries and king salmon. "When they were going up the river, they used to cross the glacier the whole way across. They took their cottonwood dugouts with them. They took then-canoes up a gully between two mountains, like a V, with a ravine, gel' or gel'i:w, like a steep place between the two mountains. They carry the canoes over. It takes them one or two days." This portage is apparently over the point of land on the west bank of the Alsek, opposite Alsek Glacier. The mountain on the west was called Gel'guwa, while the hill on the east side of the Alsek, Gateway Knob, was called Kit6a in Athabaskan, or YAdagwAl in Tlingit, referring to the stones that continually 'rolled down' from it (or from the glacier). Of Gateway Knob: "That's where the rocks fall all around, and they call it Yel tsunayi ['Raven's work'?]. There are rocks that big [the size of golf balls] coming down. It's funny they don't go in the boat. They just fall around the boat. When you are going to die— that's the time they go in the boat. Old Crow [Raven] made it like that. His wife is just scared. 'Oh, it's going to drop on our boat and go through!' [she said]. 'Don't worry about it,' said Raven. 'Oh no, they won't go through.' I believe it [my informant added.] When my father was going up to Tmx kayani, it touched his boat. That same summer they drowned." One gathers that the ascent might be made in the spring or in the (late?) summer, when the snow was melting and rocks falling, as well as in the fall or winter when the river was frozen (see below). In fact, another woman explained: "Tou know the Alsek is very swift. They need lines to take the canoes up," implying that canoes were towed upstream (MJ). Blackwelder (1907a, p. 87) reports, however, that the Alsek can be ascended by small boats only during low water; which would mean that from some time in May or June until sometime in August, swollen floodwaters fill the whole lower canyon and make ascent impossible. "They used to cross the glacier to go up the river, but going down they had to go under the glacier. That water is pretty rough. Every tune they come out, everybody sings. They put on their new shoes [sic] and all their good clothes before they go under the glacier, for fear they will drown. The clothes are of moose and caribou hide, tanned white, and sometimes have porcupine quill embroidery. I know that song, too. That man, he stands up in front of the boat and he sings that song. [It is now used as a dancing song for pot-latches (1954, 6-2-D; p. 1230.] The informant's son explained the trip: "The TlukwaxAdi lived in Dry Bay, and used to go up the Alsek, and take their canoes over a point called Gel'&w, through a V-shaped notch. They would go up every fall or winter to YewAltcA hin, a river where there is a glacier and the ice breaks in spring. [There, or somewhere else up the Alsek, is a place called "King Salmon Bone," T'aketci, (possibly feiici, 'dried king salmon'?).] When they went up in the fall they would hang fish to dry there and it would take care of itself. Nothing happens to it. They would spend the whiter in the interior and come back in the spring. [He also mentioned Yel tsunayi] "a place up the Alsek where pebbles keep falling all the time, but they won't hit the canoe unless someone is going to die. Yel [Raven] told his wife the pebbles would fall outside the canoe—that's why . . . When they came down [under Alsek Glacier], they would put on then1 best clothes, and after they had passed the glacier they would yell, and it would break behind them, because they were so happy." He also reported that they sang. 88 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 134* 136* \ > From N\s.Map o\ a\asV.a.,and Br. Co\umV\oSS N VM.TerrWory e of Miles. O _ 1O 2a 3O 1.0 so fro 63 " W. MAP 12.—.The Alsek River. (Davidson, 1901 a.) IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 89 Not only did the glacial arch apparently break between 1888(?) and 1890(?), but it also broke when Emma Ellis' father's mother was a little girl (about 1850?), creating such a big wave that many people drowned in Dry Bay. The second glacier ascending the river (on the northwest side, near the British Columbia boundary), is where Raven threw away his wife's sewing basket and a big king salmon stomach. It is said that one can still see them. Four days' hard journey up the Alsek, but only one day's run down, was a camping spot called 'Glacier Point,' Sf on the Kaliakh River near this mountain, reported by informants and by a resident of Cape Yakataga to Don Miller. Harrington gives kalyAx as the Eyak name for the river. According to Krauss, galyAx means 'the lowest' of a series. One of my informants who had visited this area as a boy in 1900 saw the remains of a large old-style house on the west side of the river. This was the Beaver House of the Galyix-Kagwantan, and the village their "capital town," where they defended themselves against an Aleut attack. The famous Teqwedi from Yakutat, ^Catgawet, is said to have fought beside the local chief, his father-in-law. The Kwacl:qwan also lived here. In 1900, I gather, the main settlement was at Yakataga Village. This area is traditionally rich in furs, especially beaver and sea otter, but was too small to support a large population. In consequence, the Tcicqedi (Eagles), "cousins" of the Kagwantan, who had followed them, had to live "farther west in the swampy place." Later, when the Kagwantan multiplied and spread into Controller Bay and to Bering River, they continued to use the Kaliakh country for hunting. The Tcicqedi were given territory near the mouth of the Copper River, by their Raven fathers, the Copper River "GanAxtedi." Later, the "GanAxtedi" took back some of their land, because the Tcicqedi were getting too many furs. The last two sibs are represented among the Copper River Eyak. Billy Jackson (1883-1951) told Goldschmidt and Haas (1946, p. 74) that his people, the Kwaciqwan (traditionally spouses of the Galyix-Kagwantan), used to go to ". . . a river called gaLgox which belonged to the Kagwantan. It is about eight miles west of Yakutegi. We went up to the head of the river and had houses at the mouth and at the head of the river. One of these houses belongs to my brother and me. My brother was there last in 1911. Nobody goes up there now except a man named Sawak, a Tlingit from Katalla [the informant's nephew.]" On a stream, Tcuqe or Djuke, entering the Kaliakh River from the north, Yakategy John, who built the Wolf Bath House at Yakutat, used to put up fish. There were presumably other fishing and hunting camps in the area about which we were given no specific information. Emmons (MS.) mentions the tradition of an ancient village, "She-ta-ha-na-ta," somewhere west of Yakataga, but otherwise not located, which was swept away by an advance of the ice, or by a flood of glacier melt water. It may be in the Kaliakh River area, or possibly on the Bering River (see below). Krauss suggests that the name "She-ta-ha-na-ta" may be Eyak for 'northward (upstream) he lives' (ci-da' gAlAtah). On the cliffs at Cape Suckling are said to be faces, some turned sidewise, and also arms and legs. These were made by Raven, who "did a lot of funny things around there, shaping the land," it is said. Captain Belcher who sailed eastward along this coast in 1837 reports (1843, vol. 1, p. 77): "In one direction from the southward, Cape Suckling exhibits on its lower profile, the brow, nose, and lips of a man. It is a low neck, stretching out from a mountainous isolated ridge, which terminates about three miles from it easterly, where the fiats of the ice pyramids just aluded to terminate" [i.e., the evenly cracked steps on Bering Glacier]. A man who has walked from Cordova to Yakataga said that there was a cave at Cape Suckling, with rock crystals, but that these did not seem to be valued by the natives. This is evidently 'Raven's House,' Yel hidi. The same man said that he had been told that there were whale bones on top of "Cape Suckling Mountain." At Controller Bay one leaves the exposed coast and again enters somewhat sheltered waters. We may consider the eastern limit of this area to be Cape Suckling, from the base of which the low sand dunes stretch westward 7 nautical or 8 statute miles, to form Okalee Spit, even though the cape itself is exposed. Similarly, Kayak Island, which with Okalee Spit shelters Controller Bay from the south, thrusts itself far into the Pacific. This is an island some 20 miles long, narrow, and rising in the middle to peaks about 1,390 feet high. The western edge of Controller Bay is formed by the smaller Wing-ham and Kanak Islands. The eastern shore of Controller Bay is low and swampy, with quicksands reported near the mouth of one of the main streams which drain 102 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 into the bay from the western edge of Bering Glacier. Bering River enters the bay from the north, and from here until one reaches the edge of the Copper River delta beyond Cape Martin, the north shore is low but backed by higher hills, and is scalloped into three small bays, from east to west: Redwood Bay, Strawberry Harbor, and Katalla Bay. Controller Bay was an area claimed by both Chugach and Indians (see pp. 18-19; and Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938, pp. 17, 341-354). There is no question but that the Tlingitized Eyak were established in the area at the end of the 18th or beginning of the 19th century, and that there were Chugach on Kayak Island at the time of Bering's discovery. The extent of the Chugach holdings and the validity of their claims are naturally disputed by both sides. Dr. Krauss (letters of December 20, 27,1966, and January 9, 1967) believes that the Eyak were on the mainland snores of Controller Bay, becoming progressively more Tlingit acculturated, while the Chugach were on the islands of Controller Bay, from which they were finally expelled by the Tlingit and Tlingitized Eyak. As observed by a former native resident of Katalla, when asked why so many places in Controller Bay had "Aleut" (Chugach) names: "The Aleut tried to take the land away from us. They are the strongest and smartest nation. My tribe [Tcicqedi] chased them back to Hinchinbrook Island [in Prince William Sound]. This was long before the Russians came," said my informant. Actually, this may have been about 1792, only a few years before the Russians established themselves at Yakutat, but, of course, the enmity between the Eyak and the Chugach is traditional and there were probably plenty of battles before that. In any case, the 19th-century population in the Controller Bay area seems to have been mixed, for there were not only Eyak-speaking Galyix-Kagwantan, Tcicqedi, and others, but Tlingit-speakers from Yakutat, and one very old lady remembered as a child hearing Atna spoken at Chilkat on Bering River (KDI). Controller Bay was evidently an area in which Raven was active. I have already mentioned his cave house and the faces in the rock at Cape Suckling. Kayak Island was a whale which he harpooned, and Wingham Island was his kayak (see below). Okalee Spit was Raven's harpoon line, sometimes called Yel xaxtl'i oi xotl'i (probably Yel xukth', referring to the line from the shaft to the float). A rock between the base of the spit and Cape Suckling was Raven's float, Yel kAtsis. Okalee River, which enters Controller Bay just north of Okalee Spit, was the site of a Galyix-Kagwan-tan settlement, Qaxtale (pronounced 'axdAlih by the Eyak, but probably of Chugach origin, according to Krauss). Here was a Beaver House, where a woman shaman revived some boys who had been stabbed by their uncle, the chief, for being cowardly (see p. 714). This happened about 1860-70(?). Now all that can be seen near the mouth of the river is one old log cabin and the remains of two others. As is well known, it was Cape Saint Elias, the conspicuous southern point of Kayak Island, some 1,600 feet high, that was Bering's landfall in 1741. The spot where Steller landed and found a semisub-terranean Chugach house or cache was near the south edge of the promontory on the northwest side of the island, at about latitude 59°55' N. The Russians landed at the stream on the northwest shore, near longitude 144Q30' W. Bering's fleet master, Khitrov, explored Wingham Island just north of Kayak Island, where he found a summer hut of planks. For an account of what the Russians found and what they left in exchange, see the descriptions in Golder, 1925, and the interpretation in Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938 (pp. 341-351). Emmons denies that there was ever a permanent village on Kayak Island, but thinks it was a camping place for sea otter hunters. This is corroborated by the Chugach whose camp had been visited by Steller, as reported to Sauer and Sarychev in 1790, and by the Chugach that Zaikov's expedition met in Controller Bay in 1783. However, the Chugach interpreter with Ismailov and Bocharov, who visited Kayak Island in 1788 reported that both Chugach and "Ugalak mutes" (i.e., Ugalenz, or Eyak-speakers), used to visit the island when hunting sea otters. In mid-July, 1794, the Chatham found a "village that had been recently deserted" (presumably for the summer) on the low, wooded shore "near the north-east point of Kaye's island," that is, Kayak Island (Vancouver, 1801, vol. 5, p. 381). The expedition also visited the bird cliffs on the western side of Wingham Island, where they secured 60 dozen eggs of "two sorts of gulls, sea parrots [puffins], shags [cormorants], and curlews" (p. 380). Kayak Island (Kaye's Island), or "Big Kayak," is referred to as 'On the Whale,' YaykA, and it is said that one can smell the fat on it. The meat is black and the fat is white. Raven's harpoon is stuck into it somewhere. Lemesurier Point, at the northeast end, is the 'Whale Head,' Yay ca. A crack where "steam" comes out is the whale's blowhole. Also on the island, is a "Spirit House," S'ege qawu hidi, literally 'dead person's house.' This is probably a cave. It is slippery in front of the "house," and if you fall when walking past, you must scream like a fox, or you will die. A human "spirit" (ghost) lives there, and the rock looks like a curtain tied up for a door. There is a high cliff on the island, too, down which fall rocks like marbles. Raven said, "Don't drop on anyone's head," so they don't. They fall all around you when you walk, but they don't hit you. IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 103 A man who was well acquainted with Kayak Island, having carried mail to the lighthouse at Cape Saint Elias for 5 years, and who had also walked along both sides of the island, was able to confirm some of the above information. The place where pebbles drop is probably near the lighthouse, for once when he was walking there, a tiny pebble fell off the 1,400-foot cliff, bounced, and struck his companion on the knee. "So the Raven didn't stop that." Just north of Steller's hill on the west side (Golder, 1925, vol. 2, fig. 4), and barely above high water mark, is a big cave, the inside of which is stained brown as if painted. This may be the ghost's house. There is no crack emitting steam, but near the middle of the eastern shore where big boulders have fallen down, the surf that comes in is thrown up like a whale's spout. There is a lot of white rock on the island, but my informant had never detected any smell. Now, the island is overrun with martens, abandoned after an unsuccessful venture in fur farming. In 1886, Seton-Karr (1887, p. 147, p. 157 and illustration) visited a small settlement, "Kaiak," on "Kaiak Island," where some Scandinavians had a trading post (pi. 68). This was "picturesquely situated behind cliffs, facing the mainland, sheltered by the two islands Kaiak and Mitchell [Wingham]." There were a few Indian huts, corresponding in style to the Chugach summer smokehouses, although the names of the sea otter hunters whom he met, at least those that could be recognized, seemed to be Tlingit (p. 158). The language was a mixture of "Chilcat, Russian, and Chinook," and although the Indians "designate themselves as Chilcats [from their main village on Bering River] . . . [they] are known to the traders as Coloshes" (pp. 160 f.)- Reference in this account is also made to "the point of Little Kaiak you see just opposite," so that we cannot be sure whether the post was on the northern end of Kayak Island, or was the settlement called Kayak on Wingham or "Little Kayak" Island. Wingham Island is a low, wooded island about 4% miles long, lying north of "Big" Kayak Island, and was supposed to have been Raven's kayak, pronounced kayak by a Tlingit^speaker, and qiyAq (giyAg) by an Eyak-speaker. This was recognized as a Chugach word. Harrington's informant gave the name thaattl'a&t for "Small Kayak" or Wingham Island. My Tcicqedi informant claimed the island for his sib, but others reported that it belonged to the Galyix-Kagwantan, who used to come there in spring for seals, halibut, cod, and black seaweed. There was a Beaver House at the old village, built of Seattle lumber, and was still standing in 1900-1908. There was also a Galyix-Kagwantan cemetery nearby. The White people were already here at the time the Beaver House was built, and had a cannery. The village is called "Kayak" on the charts and is located on the southern part of the east coast. There was probably a Raven house here also, since Galushia Nelson, a Cordova Eyak, remembered going to a potlatch on "Kayak Island" when he was only 8 years old, to which all the Copper River Eyak were invited by the Yakutat Tlingit (Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1838, pp. 181 f.). Undoubtedly this was at Kayak village on "Little Kayak" or Wingham Island, and we may assume that the hosts were Kwac£qwan. Emmons (MS.) reported an old village site, "Tark Hart," on the northeast point of "Little Kayak Island," with 10 log cabins in 1888. By 1903 it was only a stopping place for steamers. According to Moser (1899, pp. 129-133), 20 canneries were built in Alaska in 1889, of which 4 were near the Copper River delta, but of these only 2 were still functioning 10 years later. One cannery was built by the Central Alaska Company on Wingham ("Little Kayak or Mitchell") Island in 1889, but moved away the following year. On the same island was the cannery of the Peninsula Trading and Fishing Company which put up packs in 1889 and 1890, and then was moved to "Coquenhena" (Kokenhinik) on the Copper River delta where it was operated until a change in the river channel forced its abandonment in 1897. More permanent were the two canneries in Prince William Sound: Odiak near Cordova, and Orca farther up the channel. However, all drew upon the same runs. Moser (1899, pp. 132 ff.) describes the "wanton fishing" of Eyak Lake near Cordova, and reports how the Copper River Indians rejoiced when the Coquenhena cannery was closed, for in 1896 they were on the verge of starvation for lack of fish. A Yakutat man (born 1893) remembers going to Kayak when he was 4 or 5 years old and walking over the rusty cans left at the abandoned cannery site. His family would go there in the spring, then move to Bering River in August to put up salmon. Already the native population was declining, and because he was the only little boy, so lonely without any other child with whom to play, some White prospectors coming through from Yakataga with dog teams gave him two pups. Kanak Island, low and flat and about 3% miles long, does not seem to have been inhabited until it, like Wingham Island in recent years, was turned into a fox farm. It is called "Egg Island," or Ginlq, said by an Eyak-speaker at Yakutat to be an "Aleut" word. Harrington rendered this as Kinnak, and Krauss reports the Eyak pronunciation as ginAg, although it was probably derived from the Chugach word for 'fire' (kiniq). The most important settlement on Controller Bay was on the firm ground just west of the mouth of Bering River. This was Chilkat, or Djilqat (Harrington, 104 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 tjilkhaat), meaning 'salmon cache' in Tlingit, and apparently named in imitation of the Chilkat tribe on Lynn Canal in southeastern Alaska. It was inhabited by Galyix-Kagwantan, Tcicqedi, and, according to Em-mons, by the "GanAxtedi." He noted that the first sib had Wolf House and Beaver House here, the Tcicqedi had Eagle House, and the GanAxtedi had Raven House; all were in ruins by the beginning of the century. Many Kagwantan are buried here. According to my informants the "original" houses had been farther up the river, even above Bering Lake. When the river flooded, Beaver and Wolf Houses were washed down to the south side of the lake, below Skookum Mountain. A place called 'Anakwe, said to be an Eyak name (probably not, according to Krauss), was where the beavers had built their den, and there a flood had drowned them all, leaving only the single little beaver from whom the Galyix-Kagwantan acquired the Beaver crest and the Beaver's mourning song, now used at potlatches (1952, 7-1-B; pp. 254-256). Apparently the original Beaver House of the sib was built at the same place and suffered the same fate. The Tcicqedi had a house on the center of the south shore of Bering Lake, opposite Poul Point, perhaps at the spot to which Beaver House and Wolf House had drifted. There was a fishing place at "Smoke Salmon Stream" up Bering River, where they used to put up fish in August. On the mountains above Bering River many Kwackqwan men (visiting hunters, relatives of the owners?) were killed in a big snowslide, presumably about 1900. This mountain was called 'Ukwyanta. Billy Jackson (1883-1951), a Kwaclqwan man who was born in Cordova, his mother's home, and whose father was a Galyix-Kagwantan man, told Gold-schmidt and Haas (1946, p. 73): "There was a place just below Cordova [sic] called djiLgat where I smoked salmon and hunted. We got black and brown bear, fox, land otter, king salmon and berries. I left there in 1911 but have been back a few times to hunt. There were five smokehouses when I was there about four miles up the river. This place belongs to the Kagwantan tribe." Moving westward along the north shore of Controller Bay from Chilkat, one comes first to the shallow indentation of Redwood Bay, behind Point Hay or "Pete's Point." The point is apparently called Tsadli-yat, said to be a Chugach word. Krauss reports, however, that it is Eyak, meaning 'in a stone (container)' (tsadla-ya'd), an expression commonly applied to bodies of water. Beyond this again is Strawberry Harbor and Strawberry Point. The last is called in Tlingit 'Where They Dig Spruce Roots,' Xat 'AdulsEl'yE, and was formerly an important settlement. The "second" Beaver House was built here, after the destruction of the first on Bering River. This was an old-style building, belonging to Helen Bremner's mother's mother's mother's brother. Until recently an old war canoe is said to have been visible near the foundations. The "third" Beaver House was the one built on Wingham Island, but when the earlier one on Strawberry Point fell down in 1908, it was replaced by a frame building built by Chief John and his nephew John Bremner, and was named both Beaver House and Wolf House. There is also a Galyix-Kagwantan cemetery on the point. The descendants of these men now live at Yakutat, and it is through them that the native claims to the oil lands are based. Even when the last Beaver House was being built, White men were disputing Indian land rights, but a friend of Chief John, a White man named Frank Laughton, is said to have helped him to establish his title before Judge Wilson(?) at Katalla. The house was built not only to honor the ancestors, but "to hold the land for the Kagwantan" (Harry K. Bremner). "The oil people have driven the natives away. The ground is just soaked with oil. My mother's uncles can't make a fire, except on a sandy place. They use the moss to start the fire. They can't drink water from there. They can drink Bering River, but not water around Redwood Bay. ... In Katalla Bay, between Katalla and Strawberry Point, even when the high tide comes in, there's a blue flame of fire. But even in the southeast storm, it disappears. You can light it again with a match.' (Helen Bremner.) [cf. Martin, 1907.] From Strawberry Point to Copper River, the territory belongs to the Tcicqedi. Katalla, on the western side of Katalla Bay near its head, is now only a village. Landing is difficult because the sea generally breaks on the bar in front of the Katalla River, and on the beach to the west "with southeasterly or southwesterly winds, landing is impracticable" (Coast Pilot, 9, 1955, p. 92). The settlement is called Qatana. (Note that n and I are frequently interchanged by Tlingit speakers.) This was occupied by the Galyix-Kagwantan, Tcicqedi, and GanAxtedi. About 1870(?), the Tcicqedi had an Eagle House, also known as On-a-Platform House, with two carved house posts. When the Copper River Railroad was being built to bring down ore from the great copper mines at McCarthy and Kennicott on the upper Chitina River, it was expected that Katalla would be the salt water terminus. An informant, who had been here as a boy, said, "Katalla was only a tent town in 1907, but the next year there were big saloons. The boom didn't last long." Another, who has lived in Katalla all his life, told me that at one time there were 4,000 people in Katalla and 14 fancy saloons, with real mahogany bars and beautiful glassware. Although the IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 105 right-of-way had been cleared, trestles built over the sloughs and rivers from Katalla to Copper River, and even some of the rails laid, it was found impossible to build the needed breakwater at Katalla. So the railroad was put in from Cordova, where there is an excellent harbor, even though the route is longer. As soon as the decision was made in faver of Cordova, Katalla became a ghost town, the saloons and stores with all their contents abandoned. This happened before the steamer Portland was wrecked on Katalla beach in 1910. At Katalla were also 17 producing oil wells, a refinery and an absorption plant, finally closed in 1929. Some of my Yakutat informants had worked on building the railroad, and in this way met the Chitina Atna from whom the Kwackqwan were descended. A small Tcicqedi village on the "Salmon River" between Katalla and Cape Martin was called Kuxutliya, or KAxotleya, an Eyak name (MxunlAyah), meaning 'tooth' according to Krauss. The lake here is called Lake Kammtla on the map. Just west of Katalla Bay between Palm Point and Cape Martin lie the two Martin Islands: Whale, and Fox or Kiktak, the outer island on which the light is located. The latter is known as QrxtAq, the Chugach name for "island" as pronounced by an Eyak-speaker at Yakutat (See Birket-Smith 1953, p. 237; qiqertuAq, 'island'). The Tcicqedi village on Cape Martin is QixtAqlAq, 'Behind Martin Island,' as pronounced in Eyak, or GixtaqdAq according to a Tlingit-speaker. (Harrington records these names as kiixtAk and kiixtAk-lAkt; Krauss as gixdAg and gixdAgUg, confirming my derivation.) I was also told that inland from Cape Martin was an old forest. Long ago, when looking for mink signs, a man came upon an old, old native graveyard, consisting of grave houses, which he believes had been established long before White people. There was someone in Cordova who had heard about it and wanted to dig there, but my informant threatened to report him to the authorities if he violated the graves. This man had not heard about the village at Cape Martin, however. Seton-Karr (1887, p. 164) stopped at this village in 1886 on his way from Yakutat to Nuchek. "The Indian village is partially fenced with stockading; the houses are merely single-roomed, but of moderate size. Long ago, there was a fur-trading post here, but it was abandoned." This sketch (pi. 69) shows the buildings to be of ordinary log cabin construction. There has been some question as to whether this settlement should be classed as "Eyak" or "Tlingit." Apparently Eyak was spoken here in 1884, although Tlingit from Yakutat used to come to the trading post 265-517—72—TOL VII, pt, 1 9 (Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938, pp. 22-24). A precise distinction however, should not be attempted, although west of this point we are certainly dealing with the classic Eyak among whom Tlingit influence was far less pronounced than among their relatives east of Cape Martin. All of the area between Cape Martin and the edge of Prince William Sound at Point Whitshed, about 50 statute or 43.5 nautical miles, lies behind the chain of low sand islands, 4 or 5 miles offshore, which have been formed by the vast silt deposits brought down by the Copper River, and its companions, the eastern most of which is the Martin River. Since this area has been described already by Birket-Smith and myself (1938), I will add here only the additional items of information obtained at Yakutat. From Katalla, a trail led behind the mountains (i.e., Lone Baldy, about 1,200 feet high) to another Tcicqedi village on Softuk Lagoon. This was called in Tlingit Saxw1iall: or SAxwdAq, 'Behind the Cockles' (in Eyak sahwlAg, according to Krauss). It was supposed to have been the first settlement established by the Raven GanAxtedi, a branch of the Atna Ginexqwan who had become separated from their relatives when crossing the glacier, and who turned westward to the Copper River while the others went east to Yakutat. A camp on Martin River, S'a'diqe, was used for hunting in fall and spring. This is Tsa'di-q, from tsa-dA-'e'-q, meaning in Eyak 'on the place of (frequently absent?) mud flats,' according to Krauss. In 1886, Seton-Karr noted two Indian houses on a point, apparently in this locality, where the Indians were hunting seals (1887, p. 168). A Tcicqedi camp at the mouth of the Copper River was called KagAn blni, Tlingit for 'Stickleback River.' This is Kokenhenik where the cannery was established, 1890-97. On a western branch of the Copper River was the Eyak town of Alaganik, known at Yakutat as 'AnAXAnlq. Krauss derives the Eyak name 'AnAxAnAg from the Chugach alaaaanaq, 'mistake' (or 'wrong turn'?), a common Eskimo place name. It came to the Eyak via the Tlingit who transformed the I to n. This was a GanAxtedi village, where also lived some "TlukwaxAdi" (not to be confused with the Raven sib of the same name at Dry Bay). The present town of Cordova and the former native village near by called Eyak (no distinction was made at Yakutat) were both known as '1-yaq, and the inhabitants as 'I-yaqqwan. According to Krauss, the name 'i-ya^g is in origin a Chugach place name. The sibs that lived here were the Raven GanAxtedi and Quslke'di (or Kuslkedi) and the Eagle Tcicqedi. Many older Yakutat people had visited Cordova in their youth, and now some of the men go there for commercial 106 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 fishing. But the Eyak community is gone. territory, as well as for tribes and peoples, should be The Copper River itself is known to the Yakutat as compared with the Eyak versions recorded in Cordova 'Iq hfni ('iq hfni), and the Atna as 'Copper Diggers' in 1933 (Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938, pp. 543- 'Iq kAhaqwan. (See Boas, 1917, p. 155, 'eq, 'copper'; 545). I am grateful for the corrections and explanations p. 134, kA-yl-ha, 'to dig.') supplied by Dr. Michael E. Krauss (letter of December All of these names for places in and near Eyak 20, 1966). Through Alien Eyes: A History of Yakutat 108 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 18TH-CENTURY EXPLORATION The First Explorers (1741-83) The first Europeans to visit the Gulf Coast of Alaska were members of the Imperial Russian expedition under "Captain-Commander Vitus Bering, the Dane" (Golder, 1922-25). From our point of view the most important person aboard Bering's ship, the Sv Petr (St. Peter), was the German-born naturalist, Georg Wilhelm Steller, then attached to the Imperial Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg, to whom "we are indebted ... for some of the most reliable information concerning the Russian discoveries on the American coast" (Bancroft, 1886, p. 54). Bering sailed from Petropavlosk, Siberia, on June 4, 1741, accompanied by the Sv Pavel (St. Paul), under Capt. Alexei Chirikov, in order to discover and explore the reported American mainland to the eastward; but the two ships became separated on June 19, and Chirikov sailed toward the east, encountering the Tlingit on Chichagof Island, while Bering wandered to the northeast. Landfall was made by the Sv Petr on July 16, when Mount Saint Elias and its range were sighted. On July 20, the Sv Petr reached Cape Saint Elias, as Bering named the southern promentory of Kayak Island in Controller Bay, and anchored under its western shore. Steller landed at a cove (subsequently named for him) on the west side of Kayak Island, while Fleet Master Sofron Khitrov investigated nearby Wingham Island. A native hut was visited at each of these localities, although the inhabitants were absent or had run away, and since Bering refused to linger off Kayak Island even long enough to fill the water casks, only meager information was secured about the natives of Controller Bay (Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938, pp. 345-350). Chirikov, meanwhile, had sighted land near what is now Dixon Entrance and followed the coast northward to latitude 57°50' N., off the northern end of Chichagof Island. Here he sent a boat ashore, probably into the treacherous waters of Lisianski Strait, and, when it failed to return, dispatched the second. Neither was ever seen again, nor are we ever likely to know whether the crews were lost in the tidal currents or were captured by the Tlingit, who afterward came toward the ship in two canoes in what the Russians interpreted as a hostile manner. Having waited a week and being without small boats, the only means of landing on American soil, Chirikov could do nothing but set sail for Siberia. On his return voyage he, too, sighted the snowy crest of Mount Saint Elias. (Bering's expedition is fully documented in Golder, 1922-25.) The direct effect of Bering's expedition upon the Gulf Coast natives could only have been slight, aside from the green cloth, iron kettle, iron knives, iron pipe and tobacco, and Chinese beads that were left in the hut on Kayak Island (Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938, p. 350); but the ultimate indirect effects were incalculable. On the homeward voyage the Sv Petr was wrecked on one of the Commander Islands between Alaska and Kamchatka (named for Bering, who died there), and here the survivors found the sea otter. Not only did they eat the flesh, but preserved the skins, and when the castaways finally succeeded in returning to Kamchatka with their furs it was the high prices paid for sea otter pelts that led within a year to what Bancroft (1886, p. 99) has aptly called "the swarming of the Promyshleniki," destined to overwhelm the newly discovered lands and their inhabitants. Controller Bay was later known to have been contested by the Chugach Eskimo of Prince William Sound and the Eyak Indians, but it would appear that the semisubterranean hut visited by Steller on Kayak Island was a summer camp of the Chugach, although we can be less certain about the plank house on Wing-ham Island (Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938, pp. 341-352; Birket-Smith, 1953, pp. 8-9, 18-20; de Laguna, 1956, pp. 9-10). At this time the Eyak were presumably living at the mouth of the Copper River and probably along the Gulf Coast east of Cape Suckling. Perhaps they also lived on the mainland shores of Controller Bay, even though a branch of the Chugach also claimed the islands. Later in the 18th century, however, the Eskimo were driven from Controller Bay, and only Eyak were to be encountered from the eastern edge of Prince William Sound and the Copper River all the way to Yakutat, where the first Tlingit were met, apparently expanding westward. Nor should we forget that a branch of Atna Athabaskans had come aa permanent settlers to the coast and that their relatives on the middle Copper River made annual trading trips to the Eyak and the Chugach. The multiplicity of tribal groups and the complexities of population movements often make it difficult for us to identify the natives encountered by the various European explorers, especially since the Russians, who came to know them be3t, often lumped together all the tribes from the "Vancouver Sounds" (southeastern Alaska) to "Chugatz Bay" (Prince William Sound), and even the Athabaskans of the hinterland, under the one term "Kolosh," although more careful authors recognized the linguistic differences between the Kaigan (northern Haida), Sitka Kolosh (Tlingit), Ougalentz IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 109 (Eyak), Mednovtze (Atna), and so on (Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, pp. 340-342). Thus, Tebenkov (1852, pp. 32, 33, 35; cf. Davidson, 1869, p. 56) asserts that the Ugalentz, numbering 1,300 (!), live between Chugatz Bay and Yakutat, while from Yakutat to latitude 52° N. lives a tribe who call themselves "Klinkit" or "people," but who are known to the Russians as "Koloshi." But even the local vocabularies or native place names recorded by early explorers may be no sure guide to tribal identity, for, according to Davidson (1901 b, p. 44), Tebenkov: "says that every year the Tchugatz, (Prince William Sound) and the Yakootat Indians meet at the Copper River to barter; and that the Russians first learned of the shoal water between the mainland and Kayak Island, and off the delta of the Copper River from them. He further states that all places east to Yak-outat bay have each four names; given by the Tchugatz [Chugach Eskimo], the Oogalentz [Eyak], the Copper River Indians [Atna Athabaskans], and the Koloshes [Tlingit]; and that the name Kayak is Koloshian." Although Tebenkov was writing in the middle of the 19th century, much of his information was derived from earlier sources, and I have no doubt that his statement applies with equal validity to conditions in the 18th century. But not all our difficulties of geographical and tribal identification are due to native movements, disputed territorial claims, or multiple designations for the same place. The European explorers were equally guilty of confusion, especially when they tried to claim the same territory for their respective sovereigns, name the same landmarks in honor of their own friends and patrons, or, when they thought they were following in another's track, carelessly applied formerly-used names to the wrong localities. Inaccuracies in latitude and longitude, compass bearings and distances, and too sketchy tracings of the coast line, even when a map is appended to a journal, often make it impossible for us to determine the position of a ship or to identify a landfall. Thus, according to Fleurieu, writing in 1798 (1801, vol. 1, p. lxxviii): "We see that, in 1779, the Spanish were still reduced to trust to the dead reckoning and already for ten years past, the French and the English determined the longitudes at sea, either with the help of astronomical clocks or time-keepers, or by the observation of the moon's distance from the sun and stars!" But even the chronometer, newly invented, was still not perfected in the 18th century. Furthermore, we must not forget that in the Gulf of Alaska the compass variation is extreme, magnetic north ranging from 27° E. of true North well offshore to 31° E. in Yakutat Bay, with varying annual rates of change, necessitating the replotting of the compass roses for each new edition of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey charts. We simply do not know the magnetic readings used in the late 18th century, unless we can trust the figures given when astronomical observations were made on shore. Wagner (1937, vol. 1, frontispiece) published a map showing the range of magnetic variation by isogonic lines ranging from 15° E. on a great arc Unking San Diego and Umnak Island, 20° E. between Cape Mendocino and Karluk Bay (Bristol Bay), 25° E. from the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the southeastern point of Cook Inlet, and 30° E. from Whale Bay (south of Sitka) to Cape Yakataga. It is stated that the "variation [is] increasing 1' annually." However, the chart is not dated, and this hardly agrees with the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey chart No. 8402 (Cross Sound to Yakutat Bay) on which the variation is given as 29°15' E. (as of 1950), with an annual decrease of 3'. According to Dall and Baker (1883, p. 210): "The variation of the compass [at Yakutat] in 1791 was 32°24' easterly; it is now [1880?] believed to be about 30°16'." Nor must we forget that longitude was measured from different meridians (Greenwich, Paris, Madrid, Toledo, San Bias, Okhotsk, etc.), some of which were themselves inaccurately determined. (See the list in Wagner, 1937, vol. I, p. 10, in which some of these are reduced to the meridians of Greenwich and Toledo.) To further confuse us, the Spanish league measured 17% to a great circle degree, whereas the marine league of the French was 20 to a degree, and the Russian verst (about 0.66 of a statute mile) was 104.5 to a degree (Fleurieu, 1801, vol. 1, p. lxvii; Coxe, 1803, p. xiv). The marine league of the French, British, and Americans all equaled 3 nautical miles, of which there were 60 to a degree; but since the degrees taken as a measure themselves varied, so did the nautical miles differ by a few feet. A standard international nautical mile was not adopted until 1954! Moreover, the common or English statute mile is still shorter, there being between 69 and 69.5 to a "degree" of latitude; modern U.S. Coast Pilots furnish conversion tables for nautical and statute miles, since confusion between the two might lead to catastrophic error. These discrepancies in measurement, however, would pose no serious problems for us except when trying to identify a locality poorly described, or perhaps a shore seen only indistinctly through Alaskan mists. While Russian hunters were pushing eastward along the Aleutian Islands to Kodiak, the Spaniards came to take an interest in the lands north of their possessions in California. In 1774 an expedition under Pilot Juan Josef Pe"rez Hernandez, in the Santiago or Nueva Galiria, with Esteban Jose" Martinez as second pilot, was sent out from San Bias by Don Antonio Maria Bucareli y Ursua, Viceroy of New Spam, to explore 110 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 and take possesion of the coast as far north as latitude 60°, in order to forestall Russian expansion.27 Fr. Crespi and Fr. Tomas de la Peiia Savaria served as chaplains.28 Perez probably did not reach even latitude 55° N., as he claimed, although he sighted Forester Island in Alaska ("Santa Christina"), and did a little trading with some Haida near Cape Knox on Graham Island, and with the Nootka near Nootka Sound. The so-called Second Bucareli Expedition was dispatched the following year, under 1st Lt. Bruno de Hezeta, commanding the schooner Santiago, with Juan Pe'rez as second and CristoVal Reville as pilot. The Santiago was accompanied by the small schooner Sonora, under 2d Lt. Juan de Ayala, with Franscisco Antonio Mourelle (or Maurelle) as pilot. Second Lieutenant Juan Franscisco de la Bodega y Cuadra succeeded to the command of the Sonora, when de Ayala had to relieve the commanding officer of the supply ship, San Carlos, when the latter went insane. The San Carlos explored San Francisco Bay, while the Santiago did not go north of latitude 47°41'. The Sonora, however, visited and named Bucareli Bay on the west coast of Prince of Wales Island, and, more importantly, had contact with the Tlingit at or near Salisbury Sound ("Puerto de los Remedios") ,29 On this voyage, Mount Edgecumbe ("San Jacinto") was sighted, as was Cape Edgecumbe ("Cabo del Engafio"), and the entrance to Sitka Sound ("En-senada del Susto," or Bay of Terrors). The ship also anchored in a small harbor just north of Cape Edgecumbe ("Puerto de Guadalupe"). The Sonora apparently reached latitude 58° N., just a few miles south of Cross Sound. Fr. Benito de la Sierra and Fr. Miguel de Campa Cos were chaplains on board the Sonora. The journal of the former has been translated by A. J. Baker, and published with introduction and notes by Henry R. Wagner (Baker, 1930). The journal kept by the pilot Maurelle (or Mourelle) was more important, since an English translation was published by Dames Barrington in 1781 and a year 27 This expedition, and that of 1775, are summarized in Fleurieu, 1801, vol. 1, pp. LXIV-LXXI; Galiano, 1802, pp. xcii- xciii; Bancroft, 1884, vol. 1, pp. 150-166; 1886, pp. 194-202; Krause, 1956, p. 16; Wagner, 1937, vol. 1, pp. 172-179. Eber- stadt, 1941, pp. 31-35, follows Bancroft. 28 For translations of their journals, see Griffin, 1891. Gorinly (1955) gives citations of many published and unpublished journals and other original documents, and of their translations, pertaining to the Spanish voyages of 1774, 1775, and later years. 29 Dall and Baker (1883, p. 159) identify this with Salisbury Sound, named by Portlock in 1787, or the "Bay of Islands" of Cook and Lisiansky. Wagner (1937, vol. 1, p. 176) believes it is "Sea Lion Bay" (Sealion Cove), 2 miles south of the entrance to the sound. later in German by Pallas (1781-83, vol. 3, pp. 198-273). Bairington's version was reedited by T. C. Russell in 1920. While these voyages of the Spanish give us our first information about the Indians of the northern Northwest Coast, the first explorer to visit the Gulf of Alaska after Bering was Capt. James Cook, with the Resolution and the Discovery, on his third and last voyage. In May 1778, he sailed up the coast after a visit in Nookta Sound, and saw and named Mount Edgecumbe and the "Bay of Isles," Cross Sound, Cape Fairweather, and the two great giants of the range, Mount Fair-weather and Mount Saint Elias. Although Cook gave different names to features which the Spanish had previously visited, and of course named differently, he seems to have known something about the Spanish explorations of 1774 and 1775 and their claims to the Northwest Coast, since he had orders not to investigate the shores between latitudes 45° and 65° N., but to concentrate on making discoveries north of this point. Nevertheless, he did begin his discoveries at Nootka or "King George's Sound," where he traded with natives. Unfortunately, from here northward he seems to have kept well out to sea. Thus he passed the mouth of Yakutat Bay some distance from shore and did not approach it. A few days later, however, he came to and named Cape Suckling and "Comptroller Bay," and also landed on the south point of Kayak Island, which he named "Kaye's Island" for the King's chaplain. Here he deposited a bottle containing a notice of his discovery and a few coins. He noted the island (Wing-ham) north of Kayak Island. It is regrettable that this excellent observer encountered no natives along the coast of Alaska until he entered Prince William Sound and still later the great inlet which today carries his name. Captain Cook was certainly unaware that he had actually landed at Bering's Cape Saint Elias, and he mistakenly gave the name "Beering's Bay" either to Yakutat Bay or to some (apparent?) opening near it, thereby initiating a series of confusions in geographical nomenclature. Even the Russians had no idea where Bering had touched the American coast and carelessly applied the term "Bering's Cape St. Elias" to Cape Clear (the southwestern point of Montague Island in Prince William Sound), to Cape Suckling, or even to a nonexistent point between Icy Bay and Yakutat Bay, vaguely confusing Mount Saint Elias with the cape. (See Coxe, 1803, p. 304 note; Alaskan Boundary Tribunal Atlas, 1904.) Bancroft (1886, p. 204) believes that Cook's "Beering's" or "Behring's Bay" was Yakutat Bay. Davidson (1901 b, p. 43) at first concurred, but later (1904, pp. 53-54) argued that although Cook had seen the entrance to Yakutat Bay, he did not name it, and that IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 111 he was actually southeast of Yakutat Bay (i.e. off Dangerous River) when he thought he saw the bay where Bering had anchored, mistaking the gap in the mountains flanking Yakutat Glacier for the opening of a bay, since he was too far off the coast to see the low foreshore. Dall (Dall and Baker 1883, p. 207 note, p. 205 note) denies that Cook saw Yakutat Bay at all and believes that it was Dry Bay with its rocky knob ["Bear Island"] that Cook named "Beering's Bay." If Cook's latitudes were accurate, as Wagner (1937, vol. 1, p. 186) believes, then this must have been the bay that Cook named, although Wagner himself thinks it was Yakutat Bay. The subsequent namings and renamings of Yakutat Bay and Dry Bay are indicated in due course. The following year, 1779, the Spanish, ignorant of Cook's discoveries, sent their Third Bucareli Expedition northward from San Bias.30 This expedition had been planned in 1776, with the hope of preceding Cook, but was so delayed that it did not reach the Northwest Coast until after the latter's death in Hawaii. It consisted of the frigate Nuestra Senora del Rosario, commonly known as La Princessa, under Lt. Ignacio Arteaga, accompanied by the frigate Virgen (or Nuestra Senora) de los Remedios, better known as La Favorita, under Lt. Francisco de la Bodega y Cuadra. An account of the voyage, written in Spanish by Ensign Antoine Maurelle (Francisco Antonio Mourelle), second captain on La Favorita, was obtained by La Perouse in Manila, 1787, and an extract from it was published in the latter's own report (1798, vol. 1, pp. 345-364; 1799, vol. 1, pp. 242-255 of the English translation). According to T. C. Eussell (1920, p. ix) this excerpt and Maurelle's journal of 1775 as published by Barrington are both "filled with errors." This Spanish expedition spent from May 3 to July 1 in exploring Bucareli Bay, trying to avoid trouble with the natives, and trading with them. From the Tlingit there (Henya), they purchased three little boys and two little girls, and then sailed northward, closely following the shore. We cannot be sure whether they aaw Mount Saint Elias, but "on the 17th of July arrived at Cape San Elias, sailed around Kayak Island, found the shelter which it afforded and declared that this gulf (seno) was manifestly the exact locality which ao Summarized by Fleurieu, 1801, pp. LXXXIV-XC; Navarette in Galiano, 1802, pp. c-cn; Bancroft, 1884, vol. 1, pp. 172-173; 1886, pp. 217-221; Krause, 1956, pp. 17-18; Wagner, 1937, vol. 1, pp. 191-196. Although I have not consulted it, there is a MS. translation by G. F. Barwick in the Provincial Archives, Victoria, B.C., of Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Cuadra, "Expeditions in the years 1775 and 1779 towards the west coast of North America," from Annuario de la Direcci6n Hidrografia, Afio III, 1865. For the voyage of 1779, see also the translation by Walter Thornton, S.J. (1918). had been seen by Captain Bering" (Davidson, 1901 b, p. 43, from a Spanish MS. in his possession). Wagner (1937, vol. 1, p. 193) states that their "Cabo St. Elias" was actually Cape Suckling. Kayak Island was named "Carmen," and "Cuadra, in his journal, expressed the conviction that a large river must enter the sea between Carmen Island and the harbor of Santiago [probably Port Etches on Hinchinbrook Island in Prince William Sound], thus correctly locating Copper River, which both Cook and Vancouver failed to observe" (Bancroft, 1886, p. 219). While exploring the southern part of Kayak Island, the Spaniards encountered some natives who appeared friendly and generous, but whom their Tlingit "interpreters" (the children bought at Bucareli Bay) could not understand. These natives appear to have been Chugach, for it is they who persuaded the Spaniards to enter the port of "Santiago." Among the most disputed discoveries of this voyage was the "Pamplona Bank," a shoal reported to be about half a league in circumference and about 12 leagues from the coast, located, as nearly as dead reckoning could fix it, south of Cape Yakataga, where indeed a submerged ridge does exist. Could this have been above the surface in the 18th century? (see pp. 99-100). The expedition sailed as far as the entrance to Cook Inlet, but failed to encounter the Russian sloup Kliment, which was then off Kodiak Island. While Maurelle gives us good descriptions of the southern Tlingit and of the Chugacb, there is unfortunately nothing on the natives of Controller Bay. The importance of these explorations, and of those made by the Russians at this time, was not simply the extension of geographical knowledge, although the general trend of the whole coast from California to Icy Cape in Bering Sea and from Attu to Turnagain Arm was thereby established, and some areas (Cook Inlet, Prince William Sound, the west coast of Chichagof Island, Bucareli and Nootka Sounds) were fairly well explored. This is because the Spanish charts were not made public at that time, and the Russians established on Unalaska Island had no wish to exchange geographical information. Rather, it was the prompt publication of Cook's third and last voyage, despite Admiralty efforts to keep the Spanish in ignorance by withholding publication, which made known to the world the rich sea otter herds encountered along the American mainland. (See Wickersham, 1927, pp. 343-349, for the many editions of Cook's voyages, including unauthorized private journals, official reports and translations, beginning with an anonymous publication in 1781. The last was attributed to both John Ledyard and John Rickman, but neither ascription seems likely to Wagner (1937, vol. 1, p. 189)). Furthermore, the actual wealth in furs brought home by these explorers stimulated 112 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 further voyages by the Spanish, French, and British Governments, as well as private trading ventures in which the "Boston Men," newly freed from British restrictions, were to take part. The Russians, and especially the company founded by Grigor Ivanovich Shelikhov and Ivan Golikov in 1783, hastened to extend their operations from Kodiak to the the mainland. The inevitable consequence of this was to be conflict between the Kussians and the Kolosh or Tlingit, who could not be enslaved as readily as could the Aleut, or even the Koniag and Chugach. In 1784, Shelikhov established a post on Three Saints Bay, Kodiak, from which expeditions were dispatched to hunt and trade for furs, and to exact them from the natives as "tribute." Zaikov and Other Russian Expeditions to the Mainland (1783-88) Russian expansion, 1783-88, brought the Russians and their Aleut hunters into direct contact with the Chugach, Eyak, and Tlingit. According to Bancroft (1886, pp. 238-239): "the fierce Thlinkeets of Comptroller Bay, Yakutat, and Ltua [Lituya]" so terrified the "docile Aleut hunters" that they were rendered "unfit even to follow their peaceful pursuits without an escort of four or five armed Russians to several hundred hunters." Of the earlier Russian expeditions, one of the most important was that of several private traders under the leadership of Potap Zaikov in 1783.31 This is because Zaikov gives us information on the Chugach and because his subordinate, Nagaiev, discovered the mouth of the Copper River. This expedition to the mainland was directly inspired by the information which Zaikov had obtained from Captain Cook about Prince William Sound. The Russians went in three ships, the Sv Alexei under Eustrate Delarov (the Greek merchant in charge of Shelikhov's post on Kodiak), the Sv Mikhail under Dimitri Polutov (who was to commit outrages upon the Chugach), and the Alexandr Nevski under Zaikov himself. On July 27, the ships entered a small cove on the north end of "Kaye's Island" which the Russians later learned, from natives they captured, was called "Kayak." These captives were apparently Chugach who came here to hunt but had no permanent homes 31 Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, Supplement, pp. 1-8, contains an "Extract from the Journal of the Steersman Potap Zalkoff, kept on the ship 'St. Alexander Nevsky' in 1783" (Petrofi's translation in the Bancroft Library from which I quote by permission of the Director). This information is summarized in Bancroft, 1886, pp. 186-191. on the island (Bancroft, 1886, p. 187 and note 27). Among the items reported by Zaikov was that the Chugach appeared to have fragments of green bottle glass; "in their huts we also found earthen vessels dried in the fire, similar to common crockery made in the country of clay"; and that the Chugach also possessed "a blanket made of white wool, similar to sheep's wool, plaited and fringed . . . [and] ornamented with yellow and coffee color" (Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, Supplement, pp. 2, 5, 6). Nagaiev explored the delta of the Copper River, which was called "I-oullit" by the Chugach, who apparently used to ascend it for a journey of 20 days in their baidars (large skin boats), until they came to a place where many people lived and where they obtained native copper in trade or sometimes found pieces of it for themselves (ibid., p. 6). The Russians found no habitations on the mainland except one small settlement on the coast, discovered by Nagaiev, from which the occupants had fled. Nagaiev also met and traded with a large body of Indians, apparently Chugach from Nuchek, from whom he obtained many garments of sea otter fur. Although the natives "attacked" him, he was able to return with the four women and two children whom he had captured. It is probably safe to assume that the Russians had been the aggressors. [Meanwhile] "the Americans [Chugach] on the ship said that the Shugatch were engaged in a quarre or war, but that they traded with five tribes o Americans. 1st the Kaniags, i.e. the inhabitants of Kadiak Island, 2nd the Kinayans, living in the bays and coves situated between Kadiak Island and Shugatch Bay [Kenai Peninsula Eskimo, and Tanaina Athabaskans?], 3rd the I-oulits, living on the river described above, 4th with the people living east of Kadiak, on the American coast, called Lakhamites, 5th with the Kolosh tribes living east of them, who all go out with them and undertake large parties at various times of the year, in large bidars." [Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, Supplement, p. 7.] Bancroft (1886, p. 191, note 32), who had access to Zaikov's MS. journal in the Sitka Archives, refers to the fourth group as "a tribe living on the coast of the mainland from Kyak Island eastward, called Lakhamit (the Aglegmutes). ..." These are almost certainly Eyak-speakers, but although the name given above seems to be a corruption of Tlaxa (Yakutat Bay) with the Eskimo ending -miut (people of). Nor can we be sure whether the "Kolosh" were Tlingit already settled at Dry Bay or Yakutat, or were perhaps trading and raiding parties from farther away. According to Bancroft (ibid.), "Nagaief also correctly stated that the Yullits, or Copper River natives, lived only on the upper river, but traded copper and land-furs with the IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 113 coast people for seal-skins, dried fish, and oil." Prom Controller Bay the Russians returned to Prince William Sound, where they wandered about, pillaging and raping, until the Chugach, reinforced by the Tanaina from Cook Inlet and Koniag Eskimo from Kodiak, succeeded in killing Polutov and his party but spared Zaikov and Ms men. The rest of the Russians spent the winter in Zaikof Harbor on Montague Island, where nearly half of them died of scurvy. It is important to emphasize that although Zaikov's own journal, according to Bancroft (ibid.), accurately describes the country and its people, it is also said to furnish "proof positive that his visit to Prince William Sound in 1783 was the first made by him or any other Russian in a sea-going vessel." However, from Cook, and perhaps from the Spanish, the Chugach had obtained beads and other things. We should also remember that Cook himself found that the Chugach and Cook Inlet natives already in 1778 possessed blue glass beads and iron, and there is no reason to suppose that such articles, which could have been derived from Russian sources through intertribal trade, had not also passed to the Yakutat before any Europeans themselves reached that remote bay (de Laguna, 1956, pp. 60-61). Already, too, "an old bayonet and pieces of other iron implements" had been seen in the hands of the Queen Charlotte Islanders by Juan Perez in 1774, "which the pilot conjectured must have belonged to the boats' crews lost from Chirikof's vessel somewhere in these latitudes in 1741" (Bancroft, 1886, p. 196). Chirikov's boats had actually been lost so much farther north that this explanation is unlikely. Moreover, the friar Juan Crespi who was with P6rez noted that the Haida women wore bracelets and rings of iron as well as copper (cf. Rickard, 1939, pp. 25-26). The Sitka Tlingit of Puerto de los Remedios in 1775 seem to have had only "long and large lances pointed with flint" (Maurelle, 1920, p. 45), but at Bucareli Bay in 1799 the Tlingit not only received "glass beads, bits of old iron, etc." from the Spaniards in return for furs (Maurelle in LaPerouse, 1799, vol. 1, p. 245), but already were armed with "lances, four yards long, headed with iron; knives of the same metal, longer than an European bayonet, but not common among them" although they still used stone adzes (ibid., p. 247). Bodega here also saw bracelets of copper and iron. Rickard (1939) has discussed at length such iron and copper objects among the Indians of the Northwest Coast, arguing that because they had already found and used iron in driftwood, they were acquainted with its usefulness and hence eager to obtain it in trade. I have also interpreted as drift iron the iron found at the site on Knight Island in Yakutat Bay, especially in view of native traditions about finding and shaping such iron (see pp. 233, 256; de Laguna et al., 1964, pp. 88-90). 260-517—72—TOI. VII, pt. 1 10 Of greater ethnological interest to us than the explorations of Zaikov and Nagaiev in 1783-84 was the expedition to Yakutat and Lituya Bays of Ismailov and Bocharov in 1788, although they had been preceded by LaPerouse (1786), Dixon (1787), and Colnett (1788). Davidson (1904, p. 48) makes the statement that: "We may reasonably assume that the Russian fur hunters had been in Yakutat even before Cook's time," (i.e. 1778), yet I can find no evidence to support this assumption, nor even that they had come "... certainly before the advent of La P&rouse." The presence of iron and glass beads in the hands of the natives of Lituya Bay in 1786 (LaPerouse, 1799, vol. 1, pp. 369-370), and of iron at Yakutat Bay in 1787 (Beres-ford, 1789, p. 168), may mean no more than that these were articles of Russian origin handled in that intertribal trade which we know existed along the coast, as indeed LaPerouse himself concluded (cf. also Bancroft, 1886, pp. 239-240). Beresford (1789, p. 240), who visited Yakutat Bay, Sitka Sound and other places on the Northwest Coast as Dixon's supercargo in 1787, observed with respect to beads: "These ornaments were undoubtedly introduced here [Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound] by the Russians, who have constantly traded with these people for many years past, and beads have been generally used in barter, so that if we make this a rule for judging how far the Russians have had a direct intercourse on the coast, it will appear that they have not been to the Eastward of Cape Hinchinbrook: and I think this conjecture far from improbable." Although Beresford was not aware that beads had been seen in Lituya Bay, his estimate of Russian travel seems reasonable. Dall and Baker (1883, p. 202), however, state unequivocally: "The bay [Lituya] had been visited by Russian hunting parties before LaPerouse, who found the frame of one of their baidars there (although he did not recognize the fact). . . ." This is probably based upon Tebenkov (1852; quoted by Davidson, 1904, p. 58), for he had written: "The bay had been visited by the Russian American ships before LaPerouse; but the entrance was too dangerous for their vessels, and no sea otter visited the bay. Moreover, it is destitute of fish, except for the halibut in spring and summer." Although this is hardly an accurate description of Lituya Bay (pp. 93-95), and the Russian American Company was not founded until 1799, it is, of course, quite possible that a Russian ship did stand outside the entrance to the bay, as stated in Yakutat native tradition (pp. 258-259). Yet it is more reasonable to agree with Bancroft (1886, p. 258 note 5) that "We have no evidence of the advance of Ismailof's boats to 114 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 the point [Lituya Bay] previous to the arrival of the French frigates [of LaPerouse]. The sealskin covering of a large canoe or bidar discovered here would point to visits of Aglegmutes [Eyak] or Chugatsches." Or, we might add, "of Yakutat natives," since they also claim to have had skin boats. In fact, we simply do not know whether the various Russian traders and hunters were active between 1784 and 1788 along the Gulf of Alaska, even though there are certain suggestive passages in Shelikhov's report of his travels, 1783-87,32 which are worth consideration. Thus Shelikhov himself wrote, under the date of March 7, 1786: "As I was now disposing all things for my departure [from Kodiak to Siberia], for the further prosecution of the discoveries which were not completed the foregoing year, I sent five Russians to build a fortress at Cape St. Elias, with a view as well to assist them in this undertaking as to conciliate the inhabitants of the districts stretching from that point to the 47th degree of latitude, I dispatched with them a thousand men, consisting of Konaghi natives of Kuktak [Kodiak], and other islands, together with seventy inhabitants of the Fox Islands [Aleutians], to raise crosses on the coasts, and to bury in the earth pot-sherd, the bark of birch tree, and coals [i.e., to take possession of the land]." [Coxe, 1803, pp. 288-289.] On May 19, Shelikhov learned that "those who had sailed to Cape St. Elias began their work, and left a party to finish the fort, which I ordered to be constructed in that place" (ibid., pp. 289-290). During this period, the Russians were chiefly concerned with establishing or consolidating positions on Afognak and Shuyak Islands in the Kodiak group, and on Cook Inlet ("Bay of Kinaigisk"), against active native opposition, and while Shelikhov certainly wanted explorations to be made "from the 60th to the 40th degree of north latitude" (ibid., p. 291), because he left orders to that effect, it is highly improbable that the "Cape St. Elias" to which he refers was as far away as Kayak Island. In fact, as Coxe (ibid., p. 304 note) points out, Shelikhov referred to the south point of Sukha (Montague Island in Prince William Sound) as Bering's "Cape St. Elias." LaPerouse (1786) In 1785 the French government dispatched Commodore Jean Francois de Galaup, Comte de LaPerouse on a scientific voyage around the world in the frigate L'Astrolabe, accompanied by La Boussole under Vis-comte de Langle.33 Chinard (1937, p. xi, my translation) observes that ". . . one can boldly affirm that no other scientific expedition of the eighteenth century had been prepared with more care and with a more scrupulous method: the instructions given to Laperouse could and should be the object of a separate study." Louis XVI was, for example, particularly concerned that relations with any natives encountered should be friendly and peaceful. Questionnaires prepared by various specialists and by the scientific academies included anthropological and ethnological topics, as well as those pertaining to other branches of natural history and science. These questionnaires and instructions (1784-85) not only indicate clearly the extent of knowledge and the scientific problems that predominated on the eve of the French Revolution, but indicate that this voyage "deserves to mark a date in the annals of geography and science" (Chinard, 1937, p. xn, my translation). These documents also seem to be precursors to those which President Jefferson was to give about 30 years later to Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. In addition, LaPerouse's expedition included some 17 engineers, scientists, and artists. All of these circumstances make his reports of much value to us, and they were fortunately sent back to France before the tragic disappearance of the expedition in the South Pacific in 1788. Early in the morning of June 23, 1786, LaPerouse's ships were approaching the American shore, and "As the mist cleared away, a long chain of mountains covered with snow burst at once upon our sight. .. . We distinguished in these the Mount St. Elias of Behring, with it's summit rising above the clouds." (LaPerouse, 1799, vol. 1, p. 358.) Below was apparently the outwash plain near Icy Bay or the moraine-covered end of the Malaspina Glacier. The ships seem to have made landfall somewhere between Icy Bay and Yakutat « Pallas, 1793, vol. 6, pp. 165-204; Coxe, 1803, pp. 269-301. For an account of the publication of these "Travels," see Okun, 1951, ch. 2, note 2. 33 Quotations from LaPerouse's account are taken from the English translation (1799), for while I have consulted the original French edition, edited by Milet-Mureau (1798), and that edited by Chinard (1937), I have felt that a contemporary translation of an 18th-century French naval officer's report would be more accurate than my own. Summaries of the voyage may be found in Fleurieu, 1801, vol. 1, pp. CII-CXVI; Krause, 1956, pp. 17-18; Russell, 1891 b, pp. 58-60. There are a number of careless inaccuracies in Bancroft, 1886, pp. 255-259. IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 115 Bay, at "Pointe de La Boussole," M and anchored off the mouth of Yakutat Bay on the 27th. A boat from each ship was sent in to look for an anchorage, but found none; nor were any natives encountered. Apparently it was the northwestern shore of the bay near Cape Manby which was explored, for this was found exposed to winds from the southsouthwest to eastsoutheast, and a landing was made with difficulty. LaP6rouse named Yakutat Bay "Baie de Monti" after the officer who commanded the landing party. Following the usage of Galiano (1802), the name is now applied to the sheltered arm leading in on the southeastern part of the bay, which unfortunately de Monti did not discover. The ships again followed the coast toward the southeast, and after attempting to determine the exact position and height of Mount Saint Elias, came to the mouth of Dry Bay, which LaPe"rouse (1799, vol. 1, p. 362) at first believed was "the bay to which captain Cook gave the name of Behring." It was evident, however, that they were off the mouth of a river of considerable size, the two large entrances to which were obstructed by sandbars "on which the sea broke with such violence, that it was impossible for our boats to get near. Mr de Clonard spent five or six hours to no purpose in search of an entrance; but he saw smoke, a proof that the country is inhabited" (ibid., p. 363). A large basin or lagoon was seen inside, but no native huts or canoes. LaP^rouse thought that this might have been the place where Bering [sic; read Chirikov] tried to land and lost his boats in the rough water, and so named the Alsek River "Riviere de Bering," confident that no "Bering's Bay" existed. On July 1 and 2, Cape Fairweather and Mount Fairweather ("Beautemps") were passed and the ships came to "what appeared to be a very fine bay" (ibid., p. 364), that is, Lituya Bay, to which LaP6rouse gave the name "Port des Francais." Three small boats, sent to explore the bay, entered and left in safety, but when the ships tried to follow, the ebb tide was so strong that they could make no headway against it. The following morning, July 3, the ships shot into the bay on the end of the flood tide, but as LaP£rouse observed: "During the thirty years that I have followed the sea I never saw two vessels so near being lost" (ibid., p. 367). A good anchorage was eventually found on the western shore, farther from the dangerous entrance, and later the ships moved behind the island in the middle of the bay. 31 Dall and Baker (1883, p. 206, note) identify this as Point Manby, but it seems to be too far west. It may be a point just west of Sitkagi Bluffs, or even what then corresponded to Point Riou at Icy Bay. From July 3 to 30, when the vessels sailed for Nootka Sound and California, explorations were made of Lituya Bay and the neighborhood, and, as is well known, on July 13 LaPerouse had the misfortunate to lose the two pinnaces of his frigates, with their whole complement of 21 officers and men, in the terrible tidal currents at the mouth of the bay. The second pinnace had gone to attempt the rescue of the first; the jollyboat, which had also been swept through by the ebb, escaped the breakers and was able to reenter the bay when the tide turned. In memory of this loss, LaPerouse erected a wooden monument on the south point of the island in the bay, which he named in consequence "Isle du Cenotaphe," and buried an account of the tragedy in a bottle at the foot of the monument. Of chief interest to us are the observations made by LaPerouse on the Indians of Lituya Bay; his account should be compared with the Indian tradition of his visit as recorded by Emmons (1911) near Juneau in 1886. What may be a very abbreviated version of the same story was heard at Yakutat in 1949 (pp. 258-259). We may anticipate by stating that the Indians of Lituya Bay were Tlingit. Certainly the words for numbers are Tlingit, as are those for 'labret' kentaga (£ent'a£a); 'face' kaaga (q& ya, 'someone's face'); 'seal's tooth' or 'teeth,' without distinction between singular and plural, kaourr6 (qa 'uxu, 'someone's tooth,' not "seal's tooth"); 'chief (not "friend") alcaou ('anqawu; for n is often pronounced like 1); 'hair of the head' khlrleies (xis, 'snarls'). Yet 'sea otter' skecter is certainly not very similar to the Tlingit yuxt6 or ylxwtc (LaPerouse, 1799, vol. 1, pp. 409-411). However, there is nothing in the customs or objects of material culture observed which was not Tlingit. Moreover, according to Emmon's informant, LaPerouse's arrival was witnessed by a party of Hoonah Tl'uknaxAdi from Grouse Fort in Icy Straits, and parties from Hoonah and Chilkat used to stop at Lituya Bay on their way to Yakutat to trade for copper (Emmons, 1911, p. 297). The first dealings with the Indians seem to have been most amicable, for while still outside the mouth of the bay: "We soon perceived some savages, who made signs of friendship, by displaying and waving white mantles, and different skins. Several canoes of these Indians were fishing in the bay, where the water was as smooth as in a basin. . . . [LaPerouse, 1799, vol. 1, p. 365.] "During our forced stay at the entrance of the bay [before the anchorage was shifted to Cenotaph Island, July 4], we had been continually surrounded with the canoes of the savages, who offered us fish, skins of otters and other animals, and different little articles of their dress, in exchange for our iron. 116 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 To our great surprise they appeared well accustomed to traffic, and bargained with as much skill as any tradesman of Europe. Of all our articles of trade, they appeared to have no great desire for any thing but iron: they accepted indeed a few beads [rassades]; but these served rather to conclude a bargain, than to form the basis of it. We at length prevailed on them to take pewter pots and plates: yet these had only a transient success, iron prevailing over every thing. They were not unacquainted with this metal. Every one had a dagger of it suspended from the neck, not unlike the criss of the Malays, except that the handle was different, being nothing more than an elongation of the blade, rounded, and without any edge. This weapon had a sheath of tanned leather, and appeared to be their most valuable moveable. As we examined these daggers very attentively, they informed us by signs, that they made use of them only against the bears and other wild beasts. [Evidently the Indians were trying to assure the French that their intentions were friendly.] Some were of copper, but they did not appear to give a preference to these. This metal is pretty common among them: they use it chiefly for collars, bracelets, and various other ornaments; and they also point their arrows with it." [Ibid., p. 369.] LaPerouse speculates correctly that the Indians might have obtained and shaped native copper, but that it was highly unlikely they had access to virgin iron, and they certainly could not smelt iron ore. He believed that they could forge it, and observed that their iron was "as soft and as easy to cut as lead" (ibid., p. 370). He also points out that "the day of our arrival we saw necklaces of beads, and some little articles of brass . . ." which the Indians could not have made (ibid.). After considering the possibility that the iron, copper, and brass might have come from American traders, Hudson's Bay Company agents, or from the Spanish, LaPe'rouse concludes that they were most probably of Kussian origin. It does not occur to him that the iron might have come from drift logs or wreckage. "Gold is not an object of more eager desire in Europe, than iron is in this part of America, which is another proof of it's scarcity. Every man, it is true, has a little in his possession; but they are so covetous of it, that they leave no means untried to obtain it." [Ibid., p. 370.] The behavior of the natives, especially at first, might give some indication as to whether they were familiar with Whites. "On the day of our arrival, we were visited by the chief of the principal village" (ibid.). This was probably the village with cemetery or "morai" on the southeast shore of the bay, between Harbor Point and the hills called The Paps. LaPeYouse's chart indicates another village on the opposite shore, just inside La Chaus6e Spit, where a trail ("Chemain de la Pecheet du Morai") ran northwestward just behind the rocky beach to the lagoon at the mouth of Huagin Eiver ("Kiviere aux Salmons"), where there was another settlement. Farther up the northwestern side of the bay, just beyond the first hill, was a fourth village at the mouth of a stream. The chief seems to have come aboard with the usual ceremony. "Before he came on board, he appeared to address a prayer to the sun. He then made a long harangue, which was concluded by a kind of song, by no means disagreeable, and greatly resembling the plain chaunt [plein-chanf\ of our churches. The Indians in his canoe accompanied him, repeating the same air in chorus. After this ceremony, they almost all came on board, and danced for an hour to the music of their own voices, in which they are very exact. [This seems to have been the usual Tlingit method of greeting strangers, or at least Europeans, with whom they wished to trade (pp. 141, 142, 347).] I gave the chief several presents, which made him so very troublesome, that he daily spent five or six hours on board; and I was obliged to repeat them very frequently, or he would go away discontented, and with an air of threat, which however was not very formidable." [Ibid.] One wonders whether it was not the usual expectation that when one chief visited another he should not be permitted to return home without a gift, as at a potlatch. We can see that neither the French nor the Indians appeared to be afraid of each other and that no demand was made on either side for the exchange of hostages. In this connection we should note that the Spanish in Bucareli Bay in 1779 did not find it necessary to exchange hostages in order to trade, although they did keep their arms by them, and shut their eyes to petty thefts. However, when some valuable objects were taken, they would temporarily seize "either some canoe or some person of distinction until the stolen object was returned" (Maurelle in LaPe'rouse, 1799, vol. 1, p. 250). In 1787 Dixon was able to trade at Yakutat and Sitka without exchanging hostages; nor did Colnett have to resort to this device at Yakutat the following year. The exchange of hostages is a matter of some interest, since Bancroft (1886, p. 236) argues that— "The custom of interchanging hostages while engaged in traffic was carried eastward by the Eussians and forced upon the English, Americans, and Spaniards long after the entire submission of Aleuts, Kenai, and Chugatsches had obviated the IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 117 necessity of such a course in the west. Portlock was compelled to conform to the custom at various places before he could obtain any trade, but as a rule four or five natives were demanded for one of two sailors from the ship." Yet when Portlock (1789, pp. 261, 266, 269, 284-286) in August 1787 had to yield to the requests of the Tlingit at Portlock Harbor (Chichagof Island) and Sitka to send a man ashore, this seems to have been largely so that the Indians, often including the chief himself, and as many volunteers as Portlock would accept, could spend the night on board ship, where they were well entertained. Nevertheless, Portlock found that on a few occasions when he refused to exchange hostages the natives became alarmed and would not approach the ships. Still, the pleasure with which they received the sailor, usually Joseph Woodcock, the fondness which they seemed to have for him, and their consideration of his wants do not suggest the kidnap-blackmail tactics of the Eussians. However, the Tlingit of Portlock Harbor had abeady been to Prince William Sound, where they had fought the Chugach (ibid., p. 260), and may have learned to exchange hostages there. If the exchange of hostages had indeed been adopted by the Tlingit from the Russians or from the Chugach, this must have been because it resembled the Tlingits' own aboriginal custom of exchanging hostage-ambassadors in peace-making ceremonies between Tlingit sibs (see p. 150), and there is no reason to suppose that this did not antedate Russian influence. Indeed, Woodcock was evidently called 'deer' ("cow-aka-na—hostage or friendship" [kuwakan], ibid., p. 293), treated with the ceremonious behavior accorded to such officials, and also expected to observe their special taboos (i.e., against whistling), although Portlock thought that his hosts were afraid that his whistling was a signal for his friends to take him away (ibid., p. 285). Although Tlingit behavior toward the first European navigators seems to have varied between patterns suggestive of ceremonious trade and those based upon peace making, all evidence would tend to confirm LaP6rouse's statement that: "The port was never seen by any navigator" (1799, vol. 1, p. 366), or at least the conclusion that no European vessel had previously entered it. As soon as the French ships were anchored by Cenotaph Island they were visited by all the natives in the bay. Here the French had set up their observatory for checking their position and the two chronometers (which, incidentally, had been used by Captain Cook and had been presented by the British Government). Here also, the saibnakers, smith, and coopers were working. These activities, as well as the tools and equipment spread about, must have drawn the Indians like flies to honey. They came with canoe loads of sea otter furs, which were traded for hatchets, adzes, and bars of iron. (These skins were later sold in Macao, China, and the entire proceeds distributed among the enlisted men on the two frigates, as we learn from a letter of LaP6rouse, quoted by Fleurieu, 1801, p. cxm note, p. cix.) Salmon were first traded for pieces of old iron hoops, but soon the natives "would not part with this fish unless for nails, or small implements of iron" (LaPerouse, 1799, vol. 1, p. 371). Unfortunately, the observatory and tents on the island were not safe from pillage. "As all the Indian villages were on the main-land, we flattered ourselves, that we should be in security on the island, but we were soon convinced of our mistake. Experience had already taught us, that the Indians were great thieves; but we did not suspect them of sufficient activity and perseverance, to carry into execution difficult and tedious schemes. In a short time we learned to know them better. They spent the night in watching for favourable opportunities to rob us: but we kept a strict watch on board our vessels, and they were seldom able to get the better of our vigilance. I had established also the Spartan law: the person robbed was punished; and if the thief received no applause, at least we reclaimed nothing, to avoid all occasion of quarrel, which might have led to fatal consequences. That this extreme mildness rendered them insolent I will not disavow: but I endeavoured to convince them of the superiority of our arms; for which purpose I fired a cannon, to show them, that I could reach them at a distance, and pierced with a musket-ball, in presence of a great number of Indians, several doubles of a cuirass [wooden armor] they had sold us, after they had informed us by signs that it was impenetrable to arrows or poignards. Our fowlers, too, who were good marksmen, killed birds over their heads. I am well assured, that they never thought of inspiring us with fear; but their conduct convinced me, that they believed our forbearance inexhaustible. In a very little time they obliged me to remove the establishment on the island. They landed upon it in the night, on the side next the offing; crossed a very thick wood, which it was impossible for us to penetrate in the day; and creeping on their bellies like snakes, almost without stirring a leaf, they contrived to steal some of our effects, in spite of our sentries. [This is obviously deduction, since the maneuvers of the natives were not observed.] They even had the address to enter by night into the tent where MeS8rs de Lauriston and Darbaud, who were on guard at the observatory, slept; and took away a silver-mounted musket, and the clothes of the two officers, which they had taken the precaution to place under their pillow, without being perceived by a guard of w - \.; ..*;?.■ ■>■ . da Caenotapte MAP 18.—Lituya Bay aa seen by LaPerouse. "Part of the Plan du Port des Francais (Lituya Bay); engraved map 19 in the LaPerouse atlas, Paris, 1797." Figure 5 in Donald J. Orth's "Dictionary of Alaska Place Names," Geological Survey Professional Paper No. 567 dated 1967. In his bibliography, Orth refers both to the English 2-volume edition of 1799 and atlas folio, and to the French edition of i volumes with atlas folio. This detail was evidently from the French atlas. IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 119 twelve men, or even awakening the officers. This theft would have given us little uneasiness[!], but for the loss of the original paper, containing all our astronomical observations since our arrival at Port des Francais. "These circumstances were no impediment to our taking in wood and water. All our officers were continually on duty with the boats, at the head of the different working parties, which we were obliged to send ashore. Their presence, and the order they maintained, were checks upon the savages." [Ibid., pp. 372-373.] As can be seen from the above, although the Indians seemed to feel free to pilfer, they were as careful as the French to avoid any open aggression. Why then did they steal? Was it simply the uncontrollable reaction to the sight of undreamed of riches, or was it perhaps an attempt to get restitution for something of which they felt they had been legally deprived? Or, was it a combination of motives? The next passage suggests an answer. "The day after this excursion [to the head of the bay], the chief came on board better attended, and more ornamented, than usual. After many songs and dances, he offered to sell me the island, on which our observatory was erected; tacitly reserving, no doubt, to himself and the other Indians, the right of robbing us upon it. It was more than questionable, whether this chief were proprietor of a single foot of land: the government of these people is of such a nature, that the country must belong to the whole society; yet, as many of the savages were witnesses to the bargain, I had a right to suppose that it was sanctioned by their assent; and accordingly I accepted the offer of the chief, sufficiently aware, however, that many tribunals would find a flaw in the contract, if ever the nation should think proper to litigate our title, for we could bring no proof, that the witnesses were it's representatives, or the chief the actual proprietor of the soil. Be this as it might, I gave him several yards of red cloth, hatchets, adzes, bar iron, and nails, and made presents to all his attendants. The bargain being thus concluded, and the purchase money paid, I sent to take possession of the island with the usual formalities, and buried at the foot of a rock several bronze metals, which had been struck before our departure from France, with a bottle containing an inscription recording our claim." [Ibid., p. 375.] While LaPe'rouse doubts the legality of this transaction and hesitates to believe that the Tlingit were sophisticated enough to treat real estate as an alienable commodity, we now know that land belonged to sibs (or their segments) for whom the chief acted as administrator; that with the consent of the group he could give away territorial rights, as at Angoon (Gar-field, 1947, p. 441; de Laguna, 1960, pp. 133-134) and on the Gulf of Alaska (see p. 254), or sell them. Indeed, it was through purchase that the Kwack-qwan and the Drum House Teqwedi acquired their lands in the Yakutat area (see also the version recorded by Swanton, 1909, Tale 105, p. 356; and pp. 232, 252). "Land" for the Tlingit included, of course, not simply the actual land, but offshore waters, and the rights to gather wild products (cf. Niblack, 1890, p. 335). What is significant about the Angoon and Yakutat transactions is that these transfers of territorial rights were made in order to resolve conflicts. This is particularly clear in the purchases of Knight Island and Humpback Creek in Yakutat Bay, which were undertaken expressly to prevent further trouble between the owners and the Kwaclqwan who had been picking strawberries and catching fish in places where they were tresspassing without invitation. According to the Tlingit, rights to exclusive use extended over many resources that the European would consider free: fresh water, driftwood, marine mammals and fish, land game, and wild plants, all of which LaPe'rouse's men were taking (LaPerouse, 1799, vol. 1, pp. 371, 376, 394-395). We should also note how the Sitka Tlingit of "Puerto de los Remedios" bitterly resented the Spanish helping themselves to fresh water, wood, and fish; at first insisting on payment for this, then retiring when they could not frighten the Spaniards (Maurelle, 1920, pp. 45-46). I suggest, therefore, that the chief who sold Cenotaph Island to LaPe'rouse was acting for the Tl'trknaxAdi (or DAqdentan, or XafikA'ayi—however the sib that owned Lituya Bay was then called), and that this was an attempt to regularize and settle peacefully an unpleasant and potentially dangerous situation. The sale would also serve as payment for what the French had already taken illegally. Of course, it is practically certain that not all the Indian men in Lituya Bay belonged to the same sib (see the list of resident sibs on pp. 20, 218). Others, therefore, may have felt that they had rights which also had been invaded, and for which due compensation had not been made. Or, some individuals may have felt, anyway, that to rob the French was fair sport. Of course, to get the better of the foreignor (gunana) in sharp trade was simply ordinary Tlingit business practice, and was a somewhat different matter. There is no doubt that the Indians regarded the French as "suckers." The Tlingit methods of trading with the Dry Bay people are illustrated in a myth recorded by Swanton (1909, Tale 32, p. 160). In this, the Tl'irknaxAdi simply took an Athabaskan and announced that he was to be a friend and trade partner. "They would take away a person's goods and then give him just what 120 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 they wanted to. The Athabascans were foolish enough to allow it." This high-handed procedure should also be considered in connection with pilfering from the French. The day after the sale of the island, the two boats were lost at the entrance to the bay. "Some canoes of the savages came now to inform us of the fatal accident. These rude unpolished men expressed by signs, that they had seen both our boats sink, and that to render them assistance was utterly impossible. We loaded them with presents; and endeavoured to make them understand, that all our wealth would not have been too ample a compensation for him who had saved a single man. "Nothing could be more powerful in awakening their humanity. They hastened to the sea-shore, and spread themselves over both sides of the bay." Yet when LaPerouse sent his own parties also to search the shores, he still felt it necessary to retain on board "a sufficient number of men to have nothing to fear from the savages, against whom prudence required us to be constantly on our guard." (LaPerouse, 1799, vol. 1, p. 380.) According to M. Boutin (the officer whose jollyboat was caught by the tide but escaped), as his craft was approaching the eastern side of the entrance, looking for survivors, he saw some men on shore "making signals by waving their cloaks" (ibid., p. 383). It is not clear whether these Indians were warning the boat away from the still dangerous tidal currents or were trying to explain that the other boats were lost without survivors. At any event, when the jollyboat was able to reenter Lituya Bay at slack tide, the Indians "made signs, that they had seen two boats overset . . ." (ibid., p. 384). In order to make sure that no survivors were left behind, although all hope had been abandoned, LaPerouse moved the ships to an anchorage closer to the entrance, on the western side of the bay, apparently opposite the inner of the two villages on that side. Here they remained for about 2 weeks before sailing on July 30. "Our stay at the entrance of the bay procured us much information respecting the manners and customs of the savages, which it would have been impossible for us to have acquired at the other anchorage. Oui vessels were moored near their villages, we visited them several times a day, and every day we had reason to complain of them, though our conduct towards them continued uniformly the same, and we never ceased to give them proofs of gentleness and good-will." [Ibid., p. 388.] It should be remembered that LaPerouse had paid nothing for rights in this part of the bay. On July 22, the Indians brought fragments of one of the lost boats which they had found on the eastern shore, "and informed us by signs, that they had interred the body of one of our unfortunate companions on the strand, where it had been thrown up by the waves" (ibid.). LaPerouse almost certainly misunderstood. The Tlingit would never have buried a corpse, and would probably not even have cremated it unless ceremoniously requested to do so. Since such funeral services for their own dead were performed by members of the opposite moiety from the deceased, it is hard to see how the Indians in the 18th century could have worked out such a fictitious relationship with the French. However, three French officers set off for the supposed grave with the Indians "whom we had loaded with presents." They walked for 7 or 8 miles over stones, probably along the boulder-strewn shore southeast of the bay, "while every half hour the guides demanded a fresh payment, or refused to proceed; and at length they stole into the wood, and made their escape. The officers discovered too late, that their report was a mere trick, framed to obtain presents" (ibid., p. 389). So concludes LaPerouse. But while there is no question but that the Indians were exploiting the situation to their own advantage, how did they view it, and what was their justification? In the first place, according to LaPerouse himself, the natives of Lituya Bay wore no moccasins. "Though they go barefoot the soles of their feet are not callous, and they cannot walk over stones" (ibid., p. 400). It is no wonder that they kept demanding extra compensation during a walk of 7 or 8 miles over rough boulders. Their feet must have been very painful when they finally slipped into the forest with its soft mossy carpet. It is also probable that the Indians had been fearful of touching the body, had left it on the beach, and then had run away when they discovered that the tide had claimed it. It must be remembered that the Tlingit believe that those who drown turn into the dread Land Otter Men, monsters that lurk to kidnap those lost in the woods or in peril on the water, in order to transform them into animals like themselves (p. 744). In addition, such disasters as shipwreck, especially of the magnitude as that suffered by the French, are attributed by the Tlingit to supernatural causes. The Tlingit themselves have also lost canoes at Lituya Bay (pp. 273-276), and Emmons, as we have seen (p. 94), reports that such wrecks are believed due to the malevolence of the Spirit of Lituya Bay, Qa Li-tu'a (Man of Lituya) who lives in its depths and resents trespass. All so drowned are supposed to become his slaves, assuming the form of bears. To the fear of the Land Otter Men, should we not add a healthy awe of the Lituya Bay Spirit and his slaves, and an understandable reluctance to interfere with one of his victims? IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 121 But LaPerouse, by now embittered by the tragedy, is in no mood to forgive. "We were not surprised at the account they gave us of the stratagem of the savages, who in knavery and theft were unparalleled" (La Perouse, 1799, vol. 1, p. 389). It was while searching the beach for wreckage that the French discovered the fishing village at the salmon stream (Huagin River), and also the cemetery or "morai," for which the Polynesian term was used, "because it is more suitable than tomb [tombeau] to convey the idea of an exposure to the open air" (ibid., p. 389 note). The French investigated the contents (see p. 539), but "replaced everything with scrupulous exactness, adding presents or iron instruments and beads. The savages, who witnessed this visit, showed a little uneasiness; but they did not fail to take away the presents left by our travellers without delay. Some others of us, going to the place the next day out of curiosity, found only the ashes and the head. They placed there some fresh presents, which experienced the same fate as those of the preceding day. I am convinced that the Indians would have been pleased, had we repeated our visits several times a day." But LaPerouse in the next sentence states that "they allowed us, though with a little repugnance, to visit their tombs," so these investigations evidently were not welcome (ibid., p. 390). The behavior of the French in putting something with the remains of the dead, though done openly, was in fact exactly what Tlingit witches are supposed to do in secret (see pp. 730-732), so that the reason why the natives removed the presents is not as obvious as LaPerouse assumed. The Indians, however, would not let the French approach their huts, "till they had sent away their wives, who are the most disgusting beings in the universe" (ibid.). "These women, the most disgusting in the world, covered with stinking hides, often not even tanned, were still capable of exciting desire in the breasts of some persons, not of the most delicate taste. At first they raised difficulties, and declared, by signs, that they should hazard the loss of their lives: but when they were overcome by presents, they wished the sun to be witness of their actions, and refused to retire into the woods" (ibid., pp. 403-404). One wonders whether it was only slave women who had intercourse with the French, as was the case with Malaspina's men at Yakutat (see p. 145). LaPerouse continues to give a severe and unfavorable account of the natives at Lituya Bay. As the first French editor, Milet-Mureau observes (1799, vol. 1, p. 399 n.): "In the lines of this picture the reader will trace the painful impression of the recent loss, which was related in the preceding chapter." And Chinard, his modern editor (1937, p. 41, n. 4, my translation), also complains, after consulting anthropological authorities on the Tlingit: "On the whole, Laperouse agrees with other voyagers. It seems, however, that he has pushed his painting far towards the black." Indeed, he pictures the Indians as predators, like the wolf and the tiger, "at war with every animal," and inhabiting the land "only to extirpate every thing that lives and moves upon it" (1799, vol. 1, p. 396). They are not at all as the fireside philosopher had pictured man close to the state of nature—who retains his natural goodness. Rather, they are "savage, deceitful, and malicious," as LaPerouse has learned from "melancholy experience." Yet he has refrained from using force "to re pell the injustice of these savages, and teach them, that there is a law of nations, which is never to be violated with impunity" (ibid., p. 398). Then follows a catalog of their shortcomings: "Some of the Indians were continually about our ships in their canoes, and spent three or four hours before they began to barter a little fish, or two or three otter-skins, taking every opportunity to rob us, catching at every bit of iron that could easily be carried off, and examining particularly in what way they could deceive our vigilance during the night. I made the principal persons come on board my vessel, and loaded them with presents; yet these very men, whom I so particularly distinguished, never disdained to steal a nail or an old pair of breeches. Whenever they assumed a smiling and cheerful air, I was sure they had stolen something, though I very often pretended not to see it. "I had particularly recommended caressing the children, and gratifying them with little presents. The parents were insensible to this mark of kindness, which I thought must be felt in every country: the only reflection it excited hi their minds was, that, by asking us to accompany then1 children, they would have an opportunity of robbing us; and for my own information I several times procured myself the pleasure of seeing the father avail himself of the moment when our attention appeared most engaged by his child, to hide under his garment of skin whatever was within his reach. "I sometimes assumed an appearance of wishing for trifles of little value belonging to Indians whom I had just loaded with presents; but I always made this trial of their generosity in vain." [Ibid., p. 398.] "We never landed except in force, and armed. They greatly dreaded our muskets, and eight or ten Europeans together were sufficient to awe a whole village. Our two surgeons being so imprudent as to go a shooting alone were attacked. The Indians endeavoured to snatch their fowling-pieces from them, but could not succeeed: two men being suffi- 122 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 ciently formidable to them, to make them retire. The same thing happened to Mr de Lesseps, the young Russian interpreter; but fortunately the crew of one of our boats came to his assistance. These acts of hostility appeared to them so natural, that they did not desist from coming on board, and never suspected the possibility of our making reprisals." [Ibid., p. 399.] [Nor are the natives more amiable in their dealings with each other:] "Their arts are considerably advanced, and their civilization in this respect has made great progress; but in every thing that polishes and softens the ferocity of manners, they are yet in their infancy. The manner in which they live, excluding every kind of subordination, renders them continually agitated by vengeance or fear. Choleric and prompt to take offence, I have seen them continually with the poignard unsheathed against each other. Exposed to perish with hunger in the winter, when the chace cannot be very productive, they live in the summer in the greatest abundance, as they can catch more fish in an hour than is sufficient for their family. The rest of the day they remain idle, spending it in gaming, of which they are as passionately fond as some of the inhabitants of our large cities. This is the grand source of their quarrels: and I do not hesitate to pronounce, that this tribe would be completely exterminated, if the use of any intoxicating liquor were added to these destructive vices." [Ibid., p. 397.] "I will admit, if you please, that it is impossible for a society to exist without some virtues; but I am forced to confess, that here I could not perceive any. Always quarreling among themselves, indifferent to their children, absolute tyrants to their wives, who are incessantly condemned to the most laborious occupations, I observed nothing among these people to mellow the tints of the picture." [Ibid., pp. 398-399.] Although LaPerouse found "no trace of anthropophagy," he is quite ready to believe that the Indians would be cannibals when they took a prisoner in time of war (ibid., p. 411). Dr. M. Rollin of the Boussole also found that these people "are audacious thieves, extremely irascible, and most of all to be dreaded by strangers" (LaPerouse, 1799, vol. 2, p. 360). Despite his obvious display of prejudice or of natural provocation, LaPe'rouse gives us a most interesting and full description of Indian summer camp life and occupations, the details of which are discussed in the appropriate ethnographic chapters. He deduces correctly that each household of 18 to 20 persons was under the leadership of its own head or chief, and was independent of the others in the village with respect to its activities. Futhermore, he believes that the bay was "a station for trade, inhabited only in the fishing season" (ibid., vol.1, p. 407). This is because he has seen whole villages coming and going (see passage quoted on p. 93), because of the skin boats that had come to the bay (see p. 123), the quantity of skins which the Indians had to trade, and their possession of iron and other objects of European origin. "I think I may venture to affirm, that this place is inhabited only in the summer, and that the Indians never pass the winter here. I did not see a single hut, that afforded shelter from the rain; and though there were never three hundred Indians collected in the bay at one time, we were visited by seven or eight hundred others. . . . [Ibid., pp. 399-100.] It is probable, that we saw but a very small part of these people, who in all likelihood occupy a considerable space along the sea-shore; visiting in summer the different bays in search of food like the seals, and in winter retiring farther within the land, to hunt beavers and other animals of which they brought us the spoils." [Ibid. p. 400.] Anthropometric measurements and other observations were made by M. Rollin, M.D., the chief medical officer of the Boussole (1799, vol. 2, p. 356-372). These are summarized by LaPe'rouse as follows: "The stature of these Indians is much the same as ours. [The men averaged 5 feet 3 inches, according to Dr. Rollin, (ibid., p. 371)]. Their features vary considerably, and exhibit no peculiar characteristic marks except in the expression of their eyes, to which gentleness is an utter stranger. The colour of their skin is very brown, because it is incessantly exposed to the air: but their children are born as fair as ours. They have, it is true, less beard than Europeans [but LaPe'rouse knows from bis own observations that no American Indians are naturally beardless; those who lack beards have eradicated the hair.] The frame of their body is slight. The weakest of our seamen would have thrown the strongest of the Indians in wrestling. I saw some whose swelled legs seemed to indicate the scurvy, though their gums were sound. I suspect that they never arrive at any very old age; I saw but one woman that appeared to be sixty; and she enjoyed no privileges, but was obliged, like the rest, to submit to the various labours imposed on her sex." [LaPe'rouse, 1799, vol. 1, pp. 404-405.] LaPe'rouse concludes that the inhabitants of Lituya Bay are not Eskimo, but Indians, "having evidently one common origin with all the inhabitants of the interior part of Canada and North America" (ibid., p. 405). As compared with the Eskimo, they are "much taller, thin, and not at all robust" (ibid., p. 406). IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 123 As compared to the California Indians who were later seen, Dr. Rollin (LaPe'rouse, 1799, vol. 2, pp. 356-357) finds that those of Lituya Bay "are taller, stronger made, of a more agreeable figure, and are capable of much greater vivacity of expression. They are superior to them also both in courage and in intellect. They have rather a low forehead, but more than that of the southern Americans, black and lively eyes, much thicker eye-brows, nose of the usual size and well formed, only a little widened at the extremity, thin lips, moderately large mouth, fine and very even teeth, the chin and ears perfectly regular. "The women also have the same advantage over those of the southern tribes before mentioned, having greater mildness in their features, as well aa more grace in the form of their limbs. "Their faces indeed would be tolerably agreeable, [if it were not for their large labrets.] This whimsical ornament not only disfigures the look, but causes an involuntary flow of sailva, as inconvenient as it is disgusting. "In general the complexion of these people is olive, with their nails, which they wear long, of a lighter shade; but in different individuals, and in different parts of the same individual, the tint of the skin varies, according as it is more or less exposed to the sun and the influence of the atmosphere. "Their hair is neither so coarse nor so black as that of the southern Americans, chestnut coloured hair being very common among them. They have also more beard, and the arm-pits and parts of sex are less scantily provided." [Ibid., pp. 358-359.] Their teeth are naturally even aDd sound. While the natives "are extremely filthy in their manner of living; yet, among these people, instances of the itch, or even traces of this disorder are rarely to be met with." [Ibid., p. 370.] There is thus no evidence yet of the European diseases which were to visit these people, although Portlock (1789, pp. 270-273) discovered that the Spanish in 1775 had spread smallpox among the Sitka Tlingit that had apparently wiped out whole families. One of the most interesting discoveries made in Lituya Bay was the frame of a large boat like an umiak with a skin cover, not a dugout like the canoes of the local Indians. "In the course of our inquiries respecting this custom [praying while going through the entrance to the bay, quoted on p. 93], we learned, that seven very large canoes had lately been lost in this passage, while an eighth escaped. This the Indians who were saved consecrated to their god, or to the memory of their comrades. We saw it by the side of a morai, which no doubt contained the ashes of some who were ship wrecked. [LaPerouse, vol. 1, p. 390.] [It was this umiak, the skin covering of which] was reposited in the morai, by the side of the coffers of ashes; and the frame of the canoe remained naked near it, raised upon stocks." [Ibid., p. 391.] LaPerouse was tempted to take the skin cover, and believed that this could have been done without the knowledge of the Indians, since this part of the bay was not inhabited. "Besides, I am well persuaded, that the persons shipwrecked were strangers" (ibid.), probably "Esquimaux" from the neighborhood of the Shumagin Islands and "the peninsula explored by Cook" (ibid., p. 407). The strangers may have been Chugach from Prince William Sound, but if so, it is not very likely, although not impossible, that they would have cremated their dead, unless, as I have already speculated, this was a special custom reserved for those who had died by drowning (Birket-Smith, 1953, pp. 89-91; deLaguna, 1956, pp. 88-89). The Yakutat people, however, lived much closer to Lituya Bay and were accustomed to visit it. Both the large skin-covered canoe (pp. 330-331) and the repository for ashes or "morai" (pp. 539-542) were at home in their culture in the 18th century. The Lituya Bay natives described by LaPerouse may be taken as typical of the northern Tlingit who were pressing northwestward along the Gulf of Alaska to trade with the Athabaskans and Eyak-speakers, or to acquire new territories in which to settle. Although Lituya Bay in 1786 seems not to have been a permanent place of residence, it evidently received a more established settlement later, for the Denver Art Museum acquired the painted rear partition cf a house, believed to have been at Lituya Bay. This screen, dating from about 1825, depicts the story of how Raven taught the people to catch and preserve fish (Malin and Feder, 1962, figs. 2, a, b). Such a screen could have come only from a permanent "named" lineage house. Perhaps some of those who once lived in this house are today represented by descendants at Yakutat. Dixon (1787) The first known exploration of Yakutat Bay was made in 1787 by Capt. George Dixon, commanding the Queen Charlotte, in the course of a voyage around the world with Capt. Nathaniel Portlock of the King George, in 1785-88.35 Both Dixon and Portlock had 35 Summarized by Fleurieu, 1801, vol. 1, pp. CXXIX-CXXXIV; Bancroft, 1886, pp. 261-265; Krause, 1956, pp. 20-22. 27 Mm A Q * to Aji %K MAP 19.—Chart of Port Mulgrave as surveyed by Capt. George Dixon in 1787. (Beresford, 1789, opp. p. 70.) IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 125 served under Captain Cook, 1776-80. The expedition of 1785-88 was a commercial venture undertaken for the King George's Sound Company, formed in London by Kichard Cadman Etches and other merchants for developing trade between the Northwest Coast, China, and Great Britain. Portlock and Dixon sailed from England in 1785, spent the following summer trading on Cook Inlet and fighting contrary winds along the Northwest Coast that prevented landing, and then wintered in the Hawaiian Islands. The following year, 1787, both vessels returned to Prince William Sound. Portlock in the King George remained for some time at Port Etches, sending his longboat on fur-trading expeditions as far as Cook Inlet, and then sailed down the coast, where, as already indicated, he met the Tlingit at Portlock Harbor on the west coast of Chichagof Island and also at Sitka Sound. He had not, however, sighted either the opening to Yakutat Bay or Cross Sound, and in late August left the Alaskan coast. Meanwhile, Dixon in the Queen Charlotte had preceded Portlock across the Gulf of Alaska, sighting "Kaye's Island" on May 15, and Mount Saint Elias on May 18. On May 22 he discovered an inlet which he determined to explore in the hope of finding natives with whom to trade. This was Yakutat Bay, which he entered the afternoon of the following day, after sending the whaleboat under the second mate, Mr. Turner, to find a suitable harbor. While the ship waited offshore they saw a single native fishing in a canoe at the mouth of the bay, and Mr. Turner reported not only a good harbor but "a multitude of inhabitants" (Dixon, 1789, p. 85). The wind failing, the ship was towed into the entrance of Monti Bay, where she anchored for the night in 65 fathoms of water over a muddy bottom, less than a mile from shore, apparently between the mouth of Ankau Creek and Point Turner on Khantaak Island. "During the time we were warping into the bay, several canoes came along-side us, [writes Beresford, the supercargo on the Queen Charlotte]. We accosted the people with some of the words in use amongst the natives of Prince William's Sound, but they had not the least idea of their meaning: indeed it was pretty evident at first sight, that these people were a different nation, from the construction of their canoes, which were altogether of wood, neatly finished, and in shape not very much unlike our whale-boats." [Beresford, 1789, p. 167.] [Early next morning, May 24] "we saw a number of the natives on the beach, near the entrance of this creek [Ankau], making signals for us to come on shore: a smoke was also seen, which proceeded from behind some pines, at a small distance round the point." Mr. Turner was sent in the whaleboat to see whether this would be a convenient anchorage. "He found a number of inhabitants, and two or three temporary huts" (ibid., p. 167). According to Dixon's shorter version, edited by "C.L." who seems to have been overfond of superlatives, there were "a great manj' Indians" urging the Europeans to come ashore, and at the village (on the northwest side of Ankau Creek, farther upstream than the present ANB Cemetery), "there were a great number of inhabitants, and some temporary huts" (Dixon, 1789, p. 85). This settlement, as well as two on Khantaak Island, are clearly shown on Dixon's sketch map of "Port Mulgrave" (Beresford, 1789, opp. p. 170). Dixon, however, applied this name to the whole of what we now call Monti Bay and the sheltered waters behind Khantaak Island, whereas on modern charts "Port Mulgrave" is reserved for the small harbor on the island, between Point Turner and Pyramid Point and opposite the present site of the "Old Village" of Yakutat. It was here that the Queen Charlotte dropped anchor when Ankau Creek was found too small to accommodate her. Although Dixon adopted "Port Mulgrave" as the official name, he seems to have first used the expression "Foggy Harbour," at least in reporting his discovery to Captain Colnett later that summer. Dixon gave the name "Admiralty Bay" to Yakutat Bay as a whole, and "Cape Phipps" to what we now call Phipps Peninsula, thereby honoring again Constantine John Phipps, Baron Mulgrave. A point on Khantaak Island honors his second mate, James Turner. Dixon also named Point Carew, the northernmost point of Phipps Peninsula. The new anchorage in Port Mulgrave was "within pistol shot of the shore, and very near two large Indian huts" (Beresford, 1789, p. 168). These stood between the fresh water pond and the harbor beach, exactly where the village (S'uskA) was located in the 19th century, and where the old graveyard is now. Trade promptly began with the inhabitants. "The people seemed very well pleased at our arrival, and a number of them presently came alongside us. They soon understood what we wanted, and an old man brought us eight or ten excellent sea otter skins. This circumstance, together with our having as yet seen no beads, or other ornaments, or any iron implements, gave us reason to conclude, that no trading party had ever been here, and consequently that we should reap a plentiful harvest; but our conjectures on this head were built on a sandy foundation; for on a further acquaintance with our neighbours, they shewed us plenty of beads, and the same kind of knives and spears we had seen in Prince William's Sound; and as a melancholy proof that we only gleaned after more fortunate traders, what furs they brought to sell, exclusive of the small quantity just mentioned, were of a very inferior kind." [Beresford, 1789, p. 168.] 126 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 The trade goods seen in Prince William Sound had been blue glass beads and Kussian iron knives and weapons (ibid., p. 147). Before we assume from this that the Russians or some other Europeans had already been to Yakutat Bay, we should consider the evidence offered by Port-lock of intertribal trade between Prince William Sound and some region, or people, whom the Chugach called "Wallamute." These were probably Eyak-speakers, who lived "considerably beyond Comptroller's Bay to the Eastward." It was from the latter that had come garments of sea otter fur, not whole pelts such as the Chugach themselves marked specially for trade. Port-lock was purchasing these garments in Prince William Sound from the Chugach at the same time that Dixon was discovering that the natives in Yakutat Bay had practically no furs to offer. While we cannot know with certainty who the "Wallamute" were (Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938, p. 357 and citations), it is intriguing to speculate that Portlock and Dixon may have been competing with each other for furs from the same source. Prince William Sound had become a center for trade; since the previous year it had been visited by Shelikhov's party on Montague Island, Lowry in the Captain Cook with Guise in the Experiment, Tipping in the Sea Otter, and Meares in the Nootlca (the last wintered miserably in the sound), all eagerly seeking furs (Bancroft, 1886, pp. 259-262; de Laguna, 1956, p. 10). It must have been clear to the astute Eskimo, if they had not already learned from Cook in 1778, from the Spanish in 1779, and from the Russians in 1779, 1783-85, that there was an active demand for furs. These were sought by the Chugach in intertribal trade. We may assume, therefore, that European goods were moving eastward along the Gulf of Alaska to be bartered like slaves and native copper. I suggest that it was native middlemen who had anticipated Dixon. Moreover, the demeanor of the Yakutat natives did not suggest previous direct contact with Europeans, and Dixon himself believed that "we were the first discoverers of this harbour" (Beresford, 1789, p. 170). While Dixon remained at Port Mulgrave, the ship was visited frequently by people from the village on Ankau Creek, "but they belonged to the same tribe with our neighbours, and possessed very few furs of any consequence" (Beresford, 1789, p. 168). Hoping to meet with more Indians, Dixon went out with the longboat to explore the nearby harbors, on July 1, the first day that the weather cleared, "taking with him one of the Indians who had frequently been on board, and who was a tolerably intelligent fellow, as a guide" (ibid., p. 169). To judge by the chart, this exploration was confined to the sheltered waters behind Khantaak Island, up through Johnstone Passage, perhaps as far as Krutoi Island, a distance of about 10 nautical miles from the anchorage. On this short excursion, which lasted only from 10 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon, Dixon "found several huts scattered here and there, in various parts of the sound, but they were mostly inhabited by people whom we had already seen; and there was not a single skin of any value amongst them . . ." (ibid., p. 169). One of the settlements, according to the sketch chart, was on the west side of Johnstone Passage, about Sy2 nautical miles northeast of the village at Port Mulgrave; that is, it was on the eastern side of Khantaak Island, or rather on the unnamed island just to the east, which is separated from it only at high water. This may be what our informants called QadAk. "The number of inhabitants contained in the whole sound, as near as I could calculate, amounted to about seventy, including women and children" (Beresford, 1789, p. 171), or "did not, perhaps, exceed seventy or eighty" (Dixon, 1789, p. 87), and their dwellings were judged to be merely temporary structures, the planks of which could be taken away in a canoe and erected in a different spot. In this, Dixon's observations coincide with those of LaPe'rouse in Lituya Bay. (For a description of the houses, see p. 311.) Not far from Ankau Creek, and about 1% miles from the vessel (probably somewhere near Ankau Point and the modern cemetery), Dixon discovered a cemetery, apparently similar to the type of "morai" seen by LaPerouse. (The descriptions are quoted on p. 539.) Dixon often went ashore to shoot wild ducks and geese, "which not only proved an excellent treat for us, but at the same time gave the Indians such an idea of fire-arms, that their behaviour was perfectly quiet and inoffensive, and they never attempted to molest us" (Beresford, 1789, p. 171). On one occasion the whaleboat was sent with seven hands to fish for halibut just outside Point Carew, where the natives were then fishing and where they still fish today. The Englishmen found that "their success was greatly inferior to that of two Indians, who were fishing at the same time, which is rather extraordinary, if we consider the apparent inferiority of their tackle to our's." Beresford then goes on to describe the Tlingit halibut hook and method of fishing (quoted on p. 391), concluding: "Thus were we fairly beat at our own weapons, and the natives constantly bringing us plenty of fish, our boat was never sent on this business afterwards" (ibid., pp 174-175). Halibut was bought from the natives for "beads and small toes" (ibid., p. 173). "Toes" were iron adzes (cf. Krause, 1959, p. 19, note 36). "Toes were the article of trade held in the first estimation here, and next to these, pewter basons were best liked." IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 127 "Beads served to purchase pieces of skins that were of little value; but the deep blue, and small green, were the only sorts that would be taken in barter" (Beresford, 1789, pp. 176-177). It was found that to offer any great variety of articles only confused the natives and made the transactions even slower than usual. Dixon was disappointed in securing only "about sixteen good sea otter skins, two fine cloaks of the earless marmot, a few racoons, and a parcel of very inferior pieces and slips of beaver" (ibid., p. 169). Beresford hazards that the "marmot cloaks were procured by these people from some neighbouring tribe" (ibid., p. 176). It took, however, about 10 days, or until June 3, before "we found the natives scanty stock of furs not only exhausted, but that they had stripped themselves almost naked, to spin out their trade as far as possible. This tedious delay was occasioned by the slow, deliberate manner in which these people conduct their traffic. Four or six people come alongside in a canoe, and wait perhaps an hour before they give the least intimation of having any thing to sell; they then, by significant shrugs and gestures, hint at having brought something valuable to dispose of, and wish to see what will be given in exchange, even before their commodity is exposed to view, for they are particularly careful in concealing every thing they bring to sell. Should this manoeuvre not succeed, after much deliberation, their cargo is produced, and generally consists of a few trifling pieces of old sea otter skins, and even then, a considerable time is taken up before the bargain is concluded; so that a whole day would frequently be spent in picking up a few trifles. Such, however, was our present situation, in regard to trade, that we patiently submitted to the tantalizing method of these people, in hopes that something better might possibly be brought us; but finding they were stripped almost naked, and not the most distant probability of any better success, Captain Dixon determined to leave this place the first opportunity." [Ibid., pp. 169-170.] [He sailed the next day.] These delaying tactics, which irritated the English, were of advantage to the natives because they served to keep in port the interesting strangers who constituted a market for halibut. These were not only good bargaining tactics, but were enjoyed by the natives, since the Yakutat find pleasurable the actual handling of wealth. Moreover, holding back items and stealthy peeking at goods to be offered in trade were characteristic of the Southern Tutchone Athabaskans with whom the Chilkat Tlingit traded (Olson, 1936, p. 213), and we might assume that this behavior would be equally characteristic of the Tlingit themselves, or of the Tlingitized Yakutat, if the situation were reversed and wealthy strangers came to visit them. However, we should note the contrast in speed of trading displayed by the Tlingit of Sitka ("Norfolk") Sound, whom the Queen Charlotte visited later in June (Beresford, 1789, p. 182). The information in Beresford's report is insufficient to show whether the natives in Yakutat Bay were Tlingit in 1787, although it is clear that much of then-culture was Tlingit. They understood neither the words of Tanaina Athabaskan nor of Chugach Eskimo, which the English had picked up in Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound, but seem to have replied in a different language, about which we are told nothing except that "it appears barbarous, uncouth, and difficult to pronounce: they frequently used the word Amcou, which signifies a Friend, or Chief ['anqawu, 'chief, rich man,' evidently used flatteringly], and their numerals reckon to ten; but I was not able to procure any farther specimen of their language, as they are very close and uncommunicative in their dispositions" (ibid., p. 172). In referring to the language heard at Sitka Sound, Beresford observes that "I have some reason to think it is nearly the same with that at Port Mulgrave" (ibid., p. 191), but unfortunately we are not offered a comparative vocabulary. In comparing the Yakutat natives with the Tlingit of Sitka, Beresford found that the latter "seemed far more lively and alert than those we had left at Port Mulgrave" (ibid., p. 181). Although at first civil enough, they soon showed themselves ready to pick pockets and to steal, and "indeed they could scarcely be restrained from these proceedings without violence" (ibid., p. 184). This was not a charge made against the natives of Yakutat. "These people [Sitka Tlingit] in their make, shape, and features, are pretty much the same with those we saw in Port Mulgrave;" and in many particulars had the same customs (ibid., p. 186). Yet, "The manners and disposition of the people here, approach nearer to those in Cook's River, and Prince William's Sound, than our friends in Port Mulgrave; but this may, perhaps, in some measure, be accounted for from their enlarged society, and their constant intercourse with each other" (ibid., p. 187). We should add that the Sitkan method of trading was as ceremoniously carried out as at Lituya Bay, and that each chief managed or controlled all the transactions of his people, taking "infinite pains to dispose of their furs advantageously" (ibid.). This type of organized trade had not been noted at Yakutat, although Malaspina was to experience something of it (see p. 143). My impression is that the Yakutat Indians described by Beresford were already largely Tlingit, but not completely so. Their behavior suggests more the subdued and amiable Athabaskans than the self-confident 128 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 Tlingit. They had not yet been completely "organized" to trade, an innovation ascribed by my informants to the great ^atgawet, a wealthy shaman of Tongass extraction (see p. 245). That the Yakutat could speak Tlingit but were rather reluctant to give a vocabulary, suggests a little linguistic insecurity, and reminds us of the reactions of Dr. McClellan's Southern Tutchone, who knew that their old Athabaskan words were no longer "correct," but who were also acutely aware that their Tlingit was faulty. However, we should not attempt to make too much of this last point, since Beresford was notoriously unsuccessful in learning any Haida, his efforts to pronounce words in that language being greeted with a "sarcastic laugh" or "silent contempt" by the Queen Charlotte Islanders. Although he describes the latter as "never of a communicative disposition" (ibid., p. 227), Beresford himself may have been particularly gauche or antagonizing. In addition to giving some ethnological details about the Yakutat Indians, Beresford describes their appearance as follows: ". . . they in general are about the middle size, their limbs straight and well shaped, but like the rest of the inhabitants we have seen on the coast, are particularly fond of painting their faces with a variety of colours, so that it is no easy matter to discover their real complexion; however, we prevailed on one woman, by persuasion, and a trifling present, to wash her face and hands, and the alteration it made in her appearance absolutely surprised us; her countenance had all the chearful glow of an English milkmaid; and the healthy red which flushed her cheek, was even beautifully contrasted with the whiteness of her neck; her eyes were black and sparkling; her eye-brows the same colour, and most beautifully arched; her forehead so remarkably clear, that the translucent veins were seen meandering even in their minutest branches—in short, she was what would be reckoned handsome even in England: but this symmetry of features is entirely destroyed by a custom extremely singular, and what we had never met with before, neither do I recollect having seen it mentioned by any Voyagers whatever." [Ibid., pp. 171-172.] Alas, the lovely lady wore a large labret! (For a description, see p. 434.) This woman's lip ornament is distinctively Tlingit, rather than Eyak or Athabaskan. As far as archeolog-ical evidence would indicate, it was absent from Yakutat in late prehistoric times (de Laguna et al, 1964, pp. 163-164). Abercrombie (1900, p. 394) in 1884 recognized the labret as alien to Yakutat, although he erred in stating that it was never worn. It is probably significant that Beresford noted that this ornament was not worn by all the women at Port Mulgrave, "but only those who appeared in a superior station to the rest" (Beresford, 1789, p. 172). Is this evidence that would confirm Yakutat traditions that their chiefs sought brides of suitably high rank among the Tlingit? (see p. 233). After leaving Yakutat on June 4, Dixon sailed straight out into the Gulf, then turned almost due east to strike the coast at what he called "Norfolk Sound" (Sitka Sound). After trading here he sailed again June 23, and reached "Queen Charlotte's Islands" before the end of the month, naming these islands after bis ship, and the channel north of them after himself. After successful trading at various points on the west coast, he rounded their southern end and explored Hecate Strait as far as "Cape Darymple" on Banks Island. Then he turned toward Nootka Sound, off which, as we shall see, he met Capt. James Colnett, the next explorer of Yakutat Bay. Colnett (1788) In the summer of 1788, three separate expeditions were to come to the Yakutat Bay area, the first two following each other closely into the bay, but failing to meet. The third stopped briefly only on the coast near Dry Bay. The first of these voyagers was Capt. James Colnett, in the ship Prince of Wales, acting for the King George's Sound Company.36 Colnett had been a midshipman on Cook's second voyage, and a lieutenant on his third. As he himself wrote in 1798 (pp. i-n), he had been "engaged in various commercial undertakings on the North-West Coast of America, during a period of seven years . . ." and had ". . . searched the coast from 36° to 60° North, the inland part of which was before little known to European navigators." His expedition in 1789 to found a colony in Nootka Sound is the most famous, for there he and his ship were seized by the Spanish, who claimed this important center of the sea otter fur trade for the crown of Spain. Colnett and his men were held prisoners for 13 months, and he was not able to return to England until 1792. It was this high-handed action of the Spanish that precipitated the so-called "Nootka Controversy" between Spain and Great Britain, which, as we know, resulted in the abandonment of all Spanish claims 38 Summaries are in Fleurieu, 1801, vol. 1, pp. CXXXV-CXLI; Bancroft, 1884, vol. 1, pp. 182-184; Wagner, 1937, vol. 1, pp. 206-207, 213; and in the biographical notes to Menzies' Journal, by Forsyth, 1923, pp. vm-xv. These sources are not in complete agreement. IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 129 to the Northwest Coast (Bancroft, 1884, vol. 1, pp. 204-283; Wagner, 1937, vol. 1, pp. 210, 216). Colnett's voyage of October 16, 1786, to November 7, 1888, is far less well known, largely because his journal has never been published. Excerpts from the Crown-copyright manuscript in the Public Record Office, London, are quoted below by the kind permission of the Controller of H.M. Stationery Office. On this expedition, Captain Colnett in the Prince of Wales had been accompanied from England by Captain Duncan in the sloop Princess Royal. Both vessels were owned by the same company that had dispatched Portlock and Dixon the previous year. Among the important persons on board the Prince of Wales was Lieut. James Johnstone, Colnett's first officer, and Archibald Menzies, the Scottish botanist, acting as medical officer. Both of them were later to sail with Captain Vancouver to the Northwest Coast in 1790-95, revisiting many of the localities they had explored with Colnett. The supercargo of the Prince of Wales was John Etches, brother of the owner. As Dixon neared Nootka Sound in late August 1787, he met the Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal leaving this port, and as Beresford (1789, p. 230) writes: "We learned, to our great joy, that they were from London, and fitted out by our Owners." The ships exchanged information about the coasts they had visited and their varying successes in the fur trade at different places. John Etches told Beresford (ibid., p. 231) "that they had been near a month in King George's [Nootka] Sound, but had done very little business, having found a ship there called the Imperial Eagle, commanded by a Captain Berkley," who had apparently arrived just in time to spoil their trade, for this captain boasted of all the furs he had obtained. Nootka was at that time the center for sea otter, and already was being stripped of these animals. (Cf. Wagner, 1937, vol. 1, pp. 206 f., for all the traders there, 1785-86). "Our meeting with these vessels was very fortunate, both on their account and our own, What we learnt from them rendered it entirely useless for us to make King George's Sound, and Prince William's Sound being their next destination, we not only could inform them that nothing could be expected from that quarter," but urged "our new brothers in trade" to "make the N.E. side of Queen Charlotte's Islands, and the opposite land, which we judged to be the main" (Beresford, 1789, pp. 233-234). After Colnett and Duncan had spent all night aboard the Queen Charlotte, "procuring a chart of the coast" (ibid., p. 234) on which Dixon had marked all his discoveries, the latter sailed directly for the Hawaian Islands, where he was to meet Portlock. Apparently the Prince of Wales and Princess Royal took his advice and went to the east coast of the Queen Charlotte's and the mainland opposite. I do not know what other localities they may have visited, since the summaries I have consulted differed, and I have not read that part of Colnett's journal. Duncan explored this area the following summer so there is confusion between the discoveries of the two seasons. At any event, after presumably wintering in the Hawaiian Islands, the two ships returned to the Northwest Coast, Duncan in the Princess Royal to trade in British Columbia waters as far south as the Strait of Juan de Fuca. He rejoined Colnett in the Hawaiian Islands, and both ships proceeded to China. From here, Duncan with his ship, and the Prince of Wales with Menzies, under the command of Lieutenant Johnstone, sailed for England, where they arrived in July 1789. Captain Colnett, however, remained in China to organize the expedition to Nootka Sound which ended so disastrously for him. After parting with Duncan hi the spring of 1788, Colnett had sailed into Prince William Sound, where he remained from April 26 to May 24, trading with the natives in various localities, including the Green Islands and Port Etches. From the latter place the supercargo tried twice to go to Controller Bay, but succeeded only in circumnavigating Hinchinbrook Island. While at Port Etches, John Etches and a John Hutchins carved their names and the date, May 9, 1788, on a tree where it was seen shortly afterward by Captain Douglas in the Iphigenia (Meares, 1790, p. 316). About May 22, Colnett moved the Prince of Wales to Captain Cook's Snug Corner Cove, farther up the sound, where he traded with a number of natives, including one who called himself "Portlock." Colnett's manuscript, especially the portion dealing with Prince William Sound and the neighborhood, contains some excellent descriptions of places and people, and some neat sketches, although the latter are unfortunately in faint pencil. Some of his sketch maps are fairly good, but on others the distances are exaggerated, or important features, the Copper River, for example, are omitted. He furthermore often neglects to note the latitude and longitude of his position. A minor difficulty in understanding his manuscript is due to his use of commas instead of periods, and to his failure to capitalize the first letter of a new sentence. These I have in some cases supplied, and to make reading easier I have also broken the almost continuous text into paragraphs. On May 24, Captain Colnett sailed for "Foggy Harbour," as he called Yakutat Bay. "Portlock," the Indian, at his request was taken for a short distance down the coast, being put off in his boat somewhere off the Copper River. The supercargo went in a boat into Controller Bay from the west, while the Prince of Wales stood into 130 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 the eastern entrance to pick him up. The weather was bad and the ship had to seek shelter behind Cape Suckling. There is no mention of natives here, and Colnett did not like the place. "I might have anchored off Cape Suckling," he writes, "& searched for a port but as circumstances were at present no time on my side was to be lost to prevent the Natives of Foggy Harbour disposing of their skins to the Russians as I was informed they had the year before." Information about Yakutat Bay had been obtained from Dixon. By May 31, Colnett was off the entrance to "Foggy Harbour" where he waited until June 3, until the longboat returned. The latter had been all the way to Cape Fairweather but had failed to find the harbor marked on their chart. The only one resembling it was the harbor on the east side of "Beering's [Yakutat] Bay," where they now anchored. According to Colnett's sketch chart and description of the place, his anchorage was just inside the northeast point (Strawberry Point) of Khantaak Island, opposite the channel between Otmeloi and Kriwoi Islands, not at Dixon's anchorage. "Foggy Harbour" was so called by Dixon, Colnett reports, but is not as far east as Dixon put it. It is situated among many islands, the "Foggy Isles," on the east side of a deep bay that runs in toward the northeast, with Mount Saint Elias to the west. "Should suppose it is Bearing's Bay." Colnett's map and description of Khantaak Island and of the shelter behind it are a little more complete and accurate than Dixon's although Colnett remained in Yakutat Bay only until June 9. Colnett was disappointed in trading. "Several Indians came on board with nothing but old skins. Several signified that they had had two ships lately among them & purchased all they had, & that the Crews and Commanders wore large caps & were remarkably stout. Some canoes that the long boat fell in with to the westward gave them the same information." What were these ships? Do the reports refer to Dixon's Queen Charlotte the year before and, if so, what was the second ship? We have no records of any other visits to Yakutat. Colnett assumes that the ships had called there, but might not the Yakutat natives have encountered them in Prince William Sound? Colnett determined to leave, even though the Indians seemed to promise that much would soon be forthcoming in the way of trade, for he felt that he had already been in "Foggy Harbour" long enough for them to have brought out any skins they might have. Colnett seems to have been rather tolerant of their pilfering, contrasting them with the Chugach whom he had already described as "much addicted to thieving & very artful in their dealing [,] seldom selling their Furs till they had found means to steal something." [As to the Yakutat natives:] "Their wishing one to remain might be only a decoy to give them an opportunity to thieve[.] They did not seem so great adepts at it, as our former acquaintances on this coast [Chugach], but we soon grew familiar to them, & they could not divest themselves of the natural failing of all Indians to take what ever they fancied & opportunity offered. "[No para.] This was the case of an Indian that stole the sailmaker's fishing line & he too rashly caught up a musket & shot the man, but it was done with a degree of cruelty, for he fired twice [.] I was not on deck myself or would have endeavoured to prevent it, & those whose business it was in my absence, looked on with greatest unconcern; a few canoes remained along side some time afterwards but next morning only one was seen . . . ". . . Before leaving the Port the leading man of the canoe that remained with us had a helmet Cap given him." [Some of Colnett's observations about Yakutat are shrewd and illuminating:] "If I might Judge of the inhabitants from the number I saw there were not above 200; I think their residence is farther to the Southward and Eastward and [they are] only here at certain seasons of the year to hunt, fish, and trade. We learnt of the natives here & at Prince William Sound that they traded with each other, each remarking & with a degree of contempt, the Cut lips of the men to the North [where Chugach men wore labrets] & the large Mouth pieces of the Women to the South [presumably at Yakutat]. All the European articles I saw was a file with Hunsberg [?] on, & a pair of Russian or Dutch scissors. They shewed us very little Iron, but from the familiar method of receiving us, should suppose European visitors were common. "[No para.] At this place appears to commence a different nation from those reside to the North. Besides the difference of the sex in wearing the lip pieces, their Canoes are all of wood & of an opposite Built, & three or four kinds of them; & I believe belong to different tribes, as there was a variation also in then* languages, several counting numbers not with the same name & when ask'd where resided pointed different ways." [Unfortunately no vocabularies are given. Although these observations suggest the mingling of Tlingit and Eyak-speakers, the multiplicity of canoe types is characteristic of Yakutat (see p. 330):] "... one kind of their canoes resembled a neat built ship, Galley fashion thus—[sketch] and may hold three or four men, the most seen in them there. Others resembled a half Moses dug out of a Log. The two larger kind [:] one Charlotte Isles built [,] the other like a Butchers tray cut out of a solid piece IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 131 of timber carrying from 20 to 30 people [.] Their Baggage [,] women and children are transported in those [,] I suppose in inland navigation for they seem'd greatly alarm'd at the gentlest breeze when any dist. from the shore. [Cf. fig. 25, p. 335.] "[No para.] The Women and men in persons & Customs resemble those of the Charlotte Isles but their language had not the least similarity. Habitations I saw none, but the remains of some Huts on several parts of the Shore [:] temporary dwellings & summer residence." Colnett seems to have liked Yakutat, for he writes of it: "On the whole the pleasantest place I had met with on the coast. The shores in every part were full of Currants, Gooseberries, Strawberries, Ras-berries, apple Trees, & wild peas all in bloom, & the natives till the man was shot, brought salmon & Halibut. I saw no fresh water, but have not the least doubt there was plenty on the High land to the North." He appends sketches of the lowland at the entrance to "Foggy Harbour" and of Mount Saint Elias as seen from the anchorage. The Prince of Wales sailed from "Foggy Harbour" on June 9. That day, when about 9 leagues (27 nautical miles) offshore,37 "the Officer of the Watch informed me a Boat was coming off with a Flag. For a long time took it for a Russian launch, but on drawing near prov'd to be a Canoe with three sticks up as masts[;] on two of them were tails of large birds hanging by a string & on the middle stick a strip of skin." The hoisting of a tuft of white feathers on the end of a long pole, which looked like a white flag at a distance, seems to have been a Tlingit "emblem of peace and friendship," an invitation to trade, which Beresford (1789, p. 180) had described at Sitka Sound the previous year. Colnett continues: "Some few skins and pieces were bought off them, & another soon joined us; in both were 30 men[,] women & children; one of the men had his dress trim'd with Chinese money, & also shewed a piece of new striped Flannel. At midnight they left us." This encounter presumably took place somewhere off the shore between Ocean Cape and Situk River. The next morning, June 10, the breeze freshened from the west, 37 Colnett's estimate of the distance is excessive; perhaps he failed to see the low foreshore. "but a large smoak being observ'd on a beach, shortened sail & hauled in for it, at the same time a Canoe was observ'd pulling after us with a piece of skin on a staff, hove too; two Canoes Join'd & some skins & pieces were purchased. . . ." This second encounter was probably somewhere offshore between Situk and Ahrnklin Rivers, since his observations at noon would put him off the mouth of Ahrnklin River or Dangerous River, from which position he sketched what appears to be Yakutat Glacier, as seen above the lagoon at the mouth of the river. However, we cannot be sure, for he makes an obscure reference to the bluff at Cape Suckling. Colnett seems to have tacked about, apparently at one time sailing toward Icy Bay, for he notes that Mount Saint Elias towers to a great height and looks conical. In any case, he must have resumed his voyage toward the southeast, for on the night of June 11, he found an anchorage in latitude 58°30', 4 or 5 leagues (12 or 13 nautical miles) from Cape Fairweather. This position is impossible, for Cape Fairweather is in latitude 58°48', which means that Colnett had either miscalculated his position by 3' or had underestimated the distance. However, as Dall (Dall and Baker, 1883, p. 202) has warned, Harbor Point, the southeast entrance to Lituya Bay, when seen from the south or southeast, "is very likely to be mistaken for Cape Fairweather." If Colnett did make this mistake, a distance of 12 nautical miles southeast along the coast from Harbor Point would bring him to a possible anchorage at about the correct latitude. As the ship was proceeding southeastward down the coast, a little after noon the next day, "a Canoe was observ'd pulling after us ... with a skin on a pole. Brought too. On their Joining us had not the least Inclination to trade requesting us to return back to the westward. At this time a point to the Eastwrd making like an inlet & some smoak on it, hoisted the Boat out & the 2nd mate went to examine it. At 8 the Boat returned reporting the place to be a small Bay of 3 fs [fathoms] of water but unsafe to stop in, so much Ice coming down from a run of water above it. At this place was a house & garden neatly fenced in, & European plants growing [!], but only saw 8 women, a lad & a boy. A skin & a piece was procured from them. This Bay is six or 7 leagues from Cape Fairweather." Where was this place? A distance of 7 leagues or 21 nautical miles from Harbor Point at Lituya Bay would be about a mile from Icy Point, behind or east of which lies Palma Bay with several sheltered coves. We know from Goldschrnidt and Haas (1946, p. 95) that, in later days, the DAqdentan from Hoonah used to have a place called Ganexa, east of Icy Point, perhaps at the Kaknau Creek of modern charts. 132 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 More puzzling than the locality visited, is the mention of the fenced garden and European plants. Fencing might be an aborginal trait, since the cemetery near Ankau Point was described by Beresford (1789, p. 175) as marked by "a number of white rails," constructed with order and regularity, a description which might apply to a fence. However, Malaspina, Suria, and LaP6rouse make no mention of fences at the cemeteries on Yakutat and Lituya Bays, and Suria does not include them in his paintings of the cemetery at Ankau Point. But the "European plants" defy interpretation, and unfortunately there is no indication that Menzies saw them. Could Colnett's mate have seen native tobacco? This seems to have been cultivated by the Tlingit, and was noted at Yakutat by Dixon. It is hardly credible that the Tlingit should already have acquired other domesticated plants, since the Russians had not yet attempted to introduce them into Alaska. When the ship's boat returned from this mysterious bay, it was found that "nothing would entice the canoe along side to trade. After detaining us 8 Hours took from them two Skins & some strips & paid them double what we gave in fair Barter & they left us perfectly satisfied." The ship stood along the shore until "Cape Fair-weather" or Harbor Point was judged to be some 7 to 10 leagues distant, and later, that night(?), a fire was seen a little to the west of the bay in which the boat had landed. Early the following morning a canoe again came off, from which another skin and one or two garments were purchased. The ship was estimated to be in latitude 58°20' N., with the little bay bearing N22W, 8 miles distant, with Mount Fairweather on the same bearing. If these observations are accurate, the little bay with the fenced garden would have been on the north or northwest shore of Palma Bay. By June 13, Colnett came in sight of Cross Sound; he saw a smoke and was joined by three canoes, which, however, had only three poor skins to trade. Portlock and Dixon had warned him that he would get little here. From another canoe he obtained two or three more furs. Then he sailed on to Sitka Sound, observing: "The Natives also very friendly. Not a canoe came along side but invited us in to their dwelling promising plenty to eat, & that our canoe would be sheltered from wind & sea. Not that we understood a syllable of their language, but we had now so long been conversing by signs & tokens that after gaining a little knowledge of their language found we had seldom been mistaken." It is a pity that Captain Colnett with his apparent liking for the country and the natives did not leave us a fuller description of what he saw. Ismailov and Bocharov (1788) About 2 weeks after Colnett had left Port Etches in May 1788, the Russian galliot Trekh Sviatiteli (Three Saints) entered it, and was to follow close behind the Prince of Wales to Yakutat and beyond. It will be remembered that Shelikhov had been anxious to establish posts in Prince William Sound, Cook Inlet, and on other parts of the Alaskan mainland, including the Gulf Coast. Although Shelikhov had returned to Siberia, Eustrate Delarov had been left behind at Kodiak to carry out the former's plans. Furthermore, Gov. I. Yakoby of Irkutsk had sent secret instructions on June 21, 1787, to Shelikhov, Samoilov, and Delarov, that the agents of the company should bury tablets claiming the land for Russia, especially at places where prior European vessels had obtained rich hauls of fur. "These tablets were supposed to be buried so 'that not only were the native inhabitants not to see them, but they were also to be hidden from every one of our Russian workers, so that, by keeping this secret, the inhabitants might be prevented from guessing that the tablets were placed there in the present time'" (Okun, 1951, pp. 14-15, from Tikhmenev, 1863, Suppl.). Accordingly the naval pilots Ismailov and Bocharov were sent from Kodiak in May 1788, to explore the coasts of Alaska and to claim such areas for the Tsarina's crown. In addition to these two naval officers, the expedition consisted of 40 Russians and at least 6 Koniag interpreters. The report of their explorations was included in Shelikhov's account of his own voyage to America.38 In Prince William Sound the Russians learned through their interpreters that the Chugach "enter into alliances with the Kinaizi [Tanaina Athabaskans of Cook Inlet], to the west, and on the east with the Ugalak mutes" (Coxe, 1803, p. 312). After a brush with the Chugach on Middleton Island, where the Russians lost one of the men whom they had captured in Prince William Sound but seized another, the Russians sailed for Kayak Island, where they anchored on June 2 [Julian calendar], again only a few days behind Colnett. "We were informed by the islander 36 Shelikhov in Pallas, 1793, vol. 6, pp. 205-249; Shelikhov in Coxe, 1803, pp. 302-343; also MS. translation of Shelikhov by Ivan Petroff in Bancroft Library, Berkeley. Summarized in Tikhmenev, 1861, vol. 1, pp. 26-27; Bancroft, 1886, pp. 226-270; Krause, 1956, pp. 28-29. In the reports of February 13 and 14, 1790, sent by Ivan Phil, Governor-General of Irkutsk, to the Tsarina (Andreyev, 1952, pp. 95-117) the Russian discoveries of 1788 are lumped together with those made by Shelikhov and Golikov in 1783. IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 133 [Chugach] who accompanied us that it was not inhabited [according to Shelikhov in Coxe, 1803, pp. 316-317]; but was occasionally frequented by the Tchugatski, and Ugalak mutes, for the purpose of hunting sea-otters." Apparently the ship rounded the southern point of the island and came up toward Cape Suckling, where their captive "pointed out a small rivulet, which is frequented by the Ugalak mutes, [but] it had no protection from the sea." (Ibid., pp. 317-318.) From the third to the seventh, the Kussians with their interpreters in skin baidars explored the marshy coast, finding two small rivers and a larger one. This river is described as flowing with moderate descent from the northeast, with a higher ridge of mountains to the right; it is 200 fathoms wide at the mouth, with small wooded islands to the right, and a rocky neck of land on the left. Since the river was blocked by ice that was just beginning to thaw, the Russians walked up the bank about 3 versts (about 2 miles), "observed a hut covered with the bark of trees, and the marks of human feet; but no inhabitants. Near this river dwell the Ugalak mutes, who are at enmity with the neighbouring Koliuski" (ibid., p. 320). Is this Bering River in Controller Bay, or possibly Kaliakh or Duk-toth River near Cape Yakataga? The second and larger of the two small streams had two mouths and a depth of only one-half of a fathom at low tide. The Russians rowed up it for a distance of 2 versts (about 1% miles), where they "observed recent marks of human feet, and others which resembled those of a dog." On the shore of the bay they also saw footprints (ibid., p. 319). Since the Eyak inhabitants of this area were evidently avoiding the Russians, information about them and about their relationship with the Tlingit(?) of Yakutat Bay(?) could only have come from the Chugach hostage. After leaving this river, the ship sailed southeast along the shore, sighting the mouth of Yakutat Bay on June 10, but was prevented from entering by adverse winds. The following morning, two Russians and six Koniags went in four baidarkas to explore the bay, while the galliot stood in toward land with a light breeze. The baidarkas returned before noon, shortly followed by two large wooden canoes; in the middle of each canoe was stood a pole to which sea otter skins were fastened. The description of these canoes, with their high, perforated prows (pp. 333-334),matches those sketched by LaPerouse's expedition in Lituya Bay. "Each baidar [i.e., dugout] contained fifteen men, some of whom were clad in the skins of sea-otters, sables, martens, marmots, and gluttons [wolverines]. Some were dressed in European cloths and linens, particularly a thin green kind of serge, and variegated printed linens. On approaching the ship, they pointed to the bay which lay close to the little islands. As no one could understand their language, it was conjectured they advised us to enter the bay; a rope was accordingly thrown out, which they eagerly laid hold of, and began to tow to the vessel. For the purpose of assisting them, we hoisted out a baidar, taking the precaution to furnish the sailors with arms; in about an hour some natives came from the shore in two other baidars, and joined in towing. [Ibid., pp. 322-323.] [So the ship was brought into the bay and then into a little harbor on the east side, where she anchored in 10 fathoms close to the shore, and opposite some native habitations. But since this anchorage (in Monti Bay?) was not considered safe enough,] "we towed the ship into an adjacent harbour smaller, but more secure, called in the language of the country Yakutat; on the 12th at four in the morning, we anchored in twelve fathom on a muddy bottom [in Port Mulgrave?]. "During our stay in these parts we carried on a friendly traffic with the natives." [Ibid., p. 323.] [The Russians found that:] "The greater part of the inhabitants had quitted their winter huts, and for the purpose of procuring provisions, were gone out in canoes and boats, which resemble those used at Kamtchatka [i.e., dugouts]. These people bear the name of Koliuski [Kolosh], and fix their dwellings on the banks of the different rivers." [Ibid., p. 324.] [Presumably this refers to the Ankau and to other streams southeast of Yakutat Bay where the winter villages were located.] In order to secure good water, the ship was moved farther to the northeast, "between the islands and the continent" where a suitable brook was found nearby (ibid., p. 325). Yakutat Bay is described as "frozen later than the end of July," which must surely refer to reports of Disenchantment Bay, or perhaps of visits to it by baidarka; for it is later stated that: "In every part of this bay of Yakutat, the air in fine weather is warm, and it is much sheltered by the forests." The many fur-bearing animals, as well as all kinds of marine animals, land and sea birds, and "abundance of salmon," are noted (ibid., p. 325). In addition to brief descriptions of houses, boats, weapons, and native dress, we are told that: "The native Koliuski are in stature not short; they are in general like the Konaghi [Koniag] of a brown complexion; a few only are fair" (ibid.). The extent of trade with Yakutat was also judged: "In time of peace they traffic to the east with the Tschitskanies, [39] and to the west with the Ugalak 8S Chilkat or Sitka Tlingit? "Tschitschchanern" in Pallas, 1893, vol. 6, p. 231. 134 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 mutes [Eyak], and the Tschugatski [Chugach], and since 1786, with European navigators. [40] They eagerly purchase different sorts of clothing, iron, kettles, and stills [Destillierblasen, Pallas, 1793, vol. 6, p. 231]. But they are not so eager for beads and the like. They daily flocked to the ship in large and small baidars with their wives and children, and offered for sale the skins and tails of sea-otters and beavers, garments made of different skins, ["] woolen clothes of their own manufacture [Chilkat-blanket type garments], and purses made of grass and the filaments of roots. They required in return for their own garments, different sorts of nankeen, linen and other shirts, and stills; for the other skins and articles, ear-rings of blue and red coral, and blue beads. As there were no settled rules for trade, they were extremely covetous in bartering, and peremptorily insisted on an additional present in every exchange. We saw in their possession several hatchets, which from then- shape, we supposed to be procured from some European ship; and the natives said that in the spring of the year 1788, a three-masted vessel had anchored near the island, not far from the bay, and that one of the natives who visited the ship had been shot with a pistol." [Coxe, 1803, p. 328.] The distilling apparatus was presumably desired for its metal, probably its copper tubing; manufacture of liquor was not to be attempted by the Tlingit for almost one hundred years! The natives were, of course, telling about the shooting of an Indian by one of Colnett's men. It will be remembered that Colnett has quitted Yakutat Bay on June 9 (Gregorian calendar), about 2 weeks before the Russians entered, thinking that the natives had no more skins to trade. The latter were probably not deceiving him when they indicated that they would soon have something fine to offer, either from new hunts or from more distant villages, unless the Russians exaggerated what they were able to obtain. The Russians also noted that some of the Indians were wearing "caps, like those of the grenadiers, with brass ornaments which they procure from Europeans," and also reported some amulets of iron, "resembling the heads of crows, with copper eyes" (Coxe, 1803, pp. 326, 327). At Yakutat the Russians purchased two 12-year old slave boys. One was a Koniag who had been captured at Kodiak by the Cook Inlet Tanaina, sold to the « Does thia refer to LaPe'rouse, to Europeans in Prince William Sound, or to some unreported vessels in Yakutat Bay? 11 Sea otter, wolverine, marten, beaver (Pallas, 1793, vol. 6, p. 232). Chugach, who in turn had sold him to the Eyak, and the last to the Yakutat. His name was "Noyak-Koin" ("Nojak-Koin," Pallas, 1793, vol. 6, p. 232), and he became valuable to the Russians because he spoke both Kodiak Eskimo and "Koliuski" (Yakutat). "The price of his purchase was four pounds and a quarter of iron, a large coral, and three strings of beads, and he was employed as an interpreter" (Coxe, 1803, p. 329). The other boy was "Nachu-Seynatzk" (probably Naxusenatsk, although I cannot identify the name), "a native Tschitskan [who] understood the Tschitskan [Sitkan] and Koliuski languages. . . ." By this it is implied that the "Koliuski" of Yakutat was either a non-Tlingit language, or a dialect of Tlingit, different from that spoken at Sitka. This boy "was extremely useful in pointing out many rivers on the American coast, and particularly the Bay Ltoua [Lituya]." He was exchanged for the Russian's Chugach hostage, who had been so prostrated with seasickness that he willingly left the ship (ibid.). "In addition to his purchases he [Ismailov] obtained a large number of skins from his Kadiak hunters, who in their bidarkas could go far out to sea, where the open wooden canoes of the Thlinkeets did not dare to follow. In order to draw attention from this rivalry ceremonious visits and exchange of presents were kept up." [Bancroft, 1886, p. 269.] This last refers to the meeting of the Russians with an important Chilkat chief who had come to Yakutat to trade. Perhaps the wealth of furs secured by the Russians had been gathered in anticipation of this chief's visit. The Russians supposed the latter to be the paramount chief of the Yakutat area. As they had gathered from the local natives: "Besides an inferior Toion [chief], they are all subject to a superior Toion, who is called Ilchak. We were informed by the natives that this Toion, with one hundred and fifty of his subjects, exclusive of children, visited this place in baidars [presumably dugouts]. He has two sons, whose names are Nekchut and Chink, and his principal residence is on the coast to the south east, much farther than the great river Tschitskat.[42] It borders on the frontiers of the people called Tschitskanes, who, Like the Koliuski, are at enmity among themselves, and often assault 42 "His proper living place is on the coast on the southeast side, much farther than that near Lituya, on the great river Tschitschchat" (Pallas, 1793, vol. 6, p. 228). Is this the Chilkat River? Krause (1956, p. 28) so indicates in one passage, but in another (p. 65) renders it as "Tschitschat (Tatshenshini) River," a tributary to the Alsek, on the overland route between Dry Bay and Chilkat country. This interpretation would make the "Tschitschat," or "Tschitschchaner" of Pallas, the Southern Tutchone, not Chilkat or Sitka Tlingit. IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 135 each other. This Toion rules over all the Koliuski, who inhabit the coast, as far as the bay of Yakutat, which is the last place in his dominions." [Coxe, 1803, pp. 324-325.] "Ilchak," whom the Russians erroneously supposed to be the ruler of Yakutat, was actually Yelxak, the leading chief of the Raven GanAxtedi sib at the Chilkat town, Klukwan. In a Sitka version of the QakexwtE story (Swanton, 1909, Tale 32, pp. 161-165), Yelxak and his sib become embroiled with the Raven Tl'uk-naxAdi sib of the Yakutat-Dry Bay and Cross Sound areas. The latter sent a war party to Klukwan, where Yelxak lost his life in the fighting. Emmons (1916, p. 15) translates the name "Ilk-hak or Yehlh-kok" as "Raven fragrance or smell," and states that this is an ancient and honorable appelation among the GanAxtedi. In 1885 a man of this name seems to have been chief of the famous Whale House at Klukwan. One of our informants, who was a very small child in the 1880's, remembers that her Teqwedi grandfather at Yakutat used to trade with this chief. Swanton in 1904 recorded at Sitka an account of a potlatch given at Klukwan by Yelxak and another chief, to which the Sitka Kagwantan were invited (Swanton, 1908, pp. 438-443). The Chilkat chief in the QakexwtE story, who may well be the actual "Ilchak" whom the Russians met, was the son-in-law of an important Tl'uknaxAdi shaman, Yel-tlen, "Big Raven." According to my Yakutat informants, who also know the story (p. 274) but who are inclined to connect the war party with the swamping of canoes in Lituya Bay, Yel-tlen was a shaman who lived at Gusex on the Akwe River. His daughter, who married Yelxak, was probably a Teqewdi woman, for her sons, "Nekchut" (Nequt) and "Chink" (XEn&), had Teqwedi names that are well known at Yakutat. The first was the honorable name of William Milton (1888-1950), and the second that of a man who died between 1910 and 1920. The great chief, Yelxak, whom the Russians met, only seemed to rule at Yakutat because of the tremendous prestige accorded any chief of the powerful and aristocratic GanAxtedi sib and because of the domineering superiority which the skillful Chilkat traders were able to attain over the less sophisticated Athabaskan, Eyak, and Interior Tlingit, with whom they traded. Even Swanton's storyteller at Wrangell, Katishan, chief of the Kasqaguedi sib, reports that Yel-tten, on receiving a gift of tobacco from his Chilkat son-in-law, said: " 'Chilkat is a respectable place. A lot of respectable people live there. They are so good that they give food even to the people that were going to fight them' " (Swanton, 1909, p. 162). This surely indicates something of their reputation. The same impression of Chilkat wealth and prestige is conveyed in a story told by a Sitka Kagwantan man in which a man on the way to Klukwan is warned: " 'It is a notable town. A man has to be careful what he does there or he will suffer a great shame' "; and in the same story, a visitor from Chilkat to the Hoonah town of Grouse Fort is said to be so wealthy that people were afraid of him (Swanton, 1909, Tale 28, p. 71). On June 15, then, this great chief, Yelxak, came to the Russian ship, acompanied by a native artist. He was entertained in the cabin, and insisted upon being told all about the royal portraits hanging there. "Although we had already given the Toion and his subjects an account of these august personages, we again gratified his wishes" (Coxe, 1803, p. 330). The Russians, by their own account, certainly lost no opportunity to emphasize the benevolence and might of the Imperial rule, and gave the chief one of the copper coats-of-arms with which the expedition had been provided, in order to claim land for Russia. The chief "was requested to wear it upon the fore-part of his garment, and it would serve as a mark of fidelity, and protect his subjects against all foreign ships" (ibid, p. 331). The chief is reported to have listened to the discourse on Russian rule "with veneration and astonishment," and "received the coat of arms with extreme joy" (ibid., pp. 330, 331). The next day he returned with two elders, proudly wearing the emblem on his robe of sea otter, this time to request one of the portraits. On the engraving of the Grand Duke Paul, which was given to the chief, the Russians wrote the following message: "In June, 1788, the Factor of the company of Golokof and Schelekof, the pilots Gerassim Ismaelof, and Dmitri Betscharof, of the galliot the Holy Fathers, with forty men, being in the bay of Yakutat, carried on a considerable traffic with the Toion Ilchack and his subjects the Koliuski, and finally received them under the protection of the Russian Empire. As a memorial of these events, we gave the said Toion a Russian coat of arms, on copper, and this engraving of his Imperial Highness the successor to the Russian throne. Orders are hereby given to all Russian and foreign ships sailing to this place to treat this Toion with cordiality and friendship, without omitting the necessary precautions: the said pilots who anchored here in the galliot from the 11th to the 21st of June, experienced from the Toion and his people, the most friendly behaviour." [Coxe, 1803, pp. 331-332.] It is not clear, however, how the date of their departure from Yakutat could have been written on a picture given away on June 16! To make doubly sure of Russian claims over the area, a copper plate (Number 9) was buried on June 18 near the mouth of the bay, apparently close to Ankau Creek. According to Bancroft (1886, p. 269, n. 30): 136 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 "Two years later not a trace could be found of the portraits, medal, or copper plates. . . ." Although the chief had received the portrait "with extreme satisfaction, and as customary, with an extatic shriek," giving in return, "an iron image of a crow's head, which he considered as sacred; a bag woven from grass, and striped with various colours; six sea-otter shirts, also a leathern and [a] wooden table [tablets; zwey Tajeln, Pallas, 1793, vol. 6, p. 236] which were painted with diverse colours, and inlaid with stones," it is very doubtful that the worthy chief made these gifts "as proof of his subjection to Russia [!]" (Coxe, 1803, p. 332). The Russians sailed on June 21, apparently driven by the wind back toward the west, but hoping to be able to secure some fresh fish from the river which 18 days before had been choked with ice. However, since they found no secure anchorage here they turned eastward again, passing Yakutat Bay on June 28. Natives came out in three canoes, evidently mistaking the Russian ship for another vessel, for when they discovered her identity, they returned to shore. The Russians sailed on along the low, sandy coast, passing the Antlin (Ahrnklin) River, and anchoring the next night to explore the Ralcho or Kalkhu (Italio), where they saw footsteps but no inhabitants, The next morning they passed the Alzec or Altsekh (Alsek River), "with a little island on the east side [Bear Island], and sand-banks at the mouth" (Coxe, 1803, p. 336). An onshore wind prevented them from entering Dry Bay, although they were confident that it was frequented by the "Koliuski." Later that morning they passed the Rakan-in or Kakan In (K'agAn hini?,, which "flows under the northeast side of a cape, and is also frequented by the Koliuski." Beyond this, "the coast was no longer flat or sandy" (ibid,), and since it was about 17 miles northeast of Lituya Bay, I suspect the stream was that just north of Cape Fairweather, where Waterfall House was built, or else the stream northwest of that (see p. 91). On July 1, the Tlingit slave boy pointed out the mouth of Lituya Bay, "which he informed us contained many fish, and in which a large ship had not long ago anchored" (ibid.). After some Koniags in baidars lashed together, and later Ismailov and 15 men in a large baidar had explored the opening, the ship finally entered the bay on July 5. At first the Russians anchored, as LaPe"rouse had done, on a rocky bottom too close to the mouth, then "towed the ship farther into the bay towards a little island, where two years before, according to the information of the Koliuski boy, a foreign ship had anchored." Some 5 hours later they were visited by the Tlingit, who came in "three baidars, and other small boats" (ibid., p. 338). The chief was "Taiknuck Tachtuiack," or "Taik-nuch-Tachtujach" (Pallas, 1793, vol. 6, p. 243), who came accompanied by two elders. He asked, through the interpreter, whence the strangers had come, and was given the same kind of speeches and Russian coat-of-arms that had been given to Yelxak. It is reported that this chief, too, "in the most solemn manner, expressed his full reliance on the protection of the Russians, and his resolution of perservering in his friendly behaviour. . . . From these circumstances he conceived such an exalted idea of the Russian power, that he not only received the gift with the highest degree of veneration; but presented nine sea-otter skins, and six sea-otter mantles, and requested that they might be forwarded to the all-powerful Empress, as proof of his gratitude and zeal. "We then traded with the natives, and exchanged for their skins and furs [beaver, sea otter, wolverine, and "sable," (Pallas, 1793, vol. 6, p. 244)], iron-kettles, clothes, and beads. In the afternoon they returned in their baidars to their dwelling-place, which was situated about a verst and a half [1 mile] from the ship. These habitations were temporary summer huts, while they were employed in procuring fish and other provisions. Their whiter habitations were situated on the banks of a small river which falls into the sea, at the distance of about five versts and a half. [Here the] dwellings were much larger than the summer huts." [The mouth of the stream, the Huagin River?, was so blocked by rocks that even the baidar-kas had difficulty in entering (Coxe, 1803, pp. 339-340).] The Russians learned through their Sitkan slave boy that the previous summer a large ship and been in the bay but had lost her anchor, which the natives had hauled out at low water. The chief, "Taiknuck," had the anchor brought to the Russians, who found that it weighed 780 pounds although the ring and flukes were broken off. The identity of the ship is unknown, although Coxe (1803, p. 340 n.) erroneously supposed it to have been Portlock's! Again, as at Yakutat, the Russians buried another copper coat-of-arms on the shore of the bay, near Cenotaph Island, and the next day, July 6, after anchoring nearer the mouth of the bay, erected a wooden cross on the cliff above the eastern shore. Because of the bad weather, the galliot had to put out two small anchors, one of which, weighing 144 pounds, the natives stole during the night. As a gesture toward regaining it, the Russians sent some men in a baidar toward the shore; but the latter prudently did not attempt to land until morning, and then searched only along the beach and in the woods, where, of course, the anchor was not to be found. "... and IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 137 as we did not chuse to complain either of the Toion or his subjects, no further search was made" (Coxe, 1803, p. 342). It had been observed or concluded that although the natives of Lituya Bay had their own chiefs, they were believed to be all subject to Yelxak, and it was noted that their manners and customs were similar to those of the Yakutat natives. Since scurvy had begun to appear, the Russians sailed on July 9, reaching Kodiak on July 15. Bancroft (1886, pp. 269, 270, note 31) has stressed that Ismailov's journal has not a word about Dixon's previous visit to Yakutat, although he must have heard of it (as he had evidently heard about Colnett's), and that Ismailov also fails to mention the monument left by LaPerouse at Lituya Bay, which indeed, he may actually have destroyed. At Lituya Bay, "many tools and implements [were] marked with the royal Jleur de lis. A small anchor similarly marked was secured." Bancroft suggests that these omissions probably reflect the secret instructions which Ismailov had received, ". . . for even business letters from the [Aleutian] islands to Siberia were in those days frequently tampered with by the authorities of Okhotsk and Kamchatka, and it was to the interest of Shelikof and his partners to have English claims to prior occupation ignored." The official reports sent to the Empress by Ivan A. Phil (or Pil), Governor-General of Irkutsk, on February 13 and 14,1790, about the explorations of the Shelikhov-Golikov Company, are of interest in this connection. The discoveries of Ismailov and Bocharov are thus Us ted: "Yakutat Bay. This is inhabited by the Koloshes who border the Chitskanes. In view of the fact that they have been induced to assume a peaceable attitude towards the Russians, a board was left there, which is designated on the map by the letter '¥,' also one emblem and, for special reasons, one portrait. The toyon of the place, in token of his submission to Russia, brought over a few articles. Considerable trade was carried on here, and in [1]788 a three-masted foreign vessel was anchored in the harbor. In the coastland opposite there are the following rivers: the Antlin, Kalkhu, Altsekh, and Kakan In. "Litua Bay. It is inhabited by the Koloshes who have been brought under domination. One emblem and one board, number 19, were left there. The toyon, as a token of his loyalty, made a gift of one sea-otter. All these islands and bays, as well as those not enumerated here but mentioned in the first memorandum abound in timber and other resources. As for the inhabitants, they have already become more attached to the Russian traders than to the foreigners who used to visit them." [Andreyev, 1952, p. 117.] 265-517—72—vol. VII, pt. 1 11 [These same documents stress the friendliness of the natives and their devotion to the Russian crown:] "The Koloshes and Chitskanes, who inhabit these parts [Yakutat and Lituya Bays], have been con-quored by no one and, in their ignorance, have not been aroused to oppose your subjects. In spite of everything, even of opposition to their savagery, they all with one mind, as a result of the affable attitide towards them on the part of the Company, came not only to understand the grandure of Your Empire but to give themselves up into complete obedience to it. "In conclusion it may also be mentioned that the two emblems with the proper inducements and inscriptions which the authorities had given them stimulated in them a sincere spirit of submissiveness and a readiness to accept anything proposed to them on the part of Your subjects. . . . Their frankness and their peaceable disposition exceed, it seems to me, the very bounds of probability, inasmuch as, without fear to speak out plainly, they regarded it as their direct obligation to satisfy Your subjects as to their condition and the contacts and trade relations they had had with other foreign vessels that had visited them." [Ibid., pp. 99-100.] We can be certain that none of the Indians or their chiefs believed that they were pledging submission to the Tsarina or to the Shelikhov-Golikov Company. The Tlingit had no conception resembling that of the Russians concerning the relationship between "rulers" and "subjects." They were familiar with that between owner and slave, but no free man became a slave unless he were captured in war, or might be forced through starvation to surrender his freedom in return for food. Certainly Yelxak of the Chilkat and "Taiknuck" at Lituya Bay were doing nothing of the kind. From their point of view they were conducting a profitable trade with due ceremonial procedure. Conceivably, they thought of the Tsarina and Tsarovich as new trade partners! One also wonders whether the copper coats-of-arms so carefully buried by the Russians and evidently later dug up by the natives were considered by the latter to be some kind of "copper," like those given and received at potlatches. One might even speculate that these medals and emblems might have furnished a prototype for the native 'tinna.' While it is clear that the Russian reports do not accurately reflect their dealings with the natives, it is not so obvious that these accounts are throughout consciously warped to deceive the Imperial authorities, as Bancroft suggests. The documents are certainly worded to create as favorable an impression as possible, since Shelikhov was then working hard, through his friend, Governor-General Phil, to secure an Imperial trade monopoly. However, there is additional, subcon- 138 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 scious double-talk here, a statement of what the Company would like to believe was the truth, and perhaps did come to believe: that the natives had voluntarily submitted to Kussian rule. For if this were true, then any resistence in the future would be not only ingratitude, but rebellion and treason, justifying any suppres-sive measures that might be expedient. This view of the situation, as characteristic of Russian official thinking today as it was in the 18th century, must be kept in mind in considerating the activities of the Russian American Company and the fate of its colony at Yakutat. We have no further direct reports of Russian expeditions to the Gulf of Alaska and Yakutat Bay until Lieutenant Puget met Purtov with a baidarka fleet there in June 1794. Nevertheless, it is clear from the account of this meeting, as reported by Vancouver, as well as from reports of Baranov and Purtov, published by Tikhmenev, that the Shelikhov-Golikov Company had dispatched at least one expedition to Yakutat in 1793, and possibly the rival Lebedev Company, which had a post at Nuchek in Prince William Sound, may also have gone into the Gulf of Alaska. We cannot, however, trust the statements about voyages and posts which either of these Russian companies made to each other or to foreigners, for their agents did not hesitate to lie to outsiders about the extent of their operations in order to frighten off or discourage competition. This policy is made clear by the misleading reports of Delarov to the Spanish explorers, Martinez and Haro, in 1788 (Bancroft, 1886, pp. 271-273). Purtov also claimed to Captain James from Boston, whom he met in Prince William Sound in 1793, that "our stations extended from Kadiak to Ltua Bay" (letter of Baranov to Shelikhov, July 24, 1793, in Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, Suppl., p. 44). The next summer Purtov himself was to discover that the Lebedev agent had apparently exaggerated to him the extent of that company's operations (see Purtov's letter, August 9, 1794, in Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, Suppl., p. 61). Thus we do not know what faith to put in Purtov's statement to Lieutenant Puget in 1794 that hunters of the Shelikhov-Golikov Company had been taking sea otters on the "Pamplona Shoal," somewhere off the coast near Cape Yakataga. Douglas (1788) The Trekh Sviatiteli had barely returned to Kodiak Island, when Capt. William Douglas, in the Iphigenia Nubiana, sighted Mount Saint Elias on August 2, 1788 (Meares, 1790, pp. 287 ff.; Wagner, 1937, vol. 1, p. 210; Bancroft, 1886,p.267). Douglas, like Capt. John Meares in the Felice Adventurer, had sailed from China in January of that year on a fur-trading venture for the "Merchant Proprietors," an association of British businessmen in India and Canton. They sailed under the Portuguese flag in order to circumvent the monopolies of the East India and South Sea Companies. (The following year their company was to merge with the King George's Sound Company in the undertaking which involved Colnett in trouble at Nootka.) In the summer of 1788, before joining Meares at Nootka, Douglas had visited Prince William Sound, where he had seen the inscription left by Colnett's supercargo at Port Etches. From here he sailed southeastward to visit the Yakutat Bay area, August 2 to 5. According to Russell (1891 b, p. 62), he actually anchored inside Yakutat Bay, but I can find no evidence that he saw Yakutat Bay at all. The weather on August 2 was cloudy; Mount Saint Elias and the shore were not uncovered until the ship had already passed the mouth of the bay and seems to have been about 23 nautical miles south of Ocean Cape (Meares, 1790, p. 321). [The next morning, August 3], "the jollyboat was dispatched, with orders to proceed within a mile of the shore, to examine if there was any appearance of inhabitants; and about noon she returned, in company with a large canoe, containing about thirty Indians. [The ship now anchored in 27 fathoms], and purchased of the natives several cotsacks or dresses of sea otter skins, and a pair of gloves of the same. The extremities of land, when at anchor, bore from West North West, to East by South half South distant four or five miles. The observed latitude was 59°10' North, and the longitude 221°27' East [i.e. 138°46' west of Greenwich]. [Meares, 1790, pp. 321-322.] [This suggests a position off the coast between the mouth of the Ustay-Akwe River and Dry Bay.] "Early next morning the people returned, as the sailors observed, with all their old cloaths, as the cotsacks they now offered for sale had been much worn: these articles, however, were purchased, with a quantity of salmon; and at nine o'clock they weighed anchor and proceeded along the shore [by noon reaching a position south of Dry Bay]. The place where the ship lay was called Tianna's Bay, in honour of the chief [a Polynesian from Hawaii]; he was indeed much dissatisfied with the present climate, against the cold of which he could not protect himself, though he had as much cloathing on him as he could well carry, and was become very impatient to return to Owhyhee." [Meares, 1790, p. 322.] According to Dall and Baker, (1883, p. 206 and IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 139 accompanying chart; cf. also Davidson, 1869, p. 136), "Tianna Road," later changed to "Diana Roads," is the shoal water off the mouth of the Ahrnklin and Dangerous Rivers. From this place, Douglas had no further encounters with the natives until he reached Cape Cross on Yacobi Island, south of Cross Sound, where he records how a spirited Tlingit woman, apparently of high rank, beat into submission a male chief (of lesser rank?) who interfered with her trading activities. In fact, she supervised all the transactions of the natives. It will have been noted that a number of visitors to Yakutat and Lituya Bays have understood the natives to report the calls of vessels of which we have no record. As Fleurieu wrote in 1797 (1801, vol. 1, p. cxlvii): "It is probable that the ship-owners of the UNITED STATES, excited and encouraged by their government, have multiplied their expeditions to the NORTH-WEST coast of AMERICA; but no printed account has been made known to EUROPE the voyages that they have undertaken. Hitherto, the Americans act more than they write; let us wish, for the tran-quility of the world and the happiness of the human race, that the faculty of communicating our thoughts from pole to pole may ever be in their hands only a means of uniting and enlightening mankind, and that they may, at no time, abuse it for the purpose of agitating passions and overthrowing empires." Malaspina (1791) Although the Spanish had dispatched a number of exploratory expeditions to the Northwest Coast between 1780 and 1790, for the purpose of claiming lands before the British could do so, none of these touched at Yakutat, even though several went to southeastern Alaska or to Prince William Sound (Wagner, 1937, vol. 1, pp. 202-205, 215-222). However, the Spanish government, since 1783, had been undertaking a program of scientific exploration to improve their hydrographic charts, and in 1788, Alejandro Malaspina, an Italian, and Jos6 Bustamente y Guerra, both commanders in the Spanish Navy, proposed an elaborate plan for a voyage around the world which was to include a scientific investigation of the Northwest Coast.43 Among the objectives were 43 Summarized by Fleurieu, 1801, vol. 1, pp. CLXIII-CLXV; Martin Fernandez de Navarrete in Galiano, 1802, pp. cxn-cxxin; Bancroft, 1886, pp. 274-275; Krause, 1956, pp. 23-24; Russell, 1891 b, pp. 63-66; pis. 5, 6; Wagner, 1937, vol. 1, pp. 225-229; see Malaspina, 1849 and 1885; Surla in Wagner, 1936, and Suria's plates in Guillen y Tato, 1932. to be the collection of "curiosities," i.e., geological, biological, and ethnological specimens for the Royal Cabinet, and these scientific investigations were to be carried out by naturalists, map makers, and artists. These plans, which remind us of the orders given to LaPerouse, were approved and two new corvettes built. The best chronometers were secured for determining longitude, and Malaspina collected all available reports of earlier explorers, although he apparently did not get the best maps. Among those on board whose work is of most interest to us was Tadeo Haenke, a noted German botanist, and Tomas de Suria, the artist, whose pictures and journal give us so much information about Yakutat. Malaspina was also enjoined to investigate the claims made by Lorenzo Ferrer Maldonado that he had discovered the Northwest Passage in 1588, claims which Philippe Buache had resurrected and supported in an address to the Academy of Sciences in Paris, November 1790 (Navarrete and Navarrete, 1849, esp. pp. 228-250). It was these instructions which led Malaspina to investigate Yakutat Bay. Malaspina was ordered also to make a study of the social, political, and economic conditions of the Spanish colonies to be visited on his voyage. According to Wagner (1937, vol. 1, p. 226), Malaspina was "imbued with the doctrines of Rousseau," and although these were popular in Europe, Malaspina was far too ready "to reform everything and everybody," so that "to turn him loose in such closed possessions as the Spanish colonies was to invite disaster." It is no surprise, therefore, that on his return to Spain he became involved in a court intrigue and incurred the enmity of Minister Godoy. As a result, he was thrown into prison, where he remained for 6 years, until Napoleon secured his release; moreover, all those who were writing reports of the scientific results of his expedition were ordered to abandon their work, and all of this material remained unpublished for many years. A summary of his voyage in which only the names of the vessels, not of their captains, were mentioned appeared in 1802, together with three of his charts (Navarrete in Galiano, 1802, and Atlas). A great deal of material relative to this voyage (journals, notes, drawings, maps) still remains unpublished in the Museo Naval at Madrid. I am indebted to Prof. Luis Pericot Garcia of the University of Barcelona, as well as to the authorities of the Museo Naval, for copies of many of the pictures drawn at Yakutat by Tomas de Suria; the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, has also furnished me with copies of some.*1 The two corvettes, Descubierta (Discovery) under ** GuiUSn y Tato, 1932, pis. vi, ix, xi, xm, xiv, xv, by Surta-pertain to Yakutat. 140 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 "p. o 13, 03 g 'a. I o IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 141 Malaspina and the Atrevida (Daring) commanded by Bustamente, finally sailed from Acapulco May 1, 1791, and on June 23 sighted Cape Edgecumbe, but did not stop here. Next day the Spaniards were gazing in admiration at the beauties of Mount Fairweather and the adjacent Gulf Coast. By noon of June 26, they were off what Cook had designated as Bering's Bay (i.e., Dry Bay), and approached the shore where several lights could be seen among the trees. The following day, June 27, they sailed to within 2 miles of the beach, from which position they saw the mountains back of "Bering's Bay," which proved that there could be no Northwest Passage here, and also noted the isolated little mountain or hill, which from a distance could be mistaken for an island (Bear Island in Dry Bay). From here they followed the low land to the northwestward, rounding Point Carew into Yakutat Bay, still early in the morning of June 27. They examined carefully the entrance to Port Mulgrave, but the opening in the mountains at the head of the bay suggested the Northwest Passage as Maldonado had described it, so they steered for it, carefully sounding all the way. Malaspina named Point Munoz on Khantaak Island, and noted the lowlands on both sides of the bay and the foul ground off Khantaak Island. However, when barely off Knight Island, about 9 nautical miles below Point Latouche, where Maldonado's passage seemed to begin, they turned back to secure a safe anchorage. It was already apparent from the weak tides that there could be no Northwest Passage here; nevertheless, Malaspina decided to stay in Port Mulgrave to take on wood and water, while the longboats explored the head of Yakutat Bay. The ships apparently rounded the north end of Khantaak Island, discovering a small bay blocked by many islands (Colnett's anchorage?), and began to tack down the outer coast of Khantaak Island in order to enter Monti Bay. Here they encountered the natives. "In a little while we saw coming towards us at great speed two canoes of Indians which shortly arrived alongside. The first view, when they were near, was one of great astonishment, both for the Indians and for us; for the Indians because they did not cease looking at the ships, although they advised us and we soon verified it, that these were not the first that they had seen; for us, because such strange and marvelous subjects presented themselves to our sight. [And Suria goes on to describe the wild appearance of the skin-clad, painted men (see pp. 434-435).] As soon as they were close to the ladder all except the steersman stood up, and at the sound of a stentorian and frightful voice which the ugliest one, who was in the center, uttered, they all extended their hands together in the form of a cross ..." [and began to sing what was evidently a song of peace and friendship (Wagner, 1936, pp. 247-248)]. [According to Malaspina, the ships were approached by two large canoes and a small one, which was evidently a two-hole baidarka.] "Almost at the same time that we had determined to tack and steer for anchor, both large canoes immediately came alongside the corvettes, but not without some show of fear. They followed entirely the orders or advice of a venerable old man who, in the small canoe, ranged now to the one, now to the other side, and who gave every indication of being the chief of the little tribe." [Malaspina, 1885, p. 155.] [After an exchange of friendly signs, the natives were invited on board, but the chief posted one of his sons in each canoe before he boarded the Atrevida (ibid., p. 346).] "We received them kindly at first with sea biscuits, salt pork, and tallow, and later acceeded to their insistance that as many of our men descend to the canoes as hostages as the number of them who came on board. In this fashion they were soon convinced of the safety of our peaceful intent, and since we did not neglect at the same time to give some trinkets to those who had first come aboard, after half an hour hostages were no longer necessary, nor was there need to urge them on our part, the more so, since one could see in almost all of them a great propensity to slip below decks, no doubt with a mind to steal some or other of the trinkets which were on hand. "They continued on board until afternoon; in all their actions they manifested a lively and happy spirit. Since our troups and seamen did not hesitate to give away a good part of their rations and clothing, much importuning was necessary to get them into their canoe and get it away from the side of our ship," [since it was likely to be damaged when the ship tacked.] [Malaspina, 1885, pp. 155-146.] Apparently the canoes followed the ships all afternoon, the occupants "always singing songs which, although harsh on account of the pronunciation, were not very disagreeable," while the chief in his baidarka acted as song leader (Wagner, 1936, p. 248). Finally, the corvettes beat their way around Point Turner and anchored in 12 fathoms, mud bottom, in front of "an islet rancheria," not more than a cable's length or pistol shot from shore. This was evidently in Port Mulgrave, in front of the same native settlement that Dixon had visited. Suria found the bay "very beautiful, all surrounded with various rocky islands, covered with big pine forests which present a very beautiful view" (ibid., p. 248). Even while the vessels were coming into the harbor, " many canoes came out to meet us, repeating several times the hymn of peace, 142 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 P I 3 O o c S 8" ii I IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 143 at other times a general harmonious call apparently of invitation or admiration, and offering for trade more salmon and wooden artifacts than sea otter ["nutria"] pelts which could yield a considerable value. Silently and not without fear, they admired our lowering of the smaller boats, particularly the launch, into the water" (Malaspina, 1885, p. 156). Now, at 9 p.m., the natives and Spaniards took leave of each other with further signs of friendship. The welcome of the corvettes in Port Mulgrave by the native canoes is depicted by Surla in a hitherto unpublished sketch in the Museo Naval (pi. 40). Malaspina was delighted with the anchorage, not only for the sake of his ships, but because: "the natives were near at hand and numerous enough to study their customs without suspicion or molestation, and water, wood, ballast, fish, and vegetation, everything we needed, was so close at hand that to bring them on board could hardly be called a bother. [Malaspina, 1885, p. 156.] "The village [on Khantaak Island] west of the anchorage consisted of six or seven hovels, carelessly constructed of a few props covered with boards so poorly arranged that wind and water were admitted to the interior. But at the same time that, we remarked this slovenliness in the construction of the huts, we noted the care with which then* canoes were made and the trouble they suffered from the rain and cold, which made us believe that they possessed other habitations more sheltered from the winter." [Malaspina, 1849, p. 248.] The settlement seemed to be inhabited by about 80 persons, the rest of the tribe being scattered about on the surrounding islands. The next morning Malaspina went on shore with an escort of officers, soldiers and armed sailors, and was received with the sign for peace and loud songs. The chief pointed out a source of fresh water, and an Indian, "one of the agreeable ones who had been on board since early morning," served as a guide, going first to a nearby place which proved to be short on water (the pond on Khantaak Island?), then to the beach opposite, to the southeast (head of Monti Bay), where plentiful springs were found. Near here, the officers of the watering party also visited a hut which the guide indicated was his own. Here, "natural curiosity and admiration paid tribute to the nudity, filth and intimacy in which lived two wives and a number of children, as well as to the ornaments, clothes, foods, and utensils found there" (Malaspina, 1885, p. 157). The officers seem to have taken every opportunity of winning the friendship of the natives, learning the most useful words, and becoming acquainted with their customs. Since early morning many natives had been on board the corvettes, offering some skins, many fresh salmon, and several wooden utensils, in exchange for clothing and iron. "These were the only things they seemed really to yearn for, but they would accept all kinds of buttons, nails, and miscellaneous pieces of hardware. [Although Malaspina tried to curb the familiarity between the natives and the crew, this proved impossible once trading had started.] As we judged from the eagerness of the participants, it might be inferred that our sailors could no more live without grabbing everything that they saw, than the natives without the cloth and iron for which they panted with so much reason. "The tricks used by the natives in their trading or bargaining have been very well described by Captain Dixon: They not only keep hidden the goods which they intend to trade, but also never act with greater indifference than at these times. After a delay, often of over an hour, in which they remain calm in the sight of the many objects presented to them, they finally uncover a strip of skin, or a doll, or a spoon, or some other bagatelle, offering to trade it for everything they see. If they cannot appeal to the quality of the object, they appeal to its size and symmetry. Even after trade is agreed upon, the bargain may be rescinded. Finally, if there is some really fine skin among the things they bring, they will show it with so much mystery, put it back again right away, and show it again later, that they excite in the most indifferent mind a singular mixture of vexation and fancy, difficult to subordinate to the expression of interest alone. "One does not observe among them the least rivalry, either in buying or selling. Rather, all interests are united with admirable unanimity; they either consult among themselves to confirm the trade, or if they arrive at confirmation, they applaud it with one, two, or three unanimous exclamations, depending on whether they think the exchange has been more or less advantageous." [Malaspina, 1885, pp. 156-157.] An individual would cheer when he had made a profitable bargain, and the whole group would shout "Wo!" which was believed to legalize the transaction. The Spaniards acquired for the Royal Cabinet a complete collection of native manufactures, including arms, hunting and fishing gear, domestic utensils, and some examples of weaving. This list included: figurines, wooden spoons, boxes, gaming sticks, waterproof cooking baskets, well-balanced stone hatchets and hammers, daggers, bows and arrows, wooden armor, and a blanket woven of "pine" (cedar) bark 144 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 and trimmed with sea otter fur.45 As soon as they discovered the market for such articles, the Indian men and women began to make them for trade. They were particularly anxious to acquire warm clothing, in contrast to articles of adornment, while axes were the most desired of iron tools. The rate of one nail per salmon was established and maintained as long as the corvettes remained at Yakutat. This was not so much because nails were desired as because salmon were plentiful, Malaspina believed, for he reports that at first "the older son of the Ankau responded to this proposition by seizing a handful of nails and flinging them to the ground" (Malaspina, 1885, p. 348). On June 29, the observatory for checking the snips' position was put ashore. "The Indians continued to be very sociable and in return for clothes buttons, which they hang as pendants from their ears, gave us some rich, fresh salmon, at the rate of one for a button. The fish in the north is the most delicate thing which can be imagined. We could never satisfy ourselves with it notwithstanding that we ate an abundance of it. [This trading continued until July 2, with little to disturb it, but skins could be obtained only at great cost,] as there were some of the crew who for a third of one skin dressed an Indian from head to foot." [Wagner, 1936, p. 249.] Even beginning with the first day of their arrival, the Indians hospitably pressed upon the Spaniards the use of some women. At first the Europeans were uncertain that they had correctly interpreted the meaning of the signs, and decided to investigate. "Consequently, when directed by two youths who were repeating with a mysterious air the now familiar cry of 'Shout' [cawAt 'woman'], we approached some trees near the huts. Then any doubts were easily dispelled, for immediately four or five women appeared at the foot of the tree, partially covered with sea wolf [fur seal] skins, and at once obedient to the wishes of practically the whole tribe who seemed unanimously intent on prostituting them . . . [The women] certainly had a horrible appearance, and the considerable amount of grease and filth with which they were covered gave off an indescribably awful stench." [Malaspina, 1885, p. 157.] These women seemed terrorized and oppressed, and Malaspina concluded that they were slaves. Despite these friendly suggestions, Malaspina ordered armed vigilance at all hours, and the use of passwords 45 According to Gunther (1962, p. 48), "As much of the collections from the Malaspina Expedition as reached Madrid" are now in the Museo de America. She saw only the catalog, but reports that the "documentation is poor. The collection is primarily from Alaska," i.e., from Port Mulgrave. at night to prevent a surprise attack. To avoid provoking any unfortunate incident, he prohibited any contact between the enlisted men and the women and children in the huts, while generous gifts were continually made to the Indians. On their part, the latter were unwilling to let one of their numbers accompany the Spaniards unless the Europeans left a man with the Indians until the party returned (Malaspina, 1849, pp. 280-281; 1885, p. 157). The ordinary natives at Yakutat are described by Suria as: "of medium stature but robust and strong. Their physiognomy has some resemblance to that of all Indians, except that their eyes are very far apart and are long and full. The face is more round than long, although from the cheeks, which are very bulging, to the chin it is somewhat more pointed. Their eyes are sparkling and alive, although always manifesting a wild and untamed air, a consequence of the methods by which they are brought up. They have little beard although there is no general rule about this as I have seen some with a very full one. This and the hair of their head is so very thick that it looks like the mane of a horse. The women have the same facial characteristics and if it was not for the red ochre and black soot which they put on some of them would not be very ugly although in general I would not venture to say that they were good looking. "All of them, men and women, generally speaking, have something of Chinese features." [Wagner, 1936, p. 253.] The Spaniards were particularly impressed with the local chief, or "Ankau," whose title Malaspina used in naming Ankau Creek. His name is rendered as "June1," "Junue"," or "Junuelo," and the Spaniards ascribed to him greater powers than he actually possessed and also a wider dominion, since they called the tribe "Tejunfe," or "TejunueY' which is equivelent to "June's People" (Navarrete in Galiano, 1802, pp. cxvi, cxvii; Malaspina, 1849, p. 285; 1885, pp. 345, 350). The chief's name, which might be rendered as Hune or Xune, reminds us of the name of a Tl'uknaxAdi chief, ^one ("Q!one"'), of Gusex on the Akwe River.46 He appears in the Sitka story of the war between the Tl'uknaxAdi and the Chilkat GanAxtedi, in which Ismailov's Yelxak was killed (Swanton, 1909, Tale 32, pp. 160-165). In this version, the Kagwantan of Grouse Fort on Icy Strait had been entertained at a potlatch by the GanAxtedi of Klukwan. Some of Tl'uknaxAdi who had accompanied their Kagwantan 40 For the reputed origin of this name, ^one or Xone, see. Episode 5 of the Raven Cycle, "Raven in the Whale," p. 852. IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 145 brothers-in-law to Klukwan made a Raven Hat of their own, on which the figure of a Raven, with copper beak, wings, and tail, pecked at a copper plate, Xone wore this Raven Hat to a feast at Grouse Fort, where he and his clansmen spoke very disparagingly of the QanAxtedi, and to prove their own superiority, gave to their Kagwantan hosts the copper wings and plate from the Raven Hat. It was news of this insult which led to war between the rival Raven sibs. Yelxak is said to have been killed by a Tl'uknaxAdi man whose spear points were made of drift iron, and who wore a helmet representing the Monster Rat that lives under "the mountain Wasli'ca," i.e., Mount Saint Elias. This episode is given in some detail, because Malaspina's chief seems to have been involved in a war. The "Ankau" had first been entertained on the Atreinda, then requested permission to come aboard the Descubierta, where he was understood to offer lasting friendship to Malaspina. Suria has given us his portrait (pis. 44, 45), which Malaspina pronounced an excellent likeness, and also the following description: "The chief was an old, venerable and ferocious looking man with a very long gray beard, in pyramidal form, his hair flaccid and loose on his shoulders. False hair over it in various locks, without any order or arrangement, made him look like a monster. A large lion skin [Alaskan brown bear, according to Wagner] for a cape was gathered in at the waist and left entirely bare his breast, arms, thighs, and endowments, very muscular and strong. All gave him a somewhat majestic air, which he manifested by speaking but little, measuredly, and with a sound which at times seemed to be the bellow of a bull. At other times it was softer and in speaking to his sons it was sweeter than in conversation. [Wagner, 1936, p. 249.] [Malaspina found his presence worthy of respect, because of his age, stature, and vigor (Malaspina, 1885, p. 157).] [The chief was accompanied on board by two men, whom the Spaniards assumed were his sons. The elder was] "very ferocious and gigantic . . . [and] more than two yards tall, equally stout and muscular. He had his hair loose which, on account of its thickness, seemed like a horse's mane. It was very black like that of his beard. He was dressed in a black bear skin and very hairy, also in the form of a cloak which he fastened with some ornament, leaving bare at times all his nakedness, and passing to and fro over the quarterdeck, very proud and straight, his look full of ire, arrogant, and condescending." [Wagner, 1936, p. 249.] It is this man whom his father left in charge of the trading, and who preferred European clothing to anything else (Malaspina, 1885, p. 157). Suria also sketched him (pis. 46-48). The chief and his son explained by gestures that they had been visited by other ships. But what was puzzling was the chief's attempts to tell the story of some recent war. Malaspina understood him to mean that their enemies had been armed with six muskets, and that after some had been killed on both sides, the others had asked for peace. What caused the greatest confusion, however, was the impression that the enemy had a man on horseback. To demonstrate this, the chief called his son and put him in a quadrupedal position, to show that the enemy was mounted. Such was Malaspina's interpretation (ibid., pp. 157, 345-346). Suria gives a briefer but more convincing account that: "What we could draw from all their signs was that a short time before they had fought some other cacique who had killed the son of their chief. They showed us his helmet which was of a figure, and an extraordinary construction of wood, copper, and of straw cloth, and with a mask in front which appeared to be a wolf" (Wagner, 1936, p. 249). It is further described as having three rings on top made of thin copperplate (Malaspina, 1885, p. 158). The "straw cloth" is, of course, spruce root basketry. The chief had been so pleased with his own portrait that he requested that Surfa make a picture of this helmet also, since it had been taken from the enemy chief. Although credited to Josef Cardero, who was never at Yakutat, the Museo Naval has what must be this picture (pi. 58). It is a helmet, or crest hat,17 surmounted by three basketry and three copper (?) rings, decorated with what appear to be copper wing-like plates at the sides, and with tufts of hair, even at the top, where the Tlingit hat of this kind usually flaunts a panache of ermine skins. It is impossible to tell what crest is represented by the carved and painted design: a Wolf, as Suria's description suggests, or possibly a Monster Rat or even a Raven, to fit Swan-ton's legend. Since we can be sure that no horse was on the coast of Alaska at this time, the Yakutat chief's demonstration may have been simply to indicate the quadruped (Wolf?) that was the crest either of his enemy or of his own son. It is, of course, tempting to link Malaspina's chief of Port Mulgrave with the Tl'uknaxAdi chief from Dry Bay who fought the Chilkat. While Suria believed that it was the son of the "Ankau June" who had been killed in this war, Malaspina's reports make it clear that it was the father who was slain, and that his ashes were in the box held in the paws of an enormous Bear post in the nearby cemetery 47 McClellan, 1954, p. 96, has pointed out the similarity between the helmet and the crest hat. Perhaps the latter is derived from the former. 265-5.17—72—vol. VII, pt. 1- -12 146 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 (Malaspina, 1849, p. 289; 1885, pp. 345-346). If "June" belonged to the Raven moiety, as his name suggests, his father, who had also been a chief, would have belonged to the opposite moiety and might well claim the Wolf or Bear as his crest. The same would be true of "June's" son. If I were following my own informants' traditions of the past, I would consider "June" or ]vone to have been Kwac3sqwan, not Tl'xrknaxAdi—names did shift from one sib to another within a moiety, or were shared by them—and his father and his sons would have been Tlaxayik-Teqwedi. Perhaps %one was actually the chief Yaxodaqet, and at the same time the wearer of the helmet symbolizing the Monster Rat of Mount Saint Elias. If, however, the helmet or hat had been taken from an enemy chief, it is obvious that it portrayed the crest of its former owner, not that of the Yakutat "Ankau" or of his relatives. Moreover, Malaspina understood that the battle in which it had been secured had taken place at Port Mulgrave. Near the spot where the Spaniards established their observatory was the grave of a man who had been killed in these last fights. It was marked by a stick planted in the grass, and covered by a rush mat weighted down with stones. The natives showed considerable reluctance to approach the spot, and evidently did not want the Spaniards to do so, indicating by signs and silence that they were afraid of disturbing the dead (Malaspina, 1885, p. 159). (This grave must have been near the cemetery used until the earthquake of 1889.) What seems most likely is that the Yakutat chief was trying to tell by signs about a series of episodes, which the Spaniards naturally confused. The muskets, and the dead man, buried not cremated, may have nothing to do with a fight with other natives. The corpse may have been that of the man killed by one of Colnett's sailors some 3 years before. Certainly the Yakutat natives were familiar with Europeans, for Malaspina noted hatchets, cooking pots, silver spoons, some articles of clothing, and even three books, which he interpreted as relics of Dixon's visit, as he did the natives' insistence in offering the women. In fact, on one occasion the old chief had to be reprimanded for bringing a woman to the observatory, and the crews again had to be ordered not to go near the native huts. The younger Indians sang sea chanties, or repeated a few English words, as did three young women who came in a canoe under the stern of the Descubierto, where they not only called out in English but sang a native melody, which Dr. Haenke recorded. Eventually, of course, pilfering began. At first an iron padlock was taken, but was returned because the culprit was detained despite his threats with a dagger, and the chief was induced to make him restore it. On another day, when two marlin spikes were taken, the chief could apparently do nothing, although he attempted to placate the Spaniards, and explained that the thieves belonged to "a distant family," that is, were not members of his own sib or lineage (ibid., p. 158). In consequence, all natives were barred from the ships, and trading was limited to the open beach in front of the corvettes which could be covered by their guns. This was the treeless area, near Point Turner, some distance from any of the huts, and also the site selected for the observatory. The natives crowded about the observatory tent continually, wanting to look through the telescope and to examine all the instruments, so that everything, tent and all, had to be brought onboard each night. Despite these inconveniences, for Malaspina the Indians "could not have presented a more endearing aspect. We were familiar with the most necessary words of their idiom; we visited them openly in their huts. Don Tomas Suria could draw some of the women and represent the almost unbelievable quantity of domestic utensils. Trading had warmed up on both sides, and we had already been given permission to provide ourselves with the necessary wood in the vicinity of the houses without any preliminary agreement, to which, nevertheless, we would have immediately acceeded." [Ibid., pp. 158-159.] Early in the morning of June 30,48 the old chief and a dignitary came to the Spaniards at the observatory to announce, with apparent anxiety, that two canoes were coming, and were already only a mile or two away. Since it was not known whether they were friendly or hostile, the chief wanted the Spaniards to go to the front beach and fire a volley, which would force them to declare their intentions. Meanwhile, the tribe took up arms, launched two canoes, and the women retired. The Spanish, accordingly, went to the beach (on the western side of Khantaak Island?), where they could be seen, and fired a gun. At this signal, all the paddlers in the canoes, about 40, burst into a hymn of peace which they continued to sing as they approached the shore. Finally they drew up on the inner beach, while the old chief continued to shout to them to be careful, because the Spaniards were his allies. By now almost all fear of attack seemed to be dissipated, and although the Yakutat natives still kept their arms, they waded out to the boats to carry the leaders of the visitors ashore. The latter were at once presented to the Spaniards by the "Ankau". General peace making followed, the two parties embraced each other, and the visitors were led with joyful oratory to the huts. Except for the places where the women prepared skins or did 48 Or July 1 (Malaspina, 1885, pp. 345, 346). IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 147 the cooking, the two groups were now intermingled as if they formed one tribe (ibid., pp. 159-160). What the Spaniards had witnessed and taken part in, was not, as they had supposed, a narrowly averted hostile encounter, but the ceremonial reception of foreign guests, as at a potlatch. On such occasions, (McClellan, 1954: Swanton, 1908, pp. 434-443, 449; and see pp. 613-615), there are always two rival groups of guests, one local, one invited from a distance, between whom competition is symbolized as warfare followed by peace making. A common feature is the brandishing of weapons and firing of guns, either by the hosts or by the local guests, in welcoming the visitors; the latter may also fire volleys. It is the duty of the host chief to prevent, if he can, the rivalry between his guests from leading to actual fighting. As McClellan has pointed out (1954, p. 96), the emphasis on symbolic warfare in the accounts of potlatches that appear in Swanton's Tlingit Myths and Texts (1909), as well as in the actual conduct of potlatches, including the hostility between guest sibs, the use by hosts and guests of 'sib brothers-in-law' as go-betweens who are called 'deer,' like peace hostages, the similarity between crest hats and war helmets, and so forth, "all suggest an intriguing relationship between the potlatch, the peace ceremony, and warfare, which should be more fully explored." While it would appear that the visitors greeted by Malaspina in Port Mulgrave had probably not come to a potlatch, much of the same formality was characteristic of Tlingit intertribal trade, which also involved some of the ceremonial of war and peace. It is quite probable that the visitors of June 30 had come because they had learned of the presence of the frigates. The newcomers had brought some good sea otter skins which they offered to the Spaniards that same afternoon, each seller accompanied by a member of the local group. There was the same enthusiasm for acquiring European clothing, and apparently some of the seamen gave away garments that were worth more than the current market value of skins at Canton. "Still, it was a singular and curious sight to see at the same time a good half of the old tribe and some of the new, dressed so strangely in the old uniforms of the soldiers, and in the sailors' jackets, caps, pants, underwear, shirts, etc.," which might give the impression that the natives had assassinated the crew of a Spanish vessel (Malaspina, 1885, p. 161). The Spaniards took advantage of the many spectators to demonstrate the power of their guns. Apparently one of the Indians believed that he could make his clothing bulletproof by soaking it, but when one of the officers shot a hole through it, he became bitterly angry. Meanwhile the scientific observations could be carried out in peace, because the natives were busy else- where. Everything was also proceeding calmly at the watering area at the head of Monti Bay. One of the officers here made friends with a native family, observed various domestic customs, and also acquired a few items of women's dress and ornaments, which are, unfortunately, not specifically described. This officer also located the cemetery on Ankau Creek which Dixon had visited. The next day, July 1, a party of officers and the painter Suria went to the cemetery, near which they met five natives who were picking strawberries. The latter were judged to be members of the lower class and probably ignorant of local traditions, but therefore unlikely to interfere with the Spaniards, especially since the latter loaded them with gifts. Suria meanwhile sketched the framework of what seemed to be an old winter house, and two grave monuments, one old and the other new. One of the boxes with calcined bones from the older monument was taken for the Royal Cabinet, apparently without native objections. (The description of this cemetery is given on pages 540-542.) While the Spaniards were interested that the Yakutat people seemed to have one male and four or five female slaves, assumed to be captives from another tribe,49 the Indians, on their part, were convinced that a native Filipino sailor on the Atrevida was also a sla~ve. "From the first day they visited the corvette, the inhabitants had taken him for one of their own, had tediously examined his hair, his skin, the features of his face, and his body members, and then asked him to stay in the tribe. And they inquired how he came to be among us, and whether he had been sold or captured" (ibid., p. 161). On July 2, Malaspina set off with two longboats to explore the head of Yakutat Bay, leaving Bustamente in charge of the anchored corvettes. As will be seen, trouble with the Indians at Port Mulgrave broke out almost immediately. The two boats, rowing up the bay and sailing when they could, noted floating ice along the western shore, and smoke rising from one of two places on the eastern flatlands where the natives lived. When near what I believe was the sealing camp at Tlaxata, below Point Latouche, a canoe came out to meet them with a single Indian. This was the son of the Port Mulgrave chief, who had been on board the ships many times. He was now dressed in trousers, shirt, and cap, and to Malaspina appeared much more humanized and curiously gentle. He came on board the longboat of the De-scubierta and explained that he was the chief of a nearby settlement, where his women and children lived, 49 The chief indicated that the male slave was obtained from the same tribe that had sent the canoes on July 1 (or June 30) Malaspina, ]885, p. 347, note 1). 148 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 tlfl iNifEtc lie!. j Jc 0 rdA .3 i . ( ti.ahhul.JS!. 59.51.10. t- ]£cnritoj...i3.£v.2£eo4ot 3 3 $ ffl .id IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 161 "Cape St. Elias" [Kayak Island? Cape Suckling? or the shore near Sitkagi Bluffs?], but Purtov's party-saw many sea otter near Yakutat Bay and at other places along the coast, and easily secured 400 skins. They cruised about for some time, until the weather became bad, and the native "Kolosh" began to show a hostile disposition. On their way back, Purtov met an "English vessel from Boston" under Captain James, and told the latter that "our stations extended from Kadiak to Ltua Bay" (Tikmenev, 1863, vol. 2, Suppl., p. 44). This, of course, was a lie intended to discourage foreigners from trying to obtain furs in these regions. Baranov was delighted at Purtov's discoveries. Purtov and Kulikalov (1794) It was to follow up these promising discoveries that Baranov sent a second expedition in 1794 to "Ledianoff Bay" (Icy Bay) and Yakutat, where the leader, Purtov, met Lieutenant Puget in the Chatham. The report made by Egor Purtov and Demid Kulikalov to Baranov, August 9, 1794 (Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, Suppl., pp. 60-67), is naturally more detailed than what Lieutenant Puget was able to tell Captain Vancouver of their dealings, but, as already mentioned, it differs in certain significant points. While we must remember that the dates will not coincide because the Russians were using the Julian calendar, and the English the modern, or Gregorian, calendar, the Russians also seem to have been careless about dating events. The expedition consisted of about 500 baidarkas with Koniag, Aleut, and Chugach, the Russian hunters Shvedzov, Repin, and Voroshilov, five men from the shipbuilding station on Blying Sound, and five more laborers who were not needed there. The party had started from Kenai, Cook Inlet, on May 8, and after recruiting some of the men and procuring guns and ammunition at Blying Sound, went on to Prince William Sound, where they fell in with the agents of the Lebedev Company. The latter had just founded a post at or near Nuchek on Hinchinbrook Island, and also claimed to have others at Tatitlik in Prince William Sound and at the mouth of the Copper River. They tried to frighten Purtov's party from going farther to the east. However, the latter went on "to the first mouth of the Copper River," and then, on May 24, at "the second mouth," met two Chugach baidarkas whose crews assured them that there was not then and had never been any trading post in that area. They also reported that a baidar or big skin canoe had come from the interior with "Mednovtze people" (Atna), but refused to guide the Russians to where they had seen the Athabaskans. Although the Russians went 15 versts (about 10 statute miles) up the river, they failed to see them. From here the party went to "Kaniak Island" [Kanak Island, or possibly Wingham Island in Controller Bay?] to fish for halibut and hunt sea otter. The Russians were unable to make contact with the timid Eyak, for as they report: "On the 30th we left Kaniak and went across a strait to the mainland and after rounding a point we went to the shore where we saw a cabin but the people had all fled, leaving all their property behind of which nothing was taken. A small amount of provisions was taken but in its place beads and corals were left in the house. Meantime a bidar was sighted in the distance, traveling along the Kolosh shore; a few bidarkas with natives were sent out at once along the shore to meet it, but as soon as they were noticed they appeared to be frightened and expected nothing but robbery at our hands and while we tried to get to speak to them and ask them to come to our camp they hurried away from the bidarkas sent out to meet them, made for the beach, pulled their bidar ashore and fled inland, leaving many articles in the bidar and on the beach of which nothing was taken." [Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, Suppl., pp. 61-62.] Although we do not know whether these episodes occurred in Controller Bay or just east of Cape Suckling, perhaps at Ugalenka River, the expression "Kolosh shore" strongly suggests the Qalyix-Kagwantan territory between Cape Suckling and Cape Yakataga. Certainly it was here that the first clash occurred with Eyak-speaking natives, and the report of Purtov and Kulikalov to Baranov (which we quote) should be compared with what they gave Lieutenant Puget to understand had occurred at "Riko bolshe unala" (see pp. 154-155). On the 31st the Russians camped at "an Ougalakmute [Eyak] village," apparently abandoned through fear of the Russians. Some of the hunters reported hearing voices in the woods, near a small stream where many tracks of adults and children could be seen. That night six Russians and two interpreters went to look for the fugitives, following a trail across one stream and coming to another which they could not ford, but where they saw some huts, apparently also deserted. "They went down close to the water's edge in the woods and could smell smoke and when they finally heard children crying they went straight on through the woods following the sound and holding their arms ready they rushed into the place and captured one chief, his brother and a slave, but when they brought Ifi2 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 •s CO CO CQ IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 163 the prisoners to our camp, one of our Kadiak interpreters, Ignatiz Bacharoff, was suddenly seized by two men springing from the woods and pierced with lances, but they could not assist him because he was across the river, but we took our prisoners to our camp on the other creek near the sea while the others escaped. [Ibid., p. 62.] [This account clearly indicates that it was the Russians who made the unprovoked attack.] [No para.] "We told them through our interpreter that they had nothing to fear from us, took them into our tents and made presents to the Chief and his brother and asked them where their tribe was and finally the Chief consented to call them together in the camp, sending out his brother to call them in. On the 3rd of June the Ougalat [Eyak] people came to camp and were received with presents. Their families were counted and 7 hostages taken from them, among them 2 men from Yakoutat Bay. When all the people went away again the hostages only remained with us and one Chief voluntarily asked to go with us to Yakoutat Bay. We left at that village a paper saying that the inhabitants had become subjects of the Russian Empire, a copy of which document is appended to this report. They were asked if they had not with them as prisoners some European people, to which they all unaminously answered that not a single European had ever been with them." [Ibid.] Bancroft (1886, p. 346 note 21) indicates that the Russian government had ordered such inquiries, believing it possible that some of LaPexouse's men might have escaped drowning, but be held as slaves. The questions also suggest concern for possible survivors from the wreck on "Pamplona Shoal," which in turn reminds us of the native tradition (p. 233). These natives seem to have been those who attacked Baranov's party on Hinchinbrook Island in 1792; ". . . but it was clear that they had then not the slightest reason for hostility towards us as we were the first Russians they had seen." They reported that several of their men had been wounded in this raid, and that they had killed and wounded several Koniags, and had captured the four Chugach hostages of the Russians. They said that the latter had been taken to Yakutat Bay where they subsequently died. The natives "answered unanimously that the Ougaliagmutes had planned, together with the people of Yakoutat Bay, an attack upon the Chugatz, but that they were not guilty of hostile intentions against the Russians. In the first place they had not known at all that the Russians were allied with the Chugatz with whom they lived in almost continual warfare and they gave hostages to each other whenever they had any intercourse." [Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, Suppl., p. 63.] Purtov's party stayed at this place until June 5, when they went to Ledianov Bay, "which is called Nachik by the inhabitants there." (Is this "Wachik," or rather Wase or Yase, initial w and n being sometimes interchanged in Tlingit proper names?) Here they secured 400 sea otters, and then went on into Yakutat Bay, where the Eyak chief and a Kodiak man who could speak Tlingit were sent on ahead to inform the inhabitants that the Russians were friendly. In the meantime, the party camped at "one of the capes of Yakoutat Bay," probably Cape Manby, and the next day went hunting, but had the misfortune to lose two Koniags whose baidarka capsized in the surf (ibid.). "On the same day [June 12] the Ougaliagmute Chief returned from the village on Yakoutat Bay and with him the Yakoutat Chief sent his own son as hostage and three wands, ornamented with beads and eagle feathers, together with some sea-otter skins; according to their custom these wands are a sign of friendship. Our Kadiak man S'emen Checheneff remained with them as hostage on our part." [Ibid.] Bad weather prevented the Russian party from crossing to the Yakutat village, but on the evening of the 13th (according to the Russian calendar; June 26th according to the Gregorian), the Chatham, which Purtov had already met in Cook Inlet that April, was seen entering the bay. Kachessov was sent in a baidarka to speak the ship. He furnished her with 30 fresh halibut, and was "very hospitably received and treated to whisky" (ibid.) "After passing the night at that place [Point Man-by?] we started early in the morning for the Yakoutat village, and the hostage who showed the route told us to proceed to an island which was situated directly opposite the village, where the ship had also anchored. [This village or camp may have been on the north end of Khantaak Island, and the Russian camp on a small island near by: Kriwoi or Otemeloi, for the Chatham was anchored in that vicinity on the night of June 27, Gregorian. Purtov, however, makes no mention of spending the night aboard ship with his hostage chief.] But on the 15th the ship hoisted anchor and proceeded into a cove situated in the interior of the Bay, where it anchored in exactly the same spot where the ship 'Vassili' [Trekh Sviatiteli surely?] anchored in the year [1]788." [This would appear to be Port Mulgrave [ibid., p. 64].] [Purtov and Kulikalov now give an account of their reception by the Yakutat natives at the village on Khantaak Island (?):] 164 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 "When we had reached the village and landed on the beach the Chief and many of his people emerged from their huts, dancing and singing and when they came to our bidarkas they asked us to stop and when we consented a number of men (about 20) came toward us and lifted up the bidarkas with us sitting in it, and carried us in their hands to a larger building which stood near the beach. The Chief then asked us into the hut and began to treat us to food, consisting of halibut meat, fresh and dried, spruce-bark pans with berries preserved in oil, etc. He also presented us with two sea-otters, in exchange for which we gave him beads, corals and copper-rings. After remaining with them a few hours we returned to our camp taking the Chief and his command with us and after he had consented to give us some more hostages they returned again, taking with them the same S'emen Checheneff as hostage on our part. "[No para.] On the 16th the Chief was expected at our camp as he had promised, but when he did not come Kulikaloff and Akhmuilin were sent to him and when they reached the village they intended to take the Chief with them, but he demanded that a Russian be left in his place. They found themselves compelled to leave Akhmuilin hi the village as a pledge and then the Chief with 15 of his best men were taken to our camp where he was very hospitably received and presented with beads, corals and copper shields, after which the negotiations began." [Ibid.] From the Yakutat chief, the Russians learned that the chief to whom Ismailov and Bocharov in 1788 had given the shield with the imperial coat-of-arms had died, "and on his death the shield had been sold to the people living on Chilkat Bay [Sitka Sound or Lynn Canal] and that there the upper part had been accidentally broken off." All of this certainly sounds like the distribution of coppers at an important funeral pot-latch. The Yakutat people also admitted that in 1792 they and the Eyak had planned an attack on the Chugach, and "without the least intention of doing so had killed one Russian at the beginning of the fight," as Baranov had reported. "They acknowledged that they had offended us and said that they had known we were allied with the Chugatz, but when they had gone to camp they had learned that the Russians had resolved to attack them," (ibid.,), so presumably they attacked first, a statement which contradicts that previously made by the Eyak. They admitted that they had taken the four Chugach child hostages, but when the Russians asked for then- return, the Yakutat said that "these hostages had been sold to tribes living beyond Chilkat bay and that most of them had died there subsequently. "[No Para.] Upon this we assured them that we desired to live in perpetual friendship with them and the Chief formally presented us with Yakoutat Bay and the small islands within it." [Ibid., pp. 64-65.] Details of the exchange of hostages which followed are unfortunately omitted from Tikhmenev's publication of Purtov's letter. It is, of course, impossible to tell what the Yakutat people were giving the Russians, although according to their own traditions they offered nothing more than permission to build a trading post (see p. 259). Bancroft (1886, p. 347) suggests that the chief was drunk on Russian liquor when he gave away the southeastern part of the bay. We can be sure that they were not giving away all their territorial rights to the whole bay! "On the 20th we left the small island and proceeded with the whole party to the cove where the English ship was anchored. As we apprehended no danger from the Yakoutat people by reason of the many hostages demanded of us we established our camp directly opposite the ship in the bay. "[No para.] On the 22nd several bidars came to our camp and some small canoes with Kolosh living beyond Grekoff Island [55] at Ltua Bay which is situated about one day's journey in a bidarka from Yakoutat; we received them hospitably and presented the Chief and most prominent men with beads, corals, copper kettles and rings, both large and small, and with medals to be worn on the breast. After talking with them for some time we demanded hostages from them, to which the Chief consented under condition that we and the Kadiak people also gave hostages. Four of the Kadiak men volunteered to remain with them until exchanged, when a list of tribes was made out which is hereto appended." [Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, Suppl., p. 65.] [This and several similar lists are also omitted.] "They were asked if they knew of any trading companies to their shores, Europeans or Russians, who traded with them or had exchanged hostages, but they replied that as far as they knew there was no station of Europeans or Russians anywhere further down the coast but as we saw with them many guns and ammunition of lead and powder in considerable quantities we asked them from whom they had received the guns and powder when they said that they had exchanged them for sea-otters from Europeans who came to them every year in ships to purchase sea-otters. They asked us also for guns and ammunition, but we refused firmly and they did not repeat then- demand." [Ibid.] 65 This is apparently not Cenotaph Island, which is "Yaohoi" or "Egg Island" on Tebenkov's chart. The Russian text reads FpekoBckoS, which may be a bay, not an island, and it seems to be nearer than Lituya Bay. IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 165 It was, of course, a firm policy of the Russians never to trade firearms to the natives. The Jackall is reported to have arrived on June 24 (Julian), and the Chatham sailed on June 26, "having received as a present one female full-grown sea-otter and one 3-hole bidarka" (ibid.). The third hole in such a skin-covered canoe was an innovation which the Russians had induced the Aleut and Pacific Eskimo to adopt, for the convenience of a Russian passenger. Purtov and Kulikalov also noted that the English were very grateful for the fresh provisions with which they had kept the ship supplied. "After this the tribes around Yakoutat came with the proposition that as they had consented to give us hostages they should receive some of the Kadiak men from us. Some relatives of the Chief of Ougashensk and the Chugatz Chief consented to this and we agreed to wait for an exchange of hostages from their villages until the 30th, but when we had received no news from them at that time Kulikaloff with 4 Russians and several Kadiak men went to their village to find out their intentions. When they arrived at the village and landed upon the beach they began to negotiate and asked for the hostages according to agreement, when they were answered that that business could not then be attended to, as the tribe from Akoy Bay [literally 'Bays of Akoy,' Byxtti Akofr, i.e., the Akwe River-Dry Bay area], who are related to them, had come to pay a visit, but when they had gone home again they would exchange hostages from both sides. Kulikoff [sic] could not make them change their mind and was glad to get away in safety from the shore. [Ibid., p. 66.] [Again, details about exchange of hostages are omitted.] "On the 1st of July we went to the village on Yakoutat Bay with the intention of liberating the interpreter Chicheneff and the other Kadiak men detained with him. When the commander of the English vessel [Captain Brown of the Jackall] learned of our intention he accompanied us with an armed whaleboat and six sailors in person, and went with us though we tried to dissuade him from such a step and had asked for no such assistance. [The captain is earlier reported to understand "but very little Russian" (p. 65); yet Brown certainly thought Purtov asked for his help.] Nevertheless the whaleboat came along with us and on arriving near the village we stopped close to the beach and demanded the interpreter Nechaeff and the other Kadiak men detained with him. They only gave us one of the men, a Chief from Afognak, and said that the following day they would go home and promised to bring the other men to our camp. After this we returned to the party in the bay. [Ibid.] "[No para.] On the 2nd of June [July] the Akoy Chief and 8 men came to us in a bidar bringing 3 of our Kadiak men, having left behind the interpreters Checheneff and Nechaeff and said that those men would be brought in another bidar, promising to go after that bidar himself and send us Nechaeff. The Chief asked us to await his return, but fearing some evil design on his part we made him leave behind two of his relatives and some of his best men, a daughter of a prominent man and a boy who had been captured in 3 canoes, numbering 14 persons; we also kept with us the brother of the Yakoutat Chief. On the same day the Ougaliagmute and Kolosh hostages were sent to the English vessel as a measure of protection against the Yakoutat tribe. The Chief of the Yakoutat village sent a canoe with 4 men, demanding that his brother be returned, in place of whom he promised to send his son." [Ibid., pp. 66-67.] [If the action of the Yakutat chief seems callous, we must remember that his brother belonged to his own sib and was perhaps his successor, whereas his son would belong to the opposite moiety.] "On the morning of the 3rd we awaited the sending of the promised hostage and the return of Nechaieff, but as we could learn nothing about them we resolved to go back to Yakoutat Bay [?] and take the hostages which the commander of the English vessel had been kind enough to keep for us." [Ibid.] The Russians then left Yakutat Bay, where they had obtained some 515 sea otter skins. On the return voyage bad weather prevented them from landing on "the beach opposite to Cape St. Elias." Could this possibly be the "Pamplona Shoal" that Purtov had intended to visit? At Nuchek they informed Balushin, foreman of the Lebedev Company, and Samoilov, its navigator, that they had been "beyond Yakoutat Bay," and they gave the latter a list of the villages visited and of the chiefs from whom hostages had been taken, and let him make a copy of the agreements with the Kolosh which had been drawn up by the interpreters. Unfortunately neither these documents, nor the lists of presents made "in Ougaliagmute, Yakoutat and Akoy Bay and to the Kolosh tribes" are attached to the document published by Tikhmenev (ibid., p. 67). Baranov, reporting Purtov's expedition in a letter of May 20,1795, to Shelikhov and Poveloi (ibid., p. 83), specifies that from Yakutat, Lituya, and "Akoy" Bays, some 15 hostages were taken, and 4 "prominent Kadiak men" were left in then1 place at Yakutat. These 15 captives are reported to have been baptized at Kodiak, where the first Russian priests in Alaska had just arrived (Tikhmenev, 1861, vol. l,p.41;Krause, 1958, p. 29). 166 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 The account of this Russian expedition to Yakutat has been quoted at length because it so clearly illustrates the attitude of the Russians towards the natives, as well as that of superiors to inferiors within the Company. All of this indicates the picture of the White man which the Yakutat were to get from the Russian colony in their midst, and explains also how the Russians were to provoke their own destruction. "Novo Rossiysk" (1795-1801) The events of the next years, leading to the establishment of posts at Yakutat and Sitka, are difficult to reconstruct, for there are incomplete, inconsistent, and contradictory statements in the summaries given by Khliebnikov (1861 a, 1861 b), Tikhmenev (1861-63), and Bancroft (1886), and even the documents quoted by these historians and by Okun (1951) too often fail to supply exact information. We may infer, however, that on August 9, 1794, Shelikhov wrote Baranov detailed plans for the new colony to be established on the mainland and named "Slavorossiya" or "Novo Rossiysk." Baranov had under him at Kodiak some 149 men, but that same year received an additional 123, who included artizans and peasants recruited from among convicts and Siberian exiles (Okun, 1951, pp. 30, 32-34; Bancroft, 1886, pp. 351-355). Apparently Shelikhov had dispatched two ships from Okhotsk that year: the Ekaterina, which arrived promptly, and the Trekh Sviatiteli, which came in 1795. The latter "after a two [sic] years' voyage from Kamtchatka, with her cargo of stores and provisions in good order and intact," according to Bancroft (1886, p. 355), who also states (p. 352) that both ships had reached Kodiak in August, 1794, "with provisions, stores, implements, seeds, cattle, and a hundred and ninety-two persons on board, among whom were fifty-two craftsmen and agriculturalists, and eighteen clergymen and lay servitors in charge of the archimandrite Ioassaf." The supplies and colonists were intended not only for the colony to be founded at Yakutat, but, like the missionaries and artizans, for the many posts already established on the Aleutians, Kodiak Island, and Cook Inlet. The summer of 1795 seems to have been a busy season for Baranov's men. As the latter wrote to Shelikhov and Poveloi on May 20, 1795, from Kodiak: "I now send out Messers Rodionoff and Ostrogin to Cape St. Elias for the purpose of seizing Kaniak Island, opposite the mouth of Copper River, with a large bidar and a sufficient number of men, to establish a station for the winter and perhaps for permanent use." This was to shut out the Lebedev Company and other rivals. The 40-foot and 35-foot sailing ships, Dolphin and Olga, had been launched at Blying Sound that spring, and Baranov proposed to dispatch Shields in the Dolphin to explore the coasts between Lituya Bay and Queen Charlotte Islands (Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, Suppl, pp. 94, 95). Baranov also wrote of trying to make bricks, of hoping to procure copper from the Copper River, and especially about the prospects for an agricultural station near Cape St. Elias. According to Tikhmenev (1861, vol. 1, pp. 50-51), Shields was sent south in the Dolphin as planned, but Khliebnikov (1861 b, p. 41) states that Shields went in the Orel as far south as Bucareli Bay; but both agree that Baranov himself sailed in the Olga to visit Cook Inlet, Prince William Sound, and Yakutat, before going on to "Chilkat Bay" or Sitka Sound, where he was to meet Shields. With Baranov in the Olga was the Archimandrite, full of plans for "an eccesiastical empire in Russian America," but destined to be thwarted by Baranov and to drown on his return from consecration as bishop, when the Phoenix was lost in the winter of 1799-1800 (Bancroft, 1886, p. 365). In the meantime, Baranov had sent Polomoshnoi, appointed as leader of the colonists, directly to Yakutat Bay. He was to select a site, begin erecting the necessary buildings, and start the experiment of planting different kinds of grain and vegetables. Ensign Cherto-vitz was to be in charge of the hunters and of the colonists in case of an attack by the natives. We also gather from Tikhmenev (1861, vol. 1, pp. 50-51) that this party and their supplies were taken to Yakutat Bay in the Trek Sviatiteli. The group on this ship included "a part of the missionaries [none of whom stayed at Yakutat as far as I know], the settlers, and about 30 hunters. The cargo of the vessel consisted of various materials, stores, and provisions" (ibid., p. 50). Father Juvenal seems to have been aboard also, but only to draw up some plans at Yakutat for Baranov. He returned to Kodiak that fall, and was murdered by the Tanaina Indians at Lake Iliamna the following September (Bancroft, 1886, pp. 365-374). Bancroft (1886, p. 350) also reports that in 1795 Baranov sent Zaikov to Yakutat Bay in command of a "sea-going vessel," because Purtov in 1794 had brought back a promise from the Yakutat chief that many sea otter skins would be waiting for the Russians. However, the chief did not live up to his promise and the only furs secured were the 400 taken by the native hunters with the Russians. Their activities were bitterly resented by the Yakutat people. "What the result may have been is difficult to say, for just then two Aleuts were seized with small-pox, and panic-stricken the party hastened away" (Bancroft, 1886, IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 167 p. 350). While I am not aware of any written record that this disease was communicated to the local natives at this time, my Yakutat informants reported that a smallpox epidemic had struck them before the Kussians came, i.e., before they had established their post. Baranov had just reached Nuchek on his way down the coast when he received word that many of the natives in the Russian service, who had been hunting at Yakutat, had fled because they were afraid of the local "Kolosh—a warlike tribe who are always in possession of an abundance of guns, powder and equipment, which are furnished to them by the English" (Tikhmenev, 1861, vol. 1, p. 52). This is probably the same flight as that already ascribed by Bancroft to an outbreak of smallpox. Baranov punished the Kenai chief who led the retreat by ordering half of his beard and mustaches cut off. From Nuchek, Baranov went on himself to Yakutat. "On his arrival in Yakoutat in August, Baranoff induced many tribes of savages who were still hostile to the Russians to enter into friendly relations with him and hoisted to a pole the flag and coat of arms of Russia amid firing of guns, beating of drums and shouting of hurrahs, when according to his report, all of BaranofPs people formed in line and went through military evolutions. "On account of the lack of accommodations and want of provisions on the vessel, Baranoff left there 30 men and soon reached Chilkat Bay [Sitka Sound], but found none of his vessels there." [Here, Baranov took possession of the country, despite the hostility of the Sitka Tlingit. After a second visit to Cook Inlet, he returned to Kodiak (Tikhmenev, 1861, vol. 1, p. 53).] Although Polomoshnoi had reported unfavorably about the Yakutat Bay area as a site for a settlment, Baranov went ahead with the project the following year (1796). The Trekh Sviatiteli reached Yakutat on June 25, while Baranov followed in the Olga on July 15. The Ekaterina also brought some of the exiles for the colony. Shields in the Orel also visited Yakutat, while convoying a fleet of 450 baidarkas to Lituya Bay, where 1,800 sea otter were killed in a very short time. "The few men left at the place [Yakutat] the previous autumn were found in good health, but complained of having been frequently in want of food during the winter," according to Bancroft (1886, p. 356). Khliebni-kov (1861 a, pp. 1-2) however writes: "In 1795 a transport ship with a number of people was sent off to settle at Yakoutat, but getting short of fresh water through bad management of the commander, they returned to Kadiak. In the following year, a fort was built and in its immediate neighborhood a settlement was established by agricultural laborers sent out by Highest permission to inaugurate agriculture and cattle-breeding." This statement would cast some doubt as to what was the first winter actually spent at Yakutat. It is more clear, however, that the fortified post was erected in 1796. Although delayed by rains until August, Baranov set about building huts, into which the (married?) settlers and hunters moved. He also saw to the erection of barracks for the (unmarried?) men and of storehouses for goods and provisions. When he sailed at the end of two months, he instructed Polomoshnoi, who was left in charge, to continue building according to the original plans, and to follow the instructions for planting crops, and for procuring and storing food for the winter. The little colony, which Baranov called Novo Rossiysk or Slavorossiya, was composed of some 80 persons, consisting of the settlers and the hunters, together with their wives and children (Tikhmenev, 1861, vol. 1, p. 54). [While Baranov was at Yakutat,] "the principal Chief of that region appeared before him with a large number of people with their customary ceremonies, fully armed and dancing and singing. The reason for this festivity was the general wish of the savages to enter into friendly relations with the Russians. In proof of their sincerity the Chief, to assure Baranoff, sent his own children and relatives as hostages. On account of the great age of the Chief [presumably "Ankau Jun6" of Malaspina], a relative ["nephew," according to the translation by Michael Dobrynin, 1940] was chosen in his place, with the general consent of the savages and upon his request a diploma signed by Baranoff was given him as a token of the power bestowed upon him." [Ibid, pp. 54-55.] The new chief was evidently the Yaxodaqet of my informants, and one wonders to what extent his firm control over hunting in Yakutat Bay was purely aboriginal or may in part have reflected Russian notions of authority (see pp. 374-375). "The Ougalakhmutes which live in the interior from Yakutat Bay also sent hostages, receiving hi return written promises that they would not suffer any indignity or ill-treatment at the hands of the Russians" (ibid., p. 55). These people were probably Eyak-speakers living on the foreland between Yakutat Bay and Dry Bay. The following winter was a hard one for the little colony. There were disputes between the hunters under Stepan Larionov and the settlers under Polomoshnoi. As Baranov wrote to Shelikhov, the settlers were in open revolt against the commandant, Ivan Grigoryevich Polomoshnoi, threatening to break up his store and claiming that they had been cheated by the company (Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, Suppl., p. 95; quoted by Okun, 1951, p. 188). Khliebnikov (1861 a, p. 2, note) 168 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 MAP 25.—Yakutat Bay, 1849. Site of Russian Fort at x. (Tebenkov, 1852, detail of map vii.) adds that: "The two overseers, stationed at different localities were in continual quarrel and strife." Polom-oshnoi, was, however, in charge of the whole establishment, and also aroused such hatred among the natives that, even after his removal in 1799, good feeling was never restored. Proper accommodations and provisions were lacking, and 30 members of the settlement died of scurvy during the winter of 1796: 13 hunters, 7 settlers, and 10 women and children. Baranov seems to have gone to Yakutat the next summer (1797), after news of the colonists' misfortunes had been brought to Kodiak by Radionov in a skin boat. On his way to assist the colony, Baranov succeeded in recruiting practically all the Lebedev men at Nuchek and also obtained the surrender of the Chugach, who gave him 100 baidarkas and their crews. Thus, there was nothing further for him to fear in Prince William Sound. Meanwhile, Shields again took the Olga and a baidarka fleet down the coast, reaching Sitka Sound where they obtained 2,000 skins (Bancroft, 1886, pp. 357-358). In 1799 parties were hunting in Lituya Bay and at other places along the coast (Tikh-menev, 1863, voJ. 2, Suppl., p. 139). Most of these parties were led by two or three Russians, but were not escorted by sailing vessels, even though they had to cross the dangerous Gulf of Alaska, which offered few landing places for their frail craft, and even though they were also exposed to the anger of the TJingit who bitterly resented this poaching on their hunting grounds. "The village at Yakutat, though used as a resting place, was too far from the parties to be made a depot for the skins" obtained on these expeditions to southeastern AJaska. Parties that were too successful in hunting and that delayed their return until caught by autumn storms were lost in the Gulf (Khliebnikov, 1861 a, p. 3). Unfortunately no report to which I have access details the events at Yakutat during the early years of the Russian colony. Nor is the Russian post itself described, except that Davidson (1869, p. 139) writes: "In 1795 the Russians had a post on the lagoon inside Cape Phipps, but it has been abandoned, as also one on IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 169 the steep cuff east of the anchorage under Cape Turner." This last would have been near the present site of the 'Old Village' at Yakutat, perhaps on the hill between the 'Old Village' and the mission, where there is now a graveyard. One would have supposed that Ankau Head, at the south side of the entrance to Ankau Creek, would have been a better location. When Belcher (1843, p. 85) visited Yakutat Bay in 1836 he noted the remains of a blockhouse on a cliff on the east side of the harbor. As already mentioned, the main colony, "New Russia" on "Russian Lake" in the Ankau lagoons, consisted of seven buildings inside a stockade, with five more outside the walls (Dall and Baker, 1883, p. 207). The natives also mentioned some kind of fortified position, or lookout post, on an island in the lagoon, another lookout or "lighthouse keeper" (sic) at Ocean Cape, and guards at the barrier on Tawal Creek. Cattle were said to have been kept at "Cows' Bay" near the main post. Apparently one of the Company's ships used to make an annual voyage to Yakutat, bringing supplies and perhaps replacements for those who had died, and taking back skins that had been collected. Baranov writes of sending the German navigator, Padgash to Yakutat in 1798 and 1799, and when the Phoenix was lost (in May, 1801), remarks that it will be hard to send the necessary annual reinforcements to Yakutat and Sitka. Furthermore, inefficiency, bad feeling between the hunters and settlers at Yakutat, and general hatred of Polomoshnoi (which Lieutenant Talin only aggravated on his visits with the supply vessel), and presumably failure of the agricultural experiments (which Polomoshnoi thought never should have been attempted at so unpromising a locality), made Baranov think of abandoning the whole Yakutat project (Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, Suppl., pp. 134-141). It is quite evident that Baranov was less interested in the Yakutat venture than in his plan to establish a post at Sitka, in the heart of the Tlingit country, from which he hoped to exclude the foreign traders who were obtaining such rich hauls of furs. In the spring of 1799 he set out, planning to straighten out affairs at Yakutat before going on to found a new fort at Sitka. Baranov had with him the Orel, the brigantine Elizaveta, recently arrived from Ohkotsk, and the new sloop Konstantine, built in Alaska. The expedition was accompanied by a fleet of almost 200 baidarkas, and in Prince William Sound was joined by 150 more under Kuskov.69 Baranov was, however, soon to encounter trouble. 58 Khliebnikov (1861 b, p. 42) specified that the party consisted of 550 baidarkas of "Aleuts from Kodiak," the Ekaterina under Podgat, the Orel and the Olga commanded by Baranov himself. 265-517—72—vol. VII, pt. 1 13 On May 2, when passing Cape Suckling. 30 of the baidarkas with 60 men were lost in a storm. Baranov, who seems to have been also at that time in a baidarka, ordered all of the men in the skin boats ashore. However, here they were surprised by the "Kolosh," who succeeded in killing or capturing some 26 of the unfortunate "Aleuts," since there were only two Russians with Baranov and only a few hunters armed with guns to defend the group (Bancroft, 1886, pp. 386-388). This episode was told as the story of "The Massacre at St. Elias Rock" (Birket-Smith, 1953, pp. 140-141), by a Chugach informant in 1933 who said that the events had taken place when his grandfather was alive. He ascribed the massacre to a Yakutat Indian named Yakegua who came from Chilkat River in Controller Bay, and whom the Russians later tortured to death, and to a Chugach named Irquq, who came from Gravina Bay in Prince William Sound. Those slam belonged to different Chugach tribes on Hinchinbrook and Hawkins Island. This would show that even such traditional enemies as the Tlingit and the Chugach could unite against the Russians and their associates. At Yakutat, Baranov "found nothing but trouble and disaster in every department," as he wrote to Larionov at Unalaska on July 24, 1800, after his return to Kodiak from Sitka (Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, Suppl., p. 140; see also Bancroft, 1886, pp. 394-398, for quotations from this illuminating letter). The commander of the settlement, Polomoshnoi, asked, or had asked to be relieved, so Baranov appointed Nikolai Monkhin in his place. Later that year, the Orel, with Polomoshnoi, Lieutenant Talin, and all her crew, was lost near Montague Island. According to Bancroft, Polomoshnoi had gone to Kodiak to protest conditions at Yakutat but had been ordered back to his post by Baranov's representative, and was on his way to Yakutat when the Orel was wrecked ("Bancroft, 1886, p. 391; Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, Suppl., p. 136). Baranov was also told that at Yakutat "several people had been made sick by eating certain herbs, but that others had been seized with the same symptoms who had not partaken of the herbs at all. The symptoms were the same—swelling of the throat and pain in the chest and in a few days twenty persons had been attacked and fifteen died" (Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, Suppl., p. 143). Nor was this the only loss from poisonous food (although the Yakutat deaths would seem to have been due to some other infection) for, of the large party of "Aleut" (or Koniag?) hunters sent back from Sitka later that summer, about 100 died at Poison Cove in Peril Strait from eating poisonous mussels, and Baranov was afraid that the survivors would be attacked by the "Kolosh" on their way from Yakutat to Prince William Sound. 170 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 Also in this same letter, Baranov complained that the Tlingit were being supplied with quantities of firearms and ammunition, particularly by American traders who had been sending from six to eight ships to the Northwest Coast for the last 2 or 3 years. These Boston men not only gave the natives far more for then-furs than the Russians could afford, but furnished the Tlingit with pistols, muskets, four-pound cannon, and a few weapons of even heavier caliber. It was natural that with such arms the Sitka Tlingit soon became bold. Even during the winter of 1799-1800 their initially friendly attitude towards the Russians underwent a marked change, and an armed clash at the newly established Fort St. Michael (at what is now called "Old Sitka") was narrowly averted by Baranov. Presumably some of these arms also found their way to Yakutat, where the same hatred of the Russians and of their imported hunters was growing. The leaders of these posts, however, continued to ignore the signs and rumors of impending trouble even though Baranov seems to have been more concerned, to judge from a letter written on March 22, 1801, to Larionov, in which he tells of difficulties with the Koniag chiefs and expresses his fears that this disaffection would spread to Yakutat and Sitka. Revolt of the Tlingit: Sitka (1802-04) The Russian fort at Sitka was destroyed in June, 1802.67 The successful attack was made when the Russians were divided: a party of Aleuts in 90 baidarkas under Urbanov had gone south to hunt sea otters; other groups were out hunting and fishing or attending to other duties, leaving most of the women and children and only 15 men at the barracks, under Vassili Med-vednikov. Through Tlingit women who had been living with the Russians, the Indians seem to have learned all about the routine of the garrison and of the means of defense. The careful planning and strategy of the attack were similar to those successfully employed at Yakutat 3 years later, where also the natives took advantage of Russian carelessness, slack discipline, and poor morale. At Sitka the Indians are said to have been assisted by some American or English seamen who had deserted their ship or been marooned at Sitka in 1799; three had joined the Russians, while the others remained with the Indians. It is also claimed that the natives « Khliebnikov, 1861 b, pp. 45-54; Tikhmenev, 1861, vol. 1, pp. 88-92; Bancroft, 1886, pp. 401-413. had been further incited by British traders who hoped to profit from the elimination of their Russian competitors. Whether or not these charges are completely true, it is agreed that the English captain, Barber, and two American or British captains who came into port just after the fort had fallen, rescued the survivors who had escaped into the woods or had been enslaved by the Tlingit. Captain Barber took them (3 Russians, 5 Aleuts, 18 women, and 6 children) to Kodiak, but released them to Baranov only after obtaining a large ransom in furs. Of more concern to us than the question of Anglo-American opportunism or complicity in the destruction of Sitka is the assertion that the attack was only part of a concerted plan involving most of the Tlingit tribes from southernmost Alaska to Yakutat. It is hard for us to learn the degree of cooperation implied, since the Russians who reported this plot were ignorant of Tlingit social organization. The groups forming the alliance would have been sibs, not whole tribes (local communities), as the Russians supposed. Furthermore, it is clear that some groups (sibs, lineages, or houses) were not involved. It is also hard for us to judge to what extent the inconclusive attack on Kuskov at Dry Bay (May 22-25), the successful assaults on Sitka (June 18 or 19) and on Urbanov in Frederick Sound (June 20-21), and the contemplated attack on the Yakutat post (late June) were actually all planned in advance, or to what extent news of earlier ventures precipitated later attempts by natives who were eager to seize any opportunity. Khliebnikov reports the Indian plan as follows: "Subsequently [after the attacks] Mr. Kuskoff accidentally learned from some Yakoutat Koloshi who were favorably disposed toward him that this plan was communicated with the greatest secrecy, through special agents sent from place to place. In pursuance of these communications the principal chiefs from the Charlotte Islands [i.e., Haida !], Stakhine [Stikine or Wrangell Tlingit], Kouieff [Kuiu], and Kake came to Khutznoff [Angoon] and perfected a plan by which they proposed to destroy all Russians and Aleuts and provided the cooperation of the Sitka Koloshi could be secured, but if they should not consent to this, to destroy them also without exception. The Chief of a village on one of the islands of Prince of Wales Archipelago, near Port Buccareli, by the name of Kaniagit [probably a Henya man, sib not identified] undertook to furnish as much powder as was necessary, guns and even cannons with grape and canister. The plan was communicated to the Sitka, Chilkhat and Yakoutat Koloshi, with the proposition of attacking the various establishments at one and the same time. In the north they were to attack the party coming from IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 171 Kodiak [under Kuskov] and then return to the fort at Yakoutat and submit that place to the same fate . . . only the stubborn resistance of Kuskoff [see pp. 172-173] prevented the execution of this plan, but the settlement at Sitka and Urbanoff's party were destroyed nearly at the same time." [Khliebnikov, 1861 b, pp. 53-54.] "The Toyon Kaniagit, in undertaking to furnish powder, guns and cannons, assured the other Koloshi that the foreigners would give them all they required if only the Russians and Aleuts were exterminated everywhere in their country." [Ibid., p. 54.] Kuksov himself wrote to Baranov on July 1, 1802, from Yakutat, apparently just after the proposed attack on that post had been abandoned. His letter is worth quoting because it indicates the close connections maintained by the Yakutat Tlingit with all of the southern tribes, and also because our Yakutat informants did not talk about this earlier attempt to to drive out the Russians. As Kuskov explained: "Two relatives of the Yakoutat Elder [chief] KhaksMaknu [XaKCKHKHy, unidentified], who have their residence in Akoisk village [Gusex on the Akwe?], were last winter at Kaknaoutsk village [KaKHayirK, Kainuwu, Grouse Fort on Icy Strait] and from there went together with Pavel and others, in a bidar, to Tuikin [TBIKHHC, Dekina, 'people far out (to sea),' Henya Tlingit or Kaigani Haida of Dall Island] to have some games [attend a potlatch 7], and on the return journey from Tuikin they went to the Kouyuk village [a Kuiu village, perhaps on Tebenkov Bay, Kuiu Island], and from there to Khutznoff [Angoon, Admiralty Island], where the people had come together in bidars from several villages of the large island called Tuikin [Dall Island], which is situated near Beaver Bay,68 in the direction of the Charlotte Islands; and when the chief called Kaniagit, from Kustasten69 and the chiefs of other neighboring villages of Kouyutsk [Kuiu], Tuikinsk [Henya or Kaigani], and Kheksk [Kake], a tribe adjoining the Tuikinsk, called the Chouchkan [^KrataHJb, CAxa'n, Shakan on Kosciusko Island, a Henya village60], and many other neighbors of the Khutznoffs [Angoon], besides the chiefs of Kaknautzk [Grouse Fort] and Chilkhat village, held a council for the destruction of our fort at Novo-Arkhangelsk [Sitka] and our principal 58 Bo6osofl EyxTH, i.e., "Sea Otter Bay." Probably MeareB' "Sea Otter Harbour," which is either Meares Passage, north of Dall Island, or Sea Otter Harbor on Dall Island, both of which are in Henya territory. "This sounds like the Sitka village KAstaxS'xda-an, settled by KlksAdi from the south (Swanton, 1908, p. 409, note); but Kaniagit was almost certainly a Henya man. » Swanton, 1908, p. 397. hunting parties on the American Coast and after long discussions it was agreed that at a certain date the coming Spring they should all assemble at the Khutznoff village and from there proceed to our fort and after joining the Sitka party make an attack upon the fort, but if the inhabitants of Sitka refused to participate in the attack they were to be destroyed also, but if they could not destroy the parties at once on account of their strength they were to watch their chance on the return journey of the party from Sitka, either at Destruction Bay [Poison Cove, Peril Strait] or some other convenient place, surround them, fall upon them from all sides and destroy them. "[No para.] When every detail of the attack had been settled some of the chiefs went to Ledianoff Sound [Cross Sound] and the above-mentioned Chief from Tuikinsk [Dall Island] furnished a large quantity of powder and lead and other equipments and gave a few cannons to each of the Chiefs. These cannons which had been brought to Khutznoff [Angoon] and all the other guns and ammunitions he had received from the English or Republicans who have settled among them on Tuikin Island and built a fort, from where they send out vessels to trade along the coast, and an American vessel which wintered near the Khutznoff village told the inhabitants that they would not visit them with their ships any more as they did not have sea-otters enough to trade and said plainly that if they did not destroy our Fort Novo-Arkhangelsk at Sitka the Kolosh would deprive themselves of great advantages. "[No para.] There is a report also, but we cannot say whether it is true, that at Chilkhat and other places three Americans purchased sea-otter skins with black-faced men [slaves]; but whether from the coasts of Africa or from the Svinikh Islands [Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands] those people could not know. "[No para.] At the end of their villanous negotiations for the destruction of our fort and parties the Tuikinsk Toyoun and other conspirators made presents of powder and other ammunition to the Akoisk Chiefs Chesnuikh and Ossip [Djisniya, a Tl'uknaxAdi name ascribed to the builder of Frog House at Gusex; Ocnpa is possibly 'AWCA', a Yakutat Teqwedi name] and let them know that our fort at Novo-Arkhangelsk would be destroyed [and] advising them to do the same with the settlement at Yakoutat." [Tikmenev, 1863, vol. II, Suppl., pp. 180-182.] Khliebnikov (1861 b, p. 53) is astonished that so many tribes, numbering "over 50,000 souls[!]," who often warred among themselves, could have kept 172 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 secret such a conspiracy. He also (p. 54) points out that not all the Tlingit cooperated in this scheme. Thus Medvednikov had heard rumors that the Tlingit wanted revenge "for some of their countrymen who had been killed the year before by the Aleuts" (ibid., p. 45), and this information must have come from friendly sources. Kuskov when at Yakutat in April had also received some warnings of the plot which, like Medvednikov, he ignored until too late. Even after the destruction of Sitka, Kuskov and his "Aleuts" were advised and warned by friendly natives, some of whom were evidently Hoonah. What is also astonishing is that the initiative for the attack upon the Russians seems to have come from the southernmost Tlingit, who had suffered only from poaching on their hunting grounds, not from oppression. This account conflicts with the local tradition at Sitka and Angoon that the attack on the Russians was undertaken by the Sitka KiksAdi. Perhaps the Dekina chief, Kaniagit, was a KiksAdi man, for this sib traces its origins to the south (Swanton, 1908, pp. 408-410). The chiefs who actually led the attack at Sitka were "Ska-oushle-oot" or "Mikhailoff," "Katleyan" (Ka-ttyan) whom the Russians had made "head chief," and the latter's young relative. Some 60 or more canoes are reported to have come to Sitka to participate in the fight. There was also a similar gathering at Yakutat. While victory over the Russians at Sitka is generally ascribed to the KiksAdi, and Katlyan is the name of the leading chief of that sib in 1802,1880, and 1904 (Beards-lee, 1882, p. 45; Swanton, 1909, p. 1), it should be noted that this Raven sib has been, at least since 1904, deadly rivals of the Tl'trknaxAdi, a Raven sib of Yakutat, Sitka, and Hoonah. A chief of the latter, as we have seen from Kuskov's report, was involved in the part of the plan directed against Yakutat. I cannot identify "Ska-oushle-oot." We do not know what sibs attacked Urbanov on June 20-21. The latter, with a party of "Aleuts" in 90 baidarkas, had gone from Sitka to "Sea Otter Bay" on or near Dall Island, where they had killed some 1,300 sea otter without opposition from the natives. They were on their way back towards Sitka when they were attacked in "Kenoffsky Sound" (Frederick Sound, probably near its juntion with Chatham Strait). Krause (1956, p. 31) identifies the locality as "Kek" or "Kake Strait" (probably Keku Strait, between Kuiu and Kupreanof Island) and the attackers as Kake or Kuiu. Urbanov and about 13 "Aleuts" managed to escape, cautiously made their way to Sitka, where they saw the still smoking rums, and finally reached Yakutat on August 3, where they reported the tragedy. A few days later 15 more "Aleuts" from the party arrived, thus bringing to 42 the total number of survivors from the Sitka settlement, where more than 200 had been killed, including the commander of the fort. While the Russians and their native hunters were being massacred in southeastern Alaska, there was trouble at Yakutat. Ivan Alexandrovich Kuskov, Baranov's most trusted assistant, had been sent from Kodiak to Yakutat with a fleet of over 450 baidarkas. Here, "he received some dark hints of the Koloshi's intentions to destroy all Russians and Aleuts, but seeing the friendly disposition of those at Yakoutat, he believed these rumors to be false. "About 60 bidarkas which had gone from Yakoutat to a place called Akoi [Akwe River] found there a large number of Koloshi who, to defy Kuskoff, purposely picked quarrels with some of the Aleuts and beat them. Mr. Kuskoff tried all means of pacification, but they remained inflexible." [Khliebnikov, 1861 b, p. 51.] According to Tikhmenev (1861, vol. 1, p. 90), the Russian party had stopped at a village near Yakutat to dry furs which had been soaked when their baidarkas overturned. Tikhmeney is, however, in error in reporting that the natives became aggressive because they had learned of the destruction of the Sitka fort. Kuskov was at Akwe River in May, while Sitka was not attacked until a month laterl The Yakutat, or rather the Akwe River chiefs, complained to Kuskov that his hunters had not only taken their furs but had robbed graves, and so they could no longer be friendly with him and his people, and they refused to listen to his denials. "On the 22d of May the Koloshi, armed with guns and spears tried to surround his camp in the daytime, but Kuskoff, with vigilent circumspection, had taken measures for defence. While matters were in this condition he once more endeavored to pacify them, but instead of an answer the Koloshi rushed to within a short distance of the camp and fired off all their guns while some hurled their spears. Kuskoff staunchly repulsed their attack and they went flying back to the woods. The Aleuts followed up the fugitives, but when approaching the woods they were met by a heavy fire and returned to the camp with the loss of 1 killed and 4 wounded. The Koloshi, on their retreat, left 10 killed behind and must have had many wounded. "Kuskoff, finding it impossible to remain in that position, resolved to move to the other side of the bay [east side of Dry Bay] and there fortify himself. He had hardly expressed his intention when the Aleuts threw themselves into their baidarkas in disorder, while the Koloshi directed a strong fire upon them, but fortunately nobody was wounded. Arrived on the other side Kuskoff quickly made them roll logs together, to cover themselves from the volleys which continued without intermittance but did no IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 173 injury whatever. On the 25th the Koloshi sent intermediators and proposed to exchange hostages. Kuskoff was compelled by his critical position to accept the proposal and gave them 2 Aleuts, taking from them 2 chiefs of distinguished families. He had only 250 cartridges left and this circumstance induced him to return to Yakoutat." [Khliebnikov, 1861 b, pp. 51-52.] Tikhmenev (1861, vol. 1, p. 91) would have it that the "savages had to sue for peace," and returned half of the plunder which they had taken from the party, promising the rest when Kuskov returned. The latter hastened back to Yakutat, not only to procure ammunition and provisions, but to help in the defense of the settlement which he feared would be attacked. Here he found many natives gathered from places from which visitors seldom came. Although they assured the Russians that they had come only to trade, the latter prepared against a sudden attack. From these natives Kuskov also learned that they planned a war on the tribes near Sitka. Fearing disastrous consequences to the Russian post, Kuskov determined to go at once to Fort St. Michael (ibid.). Having obtained more ammunition and three additional Russians at Yakutat, Kuskov set off on June 3. "On the 15th he reached the mouth of Ledianoff Sound [Cross Sound]. There a friendly old man warned him to be on his guard since at no great distance the Koloshi had collected and awaited the party, many having come to Sitka from various localities." [Khliebnikov, 1861 b, p. 52.] Kuskov sent on 17 of his best men in six three-hole baidarkas to learn what had happened at Sitka, cautioning them to hide in the day and travel only at night. He moved his party down to "the Bay of Islands" or Salisbury Sound. While waiting for the return of his scouts, the "Aleuts" with him were thrown into a panic by the sight of a large meteor, "like a red-hot bomb," which they interpreted as a "foretoken of disaster" (ibid.). "On the 20th [of June] five of the bidarkas returned with the sad news that the people had been killed and the fort reduced to ashes, and that they themselves had hardly escaped from the hands of the barbarians with the loss of one bidarka which had been captured by the Koloshi! They informed him also that on their trip they had fallen in with a Kolosh who had advised them to travel to the fort only at night and very cautiously, as all the Koloshi were assembling there. [Ibid., pp. 52-53.] Kuskov at once hastened back to Yakutat. "Kuskoff was in doubt whether this fort was yet in existence and therefore traveled at night, very cautiously, but when he ascertained that it was still safe, he joyfully stepped ashore. Here he learned that the fort had been saved only on the very last day since the assembled Koloshi had proposed to attack it in the following night. The arrival of the party prevented this and the Koloshi which had come from distant localities gradually returned, but from those at Yakoutat Kuskoff took hostages and removed them to Kadiak." [Ibid. p. 53.] Tikhmenev (1861, vol I, pp. 91-92) reports that the settlers at Yakutat were so demoralized by news of the disaster at Sitka that they wanted to flee. All the Tlingit at Yakutat unanimously agreed that the conspiracy for the destruction of Sitka had been fomenting for some time, that Medvednikov had received repeated warnings, and that many captains of foreign vessels had encouraged the natives to drive out the Russians. The following year, 1803, Kuskov was again sent to Yakutat by Baranov, to make sure that the settlement was secure against attack, and also to see to the building there of two sloops, Ermak and Rostislav. in preparation for the retaking of Sitka which Baranov planned for the next year. In June 1804, therefore, Baranov himself was at Yakutat on his way to Sitka. Here he met with important natives from Cross Sound (i.e., Hoonah), and from those who lived near the villages of "Khutznoff and Chilkhat Bays" (i.e., on Chatham Strait and Lynn Canal), and secured the son of the principal chief as hostage. He forgave them their hostile acts of 1802, including the attack on Kuskov's party. To celebrate the new accord, the hulk of the Olga, which had been cannibalized to provide metal and rigging for the two new sloops, was burned and salvos fired. (Tikhmenev, 1861, vol. I, p. 106.) It is not clear, however, that the Hoonah (or others) who agreed to this new treaty of peace had been involved in any of the prior attacks. From Yakutat, where he left some additional settlers, Baranov went on to southeastern Alaska, going as far south as "Beaver Bay" to hunt, and returned to Sitka in September where he was joined by several vessels, including the frigate Neva. With these forces, the Russians compelled the surrender of the Tlingit, who fled from their fortified village. A new Russian post, Novo-Arkhangelsk, was erected on a hill above the deserted village site.81 Revolt of the Tlingit: Yakutat (1805-06) Russian fortunes now seemed restored. In reviewing the posts of the Russian American Company in 1803 61 See Bancroft, 1886, pp. 426-432, 441 note 38, for an account of this action and a discussion of the historical sources. 174 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 [sic, 1804], Tikhmenev (1861, vol. 1, p. 125) lists 9 on Kodiak, Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound, and adds: "Besides these fortifications there was one near Cape St. Elias, two on Yakoutat Bay and finally Novo-Arkhangelsk on Sitka [Baranof] Island. All these forts were generally armed with copper pivot guns of 3-pound caliber (iron guns were very rare)." Nevertheless, new misfortunes were to come. In August, 1805, the fort and settlement at Yakutat were totally distroyed, and soon after a baidarka fleet of 300 natives was lost in a storm in the Gulf of Alaska. The successful attack on the Yakutat settlement had been carefully planned. As Repin wrote from Nuchek to Baranov: "On the morning of the 26th of August a three-hole Aleut bidarka arrived from Yakoutat and brought the sad news that our enemies the natives and a part of the inhabitants of Yakoutat had attacked and destroyed the Russians and their commander, the late Stepan Fedorovitch Larionoff, and only one of the Russian children was spared, and as the Aleut was afraid to bring the sad news to you he came to me. I questioned him more than once with regard to these news, whether they were true. He said they were perfectly true. Some Chugatz from the Kanikhliutsk village [Kiniklik (kanixluq) on the north shore of Prince William Sound], who had fled from Sitka the year before, were stopping at Yakoutat, and 6 more Chugatz were there accidentally, together with 4 Kadiak men. When the enemies made their attack there were no Chugatz men in the houses, as the late Larionoff had sent them out after berries,62 and when they returned to the house they found nobody alive and only saw dead men lying all over the fort. At that sight they did not wait for their companions, but got into the bidarka and paddled into the bay, when they were fired upon with guns three times, but nobody was killed. They came from Yakoutat [to Nuchek] in five days and nights and the murder must have taken place on the 20 th. I questioned them if they had heard anything of the post of Novo-Arkhangelsk, further down the coast. They told me that they had only heard from the Akoisk people [Akwe River and Dry Bay] that there was not a single bidarka there and that they had heard nothing of the Russians. This summer no vessel has been at Yakoutat. I also heard that all the people needed for the defence of the fort had been working." [Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, Suppl., p. 195.] The commander of the Russian post at Yakutat is remembered by the natives today as "Stanislas" or "Shawnista." Possibly he was not Larianov, but the leader of the hunters at the fort. ! Compare with the native account, p. 243. Rezanov wrote in secret on February 15, 1806: "The 'Juno' brought us very bad news from Kadiak: At Three Saints Bay they heard from Pavloffsky harbor that the Kolosh had butchered all the Russians at Yakoutat, numbering some 40 persons, counting in women and children, and captured our fort, in which they found two 3-lb. brass guns, two iron 1-lb. guns and one J^-lb. iron gun, with a supply of ammunition and five pounds of powder, and that with those arms they were already threatening the Gulfs of Chugatz and Kenai [Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet]. As soon as Agent Banner [deputy commander at St. Paul Harbor, Kodiak] had received this news in a bidarka he immediately sent word to all the settlements on the island of Kadiak to be on their guard, but to Chugatz he sent a bidar with ten men. Banner did all he could, but what does such a reinforcement amount to, which may only increase the number of victims?" [Ibid., p. 222.] The fate of the captured guns will be traced in discussing the native traditions. The attack on the Russian post at Nuchek, which Rezanov feared, was defeated largely by the Chugach themselves (see below). In a letter dated June 17, 1806, Rezanov adds that by the Alexander, which had arrived in Sitka, April 26, they had learned: "Yakoutat was captured by the savages in October [sic], the fort burned, the people all knocked on the head except 8 men, 2 women and 3 boys who were absent from the fort, and made their escape after hiding in the bay and are now prisoners of the Ougalakhmutes [Eyak-speakers], who demanded a ransom for them which has been sent from Kadiak. The crime was accomplished by their own native servants whom they had bought of the Kolosh living at Akoi." [Ibid., p. 278.] Possibly some of the Eyak-speaking people living east of Yakutat had been enslaved by the Tlingit of Akwe River and Dry Bay, and sold by them to the Russians. However, I am informed by Dr. Michael E. Krauss (letter of December 27, 1966), that this passage has been very loosely translated. The last sentence would more correctly indicate, not that the natives or servants had been purchased from the Akwe Tlingit, but had been bribed by them to attack the Russians. According to native tradition, the success of the attack was dependent upon the leadership of Tanui, a TlaxayiK-Teqwedi man (from Situk?), who was working for the Russians, LucwAq who was also a L'u&edi man (another name for the same group), and DuxdA.nekw, a Kwackqwan man, evidently the brother-in-law of Tanu£. There is no indication that these were not free men. IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 175 Bancroft (1886, p. 451) indicates that of the Yakutat colony only the wife and children of the Russian commander, and a number of Aleuts, escaped the massacre. A few days or weeks after the destruction of Novo Rossiysk, and long before the news had reached Sitka, Demianenkov with a baidarka fleet was sent from Novo-Arkhangelsk to Kodiak. He had not gone very far, however, when he heard rumors that the Yakutat post had been destroyed and that the Tlingit were planning to attack his party. Demianenkov and his men then began to travel only at night, hiding in the woods by day, and when about 40 miles away, planned their trip to reach Yakutat at midnight. Here the tired men found the reports were true. "Of all the buildings, not one log was left standing upon another. Ashes, the remains of destroyed implements and of other property, covered the whole village site" (ibid., p. 455). Most of the Aleuts were too frightened to land, even though they were exhausted, but tried to push on at once to Kayak Island. Only the occupants of 30 baidarkas, who were so tired that they prefered to risk the Tlingit on shore in order to sleep, were saved. They eventually reached Kodiak, but all those at sea were lost in a storm, and the next morning "the shore was lined with corpses and the shattered remnants of bidarkas" (ibid., p. 456). In the same(?) storm, the Russians also lost the Elizaveta that had been sent to Kodiak to get provisions for Sitka, and also sis large skin boats with a cargo of furs. That fall or winter, encouraged by their victory at home, the Yakutat natives "determined to attack the Russian settlements lying farther to the north." Bancroft's account, which we quote (ibid., pp. 451-452), is based upon Khliebnikov's biography of Bara-nov. Native traditions of both the Yakutat and the Chugach would indicate that the Yakutat were chiefly motivated by a desire to even old scores with their traditional native enemies, the Chugach. "Embarking in eight large war-canoes, they proceeded to the mouth of the Copper River, where, leaving six of their vessels, they despatched the other two to the Konstantinovski Redoubt, on Nuchek Island [Nuchek, on Hinchinbrook Island]. Their chief, Fedor, a godson of Baranof, and a man well known to the promyshleniki, appeared boldly before Ouvarof, the commander of the station, declaring that he wished to trade with the Chu-gatsches. Ouvarof gave him permission, and witnessed the usual preliminary dances and festivity. On one of the canoes kept in reserve there was, however, a captive Chugatsch, who succeeded in escaping, and informed Ouvarof of the real object of the Kolosh. Thereupon the Russian commander seized the chief, and told him that his plan had been revealed. In the mean time the native allies, hearing of the matter, had taken the remainder of the Kolosh to their village [Tauxtvik, on Hawkins Island] under pretence of inviting them to a feast, and had there massacred almost the entire party. Among the few that escaped was Fedor, who carried to the party at Copper River the news of their comrades' fate. Fearing that the Chugatsches would soon be upon them, the panic-stricken Kolosh at once put out to sea, and while attempting to cross the bar in the teeth of a gale, the bidarkas [sic, dugouts?] were dashed to pieces and their inmates drowned." Apparently 200 Indians died, including the 70 who were killed by the Chugach. The Chugach version of this incident was told us in 1933 by old Chief Makari, a grandson of the chief's young daughter who had sat with her back to the bathroom door so that the Yakutat Indians inside could not escape while the Chugach speared them through the window (Birket-Smith, 1953, "The Slaughter of the Yakutat at Taukhtyuik," pp. 141-142; de Laguna, 1956, pp. 18-19). Although the disaster at Yakutat had been reported by Repin, agent at the Redoubt St. Konstantine (Nuchek), in a letter dated September 24, 1805, Baranov evidently did not receive the news until the following February, when the Juno came from Kodiak to Sitka; further details were supplied by the Alexander in April. Meanwhile, the winter of 1805-06 had been a terrible one, with men dying of scurvy at Kodiak and Sitka, while the Sitka and Angoon Tlingit gathered over 1,000 armed men for an assault on the weakened garrison of Novo-Arkhangelsk. Rezanov, who had gone to California early in the spring to secure food for the Sitka post, came back in time to prevent the contemplated attack, but unfortunately on the return voyage his own crew had suffered from "fever and an eruption resembling measles" (Letter of Rezanov, dated Novo-Arkhangelsk, June 17,1806, in Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, Suppl., p. 277). We do not know whether the disease spread to the garrison at Sitka or to the Tlingit outside, but this possibility must be considered when trying to follow native traditions about epidemics. The northern Tlingit of southeastern Alaska, of course, also learned about the destruction of the Yakutat establishment, and Rezanov reports in the same letter how a chief whom he calls "Fatty" came to see him, professing friendship for the Russians, but really trying to investigate their defences at Sitka. "Today new guests appeared and with them some women, relatives of our girls [i.e., Tlingit mistresses and servants]; they were treated, became intoxicated and told that the Chilkhat, Khutznoff and Akoisk tribes had united with the Sitkas to the number of 3,000 to make an attack upon us." The chief had been sent only to spy on the fort of Novo-Arkhangelsk, but re- 176 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 turned with such a discouraging report that the contemplated attack was abandoned. It had been as carefully planned, apparently, as the earlier, successful assaults, but by now the Russians were constantly on their guard (Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, Suppl., pp. 281-283). Of particular interest to us is the involvement in this plot of Dry Bay Tlingit, perhaps representatives of the Tl'trknaxAdi, Kagwantan, and Teqwedi sibs. Yakutat (1806-67) Although the reestablishment of the post at Yakutat became an immediate concern of Baranov, and he wanted to go there with the Rostislav, armed with only four cannon and 25 men, it is not certain that he did so, since affairs at Sitka were still serious. We are told only that Capt. Archibald Campbell, an American, was hired to take his vessel to Yakutat in the summer of 1806, "to punish the Yakoutat people for destroying the settlement there," and to liberate the few Russians and "Aleuts" who were prisoners among the Indians (Tikhmenev, 1861, vol. 1, p. 171). Apparently Campbell did succeed in freeing either two Kodiak men, or one "Aleut" and his wife, and secured two hostages. The latter were taken to Kodiak and baptized Kalistrat and Gideon. Afterwards they served as interpreters at Sitka. Kalistrat died in 1832, and Gideon some years later, for in 1835, Baron Wrangell, then chief manager of the Company, was recommending a pension for Gideon because of his long service (Bancroft, 1886, p. 462, note 4). In 1807, the Myrtle, commanded by Captain Barber, which had been purchased by the Russians and renamed the Kadiak, was sent to Yakutat with orders to rescue the remaining survivors. Her captain raised a foreign flag to deceive the natives, and in this way lured two men on board. After negotiations, he achieved the surrender of Larionov's widow and children and several others. According to Yakutat tradition (p. 234), it was Tanu£ who voluntarily surrendered himself to the Russians, although his ultimate fate was very different from that of the hostages taken by Captain Campbell. We do not know what happened to those captured by Captain Barber. Perhaps Baranov himself did go to Yakutat, because Tikhmenev (1861, vol. I, p. 240) informs us that: "The pardoning of the Koloshi by Baranov after the destruction of the Yakutat settlement, the acceptance of hostages and renewal of friendly relations with them did not have the wished for consequences," since the Tlingit continued to plot against the Russians and murdered them whenever they had the chance. The passage is, however, ambiguous, and the Kolosh mentioned may be simply the Tlingit at and near Sitka. Native tradition maintains that the Russians never restored their fort and colony at Yakutat. However, Captain Golovnin, writing about the Russian colonies in North America, which he had visited on a voyage around the world, gives a list of the Company's establishments in 1818, which ends: ". . . on Behring Bay, Yakoutat Cove, Nikolaievsky, near Mount St. Elias, Simeonoffsky. At Yakoutat there had previously been a settlement called Slava Rossia, but in 1803 [sic] it had been destroyed by the Koloshi and had never been restored" (Golovnin, 1861, p. 5). This obscure passage contains one obvious inaccuracy, and I know it only in Petroff's poorly punctuated translation. Golovnin later refers to "Fort Nikolaievsky" in the "Gulf of Kenai" (Cook Inlet) which casts further doubt upon any post on "Yakoutat Cove." Okun (1951, p. 57) with careless disregard for geographical accuracy also reports that as of 1817: "There were three settlements on Chugatsk Gulf: 'Constantine and Yelena' [Nuchek], Nikolayevsk on the Bering Sea at Yakutat Bay, and Simeyonovsk on the Cape of St. Elias." I have been unable to discover any more specific details, and therefore do not know the locations of Nikolayevsk and Simeyonovsk. Krause (1956, p. 65) wrote in 1885 that: "No new stations were established in Yakutat Bay" after the destruction of the Russian colony in 1805. Certainly when Yakutat Bay was visited by Captain Belcher in 1837 there were no Russian posts anywhere in the area, for he writes: "The remains of Russian establishments were observed; a blockhouse on a cliff on the east side; and on the low point, where our astronomical observations were taken [Point Turner?], the ruins of another; also a staff, with a vane and cross over a grave." [Belcher, vol. 1, 1843, p. 85.] [In 1891, Russell noticed how the forest had reclaimed] "the old Russian post near the mission at Yakutat, which was burned and the inhabitants of which were massacred in 1804 [sic]. The cellars marking the site of the former houses are now occupied by groves of spruce trees, some of which are 2 feet in diameter. Were it not for the depressions left by the old cellars one could scarcely believe that this locality was inhabited less than a hundred years ago." [Russell, 1893, p. 12.] There is, however, evidence that the Yakutat were not completely isolated from the Russians. Thus, Boolingin in 1807 and Khromchenko in 1823 surveyed Yakutat Bay, even penetrating the "Icy River" in the northeast part of Disenchantment Bay. Boolingin gathered data on "Icy Bay," and Khromchenko was apparently responsible for the Russian names which are still applied to the smaller islands in Yakutat Bay, as well as for official use of the name "Yakutat" IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 177 itself. Tebenkov's maps, published in 1849, embody their work (Davidson, 1904, pp. 44^15, 47, 50-51; Dall and Baker, 1883, pp. 206-209; Baker, 1906, pp. 68-69). While these surveys seem to be the last made in this area, they could hardly have been carried out if the local natives had been irreconcilably hostile. Khliebnikov, writing in 1833 (1861 b, p. 73), has also given a list of sea otter hunting expeditions in the area. These consisted of "Aleuts" (including Koniag and Chugach) in baidarkas escorted by an armed sailing vessel. Two parties, totaling 60 to 90 baidarkas, went to Yakutat and to Lituya Bay each year from 1822 to 1825, inclusive. On these trips, from 250 to 460 sea otters were taken. The cartographer, V. C. Khromchenko, seems to have been captain of the Rurik (for which the harbor north of Port Mulgrave is named), making such voyages in 1823 and 1825. These expeditions were eventually discontinued, for Tikhmenev (1861, vol. 1, p. 325) observed that: "The experiment of sending (in 1832) hunting parties to localities where sea-otter had been abundant in former years., i.e. in the Bays of Ltoua and Yakoutat, proved entirely unsuccessful. [In a later chapter he adds (1863, vol. 2, p. 326):] Sea otters are found in the vicinity of Yakoutat and Ltua Bay to the present day, but not in such multitudes as in early days, and besides, the entrance to these bays is very dangerous so that the Company does not hunt there any more." The Russians continued to obtain a few furs from these areas through trade. These were from sea otter killed by the local natives and by those Tlingit from southeastern Alaska who were permitted by the Yakutat and Lituya Bay people to join in their hunts. Such privileges were accorded only to "the prominent chiefs and then* relatives among the Kolosh living on Vancouver Sounds [southeastern Alaskan waters] where sea-otters are scarce." These expeditions, which met in the spring at some predetermined locality, might consist of over a hundred canoes, which followed the Aleut method of surrounding the sea otters, but used guns, not spears (Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, p. 347). The furs so obtained were apparently traded south, some passing through the hands of the southern Tlingit to be exchanged with the Kaigani or the Haida of the Queen Charlotte Islands for slaves, some of whom had been captured as far away as the Columbia River. Other furs went into the hands of the Hudson's Bay Company's agents, and others were bought by the Sitka Tlingit for resale to the Russians at Novo-Arkhangelsk (Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, pp. 349-350). In this way European goods such as Hudson Bay blankets and dishes, beads, pearl buttons, cloth, clothing, metal tools and utensils, guns and ammunition, dentalia and aba-lone shell ornaments (which even the Whites bought 265-517—72—vol. VII, pt. 1- -14 in the south for resale to northern tribes), came to Yakutat, as well as fine Haida canoes, Tsimshian carvings, and Flathead slaves. The Yakutat people also maintained close ties with the Eyak to the west, and through the latter, traded with the Russians at Fort Constantine and Helen at Nuchek. According to my informants, they also had economic relations with the interior Athabaskans, including the Atna, from whom copper was obtained to trade southward. Furthermore, the Yakutat themselves made long voyages in their fine (imported Haida?) canoes to both Nuchek and Sitka, although I am not sure to what extent such direct traffic was carried on before the purchase of Alaska by the United States in 1867. As we know, the Russians made little progress in winning the friendship of the Tlingit or in inducing the latter to become baptized, even though Bishop Veniaminov, "the Holy Innocentius," came to Sitka in September, 1841. The Yakutat had never, as far as I know, been exposed to missionary teaching. According to Tikhmenev (1861, vol. 1, p. 253), there were in January, 1819, a total of 117 "Ougalentz" under Russian control (51 men, 66 women), but these were presumably Copper River Eyak. The terrible smallpox epidemic of 1837-39 spread from California to the Arctic Ocean, first appearing at Sitka in November 1836. In the village near the Russian fort, 400 natives died within 3 months, representing half the population, for the Tlingit had refused vaccination. The epidemic was not of equal severity everywhere, being relatively light among the Stikine, but devastating at Angoon. According to native tradition, it wiped out many villages between Yakutat and Dry Bay. The epidemic finally died out in 1840. Veniaminov (1840, vol. 3, p. 29) estimates that hi that year there were less than 6,000 living "Kolosh" in Russian America, "from Kaigan to Yakutat," whereas in 1833, before the smallpox, there had been 10,000. When the Tlingit and Koniag saw that the Russians and "Creoles" (halfbreeds) who had been vaccinated escaped the disease, they also requested vaccination, and their attitude towards the Russians changed. Not only did many Tlingit at Sitka lose faith in their own shamans, whose efforts had failed to save their stricken relatives, but a number were converted to Christianity. Thus, by Easter, 1843, 104 Tlingit had been baptized, including 2 "sorcerers." The total number of Christians included 447 Tlingit, presumably all at Sitka or in the Company's employ, and 148 "Ougalentz" or Eyak (Tikhmenev, 1861, vol. 1, pp. 361, 264, 310-313). This conversion, we should point out, did not go very deep. Even at Sitka, the number of annual baptisms fell off rather sharply after 1844 178 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 ■ M (Golovnin, 1861, pp. 79, 147-151). No doubt the Yakutat people heard something of these doings at Sitka, but it is pretty certain that they received neither vaccine nor holy water during this period. A severe measles epidemic in 1848 raged from the Aleutians to southeastern Alaska, and again in 1862 smallpox spread from south to north among the Tlingit, sparing only those at Sitka where the majority had been vaccinated. Presumably the Gulf Coast tribes suffered from these also, although we have no records. Veniaminov gives a census of the Tlingit tribes as of 1840, in which 150 persons are listed for Yakutat, and 250 for Lituya or "Avetzk" (1840, vol. 3, p. 29), but we do not know upon what data this count is based.63 Tikhmenev (1863, vol. 2, p. 341) observes: "The exact number of the Kolosh is not known, some suppose that including the tribes in the interior ["Swamp-Kolosh," possibly Inland Tlingit], it would come to 40,000; others, and among them Veniaminoff [who included only the Tsimshian and Haida, not interior tribes], estimate them at 25,000. For our part we will only give the numbers of Kolosh in the well-known villages as we find it in the writings of Mr. Wehrmann [1861]." These are for Yakutat Bay: 163 free men, 168 free women, 25 male slaves and 24 female slaves; for Lituya Bay: 265 free men, 267 free women, with 29 male and 29 female slaves. (Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, p. 341). One suspects that such a guess must have been based upon a visit to the area. In 1837, Capt. Sir Edward Belcher, in a voyage around the world in H.M.S. Sulphur, visited Yakutat Bay in September, on his way from Nuchek to Sitka. He was accompanied by Lieutenant Commander Kellett in the Starling. The Gulf Coast of Alaska was surveyed for the purpose of determining the position of Mount Saint Elias and for settling differences in longitudes reckoned by Cook and Vancouver. Although observations were made near Cape Suckling, Point Riou, and "Icy Bay," no natives were met until the ships arrived at Port Mulgrave, which the Starling had reached three days before the Sulphur. Here the natives gave the British a cordial welcome. "The principal chief of this tribe, Anoutchy [anu'ci, 'Russian/ cf. Swanton, 1908, p. 144], paid us his visit of ceremony, accompanied by his lady. Better specimens of the improved state of the Indians I have not seen. Both were clean, and well-dressed; the chief by the aid of an old coat and trowsers bestowed on him by Kellett; and his lady in a dark-coloured cotton robe with blue and scarlet cloak, d la robe, over all. He had assumed the name of Iwan ^Petroff, in the Tenth Census (1884, p. 35), reproduces this census but ascribes it to the year 1835, although Veniaminov makes clear that it reflects the devastation of the"l836-40 smallpox epidemic. FIGURE 4.—A native chief of Port Mulgrave (Anoutchy) and a woman with mouthpiece (Port Mulgrave). (After Belcher, 1843, vol. 1, pp. 84 and 86.) Iwatsky, probably in complement to one of the Russian traders, who frequently visit this port. "Their manners were good, even in some degree polished; and although not particularly well-bred at table, they were evidently not unacquainted with the use of knife, folk, and plate." [Belcher, 1843, vol. 1, pp. 83-84.] [I gather that the common people lacked such refinement.] IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 179 . »2- MAP 26.—Lituya Bay, 1849. (Tebenkov, 1852, detail of map vii.) "The men axe wretchedly clothed, in mats woven ■with the inner bark of the cypress [cedar], which is tough, flexible, and very soft. The women are very similar to the Esquimaux, differing however hi the mouth-ornament, which is here worn hi an aperture under the lower lip. It is of wood, and retains its place by the elasticity of the flesh contracting hi the groove, substituting larger ornaments as they grow up, or as the aperture elongates. They are as filthy as such tribes usually are, beyond description, and use vermillion, and any paint they can get. I must, however, except the chief's lady and daughters, as not wearing these ornaments, or paint, and exhibiting a dislike to it. The latter I had not the pleasure of seeing, but I am told is very pretty,—I suppose we may add, 'for the tribe.' " [Ibid. pp. 86-87.] The lack of the labret seems to be characteristic of Yakutat clans that trace then- descent from Atna or Eyak origins. However, the sophistication of the chief's womenfolk might suggest that the labret was beginning to be abandoned, even by those who formerly wore it. "Kellet acquainted me that this chief possessed very high notions of territorial right, and had thrown difficulties in the way of wooding and watering, which he was glad that our presence would remove" (ibid., p. 84). This was apparently achieved by giving a few presents, which in themselves acknowledged the native claims to natural resources. These gifts also relieved the anxiety felt by the Starling's men, since she had been surrounded by an ever increasing crowd of canoes, necessitating continual vigilance. Now, however, "the utmost security was felt," and the ships' personnel did not hesitate to go ashore to hunt or to pursue scientific investigations. Belcher also noticed that the Indians "receive presents— as a due, not as a gift; and consequently no return is made for civility." He was mistaken, I believe, in ascribing this to the example set by fur traders; it is characteristic of gift-giving between the natives themselves, when such "gifts" are really part of a complex and established system of reciprocities which everyone can take for granted. "Excepting in traffic, at which they are very keen, nothing could be obtained." The English crews bought halibut and two kinds of salmon, but apparently game was scarce (ibid., p. 85). On October 8, the Svlphur attempted to put out to sea, but though towed by canoes and her own boats, was prevented by the lack of wind, and so returned to her anchorage. "The chief and his lady, who had come to secure 180 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 the assistance of their tribe, as soon as they perceived my determination [to return], were quite delighted,— the only time I had seen them relax their features,— and haranguing the canoes, particularly her ladyship, they not only increased in numbers, but also in efforts, which had they applied earlier, we should have gained an offing. We were very soon at anchor. I think they gained a saw and hatchet for this manoeuvre. They well knew every hour of delay would enrich them. [Ibid., p. 87.] "[At six the next morning, the ship sailed, escorted by most of the canoes,] but the chief and his lady, who had taken tea with us, and finished by asking for a little warm gin and water, were probably too sleepy to pay us a visit at this early hour. "About nine the breeze giving us too great a velocity for the canoes, and their saleable articles being expended, one by one they gradually dropped off and left us to pursue our course." [Ibid., p. 88.] Further information about the Yakutat area until the latter part of the 19th century is meager, except for the descriptions of sea otter hunting as practiced by the natives of Yakutat and Lituya Bays. This was apparently written by N. M. Koshkin, secretary of the Governor of the Colony in 1860, and is included in Tikhmenev's work (1863, vol. 2, pp. 347-349; see pp. 378-379). However, we do not know that this is based on direct observation. Tebenkov, cartographer and Governor of the Company from 1845 to 1850, visited the Yakutat area in 1847, as did a Russian named Vasiliev. Both are said to have made observations of the positions and elevations of Mount Saint Elias and Mount Fairweather, but we do not know whether they and their parties had any intercourse with the natives. "Since that time the coast has been annually visited by whalers and traders; but their observations, if any, have not been made public . . ." (Dall and Baker, 1878, p. 158). Although fleets of from three to four hundred vessels used to gather in June and July on the Fairweather Grounds, between 1846 and 1851, because this was then one of the finest whaling grounds in Alaskan waters, the crews are said never to have landed, unless shipwrecked (Davidson, 1869, p. 47; Elliot, 1886, p. 72. For a summary of Alaskan whaling, especially by Americans, see Bancroft, 1886, pp. 582-585). UNDER THE AMERICAN FLAG The First Years (1867-80) The purchase of Alaska by the United States in 1867 seems to have had no immediate direct effect on the natives of the Yakutat Bay area. Indeed, as the Tlingit here and in southeastern Alaska point out to this day, all the Russians could sell was the land on which their own posts stood or which they actually controlled. They had no such control over Yakutat Bay. The argument is now cited, of course, to support native possessory rights against the encroachment of White settlers and the imposition of United States laws on the Indians, and it was some time before these effects were felt on the Gulf Coast. At Sitka, in contrast, the raising of the American Flag on October 18, 1867, seems to have been the signal for General Davis to seize the property of the Russian American Company in which to quarter his troups, turning the inhabitants out into the streets to find what shelter they could. Almost immediately pioneers, who unfortunately included a riffraff of poli- ticians, traders, saloonkeepers, gamblers, and prostitutes, swarmed into the town. In consequence, Sitka at first suffered from a commercial boom followed by economic depression. For the natives, the new order meant economic chaos as they had to shift from commercial transactions based on barter with long term credit for limited kinds of goods to transactions in money, in which a bewildering array of imports were offered for immediate sale, or in which their own furs fetched high prices. Thus at first they "squandered large sums for useless articles without the least appreciation of the value of either goods or money" (Porter, 1893, p. 247). A large percentage of the new luxuries were destined for distribution at intertribal potlatches, demanding equal returns, thus spreading the desire to acquire these goods and ultimately dooming the Tlingit to real poverty while struggling to attain a higher standard of living. In the streets of Sitka, and soon in other communities, "speculation and lawlessness were rife," as Bancroft has expressed it (1886, p. 602), because in the whole Territory until 1883 there was no legal protection of person IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 181 or property, no civil or criminal jurisdiction, no means of enforcing even the few laws that pertained to the collection of customs and to the sale of firearms and liquor. Indeed, the soldiers who were stationed at Sitka, Fort Tongas, and Fort Wrangell, ostensibly to protect the population, led a life of debauch, terrorizing the natives and the Russians who remained, provoking shootings, deliberate murders, and bloody reprisals. A subsequent Governor of Alaska, the Honorable A. P. Swineford (1898, pp. 63-65) has given a graphic picture of the oppressive and arbitrary military domination of Alaska. Soldiers were accused of arresting native men on trumped up charges so that they could violate the women. Now the cheapest kind of strong liquor was freely sold to the Indians, despite Federal laws to the contrary, and far greater amounts reached them than had been available since 1843, when the sale of liquor to the Indians was forbidden both by the Russian American Company and by the Hudson's Bay Company. Moreover, before the American soldiers were withdrawn in 1877, they had succeeded in teaching the Indians how to make their own "hoochenoo," or "hooch," so-called because it was first, or most pro-lifically made at Xutsnuwu, 'Brown Bear Fort' (Admiralty Island). The new luxuries and the art of distillation were soon spread to Yakutat. We know, for example, that Sitka Jack (pi. 2100, »n important chief or wealthy native, gave a potlatch at Sitka on October 1, 1877, at which considerable liquor was consumed. This man, Katsex, was the brother of Qexix, chief of the Tl'trknaxAdi Whale House at Sitka (pi. 210s). Sitka Jack was the father-in-law of a Yakutat Kwac£qwan man, known as Sitka Jake (<^AtAst'in),and also "uncle" to the mother of one of our oldest Yakutat informants. It is certain that at Sitka Jack's potlatch, and probably on many similar, prior occasions, the new Sitkan way of life was taught to the people of Yakutat. We also know that natives went between Yakutat and Sitka on trading expeditions. There were probably American traders who went to Yakutat in the decade following the Purchase, although we know practically nothing about their voyages. We may further assume that such ventures were stimulated by the very acquisition of Alaska. At first, commercial trips were undoubtedly undertaken with caution, for the Yakutat Tlingit still enjoyed the reputation they had earned in early Russian days as ruthless savages. Thus Dall, writing in the Coast Pilot (Dall and Baker, 1883, p. 206) about the Tlingit villages between Yakutat and Dry Bays: "One of these was visited about ten years since by the master of a whaling vessel at anchor in Port Mulgrave, and by him reported to be the largest, finest and most clean Indian village he had seen in all his experience of the coast. The population was large, the houses well built, solid, adorned with paintings and carvings of wood, and expressly adapted for defense. Most of these people remain in their villages, small parties going out on hunting and trading expeditions or to kill seal near the glaciers of Disenchantment Bay. They are treacherous and warlike and have committed a number of murders merely for plunder. Navigators in small trading vessels who may be visited by them should therefore be on their guard and never allow them to spend the night on board." Dall's information would appear to have been gathered on surveys undertaken in 1874 and 1880, which would date the whalers' visit to the preceding decade. I had originally believed that the description applied to GuSex on the Akwe, but now am more inclined to ascribe it to Diyaguna'Et on Lost River. The warning in the passage quoted above also reflects what Dall and Marcus Baker themselves experienced in 1874 when surveying the Alaskan coast. They had visited Lituya Bay in the schooner Yukon, May 15 to 19, where they found LaPe"rouse's chart "to be generally accurate. Here the party aboard the Yukon had much difficulty in preventing the persistent attempts of the natives to board the vessel, but fortunately were kept off without bloodshed. It is added in the report [of Dall and Baker] that these natives distill their own rum, and are well supplied with the best kinds of fire arms." [U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, 1878, p. 64.] The survey party then went on to Yakutat Bay, remaining in Port Mulgrave from May 21 to 26, where observations were of course made on Mount Saint Elias. "Here a party in the Yukon found evidences of the murder of a boat's crew supposed in 1870 to have been lost at sea, but which in that year went ashore from a sailing-vessel commanded by Captain Heren-deen, the present sailing-master of the Yukon. In regard to a small trading-vessel from Sitka, the arrival of the survey party was timely, in averting rough usage by the savages." [Ibid., p. 65.] Dall's brief sketch of the "Y&k'Qtats" is based upon what he observed during this visit, as well as on information presumably obtained at Sitka. Thus, he notes that "The Yakutats in many respects . . . are differentiated from the other T'linkets, though they belong, without doubt, to the same stock." At that time, five Tlingit tribes were recognized: Yakutat, Chilkat, Sitka, "Stakhin" (Strikine or Wrangell), and the "Kygani or Haida tribe;" but Dall correctly doubted that the last were Tlingit. He reports that the Yakutat, consisting of 250 persons, inhabited the coast "from Bering [Yakutat] Bay to Lituya Bay, occa- 182 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 sionally traveling in canoes farther west or southeast for purposes of trade. On my visit to Bering Bay in 1874, I endeavored to get their own name for themselves, but had no interpreter, and neither the natives nor myself spoke much Chinook, so that I do not feel sure that they understood my inquiries. At any event, I could get no other answer than 'Yakutat', which is evidently the name they give to the country they inhabit, but must, in all probability, have some other suffix or termination when applied as a tribal name. Their principal settlement is on a large stream [Ankau Creek-Lost River system?], abounding with salmon, and emptying into Bering Bay or Yakutat. They fish and trade at Port Mul-grave in the spring before the salmon arrive, and hunt seal near the glaciers of Disenchantment Bay. The women do not wear the kalushka, or lip-ornament. They are said not to adopt the totemic systemf!], so much in vogue among the other T'linkets, and eat the blubber and flesh of the whale, which the other tribes of their stock regard as unclean." [Dall, 1877, pp. 36-37.] It is also worth noting that Dall also published a "Vocabulary of the Yak'utat, A tribe of the T'linMt Nation (living between Port Mulgrave, Alaska, and Cape Spencer), obtained from his Excellency J. Furu-helm, Governor of the Russian Possessions in America, by George Gibbs" (apparently in 1862) (ibid., pp. 121-142). This vocabulary is certainly Eyak, not Tlingit.64 The U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey sent another party to Yakutat Bay in 1880. The following observations about the native settlement on Khantaak Island were largely based on this visit: "About the middle of Point Turner peninsula is a narrow lagoon of half stagnant water. Between this and the beach north of it is a collection of rather inferior Indian houses, occupied during the time of their halibut fishery or when vessels are there for trade, but usually vacant. In the woods NW. of the port [Port Mulgrave] are the relics of a whale boat, hidden there by the natives after they had murdered the crew for their outfit—having enticed them away from their vessel by stories of gold in the (granite) mountains near by." [Dall and Baker, 1883, p. 209.] [This presumably was the massacre of Captain Herendeen's men in 1870.] No other settlement was noted on Yakutat Bay in 1880. Two men attached to a small schooner belonging to James Hollywood were killed at Yakutat hi September, 1880. Yet only one native seems to have been implicated in this crime, and certainly not all the Yakutat Indians at that time deserved the reputation ascribed to 641 am indebted to Dr. Michael Krauss, Department of Linguistics, University of Alaska, for bringing this to my attention. them of hostility and treachery, as we learn from the official report of Commander Edward P. Lull, U.S.N., captain of the U.S.S. Wachusett. This was written at Sitka, October 18, 1881, to the Secretary of the Navy, after he had been in Yakutat the month before to arrest the alleged murderer. "On our arrival [at Yakutat] I sent for the chiefs of the village, two of whom came on board. These men had been particularly kind to Hollywood, protecting him during the winter after the occurrence of the murder. Keeping one of them on board as a sort of hostage, sent the other to arrest the murderer, who had gone on a hunting expedition a couple days' journey from the village. I offered $50 reward for the arrest. On the fourth day the chief returned with the prisoner. I then took on board two women and a man, said by Hollywood to be witnesses hi the case, though, thus far, I have not been able to get from them all that Hollywood states that they know, but I hope when removed from the influence of other Indians they will tell the truth. I send the prisoners and witnesses by mail steamer to Portland, Oregon, for trial." [Report of United States Naval Officers, etc., pt. 2, 1882, pp. 48-49.] The natives had to be sent to Portland because that was the nearest Federal court. It must also be remembered that the Naval Officer stationed at Sitka was the U.S. Government in Alaska. Later reports suggest that the White men killed in 1880—some give the date as 1881, or even later—had come to prospect the black sands for gold. Gold-bearing sands of this kind also occur at Lituya Bay where they had been sporadically worked before 1867 (Mertie, 1931, p. 117). The discovery of gold hi British Columbia hi 1858, and hi the Cassiar area near the upper Stikine in 1872, undoubtedly stimulated prospecting which led to discoveries at Juneau in 1880, as well as to explorations at Yakutat. The year 1880 marks the beginning of change at Yakutat. This was not simply because the murders resulted in the first of many visits by naval vessels, during which both natives and Whites took each others' measure and came to a new understanding. The discovery of traces of gold was to bring later in the decade some 40 to 50 gold miners to work the beaches of Khantaak Island, and when the brief boom was over, a few were to remain with native wives. Mount Saint Elias, which had engaged Marcus Baker's skill as a surveyor in 1880, was to lure adventuring Alpinists from 1886 until its summit was conquered in 1898. By that time the glaciers at its feet and in Disenchantment Bay had established their claims to geological investigation. Above all, furs and native manufactures of Yakutat had a reputation which brought White and native traders, and finally in 1884 the first store. Then, IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 183 as pelts and curios lost their commerical importance at the end of the century, Yakutat salmon were ready to take their place as the major source of wealth. After 1888 we can rely to an increasing extent upon the memory of our oldest informants, and from what they report can gage the magnitude of the transformations that took place between 1880 and 1900. Native culture was directly affected, but it also reflected the changes that were coming in the White observers. These differences in attitude and understanding on the part of Whites were of themselves important factors in creating a new way of life for the Yakutat Indians, through which they, like all Tlingit, were drawn into a world which extended far beyond the aboriginal Lingit-'ani, and were given a new understanding of themselves as Tlingit and as members of this larger social order. For the White man, 1880 marks the beginning of a new period in which a serious attempt was being made by White Americans to understand Tlingit customs and culture, even though there had been some anticipations by Brancroft (1874), Dall (1870), and, of course, by Russian and German scholars. We have seen this serious interest in the case of Capt. L. A. Beardslee, stationed at Sitka in 1879-80, although he wrote only a report on his activities and on "Affairs in Alaska" (1882), not an ethnographic monograph (de Lagunah 1960, p. 160). Lt. George T. Emmons, attached to the U.S.S. Pinta that visited Yakutat in 1885 and 1886, was to begin his carefully documented collection of Tlingit artifacts, until by 1889 he was recognized as an authority, and his home in Sitka considered an ethnographic museum which everyone should visit if possible, although none of his observations had been published (Shepard, 1889, pp. 226-227). Ensign A. P. Niblack's report on the Northwest Coast Indians was to appear as the report for 1888 of the U.S. National Museum (1890), and was quoted in the U.S. Census for 1890. Although Petroff had included an ethnographic sketch of the Tlingit in the Census for 1880 it is significant that the data were drawn primarily from Veniaminov and Holmberg, not from American sources. The Army also had its ethnographic observers, the most important of whom were Lt. C. E. S. Wood, who wrote about a trip with the Hoonah in 1877 (1882); Lt. Frederick Schwatka who led a military exploring party through Chilkat country and over the Chilkat Pass in 1883 (1893), and who came to Yakutat for the New York Times in 1886; and Lt. W. R. Abercrombie who described the Tlingit and Eyak in reporting a military reconnaissance up the Copper River in 1884 (1900). Although the Krause brothers spent the winter of 1881-82 at Haines, studying the Chilkat for the Geographical Society of Bremen, and Dr. Aurel Krause published his report in 1885, this did not have much effect on general knowledge since it was in German (Krause, translated by Gunther, 1956). It is hardly a coincidence, however, that the beginning of so much vigorous ethnological interest in Alaskan natives and in the Tlingit should have coincided with the founding of the Bureau of Ethnology in 1879 as a branch of the Smithsonian Institution. Missionary work started at Wrangell in 1876 and at Sitka in 1877, at Haines in 1880, and at Hoonah in 1881. The first American Protestant church in Alaska was in fact established at Wrangell in 1879. These efforts were to have a double impact: through the writings of Mrs. Julia Wright (1883), Mrs. Eugene S. Willard (1884), and the numerous pamphlets and books of the Rev. Sheldon Jackson, which contained ethnographic information; and also through the mission schools, especially that at Sitka, which soon began to turn out native graduates who could act as interpreters for their people. In trying to explain native customs, these native converts, however much they may have disapproved of them, yet came to know their own people in a new way. And in this way, also, an understanding of Tlingit culture and social organization began to reach the White people who visited or lived among them. Before the end of the decade a mission was to come to Yakutat. In 1879 John Muir and the Rev. S. Hall Young took their memorable canoe trip through southeastern Alaska, during which the magnificent glaciers of Alaska were discovered. Although Muir did not publish his first popular account of Glacier Bay until 1895 and his longer works until much later, word of the scenic beauties of Alaska soon spread. In 1884 the Pacific Coast Steamship Company, which made regular trips carrying the mail to southeastern Alaskan ports, initiated tourist excursions. From 1,650 tourists carried the first summer, the number had risen to over 5,000 by 1889 (Porter, 1893, p. 250-251). Not only did the glaciers attract the tourists, but they were wealthy, spending, it has been estimated, between $50 and $100 apiece for furs and native "curios." By 1890 it is said that not only had all of the aboriginal carvings and other manufactures of southeastern Alaska made by the natives for their own use been bought up by the tourists, but there had been established a new native industry of making articles especially for the tourist trade. Several Indian villages specialized in producing "curios" that became "more gaudy and grotesque each year," or "specimens of any degree of antiquity desired" (ibid., p. 250). It took, of course, much longer to drain off genuine ethnographic artifacts from Yakutat than from such regular steamer ports as Wrangell and Sitka, where the missionaries helped the process by discouraging the retention and use of heirlooms that had any connection with heathendom. 184 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 At the same time, the Yakutat natives in the late 1880's, as in Malaspina's day, began to respond to the insatiable White demand for their arts and crafts, especially since Yakutat basketry was recognized as the finest work produced by any Tlingit group. Most of the Yakutat products went to Sitka for sale. In fact, the White community of Sitka in 1890 was supported by the sale of furs and curios supplied by the Indians of Sitka and Yakutat, who in their turn were buying all of their clothing and an increasing proportion of manufactured goods, and even some foodstuffs, from the Sitka merchants (Porter, 1893, p. 237). With interest in native crafts as "curios" and as mementoes of an exciting journey, there also developed some appreciation of native art and a great deal of curiosity about its meaning. The Navy and the Army and the missionaries had perhaps been driven through practical considerations to learn about native culture and society, but the tourists were simply avid for "totem lore." They questioned, they learned, they wrote, and their travel books stimulated not only further tourist trips but expeditions sponsored by news- papers and by magazines which had both scientific and popular aims. The World's Fair at Chicago in 1893 finally brought the Northwest Coast and Tlingit arts and crafts to the doorstep of the ordinary American. A general interest in the Territory and its resources, as well as increased travel, settlement, and exploitation, led to further investigations by Federal agencies: Census Bureau, Coast Survey, Bureau of Fisheries, Geological Survey, all in addition to the military explorations already mentioned. All of this brought new groups of educated observers into close contact with the Tlingit in southeastern Alaska and even in isolated Yakutat. These have given us a variety of sources upon which we can draw in reconstructing the history of that area. The First Surveys (1880-84) If we begin by consulting the U.S. Census for 1880, we find the population figures (p. 185) which had been compiled by Ivan Petroff for the Yakutat natives and their neighbors (Petroff, 1884, pp. 29, 32): 500 Atnah villages Ikhiak & Alaganu Cape Martin Chilkhaat villages Yaktag villages Yakutat Tribe Scattered villages between cape Spencer & Bering bay Yakutat KADIAK DIVISION Copper river Mouth of Copper river Mouth of Copper river Comptroller bay Foot of Mount Saint Elias range SOUTHEASTERN DIVISION Coast of mainland Bering bay 250 Athabaskan 117 Eskimo [sic!, Eyak] 1 White, 7 Thlinket 170 Thlinket 150 Thlinket 200 Thlinket 300 Thlinket The number of women and children, and of slaves is not estimated. That these figures are not to be trusted either as an accurate count of the Gulf Coast and Copper River populations, nor as proof that Petroff had actually visited the area, is revealed in the autobiography of the Rev. S. Hall Young (1927, p. 191), who was missionary at Wrangell in 1880. It was he, on trips in 1879 and 1880 with John Muir, who had made a count in beans of the Tlingit of southeastern Alaska, and who gave these data to Ivan Petroff, nicknamed "Hollow Legs" for his liquor capacity, when the latter came to Wrangell as census enumerator late in 1880. But neither Young nor Petroff had been to Yakutat, so that Petroff's data on this region must have been picked up from traders at Kodiak and Nuchek. It is significant that his report contains no information at all about the Gulf Coast, whereas there are descriptions of settlements, native customs, commercial undertakings, and natural resources for almost every other part of Alaska. The lack of information about Yakutat, and Petroff's presumed reluctance to visit this area, are understandable in view of Capt. Johan A. Jacobsen's experience. In 1883 he had reached Kodiak from the north in the course of an ethnological collecting trip in Alaska. Here he chartered the Three Brothers, a schooner belonging to Captain Anderson and the Carlsen brothers, all from Sweden. The Three Brothers normally made voyages to and from Sitka, but when IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 185 Jacobsen wished to visit villages between the Copper River and Cross Sound, he was dissuaded by warnings that the weather was too bad for the trip, that he would make only poor collections [!], and above all, that the natives had the worst reputation on the whole Alaska coast. "These northern Tlingit Indians," he writes (1884, p. 379, my translation), "resemble to a hair in this respect the thievish Redskins in West Vancouver and British Columbia." After visiting Eyak, Alaganik, and Cape Martin, he apparently gave up his plans for continuing farther along the Gulf Coast. Fortunately Lt. W. R. Abercrombie, U.S.A., who followed Jacobsen the next year to the Eyak villages, has given us valuable information about Yakutat. This is so detailed that it seems based upon personal observations (perhaps not Abercrombie's); his mission in 1884 was to lead a military reconnaissance up the Copper River. His report includes a survey of the conditions, attitudes and military capabilities of all the coastal tribes. He accurately distinguished between the major southern and northern Tlingit groups. The latter include, among others, "the Chilcat tribe, on Lynn Canal; the Yukutat tribe; [and] the Chilcats, of Comptrollers Bay." He discusses as a separate people the "Ugalentsi" of the Copper River delta, "who call their principal village Eyak, and designate themselves by the same name" (Abercrombie, 1900, pp. 393, 397). He found the "Yukutat" living in two villages, probably on Khantaak Island and Situk River; the population comprising about 100 able-bodied males, not counting a few slaves, which their masters said they had owned for a long time. They had been apparently traded from the Kaigani, who until 20 years before used to raid the "Flathead villages" (ibid., p. 395). "The village of Yukutat proper consists of six large houses built above ground in the form common to this part of the coast. . . . They are square structures of logs and slabs or roughly hewn planks, with a bark or thatched [sic] roof, leaving an opening in the center for the escape of smoke, and each will accomo-date several families. Around the sides within are closet-like divisions used ordinarily for storage, but convertable to sleeping apartments, although too low to admit of standing up, and too short to admit of lying at full length. The floor is of hardened earth and, as may be expected, cleanliness is not an object of solicitude. A few miles below Yukutat are three similar houses. "During the summer months these Indians wander along the coast in their canoes. They are governed in their movements by the running of the salmon, the presence of the seal and sea otter, the ripening of berries, and the necessity for visiting the trading post. Away from their permanent villages they occupy summer houses at the points where the length of their stay is considerable, or build temporary shelters of brush. In winter certain villages are regularly occupied, and travel except upon landlocked waters almost entirely ceases. The results, therefore, of our enumeration of these natives at any one village might differ greatly, taken at one time or another." [Ibid., pp. 394-395.] [Abercrombie also gives us information about the settlements to the west:] "Between Yukutat and Copper River are the following villages, whose population includes 100 able-bodied men. [The description given of the Yakutat (see below) applies to these people also, since they differ in only a few details.] Each village has some man whose personal qualities or riches give him a certain amount of influence, but there are no chiefs in the full meaning of the term. "Going west, after leaving Yukutat, two small villages of three houses each, not constantly occupied, are found at Cape Yukutago. On the south side of Comptrollers Bay, just north of Cape Suckling, is a permanent winter establishment of three houses, known as Buchta-lee [sic], at the upper end of the bay. A short distance up the Chilcat River is another permanent village of four house, Guch-la-togee [gutc-na-?, 'wolf-people-?' ?]. Three miles farther up are three large houses, occupied only during the fishing season. At Cape Martin are eleven houses. The Alaska Commercial Company abandoned its post here a few years ago as unprofitable. A few families sometimes winter on Kyak Island." [Ibid., p. 396.] [In bis description of the personal appearance of the Yakutat natives, Abercrombie offers insight into the degree of acculturation.] "In personal appearance the Yukutats do not differ from their southern brethren. They are coal-black [sic], have coarse hair which is worn of moderate length, possess reddish skin, have high cheek bones, thick full lips, and are of medium stature. Ear rings are quite commonly worn, nose rings much less often. The hideous lip ornament formerly so much in vogue among the Thinklets living farther south has never [sic] been worn by the women of this tribe. The usual summer clothing of a man is a light cotton shirt, and a pair of drawers, supplemented in colder weather by a blanket or parkee. Over rough ground, boots made from the skin of the hair-seal are worn; some covering of the head is usual; it is either a hat obtained from the trading post or is made from mink, squirrel, or martin skins." [Ibid., p. 394.] [After describing their canoes (see p. 340) and 186 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 food, Abercrombie has a few observations on religion and morals.] "Christianity has made little or no advance among them. Some wore crosses which are recognized as being connected with the religion of the whites, but these are worn rather as ornaments than as religious tokens. The women are, as a rule, unchaste, provided they are paid for their lapses, and their male relatives often negotiate for the sale of their favors. [The totemic system, legends, the custom of giving potlatches,] although the latter is not carried to such extremes," are similar to those of the more southern Tlingit. [Ibid., p. 396.] [The Yakutat, Abercrombie believes, are the only coastal tribe] with whom trouble might reasonably be anticipated. [Ibid., p. 393.] "Probably the fact that intercourse between them and the whites is almost entirely limited to occasional visits from trading vessels, and to the periodical trips to Port Etches, explains the absence of any disturbance in late years. The Russians were unable to maintain a trading post at Yukutat with any ordinary force, and finally abandoned the attempt after the destruction of their buildings seventy years ago. The Alaska Commercial Company [incorporated 1869] has made no effort in that direction, preferring to let the natives do their trading at Port Etches or, as it is commonly called, Nuchek," [where the Alaska Commercial Company had taken over the old Russian American Company post]. [Ibid., p. 394.] "The murder of a white man a few years ago, for which crime the native murderer was executed by the process of law, is not necessarily to be taken as an index of the general feeling of the tribe. It grew out of a quarrel between some prospectors and three Indian boatmen, and in revenge for a beating one of the white men was killed; active participation was limited to the criminal's own family. The visit of the 'man-of-war' upon which the murderer was taken away, and the exhibition of the power of her guns, particularly in throwing shell, produced a very salutary effect in checking any hostile tendencies. When the U.S.S. Adams subsequently visited Yukutat and landed a party of prospectors, the Indians received them civilly, furnished boatmen and canoes, and expressing the utmost anxiety lest some accident might befall them that would be attributed to Indian agency. The chief himself selected the Indians to accompany the party with great care, saying that all of his men were not to be trusted." [Ibid., p. 394.] Although Abercrombie refers to the killing of only a single White man, this is probably the same murder that Commander Lull had to investigate in September, 1881. Abercrombie also reports that two trading schooners had touched at Yakutat, "during the past season," (1883?), and though not very successful in trading, had no trouble with the natives unless the latter were "excited with hoochenoo, of which they are exceedingly fond, and under the influence of which they become very quarrelsome. They can hardly be considered hostile, although they are not all to be trusted under temptation. [Ibid., p. 394.] "To the behests of their chief, Vanduk, considerable attention is paid, although his authority does not extend much beyond the two villages above mentioned [Khantaak Island and Situk River?], and his influence and power is much less than that possessed by his predecessor, Skin-Yah, who died in Sitka five years ago, and whose authority was respected from Yukutat to the mouth of the Copper River. The present chief is well disposed toward white men, although not sure of his ability to control some of the unruly members of his tribe." [Ibid., p. 395.] It is necessary to remember that there was never one chief at the head of any Tlingit tribe. At any given time, however, a particular sib or lineage chief in the community might have the most prestige and so appear to the Whites as if he were the chief. This is the type of mistake which almost every American visitor to Yakutat was to make. Unfortunately, Abercrombie's report is so full of typographical errors that it is difficult to identify these names. "Skin-Yah" is evidently Skfnya, a Tl'uknaxAdi and TlukwaxAdi name at Yakutat, but not one ascribed to a chief by any of my informants. "Vanduk" may be YAnAct'uk", 'Firing a Gun,' a Teqwedi name, but again not one specified as a chief's. (However, see p. 200). Of equal or more authority than this chief was the shaman, Abercrombie goes on to observe, referring to a particular man whom I would like to identify as TEk-'ic, 'Little Stone's Father,' a Teqwedi shaman who is said to have lived on Khantaak Island at that time. Abercrombie describes the shaman as "a man of about 50, possessed of considerable natural ability, and not particularly well disposed toward the whites. He speaks a few words of Chinook, but no Russian." He is supposed to have paralyzed a rival Tlingit who was living among the Eyak at Alaganik, and "although so heartily disliked by the majority [at Yakutat] that they once requested a white man to kill him, his opposition or favor might become of serious moment to small parties of white men visiting this part of the coast" (ibid., pp. 395, 397). The Indians at Yakutat and on the coast farther west seem at this time to have had plenty of guns, the IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 187 favorite being a combination 44/100-inch caliber rifle with a 14 or 16 gauge shotgun. They lacked breech-loading weapons, and sale of "fixed ammunition" for such modern guns to Indians was forbidden. "Therefore, for certain purposes, notably sea-otter hunting, the use of the bow and arrow is continued" (ibid., p. 395). Knowledge of Chinook indicates trade relations, and these were also discussed by Abercrombie (ibid.). "The trading is principally at Nuchek, to a lesser extent with trading schooners, and occasionally with canoes from Sitka. Tea, tobacco, sugar, powder, ball lead, percussion caps, calico, axes, a few blankets, and a small amount of clothing are the articles purchased. [This corresponds with reports of our oldest informants]. In past years they have been accustomed, on visiting Nuchek, to take posession of the settlement, compelling the Aleuts [Chugach], to take refuge at Port Chalmers, some 20 miles distant, during their stay, and causing considerable anxiety to the traders. Although this practice ceased seven or eight years ago, it, with the remembrance of troubles during Russian occupation, is not altogether forgotten, and a certain amount of unfriendliness occasionally shows itself between members of the two tribes." Abercrombie is doubtful that the Yakutat would or could present any serious military problem, and if they did cause trouble, "the destruction of their villages and canoes would soon bring these natives to terms." This could be accomplished during the comparatively storm-free summer months by howitzers mounted on boats of light draft. The only allies of the Yakutat would be the "Uhgalentsi," or Eyak, and these are "little to be feared as foes, or desired as friends" (ibid., p. 396). This report must be understood in the light of the long period of anxiety and fear of trouble with the Tlingit of southeastern Alaska, and the misunderstandings there which had already led to the destruction of the Kake villages, and the towns of Wrangell and Angoon. At this time, too, the free-roving tribes on the Plains had not yet been crushed by troops and starvation; their despair had not yet led them to the last frightening manifestations of the Ghost Dance. More than most contemporary men, Abercrombie writes with understanding and with sympathy for the Indians, although his language was directed to and edited by higher authority in Washington for Congressional ears (see Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938, pp. 11-13, for an appreciation of Colonel Abercrombie). Schwatka and Seton-Karr (1886) In 1886 the U.S.S. Pinta, commanded by Captain Nichols and including Lt. George T. Emmons among her personnel, brought to Yakutat the "New-York Times Expedition" to attempt the ascent of Mount Saint Elias. This was led by Lt. Frederick Schwatka, and included Dr. William Libbey, Professor of Physical Geography at Princeton College, H. W. Seton-Karr, a British Alpinist, Joseph Wood and John Dalton as cooks, and from the mission at Sitka a youthful native interpreter named Frederick or Kersunk. Of the last, Schwatka (1891, p. 866) says that while his English was imperfect, he was "throughly reliable," and "also did good duty for us as a packer, an art in which all T'linket Indians are proficient." Kersunk may be the Kagwantan man, known to my informants as Qasank or Fred, who married a Tl'uknaxAdi woman from Yakutat, Stella, later known as Mrs. Pilot Jackson. She was the daughter of a Teqwediman, the assistant of the shaman, TE&-'ic. The writings of Schwatka and Seton-Karr give us considerable information about Yakutat and its people, and their relation to the Whites; unfortunately less was published by Libbey. The expedition was at Yakutat from July 12 to July 16, and returned again on August 2, after an unsuccessful assault on the mountain. Seton-Karr left on August 9 for Nuchek; Schwatka and Professor Libbey remained at Yakutat until some time in September when the Pinta brought them back to Sitka. During this period Schwatka made a canoe trip through the Ankau lagoon system and Libbey took over 200 photographs (pis. 62-63) and collected ethnographic specimens. Schwatka, writing in the New York Times (June 21, 1886) before his departure, explained that little was known about the Yakutat Indians because of their isolation, but that this was an advantage for the expedition because it promised a rich field for ethnographic specimens. The rest of the Tlingit, he observed casually, had already been so thoroughly studied that "it is only in minute matters that anything new can be learned." He did not, however, find the Yakutat as primitive as he had hoped. It is clear that they were no longer considered as thieves and potential murderers, even though he reports that they still need naval threats to make them behave. He had previously (1883) had experience with the Chilkat as guides and packers, he is ready to appreciate the Indian sense of humor, their stamina on the trail and their skill as canoemen, yet he regards them with condescension as a labor supply to be tapped at will, or inferiors to be ordered about, and is perhaps a bit shocked when they take advantage of him in commercial dealings. Although he, Seton-Karr, and Professor Libbey are all writing for a general audience who want to hear about the Indians as wild, superstitious, blanket-clad savages, there is nevertheless real ambivalence in the attitudes of these explorers towards the 188 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 Yakutat people. The latter have certainly become more sophisticated than they were in 1880 or even in 1884. Apparently the U.S.S. Adams had previously made a trip to Yakutat, and the U.S.S. Pinta had been there in 1885. In 1884, the Alaska Commercial Company had built a store (probably on the mainland at the site of the mission), but gave it up the following year as unprofitable. It had been managed by "the famous Dr. Ballou," (Seton-Karr, 1887, p. 52), who was now replaced by some young Swedes, Louis Carlsen and his brother, and the Andersen brothers, Nils and Olaf. These men also owned the schooner, Three Brothers. "Having a good understanding with the Alaska Commercial Company, they have set up a store at Yakutat Bay, and another at Kaiak [on Wingham Island, see p. 103], but the natives are not great fur-hunters at these places, and their most profitable trips are made on behalf of the Company." [Ibid., p. 140.] [The log cabin store and living quarters for the trader had been built on the mainland, opposite the native village on Khantaak Island,] "for exactly the same reason [Schwatka believed] that I pitched my camp 300 or 400 yards away from them [the natives]. They were seldom annoyed by Indians, except those who wanted to buy something, and this was surely annoyance enough, as I found out afterward, when I had an opportunity for witnessing some of their dickering." [Oct. 20, 1886.] [The Swedish traders were happy at the arrival of the Pinta. Carlsen] "expressed himself as very pleased to see the man-o'-war, because the Indians had lately become troublesome and threatening, but now they would do whatever was required of them. He had even been obliged to menace them with the visit of a man-o'-war if they did not behave. Our timely arrival had thus acted as a corroboration of his threat. The Yakutats have lately been distilling a good deal of the vile spirit like vodki from sugar, and have been so frequently drunk that the traders were glad their store was as far removed from the village as it was." [Seton-Karr, 1887, p. 53.] [The Swedish traders seemed to regard the U.S. Navy as a handy means of coercing the natives to do what they wanted. When Seton-Karr went with them to their post at "Kaiak" in Controller Bay they wanted him to put on a uniform to impress the Indians.] "I was to parade as an officer from a man-of-war— the only thing that keeps the Indians in awe. Among the few trade articles calculated to take the Indian's fancy that remained was a gold-braided cap and military coat with brass buttons, exactly suitable, and fitting to a nicety. " 'We were telling the Indians,' said Olaf, who was one of the three [White people at "Kaiak"] . . ., 'that the war-ship was coming, and would punish them if they didn't behave themselves. They wanted their big canoe to go to Oodiak [Eyak village], but they will let us have it now to take us to Nu- chuk. . . . The squaws may clear out when they see the cap with the gold band, and are told that you come from the big war-ship.' " [Ibid., pp. 144-146.] "Coming ashore, I found the natives evidently not deeply impressed by the presence in their midst of a naval officer; the two decrepit men [the rest were out hunting], the slovenly squaws, and half naked children did not 'clear out,' but merely pointed and whispered." [Ibid., p. 147.] It is not, however, clear whether the undoubted effectiveness of real naval officers in dealing with the Tlingit was due solely to the fear which their terrible military power could inspire. It may have been equally due to their prestige as chiefs, surrounded by military pomp, dressed in resplendent uniforms, attended by obedient subordinates, and controlling obvious wealth. Naval officers, as already pointed out, often took the trouble to learn something of native customs and could treat native chiefs with suitable protocol. But if the Swedish traders were glad to see the Pinta put into Port Mulgrave, the explorers were not particularly happy to find them at Yakutat, for they had understood that the Alaska Commercial Company store was vacant and that the natives were still unaccustomed to money as a medium of exchange. They were afraid that they would have difficulty in using the trade goods which they had brought to hire Indian helpers. But as Seton-Karr observes (ibid., p. 54): "it made no difference in the end, except entailing a terrible amount of haggling, 'chin-music' as the lieutenant [Schwatka] styled it, with the Yakutat Indians." On their arrival, July 12, the party found the settlement on Khantaak Island deserted except for "a dejected wolfish-looking dog," for the natives were almost all sealing in Disenchantment Bay (ibid., p. 50). Peremptory blasts on the Pinta's whistle, however, summoned a few canoes from houses on the mainland— evidently the move towards the "Old Village" had already started. In one canoe was a half-blind shaman, with long hair, who was told to send a messenger up the bay to get two large canoes and a crew of six. The shaman explained that this would take two days (ibid., p. 51). Seton-Karr (ibid., p. 56) suggests that the chief may not have been far away, "but on the sight of the war-vessel had hastily 'vacated the situation' and left for 'parts unknown/ until satisfied that she had not come to bombard his village." Now began an irritating wait for the eager explorers, which they blamed upon the dilatory tactics and prevarication of the natives. The expedition proposed IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 189 to start for the mountain from "Icy Bay," and needed a large Haida "war canoe" to go there, since this was considered the only type of craft capable of carrying the party and their equipment. "Although the Yakutat clan [sic] of Thlinkets was about the furthest away from the Hydah Indians who manufactured these peculiar canoes—a distance equal to from about New-York to Savannah—yet it was pretty fairly known that these Yakutats had two or three of the Hydah craft by intertribal barter with the adjoining clans, mostly the Sitka clan, who, fitting out in Sitka among the white men there annually visited the Yakutats to barter for furs, skins, and any Indian handicraft that was salable among the white men." [Schwatka, Oct. 3, 1886.] But when Chief Yen-at-set'l (YAn-'At-sel' 'Tears It Up Completely,' probably referring to the Bear of the Teqwedi sib) and a number of his men returned from the head of Yakutat Bay, there was no large canoe. One was, however, reported in a nearby lagoon, but since the owner was at the sealing camp, another messenger had to be sent to get his permission, entailing a further delay of a day and a half, before word came that it would be all right to take the canoe. Schwatka was to furnish his own men, "which I had supposed could be picked up at almost a moment's notice among those around. After much delay a crew was secured to send after the big Hydah craft." But the latter returned to report it completely unusable, "and as if I had doubted their word each and every one brought a handful of rotten punk from the canoe's bottom to verify their doleful story." Schwatka believed that these men had known beforehand about its condition, as did the messengers who went to see the owner. But what was worse, "at the very time they were at the head of Yakutat Bay there was another Hydah canoe that could have been had for the asking and paying of the usual price per diem or for the trip." That this arrangement was not undertaken by the messenger, was because the canoe belonged to a man of the wrong clan (ibid.). "Among the Yakutats, I understand, the highest of the high castes is the dogfish family [Teqwedi of Shark House]; to which the chief Yen-at-set'l belongs, and it was into the Semitic clutches of this aristocracy that I fell when I got to bargaining for my Hydah canoe for the Icy Bay trip, while it was to some other clan (probably the tadpoles or chipmunks of low caste) that the good canoe belonged, and the royal blood would not deign to negotiate with me for fear of contaminating their princely caste by having to associate with their plebian brethren." [Ibid.] Schwatka is, of course, telling a good story. The chief's or the messenger's reluctance to secure the other canoe could not have been due to the low position of its owner—in fact, he was probably a wealthy house chief if he could afford such a canoe—but because Yen-at-set'l probably saw no reason to promote any deal that might benefit a rival. Or else Schwatka had simply told the Indians too explicitely what to do, and they were following his wishes to the letter, avoiding as long as possible reports which would displease him. According to Seton-Karr (1887, p. 56), the chief was not only prevaricating, but was jealous of George, the "second chief," whom he had sent as messenger. Schwatka was also annoyed because, while the chief had advised a landing at "Icy Bay," the owner of the canoe, who had hunted about "Icy Bay" and the foot of Mount Saint Elias, had freely expressed his opinion, "without being asked for it, however," that the contemplated ascent was not only impossible from that side (as it proved to be), but that the attempt would be very dangerous. In consequence, the Yakutat men that Schwatka tried to hire as packers demanded three to six times the rate established for Indian wages in southeastern Alaska, harping upon the great hazards to be encountered. They professed to doubt Schwatka's promise that they would not be asked to go beyond the foot of the mountain. The Indians were certainly exploiting the situation. The deadlock was broken when Captain Nichols volunteered to take the expedition to "Icy Bay;" and when a party of Sitka Indians who had come to Yakutat to trade offered to go to "Icy Bay" for about two-thirds or three-fourths of what was demanded by the Yakutat natives, although that was still two or three times more than the usual rate of pay at Sitka. The Yakutat men promptly underbid the Sitkans, so that Schwatka finally was able to hire them at the regular rates, "they making, even then some slight concessions to ward off any offer that the Sitkas might make" (Schwatka, Oct. 3, 1886). Accordingly the Pinta took the party to what was then "Icy Bay," where Lieutenant Emmons landed them and their supplies through the surf. Schwatka and Seton-Karr were, however, far more impressed with the skill displayed by an Indian whom they called "Bear Hunter" in landing the small Yakutat canoe that Professor Libbey had purchased. On their return, the party had great difficulty in launching their boat from the beach, for it swamped on their first attempt, even though a great deal of gear had been left behind to lighten it. The Indians, who were acknowledged as the only ones who really knew how to handle small craft, brought them off successfully on the second try, and confessed that they had been frightened before since the White men evidently did not understand the danger (Schwatka, 1891, p. 872). We would admit that the Indian porters had earned 190 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 their wages. Their packs weighed from 50 to 60 pounds (see also pp. 196,206), and they also carried the White men over the first main glacial river. The latter afterwards waded. "[When on the glacier] The Indian frequently stopped and pointed to his moccasins, which certainly were worn through; but to an Indian accustomed to go barefoot over rough ground what did that signify? However, to induce him to follow, he had to be given a thick pair of woollen socks that I happened to have. . . . Meanwhile the Indians had been grumbling audibly. As translated by Kersunk, the boy interpreter, their mutterings signified that they would prefer to go no farther, for their moccasins were worn out. . . . But after a little persuasion there suddenly appeared, as if by magic, and from whence it was impossible to say, two new pairs of moccasins." [Seton-Karr, 1887, pp. 90, 92.] Seton-Karr gives us an interesting description of the Yakutat chief, whom he calls "Noearpoo," the same man as Schwatka's Yen-at-set'l, although "Noearpoo" is not a Tlingit name, since the language lacks both P and B. (Can it be YAnAc£ukw?) Seton-Karr also mentions "George," as "the second chief." The titles of head chief and second chief had been created by the Russians and seem to have been taken over rather uncritically by the Americans. An attempt to identify these persons will be made later. "Next morning [after the arrival of the Pinta] 'George,' the second chief, came on board, and was followed soon by Noearpoo, the chief of the Yaka-tats, dressed in a U.S.S. Adams riband and uniform, presented to him when that vessel came to arrest and bring to justice the murderer of two white men. It appears that the latter had come to 'prospect' for indications of gold, and that soon after their arrival the Indian or Indians, for some fancied grudge, had shot down both of them as they were landing from their boat." [Ibid., pp. 54-55.] [Seton-Karr may mistake the visit of the U.S.S. Wachusset in 1881 to apprehend the muderer of 1880 (see pp. 182-186) with a visit of the U.S.S. Adams on a later date; or were there two similar murders?] "Meanwhile the chief, with his gorgeous coloured neckcloth and gold uniform, had been taken to the captain's cabin, where, with the two interpreters, we descended to interview him. After a long speech, which he had evidently prepared beforehand, about white men always speaking the truth and Indians sometimes [see what is probably the correct version, Libbey, New York Times, Nov. 16, 1886], he was asked for information, . . . "After more talk the captain presented him with a U.S.S. Pinta riband to wear instead of the Adams one, and the interview was over." [Ibid., pp. 55-56.] [The chief, "Noearpoo" or "Yen-at-set'l," had a flagpole in front of his house on Khantaak Island (pi. 69), on which he ran up the flag as soon as the expedition was seen approaching from "Icy Bay," while the natives crowded the house tops to watch. Seton-Karr (ibid., p. 124) who describes the scene, is a little irritated.] "As we draw up on the beach, crowds of Yakuat Indians, men, women, and naked children, surround us. They have returned, since we left, from seal hunting. Most of them have their faces painted black or red, and stare intently and silently without one of them offering to help us." [Apparently the chief is waiting in his house to receive them.] "We find the chief seated on a magnificent bear robe by the side of his wife and daughter, and wearing his uniform and the U.S.S. Pinta riband. The crowd fills the house and still pours in by the small circular opening called a door. The smoke ascends through a hole in the roof, across which are hung strings of dried salmon and salmon-trout." [Ibid., p. 124.] Later, Seton-Karr sketched the chief's daughter in oils. "Several men were asked first to sit, and all showed some reluctance, so I was surprised to find the chief willing to allow his daughter to do so. She is about fifteen years of age, and came escorted by her husband and father-in-law, as well as by the chief and his wife. I had to make brushes out of bits of rope, the others being at Icy Bay. I kept her sitting an hour, and gave her a looking-glass." [Ibid, p. 126-127.] A photograph of "Yen-aht-setl, chief of the Yaku-tats," taken by Professor Libbey, was published in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, June 21, 1890 (p. 422). He appears to have been a fine-looking, vigorous and dignified man (pi. 62). Yet Seton-Karr does not find the chief above begging from the Whites, for while the schooner, Three Brothers, on which he had started out for Kayak Island, was waiting for the wind only two miles from the Yakutat village, "a canoe shot out from the promontory containing the chief and his wife. They had come to beg! As the little schooner lay becalmed they thought it a good opportunity to do so, unobserved by the rest of the tribe" (Seton-Karr, 1887, p. 134). We are also given considerable insight into trading customs at Yakutat, and in particular in the ties linking Yakutat with Sitka. As had been the experience of every navigator to Port Mulgrave, they found the IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 191 Indians "anxious to prolong the stay of the vessel [the Pinta, while waiting the return of the messenger from up the bay], for money soon began to be in brisk circulation. Many curios were brought to the ship's side and at once bought up by the officers who were making collections of native objects. The Indians too were now all the more desirous of money, as a disreputable Indian woman, known as Mrs. Toms, had made her way up from Sitka in a large hydah or war-canoe, and was busy trading, and supposed to be possessed of a large fortune amassed by doubtful methods. The greater part of the articles of native manufacture brought for sale consisted in baskets of a variety of shapes, neatly plaited out of roots, dyed different colours and designed in different patterns; charms, carved walrus tusks, bows and arrows, and horn spoons." [Ibid., p. 59.] [The walrus tusks are puzzling; they must have been procured in trade from the north, if, indeed, identification of the specimens is correct.] [Schwatka explains this trade with Sitka in more detail:] "I have spoken of the fact that the Sitka clan of Indians sometimes fit out with trading material from the white stores at Sitka and visit the Yakutat clan for trading purposes, charging two and three prices for their wares-—-a mild form of extortion that one might think would justify the Yakutat in demanding proportionate wages. At the very time of our arrival at the Yakutat village there were two or three Hydah canoes with men and trading material from Sitka, bartering among the natives. . . . "Among the Sitka Indians—in fact, at the head of the trading expedition—was a character well worth a brief description. This character was a female with the Anglicized name of Mrs. Tom, a burley Amazon of the Northwest that had ten times more to say than females in those parts generally have; and throughout all Thlinket-land the consent of a squaw is needed by her husband to conclude any arrangements that he may want to make, unless of a very trivial and immediate nature, and even then the by far "better half' can undo the contract. Mrs. Tom was reputed to be worth some $4,000 or $5,000, most of it in blankets (the Thlinket standard of commercial valuation instead of the 85-cent dollar,)— and with this at her bidding she more than lorded, or ladyed, it over all her sex—and the other sex, too, for that matter. She rejoiced in two husbands—if more than one husband can be a source of rejoicing to the average woman—and for the latter, who was an ordinary slave before he became one of extraordinary nature, it is said she paid something like $1,000 in goods and chattels—certainly a very low figure considering the usual market price for husbands in civilization. She was, in her youth, a Yakutat Princess, and this gave her influence in this clan, which she improved to the utmost for trading and bartering purposes. When she first arrived she gave forth that she was bent on missionary work to convert the Yakutats, but as she shortly after made some hoo-chenoo (vile alcohol made by the natives from sugar or molasses), from some of her trading material and got on a prismatic spree, in which one of her husbands blacked both her eyes, this line of attack was abandoned and she settled down to her trading with unwanted energy." [Schwatka, Oct. 3, 1886.] The important role played by Tlingit women in trading had already been noted in 1788 by Captain Douglas (Meares, 1790, p. 323). The high prices charged by Mrs. Tom at Yakutat are not to be equated with the extortionate demands made by Tlingit who enjoyed the monopoly of middlemen between the White man and some more remote interior people, although no doubt she charged extra to compensate for the risks and expense of the voyage. Mrs. Tom was a Yakutat woman, trading with her relatives, and as will be seen, the ties of kinship among the Tlingit necessitate the "payment" of especially handsome reciprocal gifts in exchange for initial presents (see pp. 481, 495). No doubt Mrs. Tom was shrewdly capitalizing on this situation. Already in 1893 she is described as "possessed of great wealth in silver dollars, and is one of the shrewdest and richest traders in the Territory, owning schooners and branch stores. Extensive advertising has made her famous and raised the prices of her goods, but few of the romantic histories current have any foundation in truth." (Scidmore, 1893, p. 120.) "The wealthiest Sitka is the 'Princess Tom,' whose wealth in blankets, furs, and articles of vertue is estimated from $20,000 to $45,000. Her skill as a trader is freely conceded by all tourists" (Stevenson, 1893, p. 80, note 1). Although known as a "Princess," she was not of high rank and has been identified as Mrs. Emeline Baker. She owned the schooner Active, which took cotton, blankets, sugar and flour to Yakutat, and there exchanged them for furs and curios, some of which had come from the interior. These were resold at profit to Sitka merchants (Knapp and Childe, 1896, pp. 103, 106-107). According to Swanton (1909, p. 405), "Princess Thorn, (Gadjl'nt)" was the sister of QIa'dustin, a Kwac&qwan man from Yakutat who was living in Sitka in 1904 when he told Swanton the story of his sib's migration from the Copper River country to Yakutat (Tale 105; summarized on pp. 241-242). He was known to our informants as Sitka Jake, Q'atAsftn. His sister, Qadjint, was a paternal aunt of Xadanel: Johnstone, the father of one of our informants. When- 192 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 FIGURE 5.—"Princess Thom," sketched by John S. Bugbee. (After Bugbee, 1895, p. 190.) ever this K^ackqwan woman came to Yakutat from Sitka she brought handsome presents to her Teqwedi relatives by marriage. Her husband, Thom, Swanton (1908, p. 439) mentions as "the Sitka chief," that is, the ranking Wolf man invited from Sitka to a potlatch at Chilkat shortly before Swan ton's visit in 1904. Was he therefore Anaxuts, chief of the Sitka Kagwantan? Schwatka's party were certainly eager to acquire ethnological specimens at Yakutat, and we must remember that there were two important collectors on board the Pinta: Professor Libbey, whose material went to Princeton (pis. 109, etc.), and Lt. George T. Emmons, whose Tlingit collections with their meticulously detailed descriptions are now in all the major museums of the United States. Seton-Karr (1887, p. 125) reports that on the return of the expedition from "Icy Bay" to Khantaak Island: "The last two days [August 3-4] have been consumed in bargaining with the Indians in trading material for curios (such as masks and arrows, spoons of wild sheep and goat horns, charms, carved bones, and baskets woven out of roots and grass), but in a manner tedious and trying to the patience. Besides salmon, and occasionally a small halibut, the Indian squaws have been daily bringing clams, cockles, crabs, and baskets of strawberries, salmon-berries, and blueberries." Prior to the departure for "Icy Bay," while negotiations were still underway for the canoe, some one from the Pinta or from Schwatka's party went out in a conoe and found a shaman's grave, from which two sackfuls of objects were taken, representing his "outfit" (pis. 170-177).65 This was not regarded as grave-robbing or theft; it was justified by the consideration that the things had been left to rot, and that since no Indian would ever dare visit the grave (a misconception), the loss would never be noticed or lamented. Lieutenant Emmons is known to have acquired the contents of many shamans' graves in different parts of Tlingit territory. Such activity was common during this period, but some "finds" were made by collectors that no one could condone. Thus, Niblack (1890, p. 337) notes that this same summer "white men robbed a cache of the Klawak chief Tin-ga-ate of all its contents to the value of over $2,000. The booty included five hundred blankets, fifty wash bowls [used as feast dishes], thirty-six mirrors, six valuable dancing robes, and many other articles." In this connection it may be significant that Seton-Karr found all the native houses at Yakutat to be locked up while the people were at sealing camp. Mrs. Shepard in 1889 (1889, p. 278) tried to look into the chief's house on Khantaak Island to see if there were totem poles inside but found that "when he goes away he locks his door behind him with a padlock and takes the key, and was not at home when we called. Every nook and cranny through which we might have peeped was filled up in some way or other." On a small island in the bay, she noted what was perhaps a shaman's gravehouse, evidently rendered as secure as possible against intrusion. It is described as "a deserted log hut, a canoe, and a small square enclosure, tightly boarded over, but into which we managed to peep. In it we saw a bundle of what we thought were skins, and a large chest or leathern trunk" (ibid., p. 230). One hundred years has thus brought a great change in the relation between Indians and Whites, for it is the former who now have property that is irresistible, and it is the latter who have to be watched and against whom precautions must be taken to prevent the theft of tempting treasures that seem to have been abandoned. On the other hand, the Indians are, with few exceptions, to be trusted as honest. Although Schwatka (Oct. 20, 1886) warns that they should never be paid in advance, that even the small boys at Yakutat were "as shrewd and exacting in all the bargains they made as their elders," and that: "Another salient point in their character is the perfect indifference with which they will break their contracts," nevertheless, Schwatka and his men did not seem to hesitate to leave valuable equipment, including the goods with which his native helpers were to be paid, in the house of the Yakutat 85 The masks, rattles, and bracelets illustrated by Seton-Karr (1887, pi. opp. p. 56) are inferior in style to those objects known to have come from this grave. I believe that they represent the stock-in-trade of some curio dealer in Sitka. IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 193 chief while the expedition was climbing Mount Saint Elias. The large tent, blankets, clothing, and so forth, were all safe on their return. Furthermore, on leaving "Icy Bay" they had to leave behind a great deal of equipment on the beach, to recover which they sent back two Indians. As Seton-Karr reports (1887, p. 127): "One of them, who owns a partly ruined hut there [at "Icy Bay"], is bold looking, with an honest and trustworthy as well as picturesque appearance. He is one of the only two men who hunt bears in this neighbourhood; the other is one of our Indians, 'the hunter,' as we called him." Others were also to pay tribute to Indian honesty (see Russell, 1893, quoted p. 203). Although Schwatka's party sometimes found the natives' curiosity in their doings to be annoying, especially when the children were constantly hanging around their tent on Khantaak Island, it is interesting that the Indians did not go near the "observatory," a box of instruments which Professor Libbey had screwed to a tree. Seton-Karr (1887, p. 126) believed that this was because "they consider it must be 'big medicine.' " Whatever the reason, we see here a great contrast with the behavior displayed toward Malaspina's instruments. It is clear, however, that as soon as the Indians come to regard the Whites as friends, they treat them as such, and this means entering the house or the tent of a friend with complete freedom, without knocking or announcement, since such respect for spacial privacy is not part of the aboriginal code of good manners. Thus when the chief visited the camp and was given some pilot bread and bacon, "Rows of brown naked children, with black beady eyes, sit round four deep and watch every operation with an intense and speechless interest" (ibid., p. 125). Schwatka's party was offered the hospitality of the chief's house on their return from Mount Saint Elias, although they declined, and this seems to have been not an unusual kindness at this time, as we shall see from accounts of later expeditions. That friendly relations were preserved to the end of Schwatka's stay at Yakutat is extraordinary, for a tragedy occurred which might have led to further deaths. While camped near the edge of the Malaspina Glacier, John Dalton had put some arsenic in a baking powder can or yeast can in order to prepare some poisoned bait for foxes or wolves. An Indian had found the can, still partly full, which Dalton had carelessly thrown away. Professor Libbey took it from the Indian, trying to explain the deadly nature of its contents, but gave it to Dalton to destroy. The latter simply hid the can, and the Indian, with what Seton-Karr called "his thievish propensities," (1887, p. 130), had found and kept the tin, "concealing it this time in another Indian's bundle. . . ."At any event, it was finally brought back to Yakutat where it was found and used by some Indians in baking bread. The man himself had meanwhile gone back to Icy Bay where he intended to trap all winter. The Whites first discovered what had happened to the arsenic on August 7, only a few days after their return to Port Mulgrave, when some Indian women came to them, ostensibly to trade curios, but bringing the fatal can and wondering what was the matter with the "baking powder" since all who had eaten the bread made with it were sick. These were "Bear Hunter," who had been with the expedition, his wife, their three children, and a Sitkan. Professor Libbey recognized the can and immediately explained to the chief, through the interpreter, what had happened. According to Professor Libbey's dispatch to the New York Times (Nov. 16, 1886); the chief replied by saying "that white men lied, that Indians sometimes lied, but that he never lied." He had promised Captain Nichols of the Pinto, to take care of them and would do so. He realized, he said, that the Whites had been careful—we would surely blame them, especially if, according to Professor Libbey's own statement, the can was taken a second time from the Indian and still not destroyed! The blame was the Indian's, the chief admitted, but he was sorry to lose his friend. The Whites did what they could to help the sick, who were all lying in the chief's house, although the Professor's medicine chest had been left at "Icy Bay." One child apparently died almost immediately, and was cremated behind the village the next day. Meanwhile, Professor Libbey set the interpreter to making strong coffee and, to induce vomiting, gave each patient a feather from an eagle wing that was hanging in the chief's house. Although all drank the coffee, only the Sitkan and the two remaining children would use the feathers, perhaps because they had more faith in the White man's knowledge. They felt better after a few hours, so "Bear Hunter" and his wife agreed to follow the same treatment. Professor Libbey believes that this might have saved them, had not the medicine man been called in. His treatment, together with the fact that the other inmates of the house, including the couple's own son, were afraid to share their food or even the hot water from their kettle with the suffering man and his wife, resulted in the deaths of the latter on the third day. The callous behavior of the other members of the household was due to terror of contamination through anything shared with those who had been so mysteriously stricken. From what one informant told me about the death of an older brother who had eaten "poisoned seaweed" on Khantaak Island, I believe that there may have been another victim of this arsenic poisoning, one who died at sealing camp and whose fate was therefore not known to Schwatka's party. There was a suspicion 194 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 of witchcraft in this man's death. This might explain the behavior of those associated with "Bear Hunter" and his wife. Descriptions of the shamanistic seances written by Seton-Karr and Professor Libbey will be found on pages 720-722. Even after these tragic deaths there seem to have been no threats or accusations leveled at Schwatka's party, not even a demand for indemnity, which the relatives of the deceased might have been expected to make. We gather that the Sitka man and the two children survived. It was on August 14, only a week after the poisoning, that Schwatka, Wood, and Kersunk went with an Indian, "Yeet-shwoo-doo-kook," also known as "Gums" M from his grin, on a five day canoe trip through the Ankau lagoon system to Lost River, and perhaps beyond. There was apparently no hint of unpleasantness from the two parties of Tlingit encountered in the Ankau lagoon (Schwatka, Oct. 26, 1886). Although fear of reprisal from the Pinta, which was due to return early in September, might have prevented any actual attack on the Whites, it would certainly not have suppressed bitter accusations, threats, or sullen behavior. There is no mention of this, although the Whites were evidently worried when the poisoning was first discovered, for the two Swedish traders hastened in their dory to stand by Schwatka and his men as soon as they heard the news (Seton-Karr, 1887, p. 131). Perhaps the shaman convinced the village that no ordinary human hand was to blame. Topham (1888) In July 1888, a new expedition came to attack Mount Saint Elias, but again without reaching the summit. This was led by Harold W. Topham and his brother, both British Alpinists, who were accompanied by George Broke, and by William Williams, an American; four Sitka Indians and two miners, Harry Lyons and Shorty MacConahy, served as porters. The party came up to Yakutat from Sitka on a rather unsea-worthy fishing schooner, the Alpha, chartered for that purpose. If in what Topham writes about Yakutat and its inhabitants we detect the condescending tones of the Victorian English gentleman, secure in his established position and conscious of his ablutionary superiority 88 Identified a,3 Jimmy Jackson (1861-1948), a Kwackqwan man knownas"Kook-sook-eish," i.e., KusAx"kw-'ic or QusAt!kw-'ic (Frank Johnson, letter of January 1, 1965). over the heathen, we must remember that he is addressing the Royal Geographical Society and the readers of the London Alpine Journal, not anthropologists. Williams, writing for Scribners, displays more sympathetic interest in the natives. Together, their stories amplify our picture of Yakutat in the late 1880's. Thus according to Topham: "Yakutat is an Indian village consisting of five houses, which afford shelter to 250 natives. That the place is extremely offensive to a white man's nose need not be stated. Provided that a government gunboat has been along the coast shortly before your visit the people will be friendly; if it has not, you had better keep away" (1889 b, p. 347). When the schooner came into Port Mulgrave, "the chief had raised his flag, and all the inhabitants were congregated around the village . . ." (ibid.). Of this chief, presumably the same as "Yen-at-set'l" and "Noearpoo," Williams (1889, p. 389) observes: "The chief, Billy, is quite friendly, and will allow one, if without shelter, to spend several days in his house. If he expects anything in return, he will say so beforehand." Nothing is said about the Swedish traders, so presumably they had left Yakutat; rather: "At Yakutat we found a Mr. de Groff, who was trading with the inhabitants, and acted as our interpreter for us in our negotiations with them" (Topham, 1889 b, p. 347). Edward de Groff was a leading merchant of Sitka. He was known at Yakutat as KBnisnu-'ic, 'Killisnoo's Father,' because he was in charge of the Northwestern Trading Company that had an establishment at Killisnoo near Angoon (de Laguna, 1960, p. 162). Later he also became President of the Chichagofi Gold Mining Company, and in 1900 U.S. Commissioner at Sitka. Minnie Johnson remembered him as the skipper for the Northwestern Trading Company who used to visit Khantaak Island when the village was there. Her father, who died in 1888, bought a big doll for her and an accordion for her older brother from de Groff. He is said to have photographed "Bear Bit Billy" (1862-1902), a K>ackqwan man of Fort House, while the latter was lying wounded after his encounter by the bear, although the picture is ascribed to Taber of San Francisco (pi. 81). Since Topham wished to hire some local Indians, in addition to the four whom he had brought from Sitka, and to secure a canoe, the explorers and de Groff paid "a state visit to the chief, who had donned his best clothes for the occasion. He had on an evening dress waistcoat and trousers, and a naval cap; and he stood, surrounded by his dirty family, at the foot of some feather mattresses, on which he requested us to be seated. He was much more interested in our clothes than in answering our questions about IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 195 canoes and men; but he made great promises of assistance, more in fact, than he had the power to keep, and he made us promise, on our part, to give him, upon our return, so many of our clothes that we should have been reduced to a state of nature if we afterwards adhered to our word." [Topham, 1889 b, p. 347.] Topham is apparently not bothered by his own insincerity because he feels that the chief was also promising what he knew he could not perform (Topham 1889 a, p. 426), yet it is possible that the amiable chief was not so much trying to deceive his White visitors as to please them by saying what was agreeable. Topham hired "Gums" who had been with Schwatka in 1886, but then encountered difficulties and delays. As he observed: "An Indian will notbehurried" (1889 b, p. 347). And further: "Before deciding upon a thing Indians have to do a lot of talking. They talk the matter over with their families, and with the medicine man. Of these last there had been two in the settlement, but one of them, luckily for us, disappeared in a rather curious way. He went out in his canoe halibut fishing, and a very large halibut took his bait—and it took the doctor too. Neither fish nor doctor were ever seen again." [Topham, 1889 a, p. 426.] One reason for the reluctance of the Yakutat natives to settle quickly on Topham's terms was that the latter, while in Sitka, had hired and subsequently discharged a native from Juneau nicknamed "Dick the Dude."67 He was a "mission Indian," who built what has been described as "almost the best house in Sitka," at the northern end of the Indian settlement, giving for it a house-building potlatch in 1892 which cost about $500 (Stevenson, 1893, p. 82). This man had sent advanced word to Yakutat, via some Indians who came in a canoe to visit friends, that some wealthy "King George Men" were on their way, who were very anxious to hire packers and would pay good wages. Topham believed that it was partly in anticipation of his arrival that the Yakutat natives had delayed starting their annual sea otter hunt (it was then early in July). Although Williams (1889, p. 389) reports that: "The inhabitants evinced a sort of stupid interest at our coming . . ." yet they "stood out for three dollars a day for some time," which was the wage for White men, not for Indians. Because his four Sitkans and his two white porters made him relatively independent of local labor, as the Yakutat realized, Topham finally got the latter to come to terms, but not before he had threatened to go away if they did not supply men and 67 Is this George Dick, "Don-Nah-icth," or DAna-'ic, 'Dollar Father,' who was a song leader at the Sitka potlatch of December 9, 1904? (Cf. pi. 210d and pi. 211Z). canoes at once. Thus, he was able to rent two large Haida canoes, bought a small forked-prow canoe "of the Yakutat pattern" (Topham, 1889 b, p. 348), hired four natives for two dollars a day, and two more White men for three dollars a day. This difference in rate prevailed despite the accepted dictum that Indians "are generally capable of carrying heavier loads than white men . . ." (Williams, 1889, p. 387), for they could not yet be trusted as equally reliable. Now the party was ready to start for "Icy Bay," but the Indians reported the weather unfavorable. Although admitting that he had to rely on their judgment in such matters, Topham ordered them to go. ". . . the village has turned out en masse to see us depart, and the chief, in his robes of state with his infant son in his arms, is standing at the edge of the water, so that he may be included in the photograph which de Groff is to take" (Topham, 1889 b, p. 348). The scene illustrated in Williams (1889, p. 391) is based on this photograph (pi. 70). Around the point, the Indians again prophesied what Topham understood was a storm, and demanded to return, just so they could be present at a feast in the village that night, Topham thought. Williams, while describing their conduct as "aggravating," explains that they were waiting for a favorable breeze because they (understandably) preferred sailing to paddling 55 miles, although the Whites were more concerned to land while the surf was low than when whipped up by a southeast wind. Nevertheless, they did turn back, and the Whites spent a miserable time ashore, "surrounded by dirt and dogs. These dogs are everywhere; they are innumerable. They steal everything they can get at and are very clever in their methods of searching after food," even digging under the walls of the tent if they could not force the door (Topham, 1889 b, p. 348). Next morning, the expedition started in earnest. Although the Indians could not understand the White man's hurry: "We finally succeeded in making them do as we pleased by threatening to proceed in the Alpha" (Williams, 1889, p. 390). A favorable breeze gave the party the delightful experience of sailing, and of seeing the skill with which the Indians landed the canoes in spite of the surf (see Williams' description on page 343). Landing was made at the delta of the Yahtse (Yase') River, whence one canoe and its crew were to return to Yakutat. The Indians wanted to stay to fish, and, moreover, Topham had promised that they would be paid so much a day until they reached home. Finally a compromise was achieved, whereby the Indians were to be paid for three more days; they could leave when they liked, but were not to depend on the expedition for food. Now the party began to ascend the course of the Yahtse River, "Gums" leading the way by virtue of his prior experience with Schwatka. Topham complained 196 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 that at first the Indians laid down their packs every few hundred yards. He ordered them not to stop until he himself did so. This seemed to work well until they came to an irresistable strawberry patch, where the natives (and I imagine the Whites, too) gorged for 20 minutes. That the Indians may have been glad of a rest is understandable, since Williams reports: "Our native packers carried from seventy to ninety pounds, our white men from sixty to eighty" (1889, pp. 390-392). The party also had to cross glacial streams. "Curiously enough the Indians seemed to prefer wading to walking over dry ground. The first day out, they took us through deep water no less than ten times in the course of half an hour, much of which could have been avoided, as we subsequently found, by making a short detour through the woods." (Ibid., p. 401.) The jovial "Gums," in fact, apparently found it amusing to trick the Whites in this way, especially since he told the miner, Shorty, who used to wade barefoot, that they had passed the last stream, and as soon as the latter had resumed his boots, led him across three more! It is evident that the hardy conditioning which the native men had undergone since childhood enabled them to stand much more cold than the Whites could tolerate. " 'Gums' was in his element. He thoroughly enjoyed the water, and sometimes he would stand half-way across a stream with the water up to his chest, with his arms folded, and with a grin of delight upon his huge gums, waiting calmly whilst the rest of us shivered across" (Topham, 1889 b, p. 352). On the return journey, when the river was very high and wading was so difficult that the shortest Indian had to be relieved of his load, lest he be swept off his feet, "Gums" crossed the stream, dropped his pack on the bank, "and returned to the deepest part where he literally took a bath with all his clothes on and seemed to rejoice in our unsuccessful efforts at finding a shallow place for crossing. The water coming directly from the glacier was so cold that we white men were only too glad to get out of it, but its temperature seemed to have no disagreeable effect on the Indians" (Williams, 1889, p. 401). The Indians also proved themselves capable of negotiating the ice, for they helped to carry supplies up the Agassiz Glacier (a branch of the Malaspina) to a campsite at the base of the Chaix Hills. "Most of our Indians had never been on ice before, yet they carried their loads of eighty or ninety pounds over rough and slippery places with comparative ease; more than once we took great pains to cut steps across an ice-slope to prevent anyone from slipping; but they generally disdained using them, crossing either just above or just below where we had prepared the way. They refused to wear the shoes with nails he had provided for them, preferring their moccasins; several reached camp one night with bleeding feet, but they nevertheless persisted in using their own footgear. We subsequently discovered that one of their objects in so doing was to avoid wearing out good shoes in our service." [Williams, 1889, p. 393.] Their concern to acquire or preserve White man's footgear reminds us of Schwatka's experience. Yet we must also recognize that stiff-soled leather boots would have been intolerable to feet that had never worn anything heavier than soft moccasins. Nevertheless, the Indians did not like the glacier. Two were left at the upper camp with George Broke, who had suffered an accident, while the remaining Whites made their unsuccessful attempt to scale Mount Saint Elias. The two Sitkans were not happy that they had been chosen to remain because they were the most reliable, and envied those who had been sent back to the shore. "They expressed a decided desire to go no farther; they said they were afraid, and spent the greater part of the time during our absence in chanting mournfully. When asked why they chanted, they answered, 'Indians have sick tumtum, and want go home.' The word tumtum means a variety of things, from a bootjack up to the soul. This time it meant 'mind, spirit,' and implied weariness." [Topham, 1889 a, p. 429.] There seems to have been no difficulty at launching the two canoes at "Icy Bay." The large one carried 12 men, all the baggage, and the remaining food; the smaller Yakutat canoe held only 4 men. They reached Yakutat on the morning of August 8, after sailing and paddling about 14 hours. The Indians were glad to return, but we do not know if they were satisfied with their wages, or if the chief was satisfied with what Topham may have left him in fulfillment of the original bargain. We should note that Topham's manner, which seems to have been rather autocratic and peremptory, may have prevented him from receiving information of value. Thus, after his return to Port Mulgrave, having failed to reach the summit from the south side: "I was told subsequently by George, the second chief at Yakutat, that he had once made a journey after goats towards the north of the peak, and that the northern sides were much less steep than the southern, and were covered with snow. He landed further west than we did, near a river similar to the Yahtse'-tah [Duktoth River?], and made three days' journey inland over ice. It is characteristic of the Indian character that he never said a word of this IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 197 till our return to Yakatat. Until the Indians are sure of your good intentions, they will give you no help." [Topham, 1889 a, p. 432.] Of course, it is possible that Topham neglected to ask George for bis advice. However, the latter did tell Topham about the ancient village which was overwhelmed by the glacier in Icy Bay (see p. 286). Williams sums up the character of the Yakutat as follows: "The average Indian is a competent being, though it takes some time to discover his good points. He is quick at grasping ideas, and is especially good at imitating what others have done. But it requires great patience in dealing with him, the more so since he deals with the white man at arm's length. He is exceedingly distrustful, nor does he cease to be so until he has become thoroughly convinced of the honest intentions of the stranger." [1889, p. 393.] Skill at imitation is probably a result of the native methods of education, that stress watching and doing on the part of the child, rather than following purely verbal instructions. Quiet listening is also better than asking questions (see pp. 508-514). Since the Alpha, which was supposed to pick them up, was delayed, the expedition split up for the return to Sitka. Williams took advantage of the unexpected chance to go back on the Active, "a small schooner which was already crowded with miners" (Williams, 1889, pp. 401-402). A week later another member went in a native canoe, the voyage taking 7 days. At Sitka, the Leo, a schooner with auxiliary engine, was chartered to fetch the remainder of the party. This vessel sprang a leak in a gale and had to return to Yakutat for repairs, so did not reach Sitka until September 17. Miners, Missionaries, and the U.S.S. Rush (1888-90) Although members of Topham's expedition were in and out of Yakutat over a period of 2 months during what is reported to have been the height of the gold excitement, we hear little about it from them, other than that two miners were extracting $20 a day in gold from the black sands of Khantaak Island (Topham, 1889 a, p. 426). In reviewing the events of the preceding decade, the Census of 1890 (Porter, 1893, p. 230) reports that these gold-bearing sands had been discovered in 1887 and that the next spring some 40 to 50 prospectors went to Yakutat. They staked out many claims that summer and the next, then all but abandoned the ground. This was because a storm piled the beach with dead dogfish, the oil from which saturated the sand and prevented the use of mercury to extract the gold, and soon after another storm washed away most of the beach. Still, in July 1891, three miners were working the sands, and sluiced out about $3,000, getting as much as $90 in 10 hours' work. There is also a report of gold-bearing sands found earlier, resulting in a flurry of excitement in 1886-87. This may have been at Logan Beach above Knight Island, or at Black Sand Island off the mouth of the Situk (Porter, 1893, p. 53; Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 165). Seton-Karr had visited the black sands on Khantaak Island in 1886, and reports that the prospectors who had previously come up on a naval vessel became discouraged when some of their party accidentally drowned shortly after their arrival, so that the rest simply returned to Sitka (1887, p. 55). If sluicing gold during the summer of 1888 had seemed very profitable it is unlikely that Topham could have hired four miners as porters. We should note that already by August 15, the schooner that took Williams back to Sitka was filled with miners leaving the area. The boom was evidently over. John Dalton who had served as camp hand for Schwatka had either remained in Yakutat or had returned, for Topham mentions (1889 a, p. 425) his discovery of coal fields up Yakutat Bay in 1887. These were above Esker Creek near Bancas Point, where Dalton and his partner or partners sank several shallow shafts to reach the veins of lignite, before abandoning the project. Russell in 1891 was to seak shelter in the cabin which these miners had built and abandoned (Russell, 1893, p. 67). Prospectors were evidently moving freely about the country, for Topham (1889 a, p. 425) met a miner who had traveled alone from Dry Bay to Yakutat. Dalton and a companion, while prospecting for gold, had gone above Haenke Island to the head of Disenchantment Bay, and apparently into Russell Fiord, the first White men to do so (Russell, 1893, p. 84). The miners at Yakutat certainly produced effects on the native population at Yakutat, even though we cannot specify these exactly. One of the prospectors, Steve Gee, stayed to marry a Kwacli:qwan girl, Annie (1877-1915), and this same man, in 1917 or 1918, is said to have built the first jail at Yakutat for the Reverend Axelson, who was also U.S. Commissioner. Other miners doubtless established relations with native girls; in fact, it was not long before White men came to have the reputation of falsely promising marriage, or a permanent alliance, only to abandon their child and the mother, even though there were men with more sense of responsibility. Some of the native women on Khantaak Island apparently earned 198 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 something by washing the prospector's clothes. Not all intercourse between the Indians and the miners was on an amicable basis, even though Topham and Williams give no information about this. However, Mrs. Shepard, visiting Yakutat in the fall of 1889 on board her husband's ship, the U.S. revenue cutter Rush, reports that two White men had been murdered in 1887, if indeed, she is correct about the date and is not confusing this incident with the murders of 1880. "Two years ago [1887] there were two white men wantonly murdered a few miles from Yakutat. They, with two Indians, had gone out on a hunting expedition. Their wood gave out and the two white men went a short distance from their camp, together in a boat, to procure some, leaving their guns behind them. On returning they were met by the two Indians, who fired upon them with then- own guns, killing one of them instantly, the other, still partially alive, was finished with the stab of a knife. One of the Indians was caught, taken to Portland, tried and hanged; but the principal one, it is rumored, is still at large. The second chief of the Yakutat tribe (I did not learn his name), of the smiling countenance, went to Portland and testified against the murderer who was hanged. It was an event which forever afterward raised him to pre-eminence in the eyes of the rest of the tribe." [Shepard, 1889, p. 232.] The Reverend Albin Johnson, missionary at Yakutat from 1889 to 1905, tells almost the same story but without giving any date (Johnson, 1924, pp. 115-116). The murdered White men had been prospecting for gold when they were killed, and when the two natives were seized by the U.S. warship they confessed their crime. The chief who went to Portland, Oregon, to see them hanged was George "Naa-kaa-nee," i.e., nakani, 'sib brother-in-law.' This is not a proper name, but denotes a chief's relative who, by virtue of his marriage to a woman of importance in another sib, is chosen to act as go-between, peace-maker, ambassador, or chief of protocol, in some ceremony involving his own sib and that of his wife (see pp. 494-495). My informants identified him as the Kwackqwan chief, known as Yakutat Chief George Yaxodaqet (pi. 64), who became the most important man in Yakutat after the death of the Teqwedi chief Yanatcho, or Minaman (see p. 201). Yakutat Chief George Yaxodaqet is evidently "George, the second chief," of other writers, although the natives gave the name "George Second Chief" to his younger brother, Qa'A, who is said to have died "crazy from too much religion." His older brother died about 1903. Reverend Johnson reports that Chief George was noted as a friend of the Whites and especially of the missionaries, a brave and skillful hunter. It is surprising that no mention is made by Topham and Williams of the beginnings of the Mission at Yakutat. According to the Reverend Hamilton, whom I knew at Yakutat in 1949 and 1954, the Covenant Mission was started by one of two men from Sweden who had originally wished to go to Siberia as missionaries. Unable to enter Siberia from Sweden, they came to Alaska, but also failed here to get the necessary permission to go to Siberia. One, the Reverend Axel Karson, went to Unalaklik, an Eskimo village on Norton Sound, while the other, Reverend Adolf Lydell, came to Yakutat. This was in the spring of 1887. The sect which they represented had been founded in 1878 in Sweden by a number of congregations in revolt against the State Lutheran Church; it spread to the Swedish colonists in America, and became established with headquarters in Chicago in 1884-85, as the Evangelical Mission Covenant Church of America. It emphasizes individual religious experience leading to salvation, the supreme authority of the Bible, and the relative independence of each congregation. Services are characterized by individual testmonials and public confessions volunteered by members of the congregation. Lydell remained at Yakutat through the summer of 1887 and went outside in the fall, returning the following summer. He had to leave again for reasons of health. Apparently the Reverend K. J. Hendrickson had come with him, but remained behind. Minnie Johnson reported that Mr. Lydell purchased the log trading post from "Doc" (i.e., Doctor Ballou, the trader). There is further evidence that this trader was in Yakutat during the summer of 1888, for her father, who died of tuberculosis that year, sold his sea otter bow and arrows to "Doc" in exchange for a pair of copper-toed shoes for his little daughter. On May 11, 1889, the Reverend Albin Johnson arrived in Yakutat to take the place of the ailing Lydell whom he had met in Portland on his way north. Johnson was to stay in Yakutat for 17 years, the longest period of service for any preacher attached to the Mission, yet I judge that Hendrickson, because of his skills as carpenter and his energy, made more impression on the natives. Others attached later to the Mission and remembered by our informants were Gustavensen who helped Hendrickson build the church, Miss Selma Peterson who came as cook and teacher, Mrs. Albin Johnson (Agnes Wallin), who came all the way from Jankaping, Sweden, in May, 1891, and who "couldn't speak a word of English." Miss Carlsen is also mentioned as a teacher, and Paul Page, a native trained at the Sheldon Jackson school at Sitka, for a time acted as interpreter (Jackson, 1894, pp. 15-16; 1903, p. 47). Johnson's first impressions of Yakutat were not favorable, for, as soon as the little schooner arrived that had brought him from Juneau, "the savages— copper-colored, dirty, and badly clad—climbed aboard IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 199 in swarms, begging "Thlinket, Haete, Nowu, Haete, Nowu; Haete Kunse, Haete Kunse—Give us liquor [ha 'At nauwu], Give us tobacco [ha 'At gantci]" (Johnson, 1924, p. 21). The missionaries began at once to improve their quarters, and when Mrs. Shepard visited Yakutat the following year she found a small garden in which beets, turnips, potatoes and carrots were thriving (Shepard, 1889, p. 230). Later, quite a few of the converts, according to my informants, had similar garden plots, although Johnson complained (1924, p. 51) that they did not really take to agriculture. The two "kindly looking, noble men," Johnson and Hendrickson, had had, according to Mrs. Shepard, "much trouble in establishing their mission; there was a scarcity of lumber and their house was too small. At the time I was there they were able to accomodate only five Indian boys. The only way to do the Indians any good was, as has been proved, to keep them entirely under their supervision. ... I could not but admire those humble good men, so far from their native land, staking their very lives for the salvation of these poor degraded beings. I asked one of them, 'Mr. H—, do you feel safe among these Indians?' 'Hardly safe,' he replied, 'though I do not fear them. One day not long ago,' he continued, 'one of them came to me and wanted to use my grindstone; it was Sunday, so I refused him, whereupon he said he would kill me. He had an axe in one hand and a knife in the other. I told him he could kill me, I was helpless; and he walked away. They are like dogs; had I shown fear he would have killed me.' " [Mrs. Shepard recalls that Dr. Duncan of Metlakatla had told of a similar experience.] "These Indians admire courage and will seldom kill but the craven or coward, right out in the broad light of day. Their usual method is to steal upon the victim unawares and shoot from behind and ambush." [Shepard, 1889, pp. 231-232.j Before the church and mission buildings were finished, meetings were held in the big native houses on Khantaak Island, using each in turn, and an effort was made to train children who could serve as interpreters. According to the Census of 1890, the Swedish Free Missionary Society had at Yakutat a church worth $1,200, with 17 native and 3 White communicants (Porter, 1893, p. 183). "In 1890 this institution reported 2 male teachers and 28 pupils, 17 boys and 11 girls, with an average daily attendance of 20 for 312 days of tuition. The new mission and school building built in 1891 is 45 by 35 feet and 2 stories high [housing the church, dining room and kitchen on the ground floor, with the boys' dormitory and teachers' room above]. The chief obstacle which confronts the teacher of native children is the indifference of the natives and the very irregular attendance of the pupils, and these difficulties are very hard to overcome in the Yakutat school." [Ibid., p. 189.] Albin Johnson describes a number of events, such as the first conversion, that of a cripple named Satshrook, who was baptized Ned Swanson; the first Christmas at the mission; a potlatch on Eliantaak Island in 1890 (?, see p. 650) given by the chief "Jana-Shoo" (see "Yanatcho" of Mrs. Shepard, below); adoption of a 6-year old orphan girl, Datt-sherke, baptized Esther; an outbreak of religious hysteria or "shouting" in the winter of 1890 (see pp. 724-725); the establishment of the sawmill and the native reaction to this. However, because these and other incidents occurred during the last decade of the 19th century, they are remembered by some of my informants, and it seems more appropriate to combine Johnson's accounts and descriptions with those of the natives. I have already had occasion to quote from Mrs. Shepard who visited Yakutat in 1889. In September of that year, her husband's ship, the U.S. revenue steamer Rush, on which she had just made a trip to the Aleutian Islands, was ordered to Yakutat. This was because the schooner, Alpha, was overdue at Sitka and was feared wrecked. This was the same schooner that had failed to pick up Topham's party the previous summer. The delay in 1889 had been caused by a shortage of provisions, and by disputes between the captain, the trader on board, and Mr. H., a photographer from Taber's in San Francisco. Since Captain Shepard found the schooner to be also unseaworthy, she was left behind at Yakutat, and the Rush took all on board back to Sitka. Mrs. Shepard has given some spirited descriptions of Yakutat, although probably not all her information is accurate. She was the first White woman to come to this area, unless we except the mysterious woman that native tradition reports as the sole survivor of a wreck west of Icy Bay (see pp. 233, 256). It is clear that the visit of a Government vessel was still not an event to be welcomed without reservation by all of the natives. "We were told by a person who understood Thlinket, that when the Rush first appeared at Yakutat there was great alarm among the Indians for fear of punishment, the making of liquor being prohibited. Their consciences troubled them. Some little time before a party of Copper River Indians had come on a visit: they had made a great deal of 'hoochinoo' (the native liquor) and had had a grand time. Each chief was anxious to lay the blame on the other." [Shepard, 1889, p. 228.] [The natives soon overcame their timidity, however, and hardly gave the people on board the 200 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 steamer any privacy, behavior which naturally Mrs. Shepard found very trying.] "I will mention here that the Indians in the village spent all of the time we stayed in the harbor aboard the Bush. On more intimate acquaintance they grew bolder and would follow us into our private apartments in a most provoking manner." [Ibid., p. 224.] [The personnel on the Rush were eager to purchase Yakutat baskets, since these were considered to be the finest made by the Tlingit, and Yakutat was also known as a source of mountain goat and bear skins.] "We found some good basket-work, but at high prices. These Indians seemed as shrewd as those at Sitka at bargaining. Several of the lieutenants [from the Rush] found some pretty baskets at the small store just opened, three mountain-goat skins, and one of them a blanket of eagle's breast-feathers, which made the rest of us green with envy." [[bid., pp. 220-221.] [Although there was no regular service between Yakutat and Sitka,] "trading schooners [come] up once in a while. The Pinta, the naval vessel stationed at Sitka, runs up occasionally, that is all." [Ibid, p. 231.] [However,] "A branch store from Sitka had been opened recently at Yakutat and was doing well. . . . We inquired of the storekeeper if he could trust the Indians? he said 'Yes.' and added, 'in almost every case where he had allowed them to have clothing with an agreement to pay when they had money they had faithfully fulfilled their promise." [Ibid., p. 230.] "The Yakutat Indians, like those at Sitka, all understand what 'How much?' means, and never by any chance make a mistake and confuse two and three dollars. They dislike to change money, the greater the number of small pieces the more they imagine they have." [Ibid., p. 227.] Trade was certainly brisk, and the natives came continually to the ship. "We were surrounded by a whole fleet of canoes, going and coming all day, after our first raid on the village, in search of baskets." Among the curios they brought to sell "the most unexpected and amusing of all were half a dozen hair switches" (ibid., p. 224). Although Mrs. Shepard assumed that these were for use as false hair, it is far more probable that they were intended for decorating regalia, ceremonial costumes, and totemic carvings, and they may very well have been made from slaves' hair (Keithahn, 1954). Mrs. Shepard was also concerned to see children, mostly boys, running around in the cold, wet September weather, dressed in nothing but a cotton shirt. She was told that for "recreation" they plunged into the breakers in winter or slid barefoot on the snow, not realizing that this was part of the severe hardening training for children. (This was a practice which universally horrified the Whites; in some communities it was forbidden by ordinances.) Mrs. Shepard noted that, despite this "terrible exposure," some Yakutat natives live to old age, and reports that the missionary said that two Indians, both over eighty, could remember when the Russians were massacred (Shepard, 1889, p. 225). In addition to the men from the derelict Alpha, the Rush was to take back to Sitka "a distinguished couple and their family . . . Yana-tcho, chief of the Yakutat clan and his wife. His 'Boston' name . . . being 'Billy Merryman,' named after a captain in the navy who had once been here. [Commander E. C. Merriman, captain of the U.S.S. Adams, in 1882.] Yanatcho was a haughty looking man, who spoke as one having authority. He begged, or rather expressed, his desire to go to Sitka in a somewhat peremptory manner. He first asked my husband to take him down to Sitka. Captain S— said, 'All right.' Next he asked him if he could take his wife." [And then in turn, separately asked for permission to take his son, a box of seal oil, and finally three children, at which the captain exclaimed] " 'No more!' However, at the time appointed for their embarkation, just before our departure, three canoes, full of men, women and children, with all their goods and chattels, a most incongruous mixture, appeared. It was too late to single them out. Two canoes full were bundled aboard and off we started. [One wonders whether hardships resulted from separation of families.] "The next two or three days must have been trying even to them[!], for the poor creatures had no shelter but such as they could get under the 'fo'-castle,' and an awning put up to keep the rain off. For, besides the rain, we had a heavy gale on our way back to Sitka. The ship thrashed about most unmercifully. Mr. D— played the good Samaritan and took the chief, with his wife, and children, under his protection in the engine-room, where they were at least warm. Yanatcho made his tribe believe the 'gunboat' had come after him especially, so we learned from those that understood the Thlinket aboard the schooner." [Ibid., pp. 221-223.] "Yanatcho" is evidently the Teqwedi name, YanAct'ukw, 'Firing a Gun' (perhaps yJL-nA-ci-t'trkw). This name was later borne by B. B. Williams, son of the Kwackqwan house chief, Bear Bit Billy. "Yanatcho," "Jana-Shoo," is, I believe, the same man as Williams' "Billy," Schwatka's "Yen-at-set'l" and Seton-Karr's "Noearpoo." The various Tlingit names which he bears would appear to be honorable titles, assumed in succession as he gave new potlatches; the last which he gave was apparently that witnessed by Reverend IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 201 Johnson in 1890. He was evidently the ranking chief of the Bear House-Shark House lineage of the Teqwedi, and the same man that my informants remembered as "Chief Nelemen," or "Chief Minaman," evidently mispronunciations of "Merriman." In the old graveyard on the hill above the mission, where perhaps the Russian blockhouse once stood, are the collapsed remains of what was once a large wooden gravehouse, in the midst of which is a stone shaft with the names: "JACK SHA-KOO-KAWN, 1831-1899," and "CHIEF MINAMAN, KAWH-DA-WHEALH, 1810-1980." The latter was identified as Kaxaxel, chief of Shark House, and is evidently the last title assumed by this chief. He is said to have been originally chief of Shark House at Diyaguna 'Et at Lost River, from which he brought the carved house posts to his new residence on Khantaak Island. His last title was later assumed by his nephew, Sitka Ned, drowned 1926, who collaborated with Jim Kardeetoo (1862-1937) in building Shark House in the "Old Village." Sitka Ned married the daughter of Jack Sha-koo-kawn. "Sha-koo-kawn" is properly Ca-kuwakan, 'Mountain Deer,' referring to his title as 'deer' or peace-hostage. All of these men were Teqwedi of the Shark House-Bear House line, the last chief being Jim Kardeetoo. Chief Minaman of Shark House was usually called Daqusetc by my informant (MJ), who identified him in the picture of Chief Yen-at-set'l taken by Professor Libbey (pi. 62). Daqusetc and his daughter died of bad whiskey in Sitka, and it is interesting to speculate that it may have been on the trip to Sitka, described by Mrs. Shepard, that he met his death. A potlatch was given for him in Sitka "about 1900 or 1901," but my informant was poor at remembering dates. The photographs taken by Chase and Draper in Sitka, December 9, 1904, (pis. 210-211), were identified as showing part of the "seven tribes" who were entertained at the potlatch given when a tombstone was put on the grave of "Wan-a-chook," i.e., "Yanatcho." The chief and his daughter were buried at Sitka (p. 536); the shaft at Yakutat was simply a memorial to him. The so-called "second chief" at Yakutat in 1889, whom we have already identified as Yakutat Chief George Yaxodaqet, ranking chief of the KwacKqwan, Mrs. Shephard found to be "as amiable a looking person as one could wish to see," with a round, moon-like countenace, and a huge smile from ear to ear that exhibited his strong white teeth, and which he perpetually maintained except when yawning (Shepard, 1889, p. 223). The Yakutat Indians had certainly learned the value of writing, if not from the Americans, then long ago from the Russians who used to pass out receipts for tribute collected or other documents intended both to impress the natives and to serve as warnings to any foreigners that might read them that the holders were 365-517—72—TOL VII, pt 1 15 subject to the Tsar and the Russian American Company with whom trade was forbidden. As in the case of the inscription on the portrait given to Yelxak by Ismailov and Bocharov in 1788 (see p. 135), these documents also indicated something of the experience of the writer with the native recipient, and thus served as a testimonial or warning. "Both Yanatcho and the second chief had letters of recommendation from one gentleman and another who had strayed to that far northern port on business, or for pleasure, which they presented to my husband. It was customary among the Indians to ask for these. Unable to read, but confident of their flattering contents, they presented them with a great deal of pride to the person whose favor they wished to secure." [Shepard, 1889, pp. 223-224.] It was all too common for wags or disgruntled Whites to write derogatory bits of doggerel, jokes, or condemnations, instead of the expected testimonial. Similar examples of frontier humor were exhibited in the signs painted for Tlingit chiefs to hang above their house doors. We sense that the Yakutat natives are no longer savage antagonists to be feared or hated, shrewd and powerful controllers of the territory and its resources whose monopolistic business acumen commanded respect, but were becoming second-class citizens in their own homeland. Of particular interest in tracing the history of Yakutat, is the statement by Mrs. Shepard that indicates that the presence of the store and the mission on the mainland had already attracted native settlement to the site now called the Old Village. "Yakutat consists of an Oakland and a San Francisco. On one side of the bay lives one chief and part of the clan, and on the other side the other; communication is entirely by water." [Shepard, 1889, p. 228]. The Teqwedi chief Daqusetc or "Yanatcho" was probably still living in Shark House on Khantaak Island (pi. 71); perhaps it was Chief George who had already established the Kwackqwan Raven's Bones House on the mainland. The Conquest of Mount Saint Elias and the End of an Era (1890-1900) On June 25, 1890, the U.S.S. Pinta returned again to Yakutat, commanded by Lt. Comdr. O. F. Farenholt, bringing Mr. Henry Boursin, census enumerator, the Honorable Lyman E. Knapp, Governor of Alaska who was simply along for the ride, and a third expedition to climb Mount Saint Elias. This was led by Israel Cook Russell, and was sponsored by the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Geographic Society. 202 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 Russell describes the two settlements at Yakutat as follows: "At Port Mulgrave there are two small Indian villages, one on the southeastern end of Khantaak Island, the other on a point of the mainland a mile and a half east" [1891 a, p. 872]. "The village on Khantaak island is the older of the two, and consists of six houses built along the water's edge. The houses are made of planks, each hewn from a single log, after the manner of the Thlinkets generally. . . "The village on the mainland is less picturesque, if such a term may be allowed, than the group of houses already described, but it is of the same type. Near at hand, along the shore to the southward, there are two log houses, one of which is used at present as a mission by the Reverend Carl J. Hendricksen and his assistant, the other being occupied as a trading post by Sitka merchants." [Russell, 1891 b, pp. 79-80.] "The native inhabitants of these villages number about fifty and call themselves Yakutats." [Russell, 1891 a, p. 872.] "The Yakutat Indians are the most westerly branch of the great Thlinket family which inhabits all of southeastern Alaska and a portion of British Columbia. In intelligence they are above the average of Indians generally, and are of a higher type than the native inhabitants of the older portion of the United States. They are quick to learn the ways of the white man, and are especially shrewd in bargaining." [Russell, 1891, b, p. 80.] [They are] "of fine physique, have well-built houses of their own design and workmanship, and live by hunting and fishing." [Russell, 1891 a, p. 872.] "They are canoe Indians par excellence, and pass a large part of their lives on the water in quest of salmon, seals, and sea-otter." [Russell, 1891 b, p. 80.] "The catch of sea otters, whose furs are the most valuable of all, during the summer of our visit numbered thirty, and they were sold at from seventy-five to one hundred dollars each. The money derived from this source, and from the sale of bear, goat, and hair seal skins, and from baskets woven in large numbers by the women for the tourist trade in Sitka, brings a comparatively large revenue to the village and enables the natives to live in comfort." [Russell, 1891 a, pp. 872-873.] [He also indicated, however, that the Indians do not use this cash income wisely.] "Improvident, like nearly all Indians, the Yakutat villagers soon spend at the trading post the money earned in this way." [Russell, 1891 b, p. 81.] The Census of 1890 gives a count of 7 male Whites at Yakutat, one female halfbreed, and 300 natives (146 male and 156 female). However, these data include also the native villages at Dry Bay and Lituya Bay, with a total of 20 houses counted, sheltering 75 families (Porter, 1893, pp. 3, 161, 163). "The Yakutats are the darkest colored and most primitive," and have "been little visited hitherto by whites, but the establishment of a mail route from Sitka to Unalaska gives Yakutat regular communication with the outside world for 7 months of the year" (ibid., pp. 54, 53). Not only are they linked to Sitka by a "considerable trade" in furs and curios, and especially in baskets, "at making which they are more expert than the women of any other tribe," but it was also predicted that "the extension of tourist travel to the foot of Mount St. Elias is one of the certainties of the future that will greatly improve the fortunes of the place" (ibid., pp. 230, 53). The spectacularly beautiful glaciers of Disenchantment Bay first became known in 1890, when Capt. C. L. Hooper of the U.S.S. Corwin, who had come to Yakutat to bring Russell's party back to Sitka, took them into Disenchantment Bay, to the very face of the ice, and "So far as is known, the Corwin was the first vessel to navigate those waters" (Russell, 1891 b, p. 100). As might have been anticipated from the tone of these passages, Russell's relations with the Indians were friendly. Mr. Hendrickson acted as interpreter for him in hiring some natives and their canoes; another canoe was purchased from the trader. Russell did not attempt to reach Mount Saint Elias from "Icy Bay," but because his mission was also geological, he went up Yakutat Bay to approach the mountain from the east, via Esker Creek, Blossom Island, Pinnacle Pass, and Seward Glacier. On the evening of June 30, while at the first camp on the mainland east of Knight Island, Russell's party was joined by "Indians returning from a seal hunt in Disenchantment bay. They brought their canoe high on the beach, and made themselves at home about our camp-fire. There were seven or eight well-built young men in the party, all armed with guns. In former times such an arrival would have been regarded with suspicion; but thanks to the somewhat frequent visits of war vessels to Yakutat, and also to the labors of missionaries, the wild spirits of the Indians have been greatly subdued and reduced to semi-civilized condition during the past quarter of a century." [Russell, 1891 b, p. 84.] After eating some wild celery, the Indians went on to Yakutat; the expedition then ate their own supper, and evidently did not offer to share it with the hunters. One of Russell's party had been taken sick and was sent back with "an Indian who chanced to pass our camp in his canoe" (ibid., p. 83). Not only did this man arrive safely, but Russell further seems to have had complete confidence in the Indians' reliability IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 203 in caring for the sick man, as well as in their ability to land and take off through the surf on the west side of the bay. The following year Russell returned for a second but equally unsuccessful expedition. This attempt was made from "Icy Bay," by ascending the Agassiz Glacier to its junction with the route previously taken from the east. Again, the party was forced to give up just below the summit. On this occasion, Capt. M. A. Healy had brought the party to Yakutat on the U.S. revenue steamer Bear. On board was the Rev. Sheldon Jackson en route to purchase Siberian reindeer for introduction into Alaska. In trying to land Russell's party at the mouth of the Yahtse River, one of the ship's boats, less skillfully handled or perhaps less seaworthy than the natives' canoes, was swamped. Lieutenant Robinson and five seamen were drowned. Some of the bodies were recovered at the time, and when Russell finally returned to the mission in late September, he learned that "a party of Indians, while sea-otter hunting, found the two remaining bodies and gave them burial" (Russell, 1893, p. 11). From this we may infer that not only was inhumation familiar to the Indians, but that the White man had been adopted into the Tlingit's social and moral world. The White man's possessions are secure. Thus, Russell had left a cache at "Icy Bay." On returning from the mountain, the party saw tracks of animals and human footprints, but the contents of the cache were intact. "On a board nailed to a tree was a rude charcoal sketch of two men, which we understood to mean that two Indians had visited our encampment and left this sign as their card. On several other occasions we left food, tents, etc., unguarded, where they would be sure to be seen by Indians, but in no instance was a single article taken or the caches in any way disturbed. Everyone who has had experience on the frontier will understand from this that the Yakutats are to be classed among the 'good Indians.' " [Ibid., p. 54.] In September, 1891, Russell with two companions made a boat journey through the whole of what he called "Disenchantment Bay," but which includes that long fiord which is named for him. On his return he also visited "an Indian village known as Setuk, about 15 miles east of the mission, but space will not permit my giving an account of that interesting excursion" (ibid., p. 91). Fortunately, we learn a little more about Dry Bay from the account written by E. J. Glave, who descended the Alsek River from its headwaters to Dry Bay, and from there came along the canoe route to Yakutat. Glave had been previously with Stanley in the Congo. He had gone into Yukon Territory in the spring of 1890 with a large party of explorers, led by E. H. Wells, and financed by Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper of New York City. At Lake Kusawa, the headwaters of the Yukon, the expedition divided, one party going down the Yukon on a raft, a second heading for Forty-mile Creek and the Copper River, while Glave crossed to Klukshu Lake at the very head of the Alsek. He was accompanied by John Dalton, who not only proved himself an excellent canoeman and woodsman, but who now could speak Tlingit fairly well. Their guide was an Indian named "Shank," whose services had been engaged at the Southern Tutchone village of Wesketahin on the upper Alsek. Here, " 'Sitka Jack,' a well-known Indian trader, who speaks fairly good English," was met with a party of Chilkat Indian traders, and interpreted for Glave and Dalton (Glave, Nov. 19, 1890, p. 310). A Tutchone medicine-man also went with Shank and the two White men down the river, although this man was too terrified of the dangerous rapids to be of any help in handling the canoe. As Glave writes: (Jan. 10, 1891, p. 438): "We arrived at the mouth of the Alseck at seven in the evening. There we met two Indians who invited us to their village a few miles from the seashore, and we put up for the night in the house of old Shata, the Alseck medicine-man, a powerfully-built but wrinkled old fellow, and straight as a gun-barrel. This antiquated being of magic extended to us all hospitality, which consisted of a small nook in his smoky hut and a dried salmon, both items being truly acceptable. Our provisions had now almost run out." "Shata" was probably Cada, a Kwaclkqwan name, although this sib is not associated with Dry Bay. A Cada was, however, reported as the son's son of DExwudu'u, the Tl'xrknaxAdi chief at Gusex, who was involved with the war on the Tlaxayik-Teqwedi in which the latter were exterminated. In fact, according to one informant, the trouble really began with a dispute between DExwudu'u and his Teqwedi son (p. 262). A later Cada was the chief of Fort House on Khantaak Island, who died a very old man in 1908 or 1909. "During the evening, [Glave continues his account,] Shank, the Indian guide, narrated to the attentive villagers our trip down the Alseck River, coloring the scene with fetching tints reflected from his own fertile imagination. His story was evidently an interesting lecture for his audience, who listened throughout without the least interruption. Shank, flattered by his sudden popularity and fired with his own importance, assumed a tone and presence quite oratorical. "Old Shata's hut was twelve feet square; here all the occupants of the other dwellings 'rounded up' 204 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 to hear the recent news from the interior. There were about thirty Indians, men, women, and children, crowded into the little place, which, to say the least of it, rendered the atmosphere rather 'close.' As the Indians squatted and lay around the fire listening to Shank, shadows and light from the nickering blaze playing over the swarthy group, their eager bronzed faces formed quite a study. It was past midnight before Shank had exhausted his subject of our Alseck journey, and the party retired to their several habitations. The most of them, I found, were lodging in our present quarters, some in rudely-built compartments of heavy planks which were built on the side of the dwelling; others had small cotton tents, while a few contented themselves with rolling in their blankets on the hard wooden flooring. A corner of the hut was reserved for us, but mosquitoes and the atmospheric defects were hardly conducive to pleasant sleep, and we were right glad to be out in the fresh air again at early morn." [Ibid.] [Glave and Dalton were anxious to push on to Yakutat as soon as possible.] "Shank and the Gunena [gunana] doctor decided to remain where they were with old Shata and their other coast friends; they had only engaged to accompany us to the sea, and they had faithfully and devotedly fulfilled their promise. They were both of excellent character, willing, energetic, and good-tempered. The Gunena had had but little experience of the dangers of rough water, and felt considerably more at ease on terra Hrrna; but Shank was thoroughly conversant with canoe work, full of pluck and dash, and possessed of a keen and rapid judgment, qualities which, combined with his strength of limb and river experience, fitted him admirably for the dangerous duty of steering a canoe down the Alseck Eiver." [Ibid.] It is never quite clear to what tribe Shank belonged; he was descended from the extinct "Nua Qua," coastal Indians who had settled in the interior, yet he might be taken as typical of the TlukwaxAdi who so often made this dangerous journey. Of the medicine-man, Glave had earlier observed (Jan. 3, 1891, p. 414): "The Gunena doctor was of but little use on the water; he became easily scared and lost command of himself when we were in the dangerous places." Yet Glave does not blame him. "He was a willing and genial-hearted soul, but he was more at home with a horn spoon and a dried salmon than in a boat." Glave was also enthusiastic about the cottonwood canoe in which the descent had been made. We should note that he was continually impressed with the fine character, intelligence, and splendid physique of the natives he encountered on his journey. It is no wonder that he seems to have established the most cordial relations with all of them. "Among the Indians staying in old Shata's house, were two Yakutat natives, who had come to this river to catch salmon. We succeeded in obtaining the services of these men and their canoe to take us back to their own village, and started off the morning after our arrival" (Glave, Jan. 10,1891, p. 438). The Indians took the White men's belongings in their canoe through the inland channels, while the latter, who were tired of boat travel, walked along the shore, carrying only their guns. "At eight o'clock in the evening we arrived on the banks of the river Ar Quay [Akwe], and shortly afterward our Indians came along and ferried us across to a small unoccupied village on the opposite bank. There were only three houses—all ramshackle old places in a dilapidated and tumble-down condition— though formerly strongly built structures. They contained an odd miscellany of property—old boxes, native and imported, salmon-poles [spears? or drying racks?], snow-shoes, pots and pans, skins, traps, etc., everything grimy and blackened by the smoky fire always burning in the center of the dwelling." [Ibid.] Unfortunately, it is impossible to identify which village on the Akwe this was (see p. 83). The next morning the two White men again set off on foot, and "after six hours' hard walking . . . arrived at the edge of a small stream on which one solitary house was standing quite unoccupied." Two hours later the Indians came in the canoe and told them that unless they went on at once to catch the high tide in the lagoon, they would have to portage the canoe over 10 miles of sand flat. Consequently, they boarded the canoe and went downstream. This river was apparently the Italio, for Glave calls it the "Thetl Wor" (qe'lhwa) (ibid.). Rough water was encountered at the lagoon, and there was still a portage of a mile and a half across a sandbar. The two Indians shouldered the canoe, while Glave and Dalton carried all their own belongings as well as the Indians' blankets and dried salmon. After reembarkmg, they paddled again, until at eight o'clock in the morning, they reached "Setuk, a small village on the banks of the river of that name." They had been on the way from Akwe River for 24 hours, out of which they had rested only 2. "Arriving at Setuk we partook of a little more salmon, and lay down in our blankets on the floor of the hut." The next day another portage of a mile was necessary before they reached the Lost River-Ankau lagoon system. At Yakutat they were "hospitably received by Mr. J. W. Johnson, of the trading firm of W. P. Mills, who has his headquarters at Sitka" (ibid.). We can assume that Johnson was the trader occupying the store at Yakutat. IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 205 The Census of 1890 also gives us some information about the Gulf Coast tribes between Yakutat and the Copper River. Their numbers are obviously dwindling and their culture already doomed. Going west from the meridian of Mount Saint Elias, the first people are met in the vicinity of "Cape Yak-tag," or Yakataga. "The settlement here consists of single dwellings scattered along many miles of coast. The houses are now occupied only during the winter season. With the advent of spring the whole population embark in their large wooden canoes, and, passing by the inaccessible ice cliffs of the Bering glacier, they make their first camp at Cape Suckling. Here they fraternize with another branch of their tribe, who have their homes and winter hunting grounds on the lakes and streams of the level strip of land between the St. Elias alps and the coast of Controller bay. [This suggests a distinction between the Galyix-Kagwantan to the east and the Tcicqedi to the west.] "After spending a few weeks together hunting and feasting, the Yaktag people paddle or sail across the wide but shallow strait which separates Kaye, or Kayak, island from the mainland. This is another favorite hunting ground, where until a few years ago a party of Norwegian hunters and traders maintained a station, which fierce competition from stores connected with canning enterprises forced them to abandon." [Porter, 1893, p. 65.] [The traders were the Swedish Andersen and Carlsen brothers whose post Seton-Karr had visited in August, 1886. At that time two Norwegian hunters had just settled at Cape Suckling (Seton-Karr, 1887, p. 150).] [There had formerly been a salmon cannery on Wingham Island.] "The whole plant, together with the trading store, was subsequently removed to one of the many mouths of the Copper river for the greater convenience of fishing. [This was to Koken-henik Island.] This cannery, which employs between 40 and 50 white men and 50 Chinamen, also offers to the Yaktag tribe an opportunity for remunerative labor throughout the fishing season. They come here each successive season, bringing with them their families and most of their household goods, to sail homeward again in August or September, laden with the proceeds of their labor, to enjoy a season of ease and plenty. "The Yaktag people, who have also been known by the local name of Chilkhat [from the village on Bering Kiver, Controller Bay], were still quite numerous 10 years ago; now there are scarcely 100 of them left." [Porter, 1893, p. 65.] At the Kayak Island village, Seton-Karr had noted the squalor of the native huts, hi one of which a man was dying of consumption (Seton-Karr, 1887, pp. 156-159). Under the heading "Wingham Island," the Census noted a population of 150 natives, composed of 15 families living in 15 houses (Porter, 1893, p. 163). "Wingham Island includes Cape Martin station and Chilkaht settlement on Controller bay" (ibid., p. 161). It is at Cape Martin, where "a small trading post has been located here for many years," that the "Yaktag" and Chilkat of Controller Bay meet the "Ugalentz" or Eyak of the Copper Kiver delta (ibid., p. 66). There are only a few more observations about Yakutat before 1900 where we will abandon this historical survey. In 1896, A. P. Swineford, Governor of Alaska (1885-89), visited Yakutat, and described it as follows: "Mulgrave Harbor is a small indentation setting off to the right of the entrance to the bay, and on the north side is the native village of a dozen or more houses, in which live some two hundred people. There is also a trader's store and a Swedish Lutheran mission and school, and of late years the population has been augmented by a number of white men, intent upon amassing fortunes by washing gold from the ruby sands found on the beach." [After mentioning the Russian colony which had been established] "on an inlet which sets off from the east side of Yakutat Bay" [he notes that:] "Except for a few Creole families, nothing is now left of what was once a busy and flourishing settlement." [Swineford, 1898, pp. 101-102,] Although a number of Yakutat people had mentioned the possibility of Russian blood in their own ancestry, citing the clear complexions of their parents and grandparents as possible evidence, this admixture has not so far been discussed by any writer. "The natives are not unlike those of Sitka, speak the same language and live in houses similarly constructed. They maintain themselves by fishing and hunting, and are more cleanly in their persons and houses than those of most other native villages." [Ibid.] We may gather from this description, as well as from the photograph in Albin Johnson's memoirs (1924, p. 51), that already the Tlingit had largely moved from Khantaak Island and had built frame houses at the "Old Village" near the Mission with lumber from the Reverend Hendrickson's sawmill. In 1897, two more expeditions made an assault on Mount Saint Elias. That led by H. G. Bryant of Philadelphia failed, while the very large, well organized and well supplied expedition of Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of Abruzzi, was successful. The latter's party included 206 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7 the Prince's aide-de-camp, the president of the Italian AJpine Club, an Italian photographer, Dr. Filippo de Filippi who wrote the official narrative (1900), 5 Alpine guides, 10 Americans of whom C. W. Thornton contributed a popular account (1898), and 4 natives from Yakutat. Among these was Peter Lawrence (1871— 1950), a Kagwantan man born in Sitka, named Qatciti or Kadjati (pis. 2lip, 216), the son of a Decitan (Raven sib) man from Angoon. He had apparently served on a number of trading schooners, and came to Yakutat in 1888 as interpreter for Chief Jeff King, a trader. On this voyage they took 600 sea otters for which they obtained $70 apiece, and claimed to have discovered gold on Yakataga beach. I met Peter Lawrence as a crippled old man, in 1949, living in dire poverty and neglect, but still treasuring among his few belongings a photograph of the Abruzzi expedition which the Prince had signed for him. Among the Yakutat people, Peter Lawrence had the reputation of being a wag and a good joker in his younger days, and this trait he also exhibited on the expedition. The quality of his humor seems to have been typically Tlingit, without malice. He could take a joke equally well. The expedition had landed at Cape Manby and had reached, by hard backpacking up a stream, a campsite at the edge of the Malaspina Glacier, the "Bean camp," some 3% miles from the shore. As related by Thornton: "A funny thing happened here. Four Indian guides had been hired to help us as far as the snow line. They were an intelligent lot of fellows, strong and reliable. They were a jolly lot, too, but some of us thought it strange that they laughed and joked among themselves so frequently. They were even 'kittenish' at times, and even when we knew about the propensity of one of them for 'joshing' it did not seem to be sufficient explanation. This fellow's name was Peter Lawrence. I believe he had the greatest sense of humor of any one I have ever seen. He would not only joke on all possible subjects, but could laugh as heartily as anyone when the joke happened to be on himself. We soon called him 'Peter the Josher.' But, as I have said, even his well-known propensity for making fun was not sufficient to explain their behavior on this occasion. At last the explanation came. "After we had moved a certain portion of the outfit to the Bean camp, it was decided to begin moving it to the edge of the snow on the Malaspina, four and a half miles farther, giving the Indians ten dollars for moving up to the Bean camp that portion of the outfit which was left at the beach, and which was considered necessary for the trip. The remainder, a large supply of provisions, had been cached as a reserve. After making one trip to the snow line and returning about noon, what was our surprise to see the Indians come in with the last of the provisions, having accomplished in a half day what we had expected them to do in something over a day. When asked how they did it, Peter laughed and said, 'Injun git contract; do 'em up quick.' [Upon investigation it was discovered that the Indians had a canoe hidden on the river.] "Those rogues had brought all of that stuff up in their canoe, one of them staying in the boat to steer it and keep it off the bank, while the others pulled it upstream with a rope. We felt cheap then, to think what time and energy we had wasted during the last two days." [Thornton, 1898, p. 294.] [Again, as in leading Topham's party through the cold glacial streams, the Indians amused themselves by demonstrating their superior hardihood. Filippi praised the natives as porters.] "The Indians, although undersized, carried heavier loads than our own men could manage—i.e., from 60 to 68 lbs.—without a word of complaint. They did not use the [pack] frames, but preferred to fasten the loads on their backs by means of two straps coming over the shoulders and crossing over the chest, a system that compelled them to walk in a stooping posture. They were shod with moccasins of undressed sealskin, with the fur inside, unfitted for tramping over this waste of sharpedged stones, which bruised our own feet in spite of our heavy boots." [Filippi, 1900, p. 75.] [The pack straps are like those described by my informants.] "Our four Indians, small, thick-set men, are so exactly alike that they seem turned out of the same mould. The development of arms and chests is exaggerated in comparison with the rest of the body, owing to the constant work at the oars entailed by their life on the water. "They either sit together in a contented group, patching their moccasins, or loaf around in the camp with contented, smiling faces, peeping inquisitively into the tents and speaking incomprehensible words to us in their gutteral tongue, full of Z's and k's. One of them, however, knows a little English, and acts as interpreter to the rest. Their language has nearly all lost its special characteristics. Owing to frequent contact with French and Russian travellers, sailors, trappers, and whalers, these Indians speak a jargon known as 'Chinook,' now common to all the aborigines of the region and long used as the language of commerce on the coast of British Columbia, Oregon and Washington State." [Ibid., p. 78.] [I certainly never gathered the impression that Chinook Jargon was ever well or commonly known IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 207 at Yakutat, but the men who might have been most familiar with it had all died before my visits.] "One honorable trait of the Indians' character is honesty. They steal nothing—not even food; and this verdict is confirmed by everyone who has employed them. All expeditions, such as our own, have had to leave stores of provisions, tents, etc., in spots easily to be discovered by the Indians; yet these caches are always found undisturbed and with no single article missing." [Ibid.]. In June of 1899, the year of the Klondike Gold Rush and of the earthquake at Yakutat, the Harriman Alaska Expedition came to Yakutat Bay, and, as we have already noted, visited the village, the sealing camps above Point Latouche, and cruised through Russell Fiord, to which they gave its name. On board were such naturalists and scientists as John Burroughs, John Muir, George Bird Grinnell, Charles Keeler, B. E. Fernow, and E. Hart Merriam. Yakutat was now a modern town of some 300 natives, with a permanent store and a post office, as well as the Mission school and church. Apparently the site on Khantaak Island had been abandoned. And if Keeler (1902, p. 217) thought the Indian village was "composed of houses built in the most hideously modern fashion with clapboards and paint," Burroughs (1901, p. 54) saw them as "eight or ten comfortable frame houses." Pictures in Albin Johnson's book, dating from this period, show the natives—or at least the members of his congregation—wearing the ugly, uncomfortable but stylish garments affected by prosperous Americans at the end of the century. The people pose with a stiff, self-conscious pride in their best Sunday clothes, just as do Reverend Johnson and his family. The mission living room is dark and cluttered with Victorian draperies, heavily printed wallpaper, and shelves overflowing with mementoes. The great Indian "tribal houses," facing the beach, stark but impressive, gleam with white paint (Moser, 1899, pi. 4); each has its flagpole on which the American flag could be flown on great occasions, such as potlatches and Sundays (pis. 82-84). They were probably cold and drafty after the stoutly built, smoky houses on Khantaak Island, but inside (to judge from photographs I have seen) faithfully copied the splendid decor of the mission. On the beach in front rested a fleet of canoes, many the valuable imported Haida "war canoes." At the W. W. Mills Company store, Dick Beasley (for whom Beasley Creek at the head of Russell Fiord was named) had cookies to sell that some informants still remember from their childhood. Despite these obvious outward changes, much of life was still as it had always been. The people deserted the village when it was time to go to the sealing camps or to the salmon streams. There, the free life could still be lived, in the comfort of old clothes, even though the Harrhnan expedition found that: "The Indian women frowned upon our photographers and were very adverse to having the cameras pointed at them. It took a good deal of watching and waiting and maneuvering to get a good shot. The artists with their brushes and canvas were regarded with less suspicion" (Burroughs, 1901, pp. 60-61). In 1954, copies of the photographs made at the sealing camp in 1899 by Merriam (pis. 72-80) were examined with eager pleasure by the people who had been children there. In the hearts of those who went regularly to church the earnest preachings of Johnson and Hendrickson had not been able to erase the deep-grained fearful confidence in the shaman, or terror of the witch and Land Otter Man. Although the herring and salmon had not yet been commercially exploited, Captain Moser, of the U S.S. Albatross, had stopped at Yakutat to make investigations for the U.S. Fish Commission. On his return in 1901, he was to find that F. A. Fredericks Company of Seattle had just built a large herring saltery at the head of Monti Bay, while A. L. See and A. Flenner were building another inside the mouth of Ankau Creek. Already there were plans for the cannery at the head of Monti Bay with a railroad running to Dry Bay (it never went farther than Johnson Slough just beyond Situk River), and the cannery wharf wa3 to be built the following year (Moser, 1901, p. 390). In September, 1899, occurred the great earthquake which some of my informants remember very well. This shook down so much snow from the mountains onto the glaciers that these began once more to advance, and this phenomenon again attracted the attention of geologists to Yakutat. Of more immediate concern, however, was the question of the International Boundary; indeed title to Mount Saint Elias was in doubt, so surveyors from both the United States and Canada began to