THE
CHEM AW A
AM ERICAN
7
RECOLLECTIONS OF MY PAST AND
ASPIRATIONS FOR MY FUTURE
P A U L K IX N IN O O K , A laskan
\ nam e A laska suggests glaciers creeping across a
bleak waste, picturesque houses of ice, w olf-dog team s,
unbelieveable hardships, th rillin g ad v en tu re, the
g ran d eu r of a vast frigid e x p a n s e - a ll th a t is rom antic
and m ysterious. It is a land of w hich m uch is read and
little is know n. Before I begin w ith the story of my
form er life and the condition of my people, I w ant to
say th at all of A laska is not like the country of w hich we read in books.
T he warm Japan cu rren t so modifies the clim ate of the coast and adjacent
islands th a t it differs little from the clim ate of O regon. It is only in the
interior and th e far no rth th a t intense cold prevails.
I was born in M arch, 1 8 9 2 , in the little Indian village of Port T ongas.
Port T ongas is on an island in th e extrem e southeastern part of A laska,
near Cape Fox village w hich is on th e main land. In these tw o villages
a num ber of different tribes lived, but they w ere often called by the nam e
of the town in w hich they dw elt, as are Port T ongas or Cape Fox people.
T hey all spoke the T h lin g et language.
T he houses in these villages were set in rows like the houses of a city,
but not so close to g eth er. T hey were large, low. and flat-roofed, with
windows in the front and in the back. In the center of the house was
a fireplace, eight or ten feet square, usually a little lower th an th e floor
and filled w ith gravel from the beach. T h e gravel was rem oved every
week and replaced by clean. A hole in the center of the roof perm itted
th e sm oke to escape. T h e front of some of the houses were decorated
w ith (jueer p ain tin g s of anim als and fish.
T he natives traveled over the water in large dug o u t canoes w ith two
sails. It was h ard work to m ake headw ay against th e w ind, but when
the wind was fair trav elin g was easy.
Most of the people of the two villages were slaves of the in to x ican t.
W hen d ru n k they would often w ound and som etim es even kill each
other. W hen any of the fam ilies of our house or neighborhood were
d rin k in g , I would hide all the dangerous w eapons I could find and
g ath er the small children and take them to a place of safety on th e beach.
I was small myself, but I was strong enough to take care of the little
ones.
I saw few gold or silver coins or little money of any kind when I was
a child. In those days the natives made th eir living by h u n tin g , trap-