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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 1879)
October, 1879. 34 THE WEST SHORE. ALASKA AND ITS FKOPIX lc t, rUati I conducts him to the subterranean portion of the ' 'I wrlliUK. The hut ia circular, and i rank into the ground alxjut live leet. 1 ne portion anove Alaska by Archbiahop Haghera and hia party, I the level of the ground it built of mud and it of I DTH I OTTO. "mj uu psjuiuj( tm 1 and this u in the apex, where it gives escape to the Yukon river ia described aa a magniticent stream. Taking the Amazon aa the first and the Mmtasippi aa the second of American nun, the Yukon it the third in sue. At the point where the Bishop's party reached it, some hundreds of miles from ita mouth, the Yukon ia three miles in width, and studded with is lands aa far aa the eye can reach. An idea of its volume of water can be gathers I from the fact that out in the oen sea, six miles from the mouth uf the river, the water takeu from its stream is still fresh enough to drink. The length of the Yukon is over M.OOO milrs, and it 1 navigable for steamers of considerable sir? for over 2,500 miles of its MUM, further up, where the Yukon receives a large tributary, the I'uicupine, the basin formed at the confluence of the two rivers, jfl '.'I null in width. The Yukon was reached after a four clays' march dus east from Norton's sound, across a eouutry who h is one continuous marsh, save only the low hills now and then encountered. MoeUltoea "literally blackened the sky " (route ware found in abundance, and it waa chirHy upon their flesh that the parly subsisted. Navigation on the Yukon is earned on by means of a Imlnni, a tailing vessel consisting of a light frame-work of wood, coven! by skinsnf the hair l The ptrty arrived at Nulato alioiit tin- i id of July. The language is a corruption of some Itusatan dialect, and consuls of only s lew hiin drad worde. It is so simple, so undeveloped that tlie aauia word, accompanied though by a different gaatara uf the hand in each instance, is made to do service for the past, present and future lenses of the yerh The first ica mail its appearance in the be ginning of September. On the loth of I Iclolicr the river froie over, or rsthei blocked up, great uakea and fields of ico drilling Ann stream with the rapid current, forming a gorge at at some narrow Hiint, then hespiug up and pi J ing over one another until the mer from hank to hank Waa flllod with ridges and diuiinutivi mountain chains nf ica. As winter advanco the water falle, allowing the ice bridge to hang suspended until it breaks through its own weight, and monies down with a tremendous crash I 1 in winter the Itishop started to vult the Cinquoh Indiana. Here it may he mentioned that trawling in the interior of Alaska is always at the eitreme peril of the venturesome explorer, the Indian who are con tinually at war, treating all strangers with strict impartially when once they lake to the war path. This journey to the l ioqimlis was undertaken in dog alula, a style nf trsveltng not without its disadvantages, oue of which is or oaaioued by the dogs striking a game trail, ami following it up on the full run regardless of the load behind, which is scattered in everv direc tion. The ordinary load of a dog sled it in pnunda The driver usually keeps up w illi Ins team by joggling along at a dog trot, hut some times ha treats himself to a rid. A good dog driver nan easily run TO miles a day, one day with another a feat to match our Westons and O'lassvry. A team is made up of seven or nine days, always aa unci en number, one taking the lead, the others hanieeeed in pairs The dress worn on such at pcdiUoeis is a deer-skin coat with Capuchin hood to draw over the head fur cap, dear akin trow sera ami hoota. The deer skin, dressed only enough to make it pliable. It worn with the hair outside While among the t'loquobs the trawlers put up quite fie qseotly to tha iVirnonni, or native but, whew construction may be understood from the fol lowing description- On catering the anratsm tha visitor Hral descends a shallow pit, from the bottom of which a tunnel eight feet long the smoke. At night this opening it cloaely covered with seal skin, and tha tunnel tightly lose, I, so that all access to the cold, and to the air as well, it cot off. In this manner tha ltra)irn is made very warm, but exceedingly unwholesome. Where a hut of this description TRUE FRIENDSHIP. In our various trials and viciatitudea of lift, our griefs, tufferingt, joyt; our dayt of poverty and riches, to me then it nothing dearer or nobler than true friendship. A friendship that expects no return for proffered aid or sympathy, it spontaneous and pure from worldlineet. It fcelt for you and give aa willingly as the flow. iug fountain at whoso aide we ait and drink. and cool brow and brain, thankfully in our 7 , , "Tr S . , hearts. Words of thank! would tec ,111 s sou. ire ho le in the s now. built a rampart . , , --B --1 . 'place, Knowing at we mi mat the b easing ws of branches toward the northern tide, from .' , . . " " which the wind Cnfln IOWSP1 W1C imrtucio sine, imm - . , a , ? . tie wind nearly always blows, atdaouoht reu',ve " ?y E?3J ,,nld UMh , a couch of booah. thickly laid on the u' ??,"'. d" g-vrng all w. can to of the hole. Kxposed thus to Arctic ' 1 ch'lrtreD -d'? h "? repose on bottom of the hole. Kxisoeed cohl in the open air, tea is the only beverage used by the Northerner. Strong tpirita create a greater amount of heat in the tyatein, but the reaction following leaves the traveler more than ever exposed to danger of death from freezing. While among those people, the lbshop also formed the acquaintance ol a Medicine Man, who undertook by his incantations to cure a u k child in the house where the ltishop's party were guests. Tart of the performance consisted in Miu.iding a gong with a club, and whin tin lliahop learned that thit ceremony waa to ba continued all night, it need not surprise us that even the proverbial patience ot the missionary , became exhausted, and that ri rl (iron's the Alaskan M. D, wilt forthwith deprived of hit professional paraphernalia. Keturiiing to Nutalo, the ptrty started down the river by sledge, v pel Icliclllg such a degree of cold that IMC below teto was frequently reg istered by the spirit thermometer. On the trip the Btthop witnessed a religinut ceremony which teemed to mean the worship of lire if it meant anything ; and that half froen wretches j should at length take to the tihiratmn of fire as their salvation from the Polar cold it not I very straiiuc. Those Indians arc miking rsrthenware, some ing of a capacity to hold several gallons, and representing a very considerable advance iu the twitter's art. They differ from the southern Indians of the Pacilic coast ill their manner ol disposing of their dead, which are buried, not burned, aa among the Piutei, Washoes or Ihg. Here. They resemble the whites in having a l.iate foi ornamenting the graves of their de parted warriors ; but oue epitaph found by the lltsllop waa not calculated to ttir very profound depths of wee. It bad probably been picked up at some trader's camp and devoted to use as an epitaph, the tinder evidently believing it to ! oaaess virtues not of this world. Fastened to it I 'd' and placed at the head of a dopartcd : warrior, it gave " lteo hive llreakfaat Bacon " as ita recital of the virtues possessed by the de ceased Hut perhaps the most interesting fact mentioned by the reverend lecturer is tiio as toiiisliing pr"heiene in iniisic acquired by those savages So far advanced are they that their arias can easily be committed to writing by our s y etc in ol musical notation Three or four of 1 these songs were rendered word and note by his liracc, who has a fine baritone voice. In one, a warrior's Itinera! dirge, a mingling of uric! with eulogy of martial prowess irf have lieen the meaning of the words, to clearly did the air express those comnincd feelings. The lec turer also gave siectineiit of Alaskan dancing, which it aprara is dime principally by the wo men, under the eyes of their admiring lords. I he dance is highly and superlatively "proper, " . -insisting as it does of a leaning posture in which the dancer stands on oue toot while she pounds the floor with the heel of the other, the toe not being moved from tha tloor Kven the most straight laced could have nothing to say against M "steps." On ti e Aleutian island the winters an not very severe. The mow (alia very deep, about -I 01 .'lest every wiuter. I hit depth it packed snow , through which the people of the village -lit pssssgea from one In. use to the Mel I give, nut such tricnuthip it rare to meet with in our social world, and it usually called cAarify. The "set" we move in perhaps is in no need of sympathy or aid in any way from in. We meet at church, party, lecture and occaaional calls, and a few nearer and dearer friends visit in a mora informal way. and a general sympathy it extended for any tpecial occasion. But only in great trialt like sickness and death is the friendship really put to the test, and then if the sufferer are wealthy money hires nurses, servautt, undertakers, doctors and ministers, to that a friend hat little to offer in the way of aid. Hut if poverty it their lot, w hat a blest, ing a friend it in time of need, and if you are that friend, what jny to your heart to feel that you are able to help the atricken friend to licar lo r burden; how willingly your hand turns to any service needed to be done let it be watching with the tick or dressing the dear dead. No matter for home duties your friend needt you. And if ,you are the afflicted one, how your heart goet out to the friend who comet to you iu your sorrow, and silently shows her real sympathy in deeds of love. Each friend who astiHta you has won an everlasting place in una are adepts in ; -v"ur ",'rti Sltnougn unlet separate, tucn of their utensils )o I name linger Ujnm your lipt longand often. And ii wo never meet to nturn use ainnneisee, ws I pray our friend may never need friends iu hours i of trial, while we feul mora like going to "do likewise ' to others needing what we can give. So tar as I can reason, the poorer part ol hu manity have truer friendships and many bleat ingt the richer an denied by their very wealth. I ramcniber a remark a rich woman once made to me : "I sometime! feel that I have no friends! All my acquaintances want something of me, if it is not money for some object, it it a posi tion I can give them in society." I have never lieen placed in her position and never felt to doubt my friends, and Hod grant I never may ! For while one does not can to be an object of charity to a friend, yet it is well to be so situated that you can feel a healthy glow iu the hand shake of a frieud, or a fervent "God blots you;" or at the mention of another you fuel iu gratitude that "A friend in need its frieud indeed." It it well enough to have a time of need to test one's friends, as well at to teach ut the value of friendship. Poverty is a rouih. bard school, but it teaches mauv valuahlo lessons in life, one being to rely mi one's aelf, aud another tho bleatinga of tytn- tiatby. I lie lint wiut friends, and the otner keepi them; and together they enable na to he true frieudt in return. -Jnttll, in Rural Prttt. Ixcrkask or Pkiimi 'ions Literatvm. Occa sionally an editorial paragraph or stray mags tine article invitet the public attention to the lamentable condition of literature for the young, and then the matter ends. With these rare exceptions, the subject remains untouched; the trade in cheap and filthy literate re in c noses, and that (nisae: fair principle of our saay-(o,n American social code restrains parents from a too close examination of their children's mental food) the clergy an silent. If this is an abuse in la. t, and is to be remedied, it teems to be full time that it was beguu and carried on with the energy its importance justiHea. Jhtaswy AJtrrmm.