the world, is uniform in its variety, and varied in its unity.
The Thlinkeet family, commencing at the north, comprises the Ugalenzes,138 on the shore of the continent between Mount St Elias and Copper River; the Yakutats, of Bering Bay; the Chilkats, at Lynn Canal; the Hoodnids, at Cross Sound; the Hoodsinoos, of Chatham Strait; and, following down the coast and islands, the Takoos, the Auks, the Kakas, the Sitkas,139 the Stikines,140 and the Tungass. The Sitkas on Baranoff Island141 are the dominant tribe.
Descending from the north into more genial climes, the physical type changes, and the form assumes more graceful proportions. With the expansion of nature and a freer play of physical powers, the mind expands, native character becomes intensified, instinct keener, savage nature more savage, the nobler qualities become more noble; cruelty is more cruel, torture is elevated into an art, stoicism is cultivated,142 human sacrifice and human slavery begin, and the oppression and degradation of woman is systematized. "If an original American race is accepted," says Holmberg, "the Thlinkeets must be classed with them." They claim to have migrated from the interior of the continent, opposite Queen Charlotte Island.
The Ugalenzes spend their winters at a small bay east from Kadiak, and their summers near the mouth of Copper River, where they take fish in great quantities. Their country also abounds in beaver. The Chilkats make two annual trading excursions into the interior. The Tacully tribes, the Sicannis and Nehannes, with whom the Chilkats exchange European goods for furs, will allow no white man to ascend their streams.
THLINKEET PECULIARITIES.
Naturally, the Thlinkeets are a fine race; the men better formed than the boatmen of the north;143 the women modest, fair, and handsome;144 but the latter have gone far out of their way to spoil the handiwork of nature. Not content with daubing the head and body with filthy coloring mixtures; with adorning the neck with copper-wire collars, and the face with grotesque wooden masks; with scarring their limbs and breast with keen-edged instruments; with piercing the nose and ears, and filling the apertures with bones, shells, sticks, pieces of copper, nails, or attaching to them heavy pendants, which drag down the organs and pull the features out of place;145 they appear to have taxed their inventive powers to the utmost, and with a success unsurpassed by any nation in the world, to produce a model of hideous beauty.
THLINKEET LIP-ORNAMENT.
This success is achieved in their wooden lip-ornament, the crowning glory of the Thlinkeet matron, described by a multitude of eye-witnesses; and the ceremony of its introduction may be not inappropriately termed, the baptism of the block. At the age of puberty, – some say during infancy or childhood, – in the under lip of all free-born female Thlinkeets,146 a slit is made parallel with the mouth, and about half an inch below it.147 If the incision is made during infancy, it is only a small hole, into which a needle of copper, a bone, or a stick is inserted, the size being increased as the child grows. If the baptism is deferred until the period when the maiden merges into womanhood, the operation is necessarily upon a larger scale, and consequently more painful.148 When the incision is made, a copper wire, or a piece of shell or wood, is introduced, which keeps the wound open and the aperture extended; and by enlarging the object and keeping up a continuous but painful strain, an artificial opening in the face is made of the required dimensions. On attaining the age of maturity, this wire or other incumbrance is removed and a block of wood inserted. This block is oval or elliptical in shape, concaved or hollowed dish-like on the sides, and grooved like the wheel of a pulley on the edge in order to keep it in place.149 The dimensions of the block are from two to six inches in length, from one to four inches in width, and about half an inch thick round the edge, and highly polished.150 Old age has little terror in the eyes of a Thlinkeet belle, for larger lip-blocks are introduced as years advance, and each enlargement adds to the lady's social status, if not to her facial charms. When the block is withdrawn, the lip drops down upon the chin like a piece of leather, displaying the teeth, and presenting altogether a ghastly spectacle.151 This custom is evidently associated in their minds with womanly modesty, for when La Pérouse asked them to remove their block, some refused; those who complied manifesting the same embarrassment shown by a European woman who uncovers her bosom. The Yakutats alone of all the Thlinkeet nation have never adopted this fashion.
DRESS OF THE THLINKEETS.
Their dress, which is made from wolf, deer, bear, or other skin, extends from the shoulder to the knee, and consists of a mantle, or cape, with sleeves, which reaches down to the waist, and to which the women attach a skirt, or gown, and the men a belt and apron. A white blanket is made from the wool of the wild sheep, embroidered with figures, and fringed with furs, all of native work. This garment is most highly prized by the men. They wear it thrown over the shoulder so as to cover the whole body.
Vancouver thus describes the dress of a chief at Lynn Canal. His "external robe was a very fine large garment, that reached from his neck down to his heels, made of wool from the mountain sheep, neatly variegated with several colors, and edged and otherwise decorated with little tufts or frogs of woolen yarn, dyed of various colors. His head-dress was made of wood, much resembling in its shape a crown, adorned with bright copper and brass plates, from whence hung a number of tails or streamers, composed of wool and fur, wrought together, dyed of various colors, and each terminating in a whole ermine skin. The whole exhibited a magnificent appearance, and indicated a taste for dress and ornament that we had not supposed the natives of these regions to possess."
The men make a wooden mask, which rests on a neckpiece, very ingeniously carved, and painted in colors, so as to represent the head of some bird or beast or mythological being. This was formerly worn in battle, probably, as La Pérouse suggests, in order to strike terror into the hearts of enemies, but is now used only on festive occasions.152
A small hat of roots and bark, woven in the shape of a truncated cone, ornamented with painted figures and pictures of animals, is worn by both sexes.153 Ordinarily, however, the men wear nothing on the head; their thick hair, greased and covered with ochre and birds' down, forming a sufficient covering. The hat is designed especially for rainy weather, as a protection to the elaborately dressed hair.154 Besides their every-day dress, they have a fantastic costume for tribal holidays.
For their winter habitations, a little back from the ocean, the Thlinkeets build substantial houses of plank or logs, sometimes of sufficient strength to serve as a fortress. They are six or eight feet in height, the base in the form of a square or parallelogram, the roof of poles placed at an angle of forty-five degrees and covered with bark. The entrance is by a small side door. The fire, which is usually kept burning night and day, occupies the centre of the room; over it is a smoke-hole of unusual size, and round the sides of the room are apartments or dens which are used as store-houses, sweat-houses, and private family rooms. The main room is very public and very filthy.155 Summer huts are light portable buildings, thrown up during hunting excursions in the interior, or on the sea-beach in the fishing-season. A frame is made of stakes driven into the ground, supporting a roof, and the whole covered with bark, or with green or dry branches, and skins or bark over all. The door is closed by bark or a curtain of skins. Each hut is the rendezvous for a small colony, frequently covering twenty or thirty persons, all under the direction of one chief.156
They 'call themselves G-tinkit, or S-chinkit, or also S-chitcha-chon, that is, inhabitants of Sitki or Sitcha.' Langsdorff's Voy., pt. ii., 128.
<p>140</p>
The orthographic varieties of this word are endless. Stickeen, Stekin, Stakhin, Stachin, Stikin, Stachine, Stikeen, Stikine, Stychine, are among those before me at the moment.
<p>141</p>
At the end of this chapter, under Tribal Boundaries, the location of these tribes is given definitely.
<p>142</p>
A Thlinkeet boy, 'when under the whip, continued his derision, without once exhibiting the slightest appearance of suffering.' Lisiansky's Voy., p. 242.
<p>143</p>
'Leur corps est ramassé, mais assez bien proportionné.' Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 46. 'Very fierce.' Portlock's Voy., p. 291. 'Limbs straight and well shaped.' Dixon's Voy., p. 171. 'Stolze gerade Haltung.' Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 16. 'Active and clever.' Lisiansky's Voy., p. 237. 'Bigote á manera de los Chinos.' Perez, Nav., MS. p. 14. 'Limbs ill-proportioned.' Kotzebue's New Voy., vol. ii., p. 49. 'Très supérieurs en courage et en intelligence.' La Pérouse, Voy., tom. iv., p. 54.
<p>144</p>
The women 'are pleasing and their carriage modest.' Portlock's Voy., p. 291. When washed, white and fresh. Dixon's Voy., p. 171. 'Dunkle Hautfarbe.' Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 16. 'Eran de color blanco y habia muchos con ojos azules.' Perez, Nav., MS. p. 14. As fair as many Europeans. Langsdorff's Voy., pt. ii., p. 112. 'Muchos de ellos de un blanco regular.' Bodega y Quadra, Nav., MS. p. 43.
<p>145</p>
'Leur chevelure, dure, épaisse, mêlée, couverte d'ocre, de duvet d'oiseaux et de toutes les ordures que la négligence et le temps y ont accumulées, contribue encore à rendre leur aspect hideux.' Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 46. 'A more hideous set of beings, in the form of men and women, I had never before seen.' Cleveland's Voy., p. 91. The men painted 'a black circle extending from the forehead to the mouth, and a red chin, which gave the face altogether the appearance of a mask.' Lisiansky's Voy., p. 146. Pourraient même passer pour jolies, sans l'horrible habitude qu'elles ont adoptée.' Laplace, Circumnav., tom. vi., p. 87. 'That person seems to be reckoned the greatest beau amongst them, whose face is one entire piece of smut and grease.' Dixon's Voy., p. 68. 'Ils se font des cicatrices sur les bras et sur la poitrine.' La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 223. 'Um aus dem Gesichte diese fette Farbenmasse abzuwaschen, gebrauchen sie ihren eignen Urin, und dieser verursacht bei ihnen den widerlichen Geruch, der den sich ihm nahenden Fremdling fast zum Erbrechen bringt.' Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 20.
<p>146</p>
Meares, Voyages, p. xxxi., states that at Prince William Sound, 'the men have universally a slit in their under lip, between the projecting part of the lip and the chin, which is cut parallel with their mouths, and has the appearance of another mouth.' Worn only by women. Dixon's Voy., p. 172.
<p>147</p>
'About three tenths of an inch below the upper part of the under lip.' Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., p. 280. 'In the centre of the under-lip.' Langsdorff's Voy., pt. ii., p. 115. 'Fendue au ras des gencives.' La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 224. 'In the thick part near the mouth.' Dixon's Voy., p. 187. 'When the first person having this incision was seen by one of the seamen, who called out, that the man had two mouths.' Cook's Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 369. 'In their early infancy, a small incision is made in the center of the under lip, and a piece of brass or copper wire is placed in, and left in the wound. This corrodes the lacerated parts, and by consuming the flesh gradually increases the orifice, until it is sufficiently large to admit the wooden appendage.' Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., p. 408. 'Les femmes de Tchinkîtâné ont cru devoir ajouter à leur beauté naturelle, par l'emploi d'un ornement labial, aussi bizarre qu'incommode.' Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 48.
<p>148</p>
'Simply perforated, and a piece of copper wire introduced.' Dixon's Voy., p. 187. 'Les jeunes filles n'ont qu'une aiguille dans la lèvre inférieure.' La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 226. 'On y prépare les petites filles aussitôt qu'elles sont nées.' Id., tom. iv., p. 54. 'At first a thick wire.' Langsdorff's Voy., pt. ii., p. 115. When almost marriageable. Kotzebue's New Voy., vol. ii., p. 51. 'The children have them bored at about two years of age, when a piece of copper-wire is put through the hole; this they wear till the age of about thirteen or fourteen years, when it is taken out, and the wooden ornament introduced.' Portlock's Voy., p. 289. 'Said to denote maturity.' Whymper's Alaska, p. 100. 'Se percer la lèvre inférieure des l'enfance.' 'D'agrandir peu à peu cette ouverture au point de pouvoir jeune fille y introduire une coquille, et femme mariée une énorme tasse de bois.' Laplace, Circumnav., tom. vi., p. 87. 'Never takes place during their infancy.' Dixon's Voy., p. 187. 'When the event takes place that implies womanhood.' Lisiansky's Voy., p. 243. 'Wenn zum ersten Mal beim Mädchen sich Spuren der Mannbarkeit zeigen, wird ihre Unterlippe durchstochen und in diese Oeffnung eine Knochenspitze, gegenwärtig doch häufiger ein Silberstift gelegt.' Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 21. 'Pues les pareció que solo lo tenian los casados.' Perez, Nav., MS. p. 15.
<p>149</p>
'Concave on both sides.' Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., p. 280. 'So lange sie unverheirathet ist, trägt sie diesen; erhält sie aber einen Mann, so presst man einen grösseren Schmuck von Holz oder Knochen in die Oeffnung, welcher nach innen, d. h. zur Zahnseite etwas trogförmig ausgehöhlt ist.' Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 21. 'Une espèce d'écuelle de bois sans anses qui appuie contre les gencives.' La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 224. Pieces of shell resembling teeth. Meares' Voy., p. xxxi.
<p>150</p>
'As large as a large saucer.' Portlock's Voy., p. 289. 'From one corner of the mouth to the other.' Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., p. 280. 'Frequently increased to three, or even four inches in length, and nearly as wide.' Dixon's Voy., p. 187. 'A communément un demi-pouce d'épaisseur, deux de diamètre, et trois pouces de long.' La Pérouse, Voy., tom. iv., p. 54. 'At least seven inches in circumference.' Meares' Voy., p. xxxviii. 'Mit den Jahren wird der Schmuck vergrössert, so dass er bei einem alten Weibe über 2 Zoll breit angetroffen wird.' Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 21. From two to five inches long, and from one and a half to three inches broad. Ladies of distinction increase the size. 'I have even seen ladies of very high rank with this ornament, full five inches long and three broad.' Mr Dwolf affirms that he saw 'an old woman, the wife of a chief, whose lip ornament was so large, that by a peculiar motion of her under-lip she could almost conceal her whole face with it.' 'Horrible in its appearance to us Europeans.' Langsdorff's Voy., pt. ii., p. 115. 'Es una abertura como de media pulgada debaxo del labio inferior, que representa segunda boca, donde colocan una especie de roldana elíptica de pino, cuyo diámetro mayor es de dos pulgadas, quatro lineas, y el menor de una pulgada.' Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 126.
<p>151</p>
'Une énorme tasse de bois, destinée à recevoir la salive qui s'en échappe constamment.' Laplace, Circumnav., tom. vi., p. 87. 'L'effet de cet ornement est de rabattre, par le poids de sa partie saillante la lèvre inférieure sur le menton, de développer les charmes d'une grande bouche béante, qui prend la forme de celle d'un four, et de mettre à découvert une rangée de dents jaunes et sales.' Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 49. 'She is obliged to be constantly on the watch, lest it should fall out, which would cover her with confusion.' Lisiansky's Voy., p. 244. 'The weight of this trencher or ornament weighs the lip down so as to cover the whole of the chin, leaving all the lower teeth and gum quite naked.' Portlock's Voy., p. 289. 'L'usage le plus révoltant qui existe peut-être sur la terre.' La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 226. 'Always in proportion to a person's wealth.' 'Distorts every feature in the lower part of the face.' Dixon's Voy., p. 68, 172. 'In running the lip flaps up and down so as to knock sometimes against the chin and sometimes against the nose. Upon the continent the kaluga is worn still larger; and the female who can cover her whole face with her under-lip passes for the most perfect beauty,' 'The lips of the women held out like a trough, and always filled with saliva stained with tobacco-juice, of which they are immoderately fond, is the most abominably revolting part of the spectacle.' Kotzebue's New Voy., vol. ii., p. 52. 'Dadurch entsteht eine im selbigen Maasse ausgedehnte Lippe, die höchst widerlich aussieht, um so mehr, da sich nun mehr der Mund nicht schliessen kann, sondern unaufhörlich einen braunen Tabaksspeichel von sich gibt.' Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 21. 'So distorts the face as to take from it almost the resemblance to the human; yet the privilege of wearing this ornament is not extended to the female slaves, who are prisoners taken in war.' Cleveland's Voy., p. 91. 'Look as if they had large flat wooden spoons growing in the flesh.' Langsdorff's Voy., pt. ii., p. 115. 'The sight is hideous. Our men used jocosely to say, this lower lip would make a good slab to lay their trousers on to be scrubbed.' Dunn's Oregon, p. 277. 'On ne connaît point d'explication plausible de cette mutilation, qui, chez les Indiens, passe pour un signe de noblesse.' Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 336.
<p>152</p>
'Die Männertracht unterscheidet sich in Nichts von der Weiber; sie besteht nämlich aus einem bis zu den Knieen gehenden Hemde.' Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 18. Some of their blankets 'are so curiously worked on one side with the fur of the sea-otter, that they appear as if lined with it.' 'Some dress themselves in short pantaloons.' Lisiansky's Voy., p. 238. 'Las mugeres visten honestamente una especie de túnica interior de piel sobada.' Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. cxvii. 'Se vestian las mugeres tunicas de pieles ajustadas al cuerpo con brazaletes de cobre o hierro.' Perez, Nav., MS. p. 15. 'Usual clothing consists of a little apron.' Kotzebue's New Voy., vol. ii., p. 49. 'Their feet are always bare.' Langsdorff's Voy., pt. ii., p. 114.
<p>153</p>
'Usan sombreros de la corteza interior del pino en forma de cono truncado.' Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. cxvii. Their wooden masks 'are so thick, that a musket-ball, fired at a moderate distance, can hardly penetrate them.' Lisiansky's Voy., p. 150.
<p>154</p>
Pluck out their beard. Langsdorff's Voy., pt. ii., p. 112. 'Ils ont de la barbe, moins à la vérité que les Européens, mais assez cependant pour qu'il soit impossible d'en douter.' La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 229. 'The women in general are hair-dressers for their husbands.' Portlock's Voy., p. 290.
<p>155</p>
'Der Eingang, ziemlich hoch von der Erde, besteht aus einem kleinen runden Loche.' Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 25. 'Ils se construisent des maisons de bois ou de terre pour l'hiver.' Laplace, Circumnav., vol. vi., p. 87. 'The barabaras of the Sitcan people are of a square form, and spacious. The sides are of planks; and the roof resembles that of a Russian house.' Lisiansky's Voy., p. 239. 'Habitan estos Indios en chozas ó rancherías de tablas muy desabrigadas.' Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. cxvi. At Sitka the roof 'rests upon ten or twelve thick posts driven into the ground, and the sides of the house are composed of broad thick planks fastened to the same posts.' Langsdorff's Voy., pt. ii., p. 129. 'Dans l'intérieur des terres, des habitations bien construites, spacieuses et commodes.' Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 74. 'Shanties on a large scale.' Whymper's Alaska, p. 100. 'Their huts are made of a few boards, which they take away with them when they go to their winter quarters. It is very surprising to see how well they will shape their boards with the shocking tools they employ; some of them being full 10 feet long, 2½ feet broad, and not more than an inch thick.' Portlock's Voy., p. 292. 'High, large, and roomy, built of wood, with the hearth in the middle, and the sides divided into as many compartments as there are families living under the roof.' Richardson's Jour., vol. i., p. 410. 'Lebt in Schoppen aus Balken gebaut, wo an den Seiten für jede Familie besondere Plätze abgetheilt sind, in der Mitte aber Feuer für alle zusammen angemacht wird. So pflegen gemeiniglich 2 bis 6 Familien eine einzige Scheune einzunehmen.' Baer's Ethn. u. Stat., p. 97.
<p>156</p>
'Vingt-cinq pieds de long sur quinze à vingt pieds de large.' La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 220. 'Roof in the whole with the bark of trees.' Kotzebue's New Voy., vol. ii., p. 53. 'Las casas en que estos habitan en las playas son de poca consideracion y ninguna subsistencia.' Bodega y Quadra, Nav., MS. p. 49. 'A few poles stuck in the ground, without order or regularity.' Dixon's Voy., p. 172. 'Gebäude besteht aus langen, sorgfältig behauenen Brettern, die kartenhausartig über einander gestellt, an zahlreichen in die Erde gesteckten Stangen befestigt, recht eigentlich ein hölzernes Zelt bilden. Es hat die Form einer länglichen Barake mit zwei Giebeln.' Kittlitz, Reise, vol. i., pp. 220, 221.
![The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 1, Wild Tribes - Hubert Howe Bancroft](limg_read206179.jpg "The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 1, Wild Tribes - Hubert Howe Bancroft")