Part 22 (1/2)
The vegetation is all of tropical luxuriance, and, owing to its constant dew and mist baths, it is of an intense and vivid green that is fairly dazzling where the sun touches it. One of the chief charms of the wooded reserve is its stillness--broken only by the musical rush of waters and the lyrical notes of birds. A kind of lavender twilight abides beneath the trees, and, with the narrow, spruce-aisled vistas that open at every turn, gives one a sensation as of being in some dim and scented cathedral.
Enticing paths lead away from the main road to the river, where the voices of rapids and cataracts call; but at last one comes to an open s.p.a.ce, so closely walled round on all sides by the forest that it may easily be pa.s.sed without being seen--and to which one makes his way with difficulty, pus.h.i.+ng aside branches of trees and tall ferns as he proceeds.
Here, producing an effect that is positively uncanny, are several great totems, s.h.i.+ning out brilliantly from their dark green setting.
One experiences that solemn feeling which every one has known, as of standing among the dead; the shades of Baranoff, Behring, Lisiansky, Veniaminoff, Chirikoff,--all the unknown murdered ones, too,--go drifting noiselessly, with reproachful faces, through the dim wood.
It was on the beach near this grove of totems that Lisiansky's men were murdered by Kolos.h.i.+ans in 1804, while obtaining water for the s.h.i.+p.
The Sitka Industrial Training School was founded nearly thirty years ago by ex-Governor Brady, who was then a missionary to the Indians of Alaska.
It was first attended by about one hundred natives, ranging from the very young to the very old. This school was continued, with varied success, by different people--including Captain Gla.s.s, of the _Jamestown_--until Dr. Sheldon Jackson became interested, and, with Mr.
Brady and Mr. Austin, sought and obtained aid from the Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church.
A building was erected for a Boys' Home, and this was followed, a year later, by a Girls' Home.
The girls were taught to speak the English language, cook, wash, iron, sew, mend, and to become cleanly, cheerful, honest, honorable women.
The boys were taught to speak the English language; the trades of shoemaking, coopering, boat-building, carpentry, engineering, rope-making, and all kinds of agricultural work. The rudiments of bricklaying, painting, and paper-hanging are also taught.
During the year 1907 a Bible Training Department was added for those among the older boys and girls who desired to obtain knowledge along such lines, or who aspired to take up missionary work among their people.
Twelve pupils took up the work, and six continued it throughout the year. The work in this department is, of course, voluntary on the part of the student.
The Sitka Training School is not, at present, a government school.
During the early nineties it received aid from the government, under the government's method of subsidizing denominational schools, where they were already established, instead of incurring the extra expense of establis.h.i.+ng new government schools in the same localities.
When the government ceased granting such subsidies, the Sitka School--as well as many other denominational schools--lost this a.s.sistance.
The property of the school has always belonged to the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions.
For many years it was customary to keep pupils at the schools from their entrance until their education was finished.
In the summer of 1905 the experiment was tried of permitting a few pupils to go to their homes during vacation. All returned in September cheerfully and willingly; and now, each summer, more than seventy boys and girls return to their homes to spend the time of vacation with their families.
In former years, it would have been too injurious to the child to be subjected to the influence of its parents, who were but slightly removed from savagery. To-day, although many of the old heathenish rites and customs still exist, they have not so deep a hold upon the natives; and it is hoped, and expected, that the influence of the students for good upon their people will far exceed that of their people for ill upon them.
During the past year ninety boys and seventy-four girls were enrolled--or as many as can be accommodated at the schools. They represent the three peoples into which the Indians of southeastern Alaska are now roughly divided--the Thlinkits, the Haidahs, and the Tsimpsians. They come from Katalla, Yakutat, Skagway, Klukwan, Haines, Douglas, Juneau, Kasa-an, Howkan, Metlakahtla, Hoonah--and, indeed, from almost every point in southeastern Alaska where a handful of Indians are gathered together.
CHAPTER XVIII
The many people who innocently believe that there are no birds in Alaska may be surprised to learn that there are, at least, fifty different species in the southeastern part of that country.
Among these are the song sparrow, the rufous humming-bird, the western robin, of unfailing cheeriness, the russet-backed thrush, the barn swallow, the golden-crowned kinglet, the Oregon Junco, the winter wren, and the bird that, in liquid clearness and poignant sweetness of note, is second only to the western meadow-lark--the poetic hermit thrush.
He that has heard the impa.s.sioned notes of this shy bird rising from the woods of Sitka will smile at the a.s.sertion that there are no birds in Alaska.