Facts About Alaskan Indians
Some time since, Sir Knight James F. Rodgers, of Tiffin, Ohio, wrote us: "A man gave an illustrated lecture on Alaska at our school-house. He said, 'That when a girl arrives at the age of fourteen she is taken to the mountains and confined in a house for one year; when a girl arrives at the age of eighteen her parents put a wooden button in her lower lip; that the people worship the white crow.' Are these statements true?"
In reply, Mr. O. T. Mason, Curator of the Department of Ethnology in the National Museum, Washington, very kindly says: "I take special pleasure in answering the inquiries of James F. Rodgers, of Tiffin, Ohio. He may have misunderstood the lecturer somewhat, and, therefore, without characterizing it, say, first, that among all savage tribes in the world there is a custom of separating young women when they come to be of marriageable age. These customs differ from tribe to tribe, and the length of time of their separation varies. There are no high mountains in Alaska, and one year seems to be rather a long period, yet the general fact remains; secondly, a button of wood, or ivory, or stone, called a labret, is placed in the lower lip of girls, in some tribes of boys, in other of both. Among the Eskimo and the Indians of Alaska, as the child grows older and the orifice becomes enlarged, a stone or block of wood of greater and greater size is inserted, until I have seen a block at least 2-1/2 inches in diameter taken from the lip of an old woman. The Botocudos of South America, on the Amazon, are especially curious in this regard, for they not only insert enormous blocks in their lips, but also in the lobe of the ear, until it falls upon the shoulder; thirdly, as to the worship of the Alaskan natives, it should be said that there are two kinds of natives in Alaska—Eskimo and Indians. The Eskimo have one sort of primitive religion, the Indians quite another sort. It does not convey exactly the right idea to us that the natives worship anything, certainly it is very far from the truth to say that anybody in Alaska worships the white crow.
"The Indians of Alaska, like the other Indians of America, are divided up in their tribal relations into bands or clans called 'Totems,' and these are generally named after some prominent animal of the region. Great respect is paid to these animals, and frequently the clan refrains from eating the whole or a portion of the totemic animal. It is a very interesting study. I cannot find out that the Eskimos have any definite names for the objects of which they stand in awe. They have among them a class of men called 'Shammans,' who believe in spirits and practise certain rules for the influencing and controlling these spirits. The same worship is common all over Siberia and northern Europe. None of these people have an organized form of worship. Such a thing would be impossible in a country so forlorn and cold."