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Kalitan, Our Little Alaskan Cousin

<h2>CHAPTER II</h2> <div class='chaptertitle'>AROUND THE CAMP-FIRE</div> "How does it happen that you speak English, Kalitan?" asked Mr. Strong as they sat around the camp-fire that evening. The snow had continued during the afternoon, and the boys had had an exciting time coasting and snow-balling and enjoying themselves generally. "I went for a few months to the Mission School at Wrangel," said Kalitan. "I learned much there. They teach the boys to read and write and do sums and to work the ground besides. They learn much more than the girls." "Huh!" said the old chief, grimly. "Girls learn too much. They no good for Indian wives, and white men not marry them. Best[13] for girls to stay at home at the will of their fathers until they get husbands." "So you've been in Wrangel," said Ted to Kalitan. "We went there, too. It's a dandy place. Do you remember the fringe of white mountains back of the harbour? The people said the woods were full of game, but we didn't have time to go hunting. There are a few shops there, but it seemed to me a very small place to have been built since 1834. In the States whole towns grow up in two or three weeks." "Huh!" said Kalitan, with a quick shrug of his shoulders, "quick grow, sun fade and wind blow down." "I don't think the sun could ever fade in Wrangel," laughed Ted. "They told me there it hadn't shone but fifteen days in three months. It rained all the time." "Rain is nothing," said Kalitan. "It is when the Ice Spirit speaks in the North Wind's[14] roar and in the crackling of the floes that we tremble. The glaciers are the children of the Mountain Spirit whom our fathers worshipped. He is angry, and lo! he hurls down icebergs in his wrath, he tosses them about, upon the streams he tosses the kyaks like feathers and washes the land with the waves of Sitth. When our people are buried in the ground instead of being burnt with the fire, they must go for ever to the place of Sitth, of everlasting cold, where never sun abides, nor rain, nor warmth." Ted had listened spellbound to this poetic speech and gazed at Kalitan in open-mouthed amazement. A boy who could talk like that was a new and delightful playmate, and he said: "Tell me more about things, Kalitan," but the Indian was silent, ashamed of having spoken. "What do you do all day when you are at home?" persisted the American. [15] "In winter there is nothing to do but to hunt and fish," said Kalitan. "Sometimes we do not find much game, then we think of how, when a Thlinkit dies, he has plenty. If he has lived as a good tribesman, his kyak glides smoothly over the silver waters into the sunset, until, o'er gently flowing currents, it reaches the place of the mighty forest. A bad warrior's canoe passes dark whirlpools and terrible rapids until he reaches the place we speak not of, where reigns Sitth. "In the summer-time we still hunt and fish. Many have learned to till the ground, and we gather berries and wood for the winter. The other side of the inlet, the tree-trunks drift from the Yukon and are stranded on the islands, so there is plenty for firewood. But upon our island the women gather a vine and dry it. They collect seaweed for food in the early spring, and dry it and press it into square cakes, which make good food after they have hung[16] long in the sun. They make baskets and sell them to the white people. Often my uncle and I take them to Valdez, and once we brought back fifty dollars for those my mother made. There is always much to do." "Don't you get terribly cold hunting in the winter?" asked Ted. "Thlinkit boy not a baby," said Kalitan, a trifle scornfully. "We begin to be hardened when we are babies. When I was five years old, I left my father and went to my uncle to be taught. Every morning I bathed in the ocean, even if I had to break ice to find water, and then I rolled in the snow. After that my uncle brushed me with a switch bundle, and not lightly, for his arm is strong. I must not cry out, no matter if he hurt, for a chief's son must never show pain nor fear. That would give his people shame." "Don't you get sick?" asked Ted, who felt[17] cold all over at the idea of being treated in such a heroic manner. "The Kooshta[3] comes sometimes," said Kalitan. "The Shaman[4] used to cast him out, but now the white doctor can do it, unless the kooshta is too strong." Ted was puzzled as to Kalitan's exact meaning, but did not like to ask too many questions for fear of being impolite, so he only said: "Being sick is not very nice, anyhow." "To be bewitched is the most terrible," said Kalitan, gravely. "How does that happen?" asked Ted, eagerly, but Kalitan shook his head. "It is not good to hear," he said. "The medicine-man must come with his drum and rattle, and he is very terrible. If the white men will not allow any more the punishing of[18] the witches, they should send more of the white medicine-men, if we are not to have any more of our own." "Boys should not talk about big things," said the old chief suddenly. He had been sitting quietly over the fire, and spoke so suddenly that Kalitan collapsed into silence. Ted, too, quieted down at the old chief's stern voice and manner, and both boys sat and listened to the men talking, while the snow still swirled about them. Tyee Klake told Mr. Strong many interesting things about the coast country, and gave him valuable information as to the route he should pursue in his search for interesting things in the mountains. "It will be two weeks before the snow will break so you can travel in comfort," he said. "Camp with us. We remain here one week, then we go to the island. We can take you[19] there, you will see many things, and your boy will hunt with Kalitan." "Where is your island?" asked Mr. Strong. Ted said nothing, but his eyes were fixed eagerly upon his father. It was easy to see that he wished to accept the invitation. "Out there." Tyee Klake pointed toward where the white coast-line seemed to fade into silvery blue. "There are many islands; on some lives no one, but we have a village. Soon it will be nearly deserted, for many of our people rove during the summer, and wander from one camping-ground to another, seeking the best game or fish. But Kalitan's people remain always on the island. Him I take with me to hunt the whale and seal, to gather the berries, and to trap the little animals who bear fur. We find even seal upon our shores, though fewer since your people have come among us." "Which were the best, Russians or Americans?"[20] asked Mr. Strong, curious to see what the old Indian would say, but the Tyee was not to be caught napping. "Men all alike," he said. "Thlinkit, Russian, American, some good, some bad. Russians used Indians more, gave them hunting and fishing, and only took part of the skins. Americans like to hunt and fish all themselves and leave nothing for the Indians. Russians teach quass, Americans teach whiskey. Before white men came, Indians were healthy. They ate fish, game, berries; now they must have other foods, and they are not good for Indians here,"—he touched his stomach. "Indian used to dress in skins and furs, now he must copy white man and shiver with cold. He soon has the coughing sickness and then he goes into the unknown. "But the government of the Americans is best because it tries to do some things for the Indian. It teaches our boys useful things in[21] the schools, and, if some of its people are bad, some Indians are bad, too. Men all alike," he repeated with the calm stoicism of his race. "The government is far away," said Mr. Strong, "and should not be blamed for the doings of all its servants. I should like to see this island home of yours, and think we must accept your invitation; shall we, Ted?" he smiled at the boy. "Yes, indeed; thank you, sir," said Ted, and he and Kalitan grinned at each other happily. "We shall stay in camp until the blue jay comes," said the old chief, smiling, "and then seek the village of my people." "What does the blue jay mean?" asked Ted, timidly, for he was very much in awe of this grave old man. Kalitan said something in Thlinkit to his uncle, and the old chief, looking kindly at the boy, replied with a nod: [22] "I will tell you the story of the blue jay," he said. "My story is of the far, far north. Beside a salmon stream there dwelt people rich in slaves. These caught and dried the salmon for the winter, and nothing is better to eat than dried salmon dipped in seal oil. All the fish were caught and stored away, when lo! the whiteness fell from heaven and the snows were upon them. It was the time of snow and they should not have complained, but the chief was evil and he cursed the whiteness. No one should dare to speak evil of the Snow Spirit, which comes from the Unknown! Deeper and deeper grew the snow. It flew like feathers about the eglu,[5] and the slaves had many troubles in putting in limbs for the fire. Then the snow came in flakes so large they seemed like the wings of birds, and the house was covered, and they could no longer keep their kyaks on[23] top of the snow. All were shut tight in the house, and their fire and food ran low. They knew not how many days they were shut in, for there was no way to tell the day from night, only they knew they were sore hungry and that the Snow Spirit was angry and terrible in his anger. "But each one spoke not; he only chose a place where he should lie down and die when he could bear no more. "Only the chief spoke, and he once. 'Snow Spirit,' he said aloud, 'I alone am evil. These are not so. Slay me and spare!' But the Snow Spirit answered not, only the wind screamed around the eglu, and his screams were terrible and sad. Then hope left the heart of the chief and he prepared to die with all his people and all his slaves. "But on the day when their last bit of food was gone, lo! something pecked at the top of the smoke-hole, and it sang 'Nuck-tee,' and it[24] was a blue jay. The chief heard and saw and wondered, and, looking 'neath the smoke-hole, he saw a scarlet something upon the floor. Picking it up, he found it was a bunch of Indian tomato berries, red and ripe, and quickly hope sprang in his breast. "'Somewhere is summer,' he cried. 'Let us up and away.' "Then the slaves hastened to dig out the canoe, and they drew it with mighty labour, for they were weak from fasting, over the snows to the shore, and there they launched it without sail or paddle, with all the people rejoicing. And after a time the wind carried them to a beach where all was summer. Birds sang, flowers bloomed, and berries gleamed scarlet in the sun, and there were salmon jumping in the blue water. They ate and were satisfied, for it was summer on the earth and summer in their hearts. "That is how the Thlinkits came to our[25] island, and so we say when the snow breaks, that now comes the blue jay." "Thank you for telling us such a dandy story," cried Ted, who had not lost a word of this quaint tale, told so graphically over the camp-fire of the old chief Klake. <div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> <div class="footnote">[3] Kooshta, a spirit in animal's form which inhabits the body of sick persons and must be cast out, according to Thlinkit belief. </div> <div class="footnote">[4] Shaman, native medicine-man. </div> <div class="footnote">[5] Hut. </div> </div> <hr class="chap" />[26] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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