The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 23, 1902, Page 2

som. On the way to the attic I u:wuou‘g .ondered what the ‘glory hole’ could pos bly be and why he had seen fit 10 EIVel t such & queer name. But when he threw the door open and I got a good look &t the place it all seemed very piain. The Toom was & large one and filled with allly sorts and conditions of treasures. Hence{d the word “giory”; and “hole” as it 1s jn utter confusion. . “1 never iry to keep things put away § up here, 5o be careful and don’t fall over & enyihing. Of course, you undersiand it g 15 unly oecause L would not like i have W uny of Uus Lusn uroken,” ane hus cyes Lwinkied &5 e kicked Some obslacie vut OF_ius Way. Now uere is a fine piece of their work ana 4 am willing to et that you have never seen anyuung exactly like it NOW Lave you?" After looking at it carefully and wisely 1 said 1 guessed 1 hadn’t. “Well, no, i guess you haven't either,” he answered, ~as it is the only one 1 have ever seen and Indian hunters tell me the same thing. No, I fancy it is something new to you." Maybe you think I didn’t almost shake hands with myself right before the man. ror once in my life 1 had said the rignt thing &t the right time. ““fhat is & dance rattle. That's it. Hear the pebbie tles are used for two i Chilkats use them as a ceremonial 4z and some icine men i at district use them as a charm to drive the evil spirit out. Of course there are ail manner of rattles, but this particular aesi| what makes tn one valuabie. See, here it 1s in one of the books tnat our Government issues. Isn't it a beauty?” and the man who has every kind of a curio under the shining sun turned it enthused over its au Shaxe 1t Those rat gs only. 1he part of their of tne med- s not. 1o do tne me thing."” As he 1 that he flourished the spoon er hi d a faint rattle made him n that there Let me see what it i for a glass. “‘Well, a ian. as he t D t critically with one eye closed, cer was not made to r whale er, that man Was cut through the fins. There 1su't 2 v way to do it.- And, are not made of h je didn’t say that a whale Jonah, did it? It ¢ said was 4 big fish, and I ir t be Jonah “Is it used as we use spoons? #P0N, Intoe That spoon is used fo thing. There is a sort erry th y eat. This spoon is beat that berfy into a pink froth. 5is foamy they fill the spoon and arornd, A sort of a family spoon, A ink? Wouldn't you like to { join the circle yway, it is never T Used for anything else. If you will 100 A 1y you will see that it is scoopel L Such a fashion that it works the ries up QUICklY-’ ke an ornament than else to me, It Is long and slen- [ {s made of a - hard, dark By The handle is made to represent a and the carving on it is most elab- orate. It i ; pretty and would look ¢ best with & col it Dt 2 ou understand there are all < and ail sizes of spoons. But there few that are not carved to a cer- § e cxtent. As long as they have to {y Saake their own utensils it makes no dif: ference to them how much time they ex- pend. Time in winter hangs heavily on their hands, and they are only too glad to while away the days. Mook at this opercula, for instance. It was only an ordinary household dish for food. But to me it represents some of their best work. In the first place it is not shaped. like a bowl. Thes represented the cer. The entire body‘is covered Wwith various designs and the head is not only well modeled, but it 1s also well fin ished. Is it not infinitely more artisti¢ than any of our vegetable dishes? or saw one that could come up to it.% it was not always as touchable as it'h" is now. Well, I guess not. It was a mass of grease and filth, and it was ali that we could do to have it about. It isn't very.clean now, as I hated to make it too imniaculate, for it would not be thorough- 1y Indian. § nd the professor handled it gingerly & and has been doing that very same thing ‘& for year ther than make it lose its ief characteristic. To him the thing st be absolutely correct of else it has lost its value. Professor Davidson is the acknowledged 3 authority on anything Indfan, and to him % S our ordinary fish also belongs the distinction "of owning the finest private collection of curios in the United States. In 1859 he fitst went to Alaska in the employment of the Govern- ment, and the majority of his specimens (Were picked up In that year and in 1861, hefore the Indians knew the value of them and before toey knew how to handle In a'l n er- gt ve a cent of money to an Indian,” said the professor. *No matter What I wanted °1 always bartered for it. When I was preparing for a trip I never Jeglected that part of my outfit, for it Iten roved all important. 4 re they clever at all in trading with A jite Tolks? 1 asked e they clever? Listen to me, ma ere is g ), YO! Fe gman. Here is a falr example ot their 4 L, in two things. One day I went on ,Shore for some exe and saw a squaw noaking a fish-net. Now, 1 knew she had accdle. and I wondered how she could t94ke @ large net without one. I signed [ how sr {0 B0 slower, so that I could see for it is no tmall trick, 1dh no attention to 1 a hard sea-biscuit f§ pocket to munch if 1 got 4 ¢ iad the biscuit in #f wed up and I watched 2L mesh-knot. She had a y Ehotgn o Shatele 10 s dextrous’ 4 e ”“x.;lgrl)dr laurnln]gv‘lh and A!lllrv!)l‘m\:’“}‘!“y body who can do that. eve, & b ier make that large ball of know any- 4 4 y- & ven the fishermen s ali the time— & for 1 4 . know his :'ts;u!rlty\\aa wonderful n jud g oot Spuipecritl, Yo Sin lifes gave her a hard buscuit, mind. ple DUt 'you must not think that these peo. Rt e different from others. }‘f"- & pole 1o oire 15 pretty much the same trom Baby 1t Toaliow omise you -von't drop the a quarter for pattyo O°° it he put Into my nan imaginable, but neverthe- doll. A gGuéer little figure trand of beads about ity throat and a pair of gaudy ear-rings that- reached its shoulde The = dress waa® ginple in the extreme and the doll was. made of Tou; and was the personifi." cation of ugliness. but it gerved the, pur pose just &s well as a beautiful Parisian ost several hundred. The Eski- 4 mo youngster thought it every bitas hand- e and hugged it just as tightly and ingly @¢ did the American baby ed in vyards and yards of real lace. ie the old . ““fine feathers make fine birds 111 1t is every whit s true th rs do not change the real person nor do they change their true personality. A doll is a doll for al tnet and all that. hose people are not glven ecredit f half that they know,” burst forth the p ; Kk at this wrestler. To s not a thing of bea: ts in proportion, whi or 1 could do for him. That Lgure & made of ¢ <« neatness iisel that they observe closely ‘e s trained to be accurg would cost m As he said thi funniest doll less it was with a g THE SUNDAY CALL. “But if you want real Indian dgcorative work, wait a moment and I will show you ofte of the gems of my_collection.” In a few minutes he came back, utterly engrossed in taking several curios from a tony bed. “These never leave my hands,” he said. “They are too rare.” One was an arrowhead of pure jade. Not the kind that is seen so much in China- town and that so many bracelets are made of. That-is a vivid green and the Chinese themselves do not think so much § of it. The clearer and purer jade is, the more valuable. This arrowhead is almost white and it is as sharp as a knife. The fellow that I got if from thought & it was pretty fine,’ laughed the profes- & sor. “And so did I. He was sharp enough to get a good jacket for it." F The other one was a slate totem. It is one mass of frogs, fish and men. Here & and there and everywhere s the Almighty & eye that is always in evidence. What their superstition is regarding it has never been found out. Y Why, it 1o0ks like the portrayal of the § life of & man.” I exclaimed as T turned and twisted it in forty various directions. You never made a better guess in your lite,” came the ready answer. “That is/ exactly what a totem is. The life of a ¢amily 1s plainly = told there and if a o ger recognizes any of his relatives by any particular sign in the totem ho g 1£ %ntitled to their protection, no matter how he is persecuted. Tt freavently s N convenient when one is traveling, as g the visitor is entitled to stay fust as long as he pleases. And let me tell you an- other secret and one that few people Know. It you will explain that totem was originally spelled totam vou will say what no ther person has said, and it will beg o gross insult to the people. They haveg no religion that is apparent. If they haved one, they keep it to themselves and no one, is the wiser. The fellows that make the best totems and that make the greates number are the Haidaites on the southeriy part of the Archipelago Alexander. Theic vices are frequently called upon Dby, other tribes. “They sometimes make the pillavs thag)/ ornament the homes of the chiefs. Thesg, pillars are about two and a half feet thick’ and about eight feet high. It is seldom they are not colored so they look zavdy. with a quantity of red, blue, black and” once in & while brown paint on them.” Houses with pillars,” 1 muttered. “I didn't know they ever had houses big enough for that.” “That's it, that's just it la professor. “Your jdea is hlx:?g:g:utm:s accurate_as most people’s. 1 slept In chief's chamber that was 54 feet square The beds were built around the room I tiers. and there were between 300 and 40 warriors there, T can tell you It wacy | sight to see ail those redskins lined about e Toom and tc k y into & Toaring fire in the seneer GhK nto & o ire in the center of the “But to get bac! of it again,” o ehe decoration part denly ain,” said the professor a spied a pipe. “While they are more they filustrate the artis- ‘D‘e'x_vle, Every man makes it Is as fancy as he chooses le majority of pipes are hout two feet long and are made of wal- Amunea Yy Vhich contrasts well with the Gari a3 they are put on In black or a Gauan Fhaperhe feats of the owner are ejally there. A man fishing, driving : tindeer, spearing a le. or rowing ‘omipletes his life doings. Just the sm: i o uines Imaginable aitd a faint back Efound finishes the work on a good ope W nis & While an industrious chap Wil . ancy scroll of ivor; oml;ogm & the last “slender piece e P putsa y_al;mhrAlrd that oversees it would breaks with a nasty e 424\ s al v me o i all this work, protessor—the ang G vomen make most of the baskets, nd mighty fine ones they do make, and they malke the clothes as well. An indian voman can sew with fier ‘and sinews ndturn out capital work. They cut the .\ inews finer than the ordinary cotton that ou use. “As a rule they sew over and Yer gn account of working with furs, \ ut spey understand’ the art of needle- \ -'1-03'"‘ put it into practical use. s 2L Mmust not think that the Indian 1as ho ingenuity. He has any amount ot L. in fact necessity is the mothcr of In- wm‘m‘i“ For instance, they found that ice vould form on metals. on horn_and on gcks. When they wanted to scoop out he lce to get water, they_ were seriously nconvenienced, as' ice .formed immedi- ately, ‘Finally some one smarter than the rest ‘discovered that whalebone could be used successtully. He didn't try to patent it and -make his neighbor pay him so much to use that loosely woven basket of whalebone fastened to a handle. No. not he. He merely told this one, and this one . told that one until to-day they are able to scratch the ice all day and get all the water they please.” “Don't they make use of shells at all?” 1 asked. "It scems to me they liked such trinkets.' “Sheils. Yes, indeed, they like them. They frequently use them to outline an opercula. You know the shape of our chopping-bowl? That iIs a favorite shape with them. Just around the ridge they set in a row of shells. The bowls get so dirty that it is impossible to tell just what they do look like. The haliotis seems to be a prime favorite with them, as they make so many eyes of it. Oh, those red fellows know a thing or two, and you might just as well say it.” And T 1oft the authority on Indians standing on his veranda and calling after me, “They are not fools.’ part of t] his own uné have - it. about two fe MADGE MOORE.