debris, and everything betokens the ravages of time.  The largest and most grotesque totem poles seen on the trip here towered a height of fifty feet.  Those poles represent a history of the family and the ancestry as far as they can trace it.  If they are of the Wolf tribe a huge wolf is carved at the top of the pole, and then on down with various signs to the base, the great events of the family and the intermarriages, not forgetting to give place to the good and bad gods who assisted them.  The genealogy of a tribe is always traced back through the mother’s side.  The totem poles are sometimes very large, perhaps four feet at the base.  When the carving is completed they are planted firmly in front of the hut, there to stay until they fall away.  At the lower end, some four feet from the ground, there is an opening into the already hollowed pole, and in this are put the bones of the burned bodies of the family.  It is only the wealthier families who support a totem pole, and no amount of money can induce an Indian to part with his family tree.

[Illustration:  Sitka harbor, Alaska.  Reached via the Union Pacific Ry.]

THE GRAVES

of those not having totems are found in clusters, or scattered on the mountain sides, or anywhere convenience dictates.  The bones are put in a box with all the belongings of the deceased, and then deposited anywhere.  The natives are exceedingly superstitious and jealous in their care of the dead, and would sooner die than molest or steal from a grave.  That tourists who are supposed to be civilized, refined, and Christianized should steal from them is a crime which should never be tolerated, as it was among the passengers of our steamer.

The natives have a belief that all bodies cremated turn into ravens, and that probably accounts to them for the endless number of those birds in Alaska.  Ravens are sacred birds to them, and are never molested in anyway.  There are other methods of disposing of the dead in different parts of Alaska.  The bones are sometimes put in a canoe and raised high in the air on straddles; again, in trees above the reach of prowling animals, or set adrift in a discarded canoe.

Juneau—­the Treadwell mine.

After leaving Wrangel the steamer anchored off Salmon Bay to lighter eighty tons of salt for fishermen, then on to Juneau and Douglas Islands.  Here was the same general appearance of location, the gigantic background of densely wooded mountains, the tide-washed streets, on broken slopes, the dirty native women with their wares for sale, with prices advanced 200 per cent, since the steamer whistled, and behind them their stern male companions, goading them on to make their sales, and stealthily kicking them in their crouched positions if they came down on their prices to an eager but economical tourist.