The chief had a slave, a young and good-looking girl, who waited on
him, cooked his food, lighted his pipe for him, etc. Her servitude
seemed by no means galling. In the morning, just before we left on the
return trip, interpreter John overheard him telling her that after the
teacher came from Wrangell, he was going to dress her well and send her
to school and use her in every way as if she were his own daughter.
Slaves are still owned by the richest of the Thlinkits. Formerly, many
of them were sacrificed on great occasions, such as the opening of a
new house or the erection of a totem pole. Kadachan ordered John to
take a pair of white blankets out of his trunk and wrap them about the
chief’s shoulders, as he sat by the fire. This gift was presented
without ceremony or saying a single word. The chief scarcely noticed
the blankets, only taking a corner in his hand, as if testing the
quality of the wool. Toyatte had been an inveterate enemy and fighter
of the Chilcats, but now, having joined the church, he wished to forget
the past and bury all the hard feuds and be universally friendly and
peaceful. It was evident, however, that he mistrusted the proud and
warlike Chilcats and doubted the acceptance of his friendly advances,
and as we approached their village became more and more thoughtful.
“My wife said that my old enemies would be sure to kill me. Well, never
mind. I am an old man and may as well die as not.” He was troubled with
palpitation, and oftentimes, while he suffered, he put his hand over
his heart and said, “I hope the Chilcats will shoot me here.”
Before venturing up the river to the principal village, located some
ten miles up the river, we sent Sitka Charley and one of the young
Chilcats as messengers to announce our arrival and inquire whether we
would be welcome to visit them, informing the chief that both Kadachan
and Toyatte were Mr. Young’s friends and mine, that we were “all one
meat” and any harm done them would also be done to us.
While our messengers were away, I climbed a pure-white, dome-crowned
mountain about fifty-five hundred feet high and gained noble telling
views to the northward of the main Chilcat glaciers and the multitude
of mighty peaks from which they draw their sources. At a height of
three thousand feet I found a mountain hemlock, considerably dwarfed,
in company with Sitka spruce and the common hemlock, the tallest about
twenty feet high, sixteen inches in diameter. A few stragglers grew
considerably higher, say at about four thousand feet. Birch and
two-leaf pine were common.
The messengers returned next day, bringing back word that we would all
be heartily welcomed excepting Toyatte; that the guns were loaded and
ready to be fired to welcome us, but that Toyatte, having insulted a
Chilcat chief not long ago in Wrangell, must not come. They also
informed us in their message that they were very busy merrymaking with
other visitors, Sitka Jack and his friends, but that if we could get up
to the village through the running ice on the river, they would all be
glad to see us; they had been drinking and Kadachan’s father, one of
the principal chiefs, said plainly that he had just waked up out of a
ten days’ sleep. We were anxious to make this visit, but, taking the
difficulties and untoward circumstances into account, the danger of
being frozen in at so late a time, while Kadachan would not be able to
walk back on account of a shot in his foot, the danger also from
whiskey, the awakening of old feuds on account of Toyatte’s presence,
etc., we reluctantly concluded to start back on the home journey at
once. This was on Friday and a fair wind was blowing, but our crew, who
loved dearly to rest and eat in these big hospitable houses, all said
that Monday would be _hyas klosh_ for the starting-day. I insisted,
however, on starting Saturday morning, and succeeded in getting away
from our friends at ten o’clock. Just as we were leaving, the chief who
had entertained us so handsomely requested a written document to show
that he had not killed us, so in case we were lost on the way home he
could not be held accountable in any way for our death.
