Inside of the rude native houses one finds many hideous carvings, representing impossible animals and strange objects of all sorts, after the style of the totem-poles, of which we shall have occasion to speak. Many of their small domestic utensils are made from the horns of the mountain goats, and are also curiously carved with nightmare objects, as evil to look upon as African idols. Yet some of these articles show considerable skill and infinite patience in execution. We have seen specimens that it was difficult to believe were executed by the hand of an uncultured savage. Before the Russians introduced iron and steel knives, the aborigines seem to have carved only with copper and stone implements, producing remarkable results under the circumstances. The young women wear silver bracelets, pounded out of American dollar pieces, some of which are an inch broad, and are covered elaborately after civilized models, others bear native heraldic devices of birds, beasts, and fishes, which are said to represent the arms of the wearer’s family, it being customary for each tribe and person to adopt some distinctive seal or crest. They much prefer silver ornaments to those of gold or other material; though they are not slow to realize intrinsic values, probably they choose the less expensive metal because it is Alaska fashion. In spite of all the missionary effort which is made to enlighten these natives, they are still slaves to the most debasing superstitions. Scarcely a month passes in which the civil authorities are not called upon to interfere with the people for cruelty. We were told of one instance which lately occurred at Juneau. A native was seriously ill, and the medicine-man, having failed to relieve him by his noisy incantations, charged an old member of the tribe with having bewitched the invalid. He was consequently seized, tied up, and whipped until nearly insensible, being left for three days without food. By chance the authorities heard of the case and released the old man. The two principal natives who had been guilty of the maltreatment were tried and fined twenty dollars each. The very next day the old man was missing, and it was found that he had again been tied up and whipped. The two culprits admitted repeating their cruelty, saying they had paid for the right to whip out the witch from the old man, and it must be done before the invalid would recover. These ignorant creatures entertained no malice towards the old native; it was only a matter of duty, as they thought, to exorcise the evil one which had possessed the invalid. This is a fair sample of the superstition of the average Alaskans.