The remarkable museum of ancient arms, dresses, wooden and skin armor, and domestic utensils exhibited in New York city in 1868 by Mr. Edward G. Fast, and which was collected by him while in the employment of our government among the people of the Northwest, revealed some very important facts as to their history. The collection proved clearly that two or three hundred years ago these natives of Alaska enjoyed a much higher degree of civilization than is exhibited by their descendants to-day. That they have deteriorated in industry, steadiness, and ability generally is obvious. The art of forging must have been known to them in the earlier times, as shown in this collection of admirable weapons, clearly of native manufacture and of most excellent finish. The art of carving was possessed by them in far greater perfection than they exhibit in our day, while the skillfully made dresses of tanned leather worn by the ancient Aleuts nearly equal those in which the warriors were clad who accompanied Cortez and Pizarro when they landed on this continent. Mr. Fast was singularly fortunate in securing whole suits of armor, masks, and war implements for his unique museum of Alaskan antiquities. In association with Russians and Americans for a century, more or less, these aborigines have readily adopted the vices of civilization, so to speak, and have sacrificed most of their own better qualities. Indolence generally has taken the place of the warlike habits and steadiness of purpose which must have characterized them as a people to a large degree before the whites came with firearms and fire-water. How forcibly is the law of mutability impressed upon us! From a state of comparative power and importance, this people has dwindled to a condition simply foreshadowing oblivion.