The tribe occupying the region near to Glacier Bay is known as the Hooniahs, an ingenious and industrious people, who manufacture bracelets, spoons, and various ornaments out of silver and copper. Some of the men of this tribe wear a ring in their noses, like the women, but this seems to be going slowly out of fashion. We were told that the men have as many wives as they choose to take, and that they are not always careful to properly discriminate between other men’s and their own, an act of dereliction from propriety which is, however, by no means confined to savage life. A great laxity in morals is also said to prevail among most of the tribes from Behring Strait southward to the Aleutian group of islands. Let us not, however, be too censorious in judging them; if their virtues are found to be in the minority, is not this also the case with most communities which boast the elevating advantages of culture and civilization? It has been known for a century more or less that masses of pure copper were found by the aborigines along the course of Copper River, which flows into the Pacific Ocean midway between Mount St. Elias and the peninsula of Kenai. The natives exhibited one mass of pure copper, as naturally deposited, weighing over sixty pounds. The character of this mineral closely resembles that of our Lake Superior district, and there is every indication of its abundance in this region, not alone on Copper River, but in several districts and islands. The natives have utilized the article for many generations in the manufacture of personal ornaments, and for making various useful household utensils, such as stewpans and small kettles. Any permanent rise in the market value of copper would stimulate the development of the copper mines of Alaska to compete with other portions of our country. Petroleum is also found on Copper River, forcing itself to the surface from some underground reservoir, and again near the Bay of Katmai. This product was largely used by the Russians for lubricating purposes. Professor Davidson discovered in this vicinity an iron mountain some two thousand feet high, which was so full of magnetic ore as to seriously affect his calculations and derange his compass. Mr. Seward said of the same vicinity: “I found there not a single iron mountain, but a whole range of hills the very dust of which adhered to the magnet.” There is plenty of coal also, and with these two articles in juxtaposition a great industry may ultimately be the outgrowth. Viewed as a sure foundation of commercial and manufacturing prosperity, coal and iron will prove, in the long run, to be worth nearly as much to Alaska as her abundant and inexhaustible gold supply.