Identifier: inalaskanwildern00gord (find matches)
Title: In the Alaskan wilderness
Year: 1917 (1910s)
Authors: Gordon, G. B. (George Byron), 1870-1927
Subjects: Eskimo languages Alaska -- Description and travel
Publisher: Philadelphia : The John C. Winston Company
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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t one hundred and fifty people in thevillage. There were two chiefs at Sikmiut, a head chiefwhose rank was inherited and a second or sub-chief who was chosen by the first to be his lieu-tenant and deputy. (It was he that met us aswe landed.) Both were men of ability and itwas clear that they took their duties seriouslyand exercised their authority for the good of thecommunity. The head chief, as I have said, had visited theMoravian Mission at the mouth of the river andhad seen and heard something of white men andtheir ways. The name Andrew had been bestowedupon him during his visit and he had adoptedit in addition to the Indian name, after the Indianfashion of having several names. Indeed, Idid not learn his Indian name, because it isnot polite to inquire and it is a kind of informa-tion that Indians do not offer even to their mostfavored guests. Similarly the chiefs of the Sikmiut never askedus our names, but they soon had names for us.To my brother, who asked about the big game, 112
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THE SUB-CHIEF OF THE SIKMIUT they gave the name Tuntuok and because Iwas inquiring about the past and the old tradi-tions they called me Esantuk (The Old Times).These names stuck to us down to the mouthof the river. Although he had visited the Mission, theSikmiut chief had not been converted or baptizedand he had not been greatly impressed by whathe had seen and heard. The teaching, he said,was good, but it was not better than the thingsthat his people had taught and practiced always.He had encountered traders on his journeysdown river and lately white people had madetheir appearance in his neighborhood on theirway to the Tacotna. Reports had come to him,moreover, from the Yukon and from other partsof the country touching the doings of the whitemen. From his observations and from reports,he was convinced that the presence of the whitemen in Alaska was an evil and that they deliber-ately practiced evil. That being the case, whatdid their good teaching matter? Nothing can be more unfort

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