File:In the Alaskan wilderness (1917) (14590698269).jpg

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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e. On the map drawn by the aid of theIndians it looked as if it might be a reasonabledays journey for a man traveling with a lightpack, and from our own observations we hadalready seen that there could be no very highground. When we questioned the Indians moreparticularly, however, they explained that it wasa five days journey for a man traveling light.This was rather more than we had hoped for.The Indians may have had their own reasons forexaggerating the distance, for we afterwards hadthe comfort of discovering that in this particularinformation they were unmerciful liars—wereLuke and John. Ten days later when we haddemonstrated this fact by crossing the portageourselves, we found some diversion in trying tofind the motive that was back of this falsehood.We finally decided that they meant it as areminder that they had at least mastered therudiments of civilization and had not failed toprofit by their brief sojourn among people of ourrace. At first we were inclined to trust them,68
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for experience had long convinced us both thatuntutored Indians are particularly trustworthy. I must here explain that the winter camp ofthe band to which these two men and threewomen belonged, lay to the southwest side ofthe lake. All the rest of the band were far awayhunting near the mountains. The men whoremained were undoubtedly lazy and worthlessfellows, otherwise they would have been withthe hunters who, with their women, were atthat time camped on the hunting ground gather-ing and preparing meat and skins for their winterfood and clothing. One of the things that we learned was thatthe Indians who live on Lake Minchumina, on theKantishna and on the Tichininik (North Fork ofthe Kuskokwim) call themselves Minkhotana(meaning Lake People). I could form only arough idea of their numbers, but one of thestatements in which our informants always per-sisted was that the Minkhotana had formerlybeen a large tribe with many villages on the lake,on the Tichininik, on the Kwalana and on other

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