Speech of Hon. Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts, on the cession of Russian America to the United States:

27
inner portion of Russian America on the You kon and the Porcupine reached the sea-coast at
Cookli's inlet, where it appears under the name
of Kenaians. The latter are said to bear about
the same relation in language and intellectual
development to the entire group as the islanders
of Kodiak bear to the Esquimaux.
The Kenaians call themselves in their own
dialect by yet another name, Thnainas, mean ing men; thus by a somewhat boastful designa tion asserting manhood. Their features and
complexion associate them with the red men
of America, as does their speech. The first
to visit them was Cook, and he was struck by
the largeness of their heads, which seemed to
him disproportioned to the rest of the body.
They were strong-chested also, with thick short
necks, spreading faces, eyes inclined to be
small, white teeth, black hair, and thin beard.
Their persons seemed to be clean and decent,
without grease or dirt. In dress they were
thought to resemble the people of Greenland.
Their boats had a similar affinity. But in these
particulars they were not unlike the other races
I have already described. They were clothed
in the skins of animals with the fur outward,
or sometimes in the skins of birds, over which,
as a protection against rain, was worn a frock
made firom the intestines of the whale and resembling the gold-beater leaf, as was observed
by Behring in his early voyage Their boats
were of seal skin stretched on frames, and
were of different sizes. In one of these Cook
counted twenty women and one man, besides
children. At that time, though thievish in propensity,- they were not unamiable. Shortly
afterwards they were reported by Russian traders, who had much to dlo with them, as "good
people," who behaved " in a very friendly manner." (Billing's Voyage, p. 197.) I do not
know that they have lost this character since.
Here, too, is the accustomed multiplicity of
tribes, each with its idiom, and sometimes differing in religious superstition, especially on the
grave question of descent from the dog or the
crow. There is also a prevailing usage for the
men of one tribe to choose their wives from
another tribe, when the tribal character of the
mother attaches to the offspring, which is another
illustration of the law of slaverypartus sequitur
ventrem. The late departure from this usage is
quoted by the old men as a sufficient reason for
the mortality which has afflicted the Kenaians,
although a better reason may be found in the
ravages of the small-pox, unhappily introduced
by the Russians. In 1838 ten thousand persons on the coast are reported to have fallen
victims to this disease.
(4.) Last of the four races are the Koloschians, numbering about four thousand, who
occupy the coast and islands from the mouth
of the Copper river to the southern boundary
of Russian America, making about sixteen settlements. They belong to an Indian group
extending as far south as the Straits of Fuca,
and estimated to contain twenty-five thousand
souls. La P6rouse, after considerable experi ence of the aborigines on the Atlantic coast,
asserts that those whom he saw here are n ot
Esquimaux. (Voyage, Tom. 2, p. 205.) The
name seems to be of Russian origin, a nd is
equivalent to Indi an. fere a gai n is another
variety of languages and as many separate na tions. Near Mount St. Elias are the Jacoutats,
who are the least known; then came the Thlin kitts, who occupy the is lands a nd c oast near
Sitka, and are known; in Oregon under the name
.of Stikines; and then again we have the Kaigans,
who, beginning on Russian territory, overlap
Queen Charlotte's island, beneath the British
.flag. All these, with their subdivisions, are
Koloschians; but every tribe or nation has
four different divisions, derived from four dif ferent animals, the whale, the eagle, the crow,
and the wolf, which are so many heraldic de vices, marking distinct groups..-s
There are points already noticed in,, Adwo
northern groups which are repeated he.* O
among the Kenaians husband and Wifea are
of different animal devices. A crow cannot
marry a crow. There is the same skill in the
construction of canoes; but the stretched seal
skin gives place here to the trunk of a tree
shaped and hollowed so that it will sometimes
hold forty persons. There are good qualities
among the Aleutians which the Koloschians
do not possess, but they have, perhaps, a
stronger sense. They are of constant cour age. As daring navigators they are unsurpassed, sailing six or seven hundred miles in
their open canoes. Some are thrifty, and show
a sense of property. Some have developed an
aptitude for trade unknown tO their northern
neighbors or to the Indians of the United States,
and will work for wages, whether in tilling the
ground or other employment. Their superior
nature discards corporal punishment, even for
boys, as an ignominy not to be endured. They
believe in a Creator and in the immortality of
the soul. But here a mystic fable is woven
into their faith. The spirits of heroes dead
in battle are placed in'the sky and appear
in the Aurora Borealis. Lon,, ago a deluge
occurred, when the human family was saved
in a floating vessel, which, after the subsidence
of the waters, struck on a rock and broke in
halves. The Koloschians represent one half
of the vessel, and the rest of the world the
other half. Such is that pride of race which
civilization does not always efface.
For generations they have been warriors,
prompt to take offense and vindictive, as is
the nature of the Indian race-always ready
to exact an eye for an eye and a tooth for a
tooth. This character has not changea. As
was the case once in Italy, the dagger is an
inseparable companion. Private-quarrels are
common. The duel is an institution. So is
slavery still, having a triple origin in war, purchase, or birth.. The slave is only a dog, and
must obey his master in all things, even to
taking the life of another. He is without civil