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they must be quite ancient, a hundred years or more. Standing on the shore of this beautiful bay looking out over the water, the forest dark and shadowy behind them, these grotesque memorials are remarkably striking and tell the history and character of their makers in durable language, while the decay suggests too well the fate that awaits every tribe on the continent. There are some 25 Indian tribes in Alaska whose language and customs are more or less distinct, but they were all doubtless derived from the one Mongol stock. Their physiognomy reveals the secret of their origin, while their sculpture and close geographical position would at once suggest their connection with the Chinese and Japanese. {Sketch: totem pole}
Date Original
1879
Source
Original journal dimensions: 8.5 x 13.5 cm.
Resource Identifier
MuirReel25Journal08P36.tif
Publisher
Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library
Rights Management
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Keywords
John Muir, journals, drawings, writings, travel, journaling, naturalist
