KLONDYKE TRAFFIC IN WIVES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 6, 9 January 1899, Page 5

KLONDYKE TRAFFIC IN WIVES.

YOUNG INDIAN WOMEN BOUGHT.

AXD SOLD,

Startling reports regarding the ex. tent of the wife selling traffic of the Klondike country have recently been the sensation of Vancouver That a man can get a buxom, dark-eyed wife for fifty blankets would seem a sort of fairy story were' not the facts so serious. -;

Robert Stead Dun. a graduate-of Harvard, ana formerly editor of the Harvard Monthly,' recently returned to civilization after a fifteen' hhhdi-ed mile trip by the Edmortfon overland trail to the Klondike ■ h THE RESTRAINTS, OF CIVILIZATION UNKNOWN. It is a strange story that Mr IJun narrates. As he is a man of fine education and trained literary mind and a careful observer, his statenehts are entitled to consideration. The ?estraints of civilization are unknown, and every man is. a law unto himself. An average woman would be worshipped as,a goddess in that country. In the arctic twilight, where the. days are but' a few, hours long, and the nights depressing and interminable, the mere presence.of,a human being is such a comfort in the storms and d arkness of winter that no acclimated citizen stops to consider his companion's nativity., Next, to a gold mine a vivacious young Indian maiden, ts a welcomed acquisition amid such surroundings, .s „ .

It was at Fort Graham that-Mr Dun discovered the polygamous condition of society and the widespread trafficking in young women. He found that nearly all the clerks and employees had no'difficulty in; buying wives. -And they all, bought them. The missioiiaries found it impossible to, stop'-th'e oraetice. _-_,-- 'y ■ \ _■■;_■'.

HOW A WARRIOR SOLD HIS ; i

Sparkling Eyes, a noted Ihcfian belle and the-daughter, of a prominent chief, was cdhsidgi'ed the, pi;ize of the Northwest. Prom far and near came offers, for. her hand. .Ponies,, guns, trinkets, brass watches, yards of .tin- _ foil, and.bales of ; copper wire., were offered for. a quit claim deed to ihe maiden's heart./ . , , :■''':■] .. But the grim old - warrior was,-hot to be caught by any ordinary pur--chaser. He wanted something besides personal property. He was ambitious : for a family alliance with some man of social standing and influence in the , community.. " ?■■-<'-. Thus it was that when Factor Foy, a big medicine man, a superintendent of white faced employes, made o^er« ; tures, with due ceremony and elabo-.< - rate array of technicalities* involving^.' the highest etiquette of the land, tha ebpper coloured chieftain immediately' ' became an eager party, to the negotiations, .v They discussed - everything for a :' couple of days, smoked pipes six-feet - long, talked all round the subject* until at last it was incidentally mentioned and the bargaih closed iSr fifty blankets. The girl made no trouhle. .She modestly appreciated her exalted ppsi-; tion in the new life, and although she r diet Tiot seek to ostentatiously qneei it over the employees of the factory, yet she had an air of authority, and self possession that won her;,the. respect of the boys of the settlement. This story would not be cbinplete if a single fact were omitted. Human nature in that country, where whisky freezes solid in AngusV and is used as paper weights for nine months of the year, is about; the same as it is elsewhere.,:..; . / :. t i,s" The old Indistn chief must fhave ■> picked up some new points from the - whites, for wh.4n he found that his ■■■'?_ daughter was, a jewel of a wife,* he struck for more blankets. The old chief was furious whenrtMr Fox refused to be blackmailed, and made wild threats of vengeance. :'■ But the girl was true to her last love. Wheft she looked into the big warehouses and saw great: boxes of brass watches and barrels of copper beads, crates of hardtack, and best; of -all ,'•-.; several barrels of "forty rod whisky, she remarked to her eldest stepspn, 'White daddy, heap good;'- The boy gave an Indian grunt; acquired only, after long practice, and said This . father was the best man he had ever known. ; The wife then sent a clerk to warn her father to keep away from the fort till he could behSve himself.y