This rare study of the Tlingit people of Southeast Alaska was conducted prior to significant cultural influence by Europeans.

Aurel Krause and his brother, both geographers, documented their observations in 1881-82. The work was translated from German by Erna Gunther, professor of anthropology at the University of Washington, portraying virtually every aspect of Tlingit life: geography, kinship system and structure, villages and household life, subsistence, art and craft, customs, mythology and shamanism, and language.

This enduring resource offers an authentic glimpse into the traditions of an important indigenous culture of the Northwest Coast.