Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1883-04-11
THE ARCTICS.
THE PEOPLE, CUSTOMS AND CLIMATE

ArChdOac0n Kirkby's Lecture ON His Mis-
sionary Work la the Arctic ke
Eions-Var!Ous Psculiarities
OF the Foopie.
Ven. Archdeacon kirkby lectured last
evening in Fulton opera house to fair
sized and select audience ON his Twenty
seven years Missionary Service in tho
Arctic Regions" An abstract of the lect-
ure is given below
After few introductory remarks the
entered on u description of
the peculiarites Of ST. Rupert land. His
voyage to there - years ago, had been
full Il interest and incident. The ship
had been surrounded with ics SO tightly
that it could not move an inch for months
Some of the diversions of the sailors and
himself during this imprisonment had
been playing football on the leo and kill
ing bears. He, however, had left the
latter amusement to be enjoyed wholly by
the sailors. When they were free from
tho ice packs and were able to sail further
north the archdeacOu had observed queer
little things bobbing up at distance,
which proved on nearer approach to
be EsQuimaux in their kyacks, or
boats, which arc from twelve to-
fifteen feet in length and are pro
PEELED by the occupants with doubls
bladed paddles. The vessel was soon sur
by trOupes of these people saying,
in their own language, that they were
desirOus to trade. They wanted iron it
was their grea: need. They exchanged
walrus tusks and fOxskins for knives, scis
sors and pieces of iron hoops ; but they &c
cepted anything else. When the women
received these articles they licked them
to show their pleasure and
thanks. As an instance of their readiness
to exchange any thing for the trinkcts tho
white people gave them, tho arch
deacon related that the ship surgeon offered
twelve needles to Olc woman in exchange
for her little child Il year or so old. The
offer was promptly accepted, and the doc
tor found himself enctmbered with 4 veri-
table white elephant" which he was
glad to return to the mother. Speaking
of the babies, the lecturer mentioned that
they are always carried upon the backs
of their mothers il fur sacks.
Referring to the agricultural resources
of the country along Lake Winnepeg, tho
speaker said that much grain Was raised,
and Urge herds of cattle owned, and tho
country contains about 2GO, 600 Indians.
The Selkirk settlement, which was the
most important one there, was the first
opened.tO the traffic of the people in the
upper part of the United States, and the
speaker gave this account of it: A
Sioux Indian killed and scalped
one of the Cree nation and es-
carcd. The Cree's friends followed the
trail of the Sioux until they found the
{ ,ttlement of white people in the country
fer south Of them. Articles wore ex-
changed and q traffic began which has
grown into ts;ule of no small proportions.
Rev. Kirkby here said 4 good word for the
Indians. They are noble hearted and
generous, AMI when treated hOnorably
will return with like treatment. When
the Sioux ard tho Chippewas had their
great struggle they sent messengers to in
form the people up in the land where
Archdeacon Kirkby lived that they would
do them no harm, because they had ever
treated them with kindness. In speaking
Of the avidity with which the natives re
ceive the doctrines of Christianity and
their desire to conform to its practices, the
speaker said that whenever he got to the
church in which he preached no matter
how hot or cold it may have been, the
building was always crowded. At Fort
Simpson he spent twelve years, then he
went farther north to the Great Bear lake,
where he felt rs if Ee was on classic
ground, for there Sir John Franklin and
DR.. Richardson had stopped for time i'll
their I'll fated explorations, and he saw
there the sun dial whit I Sir John had
erected. Then he went up into the
Mackenzie river g!on, and later on got
within the Arctic circle. which fact
was of peculiar interest to him,
since he was the iIst man who had
ent cred there III the capacity of a
missionary. Tho reverend gentleman
then gave some account Of the seemingly
erratic movements of the sun, which for
mouths never get, az d from which circum-
stance he was o,.en puzzled to know
whether he took day for night or night for
day. Here was where he met the Esqui-
maux. OF these people the archdeacon
said they are generally rather good
looking and Of fine physique, and the men
invariably wear 4 profusion of whiskers.
The young women are handsome, the old
hideOus. Tie lecturer then spoke OF the
Arctic explorations, and gave some reason
why, in his opinion, they have not been
as successful rs they might be.
He thought that il instead of using
large sledges Iaden with I 1000 pounds of
baggage they had tlken small ones weigh
ing not moro than 100 IIuEds and had
used snow shoes, the journey they per
formed could have Leen made easier, in
shorter time and without much suffering.
He did not deem it practicable to reach
the north pole by means Of ;erial naviga-
tiOn, and, in fact, had no great faith in
the existence of an open polar sea himself
The temperature of tho air where he was
ranged from 10 to GO degrees below
zero in the winter and from 4o
to 30 degrees above in the summer,
during which time about the greatest
trouble they had to contend with were the
mosquitoes, while another great inc"n-
venience was the extreme isolation "i
the country, during his stay in
which he got letters twice a
year and newspapers and books
once 4 ear that is, If they were no
where delayed. OGcv lie sent to England
for suit of clothes and they were four
years on tho way. Referring to the mis-
sionary work in those regions, the speaker
said the church sent tho first missionaiy y
there in 1922. There arc four dioceses and
about 600 baptised Indians.
To Preach tins Evening.
ArchdeacOn Kirkby will preach on the
subject of missions, in st. Johns free
church, this evening.