, 1892-04-11
I'm COLDEST ALASKA
Ten Years on an Island
Among the Uncivilized
Indians.
Teaching Them The Rudiments Of civ.
ilization, Religion and Book
Learning.
They are Doclle Pupils and Apt Scholars
Ready to Learn and Anxious
to Please.

Life for ten years on little island be-
longing to the Prince of Wales group on
the Alaskan coast, among the unciYil-
lied Indians, would not be very pleas
ant experience for most Of the people of
Tacoma, especially those who have social
tendencies. This is the record of three
devoted missionaries on jackson island
whom Miss Molly Gould, who is now at
the Fife hotel in this city, will join III a
few weeks.
Miss Gould's brother, her sister and
Mrs. MacFarlane were the first white
people on the island. When they went,
nearly ten years ago, no steamer visited
the place, and a trip Of $50 miles by
canoe was one Of the exciting incidents
Of their long journey. At that time the
Northern Pacific railroad had no vest
ern terminal at Tacoma, and the party
went to Portland, and from there by
steamer to Fort Wrangel, where they
took an Indian canoe and padded for
days along the coast. When they
reached the island they found the In
dians gentle enough and very docile.
with a surprising desire to learn. Mr..
Gould and his sister, then Miss Gould,
after providing such shelter as the cir
cumstances allowed for themselves, went
straightWay to the work they had been
sent by the Presbyterian board to
perform. Mrs. MacFarlane established
a home for the girls Of tine Indians, and
sent them to the mission school. The
Indians were absolutely ignorant as far
as book learning went, but eagerly took
up the work Of the school, and Miss
Gould says she judges from her sisters 8
letters, were quite apt scholars. With
in four years after the missionaries went
there, letter received by Miss Jould
from her sister enclosed a written note
which Miss Gould took to be her sisters
penmanship, but which, as she was
informed later, was really the chirog-
raphy OF an Indian. She now has
scholars in everything varying from the
alphabet to algebra and kindred studies.
The faculty of imitation is very strong
in them, and from this fact the penman-
ship OF all the Indians closely resemble
that of Miss Gould's sister.
Since going to the island, Miss Gould's
sister was married to MIR. McCloud, who
was at work. there. They have two
children. These, with Miss Gould's
brother and wife and two children and
Mrs. MacFarlane were the only white
inhabitants Of the island. Every six
months steamer visits them, and once
in a month canoe carries the mail and
necessaries Of life to the little colony.
Miss Gould says that her people like
their work very well, and are So attached
to their work that they would not
leave it.
Miss Gould will sail on the steamer
Mexico for the island, on the 18th inst.
She was at Buchannon, w. Va, and has
been engaged in school teaching. She
will take the place Of Mrs. McFarlane
for a year, as the latter's health has run
down and she must go to the STATES
for years recuperation. Miss Gould
says that her sister writes that it rains
on their little island, the dimensions Of
which are from one to five miles wide
and nineteen to twenty miles long,
nearly all the time, and SHOWS nearly
always when it dom rain. There are
twenty-four girls, from 2 to Is years old,
in the home, and there are sometimes as
many as ninety children in the school
presided over by her sister.