Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1896-10-29
FAR INTO THE NORTH
Work of Jesuit Missionaries in North
ern Alaska.

There is in Helena, says a paper of
that city, a missionary who spent four
years among the Eskimo in the ex-
IRENE north, where ice and snow are
perpetual, where the land is clouded
in darkness nine months of the year
and where for season the sun
is seen at midnight and at all other
hours of the day. He is Rev. Father
Muset, last year of St Ignatius mis-
sion, but now located at the Crow mis-
sion, who is the guest OF Rt. Rev John
B. Brondel, bishop of Helena.
Rev. Father Muset belongs to the or
der of Jesus, whose members have pen
etrated every wilderness in every cline
in the world. He was first of the
Jesuits, or, for that matter, the first
white man to compile dictionary and
grammar of the Eskimo language. The
work does not pretend to be complete,
for Rev. Father Muset himself says
that it would take at least 10 years of
study and constant intercourse with
| the Eskimos before q conscientious
photographer could call his work COM
plete. Neither grammar nor diction-
airy has yet been published. The work
On not stop when Rev. Father Muset
left the field four years ago, for his
successor, Rev. Father Barnum, is con-
tinuing with it.
Rev. Father Muset stationed himself
near Boring straits, about 5000 miles
northwest of Helena, in the extreme
northern part of Alaska. He left Van
couver with nine dogs and travelled
$500 miles in 60 days. When he re-
turned he had only four dogs and two
of those were crippled. He was &C
companied by Rev. Facfer Treca, who
is now i'll in San Francisco. Rev. Faith
er Treca's health failed and he was
compelled to return to the United
States, after much hard service in that
far away country of ice and snow. The
sufferings of the TWO Jesuits were in
tense. They endured flardslips that
would have killed many men And
yet their suffering was not without its
rewards nor their life without enjoy
ment, for the Eskimos are hospitable
people and appreciate any efforts in
| their behalf
During his four years among the
Eskimo, Rev. Father Muset visited
about 60 villages. All travel in that
country is with sledges and dogs. Many
Of his Journeys were made in bitterly
cold weather and twice he was nearly
| frozen to death. The average temper
ature there is more than 80 degrees be-
! low zero and at times fearful billiards
! are experienced when the cold is in
tense. 1t reaches some time as low as
| Is degrees below zero On the coast
the cold is felt more than in the in
terror where it is dryer.
Rev. Father Muset became much at
tached to the queer northern people
with whom he lived 50 long.
THE Eskimos are kind people," he
said yesterday. They are generous
and industrious. We were the first
white men they had ever seen and while
we we're unable at first to talk to them,
! they invariably treated us as we'll as
they could. They are poor race, hav-
ing few possessions besides their dogs
sleds and boats, and while they live
wretchedly, they are much more ad-
vanced than the Yukon Indians. They
are intelligent and have a language
that is remarkable in some respects
They live entirely on fish and precari-
Gus existence they have, too, some
months. Although they live in the
extreme north where the weather is in
| tensely cold they seldom have fires,
! There is no wood there except that
which may be washed to shore by the
sea, and what little oil they have is too
precious to burn-they drink it.
THE Eskimos live in caves made by
them in the ice. The men and women
live apart. They are sociable people
though. One Of their chief amuse-
ments and they have not many-is
dancing and singing. 1t is peculiar
music they have, being, of course, OF
their own composition, and their only
musical instrument is rude drum
made of a skin. In dancing they do
not use their legs at all, keeping up a
rhythmic motion with their bodies and