Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1896-10-29
FAR INTO THE NORTH.
Work of Jesuit Missic naries in North
eIl Alaska.

! IRENE north, W ere ice and snow are
/ perpetual, where the land Is clouded
in darkness ninc months of the year,
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 Grow mis-
sion. who is the guest OF Ri. 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 a conscientious
photographer could call his work COM
plete. Neither grammar nor diction-
airy has yet been published. The work
div not stop when Rev. Father Muset
left the field four years ago, for his
successor, Rev. Father Barnum, is con-
tinuing with 1t.
Rev. Father Muset stationed himself
near Bering stIaits, 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 so days. When he re-
turned he had only four dogs and two
of those were crippled. He was ac-
companied by Rev. Father 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 hardships 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 a hospitable
people and appreciate any efforts in
their behalf
During his four years among the
Eskimo, Rev Father Muset visited
about go 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 nd at times fearful billiards.
are expo enced when the cold is in
tense. J, reaches some time as low as
rs 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 SO long.
THE Eskimos are kind people" he
said yesterday. They are generous
and Industrious. We We're the first
white men they had ever seen and while
we were unable at first to talk to them,
they invariably treated us as well 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 adj
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 soeiable 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 a rude drum
made of skin. In dancing they do
not use their legs at all, keeping up
rythmic motion with their bodies and
arms. As people they are indescrib-
ably dirty. At rare intervals, and by
that | mean months and month apart,
they take bath. The time Is deter
mined more by circumstances than any
thing else. If by some good fortune
tie sea brings an unusually large piece
of wood, they drag ii into a cave and
then, stopping all the exits but a hole
in the top. the men build a fire and
then all of them stand around 1t until
they are in perspiration. When
they can endure the ursccustomed heat
no longer, the entrance Of the cave is
opened and all rush out and roll in
snow bank. Such is the Eskimo bath.
"They are moral people in spite of
the fact that the men exchange wives.
That has been their time-honored GUS
tom and the transaction involves no
wrong-doing in thor minds. They
have always had an indistinct idea OF
the deity and a future existence. The
sun, they say, is the eye of God. Since
we began our work among them they
have come to believe, and In time all
of them, we hope. will receive the ben
efits that Christianity always brings
with t.