The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-12-06

ring sea, were probably the most un-
civilized and degraded people in all
that region. and MI. Macpherson re-
solved 90 go there and start upon MS
missionary labors. Mahlon w. Bowers.
United States commissioner in Alaska.
did all he could to prevail upon the
young Scotchman to his idea.
a dozen men in Sitka. who had been
on up Bering sea, urged Mr.
| MACPHERSON to keep away from Cape
Pierce because the natives there would
surely kill him and possibly eat him.
They said hat no more intractaole,
worthless az i've than the l%nnuits,
or Eskimos. Of the coast along Bering
Sea. They told Of how all the whaling
crews went ashore armed and watchful
when they had trading to do with the
saVages Of that region, and OF narrow
escapes that even the hardy wnalers
had at Cape Pierce. Nevertheless. Mr..
Macpherson was determined to make
at least an effort among the lnnuits.
The first whaling vessel that came to
Sitka on it's annualV Oyage To the north
carried the missionary up the coast TO
Cape Pierce. When the boxes of pro-
visions, bibles. pamphlets. clothing and
household articles were landed OF the
shore at Cape Pierce. the whole popula-
ton came down to the waters edge.
Nothing like that had ever been seen
there. With many misgfvings and al
most fearful warnings the sailors babe
the Scotchman farewell, and sailed
away to the north. They expected that
he would be slain in less than a week.
IL was August. and the spectacle that
Mr.. Macpherson looked upon was dis
heartening. Two score great. clumsy,
black wal canoes were hauled up on
the shore and covered witt bark TO
protect them from the weather. Rude
tents Of ancient skins n discarded
sail canvas and caves dug I'm the earth
cliffs were the homes OF the swarthy
population. Bones OF walrus and forest
animals Uttered the shore, and here aud
there were bones OF human beings who
had actually been eaten in former
years. Half nude men and women, cold
though the air vas then. ran about ;he
beach. A more dirty. foul-smelling and
uninviting assemblage Of human beings
could scarcely be imagined. In the
apologies for tents and the dugout hab-
itations were drunken Eskimos. Even
children lay here and there under the
effects of a powerful alcoholic decoc-
ton that the whalers and fur traders
had exchanged for walrus oil. But this
spectacle only strengthened Mr.. Mac
Pherson's determination to be a mis-
sionary amid this degradation. BY
signs and the showing Of silver pieces
the young Scotchman got several Of the
more promising looking Innuits TO carry
his merchandise TO a spot i'm the woods
a half mile inland. In countless ways
he bowed the savages who came daily.
when sober. and stared at him from a
safe distance. that he was armed end
knew how to defend himself. While he
lived In a tent he paid several OF the
savages every day to guard his place
and person.
one day during his first fortnight at
Cape Pierce he VAS horrihed to see a
dozen men dragging a nude young wo-
man from the seashore up the narrow
passageway. to the uppermost part of
the cliffs along the coast. The woman
was screaming M moaning and the
men were beating her at every step.
At the top of the cliff the woman's
hands were bound and she was pushed
headlong over the cliff to fall some 100
feet below on the rocks. Mr.. MacPher-
son subsequently learned that she had
been accused of wftchcraft and of nav
ing caused several dogs to de by her
occult powers. Almost every moath
during the first two years that the mis-
sionary was at Cape Pierce, some one
| generally a woman-was put to death
for trivial reasons. Several times there
was reason to believe the flesh of the
victim was secretly gathered and eaten.
but Mr.. Macpherson never cared TO in
vestigate the subject. There was not
the least knowledge OF marriage vows
and obligations. Children were taught
10 steal and were only punished by
their mothers when they were caught
at Il. Dreadful crueuics for witch
craft were inflicted. A little 7-year-old
girl was beaten with clubs and starved
for several days at a time to get the
black spirit" out of her.
The Scotch missionary had learned
I'm South Africa many means of COM
m~unicating with the Savages by signs.
BY holding up a coin he generally got
the more intelligent Innuits To do as
he wished. A lad of II years was in
duced by a reward To come daily within
the strange white mans stockade and
repeat the names of common objects in
the native language. In a week MIR.
Macpherson had "A vocabulary of 100
words. Meantime he demonstrated that
he meant To be a good friend to the In
nuits. In a few weeks word went forth
among the tribes up and down the
coast that a new white man was there,
and that he gave away valuable things,
and especially that he had a new God,
about whom he wished To tell all the
lnnuits. some OF the older and more
suspicious natives were angry at this,
but even the most drunken were cur
o u to know Il all meant. When
winter came on and the last of the
modika (whiskey) which the traders
and whalers had left there a been
drunk. the missionary had learned
enough OF the native tongue TO settle
down to the active work OF teaching
the avage He found the boys I'm the
tribe the best material to work upon.
With their help and by means of gifts
OF clothing and bits of money he got a
crude log house built. The chinks we're
stopped with mud and the door was so
low that one had to bend TO enter. That
was the first building i'm Cape Pierce.
nineteen years ago. IL was the home
of the white man and was a school for
the natives. The curiosity Of the peo-
pie for more than 100 miles around was
aroused by the white mans wonderful
log house. and before the summer Of
1880 even the old men wanted to learn
the white mans talk and the way The
white people lived.
There were more than 20 boys I'm the
school that year. When the whalers
went up the coast n traded whiskey
and sugar with the Innuits. there MAS