The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-11-20
RISE OF a SAVAGE TRIBE.
a SCOrCBAEkH,s work AMONG TIE
EsKTSrOs IN ILASKA.
Witchcraft and Degradation Driven from
the Innuits of Cape Pierce by the Rev.
II. w. MncPherson After Nineteen Yenrs
OF Fight FOR Civilization.

Wttcnerort ana OoErhuutfou Driven hron
the Innuits OF Cape Pierce by the Rev
DIV. hlncPherson AFTER Nineteen years
OF Ehort-one.si Fight Tor Civihkntion'
Los ASoELEs, Cal. Nov. 12.-The Rev. Dan
lei W. MACPHERSON OF Cape Pierce. Alaska. is
having a season OF rest and recuperation
among the orange groves and flowers OF south
ern California. For nineteen years he has
lived and worked among the n~atlves-known
rs Innuits-on the Behring Sea coast OF Alaska,
and now. after constant work and priyationa
and hardships that few men would endure
voluntarily. he has como down the coast into
the semi-tropics for q rest and a change OF six
months. The Improvement in the moral and
Industrial conditions OF a settlement OF more
than 400 DEGRADED Eskimos at Cape Pierce Is
the result OF almost his sole endeavors.
MIR. MACPHERSON Is A years OF age. but looks
about IS. He was born In the suburbs OF
Edinburgh. Scotland. and was a student at the
university OF that city. Hekne Robert Louis
Stevenson there when the two were college
boys. He subsequently went to Cambridge
and took a minor degree as a divinity student.
Possessed OF ample means. through an inherit
ance from an uncle. he resolved 20 devote his
life and fortune to carrying civilization and
Christianity to savage races. In 1876, when
he was "a. he went as a missionary to South
Africa under the auspices Of the Christian
League OF Scotland. but paying his own ex-
penses and providing him self for the mainten-
ance OF n mission school fifty miles out In the
bush from Cape Town. Two years Of the In
tense heat OF the interior OF Africa made him a
nervous wreck. and. turning his mission school
and all Its equipment and appurtenances over
to the Christian League. he returned TO Scot
land. as many friends believed. to die at his
birthplace. That was in 1877.
In 1879 he had recovered his health in the
cold northern climate. and his old-time zeal to
alleviate the lot OF .barbarous people returned.
Robert Louis Stevenson. who had been In San
francisco. met MIR. MACPHERSON one day In
London and in the courae Of a dinner told OF
the savagery OF the aborigines in Alaska. Mr..
Stevenson had lodged In San Francisco with a
sea Captain who had made a dozen voyages to
Alaska and had observed the Eskimos along
the coast. Races unacquainted with civilization
had a peculiar fascination for Mr.. Stevenson
and he regretted that he had not robust health
SO that he could go and live among the Alas
kan sayages. Mr.. MACPHERSON then and there
resolved to go and spend his life in bringing
the barbarous people out OF their degradation.
rTar . %onsns ,h later ne S was at siska, Alaska a
a barbarous people.
oone whaiers had toid MIN that the inhaoi-
tants OF Cane Pierce. up on Behring Sea. were
paoD,ain IN ,,at y nnz anu ueEraueu
people In all that region. and Mr.. MACPHERSON
resolved to go there and start upon his mis-
States Commiss;oner n-A,ost, 'did ali sa
aoS "I11 nun IN Alaska. oiu al ne
abandon his idea A dozen men IN sitra wh -
had hean nn von.aas mn pah he . ~ on VINO
Mr.. MACPHERSON to keep away from Cape Pierce
because the natives there would surely kill
MIN ana possibly eat him. They said that no
more intractable. worthless race lived than the
Sea- Thav to,d ~ how MI tao rn, onE e anan
pea. Ihes 'oio OF now all the whaling crews
had trading to do with the sayaees oftb,t "a.
Uion. and of narrow osoonas ,hat go -.
hardy whalers had at c sSesP Pierce .aa' N even seo
less. Mr.. Macpherson was determined to make
at Ieast an efrort amona tba Innnit. M a.S.
whaling vessel that came to sitka on its an.
nual voyage to the north carried the mission
AIRY up the coast to Cape Pierce, When the
boxes of provisions, Bibles, pamphlets. CLOTH
shore at Cane Pierce. the whole population
missivings and almost fearful warnings The
away SisS to he north asi.en% FRey '1 espscte and thai sai' ne
would be slain In less than a week.
MaeP SsT aaf ioeked ana Upon one w sesc disSea shef mF.
WS9sG Sa1le great sn on c tSn sSors black .TS o war can n9s
bark to protect them from the weather R Mude
tents Of ancient, skins and discarded SAIL cam
Sas ana If ea yes dug sHsr n the earth Gins we're the
walrps and forest animals Uttered the shore.
and . here Msr and there were bones Of human be-
years; Half nude men and women. cold though
The aIe,S air was then ran about the beach: 4 more
Dlage OF human beings could scarcely be i'm
aGined. In the apologies for tents and the
duRout babitations we're drunken EsIimos.
Even CHILDREN lay here and there under the ef-
ieStS OF q powerful alcoholic deeoction that the
rus Oil. But this spectacle only strengthened
Mr.. MacPherson's determination TO be a mis-
amid this degradation y signs and
the showing Of silver pieces the Young Scotch
ing ,Innuita to carry his merchandise TO a SPOT
in the woods. a half mile inland; In countless
ways he showed the savaRes who came daily.
sober. and stared at him from q safe dis,
tahzr that he was armed, ana knew how to de- !
lend himself. While he lived In O tent he paid
several Of the savages every day to guard his |
place and person. {
One day during his first fortnight nj, Cane {
he was Mortified to ace m dozen. man {