The times., 1898-11-27

ne demonstrated that he meant TO be
good friend to the Innuits. In a few
weeks word went forth among the tribes
up and down tire coast that a new white
man was there. and that he gave away
valuable things, and especially that he had
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
curious to know what il all meant When
winter came on and the last of the modika
twhisky which the traders and whalers
had left there had been drunk, the mis-
sionary had learned enough of the native
tongue TO settle down to the active work
of teaching the savages- He found the
boys in the tribe the best material to
work upon. With their help and by means
OF gifts of clothing and bits of money he
got crude log house built. The chinks
were stopped with mud and the door was
so low that one had to bend low to enter.
That was the first building in Cape
Pierce, nineteen years ago. 1t was the
home of the white man and was school
Tor 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 twenty boys in
the school that year. When the whalers
went up the coast and traded whisky and
sugar with the InnuIts, there was another
season of drunken debauchery and a re-
lapse into savage ways. but the mission
ary. by strenuous efforts, kept the school
OF boys intact all summer With the re-
turn of winter and the disappearance of
the last drop of bad whisky, the men and
women renewed their interest in the
school. The schoolhouse was enlarged
the next year, and the savages having be-
come used TO the comfort of the log house
began building houses for their own oc-
cupancy. The chief of the settlement had
large cabin built near the school, and he
became the firm friend of the missionary
because of the latter's labor and interest
In the structure.
When Mr.. MACPHERSON had learned the
lnnuit language he set about getting up
text books. For months he patiently
printed with a pen simple stories in the
native tongue to teach his pupils how to
read. He got from some Russian wha'ers
text books IN Russian, and
those We're great aids in the
line OF morality and Industry.
The old people in the tribe became sulleu
many times at the teachings of the white
man and the upsetting of all their cher
ished ideas. Once he was called to the
door of his log cabin on dark night and
was knocked down with club and left
for dead Several times he was warned
1 by faithful friend not to go about out
of doors alone. for there was plot to
throw him from the cliff. and thrice at
tempts We're made to poison him.
The discouraging work of slowly leading
the lnnuits of Cape Pierce into the ways
of civilized people went constantly for
ward. The youths in the school We're
urged to abstain from the use OF the In
toxicating decoction of molasses and al
cchol that the whalcrs and traders left
there in exchange for Eskimo products
every summer. BY promise OF pecuniary
reward the older men were gradually in
ducd to abstain from the fiery drink for
a whole season. The missionary's medi-
cine chest proved a wonder in dispelling
I the superstition and witchcraft regarding
Illness and disease. Several cures of saw
ages who had been given up to die did
more than all else to make the brave
Scotchman beloved in that region BY
1854, after five years of extraordinary
labor, Mr.. MacPhe[son began TO see d
gratifying change " the spirit and con-
/ duct Of the people about him. Not a per-
/ son had been killed there for three years
he wds consulted by people far and wide.
and the lnnuits had abandoned their
caves and dugouts and lived in huts and
( cabins. Morality had improved.
! In the summer of 1854 a young man.
! Davie Wisner. of Toronto, Canada came
/ and added his private fortune and his eff
! forts to Mr.. MacPherson's From that
; time the missionary movement went for
| ward fast In the summer of 1854 the
whalers and traders were induced to
! trade with the Indians in provisions, such
/ as hams. bacon, flour, raisins, etc. and
not the ingredients for intoxicants, The
/ drunkenness which had begun annually
| with the opening of navigation in Behr-
Ing Sea, was much diminished from that
/ time forth, although some of the old men
! and women in the settlement were so
! angry al being deprived of their summer
: debauchery that they plotted the assassj-
; nation OF the missionaries.
! Mr.. MACPHERSON has from the first
! taught lessons in cleanliness in person
and habitation at Cape Pierce. 1t ba.
! been hard struggle, for the Innuits have
/ from prehistoric times been about as
! filthy race as lives. In the first wears
that the Scotch missionary was there il
| was common for a family of parents and
! dozen children and grandchildren to live
In one hovel or dugout in the cliff A wal.
| rus would be hauled from the water int
| the low, foul hab!tation. and be cooked
| by fire on the floor, part of the bod,
each day. until all but the bones and harJ
| flesh were consumed. The bones would
| then be pushed aside ard a new waIrus
| carcass cooked there, while the smell OF
| putrtd flesh and foul bones filed the air
| day and night. Now every family in Cape
| Pierce lives in a wooden habitation and
| the cleanliness there will compare favor
ably with that of any reclaimed race
| The innuits have been taught to wear
better clothing. and nowadays the traders
/ who sail up into Behring Sea every sum-
mer take along cheap trousers. coats and
/ gowns for trading with the Innuits.
! Twenty years ago old Chief Matfaiuk liv-
ed in duGout with several wives He has
now 4eN29 cabin. with four rooms glass
windows and dirt floors Ii is a model
of cleanliness. He has let three of his
wives go. and was formally married to
the wife he retains. He employs men 10
fish and hunt for him, and he has devel-
oped into Il sagacious trader and is teach
| ing lessons of thrift and temperance
| among his feilow-countrymen
Mr.. MACPHERSON has been laying the
groundw rk only for teaching Christian
doctrine He has never yet tried to teach
the meaning of baptism. the sacrament OF
| communion and church offices. That in.
| struction is to come in later years II
! has been enough to teach the fundament-
! ais of civilization to so degraded peo.
| pie. He has shown the 1nnuits how to
! be self-supporting, how to provide for the
| winter season when there is no one to buy
| their furs and fish. how to make an agree
| able home. how to wash, at least, their
| faces. and how cleanliness keeps them in
better health. When he went to Cape
! Pierce there was not a dozen blankets in
! the settlement. Now there are not only a
| great many clean blankets but some
pretty good beds, as well. Tables, stoves
| and crockery dishes have in the last few
| years become the fashion at Cape Pierce
/ and in few years more there will be win