Travels in Alaska 



die, God's son came forward, and, like the Stickeen 

 chief, offered himself as a sacrifice to heal the cause 

 of God's wrath and set all the people of the world free, 

 the doctrine was readily accepted. 



"Yes, your words are good," they said. "The Son 

 of God, the Chief of chiefs, the Maker of all the world, 

 must be worth more than all mankind put together; 

 therefore, when His blood was shed, the salvation of 

 the world was made sure." 



A telling illustration of the ready acceptance of this 

 doctrine was displayed by Shakes, head chief of the 

 Stickeens at Fort Wrangell. A few years before my 

 first visit to the Territory, when the first missionary 

 arrived, he requested Shakes to call his people to- 

 gether to hear the good word he had brought them. 

 Shakes accordingly sent out messengers throughout 

 the village, telling his people to wash their faces, put 

 on their best clothing, and come to his block-house 

 to hear what their visitor had to say. When all were 

 assembled, the missionary preached a Christian ser- 

 mon on the fall of man and the atonement whereby 

 Christ, the Son of God, the Chief of chiefs, had re- 

 deemed all mankind, provided that this redemption 

 was voluntarily accepted with repentance of their 

 sins and the keeping of his commandments. 



When the missionary had finished his sermon, 

 Chief Shakes slowly arose, and, after thanking the 

 missionary for coming so far to bring them good tid- 

 ings and taking so much unselfish interest in the wel- 

 fare of his tribe, he advised his people to accept the 

 new religion, for he felt satisfied that because the 



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