The Return to Fort JVrangell 



quantities. The bacon was nearly gone and they 

 eagerly inquired for flesh at every camp we passed. 

 Here we found skinned carcasses of porcupines and 

 a heap of wild mutton lying on the confused hut 

 floor. Our cook boiled the porcupines in a big pot 

 with a Iqt of potatoes we obtained at the same hut, and 

 although the potatoes were protected by their skins, 

 the awfully wild penetrating porcupine flavor found a 

 way through the skins and flavored them to the very 

 heart. Bread and beans and dried fruit we had in 

 abundance, and none of these rank aboriginal dainties 

 ever came nigh any meal of mine. The Indians eat 

 the hips of wild roses entire like berries, and I was 

 laughed at for eating only the outside of this fruit and 

 rejecting the seeds. 



When we were approaching the village of the Auk 

 tribe, venerable Toyatte seemed to be unusually pen- 

 sive, as if weighed down by some melancholy thought. 

 This was so unusual that I waited attentively to find 

 out the cause of his trouble. 



When at last he broke silence it was to say, "Mr. 

 Young, Mr. Young," - he usually repeated the name, 

 "I hope you will not stop at the Auk village." 



"Why, Toyatte?" asked Mr. Young. 



"Because they are a bad lot, and preaching to them 

 can do no good." 



" Toyatte," said Mr. Young, "have you forgotten 

 what Christ said to his disciples when he charged them 

 to go forth and preach the gospel to everybody; and 

 that we should love our enemies and do good to those 

 who use us badly?" 



[ 179 1 



