212 THE LIFE OF E. J. PECK 



On September 29 we find the entry, " Alert sailed 

 to-day. We went on board, and bade farewell to 

 everyone. May God bless them and give every 

 one His presence and a safe passage. What thoughts 

 crowded into one's mind as this one last connecting 

 link with the homeland and dear ones was severed ! 

 But God is near. He is true and faithful." 



And so when the Alert had brought those home 

 letters to their destination, the receivers imagined 

 that the curtain had fallen upon that little corner 

 of the great vineyard, and that it would not be 

 lifted to reveal the fruit of the labour or any details 

 of the lives of the solitary workers until two years 

 should have rolled by. 



But on October 10 the unexpected happened. 

 Two whaling vessels called at the station, and the 

 missionaries were enabled to send later letters by 

 them. By these, as well as by those sent on the 

 earlier date, we have a good insight given us into 

 the commencement of the work. 



It has been remarked in an earlier chapter that 

 the language of the Eskimos all over their wide 

 range of territory, from Behring Straits to Greenland, 

 is the same with only slight dialectic differences. 

 Happily, on going among the people on Blacklead 

 Island, Mr. Peck found the truth of this. He writes 

 in his diary : " The people seemed perfectly amazed 

 to find that I could speak their language, for I found 

 practically no difference in the speech of these 



