Publishers Preface 



to communicate with them otherwise than by signs, 

 as the printed vocabularies and grammars, with 

 which he had been supplied, proved to be inac 

 curate and practically valueless. 



His house finished and no scholars being forth 

 coming, he proceeded one day to capture a native 

 lad whom he found on the beach, and, leading him 

 home, taught him several letters of the alphabet and 

 then baked him a cake. This system of rewarding 

 attendance with something to eat rapidly brought 

 other scholars. Older visitors followed, and he 

 soon had a school in active operation and then a 

 lecture-room. 



Prior to Dr. Driggs s arrival, the experiences 

 which the natives had had with the whites had not 

 been universally satisfactory. Outside of rare meet 

 ings with the officers and crews of the government s 

 revenue cutters, their white acquaintances had been 

 pretty much confined to the class known as &quot; beach 

 combers,&quot; or deserters from the steam- whaling 

 fleet. These are described as a rough, unscrupulous 

 set of fellows, too worthless to obtain better em 

 ployment in San Francisco, where they are enlisted. 

 Some of these undesirable visitors had already ap 

 peared at Point Hope and had outrageously abused the 



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