120 THE LIFE OF E. J. PECK 



and form friendships among them. And so Mr. Peck 

 is able to look on the bright side, and find plenty to 

 admire in the Eskimos. There is certainly no tone 

 of depression in such a description as he gives. " As 

 regards the people themselves, they are far from 

 being the stunted race they are generally repre 

 sented to be. It is true they are not tall, but they 

 are stout and strongly built. Besides this, they are 

 a remarkably happy, good-natured people. It 

 would do you good, I am sure, to see a group of 

 them after they arrive at Little Whale River. They 

 look very hearty and contented. The women 

 present a strange appearance, with their children in 

 their hoods and the little ones peeping out in such 

 an artful manner. I sometimes wonder how it is 

 their children are not frozen, but, strange to say, 

 they seem to feel the cold less than their parents. 

 When the little ones are able to walk they are dressed 

 in warm fur clothes. Some of them are so fat, and 

 are altogether so bulky in their winter costumes, 

 that one could almost roll them about like balls with 

 little fear of hurting them." 



Then, again, not only is the exterior pleasing and 

 interesting, but the Eskimos are such kind, teachable 

 people that one seldom does anything for them 

 without being cheered in soul. 



Perhaps this chapter cannot be more appropriately 

 brought to a close than by giving the story of one 

 whose conversion belongs to this period. It is a 



