326 THE LIFE OF E. J. PECK 



men love 'darkness rather than light, because 

 their deeds are evil.' ' 



" Monday, March 31. A poor sick woman, whom 

 Greenshield and I had previously visited, sent 

 word to us that she did not wish to see strangers, evi- 

 dently meaning white men. All one could therefore do 

 was to speak a few words of comfort to this poor dying 

 creature through the window of her snow-house. 

 This being made of seals' intestines, which are very 

 thin and almost transparent, the sound of one's 

 voice and one's presence outside were evidently 

 known to the sufferer, for she tried to answer from 

 her couch of pain. What darkness and misery 

 surround these poor heathen ! If the Lord Jesus 

 was or had been living, as ought to have been the 

 case in the hearts and beings of His people, Arctic 

 explorers for Christ or better still Arctic soul- 

 winners would have pierced these polar wastes 

 long ago. These people have seen so many samples 

 of ungodly white men in the past that we can hardly 

 wonder if they view us with suspicion now, and think 

 we are a curse instead of, what we try to be, a 

 blessing to them." 



" April 4. Blowing strongly from N.W. during the 

 forenoon ; weather, however, cleared somewhat 

 about noon. A man arrived from the north. He came 

 from a party of Eskimos who are living on the ice 

 some twenty miles from here. I determined with 

 God's help to accompany this man. Mr. Green- 



