ACROSS PACIFIC OCEAN AND BEHRING SEA 37 



As they were the first representatives of the people with whom 

 we expected to come into close contact in the future, we did 

 our best to make our visitors feel at home, and succeeded very 

 easily by means of tobacco, crackers, and molasses. For some 

 time they were entirely occupied in consuming a very large 

 amount of crackers, but their brown, intelligent eyes followed 

 all our movements with keen interest, possibly to see whether 

 they could expect more to eat. 



The wind was almost imperceptible, and it was not till 6 P.M. 

 that we passed the sand-spit, on which a large village was 

 situated. The " Stars and Stripes " was hoisted from the top 

 of the two-storied house occupied by Dr. Campbell, who com- 

 bined the functions of missionary, physician, teacher, trader, 

 United States Marshal, and chief of police. Several large whale- 

 boats were hauled up on the beach ; the inhabitants seemed to 

 be well off, and many large houses showed that a great number 

 of people lived in the place. 



Several boatloads of people set off as we passed, but to their 

 surprise, and ours also, the current took us and carried us out 

 to sea. Three of the boats hooked on, and Dr. Campbell 

 came on board, followed by a swarm of natives. However, 

 they soon took to their boats again, as they saw that we were 

 drifting away from the village, and they had a stiff pull to 

 regain the shore. Dr. Campbell stayed with us, and we found 

 him a very pleasant companion, although he too was some- 

 what worried by the direction which the ship took. He told 

 us that ours was the third vessel which had called that year, 

 that the few whalers going in had not had much trading stuff 

 aboard, and that he thought we could buy dogs at very reason- 

 able prices in the village. As we kept drifting out to sea, we 

 had to put him ashore, but a breeze sprang up at the same 

 time, and we stood in. Before long we overhauled the boat, 

 and, with Dr. Campbell as pilot, we ran in and anchored at 

 II P.M. on an ugly-looking open beach. We sent word ashore 

 that dogs were wanted and that they could be brought on 

 board the following day. 



Early in the morning of Friday, the 6th, people began to arrive, 

 and we were aroused by the furious barking of the dogs which 

 were tied down in the boats. After breakfast we started buy- 

 ing. Many Eskimos had come on board, bringing some forty 



