PASSAGE THROUGH THE ICE 75 



settlements many times too large for the supply of game. The 

 result was only too evident ; starvation and disease soon became 

 the constant visitors of the villages in winter time, while they 

 were waiting for the whalers to return ! 



But one year there came a man who did not trade, who did 

 not give them whisky or desire their women, who taught their 



ESKIMO CHILDREN. 



children the rules of civilized life, taught them to read and 

 write, and thus improved the coming generation. Instead of 

 spreading diseases, this man healed and cured where he could, 

 and instead of going away in the autumn, as the whalers did, 

 he stayed with the people through the winter, and up and 

 down the coast, wherever Eskimos live, a new word was added 

 to their vocabulary, an Eskimo word which as closely as 

 possible resembles the white man's " missionary." 



There have been many missionaries in the country since the 

 first one arrived. Some have not had a good influence over 

 the natives, but more have done good. Besides the missionaries, 

 enterprising whalers settled on the coast, used the natives to 

 work for them, and paid them well. Credit is due to these 

 men, although they may receive it unwillingly, as well as to 

 the missionaries, because they made it possible for the Eskimos 

 to get the food which now had become essential to them 

 throughout the year, as payment for work. The whalers have 

 many families working for them, and give each family what 



