350 CONQUERING THE ARCTIC ICE 



three other stations, all under white men, but by no means so 

 large as Mr. Brewer's, while two natives are working up a very 

 good business under the patronage of Mr. Spriggs, the 

 Presbyterian missionary, who has been in the country for 

 six years. 



No one is so constantly watched and talked of on the frontier 

 as the missionary, and many stories were in circulation about 

 this particular man. I had heard much of him before I saw 

 him, and I must admit that I had never thought highly of him 

 or his work, but when I came to the field of his activity I set 

 about investigating the different stories I had heard or even 

 seen in print. But from numerous conversations with the 

 white men living at Point Barrow, and whose word could be 

 trusted, or with the natives, whom, according to what I had 

 heard, Mr. Spriggs had wronged, I found out that the stories, 

 as far as I could investigate, were invariably groundless, and 

 my opinion is that a missionary like Mr. Spriggs is doing much 

 good among the natives, who all like him very much and speak 

 highly of him. 



I do not mean to defend all the missionaries ; some whom 

 I met on my way back ought never to have held that position, 

 but more do good work under conditions which are not always 

 easy to grapple with. 



The Eskimos have strong religious tendencies, but, like all 

 savage people, are apt to carry them to extremes, and small 

 independent teachers appear now and then in the ranks of the 

 natives themselves. They get followers, possibly only for a 

 short time, but as long as they have them these inventive 

 people are a power to be reckoned with in an Eskimo com- 

 munity. Point Barrow, like every other place, has had its 

 " home-made religions," although they do not flourish side by 

 side with the missionaries, and the native prophets are usually 

 clever enough to betake themselves to places where their some- 

 times very extraordinary teaching cannot be contradicted by 

 their white colleagues. 



Every Sunday the church bell sounds over the silent country, 

 vibrating far and wide through the cold air, calling together all 

 who can travel to hear the word of God, and telling those 

 who cannot come that it is time to pray. The people come 

 from far and near ; team after team drives into the village, all 





