VOYAGE TO THE BAY 9 



in hollows of the rocks on the hill behind the houses. As the 

 neighbourhood is overrun with dogs, and as the natives often 

 build their snow houses directly over the ponds, the quality of 

 the water is very bad, and probably accounts for much of the 

 sickness prevalent here. 



The mission is under the charge of the Rev. Mr. Peck, who 

 for many years has devoted his life to the instruction and 

 welfare of the Eskimo about Hudson bay, and, of late years, on 

 Baffin island. He is ably assisted by two younger men, both 

 of whom have had medical training. The headquarters of the 

 mission are at Blacklead, from which place the missionaries 

 travel, several times a year, to Kekerten, on the north side of 

 the gulf, and to Cape Haven, on Cyrus Field bay, to the south. 

 In this manner all the natives of the southeastern part of Baffin 

 island are reached. The work of combating ancient supersti- 

 tions has been hard and slow, but the results of the mission are 

 beginning to tell, and the natives are now taking rapidly to the 

 teaching and precept of the missionaries. The total number 

 of Eskimos reached is about five hundred, and they are all 

 connected with, and depend upon, the whaling stations of 

 Blacklead, Kekerten and Cape Haven. 



During the summer months all the able-bodied men, with 

 some of the women and children, proceed to the head of the 

 bays, and thence far inland, to hunt the barren-ground caribou, 

 to secure a supply of skins for winter clothing and bedding. 

 They are absent until September. On their return they are 

 employed at the whale fishery until the gulf freezes fast, 

 usually early in December. During the remainder of the 

 winter, they maintain themselves by harpooning seal through 

 breathing-holes in the solid ice, or by killing them in the open 

 water, at the edge of the floe. Whaling is resumed in March 

 and continues until the ice breaks up ; then the seal hunt begins 

 and ends only when the time arrives to go inland again. 



