15 



firmed by Brother Wolff after careful instruction in the 

 faith. 



Here the work had been mainly of a preparatory nature. 

 The house and school had to be fitted internally for the 

 long and severe Winter, so that little missionary work 

 proper was done before Christmas. Then, however, a 

 school was opened, with the design of making prominent 

 industrial features of instruction. The one drawback to 

 success, apart from the difficulties of intercourse from an 

 ignorance of the language, was the persistent opposition of 

 the priest and the deacon of the Greek Church at Nushagak, 

 who did not scruple to use fair means or foul to thwart the 

 endeavors of the missionaries. Nor is there lack of labor 

 in curing the physical ailments of those who come to the 

 Mission-station, as to a hospital, with broken limbs, ulcers, 

 running sores, boils or severe lung diseases. 



Turning once more to Bethel, the heroic family there 

 were not to pass another Winter entirely alone. On May, 

 12, 1888, the Rev. Ernest Weber, of Gracehill, Iowa, who 

 had volunteered and had been ordained for service in 

 Alaska, left San Francisco, and arrived at his destination 

 on June 16. 



He is soon quite at home in his work, his arrival making 

 it possible to hasten the erection of the log-house planned 

 for a school and chapel. His impressions of a native " re- 

 ception " at a village up the river, visited by him in search 

 of logs, are full of graphic interest. He says : 



"In the evening, the natives at this village had one of 

 their dances, for my especial benefit. It is laiore of a feast 

 than anything else. They had a great many berries; 

 and as they did not have any clean dishes for me, they 

 turned my hat inside out and filled it up for me. It is sur- 

 prising how many some of them can eat; often half a 

 gallon of salmon-berries. They also had their ice-cream " 

 and sour fish-heads, and dry fish. They had two young 

 women to dance. I wish I could make you understand 

 how it was. First the folks get everything ready. They 

 stretch a cord all full of dried birds across the room, and 



* Water-ice ? 



