go2 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



yovemher 1, 191S. 



tually, socially and religiously they are 

 being- helped and uplifted. 



The Eskimos are somewhat slow to 

 deal with, but once they are persuaded, 

 they are steadfast. Before Bishop 

 Stringer's consecration, he laboured as 

 priest among the Eskimos at Kitli- 

 gagzooit, near the mouth of the Mac- 

 kenzie River, and on Herschel Island, 

 the northernmost inhabited point of the 

 British dominions — a bleak, desolate, 

 treeless island, ice-bound for nine 

 months of the year. Traders in heathen 

 countries are not', as a rule, enthusiastic 

 in their praise of converts to Christi- 

 anity, yet a Hudson Bay trader, refer- 

 ring to these people, writes : — 



Before they were Christians they would, 

 one and all, steal everything they could l.iy 

 their hands on, yet liow I can" absolutely 

 trust the tribe of Eskimos converted to 

 Christianity by Bishop Stringer, of the 

 Yukon. 



A missionary who has resided on Her- 

 schel Island continuously for the past 

 five years furnishes the following notes 

 of the customs of the people : — 



The customs of the Eskimos have under- 

 gone a change. For example, the temporary 

 loan or exchange of wives, which was once 

 common, has ceased. Infanticide, also once 

 common among all the tribes, is no longer 

 practised. Care of old people is much 

 greater than in former times. Until lately, 

 when a man died, all his personal property 

 was buried with him, as no one wanted a 

 dead man's goods. This fear hap passed, and 

 the g<X)ds go to the heirs. Tattooing and 

 cutting the lips are being abandoned. Mur- 

 ders and thefts are much rarer than for- 

 merly. 



It will be remembered that nearly two 

 years ago the discover v was re]>orted, by 

 the leaders of an Anglo-American expe- 

 dition to the Arctic seas, of a large num- 

 ber of Eskimos in the Coppermine 

 region, from 700 to looo miles east of 

 the Mackenzie River, who had never 

 seen the face of a white man. In July, 

 191 2, under the direction of Bishop 

 .Stringer, a missionary, with twelve 

 Christian Eskimos, chosen from two 

 hundred volunteers, set out in a sailboat 

 for a two-year trip, to try to reach and 

 evangelise these people. 



Referring to the Peel Indians, Bishop 

 Stringer, in one of his addresses to the 

 Synod of his diocese, said : 



The Indians were anxious and ready to 

 learn, and not only accept-ed Christianity, 



but lived on the principles and precepts of 

 Christ. It is a strange commentary on our 

 Christian civilisation to say that the weaker 

 nation, under the influence of the stronger, 

 has sometimes degenerated on the advent of 

 the \vhite men in large numbers. When the 

 evil influence of the white man has not to 

 any extent been felt, as for instance among 

 the Peel River Indians, we find a people 

 living at least as consistent a Christian life 

 as is generally seen in an ordinary white 

 community. 



Seventy-five per cent, of this tribe can 

 read, and several of their number have 

 taken orders in the Church of England. 

 This would seem to give the lie to the 

 oft-repeated assertion that " the only 

 good Indian is a dead one." 



Concerning the results of the quarter 

 century's work in the Yukon \'alley. a 

 veteran missionary, the Reverend John 

 W. Chapman, writing in the same issue 

 of the Spirit of Missions, declares : — 



In some ways intercourse with the whites 

 has done our people good. They are better 

 labourers, understand better the 'character of 

 a contract, are cleaner and less superstitious 

 — especially the younger generation — and are 

 enabled to live in far greater comfoft than 

 forinerly. Hut when so much is said, it re- 

 mains true that the native .standard of 

 morals is a low one. and that in the native 

 sv.st 111 of religion there was nothing which 

 held out the slightest. hope that it would ever 

 |x>come any better than it was. Every gain 

 in this respect is due to the influerice of 

 Christianity, and the gains are not a few. 



But it is for the native's welfare that 

 the Bishop is especially concerned. For 

 the Indians exclusively two hospitals 

 have been established, two industrial and 

 eight day schools are maintained, and 

 two sawmills are operated. The Bishop 

 favours a reservation system, his aim 

 being to have the principles of sanitation 

 taught, thereby permanently improving 

 the sanitary conditions, in order to check 

 the mortality among the natives from 

 tuberculosis, which has become a scourge 

 among them. In their efforts to live 

 more like the white man, the Indians are 

 losing much of their own proper racial 

 heritage, to their great detriment Out 

 of 400 Indians at Sitka 40 died last year 

 of tuberculosis, and at another station 

 50 per cent, of the people had died dur- 

 ing the preceding year of the same 

 dread disease. 



Last year Bishon Rowe went to Wash- 

 ington and placed before Congress the 



