INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 225 



structures of minor importance connected with the mission had ])een 

 .cleaned and everj^thino' ''put to rights'' as well as two men could do 

 it, but would hardly bear inspection from the more observant eye of 

 a feminine housekeeper. One of the qualifications of a Government 

 teacher, as viewed from the stand of the Eskimos, is that he should be 

 a trader on an ample scale. Trade facilities are open to the natives in 

 connection with whalemen and traders only during a very brief period 

 in the summer. Accordingly, to have a trader who has some consid- 

 eration for "the other" during the whole year is really a great boon 

 to the isolated people in this and other Eskimo communities. 



I began, by the help of Abrahamsen, to minister to the sick. Sores, 

 costiveness, throat and lung diseases, cuts from rust}^ knives, and the 

 "stomach ache" are the complaints which one meets here as a rule. 

 It were well if the teacher in such a station as this had a thorough 

 training in a medical college previous to his advent among a people so 

 dependent upon him for medical advice. The native diagnosis of a 

 sick person invariably is summarized in the single symptom "a devil 

 inside," and the treatment is to attempt b}^ aid of the native doctor to 

 drive out the devil. 



September 1: Hoisted flag and began school. Twentj^-five boys 

 were present, with no representation of the gentler sex. I observed 

 that the children had a tendency to bo very hilarious and boisterous, 

 which would require gentle but firm discipline if any order at all were 

 to be maintained, and any real work accomplished. 



The attendance of a ninnber of the children was not possi))le, as they 

 were detained by other and evidently more pressing duties. Espe- 

 cially was this the case with the girls, who were obliged to pick 

 blueberries. 



September 2: A test revealed the fact that four or five of the schol- 

 ars had been advanced to multiplication. The advanced pupils, how- 

 ever, had forgotten a vast deal of their instruction. It was surprising 

 to me to hear some of them read, quite fluently, in fact, from their 

 Second Readers; and to hear them speak English at times to me, 

 which, if ungrammatical, at least revealed the hold that their previous 

 vocabulary had taken upon their young minds. The great majority 

 of the pupils had not advanced appreciably beyond the "a b c" stage. 

 I can imagine how herculean was the task to which Mr. V. C. Gam- 

 bell set himself three years ago, and I desire to testify to his great 

 capacity as an instructor under circumstances that would no doubt 

 have appeared to a less stalwart nature hopelessly discouraging. It 

 would seem as scarcely more diflicult to instruct the minds of persons 

 on a dift'erent sphere as to educate the children on St. Lawrence Island. 

 Their life is so diametrically opposite to that of the civilized person, 

 to find a common ground is exceedingly diflicult. 

 S. Doc. 24:5 15 



