SUMMER AND WINTER LIFE OF THE ESKIMO. 277 



work. They take the seals out morning and evening, 

 and in the mean time they either sit concealed on the 

 bank in order to shoot at the creature, or they paddle in 

 their kayaks over the bay with the same object, for all 

 seals killed with guns belong by contract to those who 

 shoot them. 



" As soon as the bays and straits are covered with ice, 

 the seal fishery, so far as it is carried on with nets, natu- 

 rally ceases, and the Eskimos go to hunt those seals which 

 have been shut into the bays by the ice. They often 

 have to go over very unsafe places upon the still thin ice, 

 and hence this mode of hunting is often accompanied by 

 involuntary cold baths. 



"About Christmas-time all the Eskimos with their 

 families again assemble in their winter houses at the mis- 

 sionary stations where they are settled. Now comes the 

 time of schooling for the children, and the season of rest 

 and religious duties for the older persons. For more 

 than a hundred years have the missionaries of the United 

 Brethren been active on these shores, and it is owing to 

 their zeal that nearly all the Eskimos (except a few fam- 

 ilies which live quite far north of Killinek) have been 

 converted. But they have not sought alone to Chris- 

 tianize them, but also to civilize them, I believe that 

 upon the whole coast there is not an Eskimo who can- 

 not read, write, and cipher, although singularly enough 

 they are not, to be sure, particularly given to this last ; 

 on the other hand they have an extraordinary memory, 

 and I believe they know well by heart the usual church 

 tunes. Through close personal contact with the mission- 

 aries they try to gain information regarding European 

 customs. Every Sunday afternoon they are allowed to 



