That man's hunger was tremendous, but Miss Carter, having knowledge and
experience of such cases, was apprehensive that if any large quantity of
food were taken at a time there would be serious danger to him. So for a
day or two he ate frequently but sparingly. A little later, as he grew
stronger, to such extremes did his hunger pinch him that he would watch
till there was no one looking and would go into the kitchen and steal
food that was preparing, even taking it out of the frying-pan on the
stove. He would be hungry immediately after having a full meal. In ten
days he was sufficiently recovered to resume his journey to the
diggings, and when I saw him at Coldfoot two months later I did not
recognise him, so greatly had he changed from the poor shrunken creature
that crept into the mission. We all think we have been hungry time and
again; if ever we have gone a few days on short rations we are quite
sure of it; this man had sounded the height and depth and stretched the
length and breadth of it, and none of the rest of us really know what
hunger means. I tried to get him to talk about it, but he said he wanted
to forget it. He said he was ashamed to think of some of the things he
had done and of some of the terrible thoughts that had come to him, and
I pressed him no more. I have always felt that, even in its last
hideousness of cannibalism, only God Himself can judge starvation.
[Sidenote: TWO INTERPRETERS]
Here began my first experience of the difficulties of conducting a
mission at the same place for two different races of natives speaking
totally different languages. Although the Indian language spoken here is
the same as at Tanana, and much of the liturgy, etc., had been put into
that tongue by Mr. Prevost and was therefore available, yet it was found
impracticable to have two sets of services whenever the church was used,
for both races would always attend anyway. Since the mastery of the two
tongues was out of the question, and there were no translations at all
into the Esquimau, it became a question of teaching the Esquimaux to
take part in an Indian service or dropping both vernaculars altogether
and conducting the service in English. After much doubt and experiment
the latter was resolved upon, and the whole service of prayer and praise
is in English. When the lessons are read and the address delivered it is
necessary to use two interpreters; the minister delivers his sentence in
English, then the Koyukuk interpreter puts it in Indian, and when he is
done the Esquimau interpreter puts it into that tongue.
It is a very tedious business, this double interpretation and a
twenty-minute sermon takes fully an hour to deliver, but there is no
help for it. The singing is hearty and enthusiastic though the repertory
is wisely very limited; and here, north of the Arctic Circle, is a
vested choir of eight or ten Kobuk and Koyukuk boys who lead the singing
and lead it very well.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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