p. 3: Russian Orthodox priests gave way to Jesuit missionaries, who left an even greater impression, not least in the diseases they brought. A flu epidemic in 1900 halved the native Alaskan population in just three months. The old church we are using as a dormitory is lined with books on Jesuit theocracy. Local names, like Peter John, Stanley Tom, Margaret Nickerson, are all Jesuit impositions that now take preference over their native Yup’ik names (Peter John’s traditional name is Miisaaq, but he rarely uses it). Other artefacts of the Jesuits are the Bible on Peter John’s table and his Hohner Special 20 harmonica. He was given the instrument and taught how to use it by the missionaries. He plays it for us, starting with hymn music and then segueing into the Forties classic ‘You Are My Sunshine’.
David H. Stam's Anthologies of the Reading Experience