In Search of a Polar Continent, 1905-1907.

p. 22, re the Catholic mission at Resolution: The children are not only educated but clothed and fed. The girls are taught how to sew and how to make their own clothes, as well as how to read and write; whilst the boys, who are also trained in these latter academic, if elementary, exercises, acquire a variety of crafts which will be useful—in fact indispensable—to them in afterlife.

p. 25, at Fort Simpson on the Mackenzie River: Besides Fort Simpson itself, there is one other trading-post here; there are also two missions, a library, and a museum. In the last-named building I noticed Dr. Rae’s canoe, which he took with him on one of his Arctic expeditions.

p. 102-03, on the Eskimo character: The most salient feature, probably in all the Eskimo is their independence—a quality which is partly the consequence, but partly also, perhaps, the cause of their behind eminently self-supporting. Their wants, being few and simple, are readily satisfied by what the country produces, and their own inborn resources are far greater than those of the country. Their versatility is amazing; their capacity for hard work and for endurance is unrivalled. Dearly as they love “a deal”—and their favourite amusement is to chaffer with one another for a dog or for a rifle—Production is immensely more important to their economics than is Exchange. In their ideal, a man should be competent to support, not only himself, but also his family. A modern Englishman recoils from the name “liar,” as his Saxon sires shrank from the slur of nidering [infamous, dastardly]; but no reproach can blight an Eskimo more witheringly than the taunt of neglecting wife and children;… The family is their social unit.