tried to explain that Queen Victoria was dead, that they were not living
under British rule, and I took a pencil and struck out the prayers for
the royal family from the books. But there was doubt in their minds and
a reluctance to alter in any particular the liturgy that had been taught
them, and it is quite likely that intercessions for a defunct sovereign
of another land still arise from the Chandalar village. One cannot but
feel a deep admiration for the pioneer missionaries of this
region--Bishop Bompas, Archdeacon MacDonald, and the others--whose
teaching was so thorough and so lasting, and who lived and laboured here
long before any gold seeker had thought of Alaska, when the country was
an Indian country exclusively, with none of the comforts and
conveniences that can now be enjoyed. It was to a remote cabin on the
East Fork of this river that Archdeacon MacDonald retired for a year to
make part of his translation of the Bible, according to the Indian
account.

[Sidenote: THE SHORTEST DAY]

At noon on the 21st of December, the shortest day, there is a note in my
diary that I saw the sun's disk shining through the trees. Although
fully half a degree of latitude north of the Arctic Circle, the
refraction is sufficient to lift his whole sphere above the horizon. One
speculates how much farther north it would be possible to see any part
of the sun at noon on the shortest day; but north of here, throughout
Alaska, is broken and mountainous country. We were on the northern edge
of the great flat of the interior.

The fifth day at the village was Christmas Eve. My boy was in a critical
condition, very low and weak, with a temperature that stayed around 101 deg.
and 102 deg.. As night approached I watched with the greatest anxiety for
the party from Fort Yukon, and, just as the last lingering glow of the
long twilight was fading from the south, there was a distant tinkle of
bells on the trail, and faintly once and again a man's voice was raised
in command and I knew that relief was at hand.

The nurse had dropped everything and had come, as I felt sure she would.
Gathering medicines and supplies and hiring a native dog team and
driver, she had left immediately, and the round trip had been made in
the shortest time it was possible to make it. It was a tremendous relief
to see her step out of the rugs and robes of the toboggan and take
charge of the situation in her quiet, competent way. A small, outlying
cabin was