The Land and the People 5

One of these is a mixture of races, in numbers
and variety, such as, I believe, is not found in any
other mission field in Canada. We have Indians of
various tribes, on reservations when they are not
away working in camp or cannery. There are the
Tsimpsheans, Tlingits, Nishgahs, Haidas, and others.
Sixty years ago Rev. Thomas Crosby found them
living in gross heathenism. Only one missionary of
any Church had come among them, Mr. Duncan of
Metlakahtla, an unordained lay missionary of the
Anglican C.M.S., and his work was confined to
one tribe. Then there are Orientals in large
numbers, East Indians, Japanese, and Chinese.
You find them on fishing boats, in canneries, and
in camps, hundreds of them. They constitute a
separate and difficult field for service. Then, too,
we have all the white races of the world repre-
sented among the others. There are a number
of Finn groups resident here. One settlement is
so opposed to the Church that they won’t allow
the missionary to use any building for service.
On the other hand, there is a Ukrainian district
at Lang Bay where the missionary gets the kind-
liest welcome of any people he visits. In the
logging camps you hear all the languages of Europe.
There are many hundreds of men there who are
just out of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland,
and hundreds more from different parts of interior
Europe.

Besides this unique complex of races there is
an unusual isolation. The people live in tiny settle-