Through Jim, Mark will also find out that the people drink alcohol and get drunk one of the negative influences of the "white people."" When Mark arrived at the village, he learned about the professional mourners and how they mourn their dead day and night, with total dedication. The mourners were shy, so they hid away from the vicar. This, however, is how the reader finds out about a young boy's death and the fact that he couldn't be buried because the local RCMP official didn't arrive until ten days after the death. The white people's intrusion into their lives will be witnessed by the reader, along with the spiritual trip offered by this book. Generally, the officials will not contribute anything constructive to the villagers' lives but will only intrude and interfere, as mentioned above. The reader realizes that the Indian people are not treated fairly to the extent of being almost excluded from society. Finally, after ten days, the official arrived, and the young boy could be buried. After the burial, the vicar held a religious ceremony. He sensed that the ceremony was unfinished; and that he wasn't a part of it anymore. After he left, the Indian ceremony continued in the language of the ancient Elizabethan Kwákwala, which "the young no longer know- (28). This is a second clue, which points out the continuing slow death of the ancient Indian culture. The only other white person in the village was the teacher. He doesn't love the Indians, and he doesn't contribute to their lives in any way. The only reason he's there is because of the benefits the job will bring him: "a year in Greece, studying the civilization he adored- (33). This is such an irony, since he fails to realize that he could help to keep the dying Indian heritage alive, for the next generations to come, rather than study a long dead civilization. .
The Indians curiously observed the vicar. They were polite, but they didn't trust him in their lives "at least not yet.
