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diff --git a/15190.txt b/15190.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..99e08b5 --- /dev/null +++ b/15190.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3247 @@ +Project Gutenberg's With the Harmony to Labrador, by Benjamin La Trobe + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: With the Harmony to Labrador + Notes Of A Visit To The Moravian Mission Stations On The North-East + Coast Of Labrador + + +Author: Benjamin La Trobe + +Release Date: February 27, 2005 [EBook #15190] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH THE HARMONY TO LABRADOR *** + + + + +Produced by Wallace McLean, Jeannie Howse and the Online Distributed +Proofreading (https://www.pgdp.net), from images kindly provided by +www.canadiana.org + + + + + + + + WITH + THE HARMONY + TO LABRADOR + + + [Illustration: "THE HARMONY"] + + + A VISIT + TO THE + MORAVIAN MISSION STATIONS + ON THE + NORTH EAST COAST OF LABRADOR + + + + + London: + MORAVIAN CHURCH AND MISSION AGENCY. + 32, FETTER LANE, E.C. + + PRICE THREEPENCE. + + * * * * * + + _WITH_ + THE HARMONY + TO + LABRADOR. + + + NOTES OF A VISIT + BY THE + REV. B. LA TROBE + TO THE + MORAVIAN MISSION STATIONS + ON THE + NORTH-EAST COAST OF LABRADOR. + + + LONDON: + MORAVIAN CHURCH AND MISSION AGENCY, + 32, FETTER LANE, E.C. + + LONDON: + G. NORMAN AND SON, PRINTERS, HART STREET, + COVENT GARDEN, W.C. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + PAGE + INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 1 + ARRIVAL AT HOPEDALE, THE SOUTHERN STATION 2 + THE 119TH VOYAGE OF THE SOCIETY'S VESSEL 3 + HOPEDALE 5 + A STROLL "TO THE HEATHEN" 5 + JOYS AND SORROWS--A MARRIAGE AND A FUNERAL 7 + THREE NATIVE HELPERS 9 + A COMMUNION AND FESTIVAL SUNDAY AT HOPEDALE 11 + A PLEASANT SAIL FROM HOPEDALE TO ZOAR 13 + ZOAR 14 + A CLIMB TO THE TOP OF THE SHIP HILL AT ZOAR 15 + FROM ZOAR TO NAIN BETWEEN ISLANDS 16 + THE FIRST EVENING AT NAIN 17 + INTERCHANGE OF VISITS WITH THE ESKIMOES 18 + TWO ESKIMO GROUPS TAKEN AT NAIN 21 + "GOD'S ACRE" 23 + A BUSY WEEK AT NAIN 25 + FROM NAIN TO OKAK 27 + THE MOST PRIMITIVE STATION IN LABRADOR 30 + WALKS IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF OKAK 33 + FROM OKAK TO RAMAH 34 + "RAMARSUK" (NEAT LITTLE RAMAH) 35 + AN ESKIMO VILLAGE 38 + ON THE BEACH AT RAMAH 41 + A FAITHFUL NATIVE HELPER 42 + LEAVING RAMAH 43 + SUNSET, MOONRISE AND AURORA BOREALIS 44 + ARRIVAL AT HEBRON 45 + THE VISITING MISSIONARIES' LEVEE 46 + A SLEDGE DRIVE 47 + MY LAST SUNDAY IN LABRADOR 51 + MUSIC ON THE WATER 53 + HOMEWARD BOUND 53 + + + ILLUSTRATIONS. + + PAGE + + "THE HARMONY" 1 + HOPEDALE 4 + TITUS, NATIVE HELPER AT HOPEDALE 10 + ESKIMO HOUSES 19 + A GROUP OF WIDOWS AT NAIN 21 + THE CHOIR AT NAIN 22 + ICE AGROUND 29 + RAMAH 36 + TENTS AT RAMAH 37 + AN ESKIMO IN HIS KAYAK 42 + TRAVELLING IN LABRADOR 49 + + + + +=LABRADOR= + + +Is an extensive triangular peninsula on the north-east coast of +British North America, Lat. 50 deg. to 62 deg. N., Lon. 56 deg. to 78 deg. W.; bounded +N. by Hudson's Straits, E. by the Atlantic, S.E. by the Strait of +Belle Isle, separating it from Newfoundland, S. by the Gulf and River +St. Lawrence and Canada, and W. by James' Bay and Hudson's Bay. Its +area is estimated at 420,000 sq. miles. The vast interior, inhabited +by a few wandering Nascopie Indians, is little known; the coast, +mainly but sparsely peopled by Eskimoes, is rugged, bleak and +desolate. Seals abound, and the sea is well stocked with cod and other +fish. The wild animals include deer (caribou), bears, wolves, foxes, +martens, and otters. The Eskimo dogs are trained to draw sledges, to +which they are attached in teams of from eight to fourteen. + +The temperature in winter ranges lower than that of Greenland, the +thermometer often showing a minimum of 70 deg. below freezing-point of +Fahrenheit. The climate is too severe to ripen any cereals, and the +flora is very limited. + + +The Moravian Mission to the Eskimoes on the north-east coast of +Labrador was established in 1771 by a colony of brethren and sisters +from England and Germany, who on July 1st reached Unity's Harbour, and +at once began the erection of a station, calling it NAIN. An earlier +attempt in 1752 under the direction of John Christian Erhardt had +failed, the leader of the little band of missionaries and the captain +of the ship, together with several men of the crew, having been killed +by the natives. Five more stations were subsequently added--viz., ZOAR +and HOPEDALE to the south, and OKAK, HEBRON, and RAMAH to the north of +Nain. The distance from Ramah to Hopedale is about three hundred +miles. + +Since the year 1770, when the "Jersey Packet" was sent out on an +exploratory trip, the Society for the Furtherance of the Gospel has +maintained regular communication with Labrador by despatching each +year a ship, specially devoted to this missionary object. Eleven +different ships have been employed in this service, ranging from a +little sloop of seventy tons to a barque of two hundred and forty +tons. Of these only four were specially constructed for Arctic +service, including the vessel now in use, which was built in the year +1861. She is the fourth of the Society's Labrador ships bearing the +well-known name "THE HARMONY." + +[Illustration: "THE HARMONY."] + + + + +=WITH THE HARMONY TO LABRADOR=. + +NOTES OF A VISIT BY THE REV. B. LA TROBE. + + +What can a summer visitor tell of Labrador, that great drear land +whose main feature is winter, the long severe winter which begins in +October and lasts until June? I have been sailing over summer seas, +where in winter no water is visible, but a wide waste of ice +stretching thirty, forty, fifty or more miles from the snowy shores. +In the same good ship "Harmony," I have been gliding between the +innumerable islands of the Labrador archipelago and up the fine fjords +stretching far inland among the mountains, but in winter those bays +and straits and winding passages are all white frozen plains, the +highways for the dog-sledge post from station to station. I have +visited each of our six mission-stations, dotted at intervals of from +forty to ninety miles along some 250 miles of the grand, rocky coast, +but I have seen them in their brightest and sunniest aspect, and can +only imagine how they look when stern winter has come to stay for +months, and the thermometer frequently descends to forty, fifty, +sixty, sometimes even seventy degrees below freezing point, +Fahrenheit. I have spent happy, busy days in those Christian villages, +nestling close by the shore under the shelter of one or another hill +that cuts off the icy northern blasts of winter. But I can fancy that +their ordinary aspect is very different to the bustle and interest of +the "shiptime." I have enjoyed the kindly hospitality of successive +mission-houses, one as neat and clean as the other. But I have seen +none of them half buried, as they often are, in snowdrifts of fifteen +or twenty feet deep. The summer sun sent down powerful rays into the +windows of the pleasant guest-chamber usually facing southward, but in +mid-winter the Okak mission-house lies in the shadow of a great hill +for weeks, and at other stations the sun describes a low curve over +the opposite mountains, and does little more than shed a feeble ray of +cheer upon the mid-day meal. + +One unpleasant experience of the warmer season I have shared with our +missionaries, which they are spared in winter. That is the +inconvenience of the swarms of mosquitoes and sand flies, which make +them almost glad when the brief summer yields to a cooler autumn. + +On the other hand many phases of Labrador life do not change with the +season of the year, least of all the spiritual verities which there, +as elsewhere, concern the welfare of the bodies and the souls of men, +and the eternal principles which should rule the life that now is, as +well as that which is to come. The Christian life of the dwellers in +those mission-houses, and, thank God, of the goodly congregations +gathered around them, has its source in a perennial fountain, flowing +summer and winter from the upper sanctuary. _This_ is the matter of +main interest to my readers, therefore I will transcribe, or rather +adapt, some diary pages, hoping they may convey correct impressions of +the daily surroundings and local conditions under which our dear, +self-denying missionaries are constantly toiling to win souls, and +build up truly Christian congregations. + + + + +ARRIVAL AT HOPEDALE, THE SOUTHERN STATION. + + +Hopedale, Zoar, Nain, Okak, Hebron, Raman; these are our Labrador +mission-stations in order from south to north, and as we visited them +in the "Harmony," with one exception. From Okak we went straight to +Ramah, and returned southward to Hebron, whence we sailed for Europe. +Each station consists of the mission premises and a group of Eskimo +dwellings, situated on the shore of a bay, affording safe and +convenient anchorage for the ship which brings supplies. From Hopedale +to Ramah is about 250 miles, "as the crow flies," but the ship +traverses a hundred miles more in its passages from place to place. +The distances between the stations are about as follows:-- + + Hopedale to Zoar 90 miles Okak to Hebron 70 miles. + Zoar to Nain 40 " Hebron to Ramah 60 " + Nain to Okak 80 " + +The accompanying log of our voyage gives a _resume_ of its history. I +will take up my more detailed sketches on the day when we arrived at +Hopedale, the southern station. + + + + +THE 119th VOYAGE OF THE SOCIETY'S VESSEL. + +(28th of present barque "Harmony.") + + + June 20. Wed.--_Farewell Service in London Docks._ + " 23. Sat.--Left LONDON. + July 3. Tues.--Arr. at STROMNESS (Orkney Isles). + " 6. Fri.--Left STROMNESS. + + (_London to Labrador, 41 days_.) + + Aug. 3. Fri.--Arr. at HOPEDALE. + " 13. Mon.--Left " + " 14. Tues.--Arr. at ZOAR. + " 19. Sun.--Left " + " 19. Sun.--Arr. at NAIN. + " 27. Mon.--Left " + " 29. Wed.--Arr. at OKAK. + Sept. 5. Wed.--Left " + " 9. Sun.--Arr. at RAMAH. + " 14. Fri.--Left " + " 17. Mon.--Arr. at HEBRON. + " 25. Tues.--Left " + + (_Stay in Labrador, 53 days_.) + + Oct. 26. Fri.--Re-entered LONDON DOCKS. + + (_Homeward Voyage, 31 days_.) + + The whole voyage occupied 125 days, or close upon 18 weeks. + + +_August 3rd_, 1888. It is six weeks all but a day since we left +London. We might have reached Hopedale three days ago, for we were +within eighty miles. But a dense fog made it impossible to venture +among the islands, where drift ice might be added to the dangers of +rocks. So we have been driving to and fro for the last three days and +nights over a high sea, studded with icebergs hidden from us by a +thick white mist, which made everything wet and cold. It has been the +least pleasant and most anxious part of our voyage hitherto. This +morning the fog cleared away, and we could see how good the Lord had +been to us, for the icebergs were still surrounding us, but had never +been permitted to come nigh our vessel. (Not till later did we know +how well He had not only protected but piloted us. Drift ice beset the +whole coast, but during those three days it cleared away southward. +Nor could we have reached Hopedale by the usual southerly route, past +the Gull Island, even on August 3rd. The course by which we were +taken, _nolens volens_, was the only one open). + +As morning wore on our swift progress brought us to the outer islands, +bare bleak rocks, at whose base the sea was breaking terrifically. The +first was Ukalek (the hare), about equal distance from Nain, Zoar, and +Hopedale. We turned southward, our good ship speeding along before a +favourable breeze and rolling heavily. Many icebergs of all shapes and +sizes were visible around our now widened horizon. Tremendous waves +were beating against their gleaming white sides, and sending the spray +high towards their towering pinnacles, in one case clean over a huge +berg perhaps 150 feet high. + +Presently the Eskimoes at their northern fishing-places caught sight +of us. Yonder are two boats sailing from that barren island, and we +can now see three or four Eskimoes in each. As we overtake them they +fire their guns and shout. See, on that island to the right is a +regular little encampment, two or three tents, and men, women, and +children running about excitedly, waving their arms and hallooing. +Soon they launch their boats and row after us. The Ship Hill has been +visible for some time. Now we see the red roof of the mission-house, +and the little cupola of the church. Thank God! the flag is flying at +the mast-head, _i.e._, at the top of the station flagstaff; no death +has occurred in the mission circle. Yonder Eskimoes on the rocks, +congregated about their little cannon, fire their salutes and shout +their welcome. Now we are sailing into the harbour. With mingled +feelings I scan the mission-house. Yes, there are some of the +missionaries at the door. They run down to the pier, launch their boat +and are coming off to us, rowed by two men and two women. I recognize +old Boaz from his photograph; and that is Verona, good faithful soul. +But there are only Mrs. Dam, and the Brethren Kaestner, Asboe, and +Hansen. Where are the rest? Mr. Bourquin has not arrived from Nain; no +news from the North; Mr. Dam is ailing, and must return to Europe with +us. Mrs. Asboe and Mrs. Kaestner await us, so we are soon off in the +boat to get another warm welcome at the door of the mission-house, +about half-past five. + +[Illustration: HOPEDALE. (_See next page._)] + +I am conducted to the guest-chamber, and ere long we meet at the tea +table, around which the whole mission family is assembled with their +visitors. First our gratitude is expressed for the many mercies to +each and all, included in the safe arrival of the "Harmony," and then +ensues a lively interchange of news and mutual interests. + + + + +HOPEDALE. + + +I will content myself with a few explanations of the accompanying view +of the station from the bay. In winter the aspect of the whole +landscape would be very much whiter, and the foreground not water, but +ice. The bare, rocky ship hill which forms the background still had +considerable patches of snow when we arrived early in August, but it +melted from day to day during our stay, for the summer sun asserts its +power during its brief sway. The mission-house in the centre of the +picture is connected with the church by a covered passage, and the +building with the three gable-ends, on the other side of it, is the +store. The gardens, really wonderful in results when the climate is +considered, are situated at some distance to the rear of the mission +premises. The Eskimo village lies mostly to the right, where only one +or two log huts are visible in the picture. Some of the native houses +are behind the mission premises, including that of Jonas and his +capable wife Lydia, perhaps the neatest and best furnished home of an +Eskimo to be found in Labrador. The three windows to the right of the +front door of the mission-house belong to the rooms occupied by Mr. +and Mrs. Asboe. If there be as much snow this winter as last, they may +be in the dark, part of the time. The three centre windows of the +upper story show Mr. Hansen's rooms, and on each side of these are the +dwellings of Mr. and Mrs. Kaestner and Mr. and Mrs. Lundberg. + + + + +A STROLL "TO THE HEATHEN." + + +The only "road" in all Labrador is the broad path at Hebron traversed +by the only wheeled vehicle in the country, a queer little wagon drawn +by dogs, and used to fetch water for the house. But great service to +succeeding generations of missionaries has been rendered by those who +have employed some of their leisure in making pleasant paths leading +to points of view or places of interest. For such a remote settlement, +Hopedale is rich in well-made walks, though they are by no means so +extensive as the winding paths in the fir woods behind Nain, the +oldest station. And as I can bear witness, the present generation of +missionaries have at each station fairly done their duty in adding to +the roads along which their successors in the service shall take their +social strolls or their lonely prayerful walks in communion with the +best of friends. + +What an illustration of the spiritual service in such a land! The +pioneer finds all in the roughest phase of nature. With infinite +trouble and pains he prepares the way of the Lord, making the rough +places plain; here he takes away the rocks and stones which bar the +way, there he builds up, so making His paths straight. And where the +good-work has been begun, other missionaries follow on the same lines; +and so by grace it shall go forward, until the glory of the Lord shall +be revealed and all flesh shall see it together. + +One of the Hopedale paths leads "to the heathen," and what more +interesting spot could we visit than those three mounds, which are all +that remain of the former winter dwellings of the original heathen +population. One by one, and sometimes several at once, when the Spirit +of the Lord was powerfully bringing home to their hearts the Gospel +preached by the early missionaries, the inmates of these abodes moved +from their pagan surroundings and began to make themselves Christian +homes around the mission-houses. + +On our way to the long uninhabited ruins of this older group of +abodes, we will pass through the Christian village, which has thus +sprung up at Hopedale as at all the other stations. It consists of +irregular groups of little log houses, planted with little attempt at +symmetry. Their Eskimo owners have no idea of a street. Perhaps some +day the conception may occur to them as they read in their Bibles of +"the street which was called straight." Nor do they need any words in +their language for "rent," "rates," or, "taxes." Here in the south and +at the station most influenced by civilization, the majority of the +little houses are built of logs and even roofed with wood. Some are +covered with turf. The dwellings of our people in the north are much +more primitive. Each house has its low porch, a very necessary +addition in this land of "winter's frost and snowing." + +Between the houses and in their porches lie many dogs. One of these +wolf-like creatures follows us over the rocks to the burial-ground, +and then runs off to fish on his own account. The dogs scour the shore +for miles in search of food, for, with the exception of those +belonging to our stores, they mostly have to forage for themselves. +They like seal and reindeer meat, but there are times when they can +get neither flesh nor fish. Then they turn vegetarians, spring over +the fences of the mission gardens and help themselves. + +We enter the irregular enclosure, where lie the bodies of many, who +have fallen asleep during the hundred years that Hopedale has stood. +Here are some Eskimo graves with little headstones, bearing brief +inscriptions, but more mounds without identification. In one corner +lies a group of graves of touching interest--the missionaries and +their children--who have taken sepulchre possession here. + +Thence our way lies along the shore. What is that noise? It is a whale +blowing in the smooth water. Look, yonder rises the column of spray, +and now a great fin appears for a moment over the surface. Wait +awhile, and the monster will blow again. Yes, there he is, spouting +and diving; on the whole, we can hear more than we can see of him. + +Over rock and moss, variegated with lovely little flowers, we reach +the path which skirts the old heathen sites. Little more than the +outline of the former turf houses is visible. The turf roof has fallen +in, or been carried away, but the low mounds which formed the walls +remain, as also the roofless curving porch, which in each opened out +to the sea. More than one hundred persons of both sexes and all ages +are said to have inhabited these three houses, and their heathen life +here, with its cruelties, sorceries, and other unhallowed phases, can +better be imagined than described. It must have been a great advance +for them in every respect when they moved to the mission-station, +established nearly half a mile away, and began to learn the faith and +hope which have given it its name. In those days there must have been +a good many such heathen villages along this coast with a nomad +population far more numerous than now. + +Thence we easily ascend the ship hill, over rock and moss, and +occasional patches of snow. The view is really grand, though bleak and +bare. Hundreds of rocky islands lie between us and the seaward +horizon, while to north and south one can scarcely distinguish them +from the bold headlands which stretch out into the ocean. Northward, +the white sails of from thirty to forty fishing schooners are gleaming +white in the sun. Hundreds of these craft pass up the coast from +Newfoundland every summer, and the spiritual interests of their crews +are faithfully sought at Hopedale. Sometimes the Sunday afternoon +English service is attended by more than two hundred such visitors. As +we descend the hill and return to the station past the well-kept +gardens, we make our first acquaintance with mosquitoes, but they do +not trouble us much to-day. + + + + +JOYS AND SORROWS--A MARRIAGE AND A FUNERAL + + +Each mission-station is a little world in itself; it has its own joys +and sorrows, and complete cycle of events in the human lives lived +here for a time by the will of God, who has His purposes of love in +each and all. I have touched many of these joys and sorrows during my +brief stay here. + +In the godly family of this Hopedale mission-house, it is a time when +the clouds return after the rain. Little Hildegard Kaestner has been +lying for some days between life and death, but at last we can rejoice +with her parents in a degree of hope. The child has even shown a faint +interest in her toys. (I am grieved to hear on my return that the +little one passed away while her father was absent with me on duty.) +Our English missionary sister has also been passing through woman's +time of trial and honour, and we are now able to rejoice with her and +her husband in the gift of a little girl, their firstborn. God bless +and keep mother and child! + +My visits with Mr. Dam, the pastor, and his wife, to some of the +Eskimoes' houses have been singularly sad. Titus' wife, Katharina, +formerly a good and able woman, has fallen into a pitiable state of +insanity, which is not only a sore sorrow to the good man, but also a +great hindrance to his earning a livelihood. Then we were suddenly +summoned to the next house, where we found Hermine dying. In the +morning she went out fishing with her husband, Wilhadus. Both were +taken very ill with one of those colds which are so fatal to the +Eskimoes, and he feared he should not be able to bring her home alive. +She was nearly gone, and he very ill, when they did arrive. We found +her on the floor, surrounded by sympathizing and helpful neighbours. +But there was little to be done; life was fast ebbing. Mr. Dam knelt +and prayed beside her, then blessed her, and she feebly responded to +his words. The women laid her down comfortably, and as they sang +hymns, amid tears and sobs, she passed away to be with the Lord, on +whom she believed. God be praised that there is such hope and comfort +in this event. + +Hermine died on Thursday, and the funeral was on Saturday afternoon, +when a little child was also buried. The first part of the service was +in the church. Then the congregation reassembled just outside, the men +by themselves and the women apart. The larger coffin was borne on the +shoulders of six men, the little one was carried by two. The whole +congregation appeared to be the mourners, nor was poor Wilhadus well +enough to follow his wife's remains to their last resting-place. After +singing a verse in front of the church, the procession moved slowly +onward to the burial ground, where Mr. Kaestner read the litany, and +the responses and singing were beautifully reverent. At his signal the +coffins were lowered into the graves, and he spoke the concluding +blessing at each. + +I was present at a marriage service last Sunday. The young bridegroom +and bride sat together on two stools in the middle of the church. They +were simply and plainly dressed in clean white "sillapaks," _i.e._, +light calico tunics edged with broad braid, mostly red. The woman's +was rather more ornamental than the man's, and had a longer tail +hanging over her skirts. She had a ring on one finger, but that played +no part in the ceremony. In his opening address the minister named the +pair. William Tuktusna comes from the South, and possesses both +Christian name and surname, which is unusual for an Eskimo. The woman +is called Amalie. Both replied with a clear "Ahaila" (yes) to the +usual questions of the marriage service. They then gave the hand to +one another, and, kneeling down, a prayer and the Old Testament +blessing confirmed the solemn contract, into which they had entered +before God. As usual the congregation sang the response, "Jesum +akkane, Amen." (In the name of Jesus, Amen). + +Amalie cried a little during the ceremony, and more as she followed +her husband out of the church, but the heathen custom of feigning +sorrow on such an occasion is dying out. At first she refused +William's offer, made through their missionary, but afterwards she +thought better of it. May the Lord give them a happy and holy union of +heart and life! + + + + +THREE NATIVE HELPERS. + + +I had a visit this afternoon from the three "native-helpers" here at +Hopedale. They came to interview the angajokak from London +(anga-yo-kak = chief or elder) and their pastor kindly interpreted. I +am pleased to know these worthy men. They are true Eskimoes in modes +of thought and expression, and they are true servants of God, +faithfully serving this congregation of their countrymen in many ways. +Among the duties of their office are, visiting the sick, admonishing +the negligent, settling disputes, and affectionately exhorting those +who are under Church discipline. They are also chapel-servants, and +evidently glad to be door-keepers in the house of their God. At the +fishing or hunting places they often hold services, and sometimes they +preside at the meetings at Hopedale. At the celebration of the recent +centenary each of the three delivered a powerful address. + +Let me introduce them to my readers. + +The first and oldest is JOSHUA, a decided Christian of many years' +standing. His wife Bertha is also a chapel-servant, a real mother in +the congregation, and a true helpmeet to her husband. They are a +thrifty, diligent, much respected couple, whose influence and example +is blessed to those around them. Next February 4th they will, D.V., +celebrate their golden wedding, an event unknown as yet in Labrador. +Though Joshua cannot read, he frequently addresses the congregation +with power, suitability, spirituality, and some originality. In his +public prayers he almost invariably adds a petition "for our Queen +Victoria; because she is only a woman." On one occasion he said to his +countrymen: "Those of you who can read know that it says, they shall +come from the East and the West, and the North and the South, and +shall sit down in the kingdom, but the children of the kingdom shall +be cast out. Our fathers were heathen, but we are children of the +kingdom. If _we_ fail of the grace of God, we shall not only be cast +into hell, but into outer, _outer_, OUTER darkness." It made a great +impression on them. At another time he drew a comparison between the +Israelites, who entered Canaan with Joshua, and the spiritual +Israelites, who with Jesus shall enter on the millennium. + +The second is DANIEL, a gifted man with a humble spirit and +considerable missionary zeal. Year by year, as Epiphany, "the Heathen +Festival," comes round, he has sleepless nights of deep sorrow in his +heart for those who know not Jesus, the Salvation of God. Twenty years +ago, stirred by the example of John King, the bush-negro evangelist in +Surinam, Daniel went in his own boat to his heathen countrymen in the +far north of Labrador. He found a companion of like sentiment in +Gottlob of Hebron, who afterwards rendered such excellent service at +Ramah. More recently Daniel induced Titus of Hopedale to accompany him +on a winter journey to some of the European settlers and half-breeds +in the neighbourhood of that station. When they arrived at the +log-house of one or another of these dwellers in the remote bays, +Daniel at once told their errand with as much humility as +earnestness. Their simple testimony of the Saviour from sin was well +received. When they returned to Hopedale Daniel had a great deal to +tell the missionaries of the utterances of his companion, but very +little to remark about his own sayings and doings. He frequently +accompanies his missionaries on their evangelistic or pastoral +journeys not only as driver of the dog-sledge, but as helper of their +spiritual work. + +[Illustration: TITUS. _Native Helper at Hopedale_.] + +The third of my visitors is the above mentioned TITUS, also a man of +ripe years and Christian experience. The way in which his zeal and +spirit of service supplement the gifts of his friend Daniel is a +striking illustration of the Spirit's dividing to every man severally +as He wills. Daniel is a man of quick perceptions, Titus of prompt +action. The two may be walking together and talking of the spiritual +welfare of the congregation so much upon their hearts and prayers. +Daniel mentions some matter which he fears is displeasing in God's +sight. "Yes, yes, that is so," says Titus; "I had not perceived it, but +you are right. We must testify against that." And testify he does, on +the first opportunity, with such vigour that the abuse is rebuked and +stopped, yet with such tact that none can be offended at his faithful +outspokenness. + +For some years Titus has served as assistant schoolmaster, and like +his friend Daniel he takes part in the music of the sanctuary, having +a good bass voice. Daniel sings tenor in the choir, or plays the +violoncello. + + + + +A COMMUNION AND FESTIVAL SUNDAY AT HOPEDALE. + + +_Sunday, August 12th_.--To-day the festival of the thirteenth of +August, the spiritual birthday of the renewed Brethren's Unity, has +been celebrated in this far northern congregation, incorporated in the +one bond with those in Germany, England, America, and our various +mission-fields scattered thousands of miles apart over the surface of +the globe. + +In the early morning the congregation band played suitable chorales in +good time and tune, and the solemn strains were well adapted to +prepare hearts and feelings for the spiritual privileges of the day. + +At nine o'clock Daniel kept the morning blessing. Picture the neat +clean, church, simple and suitable for the worship of an Eskimo +congregation. Behind the table sits the worthy native-helper. To his +right hand the missionaries face the men and boys; to his left are the +missionaries' wives, and opposite them a more numerous company of +women and girls. The benches are without backs. The little organ is +played by Ludolf, an Eskimo, well and devotionally, and the singing is +further accompanied by other musicians with one clarionet, five +violins, and a violoncello. The choice of tunes is such as would +puzzle most congregations in England. The people are very devout in +their demeanour and sing well. Their faces are mostly brown, with high +cheek bones, but on the whole they are much lighter in complexion than +photographs had led me to conclude. + +Daniel did his part reverently and simply, for, as he had told me +before by word and gesture, God has made the heart and the mouth. His +long and earnest prayer, spoken extempore in his own language, was +evidently well prepared, and thoroughly suitable to the occasion. He +asked the Lord to be among us with His blessings, His faithfulness, +and His mercies. He continued: "O Saviour, Thou hast all fulness; Thou +wast able and willing to bless the brethren at Herrnhut a hundred and +fifty years ago, bless us now. True, we are worse and much lower than +they were, but Thou canst do it. Bless us to-day. We are very bad, but +Thou wilt bless those among us who believe. As to those who do not +believe, bless them too, and, if possible, let them be partakers of +Thy salvation. + +"We think of our teachers, those who have come to us and those who are +about to leave us by the 'Harmony.' O bless them for their works' +sake. We do not always obey them as we ought. Help us to be more +obedient. Lord, do these things for us, and though we are not able to +praise Thee sufficiently here on earth, we will praise Thee in heaven +for ever." + +The next service was commenced with a choir piece, when the organ and +other instruments accompanied seven singers, four women and three men. +The women especially had voices of power and compass. Alto, tenor, and +bass were fairly sustained, as well as soprano, and the whole effect +was good. The piece, which was not easy, but suitable in liturgical +character, was well rendered both in forte and piano passages. This +time Ambrose, another native, presided at the organ, and Ludolf played +the first violin. + +Mr. Kaestner's sermon on 1 John iii. 1 was followed by a baptism, in +Labrador suitably the closing part of the public service. The +congregation as ever take up the long responses well and devotionally, +and in this service the children repeat portions of Scripture (1 Pet. +iii. 21, Tit. iii. 5, and Matt. xix. 14). These were spoken distinctly +and simultaneously by the boys and girls. The infant having been +brought up to the table by the parents, the minister baptized it with +the formula Susannah, Jesusib tokkun-ganut baptipagit Atatab, +Ernerublo, Anernerublo ajunginerub attinganut. (Susannah, into the +death of Jesus I baptize thee, in the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Ghost.) + +I took the English service at three o'clock. Soon after we again +assembled in the church, for the Eskimo choir had sent a deputation to +request that they might sing some more of their pieces for us. The +programme of their really excellent performance included such pieces +as Hosanna, Christians Awake, Stille Nacht, Morgernstern (Morning +Star), and an anthem (Ps. 96) containing effective duets for tenor and +alto. When they had finished I spoke a few words of thanks and +farewell, and then Mr. Dam bade good-bye to the people he had loved +and served for ten years. They were much moved at the thought of +parting with their faithful pastor and his wife. + +Shall I ever forget that communion at seven? I felt it a great +privilege to partake of the Lord's Supper with my brethren and sisters +in Labrador. How much He has done for these dear missionaries, simple +earnest Christians, experienced in the things of God, men and women of +mighty faith, who do "move mountains." How much hath God wrought for +these dear Eskimo Christians, who sit down at His table with beautiful +reverence and real appreciation of this act of faith. + +The benches not needed for the communicant congregation had been +removed from the centre of the church. On the men's side two empty +benches stood together, on the women's three or four. After the +trombonists had played a solemn chorale outside, the first chapel +servant Joshua and his wife Bertha opened their respective doors, and +about twenty men and more than thirty women entered from right and +left and took their seats. Both men and women were all attired in +their light braided sillapaks, and they are very particular to have +clean ones for this service. The women who are communicants have a +lock of their hair plaited in front of each ear. The vessels used on +this occasion were presented to this congregation by two American +ladies, who recently visited Hopedale. They were present on a similar +occasion and were much struck by the solemnity and reality of the +service. In grateful remembrance of the kindness of our missionaries +they have sent this valuable and beautiful gift of communion plate. + +Though unacquainted with the language, I was able to follow the +simple, familiar communion service. The words of institution sounded +solemn, as pronounced in Eskimo, and truly when one knelt with the +congregation, and partook of the bread and wine, one could discern the +Lord's body, and feel that, though these dear people have their +temptations and their failings, yet there are many souls here who feed +on the Bread of Life and live by Him. When He cometh it will be +manifest, and even now He is glorified here in them that believe. + +After the communion we went down to the boat to embark. The rock that +stretches out into the harbour was crowded with Eskimoes, who had +hurried to bid their departing missionaries a loving farewell. + + + + +A PLEASANT SAIL FROM HOPEDALE TO ZOAR. + + +_Tuesday, August 14th._--We are nearing the second station. Leaving +Hopedale about dawn yesterday we made good progress northward, sailing +quietly between innumerable islets, all bleak, bare, uninhabited +rocks. We saw many small icebergs. In the evening one singularly +shapely and beautiful berg floated past us, tipped with violet, which +contrasted with the curious yellow tint of one side, the pure white of +the mass and the living green of the waves rippling at its base. The +sunset and the northern lights were very fine. + +When I went on deck this morning the island of Ukalek, or "The Hare," +was astern, various rocky islets, imperfectly marked, or altogether +omitted on the chart, were on both sides of us, and Zoar far ahead +among the distant hills. Our vessel was almost imperceptibly gliding +in that direction. May the Lord, who alone knows the rifts and rocks +of this marvellous coast, bring us safely thither, and guide me aright +amid the difficulties of the present situation there! These people +have learned no wisdom or thrift, in spite of all the love and +patience shown them, and they have made the past winter a most trying +time for their devoted missionaries. + +The mirage yesterday and to-day is a wonderful freak of nature. At +times, nothing can be seen as it really is. Icebergs and islands are +flattened to one dead level, or doubled, so as to appear now like long +bridges, now like high towers. The rapid changes in the appearance of +solid masses are marvellous. All day we have been slowly sailing +westward, new prospects of distant hills ever opening up as we passed +headland after headland. Presently the barren rocks began to be +clothed with firs here and there, but the lifelessness of the scene +was striking. Once we caught sight of two or three Eskimo tents on a +little island, but no human beings were visible. Only a solitary +grampus made the circuit of our ship. + +At length we round the last cape, and enter Zoar Bay. Presently we +come in sight of the station buildings between the fir-clad slope and +the shore. There is the store, now the mission-house and church appear +from behind yonder rock. The Eskimoes are firing their shots of +welcome, answered by rockets from the ship. Thank God, the station +flag is flying at the mast-head! That tells us that neither illness +nor accident have been permitted to carry off any of the missionaries. + +Look behind you. The hills are glowing with a glorious +"Alpengluehen"--an evening effect as splendid as it is surprising. + +Now we are nearer. They are launching the "Emily," the station boat. +Rowed by natives, she comes alongside almost as soon as our anchor is +down, and all the resident missionaries climb on board, followed by a +number of Eskimoes. + +Soon our hosts carry us off to the hospitable little mission-house, +which somehow or another manages to find comfortable quarters for all +the visitors. I am writing up my diary in Mr. and Mrs. Rinderknecht's +pleasant rooms, which I am to share with Mr. Kaestner, who is on his +way to Nain to take part in our conference there. Mr. and Mrs. Martin +are occupying the spare room below us, and the Lundbergs have also +turned out to make room for Mr. and Mrs. Dam. Where our hosts have +taken up their abode meanwhile remains a riddle for the present. (The +riddle was solved in a subsequent tour of inspection of the house, +when I found that the one resident couple had retired to the garret +and the other to a workshop on the ground floor.) + + + + +ZOAR. + + +In its summer aspect this is a singularly lovely place. Yet, I see +each station at its best, and can only guess at the changes which snow +and ice will work in the landscape. Were this spot in Europe, it would +soon be a favourite summer resort. Being in Labrador, however, the +summer visitors would speedily fly from the swarms of mosquitoes and +sand-flies. These appear as soon as the weather is at all warm and are +a veritable plague in the summer evenings, which would else be so +enjoyable. And when these myriad tormentors with wings and stings are +gone, rude winter cuts short the autumn. + +As usual in Labrador, the little mission-station lies on the north +side of the bay, so that the wooded hill behind shields it from the +northern blasts. This fir-clad slope makes Zoar much more friendly in +appearance than any other station. Hopedale is bare and treeless in +its general aspect and so in less degree are Nain and Okak, though all +three have fir-trees in their neighbourhood. Ramah and Hebron are +beyond the limit of even these hardy evergreens, and the latter looks +very bleak and rocky. Pleasing as is the first impression of Zoar, +the conviction soon grows upon one that the site has its serious +disadvantages. First and foremost among these is the fact that it is +not favourable to success in sealing and fishing, so that it is not +easy for the inhabitants to make a livelihood. + +The pretty mission-house affords convenient accommodation for two +missionary families. It is, as usual, connected with the church by a +covered passage. To the right of these buildings the little Eskimo +village stretches along the shore, to their left are situated the +well-stocked mission-gardens, from which pleasant paths have been made +through the woods beyond. Between the church and the rocky beach +stands the store, and not far off the salt-house and the boat-house. +The powder-house is always situated on some rock at a safe distance +from the station, for the Eskimoes burn a considerable quantity of +this dangerous material in their ceaseless war with seals, walrusses, +reindeer, and other animals, including an occasional black or white +bear. + + + + +A CLIMB TO THE TOP OF THE SHIP HILL AT ZOAR. + + +The ascent to the spot whence the approach of the ships can best be +descried is by no means so easily accomplished at Zoar as at Hopedale. +But the hour's stiff climb is richly rewarded by a magnificent +prospect. Our path lies first through the fir woods, then over a bare +plain on which tufts of beautiful and very variegated mosses alternate +with rocks and withered roots. This is evidently the site of a forest, +which at no very distant date has been killed by the terrible climate. +Up again through low thick brushwood and over great rocks, till at +last we reach the summit. Seaward we can see the course by which the +"Harmony" came in. Northward the eye ranges along the rugged coast +with its innumerable islands and deep fjords. Yonder sheet of water is +not an arm of the sea, but a great freshwater lake, long an object of +superstitious dread to the Eskimoes. Neither in summer or winter dared +they cross it, until their missionaries did so, for they believed a +monster dwelt in it, who could eat up the man and his kayak, or +sledge, dogs and driver. Inland one sees mountain after mountain, +whose wild slopes are traversed by no human foot unless the Nascopie +Indian, or "mountaineer," may pass that way in pursuit of the +reindeer. None of these natives of the great unknown interior have +visited our stations this year. In the Zoar bay beneath us the +"Harmony" is riding at anchor near the mission premises, and now we +can see the whole curve of the other great bay, which approaches Zoar +from the north. The "itiblek," as the Eskimoes call a low narrow neck +of land between two such arms of the sea, is but a few hundred yards +across. To the east of yonder waterfall is a level place on the shore +of the larger fjord, which was once thought of as a site for this +station. But it would have been too much exposed to the east wind. + +What a different landscape this will be in winter, when all those +waterways among the islands are frozen! It must be very difficult even +for an Eskimo sledge driver to know his way through the snow-covered +labyrinth on so large a scale, indeed almost impossible when the +driving snow hides his landmarks. But He, to whom we are wont to +commend our travellers by land and sea, cares also for those who +traverse the ice-plains of Labrador, that they may serve Him or join +His people in worship. Not only our missionaries but the settlers have +often experienced His goodness in answer to prayer in moments of +perplexity or danger. It is indeed praiseworthy that, to gain a +blessing for their souls, the latter are willing to run the risks and +bear the expenses of a two or three days' sledge journey to the +stations, often in terrible cold. Sometimes their children are sorely +disappointed when the parents cannot venture to take them to the +Christmas or Easter Festival. Last Christmas Eve, two boys, aged +sixteen and fourteen, started from their home in Kamarsuk bay and +walked through deep snow to Zoar, which they reached after ten +laborious hours. English services are held for the settlers at this +station as well as at Hopedale, though they are more frequent at the +southern place owing to the visits of the crews from the Newfoundland +fishing schooners. + + + + +FROM ZOAR TO NAIN BETWEEN ISLANDS. + + +Our voyage from Zoar to Nain occupied just twelve hours. We left about +5.30 A.M., and our anchor went down again before 5.30 P.M. The day was +fine and warm, and the scenery changed continually. Often the way +seemed barred before us, but, as we sailed on, a narrow strait opened +to right or left, and as we neared Nain our voyage between the islands +became more and more interesting. Presently some Nain Eskimoes caught +sight of the "Harmony," and posted off to the station in their sailing +boat, which kept ahead the whole way. Two men came to meet us in their +kayaks, and paddled alongside for some time, their light skin boats +skimming over the water as easily as the flock of ducks which had just +crossed our bows. Passing the island Taktuk, a salute fired by the one +Eskimo visible was followed by such a concert of howls from his dogs +seated in a row on a rock as made us all laugh. Next the Kauk came in +view, a great rock looking like a skull, or, as its name implies, "a +forehead," a very recognizable landmark often anxiously looked for on +sledge journeys. Paul's Island, with its deep inlets, was to our +right, and now a good wind sent us forward past headland after +headland till Nain came out from behind the Suederhucke. First we could +see the Eskimo village, whose inhabitants were, as usual, firing their +guns and shouting; then the church came in sight, and the +mission-house with flag at the mast head; then the store and the +little pier, which, as we approached, was crowded with Eskimoes +singing, "Now let us praise the Lord." + + + + +THE FIRST EVENING AT NAIN. + +[Illustration] + + +Nain was the third station visited on our voyage northward along the +bleak but grand coast of Labrador. Hopedale and Zoar had already been +left behind in the south; Okak, Hebron, and Ramah, all to the north of +Nain, had yet to be touched at in their turn. Each successive station +has its own distinctive features and so presents fresh interest to the +visitor. Nain, the oldest of all, is rich in associations with the +past as well as very interesting in the life, spiritual and temporal, +of the mission-house and the Eskimo dwellings, which constitute this +little Christian village of three hundred inhabitants. + +_August 19th._--I take up the story on the Sunday evening, when, about +a quarter past five o'clock, the "Harmony" came to her anchorage some +three to four hundred yards from the mission premises on the north +shore of the Nain bay. It is a mercy when no accident occurs on the +arrival of a ship at a station, for the Eskimoes are rather wild in +their expression of their joy, and rather careless in handling powder. +Just a year ago they burst a little cannon in welcoming the "Gleaner." +The pieces flew in all directions about the heads of those standing +round. Yet by God's great goodness not one was hurt. One man's cap was +knocked off by a flying fragment of iron. + +Our first welcome to Nain was from some members of the mission-band, +who at once came aboard the "Harmony" in their boat. Rowing ashore +with them, we visitors received a second kind welcome at the +mission-house. It was rather curious that my fellow-travellers, the +Martins, should arrive at their destination five-and-twenty years to +the day after Mr. Bourquin, whom Mr. Martin is eventually to succeed +in the presidency of this mission. I was conducted to the pleasant +guest chamber. On my table lay two dear letters from home, the first +and last received after leaving Stromness. During our stay at Zoar the +mail steamer came from Newfoundland to Hopedale where she is due every +fortnight, while the coast is free from ice. This time she came on to +Nain, which she is bound to visit twice in the season at the captain's +discretion. She never touches at Zoar between these two stations. + +When we met as a family for the evening meal, Mr. Bourquin expressed +our thanks to the Lord for all his goodness and mercy involved in +another safe arrival of the mission-ship. The congregation did the +same at the thanksgiving liturgy, which commenced at 7 P.M. The Church +here is older and larger than any other in the land. The singing was +good, rather quicker than at Hopedale. About forty men and sixty women +occupied the same relative positions to the minister behind the table +and to the missionary brethren and sisters to right and left of him, +as at Hopedale and Zoar. The short benches at each end of the long +church were respectively occupied by three male and three female +chapel servants. The latter were dressed, not in European fashion, but +in the national costume of skin trousers with the fur outside. + +9 P.M. I am seated in my room after a pleasant social hour with +interchange of mutual tidings. Every provision has been made for my +comfort in this neat, clean guest-chamber. What interesting scenes of +human life as well as fine views of Labrador scenery are visible from +its windows south and west! Grand rocks from five hundred to eight +hundred feet in height rise nearly perpendicularly from the opposite +shore of the bay. Here comes a man paddling his kayak past the +"Harmony" as she lies at anchor. What is up among the dogs? They are +all howling and running along the beach, and now they have set on one +unfortunate, which is hustled and bitten until he escapes and hobbles +away yelping. + +Here is a woman coming to fetch water from the trough. I wish I could +draw her, for she is an odd figure in trousers and high boots. The +tail of her sillapak almost trails on the ground, and in its capacious +hood, a baby is seated looking out on the world with great content. + +10 P.M. It has grown dark whilst I have been writing up my diary. What +a concert the dogs are giving us now. They are howling, barking, and +sometimes fairly screaming, each and all contributing their full share +of the unearthly noises. 10.10. All is still: may it last! It is time +I retired to rest, for one must be up betimes; 6 A.M. is the hour in +all these mission-houses, for morning prayers are at 6.30 sharp. One +more look out of my window. The moon is rising above the opposite +hills and casting a broad band of light across the rippling waters. + + + + +INTERCHANGE OF VISITS WITH THE ESKIMOES. + + +"Good luck to you, sir!" That was meant for "Good-bye," and is the +sort of English the Eskimoes to the south of Hopedale have learnt. +Both at that station and here at Nain I have had curious visits from +such as prided themselves on their knowledge of my mother-tongue. Some +spoke it very fairly, but my conversation with the natives was, of +course, mostly through an interpreter. These visits are quite a +feature of mission-house life. One afternoon at Hopedale Jonas and his +wife Lydia came to see me. The good man said: "As there are so many +souls here, I would ask our angayokaks (elders or superiors) in London +and Berthelsdorf for God's sake to let us have teachers, as long as +there are people here. We cannot do without them. We have undying +souls, and must be cared for." With tears he added, "When I cannot +sleep, I ask God for this. We thank the angayokaks very much. I hope +God will grant those who are leaving us a good passage. We may never +meet again on earth, but I hope we shall in heaven." + +I had specially interesting visits from some of the native-helpers at +different stations. They expressed their humble sense of unworthiness, +and their gratitude for the benefits which come to them and their +countrymen through the mission. They also promised faithfully to stand +by their missionaries. My conviction is that the spiritual life of +each congregation very much depends on the Christian character, +stability, and influence of its native leaders. + +[Illustration: ESKIMO HOUSES.] + +Visits of the Eskimoes to my room, however, took up much precious time +of the missionary requested to interpret, so I preferred to get one of +the pastors to accompany me on a round of calls in the village. Let my +visits to the native-helpers at Nain give a view of the interiors of +some of the better dwellings. + +_Wednesday, August 22nd._--Mr. Bourquin kindly conducted me to the +homes of Jonathan, Abraham, and Matthew. Through the little porch or +vestibule, where the dogs lie, one enters the house. Sometimes there +are two rooms, one for sleeping and the other the dwelling room; but +mostly the beds are in corners, more or less partitioned or curtained +off. A little stove serves for warmth and cooking. A small table +stands by the wall, and there are one or two short benches, but the +articles of furniture most frequent are the boxes, which accompany the +Eskimo in his nomad life, and hold his possessions, whether he be in +his house at home, in his boat fishing, or in his tent at some distant +hunting place. The walls of the houses are ornamented here and there +with pictures cut out of old _Illustrated London News_ or _Graphics_. +Some remains of Christmas ornamentation showed considerable taste. The +present is not a favourable season to gain a good impression of the +houses, as their owners are most of their time away from home hunting +and fishing. Before Christmas they have a thorough turn out and clean +up, and then await the usual visit from their missionaries, who wisely +speak a word of commendation where it is deserved. Undoubtedly the +invariable neatness of the mission-houses, and the special care +bestowed upon the churches, have a great influence on the cleanliness +of the Eskimo dwellings. + +Husbands and wives were at home in all three houses visited to-day. +Jonathan spells his own name "Jonatan." He is a godly and worthy man +of mild disposition yet decided Christian character. His Leah is also +a native-helper among her sex, and a chapel servant. They gave us a +friendly welcome. True, it did not occur to them to ask us to sit +down; but our Eskimoes are pleased if one takes a seat in their houses +without the asking. Jonatan's grandchild was sleeping on one of the +beds, and its young mother sat in a corner sewing. The little +harmonium by the wall belonged to her husband, who lives with his +parents. The older people thanked me for the visit, and desired their +greetings to the great teachers over the water. + +Our second call was on Abraham, or more correctly "Abraha," for the +genius of the Eskimo language always requires a name to end with a +vowel. He is also an excellent and intelligent native assistant. He +and his Pauline were very pleased to see us, and expressed themselves +in the same strain as the former couple. As his harmonium and violin +show, he is very musical; indeed, he is a leading member of the Nain +choir. + +Lastly we called on Matthew and his young wife. His quiet, rather shy +demeanour and humble estimate of himself, as a recently appointed +office-bearer in the congregation pleased me well. Perhaps his house +was the neatest and best furnished of the three. + +I wish I could have heard Abraham or Jonathan speak at some service. I +am told their addresses correspond with their dispositions. The former +is warm, and vigorous, the latter more calm and affectionate in tone. +Matthew has yet to overcome his diffidence. + +By the way, when I went over to the ship to-day. I found Abraham and +his family on board. His little two-masted smack was lying alongside +the "Harmony," ready for a start to his fishing place. It contained an +interesting variety of possessions. Tent-poles and oars lay along both +sides, and his kayak was lashed to the right gunwale. Tackle, tent, +skins, utensils, and boxes were secured in the bottom of the boat, and +in a small pen at the bows lay his seven dogs. + + + + +TWO ESKIMO GROUPS TAKEN AT NAIN. + +[Illustration: A GROUP OF WIDOWS AT NAIN.] + + +Mr. Jannasch is the photographer among our Labrador missionaries, and +we have to thank him for some excellent pictures of persons and places +in that cold land. Copies of these may be obtained at our Agency (No. +32, Fetter Lane, London, E.C.), and we should be glad to encourage +him by a larger sale for his interesting cabinet, stereoscopic and +_carte de visite_ photographs. As he is resident at Nain, most of his +scenes or groups are taken at or near that station, but last-winter he +took his camera with him on a sledge journey to Hopedale. + +[Illustration: THE CHOIR AT NAIN.] + +The two groups which we have had reproduced for our pages are +characteristic, but those whose portraits are given might remark that +justice has scarcely been done to their faces. The first is a group of + +WIDOWS AT NAIN. It was a good day for lonely Eskimo women of this +class when the Gospel came to their shores. I made a point of +inquiring at each station as to the status of the widows and the +fatherless, and found that everywhere they are well cared for. Indeed, +the widows invariably stand in the first rank of those for whom +regular employment is found by the Society for the Furtherance of the +Gospel. They gratefully acknowledged this. Several of them also gave +me a special commission, which I hereby discharge to the best of my +ability. It was this, "_Give my greeting to all the widows in +Europe._" Perhaps they thought it would be as easy for the visitor +from England to do this on his return, as to inquire after all the +widows in Labrador. + +The five aged women in our picture are Adolfina (standing behind), +Marta (seated to her right), and Hulda and Beata (to her left). Amalia +(in the centre of the foreground) is attired in skirts after European +fashion, though she has on a pair of the Eskimo boots indispensable in +such a land. The rest are dressed in full Eskimo costume. It will be +seen that their sillapaks and trousers are ornamented with broad +coloured braid, and the hood, which falls back over their shoulders, +is edged with dog's skin and adorned with a strip of embroidery. Hulda +is a worthy door-keeper in the church, and a valued servant in the +mission-house of many years' standing. The other group represents + +THE CHOIR AT NAIN. We have already referred to the musical taste and +ability of many of the Eskimoes, and those at Nain are not behind the +Hopedalers in this respect. The man with the violoncello seated in the +centre is Abraham, the native helper mentioned in a previous +paragraph. To his right is Nathanael, with a violin. He is the +schoolmaster at Nain, and his wife Frederika is seated at his right +hand. One day in 1887, Nathanael was seen shaking his fists at the +mission house. What had ruffled his temper? He had been told by some +fishermen that Queen Victoria, to mark her Jubilee, had sent a present +of a suit of clothes to every schoolmaster in her dominions. As his +had not reached him, he suspected the missionaries of withholding it. +This is a characteristic instance of the credulity with which the +Eskimoes accept the statements of strangers and the mistrust they are +too apt to show towards those who have long proved themselves their +most disinterested friends. + + + + +"GOD'S ACRE." + + +The burial ground at Nain is the best kept in Labrador. Others are +neat and tidily arranged, but this decidedly bears off the palm. It is +finely situated, commanding a view seaward, and an Easter morning +service in this peaceful resting-place of the departed must be +impressive indeed, as the rising sun sheds his first rays across +frozen sea and snowy islands on a company of Christian Eskimoes, +rejoicing in Him who is the Resurrection and the Life, and not +sorrowing hopelessly for their dead. I know no better name for such a +sacred enclosure, where the bodies of those who have died in the Lord +are sown in hope, than the beautiful German term, "God's Acre." + + ______________ ______________ + | | | | + | 805 | | 741 | + | _Harriott_ | | _Eleonora_ | + | 1865-1882 | | 1819-1879 | + |______________| |______________| + + +Scarcely any grass grows within the oblong space surrounded by wooden +palings, but here and there patches of moss or low berry bushes +threaten to hide the neat little slabs of wood placed by the +missionaries on the graves of the native Christians. If left to the +Eskimoes, this duty to their departed relatives and friends would +either be done carelessly or forgotten. These simple "headstones," of +which I give two specimens as copied into my notebook, are perhaps +about twelve inches by eight. The place for the next grave in each row +(men, women, boys, girls) is indicated by long poles likely to appear +above the highest snow in winter. Here at Nain, and indeed at all the +stations except Okak, where the soil is clay, it is possible, though +in winter very troublesome, to dig a grave all the year round. At Okak +the coffin must be laid in the snow until returning spring thaws the +frozen ground. As already stated, the Eskimoes have no surnames, and +their graves show a great repetition of certain Christian names, as +Abel, Abia, Zecharias, Thomas, Susannah, Katarina, &c. There is a +greater variety on the female side. At Zoar I noted some curious +ones--Persida, Botille, Teresia Dina, and Justine. "Helena-Helenalo" +evidently means mother and child, both bearing the name Helena. +"Fillipusib-kitornganga" and "Davidib-kitornganga" mean the child of +Philip and the child of David. Mostly, the little wooden "headstones" +lie flat on the grave; those at Okak are placed upright, as in the +accompanying sketch, and record the names of several persons buried +beneath. + + /--------\ + / \ + | 644 | + | Andrew | + | 1862 | + | -------- | + | 959 | + | Marcus | + | -------- | + | 642 | + | Heinrich | + | 1873. | + +----------+ + | | + | | + + +Where the paths cross one another at right angles, in the older +Labrador churchyards, there is always a specially interesting group of +graves. There lie, in sure and certain hope of a joyous resurrection, +the bodies of good men and women, who have taken sepulchre possession +of this land for their Lord. Here, too, many sorrowing missionary +parents have had to lay little ones, early taken home in this bleak +climate. Ah, what stories are written on those simple gravestones, +when one can read between the lines! + +The "God's Acre" at Nain is as rich in historical associations as any. +Christian Larsen Drachard, one of the pioneers of this mission was +buried here in 1778; and beside the stone, on which is inscribed his +honoured name in full, is a rough slab from the shore, placed on his +grave by his own desire. Side by side to right and left of the path +separating the last resting-places of the married men from those of +the single missionaries lie Christopher Brasen and Gottfried Lehmann, +drowned in 1774 on their return voyage from finding a site for Okak, +the second station in this land. Not many days after I stood beside +their graves I sailed close by the island on which their sloop was +wrecked, and on whose rocks the angry sea cast their bodies. + + + /\ + / \ + / \ + / D. \ + / \ + / 1778. \ + / \ + \ _Sep. 18._ / + \ / + \ / + \ / + \ / + \ / + \/ + +I will close this chapter with a contrast. Leaving the peaceful +Christian burial ground, we climb the hill behind the station. In a +lofty, lonely valley we find many heaps of great stones. We will +examine one. Remove one or two of the boulders, and look in. On the +ground, rather than in it, lies a human skeleton, perfect with the +exception of the skull. We go on to the next heap; it is empty. In a +third we find a skull and one or two bones. Others contain scarcely +any human remains, but some Eskimo utensils were evidently the +property in life of the natives whose bodies were laid there by their +countrymen. It was customary to bury the possessions of the dead with +them, and very interesting curiosities used to be found in all these +graves. + +Yes, these are _heathen graves_, and the bodies in them are those of +Eskimoes who have died, ere they heard the words of life from the lips +of missionaries sent by the Church of Christ to proclaim His salvation +at this end of the earth. No inscriptions mark the tombs of these +nameless pagans, yet those rude stoneheaps have a voice for those who +have ears to hear. Methinks they appeal loudly on behalf of myriads +still living without God and dying without hope. "How shall they +believe in Him of whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear +without a preacher, and how shall they preach except they be sent?" + + + + +A BUSY WEEK AT NAIN. + + +The week spent at Nain may serve as a specimen of my stay at each +station in turn. We arrived here on Sunday, August 19th, in the +evening. Monday and part of Tuesday were taken up by conferences on +the spiritual prosperity and temporal regulations of the. Labrador +Mission. Tuesday afternoon proved the most convenient time for my +special meeting with the congregation, when, as at every station, I +gave the assembled men and women the greeting and message sent them by +the mission authorities at home. Opportunity being afforded them to +reply, some of the native helpers and others expressed their pleasure +that a visitor had come from Europe, and their gratitude that +Christians on the other side of the ocean had sent missionaries to +their forefathers, and still maintained teachers among them. They +also asked questions and gave their opinions on very various topics. I +promised to convey their salutations to "their angayokaks in London +and Herrnhut." This meeting lasted about two hours, and was, as +elsewhere, an arduous time for the missionary who acted as my +interpreter. It seemed easier to him to render into Eskimo my own +address given in English, than to interpret all the speeches made by +the natives in reply. + +Inspection of the premises, stores, archives, &c., continued +conferences, and other businesses filled up the remaining days of the +week during which the "Harmony" lay at anchor near the station. +Meanwhile the disembarking and embarking of her outward and homeward +cargoes went on, and when she was ready to sail we were ready to go +northward with her. In the intervals of daily duty I enjoyed pleasant +walks and talks with one or another member of the mission band in the +extensive plantation behind the station, the growth of more than a +hundred years of careful cultivations, Not till Saturday did we find +time for more distant expeditions, when grand views rewarded our +ascent of two hills to the north and south of the Nain Bay. They are +about 700 or 800 feet in height. + +Most of the week the majority of the natives were away fishing, but +several of the men and boys were earning daily wages by assistance +with the cargo. For those at the station evening services were held in +the church. These varied in character, one was a singing meeting, +another a liturgy, a third a Bible reading, when the two last chapters +of II. Corinthians were the portion of Holy Scripture taken in course. +When there was no Eskimo service, the mission family and their guests +met in their dining-room for mutual edification with the German Bible +and hymn-book. As to the latter, by the way, the book itself was +seldom needed, for most of the company knew the hymns by heart. So the +week sped away, bringing the Sabbath again. + +_Sunday, August 26th._--The Church Litany, and not the so-called +"Catechism Litany," was used at the 9 o'clock service. At 10 A.M. Mr. +Dam preached with fervour on the text for the day, John X. 16, of +course in Eskimo. The sermon was followed by the baptism of little +Esther, the infant daughter of Joash and Wilhelmina. After the service +the parents passed me on their way home. But where is the baby? +Nowhere visible, but the hood on the mother's back is bulky and moves. + +At three o'clock I conducted the usual English service on the deck of +the "Harmony." A good many natives were present, rather out of +curiosity than as able to understand, though it is astonishing to find +how many have managed to pick up a little English, especially at the +southern stations. + +At five we again gathered in the church for a short Eskimo liturgy of +praise to the Triune God, when our vessel and her passengers were +commended to the renewed care of the faithful Creator. Our evening +meal, the last in this hospitable mission-house, was followed by +farewell words and some commendatory hymns in German. Then we "parting +guests" went on board the "Harmony," accompanied by most of our hosts, +who lingered long with us. As we got into the boat, the Eskimoes bade +us an affectionate good-bye, "Aksunai, aksuse." (Aksunai, Be thou +strong, or its plural, Aksuse, Be ye strong, are used both for "How do +you do?" and "Good-bye.") + + + + +FROM NAIN TO OKAK. + + +_Monday, August 27th, 1888._--When I rose, our ship was being slowly +towed by her boats out of the bay in search of a fair breeze. About +eleven we had to put down the anchor, as wind and current forbade our +attempting to pass between "the Turnpikes," two rocks in the narrow +channel before us. Here we lay all the day among islands. Barth, to +our left, is so called in honour of Dr. Barth of Calw, the compiler of +a Bible history translated by our missionaries into Eskimo, as well as +into the languages of several other people evangelized by our church. +Rhodes, to our right, is named after James Rhodes, a native of +Gomersal, Yorkshire, who was a missionary here for twenty-six years, +1771-1797. Lister, the snowy hill beyond, perpetuates the memory of +Christian Lister, another Yorkshireman, who crowned seventeen years of +service in Labrador by thirteen in Jamaica. It is well to be thus +reminded that the British Province of four missionary Unitas Fratrum +had several representatives in this mission field a hundred years ago. +William Turner (twenty-two years' service, 1771-93) was a native of +Halifax; and James Bramagin (1775-94) of Lurgan in the north of +Ireland; Samuel Towle (1782-91) came from the neighbourhood of +Ockbrook, Derbyshire, and Henry Shaw (1806-13) was again a +Yorkshireman. Further, Mary Butterworth (1771-84), of Birstal in +Yorkshire, gave herself to this mission as the wife of Jens Haven, its +founder; and later Mary Waters (1812-31), of Dukinfield in Lancashire, +married George Kmoch for similar service. + +Yonder fjord running far inland is the _Nunaingoak_ Bay, which, +conveniently for the natives, embodies the foreign name given to their +station. Nain itself is behind that neck of land, on which our friends +have lit a fire as a signal that they perceive our vessel has not as +yet been able to leave them very far behind. + +What a study of colour this evening effect would make! The sun has +just set and the sky to the north and west is orange, shading off into +yellow along the horizon. Between these curiously bright hues and +their fainter reflection on the rippling water, the nearer islands are +black as ink and the further mountains indigo. + +_Tuesday, August 28th._--Besides the missionary pair, who are +accompanying me all the way from Hopedale to Europe, my fellow +passengers are now the superintendent, who has acceded to my request +to go with us to Okak, and a young missionary, transferred from Nain +to Ramah. + +When I went on deck this morning we had passed the Turnpikes and were +gliding very slowly seawards between islands. The one which faced us +all the morning is called Tappe, after a worthy missionary, still +living, who served some years in Labrador, before going to Jerusalem +in 1867, to be the first "house-father" of the Leper Home. About noon +a fresh breeze sent us northward swiftly and safely through several +narrow and awkward passages. We passed two or three Newfoundland +fishing schooners, whose crews were doubtless interested to see the +"Dutch Bark," or the "foreigner" as they called the "Harmony." Our +other vessel, the "Gleaner," calls at St. John's, so she is not a +foreigner in the estimation of Newfoundland mariners. About two +o'clock we were off the island memorable for the shipwreck in which +Brasen and Lehmann lost their lives. Later we passed the rocks on to +which Liebisch and Turner escaped as by a miracle, when a sudden storm +broke up the ice over which they had been travelling. The scene must +have been terrific. One moment the frightened dogs drawing their +sledges were being urged at utmost speed over the leagues of heaving, +cracking ice. The nest, the shore was reached, and the missionaries +were overwhelmed with astonishment as they turned and looked upon a +raging, foaming sea, whose wild waves had already shattered the frozen +surface as far as the eye could reach. Even the heathen Eskimoes with +them joined in praising God for the wonderful deliverance. + +This part of the coast is rugged and grand. There is a good deal of +snow on the heights of Aulatsivik and the northern extremity of that +great island is a bold precipitous cliff. Port Mauvers, at the mouth +of the narrow strait, which separates Aulatsivik from the mainland, +figures so prominently as a name upon most maps of Labrador, that one +might suppose it to be at least the capital. But there are no +inhabitants there, nor indeed all along the coast between Nain and +Okak. Kiglapeit, to the north, is so splendid a mountain range that I +am quite sorry we shall pass it in the dark. We are getting more into +the open sea as evening advances, and there are icebergs to be seen +here and there. + +Come into the captain's cabin and look at this little budget of +letters. They are notes from Eskimoes at our southern stations to +their relatives and friends in the north. Some are funny little +pencilled scraps folded and oddly directed, e.g. "Kitturamut-Lucasib, +Okak." That means "To Keturah (the wife) of Lucas or Luke, at Okak." +Our Eskimoes seem to have a talent for phonetic spelling; +"ilianuramut" is evidently "To Eleanor," and "Amaliamut-kuniliusip, +Okak," is meant for "Amalia (the wife) of Cornelius at Okak." Some are +very respectable epistles, and I doubt not the Christian tone of most +would please us could we read the Eskimo language, with its strange +long words. Here is a good-sized letter folded and directed in a bold +clear hand, "Sosanemut-Andoneb, Hibron" (To Susannah, the wife of +Antony at Hebron). It is not sealed, so, as we shall scarcely +understand a word of its contents, we will venture to open it and +glance at them. It is a well-written letter, covering three pages of +blue foolscap paper, so it must be conveying a good deal of news to +Antony and Susannah. The writer names himself at the commencement, +"Boas-Kedoralo." "Lo" is Eskimo for "and," and "Kedora" is another +phonetic version of Keturah. He closes his long epistle with "Amen." + +The Eskimoes also write the names of their missionaries with +considerable variations as to spelling. "Pinsilamut" might be the +address of a letter to Mr. Bindschedler, and I have seen "Karizima"' +stand for Mr. Kretschmer. The natives have no idea of such titles as +Mr. or Mrs., and they still call the majority of their missionaries by +their Christian names. + +[Illustration: ICE AGROUND.] + +_Wednesday, August 29th._--5 A.M. The sun just rising. We are between +Lundberg Island and the Saddle, so named from its shape. Its +"stirrups," two little rocks, are supplemented by a great, white berg. +To the south-west Kiglapeit is still visible, and to the west are the +hills on Okak Island, including "Smith Hill," so called after Tiger +Schmitt[A] of South African fame. I did not know before that the good +man had also been a missionary in Labrador. How ready our forefathers +were to go anywhere, everywhere, if only they could "win one soul for +the Saviour!" The grandest mountain in the landscape is Cape Mugford. +Yes, it does look like Salisbury Crags on a large scale, as a +missionary remarked to me last year on the Calton Hill in Edinburgh. + +In the course of the morning Okak came in sight, visible at a much +greater distance than any other station. Another hour and we had +entered the bay and were approaching our anchorage. A very numerous +company gathered on the pier and sang; how or what I could not hear +for the rattling of our iron cable. Then the "Kitty" came off to us, +bringing the missionaries Schneider, Stecker, and Schaaf, and +seventeen natives. + +Soon after we got ashore to be welcomed also by the three sisters, the +mist, which we had seen gathering round the Saddle, came in from the +sea, first drawing a broad, white stripe straight across the entrance +of the bay, then gradually enveloping everything. Experience of +driving to and fro off this coast in such a fog makes one doubly +thankful to be safe ashore, with our good ship riding at anchor in the +bay. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote A: See "Conquests of the Cross" (an admirable Missionary +Serial, published by Cassell & Co.), Part I., p. 20.] + + + + +THE MOST PRIMITIVE STATION IN LABRADOR. + + +Our dear missionaries who dwell in Labrador for the King's work have +certainly not much space in their small sitting-rooms and smaller +bedrooms, for each family is content with two apartments, easily +warmed in winter. They meet in the common dining room for meals, the +household worship or conference, and the sisters take it in turns, a +week at a time, to preside over the kitchen department, where they +have the aid of an Eskimo servant. Besides the ministry and the +pastoral care of their congregations, the brethren share between them +a vast variety of constantly recurring temporal duties, for in +Labrador there is no baker, greengrocer, and butcher round the corner, +and no mason, carpenter, plumber, painter or glazier to be called in +when repairs are needed. The missionaries must discharge all these +offices, as well as be their own gardener and smith, and on occasion +doctor, dentist, chemist, or anything else that may be necessary. +These general remarks hold good of mission life at every station, but +in many respects Okak is the most primitive of the six, and not least +in the appointments of the mission-house, like all the rest, built of +wood. + +Glance round the two rooms kindly set apart for the English guest. +They are the same size as the simple domain of any one of the three +mission families resident here. The sitting-room is about fourteen +feet by twelve; its panelled walls are coloured a blue-green. The +floor is boarded, and over the middle a carpet is laid. In front of +the sofa, the seat of honour, stands a little table, and the high back +of my antique chair is within a foot of it as I write at the bureau +against the opposite wall. By the way, what convenient pieces of +furniture these bureaus are, especially to a visitor who has so much +writing to do! The other chair is of like pattern, with seat stuffed +and covered with sealskin. It stands between the door into the +bedroom and the high, white stove. Of course open fire-places are +unknown in Labrador, nor would they effectually warm the rooms. In the +corner by the door the Eskimo bench is the regular institution. +Sometimes my door opens, a native enters, sits down and smiles at me. +When we have exchanged the usual greetings, "Aksunai" (be strong) and +"Ahaila" (yes), my Eskimo vocabulary is nearly at an end, and I have +to fetch an interpreter. A cupboard and a stool complete the inventory +of my furniture. Do my readers wish to look into the bedroom about +fourteen feet by six? Two little bedsteads and another bureau scarcely +leave room to pass to the window. The prophet's table, chair, and +candlestick are there, also a washstand, a strip of carpet by the bed, +a little looking-glass, and some useful rows of hooks: I think that is +all; but in my endeavour to give a correct idea of the godly +simplicity of such a mission-house, I would not for anything +misrepresent the hospitable care, of which at every station I have the +most pleasant and grateful remembrance. + +Now look out of my window. High hills close in the bay where the +"Harmony" lies at anchor some distance from the shore. Yesterday a +strong wind made her roll even in the harbour. The mission premises +stand within a few yards of the beach and the little pier runs out +into the water just in front of the gate. The tide is out now, and the +lighter which is bringing the stores from the ship has got aground. +The mate and some Eskimoes are trying to push it off, and among the +rest two women are standing in the water and pushing manfully. Their +position and occupation illustrate the utility of their national +female costume of trousers and boots. Skirts would be impracticable +when they go out boating and fishing with their husbands or trudge +through the deep snow, which lies on the ground more than half a year. +Nevertheless they look odd to an unaccustomed eye. The children are +comical miniatures of their fathers and mothers, and sometimes it is +difficult to tell whether they are boys or girls. + +Do you see the station boat lying a little way from the end of the +pier? She is named the "Kitty," and has an interesting history. Many +years ago she brought to Okak the five survivors of the ship "Kitty" +lost in the ice of Hudson's Bay. The captain and ten men escaped in +the larger boat, but fell into the hands of heathen Eskimoes, who +treacherously murdered them all. Those in the smaller boat rounded +Cape Chudley and were driven by the wind among the islands near Okak. +Here they were seen by Eskimoes belonging to the station. Emaciated +and famished, they feared a cruel death, but to their astonishment the +natives helped them ashore, took them into their little hut of sods, +wrapped them in skins, and supplied them with food. Very beautiful to +those ship-wrecked mariners sounded the singing and very solemn the +prayers at the morning and evening devotions of their Eskimo +deliverers. As soon as the wind permitted, the natives brought them to +the station, where they were carried ashore to this mission-house and +received every attention. They were in a deplorable condition and the +missionaries had to perform some surgical operations on severely +frost-bitten limbs. When recovered, three of them went to the south, +and the other two worked their passage home in the "Harmony." + +Here come a number of women and children running to the pier. Several +of the women have babies in their hoods. There must be something of +special interest. Yes, the fishermen from the schooner are coming +ashore in their boat, and I perceive their flag is flying half-mast +high, indicating a death aboard their vessel. They came into the bay +yesterday, piloted by some of our Eskimoes, and bringing a dying +comrade. Their request for medicine was at once granted, but the poor +man lay unconscious. His "mates" said he had not lacked spiritual +exhortation and comfort, adding simply and humbly, "several of us know +the way, sir." So they did, as was evident from further observation +of, and conversation with them. They were very grateful for Christian +literature.[B] Now they have come for boards to make a coffin for +their dead comrade, and the Eskimo women and children watch the +strangers with curiosity, but not rudely. On the whole, I think our +Eskimoes very well behaved. Their Christianity has certainly improved +their manners in everyday life, as well as made them remarkably devout +in church. + +There is the church bell. Being the first Monday in the month, it is +the missionary prayer-meeting. Let us go. The interior of the church +is similar to that at Hopedale already described, and the congregation +is more numerous. Edification predominates, but one or two amusing +items may be noted. The babies are rather noisy. Should one or another +get too obstreperous, however, the mother slips it into her hood +behind, and marches to the door on the women's side. The worthy widow, +who acts as chapel servant, opens the door and then closes it upon the +little disturber of the peace. It is also amusing to a stranger to +watch the organ-blower, for this humble but important service to the +sanctuary has a prominent place here. The office is fulfilled by a +woman, clad in Eskimo fashion, and when the hymn is given out she +places one booted leg on the lever of the bellows and then, hymn book +in hand, treads wind into the instrument as vigorously as she sings. +During the concluding hymn a number of little heads and muffled up +little bodies appear above the four or five rows of women; they belong +to the babies who have already been heard and now are seen as their +mothers lift them up to slip them into the hoods of their sillapaks. +The babies being thus stowed away on their backs, the mothers are +ready to stand up and file out at the end of the service. + +But, as I said before, edification predominates, and truly it is +edifying to hear the hearty singing and see the reverent demeanour of +all classes of this Eskimo congregation. I may here add that after +being present at between thirty or forty services at our six stations, +I do not remember seeing a single boy or girl talking or laughing with +a neighbour in church. Had one done so, no doubt he or she would have +received a timely rebuke from some native-helper. The Eskimoes at +Hopedale have been known to take the Newfoundland fishermen to task +for irreverence. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote B: This gives me an opportunity of recording thanks to the +Drummond Tract Institute for a free supply of bright Christian +publications in English, which have been distributed, and will, I +trust, bear some fruit. From the Religious Tract Society and other +benefactors we have also received valuable help for evangelistic +efforts among English-speaking sailors or settlers on the Coast of +Labrador.] + + + + +WALKS IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF OKAK. + + +The word Okak signifies "the Tongue." The station is situated on a +hilly island, which for nearly half the year is practically part of +the mainland, for the broad straits are bridged by thick ice. The +heights around our little settlement command fine views of the +surrounding mountains and fjords. The island of Cape Mugford is one of +the grandest objects in the barren landscape, and the Kaumajets, a +noble range, stretch away to the north of it. + +_Thursday, August 30th._--Had an interesting walk over moorland in +search of the site of Kivalek, one of the old heathen villages, from +which the population of Okak was drawn. On a grassy plain we found the +roofless remains of many turf huts. They are similar to the mounds +near Hopedale, already described, but larger and more numerous. One +cannot but view, with a sad interest, these remnants of the former +abodes of pagans without hope and without God in the world. "Let them +alone, they are very happy in their own religion." So some would tell +us; but was it so here? Is it so where the true light has not yet +shined into pagan darkness? No, here, as everywhere in heathenism, the +works of the flesh were manifest. And these, as the Bible plainly +tells us, and as missionary experience abundantly confirms, are +"fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, +enmities, strifes, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, parties, +envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like." But through the +power of the Gospel old things have passed away. Heathen Kivalek is +uninhabited, and though the flesh yet lusteth against the Spirit in +the lives of the dwellers at Christian Okak, yet, thank God, the +Spirit also lusteth against the flesh, and the fruits of the Spirit +are manifest there, as at the other stations. + +_Tuesday, September 4th._--Before we had done breakfast the flag was +flying at the mizen-gaff of the "Harmony," summoning her passengers to +start for Ramah. We speedily packed our baggage, but the wind died +away ere the anchor could be lifted, and we did not sail out of the +bay till the next morning. So some of us utilized the interval for the +ascent of the Sonnenkoppe, so called because it hides the sun from +Okak for several weeks of the year. High on the hill was a pond, which +superstitious natives believe to be inhabited by a sea-monster left +there by the flood. A larger lake is named after our Irish missionary +Bramagin. Arrived at the summit, a very wide prospect over innumerable +mountains and blue sea, dotted with white icebergs, rewarded our +climb. Far below us we could see the mission-house, centre of blessed +influence, for the Eskimo village, divided into Lower Okak by the +beach, and Upper Okak on the slope beyond. Strange to think that, with +the exception of one settler family in Saeglek Bay, the nearest group +of fixed human habitations is at Hebron, seventy miles to the north. +Easier than the ascent was the descent, over rocks and stones, +beautifully variegated mosses, and low vegetation changing its hue to +a brilliant red as the autumn advances. + + + + +FROM OKAK TO RAMAH. + + +_Wednesday, September 5th._--About ten o'clock this morning a strong +breeze sprang up, and we speedily left behind us the friendly +red-roofed mission-house at Okak. When we entered the open sea and +turned northwards we passed near a grounded iceberg, curiously +hollowed out by the action of the waves. The seaward face of Cape +Mugford is even grander than its aspect from the heights around Okak. +It seems to be a perpendicular precipice of about 2000 feet, with +white base, and a middle strata of black rocks surmounted by +castellated cliffs. Presently the remarkably jagged peaks on the +island of Nennoktuk came out from behind the nearer headland. There's +a sail to the right of it! No, she is not another schooner; she is +two-masted and square rigged, and therefore the "Gleaner," the only +brigantine in these waters. So the two Moravian vessels pass one +another within a mile or two, the "Gleaner" on her way southward from +Hebron to Okak, whence she will take Mr. Bourquin home to Nain, the +"Harmony" pursuing her northward course past Hebron to Ramah. The +captains, who are consigns, exchange a salute by running up their +flags, but the sea is too rough to put down a boat. + +_Thursday, September 6th._--We have had a rough night. This morning we +are off Hebron, but twenty-five miles out to sea. We have just passed +"the Watchman," an island which serves as a waymark for the entrance +to that station. I asked the mate, who once spent a winter there, +whether the missionaries or the Eskimoes could see us from the heights +near it. He replied that there was no doubt of it, but that he had +looked out in this direction from those hills, where no drop of water +was visible, nothing but an illimitable plain of ice stretching far +beyond where we are now sailing. + +_Sunday, 9th._--Safe at Ramah, thank God, and not out in the fog, +which now envelopes sea and land. The last two days have been a trial +of patience. We have seen the entrance to this Nullatatok Bay all the +time, and longed to reach the desired haven, yet have not been able, +owing to calms and contrary currents. This Labrador coast becomes ever +bolder and grander as one sails northward. Here the snowy mountains +are quite Alpine in appearance. This morning the thick mist hides all +but the base of these magnificent hills, but the enormous rocky +masses, rising so quickly from the water's edge into the heights +veiled from us, give some idea of their grandeur. Our captain is, +indeed, well acquainted with their aspect or he would not have +ventured to enter this bay under such circumstances. + + + + +"RAMARSUK" (NEAT LITTLE RAMAH). + +[Illustration] + + +Missionaries all over the world are perhaps too fond of multiplying +Scripture names of their stations. In our own fields we have already +three Bethanys and three Bethesdas. We should have had three Ramahs +too, had not the natives of Australia themselves greatly improved the +appellation of theirs by adding to it a syllable meaning "home" or +mother's place. It seemed so homelike to the Christian Aborigines, who +moved thither from Ebenezer, the older station, that they at once +called it Ramahyuck (Ramah, our home). Perhaps as the Ramah on the +Moskito Coast is also known as Ramah Key, the northern station in +Labrador, founded in 1871 to mark the cenutry of that mission, should +abide plain, simple "Ramah," otherwise the above combination would, I +understand, have suited the genius of the language, and its +significance. "Neat little Ramah" certainly expresses the character of +the lonely missionary settlement. + +The village, if one may dignify this small group of human dwellings by +that name, stands on a little plain evidently won by degrees from the +sea for the successive beaches can be traced. The mission premises, +the old house, the new house, and the church with its little belfry, +are one continuous building facing the bay southward, and exactly one +hundred feet in length. Behind are the store buildings, and the low +turf huts of the natives stretch westward along the strand. They are +so like grassy mounds, that from any distance one would ask, "But +where do the Eskimoes live?" + +The missionary dwelling is primitive enough, even as enlarged. During +our brief stay here, I have the honour of occupying the original +house, built about twenty years ago. It is but a room divided by a +curtain, but it served the first missionary couple here as +dwelling-room, bedroom, church, and everything else. What a grand view +there is from the window over the deep land-locked bay, in which the +"Harmony" is lying at the only available anchorage. No one would guess +that it would take more than half-an-hour to row across the smooth +water, or in winter to walk over its frozen surface to the opposite +shore, where, as on this side, precipitous bluffs rise almost from the +water's edge. All nature around is on a grand scale, and those +snow-clad mountains, which look over the shoulders of the nearer +cliffs, are quite Alpine in effect. Climb to the dizzy heights, which +tower threateningly six or seven hundred feet above the station and +you find you are not half way to the summit of the nearest hill. It +must, indeed, be a magnificent view from thence towards the great +mountains in the interior, whose everlasting snows cover long ridges +at least five or six thousand feet in height. Seawards, the Ramah +Hill, a remarkable perpendicular rock, surmounts the nearer cliffs. It +looks as if, standing on the crag, one could drop a stone into the +water at its base, 1000 feet below. + +All this is grand, but grander still is the quiet, unconscious +devotion of the worthy missionary pair, who live in this lonely bay, +tending the little Christian congregation already gathered, and +seeking the salvation of the heathen Eskimoes to the north. Of these +there are perhaps sixty or seventy dwelling between Ramah and Cape +Chudley; the northern point of Labrador. I am heartily glad Mr. and +Mrs. Schulze have now a helper in Mr. Eckhardt, and trust the little +missionary band will have increasing joy in souls won for the Lord. + +[Illustration: RAMAH.] + +It will be remembered that the fourth morning after leaving Okak we +entered Nullatatok Bay through a thick mist. Beautiful days followed, +showing the Ramah scenery to advantage, but the weather was rather +wintry. Snow fell once or twice, though not in sufficient quantities +to lie, and one morning we had ice on the bay. Yet at midday the sun +was quite hot. The arrival of the "Harmony" at Ramah on Sunday +(September 9th, 1888), interfered with the usual morning worship. We +passengers came ashore for the afternoon service, Mr. Schulze read the +Litany and then Mr. Dam addressed the congregation in Eskimo, +centreing nearly all the black eyes in eager attention to the Word +preached. The chapel being small, the people were rather near to the +benches occupied by the missionary brethren and sisters, and this +proximity was evident to the organs of smell. Several being away at +their fishing places, there were only about a dozen men and boys and +rather more women and girls with an extra sprinkling of lively and +healthy-looking babies. Most were characterized by an air of +independence amusingly illustrated at the close by the oldest man, +who asked aloud when the visitor from London was going to speak to +them. + +[Illustration: TENTS AT RAMAH.] + +And what of the spiritual life of this little congregation? In reply I +will give neither my own impressions, nor the missionary's testimony +to his flock, apt sometimes to be influenced by his estimate of what +they should be. I will call in a casual witness. Last year Eugenia, a +Christian Eskimo from Hopedale, visited all the congregations, +travelling to and fro by dog-sledge with the post-sledges. She +remarked to her missionary: "The Ramah and Okak people, those are the +best in the country. At Ramah I was quite shamed by their desire after +truth. They said, 'You know these things; teach us, we are so +stupid.'" + + + + +AN ESKIMO VILLAGE. + + +Now for a visit to our Eskimoes in their own dwellings, as the two +missionaries are ready to accompany me and interpret for me. It may +not be a pleasant expedition in every respect, as within and without +there is a pervading fishy smell. Rows of drying fish hang on frames +high enough to be out of reach of the dogs, who sniff about +everywhere, sometimes climbing into the boats to see if any fish be +left. Those red rows are trout, the white ones are cod. + +When we arrived here last Sunday, two families were living in skin +tents. One has now taken down the temporary abode and removed into the +more permanent winter residence, a low turf hut. We will enter the +other tent. Frederick, the owner, is not at home, but his wife, +Susannah, is there with her two children. Whilst she inquires after +her former missionaries and sends a grateful greeting to the widow of +the late Samuel Weitz, take the opportunity to glance around the tent. +It is more spacious and better furnished than one would think. We can +all three stand upright in the middle of it, which is not possible in +every house. Deer skins spread on a raised platform at the further end +make two beds. In that open box are hymn-book, liturgy-book, and some +volumes of the Eskimo Bible. Next it are a set of very fair cups and +saucers, but it seems incongruous for the china to stand on the mud +floor. Various utensils lie about, but there is neither chair nor +table. + +We cannot stay long, however, for we are going to visit every house in +the place. The first house is Gottlob's. He came hither from Hebron, +and has enjoyed a better education than the Ramah people, most of whom +grew up in heathenism. His wife's baptismal name is Lydia; as a +heathen, she was Auinasuak. This is one of the best huts, but the best +are poor inside as well as outside, compared to many log-houses I have +seen further south. Through the low porch, without any remonstrance +from the dogs, we reach a lower door. It is hot inside. Yes, there is +a stove to the left, and it appears to be the only article of +furniture in the room entered. Behind the partition is a very +different chamber. It is furnished with the usual couches spread with +skins, and on the edge of one of these, Lydia is seated. She does not +rise to greet her visitors, nor does it occur to her to offer a seat. +What shall she offer? A box? As with the rest of those visited, her +welcome takes the form of a good-humoured laugh. One or two objects in +her room testify to a refinement unusual for this station. A guitar +hangs on the wall near a cage with a bird in it, and against the +partition stands a piano. Fancy such an instrument in a low turf hut, +even though it be but an old square piano! Here, as elsewhere, we +speak a few words of kindly greeting and spiritual interest, and then +take leave with "Aksunai." + +The occupant of the next hut is not at home. This is indicated by two +great slabs of slate, one at the entrance to his porch and one over +his front (and only) window. These are more for protection against +prowling dogs than dishonest men. + +Now we come to the dwelling of the oldest couple, William and Hulda, +whose heathen names were Nochasak and Aksuana. They are, respectively, +fifty-five and fifty, but look older. Two sons live with them, of whom +the elder is married. Both parents are at home, and the +daughter-in-law with her first baby in her arms. Here first I notice +the curious lamp, a sort of dish hollowed out in a soft stone. The +wick is a kind of moss which floats in seal-oil, and gives a feeble +flame apparently more for warmth than for light, for the houses are +not dark. + +Next to William's stand the roofless remains of an unoccupied +dwelling, which may serve to show how these huts are built. It is a +square enclosure three or four feet in height; the back is dug out of +the sloping bank, the front wall is built up with turf. Put a roof +over this and your house will be made. Two upright posts in the +middle, about seven feet in height, will serve as the supports for the +frame of your roof, which will also be covered with turf. The low door +must be in front, facing the bay, and, both for warmth and as a +shelter for the dogs, must invariably be protected by a low covered +porch. Whether he be dwelling in his turf hut or sheltering in some +snow hut, quickly built for a night away from home, the Eskimo enters +his abode by a little tunnel, at the further end of which is the door. +Just above this comes the window-frame, sometimes on a slant, better +perpendicular. The window of his turf hut is semi-transparent seal +bladder unless the owner of the mansion can afford and obtain glass. +Now your house is complete, but lacks interior fittings. If you are an +Eskimo, you do not want many. Your two poles supporting the roof may +help you to partition off the sleeping places, either with boards or +with curtains. These are raised about a foot from the ground, and the +edge of the bed is the general seat. + +Let us continue our visits to the inhabited houses, one next the +other, in an irregular row. Outside them the children are playing +about and seem to enjoy life. Here and there one may see a sledge, or +a kayak, the skin-covered boat such as is used, by the men. The larger +umiak, or women's boat, is now scarcely met with in Labrador. There +are one or two light wooden skeleton frames of kayaks, but most are +tightly covered with white smooth skins, cleverly sewn together by the +women. Look at this one lying on the grass; it is about fifteen feet +long, but you can lift the end of it quite easily. The owner paddled +home in it this morning from his fishing-place at the head of the +fjord, and sold fifty-two trout off the top of it to the captain, as +he passed the "Harmony." His bone-pointed harpoon and a hook with a +long handle are strapped on top of the canoe. Beside it lies his +paddle, which the Eskimo wields so deftly and silently that even a +seal may fail to detect his swift approach. Its blades at both ends +are beautifully finished off with bone. I see his gun is carelessly +left in the round man-hole in which he sits when afloat. It may be +loaded; I hope the children will let it alone. + +Passing Daniel's empty hut, for he and his family are away fishing, we +call on Ikkaujak and Sakkearak (now John and Ernestine), and then on +Matthew and his wife Verona, who not long ago were known as Swanzi and +Akkusane. Matthew is interested to show and explain the weapons of the +chase. His racket-shaped snow-shoes are the shortest I ever saw. +Longer ones, unless like the Norwegian skydder, would be unpractical +among these mountains. His harpoons hang on the wall next his gun. The +blunt one, pointed with a walrus tooth, is used in the body of a seal, +but the iron-pointed one is needed when the animal's head alone is +above the water or the ice. Both are cleverly put together with wood, +bone, and thongs, so arranged that when necessary head and haft easily +come apart. + +Some of these Ramah Eskimoes are perhaps 5 ft. 10 in. in height, and +most of them look robust and strong; but little Paul's door is very +low, and I must bend double to enter his hut. His heathen name was +Simigak and his wife's Ikkinek when they came from Nachvak in 1881. He +is not at home, but his Adolfine gives us a welcome in Eskimo fashion. +There is a stove in the corner, and on it a pot with some pieces of +salmon in it. A few trout are strung up to the roof. I notice a clock +in the corner, but am told that it is broken. Perhaps Paul can mend +it; at any rate, while I was at Hopedale some Newfoundland fishermen +entrusted their ship clock to an Eskimo for repairs. + +The last hut in the village is Frederick's. Some of his goods are +here, but most are in the tent where we found his wife and family. A +few pictures are pasted on his walls. Many houses at other stations +are almost papered with pages from the _Graphic_ and _Illustrated +London News_. + +What is your impression of Eskimo abodes now you have seen their +interiors? Well, they are not prepossessing to a European with the +ordinary notions of what belongs to the necessaries of life, yet they +are airier and cleaner than I had expected from their exterior aspect. +I am assured that there is much Christian life in those queer homes, +and that in many a heart there a "candle of the Lord" has been +lighted, which shines for the illumination of the dark North. If +honoured with an invitation to a meal in some Eskimo hut, I would +rather it were not at Ramah. In the southern stations there are some +tidy log-houses, where one need not hesitate to sit down to table with +Christian Eskimoes, who have learnt cleanly and tidy habits from +intercourse with and the example of missionaries. Here there are no +tables; the people have scarcely learnt the use of forks, and are apt +to handle the knives in eating in a somewhat uncouth fashion. The meat +is taken in the teeth and cut off near the mouth, so that the upward +motion of the blade seems to endanger the nose at every bite, +especially in the case of very small children with a very big knife. + +Do my readers want to know about the gardens? There are none. +Gardening is no employment for the Eskimoes; the severity of the +climate and their migratory habits forbid it. Nor do they seem to have +much taste for flowers, though they see them in the missionaries' +gardens. They appreciate the vegetables grown there, but they do not +care for the trouble of raising them for themselves. + + + + +ON THE BEACH AT RAMAH. + + +Returning along the beach we see Matthew's skin-covered canoe lying +upside down on the grass, and we induce him to give us a specimen of +kayak navigation. He picks up the end of his light craft, runs round +so as to bring it right end foremost to the sea, and pushes it over +the beach till three-fourths or more are in the water. Then he steps +lightly over the flat top, paddle in hand, sets himself deftly in the +man-hole, and in a moment he is afloat, paddling to and fro with quiet +powerful strokes. Returning at full speed, he runs his kayak, which +only draws a few inches, straight on to the shore; stepping lightly +over the front of it, he stands dry shod on the beach and drags his +kayak out of the water. + +Further along a little group of Eskimoes have just finished unloading +a boat, which has brought goods from the ship. Let us join them, for I +want to see a whip, such as they use in driving the dog-sledge. My +request is interpreted and one of the natives runs to fetch his. Truly +it is a formidable instrument. The wooden handle is only a few inches +in length, but the lash is more than thirty feet. It is made of many +thongs of stout, tough sealskin sown together, and tapering till a +single thong goes off almost to a point. The owner gives us a specimen +of its powers by cracking it, but I am glad he does not practice on +anything living. Stepping backwards from us, he drags the whip out to +its full length, so as to be sure he is beyond reach of us, then +deftly throws the lash behind him. Now a rapid movement of the hand +and arm sends the long lash back towards us, and a quick turn of the +wrist makes the end of it crack like a pistol. I have purchased that +implement, but I doubt if any amount of practice would enable me to +perform the feat of cracking it with safety to myself and the +bystanders. + +To the east of the mission-house there is a pretty waterfall about ten +or twelve feet in depth. It is the last leap of a mountain brook, +which in summer flows swiftly down the deep ravine, which it has cut. +Higher up, a part of the pure, clear stream is diverted as the water +supply for the mission-house and the native huts. As at Hopedale and +Zoar, this runs off a trough about a hundred yards from the house. At +Nain and Okak it is conducted straight into the kitchen, when desired. +In winter every station is liable to the freezing of the ordinary +supply, and then water must be fetched from a distance, or if none can +be found, snow or ice must be melted. Icicles are hanging from the +trough here to-day, for though the sun is warm now, there were four or +five degrees of frost last night, and the wind is still keen. In +spring, when a thaw sets in, this little stream is a source of danger +to Ramah. Its deep channel is filled with snow, and the pent-up +torrent, seeking an outlet, is apt to escape from its usual bounds and +start an avalanche down the steep declivity. When the thaw becomes +general, there is a grand series of leaping cataracts and roaring +rapids in that ravine. + +[Illustration: AN ESKIMO IN HIS KAYAK.] + + + + +A FAITHFUL NATIVE HELPER. + + +I would that young Gottlob, now living at Ramah, might turn out as +good a man as his late namesake. Let me take you to old Gottlob's +grave, and there tell you the story of himself and his family. The +little "God's acre" is scarcely an acre, and it should be enclosed. +Flat slaty stones, suitable for wall, lie around in abundance, brought +down by the avalanche, which a year or two ago endangered the station, +but happily did no more damage than destroy the powder-house and +devastate the burial-ground. Kegs of powder and tombstones were +carried far out on to the ice of the bay. Most of the latter were +recovered unbroken and replaced, and among them the one of which we +are in search. Here it is, a simple square slate tablet of touching +interest. The Eskimo inscription informs us that Gottlob was born in +1816. He was the child of heathen parents at Nachvak, and grew up in +paganism. Presently he came under the influence of the Gospel and was +baptized at Okak, exchanging his heathen name of Nikkartok for the +Christian name which his subsequent life adorned. + + __________________ + | | + | GOTTLOB. | + | | + | unulilanktok | + | | + | 1816. | + | | + | angerarpok | + | | + | 14 Septbr. 1878. | + |__________________| + +In 1867 he joined Daniel of Hopedale in an endeavour to evangelize the +northern heathen, among whom his childhood had been spent. After this +he settled with his family at Hebron, but when Mr. and Mrs. Weitz +commenced the station at Ramah in 1871 Gottlob volunteered to +accompany them. He and his family proved useful helpers of the +missionary effort. His wife Marianna was also born a heathen, and +named Nukupjuna. She is now a native helper at Hebron. His daughter +was exceedingly valuable as the schoolmistress, and when an organist +was needed Nicholina fulfilled the office to the best of her ability +by playing the melody with one finger on the very little harmonium, +which still does duty at Ramah. That was a simple service rendered in +simplicity of spirit, yet in such a climate possibly attended with +suffering. A missionary sister lately resident at Hebron told me she +had often played the organ there with a blister at the end of each +finger, for the intense cold made the touch of the keys like contact +with red-hot iron. But to return to Gottlob. For seven years he lived +and laboured among his countrymen, from whom he had at times to bear +obloquy on account of his Christian fidelity. He died September 14th, +1878, and this is the comprehensive record of him in the Ramah Church +book: "In life and death Gottlob placed his whole trust in the +crucified Saviour, in whom he found pardon, peace, and joy." + + + + +LEAVING RAMAH. + + +_Friday, September 14th._--Came aboard last night for an early start; +weighed our anchor about 6 o'clock this morning. The wind was light +and several of the natives towed us out of the bay in the ship's +boats. Ere we started the resident missionaries brought their last +batch of letters for Europe, and bade us farewell. They had been +writing most of the night. Now the good folk will rest after the +excitement and bustle of shiptime. It will be a year before they have +visitors again, unless it be a missionary brother from Hebron or Mr. +MacLaren, the Hudsons Bay Company's agent at Nachvak. + +It was most interesting to move slowly out of the bay, passing point +after point, each headland opening up new vistas of grand, snowy +mountains at the heads of the bays southwards, whilst northwards the +great cliff of the Ramah Hill looks down upon us. Having brought the +"Harmony" round the first point into more open water, where she can +better avail herself of the occasional light puffs of wind, our +Eskimoes came aboard for their breakfasts and presently rowed away in +their boats. They bade us a hearty "Aksunai" and went down the side +evidently well pleased with their wages. Nor were they sorry to leave +the ship, which was beginning to roll a little. Accustomed as they are +to brave high waves in their kayaks or flats, they nevertheless felt +the motion of the vessel and were afraid of seasickness. Before +starting John had to splice his oar with a strip of seal hide. I +watched him put it round the handle, then holding on to the oar with +both hands get the rope in his teeth and pull his lashing tight with +all the strength of his back. So the teeth served him at each turn. + + + + +SUNSET, MOONRISE AND AURORA BOREALIS. + + +Now we have got fairly out to sea. The light land breeze has ceased +and we are lying becalmed. What a sunset there is over that Alpine +range of snowy mountains! Yonder dark hills to the north of Ramah are +glowing as if they were red hot through and through. True this is a +glory that fadeth, yet the cloudless sky long retains the brilliant +hues, and the seaward horizon has a broad red band shading off above +and below into blue. Still more beautiful is the paler pink +reflection, tinting the smooth surface of the water on all sides of us +save the west. There the sun has just gone down, and the lingering +glories of the sky are reflected on the rippling waves in a wonderful +network of bright yellow and deep orange. Look southward again, now +that the darkness is beginning to tell on the scene. Over yonder great +iceberg the rising moon sends a path of silvery light across the +water, now a broad waving band, now innumerable sparks and circlets +dancing like fairy lights upon the gently swelling sea. + +All this is beautiful, but what follows is a rarer sight. + +"Mr. La Trobe, the northern lights." + +"Thank you, captain, I will be on deck in a moment." + +I have seen many pictures of the Aurora Borealis, and we have already +had some fine displays during this voyage, but I never witnessed +anything like this. Truly the heavens declare the glory of God and the +firmament sheweth His handiwork! Undulating bands of bright white +light are swiftly scintillating across the sky, now curving upwards +from the horizon, now stretching in broad stripes right over the +zenith. Sometimes the Aurora is stationary and the smooth surface of +the sea reflects the steady light; in the next moment it is moving +rapidly all over the heavens. The swifter the motion the more +brilliant the red or pink or green, which at times fringes the lower +edge of the broad white bands of light. + +_Monday, September 17th._--Early this morning I went on deck and found +we were a considerable distance outside the Kangertluksoak Fjord. We +were much nearer the entrance for the greater part of yesterday, but a +strong contrary wind kept us tacking to and fro the whole day, till +the darkness made it impossible to reach Hebron, which lies in a +little side bay to the north of the great fjord. There were many large +icebergs around us, and we passed quite close to some floating +fragments, which proved to be great lumps of ice, necessitating a turn +of the helm to avoid collision with them. It was evident from the +number of these, that a berg had recently broken up. I was told that +yesterday a large piece fell off one near us with a crack like a +cannon shot. I would like to see an iceberg turn over, as they +sometimes do, but I do not wish to be too near it in that case. Last +night the wind fell and the currents drifted our little vessel +perilously near one of the great bergs, which was probably aground. It +was an anxious time for those on the watch, but the Lord preserved us. + +The headland to the north of us is Cape Uivak. Uivak is simply the +Eskimo word for promontory, and the names of Cape Webuck on this coast +and Quebec in Canada, are evidently derived from it. There is a board +on that little island, and through the glass one can read the betters +S.F. What does that stand for? Well, that identifies "Friday Island," +so-called after Sophia Freitag, the wife of a worthy missionary. Once +the captain of a steamer read it S.E., so he steered north-west, and +safely entered Hebron Bay. He afterwards congratulated our captain on +having put up so good a way-mark. + +To-day the wind has veered round a little to the north, which enables +us, at last, to run straight in at the mouth of Kangertluksoak Fjord, +past three great icebergs, which stand in a row as if to defend the +entrance. The sailors call them "men-of-war." Our rapid progress soon +brings us in sight of the mission premises, whose red roofs stand out +against the bare rocky background of the steep hillside, tinted a warm +red-brown by the autumn hues of the mosses. There is the church with +its cupola in a line with the long one-storied mission-house. The +store buildings and the boat-house are nearer the landing stage. Some +skilful tacks bring us into the Hebron Bay, and ere long the "Harmony" +lies at her anchorage, here farther from the station than at any other +place on the coast. What a lively scene! Ten or a dozen boats have +already came round us--these Eskimoes are bold sailors--and our anchor +is scarcely down before we are boarded in friendly fashion by numerous +natives. Yonder white boat is the "Harp," and it brings four good +gentlemen in sealskin coats. The patriarch of the band is our +venerable Mr. Kretschmer, who came to Labrador in 1852. This year he +leaves his loved land after thirty-six years of service, during which +he has been home once, twenty-seven years ago. He is followed by the +missionaries Kahle, Wirth, and Hlawatschek, who report their wives and +children all well. + +Ere long we visitors, Mr. and Mrs. Dam and myself, are ready to go +ashore with them. Landing from the boat, we climb the hill to the +mission-house, farther from the shore than any other. The sisters and +children welcome us at the door, and for the sixth time I enjoy the +hospitality of a Labrador mission family. + +The chapter entitled "A busy week at Nain" would serve as a general +description of the time spent at this or any of the stations. +Conferences with the missionary band, daily services in the Church or +the house, the special meeting for my address to the congregation, +visits to and from the natives, inspection of the mission premises and +their surroundings, pleasant strolls in the intervals of daily duty +and the routine of a mission-house, one or two more extensive walks on +the hills around, profitable evenings in the mission circle, all these +made eight days at Hebron pass very quickly, whilst as ever I was +lovingly cared for by my hosts. Hebron is, to use the expressive term +of the Newfoundland fishermen, a "blusterous" place. It is beyond the +northern limit of trees on this part of the coast, and the wind sweeps +down the bare, rocky slopes with great force. This is the reason for +the exceptional construction of the mission premises. + + + + +THE VISITING MISSIONARIES' LEVEE. + + +My dear fellow-travellers from Hopedale used to be stationed at +Hebron, and it is astonishing to see how affectionately these people +gather around them. Their temporary abode here is the schoolroom, and +it is just as well that it is a good size and easily accessible. Look +in upon them at any hour of the day, and you will probably find that +they have Eskimo visitors. Last Sunday they held quite a levee, for +men, women, and children flocked in after service to greet them. + +Come and make acquaintance with some of these Eskimo brethren and +sisters. Several are introduced as relatives of Abraham and Tobias, +who visited Germany and France in 1880. In their letters home the poor +fellows confessed that there was far more sea between Labrador and +Europe than they had any idea of, before they and some heathen from +Nachvak were induced by an agent of Hagenbeck's in Hamburg to allow +themselves to be brought over and exhibited. They were very home-sick +for Labrador, but they never returned, for one after another was taken +fatally ill. The last survivors died in Paris early in 1881. The +Christians among them did credit to their profession, had their daily +worship, exercised a good influence over the heathen members of the +party, and died in simple trust in Jesus as their Saviour. + +Sarah needs no introduction. I had heard of her before reaching +Hebron, and one cannot be in the place long without making her +acquaintance. She is a woman of energy and resource. Last year she +lost her good husband Hieronymus, the oldest native helper at Hebron. +She continues, however, to be a leader in the concerns of the +community, and her influence is good. She is a prominent chapel +servant, and a leading singer in the choir. To be sure, tact is +needed to keep Sarah in good humour, and direct her energies into +useful channels. She has a turf house for winter occupation, but when +I visited her she was living in her summer abode--a log hut. The +interior was very tidy. In the outer room I noticed a harmonium; and +in the inner one, besides a table and some chairs, there were pictures +and ornaments and a sewing machine, on which she kindly did some work +for me. + +Seated near us, among the numerous visitors in the schoolroom, are a +mother and daughter, whose names are already well known to us. That +dark-looking old woman is Marianna, the widow of Gottlob, whose grave +we saw at Ramah. She is now a valued native helper here. The younger +person is Nicholina, bright and strong in mind and heart though rather +bent and crippled in body. Here, as formerly at Ramah, she serves as +school mistress, and I am told has considerable capacity both for +imparting knowledge and for maintaining discipline. She stands in +regular correspondence with several friends of the mission in Europe. +She had something to tell them in her last letters, for not long ago +she and her mother with eight other Eskimoes were nearly drowned in +the bay about where the "Harmony" lies at anchor. A sudden gust of +wind capsized the sailing boat, in which they were coming home from +their fishing place. One good feature of the Eskimo character is their +presence of mind in danger. There was no panic, though the boat sank +instantly. Happily she was towing a little flat. One of the men +promptly cut the rope, and so all were brought safe to land, some in +the flat, others hanging on to its sides. Old Marianna was one of the +latter, and when her numbed hands lost their hold, they tied her +wrists to the gunwale of the little boat. She has recovered from the +shock and exposure, but like the rest has been impoverished, for they +lost their all in the boat, which went down. + +Thomas, Enoch, and John are the three native helpers. Since the death +of Hieronymus, Thomas has been the oldest in the office, but, as he +feels, has not yet sufficient influence or force of character to lead +his countrymen at critical times. He is, however, a humble child of +God, and growing in grace as well as experience. John has a little +speech to make, and here is the literal translation of it:--"Sometimes +when we are busy, we do not always use the Scriptures daily. Mostly we +do. The distress of our body often causes us to seek the Word of God. +If the everlasting Gospel were well considered by all, there would be +visible love." + + + + +A SLEDGE DRIVE. + + +_September 22nd, 1888._--My good friends are determined that I shall +see a real sledge and team of dogs start and travel. So after dinner +the sledge is brought to the gate of the mission premises. It consists +of a couple of iron-bound wooden runners about fifteen feet long and +eight inches high, across which many cross-pieces of wood are secured +with thongs. Nails would soon be pulled out or broken off on a journey +over hummocky ice or uneven ground. First the sledge is laden with +everything necessary for a winter journey. A great white bear skin is +folded and laid along the front, making a comfortable seat. That bruin +must have been an enormous creature. The box comes about the middle; +it contains the traveller's traps. Behind it some coats, a gun, a +harpoon (we may see a seal if we go on the ice), some wood (we shall +want a fire for camping out, and I hope matches have not been +forgotten), the coats of the men, a sleeping sack and a pair of +sealskin trousers. Those two oval frames like a large lawn tennis bat +without handle, are a pair of snow-shoes. All these traps are secured +by a sealskin thong passing over the ends of the cross-boards, and +pulled tight. It would not do to lose anything on the way. + +Now seat yourself there in front of the box. But the dogs are not +attached to the sledge. _Seat yourself_; they are all harnessed. Each +has a band of sealskin round his neck and another round his body, and +to this simple harness is attached the separate trace or thong by +which he does his share in pulling the sledge. In one moment the +sledge rope will be passed through the loops of all their traces, and +they will be off almost before you can say "Hoo-eet," for they, like +the Eskimoes standing round, seem to enjoy the fun. We are supposed to +start southward for Okak, and to come home, by way of Ramah. I seat +myself and get a good hold, with my back against the box and my feet +well off the ground. "Hoo-eet!" The dogs are directed by the voice, +and that is the word used to start them. Shout "Owk, Owk," and they +will run to the right, or "Ra, Ra, Ra," and you will soon find +yourself going to the left. Say, "Ah, Ah," and your dogs will lie +down. Now you have all your directions so "Hoo-eet," we are off, +gliding easily over the grass, for snow and ice there is none this +warm autumn day after a night when there were two or three degrees of +frost. So it is rather hard for the dogs, when we turn the corner of +the mission enclosure and are going a bit up-hill through the long +grass. Thomas, one of the Eskimoes, is running in front of the dogs in +his sealskin boots with the fur outside--a handsome pair. Enoch is +minding the sledge, now running beside me, now throwing himself down +on it in front of me, or lifting the front end of the runners from +right to left, or _vice versa_ to turn a corner or avoid a stone. +"Owk, Owk," he shouts as we wish to turn the corner to the _right_. A +third Eskimo, who is running between us and the dogs with the whip, +takes up the sound and the dogs obey. But as it seems hard for them +through the long grass, I get off and run after till we come to the +corner by the church. It will go easier along the path to the _left_. +I seat myself again and the driver cries "Ra, Ra, Ra." Away we go. It +is well I was wary of the stones, another inch and that rock just +passed would have given me a sore foot or a sprained ankle. "Owk, +Owk." We leave the path on our left and turn away to the _right_ over +rocks and moss. The ground is broken but the long runners of the +sledge make it go fairly smoothly. "Ah, Ah," or as Thomas pronounces +it long drawn, "Aw, Aw." At this sound the dogs stop and lie down, +with their tails curled over their backs. We are supposed to have +arrived at a halting place where we shall camp out for the night. +The wood is unloaded; to make the fire would be the first thing and +then perhaps a snow-house for a shelter. The sleeping sack is ready to +be my night's couch on the floor. Meanwhile, the dogs lie quite +contentedly, and we use the first opportunity to count them. There are +fourteen in harness and two are running beside them of their own +accord, entering into the spirit of the thing in spite of their fear +of that formidable whip. Nine of these useful animals belong to the +mission. Their names are Yauerfritze, Purtzelmutter, Purtzel, Caro, +Pius, Fanny (an exceptionally friendly Eskimo dog), Ammi, Kakkortak +and Takkolik. The others belong to different natives. + +[Illustration: TRAVELLING IN LABRADOR.] + +Our imaginary night has been short enough, and we are supposed to be +preparing for a new start. "Look, see," says Thomas to me, and pours +some water on the iron of the runners, for the sledge has meanwhile +been turned upside down. Were it winter, that water would at once +freeze on the iron and form a splendid smooth surface for the sledge +to run on over ice or snow. "Hoo-eet." The sledge has been turned +right again and repacked, and the dogs get up. No, there is nothing +left behind. "Hoo-eet;" away we go. It is astonishing how widely the +dogs spread themselves in pulling. However, the course of the sledge, +as it follows them, depends more on the nimble drivers. See yonder dog +is getting to the wrong side of that post, by way of illustrating the +difficulties of travelling through a wood. Hebron is beyond the +northern limit of trees, but our missionaries at Hopedale have often +great trouble in passing through forests of stunted fir-trees. The +front dogs also have got their traces foul of the two other posts in +our forest of three trees without any branches. So we are brought to a +standstill until, all the harness being cleared, we are ready for a +fresh start down that slope to the right. "Owk, Owk," is the word, but +at the brook our wild career is brought to a sudden stop. Our specimen +sledge trip would not be complete without an accident. The bed of the +little stream proves just too wide for the sledge to clear it, and the +points of the runners have bored into the further bank. The thong of +the sledge has broken in two places with the jerk, and the dogs who +were pulling with might and main are suddenly released. Four or five +have been caught by our nimble Eskimoes, but the majority are off +home. Were the station three hours or three days distant and we were +left in the snow it would be a bit different to the present situation. +The station is about three minutes distant, and we have time for a +good laugh before our dogs are caught and brought back. What has +become of the passenger? Oh, he is unhurt; the shock did not even +unseat him. There he sits on the sledge, which stretches like a little +bridge from bank to bank. It is freed from the earth, and the dogs are +again attached, after a fierce little quarrel between two or three of +them, just to keep up their credit as quarrelsome creatures. Order and +obedience restored, "Hoo-eet," away we go homeward, but at a more +moderate pace, for it is uphill. By the mission-house the road bends +to the left, "Ra, Ra, Ra." At the corner a number of women are +standing and laughing, and as the sledge approaches, they ran, +according to their usual custom, and throw themselves on to it, so the +poor dogs finish their course with an extra load, and are quite +willing to lie down in obedience to the final command, "Ah, Ah." If +you were on a real journey, you would learn by experience to avoid +that interjection in your conversation, for the weary animals would at +once take the permission to stop and lie down. + +Now the dogs are released from their harness and run away to their +respective homes with glee. The sledge is unloaded, and its contents +carried off by their owners. "When did you leave Ramah?" says the +missionary to Thomas. "Yesterday morning," replies the good fellow, +keeping up the joke with thorough appreciation. I give them my hearty +thanks, "Nakungmek," for Thomas and Co. have not only given me a great +pleasure, but provided interest for young friends at home, to whom I +may detail my winter journey on a sunny autumn afternoon at Hebron. A +real midwinter Labrador sledge journey, with the thermometer far below +zero of Fahrenheit and the wind blowing hard and cold, is not so +pleasant, especially if the dogs be quite invisible because of the +driving snow. Should the traveller then be pitched off the sledge, and +the drivers not perceive his absence at once, they may lose one +another for ever. But God has watched over our travellers by sea and +land, by ice and snow on many an errand of spiritual import to the +settlers, or journey from station to station. + + + + +MY LAST SUNDAY IN LABRADOR. + + +_Sunday, September 23rd._--Morning prayers in German with the +house-family. Our venerable senior missionary read the texts and the +Gospel for the day, and gave out suitable hymns, which were well sung +by the company of brethren, and sisters, and children assembled in the +dining-room around the long table. Breakfast is enlivened with +cheerful, godly converse, and shortly after we join the Eskimo +congregation in the first service of the day. I like this church as +well as any in the land. It is proportionate, simple, neat and light. +Mr. Wirth takes his place behind the table, and, what with residents +and visitors, there is a goodly row of missionary brethren and sisters +to right and left of him, facing the Eskimo congregation. Among the +latter the white faces of a settler family, the Metcalfs from Napartok +Bay, are conspicuous. Though the language be strange, I have already +grown familiar with the liturgic forms of worship and can follow +either the "Church Litany," familiar to one in English and German, or +the admirable responsive compilation of tests known as the Catechism +Litany. The latter is chosen this morning, and it is quite possible +that a negro congregation in Surinam, or a Kaffir congregation in +South Africa may be using the same form of sound words, for it exists +both in Negro English and in Kaffir. + +At 10 we are again summoned to the house of prayer by the bell. Mr. +Dam is the preacher, and is evidently moved by the thought that this +may be his last sermon in Eskimo for many a day. A hymn and a prayer, +fervent and brief, precede the giving out of his text, Rev. i. 12-20. +The sermon is listened to attentively by old and young, of whom +considerably more than a hundred are present. Old Zippora is, as ever, +at her place at the end of the bench. Blind though she is, she often +walks miles to church over uneven ground or hummocky ice, when away at +the fishing places. She seems to take her part in the worship of the +sanctuary thoroughly, whether in response or sacred song, or as +listener with animated face and at times an overflowing heart. While I +am looking, her fingers seek the corner of her apron, and lifting it +she wipes the tears from her sightless eyes. + +But the eloquent flow of words, mostly unintelligible to me, comes to +a close. A hymn is sung, and the New Testament blessing pronounced. +Then the procession from the missionary benches files out through the +schoolroom into the mission-house and the people disperse to their +homes. Mere mounds they look as I see them from my window. But they +are Christian homes, whence rises prayer and praise. + +I was mistaken. The congregation had not dispersed, for the choir +wished to give me a specimen of their powers. I returned to the church +and listened to a fair selection of sacred music, including a long +piece (Psalm xcv. 6, 7), well sustained by a choir of about a dozen +men and women, and two or three instrumentalists. When they ceased, I +spoke a few words of thanks and farewell. + +Dinner was as usual very literally "the mid-day meal." Soup was +followed by a joint of reindeer venison, which was a treat to me, as +beef or mutton would be to my hosts. The vegetables had been grown in +the mission garden. After coffee I went over to the ship for the +afternoon service aboard, rowed by four Eskimoes, Thomas, Clement, one +of the organists, Daniel, and Heinrich. In their endeavour to converse +with me they brought out some amusing scraps of English, and little +Heinrich informed me his name in my language was "Harry." + +Whilst I was preaching to the crew there was an afternoon meeting +ashore. I returned for our solemn farewell service with the missionary +band. Here, as at each previous station, this was an occasion of deep +feeling. My parting word was founded on (2 Corinthians xiii. 11) +"Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of +one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with +you." So I took leave of "brethren," who are faithfully serving their +Lord in this cold country. Truly here is the patience and the faith of +the saints. The God of all grace bless each missionary family, comfort +and strengthen them in all their work, and perfect that which +concerneth them and their people! How wonderfully He can and does +help, I have experienced on this voyage and visit to Labrador, and so +at the close of my visitation record my humble praise. + + + + +MUSIC ON THE WATER. + + +After the evening meal we went down to the shore and embarked. The +people crowded the pier, and many a hand was stretched out with a +hearty "Aksunai." As we rowed away they were singing, and when their +voices sounded fainter across the water Thomas began of his own accord +the following hymn in his own language:-- + + "O Lord! lift up thy countenance + Upon thy Church, and own us thine; + Impart to each thy peace divine, + And blessings unto all dispense. + + 'Tis our desire to follow thee, + And from experience to proclaim + Salvation in thy blessed name: + O bless thy servants' ministry." + +The other Eskimoes rowing our boat sang with him, until we reached the +"Harmony." + +We were having a quiet time of cheerful converse in the cabin, when +the sound of singing again called us on deck. A procession of eight or +ten boats, the bow of one almost touching the stern of the other, was +rowing slowly round and round the ship, and the people in them were +singing sweet Christian songs to the measured beat of the oars. Sarah +was in the first boat, evidently the leader and director of the +proceedings.[C] Hymn after hymn, in well-sustained parts, sounded +beautifully over the still water, and not till it was getting quite +dark did they row away, singing "Victoria," _i.e._ "God save the +Queen," in honour of the English visitor. Her Majesty has very loyal +subjects in that unknown corner of her realm; and, by the way, some of +them charged me to bring home an "Aksunai" to her, too. + +_Tuesday, September 25st._--Yes, "good-bye;" yet, when your vessel is +not a steamer, but dependent on the wind, you may have repeated +"good-byes," as often happens in Labrador. Not till this afternoon +could the "Harmony" hoist her sails and speed away to the broad +Atlantic. As soon as the Eskimoes saw our sails being unfurled, they +again came around the vessel in their boats, and anew commended us to +the Divine protection in their version of a very favourite hymn of +Count Zinzendorf's ("Jesu geh voran"). + + "Jesus, day by day, + Guide them on their way." + + + + +HOMEWARD BOUND. + + +The story of our homeward voyage must he told in short. We had more +stormy days than bright ones, and more contrary winds than fair +breezes. We left Hebron on Tuesday, September 25th, and on the +following Sunday found ourselves among Greenland icebergs and fogs. So +we had to turn southwards and run on that tack for two days. Then a +moderate side wind followed the strong contrary gale, and we made good +steady progress eastward. This was undoubtedly pleasant after the +heavy rolling and pitching of the previous days. For two weeks and +more nothing was to be seen but sea and sky, yet both had their +interest and beauty. The sunsets were lovely, and the phosphorescent +light in the water at night especially so. The wake of the ship was +luminous for a long distance, and the crests of the waves shone all +around us. Once I was leaning over the taffrail late in the evening, +when a shoal of fish passed. There were thousands of them, and each +one was a living, moving centre of light. Bottle-nosed whales +gambolled around us when we were within a few hundred miles of +Labrador, and later on "schools" of porpoises occasionally visited us. +The latter often sprang clean out of the water, and seemed to take +special delight in crossing the bows of the "Harmony." On October +10th, we sighted the first ship since leaving Labrador, and a day or +two later tacked southward near the coast of Ireland to make the +entrance of the British Channel. There a trial of patience awaited us. +A hard-hearted east wind barred our progress, and with long tacks we +seemed to make headway only by inches. Yet the little "Harmony" +bravely held on her way, when larger vessels had given up the fight. + +_Sunday, October 21st._--Up at six, to find the Scilly Isles in sight. +The Bishop's rock and St. Agnes lighthouses were plainly visible. But +the old east wind is back again. The light, fair breeze of yesterday +evening sent us forward fifteen miles in an hour or two, and seventy +or eighty miles of tacking to-day has barely secured as much progress. +Visited the men in the forecastle, a small gloomy looking place, yet +fair as such accommodation goes. The good fellows are cheery and happy +there, indeed, they have been pleasant and faithful to duty throughout +the entire voyage. God grant them the true blessedness we have told +them of in this morning's and previous Sunday services. + +_Monday, 22nd._--Weathered the Wolf Rock by this tack. Sighted Land's +End, with its white houses, and the Longships lighthouse on its lofty +rock. A steamer passing us into Penzance answered our signals and will +report us we hope. + +_Tuesday, 23rd._--Four weeks away from Labrador. Four months absent +from home. How much longer yet? To windward of the Lizard this +morning. That is good, for we could have run for Falmouth harbour had +it blown harder from the east. But the wind has died away altogether. +The Lizard twin lighthouses and the white walls surrounding them are +plainly visible, as we lie becalmed. + +_Wednesday, 24th._--Got a fair wind yesterday, which carried us +forward past the Eddystone Lighthouse. We are now nearing Start Point, +and have shown our signals. They will be seen, and reported either at +that lighthouse or at Prawle Point, and it is quite a relief to think +our presence in the Channel will soon be known in London. What a +contrast there is between our own shores and the coast of Labrador. +_Here_ one is never out of sight of some guiding light, _there_ not a +lighthouse--not a buoy. Such a voyage makes one the more thankful for +the experience and faithfulness of our own valued ship's officers, +tried servants of the Society for the Furtherance of the Gospel, who +have the interests of that society and of the mission at heart, and +whose annual voyages to Labrador involve a full share of +responsibility and anxiety. + +_Thursday, 25th._--Passed the Isle of Wight this morning, and Beachy +Head in the afternoon. As night came on the long rows of electric +lights on the marine parades of Eastbourne, Hastings, and St. +Leonard's were very effective across the water. Got our pilot aboard +at Dungeness just before midnight. + +_Friday, 26th._--_Home again!_ How infinitely good is the gracious +Lord, who permits one to go on His errands, and meanwhile takes care +of all that is so dear! We were off Margate when I went on deck, about +7 A.M., and shortly afterwards secured a powerful little tug, which +towed the "Harmony" swiftly up the Thames to London Docks, where she +now lies at her usual moorings, awaiting the hundred and twentieth +voyage. + + "Then, at the vessel's glad return, + The absent meet again; + At home, our hearts within us burn + To trace the cunning pen, + Whose strokes, like rays from star to star, + Bring happy messages from far, + And once a year to Britain's shore + Join Christian Labrador." + +I lay down the pen which has transcribed those lines of Montgomery's +as a fitting close to my chapter, "Homeward Bound." If it has had any +"cunning," it has been simply because I have described what I have +seen with my own eyes in Christian Labrador. Traversing nearly three +hundred miles of that grand, but bleak and desolate-looking coast, I +met with scarcely any heathen. Only at Ramah I found one or two who +had no Christian names, because they had not yet publicly professed +Christ. They were, however, candidates for baptism, and their few +heathen countrymen to the north of that station are, from time to +time, attracted to the sound of the Gospel. But if the mission in that +land be nearing the close of the evangelistic phase, our task is not +done, and still we hear the voice of the Divine Spirit saying: +Separate me this one and that one for the work whereunto I have called +him in Labrador. + +Yet I hope and pray for a wider result from these pages than increased +interest in the one field so closely connected with Britain by the +good ship "Harmony." Labrador in its turn is linked to all the mission +provinces in the world-wide parish given to the little Moravian +Church, and I trust this glimpse into the life and labours of our +devoted missionaries there will quicken the loving intercessions of my +readers for their fellow labourers in all our own fields, and for the +whole great mission work of the Church of Christ. + +I will conclude with a stirring stanza[D] from another poet, who found +a theme and an inspiration in contrasting the wretched condition of +the people of Labrador, prior to the arrival of missionaries, with the +wonderful change wrought among the poor Eskimoes through their noble +efforts under the blessing of God. + + "When round the great white throne all nations stand, + When Jew and Gentile meet at God's right hand, + When thousand times ten thousand raise the strain-- + 'Worthy the Lamb that once for us was slain!' + When the bright Seraphim with joy prolong + Through all eternity that thrilling song-- + The heathen's universal jubilee, + A music sweet, O Saviour Christ, to Thee-- + Say, 'mid those happy strains, will not _one_ note,-- + Sung by a hapless nation once remote, + But now led Home by tender cords of love, + Rise clear through those majestic courts above? + Yes! from amid the tuneful, white-robed choirs, + Hymning Jehovah's praise on golden lyres, + _One_ Hallelujah shall for evermore + Tell of the Saviour's love to LABRADOR." + +[Illustration] + + * * * * * + +G. NORMAN & SON, PRINTERS, HART STREET, COVENT GARDEN. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote C: For those who may be interested to know what hymns were +chosen, and what tunes were sung (without accompaniment), by the +natives on this occasion, I will append the numbers in our new English +Hymn Book, as far it contains their selection, 646, 788, 755, 834, and +1135. The melodies included our Tunes 132, 26, 69, 205, 166, and 146.] + +[Footnote D: _Labrador, a Poem in three parts_, written to commemorate +the centenary of the Moravian Labrador Mission, by B. TRAPP ELLIS.] + + + + +THE "HARMONY." + +Captain: HENRY LINKLATER. + + Length (Extreme) 120 ft. + Breadth 27-1/2 " + Depth 15 " 4 in. + Length of Mast 87 " + Tonnage 251 tons. + +_Launched, April 24th, 1861._ + + * * * * * + +The average duration of the _outward_ voyage with the present vessel +has been 41-1/4 days, including a short stay at Stromness in the +Orkneys. The _homeward_ voyage has been accomplished on an average in +23 days, including the coarse up channel to the West India Dock. The +whole voyage, including the stay on the coast and visit to six +stations there, has averaged 117-3/4 days. + + +THE TEMPERATURE OF LABRADOR. + +At Hopedale, the most southerly of our mission stations, +thermometrical observations during several years give + 86 deg. Fahrenheit +as the greatest heat (July 26, 1871), -104 deg., or 72 deg. below freezing +point, Fahrenheit, as the greatest cold (February 2nd, 1873). The +average temperature for the year is -5 deg. F. For four years the month of +July was the only one in which there was not a fall of snow. The +average temperature of Edinburgh, which lies in about the same degree +of latitude as Hopedale, is + 47 deg. F. At the Hospice of St. Bernard in +the Alps, which is situated at an elevation of 7192 feet above the +level of the sea, the average temperature for the year is not quite +-3 deg. F. There winter and spring are much less cold, summer and autumn +much less warm than in Labrador. + + + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's With the Harmony to Labrador, by Benjamin La Trobe + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH THE HARMONY TO LABRADOR *** + +***** This file should be named 15190.txt or 15190.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/1/9/15190/ + +Produced by Wallace McLean, Jeannie Howse and the Online Distributed +Proofreading (https://www.pgdp.net), from images kindly provided by +www.canadiana.org + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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