The Moravians in Labrador

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Unknown. The Moravians in Labrador

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THE MORAVIANS IN LABRADOR

INTRODUCTION

THE MORAVIANS IN LABRADOR

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER II

CHAPTER III

CHAPTER IV

CHAPTER V

CHAPTER VI

CHAPTER VII

CHAPTER VIII

CHAPTER IX

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The present small volume which, in some measure, owes its origin to the suggestion of that long tried, excellent, and first friend of the Moravians in Scotland, R. Plenderleath, Esq., and being cordially approved of by the Rev P. Latrobe, London, though connected with considerable labour, great part of it having been translated from the German, has been cheerfully executed, and is intended to promote a purpose similar to that of the first edition of the Moravians in Greenland—to aid the subscriptions of some private friends who wish to communicate occasionally with the Missionaries in Labrador, and send them a few articles of comfort which the general funds do not supply. In allusion to this, the following extract from a letter, addressed to a friend in this city, from one of these devoted men, will be pleasant to the friends of the missions—"Dear Sister A –, You kindly mention that a Society of Christian Ladies was formed in Edinburgh in aid of the missions in Greenland and Labrador, and had sent a gift of clothes, for which I beg you will accept of our united thanks. There are many poor widows and orphans in our Esquimaux congregations who are in the greatest necessity, to whom any little article of clothing will be most welcome. When our dear friends send us any thing of this kind, we always keep it till Christmas, and then divide them, that they may appear clothed on Christmas night. The dividing scene is often very affecting, their sobbing and weeping prevents their expressing their gratitude in words, but one may easily perceive how deeply they feel their kindness."

The Peninsula of Labrador extends from the 50th to the 61st deg. N.L. It is somewhat of a triangular form; bounded on the north by Hudson's Straits, and indented by Ungava Bay; on the east by the northern ocean; on the south by Canada and the Gulph of St Lawrence; and on the west by Hudson's and James' Bay, which last coast, by a kind of anomaly in nomenclature, has been called the East Main, from its situation to that great inland sea.

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On this expedition Jans Haven was accompanied by Christian Laurentius Drachart, who had been a Danish missionary in Greenland,2 John Hill and Andrew Schlozer (Schliezer.) The British Admiralty accommodated them with a passage in a public vessel, and they (7th May) sailed from Spithead, in the Lark, Captain Thomson, the same frigate that had brought Jans Haven home. He landed them at Cosque, Newfoundland, where another government vessel, the Niger, received them, and conveyed them to Chateau Bay, at which place they arrived July 17th; but were there obliged to separate, the captain, Sir Thomas Adams, having received instructions to detain some of them, to keep up the friendly intercourse with the Esquimaux. With these directions, they not unwillingly complied, their object being to follow the leadings of Providence, and pursue the line which promised to lead to the greatest good. Haven and Schliezer therefore proceeded forward, and Drachart and Hill remained. The two former embarked in a schooner bound for the north, in order to prosecute their intended exploratory voyages; but after spending from the 25th of July to the 3d of September, and reaching the 56th deg. N.L. on the east coast, Labrador, they returned without having accomplished any thing of importance, not having met with a single native in any place at which they had landed. The other two had an opportunity of speaking with hundreds, whom the trade attracted to their neighbourhood, of which they gave the following account in their journals: "On the 17th August, we heard that Esquimaux were coming, and were about twenty English miles off. We sailed on the 18th, very early, with Sir Thomas, to meet them, and invited them, in the name of the governor, to Pitt's Harbour.3 After some hours we saw the first kaiak. As they approached, the savages began to call out, in broken French, 'tous camarades oui hu!' which the sailors answered in the same manner. Drachart allowed the first shout to pass over; he then took one of them by the hand and said in Greenlandish, 'Ikinguitigangut,' i.e. 'we are friends;' the native understood, and answered, 'Ikinguitsgenpogui,' 'we are also thy friends.' We then took some of them into the vessel. A man in a white woollen coat, said he got it as a keepsake from Jensingoak, i.e. Jans Haven, and inquired where he was. At their earnest invitation Mr Drachart went with them, and found upwards of three hundred assembled, crying out incessantly, 'We are your friends—be not afraid—we understand your words—where do you come from?' He answered, 'I have words to you;' on which the whole adjourned to a green plain without the camp, and sat down around him. He then told them, 'I come from the Karalit in East Greenland, where at one time I had a wife, children, and servants.' When they heard this, they cried out, 'These Karalit are bad people,' thinking he meant the North Indians; but he said, 'I come not from the north, I came over the great sea from the Karalit in the east, of whom you have heard nothing, for it is very long since they went away from this place. But they have heard of you, and therefore Jensingoak came last year to visit you, to see if you are Karalits, and I now see myself that you are; and I am sent to say, that the Karalits in the east are your friends, that they know the Creator of all things, who is our Saviour, and they wish you also to know him.'

"Greatly perplexed at this discourse, the savages made him repeat it again and again, saying to each other, 'saog?' what does he say? when an old man undertook to interpret. 'He means,' said he, 'Silla,'4 throwing his hands around his head, and at the same time blowing with his mouth. 'Yes!' repeated Drachart immediately, 'Silla!—the great Creator of the world, is our Saviour.' A young man, somewhat astonished, stepping forward, exclaimed, 'Saviour! what is that? I do not understand what that means.' Another asked, 'Where is he?' Drachart then moving his hand in circles around his head, as the old man had done, said, 'He is every where in Silla, but he became a man, as we are.' 'Are you a teacher?' asked one. 'Yes, I was in the east,' replied the missionary. 'Are you an Angekok?' was the next question. 'It may be,' was the cautious response. On which two aged men, with long beards, coming up to him, said, 'We are Angekoks.' Drachart took them by the hands, and introduced them to Sir Thomas Adams, who, with the sailors, had been standing by during the conversation, and told them, 'This is our captain, who is sent by a greater captain to invite you to visit him to-morrow.' Sir Thomas then hastened back to Pitt's harbour, to give an account of this interview to the Commodore, who had remained there, and we continued our course a few miles farther north in St Louis Bay, where we remained during the night."

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