The Moravians in Labrador. Unknown
have now adopted the European boat in preference to their own, and those most frequently employed are six oared, rowed by twelve men. The harpooner stands in the bow with his harpoon, or iron spear, which is stuck on a shaft one or two fathoms long, and is provided with a leathern thong of considerable length, to which are attached from five to ten bladders of seal skin. If the whale be struck he immediately dives to the bottom of the sea, where he remains till he is quite exhausted, when he again comes to the surface of the water to breathe; in the meanwhile the boat's crew observe all its motions, and are in readiness with their lances to complete the business, during which, the person who first struck the fish, falls down on his face in the fore part of the boat, and prays that Torngak would strengthen the thongs that they may not break; another of the crew allows his feet to be bound, as a symbol of what he desires, then attempting to walk, falls down and exclaims, "Let him be lame!" and a third, if he observes that the whale is dying, calls out, "Now Torngak is there, and will help us to kill the fish, and we shall eat his flesh, and fare sumptuously, and be happy!" But if the whale appears likely to escape, the first continues lying on his face crying out with vehemence, "Hear yet, and help us!" If the whale get off, some of their conjurors inform them that Torngak was not there, or he did not hear, or he was otherwise employed! Seals are more abundant, and are the chief dependance of the natives, their flesh serving for food, their skins for clothes and covering to their tents and boats, and their blubber for oil or for exchange. Catching the seal was formerly a tedious and laborious process, but now they are generally taken in nets, which the natives have adopted from the Europeans.
Salmon and salmon-trout are caught in every creek and inlet; they remain in the rivers and fresh-water lakes during the winter, and return to the sea in spring. The Esquimaux about Okkak and Saeglak, catch them in winter under the ice by spearing. For this purpose they make two holes in the ice, about eight inches in diameter, and six feet asunder, in a direction from north to south. The northern hole they screen from the sun by a bank of snow about four feet in height, raised in a semi-circle round its southern edge, and form another similar bank on the north side of the southern hole, sloped in such a manner as to reflect the rays of the sun into it. The Esquimaux then lies down, with his face close to the northern aperture, beneath which the water is strongly illuminated by the sunbeams entering at the southern. In his left hand he holds a red string, with which he plays in the water to allure the fish, and in his right, a spear ready to strike them as they approach; and in this manner, they soon take as many as they want. The trout on this coast are from twelve to eighteen inches long, and in August and September so fat, that the Esquimaux collect from them a sufficient quantity of oil for their lamps. The great shoals of herrings, which are the staple of the Greenlanders, do not touch at the shores of Labrador, but they have abundance of cod at many of their fishing stations, which the missionaries have shown them the method, and set them the example, of curing for their winter's supply.
Sea-fowl of the duck and goose species frequent the shores of Labrador, and the islands scattered around it, and afford to the natives, as they do to the rest of the northern tribes, food, warmth, and materials for trade. Of the land birds, the large partridge, [reiper,] or American wild pheasant, is the only one which the missionaries mention as being used by them as an agreeable variety of food, when, other resources failing, they have been confined to salted provisions.
The peninsula is chiefly inhabited on the coast, where the Moravians have now four settlements. The natives style themselves Innuit, i.e. men; and foreigners, Kablunat or inferior beings. Their original national name is Karalit, also denoting superiority, and the term Esquimaux, by which they are now so generally known, was given them by their neighbours the Indians, in whose language it signifies "men's raw meat," and probably imports that the Indians were, or it may be, are cannibals, and devoted their captives for this horrible repast. In lowness of stature, in their flat features, and dark colour, they exactly resemble the Greenlanders. Their language is a dialect of the same tongue, intelligible by both; but from their intercourse with foreigners, and their adopting some foreign customs, and becoming possessed of foreign utensils, a number of strange words have been introduced into each, only the former borrowed Danish or English phrases, while the latter had learned many French words. Their dress is nearly similar, being seal-skin coats and breeches, except the outer garment of the women ends behind in a train that reaches to the ground, and their boats are sufficiently large to carry their children if they are mothers—or provisions, or any other packages, if they are not.
Their winter houses are low, long, ill-constructed huts, inhabited by several families, and abominably filthy; they are dug deep in the earth, but the walls above the surface never exceed three feet in height, the roof is elevated in the middle, and the windows are placed to look to the south: the entry can only admit a person to crawl in; on one side of it is placed the kitchen, and on the other the dog-kennel, but no partition separates the biped from the quadruped inhabitant. If constrained to travel in winter, or to remain at a distance from their usual homes, they build houses of snow, which afford them a tolerably comfortable temporary abode. These habitations are very ingeniously constructed; they first search out a heap of firmly frozen snow, next they trace out a circular figure, of whatever size they think requisite, and then proceed with their long thin knives, to cut out square slabs, about three feet in length, two in breadth, and one in thickness, and gradually contracting as they rise, they form a dome about eight feet high; within, they leave an elevation all round the walls of about twenty inches, which, when covered with skins, serves both for a seat and a sleeping place; a piece of ice serves for a window, and in the evening they close their door with a board of snow; a lamp suspended from the roof gives light and heat to the apartment.
When missions were first commenced among the Greenlanders, they had had but little intercourse with Europeans: it was different when the brethren visited Labrador—the Esquimaux had been long acquainted with Europeans, but of the baser sort, and had lost many of the original features of savage life, without, however, gaining any thing better in their place. Their communication with these wretches, who disgraced the term civilized, corrupted their morals, and did not improve their knowledge, taught them wants, without teaching them how to supply them, except by theft. When the missionaries latterly came in contact with Esquimaux, who were previously unacquainted, or but little acquainted, with white men, they found them comparatively mild and honest. On a voyage of observation, they landed at Nachrack, and they report, "We found," say they, "the people here, differing much in their manners from the people at Saeglak. Their behaviour was modest, and rather bashful, nor were we assailed by beggars and importunate intruders. We had no instance of stealing. Thieves are considered by the Esquimaux in general with abhorrence, and with a thief no one is willing to trade." Latter voyagers have borne similar testimony to their brethren still further north; but their honesty seems to have arisen from the want of temptation; for the same missionaries add: "We have discovered that this propensity is not altogether wanting in the northern Esquimaux, who now and then, if they think they can do it without detection, will make a little free with their neighbour's property." And a further acquaintance with the natives discovered to the northern navigators, that first impressions are not always to be relied upon, for even the fair damsels could slyly secrete pewter plates, spoons and other valuables in the capacious trunks of their hose-boots; but those near the European settlements had improved in wickedness, and got ingrafted on their own vicious propensities new branches of more vigorous and productive mischief. They were in truth in a situation peculiarly adapted to shew the power and the necessity of the gospel for reclaiming the moral wilderness, for in them it had to overcome the worst vices of barbarous and civilized men.
Their religion too appears to have received no more improvement than their morals; from their neighbourhood to nominal Christians their creed remained much the same. They believed that Torngak, under the figure of an old man, dwelt in the waters, and had the rule over whales and seals, and that a female demon, Supperguksoak, under the form of an old woman, resided in the interior, and reigned over the land animals. But the Angekoks had assumed a secular power, which they did not possess in Greenland, and exercised at once the office of priest and a chief, of a sorcerer, a thief, and a murderer. Of this several examples will be found in the subsequent narrative, as well as instances of their ridiculous incantations: the females, in some cases, showed the authority and influence of their husbands. Their notions of futurity were gross and sensual, the highest enjoyment of the soul after death, being made to consist in successful hunting and gluttony; the