The Moravians in Labrador. Anonymous
1750, while musing on the state of that people sitting in the darkness of heathenism, and on how the light of the gospel might be communicated to them, a description of the journey undertaken by Henry Ellis, 1746–7, at the desire of the Hudson's Bay Company, to try to discover a north-west passage, accidentally fell into his hands. The account there given of these barbarous regions convinced him that the people were sprung from the same origin with the Greenlanders, and the methods suggested by Ellis for their moral improvement enabled him to bring his own scheme to a bearing.
In a letter, dated 20th May 1750, addressed to Bishop Johannes de Watteville, he laid before him his plan for establishing a mission on that part of the coast between Newfoundland and Hudson's Straits, which had as yet been but rarely visited by Europeans, and offered himself to undertake it. "Whoever," says he in this letter, "has seen our cause in Greenland, and what the Saviour has done to the poor heathen there, surely his heart and his eyes must overflow with tears of joy, if he possess any feeling of interest in the happiness of others: they are indeed sparkling rubies in the golden girdle of our dear Saviour, as the text for the day speaks, Rev 1 13. And I believe the Saviour has in these northern waters many such gems that he will also gather, and set in it to his praise and glory. My heart is much impressed with the thought of carrying the gospel to the before mentioned countries and places." "Now, dear Johannes," he concludes, "thou knowest that I am an old Greenland traveller; I have also an amazing affection for these northern countries, Indians, and other barbarians; and it would be a source of the greatest joy if the Saviour would discover to me that he has chosen me, and would make me fit for this service. It is not for ease or convenience that I so earnestly desire it. I think I can say before the Saviour, if this is of thee thou wilt cause it to prosper, if not, yet it is a good work, and no one will lose any thing by it."
On purpose to further the prosecution of this object, M. Stach, the first Greenland missionary, had been recalled to Europe, and in the year 1752 was sent for to London by Count Zinzendorff, to be consulted with upon the occasion. Application was at the same time made to the Hudson's Bay Company, for permission to preach the gospel to the savages in the neighbourhood of their factories; but this being refused, probably lest it should interfere with their mercantile projects, M. Stach returned to found new settlements near the scenes of his first labours. Meanwhile, three London merchants, but unconnected with the Hudson's Bay Company, Messrs Nisbet, Grace and Bell, fitted out a vessel for the coast of Labrador, to trade in oil and whale fins, and engaged Erhardt, then at Zeist, to act as supercargo, who, on account of his knowledge of the north seas, of the trade, and of the language, they judged well qualified for that office; but they also wished to make some preparation for a missionary settlement, and four brethren, Golkowsky, Kunz, Post, and Krumm, volunteered to remain in the country to learn the language, and endeavour the conversion of the heathen; for this purpose they took with them a wooden house ready to set up, a boat, various articles of furniture, and some kitchen garden-seeds.
Count Zinzendorff, who, from former experience, was opposed to mixing trading transactions with the work of a Christian mission, was not without doubts as to the issue of this undertaking, he did not however attempt to prevent it. The vessel on board of which this small society embarked, named the Hope, reached the south-east coast of Labrador on the 11th July 1752. The whole is precipitous, and skirted with numerous barren rocky islands; among these they had to steer their way under many difficulties, and with the greatest caution, without any proper chart, in misty weather, and with the sounding line constantly in their hands. At length they landed, and proceeded in search of the Esquimaux in order to traffic with them. On the 29th July they made their first appearance in five kaiaks, which they managed with great dexterity, and seemed highly delighted with Erhardt, who, from his knowledge of the Greenlandish, could make himself understood by them. They exchanged some whale fins for knives. July 31 they came to anchor 55 deg. 31 m. N.L. in a beautiful harbour, surrounded by a wooded high land, and bounded by meadow grounds, to which, from respect to the chief owner of the ship, they gave the name of Nisbet's Harbour.
There the brethren, with the assistance of the sailors, brought their house on shore, and erected it on this pleasant spot—for it was summer[A]—which they called Hoffenthal, i.e. Hopevale; they received from the ship all that was necessary for the supply of their present wants, and putting their confidence in the protection of their heavenly Father, they took up their habitation.
Erhardt, in the mean time, carried on a considerable trade with the natives, who seemed very desirous to assemble around him, and showed him particular marks of affection and attachment. Having remained till the 5th of September, and having seen the brethren, to all appearance, comfortably settled in their dwelling, the vessel left to proceed further to the north, for the purpose of completing her cargo, and Drachart, who had engaged to return to Europe, received in charge the brethren's letters for their friends, and bade them farewell.
Ten days after, on the 15th, the missionaries, to their astonishment, perceived the Hope again re-enter Nisbet's Harbour. Upon boarding her, they learned the painful heart-rending news, that Erhardt, the captain, ship's clerk, and four sailors, had left the ship in a boat filled with merchandize, and for one day had conducted a friendly and gainful traffic with the Esquimaux; but being enticed by the savages, had consented to repeat their visit, perhaps proceed farther into the country, or along the coast, and were never seen more. The vessel, with the remains of the crew, had waited in a state of the most anxious distressing expectation two days and three nights, in hopes of their return; but as they never made their appearance, and they had no other boat to send in quest of them, they were constrained to leave the district, under the distressing conviction that the natives, who had been observed lurking behind some of the small islands, had risen on the unsuspecting party, and murdered them for the sake of their property.
This intelligence threw the brethren into the greatest perplexity, as the person on whom the charge of the Hope now devolved pressed them earnestly to give him their boat, and return with him to Europe, because, from the loss of his best seamen, without additional hands, it would be impossible to navigate the ship. Having come thither at the expense of the merchants, the missionaries could not allow them to suffer in their temporal concerns; and although they would willingly have risked their own lives in the cause, they did not see it equally their duty to risk the lives of others, and the property of the merchants, on an unknown coast and a tempestuous ocean, and therefore agreed to comply with the new captain's request. Leaving provisions in the house, from which they departed with sorrowful hearts, in the feeble hope that perhaps some of those missing might yet be alive, and might be able to find their way thither, on the 20th September they bade adieu to the station, reached St. John's, Newfoundland, on the 31st, and about the latter end of November arrived in London.
An issue so disastrous to an expedition so well planned, which apparently carried within itself every rational promise of prosperity, was calculated to throw a damp upon any renewal of missionary enterprize in that quarter; and it did so with those who imagined that they themselves could command success, if their projects were judiciously concerted, and the means sufficiently supplied. It had no such effect on that eminent servant of God, Count Zinzendorff. When the mournful accounts of the uncertain fate of Erhardt and his companions reached that nobleman, he was grieved, yet not distressed—perplexed, yet not in despair; for he saw much mercy mingled in the dispensation, and was thankful to God that four brethren had returned safe. Next year the vessel Hope re-visited the coast of Labrador, under the command of Captain Goff. He heard that some dead bodies had been found and buried, and that the missionary station had been burned, but no further particulars were ever learned. In this manner ended the first commercial adventure and first mission to Labrador—enforcing, in a salutary and impressive manner, the fundamental maxim of the brethren, that worldly speculation ought never to be joined with Christian enterprize.
Notwithstanding this failure, the brethren did not relinquish the hope that God would, in some way or other, direct them how to reach these savages, and there were not wanting men who showed a strong desire to carry the gospel among them. In particular, Jans Haven, a carpenter, from the moment he heard that Erhardt had been killed by the Esquimaux, could never get rid of the powerful impulse, and in his retirement constantly employed himself with charts and books relating to the subject, and by every means endeavoured to make himself acquainted