The Moravians in Labrador

by Anonymous

Early in the approaching summer, more than eighty Esquimaux went from the country round Nain to the south, among whom were nineteen of the baptized, and even Peter, the first fruits of the mission, accompanied them. The majority had determined to spend the winter there, and get plenty to eat, and tobacco, and guns, and powder, and ball, and other articles which they could not purchase so advantageously from the brethren. From the country round Okkak too, above an hundred of the natives went south in four boats, among whom were Luke and his family, who were baptized.

When the brethren saw that the baptized would not be prevented from going to the south, though sorely grieved, yet anxious for their welfare in their ill advised expedition, they gave them a written certificate, stating that they, the missionaries, had been sent there by an agreement with the governor of Newfoundland, in the years 1771 and —2; that they had lived in love and concord with the Esquimaux, and had no cause of complaint against them; that there was no other reason for their present journey than the invitation of Europeans in the south; then recommended them to the care and friendly treatment of the colonists, and concluded by giving a short account of the progress of the mission since its commencement.

At the new mission station, Hopedale, some beginnings of a stirring among the heathen were perceived, but the same giddy infatuation which had seized their countrymen laid hold on them also, and blasted this pleasing prospect. A boatful of them undertook the voyage to the south, while the others who remained, had their minds wholly dissipated.

From this propensity of the Esquimaux to go to the colony, the outward circumstances of the mission appeared to be in great danger. For as the wanderers carried considerable quantities of merchandize to the southern settlements, the home freight of the Society's ship, the Amity, which consisted of the same articles, was much less this, than it had been in any former year.

On the 5th of October five families of Arcktok came from Chateau Bay back to Nain; they now spoke in a very different tone respecting the "good and kind" Europeans; they had quarrelled with their friends, who had seized their wives, and afterwards maltreated and threatened to shoot themselves; while they, probably, had not altogether refrained from their old thievish practices. The year before, they said, the people in the south are better than you, they give us plenty to eat;—now they said, "You are the Innuit, our true friends, we will never leave you more."

The following year, 1784, Tuglavina arrived at Nain on the 6th of September with three boats, on his return from Chateau Bay—the accounts which he and others gave of their residence there pierced the missionaries to their inmost souls. Of the nineteen baptized who went south five had perished, David, Abraham, Moses, Timothy, and Deborah; the latter, there was ground to hope, had a blessed departure. David was drowned in a kaiak on the sea, and on this account, by the counsel of old Nerkingoak, his sister Killatsiak was ordered to be burnt to death. Abraham, while striking fire for this purpose, slightly wounded his finger; but trifling as the hurt appeared, it brought him to his miserable end. Moses was shot by Tuglavina. Timothy was likewise assassinated. When Tuglavina touched at Hopedale, being asked, "Where is Moses?" he coolly answered, "He is lost." "Where is he lost? is he gone over the sea?" was next asked. "No! I have killed him," answered the savage. "And wherefore did you kill him?" said they. "Because he was good for nothing," was the careless reply. It was apparent, however, that they had been murdered for the sake of their women. Moses had three baptized wives, who were given or sold to three northern men; Kathmina was purchased by her brother, Kekluana of Pitteklaluk, for a great coat, a hatchet, a folding knife, and a spoon. These conjugal bargains Tuglavina related to brother Lister, quite unasked and without emotion; indeed his whole appearance was as if he had been possessed by an evil spirit. The brethren slept none that night for grief.

By such horrible occurrences the desire of the baptized to travel to the south was somewhat checked, and the following year only a single boat went thither. But the colony possessed particular attractions for the natives; as there they could be supplied with muskets, powder, and ball, which having learned the use of, had now become absolutely necessary for them in hunting. The missionaries had, hitherto, doubted the propriety of arming them with such dangerous weapons; but as they could no longer be kept from them, they got themselves supplied with them from England as articles of trade, to prevent, if possible, the Esquimaux from making this a pretext for emigrating.

Daily observation more and more convinced the brethren of the injury the baptized and the inquirers had sustained while they continued to live among their heathen countrymen; the constant incitements to their superstitious sinful customs, and to their heathenish juggling and games, they were frequently little able to resist, especially when their old inclinations were seconded by the calls of affection or friendship. When, for example, some spell was to be tried on a sick relative, and any of those who had been taught something of Christianity opposed it, they were reproached with hating the invalid, and wishing him dead. Another source of seduction to the half-informed heathen, was the use which the Angekoks made of the little knowledge of Christianity which they had obtained. These sorcerers, who are held in great veneration and dread by the people, and whose atrocities, as well as their pretended inspirations, render them objects of terror; when they saw the influence of the missionaries, and felt their own importance begin to shake, introduced into their incantations the name of Jesus, whom they acknowledged to be a powerful supernatural being, inferior only to Torngak—and the believers themselves were apt to retain and to mix some of their old opinions with their new creed.

To preserve these tender plants from the contagious breath of a heathen atmosphere, the brethren determined that in future, they should have fixed habitations adjacent to their own dwelling, and they erected houses in a substantial fashion not far from the missionary station, into which they received no Esquimaux except such as expressed their sincere resolution to renounce heathenism. In Hopedale they had often experienced the baleful consequences of being in the neighbourhood of the heathen at Avertok. This was peculiarly evident from a declaration of some of the baptized who had spent the winter among them. A meeting was called on the 12th April 1786, to consult about the subject, when all the men inhabiting the station attended; it was held in the open air, and as the weather was exceedingly fine, continued for upwards of three hours. Here the brethren were informed of the transactions which had taken place the winter before, and one professed believer thought himself bound to make a confession of the superstitious and sinful practices in which he had formerly engaged. As these were among the actions and deeds which ought not so much as to be named among Christians, the brethren strictly forbade any such confessions in future, but particularly in public, and before the heathen; who being strongly addicted to the same abominations, and unable to distinguish between a penitent confession and an actual approval, might be hardened in their sins by hearing such narratives, which they would naturally conclude proceeded from the pleasure the persons still took in practices they delighted to talk of.

A new trial, of perhaps a more distressing kind, afflicted the brethren, from an attempt made by a Roman catholic priest to seduce the baptized and the inquirers, by presenting them with a form of Christianity which had some appearance to that they saw among the Moravians, while it permitted an indulgence in those vices which the doctrines of the latter could not tolerate. A warm and a flattering invitation sent by a Frenchman named Macko, from Canada, who had an establishment in the south at Avertok, awakened with redoubled force the propensity of the Esquimaux to go to the south, though they now could get shooting materials at the settlements, better, and on more advantageous terms, than they could there. This Frenchman, who acted not only as a merchant, but as a Roman catholic priest, made them the most extravagant promises; and besides, he said he would pray daily with them to Jesus, and that he had the most beautiful writings—i.e. pictures—of the Saviour. In consequence, a company of thirty-two persons, and among them fourteen of the baptized, went thither in the summer of 1787, so that the number of inhabitants in Hopedale was reduced from fifty-nine to thirty. Macko invited the Esquimaux to worship God with him; this seemed more pleasant and convenient than to remain under restraint with the brethren, for there they saw "Christian" sailors who allowed themselves to follow every species of sinful dissolute conduct. On their return they said, the Europeans have meetings yonder as you have, and they have Jesus as you have here.