The Moravians in Labrador | Page 5

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.