The Moravians in Labrador | Page 6

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 sorest
punishment, in poverty and hunger.
The Esquimaux on the east coast of Labrador, may be divided into two
sections: those in the south, who seldom come farther than
Kangertuksoak, about twenty miles north of Okkak, which lies 57°, 20
m. N.L.; and those of the north, who seldom come farther south than
Nachrack 59° --m. Saeglak lies between, and in winter is visited by
both in their sledges. Those in the north still retain the original native
furniture, wooden bowls, and whale-bone water buckets, large and

small lamps and kettles of bastard marble, and are more unvitiated,
therefore more to be depended upon than the others. They of the south
have obtained European pots and kettles of iron, hatchets, saws, knives
and gimlets, woollen cloths, sewing needles, and various other utensils
of iron; they are more treacherous, and less to be trusted in their
dealings.
So long as Newfoundland remained in possession of the French, the
traffic of Europeans with the Esquimaux went little farther than the
bartering of fish hooks, knives, or trifling wares, which they had
brought with them to the fishing for whale fins. But when that Island
fell into the hands of the English, they and the Americans, who
promised themselves great advantages from opening a trade with the
natives, brought with them a more extensive assortment of goods. The
traffic at first was mis-managed. In order to ingratiate themselves with
the savages, the traders both took and allowed greater liberties than
were calculated to preserve mutual good understanding. The foreigners
excited the cupidity of the natives, which, though easily satisfied at the
moment, soon became a constant, increasing, and insatiable appetite;
and when their whale-fins, furs, or blubber were exhausted, and they
could purchase no more of the articles they had learned to prize, they
first quarrelled with those friends who would not make them presents
of what they wanted, and then proceeded by fraud or force to supply
themselves. Having a thorough contempt for the Kablunat, they
imagined that they displayed a virtuous and praiseworthy superiority,
when they overreached, deceived, and stole from them. The traders
who entertained similar notions respecting the Esquimaux, acted in a
similar manner, and their intercourse soon became productive of
murders and robberies, in which the numbers and cunning of the latter
enabled them for a time to be the most successful.
A band of Esquimaux from Avertok, a place not far from where the
settlement of Nain at present is, commenced their plundering
expeditions upon system, evincing a depraved ingenuity, converted
now to better objects. They went regularly to the south with whale fins,
which they bought up from their neighbours, and under