The Moravians in Labrador | Page 9

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