MISSIONS IN LABRADOR.

CHAPTER I.

Situation of Labrador-General appearance of the country Severity of the cold during winter-Approach of summer-Thawing of the ice-Mountains and fields of ice-Fogs-Esquimaux-Their stature -Countenance-Dress-Mode of subsistence-Dogs -Improvidence of the Esquimaux-Their intellectual condition-Moral character.

BEFORE we proceed to relate the labours of Christian Missionaries on the coast of Labrador, it may not be uninteresting to notice some particulars respecting the external features of the country and the condition of its inhabitants, collected from the various descriptions which Missionaries and navigators have given us of those inhospitable regions.

The Peninsula of Labrador extends from lat. 52° 20′ to lat. 62°. The character of the

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country resembles that of the polar regions in general. The snow, sets in as early as August, and the ground is covered, to the depth of two or three feet, before the month of October. Along the shores and the bays, the fresh water poured from rivulets, or drained from the thawing of former collections of snow, becomes quickly converted into solid ice; a dense fog covers the land; the hoar frost settles profusely, in fantastic clusters, on every prominence; the whole surface of the sea steams like a lime-kiln; a sheet of ice spreads quickly over the smooth expanse, and often gains the thickness of an inch in a single night.

The darkness of a prolonged winter now broods impenetrably over the frozen continent, unless the moon chance at times to obtrude her faint rays, which only discover the horrors and wide desolation of the scene. The wretched inhabitants, covered with a load of bear-skins, remain crowded and immured in their huts, every chink of which they carefully stop against the piercing cold; and, cowering about the lamp of train oil, they seek

A POLAR WINTER.

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to doze away the tedious night. Their slender stock of provisions, though kept in the same apartment, often becomes so hard, as to require to be cut with a hatchet; and, in the more northern parts, the whole of the inside of their hut becomes lined with a thick crust of ice, and if they happen for an instant to open a window, the moisture of the confined air is immediately congealed, and falls on the floor, in the form of a shower of snow. As the frost continues to penetrate deeper, the rocks are heard, at a distance, to split with loud explosions. The sound of voices, which during the cold weather can be heard at a much greater distance than usual, serves now and then to break the silence which reigns in these dreary regions,-a silence far different from that peaceful composure which characterizes the landscape of a cultivated country -it is the death-like silence of the most dreary desolation, and the total absence of animal existence.

At length the sun re-appears above the horizon, but his languid beams rather betray the wide waste, than brighten the prospect. By

degrees, however, the farther progress of the frost is checked. In the month of May, the famished inmates venture to leave their hut, in quest of fish on the margin of the ice. The power of the sun gradually increases; the snow wastes away; the ice dissolves apace, and vast fragments of it, detached from the cliffs and undermined beneath, precipitate themselves, with the crash of thunder, on the shores, or into the ocean, where the mighty launch floats like a lofty island. The ocean is now unbound, and its icy covering broken up with tremendous rupture. The enormous fields and mountains of ice, thus set afloat, are, by the violence of winds and currents, broken into smaller masses. Sometimes, impelled in opposite directions, they approach and strike with a mutual shock, sufficient, if opposed, to reduce to atoms in a moment the proudest monuments of human power. It is impossible to picture a situation more awful than that of the poor crew of a whale-ship, who see their frail bark thus fatally enclosed, expecting immediate and inevitable destruction.

A POLAR SUMMER.

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Before the end of June, the shoals of ice in the polar seas are commonly divided, scattered, and dissipated; but the atmosphere is then almost continually damp, and loaded At this season of the year, a

with vapour. dense fog generally covers the surface of the sea, rendering the navigation extremely dangerous. In the course of the month of July, the sun at length shines out, with a bright and dazzling radiance. For some days before the close of the summer, the heat in the bays and sheltered spots is so great, that the tar and pitch are sometimes melted, and run down the ships' sides. We may easily conceive with what lively demonstrations of joy the arrival of this cheering season is hailed by the inhabitants; and, in the gladsome transition, the pious mind will discover a striking illustration of the goodness of God, in causing the warm and lightsome beams of the Sun of Righteousness to visit a people who had long pined in the darkness and coldness of ignorance and unbelief.* This improvement of

When the works of God are viewed by the light of his word, it can then be understood how "the whole