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