The Moravians in Labrador by Anonymous
page 79 of 220 (35%)
page 79 of 220 (35%)
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distance, and associated with their heathen countrymen.
Anxious, therefore, to retain them around their station, the brethren proposed a method for rendering them comfortable during the winter, by building a store-house where their provisions might be laid up, so that the superfluities of summer should supply the wants of winter. But the savages could not understand the use of refusing to gratify their present appetites in order to provide for any distant emergency--they preferred to revel in the plenty of summer, and to rove to other places in winter in search of food, by which propensity they were scattered above one hundred and twenty miles along the coast. Yet, even these wanderers were the means of exciting the attention of their kindred to the gospel, by telling them of the strange things they had heard at Nain. It was therefore resolved to follow the leadings of Providence, and, as soon as possible, to establish two other missionary settlements, the one towards the north, the other south of the present. For this purpose, application was made to the Society of the Brethren in London, who, entering fully into their views, obtained from the Privy Council an order granting them liberty to search out and take possession of land sufficient for their object. A commission was accordingly sent for the brethren to explore the coast, and Brazen, Lister, Lehman, and Jans Haven, offered themselves for this service. On the 5th of August they set out for the north. "But just as we were setting out," says Jans Haven, "an uncommon horror and trembling seized me, so that, contrary to my former experience, I was exceedingly intimidated, and wished rather to stay at home." They proceeded however, and were every where received in a friendly manner by the Esquimaux, and invited to settle among them. Their return |
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