Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-08-24

most an English-speaking one, comprising
perhaps 1.000 souls which include several
hundred Esquimaux and Esquimaux half
breeds. There are also in this territory
three Wesleyan Methodist missionaries
with rowing charges, Of whom our melan-
choly passenger from Mingan to Forteau
Bay was one. The Church of England mis-
sions were established 40 years ago; and
they now possess perhaps half a dozen mis-
sion houses and tiny churches all told which
are annually visited with great anguish and
trepidation by the Bishop of Quebec.
Beyond this to the north there are no
other than Moravian missions. These are
four In number, all located on the Atlantic
coast, at Hopedale, Main, Oksk and Hebron,
the latter the northern-most mission Of the
continent. The Brethren whom I met in
formed me that their first missionary and
i've sailors were murdered by the Esqui-
maux In 1152. But in ITO, under permits
sion from the British Crown they gained q
foothold and founded the mission at Main.
Okak was founded in 1776, Hopedale in
1872 and Hebron in 1880. The total num-
Der Of Esquimaux along the 500 miles Of the
Atlantic coast is now about 900. OF these
nearly ], 200 have been "civilized" and be-
long to the four missions; and 81 mission
aries are engaged in this work upon the en-
tire coast.
ABSOLUTE RULERS.
These Brethren are absolute rulers of the
Esquimaux, and in all matters pertaining
either to the Indians or to other trappers
and residents on lands granted them by the
English Government. They control the en-
tire fur trade of the Esouimaux. paving
such prices as they may choose, and no ar
ticie OF food or use finds its way into the
hands OF these simple folks save through
the Moravian trading houses at such prices
of barter as the missionaries may demand.
Vessels come to Main with stores and pro-
visions from Europe, and to take away pro-
ceeds of the one-sided trading. The
Brethren state that all profits are turned
over to the general funds of the society. I
do not wish to belittle their spiritual efforts
or disparage their methods unjustly; but as
near az am able to judge, form of slav-
cry exists here which is not creditable to
ostensibly Christianizing effort. 1t is GER
tain that the dusky flock who are thus
feeced, notwithstanding their sickening
servility to the Brethren, have statement
OF the whole situation which they sullenly
grunt among each other, and occasionally
permit sharp-eared stranger to overhear.
This is: Missionary heap good in church;
heap bad in storei''
The manner of subsistence of all the
Indians and half-breed population of Lab
rador is practically the same. The Mon
tagnais and Nasquapees live in lodges the
year round, whether in the interior or upon
the coast. The Esquimaux generally live
in igloes, a sort Of turf-covered wigwam,
when in the interior, and when at the mis-
while the few remaining inland hunting
Indians seldom appear upon the coast,
unless driven in by famine, or when they
come to the villages to barter, when they
bring all their belongings down the rivers
and inlets in open boats, camping at night
under sealskin tents. The coast Labrador
ians, and there are not 600 others, are occu-
pied in sealing in the early spring; they
fish in the summer, hunt and trap in the
winter; and these occupations are common
to all, including halfbreeds and whites.
There is nothing else to be done, whatever
the ability or inclination. In the extreme
north the clothing is exclusively sealskin;
and on the south shore the attire is COM
being especially prized for withstanding the
cruel winds and storms of the region.
PLENTY OF STOCKINGS.
The number of stockings worn by these
folk is often astonishing. Four, five and
sometimes a half dozen, are used inside
their sealskin boots. There is nothing
striking about the dfess of the few white
women who are here, ave that they remind
one in the mountain air of clothing they
bundle upon themselves of the tremendous
skirts of the women Of Irish Connamara
But the Indian women of the South and
the Esquimaux women of the North are
wonderfully apparelet. Anything they can
get their hand upon possessing gorgeous
color is used for decoration. They almost
equal American womtn in this respect Per-
haps thisA:is more ioticeable among the
women of the st. Lawrence coast than with
the Northern Esqnimaux.
The dress of the latter usually consists of
huge sealskin boots, petticoats, a sealskin
garment covering the whole person from the
neck to the knees trimmed with white fur,
cap enveloping the entire head, and a sort of
baggy cape or hood hanging down the back,
in which their fat little babies are carried.
The cradle is unknow1 among the Esqui-
maux; but the universal tendency of all
mothers to bounce, sway and heave aboutthe
helpless infant has illustration here in the
"jigging" of the Esqtimaux child in its
aerial cradle. Walking or sitting the Esqui-
maux mother has an endless movement like
that of an old tar under heavy sea. 1t is a
wrlthing, weaving, sFaying motion which
cannot be Adequately described. But it
suffices, and the fat mother gets good deal
OF exercise out of j, whatever the effect
upon the babe. Only among the half-breed
women are there forhs and faces that are at
tractive as civilized folk judge these things.
The compensation is here, however; for
nearly all the Esquimau1 women will
measure in gIrth what they will in height;
and all forms of fat represent the Labrado-
rian idea of both utility and beauty. At
their own women oficiate as
and they get along very well in
every respect without physicians. There is
not a resident doctor in all Labrador; nor
for that matter, a lawyer; and our timber
hunting friend regards this fact as a force
full argument against American high-pres-
sure civilization and Boston ethical culture.
SOCIETY IN WINTER.
If there be anything like social or home
life in Labrador it exists exclusively in the
long, frozen night of the winter. Then the
entire inhabitants retire from the bowling
coast to winter quarters within the trifing
shelter of spruce forests and protecting river
crags, and from their burrows of sod, hut
and ice, sally forth in their sledges or come
tiques to visit" each other in their storm
swept settlements for distances of hundreds
Of miles. These trips are made over the
glistening snow at the rate of 60 to 100 miles
day BY the .s aid Of taet their gaunt and e,o
that cruelest and deadliest of all drivers
scourges, the Esquimaux whip. Its handle
is not foot long, but the lash is often 40
feet in length, and the drivers are so skilled
in its use that piece can be struck out of
a "leader" or guide" dogs ear at dis
tance of from 80 to 40 feet. These dogs,
fully 150 of which saw at Hopedale, are
simply species of partly domesticated
wolves.