Morning journal and courier., 1889-08-24

! efforts among the Indians of British Ameri- ca from the Atlantic to the Pacific fill lu- minous page in North America history, On the Labrador coast from Seven Islands to
 Forteau Bay the people, comprising Montag- nais and Nasquapse Indians, French Acadi. ans and half breeds, are all adherents of the Roman Catholic faith. At but few points are there resident priests. The Fathers visit
 the different stations and settlements, by boat, twice, the remotest once, each year,
 devoting themselves untiringly to ministra- tions from one to two weeks at each place.
 From Forteau Bay past the Straits of Belle
 Isle and around the Atlantic coast to Hanil-
 ton Inlet, the Church of England may be
 said to control Labrador territory. This
 population is almost an English speaking
 one, comprising perhaps one thousand souls,
 which include several hundred Esouimsux
 and Esquimaux half breeds. There are also
 in this territory three Wesleyan Methodist
 missionaries with rowing charges, of whom
 our melancholy passenger from Mingan to
 Forteau Bay was one. The Church of Eng
 land missions were established forty years ago; and they now possess perhaps half
 dozen mission 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, Okak and Hebron, the latter the northern-r:ost mission of the continent. The Brethren whom I met in.
 formed me that their first missionary and
 five sailors were murdered by the Esquimaux in 1752. But ia 1770, under permission
 from the British Grown, they gained a foot
 hold and founded the mission at Main.
 Okak was founded in 1778; Hopedale in
 17S2; and Hebron in 1880. The total num-
 Der of Esquimaux along the five hundred
 miles of the Atlantic coast is now about six
 teen hundred. Of these nearly twelve hun
 dred have been "civilized" and belong to the
 four missions; and thirty-one missionaries are engaged in this work upon the entire
 coast. These Brethren are absolute rulers of
 the Esquimaux, and in all matters pertaining either to the Indians or to other trappsrs and
 residents on lands granted them by the Eng fish government. They control the entire fdr trade of the Esquimaux, paying such prices as they may choose; and no article of food or use finds it's way into the hands of
 these simple folk save through the Moravian
 trading houses at such price of barter as the
 missionaries may demand. Vessels come to
 Main with stores and provisions from Flu
 rope, and to take away proceeds 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 meth ods unjustly: but as nearly as am able to judge, form of slavery exists here which is not creditable to ostensibly Christianising effort. It is certain that the duskY flock who are thus feeced, notwithstanding their sickening servlity to the Brethren, have @ statement of the whole situation which they sullenly grunt among each other, and occa- sionally permit 6 sharp cared stranger to overhear. This is: Missionary heap good ! in church; heap bad in storel"
 The manner of subsistence of all the Indi- ans and half breed population of Labrador | is practically the same. The Montagnais and Nasquapees live in lodges the year round, ! whether in the interior or upon the coast. The Esquimaux generally live in igloes, 8 ! sort of turf covered wigwam, when in the | interior, and when at the missions in rude { huts modelled after the igloe; while the few remaining inland hunting Indians seldom | appear upon the coast, unless driven in by ! famine, or when they como to the villages to barter, when they bring all their belongings | down the rivers and inlets in open boats,
 camping at night under seal skin tents. The coast Labradorians, and there arc not
 six hundred others, are occupied in sealing
 in the early spring; they fish in the summer,
 hunt and trap in the winter; and these oc- equations are common to all, including half
 breeds and whites. There is nothing else te
 be done, whatever the ability or inclination t Tn the extreme north the clothing is exclu. \ slVoly SealSklu, aHO OH bu6 SoutI suOTe Iut | attire is combination of sealskin and fus
 tian, the latter being especially prized fol ! withstanding the cruel winds and storms oi | the region The number of stockings weru | by these folk is often astounding. Four, five and sometimes half dozen are used in- side their sealskin boots. There is nothing
 striking about the dress of the few white women who are here, save that they remind ! one in the mountain of clothing they bun- ' d1a fhaynse1yaa Of fha do1a ! skirts of the women of Irish Connamara. But the Indian women of the south and the | Esquimaux women of the north are wonder | fully appareled. Anything they can get ! their hands upon possessing gorgeous color ! is used for decoration. They almost equal ! American women in this respect. Perhaps 1 this Is more noticeable among the women of l the St. Lawrence coast than with the north l ern Esquimaux.
 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 trinmed with white fur, a | cap enveloping the entire head, and sort of 1 baggy cape or hood hanging down the back, | in which their fat little babies are carried. ! The cradle is unknown among the Esqui- maux; but the universal tendency of all | mothers to bounce, sway and heave about ! the helpless infant has illustration here in | the ''gigging" of the Esauimaux child in It's aerial cradle. Walking or sitting the Esqui- ! meux mother has an endless movement like ! that of an old tar under heavy sea. It Is a writhing, weaving. swaying motion which 1 cannot be adequately described. But it sui fees, and the fat mother gets good deal .oi | exercise out of it, whatever the effect upon l tbe babe. Only among the half breed wo- ! men are there forms and faces that are at ! tractive as civilized folk judge these things l The compensation is here, however; foE l nearly all Esquimaux women will measure in girth what they will in height; and all forms of fat represent the Labradorian ides
 of both utility and beauty. At child bear | ing their own women oficiate as midwives
 and they get along very well in every respect I without physicians. There is not e resident doctor in all Labrador; nor for that matter z lawyer; and our timber hunting friend re gards this fact as forceful argument agains
 American high pressure civilization and Bos
 ton ethical culture
 Tine mission churches are very comfortabl
 structures; and the services interest, enter
 tain and no doubt benefit these lonely pee pie. All are built of wood and whitewashs
 within and without. Some have sma
 tower and chanoel, and a few boast of val
 nished pews. There are perhaps half doz en tiny church bells in all Labrador; but 8
 most missions the people are called togethe
 for services, and for all other purposes, by
 flag displayed from the highest eminenc
 near visited an afternoon service at on
 of the Moravian missions. Perhaps two hur
 dred and fifty people were present, and tn
 collection of sealskins was something re
 1 markable to behold. Their possessors aIt
 all very demure and attentive on these ocoa
 1 sions. The music for indeed the entire ser vice seemed to bs one interminable chant
 was strikingly peculiar. Several wome
 formed choir and bravely sang with al their lungs and power. A half dozen mel
 were playing the violin; two were at wor upon French horns; and two others crowde quavering threnodies out of wheezy accorde ! ons. The members of this strange choi
 seemed to realize what devoived upon then ) and bounded over the passages so vigorousl
 that all were in violent state of enthus asm and precipitation. All the congregatio sang. There was not 8 musical voice to b heard. A gutteral gasp, in which the Els quimaux "took" and 'schuck" were upper most, was all that could be recognized. A Hopedale there is ground enough to perm ; of little cemetery; but nearly all Labrado , interments are made between clefts of rock , as protection against wolves. It is not :; very comfortable country where soil enoug . cannot be had to cover one's bones, or wher . such grewsome provision is necessary.
 If there be anything like social or hom . life in Labrador it exists exclusively in th . long, frozen night of the winter. Then th
 entire inhabitants retire from the howlin 7 coast to winter quarters within the trifin 3 shelter of spruce forests and protecting rive l crags, and from their burrows of ssd, hu
 ! and ica aui1v forth in fhnir a1pdpag ar come