New-York tribune., 1903-07-19
MISSIONS In LABRADOR.
WORK OF THE MOR4VIANS.
Their Handredth Anniversary To Be
Celebrated This Year.

the birth of its founder in this hemisphere Count
Nicholas Won Zinzendorf This year they will
celebrate the hundredth anniversary of their
establishing of missionary stations among the
heather Esquimaus of Labrador Their mission
steamer. the Harmony. has sailed from London for
this port, where she loads supplies of provisions
and necessaries for the little hamlets that des
olate seaboard, and she will thread her way north
through the foes a month hence the only steamer
to gladden. the eyes of the brethren for the whole
year, save the little Newfoundland mailboat, which
calls on them twice in the brief summer season
Inc harmony, after unloading her cargo. will fill
up again with peltries salmon and trout. the
produce of the great lone land. returning here in
September lest the foes should blockade her there
for the winter
In the beautiful Wyoming Valley In Northeast
ern Pennsylvania, Bishop (for such he subsequently
became) ZinzendOrf the first white man to
pltch MS tent. and to the Moravian settlement he
subsequently, founded there he gave the name of
bethleheIn. Such are the mUtabilities Of human
affairs that the colony dedicated TO the birthplace
OF the Prince of Peace has become the scene OF
the creation of The mightesc instruments of the
God of War, the armor plate and gun castings of
Bethlehem forming the standard for the United
States.
The contrast from the smiling valley of the
wyoming to the dreary wastes of Labrador is as
great as could be conceived in this world. The
one represents nature in her most attractive and
the other in her repellant guse. Yet the
noble band of missionaries despatched to that
treeless, frozen land faced the prospect cheer
1uIly as did their brethren destined TO more Ia
Vored climes. The Moravians have always been
noted for their missionary ZEAL and the more re-
mote and neglected the region, the more back
ward and oppressed the people. the greater the
effort put forth to Christianize and educate them
They are said to raise money for missionary
purposes in proportion to their membership. than
any other denomination in Britain America, and
their zeal in the cause is commensurate with their
financial contributions Sometimes they suffer
from the consequences of misdirected sympathy
for faeun and fhpir cl,a mo a
firm of Morton, pickle makers of London. left
them. in his will the equivalent of S1,5oOoo, Ito
build churches and schools In heather countries
and the ruling of the British courts was that
the money must be applied to the construction
alone, and not to the upkeep of these establish
ments. the Moravians had to abandon the gift be-
cause they unable to provide the funds TO
maintain these churches and schools, if once
erected
The story of the condition and working of the
Moravian missions among the Esquimaus is one of
the most impressive chapters in the history OF
modern religious progress. 1t would be difficult to
eXdggerate the labors of these devoted brethren
who for full century have been toiling on this
bleak coast amid haroships and privations of no
ordinary character. The ordinary difficulties in
cident such conditions have been accentuated
by the peculiar circumstances of the people among
whom they have been at work The Esqumau is
a unique type. He is a distinct and apart
Docile, but dull stupid apparently, and with
features almost devoid of intelligence, british in
his instincts yet alive TO the needs OF MS ENVIRON
ment he is chronological study. Nothing is
more illustrative of the that civilization some
times handicaps people than the case of
these Esquimaus. The heather one will contrive a
kayak bones and sealskin, and with a harpoon
made a flint head and whalebone handle Will
spear seals and fish to sustain his family,
whereas the civilized EsqUimau in nearly every in
stance loses the facility TO do, which was the
laborious acquisition of generations of his fore
fathers unspoiled by contact with the civilized
wayfaTer.
WHERE THE MORAvIANs ARE.
The Labrador coast is under the jurisdiction of
Newfoundland and os its furthest limit the
Moravians settled, the Ungava peninsula
which marks the southern boundary OF Hudson
Strait Here they maintain six stations-Nan.
Hopedale Ramah. Zoar, Hebron and Mackovck-
given in this order of age. Max is the Oldest and
Mackovck the youngest, the period intervening be-
ing eighty years The region inland from
these harbors forms the largest of the worlds
surface yet unexplored. It's aspect is gloomy
and forbidding. 1t is destitute of trees and in
capable of cultivation. At Main the missionaries
show with pride a larch which has been the object
their soicitous for thirty-four years. 1t is
now but twenty-sx inches high, and is the great
object of curiosity for the whole region Apart
from the mission stations there few British
settlers about a hundred in all. chiefly employees of
the Hudson Bay Company. The only roads are the
in and the ice foe or snow plain in
winter. The people are therefore expert in han
ding boats and equally so in crossing the vast
whited praries without guide post or landmark
though in winter the thermometer often stands at
so degrees below zero.
The Esquimaus number some fifteen hundred
nearly all of whom, except in the remoter sections
have formed little settlements around the missions
abandoning their previous nOmadic and wretched
methods of existence In the far north there are
some tribes which repel all efforts better their
lot The greater proPorti01' hoWeyer may & De sac saId
mHhity' ana many Gi ff the @ acorn & IheT PPeFeSiG
Their occupation consists in cod, salmon and trout
the spring and Turing and trapping in the winter
Their life is hard one and yet they appear to be
happy cOntented people, simple and childlike in
their WAYS ana habits; and as proud Of their real M
III tue b OF OF of as sney are
raw fish" Even their stunted stature they regard
e@se and asy her Crazy yH
kayaks. They proud Of their aptitude In learn
ing the white mans ways and the teachings OF the
missionaries have completely eradicated their
heather customs, so that they are; on the whole
vices that contaminate mankind in more popuous
fraiIties for while drunkenness is unknown among
them the stations, traders at times bring liquors
the usual results follow But these lapses are not
frequent, and the reMoteness OF the region saves
At each station there is a large wooden church
The churches capable of seating from two hun
sexes sit apart The fioors are sanded everything
| is scrupuously clean and an American organ on
| q raised platform is conspicuous object in each
The services largely choral, the EsqUimaus be,
nssi1tive s tnder The teachtne of the missionaries
nearly every adult can sing at sight any simple
and stringed Instruments. played by the Esquimaus
and at special festivals. such as Christmas ana
services On Easter morning too the faithIu f are
the church tower. as is the practice at Bethlehem
| Penn. The school is an extension of the churcn n
fitted with desks and seats blackboards and cards
! states and books all clean ana well worn Inc ne