338 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. CHAP. xx. 



Another comparison forced itself upon my mind as I 

 was surveying these Indians eating the 'pain beni,' which 

 was handed round in the form of a pyramid prettily 

 decorated with ribbons, more in keeping with the solemn 

 service in which they had just been engaged. 



I thought of the condition of their wild brethren 

 wandering through the dreary forests or over the moss- 

 covered rocks of the Labrador Peninsula, who had never 

 heard of the name of Christ, who had no real knowledge 

 of sin, none of redemption, and none of the life to come 

 who were steeped to the lips in superstition, holding 

 imaginary communion with evil spirits, and endeavouring 

 to appease their malice with miserable offerings of food, 

 blood, and sometimes of human life. 



I thought, too, of the years of incessant labour and 

 patient endurance which the missionary had undergone 

 hi order to bring these Indians together at stated periods 

 and teach them morality, honesty, and truth, the responsi- 

 bilities of the present and the hopes of a future world. 

 However distorted to my mind appeared the lessons 

 which were taught them of the Christian religion, it was 

 infinitely better than their own foolish and vain imagin- 

 ings, full of corruption and sensuality. 



The character of the conversation which takes place 

 in a heathen Indian lodge is degrading and revolting in 

 the extreme. The early Jesuit missionaries have not 

 exaggerated the scenes of domestic licentiousness which 

 characterised the Montagnais when first they were 

 known to Europeans. The daily routine of savage life 

 among Nomadic tribes on the north shore of Lake Supe- 

 rior at the present day is sufficient evidence of the impure 



