98 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



are clustered together on a small plateau near the mission buildings. 

 Most of the people are small in stature, and my impression is they 

 were quite as dirty as the completely uncivilized people I afterwards 

 met to the northward, but it may be that a month later I was more 

 accustomed to seeing dirty people. Our ship remained at Nain for a 

 whole day, and as I spent the greater part of the time ashore, I was 

 able to fully inspect the station and also to form some idea of the 

 work performed by these missionary traders of the North. The 

 natives living here are like all other residents of the Labrador coast, 

 generally employed in trapping, hunting and fishing ; all the furs, 

 skins and oil they obtain they bring to the missionai'ies, who, in 

 return, supply them with ammunition, tobacco, and a limited quan- 

 tity of flour and pork. Attached to the station is a school-house, and 

 be it said to the credit of the missionaries, almost all the natives of 

 suflicient age can read and write in their own language. There is 

 also a chapel, in which service is held every evening. The choir is 

 composed of the families of the missionaries and of the natives, and 

 is assisted by an old-fashioned organ and by eight or ten violins 

 played by music-loving Eskimos. Although the sincerity of the 

 evanoelizing efforts of these Moravians has often been called in 

 question, I think that any one witnessing one of the services in the 

 quaint old chapel at Nain will confess that a good work is being 

 done. The gardens are a most pleasing feature of the place ; potatoes, 

 turnips, lettuce, spinach and onions are gi'own, but require an 

 immense amount of attention, as they all occasionally require to be 

 artificially protected from frost. 



On August 1st we touched at the Hudson Bay Station, Nachvach, 

 90 miles south of Cape Chudleigh. Here we obtained an interpreter, 

 who subsequently proved of great value, when we got among the 

 natives on the shores of the Straits. August 5th — We anchored in 

 a little harbour just inside Cape Chudleigh, the Commander of the 

 expedition having determined to here establish an observing station. 

 Codfish were so abundant at this place that we actually, in a very 

 short time, were tired hauling them into the boat. There was an 

 Eskimo family living at a distance of 8 or 10 miles from where the 

 ship was anchored, but I did not see them. Those of the expedition 

 who did pay them a ^dsit describe the tent and its occupants as being 

 villainously dirty, and all seem to have considered it advisable not to 

 venture too close. We left the harbour, called Port Burwell after 



