The Moravian Missions. 47 



inches thick, and fastened to the ground, one over each grave. 

 These are numbered from one upwards, and contain also the Chris- 

 tian name of the deceased in blackened letters engraved or sunken 

 in the tablet, together with the dates of the birth and death of the 

 person commemorated. This burial-ground has been in use one 

 hundred and twelve years, and contains over nine hundred graves. 

 It is very level, well kept, and, I should say, a credit to Nain. 

 I read on one tablet, the oldest of them all : — 



No. 1. 



Beata Brazen. 



1772. 



It was that of a child of one of the earlier missionaries, so that 

 you will see the Germans and Eskimos use the same ground for 

 their dead. There were nearly a thousand inscriptions, of which the 

 following are samples : — 



From this attractive burying-ground we entered the not less 

 attractive chapel, a long, narrow, low building, but neatly built. 

 One end of it is used for a school-house, the other, and the larger, 

 for a church. The school-room contains blackboards, with various 

 Eskimo text-books and other apparatus suitable for imparting 

 the rudiments of an Eskimo education. They make use of the 

 German alphabet in all of these books, and have by great industry 

 reduced the Eskimo language to writing, and brought it within 

 grammatical rules practical to the natives. The Superintendent is 

 now engaged on a new Eskimo grammar, which he intends to have 

 printed in Germany this year. 



You will be surprised when I tell you that the church contains 

 an organ. It was brought out from Germany nearly half a century 

 ago, and had been in use for a long time previous to that. Did I 

 say an organ ? Well, it is a melodeon, or rather a cross between a 

 harpsichord and a melodeon. It is a peculiarly-shaped instrument, 



