ON THE LABRADOR. 75 



relatives, or indeed to Jack's, who assured me that his 

 wife at Glovertown, Bonavista Bay, would say in the 

 words of Penelope : 



"... Either he is drowned, 

 Or else his bones lie on the mainland in the rain." 



Or, as he more prosaically put it, "I would be give up 

 in our bay for dead and eat by Eskimo on the Labrador." 



But the steamer had not arrived, nor did she put in 

 an appearance for three or four days. During the 

 interval I saw something of life at the mission station. 

 It is impossible here to do any justice to the magnificent 

 work of the Moravian brethren. Quite apart from their 

 efforts in the cause of Christianity, it is my belief that 

 but for their restraining influence and aid the Eskimo 

 population of the southern Labrador would have 

 vanished almost completely. It is well known that no 

 race is more liable to suffer disastrous consequences from 

 unchecked contact with civilisation than are the Eskimo. 

 Dr. Nansen has put it on record that even so mild a 

 luxury as coffee has very traceable effects upon the con- 

 stitutions of this people, and it is certain that the 

 Moravian missionaries have stood between the Eskimo 

 and indulgence in stimulants far more deleterious than 

 coffee. 



The mission stations of Okak, Nain, Hebron, Hope- 

 dale and Makkovik, extending as they do along many 

 degrees of latitude, form sanctuaries for the converts, 

 where under the wise and benign rule of the house- 

 father (as the head of each station is called) they are 

 encouraged to live an existence which preserves as far as 

 possible all that is manly and wholesome in their 

 characters. The influence which has led not only to 



