THE ESKIMOS AND THE MISSION 



two of the chapel-servants went along to his hut and 

 did it for him. The drink evil was abolished ; and so, 

 by their own wish, the Eskimos became what they 

 had always been, a teetotal nation. 



I suppose that it is a remarkable thing to find a 

 people amongst whom there are no prisons and no 

 police and practically no serious crime, but so it is 

 among the Eskimos of Labrador. 



They are a peaceable, law-abiding folk ; and the 

 credit for it must be given to the simple Gospel that 

 has raised them from the past of their race. There 

 is sin, yes ; they are prone to fall into their besetting 

 weakness, a relic of the old promiscuous tent and 

 snow-house life ; but flagrant breach of order or 

 discipline is very rare, so much so that a thief is almost 

 an unheard-of being among these kindly, open-handed 

 folk. 



I think the thing that pleased me most in my 

 study of this interesting people, was the fact that 

 they are still true Eskimos. In all their patient 

 preaching and teaching the missionaries have never 

 forgotten that the Eskimo must remain an Eskimo if 

 he is to win his livelihood as a hunter in the frozen 

 climate of his land ; and while they have instilled 

 habits of morality and clean living, and have; weeded 

 out habits that are bad and harmful, they have 

 urged the people to keep closely to their native foods 

 and habits of life, and clothing; in a word, their 

 policy has been to make the Eskimo a better Eskimo. 

 The natural isolation of Labrador has helped them in 

 this, and has helped them, too, to stand between the 

 people and the vices that civilisation might bring if it 

 were not grafted on their nature by careful minds. 



The Mission is still hard at work, preaching the 



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