908 



MISSIONS 



[b. a. e. 



thew and Christian Stach, arrived from 

 Denmark to cooperate with Egede, with 

 sucli good result that the principal work 

 finally passed over to that denomination, 

 by which it has since been continued. 

 Egede in 1736 returned to Denmark to 

 establish at Copenliagen a special tiain- 

 ing seminary for the work. He died in 

 1758, leaving the succession in office to 

 his son, Rev. Paul Egede. The elder 

 Egede was the author of a ' Description 

 of Greenland,' which has Ijeen translated 

 into several languages, besides several 

 scriptural works in Eskimo. His son, 

 Paul, accompanied his father on the first 

 trip in 1721, learned the language, and in 

 17o4 Ijegan the missionary work which he 

 continued to his death in 1789, having 

 been made bishop 10 years earlier. He 

 is the author of a standard Danish-Latin- 

 Eskimo grammar and dictionary, besides 

 a number of religious works in the lan- 

 guage and a journal of the (Treenland mis- 

 sions from 1721 to within a year of his 

 death. Still another of the same family, 

 Rev. Peter Egede, nephew of the first mis- 

 sionary, was the author of a translation 

 of Psalms. 



With the settlement of the country 

 from Denmark and the organization of 

 regular parishes the Lutheran missions 

 took on new life, special attention being 

 given to the more northern regions. 

 Godthaab remained the principal station, 

 and several others were established, of 

 which the most important to-day are 

 Nugsoak on Disko bay, w. coast, and 

 Angmagsalik, about 66° n., on the e. 

 coast, the northernmost inhabited sjiot in 

 that direction. The friendly cooperation 

 between the two denominations seems 

 never to have been interrupted, the min- 

 isters in many cases sharing their labors 

 and results in common. 



The Moravian work prospered. New 

 Herrnhut, the first and most northerly 

 mission, was established in 1733; Licht- 

 enfels was founded 80 m. farther s. in 

 1758; 300 m. farther s. Lichtenau was 

 founded in 1774; then came Frederiksdal 

 in 1824, Umanak in 1861, and Igdlorpait 

 in 1864. In 1881 the mission force num- 

 bered 19 and the native membership 

 1,545. Since 1801 the whole Eskimo 

 population properly resident within the 

 Moravian mission area has been Chris- 

 tian, but others have since moved in from 

 the outlying territory. The work of civ- 

 ilization is nearly as complete for the 

 whole E. coast. 



As the result of the literary labors of 

 nearly two centuries of missionary stu- 

 dents, together with a few educated na- 

 tives, the P^skimo literature of Greenland 

 is exceptionally voluminous, covering the 

 whole range of linguistics, Bible trans- 

 lations, hymn books, and other religious 



works, school text-books, stories, and 

 miscellanies, besides a journal published 

 at the Godthaab station from 1861 to 

 1885. With so much material it is pos- 

 sible only to mention the names of the 

 principal workers in tliis field. For de- 

 tails the reader is referred to Pilling's 

 ' Bibliography of the Eskimo Language. ' 

 In the Lutheran mission the most promi- 

 nent names are Egede, father and son, 

 Fabricius (1768-73); Jan.«sen (period of 

 1850); Kjer (period of 1820); the Klein- 

 schmidts, father and son (1793-1840); 

 Kragh (1818-28); Steenholdt (period of 

 1850) ; Sternberg ( 1840-53) ; Thorhallesen 

 (1776-89); Wandall (1834-40), and Wolf 

 (1803-11). In the Moravian list are found 

 Beck (died 1777); Beyer (period of 1750); 

 Brodersen (period of 1790); Konigseer 

 (period of 1780); Muller (period of 1840); 

 together with Cranz, author of the ' His- 

 tory of Greenland and the Moravian 

 Mission,' first published in 1765. 



In the four centuries of American his- 

 tory there is no more inspiring chapter of 

 heroism, self-sacrifice, and devotion to 

 high ideals than that afforded by the In- 

 dian missions. Some of the missionaries 

 were of noble Ijlood and had renounced 

 titles arid estates to engage in the work; 

 most of them were of finished scholar- 

 ship and refined habit, and nearly all 

 were of such exceptional ability as to 

 have commanded attention in any com- 

 munity and to have possessed themselves 

 of wealth and reputation, had they so 

 chosen; yet they deliberately faced pov- 

 erty and sufferings, exile and oblivion, 

 ingratitude, torture, and death itself in 

 the hope that some portion of a darkened 

 world might be made better through 

 their effort. To the student who knows 

 what infinite forms of cruelty, brutish- 

 ngss, and filthiness belonged to savagery, 

 from Florida to Alaska, it is beyond ques- 

 tion that, in spite of sectarian limitations 

 and the shortcomings of individuals, the 

 missionaries have fought a good fight. 

 Where they have failed to accomphsh 

 large results the reason lies in the irre- 

 pressible selfishness of the white man or 

 in the innate incompetence and unworthi- 

 ness of the people for whom they labored. 



Consult: Aborigines Committee, Con- 

 duct of Friends, 1844; Bancroft, Histories, 

 Alaska, British Columbia, California, Ore- 

 gon, Washington, etc., 1886-90; Barnum, 

 Innuit Language, 1901; Bressani, Rela- 

 tion, 1653, repr. 1852; Brinton, Lenape, 

 1885; California, Missions of, U. S. Sup. 

 Ct, 1859; Bryce, Hudson's Bay Co., 1900; 

 Catholic Bureau of Indian Missions, Re- 

 ports; Clark, Indian Sign Language, 1885; 

 Coues, On the Trail of a Spanish Pioneer, 

 1900; Cranz, History of the Brethren, 

 1780; DeForest, Indians of Connecticut, 



