PRESENT NUMBER OF LABRADOR ESKIMOS. 273 



sion stations. The " heathen" Eskimos north of Hebron 

 scarcely number 200. 



A. von Dewitz, in his " An der Kuste Labrador's" 

 (Mesky, 1881), informs us that within the last decade the 

 extinction of the race has rapidly advanced, and that by 

 the end of the century only the last remnants of this 

 people will be surviving. In the southern mission sta- 

 tions almost all the children die early, and in the north- 

 ern stations the case is not much better. The last census 

 gave scarcely 1,100 as living at the stations, and about 

 50 in Hamilton Inlet (Aivektok Bay). There are also 

 about 100 " heathen" Eskimos on Cape Chidley, and 200 

 in Ungava Bay. 



Owing to the kindness of the Rev. B. La Trobe, Sec- 

 retary of the Moravian Missions in London, I have re- 

 ceived the following statistics in a letter dated August 30, 

 1887 : "The number of Eskimos at our stations at the 

 beginning of 1886 was as follows : Hebron, 207; Hope- 

 dale, 160; Nain, 214; Okkak, 308 ; Ramah, 71 ; Zoar, 

 90 ; total, 1,050. Including these, we reckon that there 

 are less than 1,500 Eskimos on the strip of coast from 

 Hamilton Inlet (Aivektok Bay) to Ungava. The race is 

 comparatively pure, but there are some half-breeds, for 

 Hudson's Bay Company's employes and other settlers 

 have married Eskimo women. Whilst Christian influ- 

 ences are brought to bear on the increasing number of 

 fishermen and sailors visiting the stations, every barrier 

 is set up against immorality. Thirty years ago the num- 

 ber under charge of our missionaries was about 1,200, I 

 expect purely Eskimos ; now it is about the same, in- 

 cluding settler families. Zoar was commenced iri 1865, 

 and Ramah in 1871." 



