A VISIT TO THE ESKIMO AT WHALE RIVER
In February 1861, Mr. Horden writes, ‘My hands are quite full; I find it
impossible to do all that I should wish to do. On Sundays I hold three
full services, and attend school twice, and every morning except Saturday
I conduct school. On Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday evening I hold a
service. These matters, with my house and sick visiting, leave me very
little leisure. But as myself and my family enjoy good health, I can
say that happiness is to be found as well among the primeval forests of
Moosonee as in the more sunny land of our birth.’
For his Eskimo children the bishop always had a very special affection.
Very early in his missionary career he managed, as we have seen, to pay
them a visit. He then could not converse with them, nor could he do so
without the aid of an interpreter when he paid a summer visit to Whale
River about the year 1862. We give his own graphic account of this.
‘Let our thoughts for a while be transferred to a land more bleak and
desolate than Moose, to the land where snow never entirely disappears,
to the land of barren rock and howling storm, to the country of the
white bear and the hardy Eskimo, where I spent some time last summer.
I remained with the Eskimo only eight days, yet those eight days were
indeed blessed ones, and will not soon be forgotten by me, for they were
amongst the most successful missionary days I have had since I have been
in the country.
‘The Eskimo appeared to me to be kind, cheerful, docile, persevering, and
honest. Nothing could exceed the desire they professed for instruction,
nothing the exertions they made to learn to read, nothing the attention
with which they listened to the Word of God. I was most fortunate (but
should I not use another word?) in obtaining the services of a young
Eskimo as my interpreter, who had received instruction from missionaries
(Moravians) while living on the coast of Labrador. He spoke English but
imperfectly; but knew some hymns and texts exceedingly well, and showed
himself most willing to assist me to the fullest extent of his power.
I could not have done half the work I did, had I not had him as my
assistant. Accompany me for a day, commencing with the early morning.
‘Soon after six we had a service with the Eskimo; about twenty-five were
present. Some of the men were dressed very much like working men in
England. They purchase their clothing from the store of the Hudson’s Bay
Company. Others were dressed in the comfortable native style, composed
of a loose seal-skin jacket coming to the waist, seal-skin breeches, and
seal-skin boots. One of the women had on an English gown, of which she
seemed not a little proud; the others were attired in a dress somewhat
similar to the men, with the addition of an immense hood to their
jackets, in which they deposit their little babies.
‘The service was commenced by singing a hymn; reading followed, then
prayer, the Lord’s Prayer being repeated aloud by all; singing again;
then a long lesson on the “Syllabariam,” _i.e._ the system of reading
by syllables, without the labour of spelling. They were then instructed
in Watt’s First Catechism, and another hymn completed the service.
After having taken my breakfast, I assembled the Indians, who were
nearly twice the number of the Eskimo, but not half as painstaking. My
service with them was somewhat less simple than that with the Eskimo,
as they had received more instruction, and a few could use their prayer
books intelligently; but I noticed an apathy among them which rather
disheartened me.
‘I then took a lesson from my Eskimo interpreter, writing questions and
obtaining his assistance in translating a portion of the baptismal and
marriage services; I then went to the Eskimo tents until dinner-time.
They are made of seal-skins in the shape of a common marquee. Some of
them are spacious and not very dirty. In the centre is a fire, over
which is suspended a large kettle full of cray-fish. An old woman was
sewing very industriously at a pair of seal-skin short boots, which she
presented to me. Her husband was equally industrious, making models of
Eskimo implements. I instantly transferred to paper the few words of
conversation they had with me. My next visit was to a tent where younger
people were assembled. I asked a few questions, which they readily
answered. I was pleased at this, as showing that they could understand
me. I then dined, and took a short stroll along the river towards the
sea, to see what prospect there was for the whale fishermen. The fishers
were there, waiting patiently, but with the look of disappointment on
their countenances. They could see hundreds of whales outside the bar of
the river, but while they remained there not one could be caught, and
there seemed no chance of any coming inside the bar. Leaving them, I went
to hold a second service with my Eskimo, then another with my Indians.
It was then tea-time. I spent an hour with my Eskimo interpreter, after
which I held an English service with the master and mistress, the only
English-speaking woman for hundreds of miles, and the European servants
of the company. Half an hour’s social chat at length closed the day, and
with feelings of thankfulness at having been placed as a labourer in the
vineyard of the Lord, I retired to rest.
[Illustration: A GROUP OF ESKIMO]
‘I was so deeply impressed with the conduct of the Eskimo, their anxiety
to learn, and their love for the truths of Christianity, that I could not
forbid water that some of them should be baptized. Three of them could
read well; these received the rite of baptism at an evening service, all
the Europeans being present, for all appeared to take a deep interest
in the proceedings. All three were young, neat, tidy, and dressed
in European costume. They answered my inquiries very intelligently,
receiving severally the names of John Horden, Thomas Henry, and Elizabeth
Oke. John and Elizabeth were afterwards married. Malikto, the father of
the bridegroom, stood up at the conclusion of the service, and said that
he hoped they would not forget the instruction they had received, after I
left them. It was a delightful but solemn service.’
The Eskimo formed a large part of Mr. Horden’s charge, and he was much
attracted by their gentle contentment amidst their dreary surroundings,
and by their teachableness. ‘What should we have been, had we, like
them,’ he said, ‘had no Bible to direct us to God?’
Thus speaks the Eskimo, the man who considers himself pre-eminently the
‘man,’ and who has _not_ been taught that God made him, the sun, and the
moon, and the stars also:
‘Long, long ago, not long after the creation of the world, there lived a
mighty Eskimo, who was a great conjurer; nothing was impossible to him;
no other of his profession could stand before him. He found the world too
small and insignificant for his powers, so, taking with him his sister
and a small fire, he raised himself up into the heavens. Heaping immense
quantities of fuel on the fire, he formed the sun, which has continued
burning ever since. For a while he and his sister lived together in
perfect harmony, but after a time he began to ill-treat her, and his
conduct towards her became worse and worse until one day he scorched
her face, which was exquisitely beautiful. This was not to be borne,
she therefore fled from him, and formed the moon. Her brother is still
in chase of her, but although he sometimes gets near her, he will never
overtake her. When it is new moon the burnt side of her face is towards
us; when full moon the reverse is the case. The stars are the spirits of
the dead Eskimo that have fixed themselves in the heavens, and meteors
and the aurora are these spirits moving from one place to another whilst
visiting their friends.’