[Illustration: A GROUP OF WIDOWS AT NAIN.]
Mr. Jannasch is the photographer among our Labrador missionaries, and
we have to thank him for some excellent pictures of persons and places
in that cold land. Copies of these may be obtained at our Agency (No.
32, Fetter Lane, London, E.C.), and we should be glad to encourage
him by a larger sale for his interesting cabinet, stereoscopic and
_carte de visite_ photographs. As he is resident at Nain, most of his
scenes or groups are taken at or near that station, but last-winter he
took his camera with him on a sledge journey to Hopedale.
[Illustration: THE CHOIR AT NAIN.]
The two groups which we have had reproduced for our pages are
characteristic, but those whose portraits are given might remark that
justice has scarcely been done to their faces. The first is a group of
WIDOWS AT NAIN. It was a good day for lonely Eskimo women of this
class when the Gospel came to their shores. I made a point of
inquiring at each station as to the status of the widows and the
fatherless, and found that everywhere they are well cared for. Indeed,
the widows invariably stand in the first rank of those for whom
regular employment is found by the Society for the Furtherance of the
Gospel. They gratefully acknowledged this. Several of them also gave
me a special commission, which I hereby discharge to the best of my
ability. It was this, "_Give my greeting to all the widows in
Europe._" Perhaps they thought it would be as easy for the visitor
from England to do this on his return, as to inquire after all the
widows in Labrador.
The five aged women in our picture are Adolfina (standing behind),
Marta (seated to her right), and Hulda and Beata (to her left). Amalia
(in the centre of the foreground) is attired in skirts after European
fashion, though she has on a pair of the Eskimo boots indispensable in
such a land. The rest are dressed in full Eskimo costume. It will be
seen that their sillapaks and trousers are ornamented with broad
coloured braid, and the hood, which falls back over their shoulders,
is edged with dog's skin and adorned with a strip of embroidery. Hulda
is a worthy door-keeper in the church, and a valued servant in the
mission-house of many years' standing. The other group represents
THE CHOIR AT NAIN. We have already referred to the musical taste and
ability of many of the Eskimoes, and those at Nain are not behind the
Hopedalers in this respect. The man with the violoncello seated in the
centre is Abraham, the native helper mentioned in a previous
paragraph. To his right is Nathanael, with a violin. He is the
schoolmaster at Nain, and his wife Frederika is seated at his right
hand. One day in 1887, Nathanael was seen shaking his fists at the
mission house. What had ruffled his temper? He had been told by some
fishermen that Queen Victoria, to mark her Jubilee, had sent a present
of a suit of clothes to every schoolmaster in her dominions. As his
had not reached him, he suspected the missionaries of withholding it.
This is a characteristic instance of the credulity with which the
Eskimoes accept the statements of strangers and the mistrust they are
too apt to show towards those who have long proved themselves their
most disinterested friends.
"GOD'S ACRE."
The burial ground at Nain is the best kept in Labrador. Others are
neat and tidily arranged, but this decidedly bears off the palm. It is
finely situated, commanding a view seaward, and an Easter morning
service in this peaceful resting-place of the departed must be
impressive indeed, as the rising sun sheds his first rays across
frozen sea and snowy islands on a company of Christian Eskimoes,
rejoicing in Him who is the Resurrection and the Life, and not
sorrowing hopelessly for their dead. I know no better name for such a
sacred enclosure, where the bodies of those who have died in the Lord
are sown in hope, than the beautiful German term, "God's Acre."
______________ ______________
| | | |
| 805 | | 741 |
| _Harriott_ | | _Eleonora_ |
| 1865-1882 | | 1819-1879 |
|______________| |______________|
Scarcely any grass grows within the oblong space surrounded by wooden
palings, but here and there patches of moss or low berry bushes
threaten to hide the neat little slabs of wood placed by the
missionaries on the graves of the native Christians. If left to the
Eskimoes, this duty to their departed relatives and friends would
either be done carelessly or forgotten. These simple "headstones," of
which I give two specimens as copied into my notebook, are perhaps
about twelve inches by eight. The place for the next grave in each row
(men, women, boys, girls) is indicated by long poles likely to appear
above the highest snow in winter. Here at Nain, and indeed at all the
stations except Okak, where the soil is clay, it is possible, though
in winter very troublesome, to dig a grave all the year round. At Okak
the coffin must be laid in the snow until returning spring thaws the
frozen ground. As already stated, the Eskimoes have no surnames, and
their graves show a great repetition of certain Christian names, as
Abel, Abia, Zecharias, Thomas, Susannah, Katarina, &c. There is a
greater variety on the female side. At Zoar I noted some curious
ones--Persida, Botille, Teresia Dina, and Justine. "Helena-Helenalo"
evidently means mother and child, both bearing the name Helena.
"Fillipusib-kitornganga" and "Davidib-kitornganga" mean the child of
Philip and the child of David. Mostly, the little wooden "headstones"
lie flat on the grave; those at Okak are placed upright, as in the
accompanying sketch, and record the names of several persons buried
beneath.
/--------\
/ \
| 644 |
| Andrew |
| 1862 |
| -------- |
| 959 |
| Marcus |
| -------- |
| 642 |
| Heinrich |
| 1873. |
+----------+
| |
| |
Where the paths cross one another at right angles, in the older
Labrador churchyards, there is always a specially interesting group of
graves. There lie, in sure and certain hope of a joyous resurrection,
the bodies of good men and women, who have taken sepulchre possession
of this land for their Lord. Here, too, many sorrowing missionary
parents have had to lay little ones, early taken home in this bleak
climate. Ah, what stories are written on those simple gravestones,
when one can read between the lines!
The "God's Acre" at Nain is as rich in historical associations as any.
Christian Larsen Drachard, one of the pioneers of this mission was
buried here in 1778; and beside the stone, on which is inscribed his
honoured name in full, is a rough slab from the shore, placed on his
grave by his own desire. Side by side to right and left of the path
separating the last resting-places of the married men from those of
the single missionaries lie Christopher Brasen and Gottfried Lehmann,
drowned in 1774 on their return voyage from finding a site for Okak,
the second station in this land. Not many days after I stood beside
their graves I sailed close by the island on which their sloop was
wrecked, and on whose rocks the angry sea cast their bodies.
/\
/ \
/ \
/ D. \
/ \
/ 1778. \
/ \
\ _Sep. 18._ /
\ /
\ /
\ /
\ /
\ /
\/
I will close this chapter with a contrast. Leaving the peaceful
Christian burial ground, we climb the hill behind the station. In a
lofty, lonely valley we find many heaps of great stones. We will
examine one. Remove one or two of the boulders, and look in. On the
ground, rather than in it, lies a human skeleton, perfect with the
exception of the skull. We go on to the next heap; it is empty. In a
third we find a skull and one or two bones. Others contain scarcely
any human remains, but some Eskimo utensils were evidently the
property in life of the natives whose bodies were laid there by their
countrymen. It was customary to bury the possessions of the dead with
them, and very interesting curiosities used to be found in all these
graves.
Yes, these are _heathen graves_, and the bodies in them are those of
Eskimoes who have died, ere they heard the words of life from the lips
of missionaries sent by the Church of Christ to proclaim His salvation
at this end of the earth. No inscriptions mark the tombs of these
nameless pagans, yet those rude stoneheaps have a voice for those who
have ears to hear. Methinks they appeal loudly on behalf of myriads
still living without God and dying without hope. "How shall they
believe in Him of whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear
without a preacher, and how shall they preach except they be sent?"