With all the attachment and love, however, which he soon conceived for
the Greenlanders, his predilection for Labrador never abated, while
his determination to serve the Lord in those regions was ever present
to his mind; and when in 1762 he returned to Germany, he laid his
desire before the Conference at Engen, which at that time had the
direction of the Brethren's Unity, and offered to undertake personally
a voyage of inquiry into these regions. His proposals met with their
most cordial approbation, and he took his departure from Hernhut for
England in the spring of 1764, with the blessing of the congregation.
He travelled on foot through Germany to Holland, and after
encountering numberless difficulties--especially in England from his
want of a knowledge of the language--he arrived in London. His first
intention was to offer himself as a common sailor or ship's carpenter
to the Hudson Bay Company, in order to procure a passage; but the
brethren advised him rather to try and get to Labrador by the way of
Newfoundland.
After many fruitless attempts, he was eventually introduced, through
the means of James Hutton, Secretary to the Brethren's Unity in
England, to Sir Hugh Palliser, Governor of Newfoundland, and Commodore
of the squadron which sailed annually from England. Sir Hugh received
him very kindly, and took a lively interest in what appeared to him so
praiseworthy an undertaking as the conversion of the heathen; for he
rationally concluded that it would also be most advantageous for
commerce, if the population of that country were instructed and
humanized. He at once promised all his assistance and support, and
even offered to carry Jans Haven out on board his own ship. This the
missionary declined, but requested letters of recommendation to the
government officers at St John's, which were readily granted, and he
set sail with the first vessel for that port. Upon his arrival (May
16th) he lodged at the house of a merchant, who treated him with great
civility, and supported himself by working at his trade as a
carpenter, while he endeavoured to obtain every information possible
respecting the scene of his future labours. In the mean time, his
disinterested love for the work he had engaged in was put to an
eminently trying test. Many persons who heard of his intentions came
to see and converse with him; but instead of endeavouring to
strengthen his hands in his missionary designs, they made him several
advantageous proposals for settling in Newfoundland, where there would
have been no doubt of his speedily realizing a fortune. His heart,
however, was bent on a nobler object. That he did not under-rate the
difficulties he would have to encounter in his arduous work, appears
from a letter written about this time; but he knew likewise where his
strength lay. "Every one here," says he, "paints the Esquimaux in the
most shocking colours; but I think they are men, and the word of the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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