Mikak, who seems to have been a person of very superior understanding,
was noticed by many of the nobility, and particularly by the Princess
Dowager of Wales, mother to George III; but nothing could overcome her
love for her native land, or erase from her mind the deep sense she
entertained of the sufferings of her kindred. We are not furnished
with the facts of the case, but it appears sufficiently plain, that
from all she saw in England, and during the time of her captivity,
that she discerned and appreciated the immense superiority of the
Europeans over the Esquimaux, and was extremely anxious to return
home, and, if possible, carry with her the means of their
amelioration. Providentially Jans Haven came to England in 1769 for
the purpose of endeavouring to renew the mission, and meeting with
Mikak, she immediately recognised him as an old acquaintance, who had
formerly lodged in her tent, and expressed the most unbounded joy at
meeting with a friend by whom her language was understood. Her first
and constant theme was the condition of her countrymen; and she
incessantly entreated Haven to return to Labrador and endeavour to do
something for their relief. Besides, now that she had a medium of
communication, she never ceased to urge her prayer among those
distinguished personages, by whom she had been patronized, and her
applications had no small influence in paving the way for a renewal of
the mission. Soon after she was sent home in a King's ship, and
rendered essential service to the brethren who followed.
By the especial direction of Sir Hugh Palliser, Karpik was consigned
to the care of Jans Haven for the purpose of being properly educated,
that he might afterwards be employed in the important service of
introducing Christianity, and the peaceful arts of civilized life,
into the savage and inhospitable coasts of Labrador--the Governor
being deeply impressed with a sense of the great benefits to be
derived from a well conducted mission among the wild tribes in the
neighbourhood of the colony, with whom they meant to carry on a safe
or a gainful traffic. Naturally ferocious and untractable, Karpik was
very averse to restraint; and it was not till after the most unwearied
display of disinterested kindness, that Jans succeeded in gaining the
affections of this stubborn boy, and persuading him willingly to
accompany him to his dwelling.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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