With the Harmony to Labrador: Notes of a visit to the Moravian mission stations on the north-east coast of LabradorLa Trobe, Benjamin
History
With the Harmony to Labrador: Notes of a visit to the Moravian mission stations on the north-east coast of Labrador
La Trobe, Benjamin
Indians of North America -- Missions; Inuit -- Missions; Labrador (N.L.) -- Description and travel; Moravian Indians -- Missions
_Wednesday, September 5th._--About ten o'clock this morning a strong
breeze sprang up, and we speedily left behind us the friendly
red-roofed mission-house at Okak. When we entered the open sea and
turned northwards we passed near a grounded iceberg, curiously
hollowed out by the action of the waves. The seaward face of Cape
Mugford is even grander than its aspect from the heights around Okak.
It seems to be a perpendicular precipice of about 2000 feet, with
white base, and a middle strata of black rocks surmounted by
castellated cliffs. Presently the remarkably jagged peaks on the
island of Nennoktuk came out from behind the nearer headland. There's
a sail to the right of it! No, she is not another schooner; she is
two-masted and square rigged, and therefore the "Gleaner," the only
brigantine in these waters. So the two Moravian vessels pass one
another within a mile or two, the "Gleaner" on her way southward from
Hebron to Okak, whence she will take Mr. Bourquin home to Nain, the
"Harmony" pursuing her northward course past Hebron to Ramah. The
captains, who are consigns, exchange a salute by running up their
flags, but the sea is too rough to put down a boat.
_Thursday, September 6th._--We have had a rough night. This morning we
are off Hebron, but twenty-five miles out to sea. We have just passed
"the Watchman," an island which serves as a waymark for the entrance
to that station. I asked the mate, who once spent a winter there,
whether the missionaries or the Eskimoes could see us from the heights
near it. He replied that there was no doubt of it, but that he had
looked out in this direction from those hills, where no drop of water
was visible, nothing but an illimitable plain of ice stretching far
beyond where we are now sailing.
_Sunday, 9th._--Safe at Ramah, thank God, and not out in the fog,
which now envelopes sea and land. The last two days have been a trial
of patience. We have seen the entrance to this Nullatatok Bay all the
time, and longed to reach the desired haven, yet have not been able,
owing to calms and contrary currents. This Labrador coast becomes ever
bolder and grander as one sails northward. Here the snowy mountains
are quite Alpine in appearance. This morning the thick mist hides all
but the base of these magnificent hills, but the enormous rocky
masses, rising so quickly from the water's edge into the heights
veiled from us, give some idea of their grandeur. Our captain is,
indeed, well acquainted with their aspect or he would not have
ventured to enter this bay under such circumstances.
"RAMARSUK" (NEAT LITTLE RAMAH).
[Illustration]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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