Labrador is very thinly inhabited, and the natives are a miserable and diminutive race. They consist of various tribes, who are perpetually at war with each other, and may be di% ided into two general classes ; the mountaineers, who inhabit the inland districts ; and the Esquintaux, who occupy the sea coasts. The former resemble greatly the Hudson's Bay Indians; and those of them who ft equent the southern parts of Labrador carry on a regular intercourse with the Canadian traders. They are of a low stature, and have very small limbs ; but are of a robust constitution, and capable of enduring the greatest fatigues in travelling. They travel chiefly by means of canoes, covered with the rind of birch, which are sufficiently large to contain a whole family, with their articles of traffic, and yet so light as to be easily carried on their shoulders. In consequence of the multitude of large ponds in the country, they con trive to go the greater part of the way by water, and, when these lakes fall out of their course, they place the canoe on their heads, and proceed over land till they meet with another opportunity of embarking. Their chief occupa tions consist in hunting rein-deer, catching seals, and col lecting furs. These last articles they bring to the Cana dian traders, and have the character of being just dealers, and good-natured people. They barter their commodities for blanketing, fire arms, ammunition, and spirits, of which last article they are immoderately fond. Some of them have been visited by the Roman Catholic missionaries ; and still retain an attachment to the priests of the Cana dian church.
The Esquimaux were formerly settled at different places on the coast, almost as far down as the river of St. John's ; hut, in consequence of their quarrels with the mountaineers, who are their inveterate enemies, or of the encroachments of the Europeans, they have removed their habitations far to the north. They are of small stature, and of a lighter colour than the other natives. They bear a near resemblance to the Greenlanders, in their persons, language, and customs ; and are considered as having emi grated from the opposite coast of Davis' Straits: They have flat countenances, short noses, black coarse hair, and remarkably small hands and feet. They differ from the more inland natives, in having beards, whereas these other tribes have no hair on any part of their bodies except the head. Their food consists chiefly in the flesh of seal, rein deer, and fish, which, till very lately, they used to eat alto gether raw, and sometimes in a putrid state. Their dress is made entirely of skins, (except a little blanketing which they may have procured in traffic,) and consists of a hood ed close shirt, breeches, stockings, and boots, generally worn, at least in cold weather, with the hairy side inwards. The women are clothed exactly like the men, except that they wear larger boots, and have their upper garment or namented with a tail, while their heads are loaded with strings of beads, or surrounded with a hoop of glittering brass like a coronet. Their houses in winter resemble ca
verns sunk in the earth, and consist only of one apartment, which, though not very large, generally contains several brothers, or other relatives, with their wives and children. In summer, they dwell in tents of a circular form, con structed of poles, and covered with skins sewed together ; and which they are continually moving from place to place. They have always a great number of dogs about their camp, which serve to guard the habitation, and to draw the sledges ; or are occasionally used as food, and their skins made into clothing. These animals are larger than the dogs of the mountaineers, and have a head very like to that of the fox. They are incapable of barking, but utter a hideous kind of howl. The weapons of these Esquimaux, are the javelin, bow and arrow, in the use of which they are said to be by no means expert, though they have no other means of defending themselves, and of pro curing their subsistence. T:tey all practise polygamy, but their families are not generally numerous. The wives live together very harmoniously, and have all the labour to per form, except procuring food. They are continually at work, and sew very neatly with the sinews of rein-deer. The husbands a-e strangers to jealousy, and vet y readily lend one of their wives to a friend, like any other article of property. They have no government or laws ; and no other punishment for the most detestable crimes than ge neral censure. No man is held superior to another, ex cept in as far as he excels in strength or courage, or in the number of his family. They are a harmless people, not apt to steal from one another, or to give way to violent an ger; but are sufficiently harsh to the poor women, when they happen to give any offence. They are dexterous in the management of their canoes, which they steer along the coast with wonderful exactness in the thickest fogs, without any aid from a compass. They must be ranked at the same time in the lowest scale of intellect, and are said to have no name for a number beyond twenty-one.
The Moravian missionaries, since the year 1764, have been endeavouring, with wonderful perseverance, to bring those rude tribes to the habits of a civilized life, and the duties of the Christian religion. They have at length suc ceeded in forming three settlements on the coast of Labra dor, namely, Nain, Okkak, and Hopedale, which employ 25 missionaries, and contain altogether about 600 inhabit ants, of whom above one-half belong to the congregations. The christianized Esquimaux are said to have been taught to sing with great softness and melody in their public de votions; and to read, in their own language, those parts of the scriptures which have been translated for their use. See Particulars of the Country of Labrador, front the Pa pers of Lieutenant Roger Curtis, in the Philosophical Transactions, London, vol. lxiv. ; Cartwright's Journal.
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