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6 THE PRESBYTERI,
fitly spoken, a much-prayed over letter, the placing
of a tract in the hands of a young man, may arrest
his attention and set him to praying for God's guidance.
One of the most useful pastors we have tells
how, when he was a young man, he received such a
suggestion from an elder, and, whereas he had never
thought before of being a minister, he now went tn a
solitary spot in the woods and poured out his soul
unto God to show him his duty.
"/ears ago an elect lady in the town of Waynesboro.
Va., called a little negro boy from the street into her
home. After talking to him kindly for a while, she
said, "William, when you get to be a man. I hope the
Lord will send you as a missionary to preach the
gospel to your people in Africa." Out of that suggestion
has grown the ministry of W. H. Sheppard
in the Congo.
Three sons in the ministry, several colored servants
from his home in the same calling, and a large number
of young men from his church, are the fruit of
one man's zeal, that of the Rev. Dr. Jacob Henry
Smith, of Greensboro, N. C.
WJ a 1 ?
_ 6?.au; utcu iu nave tne attention ot young men
directed to the ministry and their prayers for divine
guidance stimulated by the judicious suggestion of
older Christians. If they can be brought to think and
to inquire at the Throne of Grace what their duty is,
we may feel secure "The meek will he guide in judgment
and the meek will he teach his way."
THE ESKIMOS OF LABRADOR.
By Rev. James H. Taylor.
The number of Eskimos on the Labrador are variously
reported to be from one thousand to fifteen
hundred, though the prevailing opinion is that they
scarcely exceed twelve hundred. In his book entitled
"The Long Labrador Trail," the author, Dillon Wallace,
states the number of Eskimos at less than twelve
hundred, but does not give the authority for this census.
On the Labrador coast the Eskimos live mostly
north of Indian Harbour, at which place Dr. Grenfell
has his most northern hospital.
The name Eskimo seems to be derived from the
Indian word "Ashkimai," a name given by the Indian
to the Eskimo because the latter ate raw meat, hence
the name "Askimai" or flesh-eaters. The Eskimo of
the Labrador lives on the coast while the Indian lives
in the interior. There is an old tradition that years
ago a battle was fought between the Eskimos and
the Indians for the possession of the interior. This
battle fought on an island resulted in a division of
territorial rights whereby the Eskimo remained confined
to the coast while the Indian held the interior.
Hence today Eskimos are to be found only on the
coast. The name of the island which was the scene
of this conflict is Battle Island and the harbor is called
Rattle Harbour where Dr. Grenfell has a flourishing
hospital work.
The Eskimo possesses a very happy disposition and
is a confirmed optimist, especially when seals are
plentiful. He seems to wear a perennial smile that
lights up his face on demand, and although he may
not be able to communicate with a stranger in language,
his pleasure at meeting people is pronounced
t a & && ^ ii +iM'
A.N OF THE SOUTH. October 27, 1909.
and refreshing. Perhaps the intense isolation of the
north makes a welcome singularly genuine. His word
of greeting corresponding to our "How are you" is
"Ochsunae," meaning "Be strong." It is used both as
a word of approach and of parting.
The language of the Eskimo is intensely guttural
and the letter "k" has assuredly come into its own.
appearing in every possible place. By the use of these
gutturals the words are chopped off short and quick.
An interesting feature of the language appears in the
use of one word to express the thought of a \Vhole
sentence. For example, Rev. H. A. Peck, a famous
missionary to the Eskimos, who has spent over thirty
years among them within the Arctic Circle, told me
of a sentence that contained nine English words, all
put into one Eskimo word which so completely baffled
a trader that Mr. Peck had to act as translator.
Rev. Peck has reduced the Eskimo language of Baffins
Bay to writing, and compiled a grammar for the
use of missionaries.
The Labrador Eskimo who has had much more contact
with civilization than the Eskimo of Greenland or
Baffins Bay, has, wherever he has come in contact
with the white man, adopted the latter's form of dress
and other customs. It is not from any conclusion on
liie r\n f *1 ? ?
...o Fa.t nidi me urcss oi uie wnite man is superior
to his native costume, but simply an illustration of
that old principle of human nature, the desire to avoid
work. The struggle for existence on the part of the
Eskimo is a desperate problem. He must catch the
seal which is to furnish him with skin for clothing
and for boots, blubber for oil, and flesh for food. The
seal is the mainstay of existence, furnishing clothing,
boots, oil, light, food, gear for dog harness, and
material for various other things. This seal is not
like the fur-bearing Alaskan seal, but has a shorter
and coarser hair.
When the white man came the struggle for existence
lost some of its terrors, as th*? F.clrimr* lfn?w
that if he failed to catch enough seals, the white man
had hidden somewhere bread enough and to spare.
He simply laid down in the industrial traces and has
made a real endeavor to upset the economic law in
the struggle for existence by letting the other man do
the struggling. In the far north where this struggle
is fierce and uncompromising, the natural workings
of the law are typical of primitive life. For example,
if a father dies and leaves a wife with an infant
son, that boy must die because the tribe can not undertake
to care for that child until he becomes selfsupporting.
To take care of the woman is sufficient.
(I am indebted to Rev. Peck, of Baffins Land, for
this information.) The result of this contact with
the white man is that the Labrador Eskimos are dying
out. What may be the real reason for this 1 am
not prepared to say, but the fact that the Eskimo has
surrendered part of the life primitive for which he
hjs been designed and his inability tb adapt himself
to the new type of life suggests how the biologic
law of lack of harmony with an environment brings
death. I leave this to the attention of the student of
Biology, as the whole matter is worthy of close investigation.
True, there is to be taken into consideration^
the fact that the trader has introduced the vices cm
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