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The miseries which she had to endure from this marriage, did not cease with the death of her husband-she was hated on his account, and her two children so cruelly beaten, that they died in consequence. At length, a baptized countrywoman, who pitied her in this distress, took her with her to Okkak. There her ardent aspirations for all the blessings of Christ's family, were soon satisfied, and she passed the remainder of her mortal life in an increasingly happy communion with her God and Saviour." He is my Father," she would often say, "wherever I am, he is with me, and I can tell him all my wants." She was the first of the Esquimaux, who kept their profession of faith unblemished unto the end. She constantly declined all offers of marriage, whether from believers or heathen, that she might continue in summer, as well as winter, with the Brethren. Her natural talents were considerable, and she soon learned to read and write. In her last illness, she expressed her feelings in the words of Holy Writ, "Whether I live, I live unto the Lord; and whether I die, I die unto the Lord; whether

I live, therefore, or die, I am the Lord's, he laid down his life for my ransom, and he will keep his purchase." She died in her thirtieth year. Such fruit of their labours must have comfortably refreshed the hearts of the Missionaries in the midst of their various discou ragements; and yet, such tokens of the blessing of God upon their work, were produced under the first droppings only, of that more abundant shower of blessing, which was afterwards poured out from on high, and the blessed effects of which are detailed in the following chapter.

CHAPTER VI.

Loss of a Missionary-Sickness among the Esquimaux -Their low spiritual state-EncouragementsBrotherly love of the Missionaries-Death of a converted Esquimaux-Commencement of an awakening among the congregation at Hopedale-Its progress, and extension to Nain and Okkak-Some effects of this awakening.

In the year 1800, the Missionaries were called to mourn over one of their brethren, who lost his life on a shooting excursion: the particulars of his death are unknown, as all the efforts to find his remains proved ineffectual. "During the whole winter," write the Missionaries, " we all mourned over his loss, and felt oppressed as with a heavy burden,— the Lord alone being able to comfort us."

Not long before this calamitous event, the Missionary settlements, in common with the

whole country, had been visited by a putrid fever, which spread among the Esquimaux with such rapidity, that the brethren had, at one time, twenty patients upon their land, who all looked up to them for help and medicine; and, for several weeks, they were obliged almost totally to suspend their usual meetings for divine worship, as the Esquimaux could not leave their dwellings.

Nor

had the Missionaries much evidence of the spiritual progress of their people to cheer them under these trials: a few of them, when the medicine administered did not immediately produce the desired effect, were enticed, by the sorcerers, to try the benefit of their incantations; and, although they soon felt great remorse, and confessed their guilt with many tears, the brethren might well adopt the language of the apostle, in reference to such offenders-" I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain." Nor did this sickness appear to be attended with any blessing to the heathen Esquimaux : they manifested, indeed, an excessive fear of death, but without the least seeming disposi

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tion to turn to the Prince of life, while, at the same time, they acknowledged their need of conversion, in order to the enjoyment of a solid hope of happiness beyond the grave. These convictions made them uneasy, and the fear of having them increased, by the exhortations of the Missionaries, led them to shun their society.

At Okkak, the Christmas and Epiphany of 1801 are noticed, in the Missionaries' journal, as seasons of blessing to the congregation; but, "As to the heathen," the Missionaries write, "we most fervently pray, O Lord, have mercy on these poor souls, who have cost thee thy life and blood, and yet offered so little hopes of ever becoming the reward of the travail of thy soul, but turn their backs upon thee.”

At Nain, appearances were more encouraging. The Missionaries could rejoice over many of their people, as over those who were indeed God's children,-being sensible of their own poverty and wretchedness, but strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and deter