intruders. We had no instance of stealing. Thieves are considered by
the Esquimaux in general with abhorrence, and with a thief no one is
willing to trade." Latter voyagers have borne similar testimony to
their brethren still further north; but their honesty seems to have
arisen from the want of temptation; for the same missionaries add: "We
have discovered that this propensity is not altogether wanting in the
northern Esquimaux, who now and then, if they think they can do it
without detection, will make a little free with their neighbour's
property." And a further acquaintance with the natives discovered to
the northern navigators, that first impressions are not always to be
relied upon, for even the fair damsels could slyly secrete pewter
plates, spoons and other valuables in the capacious trunks of their
hose-boots; but those near the European settlements had improved in
wickedness, and got ingrafted on their own vicious propensities new
branches of more vigorous and productive mischief. They were in truth
in a situation peculiarly adapted to shew the power and the necessity
of the gospel for reclaiming the moral wilderness, for in them it had
to overcome the worst vices of barbarous and civilized men.

Their religion too appears to have received no more improvement than
their morals; from their neighbourhood to nominal Christians their
creed remained much the same. They believed that Torngak, under the
figure of an old man, dwelt in the waters, and had the rule over
whales and seals, and that a female demon, Supperguksoak, under the
form of an old woman, resided in the interior, and reigned over the
land animals. But the Angekoks had assumed a secular power, which they
did not possess in Greenland, and exercised at once the office of
priest and a chief, of a sorcerer, a thief, and a murderer. Of this
several examples will be found in the subsequent narrative, as well as
instances of their ridiculous incantations: the females, in some
cases, showed the authority and influence of their husbands. Their
notions of futurity were gross and sensual, the highest enjoyment of
the soul after death, being made to consist in successful hunting and
gluttony; the sorest punishment, in poverty and hunger.

The Esquimaux on the east coast of Labrador, may be divided into two
sections: those in the south, who seldom come farther than
Kangertuksoak, about twenty miles north of Okkak, which lies 57 deg., 20
m. N.L.; and those of the