n he
should call them; some said they felt their unworthiness to appear
before him, and yet expressed their reliance upon his sufferings as
their only refuge; but from total debility and oppression they could
speak very little: they complained of great weakness, lameness,
blindness, and a feeling of suffocation. At four in the afternoon
little Abel, and in the same tent, the widow Salome, and at six
o'clock old Thomas, (Kapik,) died. 27th, There was little improvement;
besides those who remained ill many more began to complain, and cried
out to us for assistance, so that we knew not where to go or who to
help first. At eleven o'clock the four dead were buried, which made
ten. On the 29th a great many were taken ill; at four in the
afternoon, Magdalene departed comfortable and happy. Father Abel, who
had willingly assisted in burying the dead, followed the same evening.
His wife, Benigna, who had faithfully attended the sick, was prevented
from nursing him, being herself laid up. The dead bodies were laid in
their place of rest next day. We now felt that all of us were more or
less worn out by this great affliction, some of us actually sick, and
none certain but he might be seized the next moment. To add to our
distress, many children were rendered orphans by the loss of both
father and mother, which called forth our sighs to our gracious and
merciful God and Lord for his compassion and assistance, and felt
revived with the hope that he would hear and help us. Some of the sick
began to recover: but on the evening of the 31st the Saviour took
Abel's wife, Benigna, home to her blessed rest, and on the following
morning, August 1, she was laid in her grave; at seven o'clock in the
evening we held a meeting with the Esquimaux, especially with regard
to improve the solemn warning given in that harvest the Lord had
gathered from this church. From conversations held with several of the
sisters on the 12th, we clearly perceived that the removal of so many
of our number had made a deep impression on them, and had brought them
to reflect on the necessity of constantly depending on the Saviour,
and being ever ready to meet him when he shall come to gather them
also into his garner."

But to their great grief the missionaries discovered that this was not
the happy state of all. When the disease abated they learned with the
utmost pain, that some, even of their communicants, in their agony and
terror, had had recourse to their old h