ifference and even insolence;
the gospel of Jesus found no access to them; and though, through a
certain dread of the missionaries, which they could not cast off, they
were not so outrageously brutal as formerly; yet in secret they
returned to the indulgence of many of their vile practices.

Early in the approaching summer, more than eighty Esquimaux went from
the country round Nain to the south, among whom were nineteen of the
baptized, and even Peter, the first fruits of the mission, accompanied
them. The majority had determined to spend the winter there, and get
plenty to eat, and tobacco, and guns, and powder, and ball, and other
articles which they could not purchase so advantageously from the
brethren. From the country round Okkak too, above an hundred of the
natives went south in four boats, among whom were Luke and his family,
who were baptized.

When the brethren saw that the baptized would not be prevented from
going to the south, though sorely grieved, yet anxious for their
welfare in their ill advised expedition, they gave them a written
certificate, stating that they, the missionaries, had been sent there
by an agreement with the governor of Newfoundland, in the years 1771
and --2; that they had lived in love and concord with the Esquimaux,
and had no cause of complaint against them; that there was no other
reason for their present journey than the invitation of Europeans in
the south; then recommended them to the care and friendly treatment of
the colonists, and concluded by giving a short account of the progress
of the mission since its commencement.

At the new mission station, Hopedale, some beginnings of a stirring
among the heathen were perceived, but the same giddy infatuation which
had seized their countrymen laid hold on them also, and blasted this
pleasing prospect. A boatful of them undertook the voyage to the
south, while the others who remained, had their minds wholly
dissipated.

From this propensity of the Esquimaux to go to the colony, the outward
circumstances of the mission appeared to be in great danger. For as
the wanderers carried considerable quantities of merchandize to the
southern settlements, the home freight of the Society's ship, the
Amity, which consisted of the same articles, was much less this, than
it had been in any former year.

On the 5th of October five families of Arcktok came from Chateau Bay
back to Nain; they now spoke in a very different tone respecting the
"g