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GREENLANDIS H.

SPECIMEN FROM ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL, CHAP. I. v. 1 to 14.

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[VERSION OF 1799.]

(Tamardliuïnársoarmik) isuænne Okauzeng-étok, Okauzerlo Gudiursok. (2 Tamardluïnársoarınik) isuænne tauna Gudimetok. 3 Tamarmik tăursomanga pingortisimaput; tamardluïnársoarmiglo pingortisimarsut adlamik pingortitsirsokangilæt, tauna kissiet (pingortitsirsigallugo). Innursut taursománētok, innursudlo tamanna innuït nennerõutigæt. 5 Nennerõudlo târtome kaumalerallóartok, târtublo illasiaringikà. "Innuk Gudim audlartikà Johannesimik attilik. 7 Tauna nællunæriartortok, nennerõut okautigikudlugo, tamása operkudlugit taursomunga. 8 Taivna nangminek nennerõutaungitsok, nennerõumigle nællunæriartorsinnartok. 9 Tersa nennerōutaursok opernartok, innungnik tamannik nunamut pirsunnik kaumarsáirsok. 10 Sillársoarmêtok, sillársoarlo taursomanga pingortisimavok, sillársoarmiudle ilirsaringikæt. Innuvtaminut pigallóartok, innuvtèjsale illasiaringikat. 12 Taursomingale illeksirsut kittôrnangortikèj Gudimit, nungudlugit atterminun opertut. 13 Tauko aungmit pingitsut, uingublo pekkorsánit pingitsut, angutib pekkorsánidloneet pingitsut, Gudimidle erniosinarsut. 14 Okauzerlo ivna uïningortok akkunevtinelerdlunilo, taursomalo ussornarsúsia, sôrdlo Atátam ernetuán ussornarsúsia, tekkogallóarikput, sajmarsórsõudlunilo seglusuïtsórsõursok.

I. GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS.

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GREENLAND is the general name given to an immense tract of land lying adjacent to the north-eastern coasts of the American continent, and which recent discoveries have shown to extend from the latitude of 60° northward to beyond the 80th parallel-a length of more than 1300 miles. In its southern portion, the breadth is limited, but further northward its dimensions in this direction are between six and seven hundred miles. Perhaps, however, the whole of this vast region is not continuous land, but may embrace several tracts, divided by arms of the sea. The interior is still wholly unknown, and the explorations of such portions of its coasts as have been visited is in great measure due to the numerous efforts made in the search after a north-west passage from the Atlantic into the Pacific Ocean.

The western coasts of Greenland, which are the seat of missionary labour, are those best known to us. Like other portions of the Arctic archipelago, they exhibit a naked, dreary, and forbidding aspect. Steep rocks rise immediately above the surface of the water, and are backed towards the interior by a high and ice-covered mountain-range-the fruitful source of vast glaciers which descend thence to the sea and form the huge ice-bergs, or floating ice-islands, of Baffin Bay. Numerous deep and narrow islets, resembling the fiords of Norway, or the lochs of the western shores of Scotland, indent the general coast-line and penetrate far into the interior; and the shores of these islets contain the only cultivable spots of ground. The sovereignty of this portion of Greenland belongs to the Danish crown, which possesses several small settlements there. The most northern of the Danish factories is Tosiursak, in lat. 73° 18'. The amount of population included within the Danish possessions is stated to be about 8000, among whom are perhaps 150 Europeans. Some trade is carried on with Denmark at each of the different stations, from which are exported small quantities of whale oil, together with skins of the

bear, rein-deer, seal, and other animals. The eastern coasts of Greenland are ice-bound and desolate in aspect, and are rarely visited.

The native tribes of Esquimaux are stated to frequent the shores of Baffin Bay to as high a latitude as 76° or 77°. Their range appears to have formerly reached much further, both to the northward and westward, than it does at present. Recent visitors have found abundant remains of Esquimaux habitations in the newly discovered lands adjacent to the shores of Wellington Channel, in localities which are now never visited by their tribes.

The native language of Greenland, as before mentioned, is a dialect of Esquimaux; it abounds in harsh sounds, and the consonants r, k, and t, predominate. It appears to be spoken with some provincial varieties by the different tribes of Greenlanders; for Ross relates that the natives of North Greenland were unable to converse intelligibly with the natives of the southern districts of the island.

II-VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE.

As early as the beginning of the eleventh century, the Norwegians established a colony on the coast of Greenland; and we have a list of their bishops during the three following centuries. Nothing, however, has been heard of them since the fifteenth century; and this circumstance, combined with the loss of all intelligence concerning another Norwegian colony, said to have been established at a still earlier period on the opposite coast of Greenland, forcibly awakened the sympathy of Hans Egede, a clergyman of Norway, in behalf of the descendants of these early colonists. Egede addressed a memorial on the subject to the bishop of his diocese, in 1710; in 1718 he relinquished his benefice, with the view of taking still more active measures in the cause; and in 1721 he effected a voyage to Greenland. It appears he was unsuccessful in discovering traces of his countrymen; but his attention was arrested by the abject and deplorable condition of the natives. He applied to the study of their language, reduced it to writing, and translated the Psalms and the Epistles of St. Paul. The version of the New Testament was completed by his son, Mr. Paul Egede, author of a Greenlandish dictionary. Some portion of this version was published at Copenhagen in 1744, followed in 1758 by an edition of the Gospels and Acts, and in 1766 by the entire New Testament.

This translation, the first that had been made into this rude, uncultivated language, was found to be but little intelligible to the ignorant people for whom it was designed. Another attempt to translate the Scriptures for their benefit was therefore undertaken after the death of Egede, by Fabricius, who had formerly laboured like an apostle among them. His version of the New Testament was printed at Copenhagen in 1799, but it did not prove to be in any respect superior to Egede's version. A third translation was therefore undertaken by the Moravian missionaries: they commenced a Greenlandish harmony of the Gospels shortly after their arrival in the country, in 1733, but their translation of the New Testament was not completed till the year 1821. They were eminently qualified for the execution of this important work, some of them having persevered in their arduous labours among the natives of this inclement region for the long space of thirty, forty, and fifty years. Their version of the New Testament is a literal translation of Luther's German version: the first edition, consisting of 1000 copies, was printed in London, in 1822, by the British and Foreign Bible Society, and some subsequent editions have been bestowed on Greenland by the Danish Bible Society.

A version of the Old Testament has been during several years in progress, under the auspices of the latter Society. The work was commenced by Fabricius, but was interrupted by his lamented decease. The Rev. Mr. Wolf, chaplain to the citadel of Copenhagen, and formerly missionary in Greenland, was appointed to continue the translation: he was esteemed, next to Fabricius, the first Greenlandish scholar. On his demise, the work was transferred by the Danish Society to Pastor Kragh, who had married a Greenlander, and had resided for ten years as a missionary in Greenland, where he was respected as a second Egede or Fabricius. It may be hoped that this version, if not already completed, will soon be ready for the press; and the British and Foreign Bible Society have agreed to furnish aid towards its

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[VERSION OF 1822.]

TAMARLUINNARSOARMIK issoænne okausek-étok, okauserlo Gudimétok, okauserlo tamanna Gudiúrsok. 2 Tamarluinnarsoarmik issoænne ivna Gudimétok. 3 Tamarluinnarsoarmik taursomanga pingortitáput, pingortisimarsullo tamarmik adlamik pingortitsirsokangilet, tauna kissiet pingortitsirsigæt. 4 Innursút taursoma illuanétok, innursúllo tamanna innuit kaumarsoræt. 5 Kaumarsorlo tartome kaumagalloartok, tartuble illæssiaringika. Innuk Gudib aulartika, Iohannesemik attelik. 7 Taivna okaursiartortok, kaumarsomik okalluktuksáugame, tamasa opertiniarlugit. 8 Taivna nangminek kaumarsóngitsok, kaumarsomigle okalluktuksaináursok. 9 Terssa illomut opernartok kaumarsok, innungnik tamannik kaumarsairsók, nuname innungortuksennik. 10 Tamanna sillarsoarmétok, sillarsoarlo pingortisimavok taursomanga, sillarsúblo innueesa illissaringikat. 11 Innuktaminut pigalloartok, innukteisale illæssiaringikæt. 12 Taursomingale illæssirsut, atterminullo opertut kittornarsiaritikei Gudemut; 13 Terssa aungmit pingitsut, uingub pekkorsanilloneet pingitsut, angutib pekkorsanilloneet pingitsut, Gudemille erniusimarsut. 14 Okauserlo ivna uinningortok, akkornautinélersorlo, uagullo tekkogikput ussornarsusia, sordlo Atátab Ernetuætta ussornarsusia, saimarsorsóvlunelo seglosuitsorsóursok.

publication. A version of the Psalms, prepared by the Rev. Valentine Müller, one of the Moravian missionaries, from Luther's German version, and carefully compared with the original, was published by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1842: the edition consisted of 1200 copies. In 1850, authority was given by the same Society to the United Brethren to print a revised edition of the New Testament, at Herrnhut, under the personal superintendence of several retired missionaries from Greenland, who now reside in that settlement and its neighbourhood. The work was completed in the following year, and the edition, consisting of 1000 copies, was at once placed at the disposal of the missionaries, for distribution among their stations on the coast of West Greenland.

III-RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION.

No visible effects attended the labours of the first missionaries in Greenland. Mr. Paul Egede, after fifteen years of extreme suffering and privation, sorrowfully admitted that his efforts for the conversion of the natives had been to all appearance without avail; and, on his departure from their inhospitable shore, he preached to them, for the last time, from the affecting words, "I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain; yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God." And the experience of the Moravian missionaries, during the first five years of their sojourn in Greenland, was similar to that of Egede: during that period they had chiefly confined their ministrations among the natives to instruction on moral duties, and on the abstract tenets of Christianity,—thus virtually withholding from them direct and immediate access to the pure, unadulterated Word of God. But a change was wrought in their teaching, and in its results. This happened when John Beck, one of the Moravian missionaries, was engaged in transcribing the version of the Four Gospels. The curiosity of the savages was excited to know what he was writing. He read to them the history of the Saviour's conflict on the Mount of Olives. Then the Spirit of God began to work some of them laid their hands upon their mouths, as is customary among them when they are struck with wonder, and a man named Kajarnak exclaimed in a loud and anxious tone, "How was that? Tell us that once more, for I too would fain be saved!" Such words had never been heard from a Greenlander before. From that time Kajarnak visited the brethren frequently, and gave abundant evidence, by the subsequent tenor of his life and conversation, that he was truly converted to God

The simple exhibition of the Word of God was blessed in a similar manner to other natives; and the missionaries had no longer to deplore that their labour was in vain.

The most happy results have attended the recent distribution of the Scriptures; and at the present moment almost all the Greenlanders within reach of the four Moravian stations make at least an outward profession of Christianity. Nor is this change unaccompanied by improvement in the moral and social condition of this previously benighted race, as is shewn by the independent observations of recent visitors. Striking testimony is borne by Dr. Sutherland (Journal of a Voyage in Baffin's Bay in 1850, 51, etc.) to the improved condition of the native Greenlanders within the neighbourhood of the Danish settlements, and within the reach of missionary influences.

NEW ENGLAND-IN DIA N.

VIRGINIAN, MASSACHUSETT, AND MOHEGAN.

SPECIMEN, FROM ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL, CHAP. I. v. 1 to 14.
[VIRGINIAN VERSION.]

WESKE Kutchissik wuttinnoowaonk ohtup, kah kuttoowonk ooweetódtamun Manit, & ne kuttooonk Manittoooomoo. 2Yeu nan weske kutchissik weechayeutamun God. Wame teanteaquassinish kesteausupash nashpe nagum, & matta teag kesteausineup webe nashpe nagum ne kesteausikup. Ut wuhhogkat pomantamoonk ohtop, kah ne pomantamoonk oowequáiyeumuneáop wosketompaog. Kah wequai sohsumoomoo pohkenahtu, & pohkenai matta wutattumunnmooun. 6 Wosketomp anoonóp wutch Godut, ussowésu John. 7 Noh nan wutch peyau wauwaenúuneat, oowauwónat wequái, onk woh wame wosketompaog wunnamptamwog nashpe nagum. 8 Matta nagum ne wequái, qut oowauwó nat wequái. Ne mo wunnamuhkut wequái, ne wohsumungqut nish noh wosketomp noh páont muttaohkit. 10 Noh appúp muttaohket, kah muttaok kesteausip nashpe nagum, & muttaok matta oowaheuh. 11 Peyau nehenwonche wuttaiheit, & nehenwonche wuttaiheuh matta wutattumunukoooh. 12 Qut neádtahshe attumunukquit wuttinnumauoh menuhkesuonk oonaumoniiñeat God neh wanamptamunitche oowesuonk. 13 3 Neg nékitcheg,

matta nashpe wusqueheonk, asuh matta nashpe weyausue unnantamooonk, asuh matta nashpe wosketompae wuttenantamooonk, qut nashpe God. 14 Kah kuttooonk ayimoooop wey aus, kah kooweetomukqun (kah naumumun wussohsumoonk, sohsumoonk onatuh wunnukquttegheon wutooshimau) numwabéhtunk kitteamonteanitteaonk & wunnamuhkutéyeuonk.

IN the beginning of the seventeenth century, all the regions of North America comprised between the thirty-fourth and forty-fifth degrees of latitude were known in Europe under the general name of North and South Virginia; and it was not till the year 1620 that the designation of "New England' was applied to the territory now occupied by the north-eastern states of the North American Union. Within that territory three closely-allied dialects of the Algonquin stock were formerly predominant, namely, the Massachusett, the Mohegan, and the Narragansett. As these dialects were commonly included under the collective appellation of the Virginian or New England language, it is extremely

difficult at this distance of time to determine the relative extent of each; more particularly as the tribes to whom they were respectively vernacular have long since given place to the British settlers. It seems natural to suppose that the Massachusett dialect was predominant in Massachusett; and the Mohegan dialect appears to have prevailed immediately to the east of the Hudson River. The New England Indians were greatly reduced in numbers during the years 1612 and 1613, seven or eight years before the settlement at Plymouth, by a mortal epidemic which raged among them, and swept off whole families. "Thus (observes an old writer) did Providence make way for the quiet settlement of the pilgrim fathers." Gookin gives the following statistical account of the native tribes of New England, which shows the ravages occasioned by the epidemic:

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The Gospel was first proclaimed to these tribes by John Eliot, an Englishman by birth, who in the year 1631 had settled as an independent minister at Roxbury, in New England. He entered upon his important labours in 1646, in the forty-second year of his age, under the sanction of the general court of the Massachusetts colony, by whom an act had been passed for the encouragement of attempts to win the natives to Christ. No grammatical or other philological helps then existed for the attainment of any American language; but Eliot, availing himself of the assistance of a few natives, mastered their language, reduced it to writing, and executed a translation of the entire Scriptures. The secret of his success is made known in a few lines which he inscribed at the close of his grammar of the New

SPECIMEN, FROM ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL, CHAP. I. v. 1 to 14.
[MASSACHUSETT VERSION.]

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WASKE kutchissik kuttooonk ohtóp, kah kuttooonk oowechiyeumukqunnáp Mannit, kah kuttooonk Mannittoomooup. 2 Ne nan oowechiyeumukqunnáp Mannit. 3 Wame teaquasinish keschteôsupash nashpe nagum; kah matta teag keschteosunnoop wepe nashpe nagum, ne késehteosukup. Pomontamooonk apehtunkup, kah ne pomantamoonk oowequaiyeuminneaóp wosketompaog. 5 Kah ne wequai sohsumoomoo ut pohkunnahtu, kah pohkunnai matta wuttattununumoounnap. 6 Wosketomp anoonóp wutch. Godut, ussoowesup John. Noh nan watche peyóp wauwaeninnuinneat, wauwaontomunnat wequai, onk woh wame wosketompaog wunnômuhtamwog nashpe nagum. 8 Noh matta ne wequai, qut anoonop oowauwaontamunnat ne wequai. 9 Uttuh wunnummuhkútteyeue wequaiyeucoup, ne wohsummonkqut nishnoh wosketomp noh payont muttaohket. 10 Noh appúd muttaohkét kah Muttaohk keschteôsúp nashpe nagum, kah muttaohk matta wahukoop. 11 Peyóp nehenwonche wuttaiheut, kah wuttaiheoh matta attumunukoop. 12 Qut ne attashe attumunukquehp wuttununumauopah munnehkesuonk wunnamoniinneat en Godut, nux en wanômuhtogig ut cowesuonkanit. 13 Nag nateuhpaneg matta nashpe wishquchhunk, asuh meyauussue unantamooonk, asuh wosketompae unnantamooonk, qut nashpe God. 14 Kah kuttooonk meyausuhkônáp, kah koowechiyeumukqunnanônup (kah nunnâmumunônup wussohsumooonk, sohsumooonk onatuh wunnukquttekehheonoh wuttooshumau) nashpe numwohtae monanteaonk kah wunnomwaonk.

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