cargo, and Drachart, who had engaged to return to Europe, received in charge the brethren's letters for their friends, and bade them farewell.

Ten days after, on the 15th, the missionaries, to their astonishment, perceived the Hope again re-enter Nisbet's Harbour. Upon boarding her, they learned the painful heart-rending news, that Erhardt, the captain, ship's clerk, and four sailors, had left the ship in a boat filled with merchandize, and for one day had conducted a friendly and gainful traffic with the Esquimaux; but being enticed by the savages, had consented to repeat their visit, perhaps proceed farther into the country, or along the coast, and were never seen more. The vessel, with the remains of the crew, had waited in a state of the most anxious distressing expectation two days and three nights, in hopes of their return; but as they never made their appearance, and they had no other boat to send in quest of them, they were constrained to leave the district, under the distressing conviction that the natives, who had been observed lurking behind some of the small islands, had risen on the unsuspecting party, and murdered them for the sake of their property.

This intelligence threw the brethren into the greatest perplexity, as the person on whom the charge of the Hope now devolved pressed them earnestly to give him their boat, and return with him to Europe, because, from the loss of his best seamen, without additional hands, it would be impossible to navigate the ship. Having come thither at the expense of the merchants, the missionaries could not allow them to suffer in their temporal concerns; and although they would willingly have risked their own lives in the cause, they did not see it equally their duty to risk the lives of others, and the property of the merchants, on an unknown coast and a tempestuous ocean, and therefore agreed to comply with the new captain's request. Leaving provisions in the house, from which they departed with sorrowful hearts, in the feeble hope that perhaps some of those missing might yet be alive, and might be able to find their way thither, on the 20th September they bade adieu to the station, reached St John's, Newfoundland, on the 31st, and about the latter end of November arrived in London.

An issue so disastrous to an expedition so well planned, which apparently carried within itself every rational promise of prosperity, was calculated to throw a damp upon any renewal of missionary enterprize in that quarter; and it did so with those who imagined that they themselves could command success, if their projects were judiciously concerted, and the means sufficiently supplied. It had no such effect on that eminent servant of God, Count Zinzendorff. When the mournful accounts of the uncertain fate of Erhardt and his companions reached that nobleman, he was grieved, yet not distressed—perplexed, yet not in despair; for he saw much mercy mingled in the dispensation, and was thankful to God that four brethren had returned safe. Next year the vessel Hope re-visited the coast of Labrador, under the command of Captain Goff. He heard that some dead bodies had been found and buried, and that the missionary station had been burned, but no further particulars were ever learned. In this manner ended the first commercial adventure and first mission to Labrador—enforcing, in a salutary and impressive manner, the fundamental maxim of the brethren, that worldly speculation ought never to be joined with Christian enterprize.

Notwithstanding this failure, the brethren did not relinquish the hope that God would, in some way or other, direct them how to reach these savages, and there were not wanting men who showed a strong desire to carry the gospel among them. In particular, Jans Haven, a carpenter, from the moment he heard that Erhardt had been killed by the Esquimaux, could never get rid of the powerful impulse, and in his retirement constantly employed himself with charts and books relating to the subject, and by every means endeavoured to make himself acquainted with the inhabitants, customs, climate and situation of Labrador.

In the year 1758, Haven received a call to assist the Greenland missionaries in founding the new settlement of Lichtenfels. He then for the first time told Count Zinzendorff, that during six years he had cherished the idea of going to Labrador to make known to the heathen their Creator and Saviour. At first the Count hesitated whether he should allow him to go to Greenland, but upon consideration, he thought it would be better for him to proceed thither; and on taking leave, and giving him his blessing, he said, "Go first to Greenland and learn the language, and the Saviour will do the rest." He accordingly went thither, and was honoured, along with M. Stach, to promote the second settlement in that country.

With all the attachment and love, however, which he soon conceived for the Greenlanders, his predilection for Labrador never abated, while his determination to serve the Lord in those regions was ever present to his mind; and when in 1762 he returned to Germany, he laid his desire before the Conference at Engen, which at that time had the direction of the Brethren's Unity, and offered to undertake personally a voyage of inquiry into these regions. His proposals met with their most cordial approbation, and he took his departure from Hernhut for England in the spring of 1764, with the blessing of the congregation. He travelled on foot through Germany to Holland, and after encountering numberless difficulties—especially in England from his want of a knowledge of the language—he arrived in London. His first intention was to offer himself as a common sailor or ship's carpenter to the Hudson Bay Company, in order to procure a passage; but the brethren advised him rather to try and get to Labrador by the way of Newfoundland.

After many fruitless attempts, he was eventually introduced, through the means of James Hutton, Secretary to the Brethren's Unity in England, to Sir Hugh Palliser, Governor of Newfoundland, and Commodore of the squadron which sailed annually from England. Sir Hugh received him very kindly, and took a lively interest in what appeared to him so praiseworthy an undertaking as the conversion of the heathen; for he rationally concluded that it would also be most advantageous for commerce, if the population of that country were instructed and humanized. He at once promised all his assistance and support, and even offered to carry Jans Haven out on board his own ship. This the missionary declined, but requested letters of recommendation to the government officers at St John's, which were readily granted, and he set sail with the first vessel for that port. Upon his arrival (May 16th) he lodged at the house of a merchant, who treated him with great civility, and supported himself by working at his trade as a carpenter, while he endeavoured to obtain every information possible respecting the scene of his future labours. In the mean time, his disinterested love for the work he had engaged in was put to an eminently trying test. Many persons who heard of his intentions came to see and converse with him; but instead of endeavouring to strengthen his hands in his missionary designs, they made him several advantageous proposals for settling in Newfoundland, where there would have been no doubt of his speedily realizing a fortune. His heart, however, was bent on a nobler object. That he did not under-rate the difficulties he would have to encounter in his arduous work, appears from a letter written about this time; but he knew likewise where his strength lay. "Every one here," says he, "paints the Esquimaux in the most shocking colours; but I think they are men, and the word of the death of