"
We were having a quiet time of cheerful converse in the cabin, when
the sound of singing again called us on deck. A procession of eight or
ten boats, the bow of one almost touching the stern of the other, was
rowing slowly round and round the ship, and the people in them were
singing sweet Christian songs to the measured beat of the oars. Sarah
was in the first boat, evidently the leader and director of the
proceedings.[C] Hymn after hymn, in well-sustained parts, sounded
beautifully over the still water, and not till it was getting quite
dark did they row away, singing "Victoria," _i.e._ "God save the
Queen," in honour of the English visitor. Her Majesty has very loyal
subjects in that unknown corner of her realm; and, by the way, some of
them charged me to bring home an "Aksunai" to her, too.
_Tuesday, September 25st._--Yes, "good-bye;" yet, when your vessel is
not a steamer, but dependent on the wind, you may have repeated
"good-byes," as often happens in Labrador. Not till this afternoon
could the "Harmony" hoist her sails and speed away to the broad
Atlantic. As soon as the Eskimoes saw our sails being unfurled, they
again came around the vessel in their boats, and anew commended us to
the Divine protection in their version of a very favourite hymn of
Count Zinzendorf's ("Jesu geh voran").
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