assistants for a time, who went to the rein-deer hunt, and afterwards by a violent storm, which carried away the scaffolding, and part of their materials, they got so far finished, that on the 18th of September, one room was habitable, and they could quit the small and uncomfortable hut, in which they had hitherto lived.  During the winter months their work was suspended, but in spring, 1831, they recommenced with fresh diligence, and on the 7th of May, the second story of their house was floored, and likewise habitable.  They had constructed besides some outhouses as cellars and store houses; and when the vessels from Europe again visited the settlement in July, bringing a further supply of building materials, brother Mentzel, who had gone to England and returned in her, was much surprised to see the premises so far advanced, and thus reported:  “Our dear brethren,” says he, “must have laboured diligently to effect what they have done.  It is true every thing is in a rude and unfinished state; chairs, tables, bedsteads, and the like, have still to be made.  Our fellow traveller, brother Freytag has his bed at present upon a heap of shavings.  The reading table in the temporary church, is a box set on end, upon which a flat board has been nailed, and the whole is covered with a piece of coarse cloth, but in due time we hope all will be in order.”

In the course of the winter, nine persons came to reside at the settlement, professing to enquire for rest to their souls; the missionaries gladly received them, and directed their attention to our Saviour’s invitation to the weary and heavy laden.  Among them an Esquimaux woman came from Saeglak, and requested leave to reside at the station; the missionaries informed her that she was welcome to do so, but that she must give up all heathenish practices.  She replied that for some time past, both her husband and herself had discontinued these things, and had been long thinking about their conversion, and therefore they had come to them.  About a week after, the husband himself came, and confirmed what his wife had said.  On the 12th of July three boats’ companies arrived from the north, and several of the Esquimaux paid the brethren a visit, but seemed little disposed to listen to the gospel.  Only one young man remained with his mother.  Many Esquimaux arrived in the following year [1832] for the sake of trade; but when the brethren advised them to make the salvation of their soul their chief concern, they all began to offer excuses, yet on being spoken to about the consequences of death, they did not, as formerly, treat it with levity; some even appeared thoughtful after such conversations, and five persons removed from the heathen to the settlement.  Of those who had resided with them for some time, they had the pleasure, on Easter Sunday, to baptize four adults and one child, being the first accession to the church at Hebron from among the heathen.  The number of their congregation in August, the date of their latest accounts, amounted in all, to 162 persons, of whom 72 had joined from Okkak, and 10 from Nain.