In August 1880, when Norwegian Johan Adrian Jacobsen arrived in Labrador on board theEisbär, he was hoping to recruit 'Eskimos' willing to follow him to Europe to become the latest attraction in the ethnographic shows organized by Carl Hagenbeck, a menagerie owner and pioneer of 'human zoos.'
Two families accepted Jacobsen's offer. The eight individuals, aged from 9 months to 50 years old, were exhibited in Hamburg, Berlin, Prague, Frankfurt, Darmstadt, Crefeld, and Paris. Unfortunately, none of them ever saw their homeland again. All eight died from smallpox less than four months after setting foot in Europe.
Johan Adrian Jacobsen kept a diary during his whole journey with the 'Eskimos.' His diary being an essential source for understanding the events that occurred over 133 years ago, we are presenting, in this book, its English translation.
Discover the moods, thoughts and qualms of this 27-year-old man; from his unsuccessful attempt to recruit 'Eskimos' in Greenland, his despair to see that Moravian missionaries in Labrador also opposed his project, his jubilation when Abraham agreed to accompany him with his family, to his shock of facing the first two deaths after doctors had told him there was no reason to be alarmed, the heartbreaking moment when Abraham had to hand over his three year old daughter to a hospital in Germany, and finally, the horror of being admitted to the smallpox unit of a Paris hospital where the 'Eskimos' as well as Europeans suffered and died around him.
"At 8 o'clock in the morning we awoke to the shout "Noggasak is dead!" You may well image our shock. The physician diagnosed a rapid stomach ulcer as having caused the death. The poor parents did not stop crying from morning until evening." (Johan Adrian Jacobsen, December 14, 1880)
"When I saw to Ulrike shortly after midnight, I noticed that she too would end her struggle soon. I tried to comfort her, but she waved me off with her hand, as if she did not want to see me at all. That was no surprise, because she knew that all the others had gone before her. I felt guilty to a certain degree for the death of these unfortunate people, even if unintentionally. Had I not come to Labrador, they would still be alive like all their relatives." (Johan Adrian Jacobsen, January 16, 1881)
Voyage with the Labrador Eskimos, 1880-1881is published as a complement to the book entitledInthe Footsteps of Abraham Ulrikab: The Events of 1880-1881.