Blubber was one of the raw materials the Labrador Inuit formerly exchanged for European manufactured goods. Each Moravian mission station had its "blubber yard" where the fat of sea mammals was rendered into oil in large iron vats. The oil was sold in Europe, where it was used, among other things, for lighting. Around the turn of the century, when this photograph was taken, Inuit women were usually employed in this very messy operation.
