HERRNHUT, New, the first mission settlement of the United Brethren, in the island of St Thomas in the West Indies, under the Danish government, begun in 1739; their missionaries having endeavoured to propagate Christianity among the negro slaves ever since 1731, and suffered many hardships and persecutions, from which their converts were not exempted. Many of the planters finding in process of time that the Christian slaves were more tractable, moral, and industrious, than the heathen, not only countenanced but encouraged their endeavours. These were also greatly facilitated by the protection of the king of Denmark. The settlement consists of a spacious negro church, a dwelling-house for the missionaries, negro-huts, out-houses, and gardens. From this place the islands of St Croix and St Jan were at first supplied with missionaries; and the Brethren have now two settlements in each. The negro converts belonging to their church amount in those three islands to near eight thousand souls.