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 RECOLLECTIONS 
 
 
 OF 
 
 LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 BY LAMBERT DE BOILIEU 
 
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 LONDON: 
 SAUNDEES, OTLEY, & CO., 
 
 66, BROOK STREET, HANOVER SQUARE. 
 
 1861. 
 

 LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET, 
 AND CHARING CROSS. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 To a work of this description no preface is 
 necessary : the title speaks for itself. I need 
 only say that in these " Recollections/ my 
 desire has been to afford a proof of the 
 powers of endurance possessed by man in a 
 healthy state ; and to show through what varied 
 scenes and startling changes it may please the 
 Governor of the Universe to guide and guard 
 him. 
 
 August, 1861. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 -♦o^- 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Passage Out .-. .. ., .. ".. ., .. ., 9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 In Haeboub .. ., ,. .. 21 
 
 CHAPTER IIL 
 Cod Catching and Cueing 32 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Life on the Island ., ., „ .. 43 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Bears — Black and White .. 52 
 
 CHAPTER YL 
 Wolves, Deed, Game, etc 63 
 
VI CONTENTS, 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Fur Animals and Seals 75 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Seals .. ~ .. .. .. 89 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Winter — Christmas .« .. 101 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 The Woods — Woodhouses, etc 115 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 The Esquimaux 124 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 Adventures — Fox-trapping 140 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 Spring, Spring-Ducks, etc. .. 153 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Foxes — Tales — Sea — Tracks .. , 171 
 
CONTENTS. Vll 
 
 CHAPTEE XV. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Newfoundland and Back Again m 181 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Life on the Coast — Autumn .. .. 188 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 King Frost Again 197 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 Expedition to Sandwich Bay ' . . 209 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 Journey Home from Sandwich Bay 222 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 Home Again 232 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 Trained Dogs, and Homeward Bound 239 
 
KECOLLECTIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 LABRADOE LIFE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE PASSAGE OUT. 
 
 -K>^ 
 
 I remember that fine crisp morning in the 
 month of May, when I left my home bent on 
 seeking my fortune in a strange land. I was 
 not at all particular as to which part of the 
 globe I should visit ; so taking a westerly 
 course from the Great Citj, I found myself in a 
 few days at a small seaport town in Devon, and 
 there I embarked on my first voyage to a 
 country known only to me by name. Without 
 
 B 
 
10 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 further preface, it was a voyage to Labrador. 
 The ship I embarked in was a snug little brig 
 of 200 tons' register. We had fine weather for 
 several days down Channel, but, notwithstanding 
 this, it seemed that my adventures were to 
 begin already. About 3 a.m. on the 29th May, 
 one of the youngsters of the brig, a few years 
 my junior, happened to slip overboard from the 
 head. Knowing he could not swim, I — who 
 was a good swimmer — did not hesitate, but 
 leapt into the water and, after some little 
 difficulty, saved him. Here, I take it, is a 
 decided proof of the desirability of all boys 
 being taught, when young, to swim, for when I 
 first began to acquire the accomplishment, I had 
 no notion I should ever find it of much practical 
 service. 
 
 My next adventure — or, rather, this was the 
 brig's adventure — occurred early one morning, 
 
THE PASSAGE OUT. 11 
 
 when I was strangely impressed and somewhat 
 frightened by hearing " the man at the mast- 
 head' crying out, "Iceberg ahead ! ' On going 
 aloft to look at it, I could only see a small 
 speck on the horizon, but this, I was told by the 
 man on the look-out, was the berg, and that it 
 was a very large one. It was about four miles 
 off, and the wind being extremely light, it was 
 some hours before we were abreast of it. I can 
 give but a poor description of the grandeur of 
 the berg. It seemed to me like a large city 
 with innumerable church-steeples rising here and 
 there. In size, I was told, it was from four to five 
 miles long, and about one mile broad, so that it 
 really might, in this particular, have been a city, 
 and held a city's population ; subsequently I saw 
 bergs even larger and broader. To be in the 
 vicinity of an iceberg, I may seize occasion to 
 remark here, is very dangerous for a ship, as 
 
 b 2 
 
12 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 the course of the mass of ice is not direct but 
 "circular," and if an unfortunate ship should 
 chance to get into its vortex, she becomes 
 numbered with those that are eventually re- 
 turned as missing. 
 
 After passing the iceberg we encountered 
 some rough weather, which the master attri- 
 buted — rightly enough, as we subsequently found 
 — to our being in the vicinity of the main jam 
 of ice. A "jam of ice' was his own expressive 
 phrase, — indeed, a better name could not be given 
 to it, — and its deafening, innumerous noise was 
 terrible. It seemed to me then — and I cannot 
 think of a better comparison now— as if two 
 parks of artillery were blazing away one against 
 the other. The wind speedily began to freshen, 
 and then came the trial for the master and 
 sailors. Almost at one breath the words were 
 shouted to the man at the helm, "hard up/ : 
 
THE PASSAGE OUT. 13 
 
 " hard down/' and in less than another minute 
 all hands had jumped out on the ice-pans to 
 clear the ice from the brig's bow. "Well," 
 I thought, "if this lasts long, it will prove 
 the master of the whole of us/ 3 Fortunately, 
 however, as night came on the wind lulled, and 
 left us nearly becalmed, which, after the con- 
 tinuous roar of the preceding day, seemed all 
 the more solemn. 
 
 As we lay upon the water we could 
 see here and there a solitary seal, or per- 
 chance a wild fowl popping its head above 
 the broken ice ; but with the exception of this 
 for three days, during which time we were 
 becalmed, we saw nothing worth noticing. All 
 that time the man on the look-out was straining 
 his eyes to catch a glimpse of clear water, or 
 to speak more plainly a passage through the 
 "jam," and straining them in vain. 
 
14 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 Now it happened that the master of the brig 
 was an u old hand 5 on the coast, and knew 
 perfectly well what every appearance of the 
 atmosphere indicated ; and on the fourth day he 
 hailed the man on the look-out, and asked him 
 if he saw any fog-banks, and, if he did, in what 
 direction they were. The man answered that 
 he did see a fog-bank lying to the north-west. 
 Being curious to learn to what the master's 
 question had reference. I inquired of him, when, 
 in a simple, kindly way, he explained the whole 
 matter to me. " Where/' said he, " the ice is 
 in large quantities, the fog won't rise, as it is 
 absorbed as fast as it is generated. It's very 
 different, though," he added, "with clear water. 
 There the fog rises. We may certainly find a 
 few pans of ice out there, where the fog is ; but 
 nothing to speak of." 
 
 The old master then gave orders for the 
 
THE PASSAGE OUT. 15 
 
 brig's head to be turned to the north-west, and 
 after great exertion on the part of the crew we 
 found ourselves, about eight hours after, in a 
 clear channel, say about a quarter of a mile 
 wide, which was quite enough to turn the brig 
 to windward in. From certain movements or 
 "indications' on the part of the bird, known on 
 the coast as the Barcaliau bird, — that is to say, 
 from its flying the whole day in the same 
 direction, — we knew it was migrating to the 
 Funk or Bird Island for the purpose of breeding. 
 Formerly the island swarmed with penguins, and, 
 for the sake of their feathers, the Newfound- 
 landers used to frequent the place in the spring 
 of the year and destroy the birds in myriads. 
 The island being quite barren, recourse was had 
 to the bird even for fuel. I must explain this : 
 in the north, where large quantities of birds are 
 killed, the ordinary mode of stripping them of 
 
16 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 their feathers is not pursued, but a large boiler 
 of hot water is employed, in which the birds, 
 after being killed, are dipped one at a time, 
 and then the feathers are easily rubbed off. 
 Now the Newfoundlanders burnt the penguins 
 to keep the pot boiling, and thus, in a short 
 space of time, exterminated the whole breed 
 from the coast. 
 
 On the day following our release from the 
 ice, we came within sight of Belle Isle, and 
 there found a clear passage to the northward. 
 The weather was fine in the extreme (the fog 
 having entirely cleared away), and we had an 
 uninterrupted view of the bold coast of Labra- 
 dor. To my mind it looked like one vast 
 fortification, the ice being of a uniform wall-like 
 appearance all along the rocky shore ; that is to 
 say, it was some fifteen feet high by about ten 
 feet thick. While I was looking, one of the 
 
THE PASSAGE OUT. 17 
 
 sailors called my attention to an extraordinary 
 conflict which was taking place, not more than 
 thirty yards from the ship, between three 
 " monsters of the deep." The water being 
 smooth and clear, I could perfectly distinguish 
 all their movements. The first of the three 
 " monsters ; I saw was the whale, and in 
 pursuit of this, apparently acting in concert, 
 were the sword-fish and thresher. The mode 
 of warfare adopted by the two last was singular 
 and ingenious. The sword-fish would watch for 
 the whale when he came up to the surface to 
 blow, when he would quickly dive under him ; 
 the thresher, however, remained upon the 
 surface, and did his part u above water," which 
 was to " thresh' the whale with his tail,, and 
 force him down on the point of the sword-fish. 
 How long the chase had lasted before we hove 
 in sight of them we could not say, but in about 
 
 ■ b 3 
 
18 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 ten minutes we saw the water was discoloured, 
 and then the whale disappeared. No doubt 
 the coalition had triumphed. 
 
 It is only in sailing ships such an extra- 
 ordinary conflict could have been witnessed : a 
 steamer would have disturbed the water and 
 driven the fish away long before it had reached 
 the field of battle. 
 
 For one day more we were striving to gain 
 our port, which, I should remark, was only a 
 few miles distant, during which time I had 
 an opportunity of contemplating the cold and 
 colossal grandeur of the scene around us. In- 
 numerable icebergs of all sizes and forms, some 
 representing large buildings, some like ancient 
 churches, and some like old-world monuments, 
 were to be seen on every hand, and over all bent 
 a clear crystalline sky. One "casualty," which 
 nearly proved fatal to the whole of us, occurred 
 
THE PASSAGE OUT. 19 
 
 before we got into harbour. I must here state, 
 what I have little doubt has been often before 
 stated in Polar narratives, — that the icebergs are 
 of various depths, and should the mass hidden 
 below the water come in contact with a shoal, it 
 breaks off; the " top-heavy' mass then turns 
 over (like, to compare the very great with the 
 very small, a child's sap-tumbler), and what was 
 the top becomes the bottom. In turning over, 
 however, quantities of loose ice split, snap, and 
 splinter away, and thus it was in the present 
 instance. First, as the berg began to roll over, 
 we heard a low rumbling noise like muttered 
 thunder ; then, this swelled and seemed to come 
 nearer and nearer ; and then, as the mass really 
 toppled and fell, there was a tremendous crash 
 against the water, and hundreds of tons of 
 debris were thrown high up into the air. 
 Fortunately we were just beyond this "hurt- 
 
20 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFK. 
 
 ling shower' of ice, or the result would have 
 been fatal to craft and crew. The next day 
 saw us snug in a small harbour on the coast 
 of Labrador. 
 
IN HARBOUR. 21 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 IX HARBOUR. 
 
 "♦O*- 
 
 The 25th June, and all around me nothing 
 but ice and snow, with the sun shining beauti- 
 fully overhead! I could scarce believe I was 
 in a place inhabited by human beings. A sort 
 of deathlike stillness seemed to reign over the 
 snow, and there was no land in sight, so far as I 
 could make out. I was told the snow was thaw- 
 ing fast, although I could not at first perceive it. 
 On close examination, however, I found this to 
 be the case, and also found that on the Labrador 
 coast the snow thaws from the ground, and not 
 from the surface. 
 
22 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 I was much surprised that in about ten days 
 after my arrival, things began to put on a spring- 
 like appearance. The snow had left us, land was 
 to be seen, and the sun shone with an undimmed 
 lustre. Still I could see no vegetation whatever 
 around me; all w r as bright, barren, and bare. 
 The island I was located on was about two miles 
 long and one broad, inhabited by only about 
 sixty persons in the winter, but in the summer 
 by some thousands. I found the men busy pre- 
 paring for the toil of summer — fishing; for di- 
 rectly the ice leaves the coast, shoals of cod 
 make their appearance, to deposit their spawn 
 in the quiet bays with which the seaboard 
 abounds. 
 
 The first Sunday I passed on shore, I seized 
 occasion to ask a few questions respecting the 
 missionaries I had heard had done so much 
 in this (as in every other) part of the world. 
 
IN HARBOUR. 2 
 
 o 
 
 The information I received somewhat astonished 
 me, for on my asking one of the old hands if he 
 had seen many missionaries during the time he 
 had been living there, his reply was, as near as 
 possible, as follows : — 
 
 " The fact is this 'ere place is too poor for 'um 
 to come to ; we havn't furs enough for them, and 
 they can't set up ' shop ; here. Why, do you 
 know," he added, half-indignantly, " I went down 
 a winter or two ago to the ' Arabian Nights' Ter- 
 ritory,' to try and trade with the North-west 
 Indians ; well, would you believe it, when I 
 came up with them I was positively driven away, 
 as they said they were forbidden to trade with 
 any other but the Arabian Nights." 
 
 I was curious to know who the Arabian 
 Nights (? knights) were, and asked him for an 
 explanation ; but, from his supreme ignorance, I 
 could get nothing more than a repetition of the 
 
24 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 same, to me, unmeaning phrase. Some time 
 afterwards, however, I discovered it was the 
 name given to some missionaries who had esta- 
 blished themselves in the richest part of the 
 coast, abounding in valuable furs of all descrip- 
 tions ; and I further found the place w 7 here I then 
 was had not been visited by any mission for 
 years, and I am somewhat doubtful if it ever 
 had. I mean by the " missionaries/ 2 those of 
 the Established Church, or Dissenters; the 
 Roman Catholic missions I saw every year, 
 and they remained with their flock about two 
 months each summer-time. I wrote to the 
 Bishop of Nova Scotia, and pointed out to him 
 the state of affairs for some hundreds of miles 
 along the coast, asking him for a trifle towards 
 erecting a small chapel, in which, when built, I 
 offered — as there was no one else at hand — my 
 services to read prayers and give lectures. The 
 
IN HARBOUR. 25 
 
 prelate, however, politely declined to assist me 
 in any way. Still, during the time I lived on 
 the coast, when opportunities offered, I read 
 prayers to an assembled few. To me it seems 
 sad and shameful that a large district adjoining, 
 I may say, Nova Scotia, should be without all 
 spiritual administration ; that people should be 
 " married," christened, and in some parts buried, 
 without rite or service of religion being per- 
 formed. So much for our boast of missionaries, 
 and our dissemination of the Gospel in foreign 
 parts ! The furs really outweigh the faith. 
 
 I must now proceed, however, to more mun- 
 dane affairs, and attempt a description of the 
 ordinary life and regular routine of the place. 
 The cargo generally taken out from England 
 consists of salt (ballast), which is used for the 
 purpose of curing the fish ; dry goods and pro- 
 visions are also exported from home. The cargo 
 
26 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 unloaded and stored^ the crews are divided in 
 parties of three or four men, each being titled 
 according to the position he holds in the boat. 
 For instance, " skipper, 5 ' " second hand, ?: " mid- 
 shipman ;' ! last comes the " captain," who has the 
 least to do — merely, indeed, to cook for the rest 
 and to keep the boat clean. Every day brings 
 its cargoes of Irish, who migrate here in the 
 summer to catch fish, cure it, and take it back 
 with them in the fall of the year, and dispose of 
 it either in Newfoundland, or proceed with it 
 to the markets of Genoa or Leghorn. Now, 
 in the summer season, commences an active, 
 bustling scene ; every person is employed night 
 and day in obtaining fish. I say night, but it is 
 night merely in name. Night and day hold 
 each other's hands upon the hill-tops ; which in 
 plain prose is, — no sooner does the sun set north 
 by west, than, like a giant refreshed, it rises 
 
IN HARBOUR. 27 
 
 again north by east, having been absent only 
 about an hour. Such a sudden change must be 
 seen to be adequately appreciated, or even fully 
 understood. Imagine an artist painting sunrise 
 and sunset from nature at the same time, the 
 lights and shades of " daybreak " and " evening ' 
 absolutely mingling together about an object ! 
 
 Go on the hill with your spyglass, and look 
 around ; never was a more glorious sight ! 
 What a month ago was one chill ruin of ice — 
 " a marble storm in monumental rage " — now 
 teems with life and placid natural beauty. You 
 may observe some two hundred boats or more on 
 the Fishing Ground, the occupants sitting, still 
 and dark, against the clear, sparkling atmos- 
 phere. A perfect harmony is kept up between 
 the whole of the fraternity of fishermen ; you 
 seldom hear of them quarrelling. They are 
 now, as you look, waiting for each other to cast 
 
28 [RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LTFE. 
 
 their nets, for they like to act in unison. Some 
 of these nets are formidable machines, being 
 about two hundred and forty fathoms long, by 
 from eighty to ninety fathoms deep. I have 
 seen one of them quite full of cod-fish, when, in 
 drawing it up, a small rent was found to have 
 been made in it, and the fish — finding this out 
 too — made their escape, not a single one being 
 caught. When a good haul is made a signal is 
 hoisted, and all spare hands are employed to 
 fetch the fish home. Besides the large " seine,' : 
 each boat is provided with five or six nets, to 
 place the fish in when caught; these nets will 
 hold from one to three tons. They are filled 
 from the large net, and moored in the neigh- 
 bourhood of the hauling-place, a watch-buoy, 
 with the owner's name upon it, being set floating 
 on the water. A boat from the fishing establish- 
 ment or depot having arrived alongside one of 
 
IX HARBOUE. 29 
 
 these, the work of loading the jack (by which 
 name all boats attending the seine are called) is 
 soon completed, and the tish are brought home 
 and unloaded. The mode of unloading may 
 here be described. The fish are not taken out 
 by hand, but by an instrument called a " pew,' 
 which is a prong wdth one point. Should a fish 
 be damaged in the body, it is deteriorated in 
 value; so great care is taken to stick the pew 
 through the head of the cod, and thus to land it 
 on the stage-head, where it undergoes the first 
 process of salting. In large establishments the 
 cod-stage is usually a permanent building built 
 over the water, with generally a good depth of 
 water in front, in which is cast the offal of the 
 fish. The size of the stage varies from one 
 hundred to one hundred and fifty feet long, by 
 about thirty feet wide. At the end, near the 
 water, is a long table, set crossways, and the end 
 
30 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 of the stage itself is like an ordinary store, with 
 folding-doors opening from the waterside. The 
 fish being all landed, the operation of salting 
 commences, and no one ever thinks of leaving 
 off work until the whole haul of fish is cleared 
 and salted in bulk. The first person on the 
 stage engaged in curing fish is the u cut-throat," 
 with his double-edged knife; the next is the 
 " header,' who dislocates the neck, and forces 
 the head of the fish off, which falls into the 
 water through a hole cut in the table. The 
 header also separates the liver, which likewise 
 passes through the table into a tub placed for its 
 reception. The fish is then handed over to the 
 u splitter,' who opens it to the tail, and, with 
 one smart and sharp blow T from a splitting knife, 
 separates the backbone. If this process is well 
 done, the end where the first incision was made 
 represents the figure 8 ; and the splitters plume 
 
IN HARBOUR. 31 
 
 themselves on (without intending any joke) 
 their eightful skill. The fish is next placed on 
 a sledge, or sliding barrow, and taken away by 
 the principal actor on the stage — the person who 
 cures or salts. The cod is now placed in what 
 is called salt-bulk, where it may remain any 
 period of time ; for, so long as fish is being 
 caught in the bay, so long will the " drying ' 
 and "washing" — which constitute the final 
 process — be delayed. 
 
32 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 COD CATCHING AND CURING. 
 
 -+o*~ 
 
 Continuing my notes piscatorial, I may com- 
 mence this chapter by informing the reader 
 that the man who prosecutes, or speculates in, 
 the fishery, is called the Planter ; and his mode 
 is generally to hire his men by the voyage, 
 giving them food and lodging, with the use of a 
 boat, for half their labour, retaining, however, 
 the cod-livers for himself. Under this arrange- 
 ment a good hand will clear in about three months 
 from twenty-five to thirty pounds. Strange to 
 say, each man knows his own fish, the method of 
 marking them being this : — Suppose three men 
 
COD CATCHING AND CURING. 33 
 
 are fishing together, — one cuts a notch on the 
 right side of the tail, the second cuts one on the 
 left, and the third leaves his as he catches them. 
 When the fish are cured, each man selects his 
 own by the mark. With the cod-fish comes the 
 caplin fish (Salrno Arcticus), in such shoals that 
 it is extremely difficult to row a boat through 
 them. The fishermen use them as bait with 
 which to catch the cod. The whale, too, is 
 very fond of the caplin, and annually destroys 
 them in thousands. I recollect once being em- 
 ployed in procuring this bait when it was scarce, 
 and having found some in a small inlet, I ob- 
 tained a boat-load and was about returning 
 homeward, when our passage out of the inlet or 
 cove was disputed by a whale, who, attracted by 
 the caplin, was disappointed at our first capture, 
 and kept us at bay nearly two hours. We had 
 no fire-arms in the boat, or I have a shrewd 
 
 c 
 
34 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 notion that the two hours would have been 
 lessened. It was not pleasant to find the way 
 stopped by such a monster. It may seem strange 
 that the caplin should come so close in-shore, as 
 if for the very purpose of losing its life. It looks 
 very much like felo de se, but the fact is, the 
 female caplin is a small, slender, and weak fish, 
 without sufficient power to emit her spawn, unless 
 assisted by the male. Let me explain : On a 
 fine day, when there is a light ripple on the beach, 
 you may see thousands of these beautiful small 
 female fishes swimming towards the shore or 
 landwash, each accompanied by two males, one 
 on each side of her ; nearing the sand, the males 
 press against the female, when the spawn is 
 rapidly deposited. In nine cases out of ten, 
 however, some of the party lose their lives, as 
 they dart on shore so swiftly, that the ripple 
 retires without bearing them back. 
 
COD CATCHING AND CURING. 35 
 
 When caplin is scarce, recourse is had to 
 another small fish, called the lance or sand-eel, 
 for bait. Great toil and labour are experienced 
 in procuring this fish ; men sometimes being 
 away for days before a sufficient supply can be 
 obtained for a half-week's fishing for a crew. 
 It is fortunate that the cod are sometimes so 
 plentiful upon the ground that they can be 
 caught without any bait at all. Then it is the 
 fishermen use a double hook, cast in a mould, 
 called a "gigger,' 1 the hooks being fixed back to 
 back, with some lead run upon the shanks, in 
 the shape of a fish. The gigger, being let down 
 to the bottom, is played by sharp jerks, and 
 -many fish are enticed to it by its resemblance to 
 themselves, and then, as Queen Cleopatra said, 
 " they're hooked/ 1 - This is a most laborious 
 mode of fishing, however, as frequently the fish 
 are hooked near the tail, when it requires a 
 
 c 2 
 
36 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 long pull and a strong pull to haul them on 
 board. 
 
 The seine fishing being over, some thought is 
 given to the fish in the stage. A day is gene- 
 rally devoted to them when all hands cannot go 
 out fishing on account of the state of the weather, 
 as, I may remark, we have our summer gales, 
 the same as in other places. From the salt-bulk, 
 some ten to fifteen tons of fish are thrown into a 
 large vat filled with salt water, and washed 
 thoroughly clean, and are then taken out and 
 laid upon each other to drain. This pile is 
 called a water-horse. Should the following 
 morning be fine and clear, the water-horse is 
 carried on hand-barrows, and placed, back down- 
 wards, on " flakes," — that is, sets of beams which 
 are supported on posts and shores — and covered 
 with boughs. Much depends on the weather of 
 the first two or three days; for should it rain 
 
COD CATCHING AXD CURING. 37 
 
 on the water-horse, and continue raining for any 
 time, the fish becomes of second or third quality, 
 and only fit for the West India market. On 
 the other hand, if two or three fine days are 
 passed, your cod are pretty sure to turn out 
 fit for the Roman Catholic markets of Europe. 
 The fish having been " turned 3 each evening, 
 about the third day they are put in faggots, 
 about a dozen fish being laid one upon the other, 
 their backs upwards, as a defence from wet or 
 the dampness of the night. When sufficiently 
 dry, a fine warm day is chosen to lay the fish 
 out, singly, on a large stage ; and during the 
 hottest hours they are made up into a "fish 
 pile," — which is a large quantity of dry fish, 
 built up in the form of a round haystack. When 
 they are entirely cured — as they sometimes 
 are — upon the flakes, they are still made up 
 into a pile, in order to preserve them from wet, 
 
38 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 to give them a gentle heat, and to make room 
 upon the flakes for others. The same routine 
 follows with the remaining fish in the stage, 
 and ; " if fortune favours/' a cargo of three to 
 four thousand quintals of fish may be sent off 
 to Italy in September. 
 
 As the reader may suppose, fish is, in Labra- 
 dor, a standing — or, rather, the standard — dish. 
 But although without cattle of any sort, we 
 have a " compensation 5 of wild fowl of every 
 description. But fowls — like hare — must be 
 caught before being cooked ; and during the 
 summer months, Thursday was the day allotted 
 to shooting. One or more of the masters in 
 port generally accompanied the party, — if not 
 to shoot, to cook for the rest. After rowing 
 about eight to ten miles from the shore, we 
 generally fell in with birds of all descriptions ; 
 those most easily obtained being the wild duck 
 
COD CATCHING AND CURING. 39 
 
 and goose. The latter is far superior to any 
 of our tame geese in England, but is easily 
 domesticated. After the day's sport we pitched 
 our tent under a rock, made our pies, had our 
 meal, and in short enjoyed ourselves mightily. 
 
 An incident, laughable enough in its way, 
 occurred, on one of our excursions, to an elderly 
 skipper who had volunteered to cook for us during 
 our absence amongst the numerous small islands 
 in search of the game. He had a great aver- 
 sion to a gun, and talked vaguely and myste- 
 riously of a " presentiment ' that if he ever 
 used one, some " dire mishap ' would befall 
 him, as it did that other ancient mariner. Ar- 
 rived at our sporting ground, we left him to 
 prepare our day's repast, for we never thought 
 of eating more than once a day when out sport- 
 ing ; and then, I can assure you, we made an 
 ample meal. On our departure, the skipper 
 
40 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 requested that a powder-horn might be left with 
 him, in case his fire should burn low after his mid- 
 day nap. He was a large and heavy man, and, 
 like Mr. Wardle's fat boy, a great sleeper. His 
 request for the powder was of course complied 
 with ; and away we started. On our return, late 
 in the day, we heard, as we thought, the report 
 of a gun; and on our joining him found that a 
 " dire mishap " had indeed befallen him, hut that 
 without the use of fire-arms. The fact was, he had 
 taken his nap, and — it is always so — had " slept 
 rather longer than he expected/ and finding 
 the time for our return was approaching, and 
 the fire nearly out, availed himself of the unfor- 
 tunate horn, and shaken a few grains of powder 
 on the heap of dry stuff he had placed on the 
 dead embers, w r hen, to his astonishment, this 
 dry stuff formed a sort of train to the mouth 
 of the horn, exploding the whole contents, and 
 
COD CATCHING AND CURING. 41 
 
 depriving him — narrow " shave " — of the whole 
 of his whiskers and the greater part of his hair. 
 After a good laugh at his expense, we showed 
 him that after all it was of the powder more 
 than of the gun, a man with a " presentiment ' 
 should bew r are. 
 
 The number of birds generally killed by 
 three of us for the two days and a half amounted 
 to about sixty. They were mostly ducks and 
 geese ; the proportion of the former, however, 
 being ten times as great as that of the latter. 
 
 Besides the cod, Labrador is rich in salmon. 
 The mode of catching these is with a " fleet J of 
 three nets, which are fastened to each other so 
 as to form a pourd ; the fish in striking the first 
 and even the second of these may not be 
 meshed, but he cannot escape the third, as, 
 when once there, it is impossible for it to re- 
 trace its swim. The mode of curing salmon 
 
 c3 
 
42 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 is less difficult than that of curing the cod-fish. 
 After being caught^ it is merely cut down the 
 back, cleaned, and put into puncheons, and 
 salted and repacked in small casks for shipment. 
 The mackerel also abounds in great quantities, 
 with herrings, trout (of fine quality), and nu- 
 merous other fish, all fit for the table, with the 
 exception of the u lump ' fish, which is nothing 
 more nor less than a lump of blubber. 
 
LIFE ON THE ISLAND. 43 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 LIFE ON THE ISLAND. 
 
 -*o*- 
 
 In one of our weekly excursions we had a sharp 
 chase after a deer, and killed him in the water, 
 following him round a small island, and cutting 
 off his retreat. After a great deal of trouble 
 we made him take the water, and instinct di- 
 rected him to the main land, where, had he 
 reached it, he would have been lost to us. Im- 
 mediately we found he had taken to the water, 
 we manned our boat and away we went in 
 chase. Although we had four good oars, he 
 had got the start, and we could not overtake 
 him, so we had recourse to the following expe- 
 
44 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 dient : when the deer arrived near the shore, 
 one of our party fired a bullet direct towards 
 the rocks where the animal would have landed, 
 and the reverberation of the sound turned the 
 animal towards us ; and so, after a little dodging 
 about, he became an easy prey. 
 
 The Labrador Fishing Establishment is also 
 a general store, and when any one requires sup- 
 plies the mode of dealing is entirely by barter. 
 In a large establishment a special warehouse is 
 generally fitted up — the ground-floor being gene- 
 rally devoted to hardware and groceries of all 
 kinds ; the second floor to drapery goods ; the 
 third floor to earthenware, boots, shoes, hats, 
 caps, &c, &c. ; and the fourth floor to blankets 
 and rugs — both very useful, not to say abso- 
 lutely necessary, in cold w r eather. 
 
 The mode of barter is as follows. A man 
 comes to the office of the house, and delivers a 
 
LIFE OX THE ISLAND. 45 
 
 " weight note" or a " quantity note" — the 
 former for fish, the latter for oil. The price of 
 this is filled in to his credit, and away he takes 
 it to the warehouseman (who on the coast is a 
 very independent sort of individual), and ex- 
 changes it for food. Such a system, I need 
 scarcely say, is clumsy and inconvenient. Should 
 the man want tea or sugar, he must buy a can- 
 vas frock, and convert the sleeves into bags in 
 which to carry it ; or should he have purchased 
 stockings, they are equally useful for the same 
 purpose ; if rum is bought, it entails the addi- 
 tional purchase of a new tea-kettle (jars and 
 bottles are rare and priceless). 
 
 In the summer season the hours indoors are 
 very uncertain, although, of course, as much is 
 made of the light time as possible. Early rising 
 is the order of the dav. Four o'clock is the 
 recognised time, and, immediately on coming 
 
46 KECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 down, a dram of rum is taken by almost every 
 person who can afford it. Flies and mosquitoes 
 are troublesome at all hours, but less so in the 
 early morning than when the sun becomes more 
 ardent. Once we found an Irishman dead on 
 the island, about ten miles from the Establish- 
 ment, with his face half eaten away by these 
 insects. 
 
 The mention of this poor fellow's fate re- 
 minds me that one thing we wanted on the 
 Establishment was a surgeon, although, during 
 my residence on the coast, we had (excepting 
 the case to which I have just referred) only 
 one death, and that from extreme old age. I 
 am sorry to say drinking is a prevailing vice, 
 and difficult to prevent, as, instead of beer- 
 shops, as in England, we had floating hotels 
 — where wines and spirits of all sorts could 
 be procured — from Quebec and Halifax. On 
 
LIFE ON THE ISLAND. 47 
 
 a free — somewhat over-free — coast like th^ 
 Labrador, no license is required ; you may 
 sell what you like, and in any way you think 
 proper. Under such a system intoxication is 
 sure to be rife ; still, what I may call the ex- 
 cesses of excess are not so apparent as the reader 
 would imagine. 
 
 As the season advances, labour begins to 
 slacken ; still there is plenty of sport. The 
 curlew has now made its appearance on the 
 coast, and a most delicious bird it is, as every 
 epicure must know. So bold are the curlews in 
 Labrador, that you may sit on a rock at low- 
 water, and, in the course of two or three hours, 
 kill forty to fifty. These, however, make a 
 heavy bag to carry, to say nothing of the rocky 
 nature of the ground. 
 
 September is a glorious month on the coast. 
 Then you may (as we often did) shoot the stag, 
 
48 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 and enjoy the pleasure of eating real Polar 
 venison. A banquet of this is, to those who 
 are necessarily compelled to eat so much fish, a 
 treat more delectable than is the green fat of 
 the turtle to an alderman. And here let me 
 remark that, when a stag is caught, it is not 
 stingily husbanded, but is dispensed with real 
 good fellowship and freedom. Indeed, hospi- 
 tality cannot be carried out with simpler grace 
 or to a more liberal extent in any country than 
 it is in Labrador. Every person receives a 
 welcome on entering a house, and whatever the 
 host may have you can share with him, And 
 this not for a night only, but for a week if you 
 desire it. The only compliment which passes 
 from the visitor is, that he will be glad to " pay 
 back, neighbour,'' when opportunity offers. In 
 most ways the habits of the people are primi- 
 tive. After the toil of the day, they will sit 
 
LIFE ON THE ISLAND. 49 
 
 round a spacious room and crack jokes and 
 make merry. On one occasion, I remember, 
 matrimony was the topic ; and a youth who had 
 been paying court to a young lass who had for- 
 saken him for another swain, was bantered by 
 one of the company on not being able to get a 
 wife. The argument ran — as arguments on 
 such intensely personal subjects sometimes do 
 run — rather high, when the youth, to put an 
 end to the whole matter, proposed the following 
 terms, which he committed to paper, and got 
 five of the party to sign. He bound himself 
 under certain penalties to procure a wife in 
 twenty-four hours from that time ; and they, in 
 turn, bound themselves, should he fulfil his con- 
 tract, to provide him with sundry household 
 goods, the value of the whole being, perhaps, 
 thirty pounds. The joke having taken this 
 essentially practical form, the company sepa- 
 
50 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 rated, and away our Coelebs went in search of a 
 wife. I am rather sorry the prize was found so 
 quickly, as one doesn't feel any great interest in 
 such a story without the interest is prolonged. 
 Within two hours, however, of his leaving the 
 company, the blighted being was restored to 
 happiness. He did not go to his old love, but 
 accidentally meeting with a lass who had heard 
 of the contract, and, strangely enough, fell in 
 his way, she felicitated him in anticipation of 
 his wedding, when he replied, " You shall be 
 the bride, if you choose." The offer was coyly 
 accepted, and the next morning they were man 
 and wife — that is to say, as much man and wife 
 as any pair can be beyond the reach of the rites 
 of the Church. I hardly like to spoil the story 
 by telling that he never got the furniture. The 
 other parties to the contract slipped from their 
 bargain, although the wife took very good care 
 
LIFE OX THE ISLAND. 51 
 
 her husband should not slip from his. She was 
 a bit of a termagant, and ruled him close, as if 
 determined he should personally realise the wis- 
 dom of the proverb that " they who marry in 
 haste, repent at leisure." 
 
52 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE, 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 BEARS BLACK AND WHITE. 
 
 -*o*~ 
 
 The white bear has one cub every year, but 
 never deserts the first until it is two years old, 
 when she has a third. Thus you may be sure 
 when you see a she-bear, you'll find in the 
 vicinity her two cubs. When- — as has often 
 been remarked, and as I frequently found during 
 my sojourn in the North — driven by hunger, 
 
 the bear is very bold and daring. They some- 
 times come prowling about the establishments, 
 stealing what food they can, and making off 
 without much haste or fear. The seal is its 
 principal food. Although heavy in appearance, 
 
BEARS BLACK AND WHITE. 53 
 
 it looks majestic, and inspires something like 
 awe as it sweeps silently over the snow. The 
 white bear of Labrador may be termed the king 
 of the frozen regions. Unless you have a quick 
 eye and an unerring aim, my advice would be, 
 should you meet one of these monsters, leave it 
 alone. It happened, one fine bracing .morning, I 
 was strolling in search of game, when I came to 
 a very difficult point or jag of land, which quite 
 shut out from my view an inlet or cove which I 
 
 a/ 
 
 knew was the resort of wild fowl. Finding it 
 utterly impossible to round the point, I asked 
 myself what I had better do. After a little 
 consideration, I came to the conclusion to 
 mount the adjacent cliff', go to the end of the 
 cove, and, with gun in hand, cocked and primed, 
 slide quietly down the slope, and be ready, the 
 moment I reached the bottom, to fire on the 
 game which I felt would be congregated on the 
 
54 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 spot. Imagine my horror when, on reaching 
 the bottom, I saw, about ten yards from me, 
 three white bears— an old she-bear and two 
 cubs ! What was I to do ? I could not retreat 
 without passing the monsters, and to attempt to 
 pass them was like courting death. I waited 
 patiently for the bears to approach. Resistance 
 to the triad of monsters seemed useless, and 
 yet, somehow, I resolved to die hard. I held 
 my gun in hand ready for the first assault, and 
 presently the old bear came slowly towards me, 
 growling, but not appearing at all furious, or 
 even in very great haste to make out what I 
 was. Her all but calm way of peering at me 
 as she moved leisurely along was even more 
 terrible than I believe would have been her 
 anger, and I lost nerve, and felt myself grow 
 faint and half-oblivious. On came the bear, 
 now silent as death. I stood like a thing inani 
 
BEARS — BLACK AND AYHITE. 55 
 
 mate ; another measured step or two, and I 
 knew she would be upon me — and yet I could 
 not move. My eyes grew dizzy, my head 
 swam round, and I can only recollect the mon- 
 ster's nose coming in contact with the muzzle of 
 my gun, when, as if by instinct, I pulled the 
 trigger, and down fell the monster at my feet ! 
 The report awakened me, for I found myself 
 loading my gun (which I did in a short space of 
 time), and took my place behind the bleeding 
 carcase of the dead animal. The cubs did not 
 appear to take much notice, but I was still in 
 danger of the " two-year old," who presently 
 made a move towards the dam, and, smelling 
 the blood flowing from the death- wound in the 
 head, set up a most piteous howl, then turned 
 and looked me full in the face, as much as to 
 say, "You are my mother's murderer!' I 
 began again to grow frightened^ but as the 
 
06 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE, 
 
 animal happened to turn towards the other cub? 
 I again fired, and, as it was only a few paces 
 distant and presented a fair mark, I literally 
 blew its heart to pieces. To slay the third was 
 comparatively easy work. The three carcases 
 were laid together, and, without caring to shoot 
 just then at smaller game, I walked off, thanking 
 Providence for my deliverance. The weather 
 coming on rough on the following day, and con- 
 tinuing so for some time, I regret to say I could 
 not secure my prizes. 
 
 During this spring myself and a comrade 
 had a most exciting race with a bear-cub in the 
 water, but its rapid swimming and sudden 
 diving bothered us a good deal. When along- 
 side with it, we struck it on the skull with a 
 hatchet, but it scarcely seemed to notice the 
 blow, and certainly did not decrease the celerity 
 of its movements. After about an hour and 
 
BEARS — BLACK AND WHITE. 57 
 
 a-halfs chase, however, we drove the cub on 
 shore, and then very rapidly settled it. 
 
 The largest bear I ever saw could not have 
 been less than fourteen feet long, and was 
 stout in proportion. The skin would have 
 made a comfortable carpet for a moderate- 
 sized room. The circumference of the paws, 
 which I measured, was twenty-five inches, and 
 they appeared strong enough to crush an iron 
 column. 
 
 The flesh of the bear is coarse and indi- 
 gestible, and seldom eaten. One part of the 
 beast is very useful, namely, the oil, which lies 
 between the skin and flesh. This is highly 
 prized on the coast as a liniment in cases of 
 rheumatism. The skin of the beast, too, is of 
 course more or less valuable according to size, 
 quality, and colour. 
 
 The black bear is the most mischievous and 
 
58 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 destructive animal with which the fisherman has 
 to contend. It is fond of molasses, oil, and 
 salmon, and some have been known to break 
 open a store to satisfy their fancy in these direc- 
 tions. Old residents in Labrador have a great 
 dread of seeing a black bear in the daytime, 
 for the superstition is that its appearance for- 
 bodes a calamity to some person in the neigh- 
 bourhood. Being one day in conversation with 
 an old man who had resided on the coast fifty 
 years, I asked him if he really believed the 
 bear was anything more than a bear in day- 
 time ; upon which he became quite nervous, 
 and, looking round him with doubt, as if a bear 
 might be in sight and hear the callous way in 
 which I spoke of it, he said — " Just you mind ; 
 it's no laughing matter, as pYaps this little 
 story will show you !' I could scarcely repress 
 a smile at the old man's earnestness of manner, 
 
BEARS BLACK AND WHITE. 59 
 
 but I listened attentively as he told me the 
 following : — 
 
 "It is now ten years since I had an only 
 son, a fine, strapping man o' thirty. He could 
 do anything — save read and write — and do it 
 well. He would have been a credit to the first 
 Rifles in the world. Indeed," said the old man, 
 with tears in his eyes, " I could speak about 
 him all day, but I must tell you his story. 
 There lived then, in Black Bear Bay, just to 
 the nor'-west o' Seal Islands, a party of Esqui- 
 maux, and one day when my son was out deer- 
 hunting he took refuge in the wigwam of the 
 party from a passing storm. Two young Esqui- 
 maux girls were employed skinning young seals. 
 Being of a goodnatured disposition, he naturally 
 offered his services. Well, he remained there 
 all night, and left the next morning, and came 
 home. He never thought nothing of the girls — 
 
 d 2 
 
60 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 how should he? — there was nothing very en- 
 ticing about them to think of. It was not so 
 with them ; they had made up their minds to 
 be his wives, and fancied they had only to ask 
 to be accepted. So, without more ado, up 
 comes the old squaw in a day or two, and took 
 me all aback like with her request for my son. 
 I knew he would not have them, and so I told 
 the old girl. She mumbled some sort of threat 
 on leaving my hut, and went home. Well, 
 about a week afterwards, my son was out hunt- 
 ing with a gun up a salmon-stream, in a small 
 boat, when what should he see peep out from 
 behind a bush, in the broad daylight, but an 
 enormous black bear, looking at him full in the 
 face. He rowed towards the spot, and no 
 sooner had he done so than the bear quickly 
 vanished and appeared at another, and so 
 dodged him until it led him to a fall (or small 
 
BEARS— BLACK AND WHITE. 61 
 
 cataract) where the bear stood still boldly ; but 
 just as my son was on the point of firing, the 
 beast again leapt away, and the boat went over 
 the fall ! My poor boy was picked up by a 
 neighbour, shortly after the accident, but the 
 shock was too much for him, and he died about 
 two days afterwards. Before his death, he in- 
 formed me in the most confident manner — and 
 should I doubt a dying man? — that he was 
 sure the bear was none else than the old squaw 
 transformed. Now," asked he, triumphantly, 
 " do you mean to ask if a black bear is no more 
 than a bear?' ! I smiled, and asked myself the 
 oft-repeated question, " Where are the mis- 
 sionaries ?" 
 
 Throughout the depth of winter the black 
 bear is in a dormant state within his cave — and 
 yet not exactly so, for on opening his retreat 
 and attacking it, it invariably shows some small 
 
62 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE, 
 
 amount of resistance. It makes nature its for- 
 tifier; that is to say, on the first appearance 
 of snow it seeks the hollow of a rock, and there 
 allows itself to be snowed in. To a practised 
 eye, however, the place is easily discovered by 
 the perforations on the surface of the snow, 
 caused by the respiration of the brute ; when 
 it is found it is dug out and shot. Winter 
 is the season when the animal is in prime order, 
 and care is taken in slaying it to save the 
 skin whole and clean. The oil, as I have 
 said, is good for medicinal purposes ; but, 
 strange to say, I never saw it used for the 
 hair. Indeed I was told that instead of nou- 
 rishing the hair it burnt it off. What says Mr. 
 Truefitt to this ? 
 
WOLVES, DEER, GAME, ETC. 63 
 
 CHAPTEK VI. 
 
 WOLVES, DEER, GAME, ETC. 
 
 -»<>♦- 
 
 The Labrador wolf fights well. He is cunning, 
 but unlike most cunning things, he is coura- 
 geous. Fie feeds chiefly on the elk and moose- 
 deer, and, like the deer, he is gregarious. There 
 are generally from eight to ten wolves in a pack. 
 Their appearance is strange and striking in the 
 extreme; they march just like the front rank 
 of a company of soldiers, with their leader a 
 little forward on the left; they keep about 
 two feet apart, and when a herd of deer is 
 sighted, at a given signal they break up into 
 detached skirmishing order. In a short space 
 
64 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 of time, however, you will observe the whole 
 of the skirmishers in a close circle round the 
 deer, fast closing to the centre, when the con- 
 flict, being so unequal,— for the wolf is immea- 
 surably stronger than the deer — soon terminates 
 in the wolves sitting in banquet over the bodies 
 of the conquered. The flesh of the wolf is 
 worthless, but the skins are of value for drum- 
 heads. 
 
 On my paying a visit once to an old 
 planter, I observed, suspended from the ceiling 
 or roof of his hut by a small piece of cord, 
 the skull of some animal. Being curious, I 
 inquired if it was for use or ornament. " Bless 
 me ! ' said he, " don't you know what that is ? 
 w^hy, that is our weather-glass, barometer, and 
 everything else ; a wolf's head, and whenever 
 we are on the point of having a change of 
 wind, you may be sure that skull will indicate 
 
WOLVES, DEEE, GAME, ETC. 65 
 
 it, and what the change is to be.'' This made 
 me still more curious, and I pressed him for 
 more information. " I have had that skull 
 thirty years/ 5 said he, u and — although a crafty 
 wolf's — it never deceived me. Now look here ! 
 suppose the wind is north, and that skull's nose 
 points to the east, and so remains for a week ; 
 after the wind shifts from north, we get an 
 easterly wind for just as long as the skull 
 pointed in that direction ; and so on for any 
 other quarter of the compass.' 5 He frankly 
 told me he could not explain the reason, but so 
 it was, and so it is; for I procured a skull and 
 suspended it in a quiet place, and found, as the 
 old man said, it never deceived me. I have 
 since oft asked the question from old residents 
 on the coast, if they could in any way give 
 a reason for the weatherwise movements of 
 the skull. One very naturally replied by asking 
 
 d 3 
 
66 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 me how I could account for the magnetic point 
 of the compass turning always one way, and 
 added that he thought the one just as myste- 
 rious as the other. " But perhaps/ 2 he said, 
 "it's worth your considering that the wolf is 
 always going head-to-wind in search of food, 
 and as the wind changes so his course changes. 
 Now is his instinct, as you call it, really in his 
 skull ? " 
 
 It is said of the wolf, and our domestic La- 
 brador dog, that the breed is crossed, and that 
 the Esquimaux dog is the result. During the 
 whole period of my residence on the coast, I 
 never knew or heard of any tangible proof of 
 this ; and I would rather favour the supposition 
 that the Esquimaux dog partakes more of the 
 fox than of the wolf: first, from its diminutive 
 size ; and secondly, from its fondness for all 
 sorts of wild fowl and domestic poultry. 
 
WOLVES, DEER, GAME, ETC. 67 
 
 The deer has another most treacherous and 
 powerful enemy, in the animal called the wol- 
 verine, or glutton, which is about the size of our 
 common badger. On all parts of the coast are 
 deer-parks or pasture-grounds, and also deer-paths 
 leading to and from these pastures to a retreat in 
 the wood. In many instances some part of the 
 path is low from the proximity of the branches 
 of the firs. The wolverine places himself on 
 one of these low branches, and awaits the passing 
 of the herd, when he makes a spring from his 
 lair, and fixes his victim on the neck, and bleeds 
 him until the deer drops, and becomes the 
 common repast of the wolf and and other carni- 
 vorous animals abounding on the coast. On 
 every hand the deer has his enemy, even the 
 fox being sometimes marshalled against him. 
 This antagonism, however, implies that the fox 
 shall be very hungry and the deer very small. 
 
68 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 Return we now to our fishing-home. While 
 we have been wandering with the bear and the 
 deer, quite a change on our small island ! the 
 ships have disappeared for their various desti- 
 nations, and only a few unsuccessful fishermen 
 are left to try and " fetch up lee-way ' by 
 exertion with the hook and line. What fish is 
 thus caught is of the best quality, and is not 
 landed, but kept on board ship in bulk, and 
 taken to a southern clime for curing. 
 
 During my absence on my sporting tour, a 
 rather romantic affair took place, which was 
 related to me by a neighbour, but the truth 
 of which,-— absurdly improbable as the story 
 seems — I can guarantee. An Irishman, named 
 Glaveen, did not live on the best of terms 
 with his better-half, and how to get rid of her 
 in what he called a " dacent manner,' was a 
 puzzle, so he hit upon a most singular expe- 
 
WOLVES, DEER, GAME, ETC. 69 
 
 dient. One fine morning, with much gravity 
 marked on his countenance, he expressed him- 
 self thus : " Well, Biddy, I am tired of my life, 
 and have been thinking about the other world, 
 and how I could manage to do the thing in a 
 quiet manner ; now I will tell you my plan : 
 I have heard hanging is about the most pleasant 
 death a man could die of ; and with vour consent 
 I mean to try it, only you stand by, and when 
 you see me kick, you cut me down immediately.' 
 Well, poor silly thing ! she agreed to what her 
 husband had proposed. A rope was procured, 
 a noose made, the same passed over a beam 
 in the hut, adjusted round his neck, and hauled 
 u taut," Pat himself standing on a stool the 
 while. The signal being given, when the stool 
 was removed and away, Glaveen kicked, and 
 was immediately cut down by the unsuspecting 
 wife. No sooner down than he exclaimed in 
 
70 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 a fit of transport and joy, <; Oh, Biddy ! sorry 
 it is I am you cut me down ; one of the most 
 elegant deaths I was about to experience ! The 
 few moments I had in that state seemed a 
 whole life to me ; purgatory was passed, and 
 behold, St. Peter, with the key of glory, came 
 up to me and said, as if he knew me, ' Welcome, 
 Glaveen, thrice welcome.' Then, Biddy, I 
 thought of you, and should have been sorry to 
 have left you without letting you know of my 
 happiness ; and how glorious it was to die by 
 hanging. Now, Biddy, I will give you a chance : 
 get up on the stool and try it yourself! 3 Sure 
 enough the poor creature did as she was bid, 
 and Mr. Glaveen, knocking the stool from under 
 his wife's feet, left her swinging, but not to her 
 fate ; as one of the neighbours, who had listened 
 to the whole affair, was immediately on the spot 
 and cut her down just in time to save her life. 
 
WOLVES, DEER, GAME, ETC. 71 
 
 In September we generally had a visit from a 
 Surrogate magistrate, in a schooner, but this is 
 done away with ; in fact it was a mere farce 
 of a court. The judge was a retired post-captain 
 in the navv, and the court was held on board 
 a schooner hired for the purpose. It frequently 
 happened that the judge got drunk, and then 
 the scene in court was richer than anything in 
 ' Pickwick.' As neither solicitors nor barristers 
 came with the flying court, we had to manage 
 our own suits. The only cases ever brought 
 before the court were for wages. To give the 
 reader some idea of this mode of justice, I may 
 mention that a notice to the following effect was 
 posted a week previously to the judge's arrival. 
 " The Surrogate will hold a court in this harbour 
 on Wednesday next, when plaintiffs and defen- 
 dants may attend to try any case they may 
 have to bring before the court." Wednesday 
 
72 KECOLLECTIONS OF LABKADOK LIFE. 
 
 arrives, and his Honour arrives as well, attended 
 by clerk and sheriff's officer, for you must know 
 the judge acted also as sheriff; and now the 
 farce begins. The sheriff's officer acts as crier, 
 and opens the court by proclamation, and all 
 the early day there sits his Honour so con- 
 sumedly drunk, as to be scarcely enabled to 
 distinguish any of the parties about him ; and 
 after an hour or two's sitting, he abruptly settles 
 all the cases, telling the crier to adjourn the 
 court to the next harbour at ten the following 
 morning; that harbour being, perhaps, twenty 
 miles off. I was twice the victim of this 
 " Shallow' justice; for on following the court 
 to the next harbour for the purpose of getting 
 an execution signed by his Honour, to my 
 infinite disgust, just as I got alongside the 
 schooner, I heard the orders given to " sheet 
 home the topsail/' and was politely informed 
 
WOLVES, DEEK, GAME, ETC. 73 
 
 over the bulwarks that the court had just ad- 
 journed to another harbour some twenty miles 
 still farther on. 
 
 Such was the only court we had to deal 
 with, and glad I was when I learned it was 
 done away, for such a mockery of justice was 
 calculated to bring both the British crow r n and 
 the British flag into contempt. 
 
 We have indications now of the approach of 
 winter. All life is taking a southerly direction, 
 except ourselves who are compelled to winter on 
 the coast. Flocks of ducks may now be seen 
 continually flying south, and every day we have 
 hints of what a lonely life we have to expect 
 when winter really arrives. The days, too, begin 
 to shorten. 
 
 Towards the end of October the books are 
 closed and sent home to England for exami- 
 nation, duplicates being kept for reference. The 
 
74 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 last ship has gone from the coast, and we may 
 fairly say we are cut off from communication 
 with all parts of the world. Our nearest neigh- 
 bours on the coast itself are ten miles off. 
 
UR ANIMALS AND SEALS. 75 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PUR ANIMALS AND SEALS. 
 
 Before heavy frost sets in, we are busily en- 
 gaged in trapping — chiefly for their furs — ani- 
 mals and birds of all kinds, such as the martin, 
 the mink (a small amphibious creature of the 
 otter species), the otter, the beaver, the fox, 
 the wolf, the wolverine, the lynx or wild-cat, the 
 musquash (a species of the rat), the porcupine, 
 the hare, the rabbit, white and spruce partridges, 
 and the ptarmigan* As the martin and the fox 
 bear the richest furs, I will take them first. 
 The martin, or what is termed in England the 
 
76 EECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 sable, belongs to a distinct class, perfectly pure 
 in breed, but not very plentiful where I resided. 
 The flesh is unfit for human food — indeed, the 
 canine race will not touch it. Singularly 
 enough, like the wolf, and, in fact, all wild ani- 
 mals on this coast, martins are always walking 
 head to wind ; thus an old hand told me one 
 day, " Mark me, sir, if we have an easterly 
 wind this fall, we shall have lots of furs/ : I 
 asked him the reason, and he told me because 
 the animals would in that case march towards 
 us. 
 
 Of the fox there are several species on the 
 coast, but the valuable breed known as u silver- 
 hairs " are scarce. The " silver-hair ' is the 
 same size as our common fox, with a beautiful 
 jet-black fur for the ground, which on each end 
 is tagged with about an inch of " silver tinge," 
 which glitters like jewels in the sun and snow. 
 
FUR ANIMALS AND SEALS. 77 
 
 When young, the u silver-hair " is easily caught, 
 and becomes docile. 
 
 The next best foxes are the blue or slate- 
 coloured, the patch or particoloured, and the 
 yellow— the whole of which belong to one tribe, 
 and form one family, as it is very common for a 
 vixen to have a litter of five or six, and each of 
 a different hue. The value of foxes varies much. 
 The silver-haired and blue foxes would realise 
 from twenty to thirty pounds each skin, while 
 the patch and yellow would only fetch about 
 one pound ten shillings. 
 
 There is another species of the fox on the 
 coast, but almost worthless for fur. This ani- 
 mal turns white in the winter, and it is verv 
 difficult to see upon the snow. I once caught 
 one alive, and tried to tame him like the others, 
 but he was a sullen beast, refused all food, and 
 actually starved himself to death. 
 
78 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 The mink (of the otter species) is inferior in 
 quality to the martin, the fur not being quite so 
 long and bright, but in wear it is quite as 
 durable ; a good skin will pass muster with 
 eleven martins' ; the flesh is worthless. 
 
 The lynx, or wild mountain cat, is an extra- 
 ordinary animal to meet; you would almost 
 fancy, from his bold front, you were about en- 
 countering a tiger-cat ; but on approaching 
 to within about thirty yards, he generally turns 
 tail and flies, when you can easily shoot him 
 down. Although it is not cloven-footed, this 
 animal is much esteemed as a delicate dish. 
 Its size is double that of our domestic cat, but 
 it has precisely the same form of countenance. 
 The flesh is beautifully white, and partakes of 
 the flavour of the hare ; the bones are quite 
 pearly, and are used by the Esquimaux for 
 ornaments. 
 
FUR ANIMALS AND SEALS. 79 
 
 In some of the rivers the otter abounds, and 
 is most destructive to the fishermen. The flesh 
 is unpalatable, and the fur is used, like that of 
 the beaver, by hatters. The mode of trapping 
 the otter is exceedingly simple. Being of most 
 cleanly habits, and liking to repose at early 
 dawn (wild animals mostly feed at night) he 
 selects a smooth spot on the bank of the river, 
 which on the coast is called a " rubbing-place." 
 This is found by the trapper, who is then sure 
 of his game. The mode adopted is to bury the 
 traps in the M rubbing place,' 1 and cover them 
 lightly with the soil, particular care being 
 taken not to disturb any part, but as near 
 as ossible to keep the place as it is. On his 
 visit the next morning, he is tolerably certain 
 to be rewarded with a prize. The value of 
 the skin of the otter is about two pounds 
 sterling. 
 
80 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 The musquash much resembles the common 
 rat of England, and is found on the banks of 
 the rivers ; the skins are of small value, and are 
 generally used by hatters. 
 
 The beaver of Labrador deserves special 
 notice. It would almost appear to be endowed 
 with reason, so remarkable are its habits, and so 
 striking its ingenuity in the construction of its 
 winter-quarters. With reference to the latter, 
 the first step taken by the beaver is to find a 
 pond and throw a dam across it, so as to retain 
 water throughout the winter season. This done, 
 a tree is selected and cut down by them, and 
 falls in the direction they wish across the pond. 
 The teeth of the beaver, I must observe, are 
 curved inwards, are about a quarter of an inch 
 wide, and some three-quarters of an inch long. 
 Of course they vary according to the age. 
 With these teeth they work, and on viewing 
 
FUR ANIMALS AND SEALS. 81 
 
 the tree on which they have been engaged, you 
 would fancy some fine carver had been at work 
 with a sharp gouge. One thing, however, the 
 poor beaver does which the carver does not do, 
 and this betrays him to the natural foe of all 
 living wild animals — man : he leaves his chips 
 where they fall, and these point out his where- 
 abouts under the ground. The beaver-house 
 consists of three rooms or cells. The ground- 
 floor is (to use an Hibernianism) in the water, 
 the floor above is used for feeding, and the third 
 as a sleeping-chamber. Most of the beaver- 
 houses have an inlet and an outlet. If you find 
 out the latter place, and stop it up, then you 
 may consider the beavers your own. Having 
 blocked the outlet, you dig and find out the 
 inlet, which is generally near the bank of the 
 pond, and under the water. There secure your 
 traps, and in entering the dwelling or quitting 
 
 E 
 
82 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 it, they must walk in and be caught. The 
 beaver is a social kind of animal, living in com- 
 munities or families, generally consisting of five 
 — father, mother, and three " papouses " (so the 
 young beavers are called). Strange to say, 
 you never see one without a companion ( Castor 
 and Pollux?), and if you catch one, you are 
 pretty sure in time to have the entire family. 
 On the other hand, should they have been 
 aware of your proximity to their habitation, 
 the whole would have gone off and found a 
 shelter in some neighbour's house. A small 
 species of dog, called the Mountaineer dog, is 
 very useful in directing the trapper to the 
 beaver-houses. 
 
 The porcupine of Labrador is not in the least 
 like its namesake of the East, the fur being a 
 jet-black, with small white quills between the 
 hairs. They are hunted for their flesh, vphich is 
 
FUR ANIMALS AND SEALS. 83 
 
 considered a great delicacy by the inhabitants. 
 They are generally found on the top bough of a 
 large fir-tree. The small dog just mentioned is 
 also employed on this errand, and immediately 
 he comes where his instinct tells him there are 
 porcupines he commences barking, and, on 
 picking out the tree where an animal is located, 
 he runs round and round the foot of the trunk, 
 and continues his bark until the porcupine is 
 bagged. This, however, is no easy task, for to 
 really secure it you must cut down the tree, 
 which may be fifty feet high. When the tree 
 falls, the porcupine of course comes with it, 
 when in dropping it generally makes a leap 
 at either yourself or your dog, and, should it 
 succeed in striking you, you don't soon forget 
 it ; for from its tail, which is its weapon, it dis- 
 charges, as it gives the blow, a number of fine 
 quills, which from their formation (being like 
 
 e 2 
 
84 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 the ear of barley) are so firmly imbedded in 
 the flesh that to draw them is impossible, and 
 you are compelled to let them work out of 
 themselves the other side of the wound, wher- 
 ever it may be. Fortunately the u quills upon 
 the fretful porcupine " are not venomous, and 
 the only pain is a rigid stiffness of the parts 
 struck during the period the quills remain in 
 the flesh. The porcupine's skin is of no value, 
 but the quills are used by the Indians to deco- 
 rate their mocassins or shoes. In size and 
 shape the porcupine resembles the rabbit of 
 England. 
 
 Gradually the winter creeps on, and the seal 
 makes his appearance, also bound south. This 
 is the last animal seen in the water, and great 
 are the preparations for capturing it. A sealing 
 crew consists of not less than six men. The 
 seal-nets are carefully examined, and everything 
 
FUR ANIMALS AND SEALS. 85 
 
 put in order before commencing operations. A 
 fine, still morning is chosen to lay the nets down, 
 which is cold but most exciting work. The 
 net used is generally forty fathoms long and 
 two deep. The foot of it is brought-to on a 
 shallop's old rode, and the head on two fishing- 
 lines with corks between. It is set to any 
 depth of water not exceeding fifteen fathoms 
 nor less than three, and is moored by a couple 
 of killicks, fastened by eight or ten fathoms of 
 rope to the ends of the foot-rope, which, by its 
 weight, keeps the end of the net close to the 
 bottom of the water, while the corks make it 
 stand perpendicular. As the seals dive along 
 near the bottom to fish, they strike into the net, 
 and are entangled, for the net is placed with 
 one end towards the shore, the other " right oft'.' 
 A long pole fastened to one corner of the net 
 and a short one on the other corner (the former 
 
86 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 called a " pry or' and the latter a "bobber') 
 show where the net is. The sealer lays hold of 
 either, and by its means brings the head of the 
 net to the boat. The crew then haul their boat 
 along to the other end, and take the seals out as 
 they go. Sometimes the nets are not seen until 
 the frost sets in, when they are taken up 
 through the ice, and the seals lifted out and 
 drawn home on sledges. Should the water keep 
 free from ice, the nets are visited every day and 
 cleared. I have cleared as many as sixty seals 
 out of one net. 
 
 The seal, from its very form and physical 
 capabilities, becomes an easy prey to the fisher. 
 Having the power to elongate or compress its 
 body from the head to the shoulders, in striking 
 the net it is elongated, but finding an obstruc- 
 tion, and perhaps fancying it has a foe to 
 contend with, it compresses its neck, and of 
 
FUR AXIMALS AND SEALS. 87 
 
 course tightens the mesh of the net and be- 
 comes strangled. 
 
 There is another method of catching the seal 
 by what is called the stopper-net. Under this 
 process one net is permanently fixed across a 
 small channel — say between two islands — and 
 another, called the entrance-stopper, is placed 
 about one hundred yards to the north, one 
 end being fastened to the opposite island and 
 the other end attached to a long piece of rope 
 in such a way as to allow the net to sink 
 entirely out of sight. The end of this rope 
 is made fast to a capstan, so as to be raised 
 or lowered at pleasure. When a number of 
 seals are seen between the two nets, the outer 
 one is immediately hauled taut, and the seals, 
 becoming aware of the fate awaiting them, 
 examine every part of the net to find a hole 
 large enough to escape from. Should they dis- 
 
88 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 cover one, they are off through it (like a flock 
 of sheep) one after the other ; should they not 
 succeed, they sometimes will attempt to cross 
 the net overland, and are then easily cap- 
 tured. 
 
SEALS. 39 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SEALS. 
 
 There are numerous kinds of seals, a brief 
 description of some of which I will attempt to 
 give. Of the few with which I have met, the 
 largest is the Square Phripper. In season, it 
 will yield about seventy gallons of oil. The 
 skin is generally used for the manufacture of 
 soles for boots. The length of this seal is from 
 ten to twelve feet, and it is about six feet round. 
 He is rarely caught in a net, being too wary. 
 The only good mode of capture is with a gun. 
 Even then, if the shot kills at once, and the 
 animal is in water, you lose him : he sinks, and 
 
 e 3 
 
90 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 there's an end of your toil. If, on the other 
 hand, you only wound him, he seeks the shore, 
 and there dies. This seal furnishes, besides its 
 valuable oil, a light airtight and watertight gar- 
 ment for the Esquimaux. The garment is 
 made from the entrails, and weighs scarcely 
 four ounces. As a rule, the Esquimaux are 
 very clever in this description of tailoring. The 
 dress is mostly well made, and is neatly and 
 strongly sewn together with the inner lining of 
 the windpipe of the animal. In fact all the 
 thread used by the Esquimaux in the manu- 
 facture of boots, skin dresses, &c., comes from 
 the same source. 
 
 The mode of preparation is simple. The 
 windpipe is taken out, and the inner skin sepa- 
 rated and dried ; when dry it is cut into strips 
 about two-eighths of an inch wide and about 
 eight inches long. When these are required 
 
SEALS. 91 
 
 for use, the Esquimaux lady takes a bundle, 
 and puts it in her mouth, and draws a thread 
 as she wants it, as the operation of the jaw 
 shredded the strips. With this, and nothing 
 more^ the Esquimaux works, but on the vellum 
 the thread shows up beautifully white. 
 
 The next large seal met with on the coast 
 is the Hooded seal, so called from the power it 
 possesses of inflating an enormous hood over its 
 head, containing about six gallons of air. Now 
 these seals are not like their solitary brethren the 
 Square Frippers, but are seen in large parties. 
 Being on the ice, and meeting with a company 
 of these animals one day, I had a good oppor- 
 tunity of watching their movements. On they 
 came, though effectively to describe how would 
 be a puzzle, as the seal, having no legs, moves 
 with a spring and a half-leap. Their proceed- 
 ings were saucy and independent in a degree. 
 
92 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 On the strength of their hood (which you can- 
 not hurt with a heavy club) they seemed to 
 despise all fear. Their antics were really scorn- 
 ful, and appeared to tempt danger. It hap- 
 pened, however, that I and my party had pro- 
 vided ourselves with short muskets, and we 
 despatched as many as we could conveniently 
 carry off. 
 
 The mode of disposing of seals on the ice 
 is first to kill them and then to take their 
 pelts off. When this is done, and you think 
 you have a sufficient load, you cut a hole 
 on the top part of the skins, or pelts, pass a line 
 through them, and drag them after you. 
 
 Next comes a seal smaller in size, called the 
 Archangel. There is nothing peculiar in this 
 animal except its name, and it may be passed 
 over. 
 
 The principal seal of the coast is termed the 
 
SEALS. 93 
 
 Voyage seal, while the males are distinctively 
 called Harps, or Blackbacks. To mark a shoal 
 of these animals, perhaps two or three hundred in 
 number, quietly swimming, with head and part of 
 the shoulders out of water — the head, by the way, 
 being a jetty black, and the shoulders tinged 
 with silver lustre — the coal-black eye shining at 
 a distance like a diamond, is a magnificent 
 sight indeed. I have often, I must own, felt 
 remorse when killing these animals, there is 
 such a human expressiveness in their eye, in 
 fact in their entire visage. 
 
 When the first of these Voyage seals is 
 caught on the coast a great sensation is the 
 result, for this one, it appears, is the precursor 
 of thousands, and a good " harvest ' may be 
 expected. 
 
 On one occasion I had charge of a boat's 
 crew, and, on overhauling the nets, I heard the 
 
94 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 exclamation, "A Harp! a Harp, by George! 
 Now, master," added the speaker, " we are going 
 to have a rare voyage. Where is your knife ?" 
 The knife was soon found, and the tail of the 
 
 9 
 
 animal cut close off to the body and carefully 
 put away in the pocket for the following piece 
 of amusement in the evening. On landing, the 
 news soon spread throughout the establishment 
 that a Harp had been caught, and the lucky 
 skipper of the boat was complimented on his 
 luck for securing it. Night came on, and the 
 crews assembled as usual in their quarters. 
 Not being exactly one of the crew, and living 
 about two hundred yards away from them, I 
 was politely waited upon by a lot of the old 
 hands, and requested to attend on them forth- 
 with, and to bring the seal's tail with me. I 
 accordingly did so, and found the whole of the 
 crews gathered together and shouting enthusi- 
 
SEALS. 95 
 
 astically for " the tail." As I couldn't give it 
 to all, I was requested by the senior skipper to 
 nail it to a beam, where already figured a 
 " tale ' of fine dried tails of past years. I did 
 as solicited, and, according to custom, I chal- 
 lenged any of the company present to remove 
 the same without the use of his hands, which is 
 tantamount to saying only with his teeth. 
 Whoever tried and failed forfeited a quantity 
 of rum, while the man who accomplished the 
 task received a fine, to be dispensed for the 
 benefit of all present, of two gallons of the spirit. 
 In his turn he nailed up the tail, and when 
 another succeeded in taking it down, the person 
 nailing it up was again fined. So there was 
 plenty of rum and plenty of merriment. 
 
 When the manager of an establishment finds 
 a sufficient quantity of rum has been served to 
 make the crew " comfortable ' and merry, no 
 
96 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 more is sent them, and the Harp's tail becomes 
 a memento of the evening, and is ranged amongst 
 the other tails. This kind of seal produces 
 about ten gallons of oil. 
 
 A younger seal than the Harp, but of the 
 same species, named the Bedlamer, is also called 
 a Voyage seal. It yields the same quantity of 
 oil as the Harp, but the skin is not defined like 
 that of the Harp. Once on coming on shore with 
 a load of these animals we were met amongst 
 the broken ice by no less a personage than a 
 monstrous white bear, who, beset by hunger, and 
 sniffing his savoury meat, swam boldly alongside, 
 and, putting his huge paw on the gunwale of the 
 boat, would have capsized her had it not been 
 for the presence of mind of the skipper, who 
 as quick as thought cut him across the paws, 
 and compelled him to drop astern, although not 
 before he had actually taken out one of the 
 
SEALS. " 97 
 
 boat's thwarts, a plank eight feet long, ten 
 inches wide, and three inches thick. 
 
 The next seal I have to catalogue (there is 
 nothing special in it to describe) generally loiters 
 on the coast later than the Harp, and frequents it 
 sooner in the spring : it is called the Lazarus. 
 The next kind is a small and beautiful animal, 
 called the Ranger, which remains on the coast 
 all the winter, and is sometimes found about the 
 bays during the summer months. This species 
 is very interesting, as they may be tamed and 
 sent out fishing, which they will do readily. 
 They are beautifully marked, and the skin is 
 much esteemed by the natives. The flesh is 
 sometimes eaten, but not often. 
 
 The " Jar " is a seal of social habits, like the 
 beaver, living in large communities under the 
 ice in winter, and in the numerous bays along 
 the coast in summer. A remarkable incident 
 
98 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 connected with a search for this animal revealed 
 to me a curious fact regarding the formation of 
 the ice in the frozen regions. Being on a 
 winter cruise for the " Jar/' and night coming 
 on without the likelihood of gaining shelter- — 
 moreover, not knowing exactly if we were on 
 land or water, the snow being so deep — we built 
 a snow hut, by cutting blocks of snow, and 
 placing them one upon another, gradually inclin- 
 ing to the top centre. When nearly complete, 
 there is a good-size square inside, and there we 
 retired, and closed up for the night. 
 
 Now it happened, having found a small rise 
 in the snow, we fancied we were on terra firma ; 
 but in this we were mistaken. We had located 
 ourselves on the top of a Jar seal-house. One 
 of our dogs gave the alarm, and fortunate it was 
 he did, as doubtless before morning we should 
 have all disappeared through the ice. We 
 
SEALS. 99 
 
 found however, there was no danger now we had 
 warning, for beneath us there were three layers 
 of ice. I inquired of an Esquimaux if such was 
 always the case, and he answered me in the 
 affirmative. I asked if it might not be the 
 raftering of the ice. He said, No ; raftering 
 was very different. 
 
 Ice, as he explained, is said to rafter when, 
 by being stopped in its passage, one piece is 
 forced under another, until the uppermost one 
 rises to a great height. I have seen the effect 
 of ice-raftering on a small island near the coast. 
 Many of the ice-rocks were placed in rows and 
 circles much like the pillars of Stonehenge, only 
 they were much larger and of greater magnitude. 
 On visiting the island some year or two after, I 
 found the character of the place quite changed. 
 On inquiry, I was told, that in the previous fall 
 a raftering of ice had taken place, and had 
 
100 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 broken the mass in fragments, entirely altering 
 its appearance. It is a sad sight to see a ship 
 on the weather edge of ice not enabled to work 
 off; for when the ice begins to rafter she is 
 thrown up, falls over, and becomes like corn 
 between two millstones, and is literally ground 
 up. 
 
WINTER — CHRISTMAS. 101 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 WINTER — CHRISTMAS. 
 
 " Now, boys, bear a hand ! ' cries the old 
 skipper. Where are the dogs ? Everything 
 is getting fast, and we must have them whilst 
 the weather is calm, or else we shall have a 
 breeze springing up, and, mayhap, lose all our 
 nets/' 
 
 The morrow comes, and with it quite a new 
 scene appears. The caulker has paid you a 
 visit daring the night, and when you wake in 
 the morning and look around, — particularly 
 towards the small patches of clear water in the 
 vicinity of your island, — you will observe a 
 
102 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 vapour rising about four feet from the surface ; 
 and were you in the midst of it, you would not 
 readily forget it. To use the expression of an 
 old hand, " it cuts like a knife ; " and sure 
 enough it does. Nay, it rather acts like a fur- 
 nace on the skin ; for wherever it passes the 
 bare flesh it burns the skin. You are now 
 forced to wear a flannel mask on the face. In 
 a few hours the whole surface of the land- 
 scape is one sheet of ice. Now comes a busy 
 time — laborious, and in many instances dan- 
 gerous in the extreme, — and you are actively 
 employed in the operation of " cutting out 
 your nets/ : which are generally placed about 
 a mile off the shore. A watchman is kept 
 on shore to indicate any change in the 
 weather, and to keep his eye on the move- 
 ment of the sea ; for should a heavy swell 
 suddenly break on the shore, it may shatter 
 
WINTER — CHRISTMAS. 103 
 
 and scatter the ice, and you will then have 
 to run for your life. 
 
 During one winter, it happened that a heavy 
 sea broke on the shores of Labrador from the 
 Atlantic, which pounded and then raftered the 
 ice to a considerable height. The temperature 
 then became mild for the time of year — De- 
 cember — the thermometer at about freezing 
 point. With the change in the weather the 
 seals made their appearance on the ice, which 
 was so thick, and jammed or packed so tightly, 
 that — once on — it was impossible for them to 
 penetrate through to reach the water, and they 
 thus became an easy prize. All hands but the 
 cook were sent out to kill and pelt them. This 
 continued for some days, which gave the men 
 reckless confidence in pursuit of their game ; 
 and after repeated cautions from old hands 
 not to stray too far from shore, in case of a 
 
104 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 shift of wind, two of the hands, disregarding 
 the caution, went far beyond ordinary limits, 
 and suffered serious injury for their temerity. 
 There suddenly came a shift of wind, the ice 
 moved, and the two over-brave — which is ano- 
 ther term for foolhardy — fellows were taken out 
 to sea. Fortunately for one of them he had on 
 a pair of Esquimaux boots, but the other only 
 had on mocassins, the uppers and soles of which 
 are of the same material, and these scarcely 
 covering up to the ankle. The Esquimaux 
 boots are very differently made from these, and 
 shield the leg right over the knee; and are 
 generally so large as to admit of the wearer 
 having on three thick flannel socks and a good 
 large " boot-stocking ' over these. Then comes 
 the boot itself over all, tied above the knee. 
 I leave the reader to conclude which of the two 
 poor fellows had the best chance of being pre- 
 
WINTER — CHRISTMAS. 105 
 
 served from frost-burns. They both passed a 
 wretched, dreary night, anticipating death with 
 all the horrors of cold and starvation. The one 
 with the boots could and did take exercise on 
 the ice ; but the other with the mocassins could 
 not, his feet having become wet and stiff near 
 the ankles. They drifted all through the night 
 farther and farther to sea ; but, fortunately, the 
 next day the wind as suddenly veered as it had 
 come, and late in the afternoon they were dis- 
 covered not very far from the Establishment. 
 They were soon rescued, and those rough men 
 wept like children and fervently thanked God. 
 I need not describe their appearance. They 
 were placed in warm quarters, and the one 
 who had boots on soon recovered. The usual 
 remedy for frost-burns is — as the homoeopathists 
 will rejoice to learn — snow. A tub of this 
 was procured in the present case, and the feet 
 
 F 
 
106 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 of the frost-bitten man were placed in it and 
 rubbed to establish a free circulation, and to 
 reanimate the burnt parts. This is done by- 
 rubbing with the palm of the hand. After 
 they had rubbed some time, they drew off his 
 stockings, when both feet came off with them, 
 just at the ankle joints ! There is no pain 
 during the early stage of a frost bite, but merely 
 a trifling sensation, as if a needle had slightly 
 pricked you. The pain comes when reanimation 
 and circulation take place ; then it has all the 
 arrowy agony of a severe burn. The poor 
 sufferer, in the case I have described, being 
 disabled for life, and there being no sort of 
 sedentary employment on the coast, was sent 
 to England, and being young, was, we subse- 
 quently heard, apprenticed to a tailor. 
 
 I must now return from the point where I 
 diverged to relate that sad story, and describe 
 
WINTER — CHRISTMAS. 107 
 
 the operation of cutting out nets from under 
 the ice. A series of holes are made in a direct 
 line over the nets, at about twenty feet apart, 
 say for near half-a-rnile. When this is done, 
 two long poles, tied together, are put into the 
 first hole, and, as it were, are threaded from one 
 hole to the other. At one end of the poles is 
 a line called a backing-line ; and at the extreme 
 end — say where the whole length of line has 
 been passed under the ice — a creeper or small 
 species of anchor is let down and trailed over 
 the nets, which — when hooked by the creeper — 
 are drawn up through one of the holes, the 
 seals cleared, drawn to the Establishment, and 
 placed in a heap which is covered with snow. 
 Should the take of seals be great, this work 
 continues for some days. When it is concluded, 
 the work for the year is finished, and the crews 
 quietly settle down, some in the backwoods and 
 
 F 2 
 
108 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 some on the coast. Those in the woods are 
 employed either in cutting down timber or in 
 building boats for the ensuing season, catching 
 furs or deer-hunting, or in whatever hits their 
 fancy best; but none are idle. On the coast 
 the men are also variously employed : in mending 
 salmon, herring, seal, and other nets, making 
 new ones, and in many other employments. On 
 every large establishment, for instance, there is a 
 cooperage for the manufacture of casks to secure 
 the oil rendered by the seal. At Christmas 
 the men have eight days' holiday, when all sorts 
 of rough sports are carried on. I say rough, 
 because the forfeits, beginning with rum, inva- 
 riably end in what is termed a " cobbing ;' which 
 means a dozen strokes across the soles of the 
 feet with a wooden slice. Should any one of 
 the crew absent himself from home on Christmas- 
 eve, a deputation from the remainder is sent in 
 
WINTER — CHRISTMAS* 109 
 
 search of him, and when found — even should 
 he be enjoying himself at the big house or the 
 cooperage — he is unceremoniously told to return 
 to his home, and immediately he leaves the 
 house the deputation commence chastising him 
 across the shoulders with old shoes, until he 
 reaches the dwelling where the crews are located, 
 when he undergoes a trial for his desertion, and, 
 as a matter of course, as it is Christmas-time, 
 he is fined one or two gallons of rum. Very 
 frequently more than one absent themselves, just 
 for the sake of being fined, and to give more 
 drink to the rest. The house these crews live 
 in is fitted up in the dormitory exactly like a 
 ship, with fifteen to twenty berths closed at the 
 ends and open in the centre. 
 
 A favourite Christmas game amongst the 
 men, enacted nearly every night during the 
 holidays, is — or was — one called u Sir Samuel 
 
110 KECOLLECTIONS OF LABKADOR LIFE. 
 
 and his Man Samuel," in which you are to obey 
 the orders of the first, but not of the second. 
 Consequently, when Sir Samuel gives an order, 
 his man contradicts it ; and whoever obeys the 
 latter becomes the object of " after-considera- 
 tion," which means that he is physically punished, 
 fined, or given some laborious task to perform. 
 I have seen the last carried out, to the delight 
 of many, on a lazy drone who was always 
 skulking his work. His forfeit, however, nearly 
 cost him his life. He was condemned to supply 
 the room with six turns of wood ; implying he 
 should go to the stack of wood six times, which 
 was at the foot of the hill, about three hundred 
 yards off; and as he knew he would have no 
 peace until his task was completed, away he 
 went on his errand. I cannot well describe the 
 night. The snow was dense in the air and 
 thick on the ground, and the cold was bitter 
 
WINTER — CHRISTMAS. Ill 
 
 and biting. Moreover, on the day before, an 
 extraordinarily large quantity of snow had fallen, 
 and, from the extreme coldness of the atmos- 
 phere, it had become as fine as the sand on the 
 coast of Africa, and as the wind came on to 
 blow in the evening, it commenced drifting or 
 flying in perfect whirlwinds. Only those who 
 have witnessed a snow-drift in this form can 
 conceive what it is like. It blinds and be- 
 wilders one, continually scudding round you, 
 and making you white as the ground. Now 
 this poor lazy fellow had made one trip with 
 great difficulty, and proceeded on the next 
 journey, but not returning quite so soon as it was 
 thought that he ought to do, a lantern was pro- 
 cured, and on issuing from the house and seeing 
 the state of the night, the practical jokers began 
 to get alarmed. Although, as I have said, the 
 pile of wood was only about three hundred yards 
 
112 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 4 
 
 distant, none dared go to it without a guide. 
 This guide is not a living but an artificial one. 
 A ball of twine is procured and one end made 
 fast to the door-post and the other held in the 
 hand of the u adventurer." One of the crew, 
 with this guide, went to the pile, but when it 
 was reached the missing man was not there. 
 The whole of them then went with the same 
 result. To attempt to trace him was out of the 
 question ; to halloo was useless, as the roar of 
 the wind was awful. Fortunately the man him- 
 self caught a glimpse of the lantern, and made 
 for it and returned home. 
 
 It is at Christmas-day that the old hands 
 make their almanacs. I can best explain how 
 this is done by giving the information as I re- 
 ceived it : " Why, you see," said an old fellow, 
 " I've got this 'ere board, and makes my almanac 
 upon that. I divides the first day after Christ- 
 
WINTER — CHRISTMAS. 1 1 3 
 
 mas into four parts, and takes notes of the 
 quarter the wind blows from, and makes my 
 observations on the same, and calls that January 
 — each quarter o' the day representing a week ; 
 and I do the same up to the sixth of January, 
 being twelve days after Christmas. I consider 
 them there twelve days represents the twelve 
 months of the year, and as I have made these 
 almanacs for forty years and have always found 
 them true, you can just laugh as much as you 
 like." I must confess the owner of this almanac 
 was always an authority as to how the summer 
 would turn out, the time the coast would be 
 clear of ice, what sort of fall it would be, &c. 
 I visited the old man's quarters, and there I 
 found, transferred from his board to the side of 
 his room, sundry queer hieroglyphics which he 
 said he understood well himself, and which I 
 daresay he did. Coupled with the wolf s-head, 
 
 F 3 
 
114 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 this primitive way of rivalling Murphy some- 
 what impressed me : at all events, I have seen 
 enough to know that only fools laugh at the 
 simple lore of old folk. 
 
THE WOODS WOOD-HOUSES, ETC. 115 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE WOODS — WOOD-HOUSES, ETC. 
 
 -+&*• 
 
 Taking advantage of a fine clear morn, I har- 
 nessed my team of fifteen dogs, and started up 
 the Bay of St. Lewis to inspect the work that 
 was doing in the woods, where the crews had 
 been located in their habitations for near three 
 months. Generally they settle down about two 
 miles apart. Although dreary, cold, and in a 
 sense out of the world, life passes with but few 
 checks ; for here, truly, man is monarch of all 
 he surveys. He kills all he can, without certifi- 
 cate or fear of game-laws. 
 
 The settler, in fixing his home, selects a 
 
116 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 square plot of growing trees, say about eighteen 
 feet ; he then cuts down the centre ones, and 
 leaves the four corner ones, denuded of their 
 branches to the height of about nine feet. On 
 these four trees the " wall-plate " is laid, and 
 upright timbers are placed side by side until 
 the whole is enclosed, save a place for the door- 
 way and the fireplace — the latter also answering 
 the purpose of a window, as there are none in 
 the sides of the house. The whole of the sides 
 are caulked, or clinched, with a species of moss 
 called on the coast " molldow." This caulking 
 or filling-up the crevices makes the house all but 
 air-tight. Next to the outer walls are the 
 sleeping cabins, built precisely in the same man- 
 ner as on board ship. The fireplace which, as 
 I say, also admits light, is built inside, or square 
 with the building, and is about nine feet long 
 and four feet wide. The chimney being built 
 
THE WOODS — WOOD-HOUSES, ETC. 117 
 
 entirely of wood, a " household engine "— that 
 is, a bucket of water — is kept at hand, and a 
 ladder kept stationed at the back in case of fire. 
 It generally happens that the chimney catches 
 fire two or three times a night, which, however, 
 does not in anywise interfere with the sports of 
 the evening. One pauses in his conversation, 
 and quietly observes, " I say, Jack, the chimney 
 is on fire ; just take the bucket and cup, and 
 sing out when you are up.' 3 Up goes Jack, 
 and when on the top of the ladder he peers 
 down on the company below, and sings out, 
 "Here I am — look out! 5 and down comes the 
 water. These small fires are so frequent that 
 they are looked upon as matters of course, and 
 the young grow up to manhood and teach their 
 offspring how to manage them, but no one 
 thinks of teaching them how to build a less dan- 
 gerous description of chimney ; but I have seen 
 
118 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 this dealing with remits rather than with causes 
 in far more advanced communities ! 
 
 The roof of the house is composed of dried 
 bark of the birch-tree placed on rafters. The 
 bark is cut about three feet long, and from say 
 eighteen to twenty-four inches wide. The floor 
 of the house is composed of the same material 
 as the sides — small trees cut and squared, and 
 placed side by side. These are called "longers,' : 
 which, I suppose, is an abbreviation for " long- 
 layers." To live in the backwoods with a jolly 
 set of men is a jolly life enough ! There is no 
 care ; there are no taxes — no debts or duns ; and 
 there is ample occupation to keep the woodsman 
 employed. One party of men are engaged 
 cutting down trees for summer supply ; others 
 are felling them for various uses, such as the 
 manufacture of staves for casks and shingles 
 for covering roofs of houses. A wood-shingle, 
 
THE WOODS — WOOD-HOUSES, ETC. 119 
 
 I may explain, is a small piece of wood which 
 answers the purpose of the slate in England. 
 Another section of the crew are employed 
 in the building of boats, and at one time the 
 English Government gave a premium to settlers 
 for building ships, but this is now a " matter of 
 history." The premium, when it existed, was, 
 that if a man built himself six ships, the English 
 Government would fit out his seventh. I pre- 
 sume Government found the seventh was some- 
 thing special in size, and so the premium was 
 discontinued. 
 
 The evenings in the backwoods are spent 
 merrily enough ; the nights being long, time 
 must be passed somehow, and the woodsmen 
 tell their stories, drink their rum, and sing their 
 rough sea-choruses with the liveliest enjoyment. 
 After supper there is generally a dance, the 
 music of which (lacking ordinary instruments) 
 
1 20 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 is played upon the chin. The dancing is, of 
 course, more gleesome than graceful, and both 
 the male and female partners are somewhat de- 
 sirous to shine in their movements. Now, 
 should it happen that a traveller is passing your 
 dwelling, he is sure to come in (without idle 
 compliments passing) and share in the evening's 
 festivities. Such is the hospitality of the country 
 
 ■ 
 
 that everyone's house is open to everyone. 
 
 I forgot to mention one person who generally 
 figures high in the woodman's crew — I mean 
 the gunner, or the man who provides the crew 
 with fresh craft — the term "fresh craft" signifying 
 fresh provisions. I have already stated that all 
 the fresh food you can get in the woods you 
 must kill or snare ; and the gunner's occupation 
 is to " develop" the rabbit-paths by setting 
 traps. These paths are sometimes ten or even 
 fifteen miles in length, and as many as seven or 
 
THE WOODS — WOOD-HOUSES, ETC. 121 
 
 eight hundred rabbits will be killed by one man 
 in the course of the winter. 
 
 Something rather ludicrous occurred during 
 my sojourn in the woods. The reader must 
 know that the men's axes should be very keen 
 to cut and hew timber ; and for the purpose of 
 sharpening these tools, grinding-stones are kept 
 by the crews. Now the climate is so severe, 
 that cold water is not of the least use for the 
 purpose of wetting the stone, as immediately 
 it goes on it becomes ice. The only plan is 
 to have boiling water. A crew I was visiting 
 happened to be a double crew, two parties 
 
 having built houses adjacent to each other ; and 
 
 « 
 
 one morning a man came to the " missus,' 5 and 
 asked for a kettle of water, with which to grind 
 his axe: "An sure you can't have one, as it's 
 full.' 3 " Well, then, let me have a boat's- 
 kettle." < An' sure that's full." " Well," said 
 
122 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 the man, " if the kettle is full and the boat's- 
 kettle is full, lend me one or the other of the 
 saucepans. 53 " An' sure you can't have any of 
 them same — they are all full !" The poor 
 fellow being disappointed, and not liking to be 
 idle, went to the neighbour's house, and inquired 
 if he could borrow a kettle or saucepan with 
 which to assist him in grinding his axe. " An' 
 sure," was the bland reply from another of 
 Erin's daughters, "it's only just afore you came 
 that Biddy borrowed the whole of my stock for 
 something she was about indoors.' : Once more 
 disappointed, he takes a sly peep into the hut, 
 and there he sees Biddy literally up to her eyes 
 in rice ! The skipper had bought two bushels 
 of rice in the fall of the year, and Biddy — not 
 knowing the expanding properties of the grain — 
 had put it all at once into a large saucepan, in 
 order to give the crew a treat. Poor Biddy! 
 
THE WOODS WOOD-HOUSES, ETC. 123 
 
 There she was — invoking all the saints in the 
 calendar to give her help, as the rice boiled up 
 and up, and came whitening over the pot ; and 
 by the time the husband came from his daily 
 toil, Biddy had rice enough to last the two 
 crews for some months. It was very laughable 
 to hear the poor soul singing out to her daughter, 
 \ Now, Nelly, fetch me another pan. Oh ! 
 Wishee ! — wishee ! The Deil's in the pot ! 
 Oh, Father, have mercy! — the blessed rice has 
 multiplied, and is rising like a moniment up the 
 chimney ! Oh, run to the next house, and get 
 me another pot, or a pan, or anything you can ! 
 Haste, Nelly — for this is getting worse than the 
 widdy's cruse !" 
 
124 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 CHAPTEE XL 
 
 THE ESQUIMAUX, 
 
 From the Bay of St. Lewis I took a stroll one 
 breezy, bracing morning, towards the Esquimaux 
 settlement or encampment, and was agreeably 
 surprised at what I saw. I found them clean, 
 and apparently cheerful. The wigwam they live 
 in is built in a small valley, so that when it snows 
 in the winter it will be entirely covered in, A 
 plurality of wives was by no means uncommon 
 with them ; and, strange to say, I never heard of 
 any disagreement amongst either male or female 
 on that account. A denial is not known amongst 
 them. The words " you shall not,' : and " I 
 
THE ESQUIMAUX. 125 
 
 won't,' 5 are not in their vocabulary. Indeed I 
 don't think their meaning could be explained to 
 them. Some one in a family makes it known that 
 he intends shooting deer on the morrow; another 
 says, " I shall go ;'' another, " I shall stay here." 
 Even the young ones, if they have a wish, are 
 never denied its gratification ; and so they live 
 in unity and peace without anger or envy. How 
 often do I look back on these people in their 
 cold but happy home, where there is really no sin 
 but polygamy ! Theft is unknown, drunkenness 
 is a stranger to them. In stature they differ 
 less than any other people I know, the all but 
 uniform height being about five feet six inches. 
 They are capable of enduring much fatigue, are 
 active in body, fleet on foot, and splendid shots 
 to two or three hundred yards. While I was 
 staying with them, one of the party, to prove 
 his skill with the gun, performed the following 
 
126 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 feat : — As we were in the open country, and 
 there was no tangible object to shoot at, he 
 made a circle in the snow of about two feet in 
 diameter, then stepping in the centre raised his 
 gun perpendicular from the shoulder and fired 
 in the air. After firing he stepped out of the 
 ring, and in a few seconds, to my astonishment, 
 the bullet came down within the circle he had 
 made. He coolly remarked, " We want no 
 targets to fire at ;" and if a man can hold his 
 musket with that precision as to cause the ball to 
 return to fall just where he stands, what need has 
 he of a butt ? But the principal reason why they 
 thus test their shooting is an economic one; 
 not being always able to get bullets, they are 
 chary of firing them away; and I have no 
 doubt it is for the same reason that so many 
 savage people have the " boomerang' or return- 
 missile. 
 
THE ESQUIMAUX. 127 
 
 The Esquimaux are fond of music and danc- 
 ing, are apt mechanics, and will readily imitate 
 anything they see. For example, I showed one 
 a violin, and on a visit to his wigwam some 
 months after, I found he had manufactured an 
 instrument from the birch-tree, the strings being 
 made from the seal-gut. The most curious part 
 was the bow. On asking him how he managed 
 to make it, he pointed, with a smile, to his 
 wife's head, and sure enough I found the hair 
 on the head and that on the bow corresponded. 
 The women, I should add, have long coarse 
 black hair, kept remarkably clean, and gene- 
 rally plaited and strung with particoloured 
 beads, which — like the modern hair-nets — have 
 a pretty appearance. Not that the women 
 themselves are pretty ; nay, they are the very 
 opposite, and appear all to belong to one family. 
 Indeed so great is the resemblance one to an- 
 
128 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 other (and may not this arise, as with other 
 simple people, from their common habits and 
 customs — from their lack of individuality ?) that 
 it was some time before I could distinguish Tom 
 from Jack. Like the settlers on the coast, they 
 are very superstitious, and are easily worked 
 upon. They have an extraordinary sight, seeing 
 objects distinctly two or three miles distant, and 
 telling if they are deer, or foxes, or what not. 
 Another sense they have most keenly developed 
 is that of smell. I have often travelled with them, 
 and on seeing marks in the snow, they would 
 immediately sniff it, and say what animal it was ; 
 and if it had passed within twelve hours, would 
 say to an hour when it had passed ; and — 
 strangest of all — if the animal was in chase 
 or being chased. 
 
 We get some fine sunshiny days on the coast 
 in winter as well as in summer, and should the 
 
THE ESQUIMAUX. 129 
 
 weather be calm, you may have an easy day's 
 sport in the woods, and that without any expen- 
 diture of powder and shot. This is the mode 
 you must adopt : Cut a stick some six feet long, 
 at the end tie a piece of twine, with a noose or 
 running knot ; take your game-bag with you, 
 and proceed to a grove of firs, examine the 
 same, and amongst the lower branches you will 
 see the spruce partridge, perfectly careless of 
 your presence, airing himself in the sum Walk 
 noiselessly to the tree and place the noose near 
 your victim^ and with the grace and urbanity of 
 a French criminal, he will quietly poke his head 
 through and allow himself to be executed. The 
 death is momentary, as the bird strangles him- 
 self; and as in so doing he makes no noise to 
 disturb his companions, you may fill your bag in 
 a short space of time. 
 
 The sport is very different if the wind blows ; 
 
 G 
 
130 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 the birds then are difficult to get at — the noose 
 is useless — and it requires a practised shot to 
 kill them properly, as if struck anywhere else 
 than through the head, they are not eatable ; 
 tasting bitter as the spruce. These partridges 
 do not turn white in winter. They are much 
 like the grouse of this country, and are quite as 
 good eating when properly shot. The white 
 partridge is, as regards habits and food, the 
 reverse of the former ; and affords at all times 
 exciting sport. After a heavy fall of light snow, 
 say to the depth of six or eight feet, if the wea- 
 ther be calm and the sun bright, you may observe 
 numbers of these delicious birds disporting them- 
 selves in the snow. I say in the snow, as from 
 the intense cold and fineness of its quality, they 
 take a dive in it some eighteen inches under 
 the surface, as if it were water, and rise eight or 
 ten feet from their starting point. This it is 
 
THE ESQUIMAUX. 131 
 
 which makes the sport exciting, as when the 
 bird dives, he is just as likely to take a right as 
 a left angle, or to go straight ahead as to take 
 either; and you have to be quick, both of eye 
 and trigger, to hit him at the very moment he 
 reappears. These birds feed on the buds of 
 the birch-tree, which give them a peculiarly 
 fine flavour ; indeed the crop of the white 
 partridge, when it is cut open, affords quite a 
 "bouquet." 
 
 In extreme severe winters the Esquimaux — 
 from whom the partridges led me — are often 
 hard driven for food ; then the toil to procure 
 it sometimes results in the death of the hunter, 
 or " watcher." Here is a touching instance in 
 illustration. Let me, however, premise by say- 
 ing, the seals which are not migratory may be 
 found all through the winter in the different 
 small bays, and may be caught by stratagem 
 
 G 2 
 
132 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 and patience. In a former chapter I have said 
 that this animal, like the beaver, is of social 
 habits, and lives in communities. But one 
 thing is essential for the life of the larger sort, 
 and that is a constant supply of fresh air. For 
 the purpose of obtaining this necessary element, 
 holes are kept open by the seals throughout 
 the winter, and are called by the Esquimaux 
 " blowing-holes." 
 
 On a fine cold day you may see the seal 
 basking in the sun near his hole with perhaps 
 one or two Esquimaux warily watching his 
 movements ; for should the seal hear the slightest 
 noise, down he goes to the waters beneath. But 
 should the surface of the hole have become 
 frozen during the afternoon's nap, he has no 
 time to open it before his pursuer is upon him, 
 and then he becomes an easy prize. The mode the 
 seal adopts when he discovers he is frozen out of 
 
THE ESQUIMAUX. 133 
 
 his element is curious in the extreme. Finding 
 himself disturbed and the means of retreat cut 
 off, he stands as it were on his head, and, using 
 the fore-fins or phrippers as a motive power, 
 whirls himself round at an inconceivable speed. 
 The mouth being open during the rotary 
 motion, acts somehow as an immense auger, 
 and soon penetrates the five or six inches of 
 new-formed ice on the surface of the blowing- 
 hole. 
 
 Now — coming to my narrative— it happened 
 that an Esquimaux family were hard pressed for 
 food, and for some time the weather was so 
 boisterous that none dared move out. Fortu- 
 nately a lull came, and with it sunshine, and then 
 away went the watchers to examine the blow- 
 holes in the bay, in the hopes of returning in 
 the evening with a prize. On these excursions 
 the watchers are provided with a small stool to 
 
134 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 sit on. Besides this they have a sharp spear, 
 made of bone, arrow-shaped, and inserted in the 
 top of a stave about four to six feet long. 
 Attached to the spear is a long cord, manu- 
 factured from the skin of the seal. The end is 
 generally made fast, if on land, round the body 
 of the hunter, and if on the water, to the kyack, 
 or canoe. 
 
 Now it chanced that one of these watchers, a 
 woman, had observed a monster seal for some 
 hours ; and, feeling assured the hole had frozen so 
 that she could reach the spot before the seal could 
 bore through the ice, she ran forward, dart in 
 hand ; but, observing her movements, the animal 
 was on his head in «a moment and turning round 
 like a spin-top. The poor Esquimaux hastened 
 up and plunged the dart through the seal's skin, 
 but unfortunately he had just finished boring, 
 and down he went, with the dart firmly fixed in 
 
THE ESQUIMAUX. 135 
 
 his hide. The act was so sudden the poor crea- 
 ture had no time to disengage the cord round 
 her waist, and was drawn across the hole with 
 such frightful force that she was doubled up as 
 it were in a funnel, without the power of 
 moving, the seal acting as a dead weight on 
 her body. When her companions came up, 
 they had the sickening sight of beholding her 
 broken corpse, attached to which was the 
 monster seal, still plunging for liberty. After 
 much toil they disentangled the corpse, and 
 killed the animal, — a sorry recompense for the 
 loss of a sister. 
 
 Such are some of the hardships these poor 
 people undergo. The youngest are sent out 
 trapping or catching furs, and begin a hard hand- 
 to-hand battle of life when other children are just 
 sent to school. 
 
 The burial of the Esquimaux is an interesting 
 
136 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABKADOR LIFE. 
 
 ceremony. A heap of stones is gathered ; the 
 H kyack,' : and all the departed's hunting imple- 
 ments, are collected and arranged in order by 
 his side, with a supply of food, a pipe, tobacco, 
 &c. When the preparations are complete, he is 
 taken to the pile, everything is placed in order 
 around him, and then all is carefully covered 
 over to the height of about four feet, apertures 
 being left here and there to admit air. The 
 grief of his friends is calm but touching. The 
 Esquimaux, like the Greenlanders, believe in 
 the immortality of the soul, and that the 
 dead go to the land of spirits, and there enjoy 
 the felicity of hunting from age to age, while 
 the body remains behind and moulders in the 
 dust. 
 
 The women have seldom more than two or 
 three children, and these at the intervals of two 
 or three years. They are very fond of their 
 
THE ESQUIMAUX. 137 
 
 offspring, and carry them in a hood on their 
 back wherever they go, suckling them for two or 
 three years. These children are quiet, and, as I 
 have said, never know a denial. They are 
 brought up without fear, and, I may remark, 
 without vice. 
 
 The people are very jealous of the resting- 
 places of their departed relatives, and make 
 frequent visits to them to see if the tomb has 
 been disturbed. Whenever they find it has, 
 great is their tribulation, as they consider some 
 dire mishap is about to fall on the family. ,1 
 know of more than one Englishman who visited 
 some tombs, and finding only the blanched bones, 
 took two or three skulls awav, much to the 
 terror of the Esquimaux, who, I believe, could 
 they have identified the culprits, would ■ have 
 slaughtered them on the spot. Strange to say, 
 during my sojourn on the coast I rarely 
 
 a 3 
 

 138 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 heard of any sickness among these people. 
 Neither insanity nor idiocy is known. The 
 women live to a greater age than the men, the 
 latter generally dying at the age of from fifty 
 to sixty, and the former at from seventy to 
 eighty. 
 
 The Loon, a large fowl of the diving class, 
 furnishes them with covering instead of blankets : 
 the skins are dried and sewn together, and are 
 impervious to wet. In fact the whole of the 
 clothing made by these people has this same 
 quality. As fashion is not studied, a suit of 
 clothes or a cassock and trousers are supposed 
 to last ten or fifteen years. The dress of the 
 female much resembles that of the male, only it 
 
 is more elongated in the back. 
 
 •^ 
 
 In winter their principal food is the seal, 
 which is sometimes eaten raw. They are also 
 fond of the oil as a sauce for other dainties, 
 
THE ESQUIMAUX. 139 
 
 amongst which are the entrails of the deer. 
 This boiled with seal or train oil is a favourite 
 dish with them. Truly, there is no accounting 
 for tastes ! 
 
140 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 ADVENTURES — FOX-TRAPPING 
 
 I remember that on returning from my visit 
 to the Esquimaux encampment, I found, on 
 reaching the landwash, where I and my party 
 intended to cross to our station, the sea heaving 
 in from the broad Atlantic. It was a strange 
 sight — the ice rolling like the waves of the sea, 
 but still too thick and tough to be broken. It 
 withstood the force of the under-rolling waves 
 that night. The dog appears endowed with a 
 keener sense of danger than man, for on urging 
 ours—to the number of fourteen — to take the 
 ice, they one and all lay down and refused to 
 
ADVENTURES — FOX-TRAPPING. 141 
 
 move. Of course we had the sense to be guided 
 by them, and return along the shore to a nar- 
 rower part of the bay, so as to cross in safety. 
 After some difficulty, and a walk of ten miles, 
 we reached the mainland, and found shelter for 
 the night in a woodman's hut. Early in the 
 morning I started alone, leaving my man and 
 dogs to come after me, following my track 
 through the snow. I had gone about five miles, 
 when crossing the river-head, or extreme end of 
 a small cove, I found the sea had increased in 
 violence, and the ice had commenced breaking 
 adrift; with some risk I crossed to the opposite 
 side, when on looking towards the point from 
 which I had started, I found there was a space 
 of some feet of clear water, with the sea already 
 breaking over the beach. Communication I knew 
 was now cut off from the dogs in that direction, 
 and they would have to make a circuit of at least 
 
142 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 ten miles before they could reach me. About 
 mid-day I lost sight of the sun, and, to my con- 
 sternation, it began blowing, while the breeze 
 was accompanied w 7 ith a regular snow-storm and 
 drift. To have remained stationary would have 
 been death. Everv now and then I looked at 
 my compass to direct me to an island about a 
 mile distant from the one on which I resided ; 
 and, thanks to Providence ! I reached it just 
 before dark. I then made an attempt to cross 
 to my own island, but it was only a faint effort, 
 as immediately I ventured on an ice-pan a sea 
 hove in and sent me and the pan about five feet 
 on the rocks. 
 
 The island I was on was inhabited in the 
 summer months by fishermen who migrated from 
 Newfoundland to prosecute the cod-fishery, and 
 returned in the fall to their homes to sell their 
 hard earning for cash to the Spaniards and 
 
ADVENTURES — FOX-TRAPPING. 143 
 
 others who resort there for the purpose of pur- 
 chasing for their own markets. True the houses 
 of these fishermen, from the primitive way in 
 which they were built, afforded but little shelter, 
 being, for the most part, unroofed. But ne- 
 cessity is the mother of invention (as I have 
 found perhaps as frequently as the reader has 
 heard), and, knowing all the huts well, I selected 
 the best — though bad was the best — and set to 
 work to make it habitable. The roof had fallen 
 in with the weight of snow, but in a neighbouring 
 stage or shed for curing fish I found a quantity 
 of dry spruce-boughs, with several empty casks 
 of large dimensions, with one head out. I made 
 a bed in one of these with the boughs, and placed 
 the closed head to windward, and thought I was 
 about to sleep, imagining the sledge and dogs 
 would soon overtake me. I must inform the 
 reader that when in the morning I had quitted 
 
144 RECOLLECTIONS OP LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 my companions, I had left everything behind 
 me, even my matchbox, gunpowder, tobacco, 
 and drinking-flask. Into the kennel I had 
 prepared I now crawled, but I soon found my 
 blood begin to chill, while a pressing sensation 
 came across my temples, with a coldness across 
 my chest. Fortunately I knew the remedy for 
 the latter, which was to tighten my belt ; and so, 
 as soon as I found the pain begin, I drew the belt 
 tighter and tighter around me. Fortunately I 
 had a good fur cap, but from the fatigue of the 
 day, and from having perspired freely, it became 
 cold and made me feel uneasv. I knew now 
 if I slept I should never awake. Luckily for 
 me I had two pocket-handkerchiefs, one silk 
 and the other cotton. I took my cap off, and 
 tied the cotton one over my head and face, 
 and then I bound the silk one over it. This, I 
 have no doubt, saved my life. My time was 
 
ADVENTURES — FOX-TRAPPING. 145 
 
 employed the whole night in walking backward 
 and forward, and every now and then I found 
 myself striking at some object, which I fancied 
 had entered the shed, when, my fist coming in 
 contact with a cask or post, I was suddenly 
 called back to consciousness. Thus I passed 
 fourteen long and dreary hours, and when day 
 broke it was beautiful bright weather, with the 
 thermometer at fifteen to twenty degrees below 
 zero ! As I felt hungry I again tightened my 
 belt and felt relieved. I visited the spot where 
 I attempted to cross the night before, and found 
 the ice all gone, and the sea smooth as glass 
 to the opposite island, a distance of about three 
 quarters of a mile. The w T ind, having shifted in 
 the night to the north-west, had sent the sea 
 down, but had brought intense cold. To have 
 attempted to retrace my steps from where I 
 started the day before would have been madness. 
 
146 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 as I could not have borne the cutting blast. I 
 said to myself, " The ravens are now plentiful 
 
 on the coast, and ,' and then I prayed to 
 
 the Father of all. About noon I fancied I 
 heard the bark of dogs, and, on going on a rise 
 of the island, I had the great joy of seeing the 
 whole team bounding like mad things, about a 
 quarter of a mile off. Soon they gained up to 
 me, and I asked my man for something to eat 
 and drink. " Lor bless your soul, sir," was his 
 reply, u we have been out all night in the bush, 
 only we had a fire, and all I have are a couple 
 of biscuits and a drop of rum in the bottle, which 
 you must not yet touch." 
 
 The first thing we now did was to kindle a 
 fire, by knocking one house down for firewood. 
 After boiling some water, I had a small drink of 
 rum with some water and part of a biscuit. 
 Having now my tobacco, a good fire, and a com- 
 
ADVENTURES — POX-TRAPPING. 147 
 
 panion, the night (although I was still all but 
 in the open air), was not so dreary as the last. 
 On the morning of the third day we proceeded 
 to the landwash to see if the ice would bear. 
 The dogs refused to cross, and we w r ere com- 
 pelled to remain until afternoon, when they 
 crossed without fear, and — although the whole 
 journey was but ten miles — we arrived at home 
 about four o'clock of the third day of our start- 
 ing. Our friends anticipated what had hap- 
 pened, and had everything prepared for our 
 reception. On my nearing the Establishment I 
 was met by two of the old hands, who congra- 
 tulated me on my narrow escape, and tendered 
 cautions touching the danger of eating too much 
 at first, which, they assured me, might bring on 
 inflammation. I took their advice, and profited 
 by it, as I never suffered the least inconveni- 
 ence from my night in the snow ; and, moreover, 
 
148 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 it taught me never again to travel alone in a 
 wild and dreary country. After my long fasting 
 I was never better in my life, and on the third 
 day I felt as if I could have walked any distance 
 without feeling fatigued. When the Esquimaux 
 are pinched with hunger, they adopt the ex- 
 pedient of bracing themselves every time they 
 feel it coming on, and I am told they will live 
 many days with only a small quantity of food 
 and a little drink. From abstinence the Esqui- 
 maux hardly know any of the ills which flesh is 
 heir to in our over-feeding civilized communities. 
 The only complaint they suffer from is blindness 
 at an advanced age in the left eye ; the females 
 are especial victims to this affliction. I don't 
 recollect meeting one over sixty years of age 
 who had not lost the sight of the left eye. This 
 prevalence of blindness doubtless arises from 
 the glare of the sun on the ice in the spring of 
 
ADVENTURES — FOX-TRAPPING. 149 
 
 the year, when millions of discs are formed in a 
 single focus to the eye ; the effect is, that the 
 " beholder' becomes suddenly blind for some 
 days. The remedy applied is simple, but especi- 
 ally painful : a tub of snow is procured and the 
 patient has his or her head enveloped in a hood, 
 which falls down and reaches round the edge of 
 the tub. A shot is then made white hot and 
 thrown into the snow ; instantly a cloud of steam 
 is engendered, the film before the eye (caused by 
 the action of the snow) bursts, the humour is 
 scaldingly discharged, and the sufferer receives 
 immediate relief. Of course the patient is kept 
 in a dark room for some days, so that the tone 
 of the nerve may be re-established. 
 
 Shortly after my return home I began to 
 devote myself to my fox-traps. It is a hard 
 employment, but exciting and healthy. Some 
 fine morning away you trudge with half-a-dozen 
 
150 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 large iron fox-traps on your gun, across some five 
 or six miles of the most barren part of the island, 
 and these you set on the land, elevated so that 
 they shall not be covered in with the snow — each 
 about one mile apart from the next. Great care 
 must be taken in setting them so as to disguise 
 the place, which must look as if no traps were 
 there. Two holes are cut diagonally with each 
 other, and in each of these you place a trap 
 (having first tied the bait under it), and neatly 
 cover it over. In this you cannot be too care- 
 ful, as if the fox saw the least sign of iron he 
 would know it was " unnatural ; to the place, and 
 leave it alone. Sometimes a fox will dig in the 
 immediate neighbourhood of a trap, with the 
 hopes of undermining it, but in this operation — 
 clever and characteristic as it is — he is generally 
 caught by the under-jaw. One day I found 
 a fox in this situation quite alive, having but 
 
ADVENTURES — FOX-TRAPPING. 151 
 
 just been trapped. He had displayed great 
 cunning in his mining operations, but just as 
 he thought he was about walking off with his 
 prize, " click : went the spring, and he was 
 captured. 
 
 The skin of the fox being more or less valu- 
 able, care is taken in killing him so that it shall 
 be injured as little as may be. The common 
 practice is to throw yourself across the body, 
 seize him by the throat, and press the knee on 
 his chest ; and then, when you find the heart cease 
 to beat, to strip poor Reynard at your leisure. 
 This smothering process keeps the skin free 
 from blood, the stains of which would lessen its 
 value. Besides the fox, chance may throw a 
 martin in your trap, or it may be a weasel — the 
 rich ermine of which is rather scarce on the 
 coast. 
 
 After these daily excursions, the evenings are 
 
152 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 generally spent in some cheerful way — mostly 
 in telling stories of home and youth, as if to 
 refresh the bleak Present with a peep of the 
 ever-roseate Past. 
 
SPRING, SPRING-DUCK S, ETC. 153 
 
 CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 SPRING, SPRING-DUCKS, ETC. 
 
 ■+o+- 
 
 It frequently happens on the coast that in mid- 
 winter we have what is termed a " silver-thaw/ 5 
 when it rains and freezes at the same time. 
 The wind is then generally from the east, the 
 weather is boisterous, and numbers of birds of 
 two kinds — the one kind lean and the other fat 
 and well-favoured — come whirring down upon 
 us. The former is the ptarmigan, a bird of the 
 grouse kind. It generally weighs about a pound 
 — seldom, if ever, more. After the long journey 
 these ptarmigans must have had, they arrive in 
 poor condition, and are scarce worth the trouble 
 
 H 
 
154 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 of killing. It is not so with the other sort — a 
 delicious, small but plump bird, called on the 
 coast the "snow-bird/' and in England the 
 ortolan,, Of these I have caught as many as 
 two hundred a day. They are, even in Labra- 
 dor, one perfect mass of fat, but are not of an 
 over-rich flavour. They are, as in England, 
 about the size of our bullfinches, and I have had 
 as many as a hundred in a pie at one time, 
 which beats the " four-and-twenty blackbirds.' 5 
 
 These birds are always the forerunners' — 
 generally, in one sense, the bringers — of rough, 
 stormy weather, when the seals again make 
 their appearance, and when some fresh sport is 
 unexpectedly afforded to those who are fond of 
 
 it. With an easterly wind the weather is 
 
 */ 
 
 generally thick, and the sun is obscured. The 
 temperature, too, undergoes very rapid changes : 
 at midday it will thaw and in the evening freeze, 
 
SPRING, SPRING-DUCKS, ETC. 155 
 
 so that the ground becomes dangerous to walk 
 on. We generally wear what on the coast are 
 called " creepers," which are made in the shape 
 of a cross with thick " starts/' and which are 
 much the same as cricketers wear in England. 
 Many a fall have I had over a rock during the 
 prevalence of a " silver-thaw,' ; and only had 
 Providence and the creepers to thank that I 
 have not been seriously injured. After the 
 thaw, bright sunshine appears again, with a 
 cold, cutting, north-west wind, " bracing up the 
 nerves, ' : as the fishermen phrase it, " to the 
 tune of ' No Doctor Wanted. 5 " Plenty of 
 exercise, an ample supply of good plain food, 
 and an all but raw-edged appetite, keep the 
 medicine-chest well closed. The only time du- 
 ring my residence that I was particular, even as 
 regarded extra clothing, was in the spring of the 
 year, when the ice began thawing. Then I 
 
 H 2 
 
156 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 took to flannel, which, as summer came on, was 
 left off, and the ordinary skin-dress resumed. 
 
 The spring of the year — which the reader 
 will be kind enough to imagine has dawned 
 upon the coast — brings on a busy time. The 
 pounds in which the seals caught in the fall of 
 last year were placed, are opened and exposed 
 to the heat of the midday sun, so that the skin 
 may be thawed from the fat of the animal. 
 When sufficiently thawed, skinning takes place, 
 and the most expert and strong-armed men are 
 employed for the purpose. Under favourable 
 circumstances, one man will take off about fif- 
 teen skins a day. The fat is then removed and 
 placed in a store for the purpose of being cut up 
 into small pieces, so as to be easily melted and 
 converted into seal-oil. The operation is thus 
 performed : a man takes what is termed a 
 " rand," or large piece of fat, just as it happens 
 
SPRING, SPRING-DUCKS, ETC. 157 
 
 V 
 
 to be cut off the animal, and, placing it on a 
 table, sticks a steel behind the knife, and cuts 
 away in the same manner as is done in England 
 when suet is cut up for a pudding. When this is 
 done, the process of what is termed " rendering 
 out" the oil is commenced. On large establish- 
 ments, from four to six or eight large iron 
 boilers are erected in brickwork ; and in these 
 the fat is placed, the fires are lighted, and, when 
 the whole boils up, the manufacture is complete. 
 Great pains must be taken not to allow the 
 mass to boil too much, as over-boiling decreases 
 and discolours the oil. When properly "done/ 5 
 the oil should be of a pale straw-colour. Many 
 a savoury dish is cooked in this boiling oil. 
 One — a great favourite with the settlers- — is the 
 same as that cooked on board the South Sea 
 whalers, and known as the " South Sea tea- 
 cake." Here is the recipe : take of flour and 
 
158 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 water enough to bind the former in a stiff paste, 
 then consolidate it into the consistency of dough 
 with brown sugar ; when this is done, roll it out 
 into thin pieces, like wafers, and cut according 
 to your taste. Throw the pieces on the boiling 
 oil, and they immediately swell up like an egg ; 
 and, except that there is no egg in the business, 
 are much like the cakes made in the island of 
 Jersey, called u merveilles." 
 
 After taking out as much oil as possible, and 
 placing it in a tank, the remainder in the boiler, 
 called u scrunchens," is collected, and undergoes 
 the process of being pressed with a strong screw, 
 just as tallow-chandlers press the fat after the 
 sundry substances collected by them, from which 
 to manufacture candles, have been melted down. 
 When sufficiently cool, the oil is placed in casks 
 for early shipment to England in the summer, 
 or, should a quantity have been " caught," a 
 
SPRING, SPRING-DUCKS, ETC. 159 
 
 ship is at once despatched with the cargo. Talk- 
 ing of ships, I may briefly mention — and through- 
 out, let me parenthetically add, I have studiously 
 cultivated brevity — that, during my residence in 
 Labrador, I " commanded" a schooner of forty 
 tons ; and although a young navigator, I cannot 
 help feeling proud when I remember that for 
 five years I skirted the coast without a casualty. 
 I could cull some adventures from my " Log/ 
 but none of them sufficiently special or in- 
 teresting to be chronicled. 
 
 Collecting the oil in the spring-time is a 
 pleasant occupation, and affords fine opportuni- 
 ties for viewing the constant changes but peren- 
 nial loveliness of Nature. The frozen tide 
 thaws and twinkles in the sun, the snow gradu- 
 ally disappears, and here and there a green 
 streak of vegetation may be marked ; and soon 
 the beautiful wild waterfowl dot the water. 
 
160 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 The bird called the Hound — a graceful fowl, 
 rather larger than a teal— is very abundant. 
 These birds migrate to the north in large flocks 
 in the spring, and as they fly make a continual 
 noise, than which nothing can more resemble 
 the cry of a pack of beagles when in chase. 
 When and how they return south is not known 
 for certain. They make pretty points in the 
 landscape, and eat well in a pie. 
 
 The mornings, now that spring is breaking, 
 are for the most part fine and clear, with a per- 
 fect Italian sky. Not a cloud is to be seen ; all 
 is beautiful and blue and bright. Now begins 
 the slaughter of the ducks going northward. 
 At early dawn about the middle of May four or 
 five men repair to some small island near the 
 mainland, and there erect what is termed a 
 Gaze, which is like a small fort cut out of the 
 solid ice close to the landwash. Immediately 
 
SPRING, SPRING-DUCKS, ETC. 161 
 
 the ice clears off the coast, only for twenty or 
 thirty feet, clouds of ducks wend their way from 
 the south to breed amongst the numerous islands 
 on the coast ; and these are popped at from the 
 gaze as they pass the point of land. 
 
 We consider it a poor morning's work if we 
 do not kill (say for four guns) at least one hun- 
 dred to one hundred and twenty ducks. The 
 shooting begins very early, and generally ends 
 about ten in the morning, when we amuse our- 
 selves chasing the crippled birds, which is more 
 exciting sport than may be at first imagined. 
 The punt loaded with our game, homeward we 
 hie for breakfast; and a jolly meal it is, the 
 allowance being a duck a man. We do not 
 take the trouble to roast them, but, cutting them 
 up in joints, we fry them ; the livers, gizzards, 
 and hearts being served up afterwards as an 
 extra dish. Then w r e take copious draughts of 
 
 H 3 
 
162 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 drink, christened on the coast " callibogus," — a 
 mixture of rum and spruce-beer, " more of 
 the former and less of the latter/' — -when the 
 meal is over. Those employed in killing the 
 birds assist the cook in divesting them of their 
 feathers, which is done in the expeditious man- 
 ner which I have previously noticed. The 
 time allowed is a minute a duck. The wing 
 and tail feathers are, to describe the process in 
 full, first drawn, and a large iron boiler being 
 placed on the fire, and the water made steaming 
 hot, and kept so, one duck after another is 
 thrust therein, and is just sufficiently scalded to 
 admit of the feathers being rubbed off in a mass. 
 The ducks, having been unfledged, are packed 
 away in casks, and salted for summer use. The 
 feathers are dried, and sometimes sent home; 
 but not often. Yet such is the closeness of the 
 feathers on the eider duck that it only takes 
 
SPRING, SPRING-DUCKS, ETC. 163 
 
 seven birds for one pound of feathers. The 
 duck-shooting lasts until the middle of June, 
 v and it would be difficult to compute the large 
 number of birds which are killed in that period. 
 The weight of one of them is, without the 
 feathers and when full grown, about five pounds. 
 The gun employed for their destruction is of 
 large dimensions, and, being used as a shoulder- 
 gun, punishes the sportsman fearfully. After a 
 good morning's work, when the birds seemed in 
 a hurry and whizzed past quickly, I have been 
 so bruised in the shoulder as to require a pad 
 stuffed with feathers before I could venture to 
 fire the first gun the next day ; but immediately 
 the sport became exciting the pad was thrown 
 away, and all pain seemed for the time to 
 cease. 
 
 In the middle of the day the birds take their 
 meal on the shoals in the neighbourhood of the 
 
164 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 small islands. Consequently during the time of 
 their repast we are idle, and take a walk to 
 some hill, where we crane our necks and strain 
 our eyes seaward, trying if we can spy any sail 
 in sight from Old England. How many false 
 visions appear ! One of the most remarkable phe- 
 nomena of the coast is the mirage, or fog-loom, 
 when objects take monstrous sizes, and when 
 mere cockboats expand to three-deckers ! You 
 see a ship with her spars towering, as it were, 
 high into the air, but gradually, as she breaks 
 through the bank of fog, she dwindles down to 
 a small craft of some twenty or five-and-twenty 
 tons ! Mock-suns are very common on the 
 coast. I have seen as many as three of these 
 luminaries shining at once. This mostly hap- 
 pens in winter, just on a change of weather. 
 
 Returning from one of my duck-shooting 
 excursions, I was informed that our stock of 
 
SPRIXG, SPRING-DUCKS, ETC. 165 
 
 flour was nearly all destroyed by the rats, which, 
 always numerous and troublesome on the coast, 
 had eaten into no less than six barrels. In 
 some they were so plentiful that they caused the 
 casks to move. 
 
 Rats are a perfect pest in Labrador. They 
 eat up our food (fortunately, on the occasion I 
 have mentioned, there was no fear of famine, as 
 it was in the spring of the year), and they seem 
 to delight in destroying the fishermen's nets. 
 They are very prolific, and I myself have 
 counted no less than seventeen in one net. The 
 dogs are trained to kill them, and a premium of 
 a small portion of rum is given to the men for 
 every rat killed, which on large establishments 
 amounts to something considerable. In the 
 course of a year I have had tallied, or counted, 
 as many as seven hundred, which cost for kill- 
 ing nearly twenty- two gallons of rum. The 
 
166 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 same rat cannot be brought a second time for 
 the premium, as on being produced at the store 
 the tail is cut off and destroyed. 
 
 The whole routine of last year is now carried 
 
 or 
 
 on. I should like to describe the breaking up 
 of the ice, but it is beyond my power. In the 
 different bays are brooks, and in these brooks 
 are " rattles/' as they are termed, or, more 
 properly speaking, " falls,' 1 though none are of 
 any great magnitude. The nearest to our 
 establishment was ten miles off; and as the thaw 
 came on in the spring, which of course swelled 
 the brook, great curiosity was manifested by 
 many as to the time the fall would burst or 
 blow up from the pressure behind. 
 
 Although but small, it had its influence on 
 the bay. It was about twenty feet high by 
 some forty feet wide, and on its bursting set the 
 whole of the bay ice free. It is impossible for 
 
SPRING, SPRING-DUCKS, ETC. 167 
 
 the pen to convey any adequate notion of the 
 bursting of this fall. Think of some tens of 
 thousands of tons of water pent up behind a 
 barrier of ice some twelve to fourteen feet thick, 
 and think of the whole mass bursting through 
 in an instant ! The loudest thunder is light by 
 comparison. Then comes the confusion, the 
 mad whirl of water, the swelling and roar of the 
 brook as a hundred small and rapid streams are 
 melted, and pour into its one common channel. 
 For days the noise is deafening, and the boldest 
 men grow strangely nervous. Every one now 
 has to work hard. If you have built your 
 house too near the sea-shore, it is just as likely 
 you may find the habitation moving seawards 
 like a Noah's Ark. Large rafts of timber may 
 be seen floating off in the same direction ; in 
 fact when the ice moves it bears off everything 
 which is upon it. The rush of water from the 
 
168 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 brook brings down masses of earth with trees 
 still in them, and these, too, go floating away 
 upon the ice. Everything moves in one calm, 
 seemingly resistless manner and direction. 
 
 The bay once clear, the woodman returns to 
 the coast to resume his summer toil. A few 
 are left for a week or two longer to procure the 
 rinds, or bark of trees. Their work is called 
 "rinding." One length only of bark of about 
 six feet is taken off the lower part of the 
 trunk of the tree. The chief use of rinds 
 is to cover the roofs of houses and the piles 
 of fish. 
 
 It is now, as the spring literally " bursts ' 
 
 upon us, that retreating winter shows us his 
 
 victims. Let me give an illustration. Some 
 
 one has been out shooting, and he returns 
 
 i 
 with the melancholy news that a poor fellow has 
 
 been found dead and frozen under a cliff*. It is 
 
SPRING, SPRING-DUCKS, ETC. 169 
 
 the corpse of some one who had wandered from 
 home in the winter, lost himself, been overtaken 
 by a snowdrift, and perished from cold and 
 starvation. I was generally requested to read 
 the Burial Service over these remains, which, as 
 there was no clergyman at hand, I could not 
 refuse to do. 
 
 One of the pleasantest sports of this season 
 is exploring the island for eggs and eider-down. 
 The eider-duck makes a rough nest on the 
 ground, generally between two rocks, and depo- 
 sits four to five eggs, sometimes more. An 
 island being selected where they are known to 
 resort in large numbers, it is reached at night- 
 fall; the nests are visited, eggs destroyed, and 
 the down taken away. We then retire to the 
 leeside, and remain the night. On the morrow 
 we again visit the nests, and find them newly 
 lined and a new-laid egg in each nest. This 
 
170 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 visit generally satisfies us, as from the quantity of 
 birds on such an island we are enabled to collect 
 a thousand or more eggs and an immense quan- 
 tity of down. 
 
FOXES — TALES — SEA TRACES. 
 
 171 
 
 CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 FOXES — TALES— SEA — TRACKS. 
 
 ■*<>*- 
 
 Should all the foxes not have migrated from 
 the islands to the main land, your sport for eggs 
 and birds on such islands will be barren of re- 
 sults, as they destroy the former and catch the 
 latter. The capture is easy enough, as the duck 
 sits very close, and can even be caught by hand 
 if you go " down wind ' on them. In visiting 
 my fox-traps in the winter I frequently observed 
 the trail of the fox consisted of feathers ; and 
 knowing, or fancying there were no birds about 
 in the winter, which the fox could get at, I was 
 much puzzled for a time, but this spring threw 
 
172 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 a light on the subject. I found the small water- 
 fowl, known to sailors as Mother Carey's Chicken, 
 to others as the Stormy Petrel, in a dormant 
 state, in a regular burrow, well feathered, and in 
 good condition. 
 
 The discovery was made by mere accident. 
 I had an excellent dog, with a fine nose — "a 
 nose," as one of the skippers put it, "that 
 would do credit to any health officer " — and 
 finding him digging away at a burrow, I fancied 
 I had a prize in the shape of a litter of young 
 foxes, and perhaps the Vixen herself. So I 
 signalled my companion, and we went to w 7 ork, 
 one holding a net and the other digging; the 
 dog, with his tail wagging, wdth a subdued 
 enthusiasm, anxiously awaited the result of our 
 labour, ready to pounce on any animal that 
 might make its appearance. The Labrador 
 dog, let me remark, is a bold fellow, and, 
 
FOXES — TALES' — SEA — TRACKS. 173 
 
 when well taught, understands, almost as well 
 as any Christian biped, what you say to him. 
 We were much disappointed with our labour, for, 
 instead of a fox, we found about a dozen of these 
 stinking birds. On their exposure to the sun^ 
 however, we were astonished to find animation 
 soon returned, and most of them sought their 
 native element — the water. I took some home 
 with me, but they refused any sort of food, and 
 died in a few days. The discovery of these 
 birds had solved the problem — where did the 
 foxes feed in the winter-time ? 
 
 Now you may see animation once more along 
 the coast, or at least in the bav. The home- 
 ward ship came in this year— for I have a par- 
 ticular year in view — as if by magic. We are 
 fast approaching the middle of June and yet 
 there are no Newfoundlanders on the coast, and 
 the fish have not yet made their appearance 
 
174 RECOLLECTIONS OP LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 owing to the jam of ice in the offing. This 
 gives us more time for sport, for another cruize 
 or two up the bay, to gather eggs or rinds, or to 
 try and secure one of the large seals for boot- 
 bottoms for the ensuing winter, and to shoot a 
 mountain-cat or two. These animals are not 
 like the fox ; if left on an island there they must 
 remain, for they have a dread of water, and, 
 never taking to it, fall an easy prey to the 
 sportsman. But I have known a fox swim 
 nearly a mile, and on one occasion I captured 
 Reynard about half a mile on his journey to 
 land. 
 
 The summer of this year I was much em- 
 ployed in coasting,* and mixed much with the 
 Irish. I heard many a queer yarn from them, 
 
 * And, by the way, in various ways. For instance, I simply, 
 but successfully, set a poor boy's broken leg, and made a will for 
 one of the old hands. Thus was I captain, surgeon, and lawyer, 
 in a single year. 
 
FOXES — TALES — SEA— TRACKS. 175 
 
 related in their rich, humorous style. After the 
 toil of the day is over, and the last meal is 
 taken, no matter how tired a man may be, 
 there are generally dancing and singing. I 
 must say the Irish are indeed a happy, care- 
 less race ! Wherever I have met them, I have 
 invariably found them the same cheerful, mer- 
 curial set. 
 
 Being wind-bound in one of the northern 
 harbours I met with a party similarly situated, 
 and as we could not dance in a large open craft 
 we u settled round ' with pipes and tobacco, and 
 each volunteered a yarn. As none of these 
 yarns, however, have any connexion with life in 
 Labrador, but nearly all related to the land of 
 St. Patrick, the reader would not thank me for 
 "padding' this little work with them. The 
 story-telling faculty, however, which the Irish 
 possess is, I may say, little less than a blessing 
 
176 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 to those who, as it were, are cut off from the 
 world, and all but buried amongst the snows of 
 Labrador. It whiles away the time, cheers the 
 spirits, carries one back to the mother-country, 
 and makes us " muse, and dream, and live again 
 in memory/' At the fireside, or under the clear 
 cold stars, the Story Teller is attentively listened 
 to and loudly applauded, his pipe re-kindled for 
 him, and his flask re-filled. 
 
 While afloat on a coasting and trading voyage, 
 I visited some old friends in St. Michael's Bay, 
 and had the satisfaction of hearing the simple 
 folks sing some of Watts' Hymns, copies of 
 which I had left with them on a previous occa- 
 sion. And let me remark at this point, that 
 wherever the Gospel (without the trading mis- 
 sionary) has dawned upon the coast, the people 
 — even the Esquimaux — have embraced it with 
 cheerfulness. Indeed there is in this wild land 
 
FOXES — TALES — SEA — TRACKS. ' 1 77 
 
 a silent happiness which many a man and woman 
 in England might envy : solitude without ab- 
 solute loneliness, days of ease without care, 
 nights of pleasure without parade. Thus year 
 after year rolls on until death removes the so- 
 journer, when, as his life has been spent in toil 
 and labour, Eternal Rest falls upon him as a 
 soft, sweet dream. 
 
 On leaving St. Michael's Bay I intended to 
 return to the establishment " at home.' J But 
 man is not his own master. It was a lovely 
 morning when we left the bay, laden with the 
 staple commodity of the coast, but we had not 
 proceeded far when indications of a storm were 
 observed in the eastern horizon. What should 
 we do ? 
 
 We were just then on a bold shore without 
 any harbour under our lee. One of the old 
 hands advised me to give the craft an offing, 
 
178 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE, 
 
 as he said, should the storm come easterly we 
 could not weather the Cape, while, by putting 
 her head off for an hour or so, we could easily 
 manage it. Well the u schooner's " head was 
 put to the eastward, both fore and aft sails were 
 close-reefed, and the cargo was battened down ; 
 being first covered with tarpaulins, and then 
 secured to the side of the schooner. Away we 
 went under snug canvas, and for a time continued 
 our course leisurely, but suddenly a puff came, 
 carried away our foremast about ten feet from 
 the deck, or carl ins of the mast, and then the 
 wind abruptly shifted to the south-west, and a 
 strong gale arose. A heavy sea was also running 
 at the time. None on board were prepared for 
 this, as from the sudden shift of wind, instead 
 of being well to windward, as we expected to 
 have been, we were now dead to leeward of our 
 island and in a crippled state. Luckily we had 
 
FOXES—TALES — SEA — TRACES. 179 
 
 plenty of provisions on board, with a good supply 
 of water, and I could not but think to myself, if 
 the gale lasted, we should be carried in the course 
 of a fortnight to England or Ireland against our 
 wilL It was fortunate for us the part of the 
 mast which was carried away had — with the 
 rigging— been saved. On examination I found 
 the hooks of the runner stay had straightened 
 from the sudden squall, and caused our mishap. 
 In time we lashed the two stumps together, set 
 our canvas anew, and hove the schooner to for the 
 night, she gradually falling to leeward. On the 
 morrow the gale seemed spent, and we made all 
 sail we could, but to attempt to reach our island 
 was out of the question, as we were dead to lee- 
 ward of it. 
 
 In the course of the forenoon we found the 
 wind had veered round to west, and so we deter- 
 mined to make for Newfoundland, and after 
 
 i2 
 
180 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 three days' buffeting amongst the waves — three 
 days of hard work and nervous anxiety — we 
 found ourselves snug in a small harbour of that 
 island. 
 
NEWFOUNDLAND AND BACK AGAIN. 181 
 
 CHAPTEE XV. 
 
 NEWFOUNDLAND AND BACK AGAIN. 
 
 ■*o- 
 
 Newfoundland is, like Labrador, proverbial for 
 
 its hospitality to strangers. Indeed in all pri- 
 mitive countries the heart is kept open and 
 formalities are thrown aside. Invitations are 
 dispensed with. You hear pipe and tabor sound 
 in a house, enter, and meet a welcome. 
 
 As we found the schooner had strained herself 
 in the gale, and was making some water, it was 
 necessary to have the cargo landed, and the hull 
 examined and caulked. I thought therefore I 
 would have a run on shore for a few days, and 
 look about me. Being recognized by some of 
 
182 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 my old friends who had visited me on the coast, 
 I was made more than usually welcome. One 
 old skipper shook me by the hand, and said, 
 " Well, my boy, you are come in the nick of 
 time ; we are about having an election of mem- 
 bers for the Legislative Council, and rare fun it 
 will be, for the members are elected by universal 
 suffrage, while scarce a man-jack of the whole 
 electors knows what universal suffrage means.' 
 Like that great philosopher, Mr. Pickwick, at 
 Eatanswill, I looked forward anxiously for the 
 election day ; meanwhile, however, I enjoyed my- 
 self in a hundred ways— the evening dance, song, 
 and story being, of course, the leading recreations. 
 The election truly was " good fun. v Uni- 
 versal Suffrage seemed, with the Newfound- 
 landers, to stand for Universal Babel. A number 
 of candidates were " up/' but so determined 
 were the electors to make the most of their pri- 
 
NEWFOUNDLAND AND BACK AGAIN. 183 
 
 vilege, that they wished to record their votes in 
 favour of them all ; and when this excessive 
 liberality was objected to by the poll-clerks, 
 many free and enlightened gentlemen declined 
 to vote at all. " I'll vote for every one, or for 
 no one ! 3 was a common speech at the booths- 
 To me the whole thing appeared a farce. The 
 elective system was simply brought into con- 
 tempt as — since the adoption of this same uni- 
 versal suffrage — I read it has been in our larger 
 and more important colonies on the other side 
 of the Pacific. Soon after the election my 
 schooner was repaired, and all made ready for 
 a start. On the morrow, after we were " fit for 
 sea., 5 ' a fine breeze sprang up from the south, and 
 directly she felt the influence of the wind on her 
 canvas, our little craft went bounding over the 
 blue waters, and in three days we were snug in 
 our small harbour. 
 
184 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 The routine of the season was going forward 
 as usual, and everybody congratulated us on our 
 return. One fine Sunday afternoon, taking a 
 stroll, as usual, after private divine service, I 
 observed a long line of rowing boats — some fifty 
 in number — pass the island. On inquiry I found 
 it was an Irish funeral. A small island, about a 
 mile from the main land, is consecrated for the 
 burial of the believers in the Romish Church, 
 and so particular are the Irish Catholics as to 
 where they bury their dead, that they will 
 ofttimes bring a body fifty or sixty miles for the 
 purpose. Even should a person die in the 
 winter, his or her remains are drawn to the 
 island from an immense distance. One winter I 
 was staying at a neighbouring establishment, 
 when a man entered, and thus addressed the 
 principal : " An God save ye ! poor Paddy died 
 last night, the Lord rest his soul ! : at the same 
 
NEWFOUNDLAND AND BACK AGAIN. 185 
 
 time crossing himself. " Well, Jem, what can I 
 do for you ? ' was the reply. " Why, you see, 
 sir, Bill and myself are about ' waking ' the 
 poor man, and we want a thrifle of rhum and 
 brandy to wake him wid.' " How many gallons 
 will suffice ? ' " Oh ! bedad, the matter of 
 eight of rhum, and I could do wid four of 
 brandy.' 3 " The quantity is too large for so 
 small a crew.' : " Oh ! sure, and we cannot do 
 with less, and must have all the rhum, if not all 
 the brandy.'' Well, eight gallons of rum and 
 two of brandy were duly served out to " Jem," 
 and away he went, rejoicing to think what a 
 glorious wake they would have in the evening. 
 Being curious to witness an Irish wake so far 
 from the Old Land, I selected a companion, and 
 away we went to the scene. Some few neigh- 
 bours were invited, and kept up the wake until 
 the rum and brandy were exhausted. Although 
 
 I 3 
 
186 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 Jem was only a few hours in advance, the spirits 
 had commenced their baneful influence. The 
 coffin — which was in process of manufacture — 
 was commenced with a regular elbow from the 
 top, on one side, but before the other side was 
 formed^ the maker was so blind, he made it 
 flat, and thus the coffin was constructed with 
 three flat sides, and one with the usual elbow. 
 Poor Paddy was often appealed to, to say if any 
 of the present party had wronged him, and what 
 for. Sometimes the corpse would be taken up, 
 and, in drunken madness, embraced by one of 
 his friends ; then another would come up and 
 dispute the right ; then a scuffle would ensue, 
 and the dead body would be thrust first in 
 this corner, and then in that, but oftener would 
 be laid flat in the middle of the floor. A little of 
 this wake went a long way, and I speedily left 
 the party, and walked home in the moonlight. 
 
NEWFOUNDLAND AND BACK AGAIN. 187 
 
 Being anxious, however, to learn the result of 
 the affair, and to ascertain if any of the party 
 had sustained injuries, I again visited the place 
 in the morning, and found every one all but 
 speechlessly intoxicated : when they spoke it was 
 only to ask for more drink. I coffined poor 
 Pat with great difficulty, as his limbs had become 
 rigid with the frost. It was two days more 
 before his countrymen were sufficiently recovered 
 to take him to his last resting-place. The man 
 just departed had some little property in nets, 
 boats, and a small establishment on the coast, 
 and (as we had no lawyers amongst us) these 
 were fairly and quietly divided among his 
 friends. 
 
188 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 CHAPTEE XVI. 
 
 LIFE ON THE COAST — AUTUMN. 
 
 We have a race on the coast who are thus 
 curtly described by Cartwright in comparison 
 with the honest and generous Esquimaux : — 
 
 " Not so the mountaineers ; a treach'rous race, 
 In stature tall, but meagre in the face; 
 To Europeans long have they been known, 
 And all their vices these have made their own. 
 Not theirs the friendly visit, nor the feast 
 Of social intercourse ; but like brute beast 
 They greedily devour the reeking meal, 
 And then get drunk, and quarrel, lie, and steal. " 
 
 To have a party of these marauders on your 
 establishment is not at all pleasant. Their 
 visits are certainly few and far between ; for 
 having no settled place of abode, they wander 
 
LIFE ON THE COAST AUTUMN. 189 
 
 from locality to locality, catching furs and killing 
 game for their support. When they have a 
 sufficient quantity of furs to dispose of, they 
 resort to the nearest establishment, and dispose 
 of them for spirits, which they greedily swallow ; 
 they then have a fight amongst themselves, and 
 when tired and well bruised, they spread out 
 their deer-skins and sleep out their debauch. 
 On awaking they will lie quiet, still shamming 
 sleep ; and, when they fancy the coast is clear, 
 thev rise from their affected slumber, and, if 
 practicable, decamp with the very furs they had 
 sold you. If they succeed in this, or any similar 
 piece of felony, you have the consolation (if 
 consolation it be) of knowing you will not see 
 the same set of rascals again — or at all events 
 for some years. They are fleet on foot, and 
 expert marksmen, their weapon being the cross- 
 bow, and a blunt arrow, so balanced that the 
 
190 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 top or blunt part just preponderates. They 
 never aim direct at an object, but in a para- 
 boloid — so well judging the altitude of the re- 
 quired curve that they seldom miss their mark. 
 I saw the same feat performed with the blunt 
 arrow which the Esquimaux did with the gun — 
 I mean firing it perpendicularly in the air — the 
 only difference being that the mountaineer never 
 moved from the circle made, while so sure was 
 his aim, that the arrow would fall at his feet, in 
 front of him ! Such bows and arrows are used 
 by the natives of Siberia, and the same remark- 
 able feat is performed by them. 
 
 There is another race of Indians on the 
 coast ; these are seldom seen, and are but little 
 known, even to the natives. They appear at 
 long intervals, and are called by the Esquimaux 
 Nascobi. I never saw any of them, so, of 
 course, I cannot describe them. I believe they 
 
LIFE ON THE COAST — AUTUMN. 191 
 
 and the mountaineers are mutual enemies, while 
 the Esquimaux are the foes of both. 
 
 During my sojourn on the coast we had two 
 visits from the mountaineers, but they eon- 
 ducted themselves so savagely that I was right 
 glad to see their backs. The small dog spoken 
 of in a former chapter is bred by this tribe. 
 Although a wild and roving race, from the 
 intercourse with Europeans they have imbibed 
 all their " civilised ! vices without one particle 
 of their civilised virtues. 
 
 The fall of this year was charming. Indeed, 
 November turned out finer than October, which 
 gave us an opportunity of enjoying our favourite 
 occupation — wild-fowl shooting, in the water. 
 This year, with the mild weather, there came 
 upon us innumerable quantities of small wild- 
 fowl, called by the settlers ci bull-birds." They 
 are perfect ducks in miniature, and are web- 
 
192 RECOLLECTIONS OP LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 footed ; they seldom take wing, but keep con- 
 tinually skimming the water — now diving, and 
 now rising again, with manifest enjoyment. 
 Still, with all their efforts, they cannot evade 
 man: I used to kill from thirty to forty of a 
 morning. 
 
 One day, the sea being too rough for aquatic 
 sports, I took my gun and strolled across the 
 hills in search of wild-fowl along the different 
 small inlets. On one of the hills I could com- 
 mand two or more of these inlets, and when I 
 reached the summit I fancied I heard a piteous 
 moan, as if from two or three dogs. Following 
 the sound, I soon came upon the object which 
 had attracted my attention. I found on a rock 
 two dogs, half-a-dozen dead ducks, and a gun 
 recently discharged. On my near approach, I 
 recognised the dogs, and guessed who the miss- 
 ing party was. Nearing the animals, they 
 
LIFE ON THE COAST — AUTUMN. 193 
 
 showed their dislike to my disturbing any of the 
 articles on the rocks. Still, one gently wagged 
 his tail as if he knew me, and with a sorrowful 
 expression of countenance — how dogs can ex- 
 press their grief or joy Sir Edwin Landseer has 
 shown us — walked slowly to the edge of the 
 rock, and, raising his head towards the sky, 
 gave three of the most piteous moans I ever 
 heard, and then returned and lay down to his 
 charge. All I could do, I could not get the 
 dogs to leave the spot. There they stood, as if 
 still hopeful they would hear their master's voice 
 again ; but this they never did. 
 
 I marked the spot indicated by the dog, and 
 retraced my steps homeward, and having to 
 pass the man's hut who, I felt, had met a soli- 
 tary death, I informed the remaining crew of 
 my suspicions, and then I heard that their com- 
 panion had set out in the morning for the place 
 
194 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 where I had found the dogs, having seen some 
 birds about the spot the previous day, and wish- 
 ing to shoot them. 
 
 The dogs remained at their post all night — 
 no one could remove them. The next morning 
 the sea was calm ; three boats w r ere launched, 
 creepers placed in them, and off we went to the 
 spot. I had no occasion to point out the place, 
 for immediately on our approaching it, the 
 dog who had moaned over the rock again did 
 the same, and, after a short search near the 
 spot, the body was found just under the cliff. 
 On taking the corpse in the boat, both dogs com- 
 menced howling, and followed the boats to the 
 Establishment, and would not leave their dead 
 master until he was put under ground. Nay, 
 for some days after, these two dogs haunted the 
 grave, and, in whatever place they sat, kept 
 their faces turned towards it, as if listening for 
 
LIFE ON THE COAST — AUTUMN. 195 
 
 the familiar call. An inquest was held amongst 
 ourselves upon the body (as was our custom), 
 and a verdict returned according to the evi- 
 dence, which, although but circumstantial, clearly 
 showed that, in the act of shooting, the poor 
 fellow had fallen over the ledge of the rock. 
 
 On resuming my sport the day after the dis- 
 covery of the body, I thought I had a rare 
 prize in a large bird, standing some four feet 
 high from the ground. I shot at and killed it, 
 when, on picking it up, to my surprise I found 
 it was a bittern — a bird nearly all neck, with a 
 very small body. These bitterns are seldom 
 met with in Labrador, and are even scarce in 
 Newfoundland. I attributed its presence to the 
 exceptional mildness of the season. 
 
 I may conclude this chapter by mentioning 
 that one autumn we had a wreck on the coast, 
 in consequence of a ship's compass being affected 
 
196 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 by, it was said, the juxtaposition of the vessel to 
 a spot abounding in iron-ore. The captain had 
 refused to take a pilot on board, but suddenly 
 he found the compass-needle playing all sorts of 
 antics — now describing a good half-circle, and 
 now running right round the card. It may be 
 that polar influences, rather than local metallic 
 causes, %ere the reason of this. It is a subject 
 on which I cannot attempt to pronounce. Certes, 
 the vessel was wrecked, but the captain and 
 crew were saved, and were well fed and clothed 
 by the Good Samaritans of the far, far North. 
 
KING FROST AGAIN. 
 
 19 
 
 CHAPTEE XVII. 
 
 KING FROST AGAIN. 
 
 If every evil has its good, it would almost 
 seem that every good has its evil. The mild 
 November month threatens a severe frost for 
 December, with little or no prospect of a u voyage 
 of seals ' for this year. Sure enough, as De- 
 cember came in, Nature at once grew rigid of 
 demeanour, and the thermometer suddenly fell 
 from fourteen to twenty degrees below zero. 
 The seal-nets were placed out, but from the 
 state of the weather were not sighted for more 
 than a month afterwards. Although the climate 
 of Labrador is so cold, sharks abound along the 
 
198 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 coast in the fall of the year, and many are en- 
 trammelled in the seal-nets. On clearing the 
 nets, I found one of these monsters, measuring 
 fourteen feet long, and well-proportioned; and, 
 on opening him, I found quite a quarter of a 
 hundredweight of fat inside of him — he having, 
 
 as it were, peeled it off the seal as he fan- 
 cied it. 
 
 One of the shipwrecked men saved from the 
 schooner had been an ice-hunter, and whiled 
 away many an hour by relating the mode of 
 catching seals in the spring of the year on the 
 coast of Newfoundland. At that time some 
 three to four thousand men were employed in 
 the capture in schooners of from seventy to two 
 hundred tons' burden. The vessels were gene- 
 rally equipped by some of the merchants at the 
 different ports, St. John's sending out the largest 
 number. The crews vary from twenty to forty 
 
KIXG FROST AGAIN. 199 
 
 men, according to the size of the craft, and the 
 ships are well found, with two rudders, and a 
 false side to resist the pressure of the ice. These 
 expeditions are fraught with considerable dan- 
 ger. It is absolutely necessary to keep leeward 
 of the ice, as, should a gale come on and the 
 craft be on the windward side, away goes the 
 craft, false sides and all. Nothing can save it. 
 If it is to leeward, and a close pack or jam of 
 ice sets in, it is tolerably safe ; the vessel be- 
 coming, as it w T ere, set upon blocks, and there 
 the crew await the " whelping' time. All 
 young seals have white coats when whelped, but 
 where they get their nourishment from for eight 
 or nine days, I could never learn. Suffice it to 
 say, in the course of that period they become 
 quite fat, and fit to be taken or killed. They 
 require but a slight tap on the nose, and are 
 a settled." After a man has killed as many as 
 
200 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 he can conveniently walk off with, he drags 
 them alongside the schooner, and walks off after 
 another "turn," as it is termed; so that, if a 
 craft happens to fall in with the main body, 
 they may kill easily, for a crew of twenty men, 
 some four thousand seals in about four days. 
 These will yield from forty to fifty tons of oil. 
 Some men, in their over-eagerness for gain, lose 
 the whole of their catch. Before loading, a 
 sufficient time must be allowed for the skin and 
 fat of the seal to cool. The whole being put 
 on board in bulk, should it not have " cooled,' 
 the entire mass heats, and becomes pure oil ; 
 and from the build of the Newfoundland crafts, 
 they would fall on their beam-ends (as oil, like 
 water, soon finds the centre of gravity), unless 
 the liquid contents were pumped out again. 
 
 It frequently happens that a vessel will load 
 in four or five days, run into port, discharge, 
 
KING FROST AGAIN. 201 
 
 and be in the ice again in ten days from the 
 time she left it. I knew a skipper who had a 
 famous dog for ice-hunting, and this would kill 
 from thirty to forty old seals in the course of a 
 day. Such an animal was a fortune to him, as 
 he had only to feed him on the carcase, for 
 which dogs have a remarkable fondness. I re- 
 collect one year's "return 5 of the seals killed 
 on the ice. The number amounted to some- 
 thing like two hundred and thirty thousand. 
 
 The amphibious animal called the walrus is 
 very rarely seen on the Labrador coast, and is 
 rather a dangerous subject to encounter. It 
 has no fear, and nothing less than a good gun 
 will serve the purpose of getting rid of it. The 
 tooth of the animal forms an ornament for the 
 skirt of an Esquimaux cassock, and is supposed 
 to take away all evil influence any person might 
 have against the wearer. 
 
 K 
 
202 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 About this time I was called on to visit a 
 poor old man whose will I had made the pre- 
 vious year, and who was now on the point of 
 death. I had often asked him to allow me to 
 read to him, but he had invariably refused — say- 
 ing he had lived through life without the Bible, 
 and why could he not go out of the world the 
 same ? I never argued the point with him — 
 why should I have done so ? I thought to my- 
 self, when the old man wants me he will send 
 for me, and I sha'n't refuse to go. When I saw 
 him, he looked at me with an anxious eye, and, 
 on asking him what were his wishes, he feebly 
 and nervously replied, " I am not easy in my 
 mind ; I hope you have not taken amiss what I 
 told you some time back : I should like you to 
 read me something comforting. I have been a 
 great swearer in my time, and feel I shall not 
 be here long/' I opened the Bible, and read to 
 
KINO FROST AGAIN. 203 
 
 him from the fortieth chapter of Isaiah : " Com- 
 fort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God." 
 After finishing the chapter, which he listened to 
 with much attention, he said how thankful he 
 was for the cheering words of the Book, and 
 hoped I would again visit him in the morning, 
 which I promised to do. But when morning 
 came, I found he was resting, with the calm 
 look of an infant, in his last sleep! My next 
 task was to read the Service for the Burial of the 
 Dead over his remains. This done, I sold his 
 effects by auction, and divided the proceeds as 
 he had desired. 
 
 The bays were now fast — just like polished 
 mirrors, and quite as slippery. Now was the 
 time for skates, for the ice was so hard and 
 smooth that an impression could not be made 
 with the iron. In one of the harbours south it 
 was nearly as severe as with us, and some of the 
 
 k2 
 
204 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 youths, seeing the smooth ice, put the skates on 
 and ventured from under the lee of the land. 
 The moment they had gone so far, the breeze 
 took the foremost of the party, and carried him, 
 at mad speed, into a patch of clear water, where 
 he was drowned — none of his companions daring 
 to follow him, for fear of the same fate. 
 
 The celestial bodies in this part of the globe 
 assume a special grandeur. The sky is so clear 
 and the air so pure, while the moon at the fall 
 sheds so much light, you may, without difficulty, 
 read the finest print by its lustre. Strolling on 
 one of these fine nights, I observed the aurora 
 borealis, but not clear, as the moon was too 
 bright. On another occasion, however, when 
 the moon was on the wane, I had an oppor- 
 tunity of witnessing the phenomenon from a 
 height of three hundred feet above the level of 
 the sea, and had a good chance of forming an 
 
KING FROST AGAIX. 205 
 
 opinion regarding it. In fact, it was — if I may 
 so express myself— so close to me, I could dis- 
 tinctly hear a rustling noise as of sheets of 
 paper being rubbed together. From what I 
 saw then and on several subsequent occasions, it 
 is my belief the aurora borealis is nothing more 
 than a thin transparent vapour floating in the 
 air, and acted upon by light currents of atmos- 
 phere, the celestial bodies reflecting themselves 
 in and upon the vapoury veil. I never recollect 
 seeing it with a strong wind blowing, but always 
 in perfectly calm weather ; and when we con- 
 sider the rainbow, the lunar rainbow, the mock- 
 suns, and the various other appearances of the 
 same character produced by vapour, it is not 
 unreasonable to classify the aurora borealis in 
 the same category. But, whatever may be its 
 cause, the aurora borealis is surprisingly beauti- 
 ful, and seems like the portals of that City 
 
206 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 whose streets are of jasper. Meteors are very 
 common in Labrador, and they are meteors 
 always on the move and fond of sport. They 
 dart and dazzle through the air like very 
 Pucks. 
 
 This December I again started to explore the 
 interior, taking with me the small team of dogs 
 I possessed. On this excursion I was accom- 
 panied by two Esquimaux as guides, and we 
 travelled sometimes fifty miles a day, but on 
 other days we could not make more than five or 
 six, and this with difficulty. Let me explain. 
 You arrive at the foot of an island you have to 
 cross ; in crossing you save some miles, but the 
 island is very steep all round, without any sign 
 of vegetation — not even a stunted larch to assist 
 you in ascending to the summit, which may be 
 a hundred feet above you. Although you are 
 provided with a small tomahawk or hatchet for 
 
KIXG FROST AGAIX. 207 
 
 the purpose of cutting steps to assist you, yet 
 it frequently happens, after half-an-hour's toil? 
 when you find yourself nearly at the top, your 
 foot slips, and down you come to where you 
 started from at the foot of the island. On our 
 journey this necessity of cutting steps arose no 
 less than three times in one stage. Of course, 
 the fatigue is great, and after the toil you are 
 glad to take rest in order to recover your 
 strength. During this mode of travelling, when 
 night comes on, you repair to the woods— that 
 is, where there are any woods — fell the first 
 trees, strip the boughs, which are converted into 
 a sort of litter for sleeping on, and cut the timber 
 into suitable lengths for your fire, which is 
 mainly kindled to keep the wolves away ; — not 
 that I ever knew them attack men, but they 
 might come and dispute about the provisions 
 which you are compelled to carry for the day. 
 
208 RECOLLECTIONS OP LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 After three days' journey, we found ourselves 
 snugly housed in the hut of a settler, who, as 
 usual, showed us every hospitality, and here we 
 stayed and made merry for three days and 
 nights. 
 
EXPEDITION TO SANDWICH BAY. 209 
 
 CHAPTEB XVIII 
 
 EXPEDITION TO SANDWICH BAY 
 
 Early in the morning of the fourth day the 
 dogs were harnessed, and away we started for 
 the Isle of Ponds (distant about ten miles from 
 the hut), where we heard there was a large herd 
 of deer grazing. After ascending a steep hill, 
 we came in sight of a boundless view many 
 miles in extent, and, to my surprise, the Esqui- 
 maux informed me he could see the deer grazing 
 some four miles off, and he even hinted how 
 many there were. Descending the hill, we 
 were fairly on the Isle of Ponds, with good hard 
 snow to travel on Very shortly the dogs got 
 
 k 3 
 
210 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 scent of the deer, and from this moment the 
 sport and excitement commenced. The dogs 
 tore along with the sledge at the wildest speed, 
 in order to overtake the herd, regardless of the 
 bumping and jolting we were receiving from the 
 occasional unevenness of the snow. The deer, 
 to the number of forty or fifty, all in line, 
 bounded away for about two or three hundred 
 yards, as they caught sight of us ; then they 
 faced about ; then they darted off again for 
 about fifty yards ; and then, once more, halted. 
 The shaking of the sledge made it impossible 
 for us to take good aim, and, coming in contact 
 with the stump of a tree, the sledge itself 
 bounded into the air; the whole of us were 
 thrown out, and away went the dogs on their 
 own account in full chase. We were much 
 annoyed at this, but late in the day we had the 
 satisfaction of seeing the deer coming towards 
 
EXPEDITION TO SANDWICH BAY. 211 
 
 us, and the dogs in grand pursuit. This time 
 we were more careful in our shooting. Lying 
 down, we awaited their approach, and stopped 
 one, which had also the effect of calling off the 
 dogs, for, on his falling, they made for him 
 directly. To skin the deer was the work of a 
 quarter of an hour, and as fast as one took the 
 skin off, the others were employed in cutting it 
 up into joints. This was absolutely necessary, 
 as it was freezing so hard that, had we not 
 hastened our labour, the carcase would have 
 become solid and difficult to carry, especially 
 through the woods in deep snow. Even the 
 skin was kept folded as the process of skinning 
 was going on. 
 
 The deer scarcely relies for safety on its eye- 
 sight. It is provided with what the settlers call 
 a " scrut-bottle,' situated in the postern of the 
 hind-leg, and containing a substance much like 
 
212 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 oil, which they smell, and which is so sensitive 
 to the slightest atmospheric motion that it gives 
 them notice of any danger to windward. 
 
 This day's sport led to another night in the 
 bush, with keen appetite for our primitively 
 prepared supper. A good fire having been 
 kindled, and some long sticks cut to represent 
 forks, slices of the venison were chopped off, 
 and each man cooked his own according to his 
 taste. Many an epicure would have envied us 
 the meal had he known what a splendid sauce 
 our hunger was, The Esquimaux took the 
 heart of the deer, which, as it was frozen, was 
 not considered to need cooking. 
 
 Throughout the night we were obliged to be 
 vigilant and on the watch, as the wolves, scent- 
 ing the savoury food, paid us near and numerous 
 visits ; but a shot every now and then kept 
 them just beyond boundaries. Thus we passed 
 
EXPEDITION TO SANDWICH BAY. 213 
 
 the night, and with the sun took our departure 
 north-west; and in the evening found ourselves 
 again in comfortable quarters. They were cer- 
 tainly in the woods, but this time on the top of 
 a hill some three hundred feet above the level 
 of the sea. Here I saw some beautiful speci- 
 mens of the flying squirrel, but being very 
 nimble I could not catch one, and not belonging 
 to the carnivorous species they are difficult to 
 trap. 
 
 The establishments on this part of the coast 
 are in some instances located at the foot of the 
 hills, and the mode adopted to bring the wood 
 for summer use to the sea-side is very curious. 
 Two flat pieces of board, about six feet long by 
 three inches wide, with a strap in the centre for 
 the feet to go in, are worn by the woodmen to 
 descend the hill, not the least exertion being 
 used by them. With a heavy load on their 
 
214 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 backs, I have seen them slide down erect, and 
 at almost railway speed. I must confess I was 
 foolish enough to try my skill with a pair of 
 these machines on my feet, and was rewarded 
 with a bound of about ten feet down the hill, 
 with sundry bruises for my pains. 
 
 The further north-west we went the more 
 wood we discovered, and walked through many 
 beautiful birch-groves. In the underwood may 
 be found currants and raspberries, both very 
 small, wortleberries and cranberries. The cherry 
 also grows in some parts, but these are worth- 
 less, being without any flavour. The trees I 
 mostly observed were the black, white, and red 
 spruce, larch, silver-fir, birch, and aspen. The 
 latter is valuable in Labrador on account of its 
 durability under water. I saw one fine shrub, 
 and was told it was called the a maiden-hair 
 tea-shrub," used, when it could be found, as a 
 
EXPEDITION TO SANDWICH BAT. 215 
 
 substitute for our China tea- — so we used it, and 
 I must confess I liked the flavour quite as much 
 as that of Souchong or Congou. The natives 
 also use the spruce-boughs as tea. The only 
 esculent (in the common sense) found on the 
 coast fit to eat was named the " Alexander " — 
 a species of celery. Scurvy-grass, young leaves 
 of the osier, and of the ground wortleberry are. 
 however, largely eaten. The " Alexander" is 
 found in the crevices of rocks, where a small 
 quantity of soil has been deposited, and the 
 scurvy-grass is found at the river-heads of the 
 different bays along the coast. 
 
 After a few days' shooting and hunting, we 
 again started forward. Having proceeded a few 
 miles, the dogs began to be restive ; and, but 
 for the activity of the Esquimaux, they no 
 doubt would have given us another dance : but 
 the Esquimaux overturned the sledge, and thus 
 
216 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 stopped their progress. On searching for the 
 cause of this restiveness, we found the wolves 
 had killed a deer, and four of them were dis- 
 cussing the hind and fore-quarters. As the 
 wind was blowing from them, they were not 
 aware of our approach, but the report of a gun 
 sent them off growling, and left us part of their 
 meal, which, although killed by the wolves, was 
 not a whit the worse on that account. 
 
 The day was beautifully fine, Math a Turner- 
 esque blue sky, the temperature at fourteen 
 degrees below zero, and a shear-edged north 
 wind. We came upon four deer, in the course 
 of our journey, quietly grazing together, and 
 apparently so listless that they allowed me to 
 go up within an easy distance and despatch 
 one. 
 
 Our next halt was at an Esquimaux wigwam. 
 As usual, we found the women busy at work, 
 
EXPEDITION TO SANDWICH BAY. 217 
 
 while some of the men also were constructing 
 " kyacks," or canoes for summer use. The 
 timbers are made of the birch, steamed into the 
 required shape, and are fastened together by 
 strong lashings formed from the skin of the seal. 
 Several seal-skins in the shape of the frame are 
 then sewn together, and, when wet, are stretched 
 over it, and the whole being secured, the 
 "kyack* is entirely covered, save that an aper- 
 ture is left in the centre to sit in. Although 
 not more than eight or ten inches deep, the 
 Esquimaux frequently convey their families from 
 one place to another in these frail boats. I 
 found one man employed in making a sledge. 
 It was about twenty feet long by fourteen inches 
 broad, the sides being formed of two-inch plank 
 about a foot deep; the under-edges are shod 
 with whalebone a quarter of an inch thick, fas- 
 tened on with pegs made out of the teeth of the 
 
218 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 walrus. Across the upper edges are placed 
 boards close together, and secured to the sides 
 by means of strips of seal-skin. This sledge is 
 called by the Esquimaux a " commeteck. v 
 
 Leaving our friends, we again started across 
 the barren waste, with nothing but ice and snow 
 around us, and a compass to direct our course. 
 Owing to an uncertainty as to whether we were 
 on land or water, we made for the woods, and 
 on our journey thither we found we were on the 
 water, as many seals were sporting in the sun 
 near their blowing-holes, and on our approach 
 bored themselves through the ice in the most 
 dexterous style. We had not the good fortune 
 to catch a single one. 
 
 Another night in the bush. The day follow- 
 ing brought us to Sandwich Bay. We here 
 remained a week, each day exploring the in- 
 terior as far as we could safely go. I found 
 
EXPEDITION TO SANDWICH BAT. 219 
 
 vegetation in this part much finer than else- 
 where on the coast — in fact, all the trees and 
 shrubs were larger. Game, too, was more 
 abundant, and, although the winter was severe, 
 fish could be caught in numbers. About twenty 
 miles from the mouth of Sandwich Bay, inland 
 and close to a place called Paradise, is a small 
 lake about four miles long and two wide. In 
 this lake may be found, summer and winter, an 
 abundance of trout, salmon, and pike. In sum- 
 mer, nets are employed ; in winter, holes are 
 cut through the ice, and the hooks baited and 
 let down. Thus you may fish your fill. 
 
 During my stay in this bay I visited the re- 
 mains of an establishment originally founded by 
 George Cartwright, so far back as 1792. He 
 was very fond of Labrador, and spent a great 
 deal of money in building and importing all 
 sorts of birds and animals, with a view of getting 
 
220 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 them acclimatised; but he found the winters 
 too severe. His exertions, however, were pa- 
 triotic and unceasing ; — for instance, he took 
 out some greyhounds, but as the fall came on 
 he saw their coats were not sufficient to keep 
 them warm, so he had recourse to a flannel 
 covering, only allowing the dog the use of its 
 eyes. The hounds used to run about clad in 
 woollen wrappers, but even with this protection 
 they soon died. 
 
 Near this locality I found several Esquimaux 
 had located themselves. As their wigwams 
 were somewhat different from those I had before 
 seen, I may as well describe one : the entrance 
 was by a low, narrow passage, some twelve feet 
 long and about three and a-half feet high, en- 
 tirely formed of sods covered with snow. At 
 the end of this passage was a square room of 
 about fourteen feet, and lighted in the centre by 
 
EXPEDITION TO SANDWICH BAY. 221 
 
 a sort of skylight made from the entrails of the 
 large seal. This was perfectly air-tight, and 
 impervious to wet. The roof was formed in the 
 same way as the passage, and round the sky- 
 light were flowers growing out of the whitened 
 sods, like stars. 
 
222 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE, 
 
 CHAPTEE XIX. 
 
 JOURNEY HOME FROM SANDWICH BAY. 
 
 -K>»- 
 
 Leaving Sandwich Bay for our own home we 
 made a de'tour to visit some other establishments 
 before getting back. I have already remarked 
 that the settlers in Labrador were hospitable in 
 the extreme. I am sorry to say I found an 
 exception to the rule in the man at whose esta- 
 blishment we next halted for the night. Per- 
 haps our numbers alarmed him, as, although on 
 setting out a month before we numbered but 
 four, on our return homewards our party had 
 grown to sixty, with a proportional increase of 
 dogs. On nearing this man's habitation one or 
 
JOURNEY HOME FROM SANDWICH BAY. 223 
 
 two hints were thrown out as to the sort of recep- 
 tion we should meet, but I could not believe 
 that a man who had partaken of my hospitality 
 the previous winter would refuse n\e his salt. 
 Arrived at his house, however, we found him 
 coolly standing at his door surveying our different 
 movements. As we were unharnessing the dogs 
 he called out, " How much farther are you going 
 to-night? 5 " Why, we intend putting up here, 
 at all events for the night, and as the weather is 
 bad we shall have to stop." " Well then," said 
 he, " I hope you have brought plenty of provi- 
 sions with you.' : u No, ,! said some one. " We 
 heard what prime sport you had in the fall, and 
 what a stock of deer you have buried. We 
 come to pick a bit of it with you." The man 
 growled his dissent, and declared he had none. 
 Now everybody knows what a hungry English- 
 man is, and, as he refused to give, we reluctantly 
 
224 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 resolved to take. The dogs were set to find the 
 buried venison, and in this they soon succeeded. 
 Bulk was then broken — which means that the 
 store was disturbed — and we were soon sawing 
 and digging out a supply. When the carcass of 
 the deer is stored up for winter use it is com- 
 pletely frozen, so some trouble is experienced to 
 get any from the bulk. To disjoint it would be 
 all but impossible. After a deer is taken out of 
 bulk a cross-cut saw is procured, and the animal 
 is sawed in two ; the same is done with the fore 
 and hind quarters, care being taken to gather 
 the sawdust on a clean cloth, which proves a 
 rich gravy. When the animal is cut up into 
 quarters, a hand-saw is used to saw out steaks for 
 the ever-hungry crew. Every one was soon 
 amply provided with a supper on the occasion in 
 question, while so numerous were we, that he 
 who refused to give — who had meanly removed 
 
JOURNEY HOME FROM SANDWICH BAY. 225 
 
 himself beyond the customs of the country — saw 
 us take, and was powerless to interfere. But 
 his parsimony cost him more than this. In such 
 a country inhospitality is cruelty, and so his 
 conduct was regarded by every one. No one 
 would trade with him — no one even speak to 
 him — and he lived the life of a hermit all the 
 while he remained on the coast. 
 
 Being among the Esquimaux I was curious to 
 learn how the icebergs were formed, and made 
 inquiry of many. Still it was some time before 
 I could assure myself their theory was correct. 
 One intelligent old man explained their forma- 
 tion to me nearly in the following words : — 
 The immense islands of ice — for they are nothing 
 less — which you daily see on the coast of La- 
 brador, or, at all events, near the coast, can only 
 be formed in this manner. The sea in the ex- 
 treme north is of such a depth that navigators 
 
 L 
 
226 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 have often not been able to find the bottom with 
 a line of a hundred fathoms ; even close to the 
 shore the land is very high, and many parts of 
 the shore are perpendicular. The face of the 
 coast being greatly broken, numbers of bays and 
 coves are formed, and these are defended from 
 any swell rolling into them from the sea, by the 
 prodigious quantity of flat, low ice, which almost 
 continually covers that part of the ocean, and 
 which, it may be presumed, prevents those bays 
 and coves from breaking up for one, two, or 
 more years together. The severe frost of our 
 winter will form flat ice upon them of an in- 
 credible thickness ; that ice is deeply covered 
 with the snows which are constantly falling, and 
 a thousand times more is drifted upon it from 
 the adjoining land, until the accumulation is be- 
 yond estimation or conception. On the return 
 of summer the sun and rain cause the snow to 
 
JOURXEY HOME FROM SANDWICH BAY. 227 
 
 become wet and to shrink together, when the 
 frost from beneath, striking up through the whole 
 mass, consolidates it into a firm body of ice. 
 In this manner it keeps continually accumulat- 
 ing, until the adjoining sea gets clearer of drift- 
 ice than usual, when a gale of wind sets in from 
 the southward, sends in a swell which breaks up 
 the whole and divides it in many pieces, re- 
 sembling huge white rocks, flushed with soft 
 blue, which are slowly dragged to the southward 
 by the current. As several of those islands may 
 be some years before they arrive in a climate 
 that is capable of dissolving them, it is more 
 than probable that in the mean time they gain 
 more in the course of each winter than they lose 
 in the intermediate summer. 
 
 Cartwright supports our part of this theory, 
 for he observes " that when they have advanced 
 some distance to the southward, they thaw so 
 
 L 2 
 
228 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 much faster under water than they do above it, 
 that they lose their equilibrium, upset, and fall 
 in pieces ; otherwise," he adds, " I verily believe 
 that some of them would drive almost to the 
 equinoctial line before they were entirely dis- 
 solved." 
 
 After our night in the bush, and our dismem- 
 berment of the deer, we moved on for home. 
 On passing some of the islands I had visited 
 the year before, I found their character quite 
 changed. The weight of ice and snow on many 
 a point had levelled the whole to the ground. 
 I have often observed, in journeying to the north 
 in severe winters, the snow lies so deep that per- 
 haps for two or three years objects such as boats, 
 huts, timber, and it may be, human beings, will 
 be concealed by it. The next year comes a 
 mild season, the objects so buried come to light, 
 and the whole aspect of the place is changed. I 
 
JOURNEY HOME FROM SANDWICH BAY. 229 
 
 have frequently passed a spot where I knew 
 sundry boats to be buried, but, from the depth 
 of snow and ice over them, they could not be 
 got out. Let a hope come from this to the 
 relatives and friends of long-missing Arctic 
 travellers. I have missed well-known objects 
 — well-known men — for several years, and 
 then a warmer season than usual has melted 
 the walls of snow and ice by which they were 
 surrounded. 
 
 Travelling in Labrador in the winter-time is, 
 although cold, pleasant enough. You have lots 
 of warm clothing on, and other means of coping 
 with the severity of the season. In the summer 
 months, however, it is not so cheerful. The 
 traveller must carry all his provisions on his 
 back, together with his hatchet, and from the 
 continued interruptions of lakes and rivers he 
 will find, if he has a u crow's distance" of five 
 
230 RECOLLECTIONS OP LABRADOR LIFE, 
 
 or six miles to go, he must generally perform a 
 journey of at least ten to fifteen miles, with the 
 ground giving way under his feet, as if walking 
 on sponge, to say nothing of the intolerable and 
 incessant torment of millions of flies. Indeed 
 when an early spring appears, so great is this 
 last plague, that the furrier who has to collect 
 his traps, placed out since the last fall, is really 
 compelled to take another hand with him to 
 combat the flies. They light a quantity of 
 green wood, fill an iron pot with it, and then, 
 placing the pot on the centre of a pole some 
 ten feet long, each takes an end, and thus 
 they trudge on through the bush, the smoke 
 almost blinding them, but keeping the flies 
 at a distance. 
 
 With all these drawbacks life is enjoyed on 
 the coast. Cartwright used to say, he thought 
 Labrador would make a capital settlement for 
 
JOURNEY HOME FROM SANDWICH BAY. 231 
 
 convicts ; the only thing wanting was snug 
 quarters for the chief of the department and his 
 subordinates. Is this idea still worth considera- 
 tion ? I think it is. 
 
232 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 CHAPTEE XX. 
 
 HOME AGAIN. 
 
 -♦o*- 
 
 Nothing particular befel us on our return home- 
 ward. Every one seemed pleased with the 
 trip, and as we left each other to proceed to our 
 respective establishments, a hearty shake of the 
 hand all round showed that good-fellowship pre- 
 vailed amongst us. It was strange what a change 
 had been wrought in the appearance of some of 
 us ! I found, what I had often been told, that 
 the wind and frost tan the skin much more than 
 does a tropical sun ; so when I came home my 
 men did not recognize me, but mistook me for 
 some coloured savage. 
 
HOME AGAIN. 23 
 
 Q 
 
 Never having properly " gone to bed " for a 
 month — during which time I had been away — I 
 thought I should enjoy my first night's " bed 3 
 again amazingly. I was, however, greatly dis- 
 appointed, for, after lying down some time, I was 
 seized with a suffocating sensation, and had to 
 dart into the open air to get my breath. After 
 my long encampments beneath the moon a real 
 feather-bed was for a long time unendurable. 
 
 The day after my arrival I had a visit from 
 an old acquaintance. The black bears had been 
 and played him a trick in the fall of the year, 
 with his olive oil, and stolen the most part, so 
 he wanted a small supply to make good the loss. 
 How much did he want ? Oh ! only about two 
 gallons. On inquiry I found the open stock 
 was expended, so, sending for the carpenter and 
 his mate, we proceeded to the oil-store, and 
 selected a butt, and cut it in two with a saw. 
 
 l3 
 
234 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 Then with mallet and chisel we carved out the 
 quantity required, weighed it, packed it up in 
 brown paper, and gave it to the purchaser, and 
 away he went towards home. On his arrival 
 the wife, having dinner nearly ready-prepared, 
 asked if he had the oil, as she wanted it as a 
 sauce for the fish. " Sure an' I have," said Pat, 
 and put his hand under his stiffly-frozen blanket- 
 frock, to produce it from an inner pocket, when, 
 to his astonishment, he found only the sheet of 
 brown paper which had contained the oleaginous 
 block ! The oil itself was not to be found. A 
 light then instantly broke upon the shrewd house- 
 wife, $.nd she requested her husband not to come 
 too near the fire, and bade him change his 
 clothes. This he did, and the wife having hung 
 them up before the fire, and placed a pan be- 
 neath, nearly the whole of the oil was caught in 
 it. The oil had melted with the air-tight heat 
 
HOME AGAIN. 235 
 
 of Pat's coat, and run down his clothes, where it 
 had again frozen, and the stiff, cumbrous nature 
 of the dress had prevented him noticing either 
 process, Pat used to say, " Bedad I was startled 
 when I found it had gone ; but when Biddy 
 sent me upstairs to put on fresh clothes, and i 
 came back and spied the oil in the pan, I said, 
 6 Get out wid ye ! you're a witch ! ' 
 
 The spring was passed as in former years, and 
 presently the outward ship from home arrived. 
 
 It happens that when ice is scarce in the 
 United States, schooners frequent the coast for 
 the purpose of obtaining a supply for the West 
 India Islands. The mode of procuring it is 
 attended with much risk to the adventurers : 
 a small iceberg, grounded near the shore, is 
 selected, the schooner sails alongside, and the 
 crew work night and day until the craft is 
 loaded. This takes only a short time, but the 
 
236 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 danger is great, as should the top of the iceberg 
 become heavier than the part under water, away 
 goes schooner, crew and all. I had an oppor- 
 tunity of witnessing a schooner loading — or 
 rather about to load — in this way from a berg ; 
 and just as the crew had made the vessel 
 fast and commenced, crack it went, and turned 
 over. The act was so sudden that the crew had 
 not time to cast off their grapples, to save the 
 craft from being taken some ten feet out of 
 water, when fortunately the hawsers broke, and 
 down she came with the loss of both masts. 
 Fortunately no lives were sacrificed, the whole 
 affair not lasting more than five minutes. 
 There is never the least notice given, nor any 
 perceptible index afforded, that an iceberg is 
 turning over. To replace the schooners masts 
 was only the work of a few days, when, to 
 my surprise, I found the crew once again 
 
HOME AGAIN. 237 
 
 engaged in their perilous occupation upon an- 
 other berg. 
 
 Labrador abounds in white spar, and also 
 in small specimens of that beautiful one called 
 " Labrador spar;' 5 but from the action of the 
 snow and ice lodging in the crevices of the cliffs 
 during the winter, tons of rocks are every spring 
 of the year split asunder, and fall into the sea, 
 so that any mining operations near the coast 
 would be impossible. Ironstone may also be 
 found along the shores in large quantities, but 
 the prosecution of fishing and sealing yielding 
 good profit, less remunerative employments are 
 naturally neglected. On a small island, in 
 51° 21' N., and 55° W., I have often observed on 
 the easternmost point the subsoil covered with a 
 black sort of stone resembling coal, and have fre- 
 quently taken portions home with me and placed 
 it on the fire, and found it to give a strong heat 
 
238 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 much like the culm of South Wales. From 
 the looseness of the subsoil I have thought a 
 good mine exists on this island, which could 
 easily be worked in the summer, while the pro- 
 duce could be drawn away to the main during 
 the winter months, as it would be impossible for 
 any ship to anchor near it in the summer-time. 
 The harbour, being formed by two small islands 
 bearing east and west, opens to the ocean, and 
 from the directions I have given the spot may 
 be readily found by the ships of any enterprising 
 company desirous of testing the mine — if mine 
 there be. 
 
trained dogs. 239 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 TRAINED DOGS AND HOMEWARD BOUND. 
 
 -♦<>♦- 
 
 During winter, for want of horses, dogs are 
 used for the purpose of conveying all sorts of 
 produce to and from the bays, as well as for 
 pleasure. Some are trained as retrievers, watch, 
 house, and water dogs. Still they are all of the 
 same breed. The retriever is well known in 
 England, but I fancy the duty of the Labrador 
 watch-dog is little if at all understood. In the 
 summer and fall, then, many stray ducks may 
 be seen frequenting the small bays round the 
 islands; the watch-dog lands with you, and, 
 with much caution, examines the shore, and 
 
240 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 directly he observes ducks, he will instantly lie 
 down and crawl out of their sight, then imme- 
 diately rise and run towards you, when by his 
 actions you may be sure he has sighted a com- 
 pany. He leads the way, and when in the 
 vicinity of the birds, down he crouches, and you 
 must do the same. Should you be over- eager, 
 and fire at too great a distance, and miss your 
 birds, the dog looks towards them for a moment, 
 as if reflecting ! — " It's no use going into the 
 water, he has not killed any," — and stands still. 
 If, on the other hand, you have a good shot — 
 killing, say, half-a-dozen, and crippling three or 
 four — in he bounds, leaving the dead birds and 
 giving chase to the cripples. If they are wounded 
 in the wings they swim with difficulty, and can- 
 not dive, and so become an easy spoil. The dog 
 has the instinct to know this, for he wastes but 
 little time in the pursuit. It constantly arises 
 
 
TRAINED DOGS. 241 
 
 that the spot from whence the ducks are shot is, 
 at least, ten feet perpendicular from the water ; 
 sportsmen provide themselves in such instances 
 with what is termed a "gunning gaff," some twelve 
 feet long, with an iron crook at the end, made in 
 the shape of a shepherd's crook. The dog brings 
 a duck at a time under the rock ; you place the 
 crook round its neck, and draw it up or land it. 
 The last bird the dog retains in his mouth, and 
 allows himself to be drawn up in a somewhat 
 scientific manner ; that is to say, having seized 
 the bird firmly across the wings he swims under 
 the rock, and allows his master to place the hook 
 through his collar at the back of the neck ; then 
 placing his paws against the rock, and throwing 
 his weight on the gaff, he gracefully walks up 
 and lands his game ; did he not retain it in the 
 operation in all probability he would be choked. 
 Of a fine day I have seen these dogs near the 
 landwash amusing themselves fishing, diving 
 
242 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 six or seven feet, and bringing up a fish every 
 time. Their mode of diving is not direct, but 
 spiral. 
 
 It has been said a goose is a foolish bird, and 
 certainly the geese of Labrador are very foolish 
 indeed. They are found some miles up the 
 bays, and when discovered the dog uses a simple 
 artifice to decoy them. Near the shore (the 
 neighbourhood of a small wood ? with goose-grass 
 in the foreground, is their favourite resort) he 
 rushes out of the wood into the water and swims 
 some eight or ten yards, with head low and tail 
 out — looking something like a water-fowl — then 
 comes back to the shore, and so continues until 
 he fancies they are within shot, when he quietly 
 waits by your side watching your gun, and, by 
 his looks, showing his anxiety to see the flash. 
 Then off he goes and secures his birds, and lands 
 them at your feet. 
 
 The house-dog has a peculiar sagacity. I 
 
TRAINED DOGS. 243 
 
 trained one to keep house in a noiseless manner. 
 If myself or steward was not at home, and a 
 visitor called, the dog would allow him to walk 
 in, sit down, light and smoke his pipe, as if un- 
 conscious of his presence ; but if the visitor 
 attempted to leave the house the dog was up in 
 an instant, and, placing himself in the doorway, 
 showed a set of teeth of dazzling but appalling 
 whiteness. The frightened fellow again returns 
 and takes his seat, the dog once more lies down, 
 and thus the pair are seen on the return of one 
 of the household. A visitor once served that 
 way takes care to look through the window 
 on his next call, to see if any one is at home. 
 The dogs sent to England, with rough shaggy 
 coats, are useless on the coast; the true-bred 
 and serviceable dog having smooth, short hair, 
 very close and compact to the body. I sent 
 to England a fine specimen of these, but un- 
 
244 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 fortunately the vessel which bore it had the 
 misfortune to be wrecked on the north coast of 
 Ireland, and all hands were lost. 
 
 Before leaving the coast I met with an acci- 
 dent which nearly cost me my life ; as it was, it 
 deprived me of the sight of one eye (fortunately 
 the left one). Learning that a stray deer had been 
 seen on an island about four miles off, I started 
 in pursuit of it, and after gaining the spot came 
 in view of the desired object, examined, loaded 
 my rifle, and took a deliberate aim, when, in- 
 stead of the deer falling, I found myself tottering 
 backwards. The crew I had with me placed me 
 in the boat and conveyed me with all speed to 
 my home. 
 
 On my arrival I found I had lost much 
 blood, and, calling for my writing-desk, com- 
 menced writing to my friends in England how 
 my last moments had come to pass, which, 
 
HOMEWARD BOUJSD. 245 
 
 at that time, I expected to be near at hand. I 
 had written about half-a-dozen lines, when the 
 pen fell from ray grasp, and all consciousness 
 left me. I was in that state for some days, 
 when, on recovery, I found an old nurse and her 
 daughter anxiously watching my return to sense. 
 As is common in such cases, my first inquiry 
 was, what had happened ? when the whole was 
 explained to me. The rifle had burst, and the 
 ball had passed in a retrograde direction, striking 
 my left temple, and grazing it about the sixteenth 
 of an inch, opening the veins in that region of 
 the head. Although no doctor was there, every 
 attention was paid me, and in about six weeks I 
 was all right again. 
 
 Some of my Irish friends learned I was about 
 leaving the coast in the fall of the year, and on 
 parting with the " early-leaving ones " — as the 
 first ship of passengers is called — many a hearty 
 
246 RECOLLECTIONS OP LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 wish was expressed by my demonstrative friends 
 for a safe passage to myself across the water, and 
 many a hope that the following spring would see 
 me once more amongst them. On the day of 
 my departure I received no less than twelve 
 large loaves of new-baked bread, as tokens of 
 regard from them. The night before my depar- 
 ture was spent in merry-making, and a right 
 jovial time we had of it. While in Labrador I 
 only met with one Scotchman, and not even 
 with one Welchman. 
 
 Three of the old hands, who had not visited 
 England for more than twenty years, took pas- 
 sage with me. The brig we embarked in was 
 about two hundred tons, oil-laden, and in good 
 trim. The master, however, was a timid old 
 man, declaring he should not press his brig with 
 too much canvas ; and to be on the right side he 
 actually stowed away his top-gallant masts under 
 
HOMEWARD BOUND. - 247 
 
 the cargo, " because,' 1 as he put it, "it was best 
 to keep out of temptation ! " 
 
 This fall, winter had set in early and severe, 
 and we were not one day too soon under weigh. 
 The first night the drifting mist was freezing as 
 fast as it reached the cordage, and the deck of 
 the brig was, on starting, almost a mass of ice, 
 and the rigging three or four times its original 
 size. A sort of artificial galler y ran all round 
 the ship. After three or four days at sea this 
 disappeared, but, in detaching itself from aloft, it 
 came rattling down much to the discomfort of 
 the crew and passengers. During all this time 
 the old skipper kept watch in the companion, 
 and nothing could persuade him to venture 
 on deck after the fifth day. Signs of rough 
 weather then made their appearance, and it 
 commenced blowing in sudden puffs and squalls, 
 much to the amusement of the crew, who said, 
 
248 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 so long as we had the gale, the old skipper would 
 keep below and not annoy them. " For," said 
 an old salt, " you see, sir, interest in the mer- 
 chant-service is like that in the navy: they all 
 look out for their relations. The skipper is 
 related to the owners, and the mate sails the 
 ship." The old man continued : " I have sailed 
 in several men-of-war, and I don't know how it 
 was, but hang me if nearly all the captains and 
 some of the officers did not belong to the same 
 family, as if a whole tribe, sir, was born tip-top 
 sailors ! " 
 
 The wind increasing, orders were given to 
 heave the brig to, although the wind was right 
 aft. Presently the gale became a perfect hurri- 
 cane, the brig driving home stern foremost. On 
 the third day, after heaving to, a sea struck her 
 on the starboard bow, carrying away all the bul- 
 warks, and this was followed by another, sweep- 
 

 HOMEWARD BOUND. 249 
 
 ing the deck of the cabouse, or cook-house, with 
 sundry casks of water, " right away. ,! Fortu- 
 nately the crew saw the sea coming and secured 
 themselves ; as luck would have it the masts 
 held on fast. It was now certain that we should 
 be short of water, and all hands were immedi- 
 ately placed on half-allowance. It was always 
 a shame that ships, even when making short 
 voyages, should be permitted to carry their 
 stock of water in casks ranged along the side of 
 the deck. In our case we were, in consequence 
 of the casks having been carried away, so short 
 of water that one man exchanged a bottle of it 
 for a bottle of spirits. It was an unfortunate 
 bargain for him. He drank the spirits, was 
 seized with thirst and fever, and died. 
 
 We had been hove to for six days, with only 
 bread and water and a small quantity of spirits 
 to eat and drink, when the wind moderated and 
 
 M 
 
250 RECOLLECTIONS OF LABRADOR LIFE. 
 
 enabled the crew to wear ship and set more 
 sail ; also to get a fire "under weigh/ 5 and thus 
 to enjoy a warm meal. We had been out now 
 eleven days, and as we were so short of water, 
 and as the wind still continued favourable, the 
 mate persuaded the master to carry more sail. 
 This was done, and at the end of eight days we 
 were steering for an anchorage at St. Mary's 
 Island (Scilly). As this was Sunday we re- 
 turned thanks for our safe deliverance from the 
 perils of the deep, and, I must say, enjoyed a 
 draught of pure water with more zest than if it 
 had been Constantia or Champagne. We then 
 went on shore and made merry. 
 
 When the reader remembers that some of us 
 had not seen a " house/ in the English sense 
 of the word for twenty years, he will sympathise 
 with the liberal use that was made of the cosy 
 inn parlour and a thousand other comforts upon 
 
HOMEWARD BOUND. 251 
 
 shore. The sight of a real four-post bedstead 
 was nothing less than inspiriting. 
 
 Next day we were again on board the brig. 
 We had a splendid north-west breeze, and, in a 
 few days, were safely anchored in a snug little 
 harbour on the coast of Devon. I cannot ex- 
 press my joy on again returning to my native 
 land, but as the reader closes this little work let 
 him think of the hard life I had led and the 
 dangers I had undergone, and conceive for 
 himself all the feelings I find it impossible to 
 set upon paper. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 LONDON : PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET, 
 
 AND CHARING CROSS. 
 
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