LABRADOR THE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLA^N & CO., LIMITED LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. TORONTO LABRADOR THE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE BY WILFRED T. GRENFELL, C.M.G., M.R.C.S., M.D. (OxoN.) AND OTHERS NEW EDITION WITH ADDITIONAL CHAPTERS gorfc THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1913 All rights reserved f*> COPTBIGHT, 1909, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 1909. New edition with new matter. Copyrighted, 1913. Published April, 1913. J. 8. Cashing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. FOREWORD BY WILFRED T. GRENFELL HAVING selected for myself a role in life that compels me to pass most of my days along the coasts of Labrador, I have come to love the rugged fastnesses of my adopted country, and to lament the amount of almost Stygian dark- ness that hangs still over it and its resources. With re- gard to the future of this vast area, nearly half a million square miles, I am myself an optimist. True it is that the great tide of humanity flowing ever westward has for the most part passed it by, leaving it lone and frigid in its polar waters. But the hand of man has grappled with harder problems than this presents. A scientific man has but recently transformed the use- less flora of hitherto arid deserts into food for man and beast ; at the bidding of an engineer water is now flowing over the sands of Southern California, and land of perhaps unrivalled fertility is the result. Man's hand has dammed the royal Nile, so long prodigal of her unfettered waters ; and a vast, new kingdom is springing into being. A college man has given his skill to acclimatizing fruit and vegetables to Dakotan frosts, and we have a plum that withstands a temperature of forty degrees below zero Fahrenheit, and strawberries that will live in the open all winter even in that climate. VI FOREWORD The coming granary for the worlcTs wheat supply was yesterday despised as "the land of snows"; to-day the subsoil of the world's best wheat land never thaws out, and the frozen valley of the Peace River is vying with the "corn" lands of the Pharaohs. To us here, away out of the world's hum and bustle, it seems only a question of time. Some day a railway will come to export our stores of mineral wealth, to tap our sources of more than Niagaran power, to bring visitors to scenery of Norwegian quality yet made peculiarly attractive by the entrancing colour plays of Arctic auroras over the fantastic architecture of mountains the like of which can seldom be matched on the earth. Surely it will come to pass that one day another Atlantic City will rise amidst these unexplored but invigorating wilds to lure men and women tired of heat and exhausted by the nerve stress of overcrowded centres. It has seemed appropriate, in this belief, to try to collate available information in the form of a book that should bring within easy reach of the public the facts that are of interest concerning Labrador. It is hoped, also, that such a book will act as an incentive to others to come and pursue still further the studies and explora- tions herein described. With these objects in view I sought the help of friends skilled in the various branches of science, as it can now declare the meaning of Labrador, the land and the people. Dr. Reginald A. Daly, Professor of Geology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology of Boston, had, during an extended trip in a schooner along the Lab- rador coast, expended considerable work upon its rock formations, and to him has been intrusted not only FOREWORD Vll the chapter on Geology, but also the task of editing the whole work. Dr. E. B. Delabarre, Professor of Psychology at Brown University, accompanied Dr. Daly on his journey along the coast, and has described the flora from an ecological point of view as most likely to be of interest to the average reader. His exhaustive list of plants has been omitted from the book, but is preserved at Brown University. Dr. C. W. Townsend of Boston and Mr. G. M. Allen, who have written on the ornithology, made a special journey to Labrador to study its birds. Dr. Townsend has already published a book entitled Along the Labrador Coast as a further result of their expedition. Mr. Charles W. Johnson, Curator of the Boston Society of Natural History, has undertaken the insects (Mr. John Sherman, Junior, expert on the beetles, has described this special group) and mollusks from a collection of Mr. Owen Bryant of Harvard, made in 1908. Mr. Outram Bangs has supplied the list of mammals. Miss Mary J. Rathbun, the well-known expert at the United States National Museum at Washington, supplied all the information we have about the crustaceans, includ- ing a study of those collected by Mr. Bryant. Dr. A. P. Low, Deputy of Minister of Mines in Canada, has contributed a chapter on the interior of this little- known land. Mr. William B. Cabot of Boston, who for several' years has made an annual visit to the Montagnais Indians of Labrador, and who has edited a dictionary of their lan- guage, has had unique opportunities for observing their habits. He has contributed a valuable monograph from his special experiences. FOREWORD The chapter on History was to have been prepared by Mr. W. G. Gosling of St. John's, Newfoundland, who had devoted some years, and gone to no small expense, on a special study of this subject. But his results involved such an extended treatise that it was thought wiser to issue them under a separate cover than unduly to enlarge this volume, and Mr. W. S. Wallace, of Balliol College, Oxford, has prepared a brief historical introduction. For seventeen years I have been collecting such facts as my regular work permitted. From them I have selected material for certain chapters. To many friends who have supplied such information I wish to acknowl- edge my indebtedness. Incomplete as this book surely is, it is issued from a desire to record the more interesting facts, the coins of science, which might otherwise need rediscovery. It is hoped that the book may be of use even to those familiar with Packard's excellent work. PREFACE THE three years which have passed since the publica- tion of this book have seen more attention paid to the development of Labrador than the twenty-five preceding. The results promise to be consonant with the views herein expressed; viz., that Labrador may always remain a " La- bourer's Land," a land where men are obliged to work for sport or a living, but one which can yield an ample return to those who do so. Deposits of rich ore may at any time give out, but the wealth of Labrador lies in those things which, if properly handled, are ever reproducing themselves. The fact is that as a storehouse and sanctuary Labrador needs now, if ever, the serious and disinterested attention of those able to save it. With this end in view, I have decided to add to the new edition a chapter on Conserva- tion and Exploration in Labrador, and what that might mean, not only for the future of the country itself, but also to the increasing population of the North American Continent. Besides this chapter, I have also added a much-needed bibliography and some remarks about the habits of our land mammals. WILFRED T. GRENFELL, M.D. SS. " STRATHCONA," NORTH LABRADOR. CONTENTS OHAPTEB PAGE I. HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION — BY W. S. WALLACE . 1 II. TRAVELLED ROUTES TO LABRADOR — BY WILFRED T. GRENFELL 37 III. THE PHYSIOGRAPHY OF LABRADOR — BY WILFRED T. GRENFELL .49 IV. THE GEOLOGY AND SCENERY OF THE NORTHEAST COAST — BY REGINALD A. DALY .... 81 V. THE HAMILTON RIVER AND THE GRAND FALLS — BY ALBERT P. Low 140 VI. THE PEOPLE OF THE COAST — BY WILFRED T. GRENFELL 164 VII. THE INDIANS — BY WILLIAM B. CABOT . . .184 VIII. THE MISSIONS — BY WILFRED T. GRENFELL . . 226 IX. REINDEER FOR LABRADOR — BY WILFRED T. GREN- FELL 251 X. THE DOGS — BY WILFRED T. GRENFELL . . 272 XI. THE COD AND COD-FISHERY — BY WILFRED T. GRENFELL 282 XII. THE SALMON -FISHERY — BY WILFRED T. GRENFELL 328 XIII. THE HERRING AND OTHER FISH — BY WILFRED T. GRENFELL . . . . . . . . 340 XIV. THE OCEAN MAMMALS — BY WILFRED T. GRENFELL 352 XV. THE BIRDS — BY CHARLES W. TOWNSEND . . 374 XVI. THE FLORA — BY E. B. DELABARRE . . .391 XVII. ANIMAL LIFE IN LABRADOR . . . . 426 XVIII. CONSERVATION AND EXPLORATION IN LABRADOR . 443 X CONTENTS APPENDICES NO. PAGE I. INSECTS OF LABRADOR — BY CHARLES W. JOHNSON AND JOHN SHERMAN, JR 453 II. THE MARINE CRUSTACEA — By MARY J. RATHBUN . 473 III. THE MOLLUSKS — BY CHARLES W. JOHNSON . . 479 IV. LIST OF THE MAMMALS OF LABRADOR — BY OUTRAM BANGS 484 V. LIST OF THE BIRDS OF LABRADOR — BY CHARLES W. TOWNSEND AND GLOVER M. ALLEN .... 495 VI. LIST OF CRUSTACEA ON THE LABRADOR COAST — BY MARY J. RATHBUN ....... 506 LIST OF BOOKS, ETC., ON LABRADOR . . . . .515 BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . 0 . . . . . .519 INDEX 521 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS AVILFRED T. GRENFELL Frontispiece FACING PAGE MAP OF LABRADOR 1 GRENFELL STRAIT 58 GARDENS AT NAIN, SHOWING POTATOES BEING COVERED AT NIGHT FROM THE SUMMER FROST 69 " WOMAN Box " FOR WINTER SLEDGE TRAVEL ... 76 THE WELL-BELOVED MAIL-MAN 81 MT. RAZOR-BACK FROM THE SOUTH, FIVE MILES DISTANT . 92 THE EAST WALL OF THE SOUTHERN ARM OF NACHVAK BAY 96 THE CLIFFS ON THE NORTH SIDE OF MUGFORD TICKLE . 101 CAPE MUGFORD, LOOKING NORTH 108 VIEW FROM A HILL NEAR HOPEDALE MISSION HOUSE . . 117 ICE-WORN SURFACE NEAR AILLIK BAY 120 LOOKING SOUTH INTO THE TALLEK, THE SOUTHERN ARM OF NACHVAK BAY 124 GLACIAL BOULDERS ON A RIDGE NEAR ICE TICKLE HARBOUR 130 BEAR ISLAND, WAVE-WASHED AND THEN UPLIFTED ». . 130 RAISED GRAVEL BEACH AT WEST BAY, SOUTH SIDE OF ENTRANCE TO HAMILTON INLET 135 HALF-TIDE VIEW OF THE SHORE AT FORD HARBOUR . . 135 RAISED BEACH, OVERLOOKING EMILY HARBOUR, SLOOP ISLAND 138 RAPIDS IN THE HAMILTON RIVER . . . . . . 149 Two VIEWS OF BOWDOIN CANYON 156 TAKING IT EASY 163 ESKIMO IN KAYAKS AT HEBRON 170 COURT OF ASSIZE ON THE " STRATHCONA " 174 ESKIMO HUNTER 179 xi xii FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS FACIXG PAGE THE PRAYER-LEADER AT THE RAGGED ISLANDS . . . 190 ESKIMO AND NASCAUPEE INDIANS, HUDSON BAY . . . 195 DAVIS INLET MONTAGNAIS . . . . . . . 195 INDIANS WATCHING THE CARIBOU AT A CROSSING . . . 206 NASCAUPEE INDIANS AT DAVIS INLET 206 BLUBBER YARD AT HEBRON 211 THE S. S. " HARMONY " AT RAMAH 222 OKKAK 227 WEST COAST ESKIMO 231 A FISHING FLEET WELCOMING THE MISSION BOAT'S ARRIVAL 234 ST. ANTHONY HOSPITAL 238 INTERIOR OF ST. ANTHONY HOSPITAL 238 BATTLE HARBOUR — THE HOSPITAL ON THE LEFT . . . 243 A VISITOR FROM THE NORTH 243 MISSION S. S. "STRATHCONA" 246 WHERE THE REINDEER GRAZE 254 A DEER-TEAM 259 THE HERD IN SUMMER 263 AFTER A LONG HAUL 266 WHOLE-BRED ESKIMO DOGS 270 THE MAINSTAY OF THE TEAM 277 ON THE MARCH 284 WAITING FOR THEIR MASTER 284 THE SEA OF ICE 289 NEWFOUNDLAND SCHOONERS WORKING NORTH . . . 289 A BATCH OF PRISONERS . 296 FISHING CREWS CATCHING BAIT 304 THE FISHING FLEET 326 KING "ATTANEK" AND His FRIENDS, EATING WALRUS HEAD 353 CATCHING SEALS NEAR HEBRON 368 FLIES AND BUTTERFLIES 458 BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS . . .... 464 LABRADOR THE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE Laurentian; including Fundamental Gneissee and Grenitille Series, sometimes with limestones " • granite rocks Anorthosites -=--yUi>nf«frme \Glacial strife (36 J ^ ~? C-4: | >4»ESOUUTION I. nd) HVJD^Oy STRAI^T LABRADOR CHAPTER I HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION l BY W. S. WALLACE LABRADOR has not much history. So far as we know, it was first seen by European eyes in 986. From that time until about 1700 it almost enjoyed the happiness of the country which has no history. There is nothing to record but the voyages of navigators who came and saw the land, and sailed away. Labrador, said Jacques Cartier, was " the land God gave to Cain"; there was "not one cart- load of earth on the whole of it." No one came to live on the coast until about 1700. But if the history of Lab- rador is deficient in quantity, it is marked by an infinite variety. Across the stage there pass in succession the savage bands of the Eskimos, an earlier race than ours; the storm-driven "dragons" of the Vikings; the early navigators, Venetian, Portuguese, English; whalers and fishermen from the Basque Provinces, from France, from the west of England; French-Canadian seigneurs and concessionaires along the Cdte du Nord;* English settlers after 1763 above the Strait of Belle Isle (among them 1 1 wish to express my indebtedness to Mr. W. L. Grant, Beit Lec- turer in Colonial History in the University of Oxford, and Mr. H. P. Br gar, representative in Europe of the Dominion Archives, for assist- ance kindly rendered in the preparation of this chapter. — W. S. W. Cl LABRADOR the strange figure of an English staff-officer;) American privateers in 1778, French warships in 1796; the Hud- son's Bay Company; Acadian refugees from the Magdalen Islands; and the demoted figures of the Moravian mis- sionaries. The dramatis personce are numerous, but the play has little plot or sequence ; it is more a pageant than a drama. The story begins in the year 986 in Iceland. Bjarni Herjulfson in that year, after a long absence on the high seas, came home to drink the Yuletide ale with his father. Finding that his father had gone with Eric the Red to Greenland, to found there that colony of which the ruins still stand upon the bleak and desolate coast, Bjarni weighed anchor and started off to Greenland after him. On the way he encountered foggy weather, and sailed on for many days without seeing sun or stars. When at length he sighted land, he was in waters of which he had never heard. " He was the first who ever burst Into that silent sea." The land was not the coast of fiords and glaciers for which he was looking; it was a shore without mountains, show- ing only small heights covered with dense woods. Bjarni put about and sailed to the north. The sky was now fair, and after sailing for five or six days he saw land again on the larboard, "but that land was high, mountainous, and covered with glaciers." Then the wind rose, and they sailed four days to Herjulfsness. There is no doubt that the high, mountainous land, covered with glaciers, was the coast of Labrador. Nothing came of Bjarni Her julf son's adventure till the INTRODUCTION 3 year 1000, the annus mirabilis of mediaeval history, when Leif, the wise and stately son of Eric the Red, "made up his mind to go and see what the coasts to the south of Greenland were like." He sailed from Brattahlid with a crew of thirty-five men. " First they found the land which Bjarni had found last. Then sailed they to the land and cast anchor, and put off a boat and went ashore, and saw there was no grass. Mickle glaciers were over all the higher parts: but it was like a plain of rock from the glaciers to the sea, and it seemed to them that the land was good for nothing." Leif gave the place the name of Helluland (flat stone land) . He then sailed on to countries which he names Markland and Vinland. The location of these places has been a subject of the warmest contro- versy. Helluland, however, it is perhaps safe to say, was either Labrador or the northern coast of Newfoundland. This is not the place to describe the expeditions of the Northmen to Vinland, which took place after the return of Leif Ericson. At first there were several attempts to found a colony, but the hostility of the Indians and the jealousies of the settlers brought them to naught. In 1121 Eric Gnupsson, who was appointed by Paschal II " bishop of Greenland and Vinland in partibus infidelium," went in search of Vinland; it is so recorded in at least six vellums. His is the last Viking expedition of which we have authentic information. But it is extremely probable that there were voyages of which we have no record. To these daring sea-farers the sea had no terrors; in their beautiful open ships, which were probably stronger and certainly swifter than the Spanish vessels of the time of Columbus, they were accustomed to traverse long stretches 4 LABRADOR of open sea without compass or astrolabe. They went everywhere.1 In 1824 there were found on an island in Baffin Bay, in a region supposed to have been unvisited by man before the modern age of Arctic exploration, a stone inscription: "Erling Sighvatson and Bjarni Thor- harson and Eindrid Oddson raised these marks and cleared ground on Saturday before Ascension week, 1135." There is a strong probability that the Northmen made voyages to the coast of America oftener than we imagine. Timber was scarce in Greenland ; what more likely than that they should have cut their timber on the shores of Newfound- land or in places like Hamilton Inlet on. the Labrador coast, » where there is still timber of the finest sort ? The voyages of the Northmen, however, were quite barren of results of either historical or geographical im- portance. The_yery tradition of Vinland seems to have died out in Europe. There are, indeed, accounts of voy- ages made to the coast of America in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; but these are almost wholly, if not entirely, mythical. Antonio Zeno, a Venetian gentle- man, writing to his brother Carlo about 1400, tells of some fishermen who had been blown out to sea twenty-six years before, and had been thrown up on a strange coast, where they were well received by the people. The land was an island with a high mountain whence flowed four rivers. There was a populous city surrounded by walls ; and the king had Latin books in his library which nobody could read. All kinds of metals abounded, and especially 1 A stone bearing a Runic inscription and the date 1362, has been found in the heart of North America, at Kensington, Minnesota; but very strong doubts have been cast on its genuineness. INTROD UCT1ON 5 \ gold. The name of the country was Estotiland. Some scholars have attempted to find grains of truth in this fisherman's yarn; Estotiland has been identified as New- foundland, and the populous city with walls about it has been explained as an Indian encampment surrounded by a palisade. But it is better to reject the story altogether; there is; indeed, strong evidence that the whole of the Zeno narrative is a forgery. Another supposed pre- Columbian voyage to America is that of the Polish pilot, John Szkolny, who is said to have sailed in 1476 to Green- land, in the service of Christian I of Denmark, and to have touched upon the coast of Labrador. This also has been shown to be a myth; no such voyage was ever made. It was the opinion of the late Mr. John Fiske that there were more voyages to America before 1492 than we have been wont to suspect. There has been, he pointed out, a great deal of blowing and drifting done at all times and on all seas. " Japanese junks have been driven ashore on the coasts of Oregon and California; and in 1500 Pedro Alvarez de Cabral, sailing down the coast of Africa, found himself on the shores of Brazil." He argued that occasional visitors such as these "may have come and did come before 1492 from the Old World to the New." It is a pleasing fancy. Unfortunately, the voice of authentic his- tory is silent and cannot be made to speak. The true discoverer of Labrador, for practical purposes, was John Cabot. Cabot was a Genoese by birth (and so a compatriot of Christopher Columbus), but in 1476 he be- came a naturalized citizen of Venice. In his earlier days he had traded, as far east as La Tana, Alexandria, and even Mecca. There he had seen the spice caravans from 6 LABRADOR China. They seem to have set him thinking. Like other men of his day, he had " studied the sphere," as the saying went; and he seems to have conceived the idea, inde- pendently of Columbus, of reaching the country where the spices grew by sailing westward. In quest of merchants who would furnish him forth he went to the west of Eng- land. There he found, in the matter of the new route, affairs much farther advanced than he could have sup- posed. In 1480 two ships had sailed from Bristol to discover the fabulous islands of Brazil and the Seven Cities which were supposed to lie between Ireland and the east coast of Asia. The expedition was fruitless, but it shows that the project of the westward route was already in the air. From Bristol Cabot made a long series of attempts to reach the islands which the ships that sailed in 1480 had failed to find. He believed they would prove stepping- stones to the coast of Asia. Year after year expeditions went out under his direction; autumn after autumn they returned to Bristol empty-handed. Cabot's patrons were already beginning to withdraw their support, when in the summer of 1493 news came to England that Christopher Columbus, with three Spanish ships, had reached the islands of Asia.1 Cabot renewed his efforts, and on May 2, 1497, he sailed under royal patent on the voyage which brought him out on the shores of North America. The voyages of the Cabots have been a storm-centre of 1 The reason why Columbus succeeded where Cabot failed, is that Columbus crossed the Atlantic in a region where the trade-winds blow steadily from the east; whereas the tract of ocean from Ireland to America is one of the most unquiet in the world, and a vessel on its westward course in those latitudes has to contend, not only with ad- verse winds and broken weather, but with frequent and dense fogs. INTRODUCTION 1 controversy for many years. The question where John Cabot had his landfall in 1497 depends almost wholly on the interpretation of the old maps. The fact that these charts were drawn to magnetic meridians, and not like our maps to the true meridian, sometimes alters the lie of a coast or the direction of a course by over 45°. Apart from this, also, mediaeval reckonings were often far astray. Chronometers had not yet been invented, and it was only on rare occasions that longitude could be reckoned with the least degree of accuracy. Determinations of latitude were fairly correct when made on dry land, but made from the deck of a vessel with the imperfect instruments of that period they were liable to be wrong. Consequently, it is very difficult to be sure of the course to which a med- iaeval mariner held. It used to be thought that in 1497 John Cabot's landfall was on Labrador. It is now cer- tain that wherever his landfall was, it was not there. Prob- ably it was on the shores of Cape Breton Island. It was on his second voyage, in 1498, that Cabot touched at ^Labrador. A Canadian scholar, Mr. H. P. Biggar, in his Voyages of the Cabots and Corte-Reals, has attempted a brilliant reconstruction of this voyage. He thinks that Cabot explored first the coast of Greenland, and that then he sailed south along the coast of Labrador. He attempts even to identify the places which Cabot de- scribes; Hamilton Inlet, for instance, and the Strait of Belle Isle, which Cabot took to be a deep bay. Cabot seems to have done some bartering with the Indians, for the Corte-Reals three years later found the natives in possession of a broken gilded sword and a pair of ear-rings, both apparently of Venetian manufacture. 8 LABRADOR John Cabot probably regarded his expeditions as finan- cial failures. He had set sail expecting to bring back the wealth of Ormuz and of Ind; he had found only the rock-bound coasts of North America. He had not even been able to discover the passage to the country where the spices grew. King Henry VII and the merchants of Bristol withdrew from a venture that swallowed up so much capital and offered such small profits; and shortly afterwards John Cabot died. Others, however, were not long in following in his wake. In the summer of, 1500 Gaspar Corte-Real, a Portuguese gentleman from the island of Terceira in the Azores, set sail from Lisbon for the coasts which Cabot had discovered. On his first voyage Corte-Real explored only the coast of Greenland. On his second, which was made the next year, he came out at Labrador in about 58° of north lati- tude. The coast here is 3000 feet high, and there is nothing to the north but a barren, precipitous shore of the same sort. Corte-Real therefore turned south, no doubt in hope of reaching in that direction the land of spices. As he followed the shore, he explored every bay and inlet. He examined Hamilton Inlet as far up as the Narrows, and he seems to have explored Hawke Bay and the Gilbert and Alexis rivers. The Strait of Belle Isle, however, he mis- took (as Cabot had done) for an ordinary inlet; it re- mained for others to discover its real nature. He named a number of bays and capes, but nearly all his names have been superseded. Some have died out, and some have been shifted by ignorant geographers down to the Newfoundland coast. Cape Freels (Cabo de Frey Luis) is an example of the latter class; originally it was a cape INTR OD UCTION 9 on the Labrador, named possibly after the chaplain of Corte-ReaFs ships. In one of the inlets of Labrador Corte-Real came upon a band of Nasquapee Indians, a tribe which still inhabits that neighbourhood. The African slave-trade, which was carried on principally from Lisbon, had taught the Portu- guese to look upon all natives as fair spoil ; and the sailors kidnapped some sixty of the Indians, and stowed them away below hatches. Two of the three ships were sent back to Lisbon with the Indians on board; they arrived there in little more than a month, and their arrival created the greatest excitement. King Manoel was delighted. Not only did the Indians promise to prove excellent slaves, all the more valuable since the African negro had become so wary that his capture was a matter of difficulty, but the new country produced, also, timber in abundance, which could be brought to Portugal at the cost of a month's voyage. This slave-hunting episode has been fixed on by some historians as affording the true explanation of the name Terra Labrador, or Terra del Laboratore. King Manoel had expressed the opinion that the new slaves would be "excellent for labour"; obviously "Terra del Labora- tore" meant "labourers' coast," or, as we might say, "slave coast." Unfortunately, there are difficulties about this ingenious theory. In the first place, the words del Lab- oratore are in the singular; in the second place, the Por- tuguese word llavrador does not mean a labourer, but something like a yeoman farmer; and in the third place, the original Labrador was not what we know now as Lab- rador— it was Greenland. In nearly all the maps of the 10 LABRADOR first half of the sixteenth century Greenland is Labrador; it was only owing to the fact that the early geographers thought that Davis Strait was a gulf, and that the main- land continued all the way, that the name got shifted down to the northeast coast of North America. For many years what is now known as Labrador was merely desig- nated " Terra Corterialis." The real explanation is to be found in the Wolfenbiittel map of 1534, which bears along the coast of Greenland the legend : " Country of Labrador, which was discovered by the English of the port of Bristol, and because he who first gave notice of seeing it was a farmer (llavrador) from the Azores, this name became attached to it." We have even a suspicion as to who this llavrador was. He was probably one Joao Fernandes, who accompanied Cabot on his second voyage, who was born on the same island of the Azores as Gaspar Corte-Real, and who was probably instrumental in 1500 in persuading Corte-Real to make his first expedition. In 1499 he himself obtained letters patent from King Manoel, but he does not seem to have used them. On his third voyage, in 1502, Gaspar Corte-Real was lost. His brother Miguel went in search of him, and he too disappeared. No trace of the two brothers has ever been found. They may have gone down in the broad Atlantic, or they may have been lured to their fate by the unforgetting Indians. They pass from history. For the next fifty years the exploration of Labrador was at a standstill. So far as the contour of the coast is concerned, the map of Sal vat de Pilestrina (1503) is nearer the truth than any map up to Mercator's great chart of INTRODUCTION 11 1569. The first official explorer to reach Labrador after Corte-Real was John Rut. Rut was an officer of the incipient Royal Navy of Henry VIII; in 1527 he set out to discover the regions of the Great Khan by going " far- ther to the west." One of his two ships was wrecked near the Strait of Belle Isle, where he encountered "many great islands of ice," and had to turn back. In 1534 Jacques Cartier explored the coast inside the Strait of Belle Isle. It has been said that he discovered the Strait of Belle Isle, but it is certain that the Strait was well known before 1534. It was called "le destroict de la baye des Chasteaux" (the strait off Chateau Bay). Car- tier's comment on the coast has already been quoted. He also said, however, that " if the land were as good as the harbours, it would be a good country. " The results of later voyages may be briefly summarized. In 1577 Martin Frobisher sailed along the coast of northern Labrador. "Foure days coasting along this land," he says, "we found no sign of habitation." "All along this coast yce lieth, as a continuall bulwarke, and so defendeth the country, that those that would land there, incur great danger." In 1586 Davis spent a month on the Labrador coast, searching for a northwest passage. Besides the openings already known, Cumberland Strait, Frobisher 's Strait, and Hudson's Strait, Davis rediscovered Davis Inlet in 56° and Hamilton Inlet in 54° 30'. It is to him that we owe the most exact knowledge of the coast until modern times. In 1606 John Knight arrived on the Lab- rador coast in latitude 56° 25'. He and his men were attacked by the Eskimos, and only with great diffi- culty were able to beat them off. Eight years later a 12 LABRADOR Captain Gibbons was ice-bound for twenty weeks in "a Bay called by his company Gibbons his Hole"; it is supposed to -have been what is now Nain Bay. In 1610 Henry Hudson passed through Hudson's Straits to Hud- son's Bay, and so demonstrated the true nature of the Labrador peninsula. In the seventeenth century the French Canadians began to explore the Labrador coast. In 1657 Jean Bourdon of Quebec tried to reach Hudson's Bay by sea. He sailed up the Atlantic seaboard until he reached 55° north lati- tude; there he was compelled to turn back on account of the icebergs. Twenty-five years later Jolliet, the discov- erer of the Mississippi, also sailed on a voyage of exploration up the Labrador coast. The chart which he made of Hudson's Bay and Labrador is still preserved in the Archives of the Marine at Paris. It is, however, only within recent times that anything like an exact cartographical knowledge of the coast of Labrador has been arrived at. This has been due, on the one hand, to the British admiralty surveys, the first of which was carried out by the great Captain Cook, and on the other hand to the excellent charts of the Moravian missionaries. The interior of Labrador is still to a large extent unexplored. The great industry of the coast has always been its fisheries. In the middle ages fish played a much more important part in the economic life of Europe than it does to-day. The number of fast days in the year, and the way in which they were observed all over Europe, made fish one of the great staples of existence. Until the sixteenth INTRODUCTION 13 century Iceland was the scene of the most extensive fisheries. In 1497, 'however, John Cabot came back from "the new-found isle" with glowing accounts of the cod- fish which abounded there. Sebastian Cabot, who had a vivid imagination, vowed that the shoals of codfish were so numerous "they sumtymes stayed his shippes." En- terprising fishermen almost immediately set out for the new fishing-grounds. They appear in the records for the first time in 1504, the year after the last voyage of the Corte-Reals. At first they seem to have come mainly from Breton and Norman ports. When Queen Joanna of Spain, in 1511, wanted pilots for the Bacallaos (New- foundland), she went to Brittany for them. And in 1534, when Jacques Cartier was passing through the Strait of Belle Isle, he met a fishing vessel from La Rochelle looking for the harbour of "Brest." This wras a harbour near the mouth of the Eskimo River, which had obviously been named by Breton fishermen; it was already, apparently, a rendezvous. Contemporaneously with the French fishermen, came the Basque whalers from the Bay of Biscay. The asser- tion has even been made that, in their whaling voyages in the north Atlantic, the Basques discovered and fished at Labrador as- early as 1470 ; but this story may be safely discounted. What is certain is that from 1525 to about 1700 they frequented the Strait of Belle Isle and the Gulf of St. Lawrence in considerable numbers. As they soon discovered, the whales followed down the cold Labrador current and passed through the Strait into the Gulf in great abundance. Portuguese fishermen followed in the track of the Corte- 14 LABRADOR Reals; and the voyage of Estevan Gomez conducted the Spaniards also to the northwest fisheries. What is now Bradore Bay was long known as Baie des Espagnols: and in 1704 there were still to be seen there the ruins of a Span- ish fishing establishment. The English were slower in recognizing the value of the new fisheries than the French or Spanish. They did not realize at first that Cabot had opened to them a source of revenue more valuable than the fabled wealth of Cathay. But gradually they too awoke to the possibilities of the new fisheries. They threw themselves into competition with the French, and appropriated to themselves a large part of the fishing-grounds. The French were driven back to the west coast of Newfoundland, along what is known as "the French shore." A study of the names on the map of Newfoundland will show the limit of their fishing opera- tions; from Bonne Esperance to Cape Charles, the names are almost wholly French. It was not until about 1763 that the English entered upon the Labrador fisheries at all. A part of the history of Labrador which still remains to be worked up is the story of the French Canadian settlements along the so-called Quebec Labrador. No full account of these settlements has yet been published; the facts lie buried in the archives at Paris and Ottawa. Most of what has found its way into print has been of the most unreliable and mythical character. Nothing more instructive could be found, for instance, of the way in which history is sometimes manufactured than the legend of the town of Brest. In 1608 there was published in Lyons, France, a little book, the only surviving copy of which is IN TE OD UCTION 1 5 in the Lenox Library, New York. It was entitled Copy of a Letter sent from New France, or Canada, by the Sieur de Combes, a Gentleman of Poitou, to a Friend, in which are described briefly the Marvels, Excellence and Wealth of the Country, together with the Appearance and Manners of the Inhabitants, the Glory of the French, and the Hope there is of Christianizing America. This letter gives the follow- ing account of Brest: — "We desired first to go and see the Sieur de Dongeon, who is governor, and resides ordinarily at Brest, the prin- cipal town of the whole country, well provisioned, large and strongly fortified, peopled by about fifty thousand men, and furnished with all that is necessary to enrich a good-sized town." When it is remembered that this letter was written in the year in which Champlain founded Quebec, it will be seen immediately that it is a fairy tale of the wildest sort. Brest was never anything at this time but a convenient harbour for fishermen; and the Sieur de Combes and the Sieur de Dongeon are probably people who never ex- isted. Somebody, however, must have taken the account au grand serieux; for in 1638 the following account of Labrador appeared in Lewes Roberts' Merchants' Map of Commerce printed at London : — " The seventh is Terra Corterialis ; on the South whereof runs that famous river of Caneda, rising out of the hill Hombuedo, running nine hundred miles, and found navi- gable for eight hundred thereof. . . . The chiefe Towne thereof is Brest, Cabomarso, and others of little note." Cabomarso is obviously a cape named by the Portu- 16 LABRADOR guese; but Brest is the " principal town" of the Sieur de Combes. The finishing touches were put on the myth by a Mr. Samuel Robertson, who lived on the Labrador coast in the first half of the nineteenth century. In a paper read before the Geographical and Historical Society of Quebec in 1843, he gave a graphic picture of Brest in its palmy days. "I estimate," he said, "that at one time it contained two hundred houses, besides stores, etc., and perhaps 1000 inhabitants in the winter, which would be trebled during the summer. Brest was at the height of its prosperity about the year 1600, and about thirty years later the whole tribe of the Eskimos were totally extir- pated or expelled from that region. After this the town began to decay, and towards the close of the century the name was changed to Bradore." In 1630, he goes on to relate, a grant en seigneurie of four leagues of the coast embracing the town was made to the Count de Courte- manche, who was married to a daughter of King Henry IV of France. ' Et voila justement comme on ecrit I'histoire. The whole story is a myth and a fairy tale. There was, it is true, a De Courtemanche on the Labrador coast from 1704-1716, but he was not a count, nor did he hold any land en seig- neurie, and he was married to the daughter of a tanner named Chares t at Levis. Moreover, we have De Courte- manche's account of the coast when he came there in 1704. He does not mention the town of Brest; apparently he had never heard of it. But in the harbour he found an establishment of Frenchmen and a blockhouse, about half a league from the mouth of the Eskimo River. This was just a century after the time when " Brest was at INTE OD UCTION 1 7 the height of its prosperity." It is indeed probable that Mr. Robertson did not know where Brest was ; he confuses it with Bradore Bay, which is eight or ten leagues farther along the coast. And yet the story has died hard; it is to be found in some of the latest books, in Professor Pack- ard's Labrador Coast (1891), and in Judge Prowse's His- tory of Newfoundland (1896). The exploitation of Labrador by the French Canadians really began in 1661. In that year the Compagnie des Indes granted to Francois Bissot the Isle aux OEufs en seigneurie, together with fishing rights over nearly the whole of the Quebec Labrador, from the Seven Isles to Bradore Bay. This was what was known afterwards as the Seig- neurie of Mingan. Frangois Bissot was a Norman immi- grant who had come out to Canada some time between 1641-1647. He was a man of enterprise and ideas. He was the first Canadian to enter upon the tanning of leather, an industry which is to-day perhaps the most important in Quebec. He was also one of the very first Canadians who attempted to establish sedentary fisheries in the Gulf. At the Isle aux (Eufs, and later at Mingan on the mainland, he founded posts at which he carried on fishing, sealing, and trading with great success. Between his farm and his tannery at *Levis and his fishing-posts on the Labrador it was not long before he made his fortune. He was him- self of bourgeois extraction; but he married his daughters to members of the colony's ruling class. The noblesse and the bourgeoisie joined hands. One of Bissot's daughters married Louis Jolliet, the discoverer of the Mississippi. His marriage into the Bissot family drew Jolliet's energies eastward. His exploration 18 LABRADOR of the coasts of Labrador has already been referred to. As a reward for his discoveries he was granted the island of Anticosti, a barren fief, of which he was the first seigneur. When Bissot died, Jolliet was one of his heirs. He became engaged in a dispute with the other heirs which was the precursor of a long line of disputes about the Bissot seig- neurie, litigation over which was only ended in 1892 by the decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the case of the Labrador Company vs. the Queen. Jol- liet's last years were tragic. He endured great losses from the English invasion of 1690, and afterwards was actually suffering from poverty. He died about 1700, neglected and forgotten, on some island of the Labrador coast. Jolliet's example without doubt induced others to go and spy out the land of Labrador. It was about 1702 that De Courtemanche obtained his concession near the Strait of Belle Isle. Augustin Legardeur, Sieur de Courtemanche, was a lieutenant in the troops of the marine. He spent the early years of his life in the west in the Indian wars, and acquired there a reputation as a leader. In 1697, however, he married the widow of Pierre Gratien Martel de Brouague ; she was the granddaughter of old Frangois Bissot, and family ties drew De Courtemanche, as they had drawn Jolliet, to the east of Canada. It has been usual to describe De Court emanche's concession as a seigneurie; but such language is inaccurate. It was merely a grant of fishing and trading rights for a number of years. The policy of the government was evidently to leave its hands free for the future with regard to the Labrador coast. The only true seigneurie east of the Mingan Islands was "the fief INTRODUCTION 19 St. Paul in the country of the Eskimos"; and about this seigneurie not much is known. It was granted in 1706 to Amador Godefroy de St. Paul. In 1725 Godefroy de St. Paul sent one of his wife's relatives to render foi et horn- mage for him at the castle of St. Louis in Quebec. But after Godefroy's death it is probable that the ' family ceased to occupy the fief ; certainly the fief never arrived at any degree of importance.1 During the years 1700-1760 it rained concessions on the Cdte du Nord. Grants of fishing and trading rights were made to the Sieurs Riverin, De la Chesnaye, Constan- tin, De la Valtrie (who had married a daughter of Fran- cois Bissot), De Leigne, Boucault and Foucault, De la Fontaine, De Lanouilles, Marsal, Hocquart, Tache, Pom- mereau, Vincent, De Beaujeu, and Estebe, as well as to Mme. de Boishebert and the widow Fernel.2 Hamilton Inlet (Baie des Esquimaux) was granted at different times to traders and merchants, on condition of its being ex- plored; but none of the grantees seem to have complied with the condition. It is noteworthy, however, that in 1779 Major Cartwright reports the discovery near Hamil- ton Inlet of "the ruins of three French settlements." And we know from Jeffrey's Northwest Passage that in 1752 the French traded with the Eskimos at Ham- ilton Inlet for whalebone and oil. Perhaps the French Canadians went north of the Strait of Belle Isle oftener than we hear about. Inside the Strait, however, there is no question about 1 1 have to acknowledge here the kind assistance of Professor W. B. Munro, of Harvard University. 2 This list does not pretend to be perfect. 20 LABRADOR the number of fishing-posts which existed. Not only were there cod fisheries and seal fisheries, there were even salmon and porpoise fisheries. The seal fishery was espe- cially important. It supplied the oil which was used for giving light in Canada and for dressing hides in Europe. In 1744, we learn from an old table of products, several thousand barrels of oil were exported from Labrador to France. In the industrial life of New France Labrador played a much larger part than has been usually realized. The Jesuits did not reach Labrador. In 1730 Father Pierre Laure, serving at Chekoutimi on the Saguenay, wrote to his superior: "I think it would be a good thing if your Reverence would permit me to go to Labrador, where I know that great results can be obtained." But his petition was not granted. The only priest, so far as we know, who worked on the Labrador coast, was the Abbe Martin, who petitioned in 1727 to be allowed to set up a seal fishery there. The memorandum of the Gov- ernor and Intendant on the subject throws light on the conditions of the coast in 1727 ; they write : — "We cannot answer immediately in the matter of the Sieur Martin's request to set up an establishment of the .Labrador. "This region scarcely seems suitable for a man of his cloth, there being only rocks in this place. The dissipa- tion which a trading-post brings about scarcely suits a missionary. "These proposals show good intentions. We believe there is nothing behind them. But the matters which he proposes are too delicate not to require time for considera- tion." INTR OD UCTION 21 Whether the Abbe Martin's request was granted, we do not know. He is to us merely a nominis umbra. We 1 know nothing more about him than that he was " serving on the Labrador." Order was kept on the coast by the Sieur de Courte- manche, who bore the official title of commandant. At Baie des Phelypeaux (now Bradore Bay) he had a fort called Fort Ponchartrain. He exercised magisterial pow- ers, and sent in an annual report to the president of the Navy Board at Paris. His chief difficulty was with the Eskimos, who persisted in destroying the boats and stages of the fishermen, and in murdering an occasional white man. De Courtemanche's conciliatory policy toward the natives is deserving of notice, especially as it stands in sharp contrast with the treatment of the Indians by the English across the Strait in Newfoundland. There it was considered good sport to shoot an Indian like a deer. This is not the only case in which the French proved themselves superior to the English in their rela- tions with the natives. De Courtemanche died in 1716, and his place as com- mandant of the coast was taken by his step-son, Frangois Martel de Brouague. De Brouague held the post until the conquest, though in 1759 he was so old and worn out that the minister proposed to replace him by another. He too had difficulty with the Eskimos, and he seems not to have been so successful as his step-father in his measures. He was, however, a person of importance in New France ; he married in 1732 Louise-Madeleine Mari- auchau-d'Esglis, sister of the eighth bishop of Quebec, and his daughter was that beauty of whom Garneau tells, 22 LABRADOR who, when presented at the French court, filled with admi- ration the young king, Louis XVI. The conquest of Canada in 1763 by the English worked a revolution on the Labrador coast. Shortly after the con- quest many of the French-Canadian gentry went back to France; we know, for instance, that in 1767 Captain Croizille de Courtemanche, half-brother of M. de Brouague, went back. At the same time there flocked into the coun- try a number of English and Scotch adventurers — "four hundred and fifty contemptible sutlers and traders," as Gov- ernor Murray called them. Some of these men bought up the concessions along the Labrador coast which the French Canadians were leaving. Between 1759 and 1808 they acquired nearly the whole coast from the Mingan Islands to Bradore Bay, and formed what was known as the Lab- rador Company, the leading spirit in which was Mathew Lymburner, the Quebec merchant who spoke so ably at the bar of the House of Commons in Westminster against the Constitutional Act of 1791. From 1763 also dates the first authentic account of a settled English fishery between the Strait of Belle Isle and Hamilton Inlet. Under the French regime Canada had included all Labrador; but by the proclamation of 1763 its eastern boundary became the River St. John. Labrador and Anticosti were annexed to Newfoundland. Adventurers immediately began to establish themselves in the new territory. Captain Nicholas Darby, of Bristol, set up near Cape Charles, and the firm of Noble and Pinson, long well known on the coast, began to do business at Temple Bay. INTRODUCTION 23 This, however, was not at all the object which the Eng- lish government had wished to accomplish. It had been their intention to put the Labrador fishery under the same regulations as the Newfoundland fishery. It was to be preserved as an "open and free fishery" for the Dorset and Devon fishing fleets, and was to be governed by fishing admiral rules. The establishment of sedentary fisheries immediately caused trouble. It was the old story, so familiar in the case of Newfoundland itself, of a struggle between the settlers on the shore, who claimed the right of exclusive fishing, and the fishermen who came over the Atlantic from English ports, and who wanted the fisheries and landing-places reserved for themselves. Sir Hugh Palliser, the governor of Newfoundland, strove energetically to carry out the new regulations. He applied to the home government for naval reinforcements, "for the purpose of enforcing the fishery laws and preserving peace and some degree of order amongst the fisheries, especially amongst the mixed multitudes now resorting to the new northern banks about the Strait of Belle Isle, composed of about 5000 of the very scum of the most disorderly people from the different colonies." He built a blockhouse in Chateau Bay, and garrisoned it with an officer and twenty men. But his measures were in vain. He had to encounter, not only the opposition of the few English and French-Canadian settlers on the coast, the latter armed with their title-deeds acquired under the French governors, but also the hostility of the Canadian and New England fishermen, who were excluded from the fisheries. The feeling among the New England fishermen was especially strong; their exclusion from the Labrador 24 LABRADOR fisheries was one of the lesser causes which helped to bring about the American war, and it explains some episodes in the naval history of the war. In 1774 Labrador was given back to Canada. It was not until 1809 that it was finally reannexed to Newfoundland. A trader who came to Labrador in 1770 was Major George Cartwright. He had been aide-de-camp to the Marquis of Granby in the Seven Years' War; but failing to obtain promotion, he resigned his commission, and went into business on the coast of Labrador. He has left us his journals, in three large folio volumes. The great ma- jority of the entries are trivial. "I went out a-shooting," he says on September 29, 1772, "but saw nothing." Yet the diary as a whole gives a vivid and minute account of the life at a post on the Labrador in 1770. The drunken- ness, the brutality, the license, are all depicted without reticence. Cartwright, who was a man of magnificent courage, treated the Irishmen and Indians under him like slaves. "I gave MacCarthy," he says, " twenty-seven lashes with a small dog-whip on his bare back, and in- tended to have made up the number thirty-nine; but as he then fainted, I stopped and released him: when he thanked me on his knees for my lenity." "I broke the stock of my Hanoverian rifle," he says at another time, "by striking a dog with it." So far as women were concerned, Cartwright's principles were frankly immoral. Yet he was religious after the fashion of his day. On Easter Sunday, he says, " I read prayers to my family both in the forenoon and afternoon." And after a providential es- cape from danger he writes: "We could attribute all these things to nothing but the effect of the immediate interpo- INTRODUCTION 25 sition of the DIVINITY, who had been graciously pleased to hear our prayers, and grant our petitions; and I hope I shall 'never be of a contrary way of thinking." He was a man of strict honour; and when he failed in business, he refused to go into bankruptcy, and preferred to carry the burden of his debt in the hope of paying it off. He had several trading-posts at intervals along the coast from Cape Charles to Sandwich Bay. Under him he seems to have had at times as many as seventy-five or eighty men, mostly Irishmen of the. lowest description. He did not limit himself to sealing, and fishing for cod and salmon, but he tried by all means possible to cultivate trade with the Indians and Eskimos. His policy in this regard is one of the most laudable things about him. Three years before his arrival on the coast the Eskimos, with whom murder was a pastime, killed three of Captain Darby's men at Charles River. The relations between the English and the Eskimos after this threatened to degenerate into the guerilla warfare which ended in New- foundland in the extinction of the Beothuks. Cartwright saw that this policy was a wrong one, and by his firm and kindly attitude toward the Eskimos he gradually gained their confidence. Twice he took Eskimos back with him to England, and tried to train them up as go-betweens, but they almost all died from the smallpox. Their death was to Cartwright one of his greatest disappointments. Through ill luck his policy was not so successful as he hoped it would be, but it must be said that he was work- ing along the right lines. Cartwright was not a good business man, and his adven- ture was not a success. He suffered from the hostility 26 LABRADOR of Noble and Pinson, "who have been my inveterate enemies ever since I came to the coast," and his buildings were several times destroyed by fire. But the great calamity which overtook him was the visit of the American privateer Minerva in August, 1778. At one o'clock on the morning of August 27, he was alarmed by a loud rapping at his door; he opened it, and a body of armed men rushed in; they were, they said, from the Minerva privateer, of Boston, in New England, commanded by John Grimes. They made Cartwright their prisoner, and took possession of everything. At nine o'clock Cartwright was taken on board, and received by Captain Grimes, who was " the son of a superannuated boatswain of Ports- mouth." Cartwright was not favourably impressed by the first lieutenant and the surgeon, whom he describes as "two of as great villains as any unhanged." He found that his possessions at Charles Harbour and Ranger Lodge had already been plundered. An expedition had been sent off to Caribou Castle to plunder there; and it was only by talking about a British frigate which he expected that he frightened them from sending to Paradise and White Bear River. They robbed him of everything except a small quantity of provisions and a chest of bag- gage, which Grimes returned ("but many things were pillaged out of it"). Cartwright lost also about one-half of his men. The Minerva was short-handed, and Grimes offered a share of the booty to any who would enter with him. Nearly thirty-five men, mostly Irish and Dutch, ac- cepted his offer. It is needless to say, none of them ever saw any prize-money ; when they reached Boston, they were all thrown into prison, where they languished for several months. INTRODUCTION 27 Cartwright computed his losses at about £14,000. Fortunately, however, his brig, with all the salt and most of the other goods which the Americans had carried away in her, was retaken on her passage to Boston, and his losses proved not so great as he had imagined they would be. Others suffered more severely than he did. Noble and Pinson at Temple Bay lost three vessels and all their stores; and two merchants named Slade and"Seydes lost a vessel each at Charles Harbour. The next year a small American privateer of four guns entered Battle Harbour, and captured a sloop there with about twenty-two tuns of seal oil on board. The stores on the shore, belonging to Slade of Twillingate, were destroyed. The result was that " everybody on this side of Trinity was in the utmost distress for provisions from the depredations of the priva- teers, as no vessels had arrived from England." Cart- wright himself had to cut his men down to short rations during the winter. In 1786 Cartwright returned to England, and his diary closes. In the last entries are some interesting notes on the Strait of Belle Isle. At both Forteau Bay and Blanc Sablon Cartwright founded establishments of fishing com- panies from Jersey. Behind the Isle de Bois he saw several American whalers lying at anchor. "Not having had any success with whales, they were catching codfish. As they dare not carry their fish to the European markets, for fear of the Barbary rovers, they are sent up to their own back settlements, where they fetch good prices." The journal ends with a poetical epistle to Labrador. * Ten years after Cartwright left the coast Labrador was again the victim of a hostile visitation. In August, 1796, 28 LABRADOR Admiral Bichery, one of the ablest of the admirals of the French republic, made a flying visit from Cadiz to the Banks of Newfoundland. After having wrought cruel havoc among the fishermen on the Banks, he despatched three of his ships, the Duquesne, the Censeur, and the Friponne, under Commodore Allemand, to visit the coast of Labrador. Allemand was delayed by wind and fog, and when he arrived at Chateau Bay, most of the fishing vessels had left for Europe. Several ships, however, still remained, among them part of the rich convoy of peltries returning from Hudson's Bay. These Allemand captured. He then sent a summons to the commandant of Fort York, the blockhouse which Governor Palliser had built at Chateau Bay, demanding his surrender. When the com- mandant refused to surrender, Allemand opened fire on the fort, and soon silenced its fourteen guns. The English thereupon took to the woods, but not before they had set fire to all the buildings and stores at the post. The French landed, but found " no thing but ashes"; after a vain attempt to pursue the English garrison in the woods, they put to sea again, taking with them those prizes which they had not sunk or burned. They had done as much damage as it was possible for them to do. The people of Labrador have small reason to love the warships of revolutionary states. / In 1809 Labrador was given back to Newfoundland. The arrangement was once more, however, found to be unsatisfactory. The Cdte du Nord was really a part of Lower Canada, and it did not fit in; either legally or socially, with the system of government in Newfoundland. The INTRODUCTION 29 result was that in 1825 that part of Labrador which is now known as the Quebec Labrador, stretching from the River St. John to Blanc Sablon, was reannexed to Lower Canada. This is the arrangement which governs the present condition. Unfortunately, however, the boun- daries of Labrador have never been clearly defined. The jurisdiction of the governor of Newfoundland, as denned in the letters patent regularly issued up to 1876, includes "all the coast of Labrador, from the entrance of Hudson's Straits to a line to be drawn due north and south from Anse Sablon [sic] on the said coast to the fifty-second degree of north latitude." The only conclusion which may be drawn from this document is that the advisers of the British crown, when they drew it up, were, as usual, not looking at the map. Anse Sablon is a place which does not exist, though Blanc Sablon does; and just where the entrance to Hudson's Strait is, might well, as Sir John Haselrig said, be the subject for a month's debate. It might be anywhere from Cape Chudleigh to Fort Chimo. The result of the ambiguity in the terms by which the boundary of Labrador is defined, has been a dispute be- tween Quebec and Newfoundland which is still pending. Canada has issued a map coloured red right to the Atlantic seaboard; and Newfoundland has retorted by colouring nearly the whole of the Labrador peninsula green. The question will probably be decided by the Judicial Com- mittee of the Privy Council. In 1811 an act of Parliament was passed authorizing the holding of surrogate courts in Labrador. Nothing was done to give effect to this act until 1827, when Sir Thomas Cochrane, the governor, issued a proclamation 30 LABRADOR setting up a court of civil jurisdiction. A sheriff was ap- pointed for the coast, and a vessel was chartered to take the judge on his circuit; but it was soon found that the undertaking was more expensive than advantageous. In 1833 the court was abolished. Meanwhile a change had been taking place in the fisheries. In 1818 a .convention was made between the United States and Great Britain, by which the inhabitants of the United States gained, among other things, the right of taking fish of any kind " on the coasts, bays, harbours, and creeks " of the Labrador. American fishermen took advantage of this convention in great numbers. In 1820 Captain Robinson, of H.M.S. Favourite, reported "530 sail of them this year." The English fishermen began to suffer from their competition. Both the American and French fish- ermen received bounties from their governments : the first in the shape of a drawback on the salt used; and the sec- ond in the shape of premiums which were so regulated as to make 20 francs per quintal the minimum price received. The American fisherman also fished "in his own vessel, built by himself, with timber grown on his own land, and with provisions supplied by his own farm." There was great irritation against the government because of their admission of the Americans into what was considered the richest part of the fisheries. It was felt that England was being generous to the prodigal son at the expense of the son who stayed at home. Such a feeling has not died out. in Newfoundland yet, as recent events have shown. Population has never increased by leaps and bounds on the Labrador coast. In 1841, however, Samuel Robertson said that on his part of the coast there were over two hun- INTRODUCTION 31 dred and fifty settlers. In 1848 the bishop of Newfound- land visited Labrador. "No bishop or clergyman of our Church/' he said, "has ever been along this coast before, and yet the inhabitants are almost all professed members of our Church and of English descent." The good man found plenty of work to do. He consecrated several graveyards. At one settlement "great numbers were married, and both here and elsewhere an offering [of four dollars] was very cheerfully paid." At Battle Harbour fifty-seven children were admitted into the Church. The statement is made in some of the books that when the Acadians were driven from their homes in 1753, a number of them took refuge on the Labrador coast, and erected a fort at Chateau Bay. For this statement there is no authority whatever. The only invasion of the shores of Labrador by Acadians took place in the years 1857-1861. During these years a number of Acadians came from the Magdalen Islands, whither their ancestors had fled a cen- tury before. Some of them, braving the threats of seig- neurs, settled at Pointe Saint-Paul, not far from the ancient harbour of "Brest," and others squatted near Natishquan, ninety miles east of Mingan. In all, they numbered about eighty families. Their children still live on the Cdte du Nord, scarcely distinguishable from the French Canadians about them. Something must be said about the Hudson's Bay Com- pany. It is probable that until 1870 the Hudson's Bay Company was at law the proprietor of a large part of the Labrador peninsula. Under their charter they claimed 32 LABRADOR "all rights to trade and commerce of those seas, etc., within the entrance of Hudson's Strait, and all lands on the coasts and confines thereof." Their claim to Labrador was submitted to the law officers of the British crown in 1752, and pronounced by them to be valid. It was not, however, till 1831 that the company began to exploit Labrador. In that year, having learned from a missionary report that the country about Ungava produced excellent furs, and being desirous also of " ameliorating the condi- tion of the natives," they founded Fort Chimo on Hudson's Strait. A year or so later they established at the other end of Labrador Rigolet Post, near the head of Hamilton Inlet. It was the desire to establish communications between these two posts that led to the wonderful over- land journey of John M'Lean, the factor at Fort Chimo, in 1838, a journey which has not been repeated until within the last few years. M' Lean's Notes of a Twenty-five Years1 Service in the Hudson1 s Bay Territories is worth reading as an earlier version of the lure of the Labrador wild. In 1870 the great company surrendered all its rights in British North America to the Dominion of Canada, in return foT a substantial quid pro quo. All that part of Labrador, therefore, which does not belong to Newfoundland, comes under the jurisdiction of the Dominion. There remains to be told the story of the Moravian missionaries. No more wonderful story of missionary effort has ever awaited the pen of the reporter; and yet the work of the Moravian Mission in Labrador has been little known. It was in 1752 that the United Society of Brethren first attempted to found a mission there among INTRODUCTION 33 the Eskimos. It ended in failure. The four mission- aries had erected a house, the frame and materials of which they had brought with them, when five or six members of the crew, among them the mate, who was a Brother, were treacherously murdered by the Eskimos. The mission- aries were obliged to return with the ship, in order to help man her, and they left their house standing on the bleak and desolate coast. It was seen next year (1753) by Captain Swaine, of Philadelphia, who was exploring the coast in the ship Argo. The attempt to found a mission was not renewed until 1764. In that year Jans Haven, a member of the Brotherhood who had been working among the Eskimos of Greenland, landed at St. John's, Newfoundland. Sir Hugh Palliser, the new governor, was anxious to improve the relations between the white men and the Eskimos, and he did all in his power to further Haven's aims. At last, at Quirpont, Haven met an Eskimo. "I ran to meet him," he says. Great was the surprise of the Eskimo at being addressed in Greenlandic. The next year three other missionaries came out, one of them an old man whose race was nearly run. They selected the spot which they thought best for their mission, and then asked from the government a grant of 100,000 acres in connection with it. This demand fell on the ears of the government like a thunderbolt. It was excessive; it savoured even of ulterior designs. The missionaries explained that the vicious influence of the European traders and fishermen on the coast made it necessary that the natives should, as far as possible, be preserved from contamination. In 1769, after long delays, the grant was 34 LABRADOR made. Two years later the Brethren began to build their mission house at Nain. " It was as if," wrote one of them, " each with one of his hands wrought in the work and with the other held a weapon." Before winter broke on them they had the house finished. In 1773 the British government sent out Lieutenant Curtis, R.N., as a commissioner to report on the progress of the mission. Some sentences from his report may be transcribed : — "They have chosen for their residence a place called by the Indians [Eskimos] Nonynoke, but to which they have given the name of Unity Bay. . . . Their house is called Nain. It is a good situation, and is well contrived. They have a few swivels mounted, although they have no occasion for them, as the Indians [Eskimos] are awed more by their amiable conduct than by arms. There is a sawmill, which is worked by a small stream conducted thither by their industry from the mountains, and they find this engine to be extremely serviceable. . . . They have a small sandy garden, and they raise salads in toler- able perfection. . . . The natives love and respect them, because they have happily adopted and strictly adhere to that conduct which is endearing without being familiar. None of the Indians [Eskimos], a very few excepted, ever presume to come within the palisades without per- mission, nor is a bolt necessary to prevent their intrusion. .. . . The progress which the mission has made in civiliz- ing the Indians [Eskimos] is wonderful." In 1775 the mission at Okkak was established; and in 1782 that at Hopedale. Everything, however, did not go smoothly at first. About 1787 a mysterious person named Makko, a French Canadian (says the historian of the mission), who combined the character of merchant and INTRODUCTION 35 Roman Catholic priest, succeeded in enticing a number of the Eskimos away from the Brethren. And Cartwright says in his journal in 1783 : " The Eskimos expressed a great dislike to the Moravians, and assured me they would not live near, or trade with, them more." It was not until 1804, says one of the missionaries, that the fruits of the mission began to appear; but in that year, " a fire from the Lord was kindled among the Eskimos." Since then mission stations have been established at Hebron, at Zoar, at Ramah, and at Makkovik. These names may be seen marked on any good map of northeastern America, " names of another clime and an alien race." The Eskimos, said Cartwright, "have always been accounted the most savage race of people on the whole continent of America." "They are," said Governor Palliser, "the most savage people in the world." To- day it would be hard to find a more quiet, placid, and peaceable race. The change is due almost entirely to the' United Brethren. They have converted a race of primeval savages, with whom murder was a passion and theft a craze, into mild and simple Christians. The great miracle has seldom been wrought on more unpromising materials and with more amazing success. For their part, the Eskimos are not unmindful of their friends and benefactors. "My dear Brethren and Sisters," writes Simeon of Nain, "I am quite astonished at your love for us, and distressed that I am not able to make you any return. I have requested my teachers to trans- late my words into your words, that you may understand that I feel great gratitude toward you. I am Simeon." "I greet the unknown friends in Europe," writes Verona 36 LABRADOR from Hopedale, "as if I knew them, and write these un- worthy lines to them. In heaven I shall see them and get to know them, because we shall all be with the Lord, even those who have no money." CHAPTER II TRAVELLED ROUTES TO LABRADOR BY W. T. GRENFELL THE northeast coast of Labrador can be reached at pres- ent only via Newfoundland. A passenger steamer runs from each side of the island to Labrador. These steamers belong to the Reid-Newfoundland Company, and receive a subsidy to carry the mails. They are both smart, stout boats, and are in the hands of such old experienced pilot captains that in spite of the badly charted coast, the ice- bergs, and the absence of most of the aids to navigation in the more beaten tracks, no danger beyond what is inci- dental to every sea trip need be anticipated. There has never yet been a life lost from accident on these mail boats visiting the Labrador coast. The tourist must choose whether he wishes to go by the west or east coast of Newfoundland. The east coast boat runs once a fortnight. She calls at many points along the east coast of Labrador as far as Nain, in lat. 56°, and also at several points on the east coast of Newfoundland. The west coast boat makes weekly trips, starting from Bay of Islands. She touches at ports on the island, crosses the Strait, and visits the southern shore of Labrador, from Bonne Esperance to Battle Harbour, at the entrance to the Strait of Belle Isle. Here she connects with the east coast 37 38 LABRADOR boat, so that visitors can come by the one route and return by the other; the tickets are good on either steamer. St. John's is connected with Bay of Islands by direct railway communication.1 The Reid-Newfoundland Company issue an illustrated " Souvenir" of Newfoundland. This contains an excellent map of all the routes of their lines, and also takes in the whole coast of Newfoundland and the Labrador coast as far north as their steamer goes, i.e. to Nain. As far as Chateau in the Strait of Belle Isle, the tourist is in tele- graphic communication with the outside world and by the Marconi system as far north as Hamilton Inlet. St. John's is easy of access and can be reached from Liverpool or Glasgow by the Allan line of steamers. The passage takes about eight days. St. John's can also be reached by steamer from Halifax by the Furness line or Red Cross line ; from New York direct by the Red Cross line ; direct from Philadelphia by the Allan line ; and direct from Montreal by the Black Diamond Steamship line. If, however, a shorter sea passage is desired, passengers can go via Sydney, Cape Breton, whence a steamer connects with the trans-Newfoundland Railway at Port-aux-Basques, accomplishing the short sea journey in six or seven hours. The railway to St. John's from Port-aux-Basques passes through Bay of Islands, the starting-point of the western boat to Labrador. It also traverses the beautiful valleys of the Humber and Cordroy rivers. As the east coast Labrador steamer makes about a hun- 1 The passenger agent at St. John's for the Reid-Newfoundland Company will gladly give all information with regard to means of transit, etc. TRAVELLED ROUTES TO LABRADOR 39 dred calls on the round trip, the traveller can learn much without leaving her. But if he wishes really to see Lab- rador, he must be willing to give more time to it than the mere hurried round trip of the mail steamers can afford him. These steamers remain but a very short time at each place, and do not visit the long and almost unknown fiords which constitute one of the chief attractions of the coast. To go where perhaps the foot of man has never trod, to wind in and out at leisure among the countless turns and twists of these inlets, never knowing what one is likely to meet with next, adds a great charm to a holiday and a freshness which long since has been lost by most summer resorts. The wildest, least known, and by far the grandest fiords are all north of Nain; in order to attain a true appreciation of scenic Labrador, one ought to begin where at present the average visitor is obliged to turn back with the mail steamer. Thus to enjoy the best that Labrador has to offer, and to study the remarkable features which among all the coasts near to civilization are peculiar to "the Labrador," one must be able to linger at will in the long fiords, push up these still unnamed and almost unknown arms of the sea, and discover for oneself new coves and inlets as he coasts along them. In a few, but only a very few, of the northern bays and fiords one may occasionally find a solitary salmon fisherman. Generally the visitor may en- joy with Robinson Crusoe the joy of being monarch of all he surveys. Not a policeman, nor a warning "not to tres- pass" will be encountered. No advertising fiend has yet succeeded in defacing these refreshing wilds. In Labrador there are no hotels in the ordinary meaning 40 LABRADOR of the word. Yet there is not a single place touched by the mail steamer where the visitor will not find a shelter of some sort. The ways of the country are those of the wilds, and every house is glad to offer what accommodation it can to those who come along. The Moravian Brethren, the hos- pitals of the Royal National Mission to deep-sea fishermen, the larger planters, as well as the settlers, are always glad to help a visitor along. Naturally, however, if one wishes to go exploring, hunting, fishing, or doing any kind of work which involves going far from the mail steamers, it is best to be independent, and to be so one should carry a tent and light camper's outfit. Very few supplies can be obtained locally. It is best to rely on obtaining nothing beyond flour, sugar, hard bread, salt meats, and one or two of the commoner foods, such as dry peas, etc. ; these can be obtained at almost every place where the mail boat stops. Nor must one count on getting canoes or light boats suitable for rivers on the coast. Only a very few such craft exist. It is far better to take one's own boat and sell off at the end of the trip, for craft of this sort would command a ready market. Guides can be obtained for most of the outer bays if they are arranged for beforehand. Since the summer-time is the only season in which most Labrador men can earn money, arrangements should be made for guides and crews during the preceding winter or spring. The best way to be sure of a reliable guide is to write to the agent of the Hudson's Bay Company, the Moravian Brethren in the north, or the author of this chapter. All are glad enough to assist any one planning a visit to the coast or interior. The best way of all, though naturally the most expen- TRAVELLED ROUTES TO LABRADOR 41 sive, is to hire a schooner or a small steamer, and thus be entirely one's own master. Few yachts have ever visited Labrador. The descriptions given of the welcome afforded by its coast to small vessels, even in such should-be authorities as the Encyclopaedia Britannica, are so poetical in their freedom with the actual facts, that they are not calculated to entice any one who is bent on pleasure. As a matter of fact, if the charting were better, there could scarcely be a safer coast for the amateur skipper, for one can get a harbour in every stretch of ten miles along the whole length of the Atlantic coast. It is not necessary to spend a single night at sea the whole way from the Belle Isle Strait to Cape Chidley. Flitting from harbour to harbour, one can easily cover the entire coast.1 The days are long in summer in these latitudes, and at night the clear atmosphere, the splendid northern lights, and the absence of strong tidal currents (except in the extreme north), make navigation still more easy. I have cruised the coast both in sailing boat and steamer, year after year, and have never been near losing a life yet. Three parties of friends, who have adopted this method of visiting Labrador in a hired schooner (one party having come two summers in succession), all give the same testi- mony.2 The fishermen who visit this coast year after year can give similar evidence ; thousands of men, women, and children have for many years been cruising the outside coast 1 With one man in an open dingey I have, with comparative com- fort, traversed the coast from Battle Harbour to Rigolet, a distance of two hundred miles. 2 The gentlemen referred to are Americans from Boston, Mass., Concord, N.H., and Providence, R.I., respectively. 42 LABRADOR in summer as far as lat. 56° north and some as far as Hud- son Strait. These people come down from both sides of Newfoundland in sailing craft of every conceivable kind, many sailing in vessels under twenty tons, and some in open skiffs. Yet it is very rare to hear of any having been lost from stress of weather. The dangers of the ice have simply been ridiculously exaggerated. The one or two cases where collisions with ice have occurred have been due to the fisherman's hastening along on dark nights in order to reach a fishing station sooner than another vessel. In fact, these accidents are due to the contempt bred of famil- iarity, and to the consequent boldness which no pleasure party would ever dream of displaying. The want of charting can be entirely made up for by the knowledge of these fishermen, who can readily be shipped as part of the crew, acting as pilots at the same time. Nor is this knowledge so marvellous after all, when one con- siders the number of times that they have navigated these same waters, and that they have sounded almost every part of it again and again with their hand-lines as they fish year after year along the coast. Moreover, the cliffs are generally so steep-to that the bowsprit would strike before the keel. Poor anchors and chains are the causes of almost all our losses. Only when it comes to the inside calm waters up the fiords, where, as a rule, the Newfound- landers do not go after fish, does their local knowledge come to an end, and the pleasure of exploring for oneself begins. But as the water is then necessarily sheltered from any possible swell from the Atlantic, and as an anchor can at a pinch be dropped anywhere, the danger to life becomes almost absolutely nil. In the fiords it is often impossible TRAVELLED ROUTES TO LABRADOR 43 to strike bottom; if you should wish to do that, your bow- sprit will keep you off the land. Even supposing that you were to strike and lose the schooner, you have only to launch the jolly-boat and row ashore. A forty-ton schooner with a crew of four hands could be obtained for $100 per week, or less — a sum which would include food for the crew, the insurance, and all charges. As such a vessel will easily accommodate a party of four or five, the expenses, considering the nature of the holiday, cannot be considered heavy. The lessor of the schooner would have to be guaranteed probably a ten weeks' mini- mum hire. It is possible to hire a schooner for a lump sum to include everything.1 If time is a great object, the best way would be to send the schooner on to Labrador and meet her there in the mail steamer. This would obviate the only open sea that is more than one could be sure of compassing in a day's run; namely, the journey from St. John's to Battle Harbour. After that it is perfectly easy to harbour every night. As one travels farther north, the number of off -lying islands increases considerably, and for a hundred miles at a time one can pursue his journey along the coast with an "in- side" passage. From Cape Harrigan in lat. 55° north to Cape Mugford in lat. 58° north, the voyage can be made almost without seeing the open sea. The last thirty miles to Cape Chidley Island is again all inside, and the vessel can then be sailed on into Ungava Bay through a strait on the south side of the island. It may be noted that the tides, such as they are, set almost uniformly to the south- 1 Mr. W. H. Peters, St. John's, has arranged such a trip and is prepared to assist any one wishing to make a similar expedition. 44 LABRADOR ward, so that however hard it may be to beat against head winds to the northward, it is always easy to get back again. Fire-wood for camping purposes can be obtained every- where south of Cape Mugf ord ; with a little care and fore- sight the fuel question need offer no difficulty. After many years' cruising the coast as master of my own vessel, after having visited the coasts of Norway and Iceland, as well as having coasted all round the British Isles, I consider that none of these European shores offers a more fascinating and safer field for pleasure cruising than the coast of Labrador. Everywhere the coast is bold-to, and if disaster overtakes a pleasure vessel in the summer months, it is due to negligence or to bad tackle for holding or running gear. If the visitor to Labrador desires scenery of a wild and rocky nature, he should certainly aim for the northern half of the northeast coast. At Nain the cliffs are already beginning to rise to heights which cannot fail to delight the eye and to stimulate the imagination. From that point on, the sheer precipices increase in number and im- pressiveness until, at Port Manvers, they rise two thousand feet out of the sea ; at Cape Mugf ord, three thousand feet ; at the Moravian Mission station, Ramah, thirty-five hun- dred feet; while the mountains rising direct from sea- level in the Nachvak region are over four thousand feet in height. One of the finest of the great mountain-blocks is that at Cape White Handkerchief — so named from • a large mass of white rock in the face of this stupendous promontory. At the head of Seven Islands Bay are the highest mountains in Labrador, known as the "Four Peaks." So far as known, no white man has ever climbed TRAVELLED ROUTES TO LABRADOR 45 any one of these hornlike, rocky piles : their heights have been variously estimated at from six to ten thousand feet. The probable heights seem to be from six thousand to seven thousand feet. Many of the beautiful inlets in the southern half of this coast maybe explored with small, open boats or even with canoes. Some of the inlets can be easily reached by leav- ing the mail steamer at Fanny's Harbour, Cape Harrigan, or Davis Inlet (the Hudson's Bay Company's name for Ukasiksalik) . First, there is Jack Lane's Bay, with a salmon river at its head; then, a few miles farther north, Jem Lane's Bay, beyond which there begin hundreds of miles of winding, interlacing fiords and channels (" tickles"). Such inside passages thread among a long and wide island- breastwork along the coast ; many months could be spent in exploring these waters. The wooded sides of the narrow, steep-sided " tickles" not only give their own touch of beauty to the landscapes, but afford cover to animals of various sorts. At Hopedale one has access to several long bays reaching up into the interior : at the head of the near- est bay is a large and beautiful waterfall. Farther south the bays bearing the following names will well repay visits : Kaipokak, Makkovik, Kanairiktok, Stag Bay, Hamilton Inlet, Sandwich Bay, Hawke's Bay, Alexis River Bay, and Lewis Bay. To reach them the visitor should leave the steamer at the respective points : West Turnavik; Makko- vik Island, Hopedale, Cape Harrison, Rigolet, Cartwright, Boulter's Rock, Square Island, and Battle Harbour. But the universal attraction of the coast — the ever changing glory of the atmosphere — cannot be localized or described. Colour is everywhere, with a gamut that few 46 LABRADOR parts of the world can equal. From the hilltops the land is a giant opal, changing, in a million moods, from the tenderest gray or blue, through vivid emerald or most royal purples, to the unsurpassed gold and reds of the long twilights and dawns. In the summer season north of Hamilton Inlet the sky is seldom clouded over completely, and cumulus, stratus, or ocean mist simply enhance the in- imitable play of nature's colouring. Thunder-storms are very rare; when one of these storms, coming from the west, does pass out to sea, it may be an event in 'one's life. I shall never forget one dark night when the huge cliffs of Mugford Tickle through which we steamed, and a group of great icebergs stranded at their feet, leapt out of the black- ness as stroke after stroke of lightning blazed from the clouds. It seemed that one could scarcely imagine a sight more thoroughly awe-inspiring. Even the short nights of the summer and early autumn are blest with light and exquisite colour, for the auroral displays are, on this coast, among the most frequent and extensive of all those re- corded throughout the world. Very often, beneath this strange sky, the sea is intensely phosphorescent ; the traveller by night may find endless entertainment, watching from the bow of his moving vessel the weird lights set flashing by schools of frightened fish. If the visitor seeks large rivers for exploration by canoe, he can find a good number, and all are well stocked with salmon and trout. Trout are known always to be taken with the fly, but beyond the latitude of 53° 50' north, little fly-fishing has been attempted, and contrary reports are given as to the measure of success in getting salmon to rise. The noblest of the rivers is, of course, the Hamilton, TRAVELLED ROUTES TO LABRADOR 47 at the head of Melville Lake (Hamilton Inlet) ; this river will be specially described in Dr. Low's chapter on " Ham- ilton River and Grand Falls." For hunting, the places least disturbed by man are naturally apt to be the best. In the autumn almost all the bays abound in geese and ducks. One may be rather sure of geese at the entrance to Hamilton Inlet, at the head of Lane's Bay, at the entrance of Table Bay, in Goose Bay near Cartwright, and in Byron's Bay. Other likely places are Partridge and Rocky bays, and also at all the flats near the mouths of the big rivers. The autumn deer-hunting is, so far as known to me, most likely to be successful in Davis Inlet, on the hills about Nain, inside Cape Mugford, at the head of Makkovik Bay and on the hills above Stag Bay and False Bay. After Christmas deer are to be found in abundance within reach of the settlers on the southern part of the coast. Black bears are most likely to be en- countered where the settlers are fewest in number and where the caplin come to the land-wash near the woods. Many bears are killed every year in Hawke's Bay. They are also found in the fiords between Davis Inlet and Nain. White bears are found in small numbers on the northern parts of the coast, where they remain all summer to feed on the eggs and young of the countless ducks and geese. Those who wish to study the Eskimo should go to Nain, and then farther north. To see them in anything like their primitive condition one should go as far as Ramah, and, if possible, to Nachvak and Ungava. In the northern fiords are many relics of the stone-age out of which these people are just passing; many articles of ancient make may be found by travelling in the gravel-beaches. To see the 48 LABRADOR Nascaupee or Montagnais Indians one should seek for them at Northwest River or at Davis Inlet whither they come to trade their furs. Studies in geology, botany, and mineralogy can, of course, be pursued anywhere. The formations north of Nain seem to offer most prospect of commercial ores. An iron- deposit has been worked near Ramah ; gold has been found near Cartwright ; mica, at Paradise and at Boulter's Rocks ; antimony, near Eagle River; and copper, near Cape Mug- ford. No lasting mining operations have been begun. CHAPTER III THE PHYSIOGRAPHY OF LABRADOR BY W. T. GRENFELL IT is probable that the readers of this book are, as a rule, most interested in the drama of human life as, year after year, it is being played out in this strange land of Labrador. For this very reason one may well pause beforehand to review the physical features of the peninsula; in an in- timate way and often in spectacular fashion the Labra- dorman's daily life is controlled by natural conditions. The simplicity and wholesomeness of that life are chiefly due to the fact that the men of the country are always close to nature. These essential traits of fine character are growing every day in the youth of Labrador much as the myriad of exquisite flowers deck its hills during the glory of summer; both man and plant are rooted in the soil or grip the native rocks, their home by the sea. This chapter is intended to furnish a brief outline of the physi- ography. Since the northeast coast is from many aspects the most interesting part, a following chapter will supply additional details on that region; in that chapter a brief summary of the geological development of the whole peninsula is also included. The scenic importance of the Grand Falls of Hamilton River demands a chapter which incidentally describes many typical features of the interior. E 49 50 LABRADOR Dr. A. P. Low, now Deputy Minister of Mines in Canada, is the chief authority on the geography of the interior. He alone has published much on that greater part of the peninsula. His truly wonderful trips through the length and breadth of Labrador were signalized as much by the success attained as by the absence of mishaps on his long and hazardous journeys. To see the interior one must understand travelling. Mr. Low's trips show that much good work can be done with little fuss, and that no ob- stacles to exploration exist which foresight will not over- come. Using his simple but effective and essential rules of outfitting and living on the way, other men will repeat his traverses and add many new ones, until finally Labra- dor is really and thoroughly known. Meantime, I am glad to be able to supply from Mr. Low's own pen a short account of his findings in the interior. He writes : — "The peninsula of Labrador has an area of more than five hundred thousand square miles. It is an ancient plateau formed of crystalline rocks which were folded up and elevated above the sea in a very early period in geo- logical history. The plateau rises abruptly from the sea along the Atlantic and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, while the northern and western slopes are much more gentle. The main watershed of southern Labrador is about two hundred miles north of the St. Lawrence, where the general level is about two thousand feet above the sea. As con- trolled by the southern position of the watershed and by the range of mountains along the Atlantic coast, the greater part of the drainage is to the north and west, into Hudson Bay and Hudson Strait, and the largest rivers flow in those directions. "The surface of the interior is comparatively level, being broken by low, rounded ridges of crystalline rocks, THE PHTSIOGEAPHT OF LABRADOR 51 which seldom rise three hundred feet above the general level, and are usually much lower. These ridges lie roughly parallel; some of them being many miles in length, but as a rule, they die out in less than ten miles, so that the low land between forms a network of connected, shallow valleys. The general surface is further modified by low ridges of glacial drift, whose direction corresponds with the general slope of the country. These ridges have resulted from the transportation and movement of the loose surface material by the glacier, which once covered almost the entire surface of the peninsula. They have largely obliterated the ancient drainage systems of the central area, where the present watercourses are all of recent origin. The valleys separat- ing the ridges are occupied by innumerable irregularly shaped lakes, which vary in size from ponds to lakes hun- dreds of square miles in extent. The lakes of each valley are connected by a stream, usually with a rapid current and without definite banks, following the lowest levels of the surface between lake and lake. As the streams be- come larger they are often split into numerous channels by large islands ; many of the lakes discharge by two or more outlets flowing into the next lake below. There results a bewildering network of waterways hard to follow or map. These streams are seldom broken by falls ; and as an ex- ample of the uniformity of the grade, it may be mentioned that the Hamilton River above the Grand Falls can be ascended to the heads of both its main branches without a portage. The rivers as they approach the coast fall into ancient valleys which have been sculptured deep into the hard rocks forming the general surface of the plateau. The Hamilton Valley is the finest example ; cut a thousand feet into the plateau, it extends three hundred miles inland, and greatly exceeds the Saguenay Valley in length and grandeur. "The peninsula, extending northward through ten degrees of latitude, differs greatly in climate, and passes 52 LABRADOR from cold temperate in its southern parts to sub-Arctic on the shores of Hudson Strait. The climate of the in- terior is Arctic in winter, but during the short summer is much warmer than the coast, with hot days, cool nights, and occasional frosts, so that heavy blankets are always comfortable. The annual rainfall is not heavy, and during the summer heavy rains are rare ; light showers fall almost daily, but are not very inconvenient to the traveller. The northern limit of trees extends to the southern shores of Ungava Bay. About the upper waters of Hamilton River, the valleys are thickly wooded with small spruce, fir, aspen, and poplar, while the hills are partly bare. There is a marked absence of underbrush, the ground being carpeted with white lichens on the higher parts and with mosses in the damp lowlands. Blueberries and other small fruits are abundant in the burnt areas and along the banks of streams. " Owing to the high coastal range along the Atlantic, the only large rivers flowing eastward empty into the head of Hamilton Inlet, which itself is cut through the range. The Hamilton River is by far the largest of these; next in size is Northwest River, the outlet of Lake Michikamou, a very large body of water some three hundred miles inland to the northwest. The Kenamow is the third, and flows from the highlands to the southwest. "Some knowledge of the interior of Labrador was pos- sessed by the French in 1700, as shown by the map pub- lished at Paris, by Delisle, in 1703. This information was probably obtained from Jesuit missionaries and fur traders. By 1733, seven fur-trading posts had been established along the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and in the southern interior. "The fight for the fur trade, between the Northwest Company and the Hudson's Bay Company, lasting from shortly after the conquest of Canada until 1820, led to the establishment of many small posts and outposts far in the THE PHYSIOGRAPHY OF LABRADOR 53 interior of Labrador. The amalgamation of these rival companies led to the abandonment of many of these small posts, of which all trace is now lost. "In 1824, the Hudson's Bay Company sent Dr. Mendrys from Moose Factory on Hudson Bay, across the peninsula in canoes, to establish Fort Chimo on Ungava Bay. This trip was the basis of Ballantyne's popular story, Ungava. "At the same time James Clouston was mapping the country between the Nottaway and East Main rivers, which flow into Hudson Bay. The next record of explora- tion is contained in Twenty-Jive Years in the Hudson's Bay Territory by John McLean. In the period 1838-1840 he made annual trips from Fort Chimo to Hamilton Inlet, and on one trip discovered the Grand Falls of Hamilton River. In 1857 the Hudson's Bay Company had nine posts and outposts established in the country north of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Owing to changes in the con- ditions of the Indians, these posts have been gradually abandoned, and but two, Nichicun and Mistassini, remain at the present time. These are situated on the head waters of the Big and Rupert rivers, which flow into Hud- son Bay, and are not within the province of this book. The old posts of Nascaupee, Michikamou, and Winokapau on the Hamilton River were abandoned in 1873, and the Indians belonging to them now trade at posts on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. "With the closing of the trading posts all knowledge of the interior was lost, and it can only be recovered by new explorations. In 1887, R. F. Holmes attempted to reach the Grand Falls of the Hamilton, but being without proper canoes and crew, only reached Lake Winokapau, a little over halfway up the river. Two separate expeditions from the United States ascended to the Grand Falls within a few days of each other in 1891, and accounts of their trips were published in the geographical journals and in the Century Magazine. 54 , LABRADOR " Since 1885 the writer has made a number of trips through the interior and along the northern and western coasts, reports of which are published by the Canadian Geological Survey. "This in a few words is the available knowledge con- cerning the history of the vast interior of Labrador; our information has been wholly derived from a few portage routes travelled by the voyageurs of the Hudson's Bay Company to and from the coast and from a few surveyed tracks along the principal watercourses by government explorers and others." One quarter of the whole surface of Labrador is estimated to be covered with fresh water. Vast lakes are so joined by an intersecting network of rivers that it is possible to canoe over most of the country with astonishingly few portages of length. For example, a voyager can enter the Manikuagan River at the Gulf of St. Lawrence in lat. 49° 15' north, travel about three hundred miles to Summit Lake in lat. 53° north, cross the lake and on the opposite side enter the Koksoak River, and, proceeding another four hundred miles, come out in Ungava Bay in lat. 58° 5' north. These distances, it may be noted, are in the air- line; following the turn& of the rivers the distances are nearly twice as great as those given. Or, again, one can enter Hamilton Inlet, proceed about one hundred and fifty miles to the mouth of Hamilton River in long. 60° west, follow it to its source some six hundred miles to the west- ward, cross by a short portage to the head of Big River, and follow that stream about seven hundred miles farther westward, to its mouth in Hudson Bay in long. 79° west. Probably in no country of equal area can exploration by canoe be carried on with so few portages. THE PHYSIOGRAPHY OF LABRADOR 55 The maps showing Mr. Low's traverses are published by the Geological Survey Department at Ottawa, Canada; they are the only reliable maps of any part of the interior. The distances along the coast-lines of the peninsula are truly " magnificent." The air-line stretch from Battle Harbour to Cape Chidley on the northeast coast is seven hundred miles; following the sinuosities the shore-line is doubtless three to four times as long. From Cape Chidley to Cape Wolstenholme (the north coast) is about five hun- dred miles as the crow would fly, if he could live up there. From Cape Wolstenholme to the bottom of James Bay is another eight hundred miles, while the south coast is ap- proximately seven hundred miles, also in a straight line. Thousands of miles of additional shore-line are represented in the numerous inlets and in the literally thousands of islands along the southern and northeastern coasts. The relative accessibility of the coasts, coupled with the fact that fisheries will long be the principal industry of the country, makes it expedient to use more space in the de- scription of these parts of the peninsula. Besides the physiography described in the special chapter on the northeast coast, I shall here add some notes derived from my own exploration of the northern fiords. If one could and should accurately picture the fiords, it would mean that half the interest of the visitors in these northern waters would be lost. The romance of these wonderful cleavages in the mountains largely consists in the feeling one has that, when he turns a corner, no man has told him what will next meet the eye. The study of the fiords has only just begun ; all that I can do is to give some indication as to general location, lengths, and con- 56 LABRADOR 1905. ^oaio/5-10/. reported by Scylla. I have repeatedly sounded the channel and especially in 1907 I could find no point leas than 15 /. in the middle. LI»MS ENGRAVING CO., 250-300 ft. SKETCH PLAN AND SOUNDINGS OF TICKLE BETWEEN CAPE CHIDLEY ISLAND AND LABRADOR SCALE OF GEOGRAPHICAL MILES 0 23 THE PHYSIOGEAPHY OF LABRADOR 57 tours of a few of them. Of the thirty or more larger fiords a few will be noted, beginning at the most northerly one on the Atlantic coast. Some stress will be laid on the landmarks which may be of service to future explorers in the far north. South of Cape Chidley Island is the channel connecting Ungava Bay with the Atlantic. Separated from that FIG. 1. CAPE CHIDLEY 1. 1950 ft. — Mt. Sir Donald on south side of Grenfell Tickle; 2. The cape; 3. Post tion of Killinik; 4. East coast of Labrador; 5. Gray Straits. channel for some ten miles only by a narrow, rocky ridge, is a long inlet which I explored .in the small steamer Sir Donald during the year 1897. We entered this inlet while searching for the channel above mentioned. We steamed up about ten miles, the water being, as usual, deep on both sieves. Finding at that distance a good circular harbour on the north side, we dropped anchor in good mud at six fathoms. We thence scaled the highest hill on the north side, finding the summit too precipitous to ascend until we reached its southwest shoulder. The summit was found to be only about nineteen hundred and fifty feet above sea, but it commanded a glorious view. We could see Ungava Bay in the west, the Button Islands in the north; to the east, the Atlantic beset with numerous islands; to the south, a great array of the rugged peaks stretching away 58 LABRADOR indefinitely into the mainland. We built a cairn on this peak and named it " Mount Sir Donald." Running an- other ten miles, toward the north-northwest, we reached a point in the inlet, where it is separated from a similar inlet from Ungava Bay only by a low neck of land. The main bay continues to the southwestward — how far, I am FIG. 2. THE CURVE IN GRENFELL TICKLE 1. Chidley Island; 2. Mt. Sir Donald; 3. Cairn. unable to say. On a second visit to this fiord we found three families of Eskimo camped on its shore; there are remains of ancient Eskimo encampments on the flats. This is an excellent ground on which to search for stone relics. Threading the islands for a distance of ten miles from the mouth of this fiord, another inlet opens. It is marked on the Admiralty chart under the name "Ekortiarsuk." I have never entered it, nor have I record of its exploration by a single white man; the inlet is reported, however, to wind away among the mountains for thirty miles. Fifteen miles to the south-southwest is Mount Bache THE PHYSIOGRAPHY OF LABRADOR 59 and the northern end of the fiord-like Eclipse Channel, which lies between the mainland and the large island " Aulatzevik." Halfway through, this channel is blocked by ledges of rock, so that only small boats can pass. The Eskimo, in order to avoid the journey in the open ocean outside Aulatzevik, regularly use the channel for their skin boats. The mountains on each side of the channel FIG. 3. REGION OF ECLIPSE COAST 1. CapeNaksarektok; 2. Cape Nullataktok; 3. Islands off Komaktorvik; 4. Cape north of Seven Islands; 5. South end of Strand; 6. South side Ryan's Bay; 7. Cape Territok; 8. North cape of False Bay; 9. Mt. Bache. vary from two to three thousand feet in height. Aulatze- vik is divided by a through-going valley, occupied in part by a long bay and, for the rest, by a string of small lakes. The bay offers excellent anchorage. The American eclipse expedition of 1860 has published a chart of the island and )" tickle" (channel), but it does not show this harbour on the southern end of the island. Just west of the entrance to the harbour there is a remarkable natural landmark, a sketch of which is given in Figure 4. The landmark may be useful to any one making the land here, for the peak is plainly visible from the sea ; I have called the peak "Castle Mountain/' since it greatly resembles an old ba- 60 LABRADOR ronial castle perched high on a semi-isolated spur of the general range facing the sea. Care must be taken in ap- proaching the northern entrance, for there are, besides several very small islands, some " nasty" shoals lying be- tween east and northeast of Mount Bache. Beyond these shoals there are some larger islands, one of which has an FIG. 4. VIEW FROM SEA OFF SOUTHERN SIDE OF BIG BAY 1. Eclipse — North entrance; 2. Castle Mountain; 3. A green grassy point; 4. By waterfall. excellent harbour on the western side. These we have called the Mettek Islands, i.e. Eider-duck Islands. In 1903 Mr. George Ford of Nachvak, with two Eskimo, visited the islands during the breeding season. The birds were so thick on the ground that Mr. Ford had difficulty in finding enough space free of nests or eggs on which to place his sleeping-bag. The men took away twenty-five hundred eggs, but when they left the eggs were as abundant as ever; the eider-duck is a most industrious bird. I have found the cod abundant among the shoals hereabouts in late August. About five miles to the south of the southern entrance, THE PHYSIOGRAPHY OF LABRADOR 61 and beyond the mouth of the bay called "Komiadluarsuk," a remarkable headland rises from the water. This is a ridge some two miles long and persistently about three hundred feet high. The sky-line is serrate, and the fisher- men call the ridge "Razorback." The rocks of the lower cliffs (specially steep at the east end) are red ; those higher FIG. 5. WESTEKN ENTRANCE TO GKENFELL TICKLE 1. Chidley Island; 2. Mt. Sir Donald; 3. Western entrance to Grenfell Tickle; 4. Tunusaksak Bay. up grow darker until, at the top, the ridge is almost black. Its various peculiarities make the ridge a fine landmark. "Razorback" lies just north of the entrance to the next fiord, that called Ryan's Bay. This one has not been ex- plored by schooners. There is good anchorage on the north side, just beyond a great rampart of dark rock which runs southerly, at right angles to the ridge just described. On this side of the fiord there is a notable beach of sand, one of the very few sand beaches on the coast. It is a com- pound beach, being made up of successive terraces of sand, each terrace marking an old level of the sea; the whole forms the clearest evidence of the recent emergence of the coast border from beneath the sea. There are numerous 62 LABRADOR remains of old Eskimo " earth" houses, sunk into these raised beaches. The roofs have long since fallen in; but the walls, built of boulders and banked with sand, were still standing. The bay is said to run far inland, and re- ceives at its head a good-sized river plenteously supplied with trout, a former food supply for the Eskimo. The mountains both to north and to south of Ryan's FIG. 6. MOUNTAINS TO WEST-SOUTHWEST LOOKING OVER RYAN'S BAY Bay are alpine in character. The peaks are bare and sheer ; one, rising to the southwest, reminded me strongly of the Matterhorn, though, of course, on a smaller scale (Figure 6). Fifteen miles to the southward, or halfway between Ryan's Bay and Cape White Handkerchief, another large, double fiord opens. Owing to the large islands facing this inlet, the fishermen have named it Seven Islands Bay. The two divisions of the bay are called by the Eskimo " Komaktorvik " and "Kangalaksiorvik." The entrance may be safely made by keeping the north side aboard; there is abundant good anchorage almost anywhere inside. The large, high island bearing to port is called "Avagalik," or Whale Island. The entrance to the south of the islands is partly blocked by shoals occurring near the islands. THE PHYSIOGRAPHY OF LABRADOR 63 These shoals are dangerous, especially as they are covered with black kelp; the average depth upon them is about two fathoms. To enter safely, one should keep the shore side aboard. Running out directly seawards for nearly twenty miles is a barrier reef of low black rocks surmounted by tiny islands ; the whole simulating a coral reef in form, though, of course, not in origin. The fishermen call the whole the Hog's Back, from the likeness of the islets and rocky points to a hog's bristles. There is an interesting problem as to just how all these innumerable rocks were cut off so near the water-line. To approach the entrance of the double fiord from the south, the skipper should keep all the islands, including the Hog's Back, to the north; standing in for the land about five miles north of Cape White Handkerchief; with the cliffs aboard, pass in south of a ridged island about three hundred feet high and a mile long. This island is of a red colour, and is called by the Eskimo "Nenoraktualuk," or "Big White Bearskin"; it is the only really large island on the outside. Four miles west of the end of the island is the spring sealing station of many Eskimo, and is called "Inuksulik," or Beacon Island. How far the double fiord extends into the land is not known, though it is certainly many miles. The Eskimo catch trout in Komaktorvik, and used to carry their catch to Nachvak, the Hudson's Bay station until 1906. Since this region north of Nachvak Inlet is the least known part of the Atlantic coast, I have laid special em- phasis upon it, with the express purpose of pointing to the need of its further exploration. The more southerly fiords have been more visited by white men. One of the very finest of all is that at Nachvak; it is illustrated in Dr. 64 LABRADOR Daly's chapter on the geology and scenery of the northeast coast — a chapter which also contains a brief description FIG. 7. REGION OF IKON STRAND 1. Pumt at entrance to Seven Island Bay; 2. The Iron Strand (Sagliarvtsek), shoaJ water close in (black sand and rocks). of the very different, though likewise imposing, fiords and channels about Cape Mugford. In order to avoid a tedious verbal account, while giving some idea of the curiously varied scenery of the coast as I have seen it, a considerable FIG. 8. REGION OF IRON STRAND 1. Promontory off north end Iron Strand; 2. Long fresh water pond. number of sketches have been introduced (Figures 7 to 12). The configuration of the sea bottom off the coast is, of course, of the utmost importance to the fisheries. Im- perfect as they are, the Admiralty charts yet give us our best information on this subject; to them the reader is THE PHYSIOGRAPHY OF LABRADOR 65 referred, as a useful written description of the many irreg- ularities of the inshore bottom is quite impossible. In FIG. 9. CAPE NULLATAKTOK Cape White Handkerchief just around corner. general, it may, however, be said that the whole coast is fringed with a shelf covered with relatively shallow water, the depth averaging well under one hundred fathoms. FIG. 10. REGION OF RAMAH 1. Ramah Bay; 2. The Look-out; 3. Mountain above Mission Strait, 3500 ft.; 4. Reddick's Bight. The beltlike archipelago of islands along the northeast coast simply represents the emerged portions of the shelf. Beyond the islands the depth may increase to more than one hundred fathoms, but, farther out to sea, the bottom 66 LABRADOR often rises again, forming shoals which many claim to be the winter home of the cod. The famous Grand Banks FIG. 11. VIEW OF SAEGLEK BAY 1. Bluebell; 2. EastUivuk; 3. St. John's Harbour; 4. Southwest Point; 5. SaeglekBay; 6. Point bearing N. 290° W. off Newfoundland represent a great enlargement of the FIG. 12. VIEW LOOKING WEST UP SAEGLEK BAY 1. St. John's Harbour; 2. Southern division of bay; 3. North division of bay; 4. Island bore N. 325° W. shelf. The summer fisheries are carried on along the " inner banks" which, between Cape Harrison and Cape THE PHYSIOGRAPHY OF LABRADOR 67 Schooner Anchorage Good anchorage in V 7 fm.. rinse Opposite two white .Serualuk RAMAIT REGION Long. 63° 15' W. Lat, 68" 53'^T. SCALE OF GEOGRAPHICAL MILES ENGRAVING CO., N.Y. 9 10 68 . LABRADOR Mugford, Hind has estimated to cover fifty-two hundred square miles. Beyond the outer banks the bottom drops off into water hundreds of fathoms deep — at the real edge of the continental plateau. As a rule, the tides are practically unimportant in the navigation of the Atlantic coast of the peninsula. They are to be reckoned with in the narrow parts of Belle Isle Strait and in the region about Cape Chidley. The only overfalls likely to affect a small boat are to be expected off Forteau, off Point Amour, in the narrow tickles near Cape Chidley, and in Belle Isle Strait. In the strait the current runs about three knots an hour both to the east ancl to the west. On the northeast coast the current generally runs slowly to the southward. Strong winds will affect these velocities about a knot an hour either way.1 The tides of the far north are, on the other hand, quite remarkable. On one occasion I attempted to force the nine-knot steamer Strathcona against a full ebb tide in the tickle south of Cape Chidley Island. At the narrowest place, where the defile is only a hundred yards in width, the water was a boiling torrent, filled with whirlpools. The steamer, though at full speed ahead, was carried astern. We were forced to run back and await the turn of the tide. We reckoned the current at fully ten knots an hour. The range of tide on the Atlantic coast varies from five to eight feet; at Cape Chidley it is thirty-five feet, while 1 Fuller information may be obtained in the monograph on the tides of this coast by Dr. W. Bell Dawson, Engineer in charge of tidal surveys for Canada, Department of Marine and Fisheries, Ottawa, Canada. THE PHYSIOGRAPHY OF LABRADOR 69 the range in Ungava Bay is said to be as much as fifty feet. In any case the range in this bay is one of the greatest recorded in the world. Since the magnetic pole lies to the north-northwest of Hudson Bay, the magnetic variation is very high on the Labrador coast. At Battle Harbour it is 40° west ; thence it increases until it is more than 53° to the west at Cape Chidley. The visitor cannot fail to be struck by the fact that, during auroral displays, the middle of the illuminated arc, which flames over the magnetic pole, lies to the north- west, far from the north star. It should be emphasized that the charts of the region north of Hamilton Inlet are of little or no practical value to the navigator. They are only of value in giving general directions and in furnishing a crude pictorial idea of the coast. The climate of Labrador is not excelled anywhere in the world for its bracing and invigorating effect. Testi- mony gathered from hundreds of workmen, prospectors, visitors, sailors, fishermen, officials, lumbermen, and scientific men have shown that, without exception, their general health has improved, and they have been able to sleep quite a material proportion of the twenty-four hours longer than at their own homes. Of this in my own ex- perience of seventeen years, I have had many remarkable instances. Labrador has no endemic disease, and though, like all subarctic countries, it is the home of many mosquitoes, there is no malaria. Notwithstanding the great number of Eskimo dogs bred and kept in the country, I have never known nor heard of a single case of either hydro- 70 LABRADOR phobia or of the Tcenia echinococcus, or fatal tapeworm, that dogs transmit to man. The restorative influence of a holiday in Labrador on a jaded and overwrought system is often truly wonderful, and I feel sure that, under proper conditions, a constitution will be toned up much faster than in the summer resorts. Commander Peary has recently added his testimony to the great value of the Arctic air to consumptives. There has somehow got abroad an idea that Labrador is continually wrapped in fog. This is an entirely erroneous idea, and has arisen from the fact that at the line of junction of the Gulf and polar currents, in the regions of the Banks of Newfoundland and England, more or less fog is preva- lent. As a matter of fact, fog is almost left behind at the Strait of Belle Isle. Many times as we have steamed out of the strait in thick fog, and passed the southeast corner of Labrador, we emerged from what, on looking back, re- sembled a dark wall, to bask suddenly in the clearest of sunshine. As master of my own vessel for fifteen years on the coast, I can say that the delays that I have experienced in the summer from fog between Battle Harbour and Cape Chidley have been quite immaterial. Thus, during last year's cruise, commenced on May 7, and ended November 13, we were delayed by fog only one day. On the average, a more or less foggy day once a fortnight may be expected. The rainfall again is exceptionally small, and the small amount of snow that falls in the eight winter months, which is at that time the rain of the country, is not sufficient to leave a permanent ice-cap even on the highest peaks. There are no accurate statistics to show exactly what the rainfall is, but the experience of visitors is that a whole THE PHYSIOGRAPHY OF LABRADOR 71 day's rain is exceptional. A land surveyor who, with a party, spent four months on the Grand River and not far from the very centre of the country, experienced only one-half day during which rain prevented his party from working. On the other hand, the amount of sunshine is well up to the average. One might say that in summer one day in three is altogether sunny; one day in three is partly sunny ; one day in three, dull. As these deductions are not the result of accurate, scientific records, I can only offer them as the results of my own general notes from year to year. They appear, however, to agree with those of observers who have more accurately chronicled the amount of sunshine during their visits to Labrador. The summer temperature of both air and water varies greatly as one leaves the coast and goes up the bays. This remarkable feature of the coast is due to the combination of two influences — that of the southerly latitude within which Labrador lies, and that of the polar current which sweeps right home to its Atlantic shore. When one con- siders that the southern point of Labrador is on the same parallel of latitude as London, and its most northern point only the same as the north of Scotland, one can understand how in summer the sun's rays are very effective in warm- ing the atmosphere in localities untouched by the polar current. The summer temperature of the outside water averages, at the surface, from 40° to 45° F., while ten fathoms down it sinks to nearly 35° F., and at thirty fathoms is from 30° to 35° F. When, however, one gets near the head of a bay, say twenty miles in from the coast, the temperature at the surface may be as high as 50° F. and at the heads of the big bays, especially above Rigolet CARIBOU CASTLE CO I 2os£ 7+7^ °c 2 + 0^0 - W _ »O ^ I g rH O o 43° to - 28° r 1 2,061 *vg oo' | o OS Z0,-906l Noaaajj OS OS 7 ? oo coiocoooioosr^- co .' >o 1 1 co' rH co' ; co co co rHCO^^lO^CO rH 1 CO cl KTVfl 7 " ^ COO^OrHts-GOrH rH t>. OS (N 00 00 - ^ IO O CO i- 1 CO •* CO »O CO rH CM OS OS 1 1 CM l^CMOCOCOOOOS 00 ^ i— ' CO^^^COCNI i— * HVIVV^J OS 00 1 1 IO 1-HlOrHCOOSCOt^ t^ »O CD CM' CM N S^^^^c^c^ 2 N HJLNOJ^ •** —• • a o, r? £ S «? S'^^' Ford Harbour .340 Quirk Tick It Ha; 345' Pomiadluk Point 265' Ice Tickle Hamilton Inlet West Bay !26O>6ready /J0[ hi;. L'Mne OflftH WaH- d< I'd "|| |.,i (hire week : wil.h t.heir wild e.ouxin;-: and th(;n i. I MI ii' d. .1 il |.i> l< i i in;'. (he le f renuous life. I n< "in dl we had heard, we ; et. to work, and col- lected M .inn r.r $10,000 hy puhlie uh M-ripl.ion, r:hi(;fly by i lie lirlpdl I lie i'.u:i<>ti '/'m n. r, -, ///, ;md in ;nl(Jil.ion \\\(\ Cana- \\ n MS reindeer moss, or Iceland moss (rangifereria) , was MiTMnged. The moss was to be gathered and stored on the highlands to await transport by the deer themselves, on the pulkjvs, or native sledges. The contract with the Laplander agent ran as follows: — " Israel N. Mella acknowledges hereby having sold to Mr. Francis 11. Wood, of London. 2.">0 female reindeer, three years old, sound, fresh, prime deer, for a sum of 30 Kr. each delivered on board the ship in Bugten, Altenfjord; also 25 tame four-year-old drawing deer for the sum of 1 On board tt» steamer ready for sea, they cost $16.74 per head; fended in Labrador, they cost $51.49 per head. LABRADOR Kr. 40 each; also 25 three-year-old buck deer (oxen), price 35 Kr, each, all the deer prime, all the deer delivered on the ship at Bugten between November 25th and 30th, 1907, Also 500 loads of reindeer moss, at 150 per load, at the sum of 12 Kr, per load, delivered on the ship at Bugten between November 25th and 30th, 1907, Also eight good trained reindeer dogs, 25 Kr, each, I undertake to procure four Lapp families for the expedition on the lowest terms possible; for the work of yarding, taking care of the deer; also food for the deer until the ship comes, between November 25th and 30th, there shall be paidine(Mr,Mella)Kr,500, In the Kr, 500 is included the engaging of the families, I acknowledge by this having received for 500 loads of reindeer moas, Kr, 6,000; also half the purchase price of the reindeer, Kr, 4,688; afco there be paid to me (Mr, Mel Ja) the advances made to the families, and the remaining half-price of the purchase money of the reindeer in Bugten on the delivery of the reindeer and the moss on the ship, " (Signed) ISRAEL*. MELLA, " Witness: DUTA AUXE, July 29th, 1907," Unfortunately the whiter was very late, and it was im- possible to haul until after Christmas, — a fact whkh made tonnage for sea transport much harder to secure and much more expensive. Indeed, it was only with extreme diffi- culty a steamer was secured at all to carry the deer so late intheyear, She had to be fitted with staus to prevent the deer being thrown about and damaged hi rough weather, A contract was entered upon to carry the herd of three hundred animals from Lapland to Labrador for 18262, A bonus of fifty cents per bead was to be paid the captain for every animal that was landed in good condition, 262 LABRADOR Following is the essential matter of the charter contract ; LONDON, 6th July, 1907. It is hereby agreed between the Owners of the good steamer 11 Anita," and Francis H. Wood, 181 Queen Victoria St., London, Charterers, that the said Owners will, between 25th November and 30th November, place at the disposal of the said Charterers at a port in NORTH NORWA Y in charterers' option, to be declared in good time before steamer's readiness, the above-mentioned steamer for the conveyance of three hun- dred head of reindeer and fodder, which the steamer shall be fitted to carry under experienced Captain's supervision to the satisfaction of Charterers' reasonable requirements to prevent mortality. The Reindeer are to be supplied to the steamer as quickly as they can be received by the steamer. As soon as the reindeer fodder and cattlemen are on board the steamer is to proceed to ST. ANTHONY, Cape Bauld, New- foundland, to land the reindeer; afterwards proceeding to Lewis port to land 50 deer. It is understood that the Harbour accommodation at both ST. ANTHONY and Lewis port is good and easy of access. For the carrying of the reindeer the steamer is to receive a lump sum freight of ^1700 (seventeen hundred pounds) sterling. Four cattlemen (Laplanders) are to be provided by the charterers. Owners are to provide sufficient additional cattle- men to assist in looking after the reindeer on the way out. The steamer is to be fitted under experienced Captain's super- vision to the satisfaction of charterers' agents' reasonable requirements to prevent mortality, for the conveyance of the reindeer by Owners at their expense and in their time. REINDEER FOR LABRADOR 26^ £1300 of the freight to be paid in cash in London on completion of loading in Norway; balance of freight to be paid in cash in London on receipt of cable advices that the reindeer have been landed. Charterers are to provide sufficient food for the reindeer. The steamer is to supply the requisite fresh water for the reindeer in accordance with charterers' reasonable require- ments ; also food and sleeping accommodation for the cattle- attendants. Should ST. ANTHONY or Lewis port be inaccessible by reason of ice on steamer's arrival, the whole of the cargo is to be landed at whichever port is free of ice. If both ports are inaccessible on account of ice, the steamer shall proceed to the nearest safe open port, where the cargo is to be landed and freight to be paid as if the steamer had performed the voyage as above. Owners not to be responsible for mortality. The steamer to have liberty to call at any ports in any order, to sail without pilots, and to tow and assist vessels in distress, and to deviate for the purpose of saving life or property. It is agreed by charterers that the ports of loading and dis- charge shall be such as steamer can reach, always being afloat, the animals being brought to, and taken from, alongside by charterers, steamer to go alongside any accessible and safe wharf, dock or craft as ordered by charterers. Owners to give charterers fourteen days' notice of steamer's readiness, also ample notice when and where steamer will be fitted out. It was further necessary to insure the deer against accident, and the contract was made as follows : owners to pay in- 264 LABRADOR surers $38.88 per cent less rebate of $13.50 per cent if no claim was made. ; No claim did arise. The herd set sail on December 30, and, after a very rough voyage of twenty-one days, sighted ice off the Labrador coast. She eventually anchored in a bay on the North Newfoundland coast, about eight miles from the harbour that we had chosen as a wintering place for the deer. During the night a heavy onshore wind drove the ice into this bay, and pushed the steamer from her anchors and on the rocks, — a position from which she was only subsequently rescued after considerable damage. The deer were mean- while landed on the broken slob-ice with the result that they scattered in every direction, some even disappearing over the horizon seaward and many falling into the water between the large pans of ice. The Lapp herders at once led ashore some of the more sedate beasts with bells around their necks, and tethered them at varying distances along the coast, as lures to the others. This ruse proved most successful, and by an accurate count made at a round-up three weeks later, every one of the three hundred was found in the herd. Lieutenant W. G. Lindsay of Cork, Ireland, who had had some experience in Mexico ranching, has been in charge of this experiment from that time. The deer at once took kindly to their new environment, being allowed to run wild all day, though brought in near camp every night. Each day two herders, with dogs, fol- lowed the wandering herd and brought them nearly to the same place in the evening. The deer never wandered far; on two or three occasions a single individual was missing and got perhaps as far as twenty miles away, but straying never presented any serious trouble. More serious at first EEINDEER FOR LABRADOR 265 were two successive glitters, or sharp thaws followed by frost, which covered the snow with a hard ice coat and made it difficult for the deer to dig down to their food. In spite, however, of all difficulties and the long voyage, they steadily gained in weight, and so far as we can tell, not one of the pregnant does lost her fawn. On the following pages is the expense account of the enterprise : — 266 LABRADOR FRANCIS H. WOOD IN ACCOUNT To Cash per Mr. Peters ....... £1,570 2 7 " " Mr. Reed, of Boston ..... 1,312 411 " " Miss Brodribb ...... 20 0 0 Sundry Contributions per " Toilers of the Deep " . . 3 11 6 Interest on Deposit . . . . . . . 9 13 9 Cash Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company, sale of 50 deer ......... 513 19 2 Cash Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company, sale of 4 dogs ......... 5 10 0 Cash Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company, re- payment advance of wages to Lapp Families . . 32 17 6 Rebate on Insurance (see contra) ..... 76 19 0 £3,544 18 5 EEINDEER FOR LABRADOR 267 WITH REINDEER FUND PURCHASE ACCOUNT By Cost of 300 Reindeer, as per contract with Israel Mella . . . . Kr. 9,375 " Cost of moss, as per con- tract .... Kr. 6,000 ' Cost of 8 Lapp dogs for herding deer, as per contract . . . Kr. 200 " Allowance for providing yard at Bugten and herding deer between November 25th and 30th, as per contract . Kr. 500 " Payment to Agent for as- sistance in making con- tract and superintend- ing shipment, etc. . Kr. 1,800 Kr. 17,875 = " F. H. Wood's travelling expenses to Norway to purchase deer, etc. SHIPMENT AND EMBARKATION EXPENSES By cost of feeding deer from November 30th to December 12th while wait- ing for ship, extra for fittings, and sundry expenses connected with em- barkation, telegrams, and postages . " Payment to owners of Anita for freight " Present of 2/- a head to Captain for each deer landed alive . . . " Cost of insuring deer against all risks at £8 per cent less rebate of 54/- per cent if no claim arose (see contra) DISBURSEMENTS ON ACCOUNT OF MAINTENANCE By Advances made to 4 Lapland Families on account of wages " Stores and provisions for re-sale to Lapps, including Port Dues (£3 Is. 2d.) in London .... ( Balance in hand for maintenance ex- penses forwarded to Newfoundland . Grand total £982 2 10 50 0 0= £1032 2 10 = $16.74 per head 206 11 1 1,700 0 0 30 0 0 206 16 6 = £2143 77 = $34.75 per head 82 3 11 26 14 2 260 9 11 £3,544 18 5 $51.49, total per head landed St. Anthony 268 LABRADOR Our attempt to use the stags for rapid transit has not been altogether successful. At hauling logs and other weights on the boat-like "pulkas," or on our more adaptable " catamarans/' at a walking pace they succeeded admirably, each deer pulling as much as four or five dogs. But when pace was the criterion of success they failed at the first. For though they could go like the wind when they wished, they did not often go fast when we wished, and we had to be contented with the Lapps' assurance that they only needed experience. In this respect the deer have certainly improved this second winter very considerably; but still we have not been able to consider them as rivals in speed to our dogs. Their timid natures seemed to make them flurried when an excess of speed is demanded on a down grade, and their habit of suddenly stopping ceased to be amusing, when it would cause you, with your loaded sled, to roll over and over with your team to the bottom of a steep incline. I am assured, however, that this is only a difficulty to be overcome, and my Alaskan informant, who for many years has driven a mail train with reindeer, assures me that it takes a reindeer stag three seasons' work really to find himself. If, however, for any reason we are unable to entirely replace our dogs with deer for rapid transit, we shall proceed as we have locally, by killing off all the worst dogs and enforcing the existing laws, which compel all dogs roaming at large to wear a heavy clog or carry one paw through a ring round the neck. I have repeatedly driven my own dog-team through the herd this winter without trouble. On several occasions when we have tethered our beasts at night they have either pulled adrift, or chewed through REINDEER FOR LABRADOR 269 the skin line that held them, and so escaped. But as a rule they have at once found the herd and returned to it, even though it may have been feeding many miles away at the time. At other times, certain deer have shown a pro- pensity to select certain particular spots for grazing, and have repeatedly left the main herd and returned to the ground of their own selection. The main herd, as a rule, get up and feed from daylight to about 11 A.M., then lie down and rest until about 4 P.M., about which hour a stag would get up and walk round restlessly. If he came too near another, the latter would strike viciously at him with his head, as if deploring the fact that the time had arrived for renewed activity. He would, however, soon arise as if under protest, and join the moving group till all the herd was afoot. Then, without apparently any reason, it would seem to occur to a stag that to migrate ten miles northwest or southeast would be advantageous, and off he would go at a staid walk, the whole herd falling in and following him like a funeral procession. The time for fawning came with May, and Mr. Lindsay took the deer to highlands as free as possible of the then treacherous brooks and lakes, which were opening beneath the spring sun. Our herd was now reduced to two hundred does and fifty stags, for we had sent south the fifty deer sold to a large lumber concern, three hundred miles to the south. These latter had all reached their destination safely after their long march, only one stag dying after arrival. They were to be used for carrying supplies over snow to far-off logging camps. As far as we could count, the does threw one hundred and sixty-eight fawns, and of these only eight were born dead or 270 LABRADOR perished in the brooks and thickets. We also lost two deer by dogs during the year, and found one doe shot with buck- shot, so that exactly one year after arrival, our two hundred and fifty numbered four hundred and five. Among these deer the fawns were so large by October, when the rutting season came on, that some, at least, were covered by the stags ; but with what result we are yet unable to tell. All summer long the deer had chosen the high green- covered hills close to the sea, greatly enjoying and rapidly fattening on the salty food. They ate mostly the young grass and new green leaves, apparently making little dis- crimination, except that as they did not seem to use the moss on which they must rely in winter, one might have suggested (probably untruthfully) that they were specially saving that for consumption when nothing else would be available. The magnificent antlers on the older stags proved a danger to others, and after one had been killed by a bad wound in the side, we dehorned the rest, with the exception of their brow antlers, which we considered sufficient to enable the deer to keep up their courage and spirit of play. After the fawns had run six full weeks with their mothers, that is, by the beginning of August, the herd was driven by the dogs every day into a large corral built for the purpose, and sixty does were milked each time. While suckling their fawns, we could not expect to get very much milk at best from each. They gave us, however, a pint of a very rich, creamy milk per head. This tasted more like cow's milk than anything I know of, and had none of the flavour familiar to that of the goat. I have unfortunately no analysis of its component parts with me, but would judge it REINDEER FOR LABRADOR 271 would take at least one-quarter part of water to reduce it to the standard of cow's milk. This being an experimental year, beyond now and again sending a supply round to our nearest hospital and to neighbours, we made no attempt at a systematic distribution of it. That will naturally be a difficult matter until we can either divide our herd or get sufficient quantities of milk to make it worth while to distribute it widely. The milk was, however, readily made by our Lapp herders into a very delectable and easily digest- ible cream cheese, — a commodity which we found it easy to carry on our sledge trips during the winter. It did not freeze, and formed an excellent addition to our diet. Our next effort will be to capture and rear with our do- mesticated animals a number of the young of the woodland caribou, which roam in great numbers near us, and also to obtain some of the barren-land variety, if we possibly can, for a similar purpose. In view of the immense area of land that surrounds us, many thousand square miles of moss-covered Newfoundland and Labrador which are well able to support reindeer, we are still exceedingly optimistic as to the outcome of this venture. For stock raising alone it should certainly prove remunerative. The experience in Alaska entirely justifies this conclusion, where now the government has twenty thousand of these beasts in its herds. A report direct from the herd, dated March, 1909, states that the herd is in splendid condition: the stags fat and sleek, the does all well, and no losses. Even those returned in bad condition by schooner (from the lumber camp mentioned) have picked up during a hard winter, and appear to promise well for fawning in the spring. CHAPTER X THE DOGS BY W. T. GRENFELL HUMAN life in Labrador has been so largely dependent on dogs that a brief chapter devoted to them is almost essential. The real Labrador dog is a very slightly modified wolf. A good specimen stands two feet six inches, or even two feet eight inches high at the shoulder, measures over six feet six inches from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail, and will scale a hundred pounds. The hair is thick and straight ; on the neck it may be six inches in length. The ears are pointed and stand directly up. The appearance generally is that of a magnified Pomeranian. The legs look short, compared with the massive body. The eyes are Japanese, and give the animal a foxy look about the face. The large, bushy tail curves completely over on to the back, and is always carried erect. The colour is generally tawny, like that of a gray wolf, with no distinctive markings, but a beautiful black and white breed has grown up, and fur- nishes the handsomest dogs. The general resemblance to wolves is so great that at Davis Inlet, where wolves come out frequently in winter, the factor has seen his team mixed with a pack of wolves on the beach in front of the door, and yet could not shoot, being unable to distinguish one from 272 THE DOGS 273 the other. Settlers have succeeded in getting good skins by pegging out a female dog in heat, and shooting the wolves that come down after her. The wolves themselves are larger than the dogs. They may measure in length as much as seven feet eight inches, from nose to tail. They are very bold; on one occasion wolves lurked around a solitary house in Big Bay till they had carried off the four dogs, one by one, and left only after capturing the cat. The dogs retain these same ancestral habits. Some summer settlers at Batteau have goats at their small shacks. About ten miles away at Red Point lived a hungry team of dogs. One night a goat was missing. The crime was traced to the dogs. Men with guns waited their return, with no result except much loss of time. The dogs never came near the settlement by day. Yet, before the people left, the dogs had successfully carried off every goat without suffering any losses. On another occasion my own leading dog, a black bitch from Cape Chidley, ran away from the hospital in early spring. She was seen near a neighbouring village, killing sheep. Three had been slaughtered by her on land, and she had driven two more out on to a rocky island, where she swam off and slew them. With a long shot the sheep-owner wounded her, and she fled into the woods, but still did not return home. He hauled the carcass near the edge of the woods, and sat up for her. True to her wolfish instinct, she returned to her quarry by night, and so met her fate. Our dogs know little or no fear, and, unlike the wolves, will unhesitatingly attack even the largest polar bear. On one occasion a man's dogs, travelling along smooth sea ice, scented a white bear and started off like the wind. 274 LABRADOR They suddenly turned a point and ran right into him, so that the traces tangled round the bear before the astonished driver had time to unlash his gun. As soon as he could, he cut the traces, but even in harness the dogs kept Bruin at bay. Though the bear stood up to fight on his hind legs, the dogs managed to get in some good bites without being hurt. On another occasion a man brought me a specially valued dog that a bear had squeezed. The bear had been sighted some distance off on the ice-floe, and the dogs were slipped to hold him up for the hunter. By the time he arrived on the spot, they had the bear practically killed. But two had been damaged by him, one clawed and one squeezed. The Labrador wolf has never been known to kill a man. Yet on several occasions single men have fallen in with them. One man told me that a pack followed him almost to his own door, that they stopped when he stopped, and came as close as ten yards. He had no gun and no means of defence, yet they never touched him. The Labrador dog has much the same respect for man. He is, moreover, affectionate and playful. You can easily make a pet of him, if you treat him well. He is generally harmless to children when he is decently looked after, but a team of dogs together, however quiet, are never safe to strangers. Even a single dog, if kicked about, badly fed, and left to be worried by the neighbouring dogs every day of his life, cannot be trusted. The wolf will track a deer day after day till he captures it. Again and again our trappers have seen evidence of the indefatigable zeal and indomitable resolution of a single wolf in following a caribou herd; and observers all agree THE DOGS 275 that each time the track spells the shadow of death. A settler told me the story of a doe caribou which, in the early summer of 1906, he saw brought to bay on the middle of a pond by a single wolf. The ice had thawed out, and it was necessary for the wolf to swim off to get at the deer. The wolf, after long hesitation in taking to the water; which it apparently hates, swam off, fought the caribou, and though repeatedly knocked down by her fore hoofs, at last pulled her down. Our dogs, taking the scent of a caribou trail, even when in harness, will forget all discipline, and they will almost tear a komatik and driver to pieces in their eagerness to give chase. I have known of a team that thus ran away, and some of them never came back. In all probability they had been killed, for an Eskimo dog never loses his way. The dogs very seldom perish for want of food, and then only under circumstances of an extraordinary nature, such as being adrift on the floe-ice. The Eskimo dog takes kindly to the water in summer. He will go in fearlessly after fish. When the caplin run ashore, the dogs, half starved after the winter (like most of the other animals), almost live in the water, eating their fill till they are like ambulatory barrels. I have watched them patiently hunt- ing flatfish in shallow water. They dive their heads under water when they feel the fish wriggle under their feet. Twice I have had half-breed dogs who would dive to the bottom in two to two and a half fathoms of water, and bring up stones wrapped in white paper. This accomplishment served me well on one occasion. From the edge of the shore ice I had shot a seal swimming in the open water alongside. My leading dog, which I unharnessed, dived 276 LABRADOR to ,the bottom, and brought the seal to the surface by the flipper. I am inclined to think the half-breed dogs are the clever- est also in memorizing. In 1907 I was driving a distance of seventy miles across country. The path was untravelled for the winter, and was only a direction, not being cut and blazed. The leading dog had been once across the previous year with the doctor. The " going" had then been very bad; with snow and fog, the journey had taken three days. A large part of the journey lay across wide lakes, and then through woods. As neither I nor my friends on the other komatiks had been that way before, we had to leave it to the dog. He went so quickly and so confidently that it grew almost weird to sit behind him. Several times I called a halt to examine the direction and leads. Without a single fault, as far as we knew, he took us across, and we accom- plished the whole journey in twelve hours, including one and a half hours for rest and lunch. No amount of dry cold seems to affect the dogs. They sleep out on the coldest nights, frequently choosing the most exposed places, and apparently disdaining any shelter. I have almost had to dig them out from new snow in the mornings. They will stay in the water any length of time in summer when the water is from 40 to 43° F. I have seen a dog mistake the buoy on a net for a stick thrown by his master. He swam out, seized it, and tried to pull it ashore. We went in and had tea, and when we came out again, the dog was still pulling at the buoy. Yet, in winter, the dogs dread the water, and it is very difficult to drive them through.it. They seem also to have an instinct telling them when ice cannot be depended on, and it is rare that they fall through, unless being urged on by a driver. THE DOGS 277 In training a leader, a female is generally chosen as less likely to be damaged by the others fighting with her, — • an accident which, at certain times, would cost a man his life. The ideal team is a clever mother followed by a dozen of her own pups. Mixed teams, however powerful, are never so good. The dogs soon learn to turn at the word of command . The whole team will sometimes learn t o " turn ' ' without waiting for the leader ; but that is rare. The dogs get to know their own places in a team, and, if allowed to run loose for any cause, such as an accident or sickness, will nearly always come and run in their places. I have had so much trouble with a dog doing that and getting repeat- edly run over for his pains, that I have had to lash him on the komatik to save his life. There can be no question that the dogs love to be driven. They go perfectly wild with excitement when they are in harness. The komatik must be lashed to a stump or stone, and the line cut only when the driver is ready to go. The team then shoots off like an arrow from a bow. They are, of course, flesh eaters, and, by nature, purely carnivorous, only touching meal and farinaceous foods when compelled by dire hunger. During my years in Labrador they have killed two children and one man, and eaten another. In the case of the second man the evidence went to show that he was not killed by the dogs, though his dead body was devoured by them. In that case (winter of 1906), a man, his wife, and son got lost. Their bodies were found only when the snow melted away during the following summer. Of the owner of the dogs only the bones were discovered. As the dogs returned in good condition after a fortnight's absence, all of them were shot. The other 278 LABRADOR man killed (also in 1906) was driving home, and had badly fed, savage dogs. He was apparently beating them, when they fell on him and nearly tore him to pieces. Each of the two children fell down in the midst of a pack that had begun fighting. The dogs will kill almost any kind of domestic animal quite naturally. I was passing a house one day into which an elderly lady was driving a goat. I heard a shout and noticed my leading dog was calmly proceeding on the way, dragging the unfortunate goat in his mouth by the hind leg. Our traces, harness, and all fastenings are made of sealskin, and these the dogs love to eat, but most will readily learn not to do so. I have had dogs which would not eat their skin shoes that we put on them to save their feet against the cutting of the ice crust. At the same time my sealskin whip has often been eaten, a deed which one scarcely knew whether to attribute to bad taste or to great sagacity. There is nothing an Eskimo dog likes more than a fight. The moment the noise of a fight breaks the silence, every dog in hearing will fly off at full speed to the spot and " chip in." Members of one team will, as a rule, stick together; a whole team will saunter out, and try to lure passers-by into a melee. As a rule, however, all dogs will bite the first to fall, and if one has the misfortune to be thrown on his back, it is nearly certain his fate is sealed. It is marvellous how soon they can kill the enemy. I have known it done in two minutes, a great fang finding a billet in the carotid artery. I had purchased a fine dog for a leader one year, and on the first trip left him tied with the team in harness while I went to pay a visit. He was dead and partly eaten when I returned. THE DOGS 279 The natives always use great whips with a lash as long as thirty feet. With that the driver can strike any dog he wishes, even at full gallop. The length of the handle is immaterial. Indeed, I have known an Eskimo kill many partridges (or spruce grouse) by flicking them with a whip which had no handle at all. Any good hand with a whip will drive nails into a post with it, and will cut a hole almost through a door-panel. For endurance, few animals can equal our dogs. As I have said before, cold seems absolutely immaterial. At 50° F. below zero, a dog will lie out on the ice and sleep without danger of frost-bite. He may climb out of the sea with ice forming all over his fur, but he seems not to mind one iota. I have seen his breath freeze so over his face that he had to rub the coating off his eyes with his paws to enable him to see the track. I have driven him from daylight to dark on bright spring days when a couple of hours of such exposure would blind the unprotected eyes of most men. I have never yet known a dog's eyes to suffer at all. No dog is fed more than once a day, and one might almost say no dog is ever given all he wants to eat. Yet a team will, when unavoidable, go two and three days without food on a journey, and yet show scarcely a sign of fatigue. To feed its puppies, a dog will vomit the food it has eaten itself. For speed and endurance it is difficult to surpass these wonderful animals. An old friend, a Hudson's Bay factor at Moose Factory, in a letter describing a journey he re- cently made with ten dogs, and nearly a thousand pounds' weight on the komatik, says : " We covered the one hundred and eighty miles of distance in two and a half days, and the 280 LABRADOR dogs showed no signs of slacking when we drew up." With a half-breed team of only seven dogs, I have myself travelled seventy miles a day over a hilly country, but there were only two hundred and fifty pounds on the komatik. On this journey there was time allowed for midday rest for lunch and the boiling of the kettle. The Eskimo dog never barks. But he howls exactly like a wolf, in sitting posture with the head upturned. One dog will start every dog in ear-shot. This keeps a traveller awake, and so the people have invented many charms, one of which consists in seizing the band of your shirt in your teeth and chewing it till the noise stops. During twenty years we have known of no cases of hy- datid cysts due to the dangerous form of tapeworm such as is transmitted by dogs in Greenland. Indeed, even dis- temper and mange are very rare among Eskimo dogs. Though every family keeps half a dozen at least, not a single case of hydrophobia has been known. The great beauty of a dog-team is that it seems to banish all conventionalities. You can go anywhere and every- where with no roads, no hedges, no walls, no restrictions but your own will; and that will, without rein or bridle, you make your dog's will. Dogs can carry you up almost the steepest snow slope and down again in safety. They do not slip or sink in, and if they fall over even a high cliff in the winter, they are very rarely hurt. They seem to understand what you say, and so form a far better com- panion than a horse. They are automobiles which need no handling of their machinery. They enjoy travelling almost more than their masters enjoy it. They learn to love you as only a dog will, and if it were not for their occasional out- THE DOGS 281 breaks of wickedness, they would make the best of com- panions. As it is, I know of no greater pleasure possible than a large, strong team, a good leader, a brisk, bright spring day, and a really long journey to go. CHAPTER XI THE COD AND COD-FISHERY BY W. T. GRENFELL LABRADOR is as yet a land of specialized industries. The endless problem of food and clothing has made the native Eskimo a hunter of seals ; the native Indian has preferred the deer; the incoming whites, while importing their flour and woven cloths, have found their good genius in the cod. Nearly three hundred years ago it was known that this fish was plentiful on the southern coast of the penin- sula, and ever since the cod-fishery has been more or less vigorously pursued on the Labrador. In former times the herring, and always the salmon, has furnished minor parts in the harvest from the coastal waters, but it is remarkable that, in Newfoundland and Labrador, "fish" is a synonym merely for. cod; a local law has stated that salmon is not fish. Other members of the Gadidse family, as the hake, tusk, haddock, whiting, coalfish, pollack, ling, and whiting- pout, are absent or present in negligible quantities. A flounder is the only noteworthy representative of the flat- fish family. The halibut is found only in deep water, far from shore. For many reasons the humble cod has a just claim to preeminence among the food-fishes. As food for man, cod 282 THE COD AND COD-FISHERY 283 is the bread of the sea. He may be called the bread and butter, for more surely than any other marine species does he supply a food of which the white man's palate does not tire. His flesh is rich and gelatinous, without being fatty. Every particle of his body is useful to man. The skin and bones make excellent glue. The tongue and swim-bladder are rare delicacies when well cooked, and have also been used as raw material in the manufacture of isinglass. The refined cod-liver oil is among the most sterling remedies yet devised for man's bodily weakness, which so often leads to deadly phthisis.1 The refuse oil may be employed for tanning purposes; the offal is very valuable manure. In Norway and Iceland, the dried heads have been largely used as food for cattle. The roe is an excellent bait, and forms a notable part of the Norwegian annual export. On Arctic shores the well-dried bones, for lack of other material, have been used for fuel. For curing purposes, the cod is unsurpassed. Belonging to the Anacanthini, or spineless fish, he can be rapidly deprived of bone and entrails without danger to the fisherman's hands. A fresh codfish weighing 6.6 pounds contains as much as 5.4 pounds of water. When well cured, it will weigh 2.2 pounds, of which 16.5 ounces is nutritive matter, 4.5 ounces is salt, and 12.5 ounces is water. Compared with fresh beef, the nutritive value of the dried cod is as 9 to 10, and the cost is less than one-half that of beef at average prices. It is said that a Newfoundland fish contains more nutriment 1 Four hundred Lofoten cod give a barrel of oil, but it takes twice as many to give a barrel of the refined, medicinal oil. The product rotted out is called cod oil; that for drinking, cod-liver oil. About thirty-six hundred livers of Labrador cod go to the barrel of twenty- five gallons. 284 LABRADOR than an equally heavy fish from the French banks. In Europe, fresh cod is regarded as best for table use when caught in the coldest months, December to February. The relatively high nutritive value of the Newfoundland- Labrador fish is probably to be explained in large part by the fact that all the year round the sea temperatures are at least as low as those which bring the European cod into best condition. < The fish can be preserved in wet bulk all winter by putting enough salt between adjacent layers to prevent them from touching one another. It may also be preserved as dry bulk in piles covered over and well pressed down. But the fish may be cured by no other means whatever than by splitting open the carcass and hanging it up in the sun to dry. Many of the ancient, foreign names for the animal have apparently been derived from the fact that from times immemorial the flesh of the drying split fish has been made tenderer by beating the carcass with clubs. The Norwegians call the animal the "stock" (stick) fish; in Spanish it is "baccalhao" (from Lat. bacvlum, a staff, rod, or small stick); in Italian, "mazza" (a club); in Gaelic, "gad" (rod). The Greeks called the fish "bacchi" (rods). In English the name "stock-fish" covers the haddock, ling, and hake, as well as the cod. The Labrador Eskimo always preserve cod by hard drying without salt. The white man, of course, has devised his own methods of curing the cod by smoking it like the salmon, or of turning it as steaks or in boneless rolls, ready for immediate use, but the commonest method is still that by dry salting, as it has been for so many centuries. Since these many virtues as a food- fish must be multiplied by the inconceivable numbers of ffff On the March Waiting for Their Master THE COD AND COD-FISHERY 285 individuals, the title "King of the food-fishes" is justified, even against the herring. Each female lays from three to nine million eggs each year, generally in the months from February to May, inclusive. The fish spawns rapidly. As the females are " ripening," the roe or ovaries are so large that they fill the mother's body and actually tend to prevent her feeding. So far as it goes, this is a fortunate protection for the species, since, during this important period in her life, the female is thereby less liable to be caught on a bait. The males seem to out- number the females considerably, but the balance is main- tained for reproduction- by the fact that the roe of the aver- age female is two or three times as heavy as the milt of the average male. Though the eggs contain no oil globule, they float in the water. The milt also floats, and as its units are present in inestimable quantities, the fertilization of the eggs, which takes place in the open water, is insured. It is made yet more certain by the fact that during the spawning season the cod aggregate into immense shoals in shallow water. This free floating is a great protection to the eggs, as they cannot be browsed up in bulk off the bottom, like the spawn of herring, which adheres in masses to the rocks and gravels. The young cod grows rapidly, and in twelve months is about sixteen inches long, and in twenty-four months is a mature fish about twenty-four inches long. As a rule, however, it will not breed until it is three years old. Its youth is largely spent in eating its own brothers and sisters and cousins, and also in escaping being eaten. The career of any indi- vidual is apt to be a checkered one, and it is only one out of many that succeeds "in realizing any aspirations he may 286 LABRADOR have to a humble corner on a fishmonger's slab." During his life he seems singularly free from diseases, but blindness and rickets (unaccompanied by fever) have been found not infrequently. The blindness may be due to mechanical injuries or to exposure to too much light during the long days of the north. Rickety fish often have humped backs. The largest codfish of which I have record on this coast scaled one hundred and two pounds, and was five feet six inches long. The record on the English coast is seventy- eight pounds, with length of five feet eight inches ; this fish was caught in 1755, and was sold for the sum of one shilling. The largest recorded cod on the Newfoundland Banks was caught by Captain Stephen May in 1838; the weight, after the fish was gutted, was one hundred and thirty-six pounds ! Another cod holds the record on the American coast; he was caught by Captain Atwood, who found him to scale one hundred and sixty pounds. In the Gulf of St. Lawrence and on the east coast of Labrador, the fish are of smaller average size than on the banks off Newfoundland and the United States. The fish from the far north, near Cape Chidley, are both shorter and thinner than those taken at the Strait of Belle Isle. The average Labrador cod taken in the trap-net is about twenty inches long, and weighs between three and four pounds. Those caught on hook and line in the autumn are much larger and heavier. The monster cod once caught off Roc kail and the Hebrides in the early days of those fisheries have disappeared. Pre- sumably they held a kind of monopoly of all food that came along, and thus assumed the first chances in swallowing baited hooks. It may be noted that the cod is never large enough to be completely free from the danger of being eaten THE COD AND COD-FISHEBY 287 alive, for seals are quite indifferent on that point. The cod must rarely die of old age. The actual company enjoyed by these gregarious crea- tures may be observed any season on the Labrador, when the great schools of cod are feeding on the living caplin, as the latter, themselves in countless hosts, run inshore to feed. The water is then often literally black with cod, and so eager are they after their food that the air over the school is alive with fish jumping after their prey. Additional ex- citement in the water is furnished by the dogfish, sharks, seals, or herring-hogs, which follow the cod from interested motives. Cartwright, in 1776, gives the following descrip- tion of such a school : " Observing many codfish to come close inshore, where the water was deep, I laid myself flat on the rock, took a caplin by the tail, and held it in the water in expectation that a cod would take it out of my fingers. Nor was I disappointed, for almost immediately a fish struck at it and seized it. And no sooner had one snatched away the caplin than another sprang out of the water, and actually caught a slight hold of my finger and thumb. Had I dipped my hand in the water, I am con- vinced they would soon have made me repent of my folly, for they are a very greedy, bold fish." A similar sight was presented at one point on the coast last year (1908), good sizable fish jumping out of the water after bait and landing on the rocks, so that they were actually taken without any trouble beyond that of picking them up. Fortunately for themselves and for the world, they are gifted with the most extraordinary digestive powers ; they certainly do their honest best to convert everything that comes into their way into that which will ultimately benefit 288 LABRADOR mankind. I have myself taken three small cod and twenty- seven caplin from the stomach of one postprandial fish and have seen an excellent gold ring taken from the stomach of another. A book in three volumes was taken from the stomach of a codfish off Lynn, England, and presented to the vice-chancellor of Cambridge University. Scissors, oil-cans, old boots, testify to the catholicity of the cod's appetite. Captain Hill, who lost his keys over the side in the North Sea, had them returned to him from the inside of a codfish. Two full-grown ducks have been found in a cod's stomach ; the birds were quite fresh, and had appar- ently been swallowed alive. An entire partridge, a whole hare, six (small) dogfish, an entire turnip, a guillemot (beak, claws, and all), a tallow candle, have all betrayed the omnivorous leanings of some of our friends. But per- haps their devotion to business is best shown by the number of stones taken from their interiors and merely swallowed for the sake of the corallines which had grown on the stones. Lobsters, crabs, whelk shells, and the like, swallowed au naturelle do not seem to require any special digestive pre- cautions. A Newfoundland fisherman had the melancholy duty of forwarding a wedding-ring found in a cod's stomach to the family of a lady who was lost off the Newfoundland coast in the steamship Anglo-Saxon. The question whether there is any diminution in the supply of the cod on the Labrador is an interesting and important one. If it be granted that there is such diminu- tion, it is still an open question whether man has been re- sponsible for the change. All the millions of fish taken annually out of these waters must represent but an ex- tremely minute fraction of the total "run" along the The Sea of Ice Newfoundland Schooners working North THE COD AND COD-FISBERT 289 thousand miles of coast. It is conceivable that the codfish host is so evenly balanced against the host of its natural sea-water enemies that even the small human inroad on the numbers, especially on the numbers of females, may in time produce a sensible thinning out of the shoals. But we have as yet no good proof that this is the case. The fish are protected from man by the long winter months; from November to June, or even July, they are safe from that enemy at least, for the ice shuts man out from the sea. Those places where the largest catches were made years ago are still usually the best berths, e.g. Griffin's Harbour. That fact seems significant, for, in some measure like the salmon, the cod is a local fish and tends to return, year after year, to the section of the coast where he was born. It follows, therefore, that, if man were causing a diminution in the numbers of the cod, the best berths of former times would be less likely to be the best berths now. Though the herring and mackerel have largely disappeared from the Labrador coast during the last half century, they have certainly not been exterminated by fishermen. The quantities taken of these two fish have been far too small to effect that result. The ancient fishery off Yarmouth, England, has taken ten thousand times more herring than have ever been captured on the Labrador, yet the annual taking off the English coast is still remarkable. However, the majority of Labrador fishermen think that the cod are diminishing in numbers along the whole coast. They refer to the partial or complete abandonment of the northern summer stations at Windsor Harbour, Fanny's Harbour, Aillik, Long Tickle, etc., where the industry once flourished. Other arguments run to the effect that the 290 LABRADOR Jersey and American firms who, years ago, conducted large operations on the coast, had to give them up, owing to the scarcity of fish ; that well-off families have fallen into pov- erty and want, and that many have left the coast ; that float- ing craft have to keep going farther and farther afield; that large bays, which attracted settlers on account of the local abundance of cod, are now deserted ; that some places along the Labrador fail every year nowadays ; that, not- withstanding the large mesh now compelled by government, the fish taken are now of smaller average size than formerly ; that the catch is not proportionate to the increased outfit ; and that the bank fisheries have been depleted both abso- lutely and relatively. The pessimists argue further that the cod-fishery runs risk of approaching the failures recorded for the lobster, salmon, seal, and even the trout, all of which have been signally depleted by man ; the whales and whalers are steadily diminishing. Walrus has been banished from the Labrador. All along the Labrador there are bullies and fishing-boats, once in regular use, now lying up and rotting on the shore. That the government once leaned to this view was shown by the establishment of a codfish hatchery in Newfound- land, not for biological experiment, but for hatching young fish for restocking the bays. Subsequently, under Sir William White way, the hatchery was closed down. Some fishermen thought the plan a success ; others thought it a failure. In judging the case, the obvious precaution must be taken that too much reliance be not placed on the testimony of a few individual captains; as the number of men and amount of capital engaged in the industry increase, the THE COD AND COD-FISHEEY 291 chances of failure of cargo for the single schooner are in- creased. There are simply not enough "best berths" to go round when the list of schooners increases beyond a certain point. Quite independently of man's interfer- ence, the harvests of the sea, like those on the land, may naturally swing in cycles. So long ago as 1775 there was a complete failure of the cod-fishery along the north side of Belle Isle Strait; yet this latest year (1908) the "crop" has been unusually good. It may well be that the inshore fishing is now in a period of relatively lean years, to be followed by a period of fat years, — the whole swing of the industrial pendulum being utterly uncontrolled by the relatively insignificant takings of the summer fleet on the Labrador. Neither science nor the practical industry has yet obtained sufficient knowledge of the sea to declare the whole law which governs the annual, much less the age-to-age, swelling or recession of the finny flood. In any event the cod seem to be as plentiful as ever in deep water. The use of long lines by banking vessels along the Labrador is growing steadily in importance. The failure of many a schooner to find cargo may be due to the fact that the trap-net is the only method of capture em- ployed. The deepest water in which I have seen traps set is eighteen fathoms. If for any reason the fish, though as plentiful as ever, do not come right home to the rocks, the captain outfitted with trap-net only might wrongly report on this question of a possible diminution in the numbers of the cod in Labrador seas. One important cause governing the nearness of the approach of the cod in any year to the actual coast-line is undoubtedly the temperature of the water. This may 292 LABRADOR affect the fish directly, or may control the distribution of the other animals on which he feeds, thus affecting the cod himself indirectly. The cod will not feed in water under 34° F. He prefers temperatures ranging between 35° F. and 42° F. On the cod-bearing Norwegian waters the hottest month is August, when the surface of the sea averages 43.5° F. (12.8° C.) ; ten fathoms down it averages 41.9° F. (11° C.), and twenty fathoms from the surface, 37° F. (5.6° C.). The coldest month is February, when the averages are : surface, 32° F. (0° C.) ; at ten fathoms, 33.8° F. (1.25° C.); at twenty fathoms, 36.5° F. (2.5° C.). From the few observations I have taken of the Labrador, the average surface temperature in summer varies from 40° to 45 ° F. In the summer of 1900, Mr. R. A. Daly of the Brown-Harvard expedition made some serial readings of the temperatures in the coastal waters on days when abun- dant cod could be taken from the schooner on which the temperatures were determined. Two carefully cali- brated thermometers gave accordant results. A few ex- amples of the serial readings may be of interest as showing how very cold may be the water in which the cod appears to thrive. The tables also indicate the density of the water as collected in a "Mill" bottle at various depths. The rapid changes of temperature and of salinity in a few fathoms are noteworthy. FIRST SERIES At anchor, three and one-half miles west of Cape Pomi- adluk, Labrador; 8 P.M., July 31. Air temperature, 11.3° C. (52.3° F.). THE COD AND COD-FISHERY 293 TEMPERATURE, t DEPTH IN FATHOMS SPECIFIC GRAVITY AT TEMPERATURE t Cent. Fahr. Surface 7.0° 44.6° 1.01965 1 5.7 42.1 1.02045 2 5.5 41.9 1.02060 3 5.3 41.5 1.02065 4 2.1 35.9 1.02220 5 .4 32.7 1.02355 6.5 (bottom) .3 32.5 1.02390 4. SECOND SERIES At anchor in Summer's Cove, Aillik Bay ; noon, August Many cod jigged, at all depths from three to ten fathoms. DEPTH IN FATHOMS TEMPERATURE, t SPECIFIC GRAVITY AI TEMPERATURE t Cent. Fahr. Surface 6.2° 43.1° 1.01980 1 5.7 42.1 1.01980 2 3.5 38.3 1.02070 3 8.2 37.0 1.02125 4 1.2 34.2 .02285 5 .5 32,9 .02355 6 .3 32.5 .02375 7 .1 32.2 .02385 8 - .2 31.7 .02420 9 - .2 31.7 1.02450 10 - .3 31.5 1.02485 11 - .3 + 31.4 1.02490 12 - .5 31.1 1.02495 13 (bottom) - .55 31.0 1.02510 294 LABRADOR Even in late summer the temperature of the water in the (ice-free) northern fiords remains very low. This fact is illustrated in the groups of serial readings taken during a visit of the same party to Nachvak Bay. One such group is represented in a THIRD SERIES Locality, on rocky bar three miles east of Hudson's Bay Company station in Nachvak Bay and about seventeen miles from the mouth of the fiord ; 2 P.M. , September 4, 1900. Air temperature, about 12.5° C. (44.5° F.). TEMPERATURE, t DEPTH IN FATHOMS SPECIFIC GRAVITY AT TEMPERATURE t Cent. Fahr. Surface 3.9° 39.0° 1.02380 1 3.3 37.9 1.02430 3 2.2 36.0 1.02510 5 .5 32.9 1.02595 10 .4 32.7 1.02600 14i .3 32.5 1.02620 From these (hitherto unpublished) observations obtained in 1900, it appears that the water of the northern fiords, at depths greater than about twenty fathoms, never rises sensibly above the freezing-point of fresh water. There is little doubt that the cod does not travel far in its annual migration. After spawning, the school simply moves out into deeper water on the slopes of the con- tinental plateau or on the Grand Banks. There in depths of from eighteen to seventy fathoms they browse about. THE COD AND COD-FISHERY 295 Though this fish prefers such a range of depth, it may be trapped in water as shallow as two fathoms or as deep as three hundred fathoms. To the most favoured depths the animal retires after the spawning season, which is also that of optimum temperature along the immediate Labrador shore, has been passed. In rhythmic fashion the cod returns each year to its birthplace with the shoal, and haunts the same neighbourhood throughout its short season of inshore life. NORTH LATITUDE LOCALITY ARRIVAL CLOSE OF FISHERY DURATION OP FISHERY 51° 30' Cape Bauld June 20 October 20 122 days 52° Chateau Bay June 20 October 1 102 days 53° 24? Batteau July 12 October 1 80 days 54° 26' Indian Harbour July 15 October 1 78 days 54° 56' Cape Harrison July 18 October 1 75 days 55° 27' Hopedale July 20 October 1 73 days 55° 52' Davis Inlet July 28 October 1 65 days 56° 33' Nain July 28 October 1 65 days 57° 30' Okkak July 28 October 1 65 days 58° 30' Hebron August 15 September 15 32 days The shoal arrives on the coast about a week later for every degree of latitude farther north. But, as codfish are spread over the whole coast of over a thousand miles simultaneously during August and September, the later arrival in the north cannot be due to a south-to-north move- ment of the same individual fish in a single shoal. The first fish at St. Anthony (on the Treaty shore of Newfound- land) appear about May 25; those at Cartwright, about July 25. In Europe the advance-guard reach the Nor- 296 LABRADOR wegian coast in January, host following host in a north- easterly direction. Sometimes they are delayed by the coldness of the season, and may then not run in until March. Professor Hind has prepared the preceding table of arrival and departure in average years at different latitudes on the Labrador. It may be noted that the cod of the western Atlantic coast ranges from Cape Hatteras to the Gulf of Boothnia in lat. 75° north. The smaller fish leave the shore first ; the larger ones re- main on the near banks till well into November, when they withdraw into deeper water. Buffon said they retired to the polar seas, but it seems impossible that they go very far. Some Labrador cod are known to winter on the Grand Banks, as some with Frenchmen's banking hooks sticking in their mouths have been captured by the Labrador crews. As cod began to show real or apparent failure on the New- foundland coast, and then on the Grand Banks, the great fleet of fishing vessels began to turn its bows northward. First, a few venturesome fishermen crossed the Strait of Belle Isle without having wetted a line or net, and risked their summer's catch off the Labrador coast. These early pioneers were richly rewarded, and others soon followed in their wake. As it became imperative for more and more families to seek a living from Labrador, many, who had no means of obtaining schooners of their own, managed to find their way north as "freighters," with their more fortunate brethren. Arrived on the Labrador, a family of " freighters" builds a rude summer "tilt" at some spot suggested by their previous experience, and then fish from the land in small boats, returning in the same way in the autumn. Thus commenced the great exodus of men, THE COD AND COD-FISHERY 297 women, and children that every year starts for Labrador from Newfoundland as soon as the ice of winter breaks up and the journey becomes possible. At length these so- called summer settlers pushed as far north as Cape Harri- gan, and the floaters as far as Cape Chidley. Of late years, however, an ebb tide has set in, and more fish is taken in the Straits and along the southern shore than in the north, and many of the northern summer settlements have been abandoned. On first consideration the Labrador voyage does not sound particularly enterprising. But there are features about it which are not immediately apparent. The entire living of these pioneers depends on the fishery, for the fur catching in Newfoundland is almost a negligible quantity as far as most of the men are concerned. Only of late years has enough work at the Sydney (Nova Scotia) mines or steel works, or at the iron mines on Bell Island, Newfoundland, been available, in case a family is left with nothing for the winter. Even that is not open to all. Labradormen have only one string to their bows, so that the daily increasing anxiety from not finding fish as the summer wears away tells heavily on the skipper. I re- member one poor fellow tying an anchor round his neck and jumping over the side of the schooner in the night. He came up with the cable in the morning. The mainstay of many of these men to-day, especially the southern men, is the little plot of land at home, which is attended by the aged or by those incapacitated and able to be spared from the long Labrador voyage. On this home patch they grow enough potatoes, cabbages, and turnips to "put them through the winter," if only a hand- 298 LABRADOR fill or two of flour is available. Most of the homesteads also have a few sheep, and possibly a cow as well. Most of the fishermen spin their own wool, and make their own boots from the skins of their cattle and of seals which they tan in their net barking pots. They have thus no fear of utter destitution. Still, I have seen many of these people showing in the spring all the signs of meagre diet through the long winter months. Unfortunately, to keep a cow or garden is practi- cally impossible in the north, owing to the numbers of dogs used on the coast. Moreover, when the whole family has to leave for Labrador and the home must be closed, unless a neighbour can be found to look after things, the supplies from the tiny "farm" are necessarily cut off. The schooners in the financial reach of most of the men are home-made products of soft wood, i.e. spruce and fir cut from their own bays, and mostly only iron-fastened. The vessels are often very small and also cheaply found in the most necessary of all their outfit, the holding gear. They have to carry such quantities of fishing gear that they • are very crowded on deck, as well as below. The crew need so many boats that throughout most of the long voyage the small schooner will have to tow one or two be- hind. This necessity very considerably impairs the sea- going quality of the schooner. The salt nets and puncheons for oil are bulky; spare canvas and gear, if the crew is fortunate enough to be able to afford any, fill much of the remaining space. When, therefore, the time comes to take in "freighters," men, women, and children, with all their personal and fishery outfit as well, it is little wonder that the dangers and discomforts are greatly increased. THE COD AND COD-FISHERY 299 Many times I have seen these vessels with the space below decks divided only by chalk marks on the inner lining of the hold, to indicate the few feet allotted to each crew and family. The separation of sexes and privacy for women is inadequate at best, and frequently to all intents and purposes absent. I have attended confinements and almost every kind of sickness in these vessels where one could scarcely stand up. I have seen suffering aboard them that I trust none of my own kith and kin will ever have to experience. The natural, simple kindness of the fishermen surely stands them in good stead. The fact that crowds of women and children are battened down in the holds of these vessels in rough weather is too suggestive to need detailed description. The carrying of single girls on these vessels has led to many troubles also, and I have never ceased to deplore the carrying of females as part of the crews of fishing vessels that are months away from home and civilization. It is a matter of profound gratitude that the opening up of other work is lessening the necessity for it, but it should long ago have been made illegal. • The freighters are often so close to the decks and beams that it is impossible even to sit up without care. When the weather is rough, the hatches must be closed, and then no daylight can get below. Meanwhile the "lumber" makes it impossible to get about on deck in a breeze to handle the vessel. Such schooners, therefore, have to pick their way along the shore, "keep inside all the runs," and always, if possible, get an anchorage at night. This be- comes doubly essential on the return voyage in the autumn, when the sudden storms sweep down off the high land and the proverbial gales of the "roaring forties" make it hard 300 LABRADOR for even well-found craft of that tonnage to live through them. Owing to the method of fishing, it is of paramount im- portance to secure a good place for the trap-net. A fisher- man may have built a summer house and stage, have left boats and gear and salt on the coast, and yet if he comes down a day after another man, he may find his trap-net berths already seized by the crew of some schooner an- chored near. The late comer may, therefore, after all, have little chance of getting a cargo or " voyage.77 He has usually no chance of going elsewhere to look for one. Fish "sets in shore77 as soon as the ice opens, possibly even before. " Snapper77 men will be able, by going early, to run home with a "voyage77 from the southernmost section of the coast, and get down in time for another in the far north, before it is too late for fish. The result is that the rush north commences long before the ice is gone, and craft are everywhere pushing north through lanes and leads in the ice, taking incalculable risks which occasionally end in disaster. The admirable skill and magnificent handling of their vessels succeed in averting accidents to a degree which surprises one the more he is familiar with the in- cidents of such a journey. As if these were not sufficient troubles, the heavy fogs which do prevail at times off the Labrador coast are most common in the spring of the year, and not a single pre- caution in the way of a warning bell or fog-horn has yet been placed to help the schooners from one end of Labrador to the other, except the Canadian station at Point Amour, sixty miles up the Strait of Belle Isle, where there is a steam fog-horn. Until two years ago, not a single light of any THE COD AND COD-FISHERY 301 kind whatever existed along this same area, and now only two small lighthouses on dark, wintry nights serve to guide these fisherfolk along more than one thousand miles of coast. This fact becomes more significant when one remembers that most of the craft are, as has been stated, obliged to run along the reefs and islands, and are not able to keep to the open sea and run home " on the outside." The average mariner would consider that at least a good chart of the journey on which the vessels were bound was a prime es- sential, without which no one would be likely to venture. But regretfully we must add that no such thing exists. The present survey is so imperfect that in many places only dotted outlines indicate the actual shore-line, while many shoals and hidden dangers are either inaccurately placed or not marked at all. Fortunately, the tides of the southern part of Labrador are, as far as navigation goes, practically unimportant, though they are often, and more especially with northwest to northeast winds, too strong for the big nets. The rise and fall of the tide is about six feet as far as Cape Harrigan. But as Cape Chidley is neared, the tides grow stronger and rise higher, till in Hudson Strait they rise thirty-five to forty feet, and run six to eight knots an hour. Boiling whirlpools and eddies seethe in the current of Gray Straits, and navigation in a schooner is, even at best, both difficult and dangerous. In view of all the dangers, one must feel proud of this crowd of emigrant fisherfolk, — proud of their physical courage, their self-reliant resourcefulness, of that big heart which makes them willing to " venture out" early each summer. 302 LABRADOR Progress in methods of catching the fish more quickly and safely, and with less personal exposure, has also marked the lapse of the years, though the primeval hand-line and hook is still the only gear to which many of the poorer men can attain. A hook-and-line man with work and tolerable fortune should catch an average of fifty quintals a year. As he has practically no expense but the purchase of salt, his average catch, along with his other possible sources of revenue, will afford a living. He has less anxiety as he has no valuable nets to lose, — for which many mortgage all they possess and then lose the nets. He is certain never to make an absolute blank, and he has considerably more time for other work. But he can never nowadays get " rich " in worldly possessions, and therefore nearly all aspire to "get twine," if they can. The main difficulty with hook-and-line fishing is the difficulty of obtaining bait. Caplin are excellent bait, but when they are plentiful, cod can feed on live ones, and, being glutted, do not take the hook well. When cod are plentiful still on the banks, the caplin have left the fishing grounds. Lance, a fish like a small eel, have to be hauled at the bottoms of inlets far from the fishing grounds, and even then are not always obtainable. Crews of men have to spend all day rowing to get enough to supply the com- bined crews that have spared a man apiece to send them. Most bait, to be of service, must be quite fresh. The enter- prising Captain Bartlett of Turnavik, Mr. Croucher at Battle, Mr. Grant at Blanc Sablon, now use small steamers for no other purpose than to get bait and carry fish and salt. Squids are seldom obtainable in Labrador. But some men have barrels of salt squids sent down. They THE COD AND COD-FISHEET 303 are useful, but not the best, and cost the fishermen fifteen to fifty cents per hundred. They are tough, and hold well on a hook. Mussels would be used if they would hold on the hooks. Bits of sea-gulls that the men shoot for the purpose are also employed. Even artificial bait has been tried with modified success, — rubber fish with hooks at- tached. Little net bags enclosing baits of mussels and gelatine — an invention of Mr. John Hay ward — have been used with some success. But the bait question is ever the hook-and-liner's worst difficulty. The tendency is to give up the puzzle and use what is known as a jigger, a piece of lead the shape of a fish, with two enormous hooks projecting from the bottom. This is " jigged" up and down about a fathom from the bottom, and sometimes hooks fish very quickly. It naturally sticks into the fish anywhere it strikes him, and the result is that many fish get away with bellies ripped open, eyes pulled out, etc. The shoals seem to follow these injured fish off the ground, though rather for the purpose of eating them than from fear of a similar fate. In some districts the use of the jigger is forbidden, as it is believed to be detrimental to the fishery. The first advance in methods seems to have been putting more than one hook on a line, till the present system of long lines, called "bultows" or "trawls," with as many as three thousand hooks on a line, was developed. Lines up to seven miles in length have been used. This is still a very favour- ite method, and is practically within reach of the poorest. Many large cargoes are now "made" on the inshore grounds in this way, as they have been made for many years on the Grand Banks far out at sea. But even this method has its 304 LABRADOR drawbacks. It involves both great risks and great per- sonal exposure. It allows so many wounded fish to escape that it is prohibited altogether along many sections of the coast. This prohibition is accomplished by getting local laws sanctioned by the Legislature and included in the annual " Fishery Laws." In one place it was enforced by the residents at the end of their long guns ; as they say, " As well be hung as starve." Oddly enough, at the opposite side of the sandy beach where they live, hand-lining has been ruined by west-coast boats with bultows, and the people who live there have, in consequence, fallen on very evil times. For this purpose the bottom beam and other trawls of the old country were found useless. Quite recently the enterprising firm of Bowring Brothers purchased a modern steam trawler, and tried all around the coast and islands, but met with so little success that the attempt has been abandoned. Gill-nets, which came next, are but little used for cod. Cod seem ordinarily too lazy in disposition even to put their heads hard enough into a mesh to be caught. This is, of course, very unlike the more agile salmon and trout. The large-mesh cod net, however, anchored on the bottom, still has its advocates, and at times many cod become entangled in the leaders of the trap-nets. The advent of the large seine-nets marked a very material advance in the rapidity with which the fish could be taken, and it is still at certain times and places the most success- ful method known. The net itself is an expensive affair. It is on an average eighty feet deep and over seven hundred feet in length. It has corks on the top to keep its upper end on the surface and leads on the bottom to keep the THE COD AND COD-FISHERY 305 foot down. It needs a great deal of rope to work it, and, as a rule, a large crew of men. On an average, such a net contains five hundred pounds of twine, and costs, ready to go into the water, about $500. The crew of the long, specially constructed boat numbers seven men, one of whom is the " seine master"; he directs the oarsmen, himself standing up forward on the lookout for shoals of fish. This net can be used only in more or less shallow water, where tides are slack and where the bottom is smooth and perfectly sandy. The purse-seine, a variety which can be pulled together into a bag below, and so fished far from land in deep water, is not used on our coast. To enable the master to see fish in ten fathoms of water, he uses a " fish glass, " a metal funnel with a plain glass bottom, which he pushes down below the ruffled surface of the sea. An advantage of the purse-seine net is that the fisherman pursues the fish with it, instead of waiting for them to come to him. It satisfies also the mind restless to be hunting and working, rather than, like the lazy spider, merely sitting down and taking the chance of the prey coming voluntarily along. The latest contrivance, however, and the one now gener- ally used, is called a cod trap. It is practically nothing but a large room with walls and floor of twine, and the sur- face of the sea for a roof. It has a door on the landward, into the middle of which passes an upright net partition, called a leader. The leader is made to the land or rocks along which the fish are wont to swim and feed in their great shoals. When the room or trap is seen by the crew in the boat overhead to contain fish, the doors are pulled up, and then the floor is passed over the boat till all the fish 306 LABRADOR can be baled out with large dippers. In this way as many as one hundred quintals of fish have on many occasions been caught at one haul, so that a whole year's wages can be easily earned if there is one fortnight's good trapping in the year. Nevertheless, as fish do not go to every point every year, some fishermen who rely entirely on their traps will sometimes make an absolute blank of it. The trap is, moreover, exceedingly expensive, with its strong ropes, heavy anchors, and immense weight of twine. A good one costs between $300 and $400, containing three hundred and fifty to five hundred pounds of twine. It is about three hun- dred and fifty feet in circumference, eighty feet deep, and may need a leader from fifty to sixty fathoms long. In shallow waters, as in the Straits of Belle Isle, the trap may be only thirty feet deep. Being very heavy and unwieldy, it is often an impossible task to take it up in time to avoid bad weather, or quickly enough to save it from driving ice. The result is that in the sudden storms to which the coast is liable, great losses occur. Honest men are suddenly thrown into hopeless debt, as they have had to raise the net on credit, and perhaps their sole method of getting a voyage is lost in a moment. The old two-handed jacks, or bully boats, which, in the autumn months, used to venture far off from the land with hand-lines, now lie rotting on the rocks at all the harbours on the coast. The fishery is developing into a great gamble. A man casts all he has and all he can borrow on a single issue. At times it renders him a magnificent and rapid return. If the fish come to his trap he obtains a sudden wealth, whereas if the fish do not come he goes home a broken man. THE COD AND COD-FISHERY 307 In many cases the merchants and traders own traps, and the crew operating the trap take, as their share, one-half or three-quarters of the first caught. Some traders give even four-fifths of the catch to the planter who works the trap for them. But the latter is expected to turn in all the fish he catches to the man who supplies the net, and to purchase all his stores from him also. That is, he will be really paid in kind, and a balance due him will be carried over on the books more often than paid in cash. This, however, has changed for the better in late years, and the payment of cash balances is becoming more common year by year. When the fish is actually landed on the stages, it is still far from becoming cash, and it runs all sorts of risks and dangers before it gets to market. Originally all Labrador fish went to St. John's for exportation ; to-day much of it is exported direct. We have as yet no cold-storage traffic. The fish is cured systematically. A table with notches in suitable places is fixed in a covered stage running out over the sea. To this a removable front with supports is added each spring after the ice goes, and taken in during the autumn. A shoot on the right hand of the splitter through this temporary part of the stage carries the offal, consisting of the head and entrails, into the water below. The boat ties to the front of the stage, and the fish are picked up with "pews" and thrown upon the pounds built up on the top. One person, usually a woman or child, picks up the fish and puts them on the table to the right of the "header" and the "throater," who stands on the side of the table near the sea. The throat is cut with one hand, while the other hand passes the carcass to the header, who tears off LABRADOR the head, scoops out the entrails, and rapidly passes on the body to the splitter. The splitter sits or leans standing on the opposite side, and keeps the stream of fish running on in the same way, the good portion falling into a large tub of water, the bones falling out through the shoot. Meanwhile, a washer stirs the tub and removes the washed bodies. These he wheels off and piles up in rows, the salter following along with a barrow of salt. With a wooden shovel the salter shakes over the rows the amount of salt appropriate to the market for which the fish is destined. To save salt, men sometimes throw the fish bodies into tubs of pickle, making the pickle strong enough for a raw potato to float in it. It takes about one pound of salt to salt a pound and a half of cod. Washing out again takes one minute per fish. Salt wastes in bulk when stored, and there is a constant anxiety lest too much salt should be stored, or, far worse, there should not be enough salt to meet a sudden big catch of fish. This has often been the case, and I have seen many a quintal spoil and nets full of fish not being hauled because no salt was obtainable. To dry, fish needs sun and a proper set of the wind. The actual work of catching is not over till late in the year, and at that time the right combination of a westerly wind and a bright, not too hot sun does not come very often. The least rain, fog, or frost makes both drying and shipping impossible. While awaiting a clear day, the fish may be quickly stacked under shelter, or at least turned face down in small " yaffles," or bundles. The fish's own thick skin is a fair waterproof cover. Birch rinds, and even canvas bags, are used by some of the more enterprising men. Fish that gets wet once or twice never dries really white, especially THE COD AND COD-FISHERY 309 around the edges. Hot sun also spoils fish very quickly; sunburnt fish turns black and slimy. This, however, is not so likely to happen in the bracing climate which, in that respect at least, is adapted to the fisherman's needs. The most interesting and skilled part of the curing process is the splitting of the fish, the removal of the backbone. Women may cut off the head and take out the entrails. They also wash out and even salt the bulks, but a really smart split- ter is always the best man on a " room " or a vessel. Good men have been said each to split a hundred quintal between morning and evening; that is, have cut out the spine, from head to tail, of ten thousand cod in one day. Moreover, the bone must be all neatly removed, and the flesh must not be injured. I have timed a good splitter who finished fourteen fish in a minute, whereas I myself took nearly a minute to a fish, and then did it poorly. The method of paying fishermen in Labrador has been, as in Newfoundland, almost entirely a barter system. The merchant fits out all " planters," who really carry on the fishery. In return, he expects all the fish caught. He then gives him a " winter's diet" out of the proceeds, if they are large enough; if not, the planters expect the diet on credit. They do not expect to turn in money earned in other ways towards this debt, and the law pro- hibits money earned at the seal-fishery being stopped for cod-fishery debts. In the spring a new outfit on credit is called for, and thus large debts pile up, which the mer- chants know they can never expect to collect in full, and which the planter soon begins to consider he does not really owe. They have been called red-letter debts. An example may be given. In 1896 one firm of mer- 310 LABRADOR chants trading in Labrador assigned. Their creditors found on their books as " assets" the debts of four hundred and eleven souls, including women and children, people who are among the very poorest; these people owed the firm over $64,000. The value of these " assets" was returned as "nil." Thus the system was wofully bad for both parties. The fisherman, generally illiterate, was at the absolute mercy of the merchant, and lived and died a slave and in debt. The merchant was often ruined by bad debts. For not only did some fisherman, imitating Ananias, only turn in part of the catch and represent it as the whole, but often he became hopeless and apathetic, and lost all stimu- lus to do his best. Again, some men would temporarily give to friends who had good credit the bulk of their catch, in order to prevent its being absorbed in payment of their own debt. The fish thus held back might be bartered or sold to outside traders for goods such as tinned milk, sugar, and such " luxuries" which they could not hope to obtain on credit from their own merchant. To prevent such frauds, a kind of espionage had to be exerted, and the catches of a suspected planter were watched as the season progressed. Convicted planters were turned off from their merchants and no one would take them on. Thus resulted in the end the worst cases of poverty, — cases, to my mind, not caused by the bad fishery, but by the bad system. Of late years, things have been improving, and a more general cash basis has come into vogue, though still there is room for improvement. The planter himself must have men to help him, and these THE COD AND COD-FISHERY 311 he can either ship for wages, or engage on shares paid out of the " voyage." The pay of the shipped man has risen to $100, and even to $130, with food for the season. For that sum he must do everything the master tells him that will benefit the voyage, and may be called on to work all hours of the night and day from the first of May to the first of November. It increases the " gamble" considerably to have all shipped men. If you "miss the fish" and earn nothing, you are still liable for all wages, but if you strike the fish, you will make very large profits. For a man is well worth $300 in a good year. Little as their wage seems, most of the men prefer employment under this system. They at least will have flour and molasses for their families, whatever happens, these wages, less advances for oil- skins, boots, etc., being always paid in cash. The shareman in this country usually agrees for "half his hand." That is, the catch is divided by the number of men, including the owner or planter, and each shareman gets half a share. He has no expenses except clothing. Often the planter cannot, however, obtain men on these terms, and is obliged to take a full-share man. These men feed and clothe themselves and provide their own salt, but take a full share of fish. The more men a planter engages, the more fish he can handle and expect to catch, but the more numerous are the shares into which the catch must be divided. On an average, the shareman gets every eighth fish out of the trap for himself. It has often puzzled me how the hired man with $100, less expenses, could live, much less feed his family ; at best he can scarcely do more than merely exist. The following statements taken at random will illustrate 312 LABRADOR how pitiful is the living of a hook-and-line man in a poor year. Both men, A. B. and C. D., are well known to me as capable and industrious. One cannot wonder that they may be in perpetual debt to the merchant. A. B. is a " handy man"; his wife is dead and he has eight children, most of whom are young.. His financial year may be described in informal bookkeeping thus: — INCOME EXPENSES Caught on hook and line, 30 qtl. of fish at $3.20 $96.00 Nails, oakum, paint, rope, etc $400 Salmon, none; easterly seas destroyed nets Oil from codfish, balanced against salt for fish Winter work, logging for mill ....... 44.00 Hooks and line . . . 16 bbls. flour (cheapest possible) .... 5 bags hard bread . . 50 gal. molasses . . . 12 Ib. cheapest tea 2.50 80.00 19.00 22.50 4.80 $140.00 Balance against A. B. 10.80 10 Ib. oleomargarine . 1 bbl. salt pork . . 2.00 16.00 $150.80 $150.80 A. B. had no potatoes for seed, no cabbage seed; no money for powder, shot, caps, crockery, kerosene, matches, boots, oilskins, clothing, house repairs, tools, bedclothes, etc. ; no luxuries, no doctor's fees, no church expenses. C. D. has a wife, two small sons, and three small daughters, owns no nets, shared this year in two salmon-nets with an- other man. His account for the year stands: — THE COD AND COD-FISHERY 313 INCOME EXPENSES Caught on hook and line 12 qtl. of cod ... $38.40 Value of oil from same at 30^ per gal 6.00 Share of salmon, 1£ qtl. . 7.50 Work on roads .... 3.00 Herring, one bbl. . . . 2.00 Work on lumber and at Boat, $5 ; salt, $6 ; lines and hooks, $2.50 . . $13.50 Fishing boots, $4; oil- skin, $3.50 .... 7.50 Flour, 13 bbl. at $5; molasses 45 gal . at 45^ 85.25 Hard bread, $11. 40; tea, $4.00 15 40 mill 55 00 Oleomargarine $1 * ker- Potatoes sold .... 14.00 osene, $2 3.00 $125.90 Balance against C. D. . .75 Kettle, $1 ; matches, thread, needles, and soap 2.00 $126.65 $126.65 It will be observed that C. D. has not nearly enough fats in his food-supply to sustain him properly even in a warm climate. Like A. B. he lacks most of the civilized neces- saries and luxuries of every description. The most important change that has of late years come over our fisheries has been the one most needed of all; that is, the chance of obtaining remunerative work during the long winter, when the fishery is out of the question. Now- adays, a man who fails need not see semi-starvation and scurvy, and even death, overtake his family before he can again find a source of supplies. Such results of starva- tion I have seen more than once. Pulp and lumber mills, mines, and other industries may now afford work for most of those who return south from Labrador before they " freeze in" for the winter. A somewhat similar improve- 314 LABRADOR merit has followed in Labrador itself, though trapping fur- bearing animals is there naturally the second string to the settler's bow. Few fishermen grow rich. Some, however, are able to put by considerable sums, and there are as happy and com- fortably provided families among our fisherfolk as can be found among any artisan class in the world. The very nature of the calling begets a healthy body, a simple nature, and an easily contented mind. Unaccustomed to luxuries, the lack of material wealth causes no vain regrets. Inured as they are to privations, the smallest acquisition gives pleasure. They may not aspire to have servants under them ; they are their own masters at least throughout their working days. They have an interest in and love for their occupation, the like of which one can scarcely credit to a factory hand, who is always making a piece of a complicated whole, and never finishing a job, or can credit to a clerk on a high stool everlastingly add- ing up figures. The men love their calling, and with sound reason. For sheer love of it, I know several, who, after trying Canada or the United States, have returned eventually to their old occupation as being "a far better job." In what other calling are poor, working, unedu- cated men so able to enjoy the luxury of independence, the prize which riches might seem able to purchase for the wealthy only, and yet to which many rich men never in any way attain ! When the French Revolution began, the fishers of cod on the Newfoundland-Labrador shores were already estab- lished in their more prosaic industry. In 1812 the catch of fish on the Labrador and French shore combined is THE COD AND COD-FISHEKY 315 said to have been 29,500 hundredweight. The catch in some of the later years may be given: — In 1814 44,650 hundredweight 1821 49,652 hundredweight 1823 40,399 hundredweight 1824 . ' . . . . 42,240 hundredweight In 1845 two hundred vessels from Newfoundland, mostly from Conception Bay, went to Labrador ; they are reported to have employed five thousand men. In 1851 it was estimated that seven hundred vessels went to the Labra- dor from Newfoundland, carrying from ten to fifteen thou- sand men; their catch was computed to be between one hundred and sixty thousand and one hundred and eighty thousand hundredweight. Harvey states that in 1880 from one thousand to twelve hundred schooners carrying over thirty thousand people went to Labrador; of these about one hundred vessels were from Canada. Prior to 1860 no accurate account was kept as to the annual takings in Labrador. The trade report issued by His Excellency, Sir William MacGregor, in 1906, states that for the thirty years preceding the average annual export of dry codfish from the whole colony of Newfoundland has been 1,246,664 quintals (hundredweight) at an average value of $4,830,079. The report shows the average annual export direct from Labrador in various periods to have totalled as follows: — 1860-64 .... 192,051 hundredweight 1865-66 .... 197,885 hundredweight 1873-77 .... 300,854 hundredweight 1878-82 .... 371,681 hundredweight 1885-89 .... 216,434 hundredweight 316 LABRADOR 1890-94 .... 257,314 hundredweight 1895-99 .... 220,150 hundredweight 1900-04 .... 219,948 hundredweight 1905-06 .... 296,553 hundredweight Besides the fish exported directly each year, an average of three hundred and fifty thousand quintals is carried from Labrador to Newfoundland and exported thence. This gives a mean annual output from Labrador of about six hundred thousand quintals. In 1906 and 1907 the figures are: — EXPORTED DIRECT VALUE SENT TO NEWFOUNDLAND VALUE 1906, 250,857 quintals 1907, 289,493 quintals $1,030,492 1,013,227 545,000 quintals 345,000 quintals $2,180,000 1,380,000 GRAND TOTAL VALUE 1906 795 857 quintals $3 210 499 1907 634 493 quintals 2 393 227 In 1905, 342,219 quintals, valued at $1,237,329, were exported direct from the Labrador. In 1907 the entire export of dried codfish from Newfoundland and Labrador amounted to 1,422,445 quintals, valued at $7,873,172. The total product of the fisheries for the colony in that year was valued at $10,058,052. The average price during these years has varied very considerably, but on the whole has tended to improve, THE COD AND COD-FISHERY 317 and has reached as high for Labrador fish as $4 and even $4.20 per quintal, that for shore or Newfoundland fish having reached an average of $5.30. This difference in price needs explanation. It arises from the fact that cer- tain markets prefer the fish drier and harder salted than do other markets. In Labrador the fine days for drying fish are rare after the fishery is over; it is, therefore, better to ship the fish damper, or, as people say, "with only a day's sun," rather than wait perhaps weeks to be able to dry the fish hard. There is, however, one other alternative, and that is to take the fish south "green" or unwashed in salt, and finish the cure in Newfoundland. If a man has few fish and plenty of help, he can thus employ himself at a remunerative wage to raise the value of his Labrador catch to that of shore fish. But if he has much fish and work to do on his little farm at home, or perhaps other better "paying work," then he will ship direct from Labra- dor. It must be remembered that drying the fish entails loss of weight, and after all it may pay better to sell ten quintals at $3.50 a quintal than dry the same fish to eight quintals and sell at $4 or even $5 a quintal. More- over, some of the schooners have so many "freighters" and their gear to carry to and fro that they are unable to take their fish to Newfoundland whether they would wish it or not, while the merchants who have ordered steamers or schooners to go to Labrador for loads are so anxious for the fish to reach the markets early, that they will give at times considerable bonuses over the price arranged by the Chamber of Commerce. Last year men who refused $3.60 spot cash in Labrador realized only $3 to $3.20 in St. John's. 318 LABRADOR The rapid loading, and the accepting of all the fish "Tal qual," i.e. just as it comes along, greatly encourages bad fish-making, and as the loading often goes on by flares after night, sometimes unsound fish will be slipped in, and a whole cargo injured or even spoiled. Moreover, the fish does not receive so severe a culling on the Labrador as it does in Newfoundland, and, indeed, is generally taken with- out culling. The merchants run very considerable risk in exporting fish. The hiring of their vessels, small as most of them are, is an expensive business, and the small margin left for profits when there has been a keen competition in prices to "finish a vessel/7 has left many an enterprising man sorry he ever " touched it." The vessels used are mostly square-rigged schooners, and old-fashioned small brigs and brigantines. Indeed, the industry is serving the useful purpose of helping to perpetuate this very interesting class of vessels, which everywhere else is becoming extinct. These vessels represent a distinct bond with the mother country, for they are mostly Welsh, with some from Devon- shire. They are handled by the type of sailor of long ago, men whom one would expect to step off Amyas Lee's vessel on its return from the Indies. These men are possessed of the material which made their prototypes so desirable an asset to their country. They are sailors to the soles of their boots, and amongst them are many of the most simple, God-fearing, contented men I have ever seen. The masters are generally part owners, and often mess with their crews as with a party of friends. Many a helpful hand do they lend our fishermen, for the vessels are bound to be out here by a certain date. Being slow and uncertain, the vessels often arrive two months early, and even have to wait three THE COD AND COD-FISHERY 319 months for their complement of fish. During all that time their crews are the good geniuses of the little havens in which they are anchored, and the ''skipper" and his medi- cine-chest are in continual demand. The itinerary of these visitors is somewhat as follows: September, leave Labrador for the Mediterranean ; thence in December to their homes ; then cargo of slate or ore pos- sibly to Hamburg; in March, to Cadiz for salt; then to Labrador by June, and so on back again. Once home in the year, if all goes well. They make a modest living, and are able to retire before old age incapacitates them. Some are lost in the " roaring forties/' the latitudes in which they mostly ply their calling, and many are the stories of heroism and suffering on these vessels that the sea could unfold. On one occasion a skipper, deserted by his crew at Bonne Esperance, sailed his square-rigged schooner across the Atlantic alone to Gibraltar with a cargo of fish. Sometimes they will carry fish to the West Indies or Brazil, and then possibly return with molasses to St. John's before taking a final cargo to the Mediterranean. I have seen a vessel leave in late October with ice on her sides, and every one muffled up. In three days she will run into the warm atmosphere of the Gulf current, the men will be in their shirt-sleeves, and a few days later they will be eating fresh fruit in Spain. A very favourite holiday among these men is to get a lift across as far as Genoa, and perhaps work a passage out from Gibraltar, or come out again by way of England. Naturally there is considerable rivalry in making quick passages. The westward passages are always longest, the prevailing winds in the North Atlantic being from 320 LABRADOR southwest to northwest. But the following examples show what can be done under favourable circumstances : — The square-rigged schooner William ran from Labrador to Patras, Greece, in twenty-three days. The square- rigged schooner Red Rose took only seventeen days to reach Genoa from Labrador. The fore-and-aft vessels can make fast round-trip passages. Captain McCrea's fore- and-aft schooner Clara left Harbour Grace, reached Gi- braltar in sixteen days; lay there thirteen days; went to Patras, Greece ; lay there fourteen days ; returned to Cadiz, loaded with salt, and was back in Harbour Grace in ninety- eight days. In my own fore-and-after, the Albert, I left St. John's and was anchored in Great Yarmouth, England, in twelve and a half days. No doubt quicker passages have been made than any of these. Of late years, Norwegian and Danish vessels, being "cheaper," have partly taken the trade from British mer- chants, but there are still firms patriotic enough to pay more in order to secure British bottoms. Italy is the best market for Labrador fish to-day, though up to 1904 Spain took most from us. Spain and Greece take quite a large quantity still. Of late years the United Kingdom has not taken so much, the ports to which we export being Liverpool, Exeter, and Bristol. The Portu- guese and Brazilians, who are the largest consumers of dry cod, like it very hard, and nearly all their fish goes from Newfoundland. The fish culled out as not suitable for other markets is shipped to the West Indies at a lower price. The culling of the fish is a most important measure, and though as a rule the men will avoid a "cull" if possible, it THE COD AND COD-FISHERY 321 is really distinctly to their own interest. In self-defence, every buyer of fish should agree to insist on it. For the fish really varies immensely in value according to the qual- ity, and that depends far more on the making or curing than on the fish, except that big fish are, as a rule, more salable than small ones. Remove the cull and sell the fish "Tal qual," and at once all incentive to spend time on clean- liness disappears. It is almost like putting a premium on laziness and carelessness. As the Newfoundland and Lab- rador fish must compete in Europe with Norwegian and even French fish, the whole colony suffers with the loss of the good name of its marketed fish. It is an all-important issue to almost every one in the colony, as all are more or less dependent on King Cod. The printed forms on which receipts for fish are given by a large firm to its dealers or fishermen, show clearly how common it is to accept all Labrador fish as of the same value : — Received from Qtl. Ib. Large Merchantable fish Medium Small Madeira West Indies Tal qual Inferior Damp Dun Slimy Labrador and also casks of gallons of oil. 322 LABRADOR To cure and dry a single quintal of fish uses salt and time, and costs money, but it often pays to cure the catch when it is not too large, for the price per quintal then rises so much that the net profit is actually greater. Five and one- quarter barrels of Cadiz salt or six and one-half barrels of Liverpool salt (29.7 gallons to barrel) will cure 2205 pounds of cod, — that is, 1435-1462 pounds of salt to 2205 pounds of dry cured fish. Salt comes to from twenty-five to thirty cents per quintal of dried fish. The markets are subject to very rapid fluctuations. A cargo scheduled for a certain port may arrive just too late, find the port glutted with other arrivals, and have to proceed farther, which means fresh port dues and expenses. There is thus a veritable race both in loading and in making the transatlantic journey. This has led to the employment of steamers to carry the fish; then the merchant finds the new difficulty that steamers large enough to pay ex- penses are likely to flood any local market to which they are consigned. Again, the consignee has at times thrown the cargo back on the merchant's hands, the condition of the fish not equal- ling that which he desires and to which he feels entitled. Sometimes the whole cargo will be actually returned to Newfoundland. This, however, is so ruinous to the mer- chant that he generally arranges for an arbitration to be held, and lower prices may be agreed upon. The result is some incentive to protest against accepting the agreed price. In addition, there is always the element of risk, unavoidable by the merchant, that the quality of the fish may have deteriorated on the passage. Very large losses have been made in this way by individuals, who are in turn THE COD AND COD-FISHERY 323 compelled to bring losses on the fish-catchers when it is imperative for the merchant to compound with his creditors. The element of chance, that a bad voyage may, after all, turn out a good one, adds another attraction to fishing, however monotonous it may appear. The love of a gamble is innate in man. Of late years there has been a consider- ably larger quantity of fish exported by smaller men, but the tendency is to confine the actual export process to the larger firms. Naturally the Norwegian catch influences the total supply very materially, and a failure there means better prices here. The French can scarcely afford to export fish, for they are paid such high bounties for taking it to France. Happily for the fish-catcher, the markets for salt fish are not only opening up wonderfully, but the price obtain- able has also been steadily increasing, and has risen from 2.22 cents per pound to 4.74 cents in the last six years. This, more than anything else, explains the general pros- perity of our people. For the rise in the market price is out of all proportion to any increase in the amount of fish taken. There is good reason to suppose that this rise in price will be maintained as long as the article exported is properly cured. The wealth and numbers of the peoples requiring this produce are steadily increasing, and other proteid foods are rising in price synchronously. It seems, therefore, that in this respect our future is still in our own hands, and that there are yet halcyon days in store for our folk that "go sailing out into the deep." The import duties imposed by our customers vary greatly. France prohibits foreign cod altogether, with a tariff of $4.68 per quintal, besides giving bounties to her own 324 LABRADOR men. Spain charges $2.34 per quintal, Italy 40 cents only, Greece 38 cents, Portugal 12.14, Brazil $1.39, United States 84 cents; Persia, of all countries, free import, and the United Kingdom, free as usual ! France pays 50 francs to each member of a crew drying fish away from France; 30 francs to each member of a crew drying the fish in France ; approximately 10 francs on every quintal of salt fish shipped to transatlantic countries; 16 francs per quintal on ship- ments to cisatlantic countries; a bounty of 20 francs on cod roe brought back to France. So that besides the prohibitive duty on the fish of other countries, grants to foster French fisheries amount to approximately one and one-quarter million dollars per annum. That means that, if our fishermen were accorded similar privileges, they could almost afford to catch fish, get the bounty, and give the fish away. These important duties and bounties show that some countries do not value the codfish much, or they would welcome it in freely as a cheap food-stuff. Yet they strive all they can to make their own men go and catch it. Great are the mysteries of statesmanship ! Now the value to the human race, or any section of it, of a particular calling or industry or commodity cannot be measured altogether by the dollars each brings the govern- ment or the number of people it employs, though we are apt to apply these standards. If we did so, the liquor traffic would be classed among the most valuable to the race. Yet while the fishery is productive and constructive, the liquor trade is destructive, both of human capacity and of material. Probably of all industries the one of first importance to the British race is that which involves THE COD AND COD-FISHERY 325 the following of the sea. For in the art of man-making no environment can surpass it; and sea-power means world- power. Few landsmen have ever given a thought to the influence exerted on mankind by the humble codfish. Nations have jealously watched these dreary wastes of icy, fog-bound waters, and spent human lives by the thousands in the years that are gone in the endeavour to turn the food and money that these finny hosts spell into their own treasuries, and to gain also the environment involved and its evolu- tionary advantages. As early as 1368 kings were granting rights to fish for cod in the North Sea. Henry the Fifth paid compensation to the king of Denmark for damage done by the English cod-fishermen to his. The Cabots' dis- covery of this north land opened up a great source of human food-supply which has been, and will be, of greater value than the diamonds of Golconda or the gold mines of the Rand. It was landlubbers ignorant of the value of these northern seas that made Canada in 1813 lightly give back to Newfoundland the coast from Blanc Sablon to Cape Chidley ; made England lightly give back to France the islands of Mi- quelon and St. Pierre, and the rights of fishing on the Treaty coast ; and permitted the American fishermen the privileges of the treaty of 1818. Our debt to this small denizen of the deep is far greater than those consider it who only view the fishery from a gastronomical or economical standpoint. Strange as it may seem, the codfish has been an invaluable factor in preserving and evolving that genius of the British race, which in God's providence at the time of the Invincible Armada alone allowed us to persist still free among the great powers. That genius, which four hundred years ago pre- 326 LABRADOR served us from national crippling or from absolute deletion from the roll of great nations, is in danger of being lost by the general increase of wealth and luxury. I shall here only suggest the debt that the Catholics of Europe owe the codfish. The vast amount they consume is. the best proof of the value at which they estimate him. But I can suppose that the family circle on many a Friday night would sit around the table with blank faces if it were not for this additional virtue of our friend, viz. his gratify- ing faculty for passing muster as eligible for dinner before an ecclesiastical inquisition which has placed all our staple articles under the ban. And for this discernment the world in return owes the authorities of the Church a very real debt, inasmuch as they so directly encourage in this way a calling so invaluable to mankind. Thus it cannot be said that, in praising the codfish, we have exaggerated his virtues. Not only has he bred a healthy race; he has invigorated a weak one. His oil has enabled us to battle successfully with the subtlest en- emy of our race, the tubercle bacillus, even in the face of all the wonderful discoveries of modern science and the hoards of money lavished on other methods. A couple of years ago, when the supply of cod-liver oil was short, the crude article rose in value in a couple of months from forty cents a gallon to $4 a gallon direct from the barrel. May the men of Labrador never need the emasculating paternal legislation of our neighbours in Europe, or the bounty system of " presents for good boys that venture out to sea" ! When the world beholds the spectacle of the Eng- lish, as a race that will not venture forth on the mighty waters without being stimulated by such adventitious aid, THE COD AND COD-FISHERY 327 taxing those who have to stay home, then indeed may we pray again for our good genius in the form of a codfish. If ever that day comes, may our friend be put on the national flag, and let him rank three codfish with three lions. CHAPTER XII THE SALMON-FISHERY BY W. T. GRENFELL OF the four varieties of salmon in Labrador, — Salmo solar, Salmo trutta, Salmo immaculatus, and Salmo hudson- icus, — only the first two are of commercial importance. Salmo solar is a noble fish. In strength, beauty, and spirit he is certainly superior to any others in the Labrador waters. He is found from end to end of the coast, but less abundantly in the north, where he remains a shorter time than in the south. He arrives during the period between the latter part of June and the end of July ; and, after brows- ing about on the coast for a month or so, proceeds up the rivers to breed. It appears that for some time he runs in and out of the river mouth, as if to accustom himself to the change to fresh water. The salmon is really a river dweller, a luxurious fellow with a winter home in the sea, but in most countries two- thirds of his life is spent in the rivers. So strong a homing instinct does he possess, that he can hardly be kept back from returning to his own particular river, the place of his birth and the abode of his first year. This has been shown by marking live salmon taken at the head of a river, carrying them around to another river, the source of which was quite close to their own, but whose mouth was the opposite side of a great stretch of land. Three weeks later some of the marked fish were caught in their own pool again. In 328 THE SALMON-FISHERY 329 Alaska a barrier of sand and gravel was once formed across the mouth of a river by a phenomenal storm. The river was, however, able to percolate through. When the salmon returned to their river, so determined were they to get up, they threw themselves out of the water on to the pebbly beach, and some at least succeeded in wriggling and jump- ing till they reached the other side. The natives profited by the experience, though the devotion of the salmon deserved a better fate. Only three things will apparently keep salmon from their own home, — pollution of the river, insuperable natural barriers, and man's persecutions. All these three are one, and that one is Death. If the summer is early and the water warm, well and good; they return to their river early. If it is late, they are content to " bide." If it becomes too cold after they arrive, they will return to the sea and go up again later. In these adventurous journeys the larger fish are the leaders. Obstacles are only things to be overcome. They will leap ten feet out of the water up a cataract. With successive leaps they will climb a fall of thirty feet. They will go on jumping till they are dashed to pieces and, bruised and dying, are borne down on the bosom of the river they loved, back to a tomb in the great deep out of which they came. The zeal of Kim and his old Lama in search of the river of the arrow was no greater than that of this kingly-spirited fish. The fact that he can no longer people our rivers is no fault of his.1 This very persistence of the salmon is his own undoing. 1 A most interesting fact noticed about salmon by Mr. W. G. Gosling is the existence in certain rivers below the falls of pot-holes scooped out by the water in the solid rock. While watching salmon leap up 330 LABRADOR I have lain on a high perpendicular rock, watching the gill- net stretched across the pool of clear, transparent water. I have seen the approach of the victim and his friends on the journey, the courage with which he charged the net. If only he would give way, he might yet go free. But he knows no yielding, and is not satisfied till the tough twine has passed over his head, caught behind his gills, and then it is too late to save himself . But we will follow the more successful fish that reach the home of a former year. Once in their pool, the mother fish finds a suitable sandy or fine gravelly spot in shallow water, where the ground is soft and deep, and the current not too boisterous. Often enough it is the nest of a sea-trout before her, but of that she takes little account. Throwing herself on her side, she scoops out a "redd," or nest, by flapping her tail, and in this she deposits a number of eggs. She then returns into deeper water, coming to and fro to her nest to lay more eggs for several days, till she has laid as many as five hundred for every pound she weighs. Each time, her male partner accompanies her, depositing the milt required to fertilize the eggs. Since they entered the river, they have avoided one source of danger by taking no food, and they subsist on the fat accumulated on the rich pastures outside the river. Indeed, the beautiful pink of their flesh depends on the crustaceans they have there devoured. the falls, he noticed first one and then another, that failed to clear the fall, totally disappear. A careful search revealed the fish head down and only their tails out of deep little pot-holes. He caught the fish for food, but was surprised to find the hole full at the bottom of bones of salmon that had no doubt perished miserably in the same way. It shows that salmon at times come head first down into the water when diving, like an expert human being. THE SALMON-FISHERY 331 One result of their abstinence is a peculiar pinched and hungry look on the male fish's face. His jaws grow hard and hooked, and he is thus able to fight the many battles that lie before him, with far better chance of damaging his enemy. The " spent" salmon are called "kelts." They are so weakened that they fall an easy prey to any strong enemy they may meet. Like eels, many, if not most, salmon die after spawning. With scanty gratitude men have advised giving the poor salmon no protection at that time on the theory that the spent adults will, in order to recover, if they ever do recover, destroy in the process more young fish than they are worth. On the other hand, as the kelts are not worth eating at that time, and are thought by some observers to be poisonous, it is poor policy to capture them. A fisherman who had taken a number was once asked by a " protective" enthusiast, if it was not true they were not good to eat in that state. The fisherman replied " That's true," but with a wink added, " Them's not bad kippered." The eggs of the salmon are remarkable. They are round and about one-quarter inch in diameter, of a pink colour, elastic, so that they bounce like a ball off a board. They will hatch out in a month, but if it is too cold, and cir- cumstances are not right, like a caterpillar in a chrysalis, they just wait till the conditions are more to their liking. They can be carried in ice for thousands of miles ; stored in this way, they have been carried and successfully propa- gated in India, Australia, and New Zealand. The adult fish also can stand great ranges of temperature ; he may be caught as far south as lat. 37° north and as far north as lat. 70° north. The salmon so fill some rivers 332 LABRADOR that when the waters subside with the advance of summer, the odour of rotting fish on the banks and in the branches of trees is said to be positively poisonous. On Kadiak Island in the North Pacific they are so abundant in certain rivers that the fish " interfere with the progress of canoes." The variety found in Cook's Inlet averages four feet in length, and weighs fifty pounds. The natives here kill in their primitive way some twenty-five thousand fish per year, which provides for each person the moderate allowance of four hundred and thirty pounds, or about four pounds a day the year round. Once hatched out, the little salmon, or parr, is handi- capped for three weeks by the large umbilical sac on which he subsists. He is fain, therefore, to hide away closely among the stones, for many creatures are fond of him. Insect larvae, beetles, crustaceans, large fish, rats, and even diving birds, are all anxious to take him in. If he survives, he remains in the river for one or two full years. During this time he has grown to a sizable fish of a couple of pounds' weight, but his full glory does not appear until, in his third spring, he assumes his glittering silver armour. He is then known as a "smolt," and attains the dignity of venturing into the unknown immensity of the ocean, with his fellows of his own age, as they go forth in the wake of the great salmon. In the river the samlet, or parr, is not troubled with the scruple of his parents, and feeds voraciously. But it is not until he reaches the great sea that he begins to grow at all rapidly. It has been said that he will grow from a few ounces to as many pounds in three months. He may return to winter a second time in the pools and lakes, a full- THE SALMON-FISHERY 333 grown grilse. This pleasure is, however, generally deferred till the fourth spring, when the fish arrives in all the pride of silver and with all the well-known energy of a three- to six-pound grilse. Those who have felt the rush and jump of these exquisite creatures on the end of a light line in rapid water know the marvel of their agility. The males are at this time mature, but, as a rule, do not spawn. They seem simply to have a good time in the upper reaches and, not until the fifth year, when they have grown to the weight of ten pounds at least, do they feel called upon to assume the duties of the head of a family. The grilse, from their agility or smaller size, are fairly successful in escaping the cod-trap leaders. They even pass through the salmon-nets in the rivers, and the rod- and-line fishing for these is still excellent in many Labrador rivers. Eagle River still' gives good sport for salmon, and an enterprising Hudson's Bay factor is trying to arrange a summer hotel for visitors near the large pools. Sandhill Bay River also gives good fishing. The late General Dash- wood came two years in succession from England to fish in this river. Many of the other rivers would doubtless afford sufficient attraction if only they were given a fair trial. But as yet little is known about them. A party in a steam-yacht, visiting Byron Bay in 1907, claim to have had good sport there, but we had no accurate details of their actual catch. Landlocked salmon are very common in the lakes and upper reaches of the Hamilton Inlet. One feature that tells most in favour of the rivers on the Labrador coast belonging to Newfoundland, is that no rivers are reserved for clubs or private owners, and visitors may visit or fish any or all at 334 LABRADOR their own will. No fishing tackle can be obtained on the coast. Silver Doctors, Jock Scotts, Soldier Palmers, Dur- ham Rangers, and Fairies are all good flies on the Labrador rivers. Why salmon leap at a fly at all, is much debated. The need for food does not alone seem to explain the habit, which has persisted from the smolt days of their youth. A much greater puzzle is, Why are salmon timid to-day, voracious to-morrow? Why will every salmon refuse to look at a fly at nine o'clock, but at nine fifteen o'clock every salmon in the pool will leap at any fly one likes to try ? The salmon that return to the rivers in the winter lose their bright colour. The males become dark in the back, and have a dark red colour developed on the sides and belly. The females are a dark, dusty gray, somewhat resembling coalfish. Their flesh becomes white, and they are useless for eating. Early in the fifteenth century, it was a capital offence to kill salmon out of season. The Labrador salmon are said to be the best in the world for eating. The cold waters seem to produce a specially vigorous, well-fleshed fish. The salmon-fishery in Labra- dor preceded the cod-fishery by many years. The former was much the more valuable then. With salmon catch and fur trade the resident white population grew up and flourished ; with the destruction of the salmon those people have fallen into poverty, and even into starvation. In the history of the Labrador settlers we may read the pitiable story of the blotting out of these valuable fish. The increasing quantity of twine used on the outside for codfish offers no prospect that the salmon will assume their former abundance. THE SALMON-FISHERY 335 As long ago as 1774, at any rate, the Alexis River, and soon after the Eagle and other grand rivers of Sandwich Bay, were completely net-barred. Of late years the " bay- men, " or livyeres, have been slowly obliged, owing to the increasing scarcity of the salmon and to the declining price of salt salmon in the market, to abandon this fishery and try for cod. The transition stage is a time of great misery for the poor settlers. Their nets, small boats, outfit, and habits are all calculated for the peaceful fishery in the bays; for the rougher fishery outside they have neither gear, education, or inclination. Many try to do both. But the cod arrive on the coast before the salmon take to the rivers, and these men are very apt to make a blank year, entailing great pri- vations on their own and other families. Whether man can decrease the number of cod or herring in the deep sea is uncertain, but that by netting rivers you can empty them of salmon, is a well-ascertained fact. The former great abundance of this fish on the Labrador is well emphasized in the following few extracts from the journals of the inimitable Major Cartwright in 1775-1785. In July, 1775, he writes of the Eagle River: "We have 140 tierce (casks) ashore, but have had to take up two nets, as fish get in too fast." "The big pool is so full of salmon, you could not fire a ball into it without injuring some." Even the animals seemed to know the wonders of this river, which must have been almost as well stocked as the Eraser River in British Columbia. Cartwright describes "remains of thousands of salmon killed by white bears round the pool." His famous description of some fourteen white and black bears that he saw fishing in the pool is quite 336 LABRADOR unique. In 1776, August 7 to 11, Cartwright took 1230 salmon from the pool in one week. " At Paradise we have 214 tierce ashore. Few escape there." In his " artless'7 poem he writes : — "... salmon up fresh rivers take their way, For them the stream is carefully beset; few fish escape." That is not to be wondered at, for he says, " My ten nets, each forty fathoms long, fastened end to end, stretch right across the stream." On July 17, 1779, "In Eagle River we are killing 750 salmon a day, or 35 tierce, and we would have killed more had we had more nets. Three hundred and fifty tierce ashore already at Paradise. If I had more nets, I could have killed a thousand tierce alone at this post, the fish averaging from 15 to 32 pounds apiece. At Sandhill Cove two men have 240 tierce ashore, and would have had more, but we had no more salt." From June 23 to July 20, in Eagle River, he killed 12,396 fish, or 300 tierce. In 1782 he writes : " Little or no salmon at Cartwright, only 80 tierce." In 1786 he writes : "We have 490 tierce in White Bear River, and Paradise R. and 165 tierce at Charles Hr." Naturally enough the archaic story of the clause in the apprentice's indentures, that he was "not to be forced to eat salmon more than thrice a week" is told of Labrador in these days. In 1818 Mr. Pinson was getting two hundred tierce of salmon at Cartwright. He received a bounty of three shillings per quintal for this shipment to England. In 1864 Mr. Stone's average catch at Henley was sixty THE SALMON-FISHERY 337 tierce for a season. The entire catch, as given in the Gov- ernment Blue Book for 1906, was eight hundred and twenty tierce, valued at $16,437. The catch in 1907 was seven hundred and fifteen tierce, valued at $16,057. This catch cannot, however, represent much more than half the amount caught, for nearly every trap-net used in the cod-fishery catches salmon in its leaders, and these are salted, smoked, and carried to Newfoundland. I have known three hundred salmon taken in one day in a cod- trap. The trap leaders specially used for salmon are set out from points exactly as cod-trap leaders are, and being four inches instead of six inches in mesh, stop much smaller fish. In this way a very large number of small salmon are taken every year, and in the opinion of many people, the traps do more damage to the salmon than the river nets. Rivers in Labrador are, as a rule, not now barred, but practically all that are of any value are illegally netted. It seems that a prescriptive right has grown up with some residents to fish rivers in defiance of the law, and the only one on which a fish warden is appointed is regularly netted at least three miles above its mouth. If, however, these rivers received the protection the laws of the country nomi- nally afford them, there is no reason why they should not again become as attractive to visitors and sportsmen as those of the Canadian Labrador. The regular method used to catch salmon in Labrador is to set the gill-net from the land. These nets are fastened by a mooring to a "shore fast" and run straight off to sea. The salmon seldom swim more than a few feet below the surface, so the nets are fastened to a line of corks on a 338 LABRADOR "head rope," and hang down perpendicularly. The legal mesh is not less than six inches in diagonal measure. At the outer end, the line of nets, called a "fleet," is held by heavy anchors, and then a pound is formed by turning back with another net at an angle of forty-five degrees in the direction from which the salmon are expected to strike. At times yet another net is added, so that the triangular pound is closed, leaving merely a door. The salmon do not strike a net in daytime so readily as do sea-trout. They seem, however, to get confused in the pound, and in this most are taken. The Hudson's Bay Company, who are by far the largest salmon buyers on the coast, own many nets. They also own houses, or "posts," as they are called, at all the best points of land in the long inlets, and the planters use these and turn in half their fish as rent. For the balance they get goods from the company's store. Most of the salmon catchers are fur trappers, although those who live on the outside land do little or no "furring." Indeed, many have fallen into poverty and have neither traps, safe guns, ammunition, nor even clothing and food to enable them to get out and face the Arctic cold of winter. This is now the poorest class of men in Labrador. Formerly the Hudson's Bay Company had a large salmon cannery in Eagle River. The building is still standing, but the trade has been abandoned for want of sufficient fish to maintain a scale of business large enough to enable them to compete with British Columbia and other places. The salmon industry is generally in a bad way, as»ohe price of the salted article has steadily declined, till this year instead of $6 and even $8, only $3 a hundredweight was paid. The THE SALMON-FISHERY 339 Hudson's Bay Company gave far the highest prices on the coast these last two years. Were it not for them, the fishery would be practically abandoned. Last year; 1908, a ne.w method was tried. Mr. E. Gibb of Aberdeen, Scotland, brought over a large tank steamer, in which to carry home to England live fish. He is fishing in a way new to Labrador, pursuing the fish with a floating trap-net. What will be the outcome of the venture, it is impossible to foretell. He has brought houses, men, and tackle. Three trips in a year would fully satisfy him. CHAPTER XIII THE HERRING AND OTHER FISH BY W. T. GRENFELL THE immense value of the herring to the world has been known for centuries. One thousand years ago our ances- tors in England knew its virtues. To-day it is of no less, but rather of greater, importance. With the increasing population of the earth's surface, with the ever growing need for food-supplies, we can ill afford to neglect any pre- caution that might tend to the development and main- tenance of so immensely valuable an industry as that of catching herring. In this Labrador once had its share. Alas, to-day the glory of the Labrador herring-fishery has departed, and only a few paltry barrels find their way to the markets. So important has this industry been, that Professor Hux- ley calculated that at least three billion herrings were, in an average year, killed for food of man in the North Sea and the open Atlantic. As these herring average eight ounces at a minimum, the immense weight of food, one billion five hundred million pounds, speaks for itself of its importance to the human race. For herring is a fat fish. Lying in Lerwick Harbour, among nine hundred herring boats, I have seen the oil set free in the splitting of captured her- ring cover the surface of that immense harbour so thickly that, though the vessels would be sailing in and out with a stiff breeze, not a ripple of any sort would be visible. It left 340 THE HERRING AND OTHER FISH 341 a most marked impression on the mind. One of those fat herring, taken straight from the water, then split and grilled on a gridiron over an open fire, will actually catch fire from his own fat. But in Labrador our herring have won a well-earned reputation for being facile princeps among the world's her- ring; only those from the Icelandic and Shetland waters can compare with them. The Labrador fish run to seven- teen, or even more inches in length and weigh nearly one pound apiece. Kings and queens have worshipped at the shrine of the herring. William Berkelzon of Flanders, in about 1300, discovered how to cure led herring, and generally how to preserve them better for food. After his death, Charles the Fifth erected a monument to his memory, visited his grave, and there prayed for his soul. Mary of Hungary, in a somewhat appropriate way, paid tribute to our bene- factor by sitting on his tomb and eating a red herring. In North Scotland there is an old saying, "No herrings, no weddings." The "common" herring is not taken in the Pacific or Mediterranean, but, nevertheless, has a great range, — from Cape Hatteras to Spitzbergen and the White Sea. The one failing of the herring, and the one thing that still keeps hope up that he may return to Labrador, is his incon- stancy. He seems to disappear according to some subtle law of nature which has baffled all the skill of scientists, and has eluded all the speculations of fishermen. History records that European herring were to be found in vast quantities in the year 1020 A.D., and during the following periods: the twelfth century, 1260-1341, the fifteenth 342 LABRADOR century, 1550-1590, 1660-1680, 1747-1808, 1857-1878, and also of recent years. Such large quantities have been taken in the North Sea these past two years that all previous records have been eclipsed. They disappeared from the Norwegian coast from 1655-1699, and again from 1784- 1808. In 1871 they almost entirely disappeared again. The old theory that all the herring lived in one vast race in the polar seas and made a circular tou^ of the waters they are found in, was eloquently described by Buffon, but is now abandoned. There is little doubt that many separate shoals exist, and that they do not retire into ocean abysses, or mid-ocean, where they cannot be taken. When they leave the shore, they probably feed on the slopes in moderate depths near the coast they frequent. They have been captured in one hundred fathoms of water off the New- foundland coast. They are easily affected by temperature, preferring a temperature of 55° F. But they are caught in water as cold as 37° F., and the Scottish fishery is mostly in water at 41-42° F. The eggs (thirty-one thousand, on the average, to each fish) which sink and stick to the bottom are eaten in vast quantities by many species of animals in the waters. It is, obviously, of great importance that the egg stage should be as brief as possible. Nature seems to furnish the in- stinct, therefore, to seek water at 55° F., the optimum temperature for rapid hatching. In any case it is probable that in the Labrador polar current which carries the tem- perature of 30° F. in subsurface layers, the herring is not likely to breed at all. This view coincides with the actual observations that herring do not spawn north of the Mag- dalene Islands and the west coast of Newfoundland. THE HERRING AND OTHER FISH 34S It is impossible to believe that man has had any hand whatever in driving herring from the Labrador. The her- ring-fishery on this coast has, at best, been on a very small scale. Professor Huxley states that even in the North Sea man cannot be responsible for as much as five per cent of the herring killed. From the time of the egg to the full- grown fish this huge family of the herring is preyed upon by larva, crustacean, and sea- worm. " All that men take would not compromise one school of twelve square miles area, and there must be scores of such in the North Sea." If every herring lays thirty-one thousand fertilized eggs, and all but two of the family are killed every year by their enemies, the herring would still maintain their vast num- bers. "Man," says Professor Huxley, "is only one of a great cooperative society of herring catchers, and the larger share he takes, the less there is for the rest of the company." The herring seems specially adapted for man's use. Like the cod, he has no poisonous nor pain-wreaking spines ; he herds together so as to be caught quickly in vast quantities ; and he can be easily preserved. He is a deep-sea fish, and is thus not dependent on refuse food in shallow water. Young herring fetch a high price as "white bait." "A large proportion," says Professor Goode, "pass under the name of 'French sardine.'' Some are canned in spices and sold under the still more imaginative name of " brook trout." If, however, they have been feeding on crustaceans with hard shells, these, being undigested, putrefy very rapidly and spoil the herring. Herring barred inside a seine are, therefore, as a rule, safer to cure if left for two or three days in the net while digestion is finished. Though the herring have small teeth on their tongues 344 LABRADOR and the roofs of their mouths, they feed by sieving the water through gill-rakers armed with teeth and fine spines, which catch the small copepods, etc., and gently guide them down their throats. They spawn in spring and autumn, but the same herring only spawns once a year, and they do not spawn till eighteen months old. The danger to the herring increases immensely when they come into the shallower waters for this or any purpose. It seems, therefore, another provision of nature that they should be a swift-swimming fish and, after spawn- ing, leave rapidly for deep water. Dr. Moses Harvey, the historian, writing in 1880, says the average export of herring from Labrador was 50,000 to 70,000 barrels for the years immediately preceding. In 1880, 20,000 barrels were exported; in 1881, 33,330 barrels; in 1908, only 180 barrels. As many as 500 barrels have been taken in one haul at Snug Harbour. Captain Hennesy described to me how, thirty years ago, he sailed through millions of herring north of Cape Mugf ord ; their vast bulk made the surface of the sea oily. There are many superstitions about herring, and the reasons advanced for their not " coming in" have been of every conceivable kind. To change this luck, some amusing ceremonial " charms" have been invented, such as dressing a fisherman in a striped shirt and riding him around the town in a wheelbarrow. Another valuable recipe was to pick out herring with red fins without letting them touch wood, and then pass them round and round the scudding pole as many times as the number of lasts of herring you hoped to capture next autumn. A " last " means 1320 her- rings. Less amusing was the burning alive, two centuries THE HEREIN G AND OTHER FISH 345 ago, of men and women supposed to be bringing evil luck in the fishery. Laws have existed in England forbidding the taking of herring between sunrise and sunset, under the idea that the nets turned the fish. An Irish law forbade nets to be out between sundown on Saturday and sunrise on Monday. Probably the best laws, however, are no laws at all, until more definite knowledge is possessed as to the real causes of the movement of the herring. A great deal of the value of the cured article depends upon the methods of cure, and much skill is needed to be really successful. In Europe the fish is pickled round, not being split at all ; in America they are split and cured ; in Holland the belly is clipped off with scissors. The va- riety of barrel is also an important point. The wood once used with us was hard, clear spruce. But the Labrador barrel industry has died with the departure of the herring. For more reasons than one many have been left sorrowing for a friend of wrhom we are all fond in every way and whose loss we deeply deplore. Mackerel are not taken in Labrador, except occasionally on the shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The range of this fish is from Belle Isle Strait to Cape Hatteras. In general the lack of variety of round fish on the Labrador is com- pensated only by the abundance and quality of the cod and salmon. None of the marketable flatfish of Europe and America frequents our waters. Absent is the succulent sole, the delectable plaice, the toothsome turbot and brill. The witch sole, deep-water denizen though he is, pays us no visits. Of all these prime fish, only a stray halibut wander- ing in from the enormous schools that frequent the great 346 LABRADOR banks one hundred and fifty miles from our shores, pays tribute to our Vikings of Peace, the acknowledged masters of the mighty Atlantic, even among the rocks of Labrador. His name, halibut, probably means "holy plaice," "holy" because a favourite food on holy days. He is often found in water as deep as two hundred and fifty fathoms. He prefers to live in water approaching the temperature of 32° F., or that where fresh water would freeze, and he ranges from the fortieth parallel of north latitude to the Arctic Ocean. The larger specimens attain lengths of eight or nine feet and weights of four hundred pounds; some- times these giants have lived to so great age that large barnacles may be found growing on the skin, much as bar- nacles grown on an old whale. It takes a hand winch to haul up a big fish, and four or five men to get him over the side. Where only two men operate the dory, the usual plan is to list the gunwale over level with the water and then rush the fish and water in together. The halibut has sometimes had his revenge by capsizing the little craft. On one occasion a Gloucester vessel had brought a sick man of their crew to our hospital, and, wishing to express gratitude, offered us a fresh halibut. We gladly accepted, the change of diet being very welcome. We were a little surprised, however, to see later four stalwart men coming up the platform with a fish swung on poles — the fish the size of a porpoise ! The fish smokes most excellently, the pieces then much resembling good Wiltshire hams in appearance. Halibut are eminently fitted to survive. They are very swift and powerful, have large mouths with fearful, sharp teeth. They have a most catholic appetite that readily embraces a few dozen younger brothers or sisters if these get THE HEEEING AND OTHER FISH 347 in the way. Half a barrel of flatfish was taken out of the stomach of a single halibut. This fish; though commanding good prices, does not form a Labrador export, the banking fishery being carried on by our American cousins. These come to us as early as April, sail round the south end of the ice-floe, and so reach the banks; or, if leaving in February, make straight for the south coast of Greenland and try to get north by keeping outside the two currents of drifting coast-ice. On one occasion the skipper of a Boston vessel came to a hospital before our harbour ice had all gone, and we gave him a drive round on the ice with our dog-sleigh, as he had never seen dogs travelling. The main impression on his mind seemed to be "To think we had ripe strawberries before I left home a fortnight ago !" In Europe and America the dab (Hippoglossoides limandoides) flourishes in both cold and warm waters. In his youth he is a free-swimming, upright fish, but takes to tying on one side on the bottom. He shows his adapt- ability by causing the under eye to travel round over his nose, as this eye would be useless looking down on the ground. He has fine, shiny scales. In Dublin he is called the smeareen, and is much eaten by the poorer classes. On the New England coast he passes as the "mud dab," but on his arrival in New York he further shows his adapt- ability by assuming the name of the "American sole." In Labrador he is classed with the "offal" and contempt- uously thrown away. The dogs, however, appreciate his qualities better, and one often in the spring sees a dog wading about looking or feeling for the dab in the mud, and then quickly diving down and bringing the struggling, 348 LABEADOR squirming fish ashore, there to be swallowed alive. The dab's hope of safety lies in escaping notice, and this he does whenever he is at rest. He flaps about till he settles in the mud; the mud which he has stirred up falls again, and covers all but his eyes and nose. At largest, the fish reaches twenty inches in length, and weighs up to two pounds. He remains all winter. As he is the first fish to be taken when our ice goes, he is speared by the boys, and, when food is short, cooked and eaten. But herring so soon follow the departure of the ice that even in this season the dab is seldom used. Visitors, however, esteem him highly whenever the native cook will condescend to prepare him for table. Probably it is the ugly face with huddled-up eyes and distorted mouth that tells here against his popularity. The cause of his ugliness is explained elsewhere by a strange legend. It is said that when the fish were sum- moned to settle who should be king, the plaice was late, delaying to paint on some of his beautiful red spots. When he heard the election was already over, his mouth so twisted in disdain it never came straight again. A still older legend accounts for his being coloured only on one side. It runs that Moses, having caught one, proceeded to cook it over an oil lamp, but when one side was broiled and grilled, threw the fish into the sea. The winter fluke (Pseudo-pleuronectes Americanus) , the cousin of the dab, closely resembles him in size and ap- pearance, and is found here, as he is all along the North America coast, south to Cape Cod. The lump-fish (Cyclopterus lumpus) is very common with us, but is practically useless. We have been too stupid to find a use for him, except as a fertilizer. He has de- THE HERRING AND OTHER FISH 349 veloped a sucker on his belly, with which, being a lazy fish, he fastens himself upside down on any moving thing, and will then drift about without the trouble of swimming. The common sculpin, or scavenger, exists all along the coast. There are two varieties, Coitus scorpioides and C. Grcenlandicus. He really consists of a large mouth, an indefinitely distensible belly, a voracious and omnivorous appetite, and an outside coat of sharp spikes. One can scarcely credit him with feelings, for when fishing with the sharp jigger for cod, the same sculpin will run for the hook again and again, though the barb may in the earlier capture have been in almost any part of the anatomy. Sometimes a fisherman has had to oblige him by leaving him on deck in order to avoid the worry of repeatedly hauling in the line with the useless fish adhering. Our dogs, however, make nothing of his horny and thorny exterior, and eat him with great gusto, always commencing by biting off his tail. At a pinch, the sculpin would be very useful in sustaining human life. Another fish that stands by us all the winter is the rock cod. He is much like a small cod in appearance, but darker, with partly iridescent sides. He remains about the har- bours. As a matter of fact, he is "not at all bad eat- ing/' but is considered by the fishermen very inferior to the true cod, and is always rejected from those they export. He is, however, dried up with the smaller cod, which are not split, but simply salt-sprinkled. They are kept for winter use under the name of "rounders." He is also taken through the ice in winter, and has frequently shared with the lowly clam and mussel the honour of preserving the life of those in one of these scattered communities. 350 LABRADOR Hake or haddock are rarely seen in Labrador. The former fish is easily distinguishable by his silvery armoured coat, and the latter by the black marks on his shoulders, irrev- erently attributed to the fingers of St. Peter, who is said to have pulled him out of the water to pay taxes, with the money in the fish's mouth. Why the spots are black, tradition does not say. It seems to surprise most people that the shark is found in Labrador, as he is always associated with tropical waters. The variety we have is the sleeper, Somniosus microcepha- lies, the little-headed, sleepy shark. He has a large body up to fifteen feet long, and fully lives up to his name. He feeds on offal thrown overside, earning the name of gurry shark; he is the most despised of our ocean fauna. He frequently gets caught in the sunken nets for seals, though not nearly as often as he deserves, for he browses along the nets, eating out the seals. In most cases his energy is not sufficient to make him push into the net. A ten-foot shark has a mouth contour of two feet, and a gullet proportional. It is said that he eats live whales, biting huge pieces out of the abdominal blubber ; but I cannot believe him smart enough to do this. So sharp are his teeth that he will sculp all the fat and skin off a dead seal, without taking two bites at one piece. I have taken from his stomach nearly every bit of a seal's skin and fat in one long string the width of the shark's mouth, almost as one takes off the peel from an orange or an apple. On one occasion we found in a shark" the carcass of a red dog, which we had left on a pan of ice to drift out to sea a week previously. The sleeper shark seems to have little capacity for pain. Captain At wood reports that after driving a scythe right through one's THE HERRING AND OTHER FISH 351 stomach, it came placidly back and went on feeding off the same dead whale in the same place. In large numbers these sharks haunt the ice-fields, where the sealers have left the mutilated carcasses of the young seals. I have driven a boat-hook into one bigger than myself, as it lay basking on the surface of the water, and hauled it easily out on the ice without its making any notable resistance. On one occasion, with the help of a couple of men, I hauled out five from one hole through the ice in this same way. The only commercially important part of the sleeper is the liver, which yields fifteen to thirty gallons of very ex- cellent oil; for the purpose of securing this oil a shark- fishery grew up on the coasts of Norway and Iceland. Our fishermen sometimes use a lump of its skin-covered flesh for scrubbing the floor. The flesh is white and nauseous, and even our dogs, voracious as they are, will scarcely eat it. This shark seems quite indifferent to man's presence, and is not a man-eater. It is almost impossible to conceive that the shark's stomach should still, by some races of hu- man beings, be considered the gate of heaven; and that living children be offered by mothers to its rapacity that the children may enter paradise through that probably most repulsive of all forms of death. CHAPTER XIV THE OCEAN MAMMALS BY W. T. GRENFELL To compensate the Labradormen in some small degree for the loss of herring and the depreciation of salmon, a whale- fishery has sprung up. The great success made in killing sulphur-bottom, finback, and humpback whales, in North Newfoundland, led to a hope of great things from them for Labrador. But the numbers killed have been very limited.1 The whales themselves are, however, so intensely interesting, it is worth while referring to the various sorts one is liable to see in Labrador. The whale is, of course, really a land animal, but he has left his native element, and taken to a roving, nautical life. Now his legs are not necessary for locomotion ; hence they have become rudimentary and are enclosed in his thick, rubbery, oily skin. The arms are not used in swimming, but simply for preserving the animal's balance or for grasping the baby whale when it is in danger. Of all the adaptations of these strange beasts to their environment, perhaps none is more remarkable than the arrangement for hearing. The whale has no need of the sense of smell, but he does need to hear the approach of an 1 In reading the records of the Moravian Missions for the years 1780 to 1850, one is greatly struck by the number of dead whales men- tioned as having been discovered, from time to time, on the coast. 352 THE OCEAN MAMMALS 353 enemy. Because of the enormous pressures which must be endured by the animal, the external opening of the ear is reduced to the diameter of a crow-quill, whereas the opening of the ear into the nose — the Eustachian tube — is very large. Deafness, following the closing of this tube by adenoid growths in children, has made most of us know of the existence of this second " ear-hole." The whale actually hears through his nose, in a way similar to that by which a person listens " open-mouthed." The eyes are very small ; this is not a disadvantage, fixed as the eyes are in such positions that the animal can see well neither ahead nor astern. Sight can hardly be much used as a feeding sense; think of looking for your food when you have to catch millions of tiny creatures, like copepods, to satisfy your appetite ! It has been said that a whale brought to land does not die of asphyxiation, for he can breathe an hour or two at least ; that, on the other hand, he does die of starvation. He must eat incessantly or die. On a fine morning on the Labrador coast, I have counted a dozen whales in a single school. Now and again a huge tail would emerge from the water and lash the surface with its full breadth, making a sound like the firing of a cannon, while the silence of the stillness was otherwise broken only by the noise of their blowing, as they rolled lazily along on the surface. I have seen the thresher whales making their huge prey hurl his whole immense body clear out of the water, only to fall back with the splash of a waterfall, and the noise of a thunderclap, to be stabbed by the swordfish below, or eaten alive by the fearful jaws of his enemy. In order to remain below water so long as they do (a 2A 354 LABRADOR full-grown male can stay down one hour), whales have a huge reservoir of blood in vessels situated in the front of the chest, like the pipes of a water-cooler. This blood he overoxygenates by repeated spoutings. A whaler can tell by the number of blows exactly how long the ani- mal will remain below on his sounding. To aerate the blood thoroughly, a male sperm whale blows about sixty times, once every ten seconds. The females blow for about four minutes, and do not remain down so long as the males. The elastic, compressible skin is equally compressed by the water at great depths; in a marvellous manner the vital organs are relieved of dangerous pressure, while an auto- matic water-bag valve fills and closes the nostrils so that no water is forced in. Six species frequent the Labrador coast, though only four kinds are still common, — the finback, humpback, sulphur-bottom, and white whale. A specimen of the largest, the sulphur-bottom, so called from the colour of his body, has been taken with a length of ninety-five feet and a circumference of thirty-nine feet. The weight of this animal was estimated to be two hundred and ninety-four thousand pounds. Think of the awful power of the tail that can not only propel this mass at fifteen knots an hour, but can actually hurl it clean out of water into the air! In this animal the baleen, or whalebone, hanging from the roof of his mouth, weighed eight hundred pounds and reached four feet in length, or somewhat less than half the length of the "bone" in an adult right whale. There were no fewer than three hundred plates on each side. He gave one hundred and ten barrels of oil. So large is the mouth of a sulphur-bottom that a boat can row into it. THE OCEAN MAMMALS 355 The jaw-bone may be sixteen to eighteen feet long. It took four of us a whole afternoon, with axes and swords mounted on pike handles, to cut out one bone and carry it to our steamer. One had to walk almost in the footsteps of Jonah to get at the articulation, so far back is it in the body. Yet the gullet of this whale, where full-grown, is only a few inches in diameter. In reality, his mouth is a vast trap for food, the more of which is caught the larger the mouth is developed. Their food is very simple, being almost entirely small crustaceans of the shrimp variety which they sieve out of the deep water as they swim along. Occasionally they swallow a caplin or herring, which gets in the way. No whale is ever killed in a starved condition, not even a blind one, of which several have been captured. The finback is the commonest whale on the coast. He runs only to about sixty-five feet in length, and in proportion gives less oil than the sulphur-bottom. The humpback is, at times, scarcely worth catching, giving very little oil. He may be seventy to seventy-five feet long, and has bone up to three feet in length. When freshly killed, the young humpback affords excellent food for man. Indeed, were it not for the prejudice against them, these " mountains of meat" would be considered a most Desirable food-supply. A few of us on the coast have used it, fresh, salted, and tinned. It is too hard in salt, but, tinned, is really good meat, with not enough characteristic qualities for the or- dinary man to tell it from tinned beef. The tinning, as an industry, seems to be abandoned, but in a country where vegetables are absent, cattle impossible, and our wild meat supplies diminishing with the years, the immense amount of nourishing material would seem a most desirable ad- 356 LABRADOR junct to the diet of all. The poor people especially welcome this meat, for it is scarcely more expensive than the can it is put into. Preserved frozen for winter, whalefish would help to prevent the scurvy, which often affects the people in spring after the long winter of isolation. The white whale is a slender, graceful animal about twenty feet long. His skin forms excellent leather, called " porpoise hide"; it is very impervious to water. The adult is as big as two dozen calves. He weighs about twenty-five hundred pounds, and gives one hundred gallons of oil. These whales were very common in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and are still found there. They play in schools, jumping out of the water, enjoying life much like porpoises. They have been caught in cod-trap nets, getting tangled up in the twine, and in 1907 some sixty were caught in the big seal-nets set at Cape Chidley by the Moravian mis- sionaries. They are voracious beasts, eating alive almost every kind of fish in the sea. They even kill and eat our seals. But the white whale is paid back in his own coin by the much more powerful threshers, who are very partial to his flesh. The thresher, or killer whale (Orca gladiator) , is himself only twenty feet in length, but he is the fiercest of all our sea animals, and is a perfect buccaneer and pirate. He has a back fin about six feet long which reveals his presence as he swims along near the surface. With it he is said by some to beat his prey. Many are the battles that have been described between this beast and his larger kindred. Captain Atwood tells of three attacking an enormous cow sperm whale and her huge offspring in shallow water. They killed the calf and drove off the mother, badly wounded, after which they came back and ate the baby. THE OCEAN MAMMALS 357 The grampus, thirty feet long, and the porpoises, or herring hogs (eight to ten feet long), are allowed to pursue their way untroubled by the fishermen. Both animals have large teeth, and consume large quantities of fish. The teeth interlock so that their slippery, scaly prey cannot escape. The fish often run into nets and shallows to escape them. Porpoise and grampus are not only hard to catch, but are of very little value when taken. Like all the larger whales, they are mammals, and suckle their young swimming along on their side. The nipple is retractile, and may be drawn back into a slit or fold in the breast, so that it is scarcely visible as the animal lies on deck. Having shot a suckling mother on one occasion, we tried the milk. It was very rich, and had a somewhat fishy taste. Porpoise meat is exceedingly good for eating. The sperm whale, or cachalot, is not now a denizen of our coast, where, however, he makes occasional visits. In 1892 a monster, some eighty feet long, ran into the rocks near Battle Harbour, and, I presume, finding them hard as his own adamantine skull, got somewhat confused; for he continued to battle with the rocks till he stranded and perished. He was towed into the harbour and flensed in an amateur way. The head was one-third as long as his body. The head contained two large tanks, called the case, and out of this the oil was pumped. One hundred and forty gallons were taken. The oil helps to float the huge jaw- bones. The lower jaw had fifty large, conical teeth of solid ivory, several inches apart. The teeth of the cachalot were at one time almost venerated in Fiji and other sea islands, and disastrous wars and many murders have re- sulted from disputes as to their possession. The food of 358 LABRADOR the sperm is fish, and any flesh it can catch, especially large cephalopods. It is said that out of the stomach of one cachalot, thirteen porpoises and fourteen seals were cut. The usual food of the whale is the octopus, or giant squid, which flourishes in deep water off the Labrador. An octopus arm no less than twenty-seven leet long was reported as taken from the mouth of a captured cachalot. Even the white whale falls victim to this most masterful animal in the sea. The sperm whales travel in schools, the boys and girls in separate companies, and each in charge of one or two old folk. The big bulls maintain an absolute pro- prietary right to the harem until deposed by some able and aspiring youngster. The narwhale, like all the others, is retiring steadily before the advent of the white man, and is now seldom taken on our shores, though in the north it is still occa- sionally killed. Its front left canine tooth grows directly forward out of its mouth, and is twisted round and round itself or its fellow-tooth, making a solid ivory tusk ten feet long. The fish itself is only twelve to fifteen feet long. It is said to use the tusk for digging food, such as shell-fish, from the mud. There are now two whale factories in Labrador. One at L'Anse au Loup was closed for want of whales. One situated at Cape Charles has been running for four years. Another at Hawke's Harbour, forty miles to the north of the Strait of Belle Isle, has run for two years, and kills most fish. The whales apparently come from the north- ward during the season. Hunting the whales is certainly a most exciting industry, and I can imagine no more thrilling moment than when the THE OCEAN MAMMALS 359 big fish rises for the last time right under the bow, and the harpooner makes his shot. The small, fast steamers, with the harpoon gun mounted on a swivel on the fore poop deck, are still handled by Norwegians trained to the work. In rough and fine weather one sees them darting here and there and everywhere. The first puzzle to the visitor is as to how these tiny craft ever managed to steam across the great Atlantic. Two at least have been lost, — one on a reef ; one disappeared on the passage. They steam about fifteen knots per hour, which is far faster than any whale swims, unless he is badly frightened. As the monster, which is as large as the steamer, blows alongside, and one holds one's breath involuntarily, the harpooner quite silently indicates with one hand to the helmsman which way to put the helm, keeping his other hand on the gun- stock. Then there is a commotion right ahead, a sensation as if the vessel were running to destruction on a huge rock, a bang, and then, — nothing but the whirr of the line as it flies out through the pulleys. It is indeed a trying time. Either there is $1500 on the end of the line or, perhaps, another tedious and fruitless search for days or weeks. No wonder that on one occasion when I witnessed what scarcely ever happens, a real old expert harpooner make a clean miss, his language burst as if from a safety- valve, and was "frequent and painful and free." By a careful and merciful arrangement, when the harpoon goes home, the start of the whale pulls a trigger which is one of the flukes of the barbed iron. This fires an explosive charge in the fish, and will more often than not kill him immediately. If, however, the harpoon strikes him in the tail, or again, if it goes through a thin portion and does not explode, there 360 LABRADOR is likely to be trouble. With the powerful engine going full speed astern, the whale will tow the steamer ahead, they say, at several knots an hour. It seems never to face the enemy voluntarily ; and though one, after sounding, came up through the engine-room floor and sank the vessel, it probably did so by chance in its dying agony or " flurry." A sunken whale can only be raised by steam power, and once it is dead, it will otherwise remain down till putre- faction sets in. Then after eight or nine days the retained gases bring it to the surface. In Iceland where the fishery, after fifty years' prosecution, has destroyed the supply of inshore whales, a sunk whale is sometimes buoyed and left for another steamer to haul home. But the smell is then so dreadful, and the oil so brown and so inferior in value, that this delay in cutting up is avoided as often as possible. Here on the Labrador the dying whale is hauled alongside and given the coup de grace with a long lance, or possibly a second bomb may be fired into him. A long, hollow rod is then driven in, a force-pump is attached, and the great leviathan is inflated like a foot-ball. His tail is now triced up to the rigging, the flukes, as a rule, being cut off for convenience. Thus he is carried in triumph home to the factory, or anchored off while another victim is sought for. Till late years the carcass was a waste product and was allowed to float away or rot in the neighbouring coves. There it fouled the air and water and made the very rocks greasy and offensive. Now with the excellent machinery the meat is cut up and treated with heat and acid. Almost one-third as much good oil is thus extracted as is pumped from the "case" in the head. . The flesh is then passed along from the vats to be dry heated with the crushed THE OCEAN MAMMALS 361 bones, and converted into a valuable fertilizer, which is put into sacks for exportation. Little or nothing of the carcass is wasted; the blood itself goes into fertilizer. Even during the few years the industry has been prose- cuted, it would seem as if the whales had decreased in number. In 1904 two companies fished and killed 153 whales, valued at $73,440. In 1905 three companies fished and killed 149 whales, valued at $42,318. In 1906 two companies fished and killed 85 whales. In 1907 two companies fished and killed 94 whales. Of the 149 whales killed in 1905 there were five sulphur- bottoms, 101 finbacks, 43 humpbacks. A fall in the price of oil and the inferior quality of the catch accounted for the great drop in value from the previous year. If codfish and salmon are essential to the white inhabitants, seals and walrus are none the less the mainstay of the aboriginal coast dwellers — the Eskimo. Alas for these people, the increasingly vigorous prosecution of the seal- fishery from Newfoundland with larger and larger steamers has already begun to tell on the numbers of the seals, and especially on the commonest and most valued, the harp seal (Phoca Grcenlandica) . The Eskimo of Labrador are slowly being driven back and dying out before the tide of white population, and there can be no question that im- proved rifles, improved seal-nets, and the steam sealers have been potent factors in their downfall.1 No one 1 Fortunately one of the Eskimo's favourite seals, the "netsek," does not come south at all, but whelps in holes excavated by it in the solid body of the great ice pans. 362 LABRADOR more clearly recognizes this or more deeply deplores it than one of the best authorities, Dr. Fridjof Nansen. The hood-seal fishery of East Greenland, once a great in- dustry, has long ago ceased to exist. It began in 1761, and by 1884 it was already failing, yet only one million seals had been killed. Every year the white communities in Labrador are finding it less worth while to prosecute the seal-fishery. And now the land being also denuded of its once plentiful game, many settlements have disappeared. In 1795 it was considered a poor seal year when eleven hun- dred were killed at Battle Harbour ; one hundred and fifty seals would be a good year's catch there now. Professor Hornaday of New York declares that " every large terres- trial mammal species is being killed off faster than it breeds." The same may be said of most of the aquatic mammals. I am safe in saying that along the whole coast of Labrador not more than fifty walrus are now killed in the year. One was killed near Cape Mekattina in the Gulf, last year (1908). I have not heard of any other having been seen in the Gulf during the sixteen years I have known it. Most are killed by the Eskimo at Okkak, Hebron, and Ramah. They are more numerous around Cape Chidley, but there are fewer people there to kill them. Great herds were said to have once existed on the Magdalene Islands. In 1641 a vessel hunting ''as far south as Sable Island secured as many as four hundred pair of walrus tusks. In 1750 they were very plentiful in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Yet in 1841 so rare had they become, one was reported killed "as far south as the Gulf of St. Lawrence." It may be noted that the walrus are not migratory in habit. Even in the polar THE OCEAN MAMMALS 363 seas it would seem they are getting scarcer, and the huge herds once so common are now seldom seen. The ex- tinction of the walrus in Hudson Bay will mean death to many of the only class of human beings able to flourish in that environment. Nevertheless, the increasingly fatal weapons of modern civilization are being directed against the walrus for the paltry return they give the white man or for "pure sport." Surely the time has come to extend some protection to the northern people by preserving almost their sole food- supply. Professor Henry Elliot describes the absolute destitution of two villages of three hundred Eskimo, whom he knew personally and regarded as a superior race of Eskimo; their starvation, in this case, resulted from the fact that a special movement of the ice that year deprived them of walrus. A. P. Low records the death of every single soul in a Hudson Bay community from starvation because the whalers had supplied modern weapons to neigh- bouring Eskimo, who were then employed in destroying the only walrus (for export of the skins) available to the fated settlement. Were it in my power, I would most certainly close for " civilized" walrus hunting all the water to the west of Labrador and Baffin's Bay, and thus prevent the intentional or the unintentional robbing of another people's means of existence. After all, the walrus catch is of no great value to the white man. The dense skin from a half inch to three inches in thickness is useful only for a few special purposes. The ivory of the tusks keeps its colour well, but is very faulty, and not large enough for the manufacture of billiard balls. It is of comparatively little value. I once bought from a 364 LABRADOR trader here a whole boxful of tusks at thirty cents a pound. The largest tusks I have had from a Labrador walrus weighed, when cleaned and dried, six and one-quarter pounds. Possibly a very extraordinary pair might weigh ten pounds. The old male walrus would scale twenty-five hundred pounds, be about fifteen feet long, and has measured as much around the waist. They are clumsy, lethargic beasts, gregarious and monogamous. They are slow in the water, and dead slow on the land, advancing by hauling painfully along by their fore flippers, or if hurrying into the water " rolling over anyhow." Amusing accounts have been written as to how they wait for succeeding waves to heave them out on sandy beaches, rather than scramble up them- selves ; when thousands are together, the last comers lie on top of the earlier arrivals, simply because they are too apathetic to move on. They appear to have a fair sense of smell, but not to rely on sight or sound for protection from their enemies, among whom is the polar bear. Professor Elliot describes how he watched a herd basking on 'an Alaskan beach, and before one dodged off to sleep, it poked the next one and woke it up. This grape-vine telegraph seemed to be for the purpose of having one always somewhat on the alert. They are shy and harmless, digging up clams with their tusks for food, and also browsing on some* of the seaweeds. They have been known to attack a kayak, or boat, but only when wounded or when defending their young. They use their tusks for helping themselves out on an ice edge. Though to Europeans of so little value, to an Eskimo the walrus may mean everything, — meat, clothing, light, THE OCEAN MAMMALS 365 housing, boats, weapons, nets (from plaited bowel) ; every- thing necessary can be got from a good walrus. However, the skin of the ring seal or the bay seal is the Eskimo's usual clothing. Only the blown and dried gut, which is sewn with sinew and makes an excellent oilskin jumper, and is mostly used in kayaking, is obtained from the walrus. The meat is black, and to us offensive. We were walking along the beach one day, and, while crossing a pebbly ridge, felt it move up and down as if it were on soft rubber. We moved a few top layers of stones, and found an immense cache of raw walrus meat left against next winter. An- other cache we saw barred into the end of a sea-worn cave. This was, however, so odoriferous, we could only suppose it was in reserve for the dogs. A sick Eskimo boy that we had for twelve months as a patient would at first eat no "kablenak" food. We had to keep a supply of dried walrus meat that looked like tarred leather. This he would tear in strips with his teeth and eat raw, somewhat as men chew plug tobacco. The tusks are the greatest prize, how- ever, for on these the Eskimo depend for their harpoon tops, the bone being heavy and curved exactly as they like it. We brought out one year a few iron harpoon tops for some northern friends. But I found they did not use them, greatly preferring the native tusk tops. These are most skilfully made ; they are purposely divided into three pieces so that when the harpooned walrus puts a heavy strain on the line, the pieces come apart, leaving the barbed head inside the animal. Thus the weapon itself does not break. The harp seal (Phoca Grcenlandica) is far the most abun- dant seal on the Labrador. In the late autumn he comes 366 LABRADOR south from Melville Sound and from even more northern waters during November to February; at this season the East Coast men set gill-nets for them. About the first of March they bring forth their young on the ice-floes off the coast, and also in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, as far as the Magdalene Islands, and even Nova Scotia. For this they herd together in tens of thousands on the floating ice, which under ordinary circumstances should afford them safety. But at this time when they are absolutely unable to escape, the Newfoundlanders hunt them in large steamers, and kill immense numbers of the babies by clubbing them. From two hundred and fifty thousand to five hundred thousand is the average number thus destroyed annually. The babies are quite white, called " white-coats," and are almost all born on the same day, and also take to the water on the same day, three weeks later. The baby fur comes off at this time. He is then called a " ragged-coat." The fur of still-born babes does not come off, and the skins are therefore more valuable and are called "cats." During these (generally three) weeks, the ice has been drifting rapidly to the south. The mother seal has kept a blow-hole open up through the ice near where she left the baby, and through this she has been away fishing every day. She gives such rich milk that her offspring can be almost seen to grow. They are so fat that I have seen them looking, in their ice cradles, like bladders full of lard, as they lay on their backs in the hot sun, fanning themselves with their flippers. The mother at last forces the pup to take to the water, and a mysterious instinct at once teaches him to "go north, young man." This he does in leisurely fashion, and by the end of May these "beating THE OCEAN MAMMALS 367 seals/' as they are called, have mostly passed along the Labrador coast. When these poor creatures are killed, the waste is terrible. I have seen three or four thousand bodies of young seals, freshly stripped of their furry jackets, left to rot, or be a prey for sharks, as the case may be. The sealing industry is a very popular one, however, in Newfoundland. The sealing masters are the great men of the fishery, and there can be no question that from the sealer's point of view, the adventure, the call for pluck and hardihood, and the gamble of it, beyond the few dollars each man may make, are great attractions. It is not true, so far as I have seen, that brutalities, such as flaying alive, are ever practised. Nor can any one, knowing the men as intimately as I do, ever believe them capable of any such abominable atrocities. The " beater seal" returns as a "bedlamer" with his fellow-beaters left from the previous year, when the old seals come south next winter. He plays about among the floes, and returns again north in the spring, to come back a " young harp" the third winter, ready to do his share in maintaining the race. Often, however, he does not breed till the fourth year, when he assumes the dignity and name of an " old harp." The saddle, or harp, is a large, bilateral, black, wing-shaped patch across his back showing well on the lighter, drab-coloured skin of the rest of his body. Even when the dangers of the ice-floes are over, where many old seals, as well as the young, are slaughtered, the harp is still not safe on his northern journey. In May and June, along the shores of Labrador huge frame nets are put out from a capstan on the land. The great room of net 368 LABRADOR has a doorway which, once the seals have entered the room, is raised by winding up the capstan on the land. As the seals trim the shores, and even follow round the bays on their long journey, many are caught in this way. I have known one settler's family to take nine hundred seals, while three hundred to four hundred forms a catch by no means unusual. Not nearly so many seals, however, are taken nowadays, spring or autumn, and one can see many aban- doned capstans standing on rocky points. At one little Labrador settlement a trapper of the name of Jones be- came so rich through regular large catches of seals that he actually had a carriage and horses sent from Quebec, and a road made to drive them on; while he had a private musician hired from Canada for the whole winter to per- form at his continuous f eastings. I was called on awhile ago to help to supply clothing to cover the nakedness of this man's grandchildren. Yet another mode of welcome the poor harp gets from southerners, when it leaves its northern home to visit us. That is given with buck-shot and musket, ball and rifle. The process is called swatching, and is carried on by two men in a light rodney, or punt, which is sometimes provided with runners. The seals are bound to rise in the " ponds, " or fissures, between the great pans of the Arctic floe, to take breath. The plan is to "get by a likely lead of water," builds "gaze, " or shelter, out of ice blocks, and "bide your time." You must be absolutely alert to get any seals. I have myself chosen a small lead and watched, lying down with rifle ready loaded, cocked, and pointed, and yet many times a great harp has noiselessly put up his head and shoulders and gone down, leaving only a ripple on the sur- I 31 THE OCEAN MAMMALS 369 face, before I could draw a bead on him. Then for a short time he floats at this time of the year, and you must rush off your boat, or throw your many-hooked jigger over him, and haul him quickly up on to the ice, if you are strong enough to do so. If the seals are basking on the ice as the boat approaches, the men shout and wave, and even fire under the seal, which seems to so frighten him that he remains staring into space, till they land and club him with the rifle. As the slain animal does not move, the others think there can be no danger, and will at times allow a man to land and shoot or club them every one. Our next most important seal is the bay seal. He is a small seal, weighing only about one hundred pounds and looking rather dingy in a drab coat with faded black mark- ings. Nor are they very numerous, never being seen in herds. Yet they will probably outlast all the others, being the most adaptable to their varied environment. They are found in the Pacific and Atlantic, in Europe, Asia, and America, and in the south seas. They can bear heat or cold. I have shot them when driving my komatik over a frozen arm of the sea, tolling them into range by lying flat down and waving my feet to represent a seal ; I have also secured them in the hot summer when the mosquitoes and the heat have made the period of waiting almost un- bearable. Bay seals are equally at home in salt water or fresh. Some of our rivers are almost ruined for ordinary fishing by the number of bay seals that infest their pools. This " robber of the river," to use the name of the salmon fisherman, is there shown no mercy by the fisher- men, and cannot possibly escape. -The seals will watch 2B 370 LABRADOR the salmon nets so carefully, and eat the struggling cap- tives so rapidly, that there is little wonder most fisher- men are "agin them.77 I have known a seal haunt a net so persistently that to get any fish the owner had to watch all the while at one end of it, and even then the seal was so "well adapted to his environment77 that he would almost snap off the fisherman's hand as he raced to be first to dis- entangle the salmon. The bay seals are captured by our people in nets anchored to the bottom. When diving, the seals become "meshed77 and are soon drowned, as they cannot rise to breathe. The seals can travel a considerable distance over land and can remain for long periods out of water. The harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) breeds and lives in Seal Lake, one hundred miles inland from Richmond Gulf and eight hundred feet above the sea. In winter this seal leaves for islands in the open where the sea does not freeze. The bay seals of the coast breed on the land in caves, rocks, or beaches. I have seen them many times with their young. When the baby is born, he is a dusky white, but he soon assumes a most beautiful silvery coat mottled with black, which he wears for a year. During this time he is called a "ranger/7 and his skin makes the most attractive clothing, sleeping-bags, pouches, etc. At three years the ranger becomes a "doter77 and is a breeding seal. The young are born in April and May in southern Labrador, and later on as one gets farther north. The young seal is able to take to the water at once. It is said that the "baby-hair77 is cast inside the mother before his birth. Clever as the modern circus "feature77 shows seals to be, THE OCEAN MAMMALS 371 they are easily decoyed in the manner above described. Once, however, the biter got bitten. For one of our Eskimo, who had hidden himself in a sealskin bag and was lying on a favourite basking rock flapping his legs, was mistaken for a seal by a passer-by on the shore, who promptly sent a bullet through him. The large, gentle eye makes the seal's appearance ex- ceedingly attractive, and those inclined to be sentimental have found in him a great scope for their effusions. As a matter of fact, he eats his prey alive. He will take a bit out of a fish, and leave the rest to struggle away and die slowly. They are fierce fighters, and will catch and eat birds swimming on the surface of the water. One was seen devouring a salmon alive. The seal swallowed him by inches, swimming a mile while the struggle lasted. It seemed an open question whether he would succeed or not. Another seal was seen to capture a gull on the water, but the persistent harrying he got from the rest of the birds persuaded him to let the wounded victim go. The ringed seal, Phoca hispida, so dearly loved of Green- landers, and so prized by their people for clothing, is rare in Labrador, only a few specimens being taken, and those in the extreme north. Nor does the hooded (or hood) seal (Cystophora cristata) come much to the shore. Indeed, the ringed seal is a glacial seal, and the hood a pelagic and glacial seal. The hoods breed in the ice off our shores in March, a little later than the harps, and their baby, dark on the back, is called a " blue-coat." The old ones are slightly larger than the harps, and the skin is covered with black patches. The strange bag on the head, which is inflated from the nose, 372 LABRADOR is probably only an ornament like a crest. Some think it is specially provided to protect its nose from seal bats or clubs, — of course an impossible theory, for sufficient time has not yet elapsed for Nature to have evolved armour against the sealers in the ice-field, any more than she has yet provided for the ideal requirements of twentieth century foot-ball man. The hood seal has been so far exterminated in its favourite resort between Greenland and Iceland, that the fishery has had to be abandoned. This seal displays great strength, courage, and affection in defending its young, and I have seen a whole family die together on a pan of ice not twelve yards square. Four men with wooden seal bats did the killing, but not before the male had caught one club in his mouth and cleared his enemies off the pan by swinging it from side to side. The old seal, which must have weighed fully two thousand pounds, was hoisted on board whole (or unsculped), so as not to delay the steamer. He was apparently quite dead. As, however, he came, over the rail, the strap broke, and he fell back into the sea. The cold water must have re- vived him, for I saw him return to the same pan of ice, distinguishable by the blood stains left by the recent battle, and now some little distance astern. The edge of the pan was almost six feet above water, but he leaped clear over the edge, and landed almost in the spot where his family had met their tragic fate. The men immediately ran back and killed him with bullets. He was this time sculped, and so brought aboard. The strength of the hood seal is also well illustrated by the fact that he can descend for food to a depth of sixty or even ninety fathoms. This is shown by the fact that a THE OCEAN MAMMALS 373 deep-sea fish called "bergylt," which only lives between those depths, has been found in his stomach. The last, and largest of our seals is the gray seal (Hali- chcerus grypus). We measured one eleven feet long, with a girth of eight feet. No doubt, however, larger ones have been killed. These seals are practically devoid of hair, make the best possible material for covering kayaks, and for the manufacture of water-tight feet for boots. The skin of the harp seal is used for the legs and for the bottoms as well, when the boots are to be used in the coldest weather, because this skin is so much softer, and allows freer move- ment; but the gray sealskin is much more resistant to water. The gray seal is generally shot as he plays along the ice edges, but is occasionally meshed in sunken nets. CHAPTER XV THE BIRDS BY CHARLES WENDELL TOWNSEND, M.D. FROM an ornithological point of view, Labrador has an interesting past as well as present. The great Audubon testified to the wonderful interest of Labrador to the orni- thologist, by visiting this country in 1833. His writings contain frequent reference to the observations he made at that time, and he states in his Labrador Journal that he executed or partly executed seventeen plates of birds during his brief sojourn of two months on these shores. Since Audubon's times there have been sad changes in the bird life of this country. Two species have become extinct; namely, the great auk and the Labrador, or pied, duck. The former bred in great numbers on Funk Island off the near-by coast of Newfoundland, but was slaughtered mercilessly during the latter part of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries. Cartwright de- scribes the capture of one of these flightless birds, not far from the southern coast of Labrador. He says, calling the bird by its common name of "penguin": "We were about four leagues from Groais Island at sunset [Mon- day, August 5, 1771] when he saw a snow [sailing-vessel] standing in for Croque. During a calm in the afternoon, Shuglawina went off in his kyack in pursuit of a penguin; 374 THE BIRDS 375 he presently came within a proper distance of the bird, and struck his dart into it; but, as the weapon did not enter a mortal part, the penguin swam and dived so well, that he would have lost both the bird and the dart, had he not driven it near enough the vessel for me to shoot it." The last auk seen alive was in 1852. The Labrador duck doubtless occurred in abundance in past times along the Labrador coast. Audubon was shown nests supposed to belong to this species, but he saw none of the birds, and there is much doubt as to the identity of the nests. Cartwright speaks in his Journal several times of shooting pied ducks, and there are reasons to believe that these were Labrador ducks, although the evidence is of course not absolute. That this duck is now extinct, there seems no doubt, as none has been seen or shot since about 1874. Another bird which seems to be going the same way towards extinction, a bird which has been in times past perhaps the most characteristic bird of Labrador, is the Eskimo curlew. This bird visited the coast regions in countless multitudes every autumn on its southward mi- gration. Professor Packard, writing of the Eskimo curlew in 1860 in Labrador, says : — "On the 10th of August the curlews appeared in great numbers. On that day we saw a flock which may have been a mile long and nearly as broad; there must have been in that flock four or five thousand ! The sum total of their notes sounded at times like the wind whistling through the ropes of a thousand-ton vessel ; at others the sound seemed like the jingling of multitudes of sleigh- bells." 376 LABRADOR The birds were delicious eating. They fattened almost to bursting on the Empetrum, or curlewberry, so abundant along the coast. The fishermen kept their guns loaded, and shot into the great flocks as they wheeled by, bringing down many a fat bird. About 1888 or 1890 the curlew rapidly diminished in numbers, and at the present day perhaps a dozen or two, or possibly none at all, are seen in a season. The rocky islands which line the Labrador coast have always been favourite breeding places for various water- birds, chief among which may be mentioned the puffin, black guillemot, the common and Brunnich's murres, razor-billed auk, great black-backed gull, glaucous gull, herring gull, Arctic tern, common and double-crested cor- morants, and American and Greenland eider-ducks. These formerly bred abundantly all along the coast, and before the arrival of the white man paid a comparatively small and unimportant tribute to the greed of polar bears, Eskimos, and Indians. This natural pruning, as it might be called, had little or no influence on the numbers of the birds. White men, however, with their insatiable greed and their more systematic methods, have created havoc in the ranks of these interesting water-fowl. In Audubon's time the vile business of "egging," as it was called, was at its height, and the horrors of the business are graphically pictured by the great ornithologist. He describes a shallop with a crew of eight men : — " There rides the filthy thing! The afternoon is half over. Her crew have thrown their boat overboard, they enter and seat themselves, each with a rusty gun. One of them sculls the skiff towards an island, for a century THE BIRDS 377 past the breeding place of myriads of guillemots, which are now to be laid under contribution. At the ap- proach of the vile thieves, clouds of birds rise from the rock and fill the air around, wheeling and screaming over their enemies. Yet thousands remain in an erect posture, each covering its single egg, the hope of both parents. The reports of several muskets loaded with heavy shot are now heard, wiiile several dead and wounded birds fall heavily on the rock or into the water. Instantly all the sitting birds rise and fly off affrighted to their companions above, and hover in dismay over their assassins, who walk forward exultingly, with their shouts mingling oaths and execrations. Look at them ! See how they crush the chick within its shell, how they trample on every egg in their way with their huge and clumsy boots. Onward they go, and when they leave the isle, not an egg that they can find is left entire. . . . The light breeze enables them to reach another harbour a few miles distant, one which like the last lies concealed from the ocean by some rocky isle. Arrived there, they react the scene of yesterday, crushing every egg they can find. For a week each night is passed in drunkenness and brawls, until, having reached the last breeding place on the coast, they return, touch at every isle in succession, shoot as many birds as they need, collect the fresh eggs, and lay in a cargo." The days of commercial egging have long since passed and the laws against egging and shooting the nesting birds are now fairly enforced in Canadian Labrador. In New- foundland Labrador, however, there seems to be no pre- tence of bird or egg protection. The inhabitants and the summer fishermen appear to consider the eggs and the breeding parents as godsends to eke out their scanty larder. Knowing every rock on the coast as these men do, they can easily keep in touch with the birds and rob them of their 378 LABRADOR treasures. When I was in Labrador in the summer of 1906, the fishermen made no concealment of the fact that they took all the eggs and killed all the birds they could. They often carried their guns with them when they visited their fish-traps. In the spring and fall great numbers of migrat- ing ducks, and even gulls, are shot as they stream through the narrow tickles. The Eskimo dogs are not fed in summer, and, foraging for themselves, they ransack the coast and undoubtedly destroy many eggs and young, not only of the larger water- birds, but also of other ground nesting birds, such as pipits and horned larks. It is sincerely to be hoped that the wonderful nursery for water-birds in Labrador will not be entirely depopulated, but that sufficient protection for the breeding birds will be given, and that speedily, lest it be soon too late. Notwithstanding these inroads on the birds, Labrador is still of great interest to the ornithologist, and it may be well to take up in turn some of the characteristic birds l to be found at the present day in the three faunal zones into which the Labrador peninsula may be divided, — the Arctic Zone, the Hudsonian Zone, and the Canadian Zone. The Arctic Zone includes the barren grounds above the limit of tree growth on all the larger hills and mountains in the interior, the whole northern portion as far south as about lat. 58°, and the entire coastal strip of varying 1 In a recent study of the birds of Labrador by Dr. Glover M. Allen and myself, we have recorded two hundred and thirteen species and subspecies of birds for the Labrador peninsula, as shown in the list in the Appendix. THE BIRDS 379 width from Natashquan on the southern coast along the shore of the Straits of Belle Isle, the entire eastern coast, and the Hudson Bay coast south to about the region of the mouth of the Great Whale River. Two characteristic Arctic birds, which the visitor along the southern and eastern coast will be most likely to see, are the American pipit and the horned lark. These are common everywhere along the coast, building their nests in the deep moss of the barren hills. Both birds are grace- ful walkers along the ground, and the pipit distinguishes itself by its habit of constantly wagging its tail up and down. Both birds are interesting singers, and both indulge in flight songs, each in its own peculiar manner. The pipit suddenly springs up into the air, mounting nearly vertically, but circling slightly. Up, up it goes, singing repeatedly a simple refrain, die whee, che whee, with a vibratory resonance on the whee. Attaining an eminence of perhaps two hundred feet, it checks itself and at once begins its descent. Down it goes, faster and faster, repeating its song at the same time faster and faster. Long before it reaches the ground, it sets its wings and tips from side to side to break its descent. During the performance it may emit its refrain eighty times. The horned lark, on the other hand, mounts silently into the air in irregular circles, until it becomes a mere speck in the sky. Here it alternately flaps its wing and sails, emit- ting a jingling, squeaking, but not unpleasing, song. This performance continues for several minutes, during which the bird repeats its song many times. Then the song ceases, and the bird dives to the earth as silently as it rose. Oc- casionally the song is given from the ground. The song 380 LABRADOR resembles in kind but not in quality the famous song of the English skylark. Another common bird in this coastal strip is one that is also a dweller farther south, an inhabitant of the eastern United States ; namely, the savanna sparrow, and strangely out of place does it seem here. In the more northern parts of the Arctic Zone of Labrador are to be found the Lapland longspur, the wheatear, possibly the white wagtail, the snow-bunting, snowy owl, rock ptarmigan, Reinhardt's ptarmigan, the white, gray, and black gyrfalcons, and the American rough-legged hawk, although these four last-named birds may be found even on the southern coast. The American rough-legged hawk is a splendid broad- winged bird almost black in colour. It may sometimes be seen poised motionless for several minutes at a time over the brow of a hill, sustaining itself like a kite by the air currents. The gyrfalcons have more pointed wings, and the whiteness of the plumage of the white, or Iceland, species makes it very conspicuous among the dark crags where it nests. The two ptarmigans already mentioned, as well as the willow ptarmigan, which is found in the region of tree growth of the Hudsonian Zone, resemble their compatriot, the Arctic hare, not only in becoming white in winter, but also in possessing shaggy feet at this season, — feet densely tufted with hair in one case, with feathers in the other. This tufting probably acts in the manner of snow-shoes to prevent sinking into the deep snow, and not merely to keep the feet warm. The generic name of the ptarmigan is Lagopus, which means rabbit-footed. In the same way THE BIRDS 381 the snowy owl's feet are well padded and tufted with feathers. The change of colour in the ptarmigan from the brown and mottled plumage of summer to the snowy white of winter is due not to any mysterious change in the feathers themselves, but to the moulting of the brown feathers and to their replacement by others of a different colour. Both plumages are wonderfully protective, and it is as difficult to see the brown bird amid its barren surroundings in sum- mer as it is to see the white bird amid the snow and ice in winter. While the coastal strip is under consideration, it will be well to speak of the water-birds that breed along the shore. Of the small wading birds one of the most interesting is the northern phalarope, not much larger than a "peep," that bears the name of "gale bird" on the Labrador coast, "sea-goose" on the New England coast. It has a habit of riding the water both of the sea and of the reedy pools like a miniature goose or duck. On the shores of these reedy pools along the coast, the females lay the eggs, but confide to the males, smaller and less brightly plumaged birds, the duties of incubation and caring for the young, while they go gadding in companies off at sea. Least and spotted sandpipers and semipalmated plover also breed on the Labrador coast, but most of this group go farther north to raise their young. Of the divers, the loon and red-throated loon breed com- monly near fresh-water ponds, and are to be met with in considerable numbers along the coast. The black-throated loon is occasionally found in the northern portions. The puffin, or parroquet, as it is universally called in 382 LABRADOR Labrador, breeds at favourable spots all along the coast, but it is to be seen in greatest abundance in the Straits of Belle Isle near Bradore. Here it breeds in great numbers at Parroquet Island, a small island of crumbling red sand- stone in which it burrows and lays its single egg. The puffin is a good bird to watch from a steamer, for it allows of close approach before it attempts to get out of the way. After nervously dabbing with its bill at the water a few times, it either dives or flies away. In both cases it may be said to fly away, for in diving it flops out its wings as it goes down, and continues to use them under water in flight. Whether swimming on the surface, or in aerial flight, the shape and appearance of puffins are characteristic. They are short and apoplectic in form, being devoid of a neck. Their large red bills and gray eye-rings, which suggest spectacles, and the dark band about the neck, give them a comical appearance. The black guillemot, or sea pigeon, is perhaps the most ubiquitous bird along the coast. It breeds securely in deep fissures among the rocks. Its black plumage, relieved by the large white patches on its wings, makes it very con- spicuous. Both the common and Briinnich's murres breed along the coast, although in sadly diminished ranks as compared with their former abundance. Each species lays a single egg on the rocky ledges. The egg varies greatly from a delicate blue or bluish green to a buffy white, and is wonderfully spotted or streaked with various shades of brown. It is pyriform in shape, so that it is less liable to roll off its precarious perch. The razor-billed auk, or tinker, is also to be found breed- ing on the rocky islands, except where the greed of man has THE BIRDS 383 exterminated it. Its broad, sharp bill in summer at once distinguishes it from the murre, as well as its habit of cock- ing up its tail as it swims. In its short neck it resembles the puffin, but it is a larger bird, and as it flies away, it shows a black line in the middle of its back between white sides, while the puffin looks black from the same point of view. The dovekie, or little auk, breeds farther north, but is found along the coast during the migrations and in winter. Of the gull family it is possible to mention only a few here. Perhaps the most beautiful in flight are the hunters of the sea, the jaegers, who rob the other gulls and terns of their prey. A pomarine jaeger in the black phase twist- ing and turning in pursuit of a white kittiwake is indeed a beautiful sight. The kittiwakes breed on the high cliffs of the northern Labrador coast, but may be seen in great flocks anywhere along the shore. An assembly of several thousand of these beautiful white birds settling on the water and rising to whirl about like gusts of snow driven by the wind, is a wonderful sight. Their cries suggest the syllables kittiwake. The great black-gulled gull and herring gull are such familiar birds in winter farther south that they need not be mentioned here, but one must not omit to speak of the glorious glaucous, or burgomaster, gull. This bird, as large as a great black-backed gull, breeds on the eastern coast in moderate numbers. The purity of its plumage vies with that of the Arctic ice that often surrounds it. The long feathers of the wings are spotless white, instead of being marked as in the herring gull. The adults have a gray-blue mantle on the back, while the immature birds lack this mantle and are of a universal whiteness slightly tinged with buff. LABRADOR Among the tube-nosed swimmers, the greater and sooty shearwaters may sometimes be found in summer in flocks of several thousand along this rugged coast. These birds, however, do not breed here. In fact, they are spending their winter in the neighbourhood, for they breed in the Antarctic regions in their summer, our winter. Wilson's petrel also wanders here in the same way, while the stormy petrel wanders from its breeding grounds along the coast of the British Isles. Leache's petrel, however, is a true inhabitant, and breeds on the Labrador coast. Both the common and the double-crested cormorant, weird-looking birds, commonly called " shags," breed on the southern shore. A small colony of gannets also are still to be found there. Many species of ducks migrate along the Labrador coast, seeking and returning from their breeding places farther north. Others breed on the coast or in the interior on the shores of rivers or ponds. Perhaps the most conspicuous bird in this group, one that still attempts to hide its nest from devastating man or Eskimo dog, along the shores of the sea-coast, is the American eider. In its nest it lays from five to eight large, pale greenish eggs slightly tinged with olive. These eggs it protects and keeps warm with the eider-down which it plucks from its breast. They are large birds, and generally fly in single file low over the water. The strikingly marked males, with the black bellies and white breasts, necks, and backs, are easily recognized. The female is a great brownish bird, looking very dark in some lights, and entirely lacks distinctive markings. Both sexes have, however, a characteristic way of holding the bill pointing obliquely downward at an angle, instead of straight THE BIRDS 385 out before them like most ducks. The king eider, a wonder- fully marked bird, breeds in scanty numbers along the coast, and the Greenland eider is a breeder in the northern parts of the country. The three species of scoters, or sea-coots, as they are called, breed in the interior, but numbers of each species are always to be found in summer along the sea-coast. A small duck that is diminishing in numbers still breeds in the interior of Labrador along the course of streams. This is the harlequin duck, as curiously variegated in colours as is the individual for which it is named. After the breeding season, this bird resorts to the salt water. Of the geese, the Canada goose alone breeds commonly in the interior of Labrador, and is often caught by the natives during its helpless moulting period. The heron and rail family are represented in Labrador by but few species, and those mostly stragglers. The upper limit of the Hudsonian Zone coincides with the upper limit of the tree growth. The lower limit cannot be accurately placed, for it glides imperceptibly into the Ca- nadian Zone. There are frequently offshoots and islands of the Canadian Zone in favourable localities in the Hudsonian Zone, just as there are offshoots and islands of the Hud- sonian Zone in the Arctic Zone. The most characteristic Hudsonian bird and one that clings closely to the out- skirts of the Arctic Zone, often indeed invading its territory, is the white-crowned sparrow, well called the aristocrat of its family. A most distinguished-looking individual he is, with his snow-white crown and white bars over the eyes. The area of the white crown is enlarged when he erects it in pride or passion, or when the wind blows it up. This is 2c 386 LABRADOR the familiar dooryard bird of the bleak Labrador coast. He sings from the roof of the turf-covered tilt, or from the cross-stays of the fishing schooner in the narrow tickle. He contentedly picks up crumbs and insects about the houses and makes his nest in the thickets of spruces or firs that are unable to struggle more than two or three feet above the earth. His call note is characteristic and easily recognized, a metallic chink. He also has a sharp, chipping alarm note. His song is pleasing, although it has not the familiar charm of his cousin, the Peabody bird, or the power and brilliancy of that of the fox sparrow. It sounds something like more wet^wetter-wet-chezee. There is a long and somewhat mournful stress laid on the first note, and a buzz not easily expressed in words comes near the end. Another Hudsonian bird that frequents the stunted trees and bushes on the borders of the Arctic Zone is the tree sparrow. The chestnut crown and large black spot on the otherwise spotless breast make it easily recognized. His song is simple and easily memorized, seet-seet, — sit- iter — sweet-sweet. Two other sparrows are common and characteristic of this zone. The Lincoln's sparrow, discovered by Audubon in Labrador and named by him after his young friend Tom Lincoln, resembles closely the song sparrow of more south- ern regions. Its disposition, however, is very different, for it is a most retiring bird, skulking out of sight in the bushes if it but suspects that it is an object of interest. Instead of mounting to a conspicuous post to sing like its cousin, the song sparrow, it is apt to select the interior of a fir bush for this performance, and the listener often looks in vain for the songster. The song is varied, but partakes at times THE BIRDS 387 of the warbling character of the song of the purple finch and of the wren. It is wild and mournful, and well fits its surroundings. Of a different type is the fox sparrow. A large, hand- some, rather showily dressed bird is he, one that does not hide his light under a bushel. As a musician he takes first rank. He is a performer of high merit. His clear and flutelike notes ring out with great purity, yet his song has not the charm of some simpler bird melodies. . The redpoll belongs also in this zone, although it hardly appears to have a local habitation, such a restlessly wan- dering bird is it. Its chug chug as it flies recalls the white- winged crossbill's call note, and its sweet dee-ar resembles closely the similar note of its cousin goldfinch. Frequently in the breeding season it waxes melodious in its own way, and flies about in irregular circles, alternately chug chugging, and emitting a finely drawn rattle or trill. The Tennessee warbler and the Wilson's warbler are both found in this zone, the former a very plain, inconspicuous bird, the latter bright yellow with a glossy black cap. The Tennessee warbler is as inconspicuous in its habits as in its plumage, and retires to the depths of thickets when the observer endeavours to learn its secrets. The Wilson's warbler, on the other hand, does not hesitate to display .its charms at close range, and sings its simple little song. Two other birds, both fine singers, may be mentioned here, for they belong in this Hudsonian Zone; namely, the ruby-crowned kinglet and Alice's thrush. That the di- minutive kinglet can produce such a loud and wonderfully clear and varied song is always a surprise and delight. The Alice's thrush is a common bird in the scrubby woods 388 LABRADOR on the edge of the Arctic Zone. Its call note resembles at times the call of the night-hawk, at times the call of the veery. Its song, which may be heard in the long summer twilight of Labrador even after nine o'clock, is interesting and beautiful. It begins with a single or double note, followed by a long veery-like vibration, sweet yet mournful. The Canadian Zone includes the wooded region of south- ern Labrador. Its limits cannot be accurately defined, and the birds of this and the Hudsonian Zone intermingle. Sheltered valleys often enable the Canadian birds to ex- tend far north into the region of the Hudsonian class. It is impossible in the space of this chapter to do more than mention a few of the characteristic birds. The spruce grouse and the Canadian ruffed grouse here take the place of the willow ptarmigan of the Hudsonian Zone and the rock ptarmigan of the Arctic Zone. The spruce grouse is so tame or so stupid that it is often caught by a noose on a short stick. The Labrador jay is a sub- species of the Canada jay, and resembles its cousin closely in its pilfering habits and in the variety and weirdness of its call or conversational notes. The young of the year are dark plumbeous in colour, and resemble large cat-birds. Pine grosbeaks, white- winged and American crossbills, and pine siskins are all to be found here on the borders of the Hudsonian and Canadian zones. They are all de- pendent for their food-supply on the cone crop of the spruces and firs. When the crop fails, they wander widely in winter and visit more southern localities. The common warbler, whose range extends throughout the wooded area even to the edge of the Arctic Zone, is the black-poll warbler, whose simple song can often be heard in little islands of THE BIRDS 389 struggling spruces among the barren rocks. The Hud- sonian chickadee is also found here. Still more southern and more Canadian in their distribu- tion are the olive-sided and yellow-bellied flycatchers, the white-throated sparrow, and purple finch. The well- known Peabody song of the white-throated sparrow recalls the pastures of Maine. This song has a charm and beauty unsurpassed even by the songs of more power and com- plexity. The magnolia, myrtle, bay-breasted, yellow- palm, black-throated green, and Canadian warblers, and northern water-thrush are also found in these more southern regions. The winter wren, golden-crowned kinglet, black- capped chickadee, olive-backed thrush, and hermit thrush also occur here. The divine song of the hermit thrush heard in the wilds of Labrador is indeed an inspiration. There remain to be added a few wide-ranging birds that have not been included in these classes. The northern raven may be mentioned first. While the American crow is rarely found in Labrador, and then only in the southern part, the raven takes its place throughout the country, especially on the sea-coast. Here they build their nests in inaccessible recesses in the rocky cliffs. No need have they when snow covers the ground of a change like the ptarmigan to white plumage for protective purposes. Their wits alone are sufficient. Their harsh cra-ak or cru-uk at once distinguishes them from the crow with its familiar caw. Their larger size cannot be depended upon as a distinguishing mark, for in vast surroundings one can with difficulty judge of size. The rounded tail of the raven is a good field mark, for the tail of the crow is nearly even. Of the four species of swallows found in northern New 390 LABRADOR England, all but the eave-swallow have been observed in Labrador. The strong flying robin abounds in various parts of Labrador, pushing its way even to the very edge of the Arctic Zone. It is a strange experience to hear the familiar morning chorus of the robin in bleak Labrador, and to find it building its nest on an Eskimo hut. CHAPTER XVI THE FLORA BY E. B. DELABARRE THE writer of this chapter is unwilling to allow it a place in this book, unless his readers will be truly indulgent and permit him to preface it with a brief note of personal apol- ogy. It must be read only with the clear understanding that it is written not by an expert in botany, but by one who, with the limited skill of an amateu'r, studied the plants of Labrador during a long summer's visit, and since then has read with eager interest all that he could find bearing on the subject. Such a person naturally lacks the technical knowledge and trained judgment of a botanist by profes- sion, especially in matters of nomenclature, of important but not easily observed detail, of good insight into real causes and conditions. So the present writer would gladly have persuaded a more competent person to take his place. Some day the real experts will correct a large number of inadequacies in this description. But until they are ready, it seems inevitable that a chapter like this must be contrib- uted by one who is merely a general observer and ardent lover of nature, and who happens to have been on the field, even though he lack an equipment sufficient to guard him 391 392 LABRADOR from making many errors.1 There is need, then, of indul- 1 In a previous chapter on this subject, in a " Report of an Expedi- tion to Labrador in 1900," published as a Bulletin of the Philadelphia Geographical Society, I unfortunately allowed a number of errors to occur, especially in exact nomenclature. I welcome this opportunity to atone for them as well as is now possible. I stated there that I had myself attempted only the more easy identifications, lying well within the capacity of the amateur; that, aside from a few special kinds, I had submitted my collection to Professor Bailey of Brown University for the correct naming of specimens ; and that he had submitted all doubtful cases to Professors Robinson and Fernald of Harvard Uni- versity for approval or revision. In making these statements, I seemed to involve all these eminent authorities in responsibility for the errors that were included. But, through no fault of others, I received a mistaken impression as to the finality of many of Pro- fessor Bailey's identifications, failing sometimes to distinguish be- tween his confident namings and his mere suggestions, and as to the extent to which they had received verification from the professors at Harvard. I now feel it a pleasure and a duty to apologize to these three men, who cannot be held accountable in any degree for mistakes that were due wholly to my own misunderstandings. This case is an illustration of the difficulty met with by an amateur who wishes to describe strange and interesting places that he has seen, in guarding himself against error, and especially in attaching correct names to the objects he has observed. Since then Professor Fernald has kindly revised my collection, and tells me: "The plants are now correctly named, I think, with the exception of a few upon which I dare not venture a determination." Space is lacking here to indicate all the changes that are necessary in my published list. Some new names are secured, some individual numbers of plants must be credited elsewhere than as given. But mistaken conclusions in using the list may be largely guarded against by realizing that the following names are apparently all that need to be omitted entirely, or altered to another variety or species, or given a more modern nomenclature: Dicentra Canadensis, Draba nivalis, Lychnis apetala, Sagina procumbens, Dryas octopetala, Saxifraga Hirculus, Epilobium alpinum, var. majus, Archangelica, Aster radula, Taraxacum dens-leonis, Andromeda polifolia, Ledum latifolium, Pyrola rotundifolia et var., Vaccinium Canadense, V. Vitis-Idaea, Primula THE FLORA 393 gence from the readers of this account. But if this be generously extended, the writer permits himself to hope that, however inadequate his description may be and how- ever subject to later correction, it may serve largely to increase the enjoyment of visitors to this fascinating country, by enabling them to understand more fully the great interest and attractiveness of its plant life. Some few visitors to Labrador return with an impres- sion that it is a bleak and forbidding country, rude, cruel, unattractive, bare of vegetation. But to many others it seems full of beauty, of attractiveness, and even of a rich and appealing fertility. The latter is the truer view, for it is the one gained by those who observe with more seeing eyes. Really, the wealth and variety and brilliancy of the Labrador growths and flowers are very striking to one who can see them at all understandingly. Very little knowl- edge of botany and love of plants are needed to realize this fact. An added ability to recognize and name the more common forms naturally increases enormously one's ap- preciation and satisfaction, and is not difficult to acquire. It is as important for real enjoyment and profit as to possess a similar outline knowledge of the geological forms of the land and of the causes that have moulded its scenic features. It will not cost a great amount of additional labour to gain an even more intimate understanding of the plants, — of Misstassinica, Gentiana propinqua, Pedicularis flammea, Polyganum littorale, Betula nana, Luzula arcuata, L. hyperborea, Eriophorum alpinum, Poa laxa, Lycopodium lucidulum; omit also, but leave the synonym given with it : Comarum palustre, Potentilla rubens. In a majority of cases these corrections do not imply that the plants thus called in this and earlier lists do not exist in Labrador, but that it is now possible to give them more accurate names. 394 LABBADOE some of their special means of adaptation to their environ- ment, of causes of the particular kinds and particular structures that occur, of their relation to food-supply, soil and climate, and to insect life. If the observer start with some ability to make analyses of flowers, and with a simple equipment of books1 to aid in the identification of specimens, he will soon gain acquaintance with all the more commonly occurring plants. If, in addition to this, he be expert in botany, or will make a carefully selected and annotated collection and submit it to some capable botanist at home for identification, he may possibly be rewarded by the discovery of species and varieties hitherto unknown in 1 Of books, among the most useful will be : — 1. As aids to analysis: — Britton, Manual of the Flora of the Northern States and Canada. Britton and Brown, Illustrated Flora of the Northern States and Canada. Gray: Synoptical Flora of North America (incomplete). Gray: New Manual of Botany, 7th ed., rearranged and revised by B. L. Robinson and M. L. Fernald, 1908. 2. For an understanding of forms and distribution : — Schimper: Plant Geography upon a Physiological Basis. Oxford, 1904. Dawson : The Geological History of Plants. Hooker: Distribution of Arctic Plants. 3. For lists of plants already reported from Labrador : — See lists of books in Delabarre's Report of Expedition to Labrador (Philadelphia Geographical Society, 1902), pp. 172, 194, 197. But for their inadequacy, see previous footnote. Professor Fernald, our most expert authority on far northern plants, informs me that nearly all the published lists of Labrador plants contain many errors. Recent studies have given a much more intimate acquaintance with the northern flora, and thus all the old lists need critical revision. It is impossible, therefore, to give an accurate list of all plants thus far observed as occurring in Labrador, under their correct names. The whole matter must be decided finally by competent authorities THE FLOE A 395 that region, which still offers large opportunities for botani- cal as well as for other kinds of exploration. Few localities will better repay the amateur or even the professional botanist than this, either in aesthetic gratifi- cation or in opportunity for scientific research. Labrador is one of the most southerly of all countries that have a predominantly Arctic vegetation. It is sufficiently far to the south to show transitional belts between the temperate and Arctic zones, as well as those more strictly Arctic. Like all far northern lands, it presents an amazing wealth of strikingly coloured flowers, so thickly sown as in many places to resemble a cultivated garden. Add to this the exceedingly great picturesqueness of its scenery, its unex- plored lofty mountains, higher perhaps than any others on the Atlantic side of the Americas, its fairly easy accessibility, and the decidedly tolerable nature of its brief summers; then its attractiveness and charm to those who know it will be easy of comprehension. Botanically, Labrador may be considered best by divid- ing it into two regions of markedly different aspect, — the interior and the coast. Of the former but little is known, except that it is covered with trees of good growth, extending almost to the northern extreme of the country. These interior portions possess essentially a cold temperate, not an Arctic, type of flora. Our knowledge of their plants is derived mainly from journeys across it in several direc- tions by Dr. Low of the Canadian Geological Survey, and from the visit of Mr. Bryant to the Grand Falls.1 Its 1 For these descriptions, see Ann. Rep. Geol. Survey of Canada, Part L, Vol. VIII, 1896; and Bulletin of Philadelphia Geographical Club, March, 1904. Other earlier expeditions through the interior, 396 LABRADOR wealth in accessible timber is considerable, and already large mills have been established near the head of Hamil- ton Inlet. The coastal region, with which all the rest of this chapter will be concerned, presents a vegetation of a decidedly Arctic type. A cold ocean current from the north bathes its shores, bringing with it ice-floes until the last of July, and icebergs throughout the rest of the summer. Innu- merable snow-drifts linger from winter back again to winter in favourable places on the land. Yet for two months of summer, at least, the days are long, and the temperature does not fall to the freezing-point even at night. Pictur- esque hills in the south, and in the north towering, untrodden mountains rise directly out of the sea and expose their flanks and summits to the unbroken force of the winds. The soil is thin, and through it the bare rock frequently protrudes. There is usually no lack of moisture in soil or air, and many places, especially in the relatively lower elevations of the south, are decidedly boggy. The characteristic features of an Arctic flora are usually attributed to the need it has for struggle and protection against severe cold. Schimper has shown that this factor itself has almost no direct influence. The greatest cold known anywhere is in Siberia, in a region where forests still flourish. No special protective devices against cold are known ; if any exist, they consist probably in the internal structure of the protoplasm itself, not in any observable external modifications. The observable peculiarities of and the more recent ones of Hubbard, Wallace, and Mrs. Hubbard, while adding largely to knowledge of the country, have contributed little to botanical information. THE FLOE A 397 the vegetation are protections not against cold, but against dryness. Even with an abundance of moisture in the soil, it may not be readily available for the plant. The soil is cold, the bogs are rich in humous acids, the water of the shores is full of soluble salts. All these conditions, which are the prevailing ones throughout the northern country, are unfavourable to the ready absorption of water by the plant, and hence lead to physiological dryness. This is further increased by the lack of protection against drying winds, which tend to produce strong transpiration. A plant whose water supply is limited, whether in wet or in dry soil, must guard against too great transpiration, espe- cially under conditions where this tends to be large. It hence assumes a xerophilous structure, or one fitted to con- tend with physiological dryness. In this respect the flora of Arctic climates, of alpine heights, of bogs, of sea-shore, and of deserts will closely resemble one another, though the particular devices adopted may vary with different con- ditions. Except in the rarer situations of sheltered valleys or sunny slopes, with relatively warmer soil, water free from acids, and protection from wind, the flora of Labrador may be considered as universally adopting one form or another of the various means fitted to protect it from too great dryness. It becomes an absorbingly interesting study to observe the different ways in which this object is accom- plished. The most evident devices are the following : — 1. A well-developed system of roots for the absorption of nutrient materials and of water. 2, A low and often stunted growth. This characteristic, as a special modification, applies of course to plants that 398 LABRADOR are usually shrubs or trees rather than to those of a naturally low, herbaceous type. The former are of very few species, mostly willows, alder, and birch, and a few evergreens. The height of these will vary much, and will be determined largely by the degree of their protection from drying winds, whether by the conformation of the land or by a winter covering of snow. In very exposed situations they will be lacking, or will lie close to the ground, or will have become modified into a special low-growing species, such as the interesting and widely spread willow, Salix herbacea, each plant of which bears but two or three leaves on a single unbranching stem, attaining only a fraction of an inch in height.1 3. Reduction in surface of leaves. These tend to be small and thick (Empetrum, Ericacece) or, if thin, either long and narrow (Crutiferce, Caryophyllacece, Salicacece, ever- greens, grasses, etc.), or deeply lobed (Pedicularis, some Rosaceae), or much wrinkled with strong veins (Rubus arc- ticus, R. Chamcemorus) , or pinnately divided (Leguminosce, Filices). The latter form gives them an increased surface without disadvantage, because of their special mobility, ^ownsend (in Along the Labrador Coast, 1907) gives a few measured examples of these stunted growths. He found, for example, a larch 9 inches high and f inch in diameter, that was 32 years old ; in another case, a balsam fir 13 inches high, 2 inches diameter, with 27 inches spread, 54 years old. These remind me of the pasture apple trees of New England, in whose case the stunting agent is not drying winds, but browsing cows. Much the same effect is produced,— "a lower, thicker, stockier growth, even at great age. I measured one in western Massachusetts, for instance, that proved to be 40 years old, yet was less than 5 feet in height, with an average diameter of 2 inches a little above a much thickened base, and a total spread of about 7 feet. THE FLORA 399 whereby the leaflets may open out in moderate illumina- tion and close together under conditions where transpira- tion tends to be excessive, in strong wind or hot sun. Another device consists in folding back the edges of the leaves underneath (Cassiope tetragona, Ledum, Pinguicula) ; and still another, in crowding them thickly together (Cas- siope, Bryanthus). All of these many modifications have the one object of securing a reduced or reducible transpir- ing surface, and almost all the plants of Labrador adopt one or another of these methods of accomplishing it. The examples given are only illustrative, and might be increased many fold under almost every heading. 4. Increase in thickness of the leaf and of its cuticle. Many leaves are tough and leathery (Ericaceae, Empetrum) ; or have thick, strong cuticle (grasses and sedges) ; or develop a waxy, resinous, or varnished coating on the under side or on both (Andromeda, Vaccinium Vitis-Idcea, Pyrola, some Salices, evergreens). 5. Development of water-storing cells in stem or leaves, the latter becoming thick and succulent. This is not of very common occurrence. It is found, however, for ex- ample, in saxifrages, Sedum, and Sphagnum. 6. Protection of the stomata from the influences that tend to cause evaporation through them. This may be secured by (1) turning away the under side oc the leaf from sun and wind, as in the pinnately divided leaves men- tioned already ; (2) sinking the stomata in the leaf-surface (Andromeda, Empetrum); (3) covering the under side of the leaf and sometimes also its upper side and the stem with a protecting layer of hairs or tomentum, which may vary greatly in length and thickness, from a mere silvery or 400 LABRADOR bronzed dust, or a short, thick fuzz, or tomentum, to a felted growth of longer hairs (most Ericacece and Salices, Draba, some Potentate, Cerastium, Dryas, Papaver, Antennaria, and many others. 7. Development of a tendency to grow a thick rosette of leaves at the base (Arabis, Draba, Antennaria, Lychnis, Pinguicula, many saxifrages), or to mass themselves in close, thick clumps or cushions (Diapensia, Silene, Sedum, saxifrages). These tendencies are similar to the one al- ready mentioned of crowding the leaves closely together on the stem. They may develop in species which in more favourable locations grow apart from one another, and have their leaves more evenly distributed along the stem. 8. An occasional tendency, in case of difficulty in absorb- ing nutriment from the soil, to develop devices for trapping and absorbing insects. Insects are not numerous in Lab- rador, with the exception of mosquitoes and flies, but a few plants there are partially carnivorous (Drosera, Pinguicula, Sarracenia). They appear to be confined almost wholly to the marshes of the more southerly part of the country. 9. While physiological dryness is extremely unfavourable to vegetable growth, and necessitates special devices for the absorption and conservation of moisture, it is, on the other hand, very favourable to the reproductive functions. Ac- cordingly, the number of flowers is large, • and appears the larger on account of the crowding of all varieties into one short season, and by contrast with the lack of luxuriance in vegetative shoots and foliage. Many of the flowers are large and brilliant in colouring, and nowhere is there any lack of them in abundance, unless in situations most severely open to the winds or destitute of soil. THE FLORA 401 Such are the main characteristics of xerophytes. They constitute the great bulk of the flora of Labrador, since almost all its physical conditions — bog, sea-shore, thin soil, cold ground, drying winds — are such as to exert a xerophilous influence. Hygrophytes (reaching their ex- treme in Aquatics), adapted to conditions of easily avail- able moisture, and Tropophytes, adapted to alternating seasons of moisture and of dryness, are of much rarer occurrence. The former are characterized by weakly developed roots, more luxuriant vegetal growth, great expansion of the transpiring surfaces. Tropophytes are hygrophilous during the summer, the season of mois- ture, and xerophilous during the winter, which is physio- logically dry. They secure this change either by shed- ding their hygrophilous leaves; or by dying down to the ground as a whole; or, as in evergreens, by developing shoots which are hygrophilous only when young, turning xerophilous as they mature. Thus a relative lack of available moisture is one of the chief features determining the general appearance of the vegetable covering of the Labrador landscape. Other factors, such as cold, wind, and physical nature of the soil, derive their influence mainly from their tendency to limit the supply of available water, or to increase transpiration. Each of them, however, has some direct influence besides. Thus it is said that cold tends to make leaves broader and shorter, with bent margins and loss of irregularity in mar- gin (mosses, Ericacece), and is favourable to the develop- ment of sexual organs ; though the real influence even here may be perhaps not cold directly, but dryness and the short- ness of the season of growth. Wind not only favours trans- 2D 402 LABRADOR piration, but directly increases the tendency to low, shrubby growth, and favours anemophilous adaptations (i.e. those using the agency of the wind) for pollination and for dis- semination of fruits. Differences in the nature of the soil in Labrador would seem to be not great, and to derive their importance mainly from their ability to conserve moisture, free from admixture with growth-hindering acids and salts. There are, however, some further direct and important influences. One of them, not often mentioned but very evident, is the scarcity of insects that aid in pollination. The proportion of flowers that are anemophilous, or wind fertilized, as compared with those that solicit insect aid, is considerable, as might be anticipated from the fact that flower-haunting insects are rare. Yet there are many flowers of the latter type, though mainly of species that do not absolutely depend upon insects for the fertility of their seeds. Another positive influence is the relatively protracted illumination during the period of growth. This, like many other influences operative here, has been shown to have a tendency to diminish herbaceous growth, affecting the size both of the plant and of its leaves; and to favour repro- duction. The devices that protect against too great trans- piration often serve at the same time to secure protection against excessive and prolonged illumination. Finally, the shortness of the season of growth is of large importance. It is this which forces a large proportion of the plants that are to survive under the conditions which Labrador supplies, to develop in a previous season the em- bryonic preparations for the leaves and flowers that are to appear the following summer. Hence is derived the THE FLOEA 403 magical rapidity of appearance of vegetation and of flowers, almost coincident with the disappearance of the snows. Hardly does the ground become clear of snow before flowers are there in its place. Not only is there barely any transition between winter and spring, but all kinds of flowers follow upon one another so quickly that spring, sum- mer, and autumn are all rolled into one quickly coming and quickly disappearing, brief, brilliant, and glorious summer season. This is the main factor that introduces a difference into the floral character of different latitudes. In all of them the same conditions are present otherwise, — the ex- posure to winds, the coldness of the soil, and other influences that conduce to physiological dryness, — but the season grows shorter as one advances farther north, and high latitude will thus conserve more and more the plants of the spring-blooming type, that prepare their blossoms and growths a season beforehand, and tend to exterminate those that come more slowly to maturity. In some places plants relatively unfitted will survive, but will lose some of their characteristics as the season of growth becomes shorter. Thus, Rubus Chamcemorus and Rubus arcticus, which are abundant and fertile in Newfoundland, the writer found to be much more rarely fertile in Labrador and to increase in rarity toward its northern extreme; and it is said that R. Chamcemorus survives, but is without flowers, at its most northern station. In some cases the length of the season suffices for flowers, but not for fruits and seeds. In such cases it would seem to be, not the temperature itself, as Schimper puts it, but the length of time during which the warmer temperatures persist, that determines the surviving species and their reproductiveness. 404 LABRADOR All of these influences together, the most important of which are evidently the amount of available moisture and the length of the season of temperatures favourable to growth, determine the characteristics of vegetation on the coast of Labrador. The prominent features that result have most of them been already described. A few others, however, still remain to be considered. One of them is the great variability of the flowers. I observed it myself markedly in several species. In Rubus Chamcemorus and R. arcticus, the petals and calyx lobes ranged in number almost indiscriminately between four and six; and in the former the ends of the calyx lobes were sometimes single- pointed and sometimes toothed, the number of teeth vary- ing, and its leaves were often spotted or even entirely coloured with deep purple. In Ledum palustre, var. dilata- tum, flowers of the same cluster showed no constancy in the number of their stamens, any number from five to eleven being present. Sedum Rhodiola is very variable. In flowers of the same plant I found petals ranging in number from three to seven, sepals from three to five, scales from two to four, stamens from five to thirteen, and pistils from two to nine. In Cornus Canadensis, I noticed one variety with six upper leaves arranged in a whorl, with each side of the four-sided stem grooved, and with greenish white flowers; another with three pairs of opposite leaves, only two of the sides grooved, and flowers dark purple or maroon, both calyx and corolla; and a third with characteristics between these two. Pedicularis also, to my inexpert bo- tanical eye, seemed to present a greater variability than could be accounted for by the number of already reported species. THE FLORA 405 Of fruits, the most common are such as depend on dis- semination by wind or by birds and other animals. A few species depend on other methods mainly, as in case of the large easily floating bladders or pods of Oxytropis and other legumes, or of large seeds that rarely find their way far from the parent plant. But the families best repre- sented in individuals, and largely also in species, are such as bear small berries (Ericaceae, Empetrum) attractive to animals, or numerous small light seeds, or spores, easily spread abroad by the wind (mosses, grasses, Cruciferce, Caryophyllacece, Compositce) . The regions of Arctic vegetation possess relatively fewer species and varieties than more favoured localities, and most of these are the same as those growing in the colder tem- perate zones. As Hooker 1 points out, uniformity in physical characters and absence of those changing con- ditions which we assume to be stimulants to variation (different combinations of conditions of heat, light, mois- ture, and mineral characters) give uniformity in vegetation. Hooker gives the total number of flowering species in Arctic Europe as 616, in Arctic East America as 379, in Greenland as 207. On the other hand, he estimates that 5800 species exist in temperate Australia. Gray's New Manual of Botany (7th ed., 1908) enumerates about 4000 species of flowering plants and ferns, belonging to over 150 families, from the central and northeastern United States and Canada. But in Greenland, according to Schimper, there are only 386 species of vascular plants, belonging to 53 families. Labrador shows similarly a 1 Joseph D. Hooker, Distribution of Arctic Plants. Trans. Linnean Society, 1862, Vol. XXIII, p. 251. 406 LABRADOR relatively low number of species and families. It is im- possible to give exact figures. We have already noticed both that all these northern lands are still insufficiently explored, and that the nomenclature of their known plants needs careful revision. The figures quoted from Hooker and Schimper cannot be regarded as accurate. Yet with all the revision to which they may be subject, the large difference existing between Arctic and temperate regions remains strikingly true, and its degree is probably fairly well indicated by the figures given. The writer has at- tempted a calculation for Labrador, based on all the reports, reliable or otherwise, known to him in January, 1905; but its results, for the foregoing reasons, must not be regarded as very exact. According to it, there occur in Labrador not far from 425 species of vascular plants, belonging to 50 families. In addition to these there are about 300 species of bryophytes and fungi so far discovered. The number of species in the orders best represented is as fol- lows: Composite 36, Ericaceae 31, Cruciferce 30, Roseacece 29, Cyperacece 28, Graminece 27, Caryophyllacece 26, Salica- cece 19, Saxifragacece 19, Ranunculacece 19, Scrophulariacece 14. The number of species in the genera best represented is: Carex 21, Salix 17, Potentilla 11, Saxifraga 11, Draba 11, Ranunculus 10, Arenaria 9, Epilobium 9, Vaccinium 7, Pedicularis 7, Lycopodium 7, Stellaria 6, Poa 6. Having now studied the main influences affecting the flora of Labrador, and the characteristic features of its plants resulting therefrom, we are in a position to consider the general appearance of the Labrador landscape near the coast, so far as it is determined by vegetable life. It will be necessary to distinguish several different regions or THE FLOE A 407 typical situations, each with its own peculiar aspect. We may conveniently divide these into the areas of forest, of sea-shore, and of the tundra, and the latter again into sev- eral subdivisions. 1. The forest region is best described by Low.1 He says : "The southern half of the Labrador Peninsula is included in the subarctic forest belt, as described by Professor Ma- coun. Nine species of trees may be said to constitute the whole arborescent flora of this region. These species are: Betula papyri/era Michx., Populus tremuloides Michx., Populus balsamifera Linn., Thuya occidentalis Linn., Pinus banksiana Lam., Picea alba Link., Picea nigra Link., Abies balsamea Marsh, and Larix Americana Michx. The distribution of the forest areas and the range of the various trees depend on several factors, among which may be mentioned, position as regards latitude, height above sea-level, distance from sea-coast, and char- acter of the soil, all of which are important. The forest is continuous over the southern part of the peninsula to between latitudes 52° and 54°, the only exceptions being the summits of rocky hills and the outer islands of the At- lantic coast. To the northward of latitude 53°, the higher hills are treeless and the size and number of the barren areas rapidly increase. In latitude 55°, more than half the country is treeless, woods being only found about the mar- gins of small lakes and in the valleys of the rivers. Trees also decrease in size, until, on the southern shores of Un- gava Bay, they disappear altogether. . . . The tree line skirts the southern shore of Ungava Bay and comes close to the mouth of the George River, from which it turns south-southeast, skirting the western foot-hills of the At- lantic coast range, which is quite treeless, southward to the neighbourhood of Hebron, in latitude 58°, where trees 1 A. P. Low, Report on Explorations in the Labrador Peninsula, Ann. Rep. Geol. Survey of Canada, 1896, Part L, Vol. VIII, pp. 30 ff. 408 LABRADOR are again found in protected valleys at the heads of the inner bays of the coast. At Davis Inlet, in latitude 56°, trees grow on the coast and high up on the hills, the barren grounds being confined to the islands and head- lands, which remain treeless to the southward of the mouth of Hamilton Inlet. These barren islands and bare head- lands of the outer coast, along with the small size of the trees on the lowlands, have caused a false impression to be held regarding much of the Atlantic coast, which from Hamilton Inlet southward is well timbered about the heads of the larger bays and on lowlands of the small river- valleys. . . . Picea nigra is the most abundant tree of Labrador and probably constitutes over ninety per cent of the forest. . . . Larix Americana is probably the hardiest tree of the subarctic forest belt; it grows everywhere throughout the Labrador Peninsula, and is probably next in abundance to the black spruce. . . . Throughout the forest belt, the lowlands fringing the streams and lakes are covered with thickets of willows and alders. As the semi-barrens are approached, the areas covered by these shrubs become more extensive, and they not only form wide margins along the rivers and shores of the lakes, but with dwarf birches occupy much of the open glades. The willows and birches grow on the sides of the hills, above the tree line, where they form low thickets exceedingly difficult to pass through. Beyond the limits of the true forest, similar thickets of Arctic willows and birches are found on the low grounds, but on the more elevated lands they grow only a few inches above the surface. In the southern region, the undergrowth in the wooded areas is chiefly Labrador tea (Ledum latifo- Hum) and laurel (Kalmia glauca), which grow in tangled masses, from two to four feet high, and are very difficult to travel through. In the semi-barrens this undergrowth dies out, and travel across country is much easier in conse- quence. In the southern regions the ground is usually THE FLOE A 409 covered to a considerable depth with sphagnum, which northward of 51° is gradually replaced by the white lichens or reindeer mosses (Cladonia), which grow freely every- where throughout the semi-barren and barren regions." The traveller along the coast, who penetrates but a short distance into the interior, will find little evidence of this forest area, except in sheltered places at the heads of bays. Of the trees and shrubs mentioned by Low, I found only Abies (no farther north than Hamilton Inlet), Larix, Picea, — and none of these evergreens were seen north of Hebron, — and, mainly in dwarf forms, Alnus, Betula, and Salix. Nowhere did I find thickets of undergrowth that offered any obstacle to travel. 2. The most common plants characteristic of the sea- shore are seaside sandwort (Arenaria peploides), sea- lungwort or ice-plant (Mertensia maritima), Potentilla anserina and tridentata, a few large Umbelliferce (Ccelopleu- rum actceifolium, Conioselinum Canadense, Ligusticum Scoticum), and one or two species of Plantago. Iris and Lathyrus maritimus also are not unusual in the more south- erly regions. Besides these, almost all of the more common plants of the tundra may occur close to the sea-shore. On sandy places, which are rather rare in Labrador, and which are exposed preeminently to the effect of high winds and scanty water, the number is more limited. For example, on one low sand-dune which I studied at Pottle's Cove, close by the entrance to Hamilton Inlet, in latitude 54°, I found only the plants enumerated below, though many others grew on the rocky heights in the near vicinity. The more abundant are italicized, the rest were rarer. a. In the more exposed situations exclusively: Arctos- 410 LABRADOR taphylos alpina, Betula glandulosa, Empetrum nigrum, Abies balsamea, Juniperus communis, Picea nigra, Boletus. 6. In the more sunny and protected situations exclu- sively : Rubus arcticus, Potentilla tridentata, Taraxacum, Polyganum viviparum. c. In both, but mainly in the more exposed : Cerastium alpinum, V actinium Vitis-Idosa, var. minus, Rhinanthus Crista-galli, Sdix Brownii. d. In both, but mainly in the more protected: Draba incana, Coelopleurum actseifolium, Cornus Canadensis, Achillea millefolium, Solidago macrophylla, a fine thin unknown grass. e. In both about equally: Stellaria longipes, Lathy rus maritimus, Sedum Rhodiola, Elymus arenaria, Poa pra- tensis, var. domestica, Barbula ruralis, Brachythecium, Hylocomium splendens. At Ford Harbour, a little farther north (56°), the follow- ing additional species (some but not all of the above being present also) were found in a similar situation: Arenaria Grcenlandica, Silene acaulis, Astragalus alpinus, Oxytropis, Saxifraga Grcenlandica, Epilobium latifolium, E. spicatum, Antennaria, Solidago multiradiata, var. scopularum, Tarax- acum officinale, var. palustre, Pyrola grandiflora, Vacci- nium uliginosum, Polyganum Islandicum, Salix herbacea, S. Uva-ursi, Polytricum commune, Lycoperdon, Festuca rubra, Hieroehloe alpina, Car ex rigida. 3. The open country uncovered by forest, whose highest growths are low shrubs or shrubby, stunted forms of trees, and which are more or less continuously carpeted with Arctic plants of many kinds, is called the tundra. It is 'the formation that will be most often met with by the voy- THE FLOEA 411 ager along the coast; and since Labrador, as at present geographically limited, and as it must always be known to the great majority of visitors, is but little more than a coast-line, the tundra is the characteristic Labrador for- mation. " Beyond the last stunted trees," says Schimper/ aso far as ice does not cover the ground, the frigid desert, or tundra, almost alone dominates Arctic mainlands and islands. Only in the less cold and therefore chiefly southern tracts in the Arctic zone, in more favourable localities a few less insignificant formations exist; for instance, willow- bushes and small meadows on river-banks and in fiords, or even formations of dwarf shrubs, which consist of a denser growth of the same evergreen, small-leaved, shrubby species as appear singly in the tundra between mosses and lichens. Dwarfed growth, a , distinctly xerophilous character, the predominance of mosses and lichens, the incomplete cover- ing of the ground, — these features are everywhere charac- teristic of the tundra. ... In the less cold tundra dis- tricts, more soil is occupied by vegetation than unoccupied ; even wide tracts can have a continuous carpet of lichens. Where the climate is most rigorous, the vegetation forms only widely separated patches on the bare, usually stony soil." Conditions in Labrador are such as to make possible the close continuous growth almost everywhere. It is inter- rupted only by the occasional intrusion of unfavourable or improved surroundings. These are of four types: the summits of the higher mountains; protruding areas of sparsely covered rocks and gravels ; collections of water in 1 A. F. W. Schimper, Plant Geography upon a Physiological Basis. p. 685. Oxford, 1904. 412 LABRADOR low depressions, forming moors ; and well-watered, sunny slopes. The first three of these are emphasized forms of the tundra; the last departs from the tundra type, form- ing oases in it. (a) The alpine conditions of the higher mountains, which are confined almost wholly to the northern half of the country, are unfavourable to any form of life. The summits consist of broken masses of rock, a Felsenmeer of rough and continuous boulders of various size. Among these, only scattered clumps of struggling plants can find footing and the essential conditions for living. The number of indi- viduals, even among the mosses and lichens, is small, and the species are few. On one summit (Mt. Faunce, 4400 feet, latitude 59°) I found above 3300 feet only the following: Cerastium alpinum, Draba fladnitzensiz, Saxifraga ccespitosa, S. rivularis, S. nivalis, Papaver nudicaule, Sedum ?, Luzula confusa, mosses (Andrecea petrophila, Bryumf, Pogonatum alpinum or urnigerum, P. capillare, Racomitrium lanugino- sum), and lichens (Alectoria diver gens, A.nigricans, Cetraria arctica, C. cuculata, Sphcerophoron coralloides, Stereocaulon denudatum, S. tomentosum, Theloschistes polycarpus, Umbili- caria proboscidea) . (b) On protruding rocks but few plants grow, in low, flat, spreading cushions. Areas of gravel are also but little hospitable to plants, and their covering is consequently scanty. The plants 'that find it possible to survive there are to some extent identical with those already described as growing well in sand. They are pioneers among plants, such as can take root and nourish themselves on the bare rock-grains and moisture; and their decay makes richer soil for others to grow in. The species of most common THE FLOBA 413 occurrence which I found in such situations are : Oxytropis campestris (rare), Arctostaphylos alpina, Loiseleuria pro- cumbens (rare), Vaccinium uliginoswn, V. Vitis-Idcea, var. minus, Diapensia Lapponica (growing in little rounded mounds on its own previous growth, very branchy, showing yearly additions outward and upward, — one specimen I examined was three inches in diameter and one and a half inches high in the centre) ; willows, Empetrumnigrum, Carex rigida (rare), Festuca brevifolia (rare); three mosses (Di- cranum, Polytricum strictum, Racomitrium lanuginosum) , and a lichen ( Umbilicaria) . Dead roots and branches, especially of the willows and Ericaceae, were frequent, and on them grew other varieties of moss. Labrador tea and grasses flourished on the edges of these bare patches, where some soil had already been formed. (c) " Shallow depressions of the tundra, where the water of melted snow and ice accumulates in the soil, become swamps in the form of tundra-moor, and there a scanty peat bears a thin layer of sphagnum with a few small phanero- gams. Such places correspond physically but not physi- ologically to the oases of the dry desert" (Schimper). The moor presents many features that are unfavourable to the life of plants. Humous acids are abundant and pre- vent the easy absorption of moisture; mineral substances are hard to obtain, " owing to the great distance of the vege- tation from the mineral substratum and to the absorptive influence of humus, rendering it difficult for the plants to obtain soluble salts"; nitrogen is abundant, but in such form that the moor is among the poorest of soils in easily assimilable nitrogenous substances. Sphagnum is the characteristic and most abundant plant in such situations, 414 LABRADOR "Its spongy, water-absorbing cushions/' which " keep even the highest parts of the moor permanently saturated with water. . . . gradually grow in height, while the lower parts pass over into sphagnum peat " (Schimper). The following list of other plants growing in moors is that given by Schimper, with those of known occurrence in Labrador italicized. Some are characteristic of high-moor: Viola palustris, Vaccinium oxycoccus, Andromeda polifolia, Be- tula nana. Others are preeminently meadow-moor species : Epilobium palustre, E. tetragonum, Senecio aquaticus, S. paludosus, Gentiana pneumonanthe, several species of Carex. Many others that are essentially moor plants occur also in dry stations without peat: Vaccinium Vitis-Idcea; or on meadow moors: Drosera rotundifolia, Comarum palustre, Pedicularis palustris, Salix repens, species of Eriophorum, many species of Carex. Many moor plants compensate for their disadvantages by be- coming carnivorous: Drosera, Pinguicula vulgaris, Sar- racenia pur pur ea. (d) By far the most favourable and fertile situations in the whole country are the sunny slopes, exposed to the south, which are abundantly fed by water from melting snow-drifts, on which the water, not becoming stagnant, has no opportunity to accumulate humous acids . Schimper describes them thus : — u The physiological analogues in the tundras of the desert oasis are Heat-oases — sunny slopes protected from the drying winds — upon which the sunbeams fall almost per- pendicularly, and thus warm the water in the soil so that plants can obtain it in actual abundance. Such stations frequently resemble the flower-beds of a garden. Accord- ing to Nathorst : — THE FLORA 415 " ' The plants of the slopes are in many respects the most interesting. The majority of them occur as strongly developed individuals, which here appear to thrive per- fectly, and apparently can ripen their seeds annually. This naturally is true of the good localities, namely, of the slopes that soon become free from snow. Here one has an opportunity of being able to observe the remarkable in- fluence of the sun's rays. Slopes, that a short time before were covered with snow, a few days later are adorned with several flowers ; the development of these can proceed so rapidly that one soon finds fruit as well, as in the case of Draba. Here one sees sometimes quite blue mats of Pole- monium pulchellum, or red ones of Saxifraga oppositifdia, with a varied mixture of other tints, yellow, white, green. . . . When the plants of the slopes occur in the plains, they are not usually so well developed as on the slopes, but the difference in this respect is much greater in some plants than in others/ ; The plants growing on these slopes are for the most part more flourishing individuals of the same species that are found on the surrounding tundra. I myself noticed only a few that seemed confined to these or similar situations : Ranunculus pygmceus, R. hyperboreus, Linn&a borealis, Gentiana nivalis. Many others might probably yet be discovered by careful attention to the influence of this particular situation. Such aspects of the vegetable growths of Labrador as have thus far been described may be considered as excep- tional. The predominant form of vegetation qn or near the coast is that of the true tundra itself. Its appear- ance as it occurs throughout Labrador I cannot better describe than in words which I have already used : 1 — 1 Report of the Brown- Harvard Expedition to Labrador, Geo- graphical Society, Philadelphia, 1902, pp. 129 ff., 168 ff. 416 LAB BADGE "The interior is said to be well wooded and far from barren, even almost to the northern extremity. But near the coast one rarely sees trees of any notable size. At Hopedale and Nain there are small groves near the mission stations ; but elsewhere we met them only deep in the bays and in sheltered valleys a considerable distance — five or ten miles at least — inland. Thus, when not entirely lacking, they form an unobtrusive feature in the usual landscape. The low vegetation that predominates clothes the country with a close green mantle, but leaves its shape and natural outline unconcealed. Inorganic nature reveals herself in her own primeval character, leaving all the strength and charm and variety that she can assume naked to observation. There is little of softness, little of the attraction that vigorous organic life can add; though the green of the low plants, the grays, reds, and browns of mosses and lichens, the blues and whites and pinks and yellows of the flowers, add a suggestion of this, yet in a way that never interferes with the stern grandeur of the lifeless masses. "The more northern landscapes differ from those thus far described mainly in the facts that the greater heights attained lead to grander impressions of massiveness and strength, and involve greater ruggedness and variety of form ; and that the softening influences of soil, water, and vegetation are present to a far less degree. . . . Plant life is still abundant on the lower levels, but finds little hospitality on the bleak higher slopes. . . . "The great mass of the vegetation of Labrador consists of low forms. It grows so thickly and vigorously in the thin soil, however, that the country never gives the impres- sion of being lifeless and barren. In the far south, es- pecially on moist lowlands, sphagnum is often a prevailing growth. But aside from its rather rare supremacy, almost everywhere we went we found the curlewberry (Empetrum nigrum) and the so-called caribou-moss (Cladonia, really a THE FLOE A 417 white lichen) together forming an almost continuous green and gray sward, touched with red in the autumn. The berries of the curlew are exceedingly numerous, and those of the previous season still cling thickly to the vine among the green new ones, and even until the latter begin to ripen in the middle of August. In the midst of this continuous curlew and moss grow occasional clumps of grasses of many kinds, and a great variety of flowering plants. Perhaps the most common of the latter are the Ericacece. Some of them are berry-bearing, with inconspicuous flowers, par- ticularly the blueberry (V actinium Pennsylvanicum and V. uliginosum), the mountain cranberry (V. Vitis-Idcea), and the bearberry (Arctostaphylos alpina). Others have more prominent flowers, such as the omnipresent Labrador tea (Ledum), together with the somewhat less universal Loiseleuria and Bryanthus. These are all exceedingly abundant in the southern half of the peninsula, but extend variously far to the north. The white clusters of the Ledum and the purple umbels of the Bryanthus are very conspicuous. In the autumn, the red-turning leaves of the Arctostaphylos are the most attractive of the season's colourings. There is also a large number of other plants that are constantly met with, though few of them are so nearly omnipresent and continuous as are most of those already mentioned. The bake-apple, or cloudberry (Rubus Chamcemorus) grows thickly as far north as Hebron, but very thinly beyond. We could find but very few of its ripe berries in Labrador, though in Newfoundland they seem to be common. Associated with its single white flowers are frequently seen the showy, rose-coloured ones of the Arctic raspberry (Rubus arcticus) . This also, so far as our experience could determine, had about the same limits and was equally rare in fruit . Bunch-berry (Cornus Canadensis) is likewise very common, especially in the south, and grows in thick groups. Dense tufts of the white-flowered Dia- pensia Lapponica and of the beautiful mosslike pink 2s 418 LABEADOE Silene acaulis greet the eye continually. Astragalus and Oxytropis, Dryas, a great variety of saxifrages, Sedum, Pedicularis, the violetlike Pinguicula, and many inconspic- uous Cruciferce and Caryophyllacece complete the list of forms more universally present in the early part of the season. " After the beginning of August, when we had reached a higher latitude, the character of the vegetation changed considerably. Caribou-moss, curlewberry, blueberry, and Arctostaphylos still remained the most continuous growths. But the flowers began to change to more autumnal forms. The Arctic goldenrod (Solidago Virga-aurea and S. macro- phylla) appeared abundantly. The large showy pink flowers of the Epilobium and the thick pink heads of Lychnis were very prominent. Yellow Arnica alpina and delicate blue harebells (Campanula) were common. A yellow poppy (Papaver nudicaule), with early deciduous petals, was not infrequent on the hilltops. A strikingly beautiful flower, though a rare one, was the small twin- flower (Linncea borealis) . Fungi, including Boleti, Russulce, and various agarics, also became very abundant toward the close of the summer ; they were fairly numerous in the north, and the moist woods about Nain and Hopedale were full of them." Thus far we have considered what are the main types and characteristics of the plant forms that occur in Labrador and the causes that make these predominant ; and what are the main features and less frequent varieties of its landscape, in so far as they are supplied by its floral cover: ing. If now we consider the affinities of the plants of this region with those in other parts of the world, a number of curious and unexpected facts present themselves. Who, for instance, would anticipate that the northern parts of America possess many more plants like those of Arctic THE FLORA 419 Europe than Greenland does? Or that there are many plants here identical with those growing on the southern slopes of the Alps, which are altogether lacking in northern Europe? Or, still more strangely, that one must seek in the Arctic regions of America, and not in Europe, for the closest resemblances to the plants that flourished in the far distant Miocene age in central Europe? Yet so we are assured by competent authorities. To these facts we may add the following statements from Hooker : — The polar regions have relatively fewer species and vari- eties than have other regions. The flora of all its parts is largely identical or closely similar, but is unequally dis- tributed. Of all Arctic regions, Greenland exhibits the greatest poverty in number of species. Many Scandina- vian plants have found their way westward to Greenland, but have stopped short on its west coast, without crossing to America; many American types terminate as abruptly on the west coast of Baffin's Bay, not crossing to Green- land and Europe; Greenland contains actually much fewer species of European plants than have found their way eastwards from Lapland by Asia into Western and Eastern Arctic America; the Scandinavian vegetation has in every longitude migrated across the tropics of Asia and America, while plants typical of these continents which have found their way into the Arctic regions have remained restricted to their own meridians. These facts, at first seemingly inexplicable, and actually so under existing conditions of sea, land, and temperature, naturally have their explanation in the evolutionary and geological history of our globe. Most of them will be understood clearly from the following account given by 420 LABRADOR Hooker,1 which in all essential points agrees with the the- ories advanced in the latest edition (10th) of the Encyclo- paedia Britannica: — "It appears to me difficult to account for these facts, unless we admit Mr. Darwin's hypotheses, first, that the existing Scandinavian flora is of great antiquity, and that previous to the glacial epoch it was more uniformly dis- tributed over the polar zone than it is now ; secondly, that during the advent of the glacial period this Scandinavian vegetation was driven southward in every longitude, and even across the tropics into the south temperate zone; and that on the succeeding warmth of the present epoch, those species that survived both ascended the mountains of the warmer zones, and also returned northward, accom- panied by aborigines of the countries they had invaded during their southern migration. ... If it be granted that the polar area was once occupied by the Scandinavian flora, and that the cold of the glacial epoch did drive this vegetation southwards, it is evident that the Greenland individuals, from being confined to a peninsula, would be exposed to very different conditions to those of the great continents. In Greenland many species would, as it were, be driven into the sea, that is, exterminated; and the survivors would be confined to the southern por- tion of the peninsula, and not being there brought into competition with other types, there could be no struggle for life amongst their progeny, and consequently no selec- tion of better-adapted varieties. On the return of heat, these survivors would simply travel northwards, unaccom- panied by the plants of any other country. In Arctic Amer- ica and Asia, on the other hand, where there was a free southern extension and dilatation of land for the same Scandinavian plants to occupy, these would multiply enormously in individuals, branching off into varieties and 1 Distribution of Arctic Plants, pp. 253 f. THE FLORA 421 subspecies, and occupy a larger area the farther south they were driven. . . . Hence, on the return of warmth, many more Scandinavian species would return to Arctic America and Asia than survived in Greenland; some would be changed in form, because only the favoured varieties could have survived the struggle." The summer visitor to Labrador, whether scientist or pleasure-seeker, may naturally be expected to have an interest not only in the scientific aspects of its flora, but also in the possibilities it presents of making additions to his food -supplies. These are meagre, but, so far as they go, of a very satisfactory nature. Garden vegetables, berry- bearing plants, and fungi nearly exhaust the list of com- monly known plants that is available for this purpose. The former are raised sparingly in the fishing villages of the southern portion of the coast, and by the missionaries at the Moravian stations as far north as Nain. Edible berries are exceedingly abundant, especially blueberries, Arctic cranberries, and curlewberries. The last two kinds require cooking to make them palatable, but then are de- licious. The cloudberry, or bake-apple (Rubus Chamcemo- rus) is abundant in some few parts of the country, and is much esteemed by the natives. Raspberries also are found in some localities. The fungi of Labrador have as yet received but little study. The most common kinds, both of which are easily identified by any one with a very slight knowledge of fungi, are apparently various species of Boletus and of Russula. These grow in considerable numbers almost everywhere. Several other kinds of fungi are obtainable in smaller quantities. They need much further investigation, and 422 LABRADOR their study offers a problem for further research, attractive for both economic and scientific reasons. Mention may also well be made of certain growths which, while not ordinarily attractive as foods, may yet serve in emergency to sustain life for an indefinite period. A list and description of a number of such " emergency foods/' easily available at any season of the year, has recently been given by Ernest Thompson-Seton (Country Life in America, September, 1904, Vol. VI, p. 438). After enu- merating several small forms of animal life that may serve in this way, he describes and pictures the plants. Among them are several abundant lichens (Cetraria or Iceland moss, Cladonia or reindeer moss, Umbilicaria or rock-tripe), the outer and inner (but not the middle) bark and the buds of aspen (Populus tremuloides) , the shoots of spruce and tamarack, the inner bark of willows and birch. Most of these need to be well dried at first, and then either roasted or boiled for a long time. It is evident that a knowledge of these plants and of their nutritious qualities might on occasion prove of the utmost value to the traveller in these regions. The party of Sir John Franklin lived almost ex- clusively on such diet for over three months. " Lowly in the scale of diet as they are in the scale of organic nature," says Mr. Seton, "the rock-tripes are yet reliable friends of man, and no one should travel in these vast inhospitable regions without a knowledge of their appearance, their qualities, and the best methods of preparing them -for human food." 1 1 Some of the edible plants here mentioned are of very common occurrence in all these northern lands. The list here mentioned could doubtless be largely extended. THE FLORA 423 A great deal of work is yet to be done by careful ob- servers before the full nature of the Labrador flora can be satisfactorily known. As yet only its more superficial as- pects have been reported. Hardly any attempt has been made to determine the influence of different types of situ- ations, and to enumerate the plants that flourish in each. It is but a rough preliminary survey that has thus far been accomplished. There must, moreover, still remain many species of plants undiscovered. Every new visit to the country results in fresh finds. A large number of species has been found in near-by regions as yet unknown in Lab- rador, but probably occurring there. A striking instance of this probability seems to be presented by the Cyperacece. According to methods of calculation already explained, which cannot be very exact, forty-seven of them seem to have been reported from adjacent localities, and only twenty- eight from Labrador. Other instances of similar impor- tance will probably be found. Especially large rewards may probably be expected from further investigations of the mosses, lichens, hepatics, and fungi. A considerable number ol those brought back by the writer in 1900 seemed to be new for that locality, so far as previous records showed. Labrador is no longer the inaccessible land of mystery it was a few years ago. Its marvellous scenery and varied charm are sure to attract more and more visitors year by year. Many will go for technical study, and will find a rich field for its pursuit. Most will be drawn by the love of an outdoor life, by the desire for adventure or for ser- viceableness in the Mission, by the opportunity for seeing and enjoying a strange and fascinating country. It is 424 LABRADOR for these latter mainly that this chapter has been written. The more they can understand and observe of the great wild garden that, if really seen and intimately known, makes impossible any thought of barrenness, the larger will be their pleasure. However small the knowledge with which he starts, no one need be deterred from attempting to gain a larger comprehension of these matters, so significant for the correct interpretation of the true nature of a country. If these be its features in which he is most interested, he will at least add enormously to his own satisfaction and insight. By making a carefully selected and well-annotated collection of plants, he may also, on submitting it to reliable experts, make some extension to the list of re- corded varieties and species that occur there. If he will prepare himself as well as possible beforehand and then make some special study of still unsettled points, such aa the edibility of various plants, the particular features of certain especially variable species and of the conditions under which they occur, the influence of particular situa- tions, soils, and conditions, he may well hope to make contributions to new knowledge. Plenty of such oppor- tunities are still open to the amateur. In spite of his own unfortunate experience in admitting errors into his published description, the writer still does not hesitate to encourage amateurs in endeavouring to make really new additions to knowledge in this far from fully explored field. The mistakes of an amateur may well be forgiven and gradually corrected, if he does not pretend to be any- thing more ; and confession of the difficulties met with by one of them may help to eliminate similar troubles in the future, and to render only real discoveries liable to pub- THE FLORA 425 lication. To make this more certain, the amateur must always know the authorities to whom he may surely appeal for final verification, and must leave to the pro- fessional and expert botanist all the more delicate questions of identification and the critical settlement of problems concerning structure, influence, and conditions. CHAPTER XVII ANIMAL LIFE IN LABRADOR BY WILFRED T. GRENFELL THE struggle for life among the Labrador mammals is well worthy the title. The state of the soil, climate, temperature, with the resulting conditions especially of the Flora, make it possible for only well-adapted and vigorous animals to live at all. The difficulty of survival is increased by the constant warfare among themselves, many having to live by preying on the others. The squirrel is never safe from the lynx, the caribou from the wolf, the rabbit from the fox. The snow betrays every movement, and in winter the weaker run a constant risk of extinction. Even our birds force upon us the fact that .the dire conditions of life induce in them no sentimental feelings of mercy. On one occasion my retriever brought me too fat auks which he had caught on the frozen bay, long after most birds have left us. It was Sunday morning, and to spare the prejudices of the people I was visiting, I forebore to carry them into the village. On the ground, however, the tracks of fox and lynx warned me that the birds were not safe. Accordingly I hung them high up in a tree. On returning a little later I found nothing but bones and feathers — an owl had probably visited my cache. Another time, having done the same thing with three fat partridges, we caught the robbers flagrante delicto. -They proved to be two small Canada jays. One very cold day, the sea being covered with young 426 ANIMAL LIFE IN LABRADOR 427 ice, I noticed a belated dovekie cheerfully diving after food among the slob, while the waters froze to our oars as we rowed. His pluck and contentment in such a lonely place made us feel very warmly toward him. As we watched he rose to wing, apparently to follow his friends to their more southern home. He had not risen a hundred yards, how- ever, when a hawk swooped on him like lightning from the cliff, and returned leisurely to his eyry with the struggling little fellow, there to tear to pieces alive our poor little friend. Moreover, now, man, their main enemy, is increasing in numbers. Besides his accumulated experience and his new destructive methods and weapons, he is continually en- croaching more and more on their territory. Every single animal lives in terror of man, yet none ever attacks him if there be any other alternative, unless it be his own half-fed dogs. All their efforts are directed towards escape. To afford themselves protection some of the weaker, such as the caribou, hare, partridge, and ermine, change the colour of their coat with the seasons. Nearly all grow longer hair and put on their best fur against the terrible cold of winter. The fat in the skins of the out-of-season fur is due to this effort, and is so sure a sign of poaching out of season that pelts showing fat on the inside are not allowed by law to be sold or to pass customs. Our seals and birds acquire cor- responding coats of fat, so that the former will float when killed. They are able to enjoy the bitterest weather div- ing under the ice — while the birds have energy enough stored in that form to enable them to accomplish their long journeys to South America, the Antilles, and even to Asia and Europe, without needing to stop to replenish their 428 LABRADOR stock. Black bear and woodchuck use this fat as food to enable them to sleep through the discomforts of winter. Most of the mammals have their special senses developed to an extraordinary degree. The wild goose and the eagle can both see better than we can even with the aid of a telescope, while huge owls prefer the dark for clear vision. A wolf or a beaver can tell the scent of an old trail of a man who has only passed once, and that hours before. A fox will hear the feeble chirrup of a mouse all across a marsh. Strangely enough, none of the mammals rely on sight for protection. Scent is no use down wind and very little over water. Hearing is an exceedingly unreliable guide as to direction, while sight would appear to be valuable under all circumstances. A seal often loses its life through its inability to know what it is looking at. It will put its head and shoulders out of water every minute to try and make out a man, and will come close up to him. I shall never forget my first caribou, and the "buck fever7' which made me fire nine times at him. I was lying in a perfectly open marsh, and the animal, which was looking straight at me, simply stood and sniffed the air and stared helplessly. The powder was, of course, smokeless. A friend, kneeling also in a perfectly exposed marsh, by simply stay- ing still, tolled a fox so close to him, that when he eventually fired, the shot, going like a bullet, nearly spoiled a valuable pelt. But foxes differ — all are not so foolish. A beaver will look at you down wind from only a few yards away, and yet not distinguish anything unusual. As shy an ani- mal as a marten will show no fear so long as you keep still. Slow, steady movement or stillness always inspires confi- dence. ANIMAL LIFE IN LABRADOR 429 Speed is, of course, one invaluable safeguard to our ani- mals, but dogged endurance is nearly always too much for them. A wolf cannot catch a caribou on a straight run, nor a fox a rabbit, but once they get a really fresh trail they are pretty sure to kill. I have seen the tracks of the chase of a fox by a lynx. Round and round the lake they went, the huge leaps of the lynx giving him an enormous advantage over the pitter patter of the fox — which was evidently speedier. But we found the trace of the final act : a bit of fur and a few tracks of blood. None of our animals live very long, except the whales, some of which are said to live a thousand years. Judging by the immense barnacles which grow upon their skins, it is easy to believe it of some of the hoary monsters which the .whalers tow into our factories. We consider that a fox or a caribou of fifteen, or a wolf of twenty years, are in their dotage. I remember one old black-beaked gull which has been in cap- tivity thirty-two years. Solemnly each year she makes half a dozen nests in different places, finally laying three unfertilized eggs in one, with the regularity of clockwork. The numbers of animals killed by man each year vary greatly. Thus in 1910 and 1911 large numbers of foxes were killed, while in 1911-1912 scarcely a fox was caught and all fur was scarce. The reasons attributed were that in 1910 the mice and learnings were very few and the foxes had to come to the outer trapping grounds, hunting food nearer the land-wash, and their hunger made them readily take bait. In 1911 mice were again very plentiful, and some foxes certainly went farther inland for them. Some were caught, but probably too large a toll of breeders had been taken the year previous. 430 LABRADOR Canis occidentahs. — The timber wolf of Labrador seems to be deficient in the noble qualities allotted to him else- where. I can find no account of his having courage to attack even an unarmed man, though on several occasions men have been followed by small packs of wolves almost to their doors. I heard of one boy who was attacked by a wolf, but he fired his gun in its face and ran away without waiting to see what happened. It seems certain that they kill defenceless animals merely for the pleasure of killing them. Settlers have many times described to me how they have found carcasses of freshly killed deer within a short distance of one another, only the tongues having been eaten and the windpipe torn out. This method of killing may account for the tongue being eaten, owing to its attachment to the larynx. The wolves have frequently come out and mixed with the Eskimo dogs, killing and eat- ing them. This has been used to their destruction by peg- ging out sluts, and so attracting the wolves within range. One trapper while tailing his traps noticed that he was being followed by three wolves. On his return to the spot where he had left a bag of flour he found that the wolves had been circling round it, but had been afraid to touch it. On stooping to pick it up he heard a growl close to him, and a single wolf stood facing him snarling. With considerable coolness he. stood still and took time to load his muzzle-loading gun. The wolf meanwhile was walking around. The other two wolves did hot show up out of .the thicket. When he was ready he shot and killed the one in sight, whereupon the other two dashed out of the thicket and fled. This man has had a very large experience with our wild animals. The wolf in question was far advanced in ANIMAL LIFE IN LABRADOR 431 starvation, and only 'the pangs of hunger gave the poor beast the courage to face a man. I have in my collection the skull of a large wolf which had killed itself by eating sticks. A piece the exact width of the mouth, cut off by the two large lateral teeth, had sprung across the mouth like a bow, and the pressure on each end had absorbed the alveolus of the jaw, so that the stick was right through on both sides above the teeth. The pressure had also ab- sorbed the bone above it, and eaten a long hole the size of the stick through the base of the skull, and so probably in- fected the brain. The stick is still in situ in the skull. The method by which the wolves destroy the caribou was hotly debated some time ago. I append two detailed de- scriptions from eye-witnesses. Mr. Flowers of Hamilton Inlet, hunting with his brother, noticed a full-grown caribou flying at top speed across the barrens. From the hill on which they were they watched it through their field glasses, and noticed it mount a neighbouring steep ascent at the same matchless pace, and then suddenly stop and lie down. Very shortly a large timber wolf came flying by. As soon as it sighted the caribou it turned off and ran to leeward, making a long circle as if afraid to go near. Probably it had had experiences before. Soon after two more wolves came along, and one of these also started to circle round. The other, however, went straight at the deer from behind, while its attention was drawn the other way. It ran right in under the forelegs and grabbed the deer high in the throat. The deer, a fine old stag, reared up on his hind legs, the wolf still holding on. The deer then went down and tried to knee the wolf to pieces against the hard ground. Just at that moment one of the party shot the 432 LABRADOR deer, with the result that all three wolves got safely away. The deer would certainly have been killed anyhow. In the second case, the deer, a doe, took to the water and swam off to a small islet. The wolf, a single one, only followed after a long delay, and did not seem very anxious for the fight when he first landed. However, when he did begin, the deer succeeded in knocking him down three times by rising on her hind legs. But the wolf got hold by the throat, and the caribou would probably have been quickly killed, even if a shot had not at that moment ended her life. In other cases I have known them to be hamstrung, or disabled, by the wolf biting the small of the back. Rangifer arcticus, or Rangifer caribou (Caribou). — The young are easily tamed and very affectionate. One which I had as a companion on our steamer would always bleat after me as I left the side in a boat, would follow me where- ever I went on the land, and would swim off after me again when I left the shore. If it was in the field and heard my voice it would at once rush to me, and would stand up on its hind legs and batter the palings in its attempts to ac- company me when I left. They have also been tamed and used for traction in Newfoundland, in isolated instances. Only the woodland variety are commonly found in the south of Labrador, and these have not noticeably diminished. Their paths suggest that for ages they have been there in great numbers — just as they still are on the barren lands to the west of the Bay. The almost extravagant supply of their food which now goes unused in Labrador would insure protected herds great abundance and permanence of food. Lutra Canadens is (Canada Otter). — These animals are ANIMAL LIFE IN LABRADOR 433 among our most reliable furs. They do not seem to have appreciably decreased. They make rude lairs under the snow near some open running water. They seem able to catch fish whenever they wish to do so, summer or winter, but whether they merely outswim, or simply pounce on their prey like a hawk, is doubtful. They never seem to starve like wolves and foxes, being almost always in good condition. No water at all adheres to their coats, so, unlike a dog, they appear not to " freeze up." They are among our most enduring animals. A friend described how he had seen a fox on one occasion sight an otter, and at once attack it. The otter, however, turned on his assailant and damaged him so badly that he was glad to escape with his pelt in a woful condition for the fur market. Their characteristic urub" is so evident on the snow that they are easily marked down, and by waiting quietly can readily be shot in the water. I had a similar story told me of an otter and a lynx. The lynx, waiting in hiding, pounced on the otter as he came out of a pond with a fish. But the otter gave such a good account of himself that the cat fled. Ursus Americanus. — The black bear is one of our commonest furs. As he is large and his flesh excellent eat- ing, he is, unfortunately, always shot at sight, though his skin in summer is practically valueless. The meat is like dark mutton. He is a most harmless creature, and I can get no record of even a mother with her family (generally two) having been dangerous to man. A trapper on snow- shoes in the spring came on a bear just out of his cave. He gave chase, and, owing to the deep, soft snow, the bear had no chance of getting away. Seeing that it was fight or 2F 434 LABRADOR die, the bear attacked, only to learn, however, that against modern guns he had no chance. The poor beast's attack was entirely due to his inability to avoid death. Apropos of caves, the black bear is, of all our mammals, the one which looks out most for his personal comfort. With us they "cave up" and' sleep for about six months to avoid the cold of winter. I once purchased a young cub taken from its dead mother soon after its birth. When October came, we placed a barrel in the bear's run to see if he would know how to make a nest, not having had any opportunity of a "school of the woods." He took to it, however, with apparent zest, and no less efficiently for lack of education. He lined the barrel with grass and moss, and padded it all tight and solid with his paws, almost as a man would do. On one occasion a trapper on his fur path found a con- venient hole into a cave under a cliff. He crept in, lighted a small lantern which he carried, and, after having his supper, lay down to sleep. In the night a noise, as of some visitor, awakened him, and he turned up his lantern to find a large bear, standing as high as the roof. He promptly shot the bear and got outside, where, by waiting, he got two others. Their fondness for sweets, and especially molasses, occa- sionally gets them into trouble. One time a trapper hauled over $200 worth of food to one of the huts on his fur path. When he came back he found a big hole through the roof and most of his food spoilt. He nailed up the hole twice as strong and headed up the barrel of molasses. On his next visit he found that bears had again got in, broken the top of his barrel, and eaten all his molasses. These bears also eat fish along the land- wash, as well as ANIMAL LIFE IN LABEADOE 435 berries, and will occasionally catch fish in the ponds and pools. Many attempts have been made to keep them as pets, and I did succeed in keeping two for quite a long period. The general experience is, however, that they re- main bears, and are not to be trusted. They have a habit of playfully hitting with their paws, and their long nails inflict very nasty scratches. I have had more than one experience of this. Gulo luscus L. — The wolverine is considered by all our trappers as the wiliest of our wood folk. He will reach under a trap and turn it over so that it will go off safely, almost every time. Rather than go into a lynx house by the open door, which is of course guarded by a leg trap, he will dig down under the back of it, and come up inside, and thus get what he wants, viz. the bait. He is far the most persistent trap robber. Not satisfied with having eaten all he needs, he will take a marten out of a trap and bury it, and then following the man's trail all along the fur path, he will rob any and all of the other traps as he passes. The Indians have a tradition that the wolverine never eats a marten, but simply steals them out of wantonness and buries them. I have known of one of these beasts stealing fourteen marten at one time, and these were suspended in a tilt. In the same way he will climb a tree and rob a scaffolded cache of food. Their endurance is perfectly re- markable. An old wolverine was caught by the fore leg in a steel " jumper" trap at Paradise; fourteen days later he was sighted and shot at Dove Brook, a good twenty-five miles away. The steel trap and chain were still on the poor beast's leg, which was not frozen. When first seen he was carrying the trap in his mouth, and quite a large 436 LABRADOR ball of ice had formed on it, apparently where the saliva had made it sticky and the snow had balled on it ; yet the poor brute was marching along on his journey. A wolverine taken in a trap shows fierce fight and endurance. From the latter fact have arisen some of the stories of his cun- ning. Thus, a wolverine in a trap was hit over the head by a hunter, and " killed." But as soon as the trapper stooped to pick him up, he jumped up and bit him. On another occasion a wolverine lay "dead" while the trap was taken off his leg, whereupon he immediately leaped up and ran away. The red squirrels are very numerous and very tame. One frequently finds their caches of food in holes in the ground or in stumps. They will also make their way into houses and stores, appropriating biscuits, bread, and other pro- visions. At Rigolet, the Hudson's Bay Company's agents have twice found collections of biscuits amounting to nearly a barrelful, which the little fellows had carried off and stored for winter. Their skins are of little value, but the animals are not bad eating when proteid food is scarce. Castor Canadensis. — The Labrador beaver has been abso- lutely protected by law for many years, and in some of the rivers near the East Coast, which are only hunted by single settlers, has become quite numerous. The hunters are most law-abiding, for it is very easy to sell the skins, and there is practically no one in Labrador to enforce the law. Their sturdy honesty, however, has not permanently saved the beaver. The roaming Indians found the animals extend- ing farther up the rivers on to their own more central hunt- ing grounds, and followed them down-stream to the coast, killing every animal which they met with as they went ANIMAL LIFE IN LABRADOR 437 along. Being short of food, as they always are, and the meat of the beaver being most succulent, there was a double incentive, for they would carry the skins away and sell them on the Gulf Shore, where these Indians go for sup- plies and for their religious ceremonies. Meanwhile, they not only kill beavers, but all the other fur which the white settlers depend upon for their living. We have had more than once to take refuge under the fact that, though we are magistrates, we are not policemen. The beaver is the gentlest of our wood folk, strong, heavy, and active. He is entirely devoted to peace; even when caught when coming out of his house by a man's hand, he will not turn and bite, but will allow himself to be lifted out of the water and then dealt with at leisure. The humble muskrat is often caught lodging in the house of his larger congener, who appears not to mind this intrusion on his family circle. Otters, also, have been seen to enter occupied beaver houses, and though it seems unworthy of them, they have been found guilty of killing their hosts. One trapper told me that he was watching a beaver house, waiting to stake the last door as soon as the owner of the house returned. The ice was quite clear, but four or five feet thick. Hearing some animal crackling and creak- ing along the bank, he lay and watched. Presently he saw a pair of otters swim out under the ice and enter the still open door of the beaver house. On his logging brook, Mr. Harry Crowe had dammed the brook in order to raise the level for log floating. This happened to interfere with a beaver whose house was just above, so he had to build the house higher and higher till ft was like an Eiffel Tower. But one night he carne down- 438 LABRADOR stream to see what the matter was. Finding the dam, he coolly pulled out the mud and caulking, and lowered the level again to suit his pleasure. When, however, the loggers rebuilt the dam, the beaver very philosophically moved house and rebuilt in a pool much higher up-stream. Erethizon dorsatum picinum. The porcupine is not very common, but is considered by our settlers as the best eat- ing of any of the animals. The flavor differs with the season, and it is best in summer and fall, when he lives mostly on berries. In the spring he is apt to be " sprucy, " as at that time he lives in the trees, and eats practically noth- ing but bark. As he prefers the soft bark, he often kills the trees, but though he destroys our small firs, often as many as a hundred in a winter, he is not so numerous as to be a serious economic danger. Perhaps it is as well that our herbivorous mammals choose different ways of meeting the winter. Thus, the bears sleep, the rabbits eat young birch, the squirrel stores food, the porcupine keeps to conifers. In spite of his succulency he has little to fear from his enemies — except man. His short thick quills are barbed as well as sharp, and many a dog, wolf, or fox has attempted his life at the cost of their own. Once a quill gets well set in, every movement drives it on, so that festering sores are caused all over the body. Dogs get them in their tongues, and I have seen a fox skin spoiled by big sores left from the wounds of the quills. Thalarctus maritimus. — Most specimens of the polar bear which are taken now have come south on the floe ice in pursuit of the seal herds which have their young on it at about the latitude of North Newfoundland. They are our greatest travellers. I have found no instances of their ANIMAL LIFE IN LABRADOR 439 attacking man ; yet a large one will stand six to seven feet high, on his hind legs, and weigh about 1200 pounds. After having been carried south on the ice they are saga- cious enough to find their way north again, even if they have to take to the land to do so. Every year a ragged line of straggling polar bears lands somewhere between St. John's and Cape Chidley, and all immediately seem to start on their long trip to the north. I have followed their trail over barren land and thick woods to the edge of the Straits of Belle Isle. The bear went straight north all the while, swimming over to Labrador. It seems to us that they must have some magnetic sense, as no one ever heard of one going south by mistake. They will loiter on the outer islands, eating the eggs of the numerous sea birds as they travel. It would seem that they are conscious of having one black spot, their nose. In approaching a seal on the ice, they have been seen to hide it in the snow, and in swimming after ducks they sink their whole body under water, and leave only their black nose out, so as to toll the birds nearer. I have myself seen a polar bear swimming at least three miles out from land, in the open sea, and with no ice about. He too was bound north. When shot he floated fairly high in the water, so we judged he could remain swimming as long as he liked. They are not fleet or agile enough to escape from dogs, and many times the Komatik dogs have run them down, and, on one occasion at least, killed the bear without any assistance from man. In the water they have been killed frequently by the fishermen, with an axe, or even blows from an oar, or seal bat. They do not swim fast, but they dive well. We lost one this 440 LABRADOR way in rough water, the white foam making it impossible to distinguish him when he came up. I have known a large bear to get at the seal oil in a headed-up hard wood puncheon, and actually break the staves, presumably with blows from his paw. Their flesh has a fishy flavor, but the natives value the meat very highly. Phoca Greenlandica. — The seal was once almost innumer- able, but is now getting scarce, owing to the pelagic fishing during the breeding season. They are of immense value to the residents for the skin, fat, and meat. They seem to share the magnetic sense of the bears and birds. A baby seal six weeks old is called a " beater," and goes straight north almost at once. That he does not permanently lose his way as he wanders off into the mouths of our big bays is a difficult fact to explain otherwise. Odobenus rosmarus. — A walrus was killed at St. Anthony on the northeast coast of Newfoundland in the spring of 1910. They are still occasionally taken along the east coast of Labrador, but are gradually being driven north. Lynx Canadensis. — The lynx is getting decidedly scarcer. His size and strength puts him with us among our most destructive animals. His skin has risen to about ten times the value it had twenty years ago. A trapper told me a story of two lynx who regularly hunted and rounded up a fox. I myself have seen where one had run down a fox and killed him. Another trapper described seeing two lynx attack an otter, which, however, got away safely. Putorius vison. — The mink has the habits of the otter and preys on fish. Arctorus ignavus.—Ou? woodchucks hibernate in the winter like bears. Our people have to leave their houses in ANIMAL LIFE IN LABRADOR 441 the bays and come to the outer islands to fish in the summer. They plant their gardens before leaving, and more than one woodchuck, burrowing in under a paling, has lived happily all summer at the expense of the family who are fishing. Vulpes rubricosa. — The fox has pups of varying colors from red to black. The silver and black coloured ones are now being bred in many places for their pelts, especially in Nova Scotia. They have now got a law in Labrador pro- hibiting the export of live wild foxes, in order to encourage the fox farming industry, which has just begun in 1912. A single pair of the animals alive has fetched as much as $10,000, while 1100 pounds sterling is said to have been paid by the late King Edward for a single skin for his Queen. Two silvers bred together will throw silver pups for certain after three generations. At present they breed only once a year, but it is supposed that in ease and domesticity they may be induced to breed oftener, like their conquerors, the dogs. They are exceedingly sly. I made an attempt to propagate foxes for several seasons before the movement became general, but my animals always lost or destroyed their young. This presumably was due to the fact that we failed to prevent streams of visitors from getting access to the pens. The silvers are always more sly than the reds. I had a red and a patch fox which would scream with joy whenever they saw me approaching the pen, and run to me like a dog. The adult is apparently not so clever as he is supposed to be; though there are many stories of foxes tolling geese and shell birds to shore by either walking up and down and showing only their tail, or lying quietly down •and waving it. As I have seen the same result occur 442 LABRADOR when my retriever has been running up and down quite visibly on the bank, it is possible that the manoeuvre really needs no supposition of especial cunning to explain it. A hunter in spring, on soft snow, will easily tire a fox out and run him down. Unlike most animals, foxes will eat one another. CHAPTER XVIII CONSERVATION AND EXPLORATION IN LABRADOR By WILFRED T. GRENFELL IT is patent to the most casual observer that coincident with the increase of population in any country the weaker creatures must inevitably go to the wall. This is as true of the aboriginal inhabitants as it is of the lower animal kingdom. Before men, armed with modern weapons of destruction, and with ever increasing means of transport, almost all the barriers behind which weaker Nature shelters herself are disappearing. In the Northwest the buffalo and the elk lands had to give way before cultivation, the prairies almost to the Arctic Circle are submitting to the taming hand of man, and the entrance of roads and rail- way tracks and growing townships ultimately make it practically impossible and even inadvisable to protect and preserve the wild creatures in their natural habitat. It is true that some animals can be domesticated and properly propagated in captivity, and so saved from extinction ; but many others must be lost to mankind unless large areas can be found where natural conditions make it easy and economically wise to assign sanctuaries for them. Unfor- tunately there seems to be a low level limit beyond which it is impossible for a particular species to recuperate, and this is especially the case with birds. On the other hand it has been shown that instinct teaches animals, and birds in par- ticular, the districts in which they are safe, however small 443 444 LABRADOR those regions may be. Note the gulls in our large har- bours, and the ducks and other sea birds which are safe in the middle of a city like San Francisco and feed fearlessly in huge numbers in the lake at Oakland, while a mile or two away, where gunners lie in wait for them, they are shy and unapproachable unless deceived by decoys. Nowhere in the world could be found a better natural reserve than Labrador. The impenetrable ice barrier which shuts it in in winter has, so far at least, defied the entrance of rapid transit and its vast area of over half a million square miles, except for its fringe of population along the seaboard, and its now roaming Indians, is still practically uninhabited. Its vast barrens, its enormous superficial fresh-water area, and its almost bare mountain sides seem to foretell that, however scientific are men's methods of farming, huge tracts must always in all probability be unoccupied by man. Of course in these days, when faith in the unity of elements is receiving currency, there is a possibility that if the ele- ments are transmutable, in some way Laurentian gneisses may be turned into gold, or even butter. No one can deny possibilities ! But except for the likely establishment of some few mines, geology seems to tell the same story as regards Labrador — that large areas of it will long be un- profitable for man's occupation. As a consequence, Labrador is still practically a land of pirates on Nature, or, as Hesketh Pritchard, in his delight- ful book, Through Trackless Labrador, puts it, we are '"a purely predatory people on a barren but luxuriant coast." The end can only be what might be expected when the golden goose is killed — those who lived off its eggs will CONSERVATION AND EXPLORATION 445 starve. So true is this that Professor W. A. Stearns, orni- thologist, who wintered on our coast, described Labrador as "a long barren coast, the miserable home of half-starved humanity." Any one who was to judge of the future of Labrador by such a category as follows might have some excuse for pessimism : - All natives, both Eskimo on the seacoast and Indians in the interior, are decreasing in numbers, and even the white settlers are scarcely holding their own. About one hundred Indians who came out only last winter had to live on the charity of the Hudson's Bay Post at Davis Inlet till May or starve. Walrus, practically gone. Whales, seriously diminished. Codfish, shoals scarcer and far more uncertain than formerly. Capelin, not nearly so abundant. Seals, so seriously diminished that the lack of food and clothing which they formerly provided is one chief cause of the depopulation of the country. Herring, once world famous, now no longer fished at all. Salmon, spasmodic, but greatly diminished. Trout, never a serious industry, but not at all what it was. White bear, only very occasionally seen now. Black bear, and all other fur-bearing animals, so much scarcer that in spite of trappers covering the country from as far in as Lake Petitsikapau and thence to the coast of St. Augustine, the total catch is getting annually smaller. Great auk, Labrador duck, oyster catcher, — extinct. 446 LABRADOR Eskimo curlew, in thousands twenty years ago, now practically extinct. (I got four in September, 1912.) Eider duck, much scarcer, once they lived on every island. Now very few nest on the coast at all. Canada goose, still plentiful. Black duck, widgeon, teal, and pintail, markedly fewer. Willow grouse, so variable that it is hard to gauge their numbers. Spruce grouse, scarcer. Puffins, guillemots, auk, noticeably less. Woodland caribou, scarcer. Barren Land caribou, uncertainly met with. Mrs. Hub- bard and Mr. Pritchard think still plentiful. At best it is a disheartening list, especially when we have to add that in a country so hard to reforest vast areas of the excellent pulp timber have been destroyed by fire. On the other hand, the fact remains that these waters are ideal for shoals of fish which are more valuable now than ever ; that seals can flourish in immense herds on the coast, and still pay a reasonable tax without serious re- sults, while aviation and motoring is making their pelts exceedingly valuable. For long-haired and dark furs this environment cannot be excelled, and every year the price of good pelts advances. They average more than 100 per cent more on this coast than they did twenty years ago. Moreover, the country can support enormous numbers of deer, and thus yield a huge quantity of proteid food which is increasingly needed by the outside world. This is clearly shown both by ex- periment and by Nature. Again, its numerous rivers and CONSERVATION AND EXPLORATION 447 estuaries, if properly guarded, can afford a supply of salmon and trout far superior in quality to the warm water fibrous fish of the North Pacific. Mr. Hesketh Pritchard and other writers have claimed that for travellers Labrador will one day be the Norway of North America, when once the means for comfortable transport along its magnificent seaboard is obtainable. But if its wild life is all destroyed, and as it has no historical monuments to boast of, it must lose a great deal of its attractive possibilities, just for want of scientific attention and capital. One other lamentable feature which cannot help striking the intelligent observer is the immense waste of Labrador. There is as yet no cold storage to improve the value of exports. All offal of cod and all coarse fish are wasted. Capelin and herring are put to no commercial value. Norway last year showed a record of : — Waste herring ground to flour $709,412 Extracted herring oil 258,376 Gauno made from cods' heads 336,211 Cod roes . 312,543 $1,616,542 Our innumerable berries rot where they grow. There has been no attempt whatever at the adaptation of plants or animals. Immense water powers and vast pulp lands are yet entirely undeveloped. Our coast is poorly lighted and charted ; yachts are practically unable to visit us. Nothing is done with fresh-water pearls, mussels, kelp, and other possible sources of revenue. Some advance, however, has been made. In summer there are wireless telegraph Stations nearly halfway down our coast, and a small 448 LABRADOR steamer has been detailed to visit along the northern two hundred miles as far as Cape Chidley. This northern part is much the most picturesque section of Labrador. But the vessel is still sadly inadequate for tourist traffic. The British Government has at last detailed a vessel for im- proving the surveys of the Labrador coast, and Dr. Louis King of Ottawa has done some excellent work on detecting the presence of icebergs in thick weather. The Hudson Bay Route is also approaching a working basis. It has been suggested also that steamers making the round trip from the Bay to the Gulf of St. Lawrence call at Labrador ports on the way. Personally I feel convinced that a winter port at Cape Charles in the Straits of Belle Isle could be made accessible all the year round. Many prospectors and timber cruisers have been ranging Labrador, and the universal decision has been that valuable pulp areas exist. A rush on land followed, and every acre, including barrens and lakes, was applied for and granted. Companies were formed and attempts made to sell stock on the London and New York markets. Each year we have been informed that some area would certainly be worked. Plans with the minutest details have been sent in, and we had a request from one company to find them a doctor. But nothing has yet begun, though it cannot be doubted that the logs are there in abundance. The diffi- culties of shipping, the long winter, and the lack of either roads, railways, or telegraphs has militated sorely against such plans materializing. Now, however, it does seem that a large syndicate, with a three-million-dollar capital, is to start in the spring, and if it does, it may be one more plea CONSERVATION AND EXPLORATION 449 for a Labrador railway. A second large lumber concern has also given us notice that they intend to commence operating this winter. But the snow is on the hills, and the ice making, and there are as yet no arrivals. Our reindeer experiment has advanced considerably. Next spring a herd goes to North Labrador in charge of some herders from that section, who have been trained at St. Anthony. Only a small number of people, and conse- quently few dogs are there, and these latter are the greatest menace to the success of the reindeer. A herd of fifty, with three of our herders, left in 1911 for Athabasca and a small herd of six has been privately purchased for the Indians of lower Quebec. We have had some trouble with the people killing our reindeer while hunting for caribou. But the Newfoundland Government has not yet been willing to create the north end of the island as a national preserve for the herd. We have found out that the same reindeer can no more be expected to be ranched for meat, to be milked for dairy purposes, and to haul and drive successfully, than can cattle or any other animals. Formerly we expected too much from them. For packing in summer they are all right, and in deep snow in early winter better for driving than dogs. The herd for ranching must be separate from the dairy ani- mals, and the latter must be taken from their fawns. Only the ox deer are used by us for hauling, which they do most excellently, though they are slow for driving. With only a very small sum for upkeep the herd must support itself, and so dairy experiments on any large scale have had to be postponed. In the fall of 1911 the first shipment of carcasses for the market from the Alaskan reindeer herds was permitted. 2a 450 LABEADOE One hundred and twenty-five carcasses were sent up in cold storage, and realized from twenty-five to seventy-five cents a pound. We have now one thousand deer, having sold fifty, killed over one hundred for meat for hospital, and lost one hundred and fifty through straying, illegal killing, and acci- dents. We have now given an option on four hundred of the animals to a company that is proposing to start in ranching on a commercial basis for the London and New York markets. This is one of the ends which we most desire, as it will give the industry that lasting hold on the country which will ensure its permanence and extension, without which, and the government backing such as is given in Alaska, it must remain on a very small scale as a mission enterprise. The experiment needs more money to make it mature quickly, otherwise it must attain its results very slowly. It is impossible to replace the dogs till there are enough deer to take their place. Commercializ- ing at once part of the scheme seems anyhow to us to be absolutely essential unless more money can be placed behind it in some other way. One exceedingly helpful circumstance is the advent to Labrador of a large fur-farming concern. The great success made of fox farming in Nova Scotia and Maine has en- couraged this enterprise, and there is every prospect of its becoming a great success. Small receiving stations have been established all along the coast, and Mr. Clarence Birdseye, the manager in charge, is creating a central farm. He is a trained naturalist of proved ability, having done three years' service in the field, under the Federal Govern- ment at Washington. With characteristic energy he has CONSERVATION AND EXPLORATION 451 already succeeded in getting two laws passed to prevent the exportation of live wild foxes, and also of digging and de- stroying their burrows in summer. He anticipates that in future he may add mink, marten, and even otter and beaver breeding to his work. Enthusiastic prospectors continue to seek for the gold that the finds in the similar belt of rocks in the middle and far Northwest have suggested. Gold discoveries in Baffin Land sent four expeditions flying down there this summer. In short, everything seems to point to the fact that Labrador will come to her own in the not very distant future. APPENDICES I INSECTS OF LABRADOR The Insects, excluding the Beetles BY CHARLES W. JOHNSON OUR knowledge of the insects of Labrador is based largely on the various papers by Alpheus S. Packard. The lists of the species recorded in these papers were later brought together and pub- lished in his work, The Labrador Coast. In this work about two hundred and twenty species are mentioned. A few additional species from the interior are listed in A. P. Low's Report on Ex- plorations in the Labrador Peninsula.1 These, with a few scattered species, make the total number about two hundred and fifty. This is a small number if we consider the whole Labrador penin- sula, but a large number when we take into account the limited amount of entomological work which has been done and the small area covered. A. P. Low defines the southern boundary of the Labrador pen- insula as a straight line extending nearly east from the south end of James Bay, near lat. 51°, to the Gulf of St. Lawrence near Seven Islands, in lat. 50°. This gives a clearly defined geograph- ical area, which, bordered by Arctic seas, and a more elevated interior, gives quite uniform climatic conditions, and would make it possible to study the insect fauna to better advantage than if it were limited by political boundaries. The section from which nearly all the insects have been collected (the immediate coast-line) is in that portion of the boreal region which has been designated as Arctic, the flora and fauna of which are largely governed by the effect of the winds from the cold Arctic seas. On the other hand, a short distance inland, we enter the subarctic forest belt, or Hudsonian Zone, with a much richer insect fauna than could exist on the bleak, storm-swept coast, 1Am. Rep. Geol. Survey of Canada, Vol. VIII, 1895. 453 454 APPENDIX I The close proximity of the wooded section in the more southern portion and the narrowness of the so-called Arctic Zone causes it to be inhabited during the summer by many species from the strictly Hudsonian area to the west and south, even though condi- tions are not favourable for their permanent existence. Botan- ically the two zones are quite clearly denned, but from an entomo- logical standpoint it would be difficult to draw the line. Taking the country as a whole, the two hundred and forty recorded species probably represent less than thirty-five per cent of the insects which will be found to inhabit this region. It is somewhat difficult to make an estimate of the number of species in the more northern latitudes, where the tendency is toward vast numbers of individuals and few species, and where the insects with incomplete metamorphosis are poorly represented. There are, however, many reasons for considering that our knowledge of the insects of Labrador is very imperfect. The country with its comparatively rich flora (over five hundred species) presents quite favourable conditions for insect life, a fact which is shown by the large number of species recorded from the so-called Hudson Bay region, and the tendency of species in northern latitudes to extend entirely across the continent. There has been an almost total neglect of the Diptera, or flies, the order most prevalent in boreal regions, only fifteen species being recorded, while from Alaska, for example, two hundred and seventy-six species represent- ing one hundred and thirty-eight genera and thirty-six families were obtained by Professor Trevor Kincaid of the Harriman expe- dition during the summer of 1899. Under each order will be given a brief account of our present knowledge of the insects of this region, with notes on their habits, distribution, and other features of general interest. I am indebted to Mr. H. H. Newcomb for the loan of some butterflies, to Mr. J. A. Cushman for photographs, and to Miss L. R. Martin for drawings illustrating this article. The Diptera, or two-winged insects, comprise what are popu- larly known as flies, midges, gnats, and mosquitoes. .1 have stated that this is a very much neglected order, but I am told that they never neglect the visitor; in fact we would probably know more about the flies of Labrador if they were not quite so attentive. They constitute the most annoying, and at times an almost' un- bearable, feature of the short summer, nature seeming to strive to make up in individuals what it lacks in species. It seems remarkable that insects can increase in such numbers in so short a time, and under conditions apparently so unfavourable, but cold does not seem to hinder the development of certain species. Professor John B. Smith, in his work on the mosquitoes of New APPENDIX I 455 Jersey, has positively proved that during the early days of Feb- ruary, in water just above the freezing temperature, the larva of Culex canadensis hatches from the egg. A wingless snow gnat (Chionea valgd) is found only during the winter in the northern United States and Canada, crawling on the snow with the ther- mometer as low as 15° above zero. There are many other insects which seem to thrive under similar conditions. Another feature which enables Diptera to withstand most un- favourable climatic conditions is their diversity of habit ; aquatic, parasitic, herbivorous, and carnivorous, they feed upon almost everything from living tissue to the most putrid and decayed animal and vegetable matter, and are thus liable to be widely distributed through commerce. Many of the blood-thirsty species breed in water, the larva of the mosquito living in swamps and stagnant pools, while those of the black-fly frequent the rapidly running streams. These conditions, existing to so great an extent through- out the interior, present very favourable breeding places for these insects, and render some districts practically uninhabitable by man. A great similarity prevails throughout the whole dipterous fauna of the more northern regions. Many are circumpolar in their distribution, others differ so slightly that it is almost impos- sible to determine them from descriptions, and comparison with European specimens is necessary. That they have not become more differentiated is probably due to the uniform climatic condi- tions under which they have existed. In numbers the Diptera extend farther into the Arctic region than any other order of insects, therefore presenting one of the best groups for tracing boreal distribution. The flies include most of the many species of insects which infest mammals and birds. Of these parasites some may be ex- ternal, others internal. Their generally small size and the indif- ference of trappers and most collectors of animals and birds to their existence, is one of the principal reasons for our lack of knowledge of these forms, especially from more northern latitudes. It is doubtful if there is an animal or bird which is entirely free from a parasite. While these are probably less numerous in the colder region, the conditions are quite favourable, and they are undoubtedly more abundant than is generally supposed. There are two species of flies of which we know but little, but which we do know infest the caribou. They belong to the family (Estridse, popularly known as bot-flies. The habits of one of the species are apparently similar to those of the sheep bot-fly. A description, therefore, of what is known of the latter species may aid in studying the life history of the one infesting the caribou. The fly of the sheep-bot is about one-half of an inch in length, 456 APPENDIX I very rapid in its actions, and consequently not readily seen when flying. Its small size and obscure colouring would also prevent its detection when at rest in protected places during cold, wet- days, for it only flies during the dry, warmer days, at which time the female attempts to deposit its young larvae in the nostrils of the sheep. The eggs of the sheep bot-fly are retained until hatched in the oviduct, and emerge as young larvae or maggots. The appearance of one of these flies among a flock of sheep causes con- siderable alarm, and they try various ways to prevent it from depositing its young larvae. They huddle together, lie down and bury their noses in the dirt, and even raise a cloud of dust to deceive their enemy. When deposited in the nose of the sheep, the young maggot, by means of small hooks and spines, begins its migrations upward through the nostrils to the frontal sinuses. The move- ment of the larva, as it increases in size, greatly irritates the poor victim, and it makes many attempts, by sneezing and snorting, to rid itself of the parasite. This is rarely accomplished, however^ until the larva reaches maturity, when it detaches itself from' the mucous membrane, reaches the nose, and is expelled by the violent snorting of its host. The grub remains about ten months in the nasal cavity of the sheep. After leaving the sheep it pupates and remains in that state from four to six weeks, when the adult fly makes its ap- pearance. Dr. Grenfell informs me that in all of the heads of the caribou that he has examined, he has found parasitic larvae, usually just below the ethmoid. The injury done the caribou by this parasite is not known, nor do we know the species, as neither the larva nor fly has been secured. It probably belongs to the genus Cephalo- myia. To work out its life history and determine the species would prove an interesting subject for investigation. The second species infesting the caribou is a subcutaneous para- site, which may prove to be the same as the reindeer bot-fly (GEde- magena tarandi). If not, it is a closely related species, with a life history probably similar to that of the ox bot-fly, or warble (Hypoderma). The eggs are deposited on and fastened to the hairs in a similar manner to those of the horse bot-fly, and always in a position within reach of the animal's mouth, as on the ^ fore legs and sides. In licking itself the animal transfers these eggs to the mouth, the saliva rapidly dissolves the hard egg cases, and the young larvae already formed within are liberated. These young spiny larvae pass by way of the oesophagus through the tissues of the animal to the subcutaneous tissue along the back, forming large tumours or swellings before reaching maturity. When the larva has attained its full size, it bores its way out and drops APPENDIX I 457 to the ground, into which it enters and pupates. It remains in this dormant stage about four weeks, when the fly emerges, soon to lay another lot of eggs. The larval period lasts about ten months, the presence of the larvae causing inflammation, loss of flesh, and injury to the skin. Dr. Grenfell says that he has seen a skin so perforated that it was practically impossible to cut from it a pair of" moccasins. Mr. Owen Bryant informs me that the caribou of Newfoundland are infested by what is apparently the same fly. The reindeer bot-fly is found in Alaska. The birds and mammals of Labrador would indicate the pres- ence of other families of insects. In the Diptera should be found members of the family Hipposcidae, popularly called the louse-fly, from their habits of living parasitically upon birds and animals. They have flattened bodies adapted for moving readily between the feathers and hairs. Some species have wings, while in others the wings are obsolete or wanting. The term Pupipara is applied to this group on account of its remarkable mode of reproduction. The eggs hatch within the body of the parent, the larva being retained and nourished until full grown and ready to change to the pupa. These flies are most commonly observed on the hawks and owls, although many other birds are infested. The owl-fly (Olfersia americana) lives upon the great-horned owl. The Pseudolfersia maculata Coq. ( = fumipennis) infests the osprey and loon, while on blackbirds and other small birds are frequently found the more common bird-fly, Ornithomyia pallida. Many species of the Mallophaga, or bird-lice, are probably present on various species of birds. The horse-flies, or gad-flies, are represented by the two most prominent genera — Chrysops, or deer-flies, and Tabanus, or true horse-flies. Both are at times very annoying, es- pecially in the woods, swarming about in great numbers and frequently FlG- 4- giving sharp bites. Pack- Larva of the Horse-fly, ard, in referring to these flies, says: "Half a dozen frightful horse-flies of gigantic stature hovered about. Now and then, when we are not watching, they will settle down on our hands and bite terribly, making a wound which does not heal for days." I am told the natives call them " waps," probably a corruption of "wasps." They are not as active on a cloudy day, and a strong breeze will usually disperse them. The three species of Chrysops are all black forms with the usual broad black band on the centre of the wing. Chrysops excitans (PL, Fig. 1) has two of the basal segments of the abdomen 458 APPENDIX I yellowish on the sides with a large gray triangle on the second segment. Chrysops mitis has the abdomen entirely black, with faint triangles of grayish hairs. Chrysops sordidus is distinguished by having the first and second segments of the abdomen marked with yellow on the sides, and the posterior margins of all the seg- ments narrowly bordered with gray, and a dorsal row of small triangles. The species are all of about the same size, a little less than a half inch in length, C. excitans as a rule being a little larger than the other two. The larger horse-flies are represented by at least six species, all belonging to the group with hairy eyes. These were formerly separated from the genus Tabanus and placed in the genus Therio- plectes, but they are now united, the character used in separating them being probably only of subgeneric value. The two most promi- nent species are Tabanus flavipes, or the yellow-footed horse-fly, and Tabanus zonalis, or banded horse-fly (PL, Fig. 2). They are nearly three-quarters of an inch in length, with wings spreading an inch and a quarter ; black, with the posterior margins of the abdominal seg- ments bordered with a band of golden-yellow hair; the wings are brownish, tinged with yellow toward the base. The two species closely resemble each other, but can be readily separated by the latter's having the tubercle in front of the base of the wing reddish, and the yellow bands of the abdomsn broader, with slight ante- rior projections on the second and third segments. The Tabanus auripilus of northern Europe is closely related to flavipes. Another species of about the same size is Tabanus affinis (PL, Fig. 3); it is a dark brownish black, with the sides of the abdomen red. The little-headed horse-fly, Tabanus microcephalus, is about one- half inch in length ; the head is comparatively small, not exceeding the width of the thorax ; the abdomen is marked with three rows of conspicuous grayish triangles. The northern horse-fly, Ta- banus septentrionalis, is similar in general appearance, but with a larger head and less prominent abdominal markings. The sixth species, Tabanus illotus, is distinguished from the preceding one by the broad, distinctly excised, third antennal joint, and faint brown clouding on the cross- veins. The larvae of the horse-flies (Fig. 4) are aquatic or subaquatic, living either in the mud in streams and swamps, or in wet earth adjacent to springs. The eggs are placed on plants overhanging the water or in very wet situations. The eggs hatch in about a week, and the young larvae drop into the water or mud. The larva? are carnivorous, feeding upon other insects and snails, and probably repaying to some extent their annoyance when adult. They are cylindrical, tapering gradually toward the end, and usually translucent, whitish, and in some of the larger species FIG. I. Chrysops excitans (enlarged) FIG. 3. Tabanus affinis FIG. 8. Sirex flavicornis FIG. 2. Tabanus zonalis FIG. 5. Tipula tesselata FIG. 9. Brenthus frigga APPENDIX I 459 frequently banded with brown or black. They possess great ex- tensile and retractile powers, which enable them to move quite rapidly through the mud and decaying vegetable matter. When captured they are restless and active; if held carelessly in the closed hand they use their mandibles freely, puncturing the skin and causing severe pain. The family Tipulidae, or the crane-flies, as they are popularly called in reference to their long, slender legs, constitute a very conspicuous group of flies which extends well into the Arctic region. Six species have been recorded from Labrador, but there are probably four or five times this number. The large tessellated crane-fly, Tipula tessellata (PL, Fig. 5), is over an inch in length, with spotted wings and dark body covered with a grayish pollen. The northern crane-fly, Tipula septentrionalis, is a smaller species, with darker wings marked with white and black. The larvae of this group live either in damp, decaying vegetation, or in wet earth and water. Of the mosquitoes of Labrador we only know that they are abun- dant and constitute a very annoying feature, but from a systematic standpoint we know very little. Specimens collected by Dr. C. W. Townsend and Dr. G. M. Allen were submitted to Dr. H. G. Dyer, who says: "I have looked over your specimens, and find that they unfortunately belong to that group of JEdes which can- not be determined with any certainty without the larvae. I have been able to separate most of the species from regions collected over, but as these come from Labrador, it is possible that they represent new species, which would have differential larvae, but be very close as adults. These are some of the early spring species, which in Labrador are doubtless the dominant, if not the only occurring, species." Closely related to the Culicidae, or mosquitoes, are the Chiro- nomidae, or midges. Four or five species of this family have been collected, but among them are no representatives of the biting forms. To the genus Ceratopogon belong the "punkies," or " biting gnats," which the Indians call the "no-see-um." These very minute but annoying insects are sometimes abundant in north- ern Maine, and especially noticeable just after sunset when there is no wind. They may possibly extend into southern Labrador. The black-fly, Simulium (Fig. 6), is an even more formidable pest than the mosquito, for, unlike the latter, it makes its appear- ance only on the bright sunny days and disappears during the cloudy weather. In describing their attacks, Packard says: "The armies of black-flies were supported by light brigades of mosquitoes. They fly into our faces ; they do not bite hard, like the mosquitoes, but the vampires suck long and deep, leaving great clots of blood. 460 APPENDIX I FIG. 6. The Black-fly. No wonder that these entomological pests are a perfect barrier to inland travel, and that few people live during the summer away from the sweep of the high winds and dwell on the exposed shores of the coast to escape these torments." The larva of the black-fly (Fig. 7) lives in the swiftly flowing streams, while those of the mosquito are found in stagnant water, and as " one-third of the area is given up to ponds and streams," conditions are very favourable for their increase. There are many other species of flies, fully as interesting as the biters. The little Doli- chopodidae and Empididse are each represented by four or five species; the bright-coloured Syrphidae, by about twelve species, including such forms as Syrphus contumax, S. diver sipes, Melanosto mamellinum, Eristalis bastardi, and Helophilus glacialis; the Tachinidae, or para- sitic flies, by the large Echinomyia florum ; the Muscidae, or house-flies, by the "blow-fly" (Calliphora vomitorid), the blue flesh-fly (Cynomyia cadaverind), the common green carrion- fly (Lucilia ccesar), and the dark blue (Phormia terrce novce) . Hosts of Anthomyidae are yet to be determined, while the Scatophagidse are represented by the widely distributed Scatophaga stercoria, furcata, and islandica. The order Hymenoptera includes the bees, wasps, ants, saw-flies, etc. Notwithstanding their diversity of habit, it is one of the orders which diminishes greatly in num- bers as we approach the more Arctic regions. Only twenty-six species have been recorded from Labrador. Further research will, however, increase this number, especially in the Ichneumonidae, or parasitic species. The large percentage of Phyllophaga, or leaf-eaters, is very marked, eleven of the above numbers represent- ing this group. They belong to the family Tenthri- dinidae, popularly known as saw-flies, a term derived from a peculiar structure on the under side of the last abdominal segment of the female, consisting of a pair of chitinous, sawlike pieces with which she cuts little the Black> pockets in the leaves in which to deposit her eggs. fly- Many of the saw-flies are injurious to the spruce, larch, willow, birch, and other trees and plants, often completely defoliating them. The larvae resemble some of those of the butterflies and moths, but can be quite readily distinguished by having from twelve to sixteen prolegs, or abdominal feet, while the true cater- pillars have as a rule only ten. Various species of the genus Ne- APPENDIX I 461 matus infest the spruce, willow, and birch. Euura orbitalis makes a gall on the willow. Closely allied to the saw-flies are the Xylophaga, or wood-eating Hymenoptera, comprising the family Siricidae, or horntails, the females being provided with a long, hornlike ovipositor adapted for boring, as the eggs are laid in solid wood on which the larvae feed. Two species are recorded from Labrador. The large and beautiful Sirex flavicornis (PL, Fig. 8), with its handsome livery of deep black and orange-yellow, seems to be quite common. The male is smaller and darker than the female, the yellow being confined to the four middle segments of the abdomen, at the end of which there is only a short triangular projection. It differs so much from the female that for a long time it masqueraded under the name of Sirex ab- dominalis. In more southern localities this insect infests the white pine, but in this region it probably lives in the spruce. Sirex cyaneus, a dark blue species, has been recorded from Hopedale. We should naturally expect to find one of the large ichneumon flies (Thalessa or Rhyssa) with very long ovipositors, which para- sitizes the horntails farther south. There are a large number of parasitic species belonging to the family Ichneumonidse. Packard collected about twenty -five species, only five of which have been determined. He also records two or three species of Chalcidse. Both of these groups are prob- ably mostly parasitic, as the various species of moth. Two species of ants are recorded, — the large Campanotus her- culeanus,t or black carpenter ant, which builds extensive nests in logs and stumps and even living trees, and Formica sanguined, or the "slave makers." It would be interesting to note the habits of this species in the more northern latitudes. The white-faced hornet, or paper-making wasp (Vespa maculata], has been recorded from the more southern portions of the peninsula, and Vespa nor- vegica from Caribou Island. Five species of bumblebees (Bombus) have been collected, some of which have a wide band of dark orange- red pile on the abdomen. There are probably a number of the smaller bees, such as Andrena and Halictus, several species of which often appear very early in the spring in more southern latitudes. The order Lepidoptera, or the butterflies and moths, is not only very well represented, but includes many rare and interesting species. Upwards of one hundred and fifteen have been recorded, of which number eighteen are butterflies. Among the latter are four species of the smaller Fritillaries, — Brenthus frigga (PL, Fig. 9), B. polaris, B. triclaris, and B. chariclea. They are similar in appear- ance, the upper surface of the wings being reddish, marked with black, while the under side of the hind wings bears a series of 462 APPENDIX I whitish spots or markings. A larger species, Argynnis atlantis, the "mountain silver-spot," has been recorded from the interior of the peninsula. It may prove to be only an accidental visitor, although two species of violets, the food plant of the Fritillaries, are recorded as far north as Hopedale. Papilio turnus, the yellow swallow-tail, has also been recorded from the interior. The northern white butterfly (Pontia napi, variety frigida) varies greatly in different localities, and consequently has received many varietal names. The wings are white, with the veins on the under side more or less broadly marked with gray, with the tip of the fore wings and the hind wings pale yellow. The larvae feed on various species of the Cruciferous plants, especially turnip and mustard. The smaller yellow, or sulphur, butterflies are represented by three or four species, — Eurymus palceno, nastes, and pelidne or labradorensis. The large "white-j butterfly," Eugonia j-album (PL, Fig. 10), is marked with dull yellow and reddish brown, irregularly maculated with black, with a spot of white near the tip of the wing, and the outer margin with a double crenulated line; the hind wing is reddish brown, black along the anterior margin, with a central patch of white; the under side consists of various shades of grayish brown, giving a woody or mossy effect, and when the insect is at rest presenting an interesting example of protective coloration. The larvae feed on birch. It has been taken as far north as Okkak. The barren-ground butterfly, or Arctic satyr, (Eneis jutta (PL, Fig. 11), is circumpolar, being found in the more northern 'parts of both the eastern and western continents. The colour of the fore wings is a dark brown, with six yellowish spots of varying sizes near the outer margin and somewhat blending into the brown, spots with or without central points of black; the hind wing has four yellowish patches, the anal one with a small black spot ; the under side is brownish, the hind wings being mottled with gray and closely resembling the moss-covered ground and rocks. A closely related species, the "White Mountain butterfly" ((Eneis norma, variety semidea), is very similar in colour, and its habits have been so nicely described by Mr. A. H. Scudder that I quote the following : — "As soon as one alights it tumbles upon one side with a sudden fall, but not quite to the surface, exposing the under side of the wings with their marbled markings next the gray rocks mottled with brown and yellow lichens, so that the ordinary passer-by would look at them without observing their presence : it is an ob- vious case of protective resemblance. The surface is generally ex- posed so as to receive the fullest rays of the sun, or else the creature falls so as to let the wind sweep over it, its base to the windward." APPENDIX I 463 The larva of the Arctic satyr feeds on carax. It has been found at Nam, Hopedale, and Square Island Harbour during the months of June and July. (Eneis norma, varieties semidea (ceno) and bore, are recorded from Strawberry Harbour and Hopedale, collected August 3. The little "Arctic bluet," Agriades aquilo (Polyommatus franklinii Curtis), which Packard refers to as "half skipping and half flying over the lichened boulders," has been taken at Sloop Harbour, Henley Harbour, and Hopedale, July 19 to August 15. In the in- terior of the peninsula, one of the varieties of the "Spring Azure" — LycoBna (Cyaniris) ladon, variety lucia — has been collected. Its colour is a pale violet, the wings having a broad blackish border in the female ; under side of the wings is light gray, flecked with brownish black. The wings expand about one inch. It feeds on a great variety of plants, especially Cornus. Two species, of the Hesperidae, or skippers, are recorded. The Pamphila comma, representing the variety "catena Stand.," is also found in northern Scandinavia and Lapland. The other species is Hesperia centaurece Ramtx The family Arctiidse is represented by only four species. One of the tiger-moths (Apantesis quenseli), a small black species with the fore wings tessellated with white, is also found throughout Arctic America, Europe, and Asia, and on Mount Washington, New Hampshire, and the Swiss Alps. The great tiger-moth, Arctia caia, has dark brown fore wings marked with white, and bright red hind wings spotted with black. It is also circumpolar in its distribution. The large and beautiful "St. Lawrence tiger- moth," Hyphoraia parthenos (PL, Fig. 12), with its bright reddish brown fore wings spotted with yellow, and bright yellow hind wings banded with black, is recorded from the Moravian stations. The Noctuida?, or owlet-moths, number about forty species, and form a very interesting group worthy of a great deal of study. Professor Packard refers to those boreal forms as follows: — "The moths were all Arctic species, and when at rest so harmo- nized in colour with the lichens and other vegetation in which they nestled as to entirely deceive me. And yet what was the use of practising, even unconsciously to themselves, this deception? The answer was not far off — there was a shore lark, or some such bird, flitting about and running over the rocks, busily searching for just such moths as these, and the only hope of safety for the insects from their sharp eyes was in their resemblance to the lichens." The forty species are divided among some fourteen genera According to the more modern classification, the more prominent of these being Mamestra, Pachnobia, Hadena, Semiophora, Anarta 4G4 APPENDIX I (PI , Fig. 13), Noctua, and Syngrapha. To this family belong the cutworms and many other injurious species. The larvse vary con- siderably in appearance, and feed upon a great variety of plants. The Geometridae, or measuring-worms, are so named from the peculiar looping gait of the larvse, as if measuring the surface over which they move. There have been recorded about twenty species. The family Lipariidse is represented by Gyncephom rossii; and the Hepialidae, or ghost-moths, by Hepialus hyperboreus and mus- telinus. The family Pyralidse, numbering about eight species; the Crambid^e, or "close wings/' some six species; the Tortricidse, or leaf-rollers, — a term derived from the habit of many of the larvae, — with about twenty species ; and the Tineidse, which con- tains the clothes-moths and a number of the leaf-miners, and rep- resented by some ten species, comprise the smaller species, and constitute in part what are commonly classed as the Microlepi- doptera. The caddis-flies constitute one of the most interesting groups of aquatic insects. They belong to the order Trichoptera, or hairy-winged insects. At first sight many of these resemble a moth, but with a closer acquaintance no one need confuse the two. The peculiar habits of the larvse of the various species form one of the most interesting studies of insect life. A bundle of little sticks, or a tube made of coarse grains of sand, moving mysteriously about the bottom of a stream or spring is apt to attract the atten- tion of the most casual observer, but how few know what these are. They are the cases of the caddis-worms, the larvse of the caddis- flies, built to protect their soft bodies from their enemies. What adds so much to their interest is that each species has a very differ- ent method of house building, some preferring wood, others stone, but the caddis carpenters and masons do not always build in the same manner. Some place the sticks crosswise, while others arrange them longitudinally ; some have the curious habit of decorating by fastening shells, etc., to the outside of their houses; others make a case largely composed of pieces of leaves. The numerous masons seem to be very particular about the size of the stones and the shape and position of their domiciles. One will make a beautiful tube of sand, unattached, in which it wanders to all parts of the stream ; another will make a spiral tube so closely resembling a snail-shell as to lead, a conchologist to describe it as a mollusk. One, commonly observed in running streams, is made of a few small pebbles attached to a large stone. Some of the dwellers in these rude homes are also fishermen and construct a funnel-shaped net at their doors, with the opening upstream. Their nets are made of silken threads, such as are used in fastening FIG. 15. y£shna constricta FIG. 12. Hyphoraia parthenos FIG. 11. CEneis jutta FIG. 10. Eugonia j-album FIG. 16. Leucorhina hudsonica FIG. 13. Anarta APPENDIX I 465 together the stones and sticks. In some species the entire case is made of silk. Some five or six species have been recorded from Labrador. Limnophilus subpunctatus is a common species which is also found in Lapland. Desmataulius planifrons is recorded by Professor Packard from Okkak. The Hemiptera, or true bugs, are poorly represented, — two leaf -hoppers, including Deltocephalus debilis; a small bug, Trigono- tylus ruficornis ; and one of the "water-boat-man," Corisa, are all that have been discovered. Equally scarce are the Orthoptera, only one species of grasshopper, Melanoplus, having been recorded. The Odonata, or dragon-flies, are among the most active and swift-flying of insects, darting back and forth over the ponds and streams and turning suddenly as they seize any unfortunate midge that comes within their reach; or alighting on the tip of a dead stick or reed from which vantage- point they can swoop like hawks upon their prey. Thus they are in many sec- tions of the country known by the popular name of mosquito hawks. The dragon-fly lays her eggs in the water, where the young or nymphal stages are passed. The nymph (Fig. 14) is a clumsy, awkward creature, crawling over the mud and among decaying vegetation, where it will lie partly concealed until its unsuspecting victim comes within reach of its extensible lower lip, which is armed with a pair of jawlike hooks. They are voracious feeders and not at all particular, for young fish are frequent victims. They are, however, to be classed among the beneficial insects, for they undoubtedly destroy great numbers of the pestiferous gnats, mosquitoes, and flies. After moulting several times, the nymph, when it attains its full size, crawls out upon some stick or plant, the skin splits longi- tudinally along the back, and the adult dragon-fly emerges. The life of the adult is from twenty to forty days, depending on cli- matic conditions, the more northern latitudes being unfavourable. About three hundred species are known from the whole of North America, of which only eight have thus far been collected in Labra- dor, including such large and widely distributed species as JEshna constricta (PI, Fig 15), M. crenata, M. septentrionalis, the type of which was from Labrador, four species of the genus Somato- FIG. 14. Nymph of the Dragon-fly. 466 APPENDIX I chlora, two of which were originally described from this region, and Leucorhina hudsonica (PL, Fig. 16). The May-flies, or day-flies, belong to the order Ephemenda, an application which refers to the short lives of the imagoes. They represent one of the more primitive groups, with mouth-parts rudimentary or almost wanting in the adult, as they do not feed during their few hours of existence as winged insects. The wings are delicate, with a fine network of veins ; the hind wings are much smaller than the fore wings, or sometimes wanting ; the abdomen bears two or three long, many-jointed, bristlelike appendages, while the antennae are very short. In the nymph or the wingless aquatic stage their life is a long one, in some species often extending to two or three years. The nymphs are interesting objects of the streams and lakes, clinging to the under sides of stones and sticks and feed- ing on the smaller animal and plant life. They are readily recognized by having their sides fringed with tracheal gills, two or three caudal appendages, and feet with single claws. When the nymph attains its full size, it rises to the sur- face, the cuticle along the back suddenly splits, and a frail-winged creature appears, but this is not the true imago ; it is what is known as the subimago stage. In a short time another moulting takes place, and we have the adult day-fly. This subimago stage is unknown in any other order of insects. Potamanthus marginatus, the only species recorded from Labrador, also occurs in northern Europe. Somewhat resembling the nymphs of the day-flies are those of the stone-flies, belonging to the order Plecoptera, or plaited-winged insects. These can, however, be easily separated, the gills being in the form of tufts of short hairs on the thorax and behind each leg, and not on the sides of the abdomen. The feet have two claws, the legs being usually fringed with hairs, and there are two caudal processes. They are found in streams which are quite rapid, as they require more aerated water than the nymphs of the day-flies. Reaching its full size, the nymph (Fig. 17) crawls out upon the rocks or trees, the skin splits along the back, and the adult appears. The full-grown stone-fly (Fig. 18) is, however, very different in FIG. 17. Nymph of the Stone-fly. APPENDIX I 467 FIG. 18. The Stone-fly. appearance from the day-fly. The body is flattened, the antennae are quite long, the fore wings narrow, and noticeably smaller than the hind wings. Some of the smaller species appear very early in the spring, long before the snow has melted. Three species have been recorded from this region, — the large Pteronarcys regalis, Perla sp., and one of the small green Chloroperla. The Thysanura, popularly known as the bristle-tails or spring-tails, constitute the most primitive group of insects. Although not recorded from Labrador, there is little doubt that the order is represented, for they seem to thrive under very unfavourable conditions. The snow-flea (Achorutes nivicold), a minute, blue-black insect, is exceedingly abundant in the snow in New England and Canada, and undoubtedly extends nortrrward. A closely allied species, Podura humicola, is found in Greenland. While the spiders do not belong to the true insects, but constitute a separate class known as Arachnida, they are very frequently re- ferred to in connection with insects. Spiders are distinguished by having four pairs of legs, the head and thorax united, forming the cephalothorax and an unsegmented abdomen. Eleven species have been recorded, including several of the genus Lycosa, or run- ning spiders, two of the " orb-weavers " (Epiera), and a "tube- weaver" (Clubiond). A Myriopoda (Millepede) is recorded from Square Island. The Beetles BY JOHN D. SHERMAN, JR. A LIST of the beetles and other insects of Labrador was pub- lished as long ago as the summer of 1888 by the late A. S. Packard of Brown University, and reprinted in his book. The Labrador Coast. This list included about sixty different kinds of beetles collected at various places along the coast, many of them gathered by himself in 1860 when he made his first trip to Labrador, and most of the others by Dr. Robert Bell. Even before Packard's visit to Labrador, several insects from the Hudson Bay region had been mentioned and described by the well-known British ento- mologist, Kirby. This was in 1837. „ During the last two or three years the writer, through the kind assistance of Dr. Grenfell, has had the good fortune to receive a 468 APPENDIX I large number of Labrador beetles from correspondents living at the following points: West St. Modest (Ernest Doane), Red Bay (W. Y. Pike), Cape Charles (Albert Pye), Nain (Chesley Ford), Nachvak (George Ford), and Fort Chimo (Duncan Matheson). These men, without any previous experience in insect collecting, succeeded in finding seven or eight thousand beetles representing over eighty distinct species, some of them less than one-sixteenth of an inch long. Their success in this occupation of hunting beetles — an unusual one to say the least — seems truly remark- able, and the men selected by Dr. Grenfell certainly lived up to his opinion of their cleverness and very much more than fulfilled my own expectations. A very large percentage of the beetles sent to me from Labrador have been feebly developed, and I have noticed the same condi- tion in collecting beetles, particularly water-beetles, above the tree line in the White Mountains. So it would seem that insect life in these cold countries does not attain the average and normal full development found in our warmer climates. Beetles are at once separated from all other insects by their hard shell and elytra, two horny wing covers meeting on the back in a straight line and covering the real wings, which, like those of flies and wasps, are formed of delicate membranes. In some beetles these real wings are only feebly developed, being but little used, and a few species have no true wings at all, but only the hard wing covers. More than one-third of all the known Lab- rador beetles belong to one family (Carabidae) . The species of this family are carnivorous, feeding on other forms of animal life, and are commonly called ground beetles, as they are usually found upon the surface of the ground, under stones, logs, or dead leaves, or around the roots of plants, in moss, and in similar places. The Labrador forms are all of dark colours, though a few have a FIG. 19. metallic lustre, and nearly all are of graceful Carabus chamissonis. form. A typical Labrador beetle of this family is shown in Figure 19. It is an opaque black insect a little over' half an inch long, and it is known to scientists as Carabus chamissonis Fisch. This beetle, like a great many others of the Labrador species, is found in Alaska, and above the tree line on Mount Washington. It occurs also in Greenland. A large number of the beetles of Labrador are generally distrib- APPENDIX I 469 FIG. 20. Pelophila ulkei. uted throughout the northern part of America, occurring through- out Canada, on the shores of Lake Superior, and on our high moun- tains, both the White Mountains and the Rockies. Several of them are found in the Arctic regions of Europe and Asia as well. It is not strange that forms of life sufficiently hardy arid sturdy to live in these far northern coun- tries have been vigorous enough to spread over such a large territory. The insect represented in Figure 20 (Pelo- phila ulkei Horn), on the other hand, is, so far as known, peculiar to the Labrador country and the Hudson Bay region, though a closely allied form is found in Alaska. The Labrador species is about three-eighths of an inch long, and, though entirely black, is of peculiarly grace- ful form. It is quite flat, and slender and very shining, and has several distinct punctures and tubercles upon the wing covers. Another beetle of the same genus (Pelophila rudis Lee.) is also found in Lab- rador, though it is very rare. It is about the same size as the former species, but the outer border of the wing cases is dark red. The mere difference of colour does not, of course, make it a different species, but these two beetles can easily be separated in this way, without recourse to more scientific distinctions. Several of the Labrador Carabidse belong to the genera Ptero- stichus and Amara, and are proportionately more elongate and narrower than the two beetles illustrated. Most of these species are of blackish colours, but there is one kind (Amara similis Kirby) which is often metallic green or purple on the upper side of the body, with reddish legs. Amara similis is another one of the Labra- dor forms found in Mount Washington, and it has recently been found in the Green Mountains of Vermont. In a region where there are so many pools and ponds and so much water, we find that water-beetles are very common indeed. These belong ' mostly to the family Dy tis- cidse, and are, like the ground-beetles, car- nivorous, feeding on tadpoles, aquatic insects, and small fish. My desire to obtain two particular members of thfs family was what first interested me in Labrador insects. One of these beetles (Agabus arcticus Payk) is shown in Figure 21. FIG. 21. Agabus arcticus. 470 APPENDIX I It was first described from Lapland, and is very common in Lab- rador, but occurs nowhere else in America. It is a narrow, slender insect one-quarter of an inch long, yellowish brown, with the head and a band across the thorax (or middle portion of the body) black. The wing cases are quite rough and uneven. The other beetle which 1 sought in the beginning from my Labrador friends (Agabus infuscatus Aube) is appar- ently even more common there than the one in the illustration. It has been re- corded from Mount Wash- ington and Lake Superior, but it is certainly not com- mon at either of these points. It is shorter and more robust than Agabus arcticus; the wing covers are brown, the head and thorax black. The large water-beetle shown in the next figure (No. 22 Dytiscus dauricus Gebl) is one of the largest of the Labrador beetles, being an inch and a quarter long. It is greenish black, with the borders of the thorax and of the wing covers yellow. The under side of the body is yellow, with several black lines and markings. The beetles of the genus Dytiscus are probably the most highly devel- oped of all beetles. The males have the three basal joints of the front tarsi (the last segment of the leg) enormously dilated and enlarged into a large circular disk, the under side of which is cov- ered with a large number of palettes, some large, some small. The middle legs are similarly modified, but to a less degree. These disks are of use in enabling the beetle to cling to objects, and are probably also very sensitive organs. The females do not have these disks at all, but, on the other hand, they often have deep grooves or furrows extending longitudinally halfway or more along the wing covers. While speaking of water-beetles, it is interesting to note that they all possess real wings and are capable of flying great distances. In countries where there are artificial lights, the beetles are often attracted to them and are sometimes found many miles away from any water. FIG. 22. Dytiscus dauricus. APPENDIX I 471 FIG. 23. Silpha lapponica. • The next beetle which is shown (Silpha lapponica Hbst., Fig. 23) belongs to a family whose members are scavengers feeding on decay- ing animal matter. This beetle is very common in Labrador, living, no doubt, on dead fish. As seen in the illustration, it is rather a square-shaped beetle, black, covered with a yellowish pubescence. It is about five-eighths of an inch long. The wing cases are covered with very prominent small tu- bercles arranged in rows; the antennae, or feelers, are thickened at the end as in other allied forms. Silpha lapponica occurs nearly everywhere in North America except in the southeastern states. It is an inhabitant of Europe also, but there it is confined to the Arctic regions. In general the Arctic species are more in- clined to extend toward the temperate climates to the south, here in America, than in Europe. The northerly and southerly di- rection of our American mountain ranges enables the insect forms of the two climates to maintain a geograph- ical connection and specific identity. In Europe, the mountains funning from east to west have tended to form a definite boundary for both Arctic and southern species, so that there the allied forms of the two regions have either remained distinct or become so, through separation from one another. This interesting fact was pointed out by Mr. Schwarz some years ago. Another Labrador beetle quite generally distributed in Europe, Asia, and America, through commerce, is the " bacon beetle" (Dermestes lardarius Linn. , Fig. 24) . The beetle is about one-third of an inch long and brown- ish black, with a yellow band extending across the front of the wing cases. Its larva lives on preserved animal food products, such as hams, bacon, old cheese, and in dried skins, hair, etc. The last two of Mr. JoutePs figures represent two members of the family CerambycidaB. Both of these beetles are quite large, and have very long antenna?, or feelers, like the other species of this family. Criocephalus agrestis Kirby (Fig. 25) is a ^on^' narrow, brownish beetle varying consid- erably in size, with two or three curious depres- sions in the thorax, and two longitudinal ridges extending along each wing case. The species is found generally in the northern FIG. 24. Dermestes lardarius. 472 APPENDIX I FIG. 25. Criocephalus agrestis. parts of our continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Its larva feeds on the wood of living pine trees, boring its way out to the surface. Pachyta liturata Kirby (Fig. 26) is not so common as the preced- ing, but is found over practically the same wide territory. It is much shorter, being only three • quarters of an inch long, and the sides of the body are not parallel, as in that species. The wing cases are light yellow, faintly marked with black, and when folded the insect is very much wider and thicker at the middle of the body than at either extrem- ity. On each side margin of the thorax is a small spine. Beetles belonging to several other families besides those I have mentioned are found in Labrador. Byrrhus Americanus Lee., a small, convex, silky, greenish black beetle was taken by Professor Packard on the stems of the "Labrador tea," and several specimens of this and another smaller, close- ly allied kind have been sent to me. The beetles of the family Byrrhida3 are common in northern climates, living in mossy places, around the roots of plants, etc. Then there are some small snapping beetles of the family Elateridse, and some BuprestidaB (whose larvse are wood-borers). Also some species of weevils which are bark-borers, and a few beetles which we might expect to find upon the blossoms of plants. The regular leaf and plant beetles, however, are conspicuous by their absence, though very likely some of them may be found in Labrador. None were found by Dr. Packard, and I have not received any. There is no doubt that there are many species of Labrador beetles besides those already known. The additions made to former records by Dr. Grenf ell's friends show this clearly enough, and if these men continue the search, we can probably look for many more important captures from this very interesting region. FIG. 26. Pachvta liturata. II THE MARINE CRUSTACEA BY MARY J. RATHBUN CRUSTACEA are the most conspicuous invertebrate animals on the coast of Labrador by reason of their vast numbers, brilliant colours, swift movements, and diversity of form. The shallow water fauna is most abundant on the northern and southern shores, especially in Ungava Bay and from Hamilton Inlet southward and westward, where the harbours are enriched by, the silt of numerous rivers and the land slopes gradually into the sea. Vari- ous kinds of Amphipods and other small forms swarm under the rocks and in masses of algae or in pools of water. Along most of the Atlantic coast, however, the bays are barren and rocky, with little seaweed, and there are few large streams carrying down sediment to form muddy and sandy bottoms; the rocks at the water's edge are precipitous, supporting a narrow line of Fucus, which gives shelter only to the common sand-flea. In quiet eddies in the passages between the islands which fringe the coast, condi- tions are more favourable for the development of life. Here the dredge rewards the collector with spidery crabs and darting shrimps.1 The species found in Labrador are not numerous, nor are they peculiar to the peninsula, but in general range from Cape Cod to Greenland, while many extend to Europe or are Arctic in distri- bution, in not a few cases reaching into Bering Sea and the North Pacific Ocean. The common shore-crab, or rock-crab (Cancer irroratus), of the New England coast is also the shore-crab of Labrador, but has not been found north of Hamilton Inlet. It occurs frequently under stones in the Strait of Belle Isle. Occasionally it is caught and eaten by the natives. The shell is broadly oval, with nine saw- teeth on each side, and is speckled with fine red or brown dots; the claws are stout and similar in size and shape, and there are four pairs of smooth, flattened walking feet. Three other crabs inhabit the coasts of Labrador, but live offshore in depths varying from a few fathoms to fifty or more. They belong to the group popularly known as spider-crabs, on account of their relatively long and slender legs, but differ widely from the 1 Cf. Packard, The Labrador Coast. 473 474 APPENDIX II common round-bodied spider-crabs of the eastern coast of the United States. The largest (Chionoecetes opilio) has a rough, flattened back, semicircular behind and narrowed in front, with a short bifid beak and very long, flat legs armed with small spines. This crab attains a large size, sometimes having a span of over two and a half feet, with the shell itself five inches in width. The smaller species are much alike, and are known as toad-crabs, from a fancied resemblance to that batrachian ; their shells are two or three inches long, shield-shaped, one having lateral wings on the forward half (Hyas coarctatus) , while the other has not (Hyas araneus) ; the beak is short and broad, and split through the middle. Like most of the family to which they belong, they have the habit of attaching to their backs foreign substances, like seaweed, bryozoans, and sponges, which are held in place by hooked hairs on the surface of the crab. In this way the carapace, and the legs also, may become entirely hidden by a miniature forest which serves to protect the crab from its enemies. Never- theless, many individuals find their way into the stomachs of fishes. This is true not only of crabs and shrimps, but of smaller crustaceans, such as schizopods and amphipods, which are con- sumed in great quantities by cod and other large fish as well as by whales and shore-birds. Only two hermit-crabs are known on the coast, but in favourable spots they are abundant from low-water mark to perhaps fifty fathoms. They are quite different in appearance and behaviour from true crabs. The eyes are not incased in sockets or orbits, the antennae are long, the claws are very unequal in size, — the right (in these species) always the larger, — and the walking legs are four in number. The hinder part of the body is soft, tapering, and asymmetrical, as it has to accommodate itself to the shape of the gasteropod shell which forms the crab's dwelling. Each indi- vidual appropriates a dead shell, and is never seen without it except when the increasing size of the inmate compels it to seek a larger tenement. The transfer from one shell to another is made with striking rapidity, the little creature being very active and wary and on the lookout for its stronger enemies. Although it crawls about with the body covered by the shell, and the limbs extruded, yet it is capable of retreating entirely into its domicile and closing the aperture with its claws. The two Labrador species are very similar ; one (Pagurus pubescens) has claws covered with stout spines and with hairs which retain particles of mud and sand, while the claws of the other (Pagurus krtfyeri) are rough, with finer and more numerous spines, and are almost devoid of hair ; there is a difference, too, in the shape of the left or smaller claw : the outer surface of the prismatic hand-joint is narrow and lanceolate in APPENDIX II 475 P. pubescens, and about four times as long as wide, while in P. krtfyeri it is obliquely triangular, between two and three times as long as wide. The eyes of P. pubescens are longer than those of P. krfyeri, so that the slender scale at the base of the outer antennae does not reach the end of the eye in the former but does in the latter. By far the easiest way to distinguish these two forms is by the colour pattern; in P. pubescens the bands of red on the walking feet are dispos?d across the middle of each segment, while in P. krtfyeri they run across the articulations between the segments. The common lobster of New England extends to southern Labrador and occurs in abundance on the coasts of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It has been found as far north as Henley Harbour (52° north lat.), and extends perhaps a few miles farther. Its absence along the Atlantic coast of Labrador is explained by the lower temperature produced by the Arctic current, which flows southward close to the shore. While many lobsters are trapped in the shallow bays of the southern coast, the catch is not sufficient to supply a cannery. The lobsters appear to be all fished out when the traps are first set, and various attempts to operate can- neries have had to be abandoned.1 There are fourteen species of shrimps known on the Labrador coast, varying in length from a half inch to four or five inches. They agree in having the abdomen or posterior part of large size, and generally extended to the full length, though sometimes bent at a right angle instead of being folded up under the thorax, as in the crabs. The shrimps are further marked by a spreading tail fan composed of the terminal segment, or tail, and the two pairs of appendages attached to the preceding segment. In one of the most abundant species (Sclerocrangon boreas] , of a pale brownish red colour with a chestnut stripe along the sides, the skin is hard and rough, the body is stout in front, tapering posteriorly, the tiny claws which arm the first pair of trunk legs are of curious shape peculiar to the family Cragonidaa, the palmar portion being oblong and bearing a small spine in place of the well-known thumb or immovable finger of the lobster and most shrimps, while a slender movable finger lies transversely or across the end of the palm. One of the largest shrimps is Pandalus montagui, which is abun- dant especially in weeds on a clear, pebbly bottom ; it is compressed laterally and armed with a long, slender, swordlike rostrum or beak, with a row of sharp spines on its middle line; the antennae may be as long as the rest of the animal, and the legs are all slender without conspicuous claws. The red colour which plays a promi- 1 Of. Herrick, The American Lobster, in Bull. U. S. Fish Comm. for 1895, pp. 14-15. 476 APPENDIX II nent part in all these shrimps is here arranged in obliquely trans- verse lines or bars on the body, and in specks, blotches, or rings on the legs. In the numerous species of Spirontocaris, the body is shaped as in the preceding, but the beak is much shorter and variously shaped and toothed, but always thin and compressed. The first pair of legs have small but well-defined claws ; those of the second pair are notable in being very slender and in having the wrist or antepenultimate segment divided into many small pieces jointed together and tipped with a minute claw. Besides the true shrimps there swarm at the surface numbers of transparent schizopods, or cleft-footed shrimps, known as Mysis, which swim in immense shoals, and form the main food of the sea-trout. These shrimps are of small size, an inch or less in length, with large, dark eyes, and have seven instead of five pairs of trunk-legs, devoid of claws, but each provided with an appendage adapted for swimming. The eggs are carried by the female in a marsupial pouch beneath, which has suggested the name of "opossum-shrimp. " The Cumacea are still smaller crustaceans, half an inch or less in length, distinguished by having the anterior half very robust, the posterior half slender, the eyes sessile, not stalked as in the crabs and shrimps, the carapace leaving five segments of the trunk exposed, the antepenultimate segment of the body the longest, the tail fan composed of three branches. They are abundant in sand at the depth of a few fathoms. The Phyllocarida, or leaf-shrimps, so called on account of the laminar or leaflike expansions with which their legs are provided, are represented by Nebalia bipes, which was dredged by Dr. Pack- ard at the mouth of Henley Harbour in four to twenty fathoms. This little creature, less than an inch in length, is most remarkable for the great size of its ancestors, whose paleozoic remains measure nearly two feet. The Amphipods, or sand-fleas, are by far the most abundant of the Crustacea, both in species and individuals. They are found on the sand near high-water mark, in seaweed, and among rocks in shallow water, and may be dredged at any depth. None is of large size ; individuals range from about one-eighth of an inch to an inch. Many of them hop like fleas. Others move rapidly while lying flat. They act as scavengers, often nearly consuming a dead fish before it can be hauled in. They are sessile-eyed, laterally compressed, somewhat crescent-shaped, with rounded backs, and usually of stout build. An exception is the slim skele- ton-shrimp, Caprella, which clings to finely branched seaweed and is so flexible that it can bend itself into a ring. Another APPENDIX II 477 slender form (Eridhonius difformis) inhabits the delicate tubes of a hydroid, while a third (Hyperia medusarum) , as its name signi- fies, lives in the stomach cavity of a jellyfish. The Euthemisto is a surface-swimming amphipod, and in sufficient numbers forms an acceptable meal for hungry fishes, as examination of their stomachs has proven. Gammarus locusta, the common amphipod, or scud, is the most noticeable species of the shore, being very abundant between tide-marks. These creatures are of an olive Igrown or light chestnut-brown colour, much like that of the Fucus they inhabit. They skip about on their sides, and on entering the water swim rapidly with the back downward or sideways. The isopods, unlike the amphipods, are flattened above, and are usually of a uniform width throughout their length ; in many cases all their legs are about the same size, whence the name "isopod." They also have sessile eyes and are usually of small size, the largest ones in the Labrador fauna being the two Mesi- dotea, which are about three inches long and taper at the posterior end to a sharp point. The most slender form is Arc-turns baffini, which may attain a length of nearly two inches, with antennae even longer. Several species are parasitic, as the fish-louse, Mga psora, which lives on the skin of the cod and halibut ; the shrimp parasite, Phryxus abdominalis, a hemispherical, distorted little lump of an isopod occurring under the abdomen of various species of Spirontocaris and Pandalus; and a similar but smaller form which attaches itself to the schizopod, Mysis oculata. The last two isopods exhibit great sexual dimorphism, the females being vastly larger than the males and of wholly different appearance. Other parasites belong to different orders of Crustacea. The copepods live mostly on the external surface or in the gill cavity of fishes, to which they cling by means of claws and sucking disks. They are represented by Lepeophtheirus salmonis, parasitic on salmon and sea-trout. This species is distinguished in the female by a metallic lustre and by long, slender egg strings. An- other species is Lerncea branchialis, variety sigmoidea, in which the female is fixed in one position for life, having lost all trace of appen- dages save those which fasten her to the host, while the male is reduced to minute size, and, although capable of motion, adheres to some part of the body of the female. Occasionally a hermit-crab is infested with one of the Rhizo- cephala (Peltogaster) , parasites which are allied to the Cirripedia, or barnacles, but are degenerate forms with saclike, unsegmented bodies without limbs; their antennas are modified into rootlike processes, which bury themselves in the host, from which they derive nourishment. The barnacles reported from Labrador all belong to the sessile 478 APPENDIX II variety known as acorn-shells. They are found here, as every- where, incrusting stones, wharves, shells, and other objects. The body of the animal is surrounded by a shell, composed of six or more plates, and in the shape of an irregular cone with the top cut off; the base of the cone is attached to the object incrusted, while the small end is closed by a shelly operculum which may be opened at will. The feathery tentacles, which are modified feet, are then extended and kept constantly waving. The smallest species, Balanus balanoides, is the commonest, and is known as the rock-barnacle. A large species, Coronula diadema, two inches in diameter and with a very thick shell, lives on the surface of whales. Balanus porcatus has been found fossil at Hopedale and Caribou Island in beds of sandy clay and coarse gravel which are exposed between tide-marks and extend beneath the water. It seems not inappropriate to include in our list two forms which live in pools of fresh water close to the sea ; one of these is a schizo- pod, Mysis relicta, which also inhabits Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and the lakes of northern Europe. It is so closely related to a certain marine form as to suggest a common origin. At Indian Tickle abound the "fairy shrimps," or branchiopods, in which the gills or branchiae are situated on the feet, the eyes are large and stalked, and the tail is long and slender. These shrimps are able to live in pools which are dry for long periods, as the eggs, when dried, preserve their vitality for an indefinite time. They swim with the back downward, and the gills are bright orange. Ill THE MOLLUSKS BY CHARLES W. JOHNSON THE summer visitor, or even the native Labradorian, can know little about the mollusks of Labrador unless he be provided with suitable appliances for dredging in moderate depths of water. The great mass of pack-ice which bounds the shore for a large por- tion of the year is a destructive agency, preventing the possibility of existence of what, in more southern latitudes, is termed the littoral fauna. Beyond the area affected by the ice, however, there is a rich and varied fauna, with constant surprises awaiting the collector with suitable facilities for dredging. Not only is the number of species quite large, but these are also, in many cases, individually abundant. Occasionally one of the larger, rare gasteropoda finds its way into the dredge, alluring one to further activity, with the prospect of new species in this comparatively neglected region. The fauna is Arctic, the southern boundary of the Arctic province being the limit of floating ice, which on the Atlantic coast of North America extends to southern Newfoundland. Many of the species are circumpolar in their distribution, or rep- resented by closely related forms or local variations, having un- doubtedly a common origin. Several annotated catalogues of the mollusks of Labrador have been published. Professor A. S. Packard, in 1863 (Canadian Naturalist and Geologist, Vol. VIII, p. 412), published "a list of the animals dredged near Caribou Island, southern Labrador, during July and August, I860." The list contains seventy-eight species of mollusks. In 1867, Professor Packard (Memoirs Boston Soc. Nat. History, Vol. I, p. 262) published in connection with a paper on the glacial phenomena of Labrador "a view of the recent invertebrate fauna" in which are recorded one hundred and eight species of mollusks. Miss Katherine J. Bush, in 1883 (Proceed- ings U. S. Nat. Museum, Vol. VI, p. 236), recorded seventy-nine species obtained by the expedition under Mr. W. A. Stearns in 1882. The collection was made at various points between Forteau Bay and Dead Island. Again, in 1891, Professor Packard, in his work, The Labrador Coast, published a list of one hundred and twenty-nine species, including all those in the previous lists. 479 480 APPENDIX III There are many other works bearing on the Mollusca of Labrador, including Gould's Invertebrata of Massachusetts (2 ed.), 1870; Sars's Mollusca Regionis Arcticce Norvegice, 1878; Friele's Den Norske Nordhavs Expedition, Mollusca; etc. The following remarks are based partly on the above papers, and partly on a collection of shells made by Mr. Owen Bryant during the summer of 1908. A partial study of these adds several species to the fauna. Very little is said by writers in regard to the mollusks of this region being used for food. The common clam (My a arenaria) is reported plentiful in the more southern portions, but, living in deeper water, it is no doubt more difficult to obtain than in more southern latitudes, while in the more north- ern portions of the coast it is probably rare or wanting. The truncated clam (Mya truncatd), a closely related species, but apparently less abundant, extends farther northward than the common clam. The habit of these two species of burying deep in the mud and sand, with only their long siphons extending to the surface, makes it practically impossible to obtain them by dredging, while flats exposed at low tide and subject to freezing would be too cold for their existence. A smaller shell related to the Mya is the little nestling shell (Saxicava arctica), which, living in various-shaped cavities in the rocks, etc., is therefore frequently very irregular in form. They usually measure about an inch, though sometimes reach an inch and a half in length. There are two scallops which frequent the waters of this region. The great scallop (Pecten magellanicus) , locally known by the name of "pussel," is found in the Strait of Belle Isle. It is excellent eating, the large adductor muscle being removed and fried in lard or butter. The Iceland scallop (Pecten islandica) is found along the entire coast in from ten to fifty fathoms ; it is also doubtless good eating, but more difficult to obtain. The edible mussel (Mytilus edulis) is reported from the entire coast ; it spins numer- ous silken threads called the byssus, by which it attaches itself to various objects. In some places it is extensively used for food, usually boiled and pfckled in spiced vinegar. The horse mussel (Modiolus modiolus) is found in the more southern part ; it also spins a byssus and nestles in chinks and cavities. The great seaweed, 'or kelp (Laminaria digitata), frequently attaches to this shell and, after attaining its great size, the force of currents and waves tears the shell from its mooring and carries it to other places, or it is ruthlessly cast upon the beach to die. Two other mussels are commonly dredged, the black mussel (Modiolaria nigra), and the discordant mussel (Modiolaria discors), with part of the valves ribbed and part smooth. Two species of cockles, or heart-shells, are commonly associated APPENDIX III 481 in from ten to fifty fathoms. The Greenland cockle (Serripes gronlandicus) is about three inches in length, nearly smooth, with only a few obsolete ribs on the ends ; the young is thin, and beautifully mottled with reddish purple. The hairy heart-shell (Cardium ciliatum) is about two inches in length, with about thirty-six acute radiating ribs on each valve. The shell is covered with a yellowish epidermis, forming rows of stiff bristles on the edge of the ribs. The common cockle of Europe (Cardium edule) is largely used for food. • It is probable that both of these are also edible. Perhaps the most common shell of the coast is Macoma calcarea, quantities being brought up with each dredge. When on a muddy or sandy bottom, the thin epidermis is usually eroded, giving the shell a chalky appearance. Another characteristic bivalve of the more northern waters is the little brown clam, Astarte, of which four or five species are to be found along the Labrador coast. They are about an inch to an inch and a quarter in length, somewhat triangular in form, thick, with prominent concentric ridges, and a dark brown epidermis. Related to Astarte is Venericardia borealis, which has radiating, instead of concentric, ridges. Other bivalves which are constantly being caught in the dredge are the little, round, glossy brown Nucula tennis, the polished greenish brown Yoldia myalis, and the pointed Leda pernula with a greenish epidermis and fine concentric lines. This group can be readily recognized by having numerous minute teeth along the hinge. There are a number of other bivalves which are occasionally brought up by the dredge, including a group with thin, pearly shells, represented by Thracia myopsis, Pandora glacialis, and Lyonsia arenosa. Some of the rivers and streams of the interior contain the fresh- water clam, or pearl mussel (Margaritana margaritiferd) , a species which is also found in northern Europe and Asia. It sometimes yields very handsome pearls, and I have seen a few beautiful ones, which were said to have come from Labrador. The Gastropoda, or the univalves, as they are often popularly called, slightly exceed the bivalves in the number of species. They seem, however, to be less abundant individually, especially the larger ones. The most prominent of the larger forms belong to the family Buccinida?, or whelks. The common whelk (Buc- cinum undatum) is found along the entire coast. In northern Europe, where this species is abundant, it forms an extensive article of food. They make an excellent soup ; or boiled, until they can be easily removed from the shell, they can be either fried in fat until brown, or eaten with pepper and vinegar. There are' six or seven other species of whelks on the Labrador coast, 2i 482 APPENDIX III including : Buccinum cyaneum, B. ciliatum, B. gouldi, B. donovani, and B. tottenii, dredged in from five to thirty fathoms, and asso- ciated with Chrysodomus despedus, Tritonofusus kroyeri, variety cretaceus, and Tritonofusus spitzbergensis Reeve (Sipho lividus Morch). To these Mr. Bryant has added the true Tritonofusus islandicus and the large brown Beringius largillierti with its big protoconch. Trophon dathratus is a slender, waxy, white shell, with about twelve thin, elevated, longitudinal ribs, while between the ribs are numerous slight spiral lines. 'In almost every dredge, we find the little hairy-keeled shell, Trichotropis borealis, and equally common the small, cancellated Admete couthouyi, belong- ing to the family CancellariidaB. Another conspicuous group of shells, which may appropriately be called the little " tower-shells," is represented by three species, — Turritella erosa, T. reticulata, and Turritellopsis acicula. Professor Packard records a dozen species of Bela, little high-spired shells, the most northern repre- sentatives of the family Pleurotomidae. The little pearly Marga- ritas are quite common in some localities ; Margarita groenlandica, M. tinerea, M. argentata, and M. helicina are the principal species. The sea-snails are represented by three species. Natica dausa is found in almost every haul of the dredge. It is readily distin- guished from the others by having a calcareous opercula, and the umbilicus entirely covered by a callus. Lunatia heros is recorded from the Strait of Belle Isle, and L. groenlandica from fifteen fath- oms in Chateau Bay. A large and interesting shell is the Aporrhais occidentalis, allied to the "pelican's foot" (Aporrhais pes-pelicani) of Europe, but having the lip entire and not lobed as in that species. It was dredged in numbers, at Gready and Egg harbours, in seven to twenty fathoms. Three species of limpets are also re- corded, Acmoea testudinalis, A. rubella, and Lepta cceca, the latter being the most plentiful. A remnant of the littoral fauna, of more southern regions, exists in the presence of a few species of the family Litorinidse. The •'periwinkle," Littorina litorea, is reported by Stearns as rare; L. palliata is recorded from the Strait of Belle Isle, while L. rudis is not uncommon along the whole coast. Living in the crevices of the damp, spray-covered rocks, above the direct effects of the ice, they are able to withstand the Arctic conditions. Shells are frequently covered with a light pink or reddish col- oured, stony alga? (Lithothamnion polymorphuni) , frequently referred to as <; Nullipores." Clinging to the rocks and shells covered with this reddish growth, we find the little red chitons, Tra- chydermon rubrum and Tonicella marmorea, so closely resembling it in colour as to almost escape detection. This was especially notice- able in the collection made by Mr. Bryant at Gready Harbour, in APPENDIX III 483 twelve fathoms, where the shells were quite thickly covered with the red algae. Seventeen specimens of both species of the red chitons were obtained. The chitons are now placed in a separate order, Amphineura, and represent the lowest type of the Mollusca. They have a shell consisting normally of eight plates, hence the name Polyplacophora, the many-plate bearer, is applied to the most important of the two suborders. A group of beautiful creatures when living, but very difficult to preserve, are the Nudibranchs, or the naked-gilled Mollusca. The large and handsome Dendronotus arborescens, with a row of tree- like gills on each side of the back, and branching appendages on the head, was obtained by Professor Packard in Henley Harbour, at a depth of four fathoms. A species of Eolis is also reported from the same harbour, and Coryphella diver sa from L'Anse au Loup. A group of small shells, which are usually present in each haul of the dredge, are known as Tectibranchs. They are re- lated to the Nudibranchs, but have the gills covered, and usually a shell varying considerably in form in the different families. Cylichna alba, Retusa pertenuis, Philine lima, Scaphander punctos- triata, and Diaphana hiemalis are the principal species. Each haul of the dredge brings in many other forms of animal life besides Mollusca. The large brachiopod, Hypothyris psit- tacea, is frequently obtained in from eight to fifteen fathoms, while attached to the shells are a number of species of the beautiful incrusting Polyzoa, or Bryozoa, and the minute Foraminifera. Among the interesting objects of the more open Arctic sea are the little Pteropods, or wing shells. Packard reports great numbers of the little Arctic pteropod Limacina helicina off Cape Webuc, and says they are like winged sweet-peas, the shape of the body and colour suggesting the resemblance. Another species, Clione limacina, with long wings and bright red tints, belongs to the shell- less group Gymnosomata. They sometimes appear in such num- bers as to actually discolour the surface of the water. They are said to afford food for the Greenland whale. The pteropods usually come to the surface in the greatest numbers during the night, and can be caught by using a towing-net. The land mollusks of Labrador are few and scarce. The slug Agriolimax agrestis is reported by Packard from Strawberry Harbour, together with the little Pupilla hoppii, Vitrina angelicce, and Euconulus fulva, variety fabricii. They occur under spruce bark and chips in the damp verdure, and represent the few truly Arctic species found also in southern Greenland. IV LIST OF THE MAMMALS OF LABRADOR BY OUTRAM BANGS AT Dr. Grenf ell's request I have prepared the following list of the mammals of the Labrador peninsula. As I had before written a list of the mammals of this region,1 it was very simple to compile the present one, which is merely the old one corrected and brought up to date. In this list political divisions of the region are disregarded, and the area considered includes the whole Labrador peninsula lying to the northward of a line joining the mouth of the river St. Lawrence and the foot of James Bay. I am able to say very little about the habits of the various forms of mammalian life, occurring in the great Labrador peninsula, knowing them myself only from museum specimens, but under each species or subspecies the distribution, so far as it is known, is given, the first reference is cited, and where a form was described from Labrador the type locality is mentioned. I believe the list to be practically complete ; the species are all given by the names in current use by the best systematists. I trust it may prove of some help to those interested in the biota of the great peninsula. 1. BALUENA GLACIALIS Bonnat. Balcena glacialis (Right whale) Bonnat. Tab. Encycl. Ceta- logil, p. 3. 1789. Formerly common on east and south coasts, now nearly exter- minated. 2. BAL^NA MYSTICETUS Linn. Bow head ; Greenland whale. Balcena mysticetus Linn. Fauna Suecica, Vol. II, p. 16. 1761. Hudson Bay and Hudson Strait, along the edge of the ice. 3. MEGAPTERA NODOSA Bonnat. Humpbacked whale. Balcena nodosa Bonnat. Tab. Encycl. CetalogiL, p. 5. 1789. Common on south and east coasts. 1 American Naturalist, Vol. XXXII, No. 379, July, 1898, pp. 489- 484 APPENDIX IV 485 4. BAL^ENOPTERA ACUTO-ROSTRATA Lacep. Little-piked whale. Balcenoptera acuto-rostrata Lacep. Hist. Nat. Get., Vol. I, p. 197. 1803-4. Common close inshore along the east and north coasts. 5. BAL^NOPTERA PHYSALUS Linn. Common finback. Balcena physalus Linn. Syst. Nat., Ed. X, Vol. I, p. 75. 1858. Common along the coasts. 6. BAL^NOPTERA BOREALIS Lesson. Pollock whale. Balcenoptera borealis Lesson. Hist. Nat. Get., p. 342. 1828. A rare species. 7. BAL^NOPTERA MUSCULUS Linn. Sulphur-bottom. Balcena musculus Linn. Syst. Nat., Ed. X, Vol. I, p. 76. 1758. Common all along the coast. 8. PHYSETER MACROCEPHALUS Linn. Sperm whale. Physeter macrocephalus Linn. Syst. Nat., Ed. X, Vol. I, p. 76. 1758. Very rare in Labrador waters, one record by Packard. 9. HYPEROODON AMPULLATUM Forster. Bottle-nosed whale. Balcena ampullatum Forster. Kalm's Travels in North Am., Vol. I, p. 18. 1770. Common on the northern coast. 10. DELPHINAPTERUS LEUCAS Pallas. White porpoise. Delphinus leucas Pallas. "It. iii, p. 84, t. iv." Common everywhere along the Labrador coasts. 11. MONODON MONOCERAS Linn. Narwhale. Monodon monoceras Linn. Ed. X, p. 75. 1758. Common all along the Labrador coasts. 12. ORCINUS ORCA Linn. Killer. Delphinus orca Linn. Syst. Nat., Ed. X, Vol. I, p. 77. 1758. Common on the east coast. 13. GLOBICEPHALA MELAS Traill. Black fish; pilot whale. Delphinus melas Traill, Nicholson's Journal, Vol. XXII, p. 81. 1809. Recorded from Newfoundland, probably occurring on the south coasts of Labrador, a migratory species. 14. PHOCLENA PHOCLENA Linn. Harbour porpoise. Delphinus phoccena Linn. Syst. Nat., Ed. X, Vol. I, p. 77. 1758. Found commonly along the south and east coasts. 15. LAGENORHYNCHUS ACUTUS Gray. Striped porpoise. Delphinus acutus Gray. Spicil. ZooL, p. 2. 1828. Occurs along south and east coasts. 16. DELPHINUS DELPHIS Linn. Common dolphin. Delphinus delphis Linn. Syst. Nat., Ed. X, Vol. I, p. 77. 1758. South and east coasts. 17. TURSIOPS TRUNCATUS Montagu. Bottle-nosed dolphin. 486 APPENDIX IF Delphinus truncatus Montagu. Memos. Wernerian Soc., Vol. Ill, p. 75. 1821. Common on the south and east coasts. I am under the greatest obligation to Dr. Glover M. Allen for helping me prepare this list of the Labrador cetaceans. Many of the species were observed and identified by him during a cruise along the coast in the summer of 1906. 18. PARALCES AMERICANUS Clinton. Moose. Cervus americanus Clinton. Letters on Nat. Hist, and Int. Resources of New York, p. 193. 1822. Low is in doubt whether or not the moose enters the south- western limits of Labrador. It is occasionally killed in the region about Lake Edward, Quebec. 19. RANGIFER CARIBOU Gml. Woodland caribou. Cervus tarandus y. caribou Gmelin. Syst. Nat., Vol. I, p. 177. 1789. Reported by Low to now be very rare, — almost exterminated, — though formerly abundant throughout the wooded regions. Low also says that the destruction of the woodland caribou has resulted in the dying off, from actual starvation, of a large propor- tion of the interior Indians, which, in its turn, has caused a great increase in the numbers of the fur-bearing animals. Mr. Ernest Doane took specimens at Black Bay in September, 1898, and sent me three fine adult females and a male. 20. RANGIFER ARCTICUS Richardson. Barren-ground caribou. Cervus tarandus var. a. arctica Richardson. F. B. A., Vol. I, p. 241. 1829. According to Low, the barren-ground caribou still ranges in immense herds over the barrens and semi-barrens, south to the Mealy Mountains, between Hamilton Inlet and Sandwich Bay. 21. SCIURUS HUDSONICUS HUDSONicus Erxl. Northern pine squir- rel ; red squirrel. Sciurus vulgaris c. hudsonicus Erxl. Mammalia, p. 416. 1777. Type Locality. Hudson Strait. Common in the wooded regions, and extending into the semi- barrens. Goldthwaite took specimens at Rigolet. Turner took specimens at Fort Chimo and at Forks, Northwest River, and Doane sent me a large series from Black Bay. 22. ARCTOMYS IGNAVUS Bangs. Labrador woodchuck. Arctomys ignavus Bangs. Proc. New Eng. Zool. Club, Vol. I, p. 13. 1899. Type Locality. Black Bay, Labrador. Common throughout southern Labrador, in the region about Black Bay and L'Anse au Loup. Low speaks of a woodchuck as common in the country between APPENDIX IV 487 Lake St. John and the East Main River ; this may possibly be an- other form, — Arctomys monax empetra Pallas. 23. SCIUROPTERUS SABRINUS MAKKOViKENSis Sornborger. Labra- dor flying squirrel. Sciuropterus sabrinus makkovikensis Sornborger. Ottawa Nat- uralist, Vol. XIX, p. 48. June, 1900. Type Locality. Makkovik. Rather generally distributed throughout the wooded region, though apparently not common anywhere. The Labrador form is a very well-marked subspecies. 24. CASTOR CANADENSIS CANADENSIS Kuhl. Canadian beaver. Castor canadensis Kuhl. Beitrdge zur Zoologie, p. 64. 1820. Low says the beaver is common in the wooded regions, and extends into the semi-barrens, where food is found. I have seen no Labrador specimens. 25. Mus NORVEGICUS Erxleben. Brown rat ; Norway rat. Mus norvegicus Erxleben. Syst. Reg. Anim., Vol. I, p. 381. 1777. Doane took one Norway rat at Black Bay, November 30, 1899. This is the only specimen I ever saw from Labrador. I have never received specimens of the house mouse, Mus musculus Linn., from Labrador, though it must undoubtedly occur there. 26. PEROMYSCUS MANICULATUS MANICULATUS Wagner. Labrador deer-mouse. Hesperomys maniculatus Wagner. Weigmann's Archiv., Vol. XI, p. 148. 1845. Type Locality. "The Moravian settlements in Labrador." Common throughout the peninsula south at least to Hamilton Inlet. The Labrador deer-mouse, like many of its congeners, is apt to take up its abode in buildings and huts like the house mouse, and in Labrador seems to be much more abundant in such places than in the woods and among rocks. I have examined very large series of this species. 27. PHENACOMYS LATIMANUS Merriam. Small yellow-faced phena- comys. Phenacomys latimanus Merriam. North Am. Fauna, No. 2, p. 34. 1889. Type Locality. Fort Chimo, Ungava, Labrador. Probably of general distribution in the drier semi-barrens. Known from Labrador only by the specimens sent to Washington by Turner. 28. PHENACOMYS CELATUS CELATUS Merriam. Large yellow-faced phenacomys. Phenacomys celatus Merriam, North Am. Fauna, No. 2, p. 33. 1889. 488 APPENDIX IV This northern form has, so far as I know, been taken in the Labra- dor peninsula only at Fort Chimo, Ungava, whence it ranges west at least to Godbout, Quebec. 29. PHENACOMYS CELATUS CRASSUS Bangs. South Labrador phenacomys. Phenacomys celatus crassus Bangs. Proc. New Eng. Zool. Club, Vol. II, p. 39. 1900. Type Locality. Rigolet, Labrador. This is a southern form occurring in the eastern forest belt from L'Anse au Loup north at least to Hamilton Inlet : it is much larger than true P. celatus, being the largest member of the genus yet known. 30. EVOTOMYS UNGAVA Bailey. Ungava red-backed mouse. Evotomys ungava Bailey. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., p. 130. 1897. Type Locality. Fort Chimo, Labrador. Probably restricted to the barrens and semi-barrens. Turner reported the species to be abundant at Fort Chimo, but apparently did not send many specimens to Washington. The differences between this and the next species appear to be as great as between any two members of the genus Evotomys. 31. EVOTOMYS PROTEUS Bangs. Hamilton Inlet red-backed mouse. Evotomys proteus Bangs. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., p. 137. 1897. Type Locality. Rigolet, Hamilton Inlet, Labrador. Very abundant at Hamilton Inlet, and probably throughout the wooded regions. Goldthwaite took a large series at Rigolet, and Doane found it very abundant in the woods, in the neighbourhood of Black Bay. 32. MICROTUS PENNSYLVANICUS LABRADORius Bailey. Small Labrador vole. Microtus pennsylvanicus labradorius Bailey. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., p. 88. April 30, 1898. Type Locality. Fort Chimo, Ungava, Labrador. This little vole probably occurs only in the barrens and semi- barrens. It can be told from M. enixus by its smaller size, shorter, more hairy tail, by its smaller, flatter skull, with shorter rostrum and nasals, and smaller, shorter, incisive foramina, differently shaped zygoma, and larger auditory bullae. There are, probably, colour differences also, but I have seen alcoholic specimens only. Turner took many specimens at Fort Chimo. 33. MICROTUS ENIXUS Bangs. Larger Labrador vole. Microtus enixus Bangs. Am. Nat., Vol. XXX, p. 105. 1896. Type Locality. Rigolet, Hamilton Inlet, Labrador. Probably common throughout all the wooded regions, its range extending north to the semi-barrens and meeting that of M. penn- sylvanicus labradorius. Goldthwaite took a large series at the type locality. I have APPENDIX IV 489 examined three specimens in the collection of the Geological Survey of Canada, from "50 miles north of Fort George." Turner took quite a number at Fort Chimo, and Doane secured a large series at Black Bay. 34. MICROTUS CHROTORRHINUS RARUS Bangs. Labrador rock vole. Microtus chrotorrhinus rarus Bangs. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XII, p. 187. 1898. Type Locality. Black Bay, Labrador. Known only from Black Bay, where Doane secured a good series. 35. FIBER ZIBETHICUS AQUILONIUS Bangs. Labrador muskrat. Fiber zibethicus aquilonius Bangs. Proc. New Eng. Zool. Club, Vol. I, p. 11. 1899. Type Locality. Rigolet, Hamilton Inlet. Common throughout the southern wooded region, and found, though probably not in such abundance, north to the barren and to Fort Chimo. 36. SYNAPTOMYS INNUITUS INNUITUS True. True's bog lemming. Mictomys innuitus True. Proc. Nat. Mus., Vol. XVII, No. 999. Advance sheet. April 26, 1894. Type Locality. Fort Chimo, Labrador. Known at present only by the type. 37. SYNAPTOMYS INNUITUS MEDIOXIMUS Bangs. Intermediate bog lemming. Synaptomys innuitus medioximus Bangs. Proc. New Eng. Zool. Club, Vol. II, p. 40. 1900. Type Locality. L'Anse au Loup. This form, larger than, and otherwise different from, true S. innuitus of Fort Chimo, is at present known only by two specimens, — one, the type from L'Anse au Loup, and the other from Hamil- ton Inlet. 38. DICROSTONYX HUDSONIUS Pallas. Hudson Bay lemming. Mus hudsonius Pallas. Glir. p. 203. 1778. Type Locality. Labrador. Found throughout the barrens and on the treeless hills, south at least, to Hamilton Inlet. 39. ZAPUS HUDSONIUS LADAS Bangs. Labrador jumping mouse. • Zapus hudsonius ladas Bangs. Proc. New Eng. Zool. Club, Vol. I, p. 10. 1899. Type Locality. Rigolet, Hamilton Inlet. Abundant in the southern wooded region, about Black Bay, etc., and extending northward, along the coast, to beyond Hamilton Inlet. 49. NAP^OZAPUS INSIGNIS ABIETORUM Preble. Northern wood- land jumping mouse. 490 APPENDIX IV Zapus (Napceozapus) insignis dbietorum Preble. North Am. Fauna, No. 15, p. 36. 1899. I have seen but one Labrador specimen of this species, a mounted example from the Geological Survey of Canada collection, taken by Low at Hamilton River. 41. ERETHIZON DORSATUM PICINUM Bangs. Labrador porcupine. Erethizon dorsatus picinus Bangs. Proc. New Eng. Zool. Club, Vol. II, p. 37. 1900. 3 Type Locality. L'Anse au Loup, Labrador. Common and generally distributed from the St. Lawrence, north to the semi-barrens. 42. LEPUS LABRADORIUS Miller. Labrador polar bear. Lepus labradorius Miller. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XIII, p. 39. 1899. Type Locality. Fort Chimo, Ungava. Of general distribution in the barrens and semi-barrens of Labra- dor, occasionally reaching so far south as Hamilton Inlet. Turner took specimens at Fort Chimo and Solomon Island. 43. LEPUS AMERICANUS AMERICANUS Erxl. American varying hare. Lepus americanus Erxl. Syst. Reg. Anim., p. 330. 1777. Type Locality. South side of Hudson Strait. Common throughout the wooded region, and extending into the edge of the barrens. Goldthwaite took fourteen specimens at Hamilton Inlet. 44. PHOCA VITULINA Linn. Harbour seal. Phoca vitulina Linn. Syst. Nat., Vol. I, p. 38. 1758. Common along the whole coast, and in the lower parts of the rivers. It is also, according to Low, found in many of the fresh- water lakes of the interior, and the Indians assert that these fresh- water seals never leave the lakes. This should be carefully looked into, and it is to be hoped that collectors in Labrador may be able to take some of these fresh-water seals. One skull in Bangs 's collection from Okkak, obtained by Sorn- borger from the Eskimo. 45. PHOCA HISPIDA Schreber. Ringed seal. Phoca hispida Schreber. Sdugt., Vol. Ill, p. 312, PI. LXXXVI. 1775. (Vide Thomas. Zoologist, p. 102. 1898.) Common along the entire Labrador coast. 46. PHOCA GROENLANDICA Fabricius. Harp seal. Phoca grcenlandica Fabricius. Muller's Zool. Dan. Prod., Vol. VIII. 1776. Common along the whole Labrador coast. 47. ERIGNATHUS BARBATUS Fabricius. Bearded seal. Phoca barbata Fabricius. Muller's Zool. Dan. Prod., Vol. VIII 1776. APPENDIX IV 491 Low reports this seal to be rare in the St. Lawrence and in south- ern Labrador, but more common northward, — in Hudson Strait, Hudson Bay, and James Bay. 48. HALICHCERUS GRYPUS Fabricius. Gray seal. Phoca grypus Fabricius. Skriv. af. Naturh.-Selsk., Vol. I, ii, p. 167, PL XIII, Fig. 4. 1791. Rare along the Labrador coast. 49. CYSTOPHORA CRISTATA Erxleben. Hooded seal. Phoca cristata Erxleben. Syst. Reg. Anim., p. 590. 1777. Not common along the Labrador coast. 50. ODOBENUS ROSMARUS Linn. Atlantic walrus. Phoca rosmarus Linn. Syst. Nat., Ed. X, Vol. I, p. 38. 1758. Now restricted to northern Labrador, reaching south only to about Nachvak. Formerly abundant along the whole Labrador coast. A fine pair, tf and ? , skulls in Bangs 'a collection, obtained by Sornborger from the Eskimo at Okkak. 51. LYNX CANADENSIS CANADENSIS Kerr. Canada lynx. Lynx canadensis Kerr. Anim. King., p. 157. 1792. Common within the wooded area from the Atlantic coast to Hud- son Bay, Low. 52. VULPES RUBRICOSA BANGSI Merriam. Labrador red fox. Vulpes rubricosa bangsi Merriam. Proc. Wash. Acad. Sci., Vol. II, p. 667. 1900. Type Locality. L'Anse au Loup, Labrador. Common throughout the whole of Labrador from the St. Lawrence to Hudson Strait. 53. VULPES LAGOPUS UNGAVA Merriam. Labrador white fox. Vulpes lagopus ungava Merriam. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XV, p. 170. 1902. Type Locality. Fort Chimo, Ungava. The Arctic fox is abundant in the barren-grounds and extends south to about Lake Michikamaw and to Nichicum. Along both coasts it pushes rather farther south ; on the Atlantic to Hamilton Inlet, and rarely even to the Strait of Belle Isle ; on the coast of James Bay to its southern part. Two skulls in Bangs 'a collection from Hebron, obtained by Sornborger. 54. CANIS OCCIDENTALIS Richardson. Timber-wolf. Canis lupus, occidentalis Richardson. F. B.A.Mamm., p. 60. 1829. According to Low, the timber-wolf is now very rare in the southern wooded region, owing to the extermination of the woodland caribou. It is still common in the barrens and semi-barrens of the north. - One skull in Bangs's collection from Hopedale, collected by Sornborger. 492 APPENDIX IV 55. CANIS ALBTJS Joseph Sabine. Arctic wolf. Cam's lupus — albus Joseph Sabine. Franklins Narrative. Appendix, p. 655. 1823. Occasionally taken in northern barren-grounds, Low. 56. LUTRA CANADENSIS CANADENSis Schreber. Canada otter. Mustela lutra Canadensis Schreber. Saugthiere, PL CXXVI, B. Low states the otter to be common throughout the wooded region and to range northward into the semi-barrens. One skull in Bangs's collection from Okkak, Sornborger. Turner sent one specimen to Washington from "Forks/' Ungava. (Although it appears in the catalogue, it cannot now be found.) Doane took specimens at Black Bay. 57. MEPHITIS MEPHITICA Shaw. Canada skunk. Viverra mephitica Shaw. Museum Leverianum, p. 172. 1792. Said by Stearns to be found occasionally on the southern coast of Labrador. I found it common at Lake Edward, Quebec, and it is probable that its range does reach Labrador, though I never have seen a specimen from that region. 58. GULO LUSCUS Linn. American wolverine. Ursus luscus Linn. Syst. Nat., Ed. X, Vol. I, p. 47. 1758. Abundant throughout Labrador, especially northward to Hudson Strait. Two skulls from Okkak in Bangs's collection, obtained by Sorn- borger. Turner sent one specimen to Washington from Fort Chimo. Doane sent me some beautiful specimens from L'Anse au Loup. In Labrador the wolverine is usually called "badger." 59. PUTORIUS VISON VISON Schreber. Little black mink. Mustela vison Schreber. Saugt., Vol. Ill, p. 463. 1778. Low says the mink is found only in the southern part of Labrador, seldom occurring north of East Main and Hamilton rivers. Doane sent me four specimens from Black Bay. 60. PUTORIUS CICOGNANII CICOGNANII Bonap. Small brown weasel. Mustela cicognanii Bonap. Fauna, Italica, Mamm., p. 4. 1838. Reported by Low to be common everywhere south of tree limit. Goldthwaite took two specimens, $ and ?, at Rigolet. Turner took one at "Forks," Ungava. Doane sent me a fine series from Black Bay and L'Anse au Loup. One would expect to find Putorius cicognanii richardsoni Bonap. replacing the present form in the western and northern barrens, and very possibly it does, but I have seen no specimens from that region. 61. MUSTELA AMERICANA BRUMALIS Bangs. Labrador marten; sable. Mustela brumalis Bangs. Amer. Nat., Vol. XXXI, p. 162. February, 1897. APPENDIX IV 493 Type Locality. Okkak, Labrador. Formerly I thought that the marten of southern Labrador would prove to be true M . americana, but specimens sent me by Doane from L'Anse au Loup are M. a. brumalis, and I now doubt the ex- istence in Labrador of two forms. The Labrador subspecies is a fine large, dark -coloured mar- ten, and is generally distributed throughout the wooded regions. 62. MUSTELA PENNANTII PENNANT!! Erxl. Pennants's marten; fisher. Mustela pennantii Erxl. Syst. An., p. 479. 1777. Pennants 's marten, according to Low, rarely enters the south- western limits of Labrador, not occurring east of Mingan nor north of Mistassini. 63. URSUS AMERICANTJS Pallas. Black bear. Ursus americanus Pallas. Spicil. Zool., fasc. XIV, p. 5. 1780. Ursus americanus sornborgeri Bangs. Amer. Nat., Vol. XXXII, p. 500. 1898. Type Locality. Okkak, Labrador. Of general distribution throughout Labrador, north to tree limit. At one time I thought the Labrador black bear was separable as a subspecies and named it W. a. sornborgeri, but since then I have examined a large number of additional skulls and find none of the characters on which I based the subspecies to hold good, most of these skulls being indistinguishable in size or in any other way from skulls from Nova Scotia, Maine, New Hampshire, etc., with which I compared them. In my former list I included Ursus richardsoni Swainson — the barren-ground bear — on the strength of reports that Low had of it from the Nascaupee Indians. I am now inclined to discredit these, so far as Labrador is concerned. Indians everywhere have many traditions that persist in a remarkable manner, and often they are borrowed from tribes that live at a distance. I can find no evidence that the barren-ground bear occurs in the barrens of Labrador, and until it is actually known to be there it must be struck from a list of the mammals of Labrador. 64. THALARCTOS MARITIMUS Linn. Polar bear; ice bear. Ursus maritimus Linn. Syst. Nat., Ed. XII, Vol. I, p. 70. 1766. Low says the polar bear ranges south along the Atlantic coast of Labrador occasionally as far as the Strait of Belle Isle, and in Hudson Bay to Charleton Island. The species seldom goes far inland, except to produce its young. Sornborger told me that the polar bear is very common and resident in northern Labrador. 'Four skulls in Bangs's collection, all obtained by Sornborger of the Eskimo at Hebron and Okkak. 494 APPENDIX IV 65. SOREX PERSONATUS Miscix Bangs. Labrador shrew. Sorex personatus miscix Bangs. Proc. New Eng. ZooL Club., Vol. I, p. 15. 1899. Type Locality. Black Bay, Labrador. Common throughout the Labrador peninsula from Fort Chimo south. 66. CONDYLURA CRiSTATA Linn. Star-nosed mole. SOREX CRISTATUS Linn. Syst. Nat., Ed. X, Vol. I, p. 53. 1758. Goldthwaite saw and fully identified a star-nosed mole that the dogs had caught at Rigolet. Doane sent me a female from Black Bay, taken October 20, 1898. 67. MYOTIS LUCIFUGUS LUCIFUGUS Le Conte. Little brown bat. Vespertilio lucifugus Le Conte. McMurtries' Cuvier, Appen- dix, p. 431. 1831. Low supposed the bats seen by him on Hamilton River and at Lake Mistassini to belong to this species. I took this bat at Lake Edward, Quebec, and Miller (North Am. Fauna, No. 13, p. 63) records it from Godbout and Ottawa, Quebec, and from James Bay, Ontario. It is also found in Newfoundland. 68. MYOTIS SUBULATUS SUBULATUS Say. Say's bat. Vespertilio subulatus Say. Long's Exped. to Rocky Mts., Vol. II, p. 65, footnote. 1823. Reported by Stearns from Natashquan. Miller (North Am. Fauna, No. 13, p. 76) records specimens from Mount Forest and North Bay, Ontario, and Godbout and Ottawa, Quebec. LIST OF THE BIRDS OF LABRADOR With brief annotations By CHARLES W. TOWNSEND, M.D., and GLOVER M. ALLEN, PH.D.1 1. COLYMBUS HOLBCELLI. Holbo3lPs grebe. Rare transient visitor. 2. COLYMBUS AURITUS. Horned grebe. Rare transient visitor ; possibly breeds. 3. GAVIA IMBER. Loon. Common summer resident. 4. GAVIA ARCTICUS. Black-throated loon. Summer resident, not uncommon in the north ; rare in the south. 5. GAVIA LUMME. Red-throated loon ; "whabby." Common summer resident. 6. FRATERCULA ARCTICA. Puffin; "paroquet." Abundant summer resident. 7. CEPPHUS GRYLLE. Black guillemot ; "sea-pigeon." Abundant summer resident. 8. CEPPHUS MANDTII. Mandt's guillemot. Summer resident. 9. URIA TROILE. Murre. Common summer resident in south ; a few winter. 10. URIA LOMVIA. Brunnich's murre. Common summer resident ; a few winter. 11. ALCA TORDA. Razor-billed auk ; "tinker." Common summer resident ; a few winter. [PLAUTUS IMPENNIS. Great auk; "penguin."] Extinct. 12. ALLE ALLE. Dovekie; "bull-bird." Abundant transient and winter visitor. 13. MEGALESTRIS SKUA. Skua; "sea-hen." Accidental visitor. 14. STERCORARIUS POMARINUS. Pomarine jaeger; "boVn." Common summer visitor ; probably breeds in north. '* Vide The Birds of Labrador, Proc. Boston Soc. of Nat. Hist., Vol. 33, No. 7, July, 1907. 495 496 APPENDIX V 15. STERCORARIUS PARASITICUS. Parasitic jaeger. Common summer visitor ; perhaps breeds in north. 16. STERCORARIUS LONGICAUDUS. Long-tailed jaeger. Rare summer resident. 17. PAGOPHILA ALBA. Ivory gull; "ice partridge." Common winter visitor. 18. RISSA TRIDACTYLA. Kittiwake ; "tickler." Abundant summer resident. 19. LARUS GLATJCUS. Glaucous gull. Common summer resident ; a few winter. 20. LARUS LEUCOPTERUS. Iceland gull. Rare transient or winter visitor. 21. LARUS MARINUS. Great black-backed gull ; "saddle-back." Common summer resident. 22. LARUS ARGENTATUS. Herring gull. Common summer resident. 23. LARUS DELAWARENSIS. Ring-billed gull. Uncommon summer resident, locally in south. 24. LARUS PHILADELPHIA. Bonaparte's gull. Common transient ; autumnal visitor in south. 25. XEMA SABINII. Sabine's gull. Rare transient visitor. 26. STERNA CASPIA. Caspian tern. Very rare summer resident in south. 27. STERNA HIRUNDO. Common tern. Common summer resident in south. 28. STERNA PARADIS^EA. Arctic tern. Common summer resident, locally. 29. STERNA ANTILLARUM. Least tern. Extirpated. 30. FULMARUS GLACIALIS. Fulmar. Common summer visitor. 31. PUFFINUS GRAVIS. Greater shearwater. Abundant summer visitor. 32. PUFFINUS FULIGINOSUS. Sooty shearwater. Common summer visitor. 33. PROCELLARIA PELAGICA. Stormy petrel. Rare summer visitor. 34. OCEANODROMA LEUCORHOA. Leach's petrel. Common summer resident in south. 35. OCEANITES OCEANICUS. Wilson's petrel. Uncommon summer visitor. 36. SULA BASSANA. Gannet. Uncommon summer resident, locally. 37. PHALACROCORAX CARBO. Cormorant. Common summer resident, locally. APPENDIX V 497 38. PHALACROCORAX DILOPHUS. Double-crested cormorant; shag. Common summer resident, locally. 39. MERGANSER AMERICANUS. American merganser. Rare summer resident. 40. MERGANSER SERRATOR. Red-breasted merganser. Common summer resident. 41. LOPHODYTES CUCULLATUS. Hooded merganser. Rare summer resident. 42. ANAS BOSCHAS. Mallard. Rare transient visitor. 43. ANAS OBSCURA. Black duck. Common summer resident. 44. ANAS OBSCURA RUBRIPES. Red-legged black duck. Common summer resident. 45. MARECA AMERICANA. Baldpate ; American widgeon. Rare transient visitor. 46. NETTION CRECCA. European teal. Accidental visitor. 47. NETTION CAROLINENSIS. Green-winged teal. Rare summer resident. 48. QUERQUEDULA DiscoRS. Blue-winged teal. Very rare summer resident. 49. SPATULA CLYPEATA. Shoveller. Accidental visitor. 50. DAFILA ACUTA. Pintail. Very rare transient visitor. 51. AYTHYA AMERICANA. Redhead. Very rare transient visitor. 52. AYTHYA MARILA. Greater scaup duck. Rare summer resident in northwest. 53. CLANGULA AMERICANA. American golden-eye ; whistler. Common summer resident. 54. CLANGULA ISLANDICA. Barrow's golden-eye. Rare transient visitor and summer resident. 55. CHARITONETTA ALBEOLA. Buffle-head ; " sleepy diver/' Rare transient visitor. 56. HARELDA HYEMALIS. Old-squaw; "hound." Common summer resident in northern parts. 57. HISTRIONICUS HISTRIONICUS. Harlequin duck ; "lord and lady." Common summer resident in northern parts. [CAMPTOLAIMUS LABRADORIUS. Labrador duck. Extinct.] 58. SOMATERIA MOLLISSIMA BOREALis. Northern eider; Greenland eider. Abundant summer resident north of Hamilton Inlet. 2K 498 APPENDIX V 59. SOMATERIA DRESSERI. American eider ; "sea-duck "; "metik." Common summer resident in southern part. 60. SOMATERIA SPECTABILIS. King eider; "king duck." Abundant transient visitor; not uncommon summer resident in the north. 61. OIDEMIA AMERICANA. American scoter ; "butter-bill coot." Common transient visitor ; rare summer resident. 62. OIDEMIA DEGLANDI. White-winged scoter; "brass-wing diver." Abundant summer resident. 63. OIDEMIA PERSPICILLATA. Surf scoter; "bottle-nosed diver." Abundant summer resident. 64. ERISMATURA JAMAICENSIS. Ruddy duck. Uncommon summer resident on shores of Hudson Bay. 65. CHEN HYPERBOREA NIVALIS. Greater snow goose; "wavey." Very rare summer resident in northwest ; common transient visitor on shores of Hudson Bay. 66. CHEN C^RULESCIUS. Blue goose; "blue wavey." Common transient visitor on shores of Hudson Bay. 67. ANSER ALBIFRONS GAMBELI. American white-fronted goose. Accidental visitor. 68. BRANTA CANADENSIS. Canada goose. Common summer resident. 69. BRANTA BERNICLA GLAUCOGASTRA. White-bellied brant. Abundant transient visitor locally. 70. OLOR COLUMBIANUS. Whistling swan. Very rare summer resident in northwest. 71. BOTAURUS LENTIGINOSUS. American bittern. Very rare summer resident in southwest. 72. ARDEA HERODIAS. Great blue heron. Accidental visitor. 73. FLORIDA CCERRLEA. Little blue heron. Accidental visitor. 74. NYCTICORAX NYCTICORAX N^VIUS. Black-crowned night- heron. Accidental visitor. 75. RALLUS VIRGINIANUS. Virginia rail. Accidental visitor. 76. PORZANA CAROLINA. Sora. Accidental visitor. 77. FULICA AMERICANA. American coot. Accidental visitor. 78. CRYMOPHILUS FULICARIUS. Red phalarope. Common transient visitor ; rare summer resident. 79. PHALAROPUS LOBATUS. Northern phalarope. Common summer resident. APPENDIX V 499 80. GALLINAGO DELICATA. Wilson's snipe. Rare summer resident. 81. MACRORHAMPHUS GRISEUS. Dowitcher. Rare transient visitor. 82. TRINGA CANUTUS. Knot. Uncommon transient visitor. 83. ARQUATELLA MARITIMA. Purple sandpiper. Rare transient and winter visitor. 84. ACTODROMAS MACULATA. Pectoral sandpiper. Common autumnal transient visitor. 85. ACTODROMAS FUSCICOLLIS. White-rumped sandpiper. Common transient visitor. 86. ACTODROMAS MINUTILLA. Least sandpiper ; "peep." Common summer resident. 87. PELIDNA ALPINA SAKHALINA. Red-backed sandpiper ; Ameri- can dunlin. Uncommon transient visitor. 88. EREUNETES PUSILLUS. Semipalmated sandpiper ; "peep." Common summer resident, locally. 89. CALIDRIS ARENARIA. Sanderling. Common transient visitor. 90. LIMOSA N^EMASTICA. Hudsonian godwit. Very rare transient visitor. 91. TOTANUS MELANOLEUCUS. Greater yellow-legs. Common summer resident. 92. TOTANUS FLAVIPES. Yellow-legs. Uncommon transient visitor. 93. HELODROMAS SOLITARIUS. Solitary sandpiper. Uncommon summer resident. 94. TRYNGITES SUBRUFICOLLIS. Buff-breasted sandpiper. Very rare transient visitor. 95. ACTITIS MACULARIA. Spotted sandpiper. Common summer resident. 96. NUMENIUS HUDSONICUS. Hudsonian curlew. Uncommon autumn transient visitor. 97. NUMENIUS BOREALIS. Eskimo curlew; "the curlew." Formerly abundant autumn transient visitor ; now very rare. 98. SQUATAROLA SQUATAROLA. Black-bellied plover. Common transient visitor. 99. CHARADRIUS DOMINICUS. American golden plover. Uncommon autumn transient visitor. 100. ^EGIALITIS SEMIPALMATA. Semipalmated plover; "ring-neck. * Common summer resident. 101. ARENARIA MORINELLA. Ruddy turnstone. Common transient visitor. 500 APPENDIX V 102. ILEMATOPUS PALLIATUS. American oyster-catcher. Extirpated ; formerly summer resident. 103. CANACHITES CANADENSIS!, Hudsonian spruce grouse. Common permanent resident. 104. BONASA UMBELLUS TOGATA. Canadian ruffed grouse. Not uncommon permanent resident in southern part. 105. LAGOPUS LAGOPUS. Willow ptarmigan. Common permanent resident in wooded portions. 106. LAGOPUS RUPESTRIS. Rock ptarmigan. Common permanent resident in treeless portions, except in extreme north. 107. LAGOPUS RUPESTRIS REINHARDTI. Reinhardt's ptarmigan. Common permanent resident in the extreme north. 108. PEDIOCLETES PHASIANELLUS. Sharp-tailed grouse. Uncommon, permanent resident in western Labrador. 109. ECTOPISTES MIGRATORIUS. Passenger-pigeon. Formerly very rare, now extirpated. 110. ZENAIDURA MACROURA'. Mourning dove. Accidental visitor. 111. CATHARTES AURA. Turkey vulture. Accidental visitor. 112. CIRCUS HUDSONIUS. Marsh-hawk. Very rare summer resident in the south. 113. ACCIPITER VELOX. Sharp-shinned hawk. Very rare summer resident in the south. 114. ACCIPITER COOPERI. Cooper's hawk. Rare summer resident in the south. 115. ACCIPITER ATRICAPILLUS. American goshawk. Uncommon permanent resident. 116. BUTEO BOREALIS. Red-tailed hawk. Very rare summer visitor. 117. ARCHIBUTEO LAGOPUS SANCTI-JOHANNIS. American rough- legged hawk. Very common summer resident. 118. AQUILA CHRYS^TOS. Golden eagle. Very rare permanent resident. 119. HALIAETUS LEUCOCEPHAL-US ALASCANUS. Northern bald eagle. Rare summer resident. 120. FALCO ISLANDUS. White gyrfalcon. Common permanent resident. 121. FALCO RUSTICOLUS. Gray gyrfalcon. Rare winter visitor. 122. FALCO RUSTICOLUS GYRFALCO. Gyrfalcon. Rare visitor. APPENDIX V 501 123. FALCO RUSTICOLUS OBSOLETUS. Black gyrfalcon. Common permanent resident. 124. FALCO PEREGRINUS ANATUM. Duck-hawk. Common summer resident. 125. FALCO COLUMBARIUS. Pigeon-hawk. Common summer resident. 126. FALCO SPARVERIUS. American sparrow-hawk. Rare summer visitor. 127. PANDION HALIAETUS CAROLINENSIS. American osprey. Common summer resident in south. 128. Asio ACCIPITRINUS. Short-eared owl. Common summer resident. 129. SYRNIUM VARIUM. Barred owl. Very rare summer visitor in the south. 130. CRYPTOGLAUX TENGMALMI RICHARDSONI. Richardson's owl Rare permanent resident. 131. CRYPTOGLAUX ACADICA. Saw-whet owl. Rare summer resident. 132. MEGASCOPS ASIO. Screech owl. Very rare summer visitor in southern part. 133. ASTO MAGELLANICUS HETEROCNEMis. Labrador horned owl. Common permanent resident. 134. NYCTEA NYCTEA. Snowy owl. Not common permanent resident. 135. SURNIA ULULA CAPAROCH. American hawk-owl. Common permanent resident. 136. COCCYZUS ERYTHROPHTHALMUS. Black-billed cuckoo. Very rare summer visitor in south. 137. CERYLE ALCYON. Belted kingfisher. Common summer resident in southwest. 138. DRYOBATES VILLOSUS LEUCOMELAS. Northern hairy wood- pecker. Uncommon summer resident in south. 139. DRYOBATES PUBESCENS MEDIANUS. Northern downy wood- pecker. Common permanent resident in southern half. 140. PICOIDES ARCTICUS. Arctic three-toed woodpecker. Common permanent resident north to tree limit. 141. PICOIDES AMERICANUS. American three-toed woodpecker. Common permanent resident north to tree limit. 142. COEAPTES AURATUS LUTEUS. Northern flicker. Uncommon summer resident in southern half. 143. CHORDEILES VIRGINIANUS. Night-hawk. ' Common summer resident in south. 144. TROCHILUS COLUBRIS. Ruby-throated hummingbird. Very rare summer resident. 502 APPENDIX V 145. TYRANNUS TYRANNUS. Kingbird. Rare summer resident in south. 146. SAYORNIS PHCEBE. Phoebe. Very rare summer resident in south. 147. NUTTALLORNIS BORBALis. Olive-sided flycatcher. Very rare summer resident in southwest. 148. EMPIDONAX FLAVIVENTRIS. Yellow-bellied flycatcher. Common summer resident in southwest. 149. EMPIDONAX TRAILLII ALNORUM. Alder flycatcher. Not uncommon summer resident in southwest. 150. OTOCORIS ALPESTRIS. Horned lark ; shore lark. Abundant summer resident throughout the Arctic Zone, especially on coast. 151. PERISOREUS CANADENSIS NIGRICAPILLUS. Labrador jay. Abundant permanent resident in forested regions. 152. CORVUS CORAX PRINCIPALS. Northern raven. Common permanent resident. 153. CORVUS BRACK YRYNCHOS. American crow. Uncommon summer resident in the south. 154. XANTHOCEPHALUS XANTHOCEPHALUS. Yellow-headed black- bird. Accidental visitor. 155. EUPHAGUS CAROLINUS. Rusty blackbird. Common summer resident. 156. PINICOLA ENUCLEATOR LEUCURA. Pine grosbeak. Common summer resident ; winters in southern portion. 157. CARPODACUS PURPUREUS. Purple finch. Common summer resident in south. 158. LOXIA CURVIROSTRA MINOR. American crossbill. Uncommon summer resident ; may winter. 159. LOXIA LEUCOPTERA. White-winged crossbill. Common permanent resident. 160. ACANTHIS HORNEMANNII. Greenland redpoll. Abundant winter visitor in the north. 161. ACANTHIS HORNEMANNII EXILIPES. Hoary redpoll. Abundant permanent resident in the north. 162. ACANTHIS LINARIA. Redpoll. Abundant permanent resident. 163. ACANTHIS LINARIA ROSTRATA. Greater redpoll. Common winter visitor ; rare summer resident in the north. 164. ASTRAGALINUS TRiSTis. American goldfinch. Accidental visitor. 165. SPINUS PINUS. Pine siskin. Uncommon summer resident in the south. 166. PASSERINA NIVALIS. Snowflake ; snow bunting. APPENDIX V 503 Abundant summer resident in the north; winter visitor in the south. 167. CALCARIUS LAPPONICUS. Lapland longspur. Abundant summer resident in the north ; winter visitor in the south. 168. PASSERCULUS SANDWICHENSIS SAVANNA. Savanna sparrow. Very common summer resident. 169. ZONOTRICHIA LEDCOPHRYS. White-crowned sparrow., Abundant summer resident. 170. ZONOTRICHIA ALBICOLLIS. White-throated sparrow,, Common summer resident in south. 171. SPIZELLA MONTICOLA. Tree sparrow. Common summer resident. 172. JUNCO HYEMALIS. Slate-coloured junco. Uncommon summer resident. 173. MELOSPIZA CINEREA MELODIA. Song sparrow. Uncommon summer resident in southwest. 174. MELOSPIZA LINCOLNI. Lincoln's sparrow. Common summer resident in south. 175. MELOSPIZA GEORGIANA. Swamp sparrow. Common summer resident in southwest. 176. PASSERELLA ILIACA. Fox sparrow. Common summer resident in south. 177. HIRUNDO ERYTHROGASTER. Barn swallow. Very rare summer resident. 178. IRIDOPROCNE BICOLOR. Tree swallow. Common summer resident locally. 179. RIPARIA RIPARIA. Bank swallow. Common summer resident in a few localities. 180. AMPELIS CEDRORUM. Cedar waxwing. Rare summer resident. 181. LANIUS BOREALIS. Northern shrike. Not uncommon summer resident. 182. HELMINTHOPHILA RUBRICAPILLA. Nashville warbler. Very rare summer visitor in the south. 183. HELMINTHOPHILA PEREGRINA. Tennessee warbler. Not uncommon summer resident in Hudsonian Zone. i 184. DENDROICA .ESTIVA. Yellow warbler. Common summer resident locally in the south. 185. DENDROICA OERULESCENS. Black-throated blue warbler. Accidental visitor. 186. DENDROICA CORONATA. Myrtle warbler; yellow-rumped warbler. Common summer resident, chiefly in Canadian Zone. 187. DENDROICA MACULOSA. Magnolia warbler. Common summer resident in Canadian Zone. 504 APPENDIX V 188. DENDROICA CASTANEA. Bay-breasted warbler. Very rare summer resident. 189. DENDROICA STRIATA. Blackpoll warbler. Very common summer resident. 190. DENDROICA BLACKBURNLE. Blackburnian warbler. Rare summer resident in the south. 191. DENDROICA VIRENS. Black-throated green warbler. Common summer resident in the south. 192. DENDROICA VIGORSII. Pine warbler. Very rare summer resident. 193. DENDROICA PALMARIUM HYPOCHREPEA. Yellow-palm warbler Rare summer resident in the south. 194. SEIURUS AUROCAPILLUS. Oven-bird. Rare summer resident in the south. 195. SEIURUS NOVEBORACENCIS. Water-thrush. Not uncommon summer resident in wooded portions. 196. GEOTHLYPIS TRICHAS BRACHIDACTYLA. Northern yellow throat. Common summer resident in south. 197. WILSONIA PUSILLA. Wilson's warbler. Common summer resident in south. 198. WILSONIA CANADENSIS. Canadian warbler. Rare summer resident in south. 199. SETOPHAGA RUTICILLA. American redstart. Common summer resident in south. 200. MOTACILLA ALBA. White wagtail. Accidental visitor. 201. ANTHUS PENSILVANICUS. American pipit. Abundant summer resident throughout Arctic Zone. 202. OLBIORCHILUS HIEMALIS. Winter \\ren. Uncommon summer resident in south. 203. SITTA CANADENSIS. Red-breasted nuthatch. Uncommon summer resident in south. 204. PARUS ATRICAPILLUS. Chickadee. Not uncommon summer resident in south. 205. PARUS HUDSONICUS. Hudsonian chickadee. Abundant permanent resident. 206. REGULUS SATRAPA. Golden-crowned kinglet. Common summer resident in south. 207. REGULUS CALENDULA. Ruby-crowned kinglet. Common summer resident in south. 208. HYLOCICHLA FUSCESCENS. Wilson's thrush. Rare summer resident in south. 209. HYLOCICHLA ALICIA. Gray-cheeked thrush ; Alice's thrush. Common summer resident. APPENDIX V 505 210. HYLOCICHLA USTULATA SWAINSONII. Olive-backed thrush. Common summer resident in southwest. 211. HYLOCICHLA GUTTATA PALLASII. Hermit thrush. Common summer resident in south. 212. MERULA MIGRATORIA. American robin. Abundant summer resident. 213. SAXICOLA CENANTHE LENCORHOA. Greenland wheatear. Rare summer resident. ADDITIONAL SPECIES Observed by CHARLES W. TOWNSEND, M.D., and A. C. BENT, in 1909. 214. ^EGIALITIS MELODA. Piping plover. Rare summer resident in south. 215. CYANOCITTA CRTSTATA. Blue jay. Accidental visitor in south. 216. MNIOTILTA VARIA. Black and white warbler. Not uncommon summer resident in south. VI LIST OF CRUSTACEA ON THE LABRADOR COAST BY MARY J. RATHBUN Compiled from various lists published by DR. PACKARD/ PROFES- SOR SMITH/ and DR. ORTMANN/ from collections in the U. S. National Museum,4 obtained by MR. LUCIEN M. TURNER/ in 1882 and 1883, and by MR. OWEN BRYANT," in 1908. BRACHYURA Cancer irroratus Say. Hamilton Inlet 7 (Packard) ; Caribou Island (Packard). 1 PACKARD, A. S., JR., "A List of Animals dredged near Caribou Island, Southern Labrador, during July and August, 1860," The Canadian Naturalist and Geologist, Vol. VIII, pp. 401-429, Pis. I-II, December, 1863. PACKARD, A. S., JR., "Observations on the Glacial Phenomena of Labrador and Maine, with a View of the Recent Invertebrate Fauna of Labrador," Mem. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. I, pp. 210-303, Pis. VII- VIII, 1867. PACKARD, A. S., "Life and Nature in Southern Labrador," Amer. Nat., Vol. XIX, pp. 269-275, 365-372, 1885. 2 SMITH, SIDNEY I., "List of the Crustacea dredged on the Coast of Labrador by the Expedition under the Direction of W. A. Stearns, in 1882," Froc. U. S. Nat. Mus., Vol. VI, pp. 218-222, 1883. SMITH, SIDNEY I., "Review of the Marine Crustacea of Labrador," Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., Vol. VI, pp. 223-232, 1883. SMITH, S. I., "List of Crustacea from Port Burwell collected by Dr. R. Bell in 1884, in Observations on the Geology, Mineralogy, Zoology, and Botany of the Labrador Coast, Hudson's Strait and Bay." By Robert Bell. Appendix IV, pp. 57DD-58DD. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey of Canada, 1884, Montreal. Pp. 1DD-62DD. 3 ORTMANN, A. E., "Crustacea and Pycnogonida collected during the Princeton Expedition to North Greenland," Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., Vol. LIII, 1901, pp. 144-168, 1 text figure. 4 By permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 5 Determined by Prof. S. I. Smith. 6 By permission of Mr. Bryant in advance of his report on the expedition. 7 On p. 203 of The Labrador Coast, Packard says that the shore- crab occurs south of Hamilton Inlet. 506 APPENDIX VI 507 ChionoBcetes opilio 0. Fabricius. Off northern Labrador, 10-15 fms. in stomachs of fish (Packard) ; Henley Harbour (Smith) ; Chateau Bay, 30-50 fms. (Packard) ; Strait of Belle Isle, 10-50 fms. (Packard). Hyas araneus Linn. Outside of Hebron, 60 fms., gravel (Bry- ant); off Fish Island, 75 fms., mud, and Nain, 7 fms., mud (Bryant) ; Domino Run, 0-1 fm. (Ortmann) ; Battle Harbour, 12-14 fms. (Ortmann) ; Henley Harbour (Smith) ; near Cari- bou Island, common (Packard) ; L'Anse au Loup and Forteau Bay, 15-25 fms., sand, kelp, and dirt (Stearns) ; abundant along the whole coast, 5-50 fms. (Packard). Hyas coarctatus Leach. Henley Harbour, shallow water and 8 fms. (Smith), 30 fms. (Packard); Temple Bay (Smith); near Caribou Island, common (Packard). ANOMURA Pagurus pubescens Kr0yer. Hopedale, 10 fms. (Packard) ; Egg Harbour, 7 fms., mud (Bryant) ; Dead Island, 1-3 fms., rocky (Smith) ; Fox Harbour, 3 fms., sand (Smith) ; Battle Harbour, 0-1 fm. (Ortmann) ; Henley Harbour, shoal water (Smith) ; Temple Bay, 10 fms. (Smith) ; Strait of Belle Isle, 50 fms. (Packard) ; L'Anse au Loup, 10-15 fms., sandy (Smith) ; abundant on the whole coast from low-water mark to 50 fms. (Packard). Pagurus kroyeri Stimpson. Port Burwell (Smith) ; Nachvak, in stomach of cod (Turner) ; outside of Hebron, 60 fms., gravel (Bryant) ; off Fish Island, 75 fms., mud (Bryant) ; halfway from Cape Mugford to Hebron, 60 fms., mud, sand (Bryant) ; Port Manvers, 30 fms., sticky mud (Bryant) ; Nain, 7 fms., mud (Bryant) ; Shoal Tickle near (southeast of) Nain (Bryant) ; Dead Island, nullipore (Smith) ; Henley Harbour, 3-15 fms. (Smith) ; Temple Bay, 10 fms., rocky (Smith) ; not so abun- dant as P. pubescens (Packard). MACRURA Homarus americanus Milne Edwards. South of Hamilton Inlet (Packard) ; Henley Harbour, rare (Packard) ; near Caribou Island, common (Packard). Crago septemspinosus Say. Caribou Island, very large and abun- dant on mud flats (Packard). Sclerocrangon boreas Phipps. Labrador Reef, Ungava (Turner) ; Port Burwell (Smith) ; Komaktorvik Bay, 5 fms., rocky 508 APPENDIX VI (Bryant) ; Nachvak, cod stomach (Turner) ; Egg Harbour, 7 fms., mud (Bryant) ; Dead Island, 1-3 fms., rocky (Smith), Square Island, 30 fms. (Packard) ; Henley Harbour, 4-10 fms., one with a Pontobdella an inch long attached to under surface (Packard) ; Strait of Belle Isle, 10 fms. (Packard) ; Caribou Island, 8 fms. (Packard) ; L'Anse au Lpup, 8-10 fms. (Smith). Nectocrangon dentata Rathbun = ]V. lar Smith, not Owen. Nach- vak1 (Turner) ; outside of Hebron,1 60 fms., gravel (Bryant) ; Nain,1 7 fms., mud (Bryant) ; Shoal Tickle l near (southeast of) Nain (Bryant), Egg Harbour,1 7 fms., mud (Bryant); Dead Island,2 nullipore (Smith) ; Square Island,2 30 fms. (Packard) ; Henley Harbour,1 10 fms. (Smith) ; near Caribou Island,2 10 fms.,3 mud, rare (Packard). Sabinea septemcarinata Sabine. Halfway from Cape Mugford to Hebron, 60 fms., mud, sand (Bryant) ; Thomas Bay, 15 fms. (Packard). Spirontocaris grcenlandica J. C. Fabricius. Port Burwell (Smith) ; Komaktorvik Bay, 5 fms., rocky (Bryant) ; Nachvak, in cod stomach (Turner) ; Egg Harbour, 7 fms., mud (Bryant) ; Dead Island, 1-4 fms. (Smith) ; Square Island, 15-30 fms. (Packard) ; Domino Harbour, 7 fms. (Packard) ; Fox Harbour, 1 fm. (Smith) ; Strait of Belle Isle, 10 fms. (Packard) ; Cari- bou Island, 14 fms. (Packard) ; L'Anse au Loup, 10-15 fms. (Smith). Spirontocaris spina Sowerby. Nachvak (Turner) ; outside of Hebron, 60 fms., gravel (Bryant) ; Shoal Tickle near (southeast of) Nain (Bryant) ; Egg Harbour, 7 fms., mud (Bryant) ; Square Island, 15-30 fms., not common (Packard) ; Henley Harbour, shoal water and 10-15 fms. (Smith) ; Temple Bay, rocky (Smith), near Caribou Island, frequent in 10-50 fms. (Packard). Spirontocaris phippsii Kreyer. Port Burwell (Smith) ; Kornak- torvik Bay, 5 fms., rocky (Bryant) ; Nachvak (Turner) ; outside of Hebron, 60 fms., gravel (Bryant) ; halfway from Cape Mug- ford to Hebron, 60 fms., mud, sand (Bryant) ; Shoal Tickle near (southeast of) Nain (Bryant) ; Battle Harbour, 12-14 fms. (Ortmann) ; Domino Harbour, 7 fms. (Packard) ; off Belles Amours, 10 fms., rocky (Packard, as turgida) ; L'Anse au Loup, 8 fms. (Smith). Spirontocaris polaris Sabine. Labrador Reef, Ungava, pale flesh 1 Specimens examined by the present writer. 2 Probably this species. 3 In Packard's first list (1863) the depths are erroneously given in feet. APPENDIX VI 509 colour, not active (Turner) ; Port Burwell, 68 mm. long (Smith) ; Nachvak (Turner) ; outside of Hebron, 60 fms., gravel (Bryant) ; Dead Island, 3 fms., seaweed (Smith) ; Square Island, 15-30 fms. (Packard), Strait of Belle Isle, 10 fms. (Packard). Spirontocaris fabricii Kr0yer. Labrador Reef, Ungava (Turner) ; Port Burwell (Smith) ; Nain, 7 fms., mud (Bryant) ; Shoal Tickle, near (southeast of)* Nain (Bryant) ; Egg Harbour, 7 fms., mud (Bryant) ; Dead Island, 3 fms. (Smith) ; Fox Har- bour, 1 fm. (Smith) ; Henley Harbour, 10-15 fms. (Smith) ; Domino Harbour, 7 fms., not common (Packard) ; L'Anse au Loup, 15 fms., sand, and on rocky bottom (Smith) ; Forteau Bay, 20 fms. (Smith). Spirontocaris gaimardii Milne Edwards. Komaktorv.ik Bay, 5 fms., rocky (Bryant), varying toward belcheri; halfway from Cape Mugford to Hebron, 60 fms., mud, sand (Bryant), varying toward belcheri; Nain, 7 fms., mud (Bryant), varying towards belcheri; Shoal Tickle near (southeast of) Nain (Bryant) ; Hopedale, 10 fms., (Packard) ; Egg Harbour, 7 fms., mud (Bryant) ; Square Island, 30 fms. (Packard) ; Henley Harbour and Sloop Harbour, 8 fms. (Packard) ; Caribou Island, 15 fms. (Packard) ; common (Packard) . Spirontocaris gaimardii belcheri Bell. Nachvak (Turner) ; off Fish Island, outside of Hebron, 75 fms., mud (Bryant) ; Henley Harbour, 10 fms. (Stearns), varying toward typical gaimardii; L'Anse au Loup, 8-15 fms. (Stearns). Spirontocaris stoneyi Rathbun. Shoal Tickle, near (southeast of) Nain (Bryant). Spirontocaris macilenta Kr0yer. Off Fish Island, 75 fms., mud (Bryant) ; halfway from Cape Mugford to Hebron, 60 fms., mud, sand (Bryant) ; Shoal Tickle near (southeast of) Nain (Bryant) ; Square Island, 15-30 fms., rare (Packard). Pandalus montagui Leach. Port Burwell (Smith) ; Nain, 7 fms., mud (Bryant) ; Hopedale, 10 fms. (Packard) ; Egg Harbour, 7 fms., mud (Bryant) ; Sloop Harbour, 6 fms. (Packard) ; Henley Harbour, 20 fms. (Packard) ; Temple Bay, 10 fms., rocky (Smith) ; L'Anse au Loup, 8-15 fms. (Smith) ; Forteau Bay, 20 fms. (Smith). SCHIZOPODA Mysis oculata O. Fabricius. Port Burwell (Smith) ; Komak- torvik Bay, 5 fms., rocky (Bryant) ; Dead Island (Smith) ; Caribou Island (Packard) ; swarms in tidal pools and abundant along the whole coast (Packard). 510 APPENDIX VI My sis mixta Lilljeborg. Ungava in stomach of murre, Uria columba (Turner); Rigolet, not common (Turner). My sis relicta Loven. Indian Harbour, fresh water (Bryant). PHYLLOCARIDA Nebalia bipes Fabricius. Mouth of Henley Harbour, 4-20 fms. (Packard). CUMACEA Diastylis rathkii Kr0yer. Mouth of Koksoak, Ungava (Turner) ; Fox Harbour, 3 fms., sand, abundant (Smith) ; Belles Amours, 6 fms., Thomas Bay, 15 fms., mud, Square Island, 15-30 fms., Henley Harbour, 8 fms., Chateau Bay, Long Island, 15 fms. (Packard); common in 10-50 fms. (Packard). Diastylis quadrispinosus G. O. Sars. Off Belles Amours, 4-6 fms. (Packard, The Labrador Coast, p. 113. Not given, however, in his list of Crustacea and perhaps confused with the preced- ing). ISOPODA * Leptochelia filum Stimpson. Caribou Island, 8 fms., sandy, rare (Packard). Gnathia cerina Stimpson. Chateau Bay, Long Island, 15 fms., sandy (Packard). dEga psora Linn. Port Burwell (Smith) ; Nachvak (Turner) ; Strait of Belle Isle, on under side of cod (Packard) ; north shore of Gulf of St. Lawrence (Whiteaves). Arcturus baffini Sabine. Port Burwell (Smith). Mesidotea entomon Linn. Nachvak (Turner). Mesidotea sabini Kr0yer. Halfway from Cape Mugford to He- bron, 60 fms., mud, sand (Bryant). Synidotea marmorata Packard. "Cock Capelin," Gready Har- bour (Bryant) ; Sloop Harbour, Kyuetarbuck Bay, 7 fms., sandy, reddish brown (Packard) ; Battle Harbour (Ortmann) . Asellus aquaticus Linn. Hopedale and Square Island, com- mon in soil under stones, etc., in company with Limax (Packard). Jcera marina O. Fabricius. Indian Tickle (Packard) ; Indian Harbour, Sandwich Bay (Packard) ; Fox Harbour (Smith) ; Caribou Island, common near high-water mark (Packard) ; abundant at low water under stones (Packard). 1 Names revised according to Richardson, "A Monograph on the Isopods of North America," Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 54, 1905. Isopods in Bryant collection determined by Dr. Harriet Richardson. APPENDIX VI 511 Munnopsis typica M. Sars. Halfway from Cape Mugford to He- bron, 60 fms., mud, sand (Bryant) ; off Beachy Island, be- tween Flint Island and Cape Mugford, 80 fms., soft mud (Bryant). Phryxus abdominalis (Kr0yer). Port Burwell, on Spirontocaris polaris (Smith) ; Nachvak, on S. polaris (Turner) ; off Fish Island, 75 fms., mud, on S. macilenta (Bryant) ; halfway from Cape Mugford to Hebron, 60 fms., mud, sand, on S. macilenta (Bryant) ; Nain, 7 fms., mud on S. gaimardii var. (Bryant) ; Shoal Tickle near (southeast of) Nain, on S. macilenta (Bryant) ; L'Anse au Loup, on S. gaimardii belcheri (Stearns). Dajus misidis Kr0yer. Labrador (Packard), probably from My sis oculata (Smith). AMPHIPODA * Hyperia medusarum (0. F. Miiller). Domino Harbour, found with numerous young in the stomach cavity of Cyanea arctica (Pack- ard); Dead Island (Smith). Euthcmisto libellula Mandt. Mouth of Koksoak, Ungava (Turner) ; lat. 56° north, long. 60° west (Turner). Socarnes vahli Kr0yer. Nachvak (Turner). Orchomenellaminuta Kr0yer. Henley Harbour, 10-15 fms. (Smith). Tryphosa horingii Bueck. Labrador (Packard). Anonyx nugax Phipps. Port Burwell (Smith) ; Fox Harbour, 3 fms. (Smith) ; Dumplin Harbour, Sandwich Bay, 4 fms. (Packard) ; Henley Harbour, 10-15 fms. (Smith) ; off Henley Harbour, 40 fms., 3 miles from land, pebbly bottom (Packard) ; Sloop Harbour, 8 fms. (Packard). Centromedon pumilus Lilljeborg. Labrador, 15 fms., sand (Packard). Onesimus edwardsii Kr0yer. Atlantic coast of Labrador (Smith). Pontoporeia femorata Kr0yer. Fox Harbour, 1-4 fms. (Smith) ; Belles Amours, 5-8 fms., muddy, abundant (Packard). Phoxocephalus holbolli (Kr0yer). L'Anse au Loup, 15 fms. (Smith). Ampelisca macrocephala Lilljeborg. L'Anse au Loup, 10 fms. (Smith) ; Henley Harbour, 10-15 fms. (Smith) ; Chateau Bay, 30 fms. (Packard) ; Stag Bay, 10 fms., hard bottom (Packard) ; Caribou Island, 8 fms., sand (Packard) ; Long Island, 15 fms., sand (Packard) ; Strawberry Harbour, 14 fms., hard (Packard). Ampelisca eschrichtii Kr0yer. Mouth of Koksoak, Ungava (Turner) ; Ungava Bay, 28 fms. in mud, pale yellow (Turner) ; Nachvak ' 1 Names revised according to G. O. Sars, An Account of the Crustacea of Norway, Vol. I, 1895. 512 APPENDIX VI (Turner) ; Chateau Bay, presumably (Smith) ; Caribou Island, 14 fms. (Packard). Byblis gaimardii Kr0yer. Dead Island, 2-4 fms. (Smith) ; Henley Harbour, 10-15 fms. (Smith) ; Temple Bay (Smith) ; Chateau Bay, 30 fms. (Packard) ; Chateau Harbour, Long Island, 15 fms., sand (Packard). Haploops tubicola Lilljeborg. Chateau Harbour, Long Island, 15 fms., sand (Packard) : Caribou Island, probably (Smith) . Stegocephalus inflatus Kr0yer. Nachvak, in cod stomach (Turner). Paroediceros lynceus M. Sars. Port Burwell (Smith) ; Henley Harbour, 10-15 fms. (Smith) ; Henley Harbour, 4 fms. (Pack- ard) ; Temple Bay, 10 fms. (Smith) ; Caribou Island, 8 fms., sand (Packard) ; L'Anse au Loup, 15 fms. (Smith) ; Forteau Bay, 20 fms. (Smith). Pleustes panoplus Kr0yer. Port Burwell (Smith) ; Henley Harbour, 4 fms., among weeds, not uncommon (Packard) ; L'Anse au Loup, 10 fms. (Smith). Paramphithoe bicuspis Kr0yer. Henley Harbour, probably (Smith) . Acanthozone cuspidata Lepechin. Temple Bay, 10 fms. (Smith). Acanthonotosoma inftatum Kr0yer. L'Anse au Loup, 8 fms., rocky (Smith). Acanthonotosoma serratum 0. Fabricius. Dead Island, shallow water (Smith). Rhachotropis aculeata Lepechin. Port Burwell (Smith) ; Nachvak (Turner) ; Square Island, 30 fms. (Packard) ; Henley Harbour, 10-15 fms. (Smith); Temple Bay, 10 fms. (Smith). Halirages fulvocinctus M. Sars. Henley Harbour, 10-20 fms.. hard, weedy bottom (Packard). Apherusa bispinosa Bate. Henley Harbour, 10-20 fms., hard, weedy bottom, rare (Packard). Calliopius Iceviusculus Kr0yer. Henley Harbour, 4 fms., very abundant (Packard) ; Stag Bay, 15 fms., on hard, weedy bottom (Packard). Pontogeneia inermis Kr0yer. Square Island, 15 fms. (Packard) ; Henley Harbour, 4 fms. (Packard) ; Stag Bay, 15 fms., on hard, weedy bottom (Packard). Amathilla homari J. C. Fabricius. Labrador Reef, Ungava (Turner) ; Rigolet (Turner) abundant under stones on beach. Gammarus locusta Linn. Ungava Bay, amid floating ice (Turner) ; Labrador Reef, Ungava, abundant under stones among the sand and silt (Turner) ; mouth of Koksoak, Ungava, common under stones on beach (Turner) ; Davis Inlet, common (Turner) : Port Burwell (Smith) ; Rigolet (Turner) ; Fox Harbour, 1-4 fms. (Smith) ; Gulf coast (Whiteaves) ; whole coast (Packard) . Melita dentata Kr0yer. Square Island, 15-30 fms. (Packard); APPENDIX VI 513 Henley Harbour, 10-15 fms. (Smith) ; Temple Bay, 10 fms. (Smith) ; Strait of Belle Isle, 15 fms., mud (Packard) ; Chateau Bay, 20-30 fms. (Packard) ; near Caribou, 10 feet, mud, sand (Packard). A mphithoe rubricata Montagu. Henley Harbour, 8 fms. (Packard). Ericthonius difformis Milne Edwards. Caribou Island, 8 fms., sand (Packard). Unciola irrorata Say. Henley Harbour (Smith) ; Caribou Island (Packard). Dulichia porrecta Bate. Rarely found (Packard). Caprella linearis Linn. Battle Harbour, 12-14 fms. (Ortmann). Caprella septentrionalis Kr0yer. Henley Harbour (Smith) ; whole coast, 4-30 fms., among weeds (Packard). OSTRACODA Cypridina excisa Stimpson. Labrador (Packard). COPEPODA Lerncea branchialis Linn. var. sigmoidea Steenstrup and Liitken. Labrador in Stearns collection (Smith) ; attached to skin of cod (Packard). Lepeophtheirus salmonis Kr0yer. Ungava Bay, on salmon and sea- trout (Turner) ; Rigolet, on Salmo solar (C. B. Wilson). BRANCHIOPODA Branchinecta arctica Verrill. Indian Tickle, north shore of In- vuctoke Inlet, abundant in a pool of fresh water (Packard) ; Indian Harbour (Bryant). CIRRIPEDIA Balanus porcatus Costa. Whole coast, only in deep water (Packard) . Balanus crenatus Bruguiere. L'Anse au Loup, 10 fms. (Smith) ; whole coast (Packard). Balanus balanoides Linn. Whole coast (Packard). Coronula diadema Linn. Taken quite frequently from the skin of whales caught in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (Packard). RHIZOCEPHALA Peltogaster paguri Rathke. Henley Harbour, on Pagurus pubescens, shallow water (Smith). 2L BOOKS, ETC., ON LABRADOR Census of Newfoundland and Labrador, 1901. Newfoundland Colonial Secretary, St. John's, N. F., 1903. 2 vols. 8°. BROWNE, PATRICK WILLIAM. "Where the Fishers Go," The Story of Labrador. New York (Cochrane Pub. Co.), 1909. Illus. BRYANT, HENRY GRIER. A Journey to the Grand Falls of Labrador. New York (Century Co.), 1892. pp. 48. 8°. (From the Geographical Club of Philadelphia, Bulletin No. 2, Vol. 1.) CABOT, WM. BROOKS. In Northern Labrador. Boston (Badger, publisher), 1912. Portraits. CARTWRIGHT, GEORGE (1739-1819). Captain Cartwright and His Labrador Journal, edited by Charles W. Townsend, with intro- duction by W. T. Grenfell. Boston (Estes & Co.), 1911. Portraits and maps. Last Cruise of Miranda. Transatlantic Publishing Co., 1893. CARTWRIGHT, GEORGE. A Journal of Transactions and Events, During a Residence of nearly Sixteen Years on the Coast of Labrador. Newark (Allin & Ridge), 1792. 3 vols., portrait and maps. 4°. CHAPPELL, EDWARD. Voyage of His Majesty's ship Rosamond to Newfoundland and the Southern Coast of Labrador. London (J. Mawman, pub.), 1818. 8°. CILLEY, JONATHAN PRINCE, JR. Bowdoin Boys in Labrador. An account of the Bowdoin College Scientific Expedition to Labra- dor. Rockland, Maine, 1891. 8°. DELABARRE, EDMUND BURKE. Report of the Brown-Harvard Ex- pedition to Nachvak, Labrador, in 1900. Philadelphia, 1902. Maps. 8°. (Reprinted from Bulletin of Geographical Society of Philadelphia, Vol. 3, 1902.) DURGIN, GEORGE FRANCIS (1858-1905). Letters from Labrador. Concord, N. H., 1908. 117 pp. FIRK, WILBUR WARREN. The Glazier Party in the Wilds of Labra- dor. Boston (?), 1902. Broadside. 2 columns, size 13f" X 6f". 515 516 BOOKS, ETC., ON LABRADOR GRENFELL, W. T. Labrador; The Country and the People. New York (Macmillan), 1909. GRENFELL, W. T. Vikings of To-day. London (Marshall) , 1895. 8°. HAYDON, A. L. Canada at Work and at Play. With a chapter on Newfoundland and Labrador with introduction by Lord Strathcona. London (Cassel & Co.), 1904. sm. 8°. HIND, HENRY YOULE. Exploration in the Interior of Labrador Peninsula, the Country of the Montagnais and Nasquapee Indian. London (Longman), 1863. 2 vols., colored plates. 8°. DUNCAN, NORMAN. Dr. Grenf ell's Parish. F. H. Revell Co., 1905. 12°. DUNCAN, NORMAN. Dr. Luke of the Labrador. F. Revell. 1903. HUTTON, SAMUEL KING. Among the Eskimos of Labrador. A record of five years' close intercourse with the Eskimo tribes of Labrador. Philadelphia (J. B. Lippincott Co.), 1912. Portraits. GRENFELL, W. T. Down to the Sea. New York (F. H. Revell Co.), 1910. GRENFELL, W. T. Off the Rocks. Philadelphia (S. S. Times Co.), 1906. GRENFELL, W. T. Down North on the Labrador. New York (F. H. Revell Co.), 1911. 229 pp., portrait. KLEINSCHMIDT, SAMUEL. Grammatik der grinlandischen sproche mit theilweisem Einschluss des Labrador dialects. Berlin (G. Reimer), 1851. 182 pp., folded table, 8°. Labrador. "Great Probability, The, of a North West Passage De- ducted from Observations on the Letter of Admiral de Fonte." Appendix containing the account of a discovery of part of the coast and inland country of Labrador, made in 1753. London, 1768. xxiv + 153. STORER, HORATIO ROBINSON. Observations on the fishes of Nova Scotia and Labrador, with Description of New Species. (From the Boston Journal of Natural History, Oct., 1850.) Boston, 1850. 24 pp., 2 plates. 8°. United States, Hydrographic Office. Publications, No. 73, 78. Newfoundland and Labrador (1884), compiled by W. W. Gill- patrick and John Gibson ; (also), supplement No. 1 (corrected to April 1, 1886), compiled by Richard G. Davenport and John Gibson. Washington, 1884-86, 2 vols. 8°. GOSLING, W. G. Labrador; Its Discovery, Explanation and Devel- BOOKS, ETC., ON LABBADOB 517 opment. New York (John Lane Co.), 1911. Portraits, 22 cm. in 8 maps. RICHARDS, GEORGE MILTON. Geological notes, microscopical feat- ures of the rock specimens. Maps. (In Dillon Wallace, The Long Labrador Trail N. Y., 1907. pp. 289-308.) United States Coast Survey Sketch showing the Geology of the Coast of Labrador. By Oscar M. Lieber. Washington, 1860. PACKARD, ALPHEUS SPRING, Jr., M.D. (born 1839). "Observations on the Glacial Phenomena of Labrador and Maine with a View of the Recent Invertebrate Fauna of Labrador. Oct. 5, 1865, illus. two plates. (In Boston Sec. of Natural History, Me- moirs, Vol. 1, pp. 210, 303. Boston, 1867.) DALY, REGINALD ALDWORTH. The Geology of the Northeast Coast of Labrador. Illustrated. Map. (The Harvard College, Mu- seum of Com. Zoology Bulletin. Cambridge, 1902, Vol. 38, pp. 203-270). GLADWIN, GEORGE E. Pen and Ink Sketches. "Coast and Har- bors of Labrador, Summer of 1876." Boston (Osgood & Co.), 1877. 32 heliotypes, map. 8°. United States, Hydrographic Office. North America. East Coast. Coast of Labrador from Cape St. Charles to Sandwich Bay. From British surveys to 1882 (chart edition of Sept., 1887). Washington, 1887. PROWSE, DANIEL WOODLEY, Editor. The Newfoundland Guide Book, 1905. Including Labrador and St. Pierre. London, 1905. Maps. 8°. (SAYER, ROBERT, and BENNETT, JOHN, publishers.) The North American Pilot for Newfoundland, Labrador. A collection of 60 charts and plans drawn from original surveys, etc. Lon- don, 1779. WALLACE, DILLON. The Long Labrador Trail. New York (The Outing Publishing Co.). WALLACE, DILLON. The Lure of the Labrador Wild. The story of the exploring expedition conducted by Leonidas Hubbard, Jr. Maps. New York (F. H. Revell Co.), 1905. 8°. TUCKER, EPHRAIM W. Five Months in Labrador and Newfoundland during the Slimmer of 1838. Concord (Boyd & White), 1839. 156 pp. 16°. United States, Hydrographic Office. Newfoundland and the Labra- dor Coast. 3d edition, 1909. Washington, 1909. 816 pp., 24 cm. in 8. 518 BOOKS, ETC., ON LABRADOR TOWNSEND, CHARLES WENDELL. Along the Labrador Coast. Boston (Dana Estes & Co.), 1907. Maps, portraits. 8°. TOWNSEND, CHARLES WENDELL. A Labrador Spring. Boston, (Dana Estes & Co.), 1910. Plates and 21£ cm. STEARNS, WINIFRED ALDEN. Labrador, a Sketch of Its People, Its Industries, and Its Natural History. Boston (Lee & Shepard), 1884. 12°. SWEETSER, MOSES FOSTER. The Maritime Provinces. A handbook for travellers, a guide to maritime provinces of Canada, also Newfoundland and the Labrador Coast. Boston (J. R. Osgood & Co.), 1875. 16°. ROUILLARD, OLIVIER EUGENE. "La cote nord du Saint- Lauraut et le Labrador Canadien. Quebec (Laflaunne & Proulx), 1908. 188 pp. 8°. PACKARD, ALPHEUS, SPRING, Jr., M.D., 1839. The Labrador Coast. A journal of two summer cruises to that region with notes on Eskimo, etc. New York (N. D. C. Hodges), 1891. 8°. PRICHARD, HESKETH-HESKETH (born 1876). Through Trackless Labrador. New York (Sturgis & Walton Co.), 1911. Portraits, maps, etc. 8°. HUARD, VICTOR A. Labrador et Anticosti. Montreal (Beauchenim), 1897. Illus., map. 8°. HUBBARD, MINA BENSON (Mrs. Leonidas). A Woman's Way through Unknown Labrador. London (Murray), 1908. Por- traits. 8°. NOBLE, Louis LE GRAND. After Icebergs with a Painter. A sum- mer voyage to Labrador and around Newfoundland. New York (Appleton & Co.), 1861. 12°. CANTO, ERNESTO DO. Quern den o nome ao Labrador 1 Ponta Delgada (Archive dos Acores), 1894. 23 pp. 4°. LONG, WM. JOSEPH. Northern Trails; Some Studies of Animal Life in the Far North. (Illus. by Copeland.) Boston (Ginn & Co.), 1905. 12°. These studies were made in Labrador. STEARNS, WINIFRED ALDEN. Bird Life in Labrador. (Cut from the American Field for April 26, Oct. 11, 1890.) New York, 1890. BIBLIOGRAPHY Animal Sanctuaries in Labrador. COL. WM. WOOD. Commission of Conservation. Ottawa, 1912. Through Trackless Labrador. HESKETH PRICHARD. Labrador. Professor A. S. PACKARD, 1891. Cruise of Neptune. Dr. A. P. Low, 1906. After Icebergs with an Artist. WM. BRADFORD, 1864. Notes on the Natural History of Labrador. W. H. STEARN, 1875. ROBERT BELL, 1884. In an Unknown Land. E. C. ROBINSON. Last Cruise of Miranda. ELLIOT STOCH, 1909. Bowdoin College Exploration, 1891. A. H. NORTON, 1901. Ornithological Results of Canadian Neptune Cruise. Expedition to Hudson Bay and Northwest. C. W. EIFRIG, 1903- 1904. The Lure of the Labrador Wild. DILLON WALLACE. The Long Labrador Trail. DILLON WALLACE. A Woman's Way in Labrador. MRS. HUBBARD. Captain Cook. Charts on Record Voyage, 1768. Captain Cartwright and His Journal. Dana Estes & Co. CHARLES TOWNSEND, 1911. Along the Labrador Coast. Dana Estes Co. CHARLES TOWNSEND, 1911. A Labrador Spring. Dana Estes and Co. CHARLES TOWNSEND, 1909. Journals of Captain George Cartwright. Published in Newark, England, 1792. Newfoundland and Its Untrodden Ways. J. S. MILLAIS. Guide to Labrador. D. W. PROWSE, 1910. The Tenth Island. BECKS WILSON, 1897. Audubon., GRANT EDWARDS. Labrador. PROFESSOR A. S. PACKARD, Voyages to Newfoundland. LT. EDWARD CHAPPELL, R. N. 1818. Mawman, London, publishers. 519 INDEX Acadians, settlement of, in Labrador, 31. Alaska, introduction of reindeer into, 252-253. Albert, Mission yawl, 236, 237, 238. Alexis River, 8. Allen, Dr. Glover M., 378 n., 495. Anglican church mission, 236. Anglo-Newfoundland Company, 180. Angora goats, importation of, 243. Ants, 461. Archean rock formations, 85-86. Ashuanipi River, 156-157. Ashwanipi Lake, derivation of name, 206. Aspen buds and bark as an emer- gency food, 422. Attikonak River and Lake, 156-157. Audubon in Labrador, 374, 375, 376, 386. Auk, extinction of the, 374; the razor-billed, 382-383. Aulatzevik, island of, 59, 93. Avagalik Island, 62. Bache, Mount. 58. Baine, Johnston & Company, 180. Bait for cod fishing, 302-303. Barren-ground People and River, 198. Bartlett, Captain, 302. Basement Complex, the, 86 ff. Basque fishermen in Labrador, 13; relics of, 164. Bastian, John, 187, 206-207. Battle Harbour, Anglican church mission headquarters at, 236; mission hospital at, 238, 239 ff. Bear-hunting, 47, 145, 213. Bear Island, 130. Beaver-hunting, 204. Beetles, 467-472. Beeton, Mayson, 260. Bell, Dr. Robert, quoted, 123-124. Belle Isle, Strait of, 7, 8, 27. Beothuk Indians, 25. Berries, varieties of, 212-213, 421. Bersimis, 189; trading-station at, 193; canoes of, 207. Bersimis, Long Portage of the, 191. Biggar, H. P., work by, cited, 7. Birds of Labrador, 374-390, 495- 505. Bishop's Mitre, the, 108. Bissot, Frangois, 17. Blanc Sablon, 27, 29; fishery of, 165. Blandford, Captain Sam, 165. Blow-me-down, Mount, 98. Boston Transcript reindeer fund, 260. Botany of Labrador, 391 ff. Botflies on deer, 256, 455-456. Boulders, glacial, 130. Bounty system in French fisheries, 323-324. Bourdon, Jean, 12. Bowdoin Canyon, Hamilton River, 153-155. Bowring Brothers, firm of, 304. Bradore Bay, 21. Brave expedition, 81-138. Brest, harbour of, 13, 14; early accounts of, 15-17. Brigs and brigantines in fishing in- dustry, 318. Brouague, Martel de, 21. "Bultows," 303. Burial-places, Indian, 159, 225. Business firms conducting trade with Labrador, 179-180. Butterflies, 461-462. 521 522 INDEX Cabot, John, discoverer of Labrador, 5-6. Cabots, voyages of the, 6-8; reports of, on fisheries, 13. Cachalot whale, the, 357-358. Canoe bark, 207. Canoeing in Labrador, 54. Canoes, for exploration trips, 161; trade in, 207. Cape Chidley, Moravian Mission station at, 227-228. Caribou, 145, 158; spearing of, 210; range of, and habits, 213-215; botflies on, 256, 455-456; num- bers of, 258-259. Caribou Castle, 26. Carnegie, Andrew, portable libraries from, 242. Carter's Basin, 142. Cartier, Jacques, 11, 138. Cartwright, Major George, 19, 24- 27, 35; his opinion of Labrador quoted, 138; description of a school of cod by, 287; quoted on the abundance of salmon in Labrador, 335-336; quoted on capture of penguins, 374-375. Cartwright, Hudson's Bay station at, 182. Castle Mountain, 59-60. Charles Harbour, 26. Childhood, high rate of mortality in, 178, 256. Chimo, Indians trading at, 196-197, 210. Class distinctions, absence of, 176- 177. Cliffs along coast, 44. Climate of Labrador, 69. Clothing of Indians, 209-210. Clouston, James, 53. Cochrane, Sir Thomas, 29-30. Cod, uses of the, 282-283; food value of, 283-284; methods of preserving, 284; its spawning habits, 285; life of young, 285- 286; size of, 286; digestive powers of, 287-288; supply of, 288-290; habits of, 289, 294- 296; methods of catching, 302- 306; curing of, 307-309; sta- tistics of takings of, 314-316; prices commanded by, 316-317; European markets for, 320 ; im- port duties on, 323-324; in- fluence exerted on mankind by, 324-326. Cod fishery, 13, 78, 282 ff. Codfish hatchery in Newfoundland, 290. Cod-liver oil, 326. Cod trap, the, 305-306. Cooperative stores, 240, 241, 247. Cooper ator, schooner, 241. Cormorants, 384. Corte-Reals, voyages of, 8-10. Courtemanche, Augustin de, 16-17, 18-19, 21. Courts of justice, travelling, 246- 247. Cree language, 219-223. Croucher, Mr., 302. Crustacea, the marine, 473-478 ; list of, 506-513. Culling of codfish, 320-321. Curing, of codfish, 307-309; of hen ring, 345. Curlew, the Eskimo, 375-376. Curtis, Roger, 138. Dab fishing, 347-348. Daly, R. A., study of temperature of coastal waters by, 292-294. Darby, Captain Nicholas, 22. Daryl, mission launch, 243—244. Davis, John, explorations of, 11. Davis Inlet, 11, 45; Hudson's Bay Company post at, 181. Dawe, C. & A., 180. Dawson, W. Bell, monograph on tides by, 68 n. Deep-sea Mission, the, 236-250. Deer-hunting, 47, 78-79, 213-215. Diphtheria, brought by Eskimos from Buffalo Exposition, 179, 230. Diseases, 179, 188, 229, 230. Doane, Ernest, 468. Dogs, used in hunting, 204; killing of cattle by, 257 ; description of, 272-273; habits and general INDEX 523 traits, 273-281; destruction of eggs and young birds by, 378. Dog-teams, 183. Drunkenness, absence of, 176. Duck, season for shooting, 78-79; breeding habits of, 384 ; the Lab- rador or pied, 374-375. Duties on fish imported into foreign countries, 323-324. Eagle River, salmon fishing on, 333. Eclipse Channel, 59. Education, problem of, 174-175. Egging, 376-377. Eider-duck Islands, 60. Eider ducks, 60, 384-385. Elliot, Henry, 363, 364. Emergency foods, 422. English, engaged in early fisheries, 14; conquest of Canada by, and effect on Labrador, 22-28. Ericson, Leif, 3. Eskimos, Moravian missionaries and the, 33-36; places for best study of, 47-48; best educated people in Labrador, 175; diseases among, 179, 229, 230; lessening numbers of, 229, 232-233 ; cause of decrease in numbers of, found in lessening numbers of seal and walrus, 361-363. See Indians. Estotiland, legend of, 4-£. Etienne family of Indians, 202-203. Factors, in Hudson's Bay Company service, 183. Fanny's Harbour, 45. Fernandes, Joao, 10. Finback whales, 355. Fiords of Labrador, 39, 55, 57. Fisheries, Labrador, 12-14, 282 ff . ; cod, seal, salmon, and porpoise, 20 ; establishment of sedentary, by English, and troubles caused by, 23-24; troubles with foreign nations over, 30 ; business firms interested in, 180; of interior, 204-207; cod, 282-327; salmon, , 328-339; herring, 340-345; hali- but, 345-347; dab, 347-348; winter fluke, 348; lump-fish, 348-349; sculpin, 349; rock cod, 349 ; hake or haddock, 350 ; shark, 350-351; whale, 352- 361; walrus, 362-365. Fishing, on upper Hamilton River, 158. Fishing customs along the coast, 165- 169. Fiske, John, quoted, 5. Flies varieties of, 84, 453 ff. Flora of Labrador, 391 ff. Flour Lake, 155. Flower's Cove, cooperative store at, 241. Fluke, the winter, 348. Flycatchers, varieties of, 389. Fog, mistake concerning prevalence of, 70. Food of Indians, 211-215. Ford, Chesley, 468. Ford, George, 60, 468. Forest fires, disastrous effect of, on game resources, 191-192. Forest growth, Hamilton River region, 147. Forests, Dr. Low's description of, 407- 409. Forteau Bay, 27. Four Peaks, the, 102. Fox farm, establishment of, 242. Fox sparrow, the, 387. France, encouragement of home fish- eries by, 323-324. Eraser, James D., 183. Freels, Cape, 8-9. French, depredations by naval vessels of the, 28; agreement of tem- perament of, with the Indian, 194. French Canadian settlements, 14-22. French fishermen, early, 13-14. French shore, the, 14. Frobisher, Martin, voyage of, 11. Fungi of Labrador, 421-422. Furs, months for taking, 75-76. Fur trade, 181. Geology of northeast coast, 81-139. George, Lake of the, 213. 524 INDEX George River, 158. Gibb, E., experiment by, in salmon industry, 339. Gibbons, Captain, 12. Gilbert River, 8. Glacial Period, Labrador during the, 114-126. Gnats, 84, 459. Gnupsson, Eric, 3. God, Indian conception of, 224. Gomez, Estevan, 14. Goode, Professor, quoted, 343. Goose, the Canada, 385. Gosling, W. G., 329 n. Grampus, the, 357. Grand Falls of Hamilton River, 49, 53, 150-153; Indian name of, and legend concerning, 193. Grand Lake, 142. Grand River Lumber Company, 143. Grant for schools, 171. Grants, of fishing and trading rights in Labrador, 19; of land, 172-173. Gray, Captain, 181. Gray Straits, 181; tides in, 301. Greece, market for Labrador fish in, 320. "Green fish" catchers, 168. Grieve, W. B., 238. Grinnell Glacier, 115-116. Grouse, Canadian ruffed and spruce, 388. Guides, 40. Guillemot, the black, 376, 382. Gull Island Lake, 148. Gulls, 383. Gyrfalcons, white, gray, and black, 380. Haddock, 350. Hake, 350. Half-breeds, hope of future popula- tion of Labrador lies in, 235. Halibut fishing, 345-347. Hamilton Inlet, 7, 8, 11, 19, 47, 140- 146; geological theory concern- ing formation of, 137; head post of Hudson's Bay Company at, 181; landlocked salmon in, 333. Hamilton River, 46-47, 51, 52, 54; description of, 146—160; hunt- ing along the, 195. Hamilton Valley, 51. Harp seal, the, 365-367. Harrigan, Cape, 45. Harrington, mission hospital at, 238 ff . Harvey, Dr. Moses, on herring in- dustry, 344. Harvey & Company, 180. Haven, Jans, 33. Hawk, American rough-legged, 380. Hawke Bay, 8. Hay ward, John, 303. Health conditions, 177-179, 245- 247. Hebron, Moravian Mission station, 35, 102, 229-230. Helluland, 3. Herjulfson, Bjarni, 2. Hermit-crabs, 474-475. Hermit thrush, 389. Herring fishery, 340-345. Hind, Labrador Peninsula by, quoted, 216-217; study of cod-fishery by, 295, 296. Hog's Back reef, 63. Holmes, R. F., 53. Hooded seal, the, 371-373. Hook-and-line fishing for cod, 302- 304. Hooker, Joseph D., cited, 405, 406, 419-421. Hopedale, Moravian Mission station at, 34, 235. Hopwood, Sir Francis, 237. Hospital, at Okkak, 230-231. Hospitals, of Mission to Deep-sea Fishermen, 236 ff. Hospital vessels, 236 ff. Hubbard, Leonidas, 162. Hubbard, Mrs., 162-163. Hudson, Henry, 12. Hudson's Bay, 12. Hudson's Bay Company in Labrador, 31-32, 53, 181-182; life at inland posts of, 158-160; factors employed by, 183. Hudson Strait, tides in, 301. INDEX 525 Humpback whales, 355-356. Hunting, locations for, 47; season for, 78-79. Hunting grounds of Indians, 189- 190, 195-197, 199, 202-203, 213- 214; custom regarding infringe- ment on one another's, 203-204. Huxley, Professor, on the herring industry, 340, 343. Icebergs, 78. Iceland moss, 422. Import duties on Labrador fish, 323- 324. Indian Harbour, mission hospital at, 238, 240, 241 ff. Indians, taken as slaves by Corte- Real, 9 ; troubles of French with, 21; Major Cartwright and the, 25; numbers of, 186; diseases among, 188, 229-230; hunting regions of, 189-190, 195-197, 199, 202-203, 213-214; migra- tions of, 190-191; custom re- garding infringement on one another's grounds, 203-204; polygamy among, 215; life of women, 215-216; language and dialects of, 217-223; religious beliefs and practices, 223-225. Infant mortality, 178, 256. Inhabitants of the coast, 164-183. Insects, 453-472. Iron deposit, 48. Isle aux CEufs, 17. Isle de Bois, 27. Italy, best market for Labrador fish, 320. Jack Lane's Bay, 45. Jackson, Dr. Sheldon, 252, 258. Jacopie Lake, 155. Jaeger gull, the, 383. Jay, the Labrador, 388. Jem Lane's Bay, 45. Jesuits, no missions of, in Labrador, 20. Job Brothers & Company, 180. Jolliet, explorations of, 12; sketch of career of, 17-18. Julia Sheridan, mission launch, 240, 241. Kaumajet Mountains, 103-105, 109. Kayaks, 255. Kelts, 331. Kenamich River, 142. Kenamow River, 52, 142-143. Kennedy, Admiral Sir W. R., quoted, 244-245. Kensington, Minn., Runic stone at, 4 n. Kiglapait Range, 109-110. Killer whales, 356. Killinek, Moravian Mission station at, 227-228. Kinglet, the ruby-crowned, 387. Kittiwakes, 383. Knight, John, 11. Labrador, early visitors to, 1 ff.; John Cabot the true discoverer of, 5—6; voyages of Cabots to, 6-7; the Corte-Reals' voyages, 8-10; origin of name, 9-10; early maps of, 10-11; Rut's and Cartier's voyages, 11; later voyages to, 11-12; fisheries the great industry of, 12-14, 282 ff.; French Canadian settlements along the Quebec Labrador, 14- 22; effect of Fjnglish conquest of Canada on, 22—28; annexa- tion of, to Newfoundland, 22, 24, 28-29; Acadians in, 31; Hudson's Bay Company in, 31— 32, 226-227; Moravian mis- sionaries in, 32-36, 226-236; travelled routes to, 36 ff.; physiography of, 49 ff. ; area of peninsula, 50; climate, 69; rainfall, 70 ; summer tempera- ture, 71-73; seasons in, 74-80; geology and scenery of northeast coast, 81-138 ; missions of, 226- 250; experiment with reindeer in, 251-271 ; dogs of, 272-281 ; fisheries of, 282-373; birds of, 374-390, 495-505 ; flora of, 391- 425; insects and beetles of, 526 INDEX 453-472 ; marine Crustacea cf, 473-478, 506-513 ; mollusks of, 479-483 ; mammals of, 484-494. Labradorite, 93-95, 232. Lakes of the interior, 54. Lake trout, 204-205. Land, acquisition of, by grant or purchase, 172-173. Landlocked salmon, 206, 333. Language and dialects of the Indians, 193-195, 217-223. Lark, the horned, 379. Lemoine, French-Montagnais Dic- tionary of, 220, 221. Libraries, portable, 242, 248. Lichens, 422. Lighthouses, absence of, 300-301. Lindsay, Lieutenant W. G., 244, 264. Liquor* question, 175-176, 248-249. Little, Dr. J. Mason, 244. Livyeres, Labrador settlers, 164. Lobsters, 475. Lobstick Lake, 156. Loou, the, 381. Lorna Doone, schooner, 244. Low, Dr. A. P., 50, 363, 427; quoted on physiography of Labrador, 50-54; chapter on Hamilton River and the Grand Falls by, 140-163; quoted on the Indians, 185; description of forest region by, 407-409. Lump-fish, the, 348-349. McCallum, Sir Henry, quoted, 247 n. McCrea & Son, firm of, 180. MacGregor, Sir William, 169, 258, 315. McKenzie, Peter, 196, 213. McLean, John, 32, 53, 216. Mackerel, not taken in Labrador, 345. Made Beaver, as unit of value, 202.. Mail service, 169-170, 171; by dog- teams, 183. Makkovik, Moravian Mission station at, 35, 235-236. Mammals, the ocean, 352-373; list of, 484-494. Maniquagan River, Indian hunters on the, 189. Manvers, Port, 110, 112. Maps, early, 10-11, 52; British ad- miralty charts, 12, 64-65; of Moravian missionaries, 12. Marconi stations, 170. Markland, 3. Martin, Abbe", 20-21. Matheson, Duncan, 214, 442. Mealy Mountains, 142, 145. Mendrys, Dr., 53. Merchants carrying on business in Labrador, 179-180. Merchants' Map of Commerce, 15. Methodist church mission, 236. Mettek Islands, 60. Milk, the demand for, 257; of rein- deer, 270-271; of the porpoise, 357. Minerals, 48. Minerva, Boston privateer, 26. Mingan, trading-station, 193. Minipi River, 147, 148. Missionaries, susceptibility of Indians to instruction by, 224. Missions, Moravian, 181, 183, 226- 236; the Labrador Deep-sea Mission, 236-250. Mistassini, Indians trading at, 201- 202. Mistinisi Lake, 214. Moccasins, snow-shoe, 209; deer skins for making, 254. Moisie River, 193. Mollusks, 479-483. Montagnais Indians, 48, 184, 186, 196, 209, 216; fur trade with, 181; Catholic religion of, 223. Moravian missionaries, charts of, 12; work of, 32-36. Moravian Missions, stations of, 181, 183, 227; justification of trade methods of, 233-235. Mosquitoes in Labrador, 69, 84, 459^. Mosses as emergency food, 422. Moths, 463. Mountains, 44-45, 62; considered geologically, 86 ff. Mugford, Cape,' 107-108. Mugford Tickle, 46. Munn Brothers, firm of, 180. INDEX 527 Murres, the, 376, 382. Muskrat Falls, Hamilton River, 147, 148. Nachvak, Hudson's Bay Company station at, 229. Nachvak Bay, 63, 101-102. Nachvak dog-teams, 183. Naiii, Moravian Mission station at, 34, 231-235; Bishop and Ger- man consul at, 164, 231. Nain Bay, 12. Names, Indian, 218-219. Nansen, Fridjof, 362. Narwhale, the, 358. Nascaupee, Fort, 158-159. Nascaupee Indians, 9, 48, 184, 192, 209 ; meaning attached to name, 197-198; home of the, 214. New England fishermen, early diffi- culties with, 23-24, 30; visits of, 165-166. Nichicun, Indians at, 200-201. Noble and Pinson, firm of, 22, 26, 27. Northern Messenger, mission launch, 242. Northmen, voyages of, to Labrador. 2-4. Northwest River, 52, 142; Hudson's Bay station on, 182. Ogua'lik, island of, 105-106. Okkak, Moravian Mission station at, 34, 230-231. Old, fate of the, among the Indians, 216. Orphans and orphanages, 240, 242, 243. Outardes River, Indian hunters on the, 189. Packard, A. S., quoted and cited, 81, 133, 375, 473, 479. Palliser, Sir Hugh, 23, 33, 35. Parroquet, the, 381-382. Paul's Island, 93. Pemmican, making of, 211. Petitsikapau Lake, 155, 158-159. Petrels, the, 384. Phalarope, the northern, 381. Physiography of Labrador, 49-69. Pied duck, the, 374-375. Pike-perch, the, 206. Pipit, the American, 379. Place-names, Indian, 218. Pletipi River, 189. Polygamy among Indians, 215. Ponchartrain, Fort, 21. Population, statistics of, 178. Porcupine Rapids, Hamilton River, 148. Princess May, hospital launch, 238, 239, 241. Ptarmigans, rock, Reinhardt's, and willow, 380-381. Puffin, the, 381-382. Pye, Albert, 468. Quebec Labrador, 29. Rainfall, extent of, 70-71. Ramah. Moravian Mission station at, 35, 229; cliffs at, 44. Ranger Lodge, 26. Raven, the northern, 389. Razorback, Mount, 61, 101. Redpoll, the, 387. Reid-Newfoundland Company boats, 37-38. Reindeer, introduction of, 249; value of, when domesticated, 251-252; suitability of, to subarctic region, 252 ; experiments in introducing into Alaska, 252-253; uses of, as food, for clothing, etc., 253- 255; propagation of, 255-256; cost of importing, 260-267; arrival of consignment in Labra- dor, 264; success with, to date, 268-271. Reindeer moss, 422. Religion of Indians, 223-225. Representation, Labrador's lack of, 173-174. Revillon Freres, firm of, 142, 182. Rigolet, 140, 181 ; Methodist mission headquarters at, 236. Rigolet dog-teams, 183. Rivers of Labrador, 52. Robertson, Charles, 214. 528 INDEX Robertson, Samuel, 16, 30. Robin, the, 390. Rock cod, 349. Rock-tripes, 422. Roddick, Dr., boat given by, 240. Romaine River, 193. Rorke & Sons, firm of, 180. Rut, John, 11. Ryans, firm of, 180. Ryan's Bay, 61, 62. Sabbath, observance of the, 165-166. St. Anthony, mission hospital at, 238, 241, 242 ff.; cooperative store at, 244. St. Augustine trading-station, 193. St. Marguerite River, 193. St. Paul, Godefroy de, 19. Salmon, 206, 333; instincts and habits of, 328-334; destruction of supply of, 334-335; former and present supply of, 335-337; methods of taking, 337-338. Salmon cannery, Eagle River, 338. Salmon fishing, 46, 78, 206, 328 ff . ; on upper Hamilton River, 158. Sandgirt Lake, 155-156. Sandhill Bay River, salmon fishing on, 333. Sanitary conditions, 177-178, 245- 247. Sardines, herrings sold as, 343. Scenery of Labrador, 39, 44-46, 51- 52; relation of, to geological formations, 85. Schimper, A. F. W., quoted and cited, 394, 403, 405, 411, 413, 414-415. School grant, 171. Schools, denominational system of, 174. Schooners, fishing, 298-299, 318. Scotch, success of, with the Indians, 194. Scoter ducks, 385. Sculpin, the, 349. Sea-coots, 385. Seal, the harp, 365-366; the bay, 369-370; the ringed, 371; the hooded, 371-372; the gray, 373. Seal hunting, 20, 144, 145, 168-169, 361-362, 369. Sealskin-boot-making industry, 243, 248. Seasons in Labrador, 74-80. Seine-nets for cod fishing, 304-305. Seven Islands Bay, 62. Seven Islands trading-station, 193; Indians at, 196. Shark, the sleepy, 350-351. Shearwaters, the, 384. "Shebeens," 175. Shrimps, 475-476. Sir Donald, Mount, 58. Sir Donald, hospital vessel, 240. Slaves, Labrador Indians taken as, 9. Sleds, construction of, 208. Smith, Sir Donald A., 240. Snow-shoes, styles of, 208-209. Spain, market for fish in, 320. Sparrow, the savanna, 380; white- crowned, 385-386; tree, 386; Lincoln's, 386-387; fox, 387. Spearing fish, 206. Sperm whale, the, 357-358. Steamers, for fishing and sealing, 168; for whale hunting, 359-360. Stone age, relics of the, 47-48, 58. Strathcona, Lord, 182, 240. Strathcona, hospital steamer, 240— 241. Striped Island, 99. Sulphur-bottom whales, 352, 354- 355. Sunday, rule against fishing on, 165. Swaine, Captain, 33. Swallows, species of, 389-390. Szkolny, John, 5. Tamarack, shoots of, as an emergency food, 422. Tasker, Mr. and Mrs., 197. Telegraph system, 170-171. Temperature, summer, 71-73. Temperatures of coastal waters, 292- 294. Temple Bay, 22. Thompson-Seton, Ernest, cited, 422. Thoresby, Mount, 110. Thresher whales, 356. INDEX 529 Thrush, the Alice's, 387-388; the hermit, 389. Tides, 43-44, 68, 301. Timber land, grants of, 172-173. Torngat Range, 100-101, 109, 111. Trappers, the, 226. Trawl fishing for cod, 303-304. Trees, along Hamilton River, 147, 157. See Forests. Trout, lake, 204-205. Trout fishing, 46, 78; at Hamilton Inlet, 145—146; on upper Hamil- ton River, 158. Truck Act of 1831, 247 n. Truck system of trade, effort to break up, 240, 247. Tuberculosis, prevalence of, 178, 179, 256-257. Tundra, defined, 410. Turner, Lucius M., cited, 197, 198. Typhoid fever, brought by Eskimos from Chicago Exposition, 179; anecdote concerning a patient with, 231. Tyrrell, J. B., 259. Uinastikai, Indian food, 211-212. Ukasiksalik (Davis Inlet), 11, 45, 181. Urelia McKinnon, mission boat, 240. Vessels, of Northmen and of Colum- bus, 3; hospital, 236 ff.; in fisheries, 298-299, 318. Vikings, Labrador voyages of, 1-4. Vinland, 3, 4. Volcanic formations, 99 ff., 103. Voyages of the Cabots and Corte- Reals, Biggar's, 7. Wallace, Dillon, 162-163. Walrus, killing off of, 362-363; slight value of, to the white man, 363-364; size and habits, 364; value to Eskimo, 364-365. Warblers, Tennessee and Wilson's, 387; common arid black-poll, 388-389; Canadian and other varieties, 389. Waswanipi Lake, derivation of name, 206. Water-birds, 381-385. West St. Modiste, cooperative store at, 241. Whale factories, 358. Whale hunting, 358-360. Whale Island, 62. Whale River, the smaller, 199. Whales, physiology of, 352-354; six species of, 354; sulphur- bottom, 354-355; finback, 355; humpback, 355-356; white, 356 ; thresher, or killer, 356; the grampus and porpoise, 357; sperm, or cachalot, 357-358; the narwhale, 358; food of, 358; hunting and cutting up of, 358— 361 ; figures of the industry, 361. Whitbourne, quoted, 84. Whitefish, in upper Hamilton River, 158; (labradoricus), taking the, 205. White Handkerchief, Cape, 44-45. Whiteway, Sir William, 290. Windigo, evil spirit, 223. Winokapau Lake, 149-150. Wolstenholme, Cape, 55. Wolves, with caribou herds, 215; resemblance of Labrador dogs to, 272-274; respect of, for man, 274. Women, life of Indian, 215-216. 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